#Siege of Homs | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nicklloydnow · 4 months ago

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“The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.

Syrian state television aired a video statement by a group of men saying that President Bashar Assad has been overthrown and all detainees in jails have been set free.

(…)

The statement emerged hours after the head of a Syrian opposition war monitor said Assad had left the country for an undisclosed location, fleeing ahead of insurgents who said they had entered Damascus following the remarkably swift advance across the country.

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It was the first time opposition forces had reached Damascus since 2018, when Syrian troops recaptured areas on the outskirts of the capital following a yearslong siege.

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The night before, opposition forces took the central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, as government forces abandoned it. The city stands at an important intersection between Damascus, the capital, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus — the Syrian leader’s base of support and home to a Russian strategic naval base.

The rebels had already seized the cities of Aleppo and Hama, as well as large parts of the south, in a lightning offensive that began Nov. 27. Analysts said rebel control of Homs would be a game-changer.

(…)

The advances in the past week were by far the largest in recent years by opposition factions, led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaida and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad’s government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian army.

(…)

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said Sunday he does not know where Assad or the defense minister are. He told Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya early Sunday that they lost communication Saturday night.

He has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad’s forces, has been weakened by a yearlong conflict with Israel. Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the United States should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. Separately, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser said the Biden administration had no intention of intervening there.”

“A fast-advancing rebel offensive in Syria threatens to dislodge Russia from a strategic linchpin that Moscow has used for a decade to project power in the Middle East, in the Mediterranean and into the African continent.

It also challenges Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to portray Moscow as a flag bearer for an alternative global order to rival Western liberalism, and his defense of the Syrian regime as evidence of successful pushback against American dominance in the region.

(…)

Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war in 2015 to prop up President Bashar al-Assad against an armed uprising prompted by the Arab Spring, giving it a role as an influential foreign power in the Middle East. It sought to leverage its relations with rival powers such as Iran and Israel, as well as Turkey and Gulf states, to mediate conflicts and claim status as a regional power broker.

(…)

Syria has partly been an ideological project for Putin. The intervention in Syria became a way for Russia to extend its vision of a multipolar world opposed to the Western liberal order, said Nicole Grajewski, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of a coming book on Russia’s relationship with Iran, including in Syria.

“To see Russian planes leave Syria as rebel forces move onward towards their air bases, and their assets in Damascus fall, this would be so devastating for the Russian image of itself,” she said. “It would be akin to a Saigon moment for them.”

Putin’s assistance was instrumental to Assad’s survival, and showed Moscow’s allies far beyond the Middle East that Russian intervention could help push back popular uprisings, said a former Russian official. African leaders began to invite Russia, and specifically contractors from the Wagner paramilitary group who also played a critical role in Syria, to help stabilize their regimes.

Syria holds significant strategic value for Russia as well. The Khmeimim air base near the coastal city of Latakia serves as a logistical hub for flights to Libya, the Central African Republic, and Sudan, where Russian private contractors and soldiers have operated for years.

A naval base in the port city of Tartus serves as the only replenishment and repair point for the Russian navy in the Mediterranean, where it has brought in goods by bulk through the Black Sea. Tartus has granted Putin access to a warm water port, something Russian rulers for centuries before him sought in the Middle East. The port could also potentially connect Russia to Libya—like Syria, a Soviet-era ally—where it seeks a naval base to extend its reach into sub-Saharan Africa. A rebel takeover of those Syrian coastal positions could jeopardize Russia’s global-power projection.

“Syria provided so many advantages at a low cost,” said Anna Borshchevskaya, senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank and author of a book on Putin’s war in Syria. “Losing Syria would be a big strategic defeat that would reverberate beyond the Middle East. It would have global repercussions.”

(…)

“One way to see Putin’s ambition in Syria is as part of his larger imperial vision,” said Borshchevskaya. “That’s what Ukraine is, that’s what [the invasion of] Georgia was in 2008, and to some extent that’s what Syria was,” she said. “Now in 2024, Russia finally finds itself overstretched.”

(…)

The Russian intervention in the civil war turned the tide in Assad’s favor and helped Iran consolidate its military foothold all the way to the Israeli border. Western attempts to isolate Moscow and Tehran through sanctions have pushed them closer together.”

“For years, Syria’s complicated battlefields have been populated by shifting groups of militants battling a range of enemies, including each other, and proxies backed by outside powers. Iran and Russia have propped up the autocratic Assad regime for more than a decade, while Turkey and the United States have troops on the ground in areas outside government control, and each support local proxies.

News reports and videos posted on social media indicate U.S.-backed rebels, supported by American airstrikes, may now be battling Syrian government forces as part of renewed fighting in the east.

That U.S. backing means boots on the ground. Around 900 U.S. troops are deployed in Syria alongside private military contractors, in what one expert calls “arguably the most expansive abuse” of the war powers granted to the executive branch in the wake of 9/11 — and those troops have, on average, come under fire multiple times each week since last October, according to new Pentagon statistics obtained by The Intercept.

Since the war in Gaza began last year, U.S. forces have been under sustained attack by Iran-backed militants across the Middle East, with the Pentagon’s Syrian bases being the hardest hit. Since October 18, 2023, there have been at least 127 attacks on U.S. forces in Syria, according to Lt. Cmdr. Patricia Kreuzberger, a Pentagon spokesperson, and information supplied by U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM. On average, that’s about one attack every three days.

(…)

Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer now with the International Crisis Group, said the ongoing bombardment of U.S. bases should prompt hard questions in America’s halls of power. “Why are U.S. troops in Syria? What is the mission? What is the endgame? And is this legally authorized?” are the questions that need answers, he said. “The administration doesn’t want to have that debate. Congress also seems perfectly fine avoiding it. And so, the legislative and executive branches are content to muddle along, avoiding their constitutional responsibilities — the need for congressional authorization — and really debate the merits of this conflict.”

THE U.S. MILITARY has been conducting operations in Syria since 2014. America’s bases there and in neighboring Iraq ostensibly exist to conduct “counter-ISIS missions,” despite the fact that the Pentagon concluded in 2021 that the Islamic State in Syria “probably lacks the capability to target the U.S. homeland.”

Around 900 U.S. troops — including commandos from Combined Special Operations Joint Task Force-Levant — and an undisclosed number of private military contractors are operating in Syria. In 2022, The Intercept revealed the existence of a low-profile 127-echo counterterrorism program in Syria targeting Islamist militants. Under the 127e authority, U.S. Special Operations forces arm, train, and provide intelligence to small groups of elite foreign troops. But unlike traditional foreign assistance programs, which are primarily intended to build local capacity, 127e partners are dispatched on U.S.-directed missions, targeting U.S. enemies to achieve U.S. aims.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militant group based in the country’s northeast is America’s main proxy force in Syria. While the SDF fights Islamist extremists with U.S. support, it also battles Turkey and Turkish-backed militants. Turkey, America’s longtime NATO ally, opposes the SDF due to that group’s ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a Kurdish nationalist militant group that both the Turkish and U.S. governments, among others, have designated a terrorist group.

(…)

The future of America’s escalating war in Syria may face renewed scrutiny early next year. President-elect Donald Trump showed antipathy to the U.S. war in Syria and withdrew U.S. forces from the north of the country in 2019, opening the door to a Turkish invasion.

“When Trump ordered the removal of U.S. forces from Syria in late 2018, there was a scramble within the government to try to figure out what that meant and whether there were ways to walk it back,” said Finucane, the former State Department lawyer. “The Pentagon was fine to pull out U.S. troops from al Tanf because there was really no counter-ISIS mission. But in his memoir, [Trump’s national security adviser] John Bolton said he wanted to keep troops there to counter Iran.”

For four years, experts say the Biden administration has continued this shadow effort aimed at Iran under the guise of a counter-ISIS mission, fending off several congressional efforts to force the removal of U.S. troops from Syria. Last year, a bid by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to compel the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Syria within 30 days also failed. “The American people have had enough of endless wars in the Middle East,” Paul told The Intercept at the time. “Yet, 900 U.S. troops remain in Syria with no vital U.S. interest at stake, no definition of victory, no exit strategy, and no congressional authorization to be there.” Those troops may be increasingly drawn into the Syrian civil war in support of their SDF allies.

“This is arguably the most expansive abuse of the 2001 AUMF in the history of the law,” said Erik Sperling of Just Foreign Policy, an advocacy group critical of mainstream Washington foreign policy, referring to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, enacted in the wake of the September 11 attacks. “We know from Biden administration leaks that the U.S. presence in Syria was part of an anti-Iran proxy war strategy but after Congress started voting to remove troops, they cracked down on those leaks and they said it’s only about terrorism.”

(…)

U.S. troops have, however, been relentlessly attacked across the Middle East since last October. There have been at least 208 attacks against U.S. forces in the region — two in Jordan, 79 in Iraq, and 127 in Syria — according to Kreuzberger and CENTCOM. In addition to coming under fire about once every other day, U.S. troops have been killed or seriously injured in these attacks. In January, three U.S. soldiers were killed and more than 40 other personnel were injured in an attack on a base in Jordan near the Syrian border. Eight U.S. troops also suffered traumatic brain injuries and smoke inhalation from an August 9 drone attack on the Rumalyn Landing Zone in northeastern Syria.”

“Israeli ground forces advanced beyond the demilitarized zone on the Israel-Syria border over the weekend, marking their first overt entry into Syrian territory since the 1973 October War, according to two Israeli officials speaking anonymously to discuss sensitive developments.

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Israeli forces took control of the mountain summit of Mount Hermon on the Syrian side of the border, as well as several other locations deemed essential for stabilizing control of the area.

Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, appeared to confirm on Saturday night that Israeli forces had gone beyond a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, saying Israel had “deployed troops into Syrian territory,” although he did not elaborate further.

(…)

More recently, the Israeli military has been more explicit about striking sites and people there, saying it was targeting Hezbollah’s supply lines. But the deployment of ground troops beyond the demilitarized zone in Syria marks a significant shift in policy as the first overt entry of Israeli military forces into Syrian territory since the 1974 cease-fire agreement that officially ended the last war between Israel and Syria.

The Israeli Air Force over the weekend was also striking targets in Syria to destroy government military assets that could fall into the hands of rebel forces and are considered strategic threats by Israel, the two officials said.

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The targets included small stockpiles of chemical weapons, primarily mustard gas and VX gas, which remained in Syrian possession despite prior agreements to disarm, according to the officials. The Israeli military also targeted radar-equipped batteries and vehicles of Russian-made air defense missiles, as well as stockpiles of Scud missiles, according to the two officials.

(…)

Israel captured the Golan Heights during the Middle East war of 1967 and annexed much of the territory in 1981. The rest is controlled by Syria. Most of the world views this area as Israeli-occupied Syrian territory, though Donald J. Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty there in 2019 during his first term as president.”

#syria #assad #assad regime #ba’ath #ba’athism #baathism #middle east #arab #civil war #al qaeda #russia #putin #ukraine #iran #trump #biden #israel #golan heights #hezbollah #hamas

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kirstythejetblackgoldfish · 2 months ago

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Hafez al-Assad Jr's statement:

"There was never a plan—not even a backup—to leave Damascus, let alone Syria.

Over the past 14 years, Syria has endured hardships and dangers no less severe than those of late November and early December. Anyone intending to flee would have done so long ago, particularly in the early years when Damascus faced near siege, daily bombardment, and the constant threat of terrorists reaching its centre.

Before everything unfolded, I travelled from Damascus to Moscow on November 20 via Cham Wings Airlines to defend my doctoral dissertation on November 29. At the time, my mother was in Moscow following a bone marrow transplant she had undergone at the end of summer, which required isolation as part of her treatment. I had planned to stay longer after my defence to complete certain certification procedures, but as the situation in Syria deteriorated, I returned to Damascus on Sunday, December 1, aboard Syrian Air to be with my father and brother, Karim. My mother remained in Moscow to continue her treatment, with my sister, Zein, staying by her side.

Regarding the events of Saturday, December 7, and Sunday, December 8:

On Saturday morning, my brother sat for a mathematics exam at the Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology in Damascus, where he was studying. He was preparing to resume classes the next day. Meanwhile, my sister had booked a ticket to return to Damascus on Sunday, December 8, aboard Syrian Air.

On Saturday afternoon, rumours began circulating that we had fled the country. Several people reached out to confirm whether we were still in Damascus. In response, I took a picture at Al-Nairabain Park in Al-Muhajireen neighbourhood and shared it on my (now closed) private Instagram. Not long after, some social media pages picked up the picture and began circulating it.

Until then, despite the distant sounds of shelling, nothing seemed unusual—just the familiar reality we had grown accustomed to since the early years of the war. The situation remained unchanged as the army prepared to defend Damascus, showing no signs of the subsequent deterioration—until the sudden and unexpected news of the army’s withdrawal from Homs, mirroring earlier withdrawals from Hama, Aleppo, and Idlib countryside. Even then, there were no preparations for departure, nor any indication that we would be leaving. That changed after midnight when a Russian official arrived at our home in Al-Malki neighbourhood. He conveyed a request for the President to relocate to Latakia for a few days due to the severity of the situation in Damascus and to facilitate the oversight of the battles, which were still ongoing on the coastal and Al-Ghab Plain fronts.

As for the claim that we left without informing my cousins, who were in Damascus at the time, I was the one who called them multiple times as soon as we knew we were relocating. Shortly afterward, we learned from their household staff that they had left for an unknown destination.

After a short time, we headed toward Damascus International Airport, arriving around 3a.m., where we were joined by my uncle, Maher. We found the airport deserted, with no staff present, including at the control tower. We then boarded a Russian military aircraft to Latakia, landing at Hmeimim Airport before dawn.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, we were supposed to head to the presidential retreat in the Burj Islam area, which is over 40 kilometres from the airport by road. However, all attempts to reach anyone there were unsuccessful, as every phone we tried was turned off. We soon began receiving reports of military withdrawals from the frontlines, and the fall of the last remaining positions. At the same time, a series of drone attacks began targeting the base, accompanied by both close and distant gunfire in the surrounding area; this situation continued throughout our stay.

In the afternoon, the base command briefed us on the gravity of the situation nearby. They informed us that leaving the base was no longer an option, as terrorists had spread through the country, the situation had descended into chaos, and all communication with military leadership had been lost. After consulting with Moscow, the base command informed us that our transfer to Russia had been requested. Some-time after, we boarded a Russian military aircraft bound for Moscow, where we landed later that night."

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williamchasterson · 4 months ago

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Old wounds and new energy in Syria's 'capital of the revolution'

It’s a bittersweet return for residents of Homs, which was the site of a brutal years-long siege. from BBC News https://ift.tt/NGQV2my via IFTTT

#BBC News #IFTTT

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brookstonalmanac · 6 months ago

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Events 10.1 (after 1950)

1953 – Andhra State is formed, consisting of a Telugu-speaking area carved out of India's Madras State. 1953 – A United States-South Korea mutual defense treaty is concluded in Washington, D.C. 1955 – The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is established. 1957 – The motto In God We Trust first appears on U.S. paper currency. 1958 – The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is replaced by NASA. 1960 – Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military intelligence organization. 1961 – East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. 1962 – James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying racial segregation rules. 1963 – On its third anniversary as an independent nation, Nigeria became a republic. 1964 – The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. 1964 – Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka. 1966 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with no survivors in Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9. 1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time. 1971 – Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida. 1971 – The first practical CT scanner is used to diagnose a patient. 1975 – Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines. 1978 – Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1979 – The MTR, Hong Kong's rapid transit railway system, opens. 1982 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence. 1982 – EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) opens at Walt Disney World in Florida. 1982 – Sony and Phillips launch the compact disc in Japan; on the same day, Sony releases the model CDP-101 compact disc player, the first player of its kind. 1985 – Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israel attacks the Palestine Liberation Organization's Tunisia headquarters during Operation Wooden Leg. 1987 – The 5.9 Mw  Whittier Narrows earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley with a Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 200. 1989 – Denmark introduces the world's first legal same-sex registered partnerships. 1991 – Croatian War of Independence: The Siege of Dubrovnik begins. 2000 – Israel-Palestinian conflict: Palestinians protest the murder of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah by Israeli police in northern Israel, beginning the "October 2000 events". 2001 – Militants attack the state legislature building in Kashmir, killing 38. 2003 – The popular and controversial English-language imageboard 4chan is launched. 2009 – The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords. 2012 – A ferry collision off the coast of Hong Kong kills 38 people and injures 102 others. 2014 – A series of explosions at a gunpowder plant in Bulgaria completely destroys the factory, killing 15 people. 2014 – A double bombing of an elementary school in Homs, Syria kills over 50 people. 2015 – A gunman kills nine people at a community college in Oregon. 2015 – The American cargo vessel SS El Faro sinks with all of its 33 crew after steaming into the eyewall of Hurricane Joaquin. 2016 – The leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, Pedro Sánchez, resigns. He would return to the position a year later. 2017 – Fifty-eight people are killed and 869 others injured in a mass shooting at a country music festival at the Las Vegas Strip in the United States; the gunman, Stephen Paddock, later commits suicide. 2018 – The International Court of Justice rules that Chile is not obliged to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean with Bolivia. 2019 – Kuopio school stabbing: one dies and ten are injured when Joel Marin, armed with a sabre, attacks a school class at Savo Vocational College in Kuopio, Finland. 2021 – The 2020 World Expo in Dubai begins. Its opening was originally scheduled for 20 October 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

#Events

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panicinthestudio · 2 years ago

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#Hong Kong Polytechnic University #PolyU Seige #antielab #反送中 #hong kong #hong kong free press #Yau Ma Tei #Stanley Chan #Hung Hom #politics #Tang Tsun Kit #Chow Fung yin #Cheung Tsz Ching #Reaf Yuen #Chester Wan #Wu Hoi Wai #Xu Peng Yi #Yip Wing San #news

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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House of Mouse: Mickey and the Culture Clash (Commission by WeirdKev27) or “What the Hell, Clarabelle?”

Hello, hello, hello... I wish I could say I was in good spirits but i’m tired, have covid induced chills running down my spine.. and oh yeah there was an armed insurrection i the captial last night that showed just how broken this country was. And while Monster Bash would still be relevant... I couldn’t do it. I admit to being unable to do an episode where the millitant racist nutjob who harms people runs off into the night, and does much worse in later episodes, while the people she harassed are arrested the night after a bunch of millitant, racist, sociopathic, selfish nightmares sieged the captial, killed a woman, raised the fucking maga flag over the buildling and took pictures like they were goddamn heroes. We got a stark reminder, not a wake up call, not an opening a REMINDER of just how badly broken our country is last night, and it wasn’t till this morning I found out just how BAD it was. The deaths, the flag, the fact josh fucking hawley, MY STAT’ES SENATOR and registered piece of shit, raised A FUCKING FIST IN SOLIDARITY, which gives me the crippling fear his stupidity and unabashed racisim and support of a cou could mean riots at best and attempted uprisings at worst and who knows what kind of hate crimes against those of color and those in my own queer community. I am afraid, tired, and I am pissed and I feel we could ALL use something wholesome, warm and far removed from the shit going on. And in my hour of need to figure out something like that to put on the schedule.. Kev brought up a wonderfufl idea. Every month this month till the end of it Kev is going to comission one episode of a show near and dear to both our hearts that has it’s 20th birthday this month. House of Mouse. He was intitally going to request Pete’s One Man Show, which is one of my faviorites, but was ironcially one I already planned to cover next month to celebrate both the show’s anniversary and Pete’s Birthday. But since he was happy to wait till then to comission it, he instead asked for another classic and one with easily my faviorite character on the show: Moritmer Mouse.

One of the best things House of Mouse did was bring back Mortimer Mouse. Introduced in Mickey’s Rival, Mortimer was an ex of minnies who showed up for one short to be a dick to mickey before running off and leaving Minnie at the mercy of a bull he pissed off. He also weirdly kept electrodes and a car battery in his pants. The short itself is.. not great mostly because Minnie dimissies Mickey rightfully being pissed someone is hitting on his girlfriend in front of him, making jokes at his expense, and generally being a pillock as being jealous... which yeah, yeah he is. Most of the time jealousy and supscison of your partner is ugly, gross and damaging to a relationship. You should trust them unless you’ve been given good reason not to, and if your paranoidly jealous about every friend she has she could be attracted to.. get some fucking help. Seriously, I need to, not for this for various other problems, but get some therapy to help with your trust issues or if your just being the kind of dick who naturally assumes men and women or men and men or women and women or men and nonibinary persons, or women and nonbinary peeps and so on and so on cannot be friends if they could possibly be togehter romantically... grow up. I say all of that because those are serious underlying issues and I didn’t want it to seem like for a moment I was supporting them... and because sometimes i’ts OKAY to be jealous, to either just feel a little jealous of someone, or to you know be irate because your girlfriend’s ex is hitting on her in front of you and she’s being entirely receptive to it.

So yeah i’ts really hard to feel bad for minnie’s bull attack or find the ending sweet after Minnie was you know, what ramona said for an entire short. However my point for this rant, besides giving out about the short again because I clearly didn’t enough in my Mickey Birthday Special, is that Mortimer is still pretty great. He’s a frat bro in the 40′s sense sure, but the idea of a local douche hoping to swoop in and woo minnie away, who has an oddly specific sense of humor and a bizzare, memorable and wonderful walk, seriously the short is worth watching for mortimier’s “I got two car batteris in my pants’ walk, is a good one. While he’d naturally show up in comics and what have you Mortimer just sort of vanished. But clearly someone on the House of Mouse staff, and Mousewerks before it, agreed because Morty was made easily one of the best and most recurring characters in the HOM, and often more prominent than Horace or Gus. While he still tried his old “I’m gonna do your common law wife act” a few times he was mostly there to be an annoying douche when the ep needed one and to be taken down a peg by everyone in the house. And that VERY MUCH includes Mickey. That’s also part of why I love this show bringing him back: It gives Mickey someone besides pete to give out too on a regular basis. He’s still his charming self about it but it’s lovelyt os ee Mickey sarcastically roast someone. And I honestly attribute the main factor of his sucess on the show to VA Maurice LaMarche. While his original VA, Sonny Dawson, was fantastic.. it’s Maurice who very clearly made the character his. While others like Jeff Bennet have taken over since i’ts Maurice who gave him his signature “ha-cha-cha” catchphrase, swagger and signiture voice. And no i’ts not lost on me that one of Maurice’s OTHER best roles is another cartoon mouse.. and I now very badly want him to meet Pinky and the Brain. But yeah, Maurice just oozes the smarm that defines mortimer for me, oozes condescinon and assholery and he, is., glorious. He was a faviorite as a kid, he’s a faviorite now, and Disney needs to use him more.. and also have Maurice voice him for wonderufl world of mickey mouse, though Jeff Bennett is not bad at all I just prefer the master at the role.

So obviously, after the nightmare of an evening america had yesterday, an episode not only about how wholesome mickey and minnie are but about Mickey teaming up with Mortimer was EXACTLY what i needed. So pitter patter, this is Mickey and the Culture clash. As always for house of mouse i’ll be chonking it up and since this one starts right with the wraparound, and sicnce you know I spent a godo few pagraphs going over mortimer and he’s only IN the wraparound this episode... let’s start there

Mickey and the Culture Clash: Don’t Go Changin, To Try and Please Me So we open the episode and the review proper with Mickey performing a banjo sernade for Minnie, their song in fact. It’s a really sweet scene.. that’s quickly ruined by Clarabelle being an asshole, who says i’ts a bit crude. Minnie counters that while “It’s not mozart”, it’s nice and she clearly likes it and the gesture. Instead of you know leaving it there like a good friend, like she’s SUPPOSED to be to Minnie in most continuities, Clarabelle.. takes the things she said and her having to run out to wrangle pluto out of context, painting it as her thinking he’s not sophisticated and then running out because of it. Oh and she tops it by pointing to a classified add from a MM looking for sophisticated companionship.

It just paints Clarabelle not as Minnie’s friend or a chatty gossip, but as a heartless bitch who has no trouble implying one of her best friends would cheat on her boyfriend TO HIS FACE, and is fine wrecking a perfectly lovely relationship just to have more to talk about. Seriously she starts gossiping to everybody on top of it just in case you thought Clarabelle was a decent person in any shape this episode. She’s the one thing about this episode that dosen’t work despite being integral to it.. well two but hte other thing is a small, end of episode gag we’ll get to. This.. this is an integral part of the plot. It also relies on Daisy and Donald being absent for the episode for what I can only assume is their annual sex decathalon because otherwise the second she heard about her friend doing this, before reassuring Minnie, Donald would be holdiing her while Daisy beat the absolute shit out of her for hurting thier closest friend and not bothering to take a look into anything when leveling such a rough accusation at Minnie. In a really stellar, really well paced episode, Clarabelle being so heartless stands out. It’s also, might as well get this out of the way, teh final episode not inlcuding the two holiday specials.. and it’s a good note to go out on otherwise, I just can’t ignore the obnoxious cow in the room.. in both senses of the word.

So yeah Mickey’s trying to be fancy, and Mortimer gets a good dig in about him reading “You having trouble sounding out the words”, but once he hears what’s going on, or rather once he realizes mickey things Mortimer’s personal add is in fact his girlfriend cheating on him, he decides to help Mickey. And to his credit for this con.. Mortimer actually thought things out on how to trick his rival, and his plan here is douchey as hell but incredibly genius: he offers to help mickey and while that’d normally be suspcious he offers a genuine, and very mortimer explination for helping him become a bit more sophisticated to win minnie back: if Minnie finds a handsome, sophisticated guy to date, what chance does MORTIMER have against that? At least with Mickey, in his deluded egocentric view of things anyway, he has a shot at beating him.

So Mickey classes it up a bit, taking some sopshitcated stances when announcing and trying to woo minnie by talking in ye olde english. When that fails, she just finds it silly but charming, Mickey finds Jose.. hitting on her.

Just.. I expect better from you man. Woo ladies all you like as long as your respectful but I expect better than to hit on someone else’s girlfriend.. which granted he has but given the last time we saw him do that, he nearly got stabbed a bunch and the last time he agressively hit on a woman he got punched in the beak as he should, you’d THINK he’d of learned something. Seriously once again Donald is only missing because this time Daisy would be holding Jose down while Donald hit him. Or possibly they’d take turns. Point is Jose REALLY shoudln’t be doing this and knows better.. marginally. But.. it is in character enough so ti’s not as bad as Clarabelle the homewrecker.

So Mickey tries being fancy and goes on to do poetry instead of letting O’Malley and the Alley Cats play.. which is a nice running gag the series does as they NEVER get to play.. which while funny is a shame since I love the Aristocats. So then we finally get what Mortimer’s been playing at, he swoops in, claims MICKEY dosen’t need HER, and uses the same personal add to trick her. See, while what Mortimer’s doing is vile.. unlike clarabelle I can repsect it at least. I don’t condone it and i’m glad he gets foiled.. but as a bad guy plan it’s pretty clever and for someone like Mortimer whose usually pretty incompitent.. it’s pretty suprising he could pull this off. It’s still pretty damn low and scummy, no question, but props to being able to outwit and nearly outplay two people who deal with your crap on a regular basis and still convincingly conning both. Thankfully while he tries to take Minnie out Mickey, in a great visual gag, puts two and two together, and busts out their song, with Mickey and Minnie heartwearmingly reuniting on stage as seen above. Then we get that gag I mentioned not liking: Mickey gets Morty back by planting a false marriage proposal from Moritmer to Clarabelle, again under MM and he gets carried off.. HAHA HE’S BEING FORCED INTO A MARRIAGE HE DOSEN’T. LAUGH. LAUGH AT IT. The gag just really hasn’t aged well, as otherwise it’s clever Mickey used Mortimer’s own trick against both him and the person who caused all of this but really.. Clarabelle gets no real compuance. At worse sshe finds out she was tricked.. but she again you know tried to break up her close friends relationship for shits and giggles. But .. it’s at the very end of the episode and very easy to ignore, so it dosen’t really bother me too bad, and compared to some gags of the type i’ve seen, it could be MUCH worse. Overall this wraparound is one of the series best and a good one to go out on. it has a simple premise, a brilliant antagonist plot, some great bits from all involved, and even a great Belle and Beast cameo. All in all a really good wraparound only hampered by a sexist and dated ending and Clarabelle being portrayed as ...

She’s the worst, in the world. Okay onto the shorts.

Mickey’s Piano Lesson: That was a Fun One

It really was. It’s a simple premise: Minnie wants MIckey to do a piano recital and he decides “I don’t need practice i’m mickey mouse. “ And it’s REALLY nice to have a short that has, rather than aw shucks mickey, shenanigans mickey. While thanks to the new shorts we’ve had tons, it’s still nice to get one in the House of Mouse era, and it’s just fun to see Mickey take the usual donald roll of letting his overconfidence punch him in the face> It fits both though: Both are everyman and while I lean towards the duck, to no one’s shock, Mickey is just as capable, and his lack of practice comes off less like the angry and hostile way donald would dismiss it and mroe just loveable procastination. And as someone who REALLY struggles with procastination I related to this short, as Mickey does everything else he’d rather do from bathing the dog to skydiving till Minnie, in a great bit informs him everyone from the president, to several dignitaries from other countries, to a televised audience will see. We then get two really great and really beatuifully animated bits as MIckey wrestles with the notes on thep age then fights with his piano as he performs, still pulling it off but destroying the thing and rightfully earning a glare form his girlfriend. Just a fun, slapstick short with a great premise.

Dance of the Goofys: Scary Children Set to classical music, this one has a bunch of goofys as Fairy’s, who are making the flowers go and the one who sleeps in ends up saving the king from a horrifing looking little brat. He reminds me of Montanna Max a bit.. speaking of which Creer Summer recnetly announced Elmyra won’t be in the reboot. And while this does make me fear actually good characters like Fifi, Montana Max, and more will be cut like the animanics reboot and I do feel for Cree not getting to be involved and hope they find another roll for her as, given her status in the industry she deserves better.. THANK FUCKING GOD. I’ll go into this in another review I have planned for the future but unlike the cuts made to animaniacs this was a REALLY good decision i’m really greatful for. Thank you crew thank you.

Back on topic, it’s just a fun, really beautifully animated short about the goofies and hteir shenanigans with a really great high concept.

Maestro Minnie: Brahm’s Lullabye: Simply Irresitable Another simple but clever and lovely to watch one, and one I like quite a bit more. Minnie is conducting some living violins to Brahm’s Lullabye to get a baby Violin to sleep, and we get some really beautiful shots of her as she does so.. only to get comically interuppted by other insteruments turning up the noise. Not much to say on this one as it’s short and simple.. but sometimes short and simple is just what you need and the fun premise nad really beautiful especially for tv animation at the time visuals really sell this one. ONce again, good stuff.

Overall: This was a REALLY good note to go out on. While as I said the Clarabelle stuff can eat my entire ass, everything else is really damn good and I highly recommend checking this one out. Next time, in about a month, we’ll be looking at Pete’s spotlight episode for his birfday. While you wait tommorow we have my first look at legend of the three cabs. But for now, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

#house of mouse #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #mortimer mouse #clarabelle cow #donald duck #daisy duck #goofy goof #mouseworks #maurice lamarche #mickey's culture clash

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alamwamal · 4 months ago

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Homs is the city where Khaled ibn Alwaleed RAA grave is. and the city of Abdulbaset Alsarut -whom I always wanted to talk about but there's a documentary about their battle in Homs called "The Return to Homs" covering some of their lives under the siege.

I found a link here, but if it's not there I think it might be available on torrent if anyone felt interested.

A new life has been breathed into Arab twitter! 😭😭😭

News that Dar'aa has been completely liberated as well!! alhamdulillah! It's the first city that started the Syrian revolution in 2011! it's in the far south and on the boarders with Jordan.

But there might be a tough battle in Homs. May Allah swt help them.

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newstfionline · 4 years ago

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Sunday, March 14, 2021

Warp-speed spending and other surreal stats of COVID times (AP) The U.S. effort in World War II was off the charts. Battles spread over three continents and four years, 16 million served in uniform and the government shoved levers of the economy full force into defeating Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. All of that was cheaper for American taxpayers than this pandemic. The $1,400 federal payments going into millions of people’s bank accounts are but one slice of a nearly $2 trillion relief package made law this past week. With that, the United States has spent or committed to spend nearly $6 trillion to crush the coronavirus, recover economically and take a bite out of child poverty. Set in motion over one year, that’s warp-speed spending in a capital known for gridlock, ugly argument and now an episode of violent insurrection. Once, the attack on Pearl Harbor was the modern marker for national trauma. About 2,400 Americans died in the assault on the naval base in Hawaii that drew the United States into the Pacific war. The nearly 3,000 dead from the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, became the new point of comparison as the ravages of COVID-19 grew. The U.S. reached a total of 3,000 COVID-19 deaths even before March 2020 was out. By December, the country was experiencing the toll of 9/11 day after day after day. With deaths now moderating—so that a 9/11 toll comes cumulatively every few days—the U.S. death toll now has surpassed 530,000, exceeding U.S. combat deaths of all of the last century’s wars.

The Fighter Jet That’s Too Pricey to Fail (NYT) Last week, the new head of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Adam Smith, said in an interview that the F-35 fighter jet was a “rathole” draining money. He said the Pentagon should consider whether to “cut its losses.” That promptly set off another round of groaning about the most expensive weapon system ever built, and questions about whether it should—or could—be scrapped. Conceived in the 1990s as a sort of Swiss army knife of fighter jets, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was meant to come as a conventional fighter for the Air Force, as a carrier-based fighter for the Navy and as a vertical-landing version for the Marines. The problems, and there were lots of them, set in early. All three versions of the plane ended up at least three years behind schedule, and sharing less than a quarter of their parts instead of the anticipated 70 percent. Many of those already built need updates; hundreds of defects are still being corrected; the jet is so expensive to maintain that it costs around $36,000 per hour to fly (compared to $22,000 for an older F-16). At the current rate, it will cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion over its 60-year life span. So, kill the monster and start looking for alternatives? Or declare it too big to fail and make the best of it? Last month, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Charles Brown Jr., gave his answer when he said that the F-35 should become the Ferrari of the fleet: “You only drive it on Sundays.”

Colorado and Wyoming brace for severe snowstorm and potential blizzard conditions this weekend (Washington Post) A major winter storm is set to unload massive amounts of snow, the most in years in some areas, in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska this weekend into early next week. Before the wintry onslaught is over, some locations in the Colorado foothills and eastern Rockies might end up with as much as four feet. Winds are also going to howl, bringing the potential for blizzard conditions across parts of the region. Gusts of 35 to 50 mph or higher will cause blowing and drifting snow, as well as compromised visibility and whiteout conditions. Winter storm warnings are in effect in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins where the National Weather Service predicts 12 to 24 inches of snow. In Cheyenne, Wyo., also under a winter storm warning, 22 to 34 inches of snow is forecast.

Stay or go? Fence, Guard pose Capitol security questions (AP) Nobody, it seems, wants to keep the security fence around the U.S. Capitol anymore—except the police who fought off the horrific attack on Jan. 6. Lawmakers call the razor-topped fencing “ghastly,” too militarized and, with the armed National Guard troops still stationed at the Capitol since a pro-Trump mob laid siege, not at all representative of the world’s leading icon of democracy. “All you have to do is to see the fencing around the Capitol to be shocked,” Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said in an interview Friday. How to protect lawmakers, while keeping the bucolic Capitol grounds open to visitors has emerged as one of the more daunting, wrenching questions from deadly riot. With warnings of another attack in early March by pro-Trump militants and threats on lawmakers that have nearly doubled since the start of 2021, the police, the Pentagon and lawmakers themselves are wrestling with how best to secure what has been a sprawling campus mostly open to visiting tourists and neighborhood dog walkers alike.

Bolivia arrests ex-leader in crackdown on opposition (AP) The conservative interim president who led Bolivia for a year was arrested Saturday as officials of the restored leftist government pursue those involved in the 2019 ouster of socialist leader Evo Morales, which they regard as a coup, and the administration that followed. Jeanine Áñez was detained in the early morning in her hometown of Trinidad and was flown to the capital, La Paz. She had earlier warned that officials were searching for her, terming it “abuse and persecution” in Twitter posts. The arrest of Áñez and warrants against numerous other former officials further worsened political tensions in a South American country already torn by a cascade of perceived wrongs suffered by both sides. Those include complaints that Morales had grown more authoritarian with nearly 13 years in office, that he illegally ran for a fourth reelection and then allegedly rigged the outcome, that right-wing forces led violent protests that prompted security forces to push him into resigning and then cracked down on his followers, who themselves protested the alleged coup. Dozens of people were killed in a series of demonstrations against and then for Morales.

British police officer charged with murder in missing woman’s kidnapping and killing (Washington Post) A British police officer was charged late Friday in the kidnapping and killing of Sarah Everard, whose disappearance and death has sent shock waves through the nation. Wayne Couzens, 48, who previously had posts at Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, was charged with the kidnap and murder of Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive. She was last seen at 9:30 p.m. on March 3, walking home from a friend’s house in south London. Her disappearance sparked a national outcry in Britain over the harassment and abuse of women. The case has struck a chord with women across the country, with many demanding change. In the days after Everard’s disappearance, women have taken to social media to share their own experiences and fears about their personal safety and walking alone. Caitlin Moran, an author and journalist, tweeted: “Being a woman: my “outside” day finishes at sundown. If I haven’t taken the dog for a walk/jogged by then, I can’t.” Writing in the Guardian, columnist Gaby Hinsliff said: “When she went missing, any woman who has ever walked home alone at night felt that grim, instinctive sense of recognition. Footsteps on a dark street. Keys gripped between your fingers.”

Car bomb kills at least 7, injures 53 in Afghan Herat province (Reuters) A powerful car bomb near a police station on Friday night killed at least seven people and wounded more than 50 others in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, officials said. Herat Governor Sayed Abdul Wahid Qatali said that at least 53 people, including civilians and security forces, were hurt when a van packed with explosives went off in a crowded part of the city in the evening.

4 killed as Myanmar forces continue crackdown on protesters (AP) Security forces in Myanmar on Saturday again met protests against last month’s military takeover with lethal force, killing at least four people by shooting live ammunition at demonstrators. Three deaths were reported in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, and one in Pyay, a town in south-central Myanmar. There were multiple reports on social media of the deaths, along with photos of dead and wounded people in both locations. The independent U.N. human rights expert for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said Thursday that “credible reports” indicated security forces in the Southeast Asian nation had so far killed at least 70 people, and cited growing evidence of crimes against humanity since the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

For Syrians, a decade of displacement with no end in sight (AP) Mohammed Zakaria has lived in a plastic tent in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for almost as long as war has raged in his native Syria. He and his family fled bombings in 2012, thinking it would be a short, temporary stay. His hometown of Homs was under siege, and subject to a ferocious Syrian military campaign. He didn’t even bring his ID with him. Almost 10 years later, the family still hasn’t gone back. The 53-year-old Zakaria is among millions of Syrians unlikely to return in the foreseeable future, even as they face deteriorating living conditions abroad. On top of his displacement, Zakaria now struggles to survive Lebanon’s financial meltdown and social implosion. Nearly half a million people have been killed, and about 12,000 children have died or were injured in the conflict in the past decade, according to the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF. The conflict also resulted in the largest displacement crisis since World War II. The Norwegian Refugee Council this week said that since the war began in 2011, an estimated 2.4 million people were displaced every year in and outside Syria. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians face continued displacement with each year that the conflict continues and economic conditions deteriorate.

Number of missing Nigerian students raised to 39 after armed raid (Reuters) Nine more students than originally thought are missing after gunmen stormed a forestry college in northwest Nigeria earlier this week, a government official in Nigeria’s Kaduna state said on Saturday. The revision brings the total number of missing students to 39 following Thursday’s nighttime raid on the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, the fourth mass school abduction in northern Nigeria since December. Kaduna city is the capital of Kaduna state, part of a region where attacks by gangs of armed men, referred to as bandits, have festered for years. Military and police attempts to tackle the gangs have had little success, while many worry that state authorities are making the situation worse by letting kidnappers go unpunished, paying them off or providing incentives.

#headlines #news

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the50-person · 5 years ago

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HONG KONG UPDATE 20 NOV 2019

Day 5 of Siege of PolyU

Related reading: https://the50-person.tumblr.com/post/189516596318/hong-kong-update-20-nov-2019

19 Nov 2019 0340-0350: Epoch Times facility attacked by masked individuals carrying police batons. CCTV shows them messing up the place.

0351: PolyU. Food running low but probably enough left to last the remaining crowd a few days.

Education Bureau. Classes resumed at primary and secondary schools. First day back at school.

0730: MTR. MTR announces that Kwun Tong, Island, Tseun Wan, East and West Rail lines are all experiencing delays due to train doors being obstructed and damage to station facilities.

0810: Tin Shui Wai. 1 schoolgirl arrested at TSW MTR stn.

0815: Kwun Tong. 2 schoolboys arrested by riot police near Kwun Tong swimming pool.

0832: Tseung Kwan O. Riot police questioning schoolboys at MTR stn. Unclear if arrested. After masks were banned in early Oct, schoolkids protested in large numbers and police largely backed off. Now the anti-mask law has been ruled unconstitutional by High Court, police target the schoolkids. Suspicion that the higher-ups felt that the denouement of the CUHK siege was seen as an unacceptable encouragement to ‘violent rioters’, hence the PolyU siege and stepped-up targeting of youth. Unclear if trying to provoke more protests to justify postponing/cancelling District Council elections or moving to a more severe stage of crackdown.

Morning: Tin Shui Wai. 3 secondary students arrested at Tin Wu light rail stop. The girls attend Chinese YMCA & CCC Fong Yun Wah Secondary Schools, the boy’s school is unknown.

Morning: MTR. A fight broke out at Tin Shui Wai station in the morning forcing its closure, and the obstruction of train doors on Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan, Tseung Kwan O and Island lines caused delays, the city’s rail operator said. Large queues formed at the interchanges of Kowloon Tong, North Point, Mong Kok and Yau Tong as the impact of the direct action took its toll on the morning commute. The first trains of the day on part of the East Rail line were delayed for staff to clear several objects off the track near Fanling, including a bicycle hanging from an overhead cable. Trains skipped Yuen Long station in the morning because of protester disruption. Tactics included stopping trains leaving by blocking doorways and opening emergency doors. At Diamond Hill station, where carriage doors were not closing, more than 100 passengers were unable to board trains during the rush hour. Hung Hom and University MTR stns remain closed. Tin Shui Wai and Yuen Long MTR stns closed this morning.

Morning: MTR. Some middle-aged men pull a highschool girl inside a train and beat her up. Before another guy comes to her rescue and stops the attacks.

Several roads still closed, having been barricaded by citizens, and the Cross Harbour Tunnel in Hung Hom remains closed due to extensive damage to facilities.

0946: Tsuen Wan. Riot police show up in large numbers at gates of Po Leung Kuk Lee Shing Pik College. Its student concern group says riot police had “entered the school premises” after arriving at the scene of a protest held outside the gates. Some 50 pupils had tried to stop their peers entering the school from 7am in an attempt to “pressurise” management into suspending classes indefinitely until “society returns to normal”. 2 vans of police in full riot gear turn up and check the identities of students, including two pupils on site, the concern group said. No one is arrested and police do not enter the campus.

0954: Kowloon Tong. At Kowloon Tong station, hundreds of commuters have to line up along the stairs all the way onto the concourse as train services are delayed. MTR staff have suggested people try other means of transport.

1004: MTR. Oct ridership dropped more than 25% from 2018 figures; Airport Express dropped 43%.

1005: PolyU. 3 more ppl arrested outside campus. Police siege continues.

Posted 1005: Among several reported arrests of schoolkids on their way to school today, at least 5 documented arrests on their way to school in the morning. 3 other cases in which students were stopped by riot police but unclear whether they have been arrested.

1011: PEN Hong Kong issues urgent appeal to police upon knowing that renowned HK writer Tang Siu Wa has been arrested at PolyU.

Posted 1107: Two more photos of secondary students stopped & searched by riot police on their way to school this morning, both cases inside MTR stations. It appears one of the girls was arrested; reason unknown. So far, 5 confirmed arrests of schoolkids this morning, 4 other possible ones.

Posted 1121: MTR. Rear emergency doors of trains opened at North Point and Quarry Bay stns, and Yau Tong stn. North Point action resulted in delays of 15-20 mins on Island Line btwn Kennedy Town and Chai Wan. Quarry Bay action resulted in delays of 15-20 mins on Tseung Kwan O Line btwn North Point and Po Lam and Lohas Park. Yau Tong actin resulted in delays to Kwun Tong Line.

Posted 1132: Most of the police stop&searches & arrests of schoolkids this morning occurred at/near MTR stations. Kwun Tong, Island, Tsuen Wan, East & West Rail lines were delayed due to protesters obstructing doors. Perhaps police suspected the kids of being involved.

Posted 1205: Kwun Tong. Students marching in masks through the streets of Kwun Tong & blocking roads on their way to school this morning. About 100 pupils in Kwun Tong marking their return by disrupting traffic at the junction of Hip Wo Street and Tsui Ping Road. Some blocked roads with bricks, rubbish bins and metal railings as they called for the government to meet all five demands of the protest movement. Riot police arrived on the scene.

1230: Six MTR lines were blighted by service delays or station closures for much of the morning. There remained disruption on the East Rail and West Rail lines, as of 12.30pm.

Morning: PolyU. Remains under siege. Campus resembles a disaster zone early on Wednesday with unused petrol bombs, cans of petroleum gas, loose bricks and protest equipment scattered across the ground, while many buildings had glass windows and doors smashed in. It is understood those on the campus were still exploring ways to escape, including via manholes. By 20 Nov, no first aid volunteers could be seen inside the campus.According to education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen, who was inside the campus at the time, about 40 of the medical volunteers left on 19 Nov night. They were not arrested as they departed, but police told them they might face investigation in the future.

1313: Central. Lunchtime protest. Similar to 19 Nov, police in large numbers to prevent protest from taking place. More and more citizens gathering on pavements. Blue flag.

1358: Tai Koo, Kwun Tong. Lunchtime protests.

1415: Central. After 1.5 hours, police corner their first citizen. Search his bag and check his ID. Guy is eventually let go after an extended exchange in which the police act irrationally. He shares with reporter what the convo was about: Police: Leave! Guy: My office is here. Police: You’re interfering with my colleague’s work. Guy: How? Police: You must leave or we’ll arrest you.

1428: Central. A minibus driver shows support for citizens in Central, raising his hand symbolising ‘5 Demands Not 1 Less’ while passing through Pedder St.

News is released about former UK Consulate worker Simon Cheng who was abducted, illegally imprisoned and tortured in China back in August 2019. His safety is threatened if he reveals what happened but he has decided to share the details in spite of that. Super harrowing. Cheng was subjected to repeated physical and psychological torture and forced to give ‘confessions’, and almost broke completely while in detention. He has trauma now. There is very disturbing evidence pointing to the very likely possibility that Hong Kong citizens are being silently transported to China for extrajudicial imprisonment and torture with no certain return date. Cheng was treated more gently nearing the end because of international attention and the interference of UK. Don’t want to imagine what happens to the others who are caught, and who are simply ordinary citizens. Stress positions, sleep deprivations, beatings etc. Forcing eyes open to unlock phones via facial tech. Several frontline Telegram groups appear to have been compromised by Cheng. I am not sure if these ppl are aware and have de-assembled and regrouped. I hope they have. “Then I saw around 10 young “criminal suspects” who were receiving interrogations in the centre. They are all handcuffed and in orange prisoner vest. When I walked through the corridor, I heard one voice shout out from one of the questioning rooms: “raise your hands higher! Didn’t you raise your hands and wave the flags in the protest?!” I guess they were torturing Hong Kong protestors. “ “While escorting me out of the “collective investigation centre”, I saw one young girl who was doing the enrolment procedure (handcuffed, wearing prisoner vest, body check, etc.). The secret police who was handling my case clearly stated that: “honestly, she is one of the scums who was caught because of joining the anti-government protest in Hong Kong”. He asked if I knew and recognised her, I shook head.” “The secret police clearly stated that batches after batches of Hong Kong protestors had been caught, delivered and detained in Mainland China, so they collected and mutually verified the information amongst different sources and detainees.” UK considers Cheng a security risk and has fired him. He is now offered a 2 year work visa to UK as a temp escape but this is of little help because China is now after him and UK is offering minimum assistance despite the fact that Cheng was arrested BECAUSE of his work under UK Consulate. He was monitoring HK protests for them. Being personally sympathetic to the movement, he also organised some stuff to support the protests in personal capacity. UK Consulate gets dissed online by HKers after everyone sees how they treat their consulate staff. BBC report: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-50457262 Simon Cheng’s own account on FB: https://www.facebook.com/notes/cheng-man-kit/for-the-record-an-enemy-of-the-state/2490959950941845/

Posted 1651: PolyU. 21yo named Jacky is trapped in PolyU. Wants to leave, doesn’t want to surrender to police, but there is no way out. Came to campus to support frontliners but isn’t one. Regrets not leaving campus earlier but says would still enter campus if given another chance. Hygiene situation inside campus is terrible. Jacky was sleepless for the past few days because he was very mentally tense. Every day he uses his phone to watch the news or loiter around the campus to find escape routes, but he has failed so far. Refuses to surrender because that would mean being charged for ‘rioting’. Jacky feels that he only chanted slogans and cheered, and that it is unreasonable to charge him for that. (Note: ‘Riot’ is a very unreasonable and outdated thing from colonial times but obvsly HKSAR gov keeps it so that they can use it against citizens. Making other ppl responsible for another individual’s crimes is stupid.)

1659: PolyU. Trapped citizen gives presscon. He says he is part of a team of ~40 who have unanimously decided to stay until the end with no plans to surrender of escape. He is 16. The youngest in his group is 12. HKFP reports around 50 left inside. A 15yo is armed with a bow and arrow.

19yo HKBU student from Kazakhstan Nukpi Abilkaiyr among those arrested on 18 Nov night on suspicion of possessing a Molotov in Yau Ma Tei. That was when tens of thousands were trying to break the PolyU siege. Unsure if he really was participating in the rescue or if he’s deliberately made a case to intimidate ppl and countries. Refused bail today pending further hearing in Jan 2020, despite intervention from Kazakh consulate. LOL bullying smaller consulates. They don’t dare to bully Japan (they let the Jp guy go) but bully Kazakhstan. Then again, they also bully Germany, by arresting 2 Germans and torturing them. What’s new.

1704: PolyU. Another medical evacuation.

Anonymous has hacked into Chinese websites and databases, dumping usernames, mobile numbers, emails, passwords, IPs, etc. They call it OpHongKong and vow that it will continue until HKers’ demands are met and HK is free. 4 Chinese mongodb databases have been hacked and user data has been donated to vigilante.pw. Anonymous (at least, the spokesperson of the grp who is behind this round of hacking) says they breached the servers on end of Oct and throughout early Nov, argues that if HK ppl fall then Taiwan is next, which may possibly precede a WWIII. Shares that other members subscribed to the idea of Anonymous within the collective are sympathetic to the HK protests and view the Chinese dictatorship as a threat. Judging from their interview, seems well-informed about China, Taiwan and HK affairs as a whole, which either means they are HKer/Taiwanese and/or interested in current affairs.

Police: If the force had used in June every weapon and strategy available to it for extreme deterrence, the unrest would not have continued and developed to the current state. Ummmm no. They still don’t understand how HKers function. This flys in the face of all the data we have from HK, interviews, public opinion surveys, and the idea of repression backfire.

1736: HKU. Students conducting a dialogue session about the protests and reflect upon how things have come and about lines that one does not cross. They reflect that everyone is increasingly more accepting of more radical elements, but emphasise that they draw the line, stating that violence should be used for self-defence and innocents regardless of political stance should not be harmed. Once again, the students reiterate a similar position that has been stated by the wider base on LIHKG and Telegram.

2110: PolyU. Police point torch at campus from bridge outside and shout abuse.

2138: PolyU. Medical sector LegCo member Pierre Chan is escorting what is believed to be the last 7 volunteer medical workers from PolyU. he escorted 30 out last night. They will be required to provide ID to police but not arrested at this time. They decide to retreat after medical squads began to provide services to those trapped inside.

2250: HK gov intends to appeal the ruling that its mask ban is unconstitutional. Which is absolute rubbish because unconstitutional = unconstitutional and the point of ruling it as such was to prevent abuse, yet the gov is asking court to allow it to keep smth that runs counter to the law? Rule of law indeed. *snorts*

2327: HK Secretary for Food and Health told LegCo at Q&A session that there is no evidence that teargas poses public health risks. I’m...this flies in the face of all the evidence and accounts of ppl falling sick, the chloracne, etc. Can ppl just stuff her face with teargas-laced apples and see if she dares to complain? Gov continues to refuse to disclose composition of teargas, claims that it fears that it will affect police operations. ???? How does that even compute? Gov won’t tell you what’s inside and how toxic it is but on 19 Nov it released a statement with advice on what to do if you suspect your food is contaminated with it. :)

Night: PolyU. Police arrest 2 men climbing out of a sewer in a nearby street. Police also arrest 3 men and 1 women who remove the manhole cover to help them surface. Those trying to flee via sewers took torches, rope, first aid kits and water and tried to use weak phone signals to track progress. Some groups also carried spray cans to mark tunnels for other groups. There are snakes and cockroaches inside and water levels rise with tides, making it important to move fast and go at the right times. The distance can look short above ground but it takes very long to travel underground.

#hong kong #human rights #china #chinese #news #anti-extradition #and so the world spins

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brookstonalmanac · 2 years ago

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Events 10.1 (after 1950)

1953 – Andhra State is formed, consisting of a Telugu-speaking area carved out of India's Madras State. 1953 – A United States-South Korea mutual defense treaty is concluded in Washington, D.C. 1955 – The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is established. 1957 – The motto In God We Trust first appears on U.S. paper currency. 1958 – The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is replaced by NASA. 1960 – Nigeria gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency is formed, becoming the country's first centralized military intelligence organization. 1961 – East and West Cameroon merge to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. 1961 – The CTV Television Network, Canada's first private television network, is launched. 1962 – James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying racial segregation rules. 1964 – The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. 1964 – Japanese Shinkansen ("bullet trains") begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka. 1966 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with no survivors in Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9. 1968 – Guyana nationalizes the British Guiana Broadcasting Service, which would eventually become part of the National Communications Network, Guyana. 1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time. 1971 – Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida. 1971 – The first practical CT scanner is used to diagnose a patient. 1975 – Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines. 1978 – Tuvalu gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1979 – Pope John Paul II begins his first pastoral visit to the United States. 1979 – The MTR, Hong Kong's rapid transit railway system, opens. 1982 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence. 1982 – EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) opens at Walt Disney World in Florida. 1982 – Sony and Phillips launch the compact disc in Japan; on the same day, Sony releases the model CDP-101 compact disc player, the first player of its kind. 1985 – Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israel attacks the Palestine Liberation Organization's Tunisia headquarters during Operation Wooden Leg. 1987 – The 5.9 Mw  Whittier Narrows earthquake shakes the San Gabriel Valley with a Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 200. 1989 – Denmark introduces the world's first legal same-sex registered partnerships. 1991 – Croatian War of Independence: The Siege of Dubrovnik begins. 1994 – Palau enters a Compact of Free Association with the United States. 2000 – Israel-Palestinian conflict: Palestinians protest the murder of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah by Israeli police in northern Israel, beginning the "October 2000 events". 2001 – Militants attack the state legislature building in Kashmir, killing 38. 2009 – The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords. 2012 – A ferry collision off the coast of Hong Kong kills 38 people and injures 102 others. 2014 – A series of explosions at a gunpowder plant in Bulgaria completely destroys the factory, killing 15 people. 2014 – A double bombing of an elementary school in Homs, Syria kills over 50 people. 2015 – A gunman kills nine people at a community college in Oregon. 2015 – Heavy rains trigger a major landslide in Guatemala, killing 280 people. 2015 – The American cargo vessel SS El Faro sinks with all of its 33 crew after steaming into the eyewall of Hurricane Joaquin 2017 – An independence referendum, later declared illegal by the Constitutional Court of Spain, takes place in Catalonia. 2017 – Fifty-eight people are killed and 869 others injured in a mass shooting at a country music festival at the Las Vegas Strip in the United States; the gunman, Stephen Paddock, later commits suicide. 2018 – The International Court of Justice rules that Chile is not obliged to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean with Bolivia.

#Events

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syrian-story · 6 years ago

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Abd elbasset Sarout. The Syrian Guevara. A true hero. A man who believed in Free Syria and fought for it till his last breath.

In the movie Return to Homs, in 2012; Sarout is saying "I'm tired, man". He was tired indeed. He was betrayed. He got hurt. He almost die so many time in assassination attempts by the regime . He was under siege with thousands of people for 2 years ..but he kept fighting .. He said many time "this revolution is made by the people and for the people. No one can stop it. Not even Assad, or Russia ..". He believed and he fought .. And today he fought his last battle, he is now a martyr.

Rest in peace Basset. God bless your soul.

June 8, 2019.

#syria #revolution #abdelbasset sarout #سوريا #ثورة #عبدالباسط ساروت

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panicinthestudio · 5 years ago

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I should look away and sleep, but I can’t--Yau Tsim Mong is my home while in Hong Kong. How much of my life was spent between Yau Ma Tei, Jordan, and Hung Hom is something I can’t even begin to measure.

Haven’t heard from anyone except an uncle in the last two weeks. I’m scared for my aunts and cousins, and angry at the state of Hong Kong. I keep hoping a camera will catch them but also absolutely not because this is their doorstep, where they work and live. I hope they’re safe and together.

Watching the protesters at Poly get smoked out, things at Nathan Road and Austin turn into a siege, the police firing down into the intersection, and the people in power refusing to have a damn clue that they are the problem.

It was personal before but this is my street too.

#hong kong #notes #family #protest #反送中 #香港 #yau tsim mong #personal #jordan #tsim sha tsui #yau ma tei #hung hom #antiELAB

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abdalbasitsarout-blog · 6 years ago

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Syria’s Revolution Goalkeeper II Abd al-Basit Sarout

The mourning over the loss of Abd al-Basit Sarout, killed fighting Assad regime forces last month, has encompassed at least three distinct forms of grief, in isolation or combined.

First, there is the straightforward sorrow for the death of a youthful 27-year-old killed fending off the advance of the regime in the countryside north of Hama, after eight years of total immersion in the war; a sorrow naturally compounded for those who knew him personally.

Second, for a wider number of people, there’s the melancholy produced by an unexpected return to the foundational moments of the revolution, and its crest, in the years 2011 and 2012; years that will forever be associated with the voice of Sarout leading the chants in Homs’ demonstrations. Many may have had no idea what became of Sarout after Homs - some are no longer able to follow the news in general - yet 2011 was nonetheless a transformational moment for them, as painful as it was necessary.

Third, there is additional anguish piled on top, resulting from the war declared on Sarout by Assad loyalists from the moment his death was announced, obsessed as they are with destroying any and all meaning, memory, and thought outside their fevered accusations of ‘terrorism.’ It is a war against every version of history inconsistent with the regime’s absolute insistence that all who rose against it were ‘criminals’ and ‘terrorists.’

In honour of the martyr, this biography has been compiled on the eight years of war on a young hero in Syria, whom like many others Syrian heroes, their stories remain untold, as Basit says, his fight is for his people and it was rare that we heard from him about himself or his family, instead his recurring words gestured towards his fellow brothers, just like him, but with an untold story. Abd al-Basit Sarout was born in 1992 in Homs’ al-Bayada neighborhood, one of the many impoverished districts in Syria that had suffered great misgovernance under Hafez al-Assad’s three-decade rule. In 2000 Hafez al-Assad died leaving his son, Bashar, to succeed his position.

Syria, a largely secular governorate controlled county, under strict military supervision by the Alawite regime, enforced religious beliefs on the Sunni population, leaving Sunni Muslims unable to practice their religion. In the years preceding the outbreak of the uprising in Syria, Homs’ al-Bayada, a majority Sunni population, faced additional neglect from the government. Such were the conditions in which Sarout’s childhood and adolescence were spent. Unable to complete his education, he was forced to work instead from a young age, transporting construction blocks and iron. At the same time, he joined Homs’ al-Karama (Dignity) soccer club, where he showed talent as a goalkeeper, a position he would go on to play for al-Karama’s youth team, then also the Syrian national youth squad. This sporting success, however, made little difference to Sarout’s financial situation—his monthly salary from al-Karama was just 1,500 Syrian pounds.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured in the al-Karama youth team

His talent for the sport led Basit to be ranked the second-best goalie on the Asian continent at just 19 years-old. The now Syrian soccer star Sarout, whose talents on the field where followed and admired by millions, also became the only ‘Sunni’ player in his team, as the days drew closer to 2011, the year of the Syrian uprising, Basit was one of the early leading protesters, bravely advancing the al-Bayada demonstrations. The first video of Sarout to circulate widely on the internet was one filmed in al-Bayada in early June 2011, in which he appeared standing on the shoulders of demonstrators, chanting in support of various Syrian cities, calling for the revolution to spread. At the time, it was decided to blur his face, to protect him from reprisals at the hands of the regime’s intelligence agencies.

Abd al-Basit Sarout leading the early protests in 2011

It didn’t take long for word to spread that the owner of this distinctive voice; tender and powerful at the same time; was none other than Abd al-Basit Sarout, goalkeeper and star of the Syrian youth team. His voice heard in passionate paeans to the uprisings sweeping the country, earned him the nickname: the Nightingale of the Revolution. From that point on, the videos of Sarout were unending, and he no longer concealed his face, unlike most other demonstrators, who were still taking precautions against arrest in the early months. Sarout’s face became the face of them all, and his voice their collective voice. When people learned Basit would be chanting at a demonstration, they would head there straight away.

He was immediately banned from the country’s national football team. The National Sports Association was quick to discharge Sarout and banned him from playing for life. Giving up his then, highly successful football career, did not halt the determined Sarout to continue organizing protests and writing songs to lead the demonstrations. He says, speaking in a documentary, The guardian of the Syrian Revolution, that witnessing the little children of Dar’aa getting tortured for writing slogans on the walls against Bashar was one of his motivations in the early days of the uprising. The yet to be witnessed brutal and ruthless regime was just at its peak as Basit, along with his childhood friends saw the most horrific events unfold in front of their eyes. The early videos leaked, shows children being interrogated by Assad's soldiers while being subjected to horrendous torture, to mention, having their private organs cut off while a soldier mockingly films them.

Back then, the elderly said to the youth: “You don't know this regime, the country will drown in its blood before al-Assad steps down,” but the youth were already beyond the point of no return.

The first slogan Sarout ever chanted, according to an interview with al-Jazeera, occurred as he gestured to his body and stared at troops deployed to suppress demonstrations held in al-Bayada, in a pulsating voice, he chants:

“Listen up O sniper, here’s my neck and here’s my head.”

Sarout’s popularity grew rapidly, not just as the soccer star but now also inseparable from his stirring voice, and the songs and chants he would invent, and his courage in standing up on the crowds’ shoulders, making him an obvious target for the regime and its security agencies. Along with his friends, Sarout, by now had learned the art of organizing the mass protests, thousands gathered to his protests, some protests were as much as 50,000 people. Sarout took care of organizing the entire demonstration, he also came to realise the impact he had after the regime soldiers began cracking down the protests, opening tear gas on the peaceful protestors, arresting dozens of them and never failing to exert all efforts to terminate the protests. Sarout says, speaking in a documentary on al-Jazeera, that he and his friends would organize the very first mass protests that the world has witnessed on the streets of al-Bayada, they would take care of designing the placards, flags and cleaning up the streets afterward. Sarout also wrote many meaningful Arabic poems to enliven the hearts of his people, where he would chant them at the demonstrations.

Mass protests held in Homs Clock Tower Square

By the end of 2011, Sarout found himself amidst the country’s long history of sharp sectarian polarization, with the city’s neighbourhoods split into those of an Alawite majority supportive of the regime, and those with a Sunni majority opposed to it. Sarout found himself in the heart of those Homs neighborhoods that were starting to appear as though under siege. To protect demonstrators from the regime’s increasingly murderous attacks against them, certain armed groups began to emerge as the regime fragmented the city, erecting military checkpoints on the roads and at the entrances of various districts. Sarout found himself leading the protests to keep up the peoples morale as well as taking up arms to protect them.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured taking up arms against the regime

Sarout, not only followed by football fans nationally, he also gains popularity internationally, as public and individual charity organizations respond to his passionate voice echoing the streets of Syria, his emotional appeals to the world as he stands amidst a makeshift hospital filled with blood and dead bodies, he screams while gesturing to the lifeless bodies of children, men, and women, asking the world not to turn a blind eye to the people of Syria.

In a video leaked by one of Sarout’s close journalist friends, Ossama - during the early days of the uprising when no journalist was allowed to cover events in Syria - shares his pain as the speaks to OrientNews about his entrance into a notourious military hospital (unnamed) to identify the lifeless, mutilated body of one of their friends. The military hospital that serves as a prison by the brutal Assad regime, left the world in shock as the initial indescribable scenes were leaked by anonymous ex-detainees. A young girl described being detained alongside a corpse in a tiny cell, barely able to move away from the woman (the corpse), which was the body of her fellow detainee who had died a few months earlier from the torture she has endured, her body was left to rot in the cell. As Ossama describes his visit to identify the body of his friend the listener grasps instantly that death was all he could sense and blood was all he could smell. He says, a man having completed surgery on his leg, chained to his bed, while the guards come in, and cut open the area of the wound raw, with their boots as they tramp and kick him, only to admit him again for a second surgery.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured with his journalist friend Ossama al-Habali

Although Ossama succeeds in identifying the body of their friend (anonymous), the mutilated body remains a mystery forever. Only months later, Ossama is kidnapped by regime forces and he also became a mystery, leaving behind a grieving Sarout, for yet another of his friends snatched away by the regime.

During the period of Sarout’s rapid popularity, the regime was not prepared for such a scene. They did not expect anything of this sort. They decided to bribe Basit, offering military protection to him and his family, as well as his position in the football club regained and all this, was in return for a request for him to speak on the Syrian national TV (al-Dunya Channel) in honour of Assad.

The remarkably steadfast Sarout rejected the offer and vowed to continue his path until he saw freedom for his people. Only months later, towards early 2012, the regime put a bounty on his head, a reward of two-million Syrian pounds was offered for handing in any information on Sarout. Then they targeted his home in hope of killing him, although he was not inside his home at the time, they succeeded and leveled his entire home to the ground with the shelling of four tanks, killing his eldest brother, several of his cousins and nearby residents. In a documentary on OrientNews, an emotional Sarout is seen showing the cameraman the ruins of his beloved brother scattered around the rubble of his childhood home, he points towards splattered blood on a nearby wall, speaking in a low voice resonating with anger, he says:

“O world take a look! This is my brother's blood.” and then he gestures towards another corner and says, “Look! These are is his brains!”

By early 2012, Basit had seen a large number of his childhood friends and fellow residents of al-Bayada buried. His eldest brother included and several other relatives were also killed in a raid carried out by regime security forces in the neighborhood. As the war came into full force, Homs and its residents will be the very first to taste its bitterness. The first chemical weapons launched on the revolutioners targeted al-Bayada, Homs was also one of the first districts to fall under siege.

The first months of 2012 marked a definitive shift toward the militarization of the standoff between regime and opposition. As armed battles liberated numerous Homs neighborhoods from regime control, a carnival-like atmosphere descended on the mass demonstrations, Sarout at the very center of many of them, chanting the songs that became anthems of the revolution nationwide, such as “Our Homeland is a Heaven” and “Longing, Longing for Freedom,” two which were especially associated with his name.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured on the shoulders of protesters

Homs, gradually transformed into an arena of open warfare, with pro-regime militias perpetrating horrifying sectarian massacres of civilians with knives and other weaponry, while regime rockets, artillery, tanks, and eventually aircraft carried out countless assaults on rebellious districts. This led to Assad’s forces re-occupying several quarters, including al-Bayada, most residents of which were displaced by attacks that laid waste to vast portions of its infrastructure. The neighborhoods remaining outside regime control, meanwhile, were subjected to a steadily tightening siege, their exit and entrance points closed off and ringed with snipers.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured in his military uniform

It was abundantly clear by the spring of 2012 that the regime sought to kill and displace as many residents as possible of these insubordinate neighborhoods, and to isolate and besiege the areas it was unable to recapture by military force. While continuing his involvement in the peaceful demonstrations, Sarout began at this time to take up armed resistance as well. His faction named the “al-Bayada Martyrs’ Brigade,” took part in attempts to liberate his neighborhood anew, during which he was wounded for the first time by a bullet in his foot.

By mid 2012, the regime had essentially succeeded in encircling Homs’ Old City, which no longer had any channels to the outside world except a few roads monitored around the clock by regime snipers, who prevented the entrance of any meaningful quantities of food, medicine, or ammunition. The city had now lost hundreds of residents to the killing, and tens of thousands more had left to seek refuge elsewhere—in Homs’ other neighborhoods; in other parts of Syria; or in the world at large outside Syria—leaving a few thousand civilians, and a few hundred fighters, remaining under the siege.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured holding a child

The siege, that was to end only after over two years, was strikingly one of the most difficult periods of Sarout’s life and those who knew him were left in awe at the noteworthy transformations he underwent. The siege, like in other areas of Syria was critical. People were cut off from literally everything, the bombing seemed endless. Food ran out. Water ran out. Winter came in and then in summer. Children starved to death. People were malnourished. The endless shelling left Homs in the rubble, as houses were leveled down. The situation was so critical yet the residents of Homs, together with other major besieged areas saw nothing but silence from the world. In one word all that the besieged people of Syria could grasp of the outside world was ‘betrayal.’

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured posing for the camera

Life in besieged Homs brought a shocking story to the world and the soldiers it had produced left the world silently in awe. Speaking in a documentary on al-Jazeera, Basit recalls the days of the siege, he says, the people were taking down their furniture to burn as firewood during the coldest days of winter, there was no food and he is grateful for the mothers who made a broth out of grass to keep people alive. The regime’s chokehold was so total that those inside were resorting to eating tree leaves and cat meat. By 2013, the scholars in Homs released verdicts that it was now permitted to eat cats, dogs, and donkeys. Thus, the Homs that was once a smiling playground for the little kids and dozens of kittens witnessed a drastic change, it was now a silent graveyard, seldom awoken by the shelling of aircraft.

Sarout's contribution towards uplifting the morale of the besieged, the ill, the elderly and little kids was significant, he was loved by his people, he was an important leading figure in the revolution. Even during the darkest days of Homs, the little kids couldn't hold back a smile when approached by Sarout.

Footage released, shows Sarout taking a break from the front lines to visit the hospitals. He is often seen visiting homes of the detainees or martyrs, singing to enliven thier hearts, and as he says, it is an honour for anyone here to say that we have a martyr in our family. He sings to the orphans, truly from his heart, odes of serenity. His voice is one that brings light although there still remains the darkness.

Like with other parts of Syria, the siege of Homs sifted out the toughest of the tough. Sarout, along with his comrades sought solace with Allah alone during these dark moments. The youth, aspired by fellow brothers hastened towards the path, they by now knew well, was the only path to success. Abandoned by the entire world meant nothing to them, all they now fought towards was preserving their Faith. The Sunni population that was once too afraid to even hint their beliefs, were now facing the world superpowers including their regime, boldly declaring their faith. Declaring their willingness to shed every drop of blood to honour Islam.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured in the aftermath of a bombing, cleaning a Qur’an

Sarout along with his comrades tried repeatedly to break the siege without success. He decided, therefore, to leave Homs with a few others through underground tunnels and sewers, this journey took around three weeks and it required unspeakable amounts of sacrifice and determination. He hoped to obtain assistance to confront the ever-tightening siege. But these attempts didn’t pan out as hoped. He wasn’t able to get the necessary assistance, and it didn’t seem there was anything he could do from the outside to end the siege.

Basit and a few other comrades motivated by him decided to return to the besieged city to help resist the now-total siege by whatever means were available. Once inside, he and his brigade waged a martyrdom battle against regime forces that failed once again to break the ring of steel. Many of the brigade’s fighters were killed, and Sarout lost his second brother. He was also injured himself by yet another bullet to the leg. The 2013 documentary film Return to Homs, follows Sarout at this time. At the end of the film, Basit is shown laid out on a makeshift hospital bed, waking up after an operation on his wound, which the field surgeon was unable to mend properly. Heavily anesthetized, slurring his words, but with tears of grief in his eyes, passion and concern in his heart, he tells those around him:

“Don’t let the blood of the martyrs go in vain, don’t waste their blood, for Allah’s sake don’t let their blood go in vain.” Raising his voice, he yells, “We don’t want money, we don’t want anything else; kill me, but open a road for the people under siege.”

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured while his leg recovers

Once the winter had passed, and Sarout’s leg had healed, he and his fellow fighters resumed their attempts to break the siege, again without success. Despite the bleakness of the circumstances, Sarout never ceased to sing in parallel with his armed activity, appearing in numerous videos in which he performed renditions of songs, perhaps the best-known from this particular period being “For the Sake of Your Eyes, O Homs.”

In late 2013, talk spread of negotiations underway to remove the besieged fighters and civilians from Homs through an agreement with the regime. Sarout and the al-Bayada Martyrs’ Brigade were among those opposing the idea of leaving, not just rhetorically but physically: in January 2014, they launched the so-called “Battle of the Mills,” in which their fighters dug a tunnel toward the city’s flour mills, hoping to break the siege, or at least transport an amount of flour back to the hungry residents of the encircled neighborhoods. Basit along with his comrades formed an alliance of around eighty men to reach the flour mills. He says, speaking in a documentary on al-Jazeera, he was just not going to give up, how could he along with other fighters leave the besieged people, their homelands, their pride and enjoy life in other areas whilst al-Bayada starved, as he watched the little children scream out of hunger he knew he had to do something, if its not us, then who? The operation failed, Sarout lost another two of his brothers and around sixty men were killed and he says, although the operation failed and the martyrs fell, their reward is with Allah if Allah wills.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured preparing meals during the days of Homs

In February 2014, Sarout appeared in a video, where he held a demonstration, he is seen chanting before a crowd against withdrawal from Homs, negotiation with the regime, or reconciliation with it. Evident in the video is the stark transformation Sarout had undergone since losing his city, four of his brothers, and untold numbers of friends and comrades: the only flags visible in the footage are the black-and-white banners of Tawheed. The besieged, he said in effect, would place their faith in Allah alone from now on, and would not accept to enter into truces with the regime as had happened in other areas of Syria, most of which resulted in betrayal on the part of the regime.

Less than three months later, on May 2014, the regime’s green buses were carrying out the first of their forced displacement operations, taking Homs’ remaining fighters and civilians to the north of the province. The situation was unbearable as it reached the degree of brutality, starvation, and torture beyond what any human is capable of bearing. Sarout was forced to leave his beloved hometown; Homs’ al-Bayada, after the majority of the besieged agreed to cut a deal, seeing no alternative to it but death by starvation, sniper, or shell. During the siege, despite critical conditions, Sarout and his comrades controlled about 80% of besieged Homs. He says, speaking in a documentary, The Guardian of the Syrian Revolution, tha Assad’s regime did not regain control of their city of Homs by force, they did it by starving the people.

After exiting besieged Homs, Sarout was transformed, he never felt at home in other parts of Syria as much as he didn’t feel at home in his own homeland of al-Bayada. He was physically and emotionally displaced. He was a foreigner, yet in his own county. Despite all the trails, he never gave up on his vow, he never gave up on his fight, he never gave up on his people. He continued taking up arms against the regime and moved between various locations and frontlines, among them al-Dar al-Kabira and al-Rastan. Since the province itself was also besieged, conditions for the opposition brigades therein were dire. Sarout found himself heavily involved in the internal conflict between fellow armed groups fighting the regime during this stage, something that he has clearly distanced himself away from, even before leaving his hometown of al-Bayada. Brotherhood was something that he emphatically chanted to tens of thousands on the streets of Homs al-Bayada during the early days of the uprising - Sarout was now going to truly prove his words in the coming years of the Syrian uprising, which is significantly notable from a 23-year-old immersed in a history of sectarian life.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured as the crowd welcomes him after leaving Homs

By mid-2015, Sarout lost his father, five of his brothers, four of his uncles and several other family members and friends at the hands of the Assad regime. He survived a total of four assassination attempts from regime forces. Despite his injuries, he was seen continuing his return to the battlefields. Each time showing a fresh yet passionate yearning for martyrdom.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured as he browses the internet

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured playing with a child

By the end of 2015, Sarout decided to leave Syria, as current circumstances forced him to escape, due to conflict between the armed groups in Syria. Although he had no wish or desire to leave the battlefield or Syria, he traveled to Turkey, where he moved between Gaziantep and Istanbul. He held demonstrations in Turkey for support towards Syria, particularly Aleppo, the eastern half of which was then under siege and soon to be re-occupied and emptied of residents by regime forces after a devastating offensive. During his stay in Turkey, he tried various means to solve the dispute so he could return to Syria, as he says, describing himself and his comrades, we are men of war. His heart deeply desired to re-embrace Syrian soil.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured holding a protest in Turkey

By early 2017, after the fall of Aleppo, Sarout was able to re-enter Syria with the help of negotiations between the armed groups fighting the regime. However, a few months after his return to Syria, Sarout was kidnaped and imprisoned in solitary confinement for 37 days by fellow armed groups, only to be released after the intervention of family intermediaries. Upon his release he continued taking up arms, shifting from group to group, not deterring or faltering at any point, he kept to his morals, his principles, his vows, his brotherhood. Even though, his stance of brotherhood, by refusing to fight any counterpart armed groups, contributed much to his detention. He reluctantly spoke about the internal conflict when questioned about it, he respectfully explained his case, having no intention to tarnish his fellow comrades, as he says, for their praiseworthy sacrifices for the people of Syria and instead he pointed towards more relevant issues. He went as far as referring to the group that detained him as his brothers in Islaam, and that he forgave everyone for their errors, regardless of the group.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured alongside fellow comrades from various groups

The unique characteristics of brotherhood displayed from the young Sarout within the grasps of one of the world's most bloodthirsty regimes are extraordinary, Sarout thus deservingly earns the title of being the guardian of the Syrian Revolution, its nightingale and overall, its goalkeeper.

The modest 25-year old Sarout responds to the given titles, he says,

“I don’t have titles! People call me the guardian of the revolution but the revolution has its own guardians. People call me the singer of the revolution but the revolution has its own singers. My name is Abd al-Basit Sarout, one of those who believed in the revolution. I respect what people say, I am just like any one of them, I don’t like praising leaders nor anybody else. We should praise only martyrs, the injured and the detained. They are the true heroes.”

As the years draw by, Sarout’s military activity at this time did not keep him from singing and chanting, uplifting the morale of the injured, the ill, the families of inmates, the elderly, the children and his fellow brothers and sisters. Videos from this period show him reciting martial-themed poetry on the frontlines, rifle in hand; and singing the classic “Our Homeland is a Heaven” at peaceful demonstrations. To the end, he remained as active as possible in confronting the Assad regime by any and all means available. As Sarout’s fight intensifies and the war reaches its peak, as he shifts from group to group, media platforms labeled him a ‘terrorist’ and a ‘Salafi Jihadist’, they question his initial approach towards the uprising and what he became of after Homs, he responds to their naive claims saying,

“We came out with olive branches and bare chests. But when the whole world lets you down, when you show demonstrations, protests, with no racism or sectarianism, and you’re fought, then you have no choice but to take up the weapon.”

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured during a demonstration in Syria

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured on the front lines

By May 2017, Basit receives the dreaded news of yet another death. This time it comes after five mysterious and painful years. Ossama, the journalist friend of Sarout who disappeared back in the days of the Homs siege has been pronounced dead by Assad forces, after dying from torture wounds in the notorious Sednaya military prison. Just the mention of Ossama’s name after these years is sufficient to shatter the young Sarout, he re-lives his early days in the uprising and what became of his brothers. As he says, oblivion is the greatest blessing to man from Allah, although it doesn’t really help. You forget and then remember again. For Sarout, today certainly marks a day he wished he wouldn't have to ever remember again.

Footage released shows the young Sarout, sitting alongside fellow comrades from various armed groups in Syria. Unity, as he says, is what the Assad regime fears the most, thus he sacrificed and took the initiative to maintain the brotherhood in hope of ceasing the Assad regime by using one of the most powerful weapons against the enemy, unity. Basit was one the rare public figures in the Syrian war showing a passion for brotherhood of this degree, from refusing to fight his brothers in al-Dawlah he held the flag of al-Nusrah high, while he flew the flag of al-Tahrir in his right hand, his left hand waved the Free Syrian Army flag. The legendary acts of Sarout, are now but a legacy.

Abd al-Basit Sarout pictured alongside various armed groups

By March 2019, Sarout holds a demonstration at the Idlib university, this marks his final demonstration as thousands of students rally to welcome him. The university, amidst the years of destruction, remains a guiding light for the youth of Syria, the students get credit for their remarkable progress despite the bitter conditions. Sarout, uplifts the morale of youth who truly deserve this day, as he chants:

“Do we anticipate support from the states? No! Do we anticipate support from the politicians? No! Do we anticipate support from the leaders? No! The people of the revolution anticipate support from whom? From Allah!”

This also marks Basit’s final oath of the revolution. In an enthusiastic voice, he proceeds to the oath, reminding the students that it flows from the heart. These words that he once chanted to thousands over the past eight years are about to be engraved in the hearts of the youth, as this marks the final oath:

“We swear by the Almighty, we will not abandon this revolution! We swear by the Almighty, we will not remain silent over the blood of the martyrs! We swear by the Almighty, we will not forsake the detained! We swear by the Almighty, we will protect our women, our children, our martyrs, our lands, our religion and our detained, until the last drop of blood! We gain either victory or death!”

The final song that we would hear from Sarout, comes just a few days before his death. He sings, and although his voice is heard by millions, it is as if the voice is heard for the first time. June 2019 marks Sarut’s final Ramadhan, as he sings his concluding ode:

“Syria, Ramadhan came and after Ramadhan came Eid, it is the ninth (month), O precious one, and the bitterness only increases!”

During the final battles he fought in the north and west of Hama, Sarout was on the front lines, appearing in a video in early June 2019, speaking excitedly of progress made in the Tal Malah region. After the liberation of the area between Tal Malah and al-Jubbayn, Sarout learned that a group on the rear lines had been injured by bombardment, as his early chats for brotherhood resonated in the streets of Homs so was the now 27-year-old Sarout’s passion for brotherhood reiterating as he heads to the scene in his car to aid his injured brothers.

As soon as he turned on his car, the area he was in was shelled, though without injury to anyone. When the car began moving, however, there came a second wave of shells, and Sarout was wounded in his stomach, leg, and arm, and taken to a medical site in Khan Shaykhun. Those aiding him then wanted to move him to the al-Dana Hospital in northern Idlib Province, but his heavy bleeding forced them to stop in Ma’arrat Misreen along the way to give him blood. Once at al-Dana, his injuries were brought under control, and his condition stabilized. On 6 June 2019, he was transferred via the Bab al-Hawa crossing to a hospital in the Turkish town of Reyhanlı, and then to Antakya, where his condition deteriorated, much of which was caused by his repeated movement and severe blood loss as no hospital in Syria is fully equipt to treat these emergency cases.

On the morning of 8 June, Sarout passed away as a result of his injuries, bringing an end to a short but epic life full of religious transformations, battles, and blood. His body was returned to Syria to be buried in the town of al-Dana in Idlib Province. At his funeral, the body so often carried on the shoulders of crowds was raised one last time by mourners chanting for him, rather than with him, burying him away from the Homs he had spent his last years fighting to liberate anew and return to.

Thousands gather at the funeral procession of Abd al-Basit Sarout in Idlib

Basit did not live to witness his dream of a triumphant victory for Homs. Sarout will never return to Homs’ al-Bayada again and it is likely that many of his fellow comrades would never return to it again.

Basit was asked about the conquest of Homs and if he was not with his brothers to witness it, he replied:

“First of all, if Allah wills, we will all meet on the Day of Victory, of course, God-willing we will be victorious because our goal is one and we are asking for what is right, if I am not there to witness victory, then you will be victorious and I would be a martyr if Allah accepts my sacrifice, the greatest victory is one where Allah accepts our deeds after we die, that is the greatest victory.”

With a calm yet teary voice, he continued, giving his bequest

“I wish that all people will perform Sadjah al-Shukr (prostration of thanks) to thank Allah when victory is achieved. That all people will be rallying at the main square in Homs, al-Saa’a, and prostate the prostration of thanks unto Allah.”

Loved ones bid farewell to Abd al-Basit one last time

The people of Syria did not remain silent over the blood of Sarout, as thousands took to the streets of Syria, and elsewhere including Turkey, Denmark and London in support of the revolution.

Leaders of the Syrian armed groups sent their support and condolences to the family of Sarout, they honoured his mother, who lost six sons and her husband to the regime, congratulated her on her contribution toward the revolution.

The Sarout they once lovingly raised up on their shoulders will never be there again with his melodious voice, the Sarout they once awaited to light up their streets with his youthful motivations won’t be seen again, the Sarout that once soothed the anguished child will never return, the Syrian factions that were once held together by Sarout's passion for brotherhood will never find a leader to replace him, neither will Homs al-Bayada see him again. Although he left us, his dedication remains, his legacy remains, the people of Syria will not give up, the youth will not forsake him, nor let his blood go in vain, They will not let him down. God-willing.

Sources and references • Al-Jumhuriya • Wikipedia • OrientNews • Al-Jazeera • A Return to Homs

#Syria AbdalBasit Sarout

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