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| Bombs rained down on Aleppo University students before they could toss their caps (By Yasser Abu Hamed) |
Only God knows why Mali matters so much to the
French, British and other European "Friends of Syria," and not the
decimation of 21 million Syrians.
Only God knows why the U.S. and Israel's saber
rattling at Iran -- which has just given Syria a credit facility of $1 billion
-- evaporated.
Only God knows why
Russia -- which vetoed so far three UN Security Council draft resolutions threatening
Damascus with sanctions -- this week endorsed a unanimous UNSC statement
backing France's intervention in Mali.
Only God knows why
Algeria -- which has consistently opposed intervention in Syria -- allowed French
jets to use its airspace to intervene in Mali.
The imponderables are countless,
but here is a rundown of fresh but cheerless news concerning Syria:
Homs massacre
More than 100 people were
shot, stabbed and possibly burned to death in the Syrian city of Homs this
week, in what a monitoring group said was a massacre by the army or militia
loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The Britain-based
monitoring group said women and children were among the 106 people killed by
forces who stormed Basateen al-Hasawiya بساتين الحصوية, an impoverished district on the edge
of town. (Read Reuters
dispatch).
Detainees
The Syrian League for Human rights (SLHR) says more
than one million Syrians – men, women and children – have been arbitrarily
detained since the beginning of anti-government protests in mid-March 2011.
It says in a report
99% of them were tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Some were subjected to
enforced disappearance.
It put the number of deaths under torture at 1,350.
The figure excludes summary executions at homes, on the streets or at
checkpoints and roadblocks.
SLHR estimates the present number of detainees at
165,000, about 6,000 of them females.
Students
Avaaz, the
globe's largest and most powerful online activist network, issued the following
appeal
overnight:
Six
hundred and seventy (670) students currently study in United Kingdom higher
education institutions.
Many have been threatened by their universities with immediate expulsion – some have already been expelled – if
either they or their sponsors can no longer pay for their tuition fees, due to
the conflict in Syria.
Syrian
students in that case would then lose their student visas and their right to
work, leaving them in impossible
situations.
Also, the Syrian Government -- under the British
Council’s Capacity Building Scheme -- sponsors at least 100 Syrian PhD students
in the UK, and the Syrian authorities have stopped their funding and
maintenance payments.
This
has left these students in limbo, as they may not be allowed to complete their studies.
The lives of these 670 Syrian students are
threatened –
those who would lose their UK visas would be forced to return to Syria. And if
they are suspected of taking part in protests against Assad's government, they could face detention, torture and even
assassination at the hands of the Syrian regime.
The Foreign Secretary William Hague can ensure that
Syrian students are able to continue their studies in the UK, including those who have already been expelled – like he did for
the Libyan students affected by the conflict in 2011. Let's call on him, the
Universities Minister David Willetts and his colleagues in Scotland to do the
same for Syrian students. Please sign
and share this petition widely!
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| The Avaaz petition |
By this writing, the number of signers had exceeded 25,000. You can add your
signature here.
Speaking of Syrian students, more than 85 of them
were killed at Aleppo University on Tuesday. Here is what U.S. State Department
spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at the daily press briefing
yesterday:
I
have one statement at the top, and then we’ll go to what’s on your minds. This
is with regard to the deadly attack on the University of Aleppo yesterday. The
United States is appalled and saddened by the Syrian regime’s deadly attack
yesterday on the University of Aleppo, which reportedly killed more than 80 people
and injured more than 150.
According
to eyewitnesses at the scene, regime planes launched aerial strikes on
university facilities. We understand that most of the victims of this tragedy
were students and refugees who had been housed at the university.
We condemn this despicable attack on unarmed civilians and
continue to emphasize that those responsible for unlawful killings and other
violations of international law will be identified and held accountable.
Our sympathies and condolences go out to all those devastated by
this senseless tragedy. The Syrian people have already endured too much loss as
a result of the Assad regime’s relentless attacks on its own people.
Chemicals
The Obama administration is
still trying its hardest to shoot down a secret U.S. diplomats’ cable saying
the Syrian military dropped an exotic chemical weapon on rebels during a
December 23 attack in the city of Homs.
Read more about the diplomats’
cable in Foreign Policy’s exclusive
by Josh Rogin, “Secret
State Department cable: Chemical weapons used in Syria.”