WOMEN MARCH IN SYRIA – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:  Even some journalists are commenting that we're taking our eyes off the Mideast just as new eruptions are occurring.  One of the most critical Mideast countries is Syria, Iran's strongest ally in the Arab world, and a place where the government doesn't hesitate to fire into crowds of protesters.

Now women of Syria are taking to the streets. It's always news when Arab women, often seen by the masters of their societies as little more than property, begin taking political action.  From Reuters:

AMMAN - Hundreds of women from a Syrian town that has witnessed mass arrests of its men marched along Syria's main coastal highway on Wednesday to demand their release, human rights activists said.

Security forces, including secret police, stormed Baida on Tuesday, going into houses and arresting men aged up to 60, the activists said, after townsfolk joined unprecedented protests challenging the 11-year rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

The women from Baida were marching on the main highway leading to Turkey chanting slogans to demand the release of some 350 men who have been arrested, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The women of Baida are on the highway. They want their men back," the organization said.

Women demonstrated in support in the nearby Mediterranean city of Banias, it said.

A human rights lawyer earlier said security forces had arrested 200 residents in Baida, killing two people.

There is more bloodshed coming in Syria.  Please notice the silence of "human rights activists" on the political left in the West.

We received a note from retired Army Major General Frank J Schober Jr, who writes as follows:

"I was in Syria a couple of years ago. Everywhere, throughout the capital of Damascus, were 'big brother' mega-sized photos of the 'dear leader' Assad.  I saw frightened people then.  Now those same people are out on the street, fighting for freedom and for their dignity as human beings."

Well said.  Gen. Schober also refers us to this YouTube video depicting what is happening in Syria right now.  It is in Arabic and is, ironically, from Al Jazeera, but you'll get the picture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBs1T_zwNsc

Syria is critical.  So is Egypt, and news from Egypt each day gets more and more depressing, as Islamist forces make their political moves. 

Don't take your eyes off the Mideast.

April 13, 2011