National Post

Arab League braces for civil war as protests erupt across Syria
Protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in several Syrian cities Friday, activists said, and the Arab League chief said he feared the bloody unrest could degenerate into a civil war with ill effects for the wider region.

Security forces killed one demonstrator in the northwestern town of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Protests also flared after Friday prayers in some areas of the capital Damascus, as well as the port city of Latakia, where Arab League monitors had come under attack from a pro-Assad crowd Monday. “The people want the downfall of the regime!” people chanted near a Latakia mosque, one activist said.

Syrians determined to end four decades of Assad family rule have kept up protests since March despite a fierce crackdown by Assad’s military and security forces that the United Nations says has cost more than 5,000 lives. (Photo: Reuters)

Syria mission ‘a farce,’ Arab League monitor says, as Assad vows ‘end’ for foes
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Wednesday to vanquish “foreign conspirators” plotting to end his rule, and an Arab League observer quit Syria, accusing the authorities of committing war crimes.

Assad, fighting 10 months of pro-democracy protests, greeted thousands of rapturous supporters in a Damascus square, only a day after breaking a six-month public silence.

The crowd shouted “Shabiha forever, for your eyes, Assad,” a reference to loyalist militiamen, mostly members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect, who have gained a fearsome reputation for their part in suppressing protests against the president.

Assad’s wife Asma and their two children joined him for his surprise appearance in the capital’s central Umayyad Square. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Syria’s Assad denies violent crackdown policy, vows to strike ‘terrorists with an iron fist’
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday blamed “foreign planning” for a 10-month-old popular uprising in which thousands of people have been killed and vowed to strike “terrorists with an iron fist.”

Assad, speaking in public for the first time since June, also said he welcomed the idea of expanding the government to include “all political forces” and held out the prospect of a referendum in March on a new constitution for Syria.

His speech was delivered at Damascus University and broadcast on state television.

Since the uprising began, Assad has responded with a mixture of repression and promises of reform and dialogue. Opposition forces say the bloodshed shows the real face of a leader whose family has ruled Syria for more than four decades. (Photo: Reuters)

Gary Clement’s Week in Review for Jan 1. to 7, 2012

Iran to move nuclear work to mountain bunker in ‘near future’
U.S. Republican Primary 2012 
Memory loss can begin as early as 45 
Montreal man crosses U.S. border showing just iPad scan of passport
Taliban agrees to set up political office in Qatar
Arab League monitors remaining in Syria to ensure end to violence

Syrian rebels threaten to escalate attacks if peace monitors don’t impress
The commander of Syria’s armed rebels threatened on Tuesday to step up attacks on President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, saying he was frustrated with Arab League monitors’ lack of progress in ending a government crackdown on protests.

“If we feel they [the monitors] are still not serious in a few days, or at most within a week, we will take a decision which will surprise the regime and the whole world,” the head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Colonel Riad al-Asaad, told Reuters.

Thousands protest in ‘flashpoint city’ as Syria hides tanks from Arab League observers
Tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets of Homs on Tuesday as Arab observers visited the central protest hub after dozens of people were killed in 24 hours of a crackdown on dissent.

Activists said the military pulled its tanks back from one district ahead of the Arab League team’s arrival, only to hide them inside government zones from where they could be redeployed within minutes.

SANA state news agency reported, meanwhile, that saboteurs blew up a gas pipeline in Homs province, where Syria’s regime has for months been trying to crush dissent and mutinous soldiers.

Syrian authorities fired tear gas on some 70,000 demonstrators who tried to march on a large square in Homs on Tuesday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Photo: Video grab/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 69 die in Syrian clashes as global pressure mounts
At least 69 people were killed in southern Syria on Monday, most of them in clashes between army deserters and troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, activists said on Tuesday.

The violence came as Syria faces growing international isolation following the Arab League’s decision to suspend its membership in response to Assad’s crackdown on eight months of protests calling for his overthrow.

Hundreds of people have been killed so far this month, making it one of the bloodiest periods of the Syrian protests, inspired by uprisings which have overthrown leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Christopher Hitchens: If Saddam still ruled, there would be no Arab Spring
The most heartening single image of the past month — eclipsing even the bravery and dignity of the civilian fighters against despotism in Syria and Libya — was the sight of Hoshyar Zebari arriving in Paris to call for strong action against the depraved regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Here was the foreign minister of Iraq, and the new head of the Arab League, helping to tilt the whole axis of local diplomacy against one-man rule. In May, Iraq will act as host to the Arab League summit, and it will be distinctly amusing and highly instructive to see which Arab leaders have the courage, or even the ability, to leave their own capitals and attend. The whole scene is especially gratifying for those of us who remember Zebari as the dedicated exile militant that he was 10 years ago, striving to defend his dispossessed people from the effects of Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons.