This is bad: Syrian soldiers shot for refusing to fire on protesters

[cali]

Syrian soldiers have been shot by security forces after refusing to fire on protesters, witnesses said, as a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations intensified.

Witnesses told al-Jazeera and the BBC that some soldiers had refused to shoot after the army moved into Banias in the wake of intense protests on Friday.

Human rights monitors named Mourad Hejjo, a conscript from Madaya village, as one of those shot by security snipers. "His family and town are saying he refused to shoot at his people," said Wassim Tarif, a local human rights monitor.

Footage on YouTube shows an injured soldier saying he was shot in the back by security forces, while another video shows the funeral of Muhammad Awad Qunbar, who sources said was killed for refusing to fire on protesters. Signs of defections will be worrying to Syria's regime. State media reported a different version of events, claiming nine soldiers had been killed in an ambush by an armed group in Banias.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/12/syrian-soldiers-shot-protest

[exboyfil]

1. The first step in losing your hold on the government

is killing your own soldiers. Nero found this out much to his regret.

[Cleita]

2. So what do you expect from tyrannical overlords?

This has been done through history. Soldiers who balked running into battle were killed by the soldiers behind them. Hopefully, the rank and file military will see this as the last straw and turn on the rulers making them step down. No regime can be brought down that has the military supporting them.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Historically, decimation has been a useful tactic.

It's more about persuation than punishment.
Punishment, yes... but mostly persuation.

[pampango]

4. Syrian women protest over mass arrests

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/04/201141313548714539.html

Hundreds of women have marched along Syria's main coastal highway to demand the release of men arrested in a mass raid on the town of Baida. The women gathered on the road leading to Turkey on Wednesday, chanting slogans demanding the release of some 350 men arrested on Tuesday by security forces including secret police.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that security forces barged into houses and arrested men aged up to 60 after townsfolk had earlier participated in unprecedented protests challenging the 11-year rule of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. "Syria is the Arab police state par excellence. But the regime still watches international reaction, and as soon as it senses that it has weakened, it turns more bloody," said the lawyer, who did not want to be further identified.

Assad has responded to the protests, now in their fourth week, with a blend of force and vague promises of reform. The Damascus Declaration, Syria's main rights group, said the death toll from the pro-democracy protests had reached 200.

The authorities have described the protests as part of a foreign conspiracy to sow sectarian strife, blaming unspecified armed groups and "infiltrators" for the violence, and denying a report by Human Rights Watch that security forces have prevented ambulances and medical supplies from reaching besieged areas.