« SYRIA PRESS REVIEW » #15

SNC urges Arab League to save allegedly besieged Homs

Few newspapers came out on Christmas Monday in the West and no particular message emerged from the articles on Syria, except for the Syrian National Council’s appeal to the Arab League for its observers to break the siege locking the city of Homs. However, our correspondents on the spot could not detect any siege; on the contrary, people complain of not having enough army protection.

In Catholic countries the media picked up Pope Benedict XVI’s call for an end to the violence. The Holy Father limited himself to pronouncing a pious wish, but failed to identify the perpetrators and victims.

• El Pais gives ample space to British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, who loftily endorses all the anti-Syrian slogans. It is not specified that this historian has never studied Syria, but only Russia, and that he systematically defends all anti-Russian and pro-Zionist views.

• In Today’s Zaman, the former Syrian ambassador to Sweden, Mohammad Bassam Imadi, announces the unification of civil protest movements within the National Alliance (Al Leqaa) and the opening of an SNC office in Istanbul as well as the possible establishment of its headquarters in Paris.

• Also in Today’s Zaman, columnist Omer Taspinar voices anxiety over the controversy between Messrs. Sarkozy and Erdogan (concerning the Armenian genocide) that is distracting Turkey from its mission in Iraq and Syria.

• Finally, from Beirut, Los Angeles Times reporter Alexandra Zavis relays the accusations that members of the security forces, dressed as doctors, entered hospitals to torture and execute injured protesters. However, she fails to provide the name of any of the victims or hospitals, thus making it impossible to verify her allegations.