At least 34 more people were killed today, and potentially many more, as a large number of bodies of protesters were dumped in central Homs by a militia loyal to the Assad regime, and activists reporting as many as 60 bodies discovered citywide.
The violence comes just a day after the regime missed yet another deadline set by the Arab League to agree on a deal to admit international monitors and implement a ceasefire against civilian protesters.Syrian officials say they “would like to” agree on the deal.
But not as-is. Syria initially agreed to the Arab League offer on November 1 but never implemented it and are now demanding a number of “conditions” be agreed to by the Arab League before the deal gets another lease on life.
Diplomats said a number of the “conditions,” which have yet to be made public, are entirely new, and some expressed a belief that they were thrown in simply to stall for time and discourage the Arab League from imposing new sanctions on Syria.
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Why would the Syrian regime dump the bodies of dead "protesters" in an area on Homs that is loyal to the regime? I could understand if they "disappeared" completely or were dumped in an opposition area, but why upset your supporters?
After reading about the murder of Sari Saoud by salafists among the Ikwhan to make a "publicity" film for display on al Jazeera, I'll take any claims by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (allegedly set up by the Ikwhan) with a pinch of salt just as I do the claims of the Syrian regime.
Here we go again…
For those interested in reading a more balanced, more responsible analysis, I recommend Sharmine Narwani's "Dubious Dealings: Syria and the Arab League":
“The whole process was meant to gain a refusal, to move to the second stage of this game,” warns the [senior Arab League] official.”