Most of Syria is Arab, but, there is a small demographic of Kurd and Armenian, too. It would seem as though the minorities are finding it difficult to find shelter from the violence in Syria. Lebanon is also experiencing a spill over of these minorities demonstrating in Lebanon.
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But according to Mohamad Saleh Nader, (click title to entry - thank you) a Syrian Kurdish asylum seeker in Lebanon who represents the Kurdish parties in the Syrian Revolution Coordination Committee, it is the community he is part of that the authorities are targeting. “The numbers of Syrian Kurds protesting against Assad in front of the Syrian Embassy in Beirut grew lately,” he told Now Lebanon. “Last Sunday 70 to 80 people gathered under the bridge in Bourj Hammoud, and then we took the bus to go to Hamra [where the Syrian Embassy is located]. When we got back from the protest, the same afternoon, things started to become tense,” he said.
“It was Sunday evening. A young Kurd was passing by, and six or seven Armenian young men attacked him. He had a knife and he stabbed one of them. They shot at him, and he was wounded in his leg. The army showed up and took the two wounded people to the hospital,” said Nader. But then the situation escalated.
“The security forces arrested 22 Syrian Kurds living in a building on the same street. And the Syrian Kurd who had been wounded disappeared from the hospital,” Nader said. “Moreover, the same night, at around 4 a.m., a cell phone store belonging to two Syrian Kurds in Bourj Hammoud was shot at,” he added
“We had no problem living together before we started the [anti-Assad] demonstrations,” Nader said. Last Sunday was also the first time the men actually gathered inside Bourj Hammoud and went toward the Syrian Embassy, and Nader says he thinks that is why the Tashnaq political leaders, who are allied with the pro-Syrian March 8 coalition, summoned their supporters to “handle the problem.”....
The attacks are moving toward the border of Syria. The chance of the violence spilling over to neighboring countries is increasing.
...The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (click here) said Tuesday another 26 people were injured in the shootings in two villages on Monday in the restive province of Idlib, which borders Turkey.
In a separate incident in Idlib, Syria’s state-run media reported that border guards prevented 15 gunmen from infiltrating from Turkey on Monday. The report said that two infiltrators were killed....
I believe some of what is happening is ethnic cleansing. Gunman from Turkey usually mean the PKK.
...In October, Russia and China vetoed (click here) a Security Council resolution condemning Syria. The draft, introduced by France and the UK, was supported by other Western countries.
On Tuesday Mr Lavrov defended an alternative text drafted by Russia and China which urges both sides in the conflict to refrain from violence.
He described as "immoral" the position of "those who refuse to exert pressure on the armed, extremist, part of the opposition and at the same time accuse us of blocking the work of the Security Council".
Mr Lavrov said opposition forces in Homs had attacked hospitals and schools.
He added: "To me it is clear that the purpose is to provoke a humanitarian catastrophe, to get a pretext to demand external interference into this conflict."...
Lavrov has a point. Syria is turning into a blood bath. If Lavrov would look to Libya as a comparison, the fact that is rarely talked about is the controversial number of civilian dead in Libya. The figures go from 2000 to 20,000 with 50,000 wounded, many seriously or fatally wounded. The accounting seems to be better in Syria, but, the numbers of dead and wounded can get to be much higher if this is a civil war that will continue until Assad is gone. It was reported the Libyans were assisting the Syrian resistence with munitions in sympathy of their goals.
But according to Mohamad Saleh Nader, (click title to entry - thank you) a Syrian Kurdish asylum seeker in Lebanon who represents the Kurdish parties in the Syrian Revolution Coordination Committee, it is the community he is part of that the authorities are targeting. “The numbers of Syrian Kurds protesting against Assad in front of the Syrian Embassy in Beirut grew lately,” he told Now Lebanon. “Last Sunday 70 to 80 people gathered under the bridge in Bourj Hammoud, and then we took the bus to go to Hamra [where the Syrian Embassy is located]. When we got back from the protest, the same afternoon, things started to become tense,” he said.“It was Sunday evening. A young Kurd was passing by, and six or seven Armenian young men attacked him. He had a knife and he stabbed one of them. They shot at him, and he was wounded in his leg. The army showed up and took the two wounded people to the hospital,” said Nader. But then the situation escalated.
“The security forces arrested 22 Syrian Kurds living in a building on the same street. And the Syrian Kurd who had been wounded disappeared from the hospital,” Nader said. “Moreover, the same night, at around 4 a.m., a cell phone store belonging to two Syrian Kurds in Bourj Hammoud was shot at,” he added
“We had no problem living together before we started the [anti-Assad] demonstrations,” Nader said. Last Sunday was also the first time the men actually gathered inside Bourj Hammoud and went toward the Syrian Embassy, and Nader says he thinks that is why the Tashnaq political leaders, who are allied with the pro-Syrian March 8 coalition, summoned their supporters to “handle the problem.”....
The attacks are moving toward the border of Syria. The chance of the violence spilling over to neighboring countries is increasing.
...The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (click here) said Tuesday another 26 people were injured in the shootings in two villages on Monday in the restive province of Idlib, which borders Turkey.
In a separate incident in Idlib, Syria’s state-run media reported that border guards prevented 15 gunmen from infiltrating from Turkey on Monday. The report said that two infiltrators were killed....
I believe some of what is happening is ethnic cleansing. Gunman from Turkey usually mean the PKK.
...In October, Russia and China vetoed (click here) a Security Council resolution condemning Syria. The draft, introduced by France and the UK, was supported by other Western countries.
On Tuesday Mr Lavrov defended an alternative text drafted by Russia and China which urges both sides in the conflict to refrain from violence.
He described as "immoral" the position of "those who refuse to exert pressure on the armed, extremist, part of the opposition and at the same time accuse us of blocking the work of the Security Council".
Mr Lavrov said opposition forces in Homs had attacked hospitals and schools.
He added: "To me it is clear that the purpose is to provoke a humanitarian catastrophe, to get a pretext to demand external interference into this conflict."...
Lavrov has a point. Syria is turning into a blood bath. If Lavrov would look to Libya as a comparison, the fact that is rarely talked about is the controversial number of civilian dead in Libya. The figures go from 2000 to 20,000 with 50,000 wounded, many seriously or fatally wounded. The accounting seems to be better in Syria, but, the numbers of dead and wounded can get to be much higher if this is a civil war that will continue until Assad is gone. It was reported the Libyans were assisting the Syrian resistence with munitions in sympathy of their goals.
