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*Outrage after Palestinian camp attacked in Syria* Published yesterday (updated) 16/08/2011 03:09 [image: Font-] [image: Font+] A handout picture obtained by AFP shows smoke billowing from the Ramleh area of southern Latakia on August 14. [AFP/HO, File] DAMASCUS (AFP) -- Syrian forces killed three people on Monday a day after gunboats pounded Latakia, forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee a refugee camp in the port city, activists and a UN agency said. The Palestinians condemned Syria over the violence as the UN Relief and Works Agency reported that more than 5,000 refugees had fled Ramel camp in southern Latakia under fire and demanded immediate access to the site. Palestine Liberation Organization secretary general Yasser Abed Rabbo denounced the attack on the Ramel camp and said such violence was "part of the crimes against humanity" targeting Palestinians and Syrians alike. Jordan, adding its voice to a recent chorus of Arab condemnation of the Syrian crackdown on dissent, urged Damascus to "immediately" stop the violence and "listen to reason," state-run Petra news agency reported. But as the uprising turned five months old, the violence continued unabated. Troops and tanks clamped down on Monday on the flashpoint province of Homs, targeting the provincial town of Hula where snipers shot dead an elderly man, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The Britain-based group said two other people were killed as they tried to escape from Latakia's Ramel district. "The community of Hula is under siege... The army is carrying out raids and arrests under the cover of heavy gunfire," the rights group said. "Security agents encircled all the entrances to Hula and they started shooting to terrify local residents. Then the army went in to make raids and arrests," it said. Another rights monitoring group said "a large number of tanks entered Hula this morning" (Monday). The operation came a day after gunboats joined the pounding of Latakia that killed as many as 26 people, in the first attack from the sea since Syria's anti-regime revolt erupted on March 15, activists said. Many residents were allowed to flee the worst-hit districts of Latakia at dawn, but soldiers opened fire at a checkpoint, killing a man, and a woman also died when her car was hit as she tried to leave Ramel, the Observatory said. At least six people were wounded. One Latakia resident, declining to be identified, told AFP: "The shooting is coming from security forces on rooftops. They open fire for no reason -- we can't hear any other side shooting back at them." A spokesman for UNWRA, which helps Palestinian refugees, said "thousands of the refugees have fled the camp" in Ramel. "Between five and 10,000 people have fled," Chris Gunness said. "We need to get in there and find out what the hell is going on." The PLO's Abed Rabbo later told AFP: "We strongly condemn the operations of the Syrian forces in raiding and shelling the Palestinian Ramel Camp in Latakia and the displacement of the population. The attack on Ramel is considered "to be part of the crimes against humanity that have been directed at the Palestinian people and their Syrian brothers who are also the victims of this ongoing bloody campaign," he said. Meanwhile Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit telephoned his Syrian counterpart Adel Safar to urge an end to military operations, saying "Syria should listen to reason and start implementing reforms." He told him "military operations must stop to preserve Syria's unity and reforms should start to create a better future for the Syrian people," Petra news agency reported. "World anger and rejection of the bloodshed in Syria are growing." Syria has repeatedly said it is battling "armed gangs," and on Monday the state-run news agency SANA denied that naval vessels had attacked Latakia. "Law enforcement members are pursuing armed men who are using machine guns, grenades and bombs in Ramel from rooftops and from behind barricades," it said. SANA announced on Monday that President Bashar Al-Assad appointed a new governor for Aleppo province in northern Syria. He had already replaced the governors of Homs and Hama in central Syria and Daraa in the south. The Syrian Observatory had said the naval vessels opened up on Latakia with heavy machine guns, and rights groups on Monday said 26 people were killed there, including two Palestinian men in Ramel. On Sunday UNRWA's Gunness said reports from Ramel spoke of "fire from tanks which have encircled the area as well as fire from ships at sea." Meanwhile Spain's El Pais newspaper reported that Madrid sent a special envoy to Damascus last month to convince Assad to accept a plan to go into exile. Madrid was "ready to offer asylum to Assad and his family in Spain," it reported. The violence has killed around 2,200 people, including some 400 members of the security forces, according to rights activists. The Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists, meanwhile reported that 260 people, including women and children, have been killed since the start of Ramadan on August 1. A statement by the group said it was able to confirm that since the holy fasting month started there have been "260 martyrs... among them 14 women and 31 children. Two children were two years old." But it warned that the number of deaths was "way higher" as many victims were still not identified. The UN Security Council is due to hold a special meeting on Thursday to discuss human rights and the humanitarian emergency in Syria. And Human Rights Watch said it had sent a message to Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi urging him to convene an "emergency meeting on Syria." ---------------- http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/ And Now Ethnic Cleansing?<http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/2011/08/and-now-ethnic-cleansing.html> *Are the Assads seriously trying to change the demographic character of the City of Lattakia by deporting all Sunnis? As they watch the current crackdown in Lattakia unfolds, many protesters think so.* *Monday August 15, 2011 * 19 people were killed in security crackdown in Lattakia (6), Homs (12) and Deir Ezzor (1). UNRWA report that 5 to 10,000 Palestinians were driven out of the Al-Ramel Camp on account of the ongoing crackdown. More than 300 residents were reported arrested by army troops and taken to unknown locations. *Links* *Even Former Friends Abandon Syria's Regime<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-15/even-former-friends-abandon-syria-s-regime-noe-raad.html> * Even the publications of Syria's traditional allies, such as the Palestinian Hamas movement, whose top leadership is based in Damascus, are giving space to harsh indictments of those loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the pro-Hamas, Gaza-based daily Al-Resaleh last week, columnist Moumen Bseiso wrote that the Syrian regime is extremely hostile to the aspirations and rights of its people even though it enjoys an honorable record at the foreign level" as a leader of resistance to Israeli and Western agendas in the region. *Turkey issues final word to Syria over civilian assault<http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=233889> * Syrian forces shelled residential districts in Latakia on Monday, the third day of an assault on Sunni neighborhoods of the ancient port city that had seen mounting protests against President Bashar Assads autocratic rule. Meanwhile, thousands of people fled a Palestinian refugee camp in the coastal city, some fleeing gunfire and others leaving on orders from authorities, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency said. *Turkey's Syrian Conundrum<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azeem-ibrahim/turkeys-syrian-conundrum_b_926580.html> * The big question now is how relations will develop with Iran, as Syria is the only ally Iran has in the Arab world. With both Turkey and Iran as major stakeholders in Syria, and with their complex relationship creating differing ideas about the Syrian crisis, there will be some tense repositioning in the days ahead. *Syria's City of Graves: Hama and Its History of Massacres<http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2088679,00.html#ixzz1V9NyroRv> * There's a small, grassless public garden in a residential area just off Hama's Street 40, delineated by a modest metal fence and full of olive trees, their leafy branches laden with unripe fruit. There are also nine fresh graves, for locals whom residents say were killed during the Syrian security forces' recent bloody assault on this scarred rebel city. *A Syrian Drama: A Taxonomy of a Revolution by Omar Dahi<http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=11352> * It is quite amazing that the protest movement has not been as violent as one would expect given the brutality and sectarianism of the regime. *Report: Spain offered Syria's Assad asylum<http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/report-spain-offered-syria-s-assad-asylum-1.378742> * Official close to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited Syria in July to make proposal, according to newspaper El Pais report; Spain gave up on proposal as Syria regime's crackdown became more violent. The best response to this piece in the *New Republic<http://www.tnr.com/article/world/93286/syria-assad-shabbiha-sectarianism> * on the increasing levels of sectarianism in some protest communities is to highlight this observation by Professor Omar Dahi based on a recent trip to Syria: It is quite amazing that the protest movement has not been as violent as one would expect given the brutality and sectarianism of the regime. The motley Syrian opposition did push for a neat revolution, we had a moral obligation to do so, still few of us were surprised to see that things have not been as neat as we wanted. The regime mounted a systematic campaign to stir up sectarian hatred among its supporters and opponents alike, pitting sectarian groups against each other in the hope of generating enough mayhem and chaos to undermine and suffocate the revolution, in doing so, the regime used all the resources of the state under its disposal, especially the media, it was only natural that things turn bumpy. We are not blind to that, and we are not in denial, as the author claims. But we have so far managed to keep the sectarian discourse and violence among the revolutionaries in check. The few incidents that have been reported and that seem to be genuine, as opposed to the bulk of fabrications out there, no matter how reprehensible, should not detract from our success in this regard. The battle is far from over of course, and things can still go wrong. But, for all its fractious nature, Syrias opposition is still doing a great job in pushing forward a message of nonviolence, inclusiveness and tolerance, and will continue to do so. More *defections*: http://youtu.be/si6HqfyDgAY , http://youtu.be/ig9JmKH3aIM , http://youtu.be/_ZwP6KM5jC4 , http://youtu.be/2tys3t7E7FY Bullets holes on the walls and windows of the Hourani Hospital in *Hama City * http://youtu.be/1siNT_-6GTs Assad security forces patrolling the streets of Hama http://youtu.be/KhB6tVjBZE4 An assortment of the rounds and shells used in Hama http://youtu.be/le5kNFxxyi4 Troops storm Al-Hourani Mosque http://youtu.be/hfqRa7aFghA *Palestine / Ramallah:* a demonstration in support of the Syrian Revolution http://youtu.be/nCIxCZ747s0 *LATTAKIA * *Al-Ramel Al-Janoubi Neighborhood was originally a camp for Palestinian refugees, but over the years many poor Lattakia natives moved in as well benefitting from the cheap property prices and the willingness of the authorities to look the other way when people improvised their own solutions to make up for the lack of basic services, as is the case in so squatter settlements in so many Syrian cities. Also, the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian refugees have actually been born and raised in Syria and are no less Syrian than other citizens. Hence their willingness to take direct part in ongoing protests. * *The assassination of Oula Jablawi by the coward Bashar Al-Assad:* some say Oula was shot by a sniper others that she was shot point blank by a security officer. Be that as it may, she was killed yesterday by an Assad supporter enacting the will of his master, she was 5 years old http://youtu.be/FFJjmdeDY5A A *woman driver* falls victim to the random shelling http://youtu.be/0gDXEO8H3fo The martyr *Riyadh Shawi* http://youtu.be/X5moqTIYHrs The city observers a *general strike* http://youtu.be/WH-vSc4hkL4 , http://youtu.be/eM1_33R9K8Q Tanks and troops move into the heart of the *Al-Ramel Al-Janoubi* http://youtu.be/O9M9ulelzoM , http://youtu.be/stSBs1U3BXg , http://youtu.be/a7KksMgkHbA , http://youtu.be/WUtcbt7HrGE , http://youtu.be/1TcmKtCqHoc A close-up for a tank in action http://youtu.be/FaZwDAGWugM gunfire and explosions http://youtu.be/vx1RF1JZYbA , http://youtu.be/iOsIUHhm5fY , http://youtu.be/DFQMkknCSD4 Still, the people managed to put together a funeral for one of their martyrs, *Muhammad Shurayqi* http://youtu.be/AzRTcvNQaFA Meanwhile, pro-Assad death squads spread fear in the *Sleibeh Neighborhood* http://youtu.be/hEI1IDR066I Expecting the army to storm their city, the best that the protesters of * Jableh* can do is read a statement asking the army not to intervene http://youtu.be/CKSmvMjBYCI *HAURAN * *As Assad forces turn their attention to Lattakia, the province of Hauran, the cradle of the uprising, rediscovers its revolutionary ways and begin fielding mass protests again. Syria wants freedom Assad lost all legitimacy The people want to topple the regime all can be heard again echoed by tens of thousands of protesters. * *Maarabah http://youtu.be/nK6iiouBpbA Al-Mseifrah * http://youtu.be/i-XPRz5pVBQ , http://youtu.be/G6hgE0Lah90 , http://youtu.be/2cNXOs9R5zU *Dael* http://youtu.be/CA73Bh2OAgY *Al-Teebeh* http://youtu.be/_wJtAn3JL3E *Khirbet Ghazaleh* http://youtu.be/82RVCrwj15U , http://youtu.be/uaS80ORuFyE *Basr Al-Harir* http://youtu.be/sR_JIrY1XTc , http://youtu.be/0JYH5Q3G4_0 Meanwhile, reinforcements pour into *Tafas* http://youtu.be/5OpdZt9qLpo which has been under siege for weeks http://youtu.be/kLQt8c1UxGs Still, the city manages to field a sizeable protest in the evening http://youtu.be/8Twl7lgCw7E , http://youtu.be/8c3Xr2Z_WA0 In *Deraa City*, mass security presence still prevents residents from organizing large protests http://youtu.be/EuVbJRxBIVQ As military units impose new checkpoints along the road connecting *Nahteh* and *Eastern Al-Mleihah* http://youtu.be/Wk8Y3Mdqsoc *Namar* continues to live under virtual occupation http://youtu.be/PBXdHBD3ABk Smaller protests were organized in * Al-Hraak* http://youtu.be/OU8nOWuXPrw *Ghabaghib* http://youtu.be/o4exNoA7JNQ *Sanamein* http://youtu.be/xk2NRJWd3rU * Al-Harrah* http://youtu.be/0EWVfLeOrD0 *HOMS* Protesters come under fire in *Al-Hamrah* http://youtu.be/SCr-e1k2ZmI and *Bab Al-Sibaa* http://youtu.be/jm4wpxwj7w4 The wounded and the Dead http://youtu.be/8LlvZNZ_8dY , http://youtu.be/TsRmEHrdLnI , http://youtu.be/uN_j2XEjnjw *Stadium Street* http://youtu.be/ycsM3LCM9Wo , http://youtu.be/zukYnU8DoCE *Bab Al-Sibaa* http://youtu.be/QawYOO-5Npk * Al-Ghoutah* http://youtu.be/rLP3RW26lL8 *Al-Bayadah* http://youtu.be/Z2RbpGJW4l8 , http://youtu.be/3J4pDRiCROo , http://youtu.be/0HQtcDodt9E *Bab Al-Dreib* http://youtu.be/9UXJ95gGGSM * Al-Khaldiyeh* http://youtu.be/5VYrDl-q17E , http://youtu.be/t0YPNNWbONc , http://youtu.be/NOq2sHN9jFE *Al-Qoussour* http://youtu.be/2tQhRvLg9lI The martyr *Zakaria Karraz* (died on the 14th) http://youtu.be/YEkNkhljAKAAssad security forces carry out arrests http://youtu.be/qQL6khJO51M Funeral for Jamal Mamdouh (died under torture after weeks in detention) http://youtu.be/dR-XmJvqq6c , http://youtu.be/RUrWZYCzblk His tortured body http://youtu.be/mklEzfKySw0 ** *Talbisseh* http://youtu.be/5aXHbjyRvD0 , http://youtu.be/yDUgxM6wu-E (in flames: Lattakia only kneels before God) http://youtu.be/CLbIMrtO12E *Deir Baalbah* http://youtu.be/fj5Z2pePawA *IDLIB* Protesters came under fire in *Maarrat Al-Nouman* http://youtu.be/iOg4iTFaNvA , http://youtu.be/_ljyod63JF4 *Idlib City* http://youtu.be/7v7uACebnsk , http://youtu.be/IoJALcSHy4Y , http://youtu.be/B1dYKHxhot4 *Jabal Al-Zawiyeh* http://youtu.be/kjBf8SURXqA * Saraqib* http://youtu.be/tG_f6XCb0rA *Kafroumah* (pro-Assad slogans written on the Mosque dome and walls) http://youtu.be/VnwR_opXz0A *Sermeen* http://youtu.be/XF0h2FQSzh0 *Binnish* http://youtu.be/eO34sf02u-Q , http://youtu.be/csgvUnudsuk In the morning, people received some of their released detainees http://youtu.be/_JVF7qcZZdg *Khan Shaikhoon* http://youtu.be/e_9Gj2sUZB8 *Al-Hbeit* http://youtu.be/JSz1_zhC_CY *DAMASCUS* *Al-Kisweh* http://youtu.be/FfXafDMRipc *Harasta* http://youtu.be/hpBvfLmKBHI , http://youtu.be/mZbSJdpCyII *Douma* http://youtu.be/_szAUKp_TOw , http://youtu.be/GCZngGl_tNA *Zamalka* http://youtu.be/__rM0EKnDu0 *Al-Qarrah* http://youtu.be/E5lNYp5p0-4 , http://youtu.be/kMagDkCGxtQ , http://youtu.be/AGWN8QqdbJo *Al-Bareej* http://youtu.be/K31A1iDgNMg *Al-Suwaiqah Neighborhood (Old Damascus)* http://youtu.be/0RKO2OzHv7A , http://youtu.be/pUPOFscI630 Security forces patrol *Dmeir* Suburb http://youtu.be/ATsZikpy5W4 *Kafar Sousseh* http://youtu.be/Tbdj4IYy25U *DEIR EZZOR* *Despite the ongpign crackdown and the siege, the inhabitants of Deir Ezzor are not giving up the fight. Daily and nightly protests still take place. * *Deir Ezzor City* http://youtu.be/kOA6CdmhrSA , http://youtu.be/KykFDp7hD_M *Al-Qouriyeh* http://youtu.be/5aedqbev3lY Takaya (Aug 14th) http://youtu.be/f1nlJlEBFG8 Even in distant, beleaguered, isolated *Albou Kamal* http://youtu.be/ufDXylAfLMA *ALEPPO* *Bayanoun* http://youtu.be/Ohy0kA3i73A *Tal Rifaat* http://youtu.be/9bi7V0vPQ0o Protesters come under fire http://youtu.be/Qdg7ApXfWgY , http://youtu.be/rTeDmjw_z7w Posted by Ammar at 12:07 AM<http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/2011/08/and-now-ethnic-cleansing.html> 0 comments<http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/2011/08/and-now-ethnic-cleansing.html#comments> <http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1338638543807523351&postID=4035739537596411064&from=pencil> Email This<http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=1338638543807523351&postID=4035739537596411064&target=email> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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