THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2011
SYRIA FROM 1
PAGE 3
ASSOCIATED PRESS
the Alawite sect, which is a minority sect within Shiaism which is the minority side of Islam within Syria," Raj Bhala, a Rice distinguished professor of law said.
Pro-Syrian regime shout slogans as they hold portraits of Syrian President Bashar Assad, his father Hafez Assad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, about 200 people from the Islamic Group Jamaa Islamiya, who are opposed to Assad, had planned the protest, in front of the Syrian embassy, in Beirut on Thursday Aug. 11, 2011. In Lebanon, scuffles erupted Thursday between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, leading to a few minor injuries. Riot police and soldiers intervened to separate between the two groups protesting outside the Syrian Embassy on a busy street in Beirut's Hamra district.
Al-Assad was believed to be a young reformist when he took power. But his response to the revolution, now known as the Arab Spring, has increased opposition protests. Bhala explained that the revolution began after years of poor living conditions and low job opportunities for the Arab youths.
The protests began in Tunisia when a fruit seller lit himself on fire in protest of police brutality. The revolution grew and spread across North Africa and the Middle East.
The first spark in Syria struck in Daraa, Syria. Khattar Torbey, a juridical sciences doctoral candidate from Beirut explained the Daraa event that led to the mass protests throughout Syria.
"There was some kids that wrote on the walls of their school, "Let the dictator fall' So, they took them, they pulled out their nails and tortured them and then threw them back on the streets," Torbey said.
The fathers asked the chief of security about what happened to their children. The security chief said that if the men acted out again, that the security forces would kill their wives, explained Torben.
After protests in Daraa escalated, the al-Assad regime cracked down with acts of repression, rather than the reforms that the Syrian people had hoped for.
Sibaiya explained that the Syrian people are living in fear. When she
speaks with her relatives via Skype they tell her they're positioning themselves in a way so that if a bullet comes through the window it won't hit them.
Even communicating with her family online is dangerous for Sibaai. The International Press Institute notes that the Syrian government has instituted a crackdown on social media sites. "My family and I don't think we would be able to get back into Syria unless the regime falls because of how active we've been on the net," Sibbai said.
The Internet is the main tool for revolution leaders across the Middle East when it comes to organizing protests. In Egypt, organizers sent out emails and tweets and started Facebook groups to tell the youth population when and where protests were taking place.
The United States issued a travel warning April 25 instructing citizens to depart from Syria immediately. A second warning was issued Aug. 5 reiterating the earlier warning to depart due to the escalating violence against people on the streets.
The practice has become standard. In Syria and across the globe Twitter has been used to show support and raise awareness. Opposition supporters started Twitter campaigns using the hashtags #RamadanMassacre and #SyriaBleeds to spread awareness.
Six months after the initial killings there is no apparent end to the violence in sight.
"Everyday it seems to be getting worse and worse," Sibaai said.
Sibaai now believes that the
ASSOCIATED PRESS
An anti-Syrian regime protester, holds up a placard shows a Syrian tank with words of Baath party, left and the other Arabic words in the right read."Damascus, Deir el-Zor, Homs, Daraa, Hama, Syria "as, he protests during a demonstration to show his support to the Syrian protesters, in Beirut on Monday Aug. 15, 2011, Syrian troops besieged residential areas of two key cities Monday, firing on residents as they fired for safety and killing at least two people during broad military assaults to root out dissent against President Bashar Assad's automatic witness, witnesses said.
Student accused of stalking released
CRIME
A University student was released from Douglas County Jail Thursday afternoon, where he had been held among an arrest on suspicion of stalking. No charges have been filed against him. KU Public Safety officers arrested the student at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the
Douglas County Sheriff's Office, on the 1700 block of Anna Drive, which is in the Stouffer Place apartments, northeast of the intersection of 19th and Iowa Streets.
— Ian Cummings
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Suhayla Sibaia, a sophomore from Wichita holds a sign at a protest in Kansas City. Mo. Sibaia was protesting the al-Assad Ba'athist government's actions in Syria.
fighting will not end until al-Assad and his government step down from power and are tried for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court.
However, Bhala points out that any actions against al-Assad by foreign military powers has already been ruled out. There are fears that if foreign powers intervene it will be counter-productive to the revolution. Bhala says that the Syrian people may be capable of finding a resolution to the conflict before an intervention would.
Since China and Russia, two members of the five-member United Nations Security Council, struck down a resolution to intervene militarily in Syria, the likelihood that a member nation would act one its own is unlikely.
Nonetheless, the revolution continues to escalate with dozens of people dying daily. International organizations have been unable to calculate estimated death tolls because of the level of violence and travel warnings and the evacuation of most foreign citizens.
"I have talked to people from Syria, asking them if they think that it is going to end soon. They really can't tell. But for sure by next summer, inshAllah, it will be done," Bisaai said.
— Edited by Ben Chipman
All through the months
Violent protests in Syria take place all over the country.
MARCH "Day of Dignity" held in a protest for the release of political prisoners in Damascus.
March
March
The government releases some political prisoners to try and quell the riots in the country.
March
President Bashar al-Assad accuses the protestors to be working for the Israeli government and dismisses the government.
Mav
Syrian army tanks enter Deraa, Banyas, Homs and Damascus to crush protestors.
May Al-Assad announces amnesty for political prisoners.
June President al-Assad pledges to begin "national dialogue" towards reform.
Julv
Assad fires the governor of Hama after several mass demonstrations there. The conflict escalated when troops were sent in to restore order, an unknown number of lives were lost.
March
At a "Day of Rage, rally in the southern city of Dera, security forces shoot a number of people dead, triggering days of violent unrest and more civilian deaths.
April
The emergency law that had been in action since 1963 is lifted
May The United States and European Union increase sanctions.
June
Government agents announce that 120 force forces have been killed by "armed gangs" in Jisr al-Shughour. Troops besiege the town. More than 10,000 people flee north to Turkey.
June
The LAEA nuclear watchdog reports Syria to the United Nations Security Council over its alleged covert nuclear program.
July Oppositions activists meet in Istanbul, Turkey to unify the opposition.
I'VE GOT RHYTHM
MIKE GUNNOE/KANSAN
Walter Becker, Keith Carlock, Donald Fagen of Steely Dan play before a soldout crowd at the Starlight Theater Thursday night in Kansas City, Mo. Starlight was one of the stops of the band's 2011 "Shuffle Diplomacy" tour.
LOVE STEELY DAN?
Go check out the online gallery at http://udkne.ws/qG1nix
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