Reports today from Syria say that over 500,000 people participated in anti-government demonstrations today. six demonstrators were shot down by government forces, but the size of the demonstrations is extraordinary. There are only just under 22 million people in Syria, so that means that between 2 and 3 percent of the people were actually marching in the streets despite the threat and reality of violence from pro-government forces. To put this in context, it is the same as if eight million folks went to Washington to protest. There has never been a demonstration that large in the USA, never!
The problem for the Assad regime is that it has already tried killing the people in the protests to deter future protests. That plan failed. All that is left is wholesale slaughter of thousands during the next marches. Even Assad may not risk taking out 5000 or 10,000 of his people next Friday. The rest of the world may be ignoring Syria for the most part, but a slaughter like that would probably spell Assad's doom and his loss of support from all foreign sources other than his Iranian patrons. Even Iran might decide that Assad was too toxic to continue supporting him. And, of course, were Assad to use the mass murder option and were the strategy to fail, it would mean open revolt and Assad's death without a doubt.
The noose is tightening around Assad's neck and it is the Syrian people who deserve the credit for that. Indeed, it is shameful how little America has said or done to help them.
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