From Homeland Security NewsWire:
The brief // by Ben FrankelSyria's wrong numbers; ME democratic hard test begins now
Published 15 April 2011
In instructions to Syrian security forces engaged in suppressing the anti-government protests, the government cautions that when security forces and snipers enter protest areas, "the number of people killed must not exceed twenty each time, because it would let them be more easily noticed and exposed, which may lead to situations of foreign intervention"; the Syrian regime may have a naive view of Western public opinion; killing twenty-one or twenty-two, rather than "only" twenty, pro-democracy Syrian activists a day would be enough to draw the attention of Western public opinion to the machinations of the Syrian regime? Would that it were true!
Here are quick comments on three stories that caught our eye this week.
1. Wrong number
Members of the Syrian anti-government protesters on Wednesday revealed a document — purportedly drafted on 23 March by senior Syrian intelligence officials — which details a sophisticated plan by the regime to thwart, frustrate, and eventually defeat the protest movement.
The text was posted on Facebook on Wednesday, and was translated by NBC News (for more details see this Jerusalem Post report). The authenticity of the document could not be immediately verified, but U.S. officials said there was a “strong likelihood” it is real.
The document outlines a three-pronged media, security, and political plan to suppress the protests. Here are some of the points it makes:
•“Link the anti-regime demonstrations and protests to figures hated by the Syrian populace such as the usual Saudi and Lebanese figures, and connecting the lot of them to Zionism and to America”
•The plan calls on security agents to work via Facebook to “jam up” dissent using “pseudonyms” to pose as political dissidents and then gather intelligence about the opposition.
•Opposition figures should also become the target of lawsuits designed to “smear their moral and religious reputations.”
•The text calls for blocking off the locations of political protests, and inserting civilian- clothed security agents “in an attempt to cause a state of chaos.”
•Further to “deceive the enemy,” snipers should be concealed among protesters and be given the leeway to shoot some security agents or army officers, “which will further help the situation by provoking the animosity of the army against the protesters.”
•The document also cautions that when security forces and snipers enter protest areas, “the number of people killed must not exceed twenty each time, because it would let them be more easily noticed and exposed, which may lead to situations of foreign intervention.”
We are not in the business of advising the Syrian security services, but the last point betrays a somewhat naive notion of Western public opinion and its attention to foreign affairs. The Syrian regime may safely relax the limit on the number of protesters the security services can kill every day. We think it would be safe to say that the regime can kill somewhere between fifty and seventy a day, and do it over several days, before its campaign of suppression would grab the headlines here.
Killing twenty-one
The brief // by Ben FrankelSyria's wrong numbers; ME democratic hard test begins now
Published 15 April 2011
In instructions to Syrian security forces engaged in suppressing the anti-government protests, the government cautions that when security forces and snipers enter protest areas, "the number of people killed must not exceed twenty each time, because it would let them be more easily noticed and exposed, which may lead to situations of foreign intervention"; the Syrian regime may have a naive view of Western public opinion; killing twenty-one or twenty-two, rather than "only" twenty, pro-democracy Syrian activists a day would be enough to draw the attention of Western public opinion to the machinations of the Syrian regime? Would that it were true!
Here are quick comments on three stories that caught our eye this week.
1. Wrong number
Members of the Syrian anti-government protesters on Wednesday revealed a document — purportedly drafted on 23 March by senior Syrian intelligence officials — which details a sophisticated plan by the regime to thwart, frustrate, and eventually defeat the protest movement.
The text was posted on Facebook on Wednesday, and was translated by NBC News (for more details see this Jerusalem Post report). The authenticity of the document could not be immediately verified, but U.S. officials said there was a “strong likelihood” it is real.
The document outlines a three-pronged media, security, and political plan to suppress the protests. Here are some of the points it makes:
•“Link the anti-regime demonstrations and protests to figures hated by the Syrian populace such as the usual Saudi and Lebanese figures, and connecting the lot of them to Zionism and to America”
•The plan calls on security agents to work via Facebook to “jam up” dissent using “pseudonyms” to pose as political dissidents and then gather intelligence about the opposition.
•Opposition figures should also become the target of lawsuits designed to “smear their moral and religious reputations.”
•The text calls for blocking off the locations of political protests, and inserting civilian- clothed security agents “in an attempt to cause a state of chaos.”
•Further to “deceive the enemy,” snipers should be concealed among protesters and be given the leeway to shoot some security agents or army officers, “which will further help the situation by provoking the animosity of the army against the protesters.”
•The document also cautions that when security forces and snipers enter protest areas, “the number of people killed must not exceed twenty each time, because it would let them be more easily noticed and exposed, which may lead to situations of foreign intervention.”
We are not in the business of advising the Syrian security services, but the last point betrays a somewhat naive notion of Western public opinion and its attention to foreign affairs. The Syrian regime may safely relax the limit on the number of protesters the security services can kill every day. We think it would be safe to say that the regime can kill somewhere between fifty and seventy a day, and do it over several days, before its campaign of suppression would grab the headlines here.
Killing twenty-one
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