Nearly 100 bodies were counted by rebels in the streets of a Damascus suburb after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s army allegedly executed men, women and children.
The report was not verified, but the official Syrian SANA news agency reported, “Armed Forces units inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists in the town of Jdiadet al-Fadl in Damascus Countryside.”
At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pledged $123 million in “non-lethal” to rebels as the Obama administration, plays it safe in what has clearly become a “lose-lose” war not only for Syria but also for the Middle East, if not the entire world.
Jamal al Golani, a member of the Revolution Leadership Council, said he counted 98 bodies in the streets. “There are almost no wounded because they were shot on the spot,” he added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included three children and six women.
Meanwhile, the West still is scratching its head over the civil war that threatens to spread to neighboring Lebanon.
It took too long for the Obama administration to understand it was backing the wrong man when then-US. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after the beginning of the rebellion two years ago, “Assad is a reformer.”
The United States already has suffered two major diplomatic disasters in the past two years. It backed the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been replaced by an equally corrupt regime that promotes fundamental Islam. In Libya, the truth still is not known about the events leading up to the brutal murder of the American ambassador.
The West realizes that the civil war in Syria is not just a struggle of the “rebels” against Assad but is prime turf for terrorist organizations, not the least of them Al Qaeda, to stake out a power base.
Kerry, who as Senate Foreign Relations committee chairman frequently shuttled back and forth Syria to “engage” Assad, cannot do much more than try not to look helpless and offer humanitarian aid. The $123 million aid, which also is for non-lethal weapons such as armored carriers and communications equipment, is double the previous amount of assistance.
His hope is that the Syrian rebels will unite and live up to their pledge made on Sunday that it rejects extremism and is committed “not to use chemical weapons.”