A shocking video posted in the last few days showing Syrian soldiers shooting and killing a group of donkeys has been used by Syrian opposition activists as an example exposing the brutality of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad against anti-government opponents.
Besides that, many metaphoric and direct angry comments have been posted criticizing and condemning the barbaric regime in which it has dealt with the political crisis started six months ago.
Also, many people have changed their profile pictures on Facebook and uploaded photos of donkeys on Facebook and Twitter to draw attention to the event. Others posted different photos of donkeys and tagged their friends status messages, describing the murdered donkeys as martyrs.
Until this moment the reasons behind the donkey massacre are unknown. However, this video has started a massive debate in the country.
While some of the Syrian regime supporters say that donkeys shown in the video are used as a pack animals carrying illegal goods by smugglers, opposition members assure that this video could be one of the evidence that reveals the brutality of Syrian army, secret services, and “shabbiha”(thugs) and indicates the bloody crackdown on Syrians.
Meanwhile, a few wondering comments addressed ironically The Western World which could take a clear and powerful stand to protect animals in Syria, since it hasn’t taken any serious responsibilities toward protecting unarmed Syrians and peaceful protestors.
Others argue that this video clarifies how the regime has been humiliating the Syrian people for four decades, when the late Syrian president Hafez Al-Assad, Bashar’s father, came to the power.
The current Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad was the hair of his father’s presidency. He took it over in 2000.
“Like father, like son,” Bashar seems to have learned from his father lessons, when he sent tanks to shell various cities and towns across the country. In 1982, his father ordered a military assault on Hama (middle) killing between 20,000 and 30,000 people.
The donkeys massacre video wasn’t the first one posted on Facebook and Twitter. Opposition activists have published similar clips in different circumstances . Another alleged clip showed slain cows in a northern Syrian villages where witnesses claimed that soldiers have been doing so to horrify people and break their spirits.