Syria Opinion: Beyond the "Sectarian" Spectre --- Everyone in Homs is a Victim

According to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, 53 civilians were killed on Monday and 31 on Tuesday in Homs. There have been conflicting reports as to the number of those killed, or the racial makeup, but the situation is dire.

The New York Times describes one of the ugliest incidents:

Mr. Saleh, in an account confirmed by an opposition group, said 32 bodies were delivered to the National Hospital in Homs on Monday morning. Kidnappings and killings continued through the day, and Mr. Saleh and other activists said 11 more people had been killed. By nightfall, the 36 bodies were dumped in the square in Al Zahra, an Alawite neighborhood, he said. Several residents said the killings grew worse after a report on Monday that Syria had agreed, with conditions, to accept the entry of monitors from the Arab League.

“There’s chaos, random killing and many killed unintentionally,” Mr. Saleh said.

This ugliness is not new. Homs has seen the worst of the Arab Spring, the worst of Bashar al Assad's crackdown, and perhaps the worst aspects of human nature over the last 9 months. In October, we published a video essay detailing the military assault on Homs. Just days later, we published a second essay, videos showing that even unprecedented violence could escalate. But in truth, we could not collect the most disturbing images from Homs in 10 video essays.

No city has paid a higher price for freedom from the Syrian regime, and now many will focus on the evidence of sectarian violence. Recent mass slayings indicate that the largely-Alawite "shabiha" are targeting Sunnis, and there are unconfirmed reports that Alawites are being targeted by Sunnis in retaliatory attacks. According to this map, posted by activists and matching our own evidence), the military has focused its wrath on Sunni neighborhoods while sparing Alawite counterparts:

Yet for all these reports, and the confirmation of atrocities committed at the hands of the Syrian military, some of these other claims break down. Some of the assertions of sectarian violence fails to supply video, pictures, or corroborating information. Any occurrence of Alawites and Christians being attacked by members of the Sunni majority, even if in retaliation for the acts of the regime, deserves to be documented. So far, however, we have not seen the hard evidence that this is the case, even as the residents of Homs continue to die at the hands of Assad loyalists.

And there is a larger point.

Everyone in Homs is a victim. The longer this continues, the more people who will die from acts of violence, most (at the hands of the Syrian regime and its supporters. And the longer this continues, the greater the possibility of retaliation. Despite the best efforts of the leadership of the Syrian opposition, the calls for unity in the street, and the inclusion of Alawites and Christians into these organisations, and the efforts of the overwhelmed and under-equipped Free Syrian Army, more civilians will die and sectarian flames will be fueled. The fears and reports of the violence of sect upon sect will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And it is not just Homs. While that city is bearing the worst, people are dying across the country.

So beyond the "sectarian" spectre...do atrocities in Syria stand apart from committed in Bosnia or Libya? What can be done to stop this violence? Should a no-fly zone be implemented? And then this:

How much longer can the international community, which claims to be striving for peace and stability, tolerate a Syria under the control of Bashar al-Assad?