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hypervocal: WEIRD: Syria completely disappears from the Internet.  Check out what the hell is going on here.

hypervocal:

WEIRD: Syria completely disappears from the Internet. 

Check out what the hell is going on here.

nationalpost:

New Syria photos show incredible destruction as explosions rip through Aleppo, killing at least 40
Four blasts ripped through a government-controlled district close to a military officers’ club in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least 40 people and wounding more than 90 on Wednesday, opposition activists said.

The attacks within minutes of each other struck the main Saadallah al-Jabiri Square and a fifth bomb exploded a few hundred metres away, state television said, on the fringes of the Old City where rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been fighting. (AP Photo/SANA)

Startling photos. Wow.

humanrightswatch: Syrian government forces have dropped bombs and fired artillery at or near at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo province over the past three weeks, killing and maiming scores of civilians who were waiting for bread. These bakeries were clearly civilian objects. Every pilot who deliberately launches a rocket at a bread line of civilians, and every commander who gives such an order, should face justice for their crimes. Read testimony and check out our video after the jump. Photo © 2012 Ricardo Garcia Vilanova

humanrightswatch:

Syrian government forces have dropped bombs and fired artillery at or near at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo province over the past three weeks, killing and maiming scores of civilians who were waiting for bread.

These bakeries were clearly civilian objects.

Every pilot who deliberately launches a rocket at a bread line of civilians, and every commander who gives such an order, should face justice for their crimes.

Read testimony and check out our video after the jump.

Photo © 2012 Ricardo Garcia Vilanova

Robert Ballard — who discovered the Titanic — has been called in to help find the Turkish jet downed by Syrians last week.  The search for the Turkish F-4 jet shot down by Syria in the Mediterranean is getting a boost from the Ocean Exploration Trust, the deep-water search team led by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard The trust’s research vessel, the Nautilus, has departed Istanbul to help recover the fighter, a Turkish foreign ministry official told The Daily in an exclusive interview. Syrian forces shot down the U.S.-made plane a week ago with land-based antiaircraft guns. The two pilots are still missing, though floating wreckage — boots and two helmets — has been found in seven days of exhaustive searching.

Robert Ballard — who discovered the Titanic — has been called in to help find the Turkish jet downed by Syrians last week. 

The search for the Turkish F-4 jet shot down by Syria in the Mediterranean is getting a boost from the Ocean Exploration Trust, the deep-water search team led by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard

The trust’s research vessel, the Nautilus, has departed Istanbul to help recover the fighter, a Turkish foreign ministry official told The Daily in an exclusive interview. Syrian forces shot down the U.S.-made plane a week ago with land-based antiaircraft guns. The two pilots are still missing, though floating wreckage — boots and two helmets — has been found in seven days of exhaustive searching.

theweekmagazine:

A chimpanzee slurps up water, Romanians fly some kites, International Space Station crew members land in Kazakhstan, and a Syrian toddler gets a boost at a protest against President Bashar al-Assad. 

This week’s best photojournalism is pretty amazing

theweekmagazine:

The children of Syria’s revolution: The Red Cross is still shut out of Homs’ Bab Amro district — which was a rebel stronghold before a ruthless crackdown — and the latest reports from inside tell grisly tales of the military targeting boys for execution. Nevertheless, across the country, Syrians of all ages continue to protest President Bashar al-Assads’ violent reign. More photos available here

It takes a very special regime to hold a constitutional referendum as the bodies of dissidents are piling up outside polling stations.
Columnist Judith Miller takes the world to task for fiddling while the Assad regime brazenly butchers its own people in Syria. 

Mother Jones obtains Syrian government hit list containing thousands of names »

shortformblog:

producermatthew:

From Mother Jones:

A 718-page digital document obtained by Mother Jones contains names, phone numbers, neighborhoods, and alleged activities of thousands of dissidents apparently targeted by the Syrian government. Three experts asked separately by Mother Jones to examine the document—essentially a massive spreadsheet, whose contents are in Arabic—say they believe that it is authentic. As Bashar Al-Assad’s military continues a deadly crackdown on dissent inside the country, the list appears to confirm in explicit detail the scale of the regime’s domestic surveillance and its methodical efforts to destroy widespread opposition.

Read more…

“The way it’s organized looks similar to other documents I’ve seen,” said Syrian expert Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It organizes people in such a way that it would allow the security services to be able to track them down.”

(Source: matthewkeys)

Satellite image of a pipeline in Homs, Syria, shelled by government troops. (AP) A terse ultimatum demanding that Bashar Assad stop bombing his own people, drafted yesterday in London by officials from the U.S., Europe and Arab nations, will be delivered today at a “Friends of Syria” summit in Tunisia. 

Satellite image of a pipeline in Homs, Syria, shelled by government troops. (AP)

A terse ultimatum demanding that Bashar Assad stop bombing his own people, drafted yesterday in London by officials from the U.S., Europe and Arab nations, will be delivered today at a “Friends of Syria” summit in Tunisia. 

reuters: This Reuters graphic shows there have been 6,519 men, 190 women and 465 children killed in violence in Syria as of Feb. 5, 2012. The most fatalities in a single day since April of last year happened on Feb. 4, 2012 with 400 deaths reported. The latest on Syria | Follow Reuters on Tumblr [Graphic: REUTERS | Sources: UNITAR-UNOSAT, Syria Violence Document Center, syrianshuhada.com, syriamap.wordpress.com, news reports]

reuters:

This Reuters graphic shows there have been 6,519 men, 190 women and 465 children killed in violence in Syria as of Feb. 5, 2012. The most fatalities in a single day since April of last year happened on Feb. 4, 2012 with 400 deaths reported.

The latest on Syria | Follow Reuters on Tumblr

[Graphic: REUTERS | Sources: UNITAR-UNOSAT, Syria Violence Document Center, syrianshuhada.com, syriamap.wordpress.com, news reports]