Tuesday 28 November 2017

As Syrian Government Trumpets Military Wins, Fear Continues to Grip Locals in Damascus



 'Salma was scrolling through her Facebook newsfeed when an unverified piece of news struck her as bizarrely funny: Halloween celebrations have been banned in public places in Syria.

 ”Apparently they have taken pity on us. Our lives here are already a never-ending Halloween.”

 In a country gripped by a devastating conflict like the Syrian war, Halloween's flippant, playful quips contrast with serious, gruesome horrors that have become part of the Syrians’ macabre reality. Although the capital city Damascus has been spared the worst of fighting, different shades of fear diffuse the lives of the Damascenes.

 Salma, 29, lives in a squalid neighborhood with a heavy military presence in southern Damascus. Armed, bearded men dressed in military outfit affiliated to the so-called National Defense Forces, a pro-government militia, man checkpoints.

 ”I have to run this gauntlet every day on my way to work and back home,” she says.

 One might assume that after more than six years of military checkpoints, set up to tighten the Assad regime's grip on the capital since protests first flared up in 2011, locals would have reconciled themselves to their presence. The case is far from it, according to many, including Salma.

 ”They have made our lives difficult, causing delays and congestion. They are choking our city. I hate it when I have to return home after sunset. My pulse races under their fixed gaze. I feel ill at ease to say the least. Sometimes they are tipsy, laughing out loud and carousing. They can do anything and get away with it. Who is there to protect us after all? There is a state of chaos and lawlessness everywhere. The state is busy coping with the consequences of war.


 Salma fumbles for the right words to describe how she feels. ”You feel naked, unarmed and powerless in the presence of this heavy-handed arrogant military prowess.”

 Doaa, a university student at the Faculty of Dentistry, echoes her thoughts:

 
I have long stopped wearing makeup or revealing clothes, although I have always been a free girl, just to avoid getting myself into trouble. Soft catcalling or flirtation in the street used to be a stroke to a woman's ego. But during war, you can only find men dressed in military outfit, usually armed, in the streets. It makes me jittery. They are arrogant about the power they have over the locals.
 If my name is found, I will be dispatched to one of the front lines.

 For military-aged men, checkpoints continue to be a constant source of horror. The government has been using these checkpoints to conscript new soldiers to the Syrian forces, which are depleted from a protracted conflict. Fear of arrest and conscription has prompted many between the ages of 18-42 to flee the country in waves of undocumented immigration to countries next door and in the European Union. Those who have stayed behind grapple with daily difficulties, pushing many to shut themselves in.

 ”My permit to postpone military service is about to expire. I am not going out unless on urgent errands,” says Hisham, who has a law degree from Damascus University. 
They would search databases saved on their computers. If my name is found, I will be dispatched to one of the front lines. Every time I passed one of these checkpoints was an outright nightmare. I would wait with bated breath for the military man to beckon to the driver to move on. You can be arrested for evading military service, for having a similar name with a wanted man. Everything is possible.

 Hisham relates the story of what happened to his friend: He was on his way to his own wedding party when he was stopped by a checkpoint and summoned to military service. The friend had to pay a hefty amount of money to postpone it for a few days.

 This has made men thin on the ground. Women often joke that in the near future, they will not need to don a hijab, for there will be no men on the streets.

 ”Damascus is a testosterone-free city,” a pithy Facebook post reads.
 Everything smacks of war. Look at the people's weary faces.

 Ruba, an English literature student, tells Global Voices that she ironically recalled an article she read lately listing the most romantic cities in the world when she passed by a military vehicle in her densely populated neighborhood.

 ”Damascus used to be called city of Jasmine, which symbolizes purity, romance and love. Now look at the situation on the ground. Everything smacks of war. Look at the people's weary faces.”

 Fear extends to the use of social media. A pro-opposition activist based in Damascus who asked to be identified as Osama already goes by a fake name on Facebook to engage in solidarity campaigns with areas under government siege. He says fears of arrest are now more pronounced than ever.
 ”It was unthinkable when the revolution started seven years ago that today we will be fearful to express our thoughts on social media. Unfortunately it is happening.

 Osama anticipated a wave of arrests and score-settling by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against opponents, emboldened by a military superiority on the ground.

 These accounts belie regime attempts to project an impression that life is back to normal following recent military wins, the latest of which was the recapture of al-Bukamal city in Deir Ezzor that sealed the fall of Isis in Syria. These attempts have included the holding the Damascus International Fair after a six-year hiatus, celebrating much-vaunted achievements of the Syrian football team which came close to qualifying for the World Cup, and the restoration of basic services, mainly electricity.

 However, these so-called pessimistic perspectives receive pushback from those who see a clear improvement in the situation, as the regime has managed to claw back significant swathes of territory from opponents.

 ”There is a predominant sense of relief in Damascus compared to previous years,” says Salem, a government employee. ”Some checkpoints have been removed. Electricity is back 24 hours a day, the prices of some basic commodities have gone down. I believe that this is very promising.”

 Others will find these wins too little and hollow.

 ”It is ridiculous to assume that war is over and the locals’ woes have come to an end just because some services are back and prices have slightly dropped. Rocket and mortar attacks continue on near daily basis. Just yesterday, there have been eight deaths,” Hisham says.
 Rocket and mortar shells continue to hit the city, with a recent spike in the death toll after a brief lull that followed the establishment of de-escalation zones in the Damascus countryside, shattering a temporary sense of relief that prevailed in the Syrian capital. This came on the heels of a government offensive in eastern Ghouta, a rebel enclave under government siege near Damascus.

 ”The thunder of artillery and rockets hitting Ghouta echoes all across the city. Buildings here are literally shaking,” says Samar, who lives in Bab Sharqi neighborhood. ”We have not heard these sounds in a while.”

 ”Incoming or outgoing?” People ask in jest when they hear a sudden boom, wondering whether it is a rebel rocket hitting Damascus or the sound from the army's artillery pounding opposition-held areas.

 Clearing this kind of ambiguity is part of what a Facebook page called Diaries of a Mortar Round in Damascus does.

 The page, originally set up to track rebel rocket attacks on Damascus city, occasionally tells people in Damascus not to worry because the source of the noise is the Syrian military's shelling of opposition areas. Many in the comments express relief and urge the Syrian army to do more to eradicate ”terrorism” and restore security to Damascus.

 But others criticize what they consider a chilling lack of sympathy for the tragedy unfolding in their close vicinity.

 ”Few mortar shells can disrupt life here. The sounds of artillery cause panic, especially among children. I find it impossible to imagine the horror visited on those on whose heads these rockets are falling,” says Manar, a teacher at an elementary school in old Damascus.

 Asked if the Damascenes feel more safe after seven years of war as the regime touts new military wins, she says ”fear in Damascus ebbs and flows, but is always there. Many years will pass before the Syrians can feel safe and secure again.” '

Monday 27 November 2017

Dirty Deal



 'Map that shows the dirty deal between Assad regime and ISIS to transport ISIS fighters towards Idlib to fight the rebels and ultimately destabilize the free North region in Syria so the rĂ©gime can recapture the North later.'

 "Rebels mobilized en masse to repel ISIS advance in Hama. The first phase has been very succesful, and the Baghdadis have been all repelled back to the Hama province borders."

[https://twitter.com/AlqalaamENG/status/935145823184326656]



"Report from NE. Hama fronts showing how ISIS shifted its focus westwards after Regime kicked off own assault in "de-escalation zone", backed by Russian Su-25s & advanced jets."
[https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/935279704415797250]

Sochi Assad: Syrians show their anger at Russian summit

Sochi Assad: Syrians show their anger at Russian summit

 'Syrian opposition activists have launched a social media campaign in opposition to talks about Syria’s future held in Sochi, Russia.

 The discussions so far have involved Russia and Iran, who support the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey, which has supported rebel groups but is increasingly close to Russia and fearful of the influence gained by Kurdish militias, including those backed by the US.

 The latest talks ended on Wednesday, but opened the way for a further, theoretically broader, conference, also in Sochi, which is expected to take place next week.

 Turkey, Russia and Iran released a joint statement after the talks, which called on the Syrian regime and mainstream opposition to join the planned conference “constructively”.

 The Hashtag Revolution campaign has urged people around the world to join its social media activism using the hashtag #SochiAssad, and is in solidarity with street protests against Sochi in Syria itself.

 “We, the Syrian people who joined the revolution against the Bashar al-Assad regime, believe that the Sochi conference is a distraction,” Ghossoun Abou Dahab, one of the campaign organisers, told the Lens Post.

 “We reject any negotiations outside the UN and will continue to insist that Assad must step down and face charges in the International Criminal Court because he is a war criminal.”

 Many activists feel that the voices of ordinary Syrians have been drowned out by talks between world leaders, especially those who they see as leading the violence against them. The campaign calls on all foreign entities to leave Syria, and insists on keeping the country united as one.

 “Surrounding countries are looking out for their own interests in Syria, and that is the reason Assad has remained in power until now,” said Ghossoun.

 “Russia is Assad’s partner in crime in Syria, so we do not trust it and it is not acceptable that it would be part of any negotiations to defend the Syrian people.”

 Ghossoun also had little faith in a rival conference held by opposition groups in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

 “In all honesty, we no longer have any trust in negotiations,” said Ghossoun. “We wish that the results of such negotiations will be better than its predecessors.

 “The best way for peace would be for a transitional government without Assad.”

 A string of protests has also taken place in Syria against the Sochi talks.

 Obeda Abo Omar, an activist in eastern Ghoutta, an area being devastated by regime attacks and siege, told the Lens Post, “All the towns of Ghoutta stood up against Sochi. Here in Ghoutta, these events have been taking place since the proposal of the Sochi conference.”

 Omar added that a large event was being planned for the near future, but that so far up to 50 people had attended each of the Syrian protests and vigils. He said they would have been bigger were it not for the constant “fear of targeting and shelling”.

 The six-year war in Syria, which started when the Assad regime brutally tried to crush the Arab Spring movement against him in 2011, has seen hundreds of thousands of people killed and has forced millions of people to flee the country, creating the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

 The Syrian regime saw signs of being defeated at the hands of the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups, but recovered after support from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. This military onslaught, which has included the dropping of barrel bombs and chemical gas on opposition areas, turned the tide in the conflict, with Russian airpower reducing cities to rubble.

 The coalition of Syrian revolutionaries behind the #SochiAssad campaign released a statement online that also rejected the Sochi conference.

 “Russia has spilled the blood of our people due to the use of its veto power as well as its aircraft strikes that caused the destruction of infrastructure, especially hospitals, which is contrary to international norms,” said the statement. “We therefore categorically reject any political solution sponsored by an occupier.”

 It continued, “We also demand that the opposition forces, represented by the coalition and the High Commission, all who speak on our behalf, stick to our revolution and the aspirations of our people with freedom and dignity, and any negotiations should be under the umbrella of the United Nations and the Security Council in accordance with the decisions of Geneva and the rejection of any outside interference in the drafting of the Syrian constitution.”

 Journalist Salwa Amor used the #SochiAssad tag to post on Facebook, “Russia has senselessly bombed civilians in Syria for the sixth year straight, it seems surreal that it is now entrusted with deciding what is best for Syria and Syrians.”

 Twitter user Robert Robert also used the hashtag, tweeting, “Self-determination means that Syrians, not the Russian/Iran government, determines the fate of the people.”

 The activists, both in and out of Syria, are planning to build on their campaign.'

Friday 24 November 2017

Manbij residents face off against SDF over conscription policy

Image result for Manbij residents face off against SDF over conscription policy

 'Activists in the city of Manbij in Aleppo’s eastern countryside, which is under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are demanding the SDF to release 15 people who organized a strike in the city Nov. 5. The strike came in protest against a new law on forced conscription issued by the SDF’s legislative council Nov. 2.

 Human rights activist Abu Mohammed (pseudonym) said, “Dozens of Manbij residents who were arrested the day following the strike have been released. But 15 of those who organized the strike remain in prison. As activists in the city of Manbij, we are demanding their immediate release from the SDF.”

 The strike came in response to statements issued Oct. 3 by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) military office in Manbij and its countryside and the FSA military council of Jarablus and its countryside. The statements called on Manbij residents to oppose the SDF conscription decision as they declared full solidarity with Manbij residents.

 Several demonstrations were staged before the strike in the city of Manbij and the surrounding areas, as demonstrators threatened to escalate their protests in the event their demands were not met.

 Abu Usama, a resident of Manbij and one of the participants in the strike said, “No one can impose on us something we do not want to do. We — the Manbij residents — previously staged a strike against the Syrian regime in Manbij and the Islamic State [IS] when it was controlling Manbij, and now we are on strike against the SDF because of a decision that will force the people of Manbij to fight in the ranks of the SDF. The SDF is also fighting the FSA, and many of our sons, relatives and acquaintances are fighting in the ranks of the FSA. We will not agree to point our weapons at people who essentially want to defend and liberate the Syrian people from the brunt of the regime’s slavery. We have shed blood for the sake of freedom and dignity, and we have no intention of going a single step back.”

 The strike staged by the Manbij residents against the SDF decision was met with sympathy in other villages and cities in the countryside of Aleppo. Demonstrations were held in Jarablus in the eastern countryside of Aleppo and in Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo. On Nov. 5, activists also protested in Atarib in the western Aleppo countryside in solidarity with the demands of the Manbij residents.

 Meanwhile, the city of Manbij witnessed Nov. 6 a large-scale arrest campaign carried out by the SDF against about 100 people in the age range of 18-30 as several military checkpoints were erected by the SDF at the entrances and exits of the city.

 Abu Mohammed said, “On the second day of the strike, the SDF forced shop owners to open their shops and even broke several locks. This led residents to leave their houses out of fear. But dozens of Manbij residents were arrested at SDF checkpoints, which created a huge congestion in Manbij.”

 He added, “There were calls for civil disobedience in Manbij because of the campaign of arrests carried out by the SDF, but a large number of the detainees were released at the end of that day, while the 15 people who organized the protests remain in prison to date."

 The SDF issued a statement Nov. 6 in which it announced the suspension of the decision to impose compulsory conscription on the people of Manbij and called instead on the residents to voluntarily join “the self-defense army” in Manbij and its countryside as a means of protection against IS cells and Syrian regime advocates.

 Despite the SDF decision to abolish the conscription law, the Manbij residents continue to distrust the SDF.

 “The SDF has indeed abolished the law of conscription, but the Manbij residents still have concerns in this regard. Those who organized the protests are still detained, and the people can no longer trust the decisions issued by the SDF. We hope that the decision to abolish forced conscription was a genuine decision, not one issued based on popular pressure,” Abu Mohammed said.'

We are not a people who love murder and killing

Eastern Ghouta: A ghetto of hunger and fear

 Sam Charles Hamad:

 ' "In Eastern Ghouta we drink a lot of water," one activist from the area who wishes to remain anonymous tells me.

 "It's water for breakfast and water for lunch, but we're able to have something solid for dinner." He tells me that he and his friends jokingly call this the "Ghouta diet", but the situation in this suburb of Damascus - under siege by Assad regime forces four years - is no laughing matter.

 Approximately 400,000 of the residents face starvation. Food has literally run out to the point that one meal-per-day is now the norm. People must eat whatever they can, including, as a new report has detailed, animal fodder, expired food and refuse. Nothing edible can afford be wasted.

 The impenetrable siege imposed on the area by Assad has restricted resources to the point of making life as hard as it gets for human beings in this world - for others, it's fatally unbearable. The weakest of course have it worst.

 According to a conservative estimate by UNICEF, over 1,100 children suffer from potentially fatal malnutrition, while in October images of skeletal babies starving to death aroused fleeting condemnation from some of the international community.

 It's slightly surreal then, when Abdelmalik Abod, a 22-year-old activist from the besieged area of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, reels off the statistics to me.

 Surreal not because he seems to repeat the statistics as if they're indelibly burned into his mind, but because his entire life has been shaped and continues to be shaped daily by the war and the siege - experiences that the statistics can't ever pick up.

 No one except for people like Abdelmalik who live with this, can ever understand what it's really like to exist in one of the most precarious places in the world. As well as consuming most of his adult life, Abdelmalik lost his mother due to the siege. The Assad regime blocks all kinds of medical equipment from getting into the area, including surgical equipment and medicines. Abdelmalik tells me of "helplessly watching" as his mother died of a neurological condition that was worsened by, as he puts it, "the constant fear of nearby bombing".

 And fear is as prevalent as hunger in Eastern Ghouta. As Abdelmalik reminds me, the precarity of their lives is determined not just by Assad's brutal siege that holds the area in a death grip, but also because of Assad and Russia's "daily bombardment of the areas outside of their control" including, as he knows only too well, "using all types of illegal weapons".

 Abdelmalik has an intimate knowledge of the kind of weaponry Assad and Russia use against residents in Eastern Ghouta. His first proper job, aged just 17, was as a volunteer in one of the impromptu rescue services better known as the White Helmets, in Douma.

 As he puts it: "At the beginning of the revolution, young people had two choices, either to be with the FSA or to be a paramedic for civilians - I chose to rescue people."

 But it was also part of his job to know what kind of attack happened and the munitions involved. He mentions cluster bombs to me perhaps only because these officially outlawed and particularly vicious weapons have been a favourite of Russia since their intervention in 2015, but it has been a veritable free for all in Eastern Ghouta when it comes to the method of slaughter used by Assad and his allies.

 International law has absolutely no substance in the face of Assad's infamously deadly use of sarin gas on Eastern Ghouta in 2013, leaving as many as 1,429 people dead.

 In a recent attack on Douma, Assad targeted White Helmet volunteers and killed three of them - the regime has perpetrated attacks on rescuers with ferocious consistency in Ghouta. It's something Abdelmalik knows only too well, explaining "in the many rescue operations I participated in, I lost many friends".

 And this reveals the brutal reality of Assad's endgame when it comes to Eastern Ghouta. As with other areas of Syria, the tactic is to destroy as much of the civil infrastructure as possible - to make the every day functioning of normal life impossible.

 This is reflected on the targets of the attacks. As well as suffering depleted resources, many of Eastern Ghouta's hospitals have been destroyed or damaged, while schools have faced the same fate.

 For Abdelmalik, schools are a particularly affecting subject, as before the war he had started a diploma in teaching, but was forced give up when the revolution broke out. "There are 52,000 children studying in semi-destroyed schools, while the regime has completely destroyed 37 schools". He tells me of the situation in Eastern Ghouta now, "children have to write on old newspapers because they can't even get access to blank paper."

 There ought to be no doubt what Assad's purpose is in Eastern Ghouta, and Abdelmalik puts it as succinctly as possible, "Assad is seeking to pressure the civilian population of Eastern Ghouta to the point that we submit to him and then leave for Idlib."

 This is exactly what we've seen in other areas such as Homs or Aleppo that have been besieged or bombarded by Assad; populations in rebel-held or rebel-supporting areas "cleansed" by the regime, often in the name of "de-escalation".

 When I bring up the term "ethnic cleansing", Abdelmalik immediately says "yes, that is what he wants, to eliminate all revolutionaries and keep his murderous gang in power".

 Assad might be prospering in Syria due to the raw power of Russia and Iran, but he still faces the fundamental of contradiction of being opposed by vast swathes of pro-revolution civilian populations. It's these civilian populations that are the bedrock of the revolution, and the reason Assad and his allies have opted to cleanse them.

 While Assad remains in power due to foreign intervention, the revolution is a solely Syrian phenomenon rooted in the communities like Eastern Ghouta's. Abdelmalik knows precisely the nature of the vultures that circle the area, telling me,

 "We've seen Iran's militias play a crucial role in supporting Assad to besiege and kill the people of Eastern Ghouta… they direct the military campaigns against the rebels, using their own forces and Lebanese Hizballah mercenaries, as well as Iraqis and Afghans."

 It's easy for an outsider to look at the situation in Eastern Ghouta and completely lose hope that anything good could emerge from Syria. With the international community and former allies abandoning anti-Assad Syrians, things have never looked so dire.

 As the everyday brutalities in Eastern Ghouta play out, Assad was seen swanning around Sochi with his veritable master Vladimir Putin, who has sought endorsement from Donald Trump to bring the Syrian war to an end on Russian and Iranian terms.

 But hope lies with people like Abdelmalik. In the face of daily brutality, and the knowledge that the raw power of Assad, Iran and Russia want him and his fellow residents of Eastern Ghouta dead or cleansed, he does not hesitate in vowing "to remain steadfast against Assad and his gang". "We will not accept expulsion from our land and we will continue to struggle for freedom and dignity and the fall of Assad," he states bluntly.

 It might sound like sloganeering, but coming from someone who has lived most of his teenage and early adult life in the grip of such a vicious war, you can tell he means every word. The outside world often forgets, but Syrians know who the main enemy is.

 Despite the sheer scale of Assad's brutality and the sectarianisation of the conflict, Abdelmalik remains merciful and resolutely opposed to the kind of sectarianism upon which Assad has thrived. "Assad and his gang should be given a fair trial for their crimes… we are not a people who love murder and killing - we want a Syria that enjoys freedom, democracy and equality for all its people," he says.

 This is precisely why Assad fears him and the people of Eastern Ghouta.'

Wednesday 22 November 2017

No warplanes = Enjoyment



 'Children's marathon and civilian activities in Maarat al-Nouman town earlier today, the longest Revolution flag was made today by tiny hands painting print.'

Resigned Syrian opposition figure: We were asked to accept Assad or leave

Member of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee, Suheir Al-Atassi, resigned from her post on 20 November 2017 because of pressure to accept Bashar Al-Assad as president of Syria.

 'A member of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, Suheir Al-Atassi, who resigned from her post said there was international pressure to force the opposition to accept that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad will remain in power.

 Al-Atassi stressed that she, along with the committee members, had resigned in opposition of this proposal.

 The head of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, Riyad Hijab, chief negotiator, Mohamed Sabra, Al-Atassi and eight others members announced on Monday that they had resigned from the committee ahead of the Riyadh Conference scheduled for today.

 Reuters reported Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, saying that their resignation will help unite the opposition.

 Al-Atassi said yesterday that the international community is pressing the opposition to accept Al-Assad under the pretext of political reality and the Russians’ control over the Syrian file.

 “The dispute between the countries now is about the duration of Al-Assad’s control and the possibility of his candidacy for a new term as well as his powers if he remains president, not his departure,” she added.'

Tuesday 21 November 2017

So anyone who participates in the survival of Bashar al-Assad and accept him with any kind of deal, his blood is wasted in the regions of the revolution

 Colonel Abdul Hamid Zakaria:

 "We are here from inside Syria, sending a warning message to those who are willing to accept Bashar al-Assad to stay in power. Many of you went to Astana, accepted Iran and Russia to be a ''state guarantor'' to stop the escalation in Syria. They have sold Aleppo, Homs and many others areas, now we see some factions preparing to go to Riyadh, to participate side by side with the mercenaries from the platforms of Cairo and Moscow. He added: We will not accept any fatwa from the Syrian Islamic Council, which became a joy in the hands of the backing states. So anyone who participates in the survival of Bashar al-Assad and accept him with any kind of deal, his blood is wasted in the regions of the revolution. Now everyone know we have warned."

"Remember while you negotiate that we buried our martyrs promising them to follow their path towards a Syria without the Assad regime"



 'Displaced fighters from Daraya and the Damascus region protest the attempts to waive the principles of the Revolution in upcoming conferences.

 "We will not accept a resolution that doesn't include the Assad regime’s removal."

 

Saturday 18 November 2017

The Syrian revolution: Between negotiating and being used as a bargaining chip

The Syrian revolution: Between negotiating and being used as a bargaining chip

 Khaled Khoja:

 'Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry announced this week it will host a meeting of the Syrian opposition later this month. The meeting, which will be held in Riyadh, aims to bring together opposition factions and form a joint negotiating delegation ahead of a new round of UN-brokered peace talks with the Syrian regime set for 28 November.

The Riyadh meeting allegedly comes at the request of the Syrian opposition, according to the ministry statement, which failed to make any mention of the umbrella body representing the Syrian opposition - the High Negotiations Committee [HNC] - despite initial recommendations to increase its members in order to enhance its negotiating powers.

Failure to mention the body in its foreign ministry statement on the Riyadh meeting has meant the end of the role of the HNC and the birth of a new body that will bring together parties from the Cairo and Moscow talks.

 The move should not be suprising following regional and international pressure on the Syrian opposition to be "more realistic" in their political demands and to keep up with recent international developments. This became clear following a joint statement between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit on 11 November.

 The statement - which was a clear indication of Trump's alignment with Putin on Syria - reduced the conflict there simply to "a war on terror" and found that the only political way forward is through constitutional reforms followed by elections, for which dictator Bashar al-Assad will be allowed to run.

 The joint statement also makes no reference to the UN Security Council Resolution 2118, which calls for a political transition and the establishment of a transition governing body as a fundamental starting point for resolving Syria's political crisis - and so effectively renders previous statements by the US administration that there is no role of Assad in the future of Syria as useless.

 This notable shift in position will undoubtedly become the basis of any future negotiations for a political process under international auspices.

 This became particularly evident when the UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura announced earlier in his briefing to the Security Council that the 28 November talks will address constitutional reforms and an election in Syria, marking no real difference between the Geneva talks and the conference Putin plans to hold in Sochi.

 During the meeting, the request to have Assad removed will be overlooked and a political solution will be based on constitutional reforms and participation in a general elections, The outcome will be pre-determined - all of which were attempts previously rejected by Syrian opposition forces.

 Recently, the Syrian revolutionary and opposition forces have garnered huge amounts of international attention, particularly after the emergence of the Friends of Syria Group.

 Since the establishment of the Syrian National Council -through to the formation of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and the HNC - intensive efforts were made in regional and international capitals to gather support for the demands of the people of Syria.

 Diplomatic efforts were based on their legitimacy due to the popular uprisings and revolutionary forces on the ground in Syria.

 However, with the emergence of support for Assad's counter-revolution, cracks began to appear over the intentions of some states within the Friends of Syria Group. This included five Arab states - Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar - as well as the US, France, UK, Italy, Germany and Turkey. It was followed by the occupation of Syria by Russian forces, which some saw as an opportunity to weaken Iranian influence in the region.

 Based on these mistaken assumptions, efforts were made to "alter" the revolution - reversing the balance between diplomatic efforts and the influence of the opposition on the ground.

 This meant that regional countries worked to link the legitimacy of the opposition with international recognition and containing the rebel forces on the ground.

 The revolutionary momentum has helped political bodies involved in the movement overcome recent dilution - beginning with the Ford-Seif initiative that was signed by the former US Ambassador Robert Ford - and the current head of the coalition, Riad Seif.

 This was aimed at ending the National Assembly, and limiting the influence of the Syrian opposition in Doha, including local councils and national figures and components to the National Council.

 Furthermore, there was also the expansion that was imposed on the coalition, including the introduction of the Ahmed Jarba bloc and his inauguration - and then subsequent overthrow - as the head of the coalition.

 This was then followed by the resignation of most members of the bloc, as well as the formation of the HNC at the Riyadh conference, which saw Russia introduced as a key international player in the Syrian conflict for the first time.

 Over the past five years the revolutionary forces on the ground in Syria have lost the majority of its military leadership. The political bodies abroad and the internal revolutionary movement have also lost influential members, and the burden of the revolution has become greater on those who seek its victory. In what seems to be apparent infiltration attempts, some corrupt individuals are making crucial decisions on behalf of the revolution.

 It is also worthy to note that the role of UN envoy Steffan de Mistura in contributing to the gradual dilution of the opposition and transforming the Geneva talks from negotiations formed on the basis of Security Council resolution 2118 into somewhat useless dialogue between the HNC and delegates formed by de Mistura and his team in Moscow and Cairo.

 This includes the meetings in Geneva and Lausanne - a move that was presented as a political consensus among all parties, including the opposition.

 It is remarkable that most of the characters who emerged from the political stampede between the revolutionary demands and international pressure were invited to participate in the new opposition conference in Riyadh.

 This meant that the new engineering output of the opposition would fit the new international framework in an unprecedented manner. But is this the way to solve the crisis?

 Dictator Bashar al-Assad began his campaign against the Syrian people's movements and demands for dignity with mottos including "None but al-Assad" and "Without al-Assad, the country burns".

 Today, the scene in Syria shows that Assad has indeed lost the basic elements of the state, which are represented in land, people, and institutions. Meanwhile, killings on the land and from the air continue, despite agreements to reduce the escalations in violence across the country. There is no longer a Syrian army, but an out-of-control group of foreign militias and mercenaries killing in its name.

 The guarantor in any agreement is the Russian occupier itself, which continues to violate the sanctity during every round of talks, whether in Geneva or Astana.

 Political realism stipulates that the political solution should root out the cause of the disaster, which in this case is Assad himself and the vicious circle of peers surrounding him. As long as the dictator Assad remains in power, the killing will continue. After Assad cut off the cord that once connected with the people, there is no longer a system that can be rehabilitated.

 Now, it is a gang run by a dictator under the supervision of the Russian occupier, which sees no solutions to a political crisis but burning land as was the case in Grozny, or agents like the President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov. In short, the country has been divided into areas of influence among countries that Putin has no power to remove.

 The Syrian revolution was a natural response to a region-wide revolution calling for restored dignity and it is has changed the course of history and altered the geopolitical map of the world.

 Despite this, it is a unique case that no force - no matter how large and mighty - can contain or handle it. The most powerful element behind the revolution is the general public, despite the considerable difference in power when compared to the Russian aggressor.

 But the current approach - which largely ignores the roots of the catastrophe in Syria - will only help spread the chaos and may accelerate the collapse of the region. No solution can be imposed on the ground if it is dismissed by the general public.

 The Syrian people, who sacrificed money and self to enjoy future generations of freedom and dignity continue to repeat the same lines that have echoed since the beginning of the revolution: "The people want to overthrow the regime." '

Image result for Syrian National Coalition President Khaled Khoja

Assadist Regime and its functions, IRGC's Financing, and Troop Strengths












 'Assadist System of Rule:

 Nominally, Bashar al-Assad is still 'President of the Syrian Arab Republic'. This title has all the top executive powers. The result is that Bashar's personal authority is the same like state authority and all of his powers are derived from it.

 Further down the chain of command, civilian authorities of Syria are divided into 14 governorates; the governorates are divided into a total of 60 districts, which are further divided into sub-districts.

 A governorate is governed by a governor, which is appointed by the President (and only nominally approved by the 'Syrian government'). The governor is responsible – only to the president – for administration and public work, health, domestic trade, agriculture, industry, civil defence, and maintenance of law.

 Each governor is assisted by a local council, which is elected by a popular vote for four-years terms: each council elects an executive bureau from its members, which works with district councils and administers the day-to-day issues.

 Nominally, district councils were administered by officials appointed by the governor. These officials served as intermediaries between the central government and traditional local leaders (village chiefs, clan leaders and councils of elders). After six years of war, the reality is dramatically different.

 Before the war, local councils were dominated by members of the Ba’ath Party. Meanwhile, and especially in northern Hama, there are also representatives of the Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP); in Aleppo and Homs there are Hezbollah/Syria, etc., etc., etc..

 Now, the essence of understanding the current system is knowing - and understanding - how it came into being. The background of all the militias (some are still naive enough to call them 'NDF') fighting 'for Assad' is the same. As the war erupted and then spread, Ba'athist local councils began organizing their own militias. About 50% of staff of these were members of the Ba’ath Party with a minimum of military training, and armed by the regime already since earlier times (early 1980s).

 The importance of militias continued to grow with the dissolution of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA): more than half of its staff defected by spring of 2012, while a quarter was already lost in combat. The remaining units disintegrated through the orders to secure over 2,000 checkpoints all over Syria. In the course of this process, local militias absorbed all of the police and most of SAA’s functions (which was necessary due to massive defections). Correct me if you like, but AFAIK, no description of this - extremely complex - process is available online. The only description providing minute details for every single of 20 SAA's divisions is this one: Syrian Conflagration.

 Concluding that local militias are more reliable and combat effective than the SAA, Iranian officers of the IRGC-QF (IRGC's Qods Force, i.e. 'Jerusalem Corps') then decided to expand and provide 'proper military training' (that's really a relative description) to units in question, and formalize their status. Additional militias came into being, most of which...nah: nearly all of which were recruited, established, trained and armed by the IRGC-QF. Initially, the system worked with help of local criminal networks. See so-called Shabbiha. Contrary to original militias of the Ba’ath (staffed by unpaid volunteers on temporary basis), these groups were staffed by so-called Shabbiha that served as professional militiamen. Regardless of their backgrounds militias took over the tasks of the police and began providing security.

 The status of such militias was formalized through the establishment of the National Defence Force (NDF), in November 2012. There was never any kind of trace of doubt: the 'NDF' was established by the IRGC. Every single of its units. But mind: the IRGC never established a centralized command of the NDF. Instead, it dealt - and continues to deal - with every single of militia originally established as 'NDF' as a separate entity.

 Ever since, militias are bolstered through intentional criminalisation of remaining SAA personnel: these are paid wages that make them unable to support their families, prompting continuous defections. In turn, militias are offering much higher wages and full amnesty from prosecution (whether of prosecution for defection or any other crime).

 How is then the Assadist regime controlling this situation?

 In a very simple fashion: through control of supplies. Then, as every stupid studying wars should know: supplies are the essence of war. No supplies = no war.

 In Syria, all the stocks of food (including state-sponsored grain and egg-imports), fuel, electricity, arms and ammunition, public transport, telecommunications (Syria Tel), and water supply for large cities, are controlled by:


 The president,


 His ‘Inner Circle’ (Maher al-Assad, Mohammed Makhlouf, Rami Makhlouf, Havez Makhlouf, and Thou al-Himmah Shaleesh), and


 The ‘Confidantes’ (Ali Mamlouk, Abdel Fattah Qudsiya, Jamil Hassan, Mohammad Nasif, Rustom Ghazaleh, Rafiq Shehadeh, Ali Younes, Mohammad Deeb Zaytoun, and Bassam al-Hassan).

 Persons in question are in control over a conglomerate of major companies, some of which are in private hands (like Syria Tel, owned by Makhloufs), while others are state-owned. Control over all of related companies is exercised via intelligence services responsible directly to the President (Air Force Intelligence and Military Security Intelligence). Therefore, the President, members of the ‘Inner Circle’, and the ‘Confidantes’ are in control over the water supply, bread supply, electricity supply, phone and internet services, and fuel and fertilizer supply.

 This means: anybody who wants to fight there - no matter for what reason - is dependable on the president, the 'Inner Circle', and the 'Confidantes' for arms, ammo, food, water, electricity etc. If these do not provide, the militia in question can't fight.

 ...which brings us to the topic of financing. This is a very complex issue, and I've discussed it already about a dozen of times (at least; the last time in the thread here). So let me just summarise it as follows: Assad regime is bankrupt since November 2011. Ever since, it's living from loans from Tehran. As of 2015-2016, the situation reached a point at which Tehran had to provide for up to 60% of Assadist budget. Nowadays, it's probably more. There is clear evidence for this and this is available online (can provide all the necessary links, if somebody is curious to pursue that story further).

 With other words: the IRGC finances the president, his 'Inner Circle', and the 'Confidantes' - in turn making them able to exercise control over various militias (for which fools in the West still think are 'NDF').

 The system of that control - exercised through such gangs like Quwwat Nimr - and distribution of supplies, is the essence of what is nowadays the 'SAA'. Means: there are 'divisional headquarters', based and still designated on old divisional designations of the SAA. Each of these is responsible for specific geographic area - and thus for supplying militias in the given area. That's why not only the Assadists but the Russians too have it as easy to claim, 'SAA' is doing this, and 'SAA' is doing that.

 Is that all really that hard to understand...?

Financing:

There are few basic laws about any armed conflict. Primary of these is that MONEY is the essence of every war. The party that has the money can pay its combatants and buy their arms, ammo and other supplies. The party that has no money, can't do that. Long wars - like the one in Syria - are gulping money at incredible rates.

I'm now lazy to search for older links, so let me just observe that the Assadist regime went bankrupt already back in November 2011. It survived 2012 thanks to billions in fresh money printed in Russia, and the first few Iranian loans. Since 2013, Assadist regime cannot provide for more than 50% of its annual budget. Ever since, the situation is only getting worse. The last annual budget I attempted to reconstruct was the one for 2016, and it showed that the Assadist regime can't cover more than 40% of its (i.e. 'state') expenses. 

 The Assadist budget is in constant decline - from US$ 15 billion (real value) in 2011, to US$ 5.67 billion in 2017. During the same period, the World Bank's estimates for regime's reserves dropped from US$ 20 billion to US$ 700 million (by the end of 2015).

 With other words: under most favourable conditions, as of 2016, the Assadist regime was only able of buying food, fuel, electricity, arms and ammunition, public transport, telecommunications, and water supply for - at most - 40% of troops nominally fighting for it.

 Actually, that's the most enthusiastic assessment. Reason? Matter of fact is that the Assadist regime is NOT spending 100% of the money it earns for its military. On the contrary, it's unlikely to spend more than 50% of its money for the military, and this despite the war. This means that the regime can - at best - provide for something like 10-20% of troops nominally fighting for it (for number of troops in question, see below).

 This is imposing the question: who is then paying for the survival of the Assad-Regime?

 Answer: Tehran.

 Tehran has never published official figures for its spending for war in Syria - and is unlikely to ever publish anything of that kind. The only way to find out the approximate amounts of money Iran is spending there is 'circumstantial', i.e. with help of reports like this one:

 Iranian Economy, 2015 (PDF file)

 (Note: I'm sure there are going to be readers screaming, 'not the NCRI again!' I'll agree with them: anything from the NCRI must be enjoyed with a truck-load of salt. However, in this case the report in question is little else but a word-by-word translation of the Iranian budget law for 2016, with some commentary. I.e. no matter what's his motivation, the author couldn't do anything wrong, insert any fake figures or anything of that kind.)

 Under point 4 of the latter, you can find details on the Defence Budget. From what can be read there, it is obvious that this is gulping massive 23% of the entire national budget. Specifically:


 MOD gets US$ 5.2 billion


 IRGC gets 4.188 billion


 Army/Air Force/Navy are getting 1.9 billion


 JCS gets 0.6 billion


 Internal security services are getting 1.7 billion


 MOI and other intelligence services about 0.6 billion


 Construction projects related to security 0.4 billion


 'Subventions for loyalists' cost 3.8 billion (!)


 Spread of Islamic fundamentalism costs 1.5 billion.

 Note that the IRGC gets more than two times the budget of the entire conventional military. And that's not to talk about various intelligence services, 'subventions for loyalists', and even less so on IRGC's income from the Iranian, Iraq and (meanwhile) Syrian economy - which is no part of the Iranian budget, first and foremost.

 And then: this is still not all Iran is spending for defence: there are separate budgets for 'security issues', nuclear program (supposedly 'only' US$743 million; actual costs of the program between 1986 and 2013 are estimated at between US$100 and 170 billion!!!), missile program (alone the acquisition of North Korean know-how from 2009 cost Iran no less but US$ 11 billion!), Qods Force (IRGC-QF) etc.

 With other words, real spending includes the published budget + extra budgets for specific projects + secret budget + IRGC income (from parts of economy it owns) + subventions provided directly from the budget of the 'Leader of the Islamic Revolution'...

 Now, considering the IRGC and the IRGC-QF have no major arms acquisition projects running, while nuclear- and missile-related projects have their own budgets - question is: what for do they spend 4.188 billion from their official budget? Not to talk about: what for do they spend from their unofficial budgets...?

 Considering how much is the IRGC spending for 'unknown' purposes, I would say that the answer is crystal clear.

 Troop Strength:

 Estimates were ranging between a minimum and maximum of following troops:
 Assadists: 50,000-80,000
 Russians: 4,751-10,300 (here my estimate is slightly different; for details, see below)
 Hezbollah: 5,000-10,000
 IRGC: 13,000-16,000 (Iranian troops)
 IRGC: 40,000-47,000 (non-Iranian troops staffing various of IRGC's, Hezbollah/Syria's, Hezbollah/Iraq's and other allied formations).

 This meant following totals: - Assadists: 50,000-80,000 - Foreign Troops: 62,751-83,300

 Commentary:

 1.) IMHO, the figure of 4,571 Russian troops in Syria can be seen as something like 'average' and 'conservative'. That number is based on the number of Russian citizens eligible to vote in Russian elections - i.e. at one, certain point in time. There are times when this number is much higher. For example, back in October 2015, up to 20 battalion-sized task forces of the Russian Army were identified as deployed in the country (I provided a detailed ORBAT for Russian ground formations in period October 2015-March 2016 in the thread here). Depending on its type, a battalion of the Russian army has between 360 and 700 troops. That would mean anything between 7,200 and 14,000 troops. Then add their two-regiments-sized aviation group to that figure - and you've got the picture.

 2.) Considering the average rate of about 450 casualties a month (based on people monitoring related reporting in the social media on Assad-controlled territories) - and that for Assadists alone - these figures are meanwhile obsolete. I.e. Assadists have lost about 5,400 KIA (just KIA!) over the last 12 months, and are thus at anything between 45,000 and 75,000 troops.

 3.) Unsurprisingly (because of Assadist losses), and considering [reports of this kind](), alone the IRGC meanwhile has 80,000 troops in Syria.

 4.) Finally, majority of Syrian nationals considered as serving for Assadists in these estimates are actually not serving in Assadist formations any more. On the contrary, as can be read here, no less than 88,723 Syrians nationals are serving under IRGC's control, meanwhile.

 Changes in Demography:

 For anybody who might be 'surprised' by conclusions and figures posted above, and especially for all the characters who are now going to scream and cry 'don't believe', 'nonsense' and anything similar... well, sorry: this is just showing the extension of parallel universe in which you live. Namely, widespread practice of mis-reporting about this war by the msm but especially by the social media - resulted in creation of an alternative universe in which the Assadist state and the military are fully intact. Actually, they are not the least: they are only 'nominally existent' - because they're serving Iranian and Russian interests.

The dissolution of the Assadist state and military is a direct result of the popular uprising of 2011-2012, then the provocation of a sectarian and religious war by Assadists, 2012-2013, and then the Iranian military intervention launched in late 2012.
 Conclusions about Troop Strength and Composition:

 Assadists have far less than '50,000 troops' mentioned above: the figure is unlikely to be higher than 30,000.

 The IRGC-QF is likely to have up to 160,000 combatants under its control in Syria, of which roughly 50% are Syrian nationals, and 50% foreigners.

 With other words: numbers alone are making it clear that there's not only no SAA any more: they're making it clear that there's no 'Assadists' to speak about any more. The entire 'Syrian Army' story is a scam of epic proportions.

 Correspondingly, anybody discussing terms like 'the Syrians who support Assad' is actually talking about figures that are not comparable even with with the pre-war population of Tel Rifat any more.

 Assadist Authorisations for IRGC-QF's Commanders:

 Of course, there are still going to be characters denying even the possibility of all of this happening - although it should be more than well-known, meanwhile, that the IRGC-QF's commanders have received sweeping authorisations from nobody else but Bashar al-Assad. Indeed, a summary of everything above should make it crystal clear: it's the IRGC-QF that has the final word in Assadist-Syria. Assad and his 'Inner Circle' are little more but 'puppets' or 'useful fools' nowadays.

Obviously, in a country hamstrung by a regime as oppressive as that of Assadists - and then since 40+ years - nothing of that kind is possible to happen without an official approval, i.e. Assad's orders to 'his' commanders to listen to the IRGC-QF.

 The situation in which the Assadist regime, its warlords and their 30,000 troops are supported by up to 160,000 IRGC-QF-controlled combatants is absolutely no surprise. On the contrary: it's a logical result of years long and very intensive conversion of the Assadist state into an IRGC-QF's fiefdom.'

The shifting red sands of Idlib

The city centre in Idlib becomes a hub of activity at sundown with people from all walks of life converging around the clock tower for shopping and socialising.

 ' “I’m afraid we have to end this meeting now,’’ said a rushed and exhausted Mohammad al Shaikh.

 It was two in the afternoon in Idlib city, where Shaikh was meeting tribal elders from Hama province, a one-hour drive away from the Turkish border. Fifteen men with sunburnt faces sat on two tables facing each other, with Shaikh and his associates seated in the centre.

 It had been a friendly exchange between Idlib’s newest leader of the ominously named Syrian Salvation government and the men whose support he desperately needs to execute his plans. And the tribal elders were well aware of their importance.

 “If you want to come to a place and lead then you need to have legitimacy with the people, the tribes, the community and the families,” said a middle-aged elder with jet black hair, whose eyes were made more intense by his red headscarf.

 It was at this moment that Shaikh asked, politely, to end the meeting.

 “They’re telling me there are planes in the air. Listen. We have to go,” he said.

 As Shaikh was meeting the tribal elders, suspected Russian fighter jets were honing in on a target a few kilometres away. Sixty-four people were killed in the attack on a street in Atarib – a border town between Idlib and the western Aleppo governorates.

 The attack threatened to break a fragile ceasefire, which was the result of an agreement reached in Astana between Turkey, Russia and Iran on May 4. The idea was to set up four so-called de-escalation zones across Syria, including Idlib.

 Turkish armoured vehicles and soldiers crossed the border in Hatay into Idlib on 13 October. Their mission was to build at least 14 checkposts in Idlib to monitor the ceasefire, as well as keep tabs on the PKK-linked YPG terror group in neighbouring Afrin.

 The YPG – flush with US weapons and air support – made significant gains across northern Syria, capturing tens of thousands of kilometres from retreating Daesh fighters. US support for the YPG had continued, despite Daesh’s defeat in Raqqa and elsewhere. It had raised Turkey’s concerns about the YPG attacking Idlib, further extending the terror group's reach along the border.

 "The truth is evident. Our strategic partner, the US, carried out the Raqqa operation with the YPG despite our objections,”said a disappointed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. For months, he’d been raising the alarm against the YPG with his American NATO allies, but Erdogan’s words were met with silence.

 “The Americans said the YPG and the PKK were not the same. The US delivered more than 3,500 truckloads of weapons to the region. We know where they were used," he said.

 “There could be a more dangerous project of dividing Syria. For this very reason, our task is to revive the Syrian revolution by giving it the momentum it used to have in its first days,” Shaikh said at an undisclosed location soon after his meeting with the tribal elders. Our journalists have been among the few international teams able to enter Idlib city since 2014.

 Our trip had been made possible with the willful retreat of Hayat Tahrir al Sham – formerly called Al Nusra Front and later Jabhat Fateh al Sham, which had been in control of Idlib since 2016. Despite controlling the area, the group had largely stayed clear of providing locals with essential services.

 It had led to the rise of neighbourhood or local councils. They worked much like co-operatives elsewhere, from collecting trash to supplying water to installing and maintaining community-run generators.

 Muhammad Mahfuz Qalaa, who was an engineer before the Syrian war started in 2011, had become one of the local council leaders as the regime cut off essential public services.

 “During the revolution and people started to migrate to northern Syria, especially to towns across Idlib,” Qalaa said.

 "My area’s infrastructure was built to handle only 20,000 people. But now there are one hundred and 20,000 people living there,” a frail-looking Qalaa said.

 Idlib province in northern Syria had an estimated population of one million Syrians. But now an estimated four million people are residing there. Many are escaping the regime and YPG-held territory to Idlib city, which is one of the last remaining major urban centres left in the hands of the opposition.

 “There is a serious need to renovate the infrastructure including the public water system, the sewage system, waste management and the electricity grid,” Qalaa told us, adding there were very limited resources available to do this.

 “Hundreds of thousands of Syrians living in Idlib are jobless. There is no income. We have to work on creating income sources for this poor people,” said Shaikh.

 He seemed relaxed despite the suspected Russian attack on Atarib earlier, which had forced his early exit from the meeting with the tribal elders.

 “Of course it is a very hard mission to be carried out by the Salvation Government. Our work is born in a very critical phase in terms of political situation and services. I mean the global political reaction to the Syrian cause. There is a kind of push to end the Syrian revolution and shore up the Assad regime,” he said.

 The regime of Syrian leader Bashar al Assad had been making steady progress against enemies of all stripes. It had retaken territory from Daesh as well as from Syrian opposition groups. With the help of its Iranian and Russian-backed forces, Assad had exhausted countless ammunition halos, killings hundreds of thousands on his way to victory. So-called “siege and surrender” tactics had enabled Assad to starve out any remaining opposition to his brutal rule. And his regime had smartly used international reaction to pictures of starving children to generate a global outcry which then would be used by Assad and his allies to force the surrender of opposition groups in besieged areas.

 It had happened in places like Madaya and Zabadani and had silenced what had remained of the opposition fight in Aleppo. Millions of people had been displaced and the majority had made their way to the remaining opposition pockets in Azaz and Idlib.

 And neither were these pockets of resistance were not spared. The attack in Atarib earlier that day was one of hundreds of aerial attacks carried out by suspected Russian warplanes across Idlib. Markets, schools and hospitals were bombed. It had forced people to take essential services underground – literally.

 “Before the (de-escalation zone) ceasefire came into effect, there was heavy shelling on Idlib.

 Hospitals were heavily targeted. We had to move locations four times due to the continuous targeting of medical facilities. We are now underground and surrounded by earth embankments and sand sacks,” Hussain Yasin said from a location inside Idlib city. He was nervous about sharing details of the location for fear of being identified.

 “The Russians use spies to locate a hospital and then bunker buster missiles, that turn these underground facilities into compact graveyards’’, he said. As he spoke the doctor was interrupted by a rush of stretchers being brought into the emergency room. “Can you please step aside”, he asked us politely and then rushed in their direction.

 “Most of the cases we treat are either gunshot or shrapnel wounds”, said Dr Mohammad Abrash, the medical director of the undisclosed and underground Idlib Central Hospital. The facility was being funding and supplied by the Syrian American Medical Society, even then there was a shortage of almost everything.

 “We need beds, we need medicine, but most important we need a proper facility. Look at our working conditions. And the number of people being bought here keeps on increasing”, said a concerned Abrash.

 “The first thing is to be establish security and safety”, said Shaikh, the leader of the Syrian Salvation government. “We want to restore the security through the Ministry of Interior affairs. Seven years have passed without security. Cars are without tags. People are without IDs. So our main concern now is to restore security. Justice comes after security. Any government has to establish security and justice.”

 Shaikh was elected through the local councils soon after Turkish troops entered Idlib. Now meeting us in the shadow of fighter jets hovering the skies over Idlib, Shaikh was aware that his fortunes were inevitably tied to Turkey’s interests in northern Syria.

 “We will succeed if we build a strategic alliance which binds the pro-Syrian revolution people on one side and the Turkish government along with its people on the other,” he said.'

Several dozen health facilities have been bombed by the regime and its Russian allies in Idlib, forcing hospital emergency services to go underground.

Friday 17 November 2017

Assad Regime Warplanes Bomb Vital Humanitarian Aid in Ghouta

Assad Regime Warplanes Bomb Vital Humanitarian Aid in Ghouta

 'The Syrian government and allied Russian warplanes strengthened their heavy bombardment on the Eastern Ghouta this week, destroying a food warehouse in the city of Douma three days after its stock was delivered, while heavy clashes continue to take place in the Adarat al-Marakabat (Vehicles Administration) in the city of Harasta.

 The head of the town council of Douma, Iyad Abdulaziz, said that the Assad regime forces had on Wednesday bombed a storehouse containing food aid for the residents of the Damascus Ghouta, who are suffering from a severe humanitarian crisis. He added that the humanitarian groups had distributed two thirds of this aid before the distribution process was suspended due to the heavy fighting which broke out in the area.

 According to the local Red Cross, Douma saw last Sunday the entry of an aid convoy of 24 trucks carrying food and medicine needed by 21,500 people in the besieged city. The delivery was the first of its kind in nearly three months.

 "There was a strike on the warehouse — two rockets. A third of the aid was still in there," Abdulaziz told AFP, adding: "The guys picked up as much [of the remaining aid] as they could, and we moved it to a different location."

 Because of the ferocity of the bombardment on Wednesday, schools shut their doors out of fear for the students as warplanes targeted residential areas and regime forces bombed cities and towns of the Ghouta with rockets.

 Douma is one of the biggest cities in the Eastern Ghouta controlled by the opposition. Regime forces have imposed a total siege on it, with Assad’s army and Russia continuing their bombardment despite Douma being part of the de-escalation zones agreement which was reached between Iran, Russia and Turkey, and implemented since July 2017.

 This comes as heavy clashes continue between Syrian opposition fighters and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces at the Adarat al-Marakabat in the city of Harasta, which neighbors Douma in the Damascus countryside.

 The Ahrar al-Sham rebel group published a video clip of the heaviest fighting which is occurring at Adarat al-Marakabat, with the video showing the moment of the clashes and the entry of the opposition forces inside the building and seizing of weapons which they captured after killing regime forces members.

 Opposition forces are imposing a media blackout on the events of the battle likely for military reasons, and to preserve the secrecy of the details of the fighting.

 On an official statement on Wednesday, Ahrar al-Sham announced the beginning of the battle, “They Have Wronged,” to take control of the Adarat al-Marakabat.

 According to the statement, which Alsouria Net gained a copy of, “The battle comes amid the worsening humanitarian situation in the Eastern Ghouta and the repeated targeting by regime forces of the cities and towns of the Eastern Ghouta despite the fact that it is under the de-escalation zones [agreement].”

 The statement said that “the battle achieved its first stage successfully, with its aim to take full control over the Adarat al-Marakabat, in addition to Rahba 446 adjacent to it, as it is a strategic area for the regime in terms of its logistical role and the positioning of Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah militia forces in it.”

 According to photos published by the Harasta Coordination Council, after taking the building, opposition fighters recovered aid stolen by the Assad regime. The council said that “regime forces acquired U.N. aid in the military Adarat al-Marakabat, including oil packets, rice and bulgur packets, while the Ghouta residents have been forbidden a grain of wheat or rice.” '


"Rebels storming Assad regime positions at Harasta. Rebels have captured many buildings, killed Assad fighters and seized weapons, ammunition and food."
 [https://twitter.com/worldonalert/status/930910791842390017]

The UN Secretary General Report on Children and Armed Conflict Doesn’t Accurately Reflect the Atrocious Reality in Syria

The UN Secretary General Report on Children and Armed Conflict Doesn't Accurately Reflect the Atrocious Reality in Syria

 'The Syrian Network for Human Rights has stressed in a report released today that the U.N. Secretary General report does not accurately reflect the gravity of the atrocities of the Syrian crisis.

 The report, entitled: “Syria is the World’s Worst Country in Terms of Child Mortality” notes that the U.N. Secretary General report has shed light on the toll the armed conflict had on children, and included the violations by the parties to the conflict -government forces, and other pro-government groups or anti-government groups- against children in a number of countries in 2016 including Syria.

 According to the report, the U.N. Secretary General report comes in light of a significant escalation in offensives and indiscriminate attacks that are being perpetrated by the parties to the conflict in Syria – most notably aerial bombardment by the Syrian-Russian alliance and the warplanes of the international coalition in the governorates of Idlib, Raqqa, and Deir Ez-Zour governorates. As most of the victims of the conflict in Syria are civilians, among these civilians were children who were, and are being, killed, disfigured, and displaced. Syria needs generation to redress the humanitarian and psychological disorders that have befallen those children.

 The report stresses that there is a vast difference between what the U.N. Secretary General report said and what SNHR has been able to document. While the U.N. verified the death of only 652 children, SNHR has documented, by names and details, 3,923 children victims in 2016 alone – six times more than what the U.N. verified in Syria. This reflects a blatant carelessness in documenting children victims, and the violations in Syria in general. This is can be owed, according to the report, to the shortage of manpower in the team working on Syria at the U.N., as the OHCHR website has completely stopped counting the victims of the armed conflict in Syria in 2014, without establishing any alternative option to separately document the death toll for each new year.

 The report highlights the extraordinary importance of the report that shed light on the catastrophic reality of childhood in Syria, as the report highlighted a remarkably important point, where the report notes in most of the violations that the major perpetrator is the Syrian regime (which truly reflects the nature of the incidents and events, and is corresponded by statistics).

 Furthermore, the report notes that its sole objective is to outline some notes, where, hopefully, they are addressed in future reports through greater coordination and collaboration with the national institutions that work on documenting and archiving violations of human rights.

 The report says that no less than 251 cases of arrest made against children by Syrian regime forces have been documented in 2016 compared to only 12 cases documented in the U.N. Secretary General report.

 According to the report, the U.N. Secretary General report holds armed opposition factions as the party most responsible for recruiting children, which contradicts the incidents monitored by SNHR that monitored no less than 1,926 cases of children being conscripted by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, trumping all other parties in that respect.

 The report also stresses that the U.N. Secretary General report has failed to address the toll of children victims who were killed chemical attacks carried out by Syrian regime forces that resulted in the killing of 21 children and injured 35 others in 25 different chemical attacks carried out by Syrian regime forces in 2016 alone. Additionally, the U.N. Secretary General report didn’t address the children victims who were killed in attacks by government forces and their Russian allies in which cluster munitions and landmines. There has been, according to SNHR report, no less than 171 attacks using cluster munitions by Syrian-Russian alliance forces that resulted in the killing of 113 children.

 The report calls on the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict to coordinate and work with Syrian human rights groups who are active in the field of documenting and archiving violations in Syria, in order to contribute to and assist the U.N.’s efforts for the sake of obtaining more comprehensive and accurate information and data on Syria.

 Also, the report emphasizes that the team working on documenting the violations in Syria at the OHCHR should be expanded, and called for Issuing immediate statements in the event of massacres against children in Syria, which was the case, for instance, in incidents where schools and kindergartens were directly bombarded by the Syrian-Russian alliance.'