There is no likelihood that Western powers will intervene in Syria anytime soon. The SNC snubbed the Free Syrian Army which has been trying to put together a military option. At the same time it demanded that opposition groups within the country forgo militarization. Following this week’s Tunis meeting, the SNC demanded immediate foreign intervention to protect the Syrian people and stop the regime.

The external opposition leaders – the NSC – do not have a strategy for bringing down the regime that is realistic. The Assad regime remains strong compared to opposition forces.

The context of the bombings are the growing frustration of the opposition. I am only surprised that we haven’t seen the use of suicide bombing sooner. Both fit a rather perverse “qui bono,” or “who benefits” text, but I shouldn’t think that either are likely. It reminds me of the notion that Washington was behind the World Trade Center bombing to provide a pretext for invading Iraq. I was asked by journalists today what I thought about the notion that the Syrian government planned the car bombs to provide a pretext for their increasingly violent crackdown on the opposition. Opposition activists claim the government staged the attacks as part of a scheme to convince the Arab League delegation that arrived in Damascus on Thursday that there is no government crackdown, but that violence in the country has been the work of “armed terrorist gangs.” Meanwhile, the British-based advocacy group, Avaaz, reported it has evidence that the death toll since the beginning of the government crackdown has reached 6,237civilians and soldiers, which includes 917 government forces, 400 children, and617 people whose deaths were a result of torture. If the government is trying to say this is the work of protesters or even al Qaeda sympathizers, the attack is in the heart of the capital and that makes the government look very vulnerable.” Iraqi political leaders canceled crisis talks scheduled for today and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to end power sharing in the government after Baghdad saw a series of violent blasts.Īl Jazeera’s Rula Amin reported that: “The capital has been relatively quiet. The attacks have come after one of the most violent weeks since the beginning of the Syrian regime’s crackdown on uprisings nearly ten months ago, and was the first such assault seen in the capital of Damascus. Two suicide bombs outside of government security locations in Damascus killed 40 civilians and soldiers and wounded 100 according to Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad - as reported by the government’s Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

أحوال المحارب القديم by الحسن بكري