The Other Sequester!

Liberating land without the ability to secure the air makes Syria a disintegrating state. But since no one has any plans for a no-fly zone, a failed state and an imploding region is what we have to contend with for years to come.

Today’s Death Toll: 149 martyrs, including 6 children, 1 woman, and 2 martyrs under torture: 40 martyrs in Damascus and Suburbs, 35 in Raqqa, 25 in Aleppo, 17 in Homs, 12 in Daraa, 10 in Idlib, 6 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, and 1 in Lattakia (LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 395 points, including 1 point shelled by Scud missile, 5 point by regime warplanes. Shelling using cluster bombs was reported in Saraqeb in Idlib, shelling using surface-to-surface missile was reported in 1 point; in addition, 163 points were targeted by shelling using heavy caliber artillery, 119 points using mortars and 105 using rockets (LCCs).

Clashes: 145. Successful operations include the liberation of Raqqa City, tightening siege of the military airports of Minnigh and Kuweiris in Aleppo, liberation of the Haramla checkpoint in the town of Zabadani, Damascus Suburbs, repelling an attack on the town of Daraya, destroying a BMP armored vehicle near Abbasid Square on the road leading to Jobar (LCCs).

 

News

Kerry Criticizes Iran and Russia for Shipping Arms to Syria “There is no guarantee that one weapon or another might not at some point in time fall into the wrong hands,” Mr. Kerry said in a joint news conference in Riyadh with the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal. “But I will tell you this. There is a very clear ability now in the Syrian opposition to make certain that what goes to the moderate, legitimate opposition is, in fact, getting to them, and the indication is that they are increasing their pressure as a result of that.”

Syrians tear down statue of Bashar al-Assad’s father after rebel advance
Footage shows protesters beating gold statue of Hafez al-Assad with shoes in city of Raqqa near Turkish border… The euphoria, however, is brief. A second video taken by activists soon afterwards captures a government mortar landing in the square, followed by thick black smoke. Several dead and injured lie on the ground. Rebels frantically load the wounded, including a woman, into cars as a second mortar drops nearby.

Israel warns it cannot “stand idle” as Syria war spills over border Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor wrote to the 15-member council to complain about shells from Syria landing in Israel. “Israel cannot be expected to stand idle as the lives of its citizens are being put at risk by the Syrian government’s reckless actions,” Proser wrote. “Israel has shown maximum restraint thus far.”

IAEA says not yet contacted by Syria rebels about ex-nuclear site he U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has long sought access to a site in Syria’s desert Deir al-Zor region that U.S. intelligence reports say was a nascent, North Korean-designed reactor geared to producing plutonium for nuclear weapons before Israel bombed it in 2007. On February 24, opposition sources in eastern Syria said rebels had captured the destroyed site near the Euphrates River. “Certainly we are aware of the report on (the) rebel group’s offer to invite us to the site of Deir al-Zor but we are not aware of any communication to that effect,” Amano, IAEA director general, told a news conference, referring to a media report last month.

Iraq ambush kills 48 ‘unarmed, wounded’ Syrian soldiers The ambush in Anbar province, a day after a key Syrian opposition group accused Iraq of interfering in Syria, threatens to entangle Baghdad in its neighbour’s civil war — something it has tried hard to avoid. “This confirms our fears of the attempt of some to move the conflict to Iraq, but we will face these attempts by all sides with all of our power,” Ali Mussawi, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman, said of the ambush.

No endgame in sight for Syria’s civil war Last week’s events provided a glimmer of hope but at this point it’s still difficult to see signs of an endgame in Syria.

Photo Gallery – Syria’s civil war: Images of horror

 

Special Reports

The Prophet of Aleppo: Syria’s leading novelist makes his English-language debut—at last.
Just as the Leader forces crowds into the streets, the Assad regime controlled the masses through fear and intimidation until, nearly two years ago, Syrians resisted and started protesting for reform—only to be shot in the streets. They demanded Assad’s downfall instead. Another word came to Sirees: slavery. “If a slave ran away, his master would find him and kill him,” he said. “The same is happening now. If anyone defects from the Army, from his post, his party—if he defects from the masses—in the mind of the leader, he deserves to be executed.”

Aleppo takes first step toward post-Assad governance in Syria
Syria’s Aleppo Province elected a local council this weekend, replacing an interim local government and taking a step toward restoring some semblance of order to the war-torn province.

Ignatieff: Syria is ‘a dog’s breakfast,’ but inaction is worse
I think there’s a sense everywhere that the stalemate is increasingly bloody, increasingly costly and is really putting the future of Syria as a state at risk. I think the conventional wisdom everywhere is that intervention is risky and may have unintentional consequences. Iraq and Afghanistan have left everybody with a bad taste about intervention. Syria is showing us that doing nothing can be just as bad.

On the border of war
On February 20, an unexploded rocket was found in Hermel’s al-Qasr village, in the eastern Bekaa Valley on the border with Syria. It had allegedly been fired from Syria by the Free Syrian Army rebels to counter an attack from Hezbollah fighters. Two days later, the Free Syrian Army accused Hezbollah of invading villages inside Syria and issued an ultimatum to the Party of God to cease its operations in their country or face attacks on its installations in the Hermel region of Lebanon. The ultimatum did not end with a war between the FSA and Hezbollah. But the stand-off did shed light on a battle between the Syrian rebels and Hezbollah fighters that has been going on for months in Syrian villages in Qusayr area, next to the Lebanese border. A few days after the FSA ultimatum, Hermel was quiet, but residents warned that “many journalists [have been] arrested and expelled from these parts.” A resident told NOW that “Hezbollah is keeping this area under very strict control.”

Syrian rebel leader on need for U.S. aid, path to victory (Video)
Syrian rebel leader General Salim Idris was a general in the army of Syria’s dictator, Bashar al Assad until he defected 10 months ago. He speaks with Margaret Brennan about what anti-regime forces need from the U.S. to bring down Assad.

Syrian colours: the greys
In a town market in Douma – a Damascus suburb under the control of the FSA – some local shopkeepers are seemingly reluctant to take sides in a conflict which has wracked the country for the past two years. Abu Abdo, an elderly shoemaker in his seventies told me his mind when I asked him his opinion: “I just want to live and work so I can feed my family. I don’t care who rules because [whoever comes in] will always be a corrupt hypocrite. Both sides – the regime and the opposition aren’t worth supporting as they both steal and kill. Death, homelessness and destruction is all that we’ve got from them”.

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.”

The “Aleppo” Elections
The fact that elections for the new ruling council in Aleppo took place in Gaziantep, Turkey, is in itself a clear indication of the virtual impossibility of establishing the mere semblance of normal governance in any of the liberated territories, so long as the skies are not safe. The elections that took place could not have been in any way shape or form representative of the real communal and political diversity in Aleppo City, and making too much out of it gives too much legitimacy to a group that plans to conduct its affairs on the basis of Sharia law without consulting or paying any difference to the existing civil code. The people did not rise up against the civil code, they rose up against corruption and authoritarianism. The intentions of the people who organized and took part in the elections are probably good, but they are limited by their ideological predilections, limited experience and social backgrounds.

So, let’s not spin this development: it’s actually a sign of how bad things are in Syria today, and a testament to how the international community is facilitating the rise of Islamists, moderates and extremists, through its indifference. Only a no-fly zone can enable people to organize reliable elections in liberated territories, thus ensuring adequate participation and representation. The Islamists might still dominate the political process, considering all that has taken place so far, but there is a difference between a 50% representation and a 90% representation.

Iran calling the shots in Syria
Iran has taken command inside Syria and is maneuvering to create a new leadership structure; in the meantime Assad’s regime has crumbled to merely a façade. Evidence of this can be found most obviously in the 9 January prisoner swap between opposition and regime forces, as well as in the increased role Iran has recently been playing in military planning and operations…

… Further, Iran is building a sectarian Alawite- and Shia-majority militia, Ammar Abdulhamid, a pro-democracy Syrian activist based in Washington DC, and the head of the Tharwa Foundation, tells NOW. Abdulhamid believes this new militia will seek to maintain old alliances with minority communities, loyalist Sunni clans and groups, while attempting to forge new ones in the future among potential ‘rogue’ rebel units who would be more interested in carving out turf for themselves than in the fate of the country.

“At this stage,” adds Abdulhamid, “Assad is a mere placeholder. Despite the all-too-real cult of personality that surrounds Assad in the ranks of the Alawite community, this does not ensure his long-term survival. Iran eventually wants a group that will be beholden to [it] first, not to Assad,” says Abdulhamid.

 

Video Highlights

The “liberation” of Raqqa City

The rebels in charge of the liberation were all members of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Ahrar Al-Sham and the Syrian Islamic Front.

Protesters in Raqqa City bring down a giant statue of Hafiz Al-Assad soon after rebels entered in the city http://youtu.be/85uiTAjIN-A , http://youtu.be/zO2WRlepeKQ , http://youtu.be/85uiTAjIN-A But they soon came under mortar fire from pro-regime forces still active in the outskirts of the city http://youtu.be/leEbu51Et-4 , http://youtu.be/sSojL9Y0cEA The dead and wounded line the streets http://youtu.be/0e1NJyiVGxI

Scenes from the last battles that preceded the liberation of the city: an attack on a local police headquarters (Hajjaneh) http://youtu.be/IA7iwOyDxe4 Rebels claim victory http://youtu.be/f5bgZeZBTXQ Then proceed to liberate another checkpoint inside the City’s perimeters http://youtu.be/WRCRlOf8TMY A victory parade http://youtu.be/GbYn24z06_w , http://youtu.be/28ufMYXkLo0 Rebels take over the local security headquarters http://youtu.be/Ryou6NYqgnE Rebels protest the local archeological museum http://youtu.be/EnbSShfMT54 Then move to secure the Governor’s Palace http://youtu.be/tQyPbCqj2As The Governor, Hassan Salih Jalali, and the local Baath leader are arrested http://youtu.be/T9RJ0fzWiCc

Destroying a picture of Khamenei found in a local security headquarters http://youtu.be/7lgITlPIVmI

Pro-Assad militias are not giving up though, and they have formed their own resistance group to fight back http://youtu.be/MpVOz1zuRRo

In Raqqa’s second largest city of Tabaqa, rebels clash with remnant of the regime forces http://youtu.be/6b4o9Ge44JU , http://youtu.be/fm5UfRormcc

Aleppo – Col. Abdel-Jabbar Al-Oqaidi inspects the siege of Minnigh Airport, Aleppo http://youtu.be/Zmrs4yeegew Rebels continue their siege http://youtu.be/Ucpo4jzLaE0 and prepare for the final assault http://youtu.be/jNvkSA5Ysds Rebels pounding the military airport of Kuweiris http://youtu.be/tb81mcJuB8w

Hassakeh – in the town of Shdadi, Hassakeh Province, rebels bring down the regime’s flags from the local oilfield installation http://youtu.be/Amdxgm3CCtk  and celebrate their victory with Jabhat Al-Nusra cries of “Our eternal leader is our Master Muhammad” http://youtu.be/293s9KeEDUw

Rebels control the Yaroubiya Border Checkpoint with Iraq http://youtu.be/G7GfoUEBAQs

Homs – the attack on the rebel strongholds in central Homs City intensifies http://youtu.be/R4NGYHp1FEk

Please feel free to use this information, including videos, images and commentary, in your coverage of current developments in Syria. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at this email: ammar.abdulhamid@gmail.com. The Digest will also be posted on Blogger and Facebook.

 

Syria Über Assad!

Syrian Revolution Digest – March 3, 2013 

Each time he speaks he makes it clear to all that he could never be part of any solution and that he is indeed an impediment that needs to be removed. People like Assad are never more wrong and dangerous than when they are confident. And Assad was confident during his interview with the Times. Too confident. The end is nigh. His, and, for a while, Syria’s. For, irrespective of both Sunni and Alawite beliefs, Assad can never rise again, but Syria… Syria has always been a phoenix: she does not die, she transforms.

 

Sunday March 3, 2013

 

Today’s Death Toll: 154martyrs, including 5 children 12 women, and 2 under torture: 44 martyrs were reported in Damascus and suburbs, 24 in Daraa, 23 in Aleppo,18 in Homs, 11 in Hama, 11 in Lattakia, 11 in Idlib, 10 in Deir Ezzor and 2 martyrs in Raqqa (LCCs).

 

Points of Random Shelling: 370 points: 3 areas were shelled with Scud missiles, and 8 points were shelled with MiG warplanes, cluster bombs strikes were recorded in 3 points, artillery shelling was recorded in 151 points, either mortar shelling was recorded in 110 areas and missile strikes were reported in 95 points in different parts of Syria (LCCs).

 

Clashes: 120. Successful operations include liberation of the Police Academy in Khan Al-Assal in North Aleppo, shooting down a helicopter in Latakia suburbs, and taking control of the Maysaloon-Abassid Square Road in Damascus. In Raqqa, FSA rebels also gained control over Safian oil field and neighboring territories. In Homs, FSA fighters managed to repel an attempt by pro-regime militias to storm rebel strongholds in Khaldiyeh, Bab Houd, and other Old Homs neighborhoods. In Daraa, rebels repelled an attack on Basr Al-Harir. Finally, rebels in Daraya, Jobar and Eastern Ghoutah region in Damascus Suburbs repelled renewed regime attacks on their strongholds (LCCs).

 

News

Opposition leader visits north Syria as rebels seize army post The capture of the police academy at Khan al-Asal, used by Assad’s forces as an artillery base to support troops still holding around 40 percent of the northern city, came after days of fighting in which rebels killed 150 soldiers, while sustaining heavy casualties, they said. In an attempt to consolidate those gains on the ground and strengthen links between Assad’s military and civilian foes, Alkhatib crossed into northern Syria from neighboring Turkey and toured the towns of Jarablus and Minbij. Earlier he attended a meeting of 220 rebel commanders and opposition campaigners in the Turkish city of Gaziantep to elect an administration for Aleppo province, home to 6 million people.

Miles From Home, Syrians Vote In Free Elections The entire election organization moved to southern Turkey over a weekend. An army of activists arrived to set up a media center. A new FM radio station opened to cover the elections through transmitters that reach Aleppo. In an unfurnished apartment, an election center is already bustling. The apartment’s bare rooms look more like a college dorm with floor mattresses, plastic chairs and desks. Computers and cameras are everywhere.

Syria’s Assad is ‘delusional’ says William Hague UK foreign secretary hits back at Bashar al-Assad after Syrian leader accuses Britain of resuming a ‘bullying’ colonial role

Shi’ite fighters rally to defend Damascus shrine The presence of Shi’ite combatants from neighboring states – confirmed by sources in Iraq and Syria and highlighted in videos glorifying their mission – underlines how Syria’s conflict is inflaming sectarian feelings in the region. Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas brigade, named after a seventh century martyr son of Imam Ali who is considered the father of Shi’ite Islam, was formed several months ago and fights mainly around the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab on the southern outskirts of the Syrian capital, a source close to the brigade said.

Syria rebels ‘capture most of police academy’ More than 200 troops and rebels reported killed in fighting for one of last regime bastions in western Aleppo province.

UK: Charities urge BBC to launch emergency appeal for victims of Syria’s war Corporation fears lack of public sympathy for plight of millions may hurt fundraising efforts.

 

Special Reports

Worldview: In Kerry’s ‘big’ Syria offer, a proposal woefully lacking

Those two words sum up the farcical “new” policy toward Syria that Secretary of State John Kerry announced at a Rome meeting with Syrian opposition leaders. In what was ballyhooed as a major breakthrough, the United States will, for the first time, provide aid to the armed Syrian opposition. So what are we giving to help Syrian rebels confront the missiles and bombs that have killed tens of thousands of civilians? Not desperately needed antitank or antiaircraft weapons, but medical aid and MREs, those ready-to-eat-meals used as field rations for American soldiers. Biscuits and Band-Aids to combat Bashar al-Assad’s Scuds.

Expert: Obama ‘uninterested’ in Syria intervention

In response to a question by The Jerusalem Post, asking what the policy of the US should be in Syria, Rabinovich said, “Sneakers on the ground, not boots on the ground.” He explained this by saying US President Barack Obama is not interested in a full-scale military operation and “his new defense secretary is not interested” in one either. He said that by sneakers, he meant special forces combined with supporting those in the opposition that most closely reflect US values, and not the Islamists.

 

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

 

Historically speaking, Bashar Al-Assad’s confident tones have always reflected the weakness of western policies vis-à-vis his regime. So long as the West dithers, Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, will kill with impunity, while lecturing the world, and his victims, on morality and patriotism.

 

Robert Fisk gets it wrong, again: It’s not the West that is drawn maps this time around, it’s the Assad regime, Iran and Russia. Instead of watching what pundits are saying on Western media, Fisk should watch the events unfolding on the ground, the patterns of ethnic cleansing, Hezbollah’s involvement, the rising sectarian aspect of the entire unfolding. Robert Fisk’s orientalism is no less pronounced than that of Henri Lammens.

 

Video Highlights

 

Opposition leader Sheikh Moaz Alkhatib pays a visit to the towns of Jarablos and Manbij in North Aleppo http://youtu.be/LKGdLOD1De8 Singing with the rebels http://youtu.be/yUDv0KWSwJg Shortly after Sheikh Alkhatib left Manbij, a Scud paid her a visit http://youtu.be/eYEQX7tI9EI

 

Rebels confirm the liberation of the Police Academy in Khan Al-Assal, North Aleppo http://youtu.be/fT8BSq1UgX4 Scenes from after the liberation http://youtu.be/II-5Zj2JY-s , http://youtu.be/A2DTAppexSU , http://youtu.be/ZMsfkjlwHH8 Rebels used their own tanks in the battle http://youtu.be/KPnO84V7IGs Scenes from the final clashes http://youtu.be/_TT566FweFM

 

Another leaked video showing the launch of a Scud missile http://youtu.be/F_uFvU3SKs8 Two Scuds fired simultaneously http://youtu.be/M0ih0HezdT0 A scud missile falls without exploding on the town of Al-Muwailih in Deir Ezzor Province http://youtu.be/gW1oVnCdoGo

 

Rebels wrest control of another checkpoint on the outskirts of Raqqah City http://youtu.be/fpkIAZ85-sw A tanks confiscated by rebels after taking control of the Central Prison in Raqqah http://youtu.be/WbPlMRpBxng

 

The battle for control of Old Homs neighborhoods intensify http://youtu.be/dbQv7zINUNg So does the bombing campaign http://youtu.be/PHZTcheA0W8 , http://youtu.be/VTiN-RNh08I The red circle in the map below point out roughly the besieged rebel strongholds. It’s been almost 18 months since the siege began.

 

 

 

The last clip shot by activist Jameel Omayrah in Jobar Neighborhood, Damascus, before his martyrdom http://youtu.be/4NITwK6Ae78 The nearby town of Douma gets pounded http://youtu.be/bEVBPuVijoo Searching for the dead and wounded http://youtu.be/SMyqeJOt6do

 

Leaders of the Free Syrians Army, including Col. Riyad Al-Ass’aad and his deputies pay a visit to the liberated village of Burj Al-Kassab in the Turkmen Mountain in North Latakia http://youtu.be/Wz3BCbdr4Gs Talking with the locals http://youtu.be/zohLcdt5mZc Making the rounds http://youtu.be/dzw7X57U_qI Rebels in Latakia treat their wounded from a recent battle http://youtu.be/ANLYaSU4Utw