Search Results for: syria graphic

As the Red Cross reports that the humanitarian situation is getting steadily worse, David Kenner reports on how the impoverishment of Syria's own baby boom generation precipitated the revolt:

As Bashar strengthened his ties with the nouveaux riches in Damascus and Aleppo, the children of the countryside found themselves left out in the cold. The International Statistical Institute's World Fertility Survey's report on Syria shows that rural women birthed roughly three more children, on average, than their urban counterparts during the peak of the country's demographic boom. Many of these youths looked to make it good in Syria's rapidly swelling urban centers, straining the capacity of these cities to the limit.

But whether these Syrians stayed in the country or made their way to the cities, they found it nearly impossible to pull themselves up from the bootstraps.

Stephanie Saldaña examines [NYT] how Assad's crackdown is starting to engulf Syrian Christians. Justin Vela embeds with the Free Syrian Army. Aryn Baker and Walter Russell Mead look at how Hezbollah's support for Assad's brutality is damaging its standing amongst Arab publics. Egyptian blogger Zeinobia unveils a massive collection of videos from Syria. Below is an extraordinary video (via James Miller) of a protest in Homs carrying on with gunfire clearly audible in the background:

From the NYT’s description of the murder scene above: This graphic video posted online shows 20 members of one family, including nine children, said to have been killed by government forces in al-Bayda, a village in the Baniyas district. Rebels said the government killed at least 322 Sunnis in Baniyas last week, and hundreds are … Continue reading Syria’s Descent Into Hell

The latest from Al Jazeera: Syrian troops and tanks on Friday drove rebels from a Damascus neighborhood where some of the heaviest of this week’s fighting in the capital left cars gutted and fighters’ bodies in the streets. More than 300 people were killed in a single day, activists said on Friday, as the military struggles to regain momentum after a stunning bombing against the regime’s leadership. A fourth member of President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, national security chief General Hisham Ikhtiyar, died of wounds he suffered in Wednesday’s bomb blast… And more from the Guardian: With the situation changing by the hour, the government’s control over large parts of the country continued to unravel. The [Free Syrian Army] said it had captured two border crossings between Syria and Turkey as well as one in Iraq. The regime still holds key cities, at least during the day, but it appears increasingly vulnerable to guerilla raids. … The UN refugee agency said record numbers were now trying to escape the country with some 30,000 Syrians said to have fled into neighbouring Lebanon over the past 48 hours. Residents have reported that some banks were running out of cash, with queues for bread and other foodstuffs seen as Ramadan gets underway. Unrest has also reached Aleppo, which until this week had been relatively free of violence: Distant sounds of explosions and firearms heard in central Aleppo now. Meanwhile, streets, shops, cafes are crowded! #Aleppo #Syria Lastly, a video purportedly shot in Tafas – placed after the jump because of its graphic nature – shows the aftermath of shelling that struck a car and killed the family inside:

As the Arab League mission faces [NYT] heavy criticism over its shockingly blase attitude toward the violence, Josh Rogin reports on US plans for helping the opposition outside the Arab League mission:

After several weeks of having no top-level administration meetings to discuss the Syria crisis, the National Security Council (NSC) has begun an informal, quiet interagency process to create and collect options for aiding the Syrian opposition, two administration officials confirmed to The Cable. … The options that are under consideration include establishing a humanitarian corridor or safe zone for civilians in Syria along the Turkish border, extending humanitarian aid to the Syrian rebels, providing medical aid to Syrian clinics, engaging more with the external and internal opposition, forming an international contact group, or appointing a special coordinator for working with the Syrian opposition (as was done in Libya)…

Philip Gourevitch worries the international community won't be willing to get on board with tougher anti-Assad steps. Paul Wood writes a harrowing dispatch about his visit to Syria:

"Dignity" was a word I heard a great deal from Syrians explaining the revolution. Here, he was talking about Dera'a, the small southern town where the uprising had begun. In March, 15 school children were arrested for spraying anti-regime graffiti on a wall. Desperate families went to the local security headquarters. According to the widely circulated stories, the officer told them to forget about their children and that his men would rape the mothers to give them more. Two weeks later, the children were released. Some had had their fingernails pulled out. Neither the injuries, nor the insult, were forgotten.

Jordanian blogger Chubby writes a eulogy for Basel Sayed, a Homs resident who has been responsible for a number of videos from the beseiged Baba Amr neighborhood. Sayed filmed his own last moments – they're not graphic but still quite disturbing. In his honor, here's a video of a big protest in Homs: