Syria tearsheets

A few screen grabs from around the web from various trips to Syria this year.

CNN Aleppo spot

My pictures and Zak 'big nuts' Brophy on the chaos in Aleppo on CNN:

Airstrikes in Aleppo

 This is my photo essay from Aleppo, which will appear in the October issue of Executive. There's also a slideshow on their website, here.

Picking up the pieces

I missed the fighting in Tripoli on Saturday but on Sunday, myself and colleagues Josh Wood and Zak Brophy went to sift through (almost still smoldering) the rubble. We saw residential apartments in both neighbourhoods that had been wrecked by RPG/Energa fire, with people from both sides claiming that the other was entirely to blame.  

This scenario is old news here, these neighbourhoods have been fighting for years. However, the current conflict in Syria has given them yet another reason to have at it, and sadly, likely the the funds to do so too. During the Civil War Lebanon was a sandpit in which the world waged its wars; it'll be a sad day if this becomes the case again.

Islamists vs Assad

Islamist groups in Tripoli – Lebanon's northern city – have been staging protests against the Syrian regime for a while but tonight marked their first demonstration in Beirut. The protesters apparently clashed with a  pro-Assad crowd early on in the event but were soon parted by a heavy security presence. There's a good report of how the evening played out here.

Assad supporters do their best to out-shout the Islamist demonstration, separated by  lines of security forces.

A small stand against Assad

After the violence that has met previous demonstrations of solidarity with the people of Syria, held in Beirut, the largest such gathering - held tonight in Martyrs' Square - went off pretty much without a hitch. I'd guess around 500 Lebanese and Syrians filled the monument area, holding candles and banners. Around 25 pro-Assad demonstrators turned up at the end and a short shouting match ensued between roughly the same number of anti-Assad demonstrators, with a strong police presence between the two. The 'anti' crowd were roughly hustled back into the middle of the monument area by ISF troops but regained their 'ground' on the outer slopes of the monument to hurl a few more chants before departing.

A demonstrator takes a quiet moment amid the anti-Assad protest in Beirut's Martyrs' Square

A small group of pro-Assad demonstrators picket the protest

ISF troops push anti-Assad demonstrators away from the pro-Assad picket in a bid to defuse the standoff

Syrian strife spills into Lebanon

Given the fairly firm grip Syria still holds over Lebanon, it was only a matter of time before the unrest there found its way across the border. Today a number of Syrians in Beirut took to the streets in support of Bashar Assad's regime; two protests organised somewhat provocatively in strong Sunni areas saw violence - one demonstrator was shot in the stomach in a drive by shooting, at a second protest demonstrators were set upon by onlookers. I caught up with a around 150 protestors who were yelling Assad's praises outside the Syrian embassy. After around an hour they then proceeded to march all the way back to Dora, where they'd come from this morning.