Syria Video and Analysis: The Free Syria Army Counter-Attacks in Homs

UPDATED

Update: 1842 GMT: Another massively important video from Syria. Reportedly taken today in Tafas, Daraa (MAP), the video starts with a familiar scene. People, hiding in side streets, chant protest slogans as the army deploys down the street towards the peaceful protests. This is where the scene develops, as the army advances too close, or as it opens fire (unclear who fires first), the cameraman scans down to reveal a defected soldier taking position. The defectors then open fire on the army, literally "protecting the protesters" as they have pledged:

Is this the future of "peaceful" protests in Syria? Protests that start peaceful but, when attacked, fight back?

The original article is below:

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Syria Special: "Phase 3" --- Consolidating the Opposition, Moving to Armed Conflict

Members of the Free Syrian ArmyNeither Emile Hokayem nor EA is saying that the peaceful protesters will pick up arms and join a civil war. What we may be looking at, however, is a situation with similarities to Yemen, where a militarised wing of the opposition begins to attack the regime in order protect a peaceful protest movement.

In any case, the Free Syrian Army is clearly growing and is more organised and far more aggressive. The protests are still large and widespread, and the rate of military defections appears to be accelerating. This third phase, a bloody phase, may be the decisive one.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Deaths Return to Hama

Video of Friday's killings in Hama in Syria outside a mosque

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: The People of Sitra "We Are Still Here. We Are Demanding. We Exist"
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Bahrain Feature: The Freedom Torch Protests
Syria Video Special: Today's Protests Across the Country
Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Back on the Streets?

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1950 GMT: Activists say 10 Syrian security agents and an army deserter were killed on Saturday when a bus transporting security agents between the villages of Al-Habit and Kafrnabuda in Idlib Province, in northwestern Syria close to the Turkish border, was ambushed "by armed men, probably deserters".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said that 17 soldiers were killed late on Friday in the central city of Homs when gunmen, believed to be deserters, attacked two checkpoints.

Elsewhere on Saturday, according to the Observatory, five civilians, including a woman and a 15-year-old teenager, were killed and several wounded by gunfire from Syrian forces and snipers in Homs Province (see 1915 GMT).

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Syria Interview: Opposition Activist Louay Hussein "Our Priority is a Made-in-Syria Solution"

I believe there are two reasons why demonstrations will significantly diminish: first, the violent oppression by the authorities recently and second, the increase in the number of armed operations by groups opposed to the authorities such as “The Free Syrian Army”. This is why I expect more bloodshed in Syria. Moreover, I worry that if we fail to reach a homegrown settlement of the conflict very quickly, we will clearly witness different aspects of a civil war in the near future. 

Facing this reality and looking back at the past seven months, I am afraid both the regime and the leadership of the opposition did not prove at all they are up to their responsibilities at the national level. This is why each of them is throwing the ball to the other’s court, and both proved unable to introduce serious and realistic initiatives. I am disappointed, and I blame the leaders of the opposition who did not dare to try to lead the street, instead preferring to proudly act merely as an echo of the voice of the street.

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