The view from Homs

Aboud from Homs sent me this--and he answered a few questions by me (I cite with his permission):  "There was some tension last night, but I don’t understand where the figure of “30 dead” could have come from. Today Homs was calm. I went out to the Damascus Road where there was a tense standoff between the shabiha and residents of that area last night, and everything was normal. I went to the upscale Hamra district and everything was normal there as well. If anyone had died during the day, all of Homs would have been on edge. The army was in Khaldia all day long, and from the video clips it looked like a relaxed atmosphere. None of the revolution Facebook websites talked of any confrontations today.  Yesterday, three Alawites were found dead in a place called Al-Wa3r. It doesn’t usually have any demonstrations, but last Friday there was an unusual demonstration there, and it was quite big. The rumors I’ve heard say that one of the murdered Alawites was a supermarket owner who was high up in the shabiha hierarchy. It would explain why they went on a rampage last night. They did indeed smash up the Sunni stores in al-Hadara street, and part of Damascus Road.  When the rest of Homs got word of this, every neighborhood blocked itself off. Trash containers and old cars blocked off side streets. Tires were burned in the streets. Bab Esba3 joined up with Karam al Shami. Insha’at joined up with Baba Amr. Youths patrolled the streets with sticks in hand. I don’t know what happened in the rest of Homs, but on the Damascus road, my brother and his friends guarded their street, and there was a standoff with the shabiha. Sometime at around 2am the shabiha and security men withdrew from the area.  Today, Hadara street (which is prominently Alawi) was all closed down, while the rest of Homs carried on as normal. The conventional wisdom is that a small group of shabiha got out of control, and almost started a sectarian war in the city.   In addition, there are very strong rumors that a sizeable army contingent (about 100) deserted last night. Helicopters flew all over all night long...The shabiha are militiamen loyal to the regime. They used to be part of the Assad family’s private militia in Latakia, but now the term is applied to any civilian the regime arms. They are mostly Alawites but I believe up in Aleppo they are Sunni. They were the ones responsible for the abuses at Al-Baida near Baniyas (the infamous incident where black clad shabiha were videoed stepping all over and beating detainees, which Al-Dunya TV claimed actually happened in Iraq).  In every military crackdown, they have always taken part in military operations.  Today Homs was calm, and this evening we didn’t hear anything. I seriously don’t understand how 30 deaths could possibly have happened in the last 24 hours.  In Homs, I don’t see any class splits. My neighborhood is an upper-middle class one, and youths from it regularly join protestors from Baba Amr, Khaldia and Bab Esba3. In the end, it isn’t religion or strictly class that makes one pro or anti regime, but one’s own experiences with the authorities.  For example, my 20 year old brother is a university student at the most expensive private university in Syria, but he has risked his life every day since the protests began in Homs. He received training from the Red Crescent on first aid. What motivated him? His uncles (he is my half brother) were both imprisoned on charges of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s, but he isn’t religious in any way. Growing up, he recounted to me the humiliations he had to endure at the hands of sons of connected Baath party members. And at one time, he was beaten up severely by the police at a football game. It is personal experiences like this that cause people to go out into the streets, and not some ideology.   Myself, I turned against the regime in the middle of April. Half of Homs had come out for a sit in at the New Clock. While the “amin” were supposedly negotiating with Sheikhs to end the sit in, the security forces opened fire on the demonstrators, and chased them through the streets. By the grace of God my brother had left 10 minutes before to charge his mobile phone and was headed back. From that day, I have never believed for a moment that Bashar is a reformer.   Right now, no one in Homs is scared. Today I went out and had coffee with a relative, and the mood was upbeat. Last night all of Homs had come out and faced down the shabiha and security forces. Now we openly talk about politics in restaurants and in the streets. Graffiti on the road is everywhere one goes, and we openly laugh at the clever lines. There is a buoyant feeling that the revolution went through its darkest times, and the regime has completely lost the initiative. They don’t seem to have a plan, they just seem to be waiting out each Friday.   Yes, Aleppo and Damascus haven’t come out in the numbers we’d like yet, but you must keep something in mind; to the regime’s supporters, this seems to have been going on forever. But to the opposition, the feeling is “we are just getting started”. No one expected this to be a short Egypt or Tunisia like revolution. We know we are in this for the long haul. We waited 40 years for this, we can wait 40 months more if needs be.   Compared to the dark days when the tanks first invaded Baba Amr and the protests dwindled to quick late night affairs, the opposition in Homs is much better organized. People call Homs the nexus of the revolution, and for good reason.  In the end, battles are won by the morale of the troops. And morale among the opposition is very high. Yes, there doesn’t seem to be a government in waiting, nor a detailed plan for post-Bashar Syria, nor a charismatic leader. But what does it say about Bashar that so many Syrians are willing to bet on such an uncertain future, than to tolerate another year under his rule..."

PS Of course, there is no way for me to verify the information here.