Massive Use Of Terror In Syria
Despite killing nearly 2,000 protestors, wounding over 10,000 and arresting over 20,000, the demonstrations continue. The government keeps increasing the intensity of their attacks on the population, refusing to allow democracy. The savagery of the government response has elicited growing criticism from Turkey, several European nations and the United States. But the Syrian minority government is not backing down. Growing efforts to identify and arrest protest leaders has not halted the demonstrations. When leaders are arrested, others step in to keep the resistance going. In the last week alone, some 5,000 people have been arrested. The protests keep happening. The government is running out of places to keep the prisoners.
The army is concerned about the loyalty of the army. With at least half the Syrian 400,000 security forces (police and army) of uncertain reliability, the government is using the 100,000 or so reliable killers (mainly Republican Guard and secret police, plus Hezbollah gunmen from Lebanon and security specialists from Iran) to terrorize (and slaughter, if need be) those civilians who continue to oppose the government. This is a risky strategy, because if enough less reliable troops and police shoot back, it’s all over for the dictatorship. But the government hard-liners, led by the president’s brother (Maher Assad), have won the argument over how to handle the unrest. There’s no going back from this. Iran continues to send in more security experts, and perhaps trained killers as well. More Hezbollah gunmen continue to arrive from Lebanon. The Assad clan apparently is ready for a fight to the death.
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