Syrian navy fires on demonstrators in Lattakia

Off the coast of the Syrian port city of Lattakia on Sunday, the Syrian navy fired upon demonstrators against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Let's go to the videotape.



I can't ever recall a navy being used to fire upon civilians. But I'd guess it's quite effective. The people doing the firing don't see the victims.

Can Assad be forced out?

Here's an interesting take from Paul Pillar that might explain why the Obama administration has not called for throwing out Bashar al-Assad.Even if regime change is the goal, another requirement to make meaningful any discussion of sanctions—or use of any other policy tool—is some specificity about how the current regime will go. Regime change encompasses a very wide range of scenarios, after

Turkey preparing for war with Syria?

There are several ways one could take this article, but the bottom line is that Turkey believes that it will need troops to handle some sort of confrontation with Syria in the foreseeable future, whether as part of NATO or to protect refugees from Syria, or for some other reason. In anticipation of what is expected to be a massive influx of Syrian refugees, Turkey has taken extraordinary measures

WaPo demands that Obama lead or something

The Washington Post (no, you won't see this from the New York Times) is demanding that the Obama administration step up and lead the charge to get Bashar al-Assad to stop murdering his own people and quit. It is therefore worrying that the international response, though improving, remains inconsistent. Turkey is the leading example: Its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has condemned Mr.

US slaps sanctions on Syria, Assad laughs

As Bashar al-Assad's army killed 15 more Syrians on Wednesday, the United States sanctioned the Syrian dictator, which probably gave him a good laugh. Syrian forces killed 15 civilians in the city of Homs on Wednesday, an activists' group said, despite international calls for President Bashar Assad to end a bloody crackdown on protests against his rule.

The United States said the world was

Syrian defense minister resurrected?

Left for dead on Tuesday, ousted Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib (middle) appeared on Syrian television on Wednesday (Hat Tip: Soccer Dad). Former Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib appeared on Syrian state-owned television Wednesday in order to dispel rumors of his death, which were published by websites affiliated with Syrian opposition groups.

"My health condition has kept me from

US welcomes Saudi withdrawal of ambassador to Syria, but....

At Monday's State Department briefing, spokesman Mark Toner said that the US welcomes Saudi Arabia's withdrawal of its ambassador to Syria, but.... the U.S. has no plans to do so. "This is a choice by any sovereign nation whether to recall its ambassador. It clearly sends a message to the government," said Toner. "For our part, we've talked about this last week and continue to believe that

Bombshell: Turkey calls on Assad to step down

Israel Television has just reported on Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's visit to Syria on Tuesday. Neither Assad nor Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem greeted Davutoglu at the airport. Davutoglu met with Assad for five hours and told him that Turkey calls on him to step down and make a peaceful transition of power.

I have not seen confirmation of this report elsewhere.

Syrian

Why Saudi Arabia withdrew its ambassador from Syria

In an earlier post, I reported that Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its ambassador from Syria. Brian Whitaker makes a good point about the Saudis' motivation. These are the strongest comments made so far by any Arab leader, and on that basis we should probably welcome them – especially if they encourage other countries in the region to take a stand. But, as one Twitter user noted, the king's

Could the end of Assad lead to a compromise on the Golan?

Eyal Zisser has a lengthy analysis of what the success of the Syrian uprising might mean for Israel. I urge you to read the whole thing. I want to particularly call your attention to this: The Syrian regime should be considered a strategic threat to Israel because Bashar al-Assad has sought to develop nuclear capabilities. He provided support to Hamas and Hizbullah - not the kind of support his

Assad has defense minister executed

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had defense minister Ali Habib (middle in the picture at top left) executed within a day after he was fired, according to Syrian opposition websites. Habib was fired on Monday. Websites affiliated with Syrian opposition gropus reported on Tuesday that General Ali Habib was found dead in his home a day after he was dismissed as defense minister. On Monday, Syrian

How to stop Assad

Writing in the New York Daily News, Benny Weinthal has a plan for how to stop Bashar al-Assad. Sadly, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay's recent comment that the "world is watching" sums up the failure of the international community to stop Assad's lethal assaults against Syrian protesters.

Just watching is not enough. A mix of potent sanctions, robust diplomatic action and a

Syrian Baath party website hacked

The website of the Defense Ministry of the Syrian Baathist party was hacked on Monday. Here's what it looks like:

And here's a close -up of the part of the website that's in English:

Heh.

Saudi Arabia withdrawing ambassador from Syria

It's a sad commentary on the lack of American leadership in foreign affairs that 'our friends, the Saudis' are taking the lead to do what America should have done weeks ago. After 70 more people were killed by the Syrian army on Sunday, the Saudis have announced that they are calling home their ambassador from Syria for consultations. When will Obama and Clinton wake up and do the same? "What is

Assad's helping hands

The UN will soon confirm that Hezbullah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops have been involved in killing Syrian troops. According to the Arab media, a committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is soon to issue a report revealing that Hizbullah and IRGC activists stationed in Syria have been involved in killing Syrian soldiers who were arrested for refusing to

What could go wrong?

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has demanded that Syria stop using its army against Syrian civilians. "In a phone conversation with President Assad of Syria today, the secretary-general expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days," the UN press office said in a statement.It added that Ban "urged the

'Human Rights Watch' too busy trying to destroy Israel to help Syria

Syrian opposition activists are laying their lives on the line trying to topple the Assad regime. But don't look for 'Human Rights Watch' to help them out. They're too busy trying to destroy Israel. In Syria, HRW’s inadequacy is not new. Last July, HRW published a report titled “A Wasted Decade,” covering ten years of research on human rights violations in Syria in just 35 pages. The thinness

Finally some good news from Syria

There's finally some good news from Syria. This is from a Senate confirmation hearing. Robert Danin, also a Middle East fellow at the CFR, added, "The administration wanted to give the Assad regime an out, but it didn't comply. So I think the position has changed, and the administration has come to a place where it says 'This regime has no future and there's nothing that can be done with it.'

Security Council issues statement condemning Syria

This story talks about it as a draft (as of now), but Israel Radio reports that the Security Council has condemned Syria. But it's only a 'statement' and not a resolution.The draft, obtained by Reuters, would "condemn widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities" and urges Damascus to comply with its obligations under international law.It

How to bring down Assad

Elliott Abrams said he was writing about how to avoid a civil war in Syria, but he makes a couple of key points about how to bring down Bashar al-Assad. Finally, the U.S. should be pressing the Syrian opposition-the traditional leadership inside the country (at least those still out of prison), and the new groups such as those that met recently in Turkey-to state with greater clarity their