Syrian armed forces

I was opposed to dedicate a Friday to the Syrian armed forces as was done weeks ago by the Ikhwan opposition movement.  But then again, I oppose the Ikhwan as I oppose the lousy Syrian regime.  Those armed forces are not part of the solution: they are part of the problem.  Also, note that they have stayed almost intact during the repression.  We have not had brigade or unit defections like in Yemen.  The apparatus of repression in Syria has been maintained and tightly managed by the regime.  I watch the reports about their heavy gunfire: from the sea or from the land (they won't dear fly their planes because they don't want to upset Israel--this is a regime that is more sensitive to Israel than to the feelings of the Asad dynasty).  Look how ferocious their gunfire use is: where was all that courage in the successive confrontations with Israel?  It was one failure and one defeat after the other.  The Asad family has started their failed leadership of the Syrian military from the 1967 defeat (when Hafidh was commander of the air force).  The defeat of 1973 has been the fuel that kept the Syrian and Egyptian regime going for too long: the lie of the 1973 defeat (when the outcome of the war expanded Israeli achievements beyond 1967) provided a big boost of political legitimacy for both the Syrian Asad regime and the Egyptian Sadat regime. It seems that the Syrian army does not mind being used against a civilian population, while being trained to avoid any contact with Israel even when Israel bombs deep inside Syria or when Israeli planes flies over the Asad palace in Latakia.  The scenes are symptomatic of status Arab armies: always for repression and never for the protection of borders or for standing up to Israeli aggression.  If it is up to me, I would name a Friday (although I am not in favor of mixing religion with the political manifestations of any Arab uprising): down with the Syrian armed forces: the arm of repression of the Asad regime.

PS Hafidh Al-Asad was Minister of Defense in 1967 and not Commander of the Air Force.
PSS An alert Syrian reader sent me the correction.  But then I was sure that Hafidh was both, Minister of Defense and Commander of the Air Force, so he checked with his father, who was close to Hafidh and served with him.   Indeed, he he was both:  Minister of Defense and Commander of the Air Force.