Civil War in Syria

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Kurdish nationalists in Syria make their play, seizing two towns in Syria's remote northeast and attempting to take a third.  Syria has a relatively small Kurdish population, but Syrian Kurdistan is removed pretty far from where most of Syria's population is concentrated.

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Regime describes battle in Aleppo as "Mother of All Battles" as Regime simultaneously struggles to regain control of Damascus.

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Regime describes battle in Aleppo as "Mother of All Battles" as Regime simultaneously struggles to regain control of Damascus.

They're seriously quoting Saddam circa 1990?

I think it's a reference to the original Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, and that that name is sort of a cultural touchstone that both Assad and Saddam drew on independently, not a reference to Saddam.  I could be wrong, though.

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Major misstep on the FSA's part as they execute major Regime figure in Aleppo Zaino Berri.  Berri was the head of the 5,000+ member Berri clan, and the clan has pledged vengeance on the FSA, lending their weapons and support to the Regime.

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I wish these maps wouldn't confuse ethnicity and religion like that re: Kurds.

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Erdogan went there:

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Bashar al-Assad goes clean-shaven in his first public appearance in a month:

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Few tidbits.  Maher al-Assad, Bashar's little bro, was wounded a few days ago, still some confusion on that.

More relevant to most of us, an American journalist named Austin Tice has gone missing in Syria and hasn't been heard from in two weeks.  Either he's lost his phone or something is seriously wrong.

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Current, useful map of control, for those interested:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzziEcWgb5M

This helpful FSA member gives you a step-by-step tutorial on how to shoot down a plane.  It's well worth the minute.

I love how "Allah Akbar" can apparently also mean "Holy s**t I'm a f**king badass!"

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Current map of control: red is rebel, green is government, blue is disputed:



The rebels have secured basically all of Syria north of Aleppo, but are having a hell of a time pushing further south.

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I would say that Assad did more that just let the status quo. If he had been that reform-minded, he could have taken advantage of the early stages of the Revolution to force gradual reforms. Instead, he has shown all his determination not to lose an inch of his power.

Giving in after a revolution has begun is a sure way of losing. There is basically only three options in that situation. Defeat the rebels, commit suicide or go into exile.

I am pretty sure that a large part of the population on both sides would have agreed to avoid the bloodshed if a compromise option had been on the table. Instead, Assad thought he could crush the rebellion and acted accordingly.

As Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out, a dictatorial regime is at its absolute weakest and most likely to be overthrown when it is attempting to reform.  Easing restrictions on people makes them more confident and more likely to speak up about the other problems they face, and make demands that the process go faster.  The easiest options are either conceding defeat and going into exile or going maximum hardline like Assad actually did: reform is something of a fool's errand that makes it more, not less, likely for a ruler to end up hanging from a telephone pole.