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| Posted: 21 Jul 2012 05:55 AM PDT Its time for our students to leave Syria, temporarily. Just like what happened in Egypt and Libya, we must bring them home. That's the decision taken by Foreign Minister Anifah Aman today. Only some of our diplomats will remain there. Those (including students, workers and businessmen) who decline, will have to be on their own.  The Arab nation is descending into chaos. Civil war is escalating and many foreigners have left capital Damsyik and other cities. News about President Bashar al-Assad is willing to 'surrender' his power to the revolution army also brings about more uncertainties to the country. Syrian rebels were fighting to wrest control of the country's border crossings as clashes spread to the city of Aleppo, the latest sign of an escalating conflict that is driving thousands to escape to neighbouring countries. Hopes for a peaceful outcome to the crisis have evaporated.What was possible nine months ago, became difficult six months ago and intractable three months ago. And now Syria is heading straight toward chaos. Assad's opposition has been battling to control three border crossings with Turkey and one with Iraq. After five days of clashes in the capital, the fighting has spread to Aleppo, Syria's other major city. The government, according to the rebels, is resorting to more brutal tactics, with state television reporting 'purging' in rebel hideouts. More than 30,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon via the Masnaa border within 48 hours, with cars backed up for a kilometre and Lebanese security officials waiving the usual paperwork requirements, according to Beirut-based Daily Star. About 125,000 Syrians have left the country since the 18-month conflict began, and as many as 500,000 people still in Syria have been displaced from their homes, the US State Department said on July 19. In London, The Daily Telegraph reported that the Royal navy was drawing up a plan for an eventual mass evacuation of Britons from Syria and neighbouring countries as violence in the Middle Eastern nation escalates, the Daily Telegraph reported. The flotilla, which will include the helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious and the amphibious ship HMS Bulwark, would probably be stationed off the coast of Cyprus but was not currently being considered for a "combat role", the newspaper said, citing an unidentified navy commander. Even with UN-led peace efforts in tatters, Western nations said Assad's days were numbered. Those numbers are getting smaller and smaller, Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said on Saturday. The Assad government held state funerals in Damascus for top security officials killed in a bomb attack this week as it seeks to reassert itself in a city that until recently had been spared the worst of the violence. Among the four victims of the July 18 blast, Assad's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, Defense Minister Dawoud Rajhah and the vice-president's military adviser, Hasan Turkmani, were the most senior officials to die since the uprising began. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, said in an e-mail that 190 civilians were killed in the country on Friday, including 63 in Damascus and 19 in Deraa. At least 43 Syrian soldiers were killed, it said. Troops shelled Aleppo, where dozens of missiles fell in the city, and many houses were destroyed and flattened, said the Local Coordination Committees, another opposition group. Five explosions were heard in Aleppo early today, the LCC said. The civil war is splitting the country along increasingly sectarian lines, with a Sunni Muslim-led opposition confronting a government whose top officials are drawn from the Alawite sect, affiliated to Shiite Islam. What's next is hard to predict...   |
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