UPDATE 1-Syrian rebels: govt attack kills 3 Iranian captives

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Mon Aug 6, 2012 12:38pm EDT

Aug 6 (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said three Iranian captives were killed on Monday during an air attack in Damascus province by government forces, and threatened to kill the remaining Iranians in their custody unless the army stopped its attack.

"They were killed when the aircraft attacked. One of the houses they were in collapsed over their heads," rebel spokesman Moutassam al-Ahmad told Reuters. "We will kill the rest if the army does not stop its assault. They have one hour."

Ahmad said that a number of rebels were also killed in the attack. "Our losses are bigger than theirs."

Fighters from the al-Baraa brigade of the rebel Free Syrian Army kidnapped 48 Iranians on Saturday on suspicion of being military personnel, but Tehran says they are pilgrims.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/06/syria-crisis-iranians-idUSL6E8J6BIV20120806

[msongs]

1. "we will kill the rest...." sounds like the kind of people our government would embrace nt

[pampango]

2. True nor should we support people who use aircraft to attack 'pilgrims' being held hostage

unless they are willing to sacrifice the 'pilgrims' in order to kill a few rebels.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. That assumes the regime knows where the kidnapped people are.

[David__77]

6. That is exactly: take neither side in terms of material support.

It would seem odd if the Syrian forces used "aircraft to attack" the hostages. It is more likely a botched rescue attempt, if, indeed, there was an airstrike. I'm pretty sure the Syrian government would prefer to rescue the hostages unharmed.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Those rebels sound like some charming folks.

[Dokkie]

5. These are the same mercenaries

that invaded and destroyed Libya. Sometimes I wonder what kind of information they used to brainwash these idiots into attacking their own. They must have told em that inside Syria lies a land filled with Jews to kill and they can only get to them if they can defeat Assad administration.

But just like in Libya they will be content with killing the local Christians and black Africans they find. Such wondering people we are supporting in Syria.

[al bupp]

7. Here's what we know for certain about the conflict in Syria

Only one side has large stockpiles of rockets, mortars, heavy artillery, tanks, helicopters and airplanes. That side have not been too reluctant to use any of that weaponry, for days & weeks at a time, largely indiscriminately, on urban population centers. The same was true in Libya.

Seems to me that some people, who would (rightly) call for criminal investigations of the use of in discriminant beanbag projectiles and pepper spray on Occupy protesters, will turn a blind-eye to much more extreme government abuse of their populations abroad, as long as doing so can be justified by allegations of nefarious, secret and complex geopolitical theories.

I happen to think governments don't have a sacred right to bomb their own cities entirely free from any outside "interference". People subjected to such conditions certainly have an inherent right to resist and seek assistance wherever they can find it.

Though I would prefer it if all conflicts could be solved non-violently, I know this has often proven difficult to achieve, especially while under sustained rocket fire.

Just saying.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. I think the Syrian government starts bombing neighborhoods...

...after they are taken over by armed insurgents. There is a pattern: The rebels move in, the Syrian army bombards, the residents flee or get killed, and the rebels end up patrolling a whole lot of rubble until the Syrian army pushes them out.

[al bupp]

9. That's certainly their allegation, but the response was, sir, reprehensible I think, nonetheless

Not no mention, that such a tidy scenario neatly ignores months of almost entirely peaceful protests across the country, by streets full of civilians that according to many accounts were put down by army occupations, mass arrests, roof-top snipers and militia raids.

I think to ascribe the entire thing solely to a cleaver cabal of neocons and massively misguided Islamicist enablers, strains credulity to the breaking point. Seems much more likely to me that war, like politics, has simply made for some strange bedfellows, w/ many (and some not too pretty) parties finding common cause in toppling the ruthless dictator son of a ruthless dictator.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

10. So that makes indiscriminate bombing and shelling

of a neighborhood understandable.

I think the Syrian government starts bombing neighborhoods...

...after they are taken over by armed insurgents.

[al bupp]

11. Understandable perhaps, but stupid and barbaric certainly

Even if the there is any basis to the premise, and it not simply propaganda, because there were sure to be innocent civilians hurt and massive collateral damage that only plays into their opponents hands and further erodes whatever popular support the government might have had.

At the rate things are going, I predict Assad's government doesn't survive through the New Year. Given his massive military advantages, strong foreign allies and the clear object lesson in Libya, not to mention his supposed "western savvy" wife and background, this outcome should have been avoidable.

Hard to feel too sorry for the falling dictator though. The thousands his army has killed on the way out, that's another story.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

12. He's certainly a chip off the old block.

I'll be very happy to see him fall.

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. I think the country will end up bloody and divided.

Assad and his army and his Alawites will hole up in the Alawite stronghold of Latakia province. He may already be there. I hear a whole bunch of his troops are.

The Kurds will peel off what they can.

The Sunnis will fight Assad, the Kurds, and themselves.

And the Christians will be hiding or fleeing.

[al bupp]

14. Also, distinct possibilities, comrade

Your predictions, sir, certainly live up to your name.