Sayf, a middle-aged Damascus businessman, attracted over twenty other MP's to his campaign to eliminate restrictions on commercial enterprise and freedom of expression. On January 29, the Syrian regime suddenly broke its public silence with a fierce diatribe against the opposition by Syrian Information Minister Adnan Omran. This does not mean that we do not believe in freedom as a major demand for all society. But not absolute, blind freedom. Each society has its red lines.
Political freedom has red lines.
Social freedom has red lines. Cultural freedom has red lines. Less than twenty-four hours after Omran's warning, Syrian novelist Nabil Suleiman was attacked by two unidentified assailants in the coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of minority Alawite support for the regime. Suleiman, a prominent organizer of the civil society committees, was hospitalized with cuts on his head, face, and chest. Most liberal reformers are convinced that hard-line figures in the regime were behind the assault.