Social Media Monitor 15-10-2012

Historical sites under threat

Clashes between Syrian regime and opposition forces in Aleppo have not been limited to residential areas, as fighting extended to historical sites causing significant damage.

After the burning of parts of the old souk in Aleppo on September 29, the Grand Umayyad Mosque was burnt on the night of Monday October 15.

Kinan Qoja, a Syrian writer residing in the United Arab Emirates, addressed the Free Syrian Army, FSA, through Facebook, asking it to avoid causing destruction: “I am not a military expert, however if the Free Syrian Army is going to carry out a tactical withdrawal from [the city of] Maarat Al Nouman and the Umayyad mosque in Aleppo, it should have done so before the bombing and destruction of these places and not after.”

Tunisian activist Mohamed Harizi insinuated that Israel and the Arabian Gulf states are the main beneficiaries from the destruction of Syria’s historical monuments.

“To the relief of the desert and it suburbs in Tel Aviv, all historical sites are doomed to be destroyed,” he wrote on Facebook.

Members of Al-Forqaan Brigade (@Al_forqaan) of the FSA expressed their sorrow for what had happened to the mosque.

“For the first time in 1,300 years, the call for prayer is no longer heard from the Umayyad Mosque,” they wrote on Twitter.

Controversy about Jabhat Al-Nusra

Jabhat Al-Nusra is a Salafi jihadist organization that emerged in late 2011 during the uprising in Syria and has since claimed responsibility for several suicide attacks in Damascus and Aleppo. The most recent attack was the bombing of the Air Force Intelligence headquarters in Harasta outside Damascus on Tuesday October 9. Little is known about  the origin of the organization, but the United States intelligence services have linked it to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Assaad Ashi, a Syrian activist who lives in Paris, accused Jabhat Al-Nusra of terrorism and called for actions to be taken against it.

“Jabhat Al-Nusra is a terrorist group. Any group that has this same Salafi jihadist ideology is also terrorist, whether it is linked to Al-Qaeda or not… and it’s our duty to fight against it as much as it is our duty to fight against the regime,” he wrote on Facebook.

Hammouda al-Makawi explained that this group emerged because Syrians are busy trying to topple the current regime. He wrote on Facebook, “this so called Jabhat Al-Nusra thinks that it can impose itself on the revolution despite the people’s will… but its members have forgotten that whoever is capable of toppling [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad [his family name means ‘lion’ in Arabic] will not find it hard to defeat a few petty goats.”

Chaoud Taha, a Syrian writer who lives in Ukraine, warned of the danger of such groups in the future as well as its negative impacts on the Syrian revolution.

“We do not want Syria to be Afghanistan,” he wrote on Facebook. “The US created Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, do you think it’s because they love Islam? Now it’s fighting against it. And now who is fighting against whom in Syria? It has become a mess and the only side which is benefiting is the regime.”

Mohamed Al-Anzy (@m11q8) tweeted about Jabhat Al-Nusra’s operations, praising the group: “In Syria we should respect each party’s area of expertise: blowing up ministries and intelligence headquarters is Jabhat Al-Nusra’s main specialty.”

On Ahfad Al-Kawakibi Facebook page, Ahmed Daadush wrote about his meeting with members from Jabhat Al-Nusra, saying “They said that their aim is to establish the rule God’s rule, God, and that the slogans of Islam written on their black banners speak for themselves. They also said that they do not intend to fight anyone after the fall of the regime as long as everyone follows the Sharia.”

And then Felix Baumgartner landed

On October 14, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner set a new world record after successfully skydiving around 39 kilometers, breaking the sound barrier. Syrian activists were quick to start talking about this international event, as they have done with other similar ones, and look at the situation in Syria through its prism.   

Ahmed Basha, a Syrian journalist based in Damascus, commented sarcastically on Facebook about the cruelty of security forces: “It looks that the sound barrier is easier to break than Air Force Intelligence checkpoints.” In Arabic the word hajez means both barrier and checkpoint.

Referring to the alleged reforms that the Syrian regime has repeatedly promised, Syrian director Ayham Salman wrote on Facebook: “Now I understand what ‘significant leap’ means.”

Syrian activist Latifa Choukri (@choukrilatifa) recalled the Syrians who are killed every day: “When Felix was jumping from the sky to the ground, 200 people jumped from #Syria to heaven… Felix set one record while Syria sets [a new] record every night!”

Raafat Al-Ghanem, a Syrian journalist who lives in Jordan, wrote about his friend who jumped out of a moving security vehicle.

“I have a friend who got arrested near the television and radio building in Damascus; he was put into a security force vehicle but he opened the other door and jumped out; I consider him braver than Felix,” Ghanem wrote on Facebook.