UN-Observer Touring

"I urge all forces whether governmental, opposition or others to put down their weapons and work with the United Nations monitors to consolidate the fragile cessation of violence.  The government in particular must desist from the use of heavy weapons and, as it has committed, withdraw such weapons and armed units from population centres and implement fully its commitments under the six-point plan."  UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan

The presence of UN military observers - the handful thus represented - apart, death still stalks the cities of Syria.  The presence of the observers did give psychological support to the ordinary protester on the street, many of whom gained strength from the observer presence to hoist signs inviting them to see for themselves what has become of their cities; ruined landscapes of a ruinous war. 

These protesters gathering with their signs once again, a definite assault on the sensibilities of the regime, a provocation requiring that troops be prepared once again to invade city centres alongside tanks and artillery.  The Security Council voted to dispatch 300 unarmed observers to Syria for a three-month period, and along with that vote came a response from Syria.

The rebels and opposition members of the public encouraged once again to face off against one another.  Two advance team members set themselves up in Homs, to 'observe' a mission they have committed to, to discharge their humanitarian obligation to the people of Syria.  The proverbial needle in the haystack.  The city of Homs houses hundreds of thousands, so a handful more dead protesters will hardly be missed. 

Two UN military observers.  As though the field of war is a concentrated one and human eyesight sufficient to observe the measures taken by each side to outlive the other.  But the two toured and walked around the city, and stopped to speak with people.  Escorted by members of the Free Syrian Army.  Haven't we seen this play before?

The residents who gathered around the observers were soon dispersed, however, when troops fired warning shots into the air.  Those observers kept wandering about, doing their business; visiting Hama, and Baba Amr, to see the blistered landscape, witnessing for themselves what the opposition has been describing of their experiences at protest.

In Douma heavy tank shelling and gunfire.  The response by the rebels, a bomb targeting an armoured personnel carrier and four soldiers dead.  But then, the soldiers are Syrians too, and they have responded taking the lives of other Syrians who just happen to be civilians.  The military bombard and the rebels ambush.  To each according to their means.

And the additional 300 observers?  To be deployed if, and when security can be determined to be safe.

And the shadows that lurk behind the drama?  The Muslim Brotherhood awaiting their opportunity.  Islamists determined to turn Syria into an Islamist state.  Where the Kurds, making up 10% of the population will certainly not be guaranteed security.  And the Syrian Christians, quaking at the very thought of the regime's demise, and with it their fragile security.