The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons executive committee met on Friday in The Hague to discuss the joint OPCW and UN mission amid growing international frustration at Syria falling behind on its commitments.
Syria failed to meet an OPCW deadline of Feb. 5 to move all of its declared chemical substances and precursors out of the country. The final deadline under the OPCW plan is for all of Syria's declared chemical materials to be destroyed by June 30....
Why are there still airstrikes if there have been meetings of all the parties? The airstrikes are Assad, not the opposition groups. A man holds a baby who survived what activists say was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo on February 14. The United Nations estimates more than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.
There are many sources of information in Syria. It is difficult to discern the accurate sources, so the best information at this point comes from the United Nations. This photo is from January 8, 2014 of Aleppo following an airstrike and 10 civilian deaths.
The anarchy is the enemy. Airstrikes isn't going to cure it. Ground forces isn't going to do anything either. The leadership as we have witnessed in the Mideast comes from the holy men to organize their following to survive the day.
Assad has resorted to barrel bombs in an attempt to end the resistance. He has to stop the attacks, seek cooperation with opposition leaders who have contact with the religious sects. Killing mass amounts of people is genocide and not peace. Assad needs to be very careful, he is an Alawite. His mistreatment of his people is reverberating through the region.
An Alawite Abdel Rahman Youssef, (click here) was shot dead on Thursday as he drove through Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city,
By Mohammed al-Khatieb, Syria Deeply
February 22, 2014
It has been three months (click here) since the Syrian government launched its offensive on this city’s opposition neighborhoods using barrels packed with explosives.
After a two-week lull imposed by winter weather conditions, President
Bashar al-Assad’s forces have reportedly increased the intensity of the
raids.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that over 400 people
have been killed in Aleppo by these makeshift “barrel bombs” since the
beginning of February, as Geneva II peace talks were under way.
Most rebel-held areas in Aleppo have turned into a no man’s land as
residents flee; entire neighborhoods such as Maysar, Jazmati, Marjeh and
Meisraniyeh are deserted, their shops shuttered. The exodus from the
city is reportedly the largest since the Free Syrian Army first entered
in July 2012...
