A month ago it didn’t look like it would turn out this way, but a month of ineternational dawdling has given the Assad regime the time it needed to crush rebels in their last remaining stronghold in the northern city of Idlib:
The Syrian army has recaptured the northern rebel stronghold of Idlib near the Turkish border, a major base that military defectors had held for months, a pro-government newspaper and an activist group said Tuesday.
The three-day operation to capture Idlib gives the regime some momentum as it tries to crush the armed resistance. But it also fed international condemnation. The Arab League chief said the regime’s killing of civilians amounts to crimes against humanity and he called for an international inquiry.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said troops have planted land mines near its borders with Turkey and Lebanon along routes used by people fleeing the violence and trying to reach safety in neighboring countries.
Maybe the rebellion will restart, but it looks less than likely.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Oh, well. That happened…” Barackah Hussain Obama.
The leaders of the free (sort-of) world, and the Obama administration in particular,
seem to beare especially deaf to those fighting for freedom (citizens of Lebanon, Iran, and Syria), while being quick to endorse new oppressors promoting “faux freedom” (especially in north Africa, much of the Arab world, and in Latin America).I think that Europe, having looked at the results of the Arab revolutions, decided that Assad would buy more weapons from them than any new government would. Ditto for Russia.
The US has a track record of doing nothing except give speeches and platitudes.
So I’m not sure why the Syrian rebels (or any readers here) expected anything different.
No U.N. employees to tweet bloody pictures? Where’s the outrage?
As the child of refugees, I am stricken by the plight of decent people in Syria, but I do not rule out that Assad could be replaced by an even worse regime. I do not rule out that posturing fools in Western governments could help a worse regime to seize power.
Let’s not lose sight of our national interest. Let’s seek the counsel of our ally Israel.
Just think, if it wasn’t for the French pushing Obama to bomb Libya, we’d still have Ghaddafi instead of Al Qaeda running Libya.
Turns out, the best thing Obama’s done in office is to do nothing on an issue where any action would have made the situtation worse.
Not a bad default foreign policy–do nothing. Remember the old “avoid foreign entanglements” dictum?
I always liked the “don’t tread on me” flag. Pretty much sums it up, IMO.
Just like in Libya and Egypt, we didn’t have a dog in this fight, so I’m finally glad we found someplace we wouldn’t get involved. If the militants keep killing each other, that still seems like the best possible outcome for the civilized world.