Syrian Revolution Digest: Monday, 1 April 2013
Ah, the Humanity!
No one has rushed to help the people who rebelled, but, in a typical fashion, many have rushed to take advantage of them: ideological groups seeking to reintroduce themselves onto the scene, a former superpower that wants to relive the glory of the old days, no matter how vicariously, neighboring states that saw a chance to fight their brewing domestic wars abroad, and lonely Arab men in search of cheap sex with desperate refugee women. The more things change the more humanity proves to be as screwed up as we always knew her to be.
Today’s Death Toll: 146 martyrs, including 5 women, 4 children and 2 martyrs under torture: 55 in Damascus and Suburbs; 31 in Homs; 25 in Idlib; 18 in Aleppo;10 in Hama; 6 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Daraa (LCCs).
Points of Random Shelling: 291 points, including 16 points shelled by warplanes, 4 points with Scud missiles, and 3 point using barrel bombs. Thermobaric bombs were used to shell Kafr Zeta and Kafr Nabouda in Hama, and cluster bombs to shell Qara in Damascus Suburbs. In addition, 107 points were shelled with mortar, 98 points with heavy caliber artillery and 60 points with rockets (LCCs).
Clashes: 113. Successful rebel operations included the liberation of a number of buildings in Jobar and Qaboon in Damascus City, targeting the Damascus International airport with rockets, and the headquarters of the 22nd Brigade in Otaibeh with missiles. In Idlib, rebels targeted the reservoirs checkpoint with Grad missiles (LCCs).
News
March bloodiest month so far in Syria uprising March was the bloodiest month of the Syrian uprising, with more than 6,000 documented deaths, a pro-opposition human rights group reported Monday. More than one-third of those killed were civilians, including nearly 300 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based organization with monitors in Syria.
Historic Damascus synagogue damaged, looted The Jobar Synagogue, in the neighborhood of the same name in northeastern Damascus, is a relic of the area’s once sizeable Jewish population. Tradition holds that the biblical prophet Elisha built the first structure on the site over a grotto in which his teacher, the prophet Elijah, had sought refuge.
Tit-for-tat kidnappings bring Syria’s war into Lebanese backyards In northern Lebanon, the kidnapping of a member of the powerful Shiite Jaafar clan has created yet another arena for Sunni-Shiite tensions fomented by Syria’s unrest.
‘Iran’s Plan B is Alawite State If Syria’s Assad Falls’ A Syrian professor says Iran hopes to fragment Syria and create an Alawite state to maintain power in the region, Today’s Zayman reports.
As Casualties Mount in Syria, Children Tend to the Wounded
Syria accuses rebels of setting fire to oil wells
Syria rebels, regime trade accusations of ‘massacre’
Syrian rebels enter strategic Aleppo neighborhood
Iraq to up searches of Iran overflights to Syria
Special Reports
The Kurdish Factor … last week’s reversal in Sheikh Maksoud suggests that Erdogan’s recent overtures to Ocalan are already bearing fruit in his struggle with Assad. Although the Kurdish groups in Syria are not very significant militarily, their cooperation would free the Turkish government’s hands by allowing it to increase its support for the rebels in Syria without fear that the Assad regime could stoke the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey in response. It remains to be seen whether the Kurds’ newfound cooperation with the rebels in Aleppo is part of a larger realignment by the P.Y.D. But if over the weeks ahead government forces are pushed out of their remaining bases in Kurdish areas, like oil-rich Hasakah in the northeast, then the fall of Sheikh Maksoud on Friday will have marked the beginning of a dramatic shift in Syria’s civil war.
Syria’s Civil War: The Mystery Behind a Deadly Chemical Attack The investigation, when it starts, will be hobbled by the passage of time. According to a chemical weapons expert familiar with such inquiries, who spoke on condition of anonymity over the telephone, the investigating team will examine soil, air and oil samples taken from the blast site. It is unclear whether they will have access to survivors (who probably bear little traces of the chemicals so long after the attack) or to autopsy reports. But initial assessments based upon body counts, photos and video footage taken at the hospital after the attack seem to rule out nerve agents or mustard gas. “Looking at the death rate relative to the number of people exposed, it couldn’t have been a weaponized nerve agent,” says the expert. “And mustard gas rubs off on whoever touches it, but you don’t see the medical personnel taking additional protective measure when they treat the patients. So it’s pretty likely it was something else.”
Syrian Newspapers Emerge to Fill Out War Reporting Mr. Smesem has used the paper to confront the mood of intimidation that he said had infected towns like Binnish, where supporters of the fundamentalist Salafi movement leveraged their success on the battlefield to take over the town council. In one editorial, he criticized changes in the tone of the town’s weekly Friday protests since the Nusra Front began organizing them. The very people who now shouted about killing all the Alawites were once members of the Binnish Coordination Committee who marched every Friday in support of civil society, he wrote. Now Sham editors worry whether the new freedom of expression that has emerged in the areas seized from government control will persist should the Assad government fall.
Brides for ‘Sale’ The offer comes via BlackBerry Messenger: “If you want to marry a beautiful fair young Syrian woman, contact …” and a number is provided. As the conflict in Syria rages on, with no respite in sight, desperation is hitting Syrians hard. And there are many around to take full advantage of it.
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
* Much controversy surrounds what happened to Ghassan Saleh Zeidan, a Druze Elder who went to the town of Hadar to mediate between Sunnis rebels and the local Druze population. On the way there, Ghassan’s convoy was ambushed and he was killed. Both the regime and rebels accused each other of perpetrating the murder, albeit, in practice, the murder serves the regime’s agenda of fomenting conflict between Sunnis and Druzes more than the rebels’ agenda which seeks to entice the Druze to join the revolution. The man speaking here is Ghassan’s brother. He accuses the pro-Assad Druze militias of shooting at their convoy, and names their leaders who were present and ordered the shooting http://youtu.be/0x__lYWHeIY The events took place in Quneitrah Province, where rebels formed a new division under Liwa Al-Tawhid http://youtu.be/Tb5H6Bl-Q2M.
* On Saturday, Syria’s State TV denied reports of Bashar Al-Assad’s death and promised that Assad would address the nation “within hours.” By dawn of Tuesday April 2, Assad is still nowhere to be seen or heard. Rumors of his physical demise might still prove to be false, but the truth of his political irrelevance can now be seen by all.
Video Highlights
Aleppo City: Ansari Neighborhood removing the rubble after an aerial raid http://youtu.be/uSOE5MWD0pc Sheikh Maqsoud mass exodus following bombardment of the liberated neighborhood by loyalists http://youtu.be/v2eCTKmK_XA , http://youtu.be/gJpaKIQO4_E A loyalist headquarters in Maksoud after its liberation, the headquarters were used by the Mardel Clan, a small Sunnis ethnic group that has long been coopted by the Assads http://youtu.be/St3w2LlPIFI The pounding of the neighborhood continues http://youtu.be/Ac41IKcg3Pk
Damascus City: regime uses missile launchers to target restive communities in Eastern Ghoutah http://youtu.be/XkRG0q6QJuA Sounds of distant pounding http://youtu.be/z54vHteuqrk Rebels in Otaibeh hunt down a pro-regime sniper http://youtu.be/xA2-tpNj_sU Rebels manufacture their own mortars http://youtu.be/TSE7Gi7h8RQ Homes in Jobar catch fire due to pounding http://youtu.be/pRiLLo1CQd
Damascus Suburbs: rebels from the town of Qarrah dismantle a cluster bomb that failed to explode http://youtu.be/x65sAMggDXI In Daraya, the pounding leave many homes on fire http://youtu.be/cjGviCgCiws
Homs City: the pounding of the neighborhood of Khaldiyeh continues http://youtu.be/lQ2VyS-HzEI
Daraa: the liberation of the province continues with rebels now laying siege to the headquarters of the 46th Regiment in the town of Alma http://youtu.be/ayJfaboPYpQ , http://youtu.be/09kRwYkAKwY , http://youtu.be/4lVLwARGc2E
Idlib: clashes takes place on the outskirts of Maa’arrat Al-Nouman http://youtu.be/-s1xgAfW488 , http://youtu.be/eeDxYEZYxo0 , http://youtu.be/iTQFX-SdGcw
Leaked video shows loyalist soldiers torturing a Sunni scholar http://youtu.be/Fy_b_IXbn7Q Another leaked video from Idlib City shows a local loyalist militia leader cutting the hair of a man and his wife whom he suspected of being sympathetic to the rebels http://youtu.be/B-x3dW_2bcs
Hundreds of Decomposing Human Remains Fished Out of the Yellow River in China Each Year
By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
LANZHOU, China – Reports say that roughly 100 decomposing human bodies are fished out of the Yellow River every year in and around the city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province.

A report from a Shanghai newspaper reported that the figure of 100 is actually low, and the most recent statistics place the number of decomposing human remains retrieved from the river closer to 200 or 300 per year.
The report from the Shanghai newspaper is bolstered by “body fishers,” like Wei Jinpeng, who collect the floating corpses along the river so they can display the bodies and sell them back to the families of the deceased. Wei Jinpeng says the estimate of 100 per year is likely incredibly low given that he alone fishes out roughly 80 to 100 bodies per year.
Body fishing is also an incredibly lucrative trade for those who engage in the business, like Wei Jinpeng, in the city of Lanzhou. The city’s government has dragged their feet in cracking down on the gruesome trade since issuing a promise to the public to fix the problem back in 2006.
Law enforcement and city officials remain uninterested in the body fishing epidemic despite reports stating that around 5% of the bodies fished out of the Yellow River are results of criminal activity and murder. Many of the bodies fished out of the river are murdered, female migrant workers.
The dumping of human remains into Chinese rivers has been an ongoing problem for decades, but has recently resurfaced as a controversial issue in international media due to the investigations surrounding the dumping of tens of thousands of pig carcasses in the Huangpu River in Shanghai and dead ducks being dumped into the Nan River in Sichuan province.
The controversy stems from the possibility that the human remains, as well as the animal remains that riddle the Chinese rivers, may be contaminating and polluting the water supply provided by the rivers. A 2005 Daxia Hydropower Company report suggested that the human remains in the water supply make the water hazardous to drink.
If the bodies are left untreated and decomposing in the rivers, the environmental impact and pollution is much more severe than the regular dumping of household waste into the rivers. Additionally, in a 2012 investigation, river water is believed to regularly mix with well water which is consumed by humans, but the river water contaminated with human remains makes the water unsafe to drink.
For further information, please see:
The Times of India – Pigs, ducks and now bodies in China river – 2 April 2013
Foreign Policy – Is This a Pandemic Being Born? – 1 April 2013
Forbes – Now In China’s Rivers: Decomposing Humans – 31 March 2013
South China Morning Post – Officials in Lanzhou say bodies floating in river not affecting water quality – 29 March 2013
March Marked Bloodiest Month in Syrian War
By Dylan Takores
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
DAMASCUS, Syria – At least 6,000 deaths occurred in Syria this March, making it the deadliest month since the civil war began two years ago.
The true death toll may be higher than 6,000 because both government and rebel groups frequently underreport actual death totals.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the government and rebels each suffered approximately 1,500 casualties in March. However, the number of civilian deaths in March outweighed the staggering death tolls for both the opposing armies. Over 2,000 civilian were reportedly killed, including 298 children and 291 women. An additional 387 unidentified civilians and 588 unidentified fighters combined to bring the death total above 6,000.
The rise in casualties reflects the growing range of conflict within Syria. Fighting between rebels and government forces continues to spread beyond major cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, and Homs into other areas of the country. In particular, violence is rising in the southern provinces of Daraa and Quneitra, along Syria’s borders with Israel and Jordan.
The key battleground in the conflict is the country’s capital, Damascus. President Bashar Assad stationed his best and most loyal troops there to protect against further advances and reclaim portions of the city occupied by rebels.
In an effort to dispel rebel occupation, government forces sent air raids over rebel and civilian zones on Tuesday. They shelled the northern Damascus neighborhoods of Jobar, Barzeh, and Qaboun.
However, Assad’s army is not the only force inciting violence. Rebels in Aleppo recently began an aggressive attack, referred to as “Freeing the Prisoners.” According to the Aleppo Media Center, the plan is intended to free detainees from the city’s prison by attacking and capturing Kindi Hospital, Ghondol Square, and the central prison.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, condemned the international community for its lack of effort in preventing further violence in Syria. He stated, “If there is no solution, we think the numbers will get worse in the coming months.”
Abdul-Rahman calculated that the total number of deaths since the conflict began two years ago to be 62,554, although he admitted the true total might be twice as many. The United Nations’ most recent report, issued on February 18, placed the casualty total at 70,000. The Syrian government has not released any information regarding the death tolls.
For further information, please see:
Boston Globe – March was deadliest month in Syrian war – 2 April 2013
The Independent – March was Syrian civil war’s bloodiest month as 6,000 die in conflict – 2 April 2013
Reuters – March was bloodiest month in Syria war: rights group – 1 April 2013
Washington Post – Activists say government warplanes and artillery pound areas in and around Damascus – 1 April 2013
Bolivia Threatens to Withdraw from the Inter-American Commission of Human RIghts
By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
SUCRE, Bolivia – Bolivian President Evo Morales has made recent comments about the country’s withdrawal from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).

This announcement came immediately after the IAHCR ‘s hearing on the construct of a road through the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory.
“We are seriously considering withdrawing from the commission,” Morales said, according to The Associated Press. “We have our dignity and sovereignty to put in place in these kinds of institutions,”
President Morales’ stance is similar to Ecuadorean President’s Correa’s, who is advocating a series of reforms to the IACHR. One of Correa’s reforms is to change IAHCR’s headquarters in Washington D.C. The Commission “has offices in the United States and that country has not ratified any human rights treaty,” said Morales. President Correa and the Bolivian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) received approval for the proposal to block the Organization of American States (OAS) rapporteur’s office from pushing reports on freedom of expression, block the office from independent financial support and place it under control from member states. The OAS is made up of ambassadors from member states.
The ALBA members have threatened to withdraw from the human rights organization if their proposal was not met. ALBA took advantage of the weakening support for the human rights system in South America. The OAS is in charge of writing the restructuring for the organization that encompasses the ALBA’s recommendations.
Morales has accused the OAS of coming to Bolivia for the purpose of defending governments “that were massacring the Bolivian people.”
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said that he would oppose efforts to weaken human rights. However, in response to the ALBA’s recommendations, Insulza proposed a statutory overhaul to govern the IACHR. His recommendations are for the governments to decide the IAHCR monitoring, force delays in the organization’s findings and restrict the power to issue precautionary measures.
Isuluza has said, “ “The OAS and its member states need an autonomous and strong commission and an autonomous and strong court of human rights. But these bodies also need to take into consideration, in the course of their work, the points of view of the democratic governments of the hemisphere.”
The Inter-American system for the protection of human rights occurred after the adoption of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man in 1948. The Commission of Human Rights was created in 1959.
Venezuela withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights in September.
For further information, please see:
Christian Science Monitor — Victory for human rights in Latin America? – 25 March 13
Al Jazeera — The IACHR against colonialism – 23 March 13
Fox News Latino — Bolivia Threatens To Pull Out of International Human Rights Organization – 22 March 13
Americas Quarterly — Human Rights Under Siege in the Americas – 12 February 13