The people fighting are defected soldiers which the UN has confirmed and we see in videos on youtube (most show their military IDs and UN spent a few nights with the FSA - so there isn't much to debate there). There are small pockets of foreigners - particularly libyans. Syria also have the conscription system - so makes probably do know how to use a weapon.Austin wrote: People came out on the street in Bahrain too and they were shot and murdered as well , the only difference is these people so called innocent protesters were armed to teeth to an extent they could fight a well trained government soldiers , Innocent people dont carry arms and they are not trained in tactics to fight a soldier.
As for Bahrain - not to the extent that is happening in Syria.
Beg to differ and I think looking at history - Mukti Bahini, Chinese, Russian revolutionaries were all considered terrorists at one point.Give guns to people on street of any country and then see for your self how long can they last , these are no ordinary people but well trained militia and gun man trained to fight in the guise of freedom , these are just terrorist in plain simple words , similar to see you in Kashmir or else where.
His power base has weakened to the extent that he has mainly alawite militia and troops that are loyal.. He barely controls districts 30 km from his palace.If there were such mass defection Asad wouldnt have lasted that long , he would have gone by now ......the fact that he is in power is because most people support him and the Military does too .
As I said, eastern syrian tribes were providing the logistics to the baathists, assorted sunni tribes in the west of Iraq for over 8 years now and the expertise exists and is being utilised.Pray tell me can innocent people who protest can engineer and plan sucide bomb attacks on well fortified intelligence HQ and other strategic targets ? Who is funding them and who is arming and training them is the question.
No one is denying that they are not arming them, but do you think all of the people fighting are foreigners and are doing it? Don't you think if people there were happy with their lives, do you think they would go out to protest and sacrifice their lives and fight? I think you need to speak to syrians from across the spectrum - christians, alawites, sunni's (the majority) to get an understanding.Now check the news of Kosovo link and then link it to Saudi foreign minister statements of it being a wonderful thing to arm them ......does it ring a bell ?
Are you being serious? Kashmir is a mountaineous terrain and people are still slipping through despite fencing although fencing has been able to slow it down. In sectors the snow is so bad people can just walk over the fence.Even the best defended and sealed border can you smuggle arms if you have support of hostile intelligence agency , check for our borders in Punjab and Kashmir well manned but they still smuggle arms , check for US borders they still face the same problem or even israel borders the most sophisticated of them all ....... the key is the intention of hostile country towards yours .
As for Israel, they know the border with egypt hasn't been guarded well, hell CNN and many other networks have been in and out. Same goes with US, massive borders, drug smugglers use tunnels there too. As for Bahrain - IEDs have been used/ discovered there before and there have been terror attacks even before this crisis.But hte groups dont want to use them (although a rethink is in the works). But borders and the coast line are well protected because they have faced the Iranians boats smuggling arms before for around a decade or 2.
They accused IRan already and the US for the first time agreed with them.The fact is countries of GCC are openly hostile to Syria and they mince no words when they say that look at Saudi minister statements.
How would Saudi feel if Syria or Iran says it would be wonderful to support protesters fighting their own regiem in Shia dominated areas .....wouldnt that constitute open support and interference in sovereign nation internal affairs ?
Bahrain is a different story altogether - they are coming out to protest because they dont want to be ruled by sunni's. Anyway, this is why the GCC say, they know IRan will respond in the Gulf as you say after Syria is over. Its coming soon and the GCC know it and are ready for it.Neither the people on Bahrain or Shia dominated people who were brutally treated were protesting for fun , without gun and small arms they knew what to expect they were more brave in that respect , many of the so called Sryian protestors and freedom fighters still had small arms to fight, defend or attack
Take a look around the cities and where protests have been reported, look at the UN statements and army defections.Who determines that majority is against Assad , Just because few have arms and can do suicide bombing do their determine the view of majority ?
Actually Kuwait does - its a democracy now. As for KSA - if they did want to remove their rulers, they would be out on the streets and we know there was a campaign on the internet calling for protests - hardly 100 people turned up onto the street! Only place where protests have happened to date is in Eastern KSA - in the shia dominated areas.Pray tell me which government in Arab world have every ruled with holding free and fair elections ? Does Saudi do it , Does Bharain do it .......do people of both countries have a free and fair voice to protest and express their anger .....they meet the same fate as in other gulf states which is clampdown and killings....... in that Assad is no different from them.
Its reached the level of car bombs because there was no political movement from asad since march 2011. Why now/ Why not when it all erupted in March 2011? Why weren't car bombs used then? This is because Asad hasn't relented and continues to use brute force against his people - we can see that with all the refugees fleeing violence on all corners of syria.If GCC says these are some innocent protesters and people with Arms killing innocent people via car bombs and targeted sucide attacks then by which defination these people are not terrorist ?
Of course, but they are on the ground and cameras have followed them - take a look at the images/videos of people on the streets when they are there. Thats the only time unarmed protesters feel safe to come out on the streets.Well it is the same UN that said NATO bombing on Libya was a model to follow and it is the same UN that becomes tooth less when US attacks Iraqs in guise of chemical weapons and then find none and US is totally toothless to do any thing about it.
People use UN when its convenient to their cause and can totally disregard it when its not.
This is true but don't ignore the people and their views - that is all i am saying. No one would be sacrificing their lives to this extent unless they truely were unsatisfied with their lives.1 ) The reason these protest are mostly engineered and trained armed by GCC/US/UK is to weaken Iran by destabilisting its major support in the region which is Asad regime , there is nothing freedom fighting and democracy about this protesters , its plain simple geo-politics and Sunnia GCC versus Shia Iran.
Is it okay for Syrians to come out to the street and protest and ask for their rights? And if they did want a change of regime or mere freedom to choose, is this acceptable? If they are met with violence, is it acceptable to use violence back?
This is my last post on this as I'm afraid I can't devote more time to this debate although its a interesting, healthy and good one to have.
Thanks.
And that lovely Turkish invasion seems more like a Turkish Delight - dusty and mard-like on the outside but totally fruity core.... 
