*It isn't like Hamas has not played a role in the whole sordid affair for the Syria regime since their headquarters are in Damascus and one of their benefactors is Iran ( even though they have been shopping for new ones in $$$ $audi Arabia and elsewhere recently maybe Qatar can help them out since now that the Taliban has an office their at the behest of the US) and both are providing intelligence and support to the regime but to think they can broker a deal is absurd to begin with.* ** ** *In a press conference, Meshaal said that he had come with a message from Assad ( article below does not say this), which stated Syria's insistence on ensuring that the solution to the crisis came from within the Arab League and Arab countries.* ** *"Since the start of the crisis, we in Hamas and personally, have made a huge effort to solve the crisis through a political solution, and we have kept up these efforts. We believe that, specifically through the Arab solution, that we must move from a security solution to a political one that will stop the bloodshed of valuable Syrian brothers and that will achieve stability, reform and democracy for Syria in order for it to avoid the current strife they face. Syrian blood is precious to us and we keen for an end to the crisis by a political solution not a security one."* ** *This statement from them after they have shed blood and repressed other Palestinian groups, trade unions, tendencies and people in Gaza for years.* ** *Cort* ** ** *Hamas leaders are mediating between Arab League and Damascus * ** *Dina Ezzat, Friday 6 Jan 2012*
Head of Arab League praises Hamas leader Khalid Meshaal for his role in trying to broker peace in Syria following meeting at the league's headquarters in Cairo Khaled Meshaal carried no message to me from the Syrian authorities but I asked him to carry a message to Damascus to help facilitate the job of the Arab League mission in Syria, said the Nabil El-Arabi, secretary-general of the Arab League, following talks with the Damascus-based Hamas leader Meshaal in Cairo this morning. El-Arabi and Meshaal were both briefing the press following over an hour of talks that they both said dedicated considerable attention to developments in Syria. El-Arabi praised the role of Meshaal and his advice to, and mediation with, the Syrian authorities, which allowed for the signing of a protocol between Damascus and the Arab League to send a mission of Arab observers to Syria to inspect the compliance of the Assad regime to end the violence against demonstrators calling for democratic reforms. The mission arrived in Syria on 19 December and will stay 19 January unless its mandate is renewed by both the Arab League and Syria. And according to El-Arabis statements today, members of the mission are not having an easy time and the Syrian regime is yet to honour its commitments towards the Arab League in terms of ending the violence, pulling military vehicles out of urban areas, releasing political prisoners and pursuing political reforms. They are not having an easy time and their task is difficult. I am sending a message via Khaled Meshaal to ask the Syrian authorities to honour their commitments, El-Arabi said. Meshaal, who refrained from throwing any criticism at the Assad regime, promised to carry the message and to exert more effort to help spare Syrian blood and help the cause of stability in Syria against plots that are designed against it. Meanwhile, El-Arabi and Meshaal offered no concern over the fate of the Damascus based Hamas leaders should the Syrian regime come into serious trouble. We did not discuss this matter at all, El-Arabi said. And according to Meshaal, Hamas leaders have no concern about where they would be in the Arab world or in the occupied Palestinian territories. The talks came less than 24 hours after El-Arabi met with the US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffery Filtman to discuss developments in Syria, in anticipation of an Arab League meeting on Syria on Sunday and a UN Security Council meeting on the same issue on Tuesday. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/31057 [image: Syrian Alawite actress Fadwa Suleiman speaks to Reuters in an interview over Skype from an undisclosed location in Homs December 14, 2011. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji] *Syrian Alawite actress Fadwa Suleiman speaks to Reuters in an interview over Skype from an undisclosed location in Homs December 14, 2011. * Credit: Reuters/Ali Jarekji By Khaled Yacoub Oweis AMMAN | Thu Jan 5, 2012 10:24am EST AMMAN (Reuters) *- Syrian actress Fadwa Suleiman says she was drawn to a life in drama because of its promise of freedom.* Disillusioned at the level of state control even in theater and film, she joined protests last year against President Bashar al-Assad and now takes the stage at demonstrations in the city of Homs, center of resistance to his family's four-decade rule. Cutting her hair short like a boy and moving from house to house to evade capture, Suleiman has become one of the most recognized faces of the 10-month uprising against Assad. She played no part in the early demonstrations that broke out in March, but a deep-seated rebellious streak - which only increased when she joined the state-run High Conservatory for Theater Arts - drew her toward the protests. "I chose to study theater because I thought theater means freedom to think and to express oneself," Suleiman told Reuters in a Skype interview from Homs. Describing her time at the conservatory, which like most culture in Syria<http://www.reuters.com/places/syria>is controlled by the state, she said she slowly discovered that "my country wants to drain every culture and content from its citizens." "I became opposed to the way we work, to the humiliation, the degradation in human interaction. Everywhere you go, even a theater or a film company, you feel you have entered a security branch," she said. "Authors write the worst scripts but they are chosen because they have links to security." Before the uprising, Suleiman was known for her roles in television, radio, cinema and theater, playing an art teacher at an orphanage in "Small Hearts," a television series that helped raise awareness about human organ trafficking and was broadcast by several Arab channels. She also acted in an Arabic adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" at the Qabbani theater in Damascus. When the uprising broke out Suleiman, who is in her 30s, became increasingly active as Syria's intelligentsia mobilized in support of the pro-democracy protesters. She has appeared at rallies demanding Assad's removal, sharing the podium with soccer star Abdelbasset Sarout, one of a number of Syrian celebrities who have backed the revolt. Veteran actresses Mona Wassef and May Skaf, singer Asala Masri, film director Nabil Maleh and composer Malek Jandali are among other Syrian figures who have supported the uprising. She has also delivered impassioned monologues to camera, calling for peaceful protests to continue across the country until Assad is overthrown. In one video message in November, she said security forces were searching Homs neighborhoods for her and beating people to force them to reveal her hiding place. Her life on the run resembles that of other activists wanted for their role in the uprising, except that Suleiman is a woman from Syria's Alawite minority - the same sect as Assad - taking part in a mainly male and Sunni Muslim rebellion. In the conservative bastion of Homs where Suleiman has made her stand, most women wear the headscarf and tensions between Sunnis and Alawites have exploded into sectarian violence. Fearing a Sunni backlash, the Alawite community, a secretive and tightly knit sect which controls the army and makes up most of the security apparatus, has mostly sided with Assad, or remained silent as troops cracked down on protesters. Many Alawites have disavowed Suleiman, including her brother Mahmoud, who appeared on a state-controlled satellite channel saying Syria's unity was more important than his sister. The actress insists Sunnis and Alawites can still live together despite the spiral of sectarian violence in Homs, pointing to conservative Sunni families who have opened their homes to shelter her from security forces. "The regime portrays Homs as a hub for extreme Islam, but I walk in Sunni neighborhoods distributing flyers, and go like this, without a veil, into the homes of religious families and discuss politics and organizing the next protest," she said. A YouTube video showed Suleiman standing on a podium last month in the Sunni neighborhood of Khalidiya in Homs, chanting "One, one, one. Syrian people are one." The crowd, waving Syrian green and white flags from the era before Assad's Baath Party took power in a 1963 military coup, thunders after her "Khalidiya: free and proud." Opposite Khalidiya is the Alawite neighborhood of Nozha, where the bodies of 30 Sunni Muslims were dumped by army trucks in December, provoking an attack by armed Sunnis, according to an Alawite resident of the district. At the rally, Suleiman appealed to the people of Nozha "to come and see reality, to see your brothers in blood peacefully demanding freedom." "Freedom cannot be against your beliefs, even if you're pro-regime," she said. In the interview, Suleiman said that stopping the sectarian bloodshed in Homs had become the main priority, but that Assad must also be removed. "We're a civilized and peaceful nation. We cannot let the regime with a simple ploy make us slaughter each other to justify its existence," she said. At a rally earlier in the uprising, the actress sang a popular tune by Lebanese singer Marcel Khalifah, surrounded by youths from her home region in the Alawite mountains overlooking the Mediterranean. "I chose you, my homeland. Lovingly, voluntarily," she sang, in apparently wistful reference to her now estranged Alawite community. "Let the times disavow me, as long as you will remember me, my wonderful homeland." (Editing by Dominic Evans<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=dominic.j.evans&;> ) Videos from http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/ *HIGHLIGHTS: *Kerosene shortages plague all protest communities *Wadi Arab*(Homs City) http://youtu.be/SVfydtxBZWc *Amoudeh* (Hassakeh Province) http://youtu.be/PfNGjE2YE24 Students rallies like this one in *Ghabaghib* (Deraa/Hauran) http://youtu.be/23s7n0brxcI and these ones in the Damascene suburbs of * Moadamiyah* http://youtu.be/LUyih4vRQtI and *Daraya* http://youtu.be/ZVP9ZETp86M and this one in Hama City http://youtu.be/rGb4OQy9SNI happen even day and in every protest community across the country, especially as students go back home at the end of the day. *The General Strike continues t be observed throughout the protest communities.* In *Deraa City*, police car roam the neighborhood calling on shopkeepers to open their shop http://youtu.be/XkSnkX9voTs At night, all through Syrian, protesters carried a Noise Campaign. The purpose of the campaign was simply to annoy the loyalist troops in the neighborhood. This is a sample of what the campaign entailed: *Mreijeh*(Homs City) http://youtu.be/HbHI7UddkYA *Sahari* (Deraa City) http://youtu.be/aRSM4pkMkJY *Douma* (Damascus) http://youtu.be/17zZkGtp1JA * Moadamiyeh* (Damascus) http://youtu.be/aSO7Qm-UVv0 *Idlib City* (Idlib) http://youtu.be/9wbp-TJbKbc Major General Mustafa Ahmad Al-Sheikh announces his *defection* on Al-Jazeerah, making him the highest ranking officer to defect. Maj. Gen Al-Sheikh accused of threatening the civil peace and social fabric of the country, and calls on his colleagues to join him http://youtu.be/D5aYcFc4pTMMore defections took place in the town of Rastan in Homs Province. The officer making the announcement says I came into this world in spite of me, and will leave it in spite of me. But I will live free http://youtu.be/B0sOFbC5tF4 *HOMS CITY*: *Bab Al-Sibaa* A loyalist checkpoint in action http://youtu.be/WOu1MMuPmrs Impact of recent shelling in *Bab Al-Sibaa* http://youtu.be/dU8jo0nwTBIMartyr in *Khudr* Neighborhood http://youtu.be/dL6yA9cGSU0 Martyr from *Baba Amr* http://youtu.be/xSXwGWeEONs Another http://youtu.be/Qta0jLpYA_4 And another http://youtu.be/XIFjVNgAIIU His impromptu funeral http://youtu.be/6SyDMIorgBI A young activist from *Deir Baalbah* who volunteers as a medic shows off his medical kit, complains of lack of medications and supplies, and says that he and others took a crash course in administrating First Aid. They have no other training http://youtu.be/TM8N5n7As38 Elsewhere in the city, a local activist shows as an example of the walls people are constructing around their neighborhoods to protect themselves and their children from snipers http://youtu.be/CjJRMdXaH3Y In *Shammas* a local activist leads the protest in Arabic and French for the benefit of an international audience http://youtu.be/kj1c1JPLkcY *Rallies* *Khaldiyeh* http://youtu.be/_7piwRDUA6k , http://youtu.be/S4G82dHpkA4 An all-women protest in *Waer* http://youtu.be/2CeaV-Rtlx8 , http://youtu.be/P_zrrKGS2-0 *Bab Houd* http://youtu.be/3L1CHg8bwj0 , http://youtu.be/xh12DrjiKgM , http://youtu.be/swCISDAGTCw , http://youtu.be/AxDpjoPpSCQ *Jib Al-Jandali* http://youtu.be/VwC4EUztXG4 *Nighttime* *Inshaaat* http://youtu.be/R2Q7qtvsDQo *Qoussour* http://youtu.be/CovwbAK4cV0 , http://youtu.be/VzznC4T9TvE *Ghoutah* http://youtu.be/vcMngDhdf2M *Deir Baalbah* http://youtu.be/6mxt9ntLt00 , http://youtu.be/ThMy3LYNZyw *Waer* http://youtu.be/kHPReKY5n-w *Baba Amr* http://youtu.be/jVjsL5ZI8lI , http://youtu.be/Cs7HZUB9WSk *Malaab* http://youtu.be/YWhVUk5uBOs *Khaldiyeh* http://youtu.be/lmy4BCRxdXY *Karm Al-Shami* http://youtu.be/5xCSCKWiads * Sifsafeh* http://youtu.be/W72ir25FD2o *HOMS PROVINCE*: Protesters come under fire in *Rastan* even as AL monitors were paying visit to the city (Dec 3) http://youtu.be/1eg8ToVsRgA Earlier in the day, mothers of local martyrs met with AL monitors to explain the circumstances surrounding the dead of their children http://youtu.be/95PsXfGHr7Y A funeral in *Qseir* http://youtu.be/6ja-NoSJLHc became a rally http://youtu.be/OdR1Q5hRQr0 , http://youtu.be/pLckYOZQT_M A martyr in the morning http://youtu.be/35lNY8vrDpw and a rally at night in *Houleh* http://youtu.be/kIMA7fzMBUA *Rallies* *Tadmor* http://youtu.be/ysGhA2JKJKE *Talbisseh* http://youtu.be/2h1-m981Xow *HAMA CITY*: Army troops all over the *Jisr Al-Mizraab *Neighborhood http://youtu.be/83EvZqo7AZ8 *Rallies* *Bab Qibli* http://youtu.be/Qs7L5iIqGK8 *Hamidiyeh* http://youtu.be/-CUb9Hu51i0 *Sheikh Anbar* http://youtu.be/8I2Y9OR1Ogk *HAMA PROVINCE*: *Rallies* *Karnaz* http://youtu.be/i3a6aTzvw9Y * Kafrenboudeh* http://youtu.be/q0SlUPo400w *Morek* http://youtu.be/x7cMS7eBW3I *Kafar Zeiteh* http://youtu.be/N7U62_4n4YI * Khaldiyeh* http://youtu.be/7Y2BAg9DRP8 *DAMASCUS CITY*: A small funeral in *Hajar Al-Aswad* http://youtu.be/JjsD-ic4Hd0 Protesters come under fire in *Daraya* http://youtu.be/0XoTYXzvMbA A rally in *Mojtahid* neighborhood in Central Damascus http://youtu.be/IoHeHiznO2o , http://youtu.be/le2GyZxhauw *Rallies* *Barzeh* http://youtu.be/hyYBLPUAv7Q *Qadam* http://youtu.be/isiUSjk-eVQ *Jobar* http://youtu.be/l6MlrnJ3UiM *Assaly* http://youtu.be/0AplVL1grmM *Qaboun* http://youtu.be/UiRZ0cfLAYc *DAMASCUS NORTH*: *Rallies* *Qarrah* http://youtu.be/fUqFpzNRoSs *Maarrat Yabroud* http://youtu.be/sDOe4SJ7irQ *Yabroud* http://youtu.be/iEd127TywGM *DAMASCUS EAST*: Protesters in *Hamouriyeh* http://youtu.be/l4vo4xGGN70come under fire http://youtu.be/8Hy96w_9QEc , http://youtu.be/TP4kHmrtMcc , http://youtu.be/6xDeCEA5i04 three were killed http://youtu.be/pwhbe9KucFEThe martyrs http://youtu.be/N0eqFNcl-hY , http://youtu.be/CJizAbCB8ac , http://youtu.be/Qn_1alnhrOg At night, a mass funeral was held http://youtu.be/YVCj3UC9oBY , http://youtu.be/bm0Pfdkr9TA Protesters in *Arbeen* came under fire as well http://youtu.be/8twHHwQziiM, http://youtu.be/JAtY_lDHo0g even as AL monitors were paying a visit to the suburb http://youtu.be/jFR8G-fXdms , http://youtu.be/H2xac1_V_Vs Naturally, the monitors escape http://youtu.be/3d7EG1bKH8w Soon after, the anti-riot vehicle operated by loyalist storm its way out as well http://youtu.be/39au7EHx5N8 But not before playing some cat-and-mouse with the protesters http://youtu.be/CLYra0-0t7c *Rallies* *Zamalka* http://youtu.be/BRztIDy4e3A , http://youtu.be/Ry2zc_FpIsI Fireworks were involved http://youtu.be/xib1PkZxYiA *Douma* http://youtu.be/Q7gRkIlirLY *Harasta* http://youtu.be/BRWUK9Ec41A *Mdeirah* http://youtu.be/bRUt1sXPUZk *Harran Al-Awameed* http://youtu.be/GyOUbRYs6Es *DAMASCUS WEST*: *Rallies* *Zabadani* http://youtu.be/hPokdjqJi9c A martyr http://youtu.be/M4-GeFJRgj8 *DEIR EZZOR*: A funeral for a local activist in* Deir Ezzor City* http://youtu.be/WjKpbXpJdWM soon draws thousands of participants http://youtu.be/5FAh7OzoDhU , http://youtu.be/ZUZxvrFhihE Near dusk, protesters come under fire http://youtu.be/E_ayqh17pFs but remain defiant chanting long live the Free Syrian Army http://youtu.be/Pi_vcQrz_wk , http://youtu.be/OvIL4OmBQ3I At night, people take back to the street (Hassan Taha Street) http://youtu.be/BGyB7ocT-PI Loyalist action in *Ghraybeh* leaves two martyrs including http://youtu.be/fM0lpuZFLXg , http://youtu.be/gJQzm1JJNgE These are the loyalist tanks that pounded the city http://youtu.be/hAUbCFk9CTs Activists show some of the shell fragments they found http://youtu.be/Qi6o_O6Ih28 The place where the martyrs fell still shows signs of blood and human remains http://youtu.be/oedrpkOWJAo the community is a poor one lying on the outskirt of the desert, the motorbikes of the locals, their chief mode of transport, were burnt http://youtu.be/a96l38seA_I At night, units affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, conduct their own operations against loyalists destroying one of their tanks http://youtu.be/_JbtmnLIpbU *Rallies* *Jbeileh* http://youtu.be/hmECP6Q5xOs *Boqrus* http://youtu.be/aAkzLiOEJSk *Ardi* http://youtu.be/edLnGVW0jh0 *Qouriyeh* http://youtu.be/qcDMNs7Kh2w *Jarthi* http://youtu.be/UX-Hxu-dAog *Mouhassan* http://youtu.be/EhJmbxxePW4 *Kaheel* http://youtu.be/JB6F--MJ6aQ *IDLIB*: Unknown martyr found in *Binnish* http://youtu.be/2c1q_Vb4uR4 *Rallies* *Tal Dibs* (Dec 4) Nabil Al-Arabi, cant you hear? The people want a no-fly zone http://youtu.be/uo3dWpHynw4 *Kafroumah* http://youtu.be/Ujf9qxHuE5U *Sarmeen* http://youtu.be/UByjxYk-sV4 *Ariha* http://youtu.be/CxQ5A8RR_tk *Jisr Ashoughour* (Bsheiriyeh) http://youtu.be/On1clM0r9os *Nighttime* *Binnish* http://youtu.be/5f7H-UPLnVw *Idlib City* http://youtu.be/4zmyc6WZaeQ *Gilli* http://youtu.be/Ptop_f0Imx8 *DERAA CITY*: Monitors stream out of the city http://youtu.be/ojONlAtZlt4 * Rallies* *Mahata* http://youtu.be/mf2Y2_9E1LM *DERAA/HAURAN*: Locals in *Mseifrah* speak with visiting AL monitors http://youtu.be/xweleLWK5WU , http://youtu.be/DS49lwUrbkE Some show them examples of the shell cases used against them http://youtu.be/TRj-USTA3lsAfterwards people hold a rally while the monitors blended in http://youtu.be/ylaBcfJK294 , http://youtu.be/FxuL-J-gLxE Pro-Regime Addounia TV was on location as monitors spoke to loyalists troops http://youtu.be/aBkVi9ANNOM In *Dael*, monitors stand between loyalist troops and protesters http://youtu.be/dRdMGyxYWNY *Rallies* *Hraak* http://youtu.be/-_k6giguGu0 *Naeemah* http://youtu.be/a8O1XJVQKo0 *Harrah* http://youtu.be/Zs6u5ux1Ucc *Khirbet Ghazaleh *http://youtu.be/qJfsNDt61hg *Jizah* http://youtu.be/IROXfoV4eDg , http://youtu.be/bBnDJe0zA_4 *Ankhel* http://youtu.be/9hHLitZ4et8 *Tseel* http://youtu.be/XPjzU6SSDa0 *Mhajeh* http://youtu.be/qqv-UugMcog *Bosra Al-Sham* http://youtu.be/pVP507FgVFE *Dael* http://youtu.be/M2Bv9GAp5zY * Sahari* http://youtu.be/wnv6htMrmGs *ALEPPO CITY*: *Marjeh* http://youtu.be/qgCJ1ZJCrZs , http://youtu.be/ArRWtjokr-k protesters trample on Assads posters http://youtu.be/08yPu3KWuPM ALEPPO PRVINCE: *Tal Rifaat* http://youtu.be/row4ouEQdqM *HASSAKEH*: *Deirik* http://youtu.be/y9SSrl_WwtI *Amoudeh* http://youtu.be/4OANFrLYkpk * * [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! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
