Syria's Neighbours

"Syria is full of honourable officials and military leaders who are waiting for the chance to join the revolution.  I urge the army to follow the example of Egypt's and Tunisia's armies - take the side of the people."  Riad Hijab, former Syrian prime minister

"I was powerless to stop the injustice", Mr. Hijab said, in front of the rebel flag.  "The regime is on the verge of collapse morally and economically in addition to cracks in the military", he said, speaking from Amman, Jordan.  And the "pain in his soul" torments him, but it took over a year and a half to make enough of an impact on his conscience before he left the regime.

But as the highest ranking official yet to defect, he can be influential in salving his conscience and urging others to do the same.  Not part of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, it's debatable how much more relevant he was as a symbol used by the Alawite regime to 'prove' that they were not averse to giving Sunni Muslim Syrians positions of authority.  But not power.

Mr. Hijab's clan originated from the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the very place where rebels from the Free Syrian Army were jubilant at shooting down an army MiG-23 warplane, and beating and goading its pilot into disclaiming allegiance to the regime, meekly urging his fellow pilots to do as he has done; swing over to the opposition.

Border skirmishes in the past little while have threatened to engulf countries neighbouring Syria.  Iran's Republican Guard and Hezbollah have both involved Iran and Lebanon; one by intention, the other through unwilling inadvertence.  The 24 Iranians being held by the Free Syrian Army rebels represent a tip of the iceberg.  Clan clashes and sectarian violence has spread to Lebanon, where abductions of Sunnis by Shia and the reverse are heating up the atmosphere.

The al-Meqdad clan said they had acted to force the release of a man held in Damascus

The Organization of Islamic Co-operation meeting in Mecca has taken the step of suspending Syria's membership; the Arab League has long since suspended Syria.  Isolation from its Arab neighbours with the exception of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its tensile-strength political connection with non-Arab Iran remains the new norm for Syria.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have warned that action is imminent as a result of a string of kidnappings by a Shia clan of Sunni Muslims.  Tit-for-tat retaliation for the abduction by rebels of a Shia clan member in Damascus. 

 

Warplanes striking Azaz, a town north of Aleppo, killing 30 people, burying people under rubble, so that desperate measures were taken to attempt to rescue the crushed, maimed and dying ensuring further condemnation of the regime highlights its determination, and the absolute severing of ties with Arab states.  Several Lebanese hostages being held by rebels were wounded in the attack close to Syria's border with Turkey.

 

Rioters were burning tires on the main road to Beirut airport.  The al-Meqdad clan abducted over 20 people it insists have connection to Syrian rebels, including a Free Syrian Army captain.  A Turkish businessman and a Saudi national were included among the abducted Syrians, further inflaming an unquenchable fire of revolt and regime response, in an ever widening net drawing in the nationals of Syria's neighbours.