[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

I think the thread title should be changed to reflect the scale of what's going on. It's civil war on the streets of Damascus.

How about
"Assad about to get poked with a stck"
DAMNascus
Assad forces advancing en masse.. in other direction.
Assads really bad awful terrible day.

Or a serious title like Syrian Civil War Large Scale Fighting in the Capital Reported is good too.

[Kenka]

GAF, tell me. How was life in Syria before the war ? Were the people reall oppressed ? Was it a torture to live there, under the guidance of Al-Assad ? I need to know.

[Bisnic]

Three letters : C.I.A

Three letters : LOL

[maquiladora]

Martin Chulov ‏@martinchulov Hassan Turkmani, head of regime crisis group & mil committee also dead in today's Damascus blast. Bomb planted in meeting room. #Syria

And stating the obvious :

ianpannell ‏@BBCiPannell US Sec Def #Panetta says "real escalation" in #Syria & "rapidly spinning out of control".

[CHEEZMO™]

How about "Assad about to get poked with a stck" DAMNascus Assad forces advancing en masse.. in other direction. Assads really bad awful terrible day. Or a serious title like Syrian Civil War Large Scale Fighting in the Capital Reported is good too.

"Civil war hits Damascus - senior regime figures killed" sounds pretty straightforward to me.

[Phantast2k]

From the Beeb 1348: The BBC's social media team are monitoring Twitter accounts from within Syria. Currently, tweets are saying that security and army forces have withdrawn from Al-Midan and Al-Qaboun in Damascus.

Carpet bombing in 3,2,1..

GAF, tell me. How was life in Syria before the war ? Were the people reall oppressed ? Was it a torture to live there, under the guidance of Al-Assad ? I need to know.

Heavily depends on your ethnicity/religion I'd presume..

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

GAF, tell me. How was life in Syria before the war ? Were the people reall oppressed ? Was it a torture to live there, under the guidance of Al-Assad ? I need to know.

His dad crushed a revolt in the 1980s in Homs and killed 25k plus. The state has been consistent in being authoriterian under father and son with no free press, contested elections, opposition parties, basic legal protections...the place sucking on civil and political liberties isn't new.

[Grym]

He is. Anyone able to check if he's been posting today?

Looks like last post was between 15-16 hours ago.

[~Devil Trigger~]

Its like all these mideast dictators read from the same damn book.

These assholes instead of truly bringing change in their respected countries, chose to kill their people to submission.... not working buddy.

Their narcissistic attitude is whats killing them, they brought it on to themselves.

[CHEEZMO™]

Looks like last post was between 15-16 hours ago.

I see...

Thanks. Hope he's safe.

Carpet bombing in 3,2,1..

Shit, I didn't think of that :/

[Wazzim]

Its like all these mideast dictators read from the same damn book. These assholes instead of truly bringing change in their respected countries, chose to kill their people to submission.... not working buddy. Their narcissistic attitude is whats killing them, they brought it on to themselves.

Well yeah, they're just dumb. They only know two 'solutions':
1. Throw money at the public.
2. If throwing money doesn't work, open fire.

[Grym]

Carpet bombing in 3,2,1..

Oh man...that didn't even enter my mind. could be... :(

[Kenka]

His dad crushed a revolt in the 1980s in Homs and killed 25k plus. The state has been consistent in being authoriterian under father and son with no free press, contested elections, opposition parties, basic legal protections...the place sucking on civil and political liberties isn't new.

OK. And the "rebels" are fighting to get this freedom ? After having waited for 35 years ?

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Carpet bombing in 3,2,1..

Or far worse (and yes it is) chemical attacks by spray tanks on gunships or artillery bombardment. VX, Sarin, and mustard gas among others.

"Civil war hits Damascus - senior regime figures killed" sounds pretty straightforward to me.

If we must be serious...I guess that's fine.

[el retorno]

I see... Thanks. Hope he's safe.

There are a few million people there. Odds are he'll be fine. Still though. When I hear stuff like this and we talk about it on GAF its weird to imagen that theres a gaffer in the middle of it.

[Übermatik]

Carpet bombing in 3,2,1..

Shit, never thought about that.

[el retorno]

Or far worse (and yes it is) chemical attacks by spray tanks on gunships or artillery bombardment. VX, Sarin, and mustard gas among others.

I just don't see how that would help. It force Russia to join the west. They can't be seen supporting that. They still can cling on to the terrorist thing as of now. Assad launches cemical weapons he loses everything. Iran probably would have to at least offically condem it.

Then again im no dictator.

[Angry Fork]

OK. And the "rebels" are fighting to get this freedom ? After having waited for 35 years ?

“Sometimes decades pass and nothing happens; and then sometimes weeks pass and decades happen.” - Lenin

[Wazzim]

There are a few million people there. Odds are he'll be fine. Still though. When I hear stuff like this and we talk about it on GAF its weird to imagen that theres a gaffer in the middle of it.

I thought he was Pakistani? Why is he in Syria?

[Phoenix]

Three letters : C.I.A

There we go. Was wondering how long it would take.

[maquiladora]

GAF, tell me. How was life in Syria before the war ? Were the people reall oppressed ? Was it a torture to live there, under the guidance of Al-Assad ? I need to know.

Well back in 1982, thousands were killed in the city of Hama by the Syrian army.

Amnesty International initially estimated the death toll was between 10,000 and 25,000, the vast majority civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_massacre

This is the Amnesty International report on Syria from 2009, before the current uprising :

The state of emergency, in force since 1963, continued to give security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention. Freedom of expression and association remained strictly controlled. Hundreds of people were arrested and hundreds of others remained imprisoned for political reasons, including prisoners of conscience and others sentenced after unfair trials. Torture and other ill-treatment were committed with impunity; seven deaths as a result were reported. Military Police were reported to have killed at least 17 detainees. Human rights defenders were harassed and persecuted. Members of the Kurdish minority faced discrimination; many were effectively stateless and denied equal access to social and economic rights. Women were subject to discrimination and gender-based violence. Sixteen civilians were killed in a bomb explosion which state media attributed to an armed group.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/syria/report-2009#

[CHEEZMO™]

Reports of armed gangs loyal to Assad storming neighbourhoods in the capital - AJE

[_Xenon_]

OK. And the "rebels" are fighting to get this freedom ? After having waited for 35 years ?

According to Syrian Gaffers, more like terrorists:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...7&postcount=24

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...2&postcount=28

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

I just don't see how that would help. It force Russia to join the west. They can't be seen supporting that. They still can cling on to the terrorist thing as of now. Assad launches cemical weapons he loses everything. Iran probably would have to at least offically condem it. Then again im no dictator.

Beats bring poked with sticks like Ghaddafi. Also better live slightly longer than die now.

[Wazzim]

Beats bring poked with sticks like Ghaddafi. Also better live slightly longer than die now.

Can't he flee to Zimbabwe or something.

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

According to Syrian Gaffers, more like terrorists: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...7&postcount=24 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...2&postcount=28

Oh boy. Cheezmo you need to bust out the Die Hard fortified concept GIF from his last thread and update it.

[Kenka]

“Sometimes decades pass and nothing happens; and then sometimes weeks pass and decades happen.” - Lenin

Something triggered their action. That I am sure and I am interested in knowing what. What made them realize they have a chance to get Al-Assad down ?

[CHEEZMO™]

Oh boy. Cheezmo you need to bust out the Die Hard fortified concept GIF com his last thread and update it.

I didn't know we had one o_O

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

I didn't know we had one o_O

Look up fortifeds post history it's in the last thread he posted in.

[_Xenon_]

Oh boy. Cheezmo you need to bust out the Die Hard fortified concept GIF from his last thread and update it.

Funny. My stand on this issue is still not changed. This thing has too many interest trading behind the scene it's just impossible to solve it through any reasonable diplomatic method. In short: U Mad? U can suck it.

Besides, I'm just merely quoting somebody's post. If you have a problem you can very well go find himself.

[Grym]

Something triggered their action. That I am sure and I am interested in knowing what. What made them realize they have a chance to get Al-Assad down ?

Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc.?

[pulsemyne]

Thing is this has now gotten personal. So far Assad has been able to just sit back in his palace and watch faceless soldiers and civilians die. Now some of his family and inner circle are dead. This could back him into a corner and now that he must feel personally threatened and that could be where things go from very bad to "Oh shit its really bad". Don;t be surprised if the mental gases his own people. Saddam was mad enough to do it after all.
What makes it worse is that he knows full well that even if he did it he would still be protected by Russia. They need that naval base and will do what they want to keep it.

[Angry Fork]

Something triggered their action. That I am sure and I am interested in knowing what. What made them realize they have a chance to get Al-Assad down ?

Arab Spring

I don't know much about this particular conflict and how bad of a guy Asaad is or not but it's not surprising to me at all why they're fighting now of all times.

[Wazzim]

Look up fortifeds post history it's in the last thread he posted in.

Has he been permed or is it just a very long ban?

[Phantast2k]

Can't believe some people still didn't read up on the situation in Syria.
It all depends who you are as a Syrian.
If you (your family, your ethnicity, your heritage, whatever) are Alawite, Christian, Druze and partly Kurdish then you are more likely to side with the regime. Because the regime was good to most of those ppl. (in terms of gov. jobs and such) - most of the security apparatus is non-Sunni, most officials who defected so far are btw. Sunni (I looked it up every time to reaffirm).
If you're Sunni (some 70% of the pop) then you very likely side with the rebels (or terrorists; depends on your perspective, obviously).
Sunnis are supposed to be more conservative, Islamist (according to a Syr-Chr. friend of mine, whom I studied with in US and who hasn't posted in a few weeks in FB..)
Also: in almost every rebel video you'll see Women fully clad in black, etc. so I assume this assessment is correct.
Assad's wife is also running around like that:



Sentry is Druze btw.:

If you must know, I would consider myself an agonistic and honestly don't know what the fuck I was raised as/parents are etc. My roots (families) are Druze if that helps..

[CHEEZMO™]

Look up fortifeds post history it's in the last thread he posted in.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...0#post32893270

lmao

[Jackpot]

OK. And the "rebels" are fighting to get this freedom ? After having waited for 35 years ?

It's part of the Arab Spring uprising. Like in other countries the rebels are actually multiple groups mashed together who will have different ideas of what freedom is, but all agree it's not being bombed into oblivion by Assad.

According to Syrian Gaffers, more like terrorists: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...7&postcount=24 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...2&postcount=28

Stretching it a bit there? I remind you of the posts that got you your most recent ban

I have been banned once in the Libya thread and I won't be surprised if I get banned again. This forum is just too ideological and liberal (due to its relatively young, ignorant member base, aka gamers) and I just find it hard to discuss anything controversial with an objective attitude.

No I'm not trying to prove myself. I'm just trying to get you mad. NOW U MAD BRAH ROFL?

So you guys made up a bunch of crap, ignored the reality in Iraq and Libya, ignored the fact I don't even pro Assad in the first place, dragged China and China's domestic issues into this, compared us with some Arab dictatorship, and you expect me to believe you guys have a brain over 12 yo? My only explanation to you guys behavior is: U guys are really MAD.

If all you can do is fly into a rage whenever people post evidence that contradict your views of Syria, Libya and China you may as well hit the logout button now.

edit:

In short: U Mad? U can suck it.

Too late.

[maquiladora]

Mahir Zeynalov ‏@MahirZeynalov Syria information minister says the Damascus bombing was orchestrated by Turkey, Qatar, Saudi and Israeli intelligence, won't go unanswered.

A joint Arab-Israeli conspiracy!

[Azih]

GAF, tell me. How was life in Syria before the war ? Were the people reall oppressed ? Was it a torture to live there, under the guidance of Al-Assad ? I need to know.

Some groups did really well (and so liked the regime), other groups were oppressed (and so did not like the regime). Every dictator has a civillian power base that is loyal to them either because they feel protected and prosperous (like the christian minority in Iraq that *really* liked Saddam Hussein) or because they're well paid thugs (corrupt police force for example) or because the dictator is the 'right' kind of person keeping the 'wrong' kind of person at bay (dumbass tribalism all over the place).

[Azih]

A joint Sunni-Israeli conspiracy!

Fixed. This has been a Sunni Arab vs Iran proxy struggle for a long time which is the key point in why this whole affair is so fucked up messy (Shia Arabs are reliably pro Iran) and why so many outside forces are getting involved.

The level of paranoia/hate between Shia/Iran and Sunni/Saudi,Kuwait etc. is at Balkan levels.

Edit: Once you get this than the kind of schizo reactions from these countries to different revolutions start making complete sense. Saudi is all gung ho against evil Syrian regime oppression of it's brave freedom fighting citizens on one side but sent tanks to the honourable and noble Bahraini government just struggling to do the right thing when faced with evil terrorist rebels on the other. Iran's comments are flip flop.

The Syrian majority is rising against Assad oppression certainly but they're not the only ones involved. It's a regional power struggle between two powers that none of us like (Iran on the one side and the Wahhabi Sunni bloc on the other). You guys do remember that Bin Laden types are from the extremist Wahhabi Sunni side of things right?

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

I didn't know we had one o_O

Sorry it was Meadows who posted it, not sure how I mixed you too up.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=404

Shit fortified_concept is here....shit shit shit

EDIT: Yeah, the gif is amazing and usage is amazing.

Oh man GIF motherload
http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/gifs/

Has he been permed or is it just a very long ban?

Self requested perma from what I understand.

He apparently lives on posting on Something Awful

[Forever]

A joint Arab-Israeli conspiracy!

The Arabs and Israelis cooperate behind the scenes on more than you'd expect, but yeah in this case he's just listing every country in the region that he's not overly fond of.

[CHEEZMO™]

A joint Arab-Israeli conspiracy!

Didn't you hear? The Wahabi terrorists are supported and armed by the Zionists and Americans who want radical Islam to take over the Middle East!!!

Ron Paul 2012

[RamzaIsCool]

The fighting has been escalating this last week, it will be intresting what happen next. There have been a lot of high level defections going on, so I think the regime is slowly losing the grip on things and people are bailing out.

In other news Erdogan is currently in Russia speaking with Putin. Maybe he can use some of his "charm" to convince Russia to change it's stance regarding the whole thing.

[_Xenon_]

It's part of the Arab Spring uprising. Like in other countries the rebels are actually multiple groups mashed together who will have different ideas of what freedom is, but all agree it's not being bombed into oblivion by Assad. Stretching it a bit there? I remind you of the posts that got you your most recent ban If all you can do is fly into a rage whenever people post evidence that contradict your views of Syria, Libya and China you may as well hit the logout button now. edit: Too late.

I don't need your remind since my stand on this issue will not change. This "civil war" is not about any rights, it's about proping Sunni (majority in Syria) and gutting Iran's influence (where Sunni is the minority). This war has nothing to do with any "rights" or "freedom". You are not gonna solve this shit through any talk since there's no way Russia or China will let Iran being isolated. In short, as the guy from syria said, this is not a civil war, it's already a secular war in disguise. In another word, whoever has the big guns calling the shots, aka, U mad.

[SniperHunter]

Can't believe some people still didn't read up on the situation in Syria. It all depends who you are as a Syrian. If you (your family, your ethnicity, your heritage, whatever) are Alawite, Christian, Druze and partly Kurdish then you are more likely to side with the regime. Because the regime was good to most of those ppl. (in terms of gov. jobs and such) - most of the security apparatus is non-Sunni, most officials who defected so far are btw. Sunni (I looked it up every time to reaffirm). If you're Sunni (some 70% of the pop) then you very likely side with the rebels (or terrorists; depends on your perspective, obviously). Sunnis are supposed to be more conservative, Islamist (according to a Syr-Chr. friend of mine, whom I studied with in US and who hasn't posted in a few weeks in FB..) Also: in almost every rebel video you'll see Women fully clad in black, etc. so I assume this assessment is correct. Assad's wife is also running around like that: Sentry is Druze btw.:

hmm sounds like a bad situation, could things get better after Assad?

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

I don't need your remind since my stand on this issue will not change. This "civil war" is not about any rights, it's about proping Sunni (majority in Syria) and gutting Iran's influence (where Sunni is the minority). This war has nothing to do with any "rights" or "freedom". You are not gonna solve this shit through any talk since there's no way Russia or China will let Iran being isolated. In short, as the guy from syria said, this is not a civil war, it's already a secular war in disguise. In another word, whoever has the big guns calling the shots, aka, U mad.

Seriously if you want to post about that, can't you post in the Solid Warrior goofy thread which covers that "viewpoint" and all "intelligent and logical" discussion on the matter.

EDIT: If the trilogy is screwing with anyone's browsing or page layout let me know and i'll just url link them.

[RamzaIsCool]

A joint Arab-Israeli conspiracy!

Turks are not Arab!

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Turks are not Arab!

Quad-Turk-Arab-Israeli-and despite it making no sense-Persian Conspiracy then?

[_Xenon_]

Seriously if you want to post about that, can't you post in the Solid Warrior goofy thread which covers that "viewpoint" and all "intelligent and logical" discussion on the matter.

I'd rather post on Reddit where retarded gif post like yours will get downvoted in no time so I can save some time.