Wyatt Eberspacher
Post #4
Subject: World Politics
Title: Opposition: Shelling, gunfire torment residents across Syria
Author: Kamal Ghattas, Saad Abedine and Salma Abdelaziz
Publication: CNN.com
Date Published: 5/13/12
Word Count: 737 words

 Major conflict continues in Syria as the dispute between the government and opposition forces continues to escalate out of control. The latest report is that at least eight people died in Hama, in western Syrian, as government forces stormed the city. The attack was to put down one of the independent terrorist parties who are further confusing the dispute between Al-Assad and the opposition Syrian National Council. These independent terrorist groups have claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings, such as one on Thursday in Damascus. However, the Syrian National Council has released a statement that they believe that these attacks are malicious attempts orchestrated by Al-Assad in order to discredit and deride his opponents at the cost of Syrian citizen's lives. They support this claim by stating that the bombings took place in location where Al-Assad's security should have inspected them first. Such bombings claim many lives, with over 1000 civilian casualties since the country agreed to an cease-fire. Outside of Syrian borders, this conflict has begun to raise historic tensions in Lebanon, where violence has begun to start claiming lives of its own. The conflict in Lebanon is by the majority between residents of Bab al-Tebbaneh, a Sunni stronghold strongly against the current Syrian government, and residents of Jabal Mohsen who support Bashar al-Assad, the highly controversial president of Syria. These reports are trustworthy yet unconfirmed by the news source itself, as the Syrian government is strongly restricting the flow of information to the international press.

This conflict remains an important reminder of the ongoing fight for independence and the influence of the people. The people of Syria are split between support for a government that has been revealed to be faulty, and support for opposition to Assad. It shows that across the world, civil conflicts still rage. People have begun to raise their own voices rather that live in a situation they find unfair. Also, the explosive domestic conflict is a reminder of how extreme situation can get when governments are not responsive to the needs of its people. The occupy movement is a very mild sibling to the large-scale riots and revolts that have lead to full blown rebellions. The Syrian conflict is a chilling look at the uneasy dynamic of a civil war.