By As'ad AbuKhalil, Angry Arab News Service, August 18, 2012

Angry Arab's introduction to Akram's latest report (report follows):  I hesitated before I posted this.  Akram, as you know now, is the Angry Arab correspondent in Syria.  I have received various reports from Syrians, including from Akram, before I settled on Akram as the chief correspondent in Syria.  I never met Akram and never asked for his political affiliations: I only knew of the sectarian affiliation of his family because he volunteered it when someone challenged his reports about the plight of Christians in Syria, when he maintained that there are no campaigns by rebel forces against Christians.  But I must here and on other occasions state that I don't necessarily agree with all the conclusions by Akram (including in this report below) but I can certainly state that I trust that he reports in good faith and without any agenda whatsoever.  I view him as an honest reporter even when I disagree with him.  In the report below, I disagree: I believe that the regime bears a bigger responsibility and I don't think that one should find excuses for regime bombing of civilian targets.  I don't believe that a regime can be dragged to kill its own people, especially when the Asad regime has had a long history of killing Syrians, Palestinians, and Lebanese.  Now Akram's latest report: [....]