This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2013/apr/24/syria-crisis-live-q-and-a
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Syria crisis: live Q&A | Syria crisis: live Q&A |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Two years after protestors first took to the streets calling for Syria's president Bashar al-Assad to stand down, the country is now in the grips of the longest and bloodiest crisis of the Arab uprisings. | Two years after protestors first took to the streets calling for Syria's president Bashar al-Assad to stand down, the country is now in the grips of the longest and bloodiest crisis of the Arab uprisings. |
| Fighting has drawn closer to the capital, Damascus, and last week there were reports that more than 300 were massacred in the outskirts of the city. | Fighting has drawn closer to the capital, Damascus, and last week there were reports that more than 300 were massacred in the outskirts of the city. |
| The Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, recently spent a week reporting in Damascus, on a rare visit to a country where access for foreign journalists has been severely restricted. | The Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, recently spent a week reporting in Damascus, on a rare visit to a country where access for foreign journalists has been severely restricted. |
| He found a city where security has become intensified and the sound of artillery shells has become the background noise to everyday life. | He found a city where security has become intensified and the sound of artillery shells has become the background noise to everyday life. |
| Are we drawing closer to some kind of definitive battle for Damascus? Two Christian bishops are still missing after they were kidnapped in Aleppo - what is happening to Syria's Christians? | Are we drawing closer to some kind of definitive battle for Damascus? Two Christian bishops are still missing after they were kidnapped in Aleppo - what is happening to Syria's Christians? |
| Ian Black is online answering your questions on the Syria crisis in the comments section below. | |
| mattinbiglari asks | |
| Do we know who was really behind the kidnapping of the two archbishops from Aleppo yet? Also have you spoken to many rebels about how they feel about Saudi and Qatari-funded elements within the FSA? | |
| Ian Black responds | |
| Not yet. Government and rebels accuse each other. Kidnapping bishops, several people have pointed out, would serve the regime's interests, | |
| I was in Damascus on a government issued visa. Met people who support opposition. Secular types unhappy with Islamist influence but insist the uprising is non-sectarian and committed to freedom and democracy. Not met anyone who believes post-Assad Syria will be an Islamist state. | |
| patalosas asks | |
| What is the mood like among regime loyalists you spoke to? Are they confident they can tough it out, or are they secretly planning to escape? | |
| Ian Black responds | |
| Regime loyalists seem fairly upbeat. They claim that the tide is turning in Assad's favour. They say the rebels are divided and dominated by jihadis and that these facts are now causing further disarray and confusion internationally. The vice foreign minister told me that there could be reform in Syria but only when hostilities stop. Assad would not step down. | |
| sjxt asks | |
| 1. Did you find anything that led you to suppose there is any real world prospect of this not being a fight to the bitter end, whether that leads to "victory" of one side or the other or simply total fragmentation? | |
| 2. Can the different Syrian communities ever find a way to live together again in the foreseeable future? Or was the Chechen jihadi commander in Aleppo quoted by Anthony Lloyd in the Times a few months back right: "Of course, it would be lovely when all this is over if the Syrians could live peacefully with one another. But with the nature of the fighting as it is now, that is very unlikely." | |
| Ian Black responds | |
| 1) I didn't find anyone who believes in the prospect of a negotiated end to the fighting. Even the government appears to be paying no more than lip service to the idea. | |
| 2) Syrian friends tell me that the country will never be the same again. But opposition supporters insist that theirs is not a sectarian struggle and blame the government for portraying it as such and trying to turn it into one. | |
| PeterSchmidt asks | |
| On the BBC's "World have your Say' I heard that more than 5 million Syrians have fled from rebel held areas, into the protection of Assad around Damascus. Have you managed to talk to any of them? | |
| Ian Black replies | |
| Standard figure is that about 3.8m Syrians are internally displaced. Plenty of people are critical of the rebels, especially about what happened in Aleppo. In Damascus there is a palpable fear of criticizing the government and a broad sense of weariness about a crisis which is destroying the country. | |
| cardigansinbound asks | |
| Are there still ongoing street protests? | |
| Ian Black replies | |
| Occasional protests - flash demos are uploaded to YouTube. But there is very heavy security on streets. Many activists have gone abroad, are in prison or lying low, | |
| guardian.co.uk today is our daily snapshot of the top news stories, sent to your inbox at 8am |