World Threats

The “Day of Rage” planned by the secular opposition in Syria has begun. It has not been able to spark anything like what we see in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen but remember the story of President Ben Ali. There was no visible protest or opposition movement and yet in the blink of an eye, he fell. And so it’s quite possible that these small protests can gain steam as word spreads of their formation.

Here are the updates from the Reform Party of Syria:

• Facebook postings indicate that thousands protested in Hasakeh and about 200 were arrested and others were attacked with pipes when they refused to disperse.
• The Assad regime is relying upon older generals from his father’s era, a sign that he doesn’t trust the younger military officials.
• Kurdish websites claim that Syrian officials met with Arab tribes in Kurdish areas and offered to arm them to stop any uprising by the Kurds. RPS says it has information that many tribes refused.
• Syrian protestors are calling for protests every Friday.
• “Syrians are recording their own YouTube videos and posting them online to encourage other Syrians to rise. Given the bandwidth in Syria, it will be rather difficult to download them. One is of Iyas al-Maleh on YouTube, son to the prominent Syrian dissident Haytham al-Maleh who is 78 years old and remain imprisoned for speaking his mind.”