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[UNCOVERAGE.net] Syria: Assad Unleashes Tanks and Snipers on Civilians | UNCOVERAGE.net: Sunday, April 24, debkafile reported:   Bashar Assad’s tanks and infantry made their first assaults Sunday night, April 24 on Jableh on the Mediterranean and Daraa in the south, after a 48-hour bloodbath by his security forces claiming up to 350 lives failed break the five-week countrywide uprising against his rule. Video-clips show tanks converging on the two towns with soldiers running in their wake while heavy gunfire continued to resound in Hama, al-Nuaimeh near Daraa and Saraqeb, southwest of Aleppo.

[Belmont Club] Belmont Club » Syria: Assad’s overture to Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of the 20 million population, came after reports that authorities had released 48 Kurdish prisoners and that the president had met leaders in the eastern al-Hasaka region where many Kurds live earlier in the week.

[Newsique / Top Stories] Newsique / World / Syria key in regional Rubik's cube: Syria also has sizeable Kurdish, Christian and Druze minorities, all of which have their own grievances and anxieties. Some analysts believe it is the fear of anarchy that has so far restrained many people in Damascus and Syria's second city, Aleppo, from joining the protests -- their anxiety being "Apres Assad, la deluge."

[Disheartenedno] Protesters In Syria Plan Large March Near Capital « Disheartenedno: Hakeem Bashar, a Kurdish leader, said the decisions could never be enough to keep Kurds from protesting. Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Association for Human Rights, said the actions risked stoking sectarian divisions, .

[israport.org] Report: Syria grants citizenship to Kurds: President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday granted citizenship to Syria's Kurds, the majority in the northeast who have been denied nationality for nearly half a century, said SANA state news agency. “President Assad issued a decree granting .

[Maghen David Networks | Published News] Report: Syria grants citizenship to Kurds: Kurds in Syria’s northeast took to the streets last Friday for the first time since pro-reform protests erupted in mid-March, calling for the right to citizenship and "freedom as well," Kurdish rights activist Radif Mustafa told AFP.This is interesting, as apparently Assad really doesn't want to have the Kurds pressuring him on top of the other protesters.

[arabnews - frontpage] Thousands of Syrian Kurds granted citizenship - Arab News: Kurds ”” the largest ethnic minority in Syria ”” make up 15 percent of the country's 23 million people and have long complained of neglect and discrimination. The more than 250,000 Kurds who have been denied citizenship were barred from voting, owning property, going to state schools or getting government jobs as a result.

[Al Jazeera Blogs | Al Jazeera blogs Feed] Syria Live Blog - April 21 | Al Jazeera Blogs: More on the protest in Ain al-Arab, a mainly Kurdish town 150km east of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey: Two eyewitnesses say around 3,000 protesters have gathered shouting for freedom, the release of political prisoners and that "Arabs and Kurds are brothers".

[Interesting facts] Syria: The key piece in a regional Rubik's cube at Interesting facts: "Turkey is potentially one of the most significant foreign factors to influence Syria, either playing a role in helping save the regime from its own excesses, or helping save the Syrian people from their predicament," writes Rime Allaf of the think tank Chatham House in London, which focuses on international affairs. Either way, Turkey's regional influence already growing thanks to its economic strength would be further burnished.

[Look into the distanceha] Protesters In Syria Plan Large March Near Capital « Look into the ...: Hakeem Bashar, a Kurdish leader, said the decisions could never be enough to keep Kurds from protesting. Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Association for Human Rights, said the actions risked stoking sectarian divisions, which Mr.

[Syria Comment] Syria Comment » Archives » Assad Responds to Clerics' Demands: Scholar Sheikh Muhammad Sa’id Ramadan al-Bouti stated that the Syrian command responded to the suggestions of the religious leaders to grant freedoms and reform, fight corruption and end one-party rule. He said during his weekly lesson aired by Syrian Television last night, that the Syrian command responded to many demands presented by a group of clerics, namely the re-employment of women wearing the niqab and the engineers who were distanced from the provinces, the issuance of a decree to found the Sham Higher Institute for Religious Studies and the delivery of instructions to open religious satellite channels that would sponsor “the real Islam that is neither inclined toward the east nor the west.” He added that President Bashar al-Assad told him he would address another speech to the Syrians, after the message of reform appeared to be vague.

[brothersjudd Blog] BrothersJudd Blog: THERE IS NO SYRIA:: The problems in Syria today are therefore exacerbated by the fact that Syria could be heading for a civil war, due to these old ethnic and sectarian tensions, and might follow the Libyan scenario rather than the Egyptian or Tunisian model. One factor however, that might hold back an all-out war is that there are a multitude of links between the regime and society through army, government and non-official ties.

[blog.Tribulationperiod.com] Pro-Reform Bashar Assad Band Aid Will Not Stay On Until 2015!: Bashar Assad made the Wrong Choice Two Years ago as we reported in Special Prophecy Update Number 161C, titled, “Syria Makes a Very Bad Choice!” During the Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s Thursday and Friday visit to Syria, he and Syrian President Bashar Assad formed a “front” to oppose what Ahmadinejad identified as world “arrogance and domination.” Once Assad made his choice two years ago I knew it was all over - there would be no second chance. He is now up a creek and Iran is not a trustworthy paddle.

[Document.no] Damaskus - livet på innsiden: Even as recently as last week, while we all knew there was trouble in Kurdish areas to the northwest and Deraa to the south, Damascus seemed calm. (Then came demonstrations at Damascus University on Monday, which involved people from Deraa showing solidarity, with the report of one fatality.)

[Grungy Boots Blog] Grungy Boots Blog: Syria: April 8 -- Change of Season, Season of ...: There are even violent protests in the heavily Kurdish town of Qamishle despite the announcement yesterday that Kurds in Hassake governorate are to receive Syrian nationality at long last. The other major announcement this week, in a bid to appease the religious conservatives is that students will now be allowed to wear hijab on school premises again, after having been banned for years because schools used to be militarized (complete with military uniforms and marksmanship classes and camps…).

[Religion] Syria: The key piece in a regional Rubik's cube: "Turkey is potentially one of the most significant foreign factors to influence Syria, either playing a role in helping save the regime from its own excesses, or helping save the Syrian people from their predicament," writes Rime Allaf of the think tank Chatham House in London, which focuses on international affairs. Either way, Turkey's regional influence -- already growing thanks to its economic strength -- would be further burnished.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Kurds, Iran Reviews