So Sad..
I just spoke to an old friend from Syria today. The economic situation is some parts of the country is so dire, cost of fodder has been multiplied by six, so much that people have been selling their asil mares and stallions to slaughterhouses in Iraq. I learned for instance that the young Kuhaylan al-Wati stallion from Shammar I had my eyes set on (below) was sold by the pound for meat. So sad, yet children are dying by the scores in both Syria and Iraq, so I will not shed a tear over a horse.
Edouard: Is there an NGO in syria that is allowed to care for casualties of the conflict that we could donate to?
best wishes
Bruce Peek
The Red Cross is the one I would trust the most. With many others, you don’t know where (and with whom) the money ends..
I don’t know how you bear it. The situation is making us ill, and we do not close friends and family there. It, and you and our Syrian acquaintances are in our thoughts every day.
I heard from french national haras in Pompadour that a lot of syrian arabian horses went to Jordania.
yes, that’s true. some of those from damascus went there. I understood that 18 registered ones from a farm in the Deraa area were shot, and I know that 22 from a stud near Homs that has rare lines such as Rishan Shar’abi and Kuhaylan ibn Mizhir were also massacred.
CIA doesn’t care about human lives, let alone about horses.
I do fail however to understand the point of it? I understand they wanted to secure the Lybian oil and needed perhaps more control in the surrounding countries to pull it off but there’s no oil in Syria so what are they trying to pull off when they’re moving out of Iraq?
They must have realised that NATO members in Europe will not be able to sell another coup as arab revolt so they started to deploy the Turcs – the first border incidents have been created to escalate this thing into a war with Turkey, I fear if that happens there won’t be much left of horse breeding in Syria.
I know they have shot hundreds of Arab horses in leading studs in Libya – does anybody know what happened in Tunesia, haven’t talked to Mrs Bergmann since the “revolution” – should have but been too busy;
Horses in this part of the world are associated with power and wealth. They are owned by Shaykhs, Kings, Presidents, and all sorts of leaders. The horses share the fate of the people who own them.
Patrick, old son, please forgive my naivette, but why would the CIA help the Assad regime massacre democratic reformers? I don’t get it
best wishes
Bruce Peek
Dear Bruce, who said anything about CIA helping the Syrian goverment … The leader of the supposed revolution in Syria is even a member of Israel’s main lobbying group in the US. From what I have heard, not Syrian Arabs but the Kurds (supporting their minority in Syria) are playing the central role if not full role in the rebel army … pumping Kurdish oil through a Syrian pipeline ending directly in the mediteranean beats of course pumping oil to a Iraqi pipeline ending in the gulf (like everybody else)
Oh boy, just google for “kurds oil syria” … of course & so obvious 🙂
Jeezes Bruce … here is the plan your “democratic reformers” with pipeline already drawn on it http://www.kurd-oil.net/Syria.htm
Guys, no politics talk here, please. Just horse talk. If you want to talk politics, call me, and we’ll talk live.
Sorry, got carried away 🙂 Perhaps you should tell them not to shoot horses or shayks anymore or politics become horse talk …
Which Shammar horses you were talking about? The ones in Syrian Kurdistan, in Turkish Kurdistan or in Iraqi Kurdistan … (ok now I really going to shut up)
It’s tempting to call this area of North Eastern Syria “Syrian Kurdistan” but it’s not accurate. There is indeed a thin majority of Kurdish population living there, but population majorities are not the only determinant of area’s identity. There is culture, and history too, besides demography. That part of Syria has been the home of both Arab tribes and Kurdish tribes for centuries (as well as Arabo-Kurdish tribes, which adds another layer of complexity), as well as other minorities like Christians and Yezidis, and it was known as Diar Rabi’a in early medieval ages, from the name of the ancient Rabi’ah tribe who settled there after moving from Arabia. Just as the area around Mossoul (the lowlands of “Iraqi Kurdistan”) was known as Diar Mudar, and the area to the north as Diar Bakr (within “Turkish Kurdistan”, where the city of same name stands). Rabi’ah, Mudar, and Bakr were the three big arab tribes in the area just before and after the advent of Islam.
Calling that area “Syrian Kurdistan” because of demography is like asking Arizona and New Mexico to become part of Mexico, because of a majority or soon to become majority hispanic population.
Edouard, I’m not calling it “Syrian Kurdistan” – the Kurds are, did you see http://www.kurd-oil.net? The combination of their oil, support of the US, French & British and their historic connection to the region and the tribes is probably why they aparantly quite openly advertise their ambitions and role in the revolution. The difference between a muslim Kurd and muslim Arab is probably very narrow, after-all Saladin was a Kurd but here in the west he was simply regarded as an Arab. Considering their ambitions, I guess there will be complex times ahead, for horses and people!
Everything about Syria right now is breaking my heart…I have recently found myself unable to contact any friends there..one was supposed to be coming here in August. I travelled through by horse in 2005 and having stayed with many Bedouin, as well as Alawite families, Christians, Farmers, Engineers, Lawyers all of whom declared that peace and security were most precious to them and that being Syrian as held above other loytalties..It is heartbreaking to think these people are now in conflict with each other,displaced….. even dead,that the soldiers who laughingly helped us water and wash our horses are now divided or killed…arghh sorry to rant but it is so very heavy on my heart. I have never travelled in a country where I felt safer or more welcome than Syria at that time… even though we were British and the Syrians had a damn good reason to hate us after our country’s behaviour to their neighbours in Iraq.
Assad has revealed his weak and evil nature but also his utterly incredible stupidity,I think that it would have been possible until about a year ago for him to safely oversee a gradual transition to democracy ensuring his own safety and to a degree,position in Syrian society and infinitley more importantly to save the blood of so many people and to save his country from a descent into hell.
I feel so helpless that I could scream, I will email you though Edouard, I have a few very small ideas…I myself have shed many tears for children and horses alike.
Dear Mr. Aldahdah,
My name is Yazan al-Saadi and I’m a writer for Al-Akhbar English, a news site based in Beirut. I’m currently working on an article about the effects of the Syrian conflict on Syrian Arabian horses and was wondering if you would be interested in talking about this with me.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.