Syrian Revolution Digest: 26 February 2013

Too Little Too Late?

Syrian Revolution Digest – February 26, 2013 

I fear that by the time any agreement on Syria is reached in international policy circles, unfolding events on the ground will have rendered it completely irrelevant. The turtle of disintegration is about to cross the finish line, but the rabbit of intervention is still foraging for carrots.

 

Tuesday February 26, 2013

 

Today’s Death Toll: 111 martyrs, including 13 children, 4 women, and 5 martyrs under torture: 51 martyrs in Damascus and Suburbs, 50 in Aleppo, 11 in Idlib, 10 in Hama, 7 in Homs , 6 in Deir Ezzor, 4 in Daraa, 1 in Raqqa and 1 in Swaida (LCCs).

 

Points of Random Shelling: 374 points, including 20 points that were shelled by regime warplanes, 3 points using Scud missiles, 4 points with barrel bombs, 6 points with cluster bombs, 2 point with Thermobaric bombs, 150 points using heavy caliber artillery, 98 points using rockets and rocket shelling in 91 points across Syria (LCCs).

 

Clashes: 154, with the fiercest clashes were reported in Damascus and Suburbs where FSA rebels successfully liberated the Operations Command Building in the Police Academy in Khan Aasal. In Aleppo, FSA rebels continued their shelling of the local Police Academy setting parts of it on fire. In Hama, rebels targeted the 47th Brigade using mortar shells. And in Daraa, rebels liberated a police station located on the Jordanian-Syrian borders (LCCs).

 

News

U.S. considers direct aid to Syrian rebels The Obama administration is moving toward a major policy shift on Syria that could provide the rebels with equipment such as body armor, armored vehicles and possible military training and could send humanitarian assistance directly to Syria’s opposition political coalition, according to U.S. and European officials.

Rome talks unlikely to break Syria conflict deadlock Whatever exactly emerges from the Friends of Syria meeting in Rome on Thursday, one thing is clear: the parameters of the Syrian conflict – a brutal, slow-moving slugging-match on the ground, and deadlocked international diplomacy – have not changed, nor are they likely to for some time.

Ballistic missile strikes on Aleppo signal new escalation in Syria war The Syrian government denied this week that it is using Scuds in its battle to crush the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, in which as many as 70,000 people have been killed. But military experts say all the available evidence, including the scale of the devastation from the explosions and the sightings — captured on video — of missiles being fired from bases outside Damascus shortly before the blasts, points to them being Scuds. The Russian-designed missiles carry about 2,000 pounds of explosives and are manufactured by Syria using parts imported from Russia, North Korea and Iran. The Obama administration also thinks the missiles are most likely Scuds.

Will Kerry Convince Ankara on Syria? Although the two countries have closely coordinated on Syria in the past, differences have started to emerge on how the crisis should end, a fact that will no doubt focus added attention on the talks Kerry has with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

Russia wants U.S. to urge Syria rebels into peace talks The crisis in Syria made up “the bulk of the conversation” between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at talks in Berlin on Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. After talks she characterized as “really serious and hard-working”, Moscow and Washington sounded a rare note of accord over efforts to launch talks to end the nearly two-year-old conflict, in which 70,000 people have been killed.

Displacement in Syria giving way for serious gender-based crimes, warns UN official “This displacement is not only about loss of homes and economic security. It is also, for many, accompanied by gender-based crimes, deliberate victimization of women and children and a frightening array of assaults on human dignity,” the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Reports are revealing that the conflict in Syria is increasingly marked by rape and sexual violence employed as a weapon of war to intimidate parties to the conflict destroying identity, dignity and the social fabrics of families and communities.”

Syria needs grow, rebel-held north out of reach: U.N. The rebel-held north of Syria remains largely out of reach to aid operations, even though they have been stepped up elsewhere in the country torn by civil war, U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said on Tuesday. “We are watching a humanitarian tragedy unfold before our eyes,” Amos told a news briefing. “We must do all we can to reassure the people that we care and that we will not let them down.”

Syria: Unlawful Missile Attacks Kill More Than 140 The Syrian government launched at least four ballistic missiles that struck populated areas in the city of Aleppo and a town in Aleppo governorate during the week of February 17, 2013. The attacks killed more than 141 people, including 71 children, and caused immense physical destruction.

Syria troops, rebels battle in Aleppo’s old city The rebels seized the centuries-old Umayyad Mosque, which for months has been used as a military encampment and checkpoint by regime forces, after a day of fighting, Aleppo activists said. The mosque sits near the medieval citadel, the city’s signature landmark and a strategic site high above the surrounding neighborhood, which remains in the hands of the military.

 

Special Reports

Syria rebels bolstered by new arms but divisions remain

Several rebel commanders and fighters told Reuters that a shipment which reached Syria via Turkey last month comprised shoulder-held and other mobile equipment including anti-aircraft and armor-piercing weapons, mortars and rocket launchers. Rebels told Reuters the weapons, along with money for cash payments for fighters, were being distributed through a new command structure, part of a plan by foreign backers to centralize control over rebel units and check Islamists linked to al-Qaeda. However, in a sign of the difficulty in uniting disparate fighting groups, some rebels said they had turned down the arms and refused to submit to the new command.

The Russia Gambit: For the sake of Syrian lives, John Kerry’s got to play hardball with Moscow.

Is this John Kerry, now traveling in Europe and soon the Middle East for consultations about Syria, or is it Warren Christopher, who embarked on a similar mission 20 years ago to bring the bloodshed in Bosnia-Herzegovina to an end? The parallels between the two missions are striking — and we should hope that Kerry has learned the lessons from Christopher’s tragically failed bid.

Give Me Shelter: Syrians brave bombs and bullets to deliver aid to their war-torn country.

With security concerns and bureaucratic hurdles keeping most international aid workers from actually entering this war-torn country, NGOs rely on Syrians like Mahmoud to make the hazardous trek across the border to assess the needs for assistance and deliver aid to the local population. Syrian “implementing partners” pick up the supplies at warehouses in southern Turkey, near the border, and drive them into Syria — avoiding major highways to mitigate the risk of being attacked by a plane or helicopter. “The roads are bad because there are many parts of the road that are destroyed because of the shelling,” Mahmoud said.

Assad’s Big Ally: How Deeply Entrenched Is Iran in Syria?

Though Western and Iranian officials will not discuss Syria when they sit down for talks on Iran’s nuclear program in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Iran’s ability to shape that conflict will hang over the negotiations, strengthening both Tehran’s perception of its position and the West’s resolve to deny Iran meaningful sanctions relief.

 

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.”

 

Video Highlights

 

A video found on the mobile of an Assad supporter captured by rebels during a battle in Daraa Province shows pro-Assad troops torturing two detainees to death and beyond, including cutting off their genitals (gruesome) http://youtu.be/oRvN3v01oiA

 

This just released video shows the prisoner exchange that took place a few weeks ago involving Iranian hostages held by rebels http://youtu.be/_1H6fjKzG_8

 

These videos are from February 12, they take us on a tour of Al-Jarrah Airport, Aleppo, after its liberation by rebels http://youtu.be/YXkoqFnkAJ0 , http://youtu.be/1jt65bMim10

 

In Damascus Suburbs, pro-Assad militias continue their pounding of rebel strongholds: Moadamiyeh http://youtu.be/w1CQx3aOzr0 , http://youtu.be/wKZSxXfIxGI Daraya http://youtu.be/T3UHp1jx6Vs

 

In Damascus City: Jobar locals rush to put out a fire started by a missile attack http://youtu.be/T4k0hDSC6TA , http://youtu.be/uOhEDFQe-NQ Yarmouk http://youtu.be/tnTdipCsJtA

 

The pounding of Daraa City by pro-Assad militias continues http://youtu.be/BL8lNSBedyo

 

In Idlib, the pounding of the town of Ariha by pro-Assad militias continues http://youtu.be/r078Dyu73HY

 

U.N. Officials Call for the Release of Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni

By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

CARACAS, Venezuela – Human rights officials from the United Nations are asking for the government of Venezuela to free Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni, who is currently on house arrest. Afiuni has been charged with corruption, abuse of authority and aiding an inmate’s escape. U.N. officials are also asking for Afiuni to be offered adequate compensation and to investigate her accusations of acts of violence against her.

Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Margaret Sekaggya, the U.N’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and other U.N. officials in an appeal to reverse Afiuni’s conviction. “Judge Afiuni’s situation represents an emblematic case of reprisal,” Sekaggya said in a statement issued by the United Nations.

In 2009, Afiuni infuriated Chavez in 2009 by freeing a banker, Eligio Cedeño,from prison as he waited trial after being accused on charges of flouting currency exchange controls. She says that he was being held in prison awaiting trial longer than law generally permitted.

“Reprisals against a judge for enforcing an opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and withholding her waiting for a process for more than three years is like opening the door to further abuses and has a widespread intimidating effect,” independent expert and current chair of the UN body, El Hadji Malick Sow, stressed.

President Hugo Chavez said on national television that Afiuni should face the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Aifuni accused state authorities of rape and other grave acts of sexual violence while in the infirmary of a women’s prison in 2010. These allegations went public in November when a book by Francisco Olivares was published that detailed her arrest and detention. She claims that she got pregnant from the crime. “After that episode was when I got sick and they removed my uterus,” Afiuni is quoted as saying in the book.

“It is unacceptable that Venezuelan authorities are not acting with due diligence to investigate the acts perpetrated against Judge Afiuni in an immediate and impartial manner, and severely punish those responsible,” said Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo.

Aifuni is currently on house arrest due to medical problems following the abortion she had from the prison rape. In December, her lawyer requested for her to be freed, but this was denied by the government the following month.

U.N. Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report on a country situation or a human rights theme.

 

For more information, please see:

Nuestra Tele Noticias — Hermano de María Lourdes Afiuni denuncia “traslado relámpago” de tribunal de la jueza venezolana –20 Feb 2013

Ghana New-Spy Ghana — UN Ask Venezuela To Release Judge María Lourdes Afiuni. – 15 Feb 2013

El Universal — UN: Having Afiuni imprisoned is like opening the door to further abuses –14 Feb 2013

Huffington Post — UN Human Rights Officials Urge Venezuela To Free Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni – 14 Feb 2013

 

Syria Justice and Accountability Center: 26 February 2013

Egyptian Opposition Party to Boycott Upcoming Elections

By Dylan Takores
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – The National Salvation Front (NSF) stated today, February 26, that it will boycott the upcoming Parliamentary elections.  The NSF contends that the elections will unfairly favor the current Islamist majority party.

 

Egyptian protestors near Tahrir Square, Cairo. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

 

In January 2012, Mohammed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) narrowly won Egypt’s first free presidential election.  The FJP is the political branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a prominent Islamist group.  Islamist parties also won most of the Parliamentary positions in addition to the presidency.

Led by Mohamed ElBaradei, the NSF is an umbrella group encompassing many liberal and leftist parties that oppose the Muslim Brotherhood.  The NSF successfully brought together a wide range of opposition parties including the Egyptian Popular Current, al-Dustour, al-Tajammu, Free Egyptians, and New Wafd among others.

President Morsi announced on February 22 that a new round of elections will be held in four stages between April 27 and late June of this year.  ElBaradei immediately called for a boycott, and today, members of the NSF unanimously affirmed the decision to boycott the elections.

The purpose of the boycott is to undermine the legitimacy of the elections.  Sameh Ashour, a spokesman for the NSF, stated in a press conference, “there can be no elections without a law that guarantees the fairness of the election process.”  Ashour added, “real independence of the judiciary” is required to ensure fairness.

In recent months, the NSF insisted on several preconditions to ensure fairness and freedom in future elections.  The group believes that elections under the current system skew favor to Islamist parties. However, due to its overwhelming majority, the FJP disregarded the NSF objections and the Parliament voted to hold new elections with near unanimity.

Heba Yassin of the Egyptian Popular Current explained that the purpose of the boycott is “to protest against the election that we did not participate in drafting, and about which our opinion was not taken.”

January 25 marked the second anniversary of the Egyptian independence movement that successfully ousted former Prime Minister Hosni Mubarak.  In the wake of the anniversary, tensions resurfaced and clashes broke out.  An estimated seventy people have died and hundreds more wounded in the past month as a result of the clashes.

The NSF also announced its intention to boycott a dialogue set to take place between President Morsi and leaders of opposition parties.  Ashour asserted, “no dialogue should be held over the dead bodies of our martyrs.”  He continued that until President Morsi adequately addresses the present crisis, the NSF will not participate in any open dialogue.

Following the NSF’s announcement, State Department Spokesman Edgar Vasquez made a statement on behalf of the United States.  He referred to the current political situation as a “critical” moment for Egypt.  He encouraged the NSF to reconsider its decision and emphasized that it is important for all Egyptian parties to participate in the elections.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News – Egypt’s Main Opposition Coalition to Boycott Vote – 26 February 2013

Ahram – Egypt’s NSF to Boycott Elections, Dialogue – 26 February 2013

BBC News – Egypt Opposition to Boycott Polls – 26 February 2013

Egypt Independent – NSF to Boycott Parliamentary Elections – 26 February 2013

Haaretz – Egyptian Opposition Alliance to Boycott Parliamentary Election – 26 February 2013

Syrian Revolution Digest: Monday, 25 February 2013

Getting It Right!

As the U.S. seems to be inching its way towards providing military assistance to rebel groups, the importance of having an overarching strategy that goes beyond throwing weapons at the problem is now more urgent than ever. Since the main challenge ahead is now clearly more about putting pieces of the puzzle back together than managing a top-down transition, the U.S. needs to come up with a sophisticated strategy for working with local councils and local rebel groups to develop micro transition plans that can ensure rapid stabilization of their areas. The U.S. should also work with the Syrian National Coalition to develop a more detailed bottom-up vision for managing the transition period ahead.

Today’s Death Toll: 135 martyrs, including 8 children and 12 women and 1 martyr under torture: 40 martyrs in Damascus and Suburbs, 25 in Aleppo, 21 in Idlib, 14 in Raqqa, 14 in Homs, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 7 in Daraa, 3 in Hama and 1 in Hasakeh(LCCs).

Points of Random Shelling: 384 points, including 26 points that were shelled by regime warplanes, 4 points using Scud missiles, 2 points using surface-to-surface missiles, 3 points using barrel bombs, 3 point with vacuum bombs, 157 points using heavy caliber artillery, 93 points with mortars and 99 with rockets (LCCs).

Clashes: 162, with the fiercest clashes took place in Damascus and Suburbs(LCCs).

 

News

Syria opposition to join Rome talks after foreign aid pledge The Syrian opposition has agreed to attend an international summit in Rome, after the US and UK “promised specific aid” to the Syrian people. The group had previously announced it would boycott the talks because of “the world’s silence” over the violence. US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Minister William Hague earlier confirmed there would be more support for Syria’s opposition.

Syria rebels fight for key Aleppo buildings Rebels launch new offensive for government complex housing a police academy

Syria opposition chief: no contact yet about government talks “We have not been in contact yet, and we are waiting for communication with them,” Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib told reporters in Cairo after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Damascus was ready to talk. Alkhatib also said opposition visits to the United States and Russia had been delayed “until we see how things develop”. But he added: “We will go to any place that could lead to the removal of the suffering of our people.”

Kerry Vows Not to Leave Syria Rebels ‘Dangling in the Wind’ “We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind wondering where the support is or if it’s coming,” Mr. Kerry said at a news conference in London. “And we are determined to change the calculation on the ground for President Assad.”

UN Security Council has ‘failed’ Syria: rights chief “Two important situations, Darfur in 2008 and Libya in 2011, have been referred” by the Security Council,” Pillay said, but it had not done the same for Syria, “despite the repeated reports of widespread or systematic crimes and violations by my office,” and a wide range of other sources, she said. The ICC can only probe war crimes if asked to by the Security Council.

UN Staffer Missing on Israel-Syria Border U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey would not say whether the missing person was a military or civilian member of the international or local staff. “We can confirm that a staff member is not accounted for and we are in touch with the relevant parties to determine what has happened,” del Buey said. “We have no further comment at this time.”

Photographer Killed in Syria Spoke of Adrenaline Olivier Voisin listed work in 15 countries, half of them war zones. He described the rush of bearing witness to a conflict that otherwise could go unrecorded. On Sunday, the 38-year-old French freelance photographer became the 23rd journalist killed in fighting in Syria after he died of shrapnel wounds sustained days earlier.

Turkey, Qatar denounce Syria’s war on own people Turkey and Qatar accused Syria on Monday of attacking Syrian towns with bombs, shells and Scud missiles and called at the main U.N. human rights forum for perpetrators of atrocities to be brought to justice. Britain and Switzerland urged the United Nations Security Council to refer war crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution.

 

Special Reports

Syria: The Growing Power Of Jihadist Groups
The number of Jihadist groups flooding into Syria two years after the start of the uprising is threatening to eclipse the power of mainstream opposition groups as well as the authority of the Free Syrian Army. One of the increasingly influential groups, Jabah al Haq (The Front for Justice) [Correction: the name is Jabhat Al-Haq which means The Front for Truth], told Sky News that Jihad is spreading across North Africa and the Middle East and will not stop at Syria but will include Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and even Israel.

Al Nusra: Al Qaeda’s Syria Offensive
Estimates of the size of the al Nusra organization vary, but they may now account for up to a quarter of the opposition fighters in Syria. The al Qaeda presence is stronger around Aleppo and the north than around Damascus, but it is becoming a national phenomenon. Without doubt, they are among the most effective fighters in the resistance to the Assad regime and the most willing to use multiple simultaneous suicide bombings, an al Qaeda trademark. Al Qaeda in Iraq has a wealth of experience in developing large sophisticated bombs—experience that has been exported into Syria.

BBC Close Up: Syrian Diaries: Women of the Uprising.
Five Syrian women tell their personal stories of revolt and war. Filmed mostly by the women themselves over a period of seven months in 2012, this documentary provides unique insights into how Syria’s conflict has transformed their lives. This film was transmitted on BBC Arabic as ‘Souriyyat’, and on BBC World News in a two-part series entitled ‘Inside Syria’.

How Syria Is Becoming Bosnia
Typhoid and hepatitis outbreaks are spreading. An estimated 70,000 people are dead, and another 850,000 are refugees. After covering the battle for Damascus for a month, photographer Goran Tomasevic of Reuters declared the situation a “bloody stalemate.” “I watched both sides mount assaults, some trying to gain just a house or two, others for bigger prizes, only to be forced back by sharpshooters, mortars or sprays of machine-gun fire,” Mr. Tomasevic, a gifted and brave photographer, wrote in a chilling first-hand account. “As in the ruins of Beirut, Sarajevo or Stalingrad, it is a sniper’s war.”

DIY Weapons of the Syrian Rebels
Nearly two years after the start of Syria’s popular uprising, the conflict has evolved into a slow-moving, brutal civil war with many players and no clear end in sight. Multiple rebel groups across the country continue to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, using any weapons they can get their hands on. While the rebels are using many modern weapons, they’ve also come up with their own makeshift solutions. In these weapons workshops, anti-aircraft guns are welded to pickup trucks and armor shields are attached to machine guns and cars. Mortar shell nose cones are turned on lathes and explosives are mixed by hand. Homemade grenades are launched by jury-rigged shotguns or giant slingshots in the urban battlefields of Aleppo and Damascus. Gathered here are a few examples of the hand-built munitions of the Syrian rebels.

Saudis Step Up Help for Rebels in Syria With Croatian Arms
The weapons began reaching rebels in December via shipments shuttled through Jordan, officials said, and have been a factor in the rebels’ small tactical gains this winter against the army and militias loyal to Mr. Assad. The arms transfers appeared to signal a shift among several governments to a more activist approach to assisting Syria’s armed opposition, in part as an effort to counter shipments of weapons from Iran to Mr. Assad’s forces. The weapons’ distribution has been principally to armed groups viewed as nationalist and secular, and appears to have been intended to bypass the jihadist groups whose roles in the war have alarmed Western and regional powers… Washington’s role in the shipments, if any, is not clear… But one senior American official described the shipments as “a maturing of the opposition’s logistical pipeline.” The official noted that the opposition remains fragmented and operationally incoherent, and added that the recent Saudi purchase was “not in and of itself a tipping point.”

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.”

 

Video Highlights

Rebels bring down a helicopter gunship over Minnigh Airport, Aleppohttp://youtu.be/_y0-qQomARI

The pounding of rebel strongholds in Eastern Ghoutah, Damascus, continues, using missiles, heavy artillery and MiGs: Douma http://youtu.be/hj9XJcuSqdM Jisreenhttp://youtu.be/JDWSH9RbEsA Arbeen http://youtu.be/HJ0Skrm_OgQ

Tanks take part in pounding rebel strongholds in Damascus City: Jobarhttp://youtu.be/edo3YC1UnJ8 , http://youtu.be/xf6sbMVykXg Clashes between rebels and loyalists continue at night http://youtu.be/iGofhWsD3yM ,http://youtu.be/8EdmObCKF2k

The pounding of rebel strongholds along the border with Lebanon, Damascus:Boucain http://youtu.be/rYrhNpKh3vU Madaya http://youtu.be/oZvXMGHqfO0  ,http://youtu.be/GZubaTJFdUk

The pounding of Deir Ezzor City continues http://youtu.be/KWHT5-wp_Dg