The young people of Hama, Homs, Daraa and other Syrian cities, steadfast in the face of the Syrian army and intelligence troops, deserve a bow from every Arab citizen. The demonstrators in Syrian cities are demanding freedom, a dignified life and respect for their rights. They are being repressed and liquidated and the Arab world is frighteningly silent. The Syrian people is relying on its bravery to get what it wants. History shows that popular revolutions have changed regimes into democracies, thanks to popular uprisings by those who seek to obtain their rights and see their leaders held accountable. This brave uprising by the people of Syrian cities gives the allies of the Syrian regime in Lebanon a lesson in patriotism. Resistance against the Israeli enemy is legitimate when the enemy occupies Arab territory and is expanding, intervening and engaging in repression. But how is it that this resistance is in collusion with an Arab regime that is killing its people, with no hesitation? What took place in Hama, Daraa and elsewhere are massacres about which one cannot remain silent. Arab viewers should thank modern technology, which has permitted the filming of scenes of violence free of the type of censorship that is no longer effective. These IT media, and mobile phones, have revealed the crimes against the Syrian people. The Arab regimes are standing by and watching, allowing the Europeans and the Americans to punish Damascus. Russian diplomacy is preventing Syria from being punished in the Security Council. Russia believes that it can recover the role that it had during the days of the Soviet Union. However, the Syrian people and the Syria of tomorrow will not forgive Russia over this stance. The strategy of murder and mass oppression is generating two feelings among the victims of the killing and crack-down. While there is fear, which is natural and human, there is also more hatred and anger, as a result of the killing of innocent people. The revolution is overcoming fear and giving considerable momentum to the resistance and steadfastness of the people of Syria, who have risen up. The allies of Syria in Lebanon, meanwhile, are standing with their ally, the Syrian regime, because they are opportunists who are after a fragile hold on power, and transitory state posts that are useless and involve only corruption and the dividing-up of what remains of the country. The Lebanese have paid in the considerable blood of their martyrs, who were victims of the same terror that is afflicting the Syrian people, and despite the fact that the person who led the repression of Hama was the same one who liquidated the people of the city in 1982. It is stupid to believe that murder and liquidation will quite the revolution, because the incidents will generate more anger. Surrounding Hama today is not like 1982; now the world's televisions are showing what is going on. In the West, there are those who ask about the alternative in Syria, and say that the opposition is not organized. However, the revolution on the ground is what will create alternatives, even if this is not an easy process. But the murder and repression cannot represent a solution. If Damascus is relying on its Iranian ally and its ally in Lebanon to divert the world's attention with other incidents in the region, as it continues its domestic repression, this is a losing strategy for the regime. It cannot continue to play the role of fireman and the arsonist at the same time. It is hoped that the Syrian people will avoid falling into the trap of civil war, which took place in Lebanon, because everyone will lose. It is true that there are minorities that continue to support the Syrian regime, because they are fearful of their future, and benefit from this regime. The Syrian opposition must assure them that the current repression will not protect the country's stability, which would be better off under a free, democratic system that does not rely on killing to punish citizens who demand freedom and reform. The pro-Syrian Lebanese media is disappointing to any honest and professional journalists. How can it support the army of a neighboring, fellow Arab country as it liquidates the people of its own country? Where are the values of a journalist, whose profession requires him to cover events honestly, and without falsification? The assassination of leading journalists like Kamel Mrowa, the founder of Al-Hayat, and Salim Lawzi, Samir Kassir, Jibran Tueni and May Chidiac, who was saved from the killers, all crown the names of journalist martyrs who struggled for their beliefs. Kamel Mrowa wrote, "Say your piece and keep going," and this should be the belief of all free journalists. It is their duty to speak out for the truth, with what is going on in Syria, and strongly condemn the killing of innocent demonstrators. A new Syria has been born and the allies of Syria in Lebanon are thinking profoundly and realizing the coming changes, which might take some time, and face some difficulties. But the Syrian regime can no longer remain the way it has been since 1970. We need to see the Arabs take a strong stance on violence against the Syrian people, just like the Arab League did with the Qaddafi regime in Libya. The Lebanese resistance, meanwhile, must ask itself how it can be in collusion with acts being carried out by an Arab national army against its own people.
