By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian regime forces claim to have taken full control of the city of Yabroud along the border with Lebanon. Yabroud was a critical stronghold for opposition forces, used as a strategic supply chain for bringing weapons and other supplies into Syria from Lebanon. Regime forces claim to have taken control of the city with the support of Lebanese Hezbollah fighters who are supporters of the Assad regime.

The fall of Yabroud came on the eve of Third anniversary of the start of the Syrian Civil War. The Battle for Yabroud is part of a large offensive led by the Syrian regime and Hezbollah to secure the Qalamoun region along the Lebanese’s border with Syria. The offensive has been launched in order to cut rebel supply lines into Syria.

Government forces entered the town of Yabroud on Friday evening. On Saturday the regimes news agency said that “terrorist groups” in the town had been “devastated” by the regime’s fighters and that the area had been combed through for explosives. SANA reported on Sunday that “the Syrian army is now in full control of the town of Yabroud in Damascus [province] and are now combing through the city and dismantling the roadside bombs planted by terrorists.”

The Syrian regime launched its offensive in in mid-November of last year in order to force rebel fighters out of the Qalamoun region near the Lebanese border. As part of the offensive they have recaptured several towns formally held by rebel fighters including Qara, Deir Attiya and Nabak, to the north-east of Yabroud along the motorway that connects Damascus with the city of Homs, two of the country’s largest cities.

A fighter in Yabroud from Jabhat al-Nusra said that many of the rebels who fled the town were headed to nearby rebel controlled villages including Hosh Arab, Rankous and Flita. A Lebanese military source said that more than 1,000 fighters fled to the mountainous border area near the Lebanese town of Arsal, an area that has been a target of regime airstrikes in recent weeks. According to Ahmad Fliti, the vice mayor of Arsal, the Syrian Air Force launched two strikes on the outskirts of Arsal on Sunday.

More than 140,000 people have been during the three year fight for Syria’s future, a fight that began with peaceful street protests against the Assad regime, calling for democratic reforms, which turned violent after the regime began a violent crackdown on demonstrators and opponents of the regime.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Syrian Army Captures Strategic Border Town – 16 March 2014

BBC News – Syria ‘Recaptures Rebel Border Town Yabroud’ – 16 March 2014

The Guardian – Syria Claims to Have Captured Rebel Stronghold on Lebanese Border – 16 March 2014

The Washington Post – Syria Says Army and Hezbollah Have Seized Border Town – 16 March 2014

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 

CAIRO, Egypt – Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik has pulled out of the nation’s upcoming presidential elections calling the election a “farce” that has been fixed to allow Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a formal military chief, to take control of the country.

Under the administration of Hosni Mubarak, Shafik served as a military leader and was appointed to serve as Prime Minister of the country shortly before the youth-led revolt sparked by the Arab Spring led to the resignation of President Mubarak. Shafik came in second behind President Morsi during the 2012 Presidential elections.

In a leaked recording of a private conversation released by Al Jazeera on Thruway Shafik, who had stated earlier he would endorse al-Sisi if he ran for the presidency, said “I know very well they will fix all the ballot boxes. I have taken myself out of this loop because the election is going to be a farce.” Shafik confirmed the authenticity of the recording.

He went on to say, “of course whether other candidates withdraw will depend on the nomination of Sisi. I said if he’s going to run in the presidential election I will not run but I will get my papers ready (and) if he is going to run I will not submit them.”

Sami Anan, another leading politician and former Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Military, announced his withdrawal from the presidential camping on Thursday saying his decision was “rooted in the nation’s highest interests” and “out of the realisation of the dangers facing it.” His decision will mean that al-Sisi will run with only one significant rival candidate, the leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, from the Nile Delta town of Kafr el-Sheikh.  Sabahi who came in third in the 2012 presidential elections

Hamdeen Sabahi, a formal journalist, says he doubts Egypt would be governed according to democratic principles is al-Sisi is elected. Sabahi supported the coup led by al-Sisi that resulted in the removal of Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Morsi, last year. However, he now feels that the culture of political repression that characterized the Mubarak regime still remains rampant in the country. “The current transitional system did not respect the values of democracy and plurality, and violated the constitution … in the way it dealt with its opponents,” he said. “It did not implement the freedoms the Egyptian people want and deserve.”

Despite his concerns, Sabahi is convinced that the Egyptian people will no longer tolerate dictatorship. “Any attempt to reproduce the old regime will not work. The people are very smart,” Sabahi said. “The future of Egypt is in the revolution. There will be no future for anyone who tries to bring back a former regime.”

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Egypt ex-PM: presidential poll will be fixed – 14 March 2014

Malta Today – Egypt ex-PM claims presidential poll will be fixed – 14 March 2014

The New York Times – Former Egyptian General Calls Promise of Free Elections a ‘Farce’ – 13 March 2014

Reuters – Egyptian candidate questions Sisi’s commitment to democracy – 13 March 2014

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Gaza City, Palestine-The Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, reported on Thursday that it had agreed to stop a series of rocket fire on Israel, prompting an end to the most active fighting between the two sides since 2012.

Over two days of violence, Palestinian militants have fired more than sixty rockets into Israel, while Israel responded by caring out a series of air strikes in Gaza.  Fortunately, no serious casualties have been reported.

“After the Egyptian brothers initiated contacts with us in the past few hours, we agreed to restore the calm.  As long as the occupation honors the calm, we will honor the clam and instructions are being given right now to Al Quds brigades, our military wing, about this understanding,” stated Khaled Al Batch, the Islamic Jihad leader.

Before the truce was reached, the Islamic Jihad resumed its rocket fire on Israel, striking outside areas of two major cities.  The previous day saw dozens of rockets being fired on Israel, the largest barrage on Israel since an eight-day assault in late 2012

It was reported by an Egyptian senior security official, who brokered similar truces in the past that Egyptian intelligence officials had been communicating with the sides in brokering an agreement.

Israeli military officials stated it retaliated with renewed air strikes on “seven terror sites in southern Gaza.  Until this week, both sides largely observed a ceasefire that ended the Israeli offensive against rocket launchers in November 2012.

“Since yesterday, there has seen a substantial deterioration in the safety of the residents in southern Israel.  We have responded and will continue to do so to eliminate threats as they develop,” said Lt. Colonel Peter Lerner.

During this latest attack, Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement has not been involved.  Israeli leaders, however, say that they hold Hamas responsible because it rules the coastal Palestinian territory.  Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, responded by saying “Israel bears full responsibility fo the escalation.”

Gaza has been controlled by Hamas since them overrunning the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.  Currently, Abbas governs in the West Bank located on the opposite side of Israel.

“We condemn the aggression and all forms of military escalation, including rockets,” stated Hamas at a meeting in Cameron in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

For more information, please see the following: 

Aljazeera-Attacks continue despite Gaza truce claims-14 March 2014

National-Rockets fired from Gaza despite ceasefire with Israel-14 March 2014

BBC News-Gaza militants and Israel exchange strikes despite ‘truce’-13 March 2014

Jerusalem Post-Sporadic rocket fire from Gaza continues to hit South despite ‘ceasefire’-13 March 2014

 

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BEIRUT, Lebanon – According to Lebanon’s official news agency, Syrian military helicopters have launched three air-raids in areas inside Lebanon near the town of Arsal on the Syrian border. The airstrikes signify a spill over of the Syrian Civil War, now in its third year, into neighboring countries as the regime attempts to cut-off supply routes used by rebel forces.

On 28 February Reuters reported that an airstrikes near the town of Arsal killed three people and wounded seven. Later that day Sunni militants inside Syria fired rockets into the Lebanese’s town of Britel, a Hezbollah stronghold. The attack wounded a women and her two children.

The majority of the people living in the border town of Arsal’s support the Syrian revolution and opposition fighters. The town is now home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and has experienced a sudden influx of displaced persons as the Syrian government launches a mass assault across the border in the Qalamoun region or Syria.

On Wednesday, Syrian helicopters carried out the air raids in the sparsely populated mountainous regions outside of the town of Arsal, near the Syrian border. Airstrikes have become common along the Lebanon-Syria border. Syrian war planes and helicopters routinely carry out air strikes along the border, inside of Lebanon.

Syrian warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes near a Lebanese border town on Wednesday, the latest evidence of a spill over of the Syria’s civil war into neighbouring countries. The town’s Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti said that an airstrike was carried out near the border town on Wednesday and that at least eight airstrikes have been carried out along the town’s outskirts where thousands of refugees have established tent-encampments.

Asem Alzein, a Syrian doctor who lives in Arsal said a 30-year-old woman and seven-year-old girl in Wadi Hmaied were wounded during the airstrikes. He said that one blast hit only a few hundred meters away from a school, forcing the teachers and students to flee the building.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages from Wednesday’s round of air-strikes which appears to be linked to the regime’s military offensive against the rebel stronghold of Yabroud. Syrian journalists who were taken on a state-orchestrated tour of government-held areas around Yabroud on Tuesday reported that they heard gunfire and saw military jets flying overhead. The offensive is an attempt by the Assad regime to gain control of border regions in order to cut-off shipments of arms and other supplies to rebel groups.

For more information please see:

Al Aljazeera – Syrian air raids hit Lebanese border region – 05 March 2014

Reuters – Syrian Air Raids Hit Lebanese Border Region – 05 March 2014

ABC News – Syrian Aircraft Strike near Lebanese Border Town – 04 March 2014

Reuters – Syrian Air Strikes Kill Three near Lebanese Border – 28 February 2014