Mai Skaf is a well know actress, a Christian, secularist and pro revolution. She had raised lots of donations for Palestinian and Lebanese refugees before the revolution and was a arrested several times for her political views. She left Syria in June. *Cort*
A Farewell to Damascus http://pulsemedia.org/2013/10/13/a-farewell-to-damascus/ October 13, 2013 § Leave a Comment<http://pulsemedia.org/2013/10/13/a-farewell-to-damascus/#respond> Actress Mai Skaf describes the nature of Syrian society and the assumptions of the Assad regime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph0MxVRdXxU -------------------------------- Syria Video Analysis: As the US Steps Back, France and Saudi Arabia Step Up in Support of Insurgency http://eaworldview.com/2013/10/syria-video-analysis-us-steps-back-france-saudi-arabia-step-support-insurgency/ * * *A four-minute analysis outlining how Washington’s retreat from support for Syria’s insurgency is far from the end of the story — France, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are all stepping up their backing of the opposition, with the Saudis ramping up arms supplies to the insurgents:* *Video:* *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUcPah-BWk#t=226* ----------------------------Updates SUMMARY: The past week has been the story of the race between two offensives in southern Syria. The regime is attempting to take over suburbs south and southwest of Damascus, thus opening the highway to Daraa Province and the border with Jordan to resupply its troops, before insurgents can seize more territory in the province, including in Daraa city. On Saturday, as Syrian warplanes attacked insurgent positions in Daraa city —* including the Palestinian refugee camp, the adjacent Al Mahata neighborhood, *and Daraa Al Balad — there was a new, possibility significant development. The Shaam News Network reported that insurgents in Al Mahata are using anti-aircraft weapons to target regime forces. If the report is true, it could reflect a major escalation of arms supplies to opposition fighters — probably backed by Saudi Arabia and assisted by the insurgents’ recent takeover of the Daraa-Ramtha crossing on the Jordanian border. Footage of the anti-aircraft weapons has yet to emerge; however, video testifies to a fresh supply of rocket launchers to the insurgents. ------------------------------ Latest Updates, Most Recent FirstFatwa Allows Those Trapped In Damascus Yarmouk Camp To Eat Cats, Dogs, Donkeys There are reports, including this by Orient News and here by LBCI<http://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/120047/%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B2-%D8%A3%D9%83%D9%84-%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%B7-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B1>, of a fatwa allowing people trapped by regime sieges in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus to eat the flesh of cats, dogs and mules during siege conditions.. The announcement comes as the humanitarian situation in the camp becomes increasingly desperate, with famine setting in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBika1QLEs8 *Demonstration in Yarmouk after the fatwa:* *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--4VUQP4RdQ* * * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [image: Syria Spotlight: Civilians Evacuated From Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, Daraya] Published on October 13th, 2013 | *by Joanna Paraszczuk* 0 Syria Spotlight: Civilians Evacuated From Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, Daraya *Video: Civilians evacuated from Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, Daraya on Sunday* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjTk_bwFwFk* * On Sunday, the Syrian Red Crescent announced that it had succeeded in evacuating hundreds of civilians — most of them women and children — from the West Ghouta towns of Moadamiyyat Ash Sham and Daraya. Syrian Red Crescent @SYRedCrescent <https://twitter.com/SYRedCrescent> #URGENT <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23URGENT&src=hash> @SYRedCrescent<https://twitter.com/SYRedCrescent>manage to evacuate around 1500 civilians mostly women & children from #Moadamia <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Moadamia&src=hash> #Syria<https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Syria&src=hash>to shelters in #Damascus <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Damascus&src=hash> The humanitarian situation in Moadamiyyat Ash Sham, one of the towns hit by the August 21 chemical weapons attacks, has grown increasingly desperate. The town has been under a regime-imposed siege since November 2012 and has been subject to daily regime air strikes, tank shelling and artillery bombardment. Regime ground forces aided by Hezbollah fighters are pushing insurgents on the town’s northern front line in an attempt to invade the town. Civilians inside Moadamiyyat Ash Sham told EA last week<http://eaworldview.com/2013/10/syria-spotlight-dont-know-will-survive-say-civilians-besieged-moadamiyyat-ash-sham/> that they feared a mass killing by regime forces, should pro-Assad fighters succeed in entering the town. With food and medical supplies completely cut off, civilians say that food stores ran out last month and there have been an increasing number of severe malnutrition cases and even deaths. Activists say 11 people have starved to death in the city so far, and that many civilians are reduced to gathering and eating leaves off trees and dried figs to survive. The regime has also cut off the town’s water supplies. Doctors in Moadamiyyat Ash Sham have documented a number of starvation cases, including two people last month — 5-year-old Imad Sawan and 30-year-old Mona Ragab. Activists said that both victims had been injured in regime shelling and died due to their injuries as well as malnutrition. Video report by the Shaam News Network documenting child deaths by starvation and malnutrition in the city: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2385IC-inM http://eaworldview.com/2013/10/syria-spotlight-civilians-evacuated-moadamiyyat-ash-sham-daraya/
