I keep waiting for the predicted American NATO invasion that everyone keeps saying is going to happen. What's the holdup? - BK
BBC:
The Syrian uprising has its roots in protests that erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets.
The unrest triggered nationwide protests demanding President Bashar al-Assad's resignation as shown in this video report from May 2011.
By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets in towns and cities across the country.
More than a year after the uprising began in Syria, the opposition remains fractious and deeply divided.
The wide variety of political groups, exiled dissidents,grassroots activists and armed militants have been unable to agree on how tooverthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
Several groups, however, have tried to form coalitions tounite opposition supporters in Syriaand gain international help and recognition.
Here is a guide to some of the most prominent groups.
Syrian National Council (SNC)
The Syrian National Council (SNC) is a coalition of seven opposition groups aimed at offering a credible alternative to President Assad's government and serving as a single point of contact for the international community.
Abdelbaset Sayda (L) replaced Burhan Ghalioun ® as leaderof the SNC in June
Its formation in October recalled that of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), which earned international recognition through its opposition to the rule of Col Muammar Gaddafi and has formed an interim government.
The SNC includes:
The Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change grouping - amovement born during the so-called "Damascus Spring" of 2000/2001which called for broad democratic reform, and was soon suppressed
The Muslim Brotherhood
Local Co-ordination Committees - grassroots movements thathave led and documented demonstrations
Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) - a coalition of40 opposition grassroots groups
Kurdish factions, tribal leaders and independent figures
The SNC has a Secretariat General composed ofrepresentatives of the various member groups, which elect a 10-member ExecutiveCommittee and a president whose term is renewable every three months.
The current president is Abdelbaset Sayda, a Kurd who haslived in exile in Swedenfor a number of years.
He replaced Paris-based academic Burhan Ghalioun as leaderof the SNC on 9 June with a mandate to reform and restructure the organisation.
Mr Ghalioun stepped down in May 2012 after criticism that inhis nine months as leader, he had failed to reconcile different groups withinthe opposition and present a united front.
The SNC's website says it is committed to the followingprinciples:
They will have a seat at the table as a representative ofthe Syrian people"
Hillary ClintonUS Secretary of State
Affirming national unity among all components of Syriansociety and rejecting all calls for ethnic strife
Safeguarding the non-violent character of the Syrianrevolution
Protecting national independence and sovereignty, andrejecting foreign military intervention
However, at a press conference in Parison 1 March 2012, the SNCannounced that it had created a military bureau to co-ordinate the variousarmed anti-government groups in Syria.
Mr Ghalioun told reporters at the conference that althoughthe uprising had begun as a non-violent movement, "the reality today isdifferent and the SNC must shoulder its responsibilities". He also saidthat any weapons flowing into the country should go through the council to tryto avoid a civil war.
At the time, he said the bureau would function like adefence ministry and would be staffed by soldiers from the Free Syrian Army(see below) as well as civilians.
But the FSA, the main armed opposition group in Syria,responded by saying it would not co-operate with the new bureau. The head ofthe FSA, Col Riyad al-Assad, said the group does not want any politicalinterference and has its own military strategy.
Military issues aside, the SNC says it has a clear vision tocreate a civil, modern and democratic Syria,and issued a political programme in November for a post-Assad future.
It has laid out plans for a transitional period, similar tothose of Libya'sNTC, which would see it:
Form an interim administration
Hold an all-inclusive national convention on democraticchange
Organise the election of a constitutional assembly within ayear to draft a new constitution and hold free parliamentary elections withinsix months of the new constitution being approved
Form a judicial commission to investigate crimes againsthumanity and form a national reconciliation commission
The new Syria, the SNC states, will be a "democratic,pluralistic, and civil state; a parliamentary republic with sovereignty of thepeople based on the principles of equal citizenship with separation of powers,smooth transfer of power, the rule of law, and the protection and guarantee ofthe rights of minorities".
The SNC, which is dominated by Syria'smajority Sunni Muslim community, has struggled to win over Christians andmembers of President Assad's Alawite sect, who each make up about 10% of thepopulation and have so far stayed loyal to the government.
Western diplomats say the SNC is far from achieving therecognition given to Libya'sNTC
The council's primacy has also been challenged by theNational Co-ordination Committee (NCC), anopposition bloc that still functions within Syriaand is led by Hussein Abdul Azim and other longstanding dissidents, some ofwhom are wary of the Islamists within the SNC.
The SNC, which is trying to keep the uprising peaceful, hasalso found it difficult to work with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a group ofarmy defectors which is seeking to topple Mr Assad by force. However, the twogroups have agreed to co-ordinate their operations more closely.
Western diplomats say the SNC is far from achieving therecognition given to Libya'sNTC at an early stage of the revolt against Gaddafi, and many are encouragingthe group to merge with the rival NCC.
Nevertheless, USSecretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters ahead of the "Friends ofSyria" meeting in Tunis on24 February: "They will have a seat at the table as a representative ofthe Syrian people.
"We think it's important to have Syrians represented.And the consensus opinion by the Arab League and all the others who are workingand planning this conference is that the SNC is a crediblerepresentative."
National Co-ordination Committee (NCC)
The National Co-ordination Committee (NCC),formed in September, is made up of 13 left-leaning political parties, threeKurdish political parties, and independent political and youth activists.
It is led by the veteran opposition figure Hussein AbdulAzim.
The slogan 'the overthrow of the regime' is unpractical, unrealisticand useless"
Qadri JamilNational Co-ordination Committee member
The NCC differs from theSyrian National Council (SNC) on the questions of dialogue with the governmentand foreign intervention.
The NCC calls fordialogue conditional on the withdrawal of the military from the streets, theend of attacks on peaceful protesters by security forces, and the release ofall political prisoners.
The group is strongly opposed to any form of foreignintervention that would involve military measures, such as a no-fly zone, andwould prefer economic sanctions and other diplomatic measures to increasepressure on President Assad.
"We reject foreign intervention - we think it is asdangerous as tyranny. We reject both," Mr Azim said last year.
It is the only group still calling for conditional dialoguewith the government, arguing that it remains the least costly route topolitical transition.
Despite this, the NCC hasrefused to engage in the government's national dialogue initiative, saying thatthe authorities are merely trying to buy time while they ''liquidate the forcesof the uprising''.
The NCC has also beenreluctant to affiliate itself with the SNC and challenged its primacy, withsome members said to be wary of the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on theumbrella group.
A leading opposition voice within the NCC,Haytham Manna, has even described the SNC as "a Washingtonclub" and said he considers anyone calling for foreign intervention a"traitor".
SNC chairman Burhan Ghalioun said in October that bothgroups were agreed on "a complete break with the regime and are clearlydemanding its departure". But Qadri Jamil of the NCCretorted: "The slogan 'the overthrow of the regime' is unpractical,unrealistic and useless."
Free Syrian Army (FSA)
The Free Syrian Army was formed in August 2011 by armydeserters based in Turkeyand led by Riyad al-Asaad, a former air force colonel.
At its founding, the group said it would seek to "workhand in hand with the people to achieve freedom and dignity, topple the regime,protect the revolution and the country's resources and stand up to theirresponsible military machine which is protecting the regime".
Former officer Col Riyad al-Asaad now leads the rebel FreeSyrian Army
Col Asaadclaims to have as many as 40,000 men under his command and that soldiers aredefecting every day and being assigned tasks by the FSA. However, analystsbelieve there may be no more than 10,000.
They are also still poorly armed, and many have only basicmilitary training. The FSA has admitted that it is unable to directly confrontthe Syrian army, which is estimated to have 200,000 soldiers, and hold on toterritory.
Nevertheless, a growing number of defections, partly causedby sectarian division, is weakening the military, strengthening the FSA andincreasing the violence. The army's rank and file is largely Sunni while itsleadership is mainly Alawite.
'Liberated'
The FSA's fighters were limited at the start of the uprisingto small-scale attacks on military convoys and patrols in the north-western province of Idlib, which borders Turkey.
FSA fighters began by launching small-scale attacks in thenorth-western province of Idlib
However, it was not long before operations spread to thecities of Homs and Hama,and major rebellions were launched, triggering a series of governmentcrackdowns.
In September 2011, FSA fighters and other army defectorstook control of parts of the town of Rastan,just north of Homs. In earlyOctober, government forces launched an offensive involving hundreds of armouredvehicles, only recapturing Rastan after a week of clashes.
Over the next two months, the FSA carried out increasinglyeffective attacks on security forces, particularly in Idlib. In late December,the army stormed the mountain stronghold of Jabal al-Zawiya and killed some 200rebels and male civilians, according to activists.
In January 2012, residents of Zabadani, a mountain townnorth-west of Damascus, said it hadbeen "liberated" by the FSA and that the army had agreed to a ceasefire.The truce lasted for several days before troops launched an assault to retakethe town.
Later that month, a string of the capital's eastern suburbsbriefly fell into FSA control, bringing the armed rebellion to the city'soutskirts for the first time. However, security forces forced the rebels toretreat within days.
The FSA suffered a major setback in February, when themilitary launched a major offensive on its strongholds in Homs,notably the district of Baba Amr. Activists said an estimated 700 people werekilled as rockets and shells rained down for nearly a month. Troops moved intothe city in early March after the FSA staged a "tactical withdrawal".
Jeremy Bowen goes inside Syria's"free" town of Zabadani
The insurrection appeared to be on the verge of beingcrushed, and the rebels spent the next two months regrouping.
In early April, the FSA received a much-needed boost whenseveral Western powers announced that they would provide millions of dollars in"non-lethal" aid, including communications and intelligence support. Gulf states meanwhile agreed to set up a fund to pay thesalaries of FSA fighters, and reportedly discussed plans to send money to therebels to help them buy weapons and ammunition on the black market.
Later that month, the FSA and the government said they wouldabide by the ceasefire negotiated by the UN and Arab League's envoy, KofiAnnan, as part of his peace plan. However, both sides accused each other ofviolating the conditions and fighting resumed.
By the beginning of June, dozens of people were dying everyday despite appeals for calm. The FSA announced it was no longer committed tothe ceasefire and had resumed operations to "defend our people".
'Guerrilla tactics'
In mid-July, the rebels launched audacious and deadlyattacks in the heart of Damascusfor the first time, targeting military and intelligence bases and brieflytaking control of several areas before the government sent in large numbers oftroops and tanks to recapture them.
About 500 Syrian troops appeared to announce their defectionfrom the army in Idlib in February
The group also claimed that an affiliate was behind thebombing inside the headquarters of the National Security Bureau (NSB) in Damascuson 18 July, which killed President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law, Gen AssefShawkat, Defence Minister Gen Daoud Rajiha, former Defence Minister Gen HassanTurkomani and NSB chief Gen Hisham Ikhtiar.
Less than a week later, the FSA launched a large-scaleattack on security forces in Aleppo, reportedly prompting the military to sendthousands of reinforcements, as well as deploying warplanes to straferebel-held areas for the first time in 16 months.
Col Malik al-Kurdi, a spokesman for the FSA command, saidthe rebels would not try to hold on to the territory they had seized in Syria'stwo biggest cities because they could not confront the better-equipped regulararmy or the elite Republican Guards.
"The Free Syrian Army is carrying out a war ofharassing the regime army until it is exhausted, using guerrilla tactics,"he told the Washington Post. "We can't keep control of an area, so this isa circular operation, moving from one place to another, one city toanother."
Col Kurdi pointed to the capture of a number of bordercrossings with Turkeyand Iraq, someof which changed hands several times over the period of a few days.
The FSA has so far had to rely on the black market to armits badly-equipped fighters
"We cannot say the Free Syrian Army is in completecontrol, and we cannot say the regime army is in complete control, and thiswill stay the same until the Free Syrian Army gets heavy weapons and there aremore defections."
FSA fighters began by using only light weapons, but doalready have more sophisticated and heavier weaponry that has either beencaptured or smuggled in from abroad.
US officials and Arab intelligence officers told the NewYork Times in June that automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunitionand some anti-tank weapons were being funnelled, mostly across the Turkishborder, by way of a "shadowy network of intermediaries", includingSyria's Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
A small number of CIAofficers were also operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decidewhich Syrian opposition fighters would receive the weapons, in an effort toprevent them falling into the hands of groups allied to al-Qaeda, they added.They were also reportedly providing satellite imagery and intelligence on troopmovements, and advising how to establish command and control systems.
Human rights abuses
Up until now, the FSA has functioned primarily as anumbrella group for army defectors, civilians who have taken up arms andIslamist militants. Fighters are believed to have only limited or no contactwith each other or the FSA's leaders in Turkey.
The FSA leadership in Turkeysays it does not issue orders to commanders on the ground in Syria
Though they are working towards a similar goal - theoverthrow of President Assad - many are thought to adopt the name "Free SyrianArmy" to underscore their revolutionary aspirations, their army backgroundor that they are not pro-government militiamen.
The FSA leadership told the UN Human Rights Council inFebruary that commanders in the field did not receive orders from it andcurrently made their own rules of engagement. The leadership saw its role asfacilitating co-ordination and ensuring media outreach.
The council said it had documented instances of gross humanrights abuses committed by members of various FSA groups. In Homs,FSA members were found to have tortured and executed suspected members of thepro-government militia, the Shabiha, in retaliation for abuses committed bythem.
Some armed civilians in Homs, including those belonging tothe FSA, have also allegedly sought to kill the family members of Shabiha andsecurity forces personnel to exact blood revenge, or take them hostage.
The FSA's leadership has also found it difficult to workwith the main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC), which haspublicly stated that it wants to safeguard the uprising's "non-violentcharacter".
However, in January the two groups agreed to co-ordinatetheir operations more closely through a liaison office and the SNC has appealedto the international community to support the rebels "by means of militaryadvisers, training and provision of arms to defend themselves".
The FSA has also acknowledged that some foreign jihadistmilitants, including those linked to al-Qaeda, have travelled to Syriato join its ranks, but claims they do not play a decisive role. A shadowy groupcalling itself the al-Nusra Front has said it was behind a series of suicidebombings which have rocked Damascussince January.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19014880
As the battle for Aleppointensifies, the Syrian army and rebels have sent reinforcements to thecountry's second city. Ian Pannell visits a school that has been taken over byrebel fighters, who are now using it as their base.
She was the girl with no name. When we returned to the rebelbase, she was lying on her back on the floor, where she appeared to besleeping. The teenager had a pale complexion and wore a pretty red dress, herlower body draped in a blanket.
I noticed our translator, sat at her side, was crying. I hadbeen wrong, the girl was not sleeping - she was dead, killed in a governmentartillery strike, the blanket masking her wounds.
"Who is she?" I asked. No one knew. She had been foundin the road near to where the shell had landed. A nameless victim of a warwhere it is the blameless who suffer the most.
This was the scene in one of the classrooms of the localprimary schools, now a temporary rebel base. When the war came to Aleppo,the children were kept at home although many of them have now fled the city,along with their families.
Today the corridors are filled with the sounds of gunmenchecking their weapons, the animated talks of attacks being planned, ofshouting, crying and praying - and of dead bodies.
A government tank captured by the rebels had been parkedjust outside the school gates on a patch of rough ground. When a militaryhelicopter attacked the area, the tank's massive anti-aircraft gun was turnedtowards the sky where it erupted with a ferocious roar.
What had been a playground was now a staging area for rebelvehicles, where men and munitions, food, medical supplies and prisoners areferried in and out.
A constant stream of detainees was brought to the base - menaccused of being members of the Shabiha, a feared government militia that hasbeen implicated in some of the massacres committed in this war.
They were dragged in, hands tied behind their backs, manybearing the marks of having been beaten. Some cried as they were brought in,pleading with their captors that they were innocent. Others were more defiant.
"Start Quote
In the space of a week Aleppohas become the main battle ground in this conflict"
Most were held in a classroom. But standing next to acupboard where pens and textbooks were once stored, I heard the sound ofknocking. At first I could not work out where it was coming from. Then itbecame clear. It was inside the tiny metal cupboard where those prisonersdeemed to be the highest threat were being held.
Later a group of them were bundled into a van. I asked oneof the fighters where they were going. "To see a judge," he replied.
"Will they be killed?" I asked. He looked at me."If the judge decides they have got blood on their hands, then yes, theywill be killed."
This is a brutal conflict where the line between right andwrong has become blurred. Human rights abuses are being committed by bothsides, although pro government forces bare the vast brunt of responsibility.
The United Nations estimates that more than 10,000 peoplehave died in this conflict. Activists say it is far more than that.
In the course of just a few hours at the school we witnessedthe number of dead rise. First there was the deathly crash of an artilleryshell smashing to the ground nearby, shaking the windows and sending everyonerunning for cover.
Until now Aleppohad been largely excluded from the violence of Syria's16-month uprising
The government says it only targets rebel fighters - men itcalls terrorists. But what their artillery shells invariably hit are civilians,and in this case someone's house.
The victims were rushed into the school and anotherclassroom that has become a makeshift clinic.
Pools of blood on the floor marked a terrible trail to wheretwo young boys were being treated.
In one bed eight-year-old Mohammed wept and cried out forhis father. "Baba, Baba" he said.
Shrapnel from the shell pock-marked his small body and hescreamed as the fragments were gouged out.
In the other bed lay his older brother. He was dead.
It is a mark of how war brutalises a society when a schoolis a morgue for children, classrooms are emergency clinics and store cupboardsprisons.
In the space of a week Aleppohas become the main battleground in this conflict. The city is the largest inthe country and its economic capital. Neither side can afford to lose here. Andas a government counterattack gathers pace, so more children will die, as Syriaseems to pull itself apart.
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