When a four-day holiday cease-fire was supposed to be in effect, from four hours after the cease-fire was violated to the moment it was supposed to end over 500 people died in Syria.
Today alone, Syrian warplanes launched over sixty strikes, the most intense series of air raids since the uprising began 19 months ago. Al Jazeera reports that the targets were mostly in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria’s capital and supposedly a stronghold of government supporters.
Apparently they weren’t supporting the regime enough. It’s also telling that an anti-government rally went on in the capital earlier today as well.
Also, reports are increasing now of rebel groups utilizing torture methods that have been a staple of the Assad regime’s systematic pattern of abuse and suppression. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have noted that some rebels aren’t rebels at all, but warlords trying to take advantage of the security vacuums in places where the government has been forced out.
They also note that rebels have been in conflict with Kurdish militias in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. Kurds are a stateless ethnic culture, occupying a contiguous region that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. They are frequently considered squatters in these countries, and not believed to be “true” citizens.
In both American wars against Iraq and the Syrian Civil War, Kurdish groups have attempted to claim territories where their numbers are consolidated. Thus far, it hasn’t stuck. The militias this time around have taken a large swath of northern Syria and wish to declare themselves autonomous within a democratic Syria, or to establish a Kurdish nation.
No word on which rebel groups have been locked in combat with them, or why. Over 600,000 Kurds live in northern Syria, stoking fears that tensions along the Turkish border might worsen with rebel fighting rebel.
China’s come out and made it clear that they don’t believe the issue will be resolved by force and backs the cease-fire action that UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi attempted to put into effect. Brahimi will be meeting with Chinese officials in the near future.
Question: How is this thing going to end, guys?