Some 400 Lebanese women arrived in Syria Sunday to show solidarity with the protesters – the pro-government protesters, that is. They women did not come to to side with the activists calling for reform and democracy, but rather to support Bashar Assad's regime.Certainly we will be seeing statements from the Free Gaza movement, USTOGAZA and Viva Palestina distancing themselves from these pro-Palestinian Arab, pro-Syrian regime activists. After all, as they never tire of telling us, they are purely interested in non-violence, and democracy, and equal rights, and international law, and having some of their own supporting a despotic, brutal regime would be way too hypocritical for them to even be able to live with themselves.
The women, who intended to set sail from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip aboard the Miriam ship in June 2010 but were eventually barred from doing so, chose a more easily accessible destination this time – Damascus. They travelled overland to stand with Assad against "the schemes being plotted against him."
At 7 am, the women boarded eight buses and set out from Beirut's Gallery Hotel towards the Beqaa Valley.
Samar Al-Hajj, a spokeswoman for the group, expressed contentment with the initiative's progress.
"The Lebanese and Syrian security forces have facilitated the convoy's passage at the border, and congratulated it," she said in an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar television station. "Upon arriving on Syrian land, they welcomed us in a moving manner. We, Miriam's women, cry only on happy occasions, and we did shed tears of happiness.
"We came to Syria to tell the truth, because it is the land of truth and resistance," Al-Hajj said. "We came to stop the attempts to isolate Syria, and to remove the barriers of fear inseminated by those worried about the people and the regime's strength."
(h/t Kramerica)