Ghosts!

This is coolbert:

From Der Spiegel and the tip from DEC the situation as we all know all too well rapidly deteriorating in Syria, mayhem by criminals now in the pay of the ruling elite the norm.

The Shabiha ("ghosts") at work. Criminal elements, Alawite, Christian, Sunni loyal to Assad terrorizing the populace, freed from prison [?] or recruited with the reward for the miscreants being rape and plunder.

"Assad's Pact With the Devil"

"Syrian Regime Using Hired Killers to Cling to Power"

"The regime of Syrian ruler Bashar Assad has enlisted gangs of murderous thugs known as 'Shabiha.' No assignment is too brutal or bloody for these men who are free to kill, plunder and rape. Assad knows that outright victory over the opposition is his only remaining chance to stay in power."

That Alawite minority [10 %] of the Syrian population in control for over forty years now, opposition to the Assad family and their minions met with extreme force AND NOW THE USE OF CRIMINALS IN A MANNER NOT UNIQUE IN THAT PART OF THE WORLD.

 Indeed, the use of convicts released from prison and criminal elements in an organized and institutionalized fashion as a quasi-military force by a despotic regime perhaps UNIQUE to the Islamic world?

Of this I am not sure. 

 From recent times we have the on-going attacks on the people of Dar Fur by the janjaweed. Criminal gangs mounted horsemen noted for their murder, rape, plunder, scorched earth done at the behest of the Sudanese central government. 

And from past history the Ottomans deploying as standard-operating-procedure bashi bazooks, irregulars with a criminal background, often released convicts, an adjunct to the regular army of the Ottoman, the bashi bazook noted for their atrocity and just plain bad old behavior!!

 Houla today, Hama yesterday [thirty years ago], the Assad family digs in their heels and makes a last ditch effort at survival. And those 3 million gas masks imported from Russia are intended for?

Your guess is as good as mine but it bodes not well!! 

 coolbert.