#Syria #Aleppo Rebels fire a Katyusha rocket at…

#Syria #Aleppo –

Rebels fire a Katyusha rocket at the Police Academy in Khan al-Asal on the western outskirts of Aleppo

#khan-al-asal, #police-school, #rebels-shelling

#Syria #Lebanon #Christians http www dailystar com lb…

#Syria #Lebanon #Christians –

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2013/Mar-01/208343-sunni-isolation-harms-eastern-christians.ashx#axzz2MEzEzNfQ

As the violence in Syria escalates and spills over into Lebanon, there are increasing sectarian tensions as evidenced by a Sunni-Christian rift over the so-called Orthodox election proposal.

While the Phalange Party and the Lebanese Forces have drifted away from the predominantly Sunni Future movement, Michel Aoun has embarked on a concentrated effort to attack Sunni politicians and actions by targeting Prime Minister Najib Mikati, exploiting the recent incident in Arsal, when two Lebanese Army personnel were killed, evoking the 2006 attack against the Danish Embassy in Beirut, and demonizing Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Gulf states.

Of singular note is the not so tacit support provided by at least three Christian patriarchs for Bashar Assad’s regime and their muted response to gross human right violations by its armed forces. Sunni isolation in Lebanon, similar to the political isolation of Christians in 1975, constitutes a threat to communal coexistence as a number of influential Christians leaders are risking the future of Eastern Christianity by wagering on the success of a dying Syrian leadership.

Two years after Mohammad Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia, what started as a quest for freedom and democracy in the Arab world has evolved into a Sunni revival. The Shiite revival, which in the late 1970s in Iran was initiated by leftist and liberal elements and was usurped by the clergy, quickly spread to galvanize Shiites throughout the Middle East. Similarly the Sunni revival dimension of the Arab Spring has become a dominant factor in North Africa and the Levant.

While some feel that fundamentalism is a recent phenomenon cultivated by Western powers, Islamic fundamentalism has been dormant for more than a century, artificially suppressed through draconian measures, as in Tunisia and Turkey or Syria and Egypt. Once unleashed, its forces have spread with fury and a vengeance. In North Africa, they prevailed against secular and tribal forces.

Although Iran was initially jubilant with the triumph of Islamists against pro-Western dictators, it now sees the conflict in Syria as a Sunni revival and a clear and present danger to Shiite domination. The Sunni crescent from the west has collided with the Shiite crescent from the east. Turkey, which had its own Sunni revival, has been drawn into the fray, as has Hezbollah, which has reverted to its primordial form.

• See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2013/Mar-01/208343-sunni-isolation-harms-eastern-christians.ashx#axzz2MEzEzNfQ

#iran, #secularism

#Syria Rebel cooperation in Syrian town shows challenge…

#Syria –

Rebel cooperation in Syrian town shows challenge of isolating Islamists

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/28/2536470/rebel-cooperation-in-syrian-town.html#storylink=cpy
KFAR NBOUDA, Syria — Sophisticated new weapons now in the hands of rebels in north-central Syria underscore how difficult it will be, once more lethal aid begins to arrive, to keep those weapons from Islamist extremists who’ve become key to rebel military advances throughout the country.

Rebels who belong to the Victory Brigade – a group whose alliance with the Hama provincial military council makes it acceptable to U.S. officials who are deciding where aid should go – were giddy as they showed off their new weapons this week. They included Russian-made RPG-27s – shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenades capable of piercing the armor on the Syrian military’s most advanced tanks – and RB6 grenade launchers, another Russian-designed weapon, this one capable of spewing projectiles that explode on contact.

But the brigade doesn’t fight alone, and a video that another rebel group, the Islamist Ahrar al Sham, posted to YouTube this month showed fighters using the same kinds of weapons in an assault that was coordinated with the Victory Brigade.

“Of course they share their weapons with us,” said Ali Ankir, a spokesman for Ahrar al Sham. “We fight together.”

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/28/2536470/rebel-cooperation-in-syrian-town.html#storylink=cpy

#ahrar-alsham, #al-farouq-battalion, #kafrnabouda, #rb6-grenade-launcher, #rpg-27, #victory-brigade, #weapons

#Syria, Missing people in #Damascus and Suburbs

Tharwacolamus £1bn pledged in aid to Syria fails…

Tharwacolamus
£1bn pledged in aid to Syria fails to materialise – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/28/aid-syria-fails-materialise #Syria #Assad