April 29, 2011: Six weeks of growing violence has begun to shake apart the Bashir Assad government and weaken the Baath party's control of the country. Over 500 people have died so far, thousands have been wounded, and nearly 2,000 have been arrested. About a fifth of this carnage has taken place in Daraa, which has become the center of the rebellion. Over 200 low level members the Baath party have resigned in protest against the killing of demonstrators. Some army units in Daraa rebelled when ordered to fire on civilians and fought with loyalist troops (of a division run the president's brother Maher Assad). The government blames it all on foreign agitators, and keeps running pictures of dead soldiers on TV and trying real hard to demonize the demonstrators. This is not working, but the Assad loyalists continue to believe they can massacre their way out of this. Iran has apparently promised all manner of support, and ordered its client Hezbollah to provide reliable gunmen for the nasty jobs (killing civilians.) Most Western governments have advised their citizens to get out of Syria, or stay out if they were planning a visit.
