Crisis in Syri� #20 Met westerse steun en chemische wapens?

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Courts Become A Battleground For Secularists, Islamists In Syria


In rebel-held parts of Syria, a clash of ideologies is playing out. Powerful Islamist brigades are competing with pro-democracy civilians to shape Syria's future.

One battlefront is in the courts. In many areas in northern Syria, Islamists have set up religious courts that deliver rulings under Shariah, or Islamic law — a fundamental change in Syria's civil legal system.

This is evident on a recent day in a courtroom in the northern Syrian city of Azaz.
In the courthouse, a judge and two lawyers preside over a civil case. It's a commercial dispute over a carload of cigarettes. The defendant says he somehow lost the goods. His partner, a shopkeeper, wants him to pay for the loss.

The court is in session and everyone is asked to rise. The defendant is swearing an oath, his right hand on the Quran. This is a rebel court. Self-appointed judges, lawyers and clerics started working together a few months ago, but it's the cleric's judgment that counts. The lawyers are a recent addition. Attorney Jamil Osman says he joined the court system to try to insert Syria's civil code into these proceedings.

"There needs to be the presence of lawyers because, frankly, the Shariah people do not know the procedures of the judiciary," he says. But it's the religious ruling that Syrians want, says Osman. The memories of the corrupt court system of the regime of President Bashar Assad are too fresh.

"Most people in Syria prefer to have this system in place because it creates a large amount of trust," Osman says. "People trust the religious scholars."

Expanding Hard-Liners' Influence

Islamists — backed by ultra-conservative armed groups — dominate the courts across rebel-held areas. As these rebels took control in northern Syria, they set up religious courts to dispense simple justice, says Andrew Tabler, a Syria specialist with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"In the interim, it's the one system that people are able to set up and understand, and in at least two if not more provinces, it's working," he says.
It is also working to expand the influence of the most hard-line factions, Tabler says. The Islamists, and the Salafists in particular, have a lot of influence because they are there in the area and are in direct touch with armed groups, he says. But judging by what happened when Jabhat al-Nusra — the most hard-line of the armed groups — rolled into Mayadeen, a town in eastern Syria, the admiration for Islamist courts may be fading. A large convoy of trucks and vans filled with armed, bearded men converged on Mayadeen's municipal building to set up a religious police force. The move prompted three days of demonstrations calling for al-Nusra to get out of town.

And in Aleppo, the largest city in northern Syria, moderate Muslims are also starting to object to these hard-line factions dominating the courts. Tammam al-Baroudi, a businessman and activist in Aleppo, says everyone is afraid of these hard-line groups, but so far, "the people are saying that between themselves." But there is growing anger, he says, over new rules. Signs have recently appeared warning that anyone who "speaks against Islam" will go to jail. A doctor was arrested for taking down a black Islamic banner at his hospital. Baroudi was recently arrested and jailed over a dispute with a rebel commander.

"What I saw in these 20 days make me scared about the future," he says. He saw people who were brought in by the militias. "They were in a very bad situation. They had been tortured. Anybody in the militias, he can hit him, kill him, as he wants," Baroudi says. "This is very bad. This is the situation in Aleppo at the moment."

An Aleppo court staffed with lawyers and clerics freed him. But Baroudi says al-Nusra can arrest and try you again if it doesn't agree with the ruling. "They don't like a judge, so they can catch you again," he says. "This is what we are afraid all the time." And in the religious courts, Baroudi says, "if the judge gives you a sentence, no one can say if it's OK or not. There is no appeal." "We like Shariah — it comes from God," he says, "but not in the way they are doing it."

What Syrians Want

There is also a fear that Islamist radicals may kick out the old form of dictatorship but replace it with an Islamist version. In the northern city of Raqqa, militants posted leaflets announcing that anyone who supports democracy is an infidel, a serious charge in any Islamic court.

Abdelrahman al-Suri is a founding member of one of the largest Islamist battalions.
"We are not democrats," Suri tells a group of Western journalists in an interview near the Turkish border. The heavily bearded 29-year-old oversees a system of more than two-dozen courts. He says he doesn't need elections to know all Syrians want Islamic law.

"We know what they want and what they're asking for and what their ambitions are, and those are to live under the laws of God and under the laws of Shariah," he says. "So this choice has already been made by the Syrian people. Even if we don't go to actual elections and voting, this is something that the vast majority of Syrians already endorse and want." "We didn't go to them; people came to us. And they came to us because we were implementing justice," Suri says. "And this is just proof that we're doing things in the right way."

But not all Syrians agree — and some believe the coming fight will be with these hard-liners.

http://www.npr.org/2013/0(...)s-islamists-in-syria

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Op vrijdag 15 maart 2013 13:14 schreef Peunage het volgende:
Dit had nou niemand aan zien komen.

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Op vrijdag 15 maart 2013 14:35 schreef Peunage het volgende:
Wat doe je nou in godsnaam in een riool? Lastig vechten lijkt mij zo.

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Op zondag 17 maart 2013 08:37 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

المجادهون يؤدون صلاة المغرب قبل التوجه للمعركة

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'Honderden buitenlandse jihadisten in Syri�'

Honderden buitenlandse 'jihadisten' hebben Syri� de afgelopen twee jaar ge�nfiltreerd en zich gevoegd bij de opstandelingen die president Bashar Assad uit het zadel willen krijgen.

Dat hebben Syrische staatsmedia zondag gezegd.

De regeringsgezinde krant Al-Watan schreef zondag dat in Groot-Brittanni�, de Verenigde Staten en Frankrijk, landen die de Syrische oppositie steunen, radicale strijders worden getraind.

De honderden jihadistische strijders zijn verantwoordelijk voor het verval van de Syrische economie en de verwoesting van het cultureel erfgoed van Syri�, aldus de krant.

De opstand tegen Assad begon in maart 2011 en heeft inmiddels aan meer dan zeventigduizend mensen het leven gekost.

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Syrians take to streets as they seek to drive out Al-Nusra fighters
Activists take to streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria for third straight day to demand that Al-Nusra Front fighters leave town.

BEIRUT - Anti-regime activists took to the streets of rebel-held Mayadeen in eastern Syria on Wednesday for a third straight day to demand that jihadist Al-Nusra Front fighters leave the town, a watchdog said.

"For the third day in a row, protests erupted in Mayadeen calling on the Al-Nusra Front to leave the town," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Protests erupted after the Islamist Al-Nusra Front -- blacklisted in December by the United States as a "terrorist" organisation -- set up a religious council in the east of Deir Ezzor province, where Mayadeen is situated, to administer affairs in the area.

At the weekend they set up a religious police force in Mayadeen, the Britain-based Observatory said, adding that the force had held a parade in the town.

Amateur video distributed by the Observatory showed a large convoy of vehicles driving through the east of Syria, large swathes of which have fallen out of army control in the past few months.

Rebels held up black Islamic flags while driving down an unidentified road.

"The protests are an important indicator that people in eastern Syria -- where people do not have a culture of religious extremism -- do not welcome the imposition of religious law," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

"The fact is that fanaticism has little place in Syria as a whole, though the regime has tried hard to make the world believe that a successful revolt would put radical Islamists in power," he added.

A second amateur video distributed on Sunday by activists showed protesters, some of them on motorcycles, holding a night-time demonstration in Mayadeen.

"Protesters are calling on Al-Nusra Front to leave Al-Mayadeen!" said the unidentified cameraman filming the event.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=57506

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A Chat With A Radical Fighter In Syria

The Islamist rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra has been secretive, keeping to itself and refusing to meet Western journalists. The group has been designated a terrorist organization by the Obama administration and was thought to be made up mostly of foreign fighters, working alongside Syrian rebels.

But lately, members are starting to open up as more Syrians join the group and they make more gains on the ground in the fight against the Syrian government.

In the northwest Syrian town of Kafr Nabel we met a 21-year-old fighter from the group. He said he came from Libya six months ago and goes by the name Brother Huthaifa. He says he is a "sheikh," or leader.

He agreed to meet on the condition that he could "invite us to Islam," though he refused to have his photo taken.

Here are highlights of the conversation:

On labeling the group

Brother Huthaifa: I object to anyone calling us extremists.

NPR: So what word would you use?

BH: Mujahedeen (fighter for God).

NPR: What is your vision for Syria?

BH: We Muslims have a certainty, there is talk of the prophet who preached that the best place on earth is the Levant. He also said that God chooses whom he wishes to be his best followers to be from here. I hope God chooses me and this is why I came to here, too.

NPR: What did you do before you came to Syria?

BH: I was a teacher of Quran and a sharia [Islamic law] student, fourth year in Benghazi, Libya. [During the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi], I was fighting in Sirte.

NPR: What is the goal of Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria?

BH: There are orders from the general command of the group that it is not allowed to conduct suicide operations inside residential neighborhoods.

On the group's attitude toward women

NPR: Will women be required to wear hijab [if the current regime is ousted]?

BH: Let me explain it this way. If I gave someone two lollipops ... one is covered and the other is not. Where will the germs and the bacteria go? To the uncovered one. And the same with the woman; if she is uncovered, the rotten one, who will the men chase? While if the woman is covered, even the most beautiful one, they will not chase her.

NPR: That brings us to the wider question of an Islamic state, and what does that mean for the non-Muslims?

BH: Preserving the Muslim society, that is the general rule. Prevention is the best treatment. What makes people commit sin is viewing porn films, listening to songs that provoke desire.

NPR: You are also in a way not respecting the minds of men. You immediately think that they will chase a woman who is unveiled.

BH: Prevention is the best treatment. Men mostly look at face and the body. Then he will be following women and Satan will be whispering into his ears.

NPR: So why don't you put on a veil, too? There are women who chase men?

BH: Are you really asking to get an answer or to argue?

NPR: To get an answer.

BH: Islam is a great religion. There is a verse that says: "Tell the believers to lower their gaze and guard their modesty. That is better for them, as God is aware of what they are doing. And tell the woman [believers] to lower their gaze and guard their modesty."

On why the group is becoming more public

BH: There are no guidelines regarding this matter. Because people want to come to Jabhat al-Nusra on their own. If you want to know about us, you can follow us on Twitter.

NPR: But today you were a bit upset that the media didn't publicize your demonstration.

BH: The problem is that the media has lost its credibility. The media's role is to convey what is happening on the ground without exaggeration. And it isn't the case. It's opposite. Especially when Jabhat al-Nusra was classified as a terrorist organization. It did not commit any terrorist acts outside Syria, and it doesn't have any links to al-Qaida, but it was classified as a terrorist organization. Why? Because it resisted [Syrian president] Bashar al Assad.

NPR: In Syria, people have different beliefs than you. So the question is, how can you come from a different country and tell Syrians how to live their lives as Muslims?

BH: In our religion, the believers are brothers and sisters. ... There is no such thing as Libyan, Syrian, Tunisian. We are all Muslims.

On Islamic law

BH: We believe in the prophecy of implementing an Islamic state.

NPR: So once there is an Islamic state, there will be the cutting off the hands of thieves and the death penalty [for worse crimes]?

BH: I decline to answer.

NPR: The people of Syria deserve an answer.

BH: Al-Hudud [the Islamic punishments for serious crimes] cannot be implemented except in a Muslim country with power and force. With cutting off hands, we would have to implement the several conditions necessary for an Islamic state before we could do that.

NPR: We saw how your organization helped with bread distribution in Aleppo. Is it an important phase for you right now to earn the trust of the people?

BH: Yes, Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, who is the emir of Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, wrote a letter titled, "People of Sham we sacrifice our souls for you." In it he said that Jabhat al-Nusa is not a political organization but a group that cares in the matters of all Muslims.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/(...)cal-Fighter-In-Syria

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Op zondag 17 maart 2013 12:40 schreef UpsideDown het volgende:

[..]

NU.nl

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Op zondag 17 maart 2013 13:14 schreef rakotto het volgende:

[..]

Hehe, hoe hypocriet. Er is niemand radicaler dan Assad en zijn cronies.

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Op zondag 17 maart 2013 13:23 schreef Peunage het volgende:

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Debatable. Assad is beter in die zin dat hij niet discrimineert. Als je een grote bek hebt ben je gewoon dood, wat voor religie/stroming of etniciteit je ook hebt.

Hij is gewoon oliedom geweest. Na het bewind van zijn vader had hij Syri� verder kunnen moderniseren, ook politiek gezien, en toch blijven regeren. Hij heeft er voor gekozen de voetstappen van zijn vader te volgen.

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Syrie beschiet Libanon
De Syrische luchtmacht heeft vandaag vier raketten afgevuurd op een onbewoond gebied bij de grens met Libanon. De aanvallen maakten geen slachtoffers, maar werden vanavond door de VS wel een ‘significante escalatie’ genoemd.

Vier dagen geleden waarschuwde het regime van Assad dat ze rebellen die zich ophouden bij de grens zouden kunnen beschieten.

De raketaanvallen van vandaag vonden plaats vlakbij Bekaa Valley (kaart), waar ook Arsal ligt. De bevolking van dat stadje bestaat overwegend uit Soennitische moslims die de strijd van de rebellen tegen Assad steunen.

Een woordvoerder van de VS zei dat ‘de escalatie van het geweld tegen de Libanese soevereiniteit absoluut onacceptabel’ is.

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Opnieuw dodelijke gevechten in Damascus

(Novum/AP) - In en rondom de Syrische hoofdstad Damascus hadden maandag opnieuw gevechten plaats tussen het leger en de rebellen in het land. Zeker 26 mensen kwamen om. Dat heeft het Syrische Observatorium voor de Mensenrechten gezegd.

In het centrum van de hoofdstad sloegen zeker drie mortiergranaten in. Een van de granaten sloeg in bij het Tishreen-paleis, een van de drie paleizen van de Syrische president Bashar Assad. Volgens activisten werden ook gebouwen van de staatsveiligheidsdiensten en het ministerie van hoger onderwijs met granaten bestookt.