A mention in the Washington Post:
“Iran has been involved in the crackdown by Assad on a much larger scale than previously thought,” said Ammar Abdulhamid, a Washington-based Syrian activist and a member of the Syria Working Group of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank.
By Hamed Aleaziz | Mon Feb. 27, 2012 9:01 AM PST
A 718-page digital document obtained by Mother Jones contains names, phone numbers, neighborhoods, and alleged activities of thousands of dissidents apparently targeted by the Syrian government. Three experts asked separately by Mother Jones to examine the document—essentially a massive spreadsheet, whose contents are in Arabic—say they believe that it is authentic. As Bashar al-Assad’s military continues a deadly crackdown on dissent inside the country, the list appears to confirm in explicit detail the scale of the regime’s domestic surveillance and its methodical efforts to destroy widespread opposition. Continue reading “Syria Hit List Targets Thousands”
On February 15, at the headquarters of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, I helped set up a conference call via Skype that introduced rebel leaders from Damascus and Its Suburbs to a host of policy experts from Washington. This is Cliff May’s take on the event. Cliff is the president of FDD.
An intervention in the U.S. Today Debate Club
Many Washingtonians claim that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has been thrown back against the ropes, boxed in by international sanctions, and growing hordes of protesters whom he cannot contain, no matter how brutally he cracks down on them.
In truth, Assad is hardly alone. Iran and Hezbollah have stood by his side from the first moment, providing intelligence, and by some accounts weapons and other assistance to the loyalist forces. More recently, China and Russia have drawn a line in the sand, refusing to acquiesce to the demise of Assad’s regime, exercising their respective vetoes at the United Nations Security Council. Continue reading “How Many Syrians Must Die before a U.S. Intervention?”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 