A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, November 4, 2011

Sometimes I Hate Being Right So Often

Only a day after I cynically questioned Syria's acceptance of the Arab League peace plan, which called for an immediate withdrawal of military vehicles and artillery from the cities, Syrian tanks or self-propelled artillery yesterday fired on civilians in Homs, killing 19 or 20 or more depending on the report. And The Guardian cites a Syrian opposition site as claiming as many as 72 dead in 24 hours in Homs. (Link, to a Syrian opposition website, has stopped working. I will try to restore it later today.)

Of course these numbers, like the videos coming out of Syria, are hard to verify. The following video claims to have been taken yesterday, the day after accepting the peace plan, and it clearly shows shells hitting buildings and a tank in the street.



 Nor do these look like private cars, again said to be in Homs yesterday:



Today being Friday, I expect we will see new confrontations and a definitive test.

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