Syrian Revolution Digest: Friday, 29 March 2013

Killer Rumor!

It doesn’t really matter if he is still physically alive, politically Assad is dead. The revolution shrunk him into insignificance. He is not even a zombie at this stage, he is simply irrelevant, his fate sealed by a rumor.

 

Today’s Death Toll: 150 martyrs, including 6 women; 17 martyr under torture and 10 children: 52 in Damascus and Suburbs including 15 under torture in security branch 215; 39 in Aleppo, most martyred due to a SCUD missile attack in Hreitan; 18 in Daraa; 16 in Homs; 8 in Deir Ezzor; 5 in Raqqa; 7 in Hama; and 5 in Idlib (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 283. Shelling with warplanes reported in 19 points; Scud missiles were reported in 3 districts; Surface to Surface rockets reported in 9 districts, the heaviest one was in Aleppo; explosive barrels reported in 6 points; phosphoric bombs reported in Deir Ezzor; cluster bombs reported in Hreitan, Aleppo. Shelling with mortars reported in 102 points, while artillery shelling was reported in 98 point; rocket launchers shelling reported in 99 points (LCCs).

Clashes: 130. Successful rebel operations included shooting 3 warplanes in the town of Alboukamal in Deir Ezzor Province, 1 plane in Khan Al-Sheeh in Damascus Suburbs and another in Jabal Al-Zawyeh in Idlib. In Raqqa, rebels entered the town of Ein Issa after liberating all loyalist checkpoints. In Aleppo, rebels took control of the Sheikh Maqsood Neighborhood (LCCs).

 

News

Southern Town in Syria Is Seized by Rebel Fighters The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment group in Britain with contacts throughout Syria, said rebel fighters secured the town, Dael, after more than a day of clashes in which three military checkpoints were destroyed and more than 24 combatants and at least nine civilians were killed. The town, with a population of about 40,000, sits on an important north-south highway that connects Damascus to Dara’a, the southern city that was the birthplace of the March 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that turned into a civil war. “The entire town, which is on the Damascus-Dara’a road, is now outside the control of government forces,” the Syrian Observatory said in its daily dispatch on the fighting.

20 dead in Scud missile attack in Syria, activists say The missile landed in a populated neighborhood of Hretaan, injuring 50 people and destroying more than 30 homes, the activists said. Videos reportedly recorded afterward showed residents pulling out dozens of bodies from the rubble of flattened buildings. There was no immediate response from Syrian officials to the charge, which could not be independently verified because of restrictions the government places on outside media.

U.S. considers no-fly-zone over Syria The U.S. administration is studying in depth all options that could lead to a peaceful settlement in Syria, Nuland added. On Wednesday, the former head of a U.N. monitoring mission, who tried in vain to secure a ceasefire in Syria’s civil war, said it was now time to consider imposing a no-fly zone over the country. The comments from Norwegian General Robert Mood came after NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen ruled out Western military intervention and called for a political solution to the two-year-old crisis which has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives. “I have come to the conclusion there has to be a leveling on the playing field,” Mood, who headed the U.N. mission in Syria until last July, told Britain’s BBC TV. “To level the playing field now in the military terms would be to consider no-fly zones, to consider whether the Patriots in Turkey could have a role also in taking on some responsibility for the northern part of Syria.”

An Unlikely Jihadist, Denouncing Assad in Mandarin He spoke in Mandarin. He called himself Yusef, but a subtitle in English said his Chinese name was Bo Wang. On the surface, he appeared to be an extremely rare — perhaps the only — example of an ethnic Han citizen of China joining a jihadist group in the Arab world. The bizarre video first got the attention of some Chinese last week, when it was posted on YouTube and then on Youku, a popular video-sharing site in China. It was quickly deleted from there, possibly by censors aware that the material was too delicate for the sensibilities of Chinese officials. In the video, the man told the Chinese government to drop its support of Mr. Assad or “all Islamic countries of the world will unite to impose economic sanctions against the Chinese people.”

Syria’s Red Crescent caught in the middle of bloody civil war Caught between warring factions as violence continues to rip apart Syria, the agency — Syria’s equivalent of the Red Cross — has had to contend with looting, threats of violence, arbitrary arrests and the killing of 17 staff members. The organization has also found its reputation under fire from Syrian-Canadian groups and others who have accused it of being little more than a puppet for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Has Bashar Al Assad been killed? Two videos that are circulating on social media over the past hours are once again alleging that Bashar Al Assad has either died or fled the country. “The Brigade of Martyrs of Douma conveys to you the news the Syrian people have waited for for a long time, namely the assassination of the despot Bashar Al Assad, which was carried out in coordination with one of the honorable officers from inside the Palace,”  the chief of the Brigade said in a video posted on YouTube. “I challenge Bashar to make a media appearance within the next 12 hours if he is still alive”, he added.

 

Special Reports

Syria’s cultural heritage under attack during bloody civil war Aleppo – one of the most beautiful cities in the Middle East and a crossroads of Christian, Jewish and Arab cultures – is among the hardest hit by the fighting between regime forces and rebels. In the nation’s capital of Damascus, once described by Mark Twain as the city that “has seen all that has ever occurred on earth,” historic buildings and landmarks are at increasing risk of damage.

Syria: Rebuilding education One brave teacher, Nour Al-Haq, is fighting her own war, determined to teach come what may. She explained: “We wanted to reorganise this school for the kids of Salaheddine who are coming back to their own neighbourhoods. “Families are coming back to their own houses. That is why we wanted to open this school here. “The four biggest schools in Salaheddine have been bombarded. We will have to rely on schools like this one for many years. “We are recovering books, and chairs from the damaged schools. We went to those schools even though we were targeted by a sniper who shot at us.”

Revolution or civil war? The battle of narratives in Syria The battle of narratives in Syria can be encapsulated as that between two tales from two cities: Paris and Geneva, where two parallel conferences were held in the last week of January 2013. These two meetings broadly represent two opposing narratives with little common ground and with each having its international backers both in policy circles and in the media. The Geneva meeting was organized with Scandinavian support and brought together several of the so called internal opposition groups and parties, most prominent of which were the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change and the Building the Syrian State Current. The conference also formed the Democratic Civil Alliance, a coalition of like-minded groups calling for a peaceful solution through dialogue. The Paris conference was organized with French support and included the two main opposition groupings outside Syria: the Syrian National Council and the National Coalition headed by Moaz al-Khatib. The main difference between the two meetings is that Geneva called for stopping the violence and for dialogue with the regime whereas Paris called for arming the opposition and rejected any idea of dialogue with the regime. But there are also other significant differences in the narratives.

The complications of dispersing aid in Syria According to Medecins Sans Frontiers, by the end of January 2013 over 60 countries had expressed a commitment to providing $1.5 billion in aid to the Syrian population. However such substantial figures, in reality, amount to much less. The urge to donate and distribute humanitarian aid is complicated by the complex international laws and bureaucratic labyrinths, and ultimately dictated by the host government’s willingness to grant international access to a country. Those few international organizations (less than 10) given permission to enter Syria face extreme difficulties in moving between government and rebel controlled areas. These realities and the Assad regime’s continued shelling of hospitals and bakeries merely add to the growing humanitarian crisis. Accordingly, international aid organizations are often forced to rely on third parties within Syria to disperse aid.

Syria: freedom is economics too Before any elections, the first stone will have already been laid – with reconstruction. On which policies will Syria be rebuilt? Which checks and balances will be organized around an international aid campaign driven by vested interests? Who will plan it? What can work, and what doesn’t, in Syria?

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.”

 

Quickly Noted

* Rebels from the Douma Martyrs Brigades, one of the main rebels groups fighting in Eastern Ghoutah in Damascus Suburbs, “confirm” through its leader Abu Ali Khibyeh the assassination of Bashar Al-Assad by one of his Iranian bodyguards and call on his officials and officers to surrender promising a fair trial to all. “The one you were fighting for has been killed, save yourselves by refraining from further bloodshed,” he told them. Abu Ali also says that the news was confirmed by an officer in Bashar’s entourage who works for the rebels http://youtu.be/7oipjyvqAz4. Abu Ali reiterates his statements in this Skype interview with a rebel network http://youtu.be/g0se3fVcDKQ. But while some rebels are so sure that Assad has been killed as to risk making such a categorical announcement, others claim that he was only injured, and that he was now replaced by a security commission led by the person who was in charge of Assad’s secret service: Salim Al-Ali (Abu Ibrahim), the son of an Alawite father and a Sunni Lebanese mother, a man whose own son was kidnapped by rebels a few months ago and was released following a deal.

 

Video Highlights

The town of Hreitan, Aleppo Province: the aftermath of a Scud attack http://youtu.be/rJ5qbCdNJZI panic after the attack http://youtu.be/XAq_HzB4Z5w

Assad’s tanks keep pounding Jobar neighborhood in eastern parts of the Damascus City http://youtu.be/lJr7tB-tr8o , http://youtu.be/AICVFcSxe-c

Scenes from the clashes that ended with the liberation of the town of Da’el, Daraa Province http://youtu.be/tOTuPB2cz5U , http://youtu.be/wfMR9QdOuc0 , http://youtu.be/Lxv_q9mX6ww

In Damascus, rockets launchers from the Mazzeh Military Airport in action http://youtu.be/tAdVS23rbwU

China’s Push for Accelerated Urbanization is Pushing Migrant Workers Toward Homelessness

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SHANGHAI, China – Dozens of migrant Chinese workers are being evicted from their makeshift homes in old shipping containers in Shanghai due the new Chinese leadership’s desire to accelerate urbanization in the outskirts of the country’s “mega” cities.

A subdivided tenement awaits demolition in Huabei province of China. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Neighborhoods like the shipping container village, about twenty minutes away from Shanghai’s wealthy financial district, have sprung up in the last twenty years to fulfill China’s desperate need for cheap housing.  Other unusual housing solutions include using tents, repurposing old industrial buildings, and subdividing farm houses to accommodate the droves of migrant workers that flock to urban centers.

China plans on spending roughly $6 trillion on improving domestic infrastructure, like building more housing, in order to serve the projected 400 million people that are estimated to move to urban centers in the next decade.

Though China plans on building more housing to fulfill their desperate housing needs, by destroying the makeshift neighborhoods like the shipping container village in Shanghai, the government is leaving thousands of poor, migrant workers without any housing.

Migrant workers, like Li Yanxin who runs a convenience store out of his shipping container to earn money, cannot afford regular apartments, which can cost as much as 2000 yuan per month (roughly $320 U.S.).  The poor must resort to renting smaller properties, like 12 square meter subdivided rooms, at the more affordable rate of 500 yuan per month (roughly $80 U.S.).

Around 130 million migrant, Chinese workers live in subdivided rooms in old farmhouses, which land owning farmers in villages have repurposed.  After the government usurps the land the old farmhouses sit on, the land will be rezoned and repurposed for development purposes.

The newly rezoned land can be sold at a very high price for lucrative commercial development.  These lands, in theory, will be repurposed for fulfilling the desperate housing needs; however, the evicted migrant poor will be unable to afford the luxury apartments that will most likely sit atop of the newly developed lands.

Other cities, like Beijing, are attempting to clean up crowded tenements, like the shipping container village and farmhouse subdivision tenements, by usurping the land, repurposing it, and raising rents.  This effectively prices out the poor who will no longer be able to afford the properties.

Beijing also will not allow migrant poor to purchase the new properties the city plans to build.  The migrant workers will only be allowed to rent, however, the number of available apartments to rent usually falls short of public need.

For further information, please see:

Reuters – China’s urbanization drive leaves migrant workers out in the cold – 30 March 2013

China Daily – Migrants: linchpin of China’s urbanization – 27 March 2013

New Tang Dynasty – China’s Urbanization Drive Puts Trillions into Officials’ Pockets – 27 March 2013

South China Morning Post – Managing China’s urban spread – 21 March 2013

Easter in Libya, not as Joyous as Usual

By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TRIPOLI, Libya – Earlier this month, smoke billowed from Benghazi’s Coptic church, but it had nothing to do with the coming of a new pope. A group of jihadist militants set the church on fire while the church’s priest was still inside. Some local Muslims rushed in to save the priest, but the church was successfully scorched. Do not expect the church to be resurrected this Easter, because currently any action that can be perceived to threaten Islamic culture is being met with plenty of hostility in Libya.

St. Mark’s Coptic church in Benghazi was set ablaze and is now a blackened ruin. (Photo Courtesy of the Guardian)

Hide your bibles, hide your faith, because the Islamic militants and Office of Preventive Security are getting every Christian. Whether a Coptic Christian or one of the Greek Orthodox faith, it has been recommended that you keep your Easter celebration low key. While many Muslims in Libya are very friendly with their Christian neighbors, others get very offended by anything non-Islamic.

Besides the burning of Benghazi’s Coptic church, there was a bombing of a Coptic church in Misrata killing two, and a shooting of a Greek Orthodox priest outside of his home. Additionally, at least fifty-one Christians, forty-nine of which were Copts, have been arrested. One of the Copts died while being held in detention. An evangelist warehouse was also raided, which resulted in the seizure of approximately fifty-five thousand Bibles and Christian tracts.

The surviving arrested Copts were released as a “diplomatic gesture.” Preventive security commander Abdul Salam Barghathi was amazed that the bibles were being printed in the city of Benghazi and that they were even being given to children.

The official causes of the arrests have come under charges of proselytizing and spreading Christian literature. Barghathi said that, “Libya is 100 per cent Muslim, we don’t have Christians and Jews, and nobody will accept any other religions.” He added that, “anything that comes from abroad can be an invasion against our ideas and our thoughts, which can be a danger to homeland security.”

Reverend Vasihar Baskaran of Tripoli’s Christ the King church stated that, “we usually celebrate [Easter] with pomp, but I said no. . .I thought it was better not to attract the attention of bad elements. I told the congregation: when the service is finished, don’t stand in the churchyard and drink tea on the church steps.”

An Egyptian Christian living in Benghazi, Meged Labib, said that she will have her Easter services in her home since her priest has ran back to Egypt.

For further information, please see:

Scotsman – Libyan Christians Spending Easter in Fear – 30 March 2013

Bloomberg – Libya’s Christians Tense as Easter Celebrations Commence – 29 March 2013

Guardian – Christians in Libya Braced for Easter Trouble from Islamists – 29 March 2013

Radio Vaticana – Libyan Christians Prepare for Holy Week Amid Persecution – 25 March 2013

Human Rights Group Urges Malian Government to Investigate Torture Allegations

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali – New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement on Tuesday urging the Malian government to look into allegations that soldiers tortured several detainees.

Reports say that Malian soldiers have tortured detainees as punishment for allegedly supporting rebel groups. (Photo courtesy of AP Photo /Pascal Guyot, Pool/Windsor Star)

In a study conducted by the group, it is revealed that seven men who are suspected members of rebel groups were “beaten and kicked, burned, injected with a caustic substance, and threatened with death” while in the custody of Malian troops.

From March 11 to March 23, HRW gathered testimonies from detainees about the harsh treatment they received from the army. Tuareg in ethnicity, all seven detainees recalled being taken from Léré to an ad hoc military headquarters in Markala where they were questioned about their suspected affiliation with rebel groups. After denying such accusations, one detainee recounted how they were hogtied and hurled onto the ground “like [they] were bags of rice”.

According to the report, the soldiers also injected two detainees with an unknown caustic substance which damaged their skin. One of the detainees said, “I came to[,] while being dragged along the ground after my hands had been bound with my turban. The next day near sundown a soldier came in, took my arm and injected a substance. I thought it might have been for the pain. . . . I didn’t speak his language so couldn’t ask him. Then he injected my friend who was sharing the cell with me. It started blistering and by the next morning had eaten my skin. I felt as if I would die from the pain. . . . All I want is to return to my village.”

Another detainee described how he was subjected to “waterboarding”. “They told me to crouch down, slammed my head hard against a wall, pulled it back then grabbed a bucket of water and poured it down my nose and into my mouth. . . . While doing this they asked me, ‘Tell us what job you were doing with them and why you had money on you,'” he explained.

HRW’s Senior West Africa researcher Corinne Dufka told the press that the army’s use of torture will only exacerbate the crisis in the country unless the government does something about the issue. “The Malian government should promptly and impartially investigate these and other allegations of abuse or face an increasingly unaccountable military and deepening communal tensions,” she advised.

Last week, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to appoint an independent monitor for Mali which was met with partial criticism from HRW. According to the human rights group, this resolution fell short of addressing reports of abuses by Malian troops. “While we welcome this resolution, the Council’s failure to clearly condemn serious violations recently committed by members of the Malian army is a disservice to the Malian people,” HRW said in a statement.

 

For further information, please see:

Global Post – Malian soldiers get human rights training – 27 March 2013

Human Rights Watch – Mali: Soldiers Torture Detainees in Léré – 26 March 2013

The Windsor Star – Human Rights Watch: Malian soldiers inject suspected extremists with acid – 26 March 2013

Daily Maverick – UN Condemns Mali Rights Abuses, To Step Up Monitoring – 22 March 2013

Syrian Opposition Opens its First Embassy

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DOHA, Qatar — The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) opened the doors to its first “embassy” in Qatar last Wednesday, just a day after the Arab League granted it recognition by giving it Damascus’s seat in the league.

SNC leader al-Khatib was in Doha, Qatar for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Syrian rebel’s embassy. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The head of the SNC, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, and Qatari State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Khaled Al-Attiya, were at the embassy in Doha for the inauguration of the representative office, dubbed the “Embassy of the Syrian National Coalition.”  “This is the first embassy of the Syrian people,” said al-Khatib.  Al-Khatib said that the SNC’s next goal is to assume Syria’s seat in the United Nations.  Al-Khatib also used the ribbon cutting ceremony as a platform to voice his frustration with global powers for failing to do more to assist the SNC with toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.  “There is an international willingness for the revolution not to triumph,” said al-Khatib.

NATO Chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last Wednesday that a political solution to the Syrian crisis must shapen, but ruled out Western military intervention despite Khatib’s plea.

The SNC named Nizar Haraki as its first ambassador to Qatar.  Haraki said that he will “soon” present his accreditation letter to the Emir of Qatar.  The SNC also named envoys in several countries including Britain, France, Libya, Turkey, and the United States, but has not yet proceeded with opening diplomatic missions in those countries.

Russia scolded the Arab League for taking “another anti-Syria step,” when the league recognized the SNC.  Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said, “In terms of international law, the decisions taken by the Arab League in respect of Syria are illegal and void because the government of the Syrian Arab Republic was and will remain the legitimate representative of the UN member state.”  Russia also said that the Arab League is supporting a “military solution” to the conflict instead of peace talks.

Iran also criticized the move, calling it illegitimate, and a “dangerous precedent” set by the Arab League.  “Handing Syria’s seat to the so-called provisional government is a danagerous precedent by the memberes of the Arab League,” said Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.

The original Syrian embassy’s doors were closed in November 2011, when diplomatic ties with the Gulf countries were severed after Syria rejected the Arab League’s peace proposal to end its campaign of violence against demonstrators, and instead resorted to a bloody crackdown on the rebellion.  The embassy continues to remain inactive.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Syria Opposition Opens Embassy in Qatar — 28 March 2013

Arab News — Syrian Opposition Opens ‘Embassy’ in Qatar — 28 March 2013

Global Times — Coalition Opens Syrian Embassy — 28 March 2013

Al Shorfa — Syrian Opposition Opens Office in Qatar — 27 March 2013

All Voices — Syrian Rebels Open new ‘Embassy’ in Qatar — 27 March 2013

Global Post — Syria Rebels Open ‘Embassy’ in Qatar — 27 March 2013

Ya Libnan — Syrian Opposition gets the Embassy in Qatar — 27 March 2013