"More than 120,000 [Syrians] have been killed so far. Two-and-a-half million Syrians are refugees.
...One of the recent atrocities took place in midweek in the Jarabulus area, near a place called a-Shiyuh. Members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an Iraqi al-Qaeda affiliate, killed 22 people, children among them, and threw their bodies into the street to instill fear in the population.
And Assad’s army continues to do what it does: bombings from the air using explosive barrels on opposition neighborhoods, or surface-to-surface missiles
Until the start of the civil war, Yarmouk was the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. Close to 150,000 people lived there in crowded conditions. But since the summer, the regime has carried out a cruel siege on the camp’s residents after Hamas members there took an active part in fighting the Syrian army. Now there are only 20,000 residents left in the camp.
The siege arouses no international indignation, in stark contrast to reactions to the nonexistent siege around the Gaza Strip. Occasionally, reports are published on what happens in the camp, and still, the international community has allowed Assad to carry on with one of his most brutal campaigns against the opposition.
According to Amnesty International, the Assad regime is simply starving the camp to death. The humanitarian aid that reaches the camp is negligible, and 200 residents have died, 128 of them from hunger, according to Amnesty.
“Syrian forces are committing war crimes by using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. The harrowing accounts of families having to resort to eating cats and dogs, and civilians attacked by snipers as they forage for food, have become all too familiar details of the horror story that has materialized in Yarmouk.”
The regime, Amnesty said, prevented food and military supplies from reaching the camp, arrested and tortured medical staff there, bombed schools and hospitals, caused severe malnutrition (60% of the camp is malnourished), and more.
And the world is silent.
As long as it’s Arabs killing Arabs, who cares?
The ongoing war has presented a variety of challenges for other players in the region — Hezbollah, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Israel. After three years of the Syrian army being worn down, it’s clear that the threat of a conventional Syrian military action inside of Israel, like 1973 or something more limited, is virtually nonexistent. The possibility of substantial missile or artillery fire on Israel exists, but is almost as unlikely. The Syrian army did actually manage to improve its abilities in this regard, mainly with short-range artillery. But the storied Syrian units meant to capture parts of Israel in a war, like the 5th, 7th, 9th, and 15th divisions, have changed their operational plans and are spread across Syria.
As for the threat of chemical attack: This month, the process of disarming Syria from such weapons was supposed to conclude. But Assad delayed the process, and gained international attention and legitimacy. Still, it appears that fears of a nonconventional attack on Israel have ebbed of late.
The main problem that the Israeli security establishment has to deal with these days relates to the border with the Syrian Golan, which has changed. On the other side, there is no longer a known, responsible address. Various areas of potential friction are ruled by moderate rebels, Islamists, and regime forces. Sixty percent of the border area is under the control of the opposition, including the Bir Ajam and Baraka area. Only three kilometers away, the Syria army manages to survive. In Kudna, a complex fight is being carried out between the regime and the rebels, just like in Quneitra. In the northern Syrian Golan, Druze supporters of Assad battle Sunni rebels."
http://www.timesofisrael.com/three-years-of-civil-war-in-syria-no-end-in-sight/#ixzz388YF35jK
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