Syria Justice and Accountability Centre: Team Syria’s Success Highlights Deep Fractures in Society

October 9, 2017

SJAC Update | October 9, 2017

Team Syria (right) enters Hang Jebat Stadium in Malaysia for their October 5 World Cup qualifying match against Australia | Credit: ESPN

Team Syria’s Success Highlights Deep Fractures in Society

On October 10, the Syrian Arab Republic national football team – “Team Syria” – will compete in its second match against Australia at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium to qualify for its first ever World Cup tournament. Syria’s surprising rise to the World Cup qualifiers has aroused conflicting emotions among Syrians and has allowed the Assad government to project an image of a united and robust nation on the world stage. Yet beneath this carefully crafted facade remains a team and a population deeply controlled by the Syrian government – which considers unwavering political support as a prerequisite to membership. In order to truly foster unity and reconciliation in Syria, however, every citizen must be afforded the right and opportunity to belong, irrespective of political inclinations. But in Syria, football is a microcosm of the challenges to overcoming societal divides and achieving nationwide reconciliation.

While millions of Syrians were elated by Team Syria’s unexpected success throughout the qualifying rounds, the occasion left many others conflicted and disillusioned. On social media, some Syrians even posted that they would rather root for the opposing team than support Team Syria. The chilled response was largely due to the frustration over the team’s de facto leadership: the Assad government, which has leveraged the appeal of sports players in Syria to manipulate public opinion and quell dissent.

Rules of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) state that member associations must be independent and avoid any political interference. Yet, during the conflict, players have been compelled to march in pro-Assad rallies, wear T-shirts bearing the president’s image, and make pro-government statements to the press. Criticism of the government is strictly prohibited among athletes, and those who defy this unwritten rule have been reportedly killed, forcibly disappeared, or tortured to death. Reports also suggest several national team players have been compelled to play against their will by government threats to harm detained family members or loved ones.

The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre (SJAC) is a Syrian-led and multilaterally supported nonprofit that envisions a Syria where people live in a state defined by justice, respect for human rights, and rule of law. SJAC collects, analyzes, and preserves human rights law violations by all parties in the conflict — creating a central repository to strengthen accountability and support transitional justice and peace-building efforts. SJAC also conducts research to better understand Syrian opinions and perspectives, provides expertise and resources, conducts awareness-raising activities, and contributes to the development of locally appropriate transitional justice and accountability mechanisms. Contact us at info@syriaaccountability.org.

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Syria Deeply: Turkey enters Idlib, battling ISIS in Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, and a new report of sarin gas in northern Syria

October 9, 2017

Oct. 9th, 2017

Welcome to our weekly summary of Syria Deeply’s top coverage of the crisis in Syria.

As part of our new Deeply Talks series, on October 10, Syria Deeply will host a 30-minute conversation with Sam Heller of the Century Foundation about the situation along Syria’s frontier with Jordan and the possibility of the border crossing between the two states reopening. To RSVP and to receive dial-in instructions, click here. If you’d like to ask our editors or guest a question, please email it to our community editor Kim Bode (kim@newsdeeply.com).

Turkey Enters Idlib: Turkish troops moved into Idlib province on Sunday in an effort to enforce a de-escalation zone in the province dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants, according to a Turkish military statement released Monday.

Turkish forces were deployed to carry out “reconnaissance activities” in the area, including the creation of “observation points” in the northwestern province, according to the Associated Press.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the start of the “serious” military operation in Idlib on Saturday, adding that Turkish-backed Syrian rebels affiliated with the Free Syrian Army are leading the campaign. The following day, Erdogan said Turkish troops would also be deployed in the province to support opposition forces.

On Saturday, bulldozers dismantled border walls to allow for the passage of military vehicles. Reuters reported on Sunday that al-Qaida-linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militants escorted Turkish forces who are part of a military reconnaissance team to the area, where they “scouted” ahead of a planned deployment.

Battles Against ISIS: Pro-government forces allegedly encircled the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in the city of al-Mayadeen on Sunday, as U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) prepare to launch the final stage of the battle against ISIS in Raqqa.

“Units of our armed forces with the allied forces continue their advance on a number of fronts and axes in Deir al-Zor [Ezzor] and its countryside … and encircle Daesh terrorists in the city of al-Mayadin,” an unnamed military source told Reuters, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Losing al-Mayadeen, which is on the western banks of the Euphrates river, would be a big blow to the militant group.

Pro-government forces advanced to within 7 miles (10km) of al-Mayadeen last week, and by Friday reportedly entered the militants stronghold and seized control of several buildings with support from Russian airstrikes, according to AFP. However, on Sunday ISIS militants repelled pro-regime advances.

In Raqqa, the SDF has captured around 90 percent of the city and is advancing from the city’s north and east in an attempt to close in on ISIS militants holed up in a pocket of territory near the city center.

If the forces advancing from the north link up with those moving in from the east, then the SDF can begin its final push in Raqqa, which will focus on areas around Raqqa’s national hospital, the nearby football stadium and surrounding residential neighborhoods, an SDF commander told AFP.

New Report of Sarin Attack: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has collected evidence that sarin nerve agent was used in an attack on the rebel-held village of Latamneh in northern Syria, just five days before the major chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun.

“Analysis of samples collected (by the OPCW) … relates to an incident that took place again in the northern part of Syria on the 30th of March this year,” Ahmet Uzumcu, the head of the OPCW, said in an interview with AFP. “The results prove the existence of sarin.”

The attack allegedly wounded 50 people, he said, adding that there were no immediate reports of any deaths. These findings disprove the claim that the April attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, which killed at least 87 people, was the first time sarin had been used since the 2013 gas attack on the suburbs of Damascus.

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Former Prime Minister of Thailand Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

October 9, 2017

By: Brian Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – On September 27, 2017, the Supreme Court of Thailand convicted Yingluck Shinawatra, former Prime Minster of negligence and sentenced her to five years in prison. The former prime minister was found negligent for her government’s role in a rice-subsidy program that cost the country billions of dollars.

Supporters protest Yingluck Shinawatra’s conviction outside the Supreme Court. Image courtesy of New York Times.

Under Yingluck’s government, the country’s rice farmers were paid 50% above market prices which lead to a large stockpile of grain. This scheme was planned with the intention of driving up prices for the global market. However, due to the fluctuation in prices, Vietnam became the world’s leading rice exporter.

For many years, Thailand went through power struggles between the traditional elites and the Shinawatra family. Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra served as the country’s prime minister for five years. He was ultimately ousted in 2006. Despite the country being controlled by the Shinawatra family since 2001, many judicial actions and two military coupes have impacted their control. In 2014, Yingluck, who served as the country’s first female prime minister was removed from office.

The Shinawatra family supported the rural poor through their populist policies while the traditional elites portrayed the family as corrupt and power-hungry. Before Yingluck left the country, she maintained her innocence and accused the military government of political persecution.

Last month, the current regime convicted a former commerce minister under Yingluck’s government to 42 years in prison for falsifying the rice deal.

Reuters – Fugitive former Thai PM Yingluck gets five years’ jail in absentia – 26 September, 2017

Time – Thailand’s Fugitive Former Leader Has Been Sentenced After Skipping Court – 27 September, 2017

NYT – Yingluck Shinawatra, Ex-Leader Who Fled Thailand, Gets 5-Year Sentence – 27 September, 2017

Myanmar Military Accused of Ethnic Cleansing

October 9, 2017

By: Katherine Hewitt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar – Conflict between the Rohingya Muslims and the government of Myanmar have been ongoing for decades. Since 1982, the Rohingya have not been recognized as citizens, but rather illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. They are a minority group that lives in the Northern state of Rakhine.

Rohingya Refugee, Photo Courtesy of Newsweek.

Conflict escalated in mid August after a group of militant Rohingya Muslims known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army or ARSA attacked 30 police posts and an army camp on the 25^th of August. In retaliation the Myanmar government conducted operations to root out the militants and terrorists.

The response of the Myanmar military has been on a mass scale that primarily targeted citizens. The Myanmar security forces looted, destroyed, and burned hundreds of Rohingya Villages. Men are shot and burned. Women are raped. Children and women are attacked brutally and killed. One mother reports that Myanmar soldiers threw her month old baby on the ground, killing him instantly. Another found her children beaten dead with a shovel. Around 100,000 Rohingya have been killed in Myanmar in this new wave of violence.

Overall more than 500,00 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to flee the violence. This migration is in addition to the 87,000 that fled from October 2016 to July 2017.

Myanmar officials deny these events, saying that it is all propaganda against the state. A government representative goes further to say that all allegations brought to the government will be investigated and that state will protect any rape victims.

The UN Secretary-General said in a speech in regards to the violence, “I call on the Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence, uphold the rule of law and recognize the right of return of all those who have had to leave the country.” The UN High Commissioner for Human rights said the crisis in Myanmar is a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

The Bangladesh Foreign Minister described the violence as genocide. The National commission for Human Rights in Bangladesh is considering compiling a case against Myanmar and the army in an international tribunal.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Burma: Military Commits Crimes Against Humanity – 25 September 2017

National Geographic – Myanmar’s Rohingya Are in Crisis – What You Need to Know – 29 September 2017

Newsweek – “MYANMAR CRISIS: AS ARMY CLAIMS DISCOVERY OF ‘MASS HINDU GRAVE’ U.N. SEEKS AID FOR TRAUMATIZED ROHINGYA” – 25 September 2017

AlJazeera – UN urges Myanmar to end Rohingya violence – 14 September 2017

AlJazeera – Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya? – 28 September 2017

Flipboard (Reuters): Syria Fighting Worst since Aleppo, Air Strikes Deadly – Aid Agencies

October 8, 2017

Syria fighting worst since Aleppo, air strikes deadly: aid agencies

By Stephanie Nebehay/Oct 5, 2017

GENEVA (Reuters) – Syria is in the throes of its worst fighting since the battle for eastern Aleppo last year, with heavy air strikes causing hundreds of civilian casualties, aid agencies said on Thursday.

Hospitals, schools and people fleeing violence have been “targeted by direct air strikes” that may amount to war crimes, the United Nations said, without apportioning blame.

Russia and a U.S.-led coalition are carrying out separate air strikes in Syria ostensibly aimed at defeating Islamic State militants.

“September was the deadliest month of 2017 for civilians with daily reports of attacks on residential areas resulting in hundreds of conflict-related deaths and injuries,” U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator Panos Moumtzis said in a statement.

Air strikes killed dozens this week in Raqqa, where 8,000 people remain trapped, and at least 149 people, mostly women and children, in residential areas of rebel-dominated Idlib province in Syria’s northwest in the last 12 days of September, he said.

Explosions in Damascus killed 20 people and civilian casualties were also reported in rural areas around the Syrian capital and in Hama, Aleppo and Deir al-Zor, Moumtzis said, again without saying who was responsible.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement that up to 10 hospitals were reported to have been damaged in the past 10 days.

“We have seen a number of hospitals being targeted, we got very worrying reports and converging reports about hospitals, schools, civilian infrastructure being targeted,” Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Middle East, told Reuters in an interview in his Geneva office.

“And of course this is outrageous, unacceptable,” he said, adding that damage to Sham hospital in Idlib alone had cut off half a million people from access to health care.

The ICRC voiced alarm that violence was occurring in many of the “de-escalation” areas including Idlib, rural Hama and eastern Ghouta. “Taken together, these are the worst levels of violence since the battle for Aleppo in 2016,” it said.

“Hundreds of civilians killed is certainly a very conservative figure,” Mardini said. “We see a very strong correlation between the escalation and the intensification in the fighting on one hand and the human cost of this conflict, the attacks on health facilities and civilian infrastructure.”

Syria’s six-year-old civil war pits President Bashar al-Assad’s government supported by Russia and Iran against a myriad number of rebel factions, some Western-backed, and Islamist militant groups.

Military jets believed to be Russian killed at least 60 civilians trying to flee heavy fighting in the oil-rich Deir al-Zor province when their small boats were targeted as they sought to cross the Euphrates River, opposition activists, former residents and a war monitor said late on Wednesday.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria has carried out air strikes that have also caused civilian casualties, which it says it goes to great lengths to avoid.

“The point here is not to point fingers,” Mardini said, declining to identify suspected perpetrators of deadly strikes.

“What should be non-negotiable is the respect for the laws of war, everywhere in Syria. This is absolutely critical today.”

(Additional reporting by Tom Miles; editing by Mark Heinrich)