Die Familie Assad hat Familienerfahrung mit Massakern in Hama, auf die der Sohn jetzt zurückgreifen kann:

At least seven civilians have been killed in the central Syrian city of Hama as government forces intensify their attacks on the city, activists told Al Jazeera.

Sumer al-Said, a resident of Hama, told Al Jazeera by phone on Tuesday afternoon that security forces have been shooting people indiscriminately in the streets, and that water and electricity had been cut off.

“Two days ago, they arrested a lot of people in my area, and a lot of people were badly beaten,” he said.

Residents of Hama are bracing for an imminent assault from security forces, as troops and tanks surround the city in an attempt to quell protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

With tanks and armoured vehicles moving closer to the edges of the city overnight, resident said hundreds of youths had blocked roads leading to the city’s main residential neighbourhoods with garbage containers, wood and metal to try to prevent a possible advance.

“Hama is completely surrounded by many directions and people are really scared,” Abu Ziyad, an activist, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

Sher lesenswert auch dieses Interview mit Jonathan Spyrer über die Lage in Syrien und die Angst des Westens vor dem Iran.

Das “Special Tribunal for Libanon” erklärt, welche Schritte in der nächsten Zeit von diesem Gericht zu erwarten sind, auch im zu erwartenden Falle, dass weder die Hizbollah, die dies schon angekündigt hat,  noch die neue libanesische Regierung kooperieren sollten:

The Lebanese authorities must inform the President of the STL within 30 days after the confirmation of the indictment of the measures the state has taken to arrest the person(s) named in the indictment.

Die Al Azhar Universität, offiziell oberstes Organ des sunnitischen Islam, hat ein überraschnedes 11. Punkte Papier veröffentlich, wie sich die Kleriker das neues Ägypten wünschen. Darin heißt es, man befürworte einen

“constitutional, democratic and modern state based on a constitution approved by the nation, which separates the three branches of power, delineates the scope of the ruling power and guarantees rights and freedoms for all on an equal footing.”

It also emphasizes freedom of religion, protection for places of worship and the right to practice religious rites, but reserves these rights to “followers of the three heavenly religions”.

Religionsfreiheit für Buddhisten oder Hindus, nein so weit mag man dann doch nicht gehen.

Aber immerhin:

By using the phrase “modern nation-state,” Al-Azhar dealt a blow to Islamist voices that call for the revival of the pan-Islamic caliphate, said Fahmi. Also, by affirming the state should derive legitimacy from a constitution that the people design, Al-Azhar is distancing itself from some Islamist political movements, which holds Shariah, or Islamic Law, as the constitutional foundation of any Muslim society, added Fahmi.

Another controversial assertion in the charter, according to Fahmi, is the reference to “the general principles” of Shariah, rather than the strict injunctions of Shariah - stoning or decapitating adulterers, for example. By referring to general principles of Shariah, Al-Azhar is providing room for a modern interpretation of Islamic values such as freedom, justice, and equality, rather than citing specific articles in the traditional Islamic penal code.

Warum diese Debatten für die Zukunft des politischen Islam von zentraler Bedeutung sind, erklärt Ayelet Banai in dem Artikel: Sharia and Egypt’s Constitution: an Iraqi blueprint

Ein geniales Clip der syrischen Rapper “Strong Heroes of Moscow“:

Al Jazeera hat den Text übersetzt:

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

We are your soldiers Bashar, we are just dust on your boot! For your eyes’ sake we will knock down the Syrian homeland, you are the democracy!

Wherever you walk and step we will kneel and kiss the ground. We will step over every single infiltrator like the animals in the wild.

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

We are your lions, don’t mind anything. We will fill the square with blood. It’s never about the quantity, we are the quality.

Screw freedom! Screw this rubbish! It’s a conspiracy coming from Mars. We don’t have Hindus, we don’t have Sikhs, we don’t have Zardashtis.

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

You with high forehead, I will sacrifice my soul and my money for you. And for your eyes’ sake, you precious thing, I will slaughter my own family with a knife.

They said ‘God, freedom only!’ We will chop them like lettuce. They are only like a couple of million infiltrators, they were never the majority.

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

Without you we’re screwed. May you get over my shoulder and hang. Your media is using all the superstition and they discovered the terrorist salafi group.

Terrorism has no cure, for you we will occupy Deraa. We will never get tired, we will never give up, until we have a genocide.

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

Your name is always up there, your voice is heard up in the skies. Even if your own people starve to death we will elect you for eternity.

We don’t have one opinion, or two opinions. We have your light that blinds the eyes. You are our magnificent, you beautiful thing. You are the king of humanity!

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

We’re going to fill all the cells, we’re going to fill all the prisons. We want to empty the Russian guns, for the sake of the Assadi nation.

Und, wo man schon beim Sujet ist, hier ein Bericht üeber FB 17, die Kultband Band aus Misrata.

Da sprechen nun alle (wieder) von Reformen, der Präsident des eigenen Landes, der der USA, die Europäer sowieso, aber statt endlich Ruhe zu geben, machen die Syrer einfach weiter, ganz uneinsichtig fordern sie den Sturz des Regimes. Weder weichgespülte Oppositionskonferenzen und irgendwelche Ankündigungen von “nationalen Dialogen” auf der einen Seite noch erneut scharf schießende Sicherheitskräfte auf der anderen haben die Demonstranten davon abhalten können, heute erneut in Massen auf die Straße zu gehen. Im Gegenteil, glaubt man dem Guardian, gab es heute sogar die größten Demonstrationen seit Beginn der Unruhen im März:

Syria witnessed the biggest protests today after 16 weeks of unrest, footage from the demonstrations suggested. Activists said hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the central city of Hama, and there were reports of protests across the country. At least 12 people died when the security forces crackdown on the protests, as citizen journalists continued to record the violent crackdown.

Siehe auch diesen Artikel über die neugegründeten lokalen Koordinierungskomittees in Syrien: Coalition of Factions From the sreets Fuels a New Opposition in Syria

Sollte diese Meldung zutreffen, waere es endlich soweit. Der Moment, den die Hizbollah seit Monaten fuerchtet:

A United Nations-backed court has handed down indictments requesting the arrest of four members of the Shia movement Hezbollah in connection with the 2005 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, according to media reports.

Lebanon state prosecutor Saeed Mirza has received the indictments, which are meant to remain sealed for 30 days to allow him to examine them. But local and international media, some citing judicial sources, immediately reported that the arrest warrants named four men: Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hassan Issa and Asad Sabra.

Badreddine is Hezbollah’s chief operations officer, according to the Daily Star, an English-language newspaper based in Beirut. He replaced his former cousin and brother-in-law Imad Mugniyeh in that position after Mugniyeh was assassinated in Syria in 2008, the newspaper reported.

The indictment alleges Badreddine masterminded and supervised the plot to kill Hariri, while Ayyash led the cell that actually carried out the operation, the Star wrote.

Saad Hariri, Rafik’s son and a former prime minister himself, welcomed the news of the indictments’ release.