From Akram, the Angry Arab correspondent in Syria:
"I already mentioned this, in an earlier message. Al-Joura (the hole in Arabic) is a neighborhood located within the old town near Bab Touma. His residents are "original" Damascenes and Shiites. Their relations with their neighbors (Sunnis, Christians) used to be perfect. I never heard or read about sectarian troubles between these neighborhoods in the recent history (few hundred years) of Damascus.
A friend, who isn't of the residents of the any of the quarters mentioned in this E-mail, said that the security forces on the checkpoints surrounding Al-Midan are backed by young men of the Shiite quarter, Al-Amin, and that they are insulting the passers when they find out that they are Sunnis. I can't adopt this account but it clearly indicates a state of mind that dominates the climate these days. It seems the (intentional or unintentional) misconduct of the security forces is in the origin of these unexpected tensions. The same friend, who is, originally, a moderate Muslim but lived 5 horrible days under siege in Al-Sbayneh near Damascus, told my, angrily, something shocking: "we will exterminate them". The situation is more dangerous that you can imagine. We're, possibly, watching the real turning point many western and Arab countries are waiting for where the fighting between the governmental forces and the armed groups turns into an armed struggle between civilian groups. This could be the Syrian Ain Al-Roummaneh bus." [the bus refers to the Sarajevo of the Lebanese civil war].
"I already mentioned this, in an earlier message. Al-Joura (the hole in Arabic) is a neighborhood located within the old town near Bab Touma. His residents are "original" Damascenes and Shiites. Their relations with their neighbors (Sunnis, Christians) used to be perfect. I never heard or read about sectarian troubles between these neighborhoods in the recent history (few hundred years) of Damascus.
A friend, who isn't of the residents of the any of the quarters mentioned in this E-mail, said that the security forces on the checkpoints surrounding Al-Midan are backed by young men of the Shiite quarter, Al-Amin, and that they are insulting the passers when they find out that they are Sunnis. I can't adopt this account but it clearly indicates a state of mind that dominates the climate these days. It seems the (intentional or unintentional) misconduct of the security forces is in the origin of these unexpected tensions. The same friend, who is, originally, a moderate Muslim but lived 5 horrible days under siege in Al-Sbayneh near Damascus, told my, angrily, something shocking: "we will exterminate them". The situation is more dangerous that you can imagine. We're, possibly, watching the real turning point many western and Arab countries are waiting for where the fighting between the governmental forces and the armed groups turns into an armed struggle between civilian groups. This could be the Syrian Ain Al-Roummaneh bus." [the bus refers to the Sarajevo of the Lebanese civil war].
