Syrian Revolution Digest – Wednesday, 19 December 2012

What Order?

Syrian Revolution Digest – December 19, 2012 

While world leaders keep foraging for a policy, Syria’s increasing refugees are foraging for the basics of life: food, shelter and security. Where does the buck stop in our contemporary world? Where do we go to plead our case with a reasonable expectation of a just hearing?

Today’s Death Toll:161 (including 7 children and 3 women)

67 in Damascus and suburbs including 6 field executed in Kafar Sousseh, 50 in Aleppo including 40 in a car explosion in Marjeh neighborhood, 19 in Daraa, 8 in Hama, 8 in Deir Ezzor, 5 in Homs, 3 in Idlib and 1 in Suweida.

Points of Random Shelling: 246

Clashes:104

Rebels downed a plane in Albal’as mountains in Hama, launched an assault against the Koris Military Airport in Aleppo, took control of the checkpoint at Alsoyouf Square in Deir Ezzor City, and liberated the checkpoint at Mjaimar in Suweida City (LCC).

News

U.N. Seeks New Aid for Syria Crisis and Predicts 1 Million Refugees by Mid-2013

New Syria Rebel Chief Describes Clandestine Life

Rebels seize towns in central Syria

Syria Interior Minister Wounded by Bomb Last Week Syria’s interior minister suffered a serious back injury in the bombing of his ministry last week and was brought to Beirut on Wednesday for treatment, Lebanese security officials said.

Syrians Pack Up to Flee Damascus as Battle for Capital Escalates

Abbas Urges UN to Help Palestinian Refugees in Syria

As Last Member of NBC Team Escapes Syria, More Details on Hostage Drama Emerge

U.N. warns Lebanese against meddling in Syria conflict

Lebanon’s Shiites and Sunnis Battle in Syria, but Not at Home

Drogheda man killed fighting regime in Syria

Online pirate army fights for downfall of Assad

Amman warns: Jihadists are hijacking Syrian revolution, may target Israel, Jordan next

Jordanians saw the first signs two months ago when their intelligence service caught a cell of 11 Jordanian Salafists who had assembled in Syria and were planning, under the aegis of Al-Qaida, to attack shopping centers and Western embassies in Jordan.

 

Special Reports

FREDERIC HOF: Syria’s Time Is Running Out
The country tears itself further apart with each passing day. This is the moment to do something about it… In these circumstances, time is the enemy of humanity. The longer the regime has to break the Syrian people into combustible categories of sect and ethnicity, the greater the chance that Syria will become a stateless, chaotic and expanding black hole in a region where stability is a challenge in the best of circumstances. Lebanese, Turks and Jordanians already feel Syria’s agony — and share in it. Time, in this case, is not the great healer. Time is the deadliest of enemies… Time is the enemy. Time is of the essence. Time, for Syria and its neighbors, is running out.

Aleppo’s History Under Threat
Aleppo has been designated a World Heritage site since 1986, recognized for its ancient market, citadel and mosques, and the United Nations in recent months has called several times for its protection while emphasizing the tremendous toll the war has taken on civilians.

SYRIA: IDPs brace for winter in rebel-controlled camps
Cold and afraid, many here say they want desperately to leave Syria’s nearly two-year conflict behind and cross into Turkey. But for the moment, their northern neighbour has refused to accept them, citing overcrowding. Fourteen Turkish camps, hosting 141,000 people, are already well over capacity, with thousands of people sleeping in communal tents or in neighbouring villages for lack of space.

The humanitarian crisis in Syria, everyone is responsible
Lack of cooperation on all sides has left the doors open to the most extremist financiers from the Arab Gulf countries to force their own agendas on the brigades they are financing, agendas that have nothing to do with Syria’s cause of freedom and dignity.

 

Syria Deeply

Conversations: A Frustrated Assad Supporter

The last thought that doesn’t let me sleep at night is the decision by the government to move the vital enterprises, facilities and factories to the “safe” provinces. What do they mean by safe provinces, are they the coastal area? And what a coincidence, because after Damascus airport wasn’t available for several days last week, the governor of Tartous announced that the agricultural airport in Tartous will start operating as a commercial airport. Are we moving towards separation? This is my worst nightmare…no Syrian can afford this.

Has the Arab Spring Lived Up to Expectations?

My contribution to a just released briefing by Woodrow Wilson Center.

For those who expected a fast and smooth transition to liberal democratic norms, the Arab Spring has certainly failed to deliver. But for those who simply wanted to push their countries into taking one important and necessary step in the right direction by breaking the prevailing political stalemate in their societies, then, the Arab Spring has definitely lived up to expectations.

The fear barrier is now broken; the anciens régimes are gone; and pent-up political forces, with their good, their bad, and their downright ugly, have been released. The Islamists might have the upper hand at this stage on account of their stronger organizational capabilities, but the more secular elements are not giving up and have, in fact, made it clear that they, too, have strong grassroots connections and support—and not only among minority communities but within the larger Arab Sunni community as well.

No longer can any of the sides dismiss the other as irrelevant. The choices confronting all are now stark and clear: accommodation, civil war, or civil war eventually ending in accommodation. A return to the autocratic past with one side dominating the other and imposing its ways is not feasible. Each side of the divide has enough regional and international backers to ensure the near impossibility of such an outcome. The sooner the representatives of the different political forces realize this, the better for all. For only when accommodation is reached can democracy finally begin to take root in our region.

 

Video Highlights

Leaked video from the Damascene suburb of Daraya shows wounded loyalist militias receiving treatment in the field, before being forced to withdraw with their tanks when MiGs showed up to bomb rebel positions http://youtu.be/uuIWEk6UT_4

Another leaked video documents the use of missile launchers by pro-Assad militias http://youtu.be/4xsjog7ZZP8

Rebels take a stand in Yarmouk Camp in Damascus City http://youtu.be/8Ly_9baT4u4 In Ain Terma, pro-Assad militias pound the community with tanks http://youtu.be/EgR2CePNc1g Residents of nearbyMleihah evacuate their town http://youtu.be/rMtNuJvJOfc As MiGs continue their raids on the region of Eastern Ghoutah: Hamouriyeh http://youtu.be/8lhjVXWhiNw Kafar Batna http://youtu.be/VyTitCfcSAY

ICC Acquittal on Tuesday of Ngudjolo of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Earlier this week on Tuesday, the International Criminal Court, Trial Chamber II, handed down their decision in the case against Mathieu Ngudjolo.  Ngudjolo was charged with committing crimes against humanity in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1993.

Mathieu Ngudjolo sits in the courtroom during his ICC trial. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

The judges unanimously acquitted Ngudjolo of the charges, with one filing a concurring opinion.  Presiding Judge Bruno Cotte (France) said that the prosecution’s case was unable to present the evidence that made it possible for the court to find that Ngudjolo was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ngudjolo was charged with three counts of crimes against humanity and seven counts of war crimes, stemming from the destruction of the village of Bogoro on 24 February 2003.  It was alleged Ngudjolo was the leader of the Lendu group that murdered and raped some 200 people, including women and children.

Prosecutors presented witnesses who described the day, relating that babies were thrown against walls, women raped and villagers hacked to pieces with machetes.  The three key prosecution witnesses, used to show Ngudjolo was the leader of the attack, were found by the judges to be unreliable.  Their testimonies were too vague and contradictory for them to prove the prosecution’s claim of Ngudjolo being the leader.

The ICC judges stressed that they did not, “question what the people of this community have suffered on that day … If an allegation has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt … this does not necessarily mean that the alleged fact did not occur.”

The acquittal is only the second verdict handed down by the ICC since it opened its doors 10 years ago.  Earlier this year, the court’s first verdict found Thomas Lubanga, another Congolese rebel leader, guilty of using child soldiers and sentenced him to a 14 year prison term.

As the verdict was read, Ngudjolo showed no emotion.  His defense team, whose case rested on the claim that Ngudjolo was not even present in the village that day and only heard about the attack in the days after, was sure the court’s verdict was correct.  Jean-Pierre Kilenda, one of his lawyers said that the judges properly showed that they respected the rights of defendants.

Experts in international law are worried what this verdict will do for the faith the public has in the prosecution team.  Eric Witte of the Open Society Justice Initiative said that Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensoda and her team might need to rethink the way that cases are built as, “a pattern of prosecution failures could undermine support for the court as a whole.”

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Congo-Kinshasa: ICC Acquits Mathieu Ngudjolo in Second Verdict – 18 December 2012

Congo Planet – International Criminal Court Acquits Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui – 18 December 2012

The Guardian – ICC Acquits Congolese Militia Leader Over Atrocities – 18 December 2012

NY Times – Court Acquits Congo Rebel Leader of War Crimes – 18 December 2012

Extremist Group Acknowledged as Malian, Not Foreigners in Mali

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—Just yesterday, on December 19, 2012, the Malian President said that the Islamist group struggling to take control of the region is made up of mostly Malian citizens and not foreigner. The group has carried out public executions and amputations in the northern regions of the country. This is the first time that the country’s leader has acknowledged that the group, Ansar Dine, is not made up of foreign citizens.

The group claims to have carried out the attack on U.S. facility in Benghazi. (Photo Courtesy of WND World)

The government previously maintained that the group was made up of militants from Al-Qaida’s North Africa branch along with other foreigners who had moved to the region from Libya. On Wednesday, however, the President, Dioncounda Traore, noted that Ansar Dine fighters “are mainly made up of our fellow countrymen.”

Ansar Dine, or “Defenders of the Faith,” continues to control regions of Mali, including the towns of Kidal and Timbuktu in Northern Mali. The group has decided to impose a strict form of Islamic Sharia law in the regions under their control.

John Guandolo, former FBI counterterrorism officer and terrorism and security analyst, said that Ansar Dine’s Sharia movement confirms a dangerous trend for the region. He also noted that, “Northern Mali is a major transit area for all kinds of criminals, terrorists, and other operatives of all kinds.”

It also turns out that the cousin of Ansar Dine’s leader is one of the people in charge of an AQIM (Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb) brigade in Kidal. The Islamic group emerged as a dominant group in Mali after a military coup in the country’s old capital creating a power vacuum. In recent weeks, as reported, the leaders of the group made efforts to make concessions—including distancing themselves from terrorist activities—however many analysts questioned their sincerity.

Moran Roach, analyst for the Heritage Foundation Africa, further confirmed that Northern Mali is quickly becoming a haven for terrorist groups. “Ansar is not limited to eastern Libya, but if present throughout North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula,” Roach said. Roach also continued saying, “Ansar has reportedly put out a hit list in Egypt. The Coptic pope was reportedly on it. Ansar claimed responsibility for the attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi and is certainly a threat to U.S. security and interests in the region.”

Because of the vast empty space that northern Mali encompasses, the region provides any group a safe haven with hundreds of square miles of open territory.

 

For further information, please see:

ABC News – Mali Leader Acknowledges Extremists Not Foreigners – 19 December 2012

Fox News – Mali President Acknowledges that Extremist Group Ansar Dine Made up of Mostly Malians – 19 December 2012

Long War Journal – Ansar Al Sharia in Mali – 18 December 2012

WND World – Benghazi Terrorists Setting Up Shop in Mali – 18 December 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Mysterious!

Syrian Revolution Digest – December 18, 2012 

Call it a civil war wrapped in a revolution wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a guess – it’s all that and more, I profess. It’s a holy war slowly morphing into an unholy descent into hell. Not that anyone can really tell how it will all end.

Today’s Death Toll: 128 (including 11 children and 9 women)

42 in Damascus and Suburbs (including 4 in Tal Mneen), 21 in Daraa (including 5 executed publicly in the Naziheen Refugee Camp), 16 in Hama, 14 in Homs (including 3 were publicly executed in Al-Nuqeira), 13 in Aleppo, 12 in Idlib, 9 in Deir Ezzor, and 1 in Hassakeh.

Points of Random Shelling: 242

Clashes:143 

Rebels managed to liberate the town of Hilfaya in Hama Province, and were joined by many defectors from the loyalist militias. In Damascus, rebels took complete control of District of Hajal Al-Aswad (LCC).

Reporters Without Borders grants its Freedom of the Press Award to Mazen Darweesh, the well-known Syrian human rights activist currently languishing in jail.

 

News

Russia Sends Warships Toward Syria for Possible Evacuation

Syrian Rebels Battle Palestinian Fighters in Damascus

Richard Engel of NBC Is Freed in Syria The identities of the kidnappers and their motives were unknown. But an article on the NBC News Web site quotes Mr. Engel as saying their captors “were talking openly about their loyalty to the government” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

 

Special Reports

Wounded, starving crowd ill-equipped Damascus hospital
As the civil war escalates around the capital, doctors are treating up to 100 injured a day at the 400-bed Damascus Hospital and have had to use local anesthetics even for complicated operations, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. Cases of severe acute malnutrition in children being referred to the hospital from rural Damascus, Deir al-Zor, Hassakeh, Deraa and Homs have risen to 7-8 a month from 2-3 in previous months, he said, and staff and patients have difficulty reaching health care facilities due to deepening insecurity.

What a Bosnian Mass Grave Can Teach Us About Syria’s Civil War
… perhaps the greatest justice could be found in ensuring a way for the international community to act, to prevent such slaughters. For whether they are yesterday’s mass graves in Bosnia, or today’s mass graves in Syria, the sick, sticky scent of death will linger, long after the international community fails to act.

When Assad Dropped the Façade
Given that Lesch has consulted for the American government, and that his access to al-Assad was itself an act of public diplomacy on the part of Syria’s Ba’athist regime, the value of his work is to shed light on the deeply ambiguous relationship between Western officialdom and that regime in the last few decades—and the embarrassing series of about-turns that ensued when this relationship was confronted with the Arab Spring in 2011.

Rubble and Despair of War Redefine Syria Jewel
As temperatures drop and the weakened government’s artillery thunders on, Aleppo is administered by no one and slipping into disaster. Front-line neighborhoods are rubble. Most of the city’s districts have had no electricity and little water for weeks. All of Aleppo suffers from shortages of oil, food, medicine, doctors and gas. Diseases are spreading. Parks and courtyards are being defoliated for firewood, turning streets once lined with trees into avenues bordered by stumps. Months’ worth of trash is piled high, often beside bread lines where hundreds of people wait for a meager stack of loaves.

 

Syria Deeply

Social Media Buzz: Rebels Lose a Charismatic Commander
Abu Furat defected after he received orders to shell a village in Latakia earlier this year. He joined the Islamist Tawheed Brigade, the largest rebel group in Aleppo, and would often pop up in videos from the frontlines, always ready with an uplifting and compassionate message.

 

Video Highlights

Leaked video documents use of missile launchers by pro-regime militias in the battles in the Eastern Ghoutah Region, Damascus http://youtu.be/PW83A_CIr_A Another leaked video documents the use of heavy artillery in pounding the town of Zabadanihttp://youtu.be/zSqNk9f2c2I

Meanwhile, MiGs keep pounding Eastern Ghoutah: Douma http://youtu.be/mmyaZowElkU ,http://youtu.be/Dmw_ZncTTaE Kafar Batna http://youtu.be/B57IV4iJSQQ Arbeen http://youtu.be/GQu6ta6VldQ Harasta http://youtu.be/412LWvVDxpw Hamouriyeh http://youtu.be/32WgVSY2Fx4 and helicopters keep dropping explosive barrels: Saqba http://youtu.be/Go2HS6eKTfA Dead and wounded in Arbeen http://youtu.be/WjTgPFBFtUE

To the West, the town of Moadamia was also pounded http://youtu.be/yMYpzHXU4U4

In Damascus City, the pounding of Yarmouk Camp continues http://youtu.be/omBVykFCL3w MIGs took part http://youtu.be/1HDbAWpVntQ

In Hama, rebels celebrate the liberation of the town of Kafar Zeitah http://youtu.be/6ezfrAnk1xw

Prisoners Finally Charged for Paraguay Land Skirmish

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay – Six months ago, on June 15,  violence ripped through the small land-locked country of Paraguay as a land eviction turned into a shot out which left six police officers and eleven civilians were killed in what has been dubbed the Curuguaty massacre. Now amid rallies and controversies prosecutors have finally levied charges against 12 peasants deemed guilty of murder, criminal association and invasion of property.

Protest in Paraguay demanding justice for massacre. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

However the event that forced Ex-President Fernando Lugo out of office has not ended as gunmen early December 2nd burst into the home of Vidal Vega and killed him in front of his wife. Vega was a witness to the atrocity, and one of the last surviving members of the Landless Peasant Movement.

Vega was a leader who lobbied for years to redistribute land that had been illegally seized by Senator Blas Riquelme  in the 1960s. While advocating a non-violent and legal return of the land, it was the lack of results and a ruling by the Paraguayan Supreme Courts in favor of Riquelme’s estate which caused peasants to lose their patience and re occupy the land.

Early on June 15, a large police convey entered the tract of land at Curuguaty to evict the nearly 50 peasants that been illegally occupying the land. The officers arrived unarmed, expecting only non-violent resistance from the men women and children currently occupying the land when gunfire filled the air. Witnesses disagree as to whether the peasants opened fire or infiltrated gunmen are to blame, but agree that the civilians and officers alike were riddled with bullets and when reinforcements arrived 17 people were dead.

With the death of Vega, the people of Paraguay demanded an answer and investigation for the death of the peoples leader. Days later over 4,000 people marched to the National Pantheon of Heroes demanding “justice” for their slain heroes and a release of the prisoners currently held and being prosecuted for the slaughter of Curuguaty. Organized by the Human Rights Coordinator of Paraguay the people have demanded compensation for the victims, police and peasants combined.

While the administration has pledged to fully investigate the murder of Vidal Vega there is no indication that they will budge on the protesters other demands. The marchers called for the release of political prisoners and return of the land, there does not seem to be any attempt by the executive, legislative or judicial bodies to return the land seized during the 1960s.

 For further information, please see:

BBC – Paraguay Peasants Charged Over Deadly Land Clash – 16 December 2012

El Mundo – Massive March In Paraguay For The Return Of Democracy And Justice For Curuguaty – 12 December 2012

El Mundo – Slain Peasant Leader Vidal Vega, A Key Witness In The Killing Of Curuguaty – 3 December 2012

Huffington Post – Vidal Vega Dead: Paraguay Peasant Leader Killed In Paraguay By Gunmen – 2 December 2012

El Mundo – A Violent Eviction In A Rural Hacienda Paraguay Kills 17 – 15 June 2012