Syrian violence shadows Christians' celebrations

[David__77]

Photos of people killed at security sites on Friday in two car bomb attacks are seen on a Christmas tree in Damascus December 24, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

DAMASCUS, Syria - On the Christmas Eve, Christians in Syria suffered from distress and some even canceled celebrations due to violence across the country and recent deadly explosions in the capital Damascus.

The Christian neighborhoods in Syria, which were usually decorated with colorful lights on the Christmas Eve in the past, on Saturday look as dim as other parts of the country that has been gripped by months of unrest. Markets which were usually crowded with people at this time look relatively empty this year.

...

Patriarchal Assistant at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Bishop Luca al-Khouri, told local media that Syrians are brothers and no one can divide them, adding that "we live together, Muslim and Christian clergymen, Christian and Muslim people, in this sage country... but they want to fragment this country, and God willing they won't be able to do that." Al-Khouri said that on the Christmas Eve, "the enemies of Syria opted to gift Syria with victims rather than good wishes."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2011-12/25/content_14323068.htm

[tabatha]

1. “By All Means Necessary!” Individual and Command Responsibility for Crimes agst Humanity in Syria

Since the beginning of anti-government protests in March 2011, Syrian security forces have
killed more than 4,000 protesters, injured many more, and arbitrarily arrested tens of
thousands across the country, subjecting many of them to torture in detention. These
abuses, extensively documented by Human Rights Watch based on statements of hundreds
of victims and witnesses, were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack
against the civilian population and thus constitute crimes against humanity.
This report focuses on the individual and command responsibility of Syrian military
commanders and intelligence officials for these crimes. It is based on interviews with 63
defectors both from the army and from the intelligence agencies, generally known as the
mukhabarat. These defectors shared with Human Rights Watch detailed information about
their units’ participation in violations and the orders they received from commanders at
different levels. The defectors provided information on violations that occurred in seven of
Syria’s fourteen governorates: Damascus, Daraa, Homs, Idlib, Tartous, Deir al-Zor, and
Hama.

Human Rights Watch interviewed all of the defectors separately and at length. Violations
described in this report are those that were described separately by several defectors and
with sufficient detail to convince the researcher that the interviewees had first-hand
knowledge of the incidents in question. Several accounts have been excluded because
interviewees did not provide such detail.

Human Rights Watch 88-page report on the atrocities committed by the Assad govt.
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/syria1211webwcover_0.pdf

OP - Bullshit story from China - would you expect anything else from them?
Your propagandizing will not help - especially for the following reasons

- no suicide bomber body (bodies) have been found
- no civilians should be inside one of the most protected military installations in Syria
- no civilian can get through the first of many checkpoints

It is either an inside job (Assad lost control of his military), or it was an inside job ordered by Assad.

[David__77]

2. It's about the Christian people and leaders of Syria, not China.

And HRW is irresponsible with at least some of it's major claims: there's the big case of Zainab al-Hosni. See http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/27/syria-investigate-possible-state-role-decapitating-woman

But she was never killed or harmed in any way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/world/middleeast/woman-believed-killed-by-syrian-forces-turns-up-on-tv.html

No retraction of irresponsible claims by HRW, and the link is even still up. I'd take anything from HRW with more than a grain of salt. They are simply serving as a clearinghouse of opposition claims.

[tabatha]

3. HRW was going by the following:

"Syrian authorities returned al-Hosni’s dismembered body to her family on September 17, 2011, without providing any information on the circumstances surrounding her killing, and forced her mother to sign a paper stating that “armed gangs” had killed her."

If it was not Zainab al-Hosni's dismembered body, whose was it? Why are bodies dismembered by the Syrian govt?

Why did the Syrian government LIE AND SAY it was her. They were the FIRST liars.

If it was not her, and the Syrians claimed it was her, then Syria is to blame for the deception NOT HRW.

Can you not apply a little logic?

You have a right-wing mind. Hide the truth that Syria claimed that the dismembered body was Zainab al-Hosni's, and then blame HRW when they report what the pure and truthful Syrian govt stated.

And using that same logic, I would take anything that the Syrian government said with a grain of salt. Which is what I do.