Syria Justice and Accountability Center: 26 February 2013

Egyptian Opposition Party to Boycott Upcoming Elections

By Dylan Takores
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – The National Salvation Front (NSF) stated today, February 26, that it will boycott the upcoming Parliamentary elections.  The NSF contends that the elections will unfairly favor the current Islamist majority party.

 

Egyptian protestors near Tahrir Square, Cairo. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

 

In January 2012, Mohammed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) narrowly won Egypt’s first free presidential election.  The FJP is the political branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a prominent Islamist group.  Islamist parties also won most of the Parliamentary positions in addition to the presidency.

Led by Mohamed ElBaradei, the NSF is an umbrella group encompassing many liberal and leftist parties that oppose the Muslim Brotherhood.  The NSF successfully brought together a wide range of opposition parties including the Egyptian Popular Current, al-Dustour, al-Tajammu, Free Egyptians, and New Wafd among others.

President Morsi announced on February 22 that a new round of elections will be held in four stages between April 27 and late June of this year.  ElBaradei immediately called for a boycott, and today, members of the NSF unanimously affirmed the decision to boycott the elections.

The purpose of the boycott is to undermine the legitimacy of the elections.  Sameh Ashour, a spokesman for the NSF, stated in a press conference, “there can be no elections without a law that guarantees the fairness of the election process.”  Ashour added, “real independence of the judiciary” is required to ensure fairness.

In recent months, the NSF insisted on several preconditions to ensure fairness and freedom in future elections.  The group believes that elections under the current system skew favor to Islamist parties. However, due to its overwhelming majority, the FJP disregarded the NSF objections and the Parliament voted to hold new elections with near unanimity.

Heba Yassin of the Egyptian Popular Current explained that the purpose of the boycott is “to protest against the election that we did not participate in drafting, and about which our opinion was not taken.”

January 25 marked the second anniversary of the Egyptian independence movement that successfully ousted former Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak.  In the wake of the anniversary, tensions resurfaced and clashes broke out.  An estimated seventy people have died and hundreds more wounded in the past month as a result of the clashes.

The NSF also announced its intention to boycott a dialogue set to take place between President Morsi and leaders of opposition parties.  Ashour asserted, “no dialogue should be held over the dead bodies of our martyrs.”  He continued that until President Morsi adequately addresses the present crisis, the NSF will not participate in any open dialogue.

Following the NSF’s announcement, State Department Spokesman Edgar Vasquez made a statement on behalf of the United States.  He referred to the current political situation as a “critical” moment for Egypt.  He encouraged the NSF to reconsider its decision and emphasized that it is important for all Egyptian parties to participate in the elections.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News – Egypt’s Main Opposition Coalition to Boycott Vote – 26 February 2013

Ahram – Egypt’s NSF to Boycott Elections, Dialogue – 26 February 2013

BBC News – Egypt Opposition to Boycott Polls – 26 February 2013

Egypt Independent – NSF to Boycott Parliamentary Elections – 26 February 2013

Haaretz – Egyptian Opposition Alliance to Boycott Parliamentary Election – 26 February 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest: Monday, 25 February 2013

Getting It Right!

As the U.S. seems to be inching its way towards providing military assistance to rebel groups, the importance of having an overarching strategy that goes beyond throwing weapons at the problem is now more urgent than ever. Since the main challenge ahead is now clearly more about putting pieces of the puzzle back together than managing a top-down transition, the U.S. needs to come up with a sophisticated strategy for working with local councils and local rebel groups to develop micro transition plans that can ensure rapid stabilization of their areas. The U.S. should also work with the Syrian National Coalition to develop a more detailed bottom-up vision for managing the transition period ahead.

Today’s Death Toll: 135 martyrs, including 8 children and 12 women and 1 martyr under torture: 40 martyrs in Damascus and Suburbs, 25 in Aleppo, 21 in Idlib, 14 in Raqqa, 14 in Homs, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 7 in Daraa, 3 in Hama and 1 in Hasakeh(LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 384 points, including 26 points that were shelled by regime warplanes, 4 points using Scud missiles, 2 points using surface-to-surface missiles, 3 points using barrel bombs, 3 point with vacuum bombs, 157 points using heavy caliber artillery, 93 points with mortars and 99 with rockets (LCCs).

Clashes: 162, with the fiercest clashes took place in Damascus and Suburbs(LCCs).

 

News

Syria opposition to join Rome talks after foreign aid pledge The Syrian opposition has agreed to attend an international summit in Rome, after the US and UK “promised specific aid” to the Syrian people. The group had previously announced it would boycott the talks because of “the world’s silence” over the violence. US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Minister William Hague earlier confirmed there would be more support for Syria’s opposition.

Syria rebels fight for key Aleppo buildings Rebels launch new offensive for government complex housing a police academy

Syria opposition chief: no contact yet about government talks “We have not been in contact yet, and we are waiting for communication with them,” Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib told reporters in Cairo after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Damascus was ready to talk. Alkhatib also said opposition visits to the United States and Russia had been delayed “until we see how things develop”. But he added: “We will go to any place that could lead to the removal of the suffering of our people.”

Kerry Vows Not to Leave Syria Rebels ‘Dangling in the Wind’ “We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind wondering where the support is or if it’s coming,” Mr. Kerry said at a news conference in London. “And we are determined to change the calculation on the ground for President Assad.”

UN Security Council has ‘failed’ Syria: rights chief “Two important situations, Darfur in 2008 and Libya in 2011, have been referred” by the Security Council,” Pillay said, but it had not done the same for Syria, “despite the repeated reports of widespread or systematic crimes and violations by my office,” and a wide range of other sources, she said. The ICC can only probe war crimes if asked to by the Security Council.

UN Staffer Missing on Israel-Syria Border U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey would not say whether the missing person was a military or civilian member of the international or local staff. “We can confirm that a staff member is not accounted for and we are in touch with the relevant parties to determine what has happened,” del Buey said. “We have no further comment at this time.”

Photographer Killed in Syria Spoke of Adrenaline Olivier Voisin listed work in 15 countries, half of them war zones. He described the rush of bearing witness to a conflict that otherwise could go unrecorded. On Sunday, the 38-year-old French freelance photographer became the 23rd journalist killed in fighting in Syria after he died of shrapnel wounds sustained days earlier.

Turkey, Qatar denounce Syria’s war on own people Turkey and Qatar accused Syria on Monday of attacking Syrian towns with bombs, shells and Scud missiles and called at the main U.N. human rights forum for perpetrators of atrocities to be brought to justice. Britain and Switzerland urged the United Nations Security Council to refer war crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.

 

Special Reports

Syria: The Growing Power Of Jihadist Groups
The number of Jihadist groups flooding into Syria two years after the start of the uprising is threatening to eclipse the power of mainstream opposition groups as well as the authority of the Free Syrian Army. One of the increasingly influential groups, Jabah al Haq (The Front for Justice) [Correction: the name is Jabhat Al-Haq which means The Front for Truth], told Sky News that Jihad is spreading across North Africa and the Middle East and will not stop at Syria but will include Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and even Israel.

Al Nusra: Al Qaeda’s Syria Offensive
Estimates of the size of the al Nusra organization vary, but they may now account for up to a quarter of the opposition fighters in Syria. The al Qaeda presence is stronger around Aleppo and the north than around Damascus, but it is becoming a national phenomenon. Without doubt, they are among the most effective fighters in the resistance to the Assad regime and the most willing to use multiple simultaneous suicide bombings, an al Qaeda trademark. Al Qaeda in Iraq has a wealth of experience in developing large sophisticated bombs—experience that has been exported into Syria.

BBC Close Up: Syrian Diaries: Women of the Uprising.
Five Syrian women tell their personal stories of revolt and war. Filmed mostly by the women themselves over a period of seven months in 2012, this documentary provides unique insights into how Syria’s conflict has transformed their lives. This film was transmitted on BBC Arabic as ‘Souriyyat’, and on BBC World News in a two-part series entitled ‘Inside Syria’.

How Syria Is Becoming Bosnia
Typhoid and hepatitis outbreaks are spreading. An estimated 70,000 people are dead, and another 850,000 are refugees. After covering the battle for Damascus for a month, photographer Goran Tomasevic of Reuters declared the situation a “bloody stalemate.” “I watched both sides mount assaults, some trying to gain just a house or two, others for bigger prizes, only to be forced back by sharpshooters, mortars or sprays of machine-gun fire,” Mr. Tomasevic, a gifted and brave photographer, wrote in a chilling first-hand account. “As in the ruins of Beirut, Sarajevo or Stalingrad, it is a sniper’s war.”

DIY Weapons of the Syrian Rebels
Nearly two years after the start of Syria’s popular uprising, the conflict has evolved into a slow-moving, brutal civil war with many players and no clear end in sight. Multiple rebel groups across the country continue to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, using any weapons they can get their hands on. While the rebels are using many modern weapons, they’ve also come up with their own makeshift solutions. In these weapons workshops, anti-aircraft guns are welded to pickup trucks and armor shields are attached to machine guns and cars. Mortar shell nose cones are turned on lathes and explosives are mixed by hand. Homemade grenades are launched by jury-rigged shotguns or giant slingshots in the urban battlefields of Aleppo and Damascus. Gathered here are a few examples of the hand-built munitions of the Syrian rebels.

Saudis Step Up Help for Rebels in Syria With Croatian Arms
The weapons began reaching rebels in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan, officials said, and have been a factor in the rebels’ small tactical gains this winter against the army and militias loyal to Mr. Assad. The arms transfers appeared to signal a shift among several governments to a more activist approach to assisting Syria’s armed opposition, in part as an effort to counter shipments of weapons from Iran to Mr. Assad’s forces. The weapons’ distribution has been principally to armed groups viewed as nationalist and secular, and appears to have been intended to bypass the jihadist groups whose roles in the war have alarmed Western and regional powers… Washington’s role in the shipments, if any, is not clear… But one senior American official described the shipments as “a maturing of the opposition’s logistical pipeline.” The official noted that the opposition remains fragmented and operationally incoherent, and added that the recent Saudi purchase was “not in and of itself a tipping point.”

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.

 

Video Highlights

Rebels bring down a helicopter gunship over Minnigh Airport, Aleppohttp://youtu.be/_y0-qQomARI

The pounding of rebel strongholds in Eastern Ghoutah, Damascus, continues, using missiles, heavy artillery and MiGs: Douma http://youtu.be/hj9XJcuSqdM Jisreenhttp://youtu.be/JDWSH9RbEsA Arbeen http://youtu.be/HJ0Skrm_OgQ

Tanks take part in pounding rebel strongholds in Damascus City: Jobarhttp://youtu.be/edo3YC1UnJ8 , http://youtu.be/xf6sbMVykXg Clashes between rebels and loyalists continue at night http://youtu.be/iGofhWsD3yM ,http://youtu.be/8EdmObCKF2k

The pounding of rebel strongholds along the border with Lebanon, Damascus:Boucain http://youtu.be/rYrhNpKh3vU Madaya http://youtu.be/oZvXMGHqfO0  ,http://youtu.be/GZubaTJFdUk

The pounding of Deir Ezzor City continues http://youtu.be/KWHT5-wp_Dg

Britain Warns Against Travel to Nigeria

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ABUJA, Nigeria—Britain today advised its citizens against traveling to several regions of Northern Nigeria after a recent increase in attacks that have been blamed on Islamist militants and the kidnapping of several foreigners earlier this month.

Crowds fill the central market after authorities relaxed a 24 hour curfew in northern region of Nigeria. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters).

The country also advised against “all-but-essential travel” to the Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states of Nigeria. These attacks by Islamist groups in this region have become the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s top oil producer.

Most recently gunmen killed a security guard and abducted a Brit, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers after storming and attacking the compound of a Lebanese construction firm in the Bauchi state of Northern Nigeria on February 16. This kidnapping was considered the worst case of foreigners being kidnapped in this region.

Western governments are also concerned that the militants may link up with other groups in the region including al Qaida’s North Africa wing, especially given the conflict in nearby Mali.

The Islamist group Ansaru claimed responsibility for the attack on the Lebanese compound, Setraco. The raid was “based on the transgression and atrocities done to the religion of Allah by the European countries in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali,” said the group which has also kidnapped other foreigners in Nigeria in the past. The group’s full name is Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan, which translates roughly to “Vanguards for the Protection of Muslims in Black Africa.” The group is also believed to be a breakaway group from the better-known Islamist sect Boko Haram. The Boko Haram group has killed hundreds in recent months in its own attempt to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria which is a country truly split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

In November, Britain had put the Ansaru group on its official “terrorist group” list, noting that it was aligned with al Qaida and was behind the kidnapping and abduction of two Europeans killed last year during a failed rescue attempt.

This violence is not only affecting travel, but is also stunting economic development in North Nigeria and risks increasing the divide with the wealthier and largely Christian south, which is also the home to the commercial hub Lagos and the oil-producing Niger Delta region.

 

For further information, please see:

Business Day – Britain Warns Citizens Against Visits to Northern Nigeria – 27 February 2013

Reuters – Britain Warns Against Travel to Northern Nigeria After Islamist Raids – 27 February 2013

Channels – France Says Will Not Negotiate With Boko Haram Over Family Hostage – 26 February 2013

Daily Nation – Nigeria Military Claims It Kills 17 Islamists in Raid– 2 February 2013

Syria Revolution Digest: 24 February 2013

Autocrat Gone Wild!

Syrian Revolution Digest – February 24, 2013 

Is it good for international stability, and for the credibility and viability of the existing international order to allow mayhem in Syria to continue? To allow for the likes of Assad to get away with the systematic destruction of a whole country, with the systematic decimation of an entire population? Forget about the disintegration of Syria and the eventual spillover of ethnic violence and instability into neighboring countries, there are other hotspots in this world, with other dictators and other rebels, watching, waiting… What lessons would they draw, I wonder, from international inaction on Syria? Hint: don’t think in too rational terms while looking for an answer, because reason often takes a backseat when identity conflicts are involved. In short, the only thing more criminal than what Assad and his sectarian militias are doing in Syria, is Russian and Iranian connivance, and the dithering of Western leaders.

 

Sunday February 24, 2013

 

My new paper, prepared for a briefing in Washington, D.C. that took place on January 15, 2013, is now out and is titled “Syria 2013: Rise of the Warlords.” It should be read in conjunction with my previous briefing “The Shredded Tapestry,” and my recent essay “The Creation of an Unbridgeable Divide.

 

First, let me apologize for failing to provide any updates for the last 10 days, but traveling and conferencing allow little time for serious blogging. But a quick roundup of main events seems in order before returning into the full swing of things…

 

Death of a Country

 

The Economist declares the death of Syria in an editorial that might as well be a summary of my own recent take on the subject.

 

As the world looks on (or away), the country jammed between Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Israel is disintegrating. Perhaps the regime of Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, will collapse in chaos; for some time it could well fight on from a fortified enclave, the biggest militia in a land of militias. Either way, Syria looks increasingly likely to fall prey to feuding warlords, Islamists and gangs—a new Somalia rotting in the heart of the Levant.

 

If that happens, millions of lives will be ruined. A fragmented Syria would also feed global jihad and stoke the Middle East’s violent rivalries. Mr Assad’s chemical weapons, still secure for now, would always be at risk of falling into dangerous hands. This catastrophe would make itself felt across the Middle East and beyond. And yet the outside world, including America, is doing almost nothing to help.

 

Death of a Comedian

 

But, as fate would have it, we are bound to continue mourning this country, one figure at a time:

 

A prominent Syrian comedian has been killed in Damascus after apparently being caught in the crossfire between rebels and government troops. The SANA state news agency says Yassin Bakoush was killed Sunday by a rebel mortar round that landed on his car in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus. The anti-regime Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group says Bakoush was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade launched by government troops slammed into his car. The part of Damascus where Bakoush was killed has been hit by fierce clashes between rebels and regime forces in recent months. The 75-year-old Bakoush was known for playing characters that were likeable but naive and dim-witted.

 

Videos: Bakoush is greeted at a rebel checkpoint in Yarmouck Camp in late January http://youtu.be/lgpwYDyl4-M Rebels show Bakoush’s body shortly after his car was hit with an RPJ round http://youtu.be/850vzLa6a2c

 

The New Toy

 

And how could a country avoid death, when Scuds are now being used to punish rebel areas? This is the kind of devastation the first Scud attack has caused

 

 

 

Videos: the aftermath of a second Scud hit on Al-Hamrah http://youtu.be/2xW09AZanPk

 

Enter the Mullas

 

As Syria disintegrates, Iran continues to reassert its commitment to remain relevant there, with Mahdi Taeb, a senior hardline cleric claiming Syria as Iran’s 35th province. Of course, he was speaking figuratively and by way of stressing the strategic importance of Syria to Iran, or at least one hopes, but the point is made.

“Syria is the 35th province [of Iran] and a strategic province for us. If the enemy attacks us and wants to take either Syria or Khuzestan [in western Iran], the priority for us is to keep Syria….If we keep Syria, we can get Khuzestan back too, but if we lose Syria, we cannot keep Tehran.” Hojjat al-Islam Taeb, the head of the Ammar Strategic Base (an organization established to fight the “soft war” against the Islamic Republic of Iran) said.

 

Khuzestan province provides 90 % of the Iranian oil . It is about 6.5 times the size of Lebanon and has a population of about 4. 5 million. The inhabitants of Khuzestan are usually referred to as Ahvazi or ( Ahwazi) Arabs . They speak Arabic but are not allowed to have Arabic language teaching schools .

 

Iran actually has 31 provinces, but Taeb may have considered each of the three UAE islands that were occupied by Iran as a province and that is how he may have come up with the number 35 after adding Syria.

 

Iran occupied in November 1971 the three UAE islands of Greater and Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.

 

Taeb also pointed to the Islamic Republic’s support of Syrian militias through Iranian advisors inside the the country. He explained:

 

Syria had an army, but did not have the ability to manage a war inside Syria’s cities. It is for this reason the Iranian government suggested that, to manage an urban war you must form a Basij …The Syrian Basij was formed with 60,000 [members] of Hezbollah , who took over the war in the streets from the army.”

 

The Hezbollah Intervention

 

Well, while a figure of 60,000 Hezbollah fighters sounds like an exaggeration, local reports from the Lebanese-Syrian borders near the town of Qusayr speak of a 15,000 member Hezbollah contingent planning an incursion into Syrian territory to take over the restive town and protect the Shia villages there. Already 6 villages inside Syrian territory have now come under Hezbollah occupation.

 

The Lebanese news site al-Kalima Online reported last week that the Free Syrian Army accused Hezbollah of occupying six Syrian villages on the Lebanese border. The occupation of the villages, according to an FSA spokesperson, followed clashes between Hezbollah and FSA forces along the border.

 

The FSA on Thursday lashed out against what it said were Hezbollah hostilities and bombarded the group’s positions inside Lebanon for the first time. Earlier last week, Hezbollah and Syrian rebels clashed on the Lebanon-Syria border, leaving at least one Hezbollah fighter and five rebels dead.

 

More Videos

 

Meanwhile, the bloodshed continues: rebels arrive too late to rescue prisoners held at a prison in Marrat Al-Nouman, Idlib. Pro-Assad militias had executed all prisoners before leaving (Feb 19) http://youtu.be/4U25hEiLz5Q

 

MiGs continue to pound cities, including Rastan http://youtu.be/mQ19hX6SS4g

 

In Daraa, more sophisticated weapons are allowing rebels to score more hits and to push back pro-Assad militias by destroying their tanks: Sahwah http://youtu.be/D4XJdvM7EMM

 

In Deir Ezzor Province, battles intensify, and so do the defections. Here is a video showing the defection of an entire unit http://youtu.be/DxEbEhU-EK0

 

A video found on the cellphone of an arrested pro-Assad militiaman shows how his particular group divided up their loot http://youtu.be/nRbQzs_pxro