A pre-Ramadan crackdown by the tottering Syrian regime seems to have backfired.  Tank attacks in Hama killed 100 or more but failed to crush the resistance.  There are preliminary reports of demonstrations in Damascus.  Check #Damascus on Twitter for updates.  Much of the violence has been, as usual, in the suburbs, but there are reports of significant demonstrations in the city itself. (See footage here.)

Today’s crackdown looks like a last desperate attempt to get the situation under control before Ramadan begins at moonrise and fills the streets night after night.  The crackdown failed and the demonstrators enter the holy month with new momentum on their side.

Nothing is ever certain in situations of this kind but it is well within the realms of possibility that this could be the week in which the Syrian government begins to fall apart.  As of now, it is not possible to say what comes next: whether the regime can survive or if it falls what will replace it.