Eye witness accounts of the ongoing crackdown on protesters in Syria

Syrian troops continue crackdown on protesters

Despite Syria’s growing isolation on the international front and the increasing number of economic sanctions imposed on Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the crackdown on protesters in Syria is ongoing, and web users continue to share eye-witness accounts online.

Numerous amateur videos were uploaded onto sharing sites on Wednesday, showing the crackdown in Deir al-Zor, one of the main opposition strongholds in Syria. In these astounding images we see loyalist troops attack religious buildings across the city. Here we see a mosque minaret hit by shellfire. In this other video we see the Minaret crumble, leaving the mosque completely destroyed.

Other footage which is difficult to verify shows residential buildings riddled with bullets and a medical center completely wrecked by the army, again in the city of Deir al-Zor.

A lot of eye witness accounts from the city of Homs have also appeared online, illustrating the tense climate prevailing at present. Here, we see dozens of tanks on their way to storm the city. And numerous video documents like these ones, in which we can hear the sound of gunfire in the background, suggest the level of violence at the scene.

The violent crackdown is not stopping Syrians from gathering in various cities across the country every night to voice their anger and call for the ouster of al-Assad. The rallies are drawing thousands of citizens in Damascus, Hama and also Latakia, demonstrating just how determined people are to see an end to the regime.

Anonymous against Facebook

This message is from members of Anonymous, it was posted online very recently and is addressed to web users the world over. The informal hacker group is announcing its plans to attack the social network Facebook.

Operation Facebook as is it is called is due to take place on the 5th of November. And the declared objective is to punish the social network; which according to members of Anonymous threatens online freedom and privacy. The ‘hactivists’ are accusing Facebook of, amongst other things, selling personal information to companies or government agencies. 

Some find it hard to take this threat seriously. Many web users are saying Anonymous is not actually behind the operation and that it is individual hackers claiming to be members of the group. Blogger Eric Limer thinks with all the publicity surrounding this operation, a lot of hackers could well end up attacking the social network in November.

A mass attack on Facebook should not be ruled out. In July Anonymous teamed up with another hacker group Lulzsec for operation Anti-Sec, in which hackers were encouraged to carry out attacks on any government or private agency that threatens online freedom and the right to Internet privacy. Something Mark Zuckerberg’s social network is often accused of. 

Massive undersea cables to boost Africa’s Internet access

The aim of this massive undersea cable is to boost Africa’s Internet access. The 17 000 kilometer long cable starts in Europe and will connect to points along Africa’s western coast by the first half of 2012. Twenty or so companies have teamed up for this project which should help open up the African continent; at the moment just 1.4 % of the population has Internet access.

Exploring London's main drainage system

It seems an odd idea …playing around in sewers… The blog “Sub-Urban” was set up by a couple of anonymous Brits and explores London’s main drainage system. The two friends wander through the sewers, diving into the capital’s history, and then post photos of an amazing beauty for all to see. 

Video of the day

This video of Chicago was filmed using the very trendy tilt-shift technique which gives you the impression you are looking at miniature models and figures when they are actually 100 % real. So here’s the Windy City like you have never seen it before.