Syria - anyone got friends/family there? Got any info we might not get on the news?

[Syriana]

I'm half Syrian (via my dad) and both my parents live there as well as a large number of extended family. My reason for starting this thread is that I don't hear much from my parents about what is happening (they don't want to scare me, I presume) and there's only so much information the international news gives.

My family are in Aleppo and so are relatively safe at the moment (I think) although I've heard about daily blackouts and major shopping areas being closed down due to security fears. I'd appreciate hearing from anyone else with friends/family in Syria as it's horribly frustrating not knowing what is happening...

Twitter is good for this sort of on-the-ground info not covered by news networks.

Wetaugust - I know, it doesn't sound good. I made the mistake of forwarding the text to my mum. Now she's scared and my dad told me off for scare-mongering :( I think she should know not to open the front door though!! I will update again if I hear anything interesting.

giveitago - I hadn't thought of that. I imagine they'd be clueless/wary of me asking, but may be worth a try!

Cotedazur - I did follow the twitter updates last year around this time, but got frustrated with all the retweets. I should probably try that again.

Thanks for the suggestions...

I've just been trawling through Twitter and came up with the following: The UAE is refusing visas to Syrians, possibly because some Syrians had been protesting at their own embassy against their own regime. Apparently Lebanon hasn't issued any visas either, leaving thousands of Syrians without any legal status (they're not being designated as refugees).

I don't know what to make of that. Possibly cold feet on behalf of Arab League members, not wanting to do anything definite about the situation?

A bloke called Edward Dark seems to be knowledgeable about the Aleppo situation and supports the claims about growing civil unrest in the city which I've read on Syria Comment.

Best of luck in finding info.

Try the fco - no harm. They will have desk officers with more info than they put on their site (which is basically advising whether you should travel to a country or not). They might be able to put you in touch with another agency.

look at this site iwpr.net/report-news/fears-divisive-conflict-grow-syria they might be able to put you in touch with a news source.

cerys How are you accessing Twitter? If you're using Tweetdeck you can add '-rt' to the hashtag you're following and it'll cut out all the retweets. There might be something similar with other platforms. It might make it easier for you to filter things out.

Good luck.

My husband works with a Syrian guy who returned "home" briefly last summer to fight.

He spoke to his mother last week who said government officials arrived 3 doors down and executed everyone in the house. :(

His mum wants him to move home permanently. He has a young family and has no intention of doing so.

This was damascus btw.

Syriana,
If you are on Facebook look for "we are all Hamza Al Khateeb". Frequent updates from people inside Syria, coordinated - I think - from Turkey. Rarely good news unfortunately but honest reporting in the main I think.

MrsDmitri - I have just been using the usual Twitter site, so will check that out - thanks for the tip.

Alpinepony - that is terrifying. I'm not surprised your husband's colleague is staying put!!

Chinateacup - I've had a look at it. Not positive as you say, but still informative. Thanks...

I've found an article in the Boston Herald stating that Regime forces are deploying land mines at the Turkish border. Admittedly Syria and Turkey both laid these down over the past 20-30 years and in recent happier times had started to dismantle them, but now the Syrian army is putting them back down. I imagine the purpose is ostensibly to stop FSA operatives across the border, but I'd be amazed if the Regime wasn't also trying to contain the exodus of civilians too. It does seem very cold-blooded to deliberately lay traps for terrified fleeing non-combatants.

On a personal note, my mum's planned trip to the UK later this month now probably won't happen as there are visa issues which are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. She is also scared to travel to the airport as it would mean my dad driving home along a long road on the outskirts of the city and being vulnerable to attack by thieves/regime thugs/rebels/whoever (he's over 60 and not in best health). He is unlikely to want to leave until he's sure other family members are safely provided for, so it looks like both my parents may be stuck there for the foreseeable future. Scary times....

Hi, just wanted to post about something I saw in the Times on Sunday. They were covering the emails sent by the Assads over the past year and one example of Asma Al-Assad's 'callousness' struck me as being a bit misleading.

They mentioned that she had sent a joke to a friend via email depicting Homsis (i.e. people from Homs) as being a bit stupid. Now given the timing of the email, that does come across as quite callous. However, the newspaper doesn't mention that making jokes about the people of Homs is an age-old tradition in Syria; my dad told me a garbled story once about how it originated.

Apparently there was an invading army and the (then town) of Homs was scared of being invaded, so they pretended to be a town of idiots and madmen under the assumption that the army would dismiss them as a threat and carry on past them. According to legend, it worked and so even now, people refer to Homsis as being stupid (although logically they resisted invasion and so should be viewed as rather clever instead, surely?).

Anyway. I felt that on this point, Asma probably didn't intend to be as callous as the article was trying to paint her. I can't make any comment on the rest of it apart from noting that she probably has no political influence anyway and was just trying to proceed with her normal life while the atrocities have been going on. I have far less sympathy for her husband, OTOH.

That's my tuppen'worth...