Monitor reporter Scott Peterson reports from the Aleppo neighborhood of Salaheddin that the rebels are impeding the Syrian Army’s ground progress, pushing them to use more deadly tactics.
READ: Inside Aleppo: Rebels repulse Syrian tanks, civilians dodge shells
Reports out of Aleppo indicate that Syrian government troops launching an assault on the city have so far been unable to retake rebel-held neighborhoods there, despite the use of heavy weapons such as tanks and helicopter gunships.
Khaled, one of hundreds of Lebanese Sunnis from the northern Bekaa Valley in Lebanon who have taken up arms against the Assad regime in the past year.
READ: Exclusive: Veteran Lebanese fighter trains new generation of jihadis – for Syria
Grainy videos depict the violence that has killed at least 6,000 Syrians, but the prospects for international intervention appear dim. Is the world inured to the ubiquitous images?
Good Reads highlights the best reporting and analysis available on the top international stories of the day – and other key topics you shouldn’t miss.
Good morning Tumblr, here is your daily dose of Good Reads, thanks to The Guardian, Al Jazeera and The Washington Post.
From the Opinion Desk: This oped was written by George A. Lopez. He holds the Hesburgh Chair in Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute, University of Notre Dame. With David Cortright he is co-author of five books and over 30 articles on economic sanctions.
Opening:
When the United Nations Security Council meets on Thursday to discuss Syria, it should seize the moment to impose multiple sanctions on the Assad regime and its network of support.
Remarks on why sanctions could work:
In this particular case, sanctions have a heightened probability of eroding the repressive capabilities of the government.
- First, economic deterioration, lack of access to foreign banks, and travel restrictions create new conditions whereby internal actors in Syria will begin to weigh more directly the costs against the benefits of remaining tied to the regime.
- Second, the Syrian armed forces are becoming overstretched geographically and can be vulnerable to supply interruptions.
- Finally, because the domestic opposition appears beyond being cowed into submission, protesters will draw added strength from these actions taken by the international community.
His final thoughts…
The concerted brutality of the attacks that have marked the Muslim observance of Ramadan indicates that the Assad government considers its survival tied to the complete repression of the protests, whatever the costs. Calling merely for Assad to step down or to declare his rule illegitimate will not increase those costs.
Short of direct military force, only coordinated, severe, and timely sanctions will degrade the regime’s economic resources and firepower, spark defections of its supporters and, ultimately, undermine the success of its repression. Now is the moment for these sanctions.
If you’re interested in reading the entire opinion piece, click here.
The turn against Assad means that the US administration has decided that maintaining the status quo – a power vacuum in Syria could cause problems with Lebanon and Israel and leave an opening for Iran – is not a worthwhile trade-off for helping keep Assad in power, the Times reports.
International opinion has also turned – the embassy attacks drew unanimous condemnation from the United Nations Security Council. Even Russia and China, who previously said they would veto a resolution condemning Syria’s crackdown on protesters, were on board, the Associated Press reports.
Full story here.
![Were social media networks pivotal to launching the protests of the Arab Spring, or only the latest tools used in the online activism movement building over the last decade?
From this week’s cover story:
Though the broadcasting capabilities of social media helped spread the story, the international euphoria about social networking may be misplaced when it comes to organizing uprisings. Deeply rooted cultures of online activism were more important than the newest social networking brands.
Digital activism did not spring immaculately out of Twitter and Facebook. It’s been going on ever since blogs existed. - Rebecca MacKinnon, cofounder of Global Voices Online, a network of 300 volunteer bloggers writing, analyzing, and translating news in more than 30 languages.
In Syria, in fact, one blogger says it was old-fashioned activism that pushed the digital world into the fight against President Bashar al-Assad.
“The street led the bloggers. Three months ago, I can’t speak about Bashar, even in a restaurant. Now we are saying, ‘OK, they [the protesters] are dying. What we can do is write. If we don’t talk, it’s now or never.’ And stories are coming out, all over, even from the 1980s, because people are feeling they are not alone.” - Marcell Shewaro, writer of marcellita.com, who left Syria for Cairo on June 19, after veiled threats from the government over her three-year-old Arabic blog, which she says has about 50,000 readers a month.
That feeling brought people together in a way that literally saved lives in Tahrir Square, says Yasser Alwan, a photographer in Cairo who spent more than two weeks in the square with protesters. “People built 20 sinks and 20 toilets, spontaneously,” he says. “People brought blankets, donated tents – the third or fourth night it rained, and tarps appeared. A whole community was built in three or four days … which is what allowed them to stay.” Those same bonds, Mr. Alwan says, allowed them to surwvive the government’s first siege of the square, on Feb. 2.
Social media as change agent: Did Twitter and Facebook really build a global revolution? Read the full story here.
This Week’s Cover Image: In Yemen, a cellphone camera is used at an anti-government rally. (PHOTO: Reuters/John Kehe Illustration)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lnm8qjcwe01qdm4y9o1_400.jpg)
Were social media networks pivotal to launching the protests of the Arab Spring, or only the latest tools used in the online activism movement building over the last decade?
From this week’s cover story:
Though the broadcasting capabilities of social media helped spread the story, the international euphoria about social networking may be misplaced when it comes to organizing uprisings. Deeply rooted cultures of online activism were more important than the newest social networking brands.
Digital activism did not spring immaculately out of Twitter and Facebook. It’s been going on ever since blogs existed. - Rebecca MacKinnon, cofounder of Global Voices Online, a network of 300 volunteer bloggers writing, analyzing, and translating news in more than 30 languages.
In Syria, in fact, one blogger says it was old-fashioned activism that pushed the digital world into the fight against President Bashar al-Assad.
“The street led the bloggers. Three months ago, I can’t speak about Bashar, even in a restaurant. Now we are saying, ‘OK, they [the protesters] are dying. What we can do is write. If we don’t talk, it’s now or never.’ And stories are coming out, all over, even from the 1980s, because people are feeling they are not alone.” - Marcell Shewaro, writer of marcellita.com, who left Syria for Cairo on June 19, after veiled threats from the government over her three-year-old Arabic blog, which she says has about 50,000 readers a month.
That feeling brought people together in a way that literally saved lives in Tahrir Square, says Yasser Alwan, a photographer in Cairo who spent more than two weeks in the square with protesters. “People built 20 sinks and 20 toilets, spontaneously,” he says. “People brought blankets, donated tents – the third or fourth night it rained, and tarps appeared. A whole community was built in three or four days … which is what allowed them to stay.” Those same bonds, Mr. Alwan says, allowed them to surwvive the government’s first siege of the square, on Feb. 2.
Social media as change agent: Did Twitter and Facebook really build a global revolution? Read the full story here.
This Week’s Cover Image: In Yemen, a cellphone camera is used at an anti-government rally. (PHOTO: Reuters/John Kehe Illustration)
