The Syria Weekly Report

While the G8 meeting was deploring the violence in Syria, demanding that it stop and urging support for the Kofi Annan ceasefire, in Syria it was business as usual.
A suicide bomb in a car exploded in Deir Ezzor killing 9. And elsewhere, 23 were killed, including 12 civilians, in a battle between insurgents and al-Assad troops, while UN monitors were in place and unable to stop the fighting.
These suicide attacks and other attempts to damage al-Assad troop enclaves are called “terrorist attacks” by the regime, but the insurgents say they are being carried out by tiny fringe groups not included in the insurgent coalition, hinting that these groups may be part of al-Assad’s strategy to demonize the insurgents.
The insurgent leadership this weekend called on Lebanon to honor the bank sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States. The US has called the al-Assad regime a “terrorist economy.”
The United Arab Emirates have asked their citizens not to enter Lebanon because of the ongoing guerrilla-style fighting between anti-Assad Sunnis and pro-Assad Alaouites in that country that have caused 10 deaths in the past week.
Dear readers, we can only regret the events that are destroying Syria but whether anyone will step up to ending them is questionable.
Are we entering a “last man standing” situation? We can only hope not, because such civil wars - Ireland, Congo, Sierra Leone - can go on for years, with the worst kind of partisan tactics used to terrorize and subdue civilians.