By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

DAMASCUS, Syria – The future remains bleak for the millions of Syrians displaced by Syria’s prolonged civil war as the conflict enters its fifth year. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) conditions for internationally displaced persons and refugees and the political situation in the country continues to deteriorate as the war rages and the conflicts victims fail to receive international support. “With no political solution to the conflict in sight, most of the 3.9 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt see no prospect of returning home in the near future, and have scant opportunity to restart their lives in exile,” a UNHCR statement released in Geneva said.

“More and more Syrians are losing hope. Thousands have tried to reach Europe by taking often deadly land or sea routes after paying their life savings to smugglers. Many have not made it. Those who do, face rising hostility as refugees are conflated with security concerns in a climate of rising panic,” the UNHCR statement said.

A recent survey of 40,000 Syrian families living as refugees in urban areas of Jordan determined that two-thirds were living below the absolute poverty line. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said much more must be done to address the plight of Syrian refugees. “After years in exile, refugees’ savings are long depleted and growing numbers are resorting to begging, survival sex and child labor. Middle-class families with children are barely surviving on the streets: one father said life as a refugee was like being stuck in quicksand – every time you move, you sink down further,” he said. “This worst humanitarian crisis of our era should be galvanizing a global outcry of support, but instead help is dwindling. With humanitarian appeals systematically underfunded, there just isn’t enough aid to meet the colossal needs – nor enough development support to the hosting countries creaking under the strain of so many refugees,” Guterres added.

In December, the United Nations began the largest aid appeal ever for $8.4 billion that if fully funded, would provide for the basic needs of refugees. The program would offer support to host communities to bolster their infrastructure and services utilized by refugees escaping a conflict whose end is not in site. “Further abandoning host countries to manage the situation on their own could result in serious regional destabilization, increasing the likelihood of more security concerns elsewhere in the world,” Guterres stressed.

Five years of war have taken a particularly devastating toll on the conflict’s smallest victims, many of whom are too young to remember a time of peace. Approximately 14 million children in Syria and Iraq now live every day in the shadows of war facing extreme violence, the hardships of displacement United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations agency charged with promoting the welfare of the children worldwide. “As the crisis enters its fifth year, this generation of young people is still in danger of being lost to a cycle of violence – replicating in the next generation what they suffered in their own,” said UNICEF director Anthony Lake. More than 2.6 million Syrian children are out of school and many more are now receiving education from extremist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) which has begun teaching its extremist ideology in local schools and has forced young boys to become child soldiers.

For more information please see:

Al Arabiya – 14 million children suffering from Syria and Iraq wars: UNICEF – 13 March 2015

The Christian Science Monitor – As Syrian civil war enters fifth year, especially hard challenges for children – 13 March 2015

National Public Radio – Drawn-Out Syrian Civil War Spawns A Literal Dark Age – 12 March 2015

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR warns of bleaker future for refugees as Syrian conflict enters 5th year – 12 March 2015

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria –Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) which now controls large tracks of Iraq and Syria has reportedly accepted the pledgee of allegiance from Nigeria’s Boko Haram, his spokesperson said in a statement, also calling on African supporters to take up arms. “Our caliph, God save him, has accepted the pledge of loyalty of our brothers of Boko Haram so we congratulate Muslims and our jihadi brothers in West Africa,” Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani said in recorded message.

 

The audio recording was posted online by ISIS supporters in a 28-minute message. The message says that the caliphate, or Islamic State ISIS purports to have founded has now expanded to western Africa. The spokesman congratulated the group’s “jihadi brothers” there. Al Adnani also encourages people to take up arms in Africa if they cannot make the trip to Iraq or Syria. While the authenticity of the message has not ben confirmed, it is feared the message marks the beginning of relations between these separate extremist movements which have together committed untold atrocities in Africa and the Middle East.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of civilians and kidnapped hundreds of people, including hundreds of young girls who were kidnaped from a Nigerian school, during a six-year campaign against the Nigerian government in an attempt to establish an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, the group pledged its allegiance to ISIS last week, highlighting increased coordination between Islamic extremist movements across north Africa and the Middle East.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has declared a caliphate in the territories it has captured in Iraq and Syria. The militants have targeted religious minorities and dissidents, kidnaping and murdering hundreds and forcing women into sex slavery. The group has also posted horrific videos of child soldiers, destruction of cultural antiques as well as videos showing the brutal murder of both Arab and Western hostages. ISIS militants, who have taken up arms against all but their own narrow and skewed interpretation of early Sunni Islamic theology issued a threat to religious minorities  “If you want to save your blood and money and live in safety from our swords … you have two choices: Either convert or pay jezyah.”

Officials in the United States have said they were skeptical of whether Boko Haram’s allegiance ISIS would translate into attempts by ISIS militants to provide the Nigerian movement with financial support or even weapons. “We do not currently see any reflections that ISIL would seek to subsume Boko Haram into its own caliphate or even priorities a terrorist partnership with the group,” a U.S. intelligence official said. “Both groups, however, benefit from making the world think that the two deadliest terrorist organizations in history are working together more closely than they actually are,” the official said.

Even if the purported allegiances between these two extremist organizations does not translate into financial or logistical support from either side the allegiance may serve to increase the perceived legitimacy of ISIS and Boko Haram. According to Jacob Zenn, a terror expert who lives in Nigeria

“Boko Haram will get legitimacy, which will help its recruiting, funding and logistics as it expands.” He argued the allegiance “will also get guidance from ISIS in media warfare and propaganda. Previously Boko Haram was a sort of outcast in the global Jihadi community. Now it is perhaps ISIS’s biggest affiliate. ISIS gets more international legitimacy as a global caliphate.” For both Boko Haram and the ISIS movement, propaganda like the latest pledge of allegiance has become a weapon of extremism and an attempt to expand the reach of extremist ideology and power.

For more information please see:

Reuters – Islamic State leader accepts allegiance of Nigeria’s Boko Haram  — 13 March 2015

CNN International – ISIS leader purportedly accepts Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance – 12 March 2015

Time Magazine – ISIS Welcomes Boko Haram Pledge – 12 March 2015

CNN International – Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance to ISIS: What it means – 10 March 2015

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – A new propaganda video released by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) appears to show a young children shooting a detainee the group has claimed was an Israeli spy, a chilling representation of the organizations complete disregard for international law and basic human decency. The victim was identified in the video as 19-year-old Mohamed Said Ismail Musallam, an Israeli citizen of Palestinian descent. The video shows Musallam’s Israeli passport claiming that this document is somehow proof that he was an agent sent to infiltrate the group. The young man’s family says he had no ties with the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, and had, in fact, been recruited by ISIS as a potential member of the militant group. “Mohamed told me and his brother that ISIS took him,” according to Said Musallam, his father. “They sent him money through the Western Union. They said you will have girls, money, cars, villas, paradise, but afterwards he discovered that there is nothing.”

While propaganda videos depicting the brutal murder of detainees have become relatively common propaganda tools for the ISIS movement this video was particularly disturbing because of the young face behind the trigger. Unlike past videos the executioner was not a masked man but was instead a young child.

Another video released in January apparently shows a young boy with a pistol apparently shooting two men in the back of the head. The boy then stands over one of the bodies, fires two more times. Last August, a photo posted to Twitter from an ISIS stronghold showed a 7-year-old boy holding a man’s severed head and his father’s words, “That’s my boy.”

ISIS has taken over schools to indoctrinate children. Human Rights Watch reports ISIS and other extremist groups “have specifically recruited children through free schooling campaigns that include weapons training and have given those dangerous tasks, including suicide bombing missions.” ISIS makes no attempt to hide its use of child soldiers, proudly calling the young fighters “cubs of the caliphate. The group has even called on foreign fighters who come to Iraq and Syria to going the fight to bring their own children and families to the war zone.

The use of child soldiers, which includes any child under the age of 18, is a war crime. Child soldiers, far too young to understand the war around them, often experience psychological trauma from their experiences. According to The Guardian, a study of 300 former Ugandan child soldiers found that approximately one third of the young fighters were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Two-thirds were suffering behavioral and other emotional problems, mostly anxiety and depression.

For more information please see:

CNN International – New ISIS Video Claims To Show Child Killing Palestinian Captive – 11 March 2015

National Post – ISIS Releases Video of Extremists Killing Man They Said Was an Israeli Spy: They Made A Boy Do the Dirty Work – 11 March 2015

The Guardian – ‘Raising tomorrow’s Mujahedeen’: The Horrific World of Isis’s Child Soldiers – 10 March 2015

Haaretz – ISIS Releases Video Purporting To Show Child Soldier Killing ‘Israeli Spy’ – 10 March 2015

“Turkey is now realizing that it should update its security policy with the West in regards to the ISIS threat.”

On Sunday, an estimated 600 Turkish troops entered Syria in an unprecedented incursion. Their stated mission was to relocate the historic tomb of Suleyman Shah and evacuate the soldiers guarding the monument after it was surrounded by Islamic State militants.

The action, which involved tanks, drones and reconnaissance planes as well as ground forces, was the first incursion by Turkish troops into Syria since the start of the civil war there nearly four years ago.

The Syrian government denounced the move, describing it as an act of “flagrant aggression” on Syrian territory. It said it would hold Turkey responsible for its repercussions.

Syria has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting insurgent groups that have seized control over large swaths of territory in northern and eastern Syria, by allowing them passage through its porous border. In a significant expansion of its role in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), the U.S. and Turkey signed an agreement last week to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebel groups.

Gokhan Bacik, an analyst and professor of international relations at Ankara’s Ipek University, explained why Turkey has stepped up its cooperation with the international community in the fight against ISIS.

Syria Deeply: ISIS militants have surrounded the tomb of Suleyman Shah for many months. Why did Turkey decide to intervene now?

Bacik: There are several reasons behind this decision. Turkey is approaching its elections, and the government doesn’t want another hostage crisis like last year. There was a concern that if Turkey prolonged its response to rumors that ISIS was surrounding areas around the tomb, it would become a crisis for the government. Ankara was scared of being drawn into the conflict in Syria if ISIS later attacked the tomb.

Syria Deeply: Turkish critics of the move have said that it signals a retreat from the fight against ISIS, if not indeed a defeat. Why do they feel this way?

Bacik: Technically, it was a successful operation, but symbolically, it was a failure. It’s a piece of Turkish land with a lot of symbolic significance. The Turkish government tried to protect its public image by relocating the tomb inside Syria, to symbolize that Turkey isn’t retreating completely. It could have been relocated to Turkey, but the problem is the public would have criticized the government for failing to protect what is considered to be Turkish territory.

Syria Deeply: Turkey is creating a new tomb site in the Kurdish-controlled town of Ashme in Syria. There are also suggestions that the military operation to relocate the tomb could not have been done without assistance from Kurds on the ground. Does this signal a new page of cooperation between Ankara and the Syrian Kurds?

Bacik: The Turkish government needed a piece of land that was secure for a period of time and the only alternative was found in a Kurdish area inside Syria.

Turkey is facing a dilemma where, on the one hand, Ankara knows it should cooperate with the Kurds, but on the other hand it’s not happy with the consolidation of Kurdish power in northern Syria and southern Turkey.

The incursion wasn’t a serious military operation, but it requires, given how fragmented Syria has become, behind-the-scenes contact with many different elements, including Kurdish groups such as the YPG and PYD as well as the U.S. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it happened just after Turkey and the U.S. signed an agreement to arm the Syrian opposition.

Syria Deeply:Ankara and Washington recently signed an agreement to jointly train and equip of thousands of moderate Syrian rebels. Are we witnessing a new stage of collaboration in the fight against the Islamic State?

Bacik: Definitely. As of today, we are seeing signs of a shift in Turkey in its stance towards the Islamic State. Turkey is now realizing that it should update its security policy with the West in regards to the ISIS threat. Turkey is now addressing that threat in a more serious way, so it is more likely to be part of the U.S. led process in the fight against the group, and could be part of that operation soon. As far as I understand, Turkey is making preparations to contribute.

But it’s not only about the Kurdish and ISIS issues: Turkey is now completely isolated in its foreign policy. Turkey’s prestige is very weak, so its only option is to come to an agreement with Western institutions, where Turkey can play a role in the fight against ISIS. It’s the only way it can market itself.

Turkey has various instruments to cooperate with the arms and training program, but I think the program is going to fail – it can help fight ISIS, but it cant help the fight against Assad and the rival blocks trained by Iran who are fighting to preserve his power.

Syria Deeply: Turkey has laid out conditions for joining the U.S. led coalition, including the removal of Assad, while the U.S. has stressed that its priority is battling the Islamic State. To what extent can there be convergence between the two countries in the fight against ISIS?

Bacik: Turkey should update and refine its policy on Syria. Its main strategies and concerns regarding Syria are different than that of the U.S. I don’t know how convergence between the two is possible. Turkey’s priority is first and foremost to weaken Assad. This condition puts Turkey in a very difficult position vis a vis the U.S. and Western policy.

Given the difference on a macro scale between Turkey and the U.S, technical cooperation will always be limited. Turkey should update its understanding of Syria to become more closely aligned with that of Western governments. However, right now that’s very difficult because Turkish leaders view Syrian problems as purely a domestic issue. They believe that if they update their stance on Assad, it will be a failure in the eyes of Turkish domestic policy.

Syria Deeply: The Syrians, who have repeatedly accused Turkey of abetting the Islamic State, said the raid offered further evidence of a “deep connection between the Turkish government” and ISIS. Does this accusation have any bearing in reality?

Bacik: Several months ago, pro-government newspapers in Turkey were telling the Turkish public that ISIS wasn’t a terrorist group. Members of the Turkish parliament also said that ISIS wasn’t a typical terrorist organization. Turkey needs to update its understanding of ISIS, no doubt. It not only failed in regards to Syria, but in regards to ISIS.

It was very telling how Iran and Russia reacted to Turkey’s recent incursion into Syria. Iran’s deputy prime minister immediately criticized the incursion as a violation of international law. It’s not easy for Turkey to maneuver in the region right now. Turkey has contributed to the formation of this very ugly picture in the region.

Syria Deeply: Jihadists are using Turkey as their main logistical base for the flow of foreign fighters. Is Turkey now at risk of retaliation from ISIS? How will it protect its border? How large is the ISIS threat inside Turkey?

Bacik: There is no doubt that Turkey is trying to move more closely towards anti-ISIS rhetoric and behavior. The question is if Turkey starts collaborating with the U.S. against ISIS, how will ISIS react? ISIS conducted an operation in Turkey almost a year ago, in Nideh, which killed members of the Turkish army. There was a suicide attack in Sultanahmet, and even though it was hidden from the Turkish public, we know ISIS did it.

Very frankly speaking, Turkey cannot protect the border. The Turkish border with Syria is almost 900km long: it’s impossible to protect. To protect it, you would need a stable government on the other side. It’s a paradise for jihadists and for smuggling drugs. It’s a problem of geography. In the beginning, Turkey expected ISIS was going to weaken Assad, but we are now seeing the fallout of that perception.

There are rumors, but no evidence, about how ISIS is organized in Turkey. Some people say there are thousands of people linked with ISIS living in Turkish territory. So far, we’ve studied ISIS as mainly a Syrian and Iraqi issue. We have no idea about how ISIS is organized on Turkish territory, but there are many people from Turkey joining ISIS. We don’t know if ISIS is going to activate its followers in Turkey, and we don’t know how ISIS is going to react to this recent incursion.