Text extracted via OCR from the original document. May contain errors from the scanning process.
24
detained by elite security forces backed by the army. According to
Amnesty International, detainees have been beaten with sticks and
cables, and sometimes deprived of food. Unlike in Libya there are no
NATO forces to protect Syria’s cities or parts of the country from the
murderous attacks inflicted by a regime that is now losing the last
threads of international legitimacy. Assad has a more effective army
than Qaddafi and powerful friends in Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq.
In contrast to Libya, military action in defense of Syria’s beleaguered
population would barely attract a shred of international support.
While the Arab League voted unanimously for the no-fly zone to
protect the people of Benghazi, in the case of Syria it has not even
mentioned the country by name, merely declaring that pro-democracy
protesters “deserve support, not bullets.”
As The New York Times pointed out in an editorial, the UN Security
Council “hasn’t even been able to muster a press statement. Russia
and China, as ever, are determined to protect autocrats.” Israel has
been watching and waiting with alarm as the outcome of the unrest in
Syria becomes more and more uncertain. Despite his alliance with
Iran and refusal to recognize the Jewish state, Assad is the devil it
knows best. Prolonged instability or a Salafist regime could only
make matters worse.
On the ground it is far from clear what is happening, since foreign
reporters have been banned from entering the country, Internet
service has been shut down, and cell-phone coverage limited to
satellites or systems outside government control. Nevertheless the
protests—spurred by funerals of victims and gatherings at Friday
prayers, the only occasions on which large numbers of people are
permitted to assemble—have spread from Deraa to at least a dozen
other cities including Bantyas and Latakia on the Mediterranean
coast, as well as to the northern city of Homs and some suburbs of
Damascus.* With the Alawi-dominated regime under threat, the
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030083