Syria’s brave demonstrators

All fired up

What makes unarmed protesters defy snipers and tanks for months?

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Readers' comments



What makes unarmed protesters defy snipers and tanks for months? ... simple. it's gone too far. anyone who has taken part in the protests is a potential victim due to Iranian styled methods of security gathering. It is impossible for the protestors to back down now because if they did they would spend the rest of lives (short ones at that) in fear of being murdered and tortured. That's what happens in Iran where protestors are systematically hunted down and murdered.

The assad regime won't last much longer. Once the sanctions on gas and oil kick in, the regime won't have the funds to pay off its thugs and even Iran is questioning whether it is in their interests to participate in the systematic murder of syrians because you can bet the Saudis are sitting on the sidelines, just waiting for the right time to intervene and they have the money, power, intelligence, and infrastructure to bring about the collapse of Assad. What the Saudis want more than anything is to totally discredit the Iranians. This requires more time for the Iranians to dig their grave even deeper.


"Power Concedes Nothing without a demand" Fredrick Douglas Self Taught escaped slave and abolitionist

" When you met a force call much on Allah and you will be victorious" Allah in Quran

Somerset O Ranyon

It seems as if Assad is firmly in control. His thugs control the streets and kill the opposition, with a little bit of help from their friends (Iran, Hizbullah) The protesters have two options - to die or to arm themselves and fight back. A civil war is the worst parth for Syria, but it seems more and more a likely path. Syria has quite a lot of military trained men. The borders with Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq are long and unguarded and can be used to smuggle weapons. Unfortunately, the future looks quite dark for Syria.
The best alternative would be for Assad to step down. The pictures of Qaddafi and Mubarak however may encourage him to fight to the end.


It is irrelevant on whether the president is a majority or minority, what's far more important is that the president is truly elected by his/her people, what is relevant is that the military should be totally separated from the political structure, with full independence to the judicial, legislative and executive branches. Unfortunately the Syrian regime possesses none of the above.

sole 1

@Canadian Syrian,

I do understand what you are feeling.When you say minorities in power,yes ,India had a muslim president,and i think lots of prime ministers in Canada are from Quebec.But you are right ,beeing in charge of a country ,i mean President,should not be forced by terror.Maybe ,Syria of tomorrow will choose a Sunni,or other ,but free people will have a say in all this,and all what we can do is to wish that tomorrow is Democracy in Syria and people will start to choose their representatives NOT BY BLOOD.


to SyrianCitizen
you said:
The regime is built on patronahe even most of the Mukhabarat&military highest ranks are from one family&not sect !!!
WHAT !!??
All the Bosses of all the military and the mukhabarat are not Assad`s relatives , they all belong to the Alawi sect ,and if the Boss is a Christian , you have an Alawi who has the final say.
here is some names who are not Assads;
Ali dooba , Ali haydar ,Ali aslan , Shafiq fiad , the famous Habib family and the list is long.
Alawis from Class 1 to Cass 10 all in power and all do not want to give up power to the Sunni majority , why would they .


to SyrianCitizen:
Hassoun&bouty and all the Sunni collaborators are the equivalet of Assads& all the thugs of the Alawis , both of them do not represent the mojority on both side.
Till when the world will demand the majority Sunni of Syria (75%)to not discriminate and let minorities rule the country ?!
Syria`s Sunnis have the right and legitimacy to rule , not the Alawis nor any other minority .
do you think France would let any minority rule it ?
do you think America would let any minority rule it ?
do you think Russia or Isreal would let minorities rule ?
the minorities in Syria should remember the Sunnis did not persecuted them , Fares al khori was the first Christian primeir was appointed by the Sunni rule.
Aref and Micheal and all the Alawis and Chrstians should come out and acknowledge the right of the majority like Faisal AL qasem (Al jazeera) did.
the big lie why Damascus&Aleppo not demostrating in large number ??
just ask Assad to withdraw all his thugs( like what happend in Hama)
and you will see millions coming to the streets(its not about the merchants).
just imagain if the rest of Syria stayed at home and only Damascus&aleppo came out ?! you know what Assad and the (complacent)world would say ?
YEAH the 75% Sunnis have the UNDISPUTABLE right to rule Syria and yes they are the ones who paid the price.


To canadiansyrian:
"with whole the due respect" and be sure that I'm not against u.
I really hate to speak this language, because It's not a national language. However will try to answer u from your own dictionary:
Mr. Hassoun (The Mufti) & Mr. Al Bouty and other religious figures are not Alawite for sure.
Merchants of Damascus & Aleppo who have stood with the regime since 1963 are not Alawite.
Aref Dalila & Micheal Kilo & many others who were jailed for years are not Sunni.
Shabeeha Assistants in Aleppo & other places are not Alawite thugs, they are from the same cities where they are active now.
The soldiers who were killed for not firing on peaceful protesters belong to all Sects.
Please just revise ur comments. because the way u speak leads to Civil War, where we all would be looser. In addition, your words here don't represent the Syrian protester's slogans in the street.

The regime is built on patronage even most of the Mukhabarat & Military highest ranks are from one family & not Sect.
Please reconsider ur statements.


to RyanCanadian
here is reality :
1982 40 thousand in Hama all the dead are Sunnis
more than one million cant go back to syria all are Sunnis
more than 90 thousand still missing from 70s&80s all Sunnis
2011 uprising ,more than 4000 dead , 3000 missing,14000 arrested ,14000 refugees, they are all Sunnis.
you are 1000% true that 90% of christian, druz,kurd have had it with 40 years of the alawi rule .
it was the Sunnis who paid the price not the kurd or the christians or the druz.That is the reality.


The problem with your comment is that it does not take in consideration that ALL religious groups (except Alawites) get treated pretty much the same.

The reality of things is that all religious denominations are against the tyrant and do not want a sectarian government.


The Syrian protestors are some of the bravest people in the world, and restore faith in humankind. Assad is a smarmy coward, liar and thug, shamefully STILL supported even now by some Syrians abroad..if they love him so much, why arent they there?
What if the Palestinian's were to employ the same mass peaceful tactics against the Israelis? Many would suspect they would react in the same way as Assad, now THAT would be a dilemma for the US


Ali Ferzat, 60, an internationally-renowned political cartoonist, artist, whose drawings expressed Syrians’ frustrated hopes for change was grabbed after he left his studio early Thursday and beaten by masked gunmen who broke his hands and dumped him on a road outside Damascus. Referring to his broken hands, the gunmen said, "This is just a warning."

Asked whether he feared arrest because of his drawings, he said: “I have killed the policeman in my head.”

Is Mr. Ferzat one of those armed thugs on which the Syrian regime is blaming the uprising?

The artists and intellectuals in Syria have joined the revolt. There's no turning back now.


"With over 2,200 people dead so far, and thousands more detained and tortured, almost everybody knows someone affected."

It may seem a bit cold blooded, but 2200 is 0.01 % of the population.Even if the detainees were to number 10,000 that would be 0.04%.Some anti-Assad web sites speak of 500 detainees per day, of which most are subsequently liberated.Even if that unlikely figure was true, we are talking of 61,000 people over four months, i.e. 0.2% of the population.

I am no fan of this particular tyrant, but I do not think fatalities or arrests have been comparable to what was routine in his daddy´s time.

Bottom line is I am not so certain Assad will be dethroned like his neighbours.

Ghadaffi would have prevailed had NATO not intervened. The Khalifas from Bahrain did prevail, with Saudi help and quite undeservedly. Moubarak was kicked out by the Army, after they figured the Pharaoh was an expendable liability after all.

sole 1

Fear,lack Dignity,complete absence of Freedom of speech,people have nothing to loose.Tomorow ,i am sure ,is better for all and i mean all Syrians.


What makes Syria`s sunnis fired up :
40 years of torture and killing.
40 years of a repressive minority rule.
40 years of fear.
40 years of Father&son rule.
40 years of humiliation .
overcoming fear and death made them fired up.



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