Despite UN failure, Syrians keeping fight alive

Despite the UN failure to produce a decisive decision against the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, protests continued throughout the country over the weekend. Government forces responded by bombarding towns in the vicinity of Damascus.

Amateur footage emerging from the city of Zabadani, 50 kilometers northwest of the capital Damascus on Sunday, reveals bombed homes and wounded civilians.

On Saturday demonstrations took place in Aleppo, the second-largest Syrian city, which has so far remained outside the circle of protest. The anger of Syrians has now turned against the international community and the Arab League for their failure to produce a decision against Syria.

“This is the result of the Russian and Chinese veto,” said a medical orderly as he displayed a piece of shrapnel removed from the body of a victim in an amateur video in Homs. “This is the result of the Arab and European weakness.”

On Saturday, a United Nations Security Council resolution to call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down was foiled by vetoes by permanent members China and Russia.

An unusual video of women protesters was released on Saturday in Aleppo. The women, veiled in black and carrying signs reading “The Homs massacre is a shame on humanity,” and “We thank Tunisia for deporting the Syrian ambassador,” vow to continue the revolution until they attain freedom from “the butcher” Bashar Assad and his supporters. “Every drop of shed blood will be fuel for our revolution,” cries one

Meanwhile, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel reports that nine Syrian soldiers were killed in exchanges between the army and Syrian rebels near the city of Idlib in north-western Syria. The Free Syrian Army, the main armed opposition group in Syria, vowed to escalate its attacks on military roadblocks in Homs following the government attack on the city Friday, which led to the death of at least 200 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory, a local human rights group.