Syrian death toll climbs as SNC calls for international action

Syrian death toll climbs as Syrian National Council calls for international action

At least 56 people have been killed in the past 24 hours in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, according to British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syrian security forces are targeting the increasing number of army defectors, whose numbers are reported to have reached 10,000, although the death toll includes a large number of civilians as well. The main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), estimated further that 250 people were killed in the past 48 hours while other activist groups and medical personnel have cited numbers even higher. At the same time, opposition fighters killed an estimated 60 Syrian government troops and damaged or destroyed 17 military vehicles. Much of the violence has been concentrated in Syria’s third largest city of Homs, a site crippled with unrest since the start of the uprisings. The SNC has called on the United Nations and Arab League to hold emergency meetings to address the “massacres in Zaqiyah mountain, Idlib, and Homs, in particular”, and is requesting the groups establish a safe zone. Meanwhile, an advanced group of Arab League monitors are set to arrive in Syria on Thursday, however many are skeptical that their involvement will have a dramatic impact. This all comes as President Bashar al-Assad announced a law recommending the death penalty for “terrorists” and anyone supplying weapons to the opposition, as well as life and hard labor terms for anyone involved in smuggling arms “for profit or to carry out acts of terrorism.”

Headlines  

• In one of the biggest marches by women in Egypt’s modern history, many thousands marched through downtown Cairo to protest against the ongoing military rule and highlight the recent string of assaults that have been perpetrated by soldiers against women. Elsewhere, Egyptians began voting in parliamentary run-off elections in nine provinces.
• Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged Kurds, in the semi-autonomous region, to give up Vice President Tareqi al-Hashemi for trial on allegations of involvement in assassinations.
• Captured son of Muammar al-Qaddafi, Seif al-Islam, has been held in a Libyan prison without access to a lawyer and has not been given a trial date or location, according to Human Rights Watch.
• Detained Bahraini blogger, Zainab al-Khawaja, was released; meanwhile the United States said a proposed $53 million arms deal with the country will be partly contingent upon Bahrain ending violence against protesters.

Daily Snapshot

Egyptian women shout slogans during a protest in downtown Cairo’s Tahrir Square to denounce the military’s attacks on women and to call for an immediate end to the violence against protesters on December 20, 2011 (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images). 

Arguments & Analysis

‘The women’s march’ (The Arabist)

“It’s heartening to finally see some uplifting, positive news in these depressing times. The march of around 10,000 women that has taken place today is precisely the type of unexpected turnaround that has made the Egyptian uprising a success at various points this year. It comes out of nowhere and recharges the depleted batteries of activists. It reminds the protestors that their rage will not be sated by throwing stones but only by seeing the solidarity of their fellow men and women. It is the type of event, once it percolates throught the late night TV talk shows and the newspapers, can actually deliver change and political pressure. For those who thought the protests went astray in the last few days by becoming more about revenge than demands, it is a welcome correction.” 

‘The Arab revolution: tensions and challeneges’ (Mariano Aguirre, Open Democracy)

“The experience of this remarkable year also highlights the dialectic between commonality and particularity in the Arab world. A number of shared resources (such as a sense of Arab identity and a common language, the use of social networks, the role of Al-Jazeera and other transnational media) and problems (such as unemployment, social injustice, frustrated youth, and lack of freedom) ensured that what started in Tunisia and continued in Egypt became an Arab-wide movement in which a “domino effect” was at work…At the same time, the course of events within each country has to a great extent depended on the existing state model and on internal social dynamics and capabilities.”

‘Salafis and Sufis in Egypt’ (Jonathan Brown, Carnegie Endowment for Int’l Peace)

“Political suppression of Salafis would most likely prove unwise. Echoing the experience of Islamists in Turkey, and of Salafis in Kuwait, real involvement in an open demo- cratic system leads to significant mitigation in Salafi posi- tions. The need to mollify public concerns, engage women in the electoral process, and centralize political messaging has resulted in both a rapid matura- tion and moderating discipline within Salafi ranks. Furthermore, the Egyptian media, and the foreign media who cite them, have demonstrated a tendency to paint Salafis inaccurately as the be?te noire of the new Egypt. As one leading former Brotherhood member observed, “The Salafis are the new ghoul that the regime and its NDP remnants are using to scare people after the Brotherhood proved not scary enough.”

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