Human rights activists around the world are making plans to travel to Syria and act as “human shields” to forestall a U.S. strike against Syria, according to Britain’s The Telegraph. The “International Human Shields” movement is spearheading a movement to bring activists to guard potential military targets.
The Syrian regime has not yet stated whether it will allow the activists to enter Syria, but Franklin Lamb, an attorney recently appointed the legal adviser for the International Human Shields group, said he has been “inundated” with requests from activists residing in Britain, Canada, France, Italy, and the US. The movement was originated in Britain and the U.S.
Many of the activists who are hoping to travel to Syria also went to Baghdad in 2003 to guard hospitals and schools, then transferred their energies to guarding government infrastructure sites.
Sky News reported that the activists may join loyal Assad supporters who are sleeping in tents on Mount Qussioun. That area features the main transmitter for Syrian TV and overlooks Damascus. They are wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the logo, “Over our dead bodies”. One Assad supporter is law student Hussain Othman, 21, who said he was responsible for the sleep-in “to protect Syria. We will continue until the end. We are civilians. We are against any military strikes.”