Crisis in Syri� #17 In de schaduw van Gaza

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Op woensdag 26 december 2012 17:40 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20843341
Abdulaziz al-Shalal, hoofd van de Syrische militaire politie, is overgelopen en bevindt zich in Turkije.
Wat denken jullie hiervan? Iemand die een laat inzicht krijgt, niet eerder kon overlopen, opportunisme?

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UN envoy calls for 'real change' in Syria

Lakhdar Brahimi calls for installation of transitional government with full powers as Russia denies joint US peace plan.

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has called for "real change" in war-torn Syria and the installation of a transitional government with full powers until elections can be held.

The envoy unveiled his initiative in Damascus on Thursday as Russia, the most powerful ally of Syria's government, denied the existence of a joint peace plan with the United States, amid a flurry of year-end diplomatic activity on the crisis.

"Change should not be cosmetic; the Syrian people need and require real change, and everyone understands what that means," the UN-Arab League envoy said on the fifth day of his latest peace mission to Syria.

"We need to form a government with all powers... which assumes power during a period of transition. That transition period will end with elections," Brahimi told reporters.

He did not specify a date for the envisaged elections, either presidential or parliamentary depending on what could be agreed. He also made no mention on the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, whose current term expires in 2014.
"The transition period should not lead to the collapse of the state and its institutions," Brahimi said, adding the initiative was incomplete.

"We prefer... a project whose facilitation the parties have agreed upon, and, if they do not, the last solution is going to the (UN) Security Council which will make a binding resolution."

Brahimi, who while in Damascus has held talks with Assad as well as with opposition groups tolerated by the regime, replaced former UN chief Kofi Annan after his dramatic resignation in August over what he said was the failure of major powers to back his own six-point peace plan.

And a diplomat at the UN Security Council said on Wednesday the veteran Algerian troubleshooter had received no support from either side since arriving in Syria on Sunday.

"Assad appears to have stonewalled Brahimi again, the UN Security Council is not even close to showing the envoy the kind of support he needs and the rebels will not now compromise," said the diplomat.

Brahimi is to hold talks on Saturday with Moscow at the request of the envoy, Russia's foreign ministry said.

Russia on Thursday hosted a Syrian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad, with its foreign ministry saying the results would be announced later in the day.

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Syrian rebels sidetracked by scramble for spoils of war

Looting, feuds and divided loyalties threaten to destroy unity of fighters as war enters new phase

It wasn't the government that killed the Syrian rebel commander Abu Jameel. It was the fight for his loot. The motive for his murder lay in a great warehouse in Aleppo which his unit had captured a week before. The building had been full of rolled steel, which was seized by the fighters as spoils of war.

But squabbling developed over who would take the greater share of the loot and a feud developed between commanders. Threats and counter-threats ensued over the following days.

Abu Jameel survived one assassination attempt when his car was fired on. A few days later his enemies attacked again, and this time they were successful. His bullet-riddled body was found, handcuffed, in an alley in the town of al-Bab.

Captain Hussam, of the Aleppo military council, said: "If he had died fighting I would say it was fine, he was a rebel and a mujahid and this is what he had set out to do. But to be killed because of a feud over loot is a disaster for the revolution.

"It is extremely sad. There is not one government institution or warehouse left standing in Aleppo. Everything has been looted. Everything is gone."

Captured government vehicles and weapons have been crucial to the rebels since the start of the conflict, but according to Hussam and other commanders, and fighters interviewed by the Guardian over a fortnight in northern Syria, a new phase has been reached in the war. Looting has become a way of life.

"Spoils" have now become the main drive for many units as battalion commanders seek to increase their power.

The problem is particularly pronounced in Aleppo, according to Abu Ismael, a young lieutenant from a wealthy family, who ran a successful business before joining the fight against Bashar al-Assad.

Many of the battalions that entered the city in the summer of this year came from the countryside, he said. They were poor peasants who carried with them centuries-old grudges towards the wealthier Aleppans.

There was also a lingering feeling that the city – where businesses had been exploiting cheap peasant labour for several decades – had not risen up quickly enough against the Assads. "The rebels wanted to take revenge on the people of Aleppo because they felt that we had betrayed them, but they forgot that most of the people of Aleppo are merchants and traders and a merchant will pay money to get rid of his problem," Abu Ismael said. "Even as the rest of Syria was gripped by revolution, the Aleppans said, why should we destroy our business and waste our money?"

When the rebels entered the city and started looting the factories, a source of money dried up.

"In the first month and a half the rebels were really a united revolutionary group," Abu Ismael said. "But now they are different. There are those who are here only to loot and make money, and some still fight." Did Abu Ismael's unit loot? "Of course. How do you think we feed the men? Where do you think we get all our sugar, for example?"

In the chaotic economics of the war, everything has become a commodity. Abu Ismael's unit, for example, took a supply of diesel from a school compound, and every day his unit exchanges a few jerrycans of the precious liquid for bread.

Because Abu Ismael has a supply of food and fuel his battalion is more desirable than others in the sector. Commanders who are unable to feed their men tend to lose them; they desert and join other groups.

Bullets are equally important. When military installations and warehouses are looted the battalion that captures ammunition grows by cannibalising smaller, less well-equipped units that have no bullets to hand.

In a dark apartment in the Salahuddin neighbourhood of Aleppo we sat with a group of commanders who were discussing the formation of a new brigade that would bring their various battalions together. They soon turned to the topic of loot.

One of the commanders present had led an operation into the predominantly Kurdish neighbourhood of Ashrafiya in Aleppo, but according to several fighters who were there the action failed when the army counterattacked because the rebel support units that were supposed to reinforce the front instead turned their attention to looting.

"I want to know exactly what you took that day," the commander of a small unit told the leader of the assault. The commander opened a notebook to write, while another man held a flashlight above his head. "As long as one fights while the others are busy collecting loot we can't advance," he said. "The loot has to be divided equally."

The leader started to list the luxury cars and the weapons his units had found and taken, while the other commander wrote them down in the notebook. Some of the cars would be sold back to the owners – if they paid out a hefty ransom.

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Rusland nodigt leider Syrische oppositie uit

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Rusland heeft de Syrische oppositieleider Mouaz al-Khatib uitgenodigd om te komen spreken over een einde aan de bloedige burgeroorlog in Syri�. De Russische minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, Sergej Lavrov, zei vrijdag dat Khatib niet tegen dit idee is.

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Op vrijdag 28 december 2012 11:49 schreef CaptainObvious39 het volgende:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a89_1356339797

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Op vrijdag 28 december 2012 12:11 schreef waht het volgende:

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OMG, er is helemaal niets aan de hand in Syri�!!!! Open je ogen menson!

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Op vrijdag 28 december 2012 12:11 schreef waht het volgende:

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OMG, er is helemaal niets aan de hand in Syri�!!!! Open je ogen menson!

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Op vrijdag 28 december 2012 03:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Het artikel gaat verder

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Op vrijdag 28 december 2012 12:43 schreef CaptainObvious39 het volgende:

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[ afbeelding ]

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Op vrijdag 28 december 2012 14:00 schreef mr_jack het volgende:

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Tja , dat was te verwachten dat er geplunderd zou gaan worden.
Dat ze in hun heblust medestrijders vermoorden, dat had ik dan weer niet verwacht....
Maar het geeft wel aan dat het een zooitje ongeregeld is..

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Interview with Official of Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s Islamist Militia Group

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The designation, officially announced on Dec.11, lists Jabhat al-Nusra as an alias of al-Qaeda in Iraq and says that since November 2011 the group has claimed responsibility for “nearly 600 terrorist attacks, killing and wounding hundreds of Syrians.” The group was unknown until late January 2012, when it announced its formation, although Abu Adnan admits that it was active for months before then. In the months since then, it has become one of the most effective fighting forces against President Bashar Assad, undertaking some of the most audacious attacks against the regime.

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DAMASCUS
Op internet is een video opgedoken van Syrische rebellen die vanuit huizen van onschuldige Syri�rs met raketten het leger beschieten.

Wanneer Assads mannen vervolgens terugschieten, vallen er vervolgens talloze burgerslachtoffers.

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Op zondag 30 december 2012 22:50 schreef mr_jack het volgende:
Huizen onschuldige Syri�rs gebruikt als schietbasis door FSA

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Tja, wederom wordt de tactiek van de rebellen bevestigd, burgerslachtoffers = de juiste propaganda voor het westen.

Terrorists will lose!

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Op zondag 30 december 2012 22:56 schreef Volksrepubliek- het volgende:

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Dat de gemiddelde westerling nog in de propaganda trapt....

Terrorists will lose!

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Nieuwe ‘grondige’ analyse: al 60.000 doden in Syri�

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Van al deze mensen is de voor- en achternaam bekend, evenals de sterfdatum en de plaats waar ze de dood vonden. “We kunnen aannemen dat het aantal inmiddels de 60.000 overschreden heeft”, zei Pillay vandaag.

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2012 was het jaar van de Arabische lente. Dictators werden van hun troon gestoten, het volk sprak, riep uit dat het anders moest. Het democratisch optimisme, de euforie van de eerste dagen maakte al snel plaats voor de realistische vaststelling dat democratie niet altijd een eenvoudige oefening is.

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Op donderdag 3 januari 2013 22:46 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:
Voor de ge�nteresseerden:
http://www.canvas.be/prog(...)A13bae8811da%3A-7cda
Een bewerkte reportage :

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Met interviews met een aantal prominente geestelijken, en waarin op een gegeven moment een ploeg journalisten niet meer mag vertrekken van Syrische verzetsstrijders.
Wordt herhaald: Vrijdag 4 januari om 14u22, ,Zondag 6 januari om 18u00.

كتائب أحرار الشام - نسف حاجز اليعقوبية عملية رائعة 27-12

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Syria rebels' arms supplies and finances drying up despite western pledges

With no sign of the west relaxing its ban on arming opposition forces, rebels are forced to focus on a gradual war of attrition

Despite widespread pledges of support from western and Arab states, the main Syrian opposition coalition says it has still not seen any significant increase in funding or arms supplies.

Members of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, formed in November, say that there is still no sign of western capitals relaxing their ban on delivering weapons to the rebels and that even Gulf Arab governments, which helped arm opposition groups last year, are supplying less with every passing week.

"The supplies are drying up. It is still Syrian expats – individuals - who are providing the funding by and large," said a Syrian businessman who has helped to fund the opposition since the uprising began 22 months ago.

As a result, he said, the fragmented rebel forces have changed strategy, giving up hopes of a sweep through the country, and focusing instead on a gradual war of attrition: besieging isolated government military bases to stop the regime using planes and helicopters against them and ultimately to capture weapons, to compensate for the meagre supplies from abroad.

Opposition groups claim to be close to overrunning a regime helicopter base near the northern town of Taftanaz, in Idlib province, posting a video online purporting to show a captured tank firing at government armoured vehicles and helicopters inside the perimeter walls of the base.

"The battles now are at the gates of the airport," Fadi al-Yassin, an activist based in Idlib told the Associated Press, adding that the base commander, a brigadier general, had been killed in the fighting on Thursday.

Yassin said that it had become very difficult for the regime helicopters to take off and land at the base, but warplanes from airfields further south, in the central province of Hama and the coastal region of Latakia, were bombarding rebel fighters besieging Taftanaz.

President Bashar al-Assad's government also claimed to be advancing in Daraya, a Damascus suburb close to another military air base and some government headquarters.

As it has become increasingly clear that large-scale external assistance is unlikely to materialise, the many locally-based rebel groups have found ways of sustaining themselves militarily and financially, but have largely given up hoping for a sudden breakthrough.

"What you are going to see is one or two air bases beginning to fall, particularly in the north, in Aleppo and Idlib," the opposition financier said. "But there is a law of diminishing returns. As these bases are encircled there is less bounty in each one as the government has been moving out assets when it becomes clear the bases are going to fall."

In November, the rebels succeeded in bringing down some government aircraft with shoulder-launched missiles captured in a regime base, but Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said sightings of such missiles have faded in recent weeks.

"There was a spike late last year, but there have been no signs of any more since that capture, and there is no evidence we have seen of foreign-supplied missiles," he said.

Over the past two months, the US, UK and France as well as other European states and the Gulf monarchies have declared the newly formed national coalition "the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people", in what they hoped would be a turning point in bringing some cohesion to the deeply divided opposition, and in forging links between those in exile and rebel commanders inside Syria.

Such links have continued to be elusive, however, and both the new coalition and its backers are blaming each other, in rows reminiscent of the problems that dogged its forerunner, the Syrian National Council. Western governments have made disbursements of aid dependent on proven control over rebel forces in Syria and credible assurances that the assistance would not further the aims of extremist Islamist groups such as the Nusra Front, declared a terrorist organisation by the US. Opposition leaders complain that without significant aid they have little hope of rallying support or exerting any control over the chaotic anti-Assad effort.

"We don't even money for airplane tickets," one complained.

"It is little unfair of the international community and particular the French to bestow this title [of sole legitimate representative] on the coalition and not follow through," said Salman Shaikh, of the Brookings Institution's Doha centre thinktank, which played a role in bringing together disparate Syrian activist and opposition groups last year. "If they cannot provide for people in the north, which I suspect will come under full opposition control this year, then the people on the ground will question what is the point. And what you will get is just more factionalism."

He added: "I see a very dark period ahead of us, with a total breakdown like Iraq in 2006, with sectarianism on a scale we have not yet seen in Syria."

Mustafa Alani, the director of the national security and terrorism studies department at the Gulf Research Centre said: "The people fighting on the streets are not controlled by people outside. They feel they can topple the regime without any help. They feel they are able to self-finance and self-arm and they can survive.

"Their focus has shifted. Their strategy is not to try to hold villages and towns so much, but to concentrate on air bases, to stop the aircraft flying and to build up pressure in Damascus. That is where the war will be decided."

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Op vrijdag 4 januari 2013 21:01 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Op vrijdag 4 januari 2013 21:16 schreef rakotto het volgende:

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Het Westen heeft ook de hoop opgegeven. Ze hebben liever Assad op de zadel ipv iemand anders. Israel is niet meer veilig als Assad valt.

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Op vrijdag 4 januari 2013 21:16 schreef rakotto het volgende:

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Het Westen heeft ook de hoop opgegeven. Ze hebben liever Assad op de zadel ipv iemand anders. Israel is niet meer veilig als Assad valt.