Excellent, this is exactly what the U.S. should be doing against China and any other country that tries to pull off a cyber attack against us!
Foxnews
Israel has set up a military cyber command to wage a computer war againstIran as senior officers become increasingly concerned that a conventional attack on Tehran’s nuclear sites could end in failure, London's The Sunday Times reported.
The new cyber command will report directly to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who has placed the program at the heart of Israel’s defense capability.
“Israel must turn into a global cyber superpower,” he told a meeting of cyber warfare experts recently.
The center, which has been set up under the auspices of military intelligence unit 8200 has already conducted a series of “soft” espionage missions, including hacking into Iran’s version of Facebook and other social networking sites.
The Stuxnet malware virus, which dramatically affected Iran’s nuclear program in 2009 by sabotaging the delicate centrifuges needed to enrich uranium, is widely believed to have been developed by Israeli and American technicians.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Israeli Military Reportedly Plotting to Cripple Iran in Cyberspace
Tanks enter Deir al-Zor in east Syria
The U.N. sure got Bashar al-ASSad to stop didn't they.
More tanks more death.
(Reuters) - Syrian tanks moved into parts of the restive eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Sunday amid the noise of heavy machinegun fire and explosions, residents and activists said.
"Armored vehicles and tanks have entered several neighborhoods on the outskirts. They are firing heavy machineguns and explosions have been heard in al-Joura district," one city resident told Reuters by telephone.
He said he had heard that three people had been killed in the assault and that the army was making arrests. Syria has barred most independent media since the start of an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, making it hard to verify accounts from residents, activists and authorities.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
U.S. Urges Citizens to Leave Syria 'Immediately'
If you are an American citizen and you are still in Syria after all the shit that has been going on there, you are truly an Idiot!
Foxnews
The United States urged U.S. citizens Friday to depart Syria "immediately," and noted that the Damascus government has placed "severe" constraints on the travel of U.S. diplomats in the country.
The travel warning, an update to an April 25 order for US embassy staff's family members and some non-emergency personnel to leave Syria, expressed growing concern over the violent crackdown by President Bashar al Assad's security forces against pro-democracy protesters.
Last month, pro-government demonstrators attacked the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus, smashing windows and spray-painting walls after the two Western envoys visited the flashpoint protest city of Hama.
"The U.S. Department of State urges U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," the latest travel warning said.
Al-Shabab Militants Withdraw From Somali Capital
The problem is they will not keep the pressure on Al Shabab, they have pushed them out of the capital but they are not killing them; which is the only way to get rid of them, they are like cockroaches.
Islam the Religion of Cockroaches.
VOA
Somali government and Islamist spokesmen say al-Qaida linked al-Shabab militants are pulling out of Mogadishu.
An al-Shabab spokesman says the group began leaving its positions in Mogadishu late Friday. He called it a strategic move to prevent a counter attack. He said al-Shabab will remain in other towns in southern Somalia.
Al-Shabab has been fighting to topple the Somali government. It has also been trying to prevent food aid from being dispersed to millions of victims of drought and famine across Somalia
NASA’s Juno explorer launches on its 5-year journey to Jupiter
Seeing as how their is no Space shuttle anymore, we at least have this to look forward too.
One of the greatest things America has ever done is explored space, and with budgets being cut the private sector will take over; Boeing is starting a space taxi service.
The Bulletin
LOS ANGELES — NASA’s spacecraft Juno lifted off Friday in an incandescent arc over the Atlantic Ocean, the start of a five-year, 1.7 billion-mile trip to Jupiter that scientists believe will unlock some of the secrets behind the origin of the solar system.
Juno launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida aboard an Atlas V rocket, soaring into warm, blue skies.
The craft then conducted two “burns” — bracketing a scheduled coast at 17,500 mph — to set it on the right trajectory.
Juno’s massive solar panels, configured like the spokes of a Ferris wheel, unfurled without a hitch, said Scott Bolton, the mission’s principal investigator and the director of space science at San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute.
Chopper crash kills 31 U.S. troops, 7 Afghans
A sad day indeed.
An Unfortunate incident in a fire fight takes the lives of 31 American troops, Lets hope that they can finish off the bastard Islamic rejects that fester in Afghanistan.
The Los Angeles Times
Thirty-one American troops and seven Afghans were killed in the overnight downing of a NATO helicopter, President Hamid Karzai's office said Saturday. The Taliban claimed to have shot down the craft.
The deaths are thought to represent the largest loss of military lives in a single incident in the course of the nearly 10-year-old war.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, confirmed in a terse statement that a crash had occurred and acknowledged "insurgent activity" in the area at the time. A Western military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chinook helicopter had apparently been brought down by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Friday, August 5, 2011
16 Countries, Including Mexico, File Briefs Against New Alabama Immigration Law
"Argentina, Boliva, Brazil and Colombia among other Central and South American countries are also named on the brief."
Immigration is such a messy subject, for some, People either want Illegal Immigration to run rampant or they do not want it at all.
I myself say that we should boot the Law breaking Illegals back across the border, If I can not go to Mexico and suck the life out of their social programs then they should not be able to do it here.
Too bad and soooo Sad !
As for the sixteen countries that want to bitch about the way we do things here in the states, you may suck my American nuts !
If you shitholes would improve your countries instead of encouraging your citizens to invade the U.S. maybe the world would be a better place.
But out and pay attention to your own bullshit in your own homes.
Foxnews
In an effort to ensure their citizens are treated fairly in Alabama, 16 nations, including Mexico, filed briefs against the state’s controversial new immigration law that has already drawn fire from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Edward Still, a Birmingham attorney who filed the brief, told The Montgomery Advertiser that the nations “want to have one immigration law and not 50.”
"Mexico has an interest in protecting its citizens and ensuring that their ethnicity is not used as basis for state-sanctioned acts of bias and discrimination," the brief said, according to the paper.
Criticism for the law, which is said to be the strictest state-level immigration law in the country, has been fierce and swift. Besides the DOJ’s lawsuit, the Roman Catholic Church, three dozen plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center have all filed lawsuits against the state’s governor, The Montgomery Advertiser reported.
Salty water may flow on Mars
Water on Mars? Why not, their is water here and water in space.
Water = Life.
The Los Angeles Times
Salty water may flow on Mars in the form of strange, dark lines on the terrain that grow and fade with the seasons, according to recent images. The findings, reported in the journal Science, provide a new line of evidence that life could exist on the Red Planet.
The findings, released Thursday, describe images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, currently circling the planet. The otherwise unremarkable lines on the planet's slopes grow more prominent during the warm season, proliferating from late Martian spring into early fall. This suggests they were made by volatile chemicals that can boil at relatively low temperatures, such as water and carbon dioxide, the authors wrote.
They look rather like flow lines that would be left by running water, ending in light-colored patches that could be material deposited by the flow, the authors added.
News Mexico town's police force quits after attack
I would quit too, death is not worth a few pesos a day.
Associated press
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — An entire 20-man police force resigned in a northern Mexican town after a series of attacks that killed the police chief and five officers over the last three months, state officials said Thursday.
The officers' resignation Thursday left the 13,000 people of Ascension without local police services, Chihuahua state chief prosecutor Carlos Manuel Salas said. State and federal police have moved in to take over police work, he said.
The mass resignation appeared to be connected to a Tuesday attack by gunmen that killed three of the town's officers, Salas said.
But it wasn't the first deadly attack on the police department this year.
In mid-May, police chief Manuel Martinez, who had been in office just seven months, was gunned down with two other officers on a nearby highway. The three had been kidnapped a day before police found their bodies riddled with bullets in the back seat of a sedan.
Dozens die, thousands flee tank assault
Ramadan is a peaceful time for Muslims, a celebration, fasting throughout the day and partying at night.
What better way to celebrate ramadan than with tanks, firing live rounds into crowds and running people over, then gather the bodies and dump them in the river.
Islam the Religion Of Peace and Compassion.
Warning Graphic video of Bloddy bodies being dumped in a river.
Calgary Herald
Syrian troops killed at least 45 civilians in a tank assault to occupy the centre of the esieged city of Hama, an activist aid on Thursday, seeking to crush n uprising against President Bashar l-Assad's rule.
Thousands of civilians were fleeing the city, a bastion of protest against 41 years of Assad family rule surrounded by a ring of steel made up of troops with tanks and heavy weapons.
Electricity and communications have been cut off and as many as 130 people have been killed in a fourday military assault since Assad, from Syria's minority Alawite sect, sent troops into the city on Sunday, residents and activists say.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Somali famine spreads
Three new areas are now affected by the Al Shabab imposed famine, I say Al Shabab imposed because if they were to not be such big jackasses; the people of Somalia would be receiving the food and aid they need.
But hey it is Islam we are talking about better to starve your people to death than accept food and water from the Infidel Americans.
The Washington post
The famine gripping parts of southern Somalia has spread to three new areas of the country, with the entire south likely to be declared a famine zone within the next six weeks, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Acute malnutrition and death rates have surpassed famine thresholds in the Balcad and Cadale districts of Middle Shabelle and among the refugee populations in Mogadishu and the Afgoye corridor, according to a statement from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Somalia food security unit.
The statement called the current humanitarian response “inadequate,” attributing to it “ongoing access restrictions and difficulties in scaling up emergency assistance programs, as well as funding gaps.”
Much of southern Somalia is controlled by al-Shabab Islamist militants who last year banned food aid and forced many aid groups out of the region, exacerbating the drought crisis.
Famine is expected to persist across southern Somalia until the end of the year, the statement said.
NFL star Bubba Smith dies
RIP Bubba "Hightower" Smith.
AFP
Former NFL defensive star Bubba Smith, who launched a successful acting career after his playing days, has died at the age of 66, authorities said Wednesday.
Charles "Bubba" Smith was found dead Wednesday at his home in suburban Baldwin Hills, police and the Los Angeles County coroner's office said.
Los Angeles police officer Gregory Baek said Smith was thought to have died of natural causes, but the coroner's office had not yet made a final determination of the cause of death.
Smith, a Texas native, was drafted first overall by the then-Baltimore Colts in 1967. He spent five NFL seasons with the Colts, winning a Super Bowl title with the club at he end of the 1970 season.
He spent two seasons each with Oakland and Houston, leaving the league in 1976 after twice earning Pro Bowl honors.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
2 Utahns indicted for exploiting children in global porn network
Some sick Mother Fu**ers in the world, I hope they get them all.
Its not like these nitwits do anything about terrorists they might as well do something about making it somewhat safer for our Kids.
Utah News
Two Utah men are among 72 people charged in federal court for allegedly trading thousands of images depicting children being sexually abused.
David Brian Lindsay, 30, of Midvale, who used the Internet name “slipnslide” and 32-year-old Shane Michael Turner of Roy, were busted as part of an international child pornography network that used an online bulletin board called Dreamboard to exploit children, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday.
The men were arrested after law enforcement completed a 20-month investigation called Operation Delego, which profiled members of Dreamboard, a members-only Internet site designed to promote pedophilia, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Those who sought material on Dreamboard accessed and shared images of children ages 12 and under, including some infants, Holder said at a news conference, calling the activities a “nightmare.” Some videos showed children crying in pain as the abuse took place, he said.
In order to maintain club membership, participants had to continuously upload sexual images of children. Some participants were elevated to a “Super VIP” status after creating a certain amount of material showing them molesting children, court documents state.
U.N. tells Syria to Stop It , you are not being very nice !
Yep, real tough words from the U.N., telling Syria that they are not playing very nice by killing all their citizens just for speaking out.
Syria will most certainly stop the bloodshed now...
The Christian Science Monitor
The United Nations Security Council overcame deep divisions Wednesday to unanimously approve a statement condemning “widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”
Expressing its “grave concern at the deteriorating situation in Syria,” the 15-member council stopped short of mandating any specific action by the international community to address the crisis. But it did call on Syrian authorities to grant full and unimpeded access to international humanitarian and human-rights agencies.
The council’s action took the form of a “presidential statement,” which is a step below a resolution. A resolution usually contains specific actions – like sanctions or authorization for outside intervention.
Syrian Troops Kill Nearly 100 in Attacks as Ramadan Starts
The First body count of Ramadan is in-Syria...100 dead !
And we are only talking about day two.
Foxnews
BEIRUT – Syrian troops tightened their siege on the city of Hama Tuesday, sending residents fleeing for their lives and drawing a fresh wave of international condemnation against a regime defying the growing calls to end its crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with U.S.-based Syrian democracy activists as the Obama administration weighed new sanctions on Syria. Congressional calls also mounted for action against President Bashar Assad's regime, as the death toll from two days of military assaults on civilians Sunday and Monday neared 100.
More sanctions against Syria
Perfect, More sanctions; That will stop everything.
BBC
The European Union has announced further sanctions against Syria - freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on more people it blames for the bloody government crackdown on dissent.
Russia has also added its voice to international condemnation saying the use of force against peaceful residents must be stopped.
Violence was reported in several cities around Syria over the weekend with human rights activists claiming dozens were killed in the opposition controlled Hama.
McAfee uncovers massive global cyber snoop
McAfee vice-president of Threat Research Dmitri Alperovitch said the attacker was looking for information in military, diplomatic and economic domains.
China, why we do not retaliate is beyond comprehension.
CBR
China masterminded 'Operation Shady RAT' targeting over 70 organisations, governments, say analysts
Computer security company McAfee has said that it has discovered a massive global cyber spying operation targeting several US government departments, the UN and other governments across the world for five years or more.
Analysts say it is likely that China is behind the cyber espionage dubbed 'Operation Shady RAT' by McAfee. RAT stands for "remote access tool".
The Guardian reported that security experts at McAfee had discovered a "command and control" server in 2009 that was used to control the operation. On revisiting the server this March, experts found logs which revealed all of the attacks.
Victims of snooping campaign include: governments of Canada, India, South Korea, Taiwan, the US and Vietnam; international bodies such as the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the International Olympic Committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency; 12 US defense contractors, one UK defense contractor; and companies in construction, energy, steel, solar power, technology, satellite communications, accounting and media, said an AFP report.
McAfee said there is evidence that security breaches date back to mid-2006.
Nato sends more troops to Kosovo after border unrest
I don't believe the U.S. will be pulled into this one, it does not fit in with the Obama plan for helping out the Muslim Brotherhood or any other Islamic terrorist group.
BBC
Nato is sending hundreds of extra troops to Kosovo amid rising tension in the north along its border with Serbia.
The military alliance said the situation had not deteriorated but that reinforcements were needed to relieve troops currently patrolling the north.
Soldiers from Nato's Kosovo Force were deployed after clashes broke out between Kosovo police and ethnic Serbs.
The trouble began when the Kosovan government sent ethnic Albanian police to enforce a ban on Serbian imports.
A border post was torched and demolished and a Kosovo policeman killed after Serbian nationalists reacted angrily to their presence.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Swedish Man Builds Nuclear Reactor in His Kitchen
Just when you think you have heard Everything you read one of these items.
O.k., so the guy is a budding Nuclear Physicist and he decides to build his own "Functioning" Nuclear reactor that alone is pretty amazing, considering he did it in His kitchen; But there have been 38 previous nuclear reactors made in peoples homes.
The 32-year-old amateur physicist constructed the $40,000 homemade fusion reactor in his spare time, and became the 38th independent physicist in the word to achieve nuclear fusion from a self-built reactor and forms part of a growing community of "fusioneers."
Al Qaida and the "How to make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom" got nothin on this guy.
Foxnews
Swedish authorities have detained a man who attempted to build a nuclear reactor in his kitchen, Helsingborgs Dagblad reported Tuesday.
"I was arrested and sent to jail when the police and the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority searched my apartment," the unnamed nuclear enthusiast wrote on a blog detailing his project. "They took all my radioactive stuff, but I was released after a hearing. But I am still suspect for crime against the radiation safety law."
Police in the western town of Angelholm were alerted when he contacted Sweden's nuclear authority and asked if it was permitted for an individual to build a nuclear reactor in his home.
The unnamed enthusiast brought radioactive materials, as well as a Geiger counter which he ordered from the US. He also dismantled smoke detectors, which contain small amounts of nuclear material.
Biden Criticized for Tea Party 'Terrorists' Remark
VP Joe Biden, You sir are a Jackass.
The Number one problem with Politics...The Politicians.
Foxnews
Vice President Biden was criticized Monday over reports of a private meeting he had with House Democrats in which Tea Party Republicans were compared to “terrorists," though Biden denies he described Republicans that way.
A senior Democratic official told Fox News that Biden made such comments in reaction to a heated conversation with liberal House members like Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., who were venting that Republicans got too much out of the debt ceiling deal unveiled the night before and "acted like terrorists."
The comment drew an immediate rebuke from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., one of the most outspoken Tea Party-aligned lawmakers in Congress.
“With the president holding the American economy hostage, I would prefer to think of myself as a Freedom Fighter,” Paul said in a statement, calling the remarks “insulting.”
First Oxygen Molecules Found in Orion Nebula
Have you ever checked out the Orion Nebula through a Telescope?
It is one of the most amazing objects to check out, and now that Oxygen has been confirmed there it is even more amazing.
International Business Times
Astronomers have found the first ever molecules of oxygen deep in space in a region of the Orion nebula with the Herschel Space Observatory, prompting searches to ensue in other star-forming regions.
Herschel, a mission under the European Space Agency (ESA) using infrared technology, is the first to confirm the existence of molecular oxygen, or two bonded oxygen atoms, rarely found in space though the Swedish Odin telescope spotted an unconfirmed molecule in 2007. This finding marks certainty regarding oxygen molecules in outer space, a phenomenon, though predicted, continued to puzzle astronomers.
Police kill 4 suspects in Xinjiang city
So like I said the Chinese Police will take care of this.
The Chinese Government blames the Uighers (Muslims)
Xinhaunet
KASHI, Xinjiang, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Four suspects were shot dead by police in the city of Kashi (or Kashgar) in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Sunday afternoon.
Four others were caught, while police are hunting for the rest four following an eruption of violence at 4:30 p.m., in which more than 10 pedestrians and police officers had been found injured.
Local sources have earlier said three people died from a blast at the scene, but witnesses said the victims were hacked to death by the rioters.
The incident happened after at least seven people were killed by rioters on Saturday night in the same city.
Two suspects hijacked a truck at 11:45 p.m. Saturday, stabbing the driver to death and ramming into pedestrians. The pair later jumped out of the truck and hacked bystanders.
Somalis Waste Away as Insurgents Block Escape From Famine
“It is safe to say that many people are going to die as a result of little or no access,” Mr. James said.
Oh your Starving ? Your children are dying ? you are trying to flee the country to Ethiopia so you may get help ? Oh no, you must go to prison now.
Al Shabab, is ensuring the deaths of thousands of people by denying Aid and denying people the ability to leave to one of two places where they can get the help they need, and one of those is known for its starving and destitute people.
Islam, the Religion of we will starve you to death before accepting Aid from the West.
The New York Times
somalia — The Shabab Islamist insurgent group, which controls much of southern Somalia, is blocking starving people from fleeing the country and setting up a cantonment camp where it is imprisoning displaced people who were trying to escape Shabab territory.
The group is widely blamed for causing a famine in Somalia by forcing out many Western aid organizations, depriving drought victims of desperately needed food. The situation is growing bleaker by the day, with tens of thousands of Somalis already dead and more than 500,000 children on the brink of starvation.
Every morning, emaciated parents with emaciated children stagger into Banadir Hospital, a shell of a building with floors that stink of diesel fuel because that is all the nurses have to fight off the flies. Babies are dying because of the lack of equipment and medicine. Some get hooked up to adult-size intravenous drips — pediatric versions are hard to find — and their compromised bodies cannot handle the volume of fluid.
Most parents do not have money for medicine, so entire families sit on old-fashioned cholera beds, with basketball-size holes cut out of the middle, taking turns going to the bathroom as diarrhea streams out of them.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Link Dump.
I'm glad to say I will going back to work today, Not in construction anymore but in the auto industry.
But the sucky thing about it is how it will upend my schedule, School starts back up for me in three weeks, for the next three weeks I will be working days, on the same day school starts I will be sent to second shift...
No big deal right, wrong, To finish My degree, my classes are only offered at night, a major conflict to say the least.
So back to the academic adviser, no luck with that guy.
So I must change schools with only 5 classes to go !
So as such it is, posting may seem a bit odd, a lack of sleep, and serious stress will be on my plate till I get settled into a new job and shitty ass Classes like Fu**ing Algebra ( I hate Math ) because it is one of the only shitty classes I can take for now.
Despite Western Sanctions Against Syria, U.N. Quietly Extends Development Aid to Country
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Man Apparently Drunk Gored to Death After Provoking Bull
4 Shot After George Clinton Concert(A unity in the Park Concert)
Bomb kills 11 at police HQ in southern Afghanistan
Its That Time Again !
You Know you couldn't wait either,its Ramadan time My friends.
the collapse of the ruling National Democratic Party, brought down by the popular uprising and the ouster of Hosni Mubarak as president, has meant that one of the biggest distributors of charity is gone.
Oh yeah you know what that means, Its hot, no assistance to be seen anywhere, its really hot and so is Achmeds and Mohamheads temper.
I would hate to predict a body count, but I do believe there will be one; we are talking about Ramadan.
The Globe and Mail
Uprisings in the Arab world promise to make this year’s Ramadan a holiday unlike any before.
Ramadan in Cairo, which starts Monday, always has meant fasting by day and partying by night – a big slowdown in economic output and a big upturn in late-evening festivities, as well as an orgy of gift-giving and lots and lots of family time.
This year, however, the month-long religious holiday will have its share of political winners and losers as well.
The fact that it comes this year in the middle of summer only amplifies the holiday effects since fasting, even from drinking water, takes a greater toll in the heat.
Along with the economic downturn and rising food prices, this means that more people than ever will be turning to charity to provide them with evening meals and foodstuffs.
However, the collapse of the ruling National Democratic Party, brought down by the popular uprising and the ouster of Hosni Mubarak as president, has meant that one of the biggest distributors of charity is gone.
Fresh Uighur clashes in China leave 11 dead
Ah the Chinese are having a hissy fit again, the Uighers (Muslims) are just not happy with the way things are, so they gonna change it.
Not to worry though, the all powerful Chinese Government will take care of anybody creating a problem on the streets.
The Independent
Police shot dead four people yesterday in the far north-west of China, bhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifringing to 11 the death toll in a weekend of violence in one of the country's most troubled ethnic regions.
The four died during clashes that injured more than 10 people in what the state-run Xinhua News Agency called "an eruption of violence" in Kashgar. On Saturday, seven people were killed and 22 injured in the same Silk Road city...
On Saturday night, two knife-wielding men hijacked a lorry in the city, killing the driver. They then reportedly rammed the vehicle into a crowd before getting out to attack people in the street. People who came under attack retaliated, and one of the suspects was killed and the other caught, an official said. The hijackers' identities and motive were unclear. Seven people, including the suspect, died and 22 were injured.
scores dead as Assad troops launch major tank offensive
Just before dawn, tanks and armoured vehicles crossed the Orontes River and advanced into the centre of the city, leaving crushed barricades and corpses in their wake.
Sounds almost Poetic, Eh?
“It is a massacre,” said one resident. “We don’t know how many are dead because there are so many bodies on the streets that we cannot collect because it is so dangerous.”
Pres ASSad, once again turns to crushing his peoples will with tanks and heavy gun fire, How nice of Him.
Islam The Religion of completely Ignorant Douchbags who always seem to be in charge.
The Telegraph
On one of the bloodiest days of retribution since protests erupted in March, up to 95 people were killed in Hama alone and 136 nationwide.
For nearly a month the security forces had laid siege to Hama, sealing off access roads into the central Syrian city in an attempt to isolate its fractious inhabitants from the rest of the country.
But with perhaps half of the city’s 700,000-strong population regularly taking to the streets to demand the regime’s downfall, the security forces chose to resort once more to bloodshed.
Just before dawn, tanks and armoured vehicles crossed the Orontes River and advanced into the centre of the city, leaving crushed barricades and corpses in their wake.
As day broke, the city’s skyline seemed almost entirely shrouded with smoke. Mosque loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer and urging them to remain steadfast were almost drowned out by the relentless cacophony of gunfire and exploding tank shells.
“It is a massacre,” said one resident. “We don’t know how many are dead because there are so many bodies on the streets that we cannot collect because it is so dangerous.”
But in a city still scarred by the memories of 1982, when some 20,000 people were killed during the brutal suppression of an Islamist uprising against Mr Assad’s father and predecessor, the mood was still one of overwhelming defiance.
