Crisis in Syri� #31: From counting victims to counting massacres

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Op zaterdag 3 augustus 2013 17:42 schreef Charismatisch het volgende:

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Niet alleen de oogarts steunde al-Qaeda. Maar Iran steunt ook bepaalde al-Qaeda groeperingen en leden (en de Taliban in Afghanistan):

The situation in Yemen shows that the Saudi-Iranian rivalry is not strictly sectarian. Indeed, Iran has demonstrated a capacity to reach across religious divides to work with Sunni groups that share an anti-Saudi or anti-US agenda. According to Saudi claims, Iran is providing covert financial support to the Sunni-Wahhabi group Ansar Al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda affiliated militant group in Yemen. This is occurring despite the divergent ideological agendas of the Iranian regime and the Sunni group. Tehran’s aim has been to encourage Ansar Al-Sharia to kidnap more Saudi diplomats to force the monarchy to comply with their demands. Likewise, Iran has provided support to the Taliban in Afghanistan. It has additionally provided sanctuary to al-Qaeda’s most senior leaders, such as Yasin al-Suri, Saif al-Adel and Abu Muhammad al-Masri. Not surprisingly, Iran’s connections with the salafi-jihadist movement have evolved as the once cooperative relations between al-Qaeda and Saudi Arabia have become increasingly hostile.

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Op zaterdag 3 augustus 2013 18:49 schreef Schurkenstaat het volgende:

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Leuke poging, maar stuk voor stuk geen sterke argumenten. Dat komt omdat HRW e.d. de zgn. vrijheidsstrijders juridisch gezien meestal als burgers kwalificeren. En niet heel onterecht, omdat dit geen geuniformeerde strijders zijn en dus ook lastig te identificeren zijn.

Nogal logisch dat Assad via die redenering het vooral op zgn. burgers gemunt heeft.

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Op zaterdag 3 augustus 2013 21:51 schreef Peunage het volgende:
Iran heeft samen met de VS tegen de Taliban gevochten in Afghanistan.

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Op zaterdag 3 augustus 2013 22:12 schreef Charismatisch het volgende:

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Klopt. Als dank voor hun services werden ze door Bush als As van het Kwaad bestempeld. Daarna ging Iran toch maar weer steun verlenen aan de anti-Amerikaanse milities in Afghanistan en Irak.

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Assad’s no enemy of al-Qaeda


Last week, General Salim Idris, the head of the Supreme Military Command, made this point for the first time in a little-noticed interview he gave to al-Arabiya, about a fortnight or so after one of his deputy commanders was shot in the chest by the coastal emir of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Iraqi-based al-Qaeda syndicate now highly active in Syria. In the course of explaining how these “foreigners” were generally fucking up the noble rebel cause, Idris let slip this comment: “We refuse them strongly because unfortunately they work with the regime of the criminal Bashar al-Assad.” A cynic would pause only momentarily before concluding that this was little more than a shrewd propaganda trick for Idris to perform, desperate as he is for long-promised and long-deferred U.S. weapons. After all, there is a budding crisis between the moderate Free Syrian Army forces under his command and al-Qaeda. What better way to convince Washington that you’re the kosher sort of rebel than by signposting as both a happy antagonist of the latter as well as the regime?

According to those close to Idris, this interview deviated from his usual talking points in the press, where he’s been careful to distance himself from jihadists, but hasn't repudiate them outright since Supreme Military Command units partner militarily with the Islamic State and the other, older al-Qaeda iteration in Syria with which it has lately merged, Jabhat al-Nusra. Few were expecting Idris to effectively denounce the Bin Ladenists as collaborators with Damascus, which in revolutionary terms is about as bad as declaring all-out war against them, which no one this senior in the FSA has yet done.

At the most literal level, Idris is correct. The Guardian in May quoted a Western official who said that the regime is indeed cooperating with Jabhat al-Nusra, the other al-Qaeda syndicate in Syria, which technically merged with the Islamic State after pledging allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri, because al-Nusra controls the oil fields in Deir Ezzor. According to a Muslim Brotherhood-linked rebel fighter, the regime “pay[s] more than 150m Syrian lire [�1.4m] monthly to Jabhat al-Nusra to guarantee oil is kept pumping through two major oil pipelines in Banias and Latakia. Middlemen trusted by both sides are to facilitate the deal and transfer money to the organisation.”

Occluded in the carefully scripted and produced reinvention of the regime as a mortal enemy of al-Qaeda is the fact that it was once the chief facilitator and egger-on of al-Qaeda and may in fact retain vestiges of this old relationship even unto the present day. Every Syrian revolutionary I’ve ever met or spoken with believes that, at some level, the Machiavellian who used to send “ratlines” of al-Qaeda fighters into Iraq and provide newly arrived jihadist recruits with safe houses in the Jazira, is still working with these erstwhile allies, even at the cost of seeing his own military and security installations blown up in suicide or car bombings. The purpose is to advance a perception that has in fact gained considerable traction in the international press in the last year or so; namely, that Assad is enjoined in the global war on terror and that his enemies are American and Western enemies who should not be aided or armed in any way. (The FSB, Russia’s successor agency to the KGB, has been credibly accused of staging false flag terrorist bombings in and outside of Moscow in 2000 order to rally domestic and international opinion for the Second Chechen War. Because Syria’s intelligence and military elite have all been trained in the former Soviet Union or in post-Soviet Russia, I’d wager that Moscow has been more than a curious bystander in helping Assad realize the propaganda value to be mined from such a perception.)

This would probably be easily dismissed as a conspiracy theory but for the fact that former regime officials have said much the same thing. So have al-Nusra defectors, one of whom told a colleague of mine in Idlib recently that it was absolutely the case that the mukhabarat continues to maintain close ties with the organization now blacklisted by the United States.

To date, the most prominent regime defector to make this allegation was Nawaf al-Fares, the former Syrian ambassador to Iraq, who turned against his embassy and his government in June 2012. Al-Fares is the chief of the Oqaydat tribe, a major clan in Deir Ezzor, and is thus familiar with the terrain that abuts Anbar Province and was used as the gateway for 90 percent of the foreign fighters joining al-Qaeda in Iraq during the height of that country’s civil war. He told The Sunday Telegraph a year ago that that jihadi units he himself helped send into Iraq were immolating themselves in Syria, at the behest of the regime. One such spectacular, Fares said, was against the military intelligence complex in al-Qazzaz, Damascus in May 2012 (just a month prior to his defection) in which 55 people were killed, and 370 wounded. “I know for certain that not a single serving intelligence official was harmed during that explosion, as the whole office had been evacuated 15 minutes beforehand,” he said. “All the victims were passersby instead. All these major explosions have been perpetrated by al-Qaeda through cooperation with the security forces.”

Of particular interest in al-Fares’ exposure of this alliance was his mention of a U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) raid in October 2008 into the village of al-Sukariya near the border town Abu Kamal to kill Abu Ghadiya, or Badran Turki al-Mazidih, a smuggler in his late twenties who helped funnel explosives and personnel into Anbar Province. At the peak of his success, Abu Ghadiya was moving 100 or so fighters per month, all with the complete knowledge and likely consent of Assef Shawkat, Assad’s now-assassinated brother-in-law. Fares told CNN that the camp hit by the JSOC team in an operation remarkably similar to the one that would later kill Bin Laden in Abbottabad was not only under the control of Shawkat, but that Shawkat actually visited the scene an hour after Abu Ghadiya’s death. (When then-British Foreign Secretary David Miliband confronted Assad personally in Damascus about Abu Ghadiya’s presence in Syria under obvious mukhabarat patronage, the dictator not only lied and said the man was never there, but then, as is his logical wont, angrily claim that Abu Ghadiya’s snuffing by the Americans was a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.)

The details of this raid, as recounted by Fares, were not only confirmed by an unnamed Obama administration official cited by CNN at the time but then later substantiated and expanded upon in an essay for Foreign Policy published several months later – in October 2012 – and written Michael R. Gordon and Wesley S. Morgan, based on an excerpt from Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor’s book, The Endgame: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Iraq, from George W. Bush to Barack Obama. (In a further sign of al-Fares’ credibility, he also told the BBC shortly after his defection that not only would Assad use chemical weapons if he felt severely threatened by the opposition but he’d likely already done so.)

This accusation of complicity with al-Qaeda was corroborated recently by another regime defector in an interview scarcely noticed by the Western press. Affaq Ahmad, the former right-hand man of General Jamil Hasan, the head of Syria’s Air Force intelligence and one of Assad’s most brutal and trusted henchman, defected after the regime’s kidnapping and murder of Hamza al-Khatib in 2011. He first went to Jordan and now is based somewhere in France. He said that the mukhabarat has thoroughly infiltrated jihadist and non-jihadist rebel groups in Syria at the command level and – even more significant – that it controls several brigades that have simply stopped fighting regime forces altogether. Ahmad’s comments are worth quoting at length:

The infiltration usually is focused on the sponsors, the grand Sheikh, or the top leaders of the groups, and mainly via manipulating the sources of financial support.

Currently, there are more than 25 brigades in the Free Syrian Army [Ahmad appears to use this term to encompass both jihadists and non-jihadists –ed] in Aleppo, and Hama that do not get close to the regime forces, nor get in fights with them. They also decline to get into fights in the coastal areas due to an agreement between them and the regime that had been brokered by the financial backers of these brigades.

Actually, the jihadist groups and brigades were very useful for the regime because they provided a justification for the regime’s insistence on a military solution, and provided some legitimacy under the cover of the War on Terror.

These groups did not cross the red lines that were agreed on by the regime and their sponsors. This included the regime accepting the killing by those groups of Alawis and Druze in order to use that to convince these minorities to rally around the regime and hold on to it.

Which is certainly barbaric enough a plan for Assad to take up. The Palestine Branch of Syrian military intelligence and the Special Operations Division of Air Force intelligence, headed by Colonel Suhail Hassan, are the mukhabarat bureaus in charge of overseeing the infiltration effort, Ahmad explained.

Elizabeth O’Bagy of the Syrian Emergency Task Force relayed the following anecdote to me. A few FSA commanders recently went to one of the tribal authorities (not on anyone’s side in the revolution but its own) and complained about al-Nusra’s parlays with the regime and tribes of Deir Ezzor designed to divvy up the profits from the Syrian oil sector. The tribal authority confirmed everything but told the FSA commanders not to raise a fuss because “we’re making a lot money on oil sales.” O’Bagy also said that al-Nusra and the Islamic State is rumored to have cut a deal with the regime not to participate on front-lines of battles and reduce spectacular attacks in exchange for being allowed to govern their own territories in the north.

“That is what happened in Raqqa,” O’Bagy said. “It was a negotiated solution.”

What this means is that al-Qaeda’s rampage through Syria, now the latest obsession of counterterrorism and Pentagon officials, is not really a simply case of “blowback”; it’s more like a controlled demolition by an extremely savvy contractor. This should also complicate one of the more brittle cliches you continue to hear Washington, which is that we don’t really know who’s who in the opposition. That may be true, but the more important question is: do we even remember who’s who in the regime?

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Op zaterdag 3 augustus 2013 22:11 schreef Frikandelbroodje het volgende:

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Amnesty, HRW, journalisten en de VN die rebellen voornamelijk als burgers beschouwen? Ik weet dat Amnesty etc weleens de waarheid kunnen verdraaien, maar dat het zo ver zou gaan is nieuw voor me. Volgens het oorlogsrecht is het ook zo dat je niet meer als burger kunt worden beschouwd wanneer je de wapens oppakt. Dus ik zou daar graag een bron voor zien.

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Op zondag 4 augustus 2013 00:10 schreef mr_jack het volgende:
Abu Sakar. rot in hell

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Syri� verbiedt gebruik buitenlands geld

Iedere Syrische handelaar die zijn waar verkoopt tegen buitenlandse valuta kan voortaan tot 10 jaar gevangenisstraf krijgen. Dat staat in een nieuw decreet dat de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad zondag heeft uitgevaardigd. .

Het decreet verbiedt het gebruik van iedere andere munteenheid dan de Syrische pond. Die munt staat ernstig onder druk sinds de burgeroorlog, die sinds 2011 het land in zijn greep heeft.

Het besluit versterkt reeds bestaande verboden op het handelen in buitenlandse munteenheden. Handelaren verwachten echter niet dat deze ingreep zal voorkomen dat men zijn toevlucht zoekt tot de stabielere Amerikaanse dollar.

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Op zondag 4 augustus 2013 09:55 schreef Schurkenstaat het volgende:

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Ze verdraaien de waarheid niet. Het zijn geen offici�le strijdkrachten (de organisatie kan ongetwijfeld niet goed worden aangetoond, want men draagt geen universele kleding en/of kenmerken). De gesneuvelden hebben zodoende de militaire en juridische status van "burgers".

Het verdraait echter wel het beeld van het conflict.

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Op maandag 5 augustus 2013 00:30 schreef Charismatisch het volgende:
Interessant artikel dit, geeft een totaal ander beeld van het conflict. Wat doet Bandar "Bush" in Moskou?

The Syrian Problem: Saudi Prince Bandar and Putin meet in Moscow
http://www.syrianews.cc/syrian-problem-saudi-bandar-putin/

twitter:

Charles_Lister twitterde op maandag 05-08-2013 om 23:44:48 The Syrian Coalition has issued a statement confirming and congratulating rebels for seizing Minagh airbase this evening. #Syria #Aleppo reageer retweet

twitter:

Charles_Lister twitterde op maandag 05-08-2013 om 23:44:48 The Syrian Coalition has issued a statement confirming and congratulating rebels for seizing Minagh airbase this evening. #Syria #Aleppo reageer retweet

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'Assad heeft nieuwe gifgasaanval gepleegd'

Legertroepen van de Syrische machthebber Bashar al-Assad zouden opnieuw chemische wapens hebben ingezet tegen de opstandelingen.

Volgens een Syrische mensenrechtenorganisatie in Londen heeft het leger dit weekend gifgas gebruikt toen het probeerde posities van de rebellen in te nemen ten noordoosten van de hoofdstad Damascus.

Tientallen inwoners van de plaats Adra moesten worden behandeld tegen misselijkheid en ademnood. Ook zeker 30 strijders kampten met klachten.

Het regime en de rebellen beschuldigen elkaar geregeld van het gebruik van gifgas in de ruim 2 jaar durende burgeroorlog. Een team van de Verenigde Naties zal ''zo snel mogelijk'' naar het land reizen om de zaak te onderzoeken.

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Rebellen Syri� rukken op in gebied Alawieten
Syrische rebellengroepen zijn een offensief begonnen in het gebied waar de familie Assad vandaan komt.

Oppositiegroepen stellen dat strijders oprukken in de richting van Latakia, de belangrijkste havenstad van het land.
De aanval heeft los van dat strategische doel ook symbolische betekenis. Rebellen naderden maandag de plaats Qardaha. Dat is het geboortedorp van Hafiz al-Assad, de vorige president en vader van huidig heerser Bashar al-Assad. In het gebied in het westen van het land wonen veel Alawieten, de religieuze minderheid waar de Assads toe behoren.
Volgens een woordvoerder van een tv-zender van de oppositie hebben de rebellen voordeel van het bergachtige landschap. ''In dit ruige terrein hebben tanks weinig nut voor het regime.'' Op videobeelden, waarvan de oorsprong overigens niet gecontroleerd kan worden, was te zien dat rebellen anti-tankwapens afvuren en later bidden naast een verlaten tank.
Al-Qaeda
Onder de aanvallers zouden twee aan de terroristische organisatie al-Qaeda verbonden groepen zijn. Onder hun leden zijn onder meer zelfmoordcommando's. Die zouden ook een rol hebben gespeeld bij een andere overwinning die de Syrische rebellen maandagavond meldden. Ze claimden de verovering van een militair vliegveld in de buurt van de grens met Turkije. De basis was acht maanden lang belegerd.

nu.nl

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A gruesome video has emerged on the Internet, showing foreign-backed militants in Syria setting three Syrian Kurds on fire.

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Op dinsdag 6 augustus 2013 16:03 schreef expans het volgende:
Is een oud filmpje uit Irak.

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Volgens een Syrische mensenrechtenorganisatie in Londen

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'Assad heeft nieuwe gifgasaanval gepleegd'

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Rebellen Syri� rukken op in gebied Alawieten

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Op dinsdag 6 augustus 2013 19:37 schreef Kesefkesef het volgende:
Ondanks het feit dat Isra�l en Syri� in oorlog zijn behandelen diverse Isra�lische ziekenhuizen toch Syrische gewonden. Veelal mannen in de leeftijd tussen de 20 en 30 die gewond raken in de strijd, maar steeds vaker worden ook kinderen en vrouwen binnengebracht.

Dat schrijft de New York Times.

Omdat beide landen in oorlog met elkaar zijn, blijven de grenzen gesloten voor vluchtelingen. Toch wordt de medische zorg door de autoriteiten gehonoreerd. In totaal zijn sinds maart zeker 100 Syri�rs behandeld in ziekenhuizen in Noord-Isra�l. De kosten zijn voor de Isra�lische staat.

Onder de gewonden is op dit moment een 13-jarig meisje die al ruim een maand in het ziekenhuis verblijft. Samen met haar 9-jarige broertje ging ze naar de supermarkt in haar dorp waar ze getroffen werden door een granaat. Haar broertje kwam om het leven, het meisje is overgebracht naar een Isra�lisch ziekenhuis waar ze intensieve operaties onderging aan onder meer haar gezicht en armen.

De familie wist lange tijd niet waar het meisje was. Nu is haar tante bij haar in het ziekenhuis en mag ze binnenkort terug naar haar geboorteland. Haar tante: “Ik zeg niet dat we in Isra�l zijn geweest, ik ben bang voor de reacties”.
http://www.refdag.nl/nieu(...)he_gewonden_1_759572

http://www.nytimes.com/20(...)s-wounded.html?_r=1&

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Op dinsdag 6 augustus 2013 19:43 schreef Peunage het volgende:

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Ze behandelen niet alleen gewonde 13 jarige meisjes. Ze begonnen met gewonde FSA strijders.