Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

22 hours ago

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

24 hours ago

In Win for Trump, US Supreme Court Limits Judges’ Power to Block Birthright Citizenship Order

1 day ago

California’s Newsom Sues Fox News for $787 Million for Defamation Over Trump Call

1 day ago

Motorcycle Collides With Tractor in Fatal Fresno County Collision

1 day ago

Fourth of July Celebrations Begin Saturday. Here’s Your Fresno Area Guide

1 day ago

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

2 days ago

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

2 days ago

Cargo Ship That Caught Fire Carrying Electric Vehicles Sinks in the Pacific

2 days ago

4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do

3 days ago
Assad Government Raises Flag Over Cradle of Syrian Revolt
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 7 years ago on
July 12, 2018

Share

BEIRUT — For the first time in more than seven years, the Syrian government raised its flag Thursday over Daraa, the first city to revolt against President Bashar Assad in 2011 and plunge the country into its calamitous civil war.
The display is laden with symbolism as the government moves to stamp out the last of the uprising against the 52-year-old Assad who has ruled with an iron fist over Syria for 18 years. His father Hafez Assad was president for three decades before him.
Officials accompanied by state media crews hoisted the two-star flag over the rubble of the city’s main square, allowing it to wave in sight of the shell of the Omari Mosque where protesters first gathered in demonstrations demanding reforms then Assad’s ouster in the spring of 2011.

Assad’s Brutal Crackdown Against Dissidents

The mosque has since been destroyed in the government’s brutal crackdown against the city, which ranged from alleged torturing of dissidents to shelling the city with tanks and planes.
With control over Daraa, government forces can now focus on clearing the last pockets of the opposition and, separately, the Islamic State group from the frontier at the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in a 1967 war.
The corner of southwest Syria is an important corridor for trade between Syria and Jordan, and onward to the oil-rich Gulf states. But most of the important fighting against the revolt has already been concluded in shattering battles farther to the north for the main cities of Damascus, Aleppo, and Homs, and territories in between.

400,000 People Killed in War

Some 400,000 people have been killed in seven years of war.
Protests in Daraa in 2011 against the government’s mistreatment of teenage detainees ignited a national revolt against decades of authoritarian rule.
Ahmad Masalmeh, a media activist formerly based in Daraa, said fighters in the city had accepted an offer of amnesty from the government, and let back in the state institutions and symbols of Assad’s rule.
Rebels refusing to accept the deal will be exiled with their families to other rebel-held parts of the country.

Agreement Authored By Russia, Iran

The agreement follows a template imposed by the government and its Russian and Iranian backers that has forced hundreds of thousands of Syrians, including media activists, army defectors, and draft dodgers and their family members to give up their homes to lift the sieges against their cities.
Human rights monitors say the arrangements amount to a program of political and demographic engineering in Syria to secure Assad’s rule.
Government forces launched an offensive to recapture southwest Syria and the areas neighboring Jordan and Israel on June 19. They surrounded Daraa’s rebel-held quarters on Monday. Dozens have been killed in the campaign, including 162 civilians, according to Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — among them women and children.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters at a news conference that the world body had tried “to prevent a bloodbath” in the region.
Late last month, Guterres had called for an immediate end to military operations and a return to cease-fire arrangements agreed to by Russia, the United States and Jordan.
“I think that our action was useful in that regard,” he said. “But again the objective must be and remains entirely for us a political solution.”
Mohamad al-Hanous, Daraa’s governor, said government forces were in control of 80 percent of the city, according to the government-linked Central Military Media outlet, while Syrian state media reported late Wednesday that rebels in Daraa had agreed to surrender their heavy and medium weapons.
Under the terms of the agreement, Russia will deploy military police to maintain order in Daraa and facilitate the transition back to government rule, said a media activist inside who asked for anonymity out of concern for his safety.

Idlib Province ‘Is a Crematory’

Russian mediators are warning fighters and civilians against leaving Daraa for Idlib, the northwest Syrian province where over a million displaced Syrians are living in dire conditions and exposed to government airstrikes and the possibility of a future offensive.
“Idlib is a crematory,” the activist said Russian mediators warned him.
Humanitarian groups say more than 300,000 people have been displaced by the government’s southern offensive, moving toward the Jordanian border and to Quneitra, a province that borders Israel.
Israel and Jordan’s borders are closed to refugees, and the aid group Oxfam said Thursday it was unable to deliver enough aid across the Jordan border to meet the needs of the internally displaced residents.
The circumstances are especially perilous for journalists and media activists, who say they fear for their lives if they are captured by government troops.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday at least 70 journalists were trapped in southwest Syria and required protection.
 

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Sends in DOGE to Slash Federal Gun Regulations by July 4

DON'T MISS

Tensions Flare at Announcement of Major Fresno County Gang Takedown

DON'T MISS

Measure C ‘Blackmailed’ As Fresno Enviro Coalition Gets Huge Say on Transportation Tax

DON'T MISS

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

DON'T MISS

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Preserves Key Element of Obamacare

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Trustees Will Get Automatic Raises on Tuesday

DON'T MISS

Alleged ‘Fake’ ICE Agents Charged. Fresno Court Date Set

DON'T MISS

In Win for Trump, US Supreme Court Limits Judges’ Power to Block Birthright Citizenship Order

UP NEXT

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Trump Says a Deal Related to Trade Was Signed With China on Wednesday

UP NEXT

State Department Approves $30 Million for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

UP NEXT

No Known Intelligence That Iran Moved Uranium, US Defense Chief Says

UP NEXT

Israel Says Iran’s Supreme Leader Avoided Assassination by Going Underground

UP NEXT

Tesla Executive, Elon Musk Confidant Leaves EV Maker, Bloomberg News Reports

UP NEXT

Cargo Ship That Caught Fire Carrying Electric Vehicles Sinks in the Pacific

UP NEXT

How the United States Helped Create Iran’s Nuclear Program

UP NEXT

Israel Halts Aid Into Gaza, Official Says, Clans Deny Hamas Is Stealing It

UP NEXT

Israeli Settlers Raid West Bank Town, Troops Kill 3 Palestinians

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

Mamdani’s NYC Primary Win Sparks Surge in Anti-Muslim Posts, Advocates Say

4 hours ago

Trump Sends in DOGE to Slash Federal Gun Regulations by July 4

19 hours ago

Tensions Flare at Announcement of Major Fresno County Gang Takedown

19 hours ago

Measure C ‘Blackmailed’ As Fresno Enviro Coalition Gets Huge Say on Transportation Tax

20 hours ago

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

20 hours ago

US Consumer Spending Falls as Trump Tariff’s Muddle Economy

22 hours ago

US Supreme Court Preserves Key Element of Obamacare

23 hours ago

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

24 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustees Will Get Automatic Raises on Tuesday

1 day ago

Alleged ‘Fake’ ICE Agents Charged. Fresno Court Date Set

1 day ago

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

Like a lot of people of center-right/center-left political leanings, I’ve spent the past few decades detesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netan...

2 hours ago

2022 Election Rally for Netanyahu
2 hours ago

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

University of Virginia President James Ryan Resigns
2 hours ago

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration

3 hours ago

How Did the Supreme Court Rule? Here’s a Look at the Big Cases

Zohran Mamdani Speaks to Supporters
4 hours ago

Mamdani’s NYC Primary Win Sparks Surge in Anti-Muslim Posts, Advocates Say

American Flag Revolver
19 hours ago

Trump Sends in DOGE to Slash Federal Gun Regulations by July 4

Rob_Bonta_Speaking_At_Press_Conference_1280x720
19 hours ago

Tensions Flare at Announcement of Major Fresno County Gang Takedown

Garry_Bredefeld_Sandra_Celedon_Mesure_C_1280x720
20 hours ago

Measure C ‘Blackmailed’ As Fresno Enviro Coalition Gets Huge Say on Transportation Tax

Fresno_Unified_Raises_1280x720
20 hours ago

Despite $49M Deficit, Fresno Unified Gives Top Brass 5% Raise, 3% One-Time Bonus

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend