New Syrian Coalition Recognized by GCC

November 12, 2012

By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria — Last Monday, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), comprised of six Gulf states, decided to recognize the National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces (NCORF) as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Syria’s newly formed coalition of rebels were recognized by the Gulf Cooperation Council as Syria’s legitimate representative. (Photo Courtesy of Al Arabiya)

The move is welcomed by both Western and Arab enemies of President Bashar Al-Assad, who hope that the recognition will finally unify “a fractious and ineffective opposition.” Washington said it would back the coalition “as it charts a course toward the end of Assad’s bloody rule and the start of the peaceful, just, democratic future.”

“The states of the council announce recognizing the NCORF… as the legitimate representative of the brother Syrian people,” GCC Chief Abdullatif Al-Zayani said in a statement last Monday. He also said that he hoped the move creates “a general national congress to pave the way to build a state ruled by law and open to all its citizens.”

The Arab League, who suspended Syria’s membership a year ago, recently granted the NCORF ” observer status, hesitating to recognize the coalition as Syria’s sole representative. Even though this means that the Arab League does not yet fully recognize the NCORF as the Syrian leadership, Al Jazeera reporter Jacky Rowland said that the “observer status is a good step.”

Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs believes that the NCORF having full recognition by the GCC is beneficial for it, since it removes any obstacles in the coalition’s attempts to secure arms for rebel fighters. Mouaz Al-Khatib, the coalition’s newly recognized leader, says that it had already received promises of weapons, but did not say from whom.

Al-Khatib, a former imam, was unanimously elected by the NCORF to lead it. In a recent address, he called for unity between various sectarian and ethnic groups, saying “[w]e demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawi, Ismaili, Christian, Druze, Assyrian… and rights for all parts of the harmonious Syrian people.”

Hezbollah, head of Lebanon’s Shiite group and a key ally of Assad, criticized the coalition’s recognition as a “U.S. invention whose refusal to negotiate would only lead to more destruction.”

Meanwhile, Israel reported that its military tanks took “direct hits” by Syrian artillery units after an area near an Israeli army post was hit by Syrian mortar shells on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for the second consecutive day. Also, A Syrian government aircraft bombed the town of Ras Al-Ahn, an opposition stronghold located on the border of Turkey. Civilians were seen fleeing across the border to the Turkish settlement of Ceylanpinar. NATO has assured Turkey that it will “do what it takes to protect Turkey.”

For further information, please see:

Al Arabiya — Arab League Recognizes Syria’s new Opposition Bloc — 12 November 2012

Al Jazeera — GCC Recognizes new Syrian Opposition Bloc — 12 November 2012

BBC News — Syria Crisis: Gulf States Recognize Syria Opposition — 12 November 2012

Reuters — New Syria Opposition Seeks Recognition; Israel Fires from Golan — 12 November 2012

Times of Israel — A Syrian Coalition is Born — 12 November 2012

Syrian Revolution Digest – Sunday 11 November 2012

November 12, 2012

Good, but will it be good enough?

Syrian Revolution Digest – November 11, 2012

In Doha today, Syrian opposition groups have finally taken the first real step towards unifying. It has only taken them 20 months, 100,000 deaths and a million refugees to do it. Why? Because it has taken the Obama Administration that long before they finally decided to put some effort into it. At a time when so many opposition members have fallen back onto the habit of brandishing their anti-American sentiments in order to prove their patriotic credentials, it’s America’s intervention that finally helped us take our first serious step towards achieving the long-desired and necessary unity. The world is such funny place, funny and cruel. Be that as it may, this was a good step in the right direction, but will be good enough to stave off disaster? We don’t have long to wait to know.

Sunday November 11, 2012

Today’s Death Toll: 90

The Breakdown: Toll includes 10 children and 3 women: 35 in Damascus and suburbs, 18 in Aleppo, 14 in Deir Ezzor (most in Alboukamal), 12 in Idlib, 9 in Daraa, 1 in Hama and 1 in Homs (LCC).

News

Assad opponents agree to unite

Syrian opposition groups unify, boosting prospects for outside support

Syria bombards rebel area near Turkish border Most of the inhabitants of Ras al-Ain, an agricultural town that has been Arabised under the nationalist rule of President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Party from its Kurdish name of Seri Kaneh, fled to Turkey when rebels captured the area in a push to seize control of frontier regions from Assad’s forces.

IDF fires warning missile at Syria for first time since 1973 Army sends message to warring factions after errant mortars from 18-month Syrian conflict land on Israeli side of Golan Heights.

Israel drawn into Syria fighting for first time Israel takes its first action in Syria’s civil war after a stray mortar shell hit a military outpost in Golan Heights.

Rebels warn Israel against Syria interference Free Syria Army says Israeli fire in response to Syrian shell hit near northern border was meant to ‘aid Assad’s criminal regime.’

UN urges restraint from Israel, Syria after shelling Ban Ki-moon makes plea for calm after IDF fires warning shot into Syria for first time since ’73 war, Syrian shells land in Israel.

UK troops ‘may be sent to Syria within months’: Humanitarian crisis could force us to act, says top soldierGeneral Sir David Richards’s comments come after PM said he would consider military options to remove dictator Bashar al Assad, Said international community would need support from people inside Syria, British troops could provide food, shelter and medical supplies to refugees, Could intervene during this winter when more lives are at risk.

Special Reports

Archaeologists Explore Site on Syria-Turkey Border

Despite the Syrian war, archaeologists are hard at work at the site of an ancient city called Karkemish. The strategic city’s historical importance is long known to scholars because of references in ancient texts. Despite the dangers, archaeologists say they felt secure during a 10-week season of excavation on the Turkish side of Karkemish.

Syrian exile: ‘My mother is dead. And it was my father who killed her’

When Loubna Mrie joined the revolution, she incurred the wrath of her father, an Assad loyalist.

Ammar Abdulhamid & Khawla Yusuf: The Shredded Tapestry: The State of Syria Today

Yes, electing a cleric to head the new opposition coalition might seem like step backward. Indeed, some activists have expressed concern over the precedence that this development will set for the future. But things Syrian, as we all must have learned by now, are often not what they seem. Sheikh Mouaz Al-Khateeb, a Damascene cleric and one of the main figures that led the early revolutionary fermentation in the Damascene suburb of Douma and elsewhere, is not only a moderate, but a figure who has long managed to bridge in communications between secular and Islamist groups on the ground. His views on critical issues such women and minority rights have also been reasonable enough to allow for the possibility of actually reaching workable compromises that can satisfy both Islamists and secularists. As such, he is a potentially unifying figure, and his touch will be needed in the days and months, if not years ahead.

More importantly though is the fact that Mouaz will not be in it alone. His deputies include Suheir Al-Atassy, another respected figure from the early days of the revolution, a secular figure, and a staunch woman’s rights activist. His other deputy is Riad Seif himself, the main figure behind the new initiative for unification. The Coalition full name is Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces.

One brave in-country activist described the development on Facebook: Syrian political culture dictated that we put a secular face on what is essentially an Islamist council (i.e. the SNC under the leadership of George Sabra), and an Islamist face on what is essentially a secular coalition. However, I wouldn’t go as far as describing the Coalition as “secular,” if the list of 63 names we have for its members is correct, then Islamists have one third of the seats. With traditional and tribal elements occupying an equal number of seats, secularists, including representatives of minority groups, are actually a minority in the Coalition. But that’s to be expected, secularists in the strict sense of the word, have always been a minority.

Indeed, we should not let our emotions blind us from the truth of it all: in realty, Coalition membership is, for the most part, a virtual who’s who list of the same tired and drab personalities that have plagued opposition work since the beginning of the revolution. So, much work and many pitfalls lie ahead for the new management. The selection of Mouaz, Suheir and Riad is only the beginning of a long, complicated and traitorous process, including the formation of a transitional government and of a military council to unite all major rebels groups inside the country.

The SNC, or rather, the Muslim Brotherhood will continue to play a tough game in the background pushing for greater representation and attempting to manipulate the process. The SNC already have 22 seats, including all eleven members of tis recently (s)elected Executive Committee. The Brotherhood also obtained more seats for itself through people who were included in the Coalition not as MB or SNC members but considered under the rubric of “national personalities” and representatives of local councils.

Gulf States are said to have already recognized the National Coalition and the Arab League will likely follow their lead. Embassies might be handed over to the opposition soon as well, meaning the Coalition will have to start picking its diplomats, a process that promises to turn into another cockfight.

The National Coordination Body has not been included in the new coalition, and dialogue with the regime has been rejected a priori and made a condition for membership.

Meanwhile, the streets of Syria will continue to move to a different beat. The real decision-makers, rebel leaders and local activists, are not involved in the Doha process, and should they decide to support, this will happen for an interim period that will end when they decide it’s time for it to end.

This is BBC’s take on this development:

One source at the meeting told Reuters that the SNC had agreed only under pressure and that it had been given a deadline of 10:00 (07:00 GMT) to sign up or risk being left out.

The new body had been proposed by Mr Seif with the backing of the US, which had signalled its frustration with the SNC.

“We signed an agreement to create [a] coalition of 60 members of the Syrian opposition,” he said.

Delegates said the body would carry representation for ethnic Kurds, Christians, Alawites and women. Of the 60 places, 22 will be reserved for the SNC.

Protester Sentenced To Four-And-A-Half Years for “Mass Disorder”

November 12, 2012

By Alexandra Sandacz
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – On Friday, Maxim Luzyanin was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for “mass disorder” and violence against the police. Luzyanin was one of the first individuals arrested in May during a protest of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration.

Maxim Luzyanin was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for his participation in the violent May protest. (Photo Courtesy of RT)

Although Judge Andrei Fedin said “Luzyanin’s correction was not possible without isolating him from society,” Luzyanin’s lawyers maintain that the sentence was “harsh” and plan to appeal.

Furthermore, several opposition members were “unhappy with the length of the prison term, and expected a shorter sentence due to the defendant’s cooperation with investigators.”

Luzyanin, one of the “Bolotnaya 17”, was the only protester to plead guilty. Luzyanin cooperated with the investigators who looked into the causes of the violence in May. His sentence of four-and-a-half years created fear in the other detained individuals.

Prominent Russian opposition activist, Alexei Navalny, stated, “This is either a sign that they will give long sentences to those who will not agree to a deal with investigators, or a sign of the widespread Russian and worldwide practice when the first to confess and cooperate gets immediately a long sentence, to scare the rest to death.”

Dmitry Agranovsky, the defense lawyer for the other’s in the “Bolotnaya 17”, said he was “disappointed” with Luzyanin’s sentence, and he would put forth the appropriate effort to obtain a shorter jail term for his own defendants.

He continued, “There is a chance that others on trial will make the conclusion that it does not matter whether you cooperate with the investigation or not, you will still get a harsh sentence. I believe if the defendant cooperated, the court has to go lightly on him.”

However, Vladimir Putin, who has held a position of power in Russia since 2000, pushed various laws through parliament, such as increasing fines for protesters.

Russia’s investigative committee released a statement that said, “Those who think they can with impunity organize riots, plan and prepare terrorist attacks and other acts that threaten the lives and health of Russians, you underestimate the Russian special services’ professionalism.”

Since the violent protest in May, opposition groups deceased protests and now explore future strategies.

For further information, please see:

RFE/RL – Russian Court Hands Down Prison Sentence to ‘Bolotnaya’ Protester – 12 November 2012

Reuters — Jailing of protester underlines harsh Russia crackdown: Navalny – 10 November 2012

RT — Russian Court Issues first ‘Bolotnaya’ verdict: Protester Jailed for 4.5 years – 10 November 2012

The Independent – Anti-Putin protester jailed for four and a half years – 9 November 2012

China will not allow independent investigations into alleged human rights abuses in Tibet

November 12, 2012

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The Chinese central government will continue to disallow foreign, independent investigations of possible human rights abuses in Chinese-ruled Tibet.

Qiangba Puncog holds a press conference regarding the status of foreign reporters. (Photo courtesy of South China Morning Post)

International pressure to allow these probes into Tibet have intensified in the wake of eight individuals setting themselves on fire in protest of China’s rule in Tibet. At least 68 Tibetans have committed self-immolation since March of 2011, and roughly 56 of these individuals have died.

Thousands of protestors, including many students, have also taken to the streets to protest the Chinese government and called for the return of the exiled Dalai Lama. The Tibetan demonstrators marched on the government offices of Rebkong in eastern Tibet after the recent incidents of Tibetans lighting themselves on fire.

The demonstrators not only called for the return of his Holiness, the Dalai Lama, but also greater freedom of speech. This may be a continuation of demonstrations held in 2010 when China planned to replace the Tibetan language with Chinese to instruct children in local schools.

Executive director of the rights group “Free Tibet” asserted that language is a huge issue among native Tibetans. If Tibetans choose to study their own language and ignore Chinese, they will be marginalized because they must study Chinese for higher education opportunities and future employment opportunities.

Navi Pillay, the most senior human rights official at the United Nations, pleaded with China last week to allow for independent investigations into these alleged human rights abuses that may be plaguing the Tibetan people.

China’s Communist Party, however, continues to assert that foreign journalists will not be welcomed into Tibet. Qiangba Puncog, chairman of Tibet’s regional assembly, relayed that people are welcome to come and see Tibet for travel and study purposes, but those attempting to enter the region to highlight human rights abuses are not welcome.

Qiangba Puncog also told reporters that they were welcome to see the true situation of Tibet with their own eyes, but gave no specific timeline as to when foreign reporters would be allowed back into the region. China has barred foreign journalists from entering Tibet which makes independent verification of the specific events alleged, including the human rights abuses and nature of the self-immolations, difficult.

The individuals who have set themselves on fire have been labeled as terrorists by the Chinese government. The Chinese government further accuses the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, as the instigator for all of these acts of self-mutilation. The Dalia Lama denies all charges.

For further information, please see:

ZeeNews –Protests in Tibet amid key Cong: Rights groups – 10 November 2012

South China Morning Post – China says no to foreign rights monitors for Tibet – 9 November 2012

Reuters – China says no to foreign rights monitors for Tibet – 9 November 2012

Voice of America – Tibetan Protests Erupt in Western China – 9 November 2012

Israel Fires Warning Shots into Syria

November 11, 2012

By Emily Schneider
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – For the first time since the Yom Kippur war in 1973, Israel has fired on Syrian forces. Israeli officials say they fired warning shots into Syria this weekend after a mortar round from Syria hit an Israeli vehicle in the Golan Heights.

Smoke rises after shells exploded in the Syrian village of Bariqa, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, near Alonei Habashan on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights November 7, 2012. (Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Baz Ratner)

Last week, the Israeli forces claimed that three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries. It was believed they were attacking rebel fighters in the area. Israel filed a complaint with the UN peacekeeping force and military chief of staff Benny Gantz visited the Golan Heights area in response. He warned the troops in the area to be on high alert and to make every effort to discourage the overflow of Syrian violence.

Activists in Syria near the Golan Heights have reported Syrian troop movement in the area in recent days. BBC Beirut correspondent Jim Muir likened the situation to that between Turkey and Syria at the border.

On Saturday, the IDF posted a statement on their website that said the mortar shell hit an IDF post in the Golan Heights adjacent to the Israel-Syria border, as part of the internal conflict inside Syria.” Although no damage or injuries were reported, “IDF soldiers fired warning shots towards Syrian areas” in response.

The mortar shot hit an Israeli outpost in the Golan Heights, an area that is currently occupied by Israel. The Golan Heights is a rocky area with strategic significance. Israel seized the area from Syria near the end of the Six Day War in 1967. Israel repelled an attack in 1973 by Syria, who was trying to regain the area.

Although Syria and Israel are still formally at war, they signed an armistice in 1974 and an UN force has patrolled the buffer zone since then. Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, but that annexation was not recognized internationally.

Following this latest incident, the Israel Defense Forces filed a complaint through the UN forces patrolling the buffer zone, stating that overflow of mortar fire from Syria into Israel and its occupied territory will not be tolerated and Israel “shall be responded to with severity.”

Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated that point, saying “additional shelling into Israel from Syria will elicit a tougher response, exacting a higher price from Syria.”

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, called for restraint from both countries on Sunday. Ban’s office said, “the Secretary-General is deeply concerned by the potential for escalation. He calls for the utmost restraint and urges Syria and Israel to uphold the Disengagement Agreement, respect their mutual obligations, and halt firing of any kind across the ceasefire line.”

For further information, please see:

Aljazeera – Israeli Army Fires ‘Warning Shots’ at Syria – 11 Nov. 2012

BBC- Israel Fires Warning Shots ‘After Mortar Strike’ – 11 Nov. 2012

Israel National News – IDF Fires Back at Syria – 11 Nov. 2012

JPost – UN Urges Restraint From Israel, Syria After Shelling – 11 Nov. 2012