Another Massacre... Another Day in Syria

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Shabiha Go Door To Door In Damascus
(Part of The Darkness Visible post)

In a town on the outskirts of Damascus, Jdeidet Artouz, the Shabiha have committed yet another massacre. Nobody knows if this is in response for the rebels' killing of four police officers yesterday. But what is clear is that the "ghost" went door to door to round up what they called "terrorist". And as a result somewhere between 30 and 60 innocent civilians were butchered so that Assad's regime could satisfy its need for fresh blood.

In addition to the tension in the capitol of Syria another massacre was carried out in a neighboring suburb of the city, Yalda. In this slaughter the Shabiha again were seen going door to door looking for their "terrorist". And again the innocent civilians who happened to still be in their homes hiding were rounded up and taken away. Lined up in front of brick walls the 20 to 30 men, women, and children were shot and left to rot in the summer sun.

All the while the nearly hundred dead bodies in these too attacks are supposed to be ignored because some human rights groups were "appalled" by the four dead police officers the rebels produced. Nobody seems to be able to realize that the four police officers were armed and fighting back before they were captured. Nobody seems willing to admit that the four officers were used by the Assad regime to oppress the people of Aleppo. But we can't deny that the civilians butchered at the hands at the Shabiha were unarmed and no threat to Assad's tyrannical rule.

Not to argue that the crimes of the rebels is justified by the deaths of the innocent. But how can we compare the beating, tormenting, and killing of four police officers (most likely loyal to their government since they were still armed and fighting when captured) to the savage massacres of innocent civilians?

The answer is that we can't.

As the fighting in Aleppo heats up we are almost guaranteed that we will be seeing more massacres and more humanitarian crises coming out of Syria. The fact that food and water are becoming scarce in the embattled city isn't helping the civilians trapped inside to stay out of the crossfire. Taxi service is actually still up and running in Aleppo as the cabs charge around five times the usual fare. Citizens scramble across streets and flee inside as bullets zip down the streets. Children search for food as jets dive bomb their neighborhoods. And all this happens as the death toll ticks upward despite the fact nobody is counting it.

Now we will have to wait to see what happens next. While it hurts to hear of another massacre... let alone two... we are waiting to see what happens in Aleppo. All the hallmarks of a humanitarian tragedy are there. All the parts for a massacre are lining up. So let us pray that what appears to be just over the horizon does not come. Pray for Syria.

The Shallow Grave

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For Assad or For Liberty?

Aleppo continues to be hammered as Assad's forces more heavy artillery into civilian neighborhoods all the while shelling other houses near by. What appears to be a scene from Dante's Inferno has engulfed the commercial hub of Syria. Businesses and homes alike are sacrificed to the mortars and artillery shells that rain from the sky day and night. Ramadan has no meaning for the terrified citizens who have remained trapped by ferocious fighting. And at the heart of all this sets one monster who refuses to leave.

The man who came first for the peaceful protesters in his nation's cities. The beast who then went after the innocent children of his countrymen. This is the creature that now threatens to level the city of Aleppo if only to save it from the rebels... his fellow Syrians.

On the other hand you have Hezbollah and Al-Quada trying to hijack what was supposed to be a movement for peace and democracy. The extremist who have found a new nation to plunder now threaten to make Aleppo Assad's grave. So now we must ask... for whom this grave now waits?

The resentment of Assad's excesses and the West's abandonment have fueled Syrian rebels to a fury Aleppo now bears. IEDs and RPGs now rule the roads of what was once a city. Damascus waits in line to be devoured next. Improvised weapons are being pitted against tanks and helicopters as the dogs of war claim the streets. The grave is being made ready.

Despite Assad's superior weapons one has to recall what the tyrant is up against. In Aleppo the Syrian Army can not send in tanks with the infantry escorts they require to operate effectively. IEDs (improvised explosive device) have made this impossible and sniper fire makes it suicidal. Instead Assad's tanks are being forced into narrow streets as RPGs (rocket propelled grenade) pick off the steel coffins one by one. Helicopter cover from overhead is threatened by small arms fire as they are forced to get in close to locate the guerrilla soldiers on the ground. It seems Assad's forces are being treated to the same threats United States soldiers faced in Iraq.

Syrian rebels have shown that they are willing to use suicide attacks in some cases if the reward is worth the cost in their eyes. In Damascus this was made evident when the rebels set of suicide bombs that are believed to have killed members of Assad's regime. These attacks even sent Assad into hiding for a couple days as the bombs continued to rock Damascus.

Back in the United Nations the world watches as the 2.5 million residents of Aleppo either flee or bunker down. France and other Western nations have already said that Aleppo has the potential to become the next Homs style massacre. This time around however if the regime wins the civilian death toll could be counted in the hundreds of thousands instead of just the hundreds. Innocent women and children will most likely be the number one targets of the Shabiha if Assad's regime can route the rebels.

In all wars it is expected that a small number of the dead will inevitably be noncombatants. Yet in Syria the number of innocent killed at this point outnumbers the number of combatants killed by far. To make things worse, Syria's government has targeted the nation's youth in a method of systematic slaughter not seen in modern times. This is expected only to continue if Assad can take Aleppo.

Along the border refugees escaping Assad's tyranny are harassed by border patrols. In several cases it has been verified that Syrian soldiers have shot the children of refugees while allowing the parents to escape. The motive for this is clear... the message is clear... the government of Syria wishes to demoralize and crush the spirits of anyone who opposes Assad. Fleeing the country is apparently considered treason instead of remaining loyal and waiting to die like all the rest.

I have made it clear in recent post that it is my opinion that Assad is acting like the male lion who has just taken on a new pride. He is roaming the landscape looking for the cubs of those who are now to be his oppressed slaves. And like the lion... Assad is slaughtering and devouring his nations youth. Taking from the pride any form of hope that might be left.

It is now my opinion that the children trapped in Aleppo are at more risk than they have been ever before. Not only is Assad shelling the city relentlessly but he is preparing his forces for a fight to the death. The loyal Shabiha are waiting to act as the SS did in Poland. They will come in behind the Syrian Army and "mop up" the "undesirables". Women and children will be used to make an example for all the rest. For the Shabiha they are easy targets for they cannot fight back. They will be tortured and then killed. Their bodies will be beaten even after they die to make them appear worse than just a bullet to the head. This is to be a grotesque mascaraed for the conqueror... Assad. 

Many of Aleppo's 200,000 citizens who have fled will come back only to find their homes and businesses burnt to the ground. For what remains of the 2.5 million citizens of Aleppo who did not flee... Assad's reconquista will be more like the Soviets invading Berlin than it will be a return to normality. The first hellish wave of soldiers and tanks will offer only death to those trapped in the crossfire. The Shabiha will offer a burial for those who survive.

The West grows tired of seeing images like this. They claim that the Battle for Aleppo will be a decisive victory for either side. And that the war will come to an end quickly after the fall of this city. The delusions with which the West operates however only offer more images like this one.

More children will be wounded or killed as a result of Western cowardice and ineptitude. The death toll for Syria's youth will only tick higher as Western leaders like Obama kneel down to lick Assad and Putin's boots. But more disturbing than this... all hope of democracy for the youth of Syria will die as a result of a callous world that has dared to turn its back on the most visible chapter of darkness in our history.

Nobody knows what will come of Aleppo. The darkness that has been creeping over the landscape for nearly 17 months now continues to grow. Its veil blocks the light and hides all signs of hope as it devours those it now ensnares. Once again I will... neigh, I must... ask, where will this dark night take us? When will this dark night end? And how many more must perish before the world decides to act?

And We All Come Tumbling Down

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Syria's Downward Spiral Continues
(Part of The Darkness Visible series) 

As the two sides wave their flags and celebrate hollow victories the death toll rises. And with each tick upwards in those numbers comes the suffering for those who upon the war if forced... Syria's innocent... the children.

In recent days the battle for Damascus has grown so fierce that the innocent civilians trapped inside the city have nowhere to go. Government troops have been keeping the city on lock down while rebel forces send reinforcements into the area. Bombs continue to rip the heart of Syria apart while bullets fill the air like rain. Government shelling has been nonstop in civilian areas so as to draw rebels out into the open. While rebel bombs have been exploding in the Government's back yard.

Is there no chance for peace?

The answer once again this week seems to be no. The fighting in Syria has no end in sight. The burning of Damascus now threatens to engulf the region. And as a result has put the world on notice... yet nobody is listening.

Washington's ears perked this week when the Assad regime stated boldly that they were willing to use chemical weapons if the outside world intervened. To make things worse, nobody in the West seems to know just what weapons Syria has at its disposal. It is thought by many that Iraq's weapons (whatever they may have been) could have easily been transported across the border when American soldiers first appeared. And then there is the question of what kind of weapons Syria has developed on its own.

We do know that the classic chemicals such as mustard gas are probably readily available to Assad and his thugs. For the unprotected civilians and the Free Syrian Army, this one type of gas alone would spell disaster. All one has to do is think back to Saddam's use of such weapons on the Kurdish population in Iraq.

We can't wait for Assad to become desperate. Even worse we can not wait of terror groups like Hezbollah to get involved in this conflict. It is evident that groups like Hezbollah would simply transport the chemical weapons out of Syria and over to the Israeli border. And in a matter of days the Syrian disaster would become a regional war that could easily spread out of control.

If Israel were to be attacked with weapons obviously leaked out of Syria it would be a spark that could draw the United States back into the Middle East. Our armed forces would be sacrificed to a war that would at that point be out of control. And the fight would be characterized by its critics as "Zionist" despite obvious Islamist aggression.

All of this could be prevented from even being a possibility if the West had just simply ignored Russian interference and acted to end Assad's genocidal regime. We should not have to rely upon murderous countries like Russia, China, or Iran to stop this bloodshed. Instead the free societies of the West should put their principles of liberty and justice to practice and if necessary back these up with the use of force.

Instead we are stuck here... watching the inferno grow as Assad continues to slaughter his own people.

Thunder in Damascus

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And the Flames Go Higher

Over the course of this week Damascus has gone from and blaze to an inferno. Free Syrian fighters (the rebel forces) have been setting off bombs all over the city and attacking Assad's forces right at the heart of Syria. The boys wearing tennis shoes seem to be running circles around the thugs in jackboots.

Three top officials in the Assad regime have been killed in an apparent suicide attack. The bravery, and desperation, of the opposition suddenly has Assad in hiding. For a couple days now nobody has seen or heard from the Nero of Damascus. And yet his forces are rallying for a fresh offensive on the rebellion.

A push using foreign tanks and helicopters has already begun. This has been complimented by a media offensive by government backed news outlets. Several pro-Assad media sources are reporting that Western forces have been captured in Syria recently. The most boisterous claim has been that 13 French "Captains" have been captured in Damascus. This is obviously an attempt to establish a reason for why the war isn't going in Assad's favor.

There is nothing more terrifying than a threat of death that you have no ability to predict... no ability to prevent. And that is exactly what the rebels in Syria have brought to the table with deadly efficiency. In many of the skirmishes over the last couple days the rebels have drawn the Syrian Army out into kill zones where the bombs were laying in wait. At other times they have just left the IEDs out on the road where Syrian tanks are common. Any way about it, the guy in the driver's seat can't be feeling comfortable anymore.

When we were fighting this threat in Iraq our forces grew to hate this threat. It seems cowardly in Western philosophy of how war should be fought. But in a popular uprising where the rebels are civilian combatants pitted against professional soldiers... it seems to have its place.

The only draw back of this weapon is the collateral damage. Don't think for a minute that the rebels are placing these things where other civilians aren't present. These are weapons that are indiscriminate killers. It could be a tank that rolls over the trip line or a child on a bicycle. The blast is still the same. The target is who ever happens to be in its path.

So while I wait to see what these blast will bring for the rebels in Syria.... I pray for those still caught in the crossfire. May G-d have mercy on those still trapped in Assad's shadow.










Sources Used (note that not all sources are cited)

The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/world/middleeast/syrian-rebels-hone-bomb-skills-military-analysis.html?pagewanted=all

Reuters
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/19/syria-crisis-damascus-idINDEE86I0C120120719

We Rule The Airwaves

Attack on the Ikhbariya Television Station 

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The "Free Syrian Army" just earlier today made an assault on a pro-government television station just 20 kilometers to the south of Damascus. Armed gunmen stormed the building and killed at least three of the workers there. This attack was one of the boldest moves in recent weeks by the rebels in an attempt to make a move on a symbolic target of Assad's totalitarian rule. 


So far today more than 150 innocent civilians have been killed as the fighting in and around Damascus intensifies. The government forces, and Assad's rouge thugs, are targeting civilians and residential areas in an attempt to force rebels into firefights with civilians trapped in the crossfire. So far the Free Syrian Army has been able to avoid attacking in areas with innocent bystanders in the path of their assaults. It is Assad's use of militias and thugs (such as his Shabiha or "ghost soldiers") that has driven up the death toll in Syria. 


In addition to the intensified fighting a new murderer has entered the war against Assad. The indiscriminate killer, the IED (improvised explosive device) has been identified as a new weapon deployed by the rebel forces. Some believe that the use of this weapon is a move of desperation. I believe that the use of this weapon is a measured ploy to grab the attention of the outside world. Yes, the people of Syria are dieing now on average of 100 per day. And yes, the fighting is beginning to get desperate as the rebels attack heavier and heavier targets. But the will to fight is only growing. If the outside world does not help soon... this will be a war of attrition... of annihilation. 


The IED is not a tool to end war. It is a weapon to make war so hellish that no man would want to fight it. It kills people without warning. It's targets do not know they are in danger till it is to late. And those who live after its attack... they live with wounds that will never go away and a trauma that can not be cured. This is a weapon that has replaced that feared landmine. That is how dangerous these weapons have become. 


If it were up to me the images of this war would be brought into your homes with every new cast. The entire world would be forced to watch as a mad man (the Nero of Damascus) burns his country to the ground. You would have to witness the limp lifeless bodies of children awaiting to be buried after the "Ghost" had stole their souls. No eye would be shut, no head turned away... for in the case of Syria... silence is the greatest sin of all. 


We did not learn from Bosnia. We failed to hear the cries of Rwanda. And nobody dared to think about stopping Cambodia. This is a scourge upon the earth that must be faced. It must be looked right in the eye and made clear to the world. For this crime against humanity is the darkness that must be made visible to all mankind. We must make it clear that it will never be allowed. That no king, president, or dictator has the right to kill and maim his own people as long as he keeps it tucked away within his borders. This is the age of the internet, the camera phone, of YouTube... the world is always watching. 


Help save Syria. Help force Obama's cronies in the media machine to act. Let us force them to call this "civil war" what it really is... GENOCIDE. We will not back down simply because Putin and all of Russia wants to play patty-fingers with Assad and his boys. We don't give a damn what Ahmadinejad wants to happen in Syria. And China can keep its cheap exports if this blood is what we have to pay for it. Help save Syria by telling your congressmen that you want the United States to be the defender of freedom it was founded to be. 


For bloody sakes America... just do something.

Devling Deeper Into The Darkness

The Darkness Visible Continued

Currently the United Nations is broken. Their so called "peace keeping" goals in Syria is failing miserably. The country of Syria is enduring the worst case of what can only be described as genocide. Yet the world has turned away and thrown their money behind some good will UN policy that will never stop a single death in Syria.

The lion is on the prowl today as I write this. The Butcher of Damascus is at this moment using Russian provided attack helicopters to strike villages around Homs and Homs itself. Bashar al-Assad will use Iranian provided snipers to keep these areas under his control. Innocent civilians will be killed before I can finish this post.

Many of you have simply ignored this subject for many reasons. One being that you think that this "civil war" is not or can not be called Genocide. So for the last time I will define why Syria has been added to the long list of genocides in our wretched past.

Bashar al-Assad belongs to an Islamic sect known as Alawite Shia. The vast majority of his country's population however are Shiite Muslims. This has been one of the major motivators in al-Assad's brutality against his own people. And that is why, plain and simple, this is genocide.

Now onto what is happening and why the world isn't watching.

The Butcher of Damascus has been employing the use of mercenaries from within his country and beyond his borders. The most feared of all are the Shabiha (in Arabic, "Ghost"). These are the "clean up crew" in Bashar's bloody war against his own citizens.

Shabiha have been described as "steroid fueled gorillas" who wield AK 47s and machetes. And due to the "come and get it" policy Bashar's bank account has had for the last six months, the Shabiha are now fiercely loyal to the Bashar regime.

According to the handful of accounts leaking out of the locked down country the Shabiha move into a town or village that has just been shelled or bombed out by the Syrian military. Any helpless women and children are usually targeted first by the Shabiha. Next the men who have survived the attacks by the Bashar military are marched out by the "Ghost" and killed as brutally as possible. This exact method is seen in Darfur by the Janjaweed (in Arabic, "Devils on Horseback").

In other attacks Damascus's Nero has used his newly found toys (Russian provided) to cover the streets by hovering overhead. During this time the Iranian provided snipers move in and take up post throughout the city. Next comes the Syrian paramilitary forces who attack any points of resistance the population may be able to provide. Finally the the death squads move in and flush the city of any Shiite Muslims and feed them into sniper fire while butchering any that try to flee or resist.

Most of the time however Bashar's forces use artillery and attack helicopters to strike random villages to subdue any organizing that might be taking place. Random appearances of these Russian attack helicopters also serve to keep the level of terror up in and around Damascus itself. They also are used to light fires in villages that Bashar fears "rebels" might be passing through.

Paranoia has earned Bashar the title Nero. His fear of his own people has led him to this point. He is leading a campaign to destroy his own countrymen. And nobody is doing a thing to stop it.

The United States is suffering from the cowardice of its President. Obama was willing to help topple other leaders in the region when they were already on their way out. But now he is faced with a real threat to our promise "Never Again". Now Obama sets back and waits to see how this fight will play out. And maybe, just maybe, if the Free Syrian Army can fight back against Bashar.... then Obama just might "help".

This is the symptom of having a President who is only out to make a name for himself. You get cowards like Bashar and Obama.

As for Europe, the French started this "Peace Keeping" plan with the goal of bringing about some form of glory for Paris. In stopping genocide their is no glory to be found. When we stopped the Nazis their was only the sickening reality of what mankind was capable of. It is not a pleasant task and yet it is the most important responsibility we have ever been charged with.

This is the weak point in European glory seekers. This sort of tiptoeing through the minefield is all we can expect when the Europeans are unwilling to stand up to Russia and Iran. Let alone their lack of spine when it comes to military intervention in Syria.

So who is fighting for Syria?



The Free Syrian Army, an army of civilians organized to defeat the oppression of Bashar al-Assad, are the only force attempting to protect the innocent. They are however the excuse used to label this as a "civil war". It appears that anytime a populace arms itself to defend against aggression the world takes the opportunity to step back and claim ignorance.

Here at Alder's Ledge we will be constantly updating you on this genocide. We will continue to scream for those the world has left voiceless. Check in with us on FaceBook and here on the blog. Bare witness and share every post. It is important that we not remain silent as innocent Syrians suffer at the hands of the Nero of Damascus.