Expansion of ‘secret’ facility in Iraq suggests closer U.S.-Kurd ties Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html#storylink=cpy

July 11, 2014

By Mitchell Prothero

McClatchy Foreign Staff
Source: McClatchyDC

 

IRBIL, Iraq — A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil’s airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers whether to engage in a war against Islamist militants who’ve seized control of half of Iraq in the past month.

Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, which is visible from the main highway linking Irbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 9 triggered the Islamic State’s sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they suspect are American drones taking off and landing at the facility.

Expansion of the facility comes as it seems all but certain that the autonomous Kurdish regional government and the central government in Baghdad, never easy partners, are headed for an irrevocable split _ complicating any U.S. military hopes of coordinating the two entities’ efforts against the Islamic State.

The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government angered Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki when early in the crisis it sent its pershmerga militia to seize the long-contested city of Kirkuk when Iraqi troops abandoned it. Relations have deteriorated since. On Wednesday, Maliki accused Kurdish President Massoud Barzani sheltering Islamic State members. The next day, Barzani demanded that Maliki resign.

Overnight, Kurdish troops seized oil fields operated by Iraq’s Northern Oil Co., whose exports had been controlled by the central government, and on Friday, Kurdish legislators began a boycott of the Iraqi government.

The developments all come as the United States, which has said it won’t come to Iraq’s assistance unless Maliki takes steps to make his government more inclusive, is expected to announce early next week its assessment of the military situation in the country. Pentagon officials said the assessment might be made public as early as Monday.

But U.S. officials have known for some time that it was likely that they’d need to coordinate any steps it takes both in Baghdad and in Irbil, where the peshmerga has worked closely over the years with the CIA, U.S. special forces and the Joint Special Operations Command, the military’s most secretive task force, which has become a bulwark of counterterrorism operations. Peshmerga forces already are manning checkpoints and bunkers to protect the facility, which sits just a few hundred yards from the highway.

“Within a week of the fall of Mosul we were being told to double or even triple our capacities,” said one Western logistics contractor who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he’d signed nondisclosure agreements with the U.S. government on the matter.

“They needed everything from warehouse space to refrigeration capacity, because they operate under a different logistics command than the normal military or embassy structures,” the contractor said. “The expansion was aggressive and immediate.”

Other contractors who deal extensively with moving heavy equipment through Irbil’s airport, which has supported a rapidly expanding oil and gas drilling industry, said they were aware of the expansion. One British oil executive said he’d detected a “low-key but steady stream of men, equipment and supplies for an obvious expansion of the facility.” The local Kurdish intelligence official described what was taking place as a “long-term relationship with the Americans.”

In a statement July 3, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that Irbil would host such a center, in addition to one being set up in Baghdad, and suggested that it had already begun operating.
“We have personnel on the ground in Irbil, where our second joint operations center has achieved initial operating capability,” he said then.

“It’s no secret that the American special forces and CIA have a close relationship with the peshmerga,” said the Kurdish official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing covert military operations. He added that the facility had operated even “after the Americans were forced out of Iraq by Maliki,” a reference to the 2011 U.S. troop withdrawal after the Obama administration and the Iraqi government couldn’t agree on a framework for U.S. forces remaining in the country.

The official refused to directly identify the location of the facility but when he was shown the blurred-out location on an online satellite-mapping service he joked, “The peshmerga do not have the influence to make Google blur an area on these maps. I will leave the rest to your conclusions.”
But the official wasn’t shy discussing the past arrangement and potential for a future expansion of the relationship.

“Most of our ‘mukhabarat’ worked directly alongside both the CIA and JSOC throughout the war in Iraq because of our language ability and long experience battling both Saddam and radical terrorists,” he said, using the Arabic term for “information office,” usually ascribed to local intelligence.

“Peshmerga fighters fought closely alongside the American Green Berets throughout northern Iraq in places like Mosul, Tal Afar and Kirkuk because we are very professional and trusted,” he said. “And many of our men would work directly with the most secret units as interpreters and Iraqi experts.”

During a recent visit to the site, extensive construction of new roads off the main highway could be seen, as well as what appeared to be construction of a fortified gate complex to protect access, which previously had been controlled by a simple dirt road and checkpoint flanked by two bunkers guarded by men in peshmerga uniforms.

Armored sport utility vehicles driven by military-appearing Westerners in civilian clothes were seen entering and exiting the facility in convoy fashion.

“Irbil is a very friendly place for people in the intelligence business,” a Western military attache said on the condition he not be identified because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter. “So many locals worked with the Americans and remember them fondly, that you didn’t need the hardened defenses that you’d find normally this close to a battlefield.”

The attache said the existence of the facility had long been known to residents. “Nobody cared before because everyone is on good terms,” he said.

A retired American special forces officer said it would be a relatively simple matter for the United States to work with peshmerga forces. “A lot of those pesh guys were known and respected for their training and trustworthiness by ODA, OGA and the Secret Squirrels long before the 2003 invasion,” he said, using the acronyms for “Operational Detachment Alpha,” the official designation of the Green Berets, and “other government agency,” a common slang term for the CIA. “Secret Squirrels” is a term soldiers use to describe Joint Special Operations Command units that usually don’t have an obvious unit designation.

A special operations officer, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he’s legally bound not to publicly discuss his career without specific Defense Department permission, said working with the Kurds would overcome a number of difficult issues that would be present as U.S. advisers worked with the Iraqi army.

“It’s a natural fit that as these guys look around at the collapsed Iraqi army and how all of its remaining competent units are either infiltrated by or directly led by Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders that there would be a high degree of discomfort directly operating with them,” he said.

“But the Kurds are trustworthy, reliable and already know how to fight alongside your units. It’s a natural fit to run an operation from Irbil with the pesh, while the other advisers in Baghdad try to stem the bleeding of the Iraqi army and protect that huge U.S. embassy complex.”

He also noted there are advantages to working with Kurdish forces if the United States decides to launch airstrikes against Islamic State positions.

“Airstrikes are close to useless without good intelligence and targeting, and that’s going to be hard to come by on the Baghdad side of things,” he said. “To me it’s a no-brainer. The only real way you can do that is with the Kurds.”

Nancy A. Youssef contributed to this report from Washington. 

Link:  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/11/233126/expansion-of-secret-facility-in.html#storylink=cpy

Erdogan: Israel a terrorist state following in the footsteps of Hitler

21 July 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor

 Turkish Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of being a terrorist state following in the footstep of Adolf Hitler.

In his speech before a campaign rally in the Hatay province on Sunday, Erdogan said Israel is committing massacres in Gaza.

Reuters news agency quoted him as saying that Israelis "have no conscience, no honour, no pride. Those who condemn Hitler day and night have surpassed Hitler in barbarism."

He hailed the people of Gaza, saying: "From here, I salute the brave heroes of Gaza."
Erdogan prayed that justice would come to "the oppressed Palestinians, who are breaking their Ramadan fast with death and martyrdom."

Erdogan also prayed for "all those enduring repression in Egypt, Syria and Iraq."

He addressed Shia leaders, urging them to "refrain from sectarianism", adding: "Aren't we all Muslims? Why then are there so many victims? 200,000 people have been killed in Syria and you still do not consider President Al-Assad as a killer. How could you defend him? How could you defend a murderer for the sake of a doctrine?"

Link: www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/12954-erdogan-israel-a-terrorist-state-following-in-the-footsteps-of-hitler.

U.S. Ignored Warnings Before ISIS Takeover of a Key City

07.10.14

Josh Rogin  

Source: The Daily Beast

 

The American-supported Free Syrian Army was forced to withdraw from a key city on the Iraq-Syria border last week after its pleas for help went unanswered by the United States.

 

Three weeks ago, a group of leaders from the opposition Free Syrian Army warned U.S. officials that a strategic city along the Iraqi border was about to fall to ISIS. It was the latest in a long series of increasingly anxious cries for help. The rebels never heard back from the Americans.

Five days ago, the predictions came true. Free Syrian Army units in the city of Der al Zour handed over their territory to the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham, following weeks of desperate requests for help to international officials, including a direct appeal in a private meeting with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

“[The U.S. officials] showed an understanding of the situation but there was no movement at all,” the commander of the FSA battalion near Der al Zour told The Daily Beast in an interview. “There’s no clear American position in that part of Syria. We told the Americans we are going to fight ISIS and ISIS is close to us, but they did nothing.”

Two leaders of the Free Syrian Army in eastern Syria told The Daily Beast that the moderate rebels in the area greatly outnumbered the ISIS fighters returning from Iraq in stolen American-made vehicles. But the FSA battalion, weakened from months of being under siege, did not have enough ammunition to engage ISIS in the fight. They retreated south, giving up what they controlled of Der al Zour to ISIS without ISIS having to fire a shot.

“Der al Zour was surrounded for several months by ISIS and the regime. The siege included no food and water. Our battalion was weakened,” the FSA commander said. “The FSA numbers are big, but we don’t have weapons, we don’t have ammunition, we don’t have anything.”

For several weeks prior, FSA leaders had tried to sound the alarm. If Der al Zour fell to ISIS, the extremist group would have control of the transportation routes from their stronghold in Raqqa, Syria to their new territories in northern Iraq. The area is also rich in oil and gas resources and was the last FSA stronghold along the rapidly disappearing Iraq-Syria border.

About six weeks ago, a group of representatives of the FSA and the Syrian Opposition Coalition went to Jordan, and met with the international committee coordinating aid to the FSA based there. They presented a detailed urgent request for money, food, and weapons to be sent to the FSA in and around Der al Zour. Three weeks ago, just days after Mosul fell to ISIS, a group of FSA and SOC officials met with Power in Turkey and briefed her about the impending disaster on the Syrian side of the border. But after the meeting: nothing.

Power met with a range of people impacted by the Syrian conflict as part of her trip to Turkey and Jordan, an official from the U.S. mission to the United Nations (USUN) told The Daily Beast, including senior government officials, refugees, leaders of NGOs, and representatives of the Syrian opposition. She also met with Jordan's King Abdullah, Turkish President Gul and Turkish Prime Minster Erdogan.

Power’s conversations with rebel leaders included “hearing the concerns of both FSA and the Syrian opposition that they have raised consistently with the U.S. government and others, which is that the regime and ISIS are making inroads and that the Syrian opposition needs additional assistance,” the USUN official said. “Ambassador Power told them she would share what she learned with her colleagues in Washington when she returned from her trip.”

The USUN official declined to specify if or how Power followed up on the request or why the U.S. government failed to answer their call for help. The international coordinating committee in Jordan eventually did send the FSA in Der al Zour a small amount of equipment and ammunition. But the shipment didn’t arrive until after ISIS had taken over the FSA positions. ISIS, on the other hand, spread $2 million in the area, to entice local tribes and leaders to permit their presence there.

Today, Der al Zour’s city center is divided into areas controlled by the al Qaeda-affiliated al Nusrah front, the Islamic Front, and the Syrian regime, which controls the airport and the high ground outside the city from which they shell the opposition areas relentlessly. ISIS and the regime are working together, and ISIS controls the suburbs without any fear of attacks from the Syrian Arab Army.

Sen. John McCain traveled to Turkey last month and also met with FSA and SOC leaders and heard their warnings about ISIS advances in eastern Syria. He criticized the Obama administration for not heeding the warnings before Der al Zour fell to ISIS, part of what he sees as a pattern of neglecting the needs of America’s allies inside Syria.

“It’s a manifestation of our failure to help on behalf of the Syrian people. And it’s a logical conclusion to a total absence of involvement and leadership in both Syria and Iraq,” McCain told The Daily Beast in an interview.

Power, along with several other top officials including Secretary of State John Kerry, have long been arguing for more aid to the moderate fighting rebels, but have been repeatedly thwarted by senior White House national security staffers, McCain said.

“She is trying, others are trying, but the small cadre around the President, most of whom have no national security experience, are vetoing it and they have been for years,” McCain said.

Last year, The New York Times reported that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough rebuffed Power’s recommendation that the U.S. increase its support to the FSA. “Denis, if you had met the rebels as frequently as I have, you would be as passionate as I am,” Power told McDonough. “Samantha, we’ll just have to agree to disagree,” McDonough responded.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin told The Daily Beast in an interview that covert assistance to FSA was increasing slowly, but should have been ramped up a long time ago.
“I have never thought that we have done enough to help the Free Syrian Army. We should have given greater support to the vetted elements of the FSA a year or two years ago,” he said. “We are now in the process of doing that, but much of that is classified.”

For supporters of the Syrian opposition in Washington, the administration’s failure to support the FSA in eastern Syria was a missed opportunity and an avoidable setback in the drive to prevent ISIS from consolidating its control over its territory.

"The warning signs about the disintegration of the Iraq-Syria border have been clear for months,” said Sasha Ghosh-Siminoff, president of the American NGO People Demand Change, which works with the Syrian opposition. “It is clear that once again the White House is behind the curve in keeping pace with the realities on the ground in Syria and again missed an opportunity to empower ideologically moderate elements of the opposition who want the responsibility of keeping ISIS from further threatening the stability of the region."

Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an American NGO, said that ISIS is now preparing for a push on Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, where the FSA is also being squeezed by extremist and regime forces. ISIS could also make another run at Azaz, a town near Aleppo on the Syria-Turkey border.

“Azaz is very strategic because it’s a major conduit for humanitarian aid and assistance to the FSA,” he said. “If ISIS takes control of territory bordering a NATO ally, that’s not good for anybody.”
The Obama administration has requested $500 million from Congress to train and equip vetted moderated opposition groups, but that aid if approved won’t be delivered until at least next year, which could be too late.

“$500 million coming several months from now is not sufficient,” Moustafa said. “We need urgent action now against both Sunni and Shia extremists.”

Omar Abu Layla, official spokesperson for the FSA Eastern Front, told The Daily Beast in an interview that the ISIS threat is getting more, not less, serious and ISIS will continue its expansion in every direction if nothing is done.

“We warned the U.S. a long time ago about the danger of ISIS. We’ve told them that if nothing is done, the danger of ISIS will spread to other countries in the region and eventually other parts of the world, including the United States,” he said. “I want to get a clear answer. Will the U.S. support the Free Syrian Army or must we wait for a new administration in Washington?”

Link:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/10/u-s-ignored-warnings-before-isis-takeover-of-a-key-city.html.
 

Al-Nusra and ISIS fight over border city

29 June 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor

Opposition fighters including members of Al-Nusra Front launched an attack on Saturday against Islamic State of Iraq and As-Sham (ISIS) militants to retake control of the city of Abu Kamal on Syria's eastern border with Iraq. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Brigades sent reinforcements to Abu Kamal after violent clashes erupted between Islamic Brigades fighters and some Al-Nusra militants who had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Last Wednesday, Al-Nusra Front Victory, the official arm of Al-Qaeda in Syria, swore allegiance to ISIS, which seeks to control both sides of the Syria-Iraq border. The Observatory pointed out that several Front elements refused to change sides and joined fighters from other Islamic Brigades in an attack against the city. They were able to control two centres belonging to ISIS and the breakaway Al-Nusra faction.

Abu Kamal is located on the border with Iraq in the Syrian oil-rich province of Deir ez-Zor. Experts believe that ISIS is seeking to establish an "Islamic state" in Iraq and Syria including the province. It has been waging a major offensive in Iraq for more than two weeks and taken control of large areas in the north and west.

The Observatory noted that fierce battles between ISIS and other groups from the Syrian opposition, including Al-Nusra Front, started in January and have led to the deaths of more than six thousand people.

It also pointed out that dozens were wounded in a car bomb explosion in the Syrian town of Duma, north-east of Damascus, yesterday. A video posted online showed a car burning; activists say that the incident occurred near a busy market in Duma. The Observatory said that dozens were killed or wounded but there were no immediate reports about the incident in the Syrian media.

Link: 
 https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/12437-al-nusra-and-isis-fight-over-border-city.

Abbas congratulates Al-Assad for re-election as Syrian president

26 June 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has said the re-election of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad started "a countdown to the end of Syria's crisis".

Agency France Press quotes Abbas as saying in a hand written message to Al-Assad: "Your election to the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic guarantees Syria's unity and sovereignty, and starts of a countdown to the end of Syria's crisis and its war against terrorism."

This is the clearest support that Al-Assad has received from the PA since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in mid-2011. Abbas expressed his hopes for stability in Syria and "success" for Al-Assad.
The PA's relations with the Syria regime deteriorated when a verbal clash about the reliability of talks with the Israeli occupation erupted between Abbas and Al-Assad during an Arab League meeting held in Libya in 2010.

As Syria's relations with Hamas were good at the time, Fatah demanded that the reconciliation file with Hamas be moved away from Damascus. But then Al-Assad's regime got angry with Hamas when it decided to support the popular Syrian uprising.

This development made Fatah repair its relations with Al-Assad and the PA sent missions to talk with the Syrian regime about the Yarmouk refugee camp, which has been under siege for about a year.

Link:  www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/12365-abbas-congratulates-al-assad-for-re-election-as-syrian-president.

President Rouhani's Turkey visit a turning point in relations between D-8’s two important members

9 June 2014
Source: developing 8.org

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, who pays a historic visit to Turkey with an Iranian delegation composed of one vice president, seven ministers and a number of businessmen, described partnership between Turkey and Iran as 'strategic' and 'strong' with future plans to deepen relations in every field.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani arrived in Ankara early June 9 for crucial talks on a number of key issues in his first official trip to Turkey since he took over the presidency last year.

Rouhani was welcomed by Turkish President Abdullah Gül at an official ceremony. The two presidents announced they have decided to improve bilateral relations at the joint press conference following their meeting. “[Rouhani] is the first Iranian president who has paid an official visit to Turkey in the last 18 years. This is why the visit is historic,” Gül said, describing Iran as “an old, valuable friend.”

“The visit carries our bilateral relations forward in every area. We expressed our common will during the meeting,” Gül said, stressing that several deals from culture to economy have been agreed upon. “Our relations are not just about two countries. They are important for the whole region and the world,” Gül said.

Rouhani emphasized the joint target of increasing bilateral trade from $15 billion to $30 billion. “Instability [in the region] is not in the favour of anyone in the world,” Rouhani said, adding that integrating Turkish railroads with Iranian ones in the border town of Bazergan was one of the deals agreed upon during the June 9 meeting.

The two presidents also said they will meet businessmen from both countries on June 10 to encourage them to invest in the respective countries.

Iran and Turkey have signed 10 accords of cooperation in a meeting both presidents attended. The agreements reportedly were intended to ‘deepen bilateral relations between Tehran and Ankara’ more than ever. Rouhani and Gül attended the joint meeting to sign the agreements. The agreements addressed cooperation in cultural and scientific exchange programs, tourism, cultural heritage, post, standard institutes, and two customs agreements.

Rouhani’s Meeting with PM Erdogan

Turkey will bolster its trade ties with neighbouring Iran by speeding up the implementation process of a preferential trade agreement signed in January. We had set a goal during my visit to Iran in January: to raise the trade between the two countries to $30 billion by 2015," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a joint press conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on 9 June.

Erdogan said the trade between Turkey and Iran stood at $22 billion in 2012 before dipping to $14.5 billion in the following year due to economic sanctions imposed on Tehran. "As part of our endeavour to fix this, we have reaffirmed the necessity of forming a High Council of Strategic Cooperation and establishing a preferential trade zone between the two countries," he said. Trade volume between Turkey and Iran stood at $3.2 billion in the first quarter, according to Turkey's official statistics office.

For his part, Iranian President Rouhani said Erdogan and himself exchanged views on bilateral ties and regional developments. Calling on Turkish businessmen to invest in Iran's railways and ports, he said Iran and Turkey reached agreements to boost cooperation in energy, transportation, tourism and banking. Also discussed in the meeting were international and regional issues as well as cooperation between the two states in international organizations such as the U.N., Organization of the Islamic Cooperation and especially the D-8. 

Describing Turkey as one of the most important countries in the region, Rouhani said his administration’s foreign policy priority was to increase relations with neighbouring countries. Recalling his meeting with Erdogan in Tehran in January, Rouhani said important agreements on transportation, customs, tourism, culture, security and political relations would be signed during the talks. 

The two officials reiterated their objectives to increase the trade volume to $30 billion by the end of 2015. Erdogan said Turkey is planning to ratify the agreement of preferential trade with Iran until the end of this month so that they could reach their objective.

In Turkey visit, Rouhani heads a delegation of his cabinet members including ministers of foreign affairs, roads and city planning, oil, information technology, interior, intelligence, culture and Islamic guidance, and economic affairs.

Link:http://developing8.org/Latestnews.aspx?NewsTitle=President%20Rouhani%27s%20Turkey%20visit%20a%20turning%20point%20in%20relations%20between%20D-8%E2%80%99s%20two%20important%20members.

BBC Report Confirms Iranian Soldiers Are Running The Show In Syria

Jun. 3, 2013

Michael B. Kelley

Source: Business Insider

Thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah militants are amassing around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in preparation for an assault on the city, Loveday Morris of The Washington Post reports.

  The deployment demonstrates the group's complete commitment to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and may profoundly affect the 26-month conflict.

“The Aleppo battle has started on a very small scale; we’ve only just entered the game,” a senior Hezbollah commander told The Post. “We are going to go after strongholds where they think they are safe. They are going to fall like dominoes.”

The commander had been overseeing five units in Qusair, a town near the Syria-Lebanon on border where Hezbollah has been spearheading a regime offensive to retake the town for the last three weeks.

The increased presence of the militant group, in addition to the arrival of sophisticated military technology such as Iranian surveillance drones and Russian anti-mortar systems, has helped solidify recent gains made by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

(Meanwhile, The U.S. is witholding millions pledged to helped the Syrian opposition.)

Hezbollah's preparations to attack Aleppo, which is nowhere near the Lebanon-Syria border, significantly raises the stakes in the war.

“A deployment so deep into Syria and in such a crucial place would be a clear indication that Hezbollah’s role in Syria was never limited to defensive aims but is geared toward helping Assad score major victories,” Emile Hokayem, a Middle East-based analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Post.

Aleppo is Syria's largest city and served as the country's commercial hub before the war.
David Barrett of The Telegraph reports that the metropolitan population, about three million before the war, has grown to about 3.5 million since the opposition seized half the city last July.

Rebels, primarily al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, have been administering city services in areas under their control while a stalemate persists.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hezbollah-is-preparing-to-attack-aleppo-2013-6#ixzz35cGPhzgO

Hezbollah Is Launching An Offensive That Will Profoundly Change The Syrian War

Jun. 3, 2013
Michael B Kelley
Source:Business Insider


 Thousands of Lebanese Hezbollah militants are amassing around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in preparation for an assault on the city, Loveday Morris of The Washington Post reports.

The deployment demonstrates the group's complete commitment to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and may profoundly affect the 26-month conflict.

“The Aleppo battle has started on a very small scale; we’ve only just entered the game,” a senior Hezbollah commander told The Post. “We are going to go after strongholds where they think they are safe. They are going to fall like dominoes.”

The commander had been overseeing five units in Qusair, a town near the Syria-Lebanon on border where Hezbollah has been spearheading a regime offensive to retake the town for the last three weeks.

The increased presence of the militant group, in addition to the arrival of sophisticated military technology such as Iranian surveillance drones and Russian anti-mortar systems, has helped solidify recent gains made by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

(Meanwhile, The U.S. is witholding millions pledged to helped the Syrian opposition.)
Hezbollah's preparations to attack Aleppo, which is nowhere near the Lebanon-Syria border, significantly raises the stakes in the war.

“A deployment so deep into Syria and in such a crucial place would be a clear indication that Hezbollah’s role in Syria was never limited to defensive aims but is geared toward helping Assad score major victories,” Emile Hokayem, a Middle East-based analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Post.

Aleppo is Syria's largest city and served as the country's commercial hub before the war.

David Barrett of The Telegraph reports that the metropolitan population, about three million before the war, has grown to about 3.5 million since the opposition seized half the city last July.
Rebels, primarily al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, have been administering city services in areas under their control while a stalemate persists.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hezbollah-is-preparing-to-attack-aleppo-2013-6#ixzz35cD3zBcx

Syrian Brotherhood condemns letter to Al-Sisi

12 June 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood has slammed the leader of the opposition coalition for sending a congratulatory letter to Egypt's coup leader and president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. In rejecting Ahmad al-Jarba's letter to Sisi, the Brotherhood referred to the new president of Egypt as "the commander of the military coup against legitimacy." It pointed out that people in Syria "revolted for the sake of freedom" so "we do not accept congratulating tyrants."

The leader of the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, Ahmad al-Jarba sent a letter to Sisi on Monday to congratulate him on his recent inauguration as president. He expressed his hope that cooperation with Egypt will be enhanced under Sisi's leadership and that Egypt will play an effective role in fulfilling the aspirations of the Syrian people.

The Brotherhood, however, regard such congratulations as "contrary to what has been agreed upon among the members of the national coalition, including respect for democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, which jeopardises the coalition's reputation and its future."

The Syrian revolution, it continued, has been based on a number of principles endorsed by the opposition, including "fighting against dictatorship and tyranny" with a quest for" freedom, justice and human rights" The results of elections, insisted the movement, should be upheld and respected.
The statement came the day after the former Comptroller General of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, Ali Bayanouni, announced that he has submitted his resignation from the Syrian opposition coalition.

Link:
 www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/12064-syrian-brotherhood-condemns-letter-to-sisi.

Syria's Assad, an American hero? One Virginia politician thinks so.

May 29, 2014
By Howard LaFranchi
Source: The Christian Science Monitor

Comments: Those who support Assad, for whatever reason, seem to have the same mentality. Even some of those who are against the global oligarchy/NWO are pro Assad. Their thinking on this issue is very simplistic and clearly shows a lack of knowledge and understanding as to what is happening in Syria.  The war in Syria is a revolution against a regime that has been terrorizing the Syrian people for decades. It is not a civil or sectarian war- those of the NWO would like people to think so. It is a revolution against a regime which has the covert support of the NWO. The NWO is using this revolution as a means to destroy Syria by dividing Syria into three different countries- a country for the Alawites on the west coast of Syria; a country for Sunnis in southern Syria, and the northern part of Syria  would be a part of a new Kurdish country that would take territory from: Turkey, Syria and Iraq.  Those of the NWO are attempting to establish a Greater Israel- and make these smaller countries a part of Greater Israel.
 Also, those who support Assad think that those who are fighting against him is just one group (Al Qaeda). This is wrong. There are several different groups with different leaders but with one goal- to defeat the Assad regime. Here is the article:

In a two-page letter, a Virginia state senator praised Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for, among other things, taking on America’s ‘arch-enemy’ Al Qaeda. Mr. Assad posted the letter on his Facebook page.

 

A Virginia state senator thinks so – to the point where he recently wrote a two-page letter of praise to the Syrian president for his “heroic” defense of religious minorities and for taking on America’s “arch-enemy” Al Qaeda.

Evidently thrilled with the adulation from unexpected quarters, Mr. Assad – more frequently referred to in the West these days as the butcher of Damascus for his regime’s indiscriminate bombing and blasting of the Syrian civilian population – posted the letter on his Facebook page.


And why not? President Obama might still believe that he “must go,” and other Western leaders and international human rights institutions blame Assad for the bulk of the 150,000 largely civilian deaths tallied in the three-year-old conflict. But here was at least one American seeing the Syrian civil war as Assad does – as a merciless fight pitting order and secular power against jihadist terrorists.

Richard Black, a Republican representing northern Virginia’s Loudoun County, heaps praise on Assad and his army for protecting Syria’s Christians and the small Jewish community in Damascus. Senator Black says he is “grateful” to Assad for “following the practice of your father” and allowing Syria’s Christians and Jews to practice their faith.

But the focus of the Virginia politician’s letter is on Assad’s valiant and “misunderstood” battle against jihadist fighters carrying the flag of Al Qaeda. He claims that Americans who believe Assad is resisting a moderate and democratic opposition have been “tricked” into supporting the same terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks. Black tells Assad that only he stands in the way of jihadists who would “turn airliners into fireballs” at Washington’s Dulles International Airport.

 “I pray that the Syrian armed forces will continue to exhibit extraordinary gallantry in the war against terrorists,” he concludes.

The letter, dated April 1, was posted Sunday on Assad’s Facebook page.

Black stands apart from the more typical Republican view on Syria. Most on the right consider that there is a valid moderate opposition fighting Assad – but that President Obama has failed to provide rebel fighters with the arms they need to defeat the Syrian ruler.

If anything, Mr. Obama is faulted for excessive timidity as a result of his concern that US-provided arms could fall into the “wrong hands” – specifically, the extremist and in some cases Al Qaeda-affiliated groups that Black is talking about.

Black’s letter has raised eyebrows in Washington and in Richmond, Va., where at least one of Black’s Democratic colleagues called the missive “bizarre” and advised the state legislator to stick to Virginia’s business.

Some Middle East experts have noted that, following Black’s reasoning, President Bush would have left Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq, because under him Iraq’s Christians lived peacefully and faced little threat even as Mr. Hussein ruthlessly subdued the country’s Shiite majority. A few say Black has a point, and they cite Afghanistan, where the United States supported “freedom fighters” in the 1980s who ended up harboring Al Qaeda and the 9/11 masterminds.

In any case, Black is not apologizing for his ode to Assad or for reducing the range of Syrian opposition groups to Al Qaeda. In an interview Wednesday with Washington radio station WAMU, the retired Marine colonel said Americans have already forgotten the lessons of 9/11 and are allowing their government to aid jihadists against a civilized defender of religious freedom.

“Americans have fought against Al Qaeda for 12 years in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Black said. “I find it abhorrent that we train and equip those same men to fight against American interests in Syria.”

Link:  .csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2014/0529/Syria-s-Assad-an-American-hero-One-Virginia-politician-thinks-so.-video.

Al Qaeda splinter group in Syria leaves two provinces - activists

March 14, 2014
By Alexander Dziadosz
Source: Yahoo News

BEIRUT (Reuters) - An al Qaeda splinter group in Syria pulled out of two provinces in the country's northwest on Friday and headed to its eastern strongholds after months of clashes with rival rebels, activists said.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a former al Qaeda affiliate, and competing insurgents have been fighting since the start of the year, killing over 3,000 people and undermining the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

On Friday, ISIL - which alienated many rebels by seizing territory and killing rival commanders - finished withdrawing from the Idlib and Latakia provinces and moved its forces toward the eastern Raqqa province and the eastern outskirts of the northern city of Aleppo, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the withdrawal was overseen by the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's acknowledged branch in Syria, making the two provinces "completely free" of ISIL forces.

ISIL, which draws strength from a core of experienced foreign fighters, was initially welcomed in many rebel-controlled areas because of its fighting prowess and reputation for being relatively free of corruption.
The group later alienated many residents with a drive to implement a strict interpretation of Islamic law, but has also maintained sympathy in some areas because of its reputation for keeping looting and thievery in check.

"There's been an uneasy calm on all sides" since the withdrawal of ISIL forces, one activist from Idlib province said. "Civilians aren't celebrating because ISIL had eliminated thieves and bandits."

The Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman said ISIL had been weakened by clashes and defections in the areas it had withdrawn from, but still had control over Raqqa province and plenty of resources to draw on.

AMBUSH

A video posted online on Friday showed two fighters touring what they said were abandoned buildings that had been used by ISIL as a court and a prison in a town in the Jebel al-Akrad region. One fighter said the withdrawal had happened peacefully after negotiations between ISIL and other rebels.

ISIL started off as a rebranding of al Qaeda's branch in neighboring Iraq, but the parent organization announced it was cutting ties with the group last month over its refusal to limit itself to fighting in Iraq.

The Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syria branch, has occasionally clashed with ISIL but has also tried to broker truces between ISIL and rival factions and fought alongside the group against government forces in other areas.

The infighting has nevertheless further complicated a war that has killed over 140,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes. The war enters its fourth year this month.

In a separate incident, the Syrian army killed 20 militants in an ambush in Tel Kalakh, a village 40 km (25 miles) west of Homs, a military source told Reuters. Lebanon's Al Manar television channel also reported the incident.

The source said the attack happened near a customs checkpoint close to the border with Lebanon, about 4 km (2.5 miles) from the village.

Pro-government Twitter accounts said the militants had been trying to enter Lebanon's Wadi Khaled after fleeing the Sunni town of al-Hosn, but Reuters could not independently verify these reports.

The source also said Syria's army had reached the eastern entrances of Yabroud, a rebel-held town near the border with Lebanon where the military has been making recent advances.

(Additional reporting by Stephen Kalin and Mariam Karouny; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

 

Saudi lists 'terror' groups, orders Islamist fighters home

22 hours ago 
By Assad Abboud
Source: Yahoo News

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia listed the Muslim Brotherhood and two Syrian jihadist groups as terrorist organisations Friday, and ordered citizens fighting abroad to return home within 15 days or face imprisonment.

The move represents a major escalation against the Brotherhood of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and indicates rising concern in Riyadh over the potential risks to domestic security of Saudi extremists fighting in Syria.

Riyadh staunchly supports Sunni-led rebels battling to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but has long feared blowback from radical jihadist groups, particularly after a spate of attacks by a local Al-Qaeda franchise from 2003 to 2006.

Friday's move comes two days after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Qatar, which supports Islamists groups in the region and was a backer of the Brotherhood.

A list published by the interior ministry designates as terrorist organisations the Brotherhood, Al-Nusra Front, which is Al-Qaeda's official Syrian affiliate, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a rogue group fighting in both Syria and Iraq.

Also blacklisted are Shiite Muslim rebels known as Huthis in northern Yemen and "Hezbollah inside the kingdom," a reference to a little-known Shiite group in` overwhelmingly Sunni Saudi Arabia.

The interior ministry, in a statement carried by state media, said it will prosecute anyone backing these groups "financially or morally", or who express sympathies for them or seek to promote them through media and social networks.

It also forbids "participation in, calling for, or incitement to fighting in conflict zones in other countries."

Saudis fighting abroad were given a 15-day ultimatum Friday to return home or face imprisonment.

Prison also awaits anyone calling for demonstrations or taking part in them, the ministry said.

And analysts warned of the effect of that on civil liberties.
 

"There is fear that the text will be interpreted in such a way to muzzle freedom of expression," said sociologist Khaled al-Dakheel.

Last month, King Abdullah already announced jail terms of up to 20 years for belonging to "terrorist groups" and fighting abroad and tough sanctions for anyone backing the incriminated organisations.

Rights group Amnesty International sharply criticised that decree, saying it could be used to suppress peaceful political dissent because the law used an "overly vague definition of terrorism."

- Political Islam a challenge -

In 2011, Saudi Arabia set up specialised terrorism courts to try dozens of its citizens and foreigners accused of belonging to Al-Qaeda or being involved in a wave of bloody attacks that swept the country from 2003.

The Saudi and other conservative Gulf monarchies have long been hostile to the Brotherhood, fearing that its brand of grass-roots activism and political Islam could undermine their authority.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Doha, over Qatar's backing of the Brotherhood in Egypt.

The move is an unprecedented escalation of tension with a fellow member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Kuwait and Oman.

It reflected the fury of these three nation at Qatari support for Islamist groupings that emerged in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt who had long oppressed radical Islamists.

It was also seen as a revival of the on-again, off-again rivalry between Riyadh and Doha, oil- and gas-rich monarchies that have long vied for regional influence.

Saudi Arabia hailed the July overthrow of Morsi and pledged billions of dollars to Egypt's military-installed government and, in recent months, has eclipsed Qatar as the main backer of Syria's rebels.

Egypt, which has launched a sweeping crackdown on the Brotherhood and detained reporters from Qatar's Al-Jazeera news network, has meanwhile said its own envoy would not return to Qatar.

Battle for Syrian rebel town erases Lebanon border

March 6, 2014

By BARBARA SURK

Source: Yahoo News

 

ARSAL, Lebanon (AP) — Sunnis and Shiites from Lebanon are streaming into Syria to take up arms on opposite sides of a fierce battle over a rebel stronghold — a fight that has effectively erased the border between the two countries and underlined how Lebanon is being sucked into the civil war next door.

The northeastern Lebanese town of Arsal, dominated by Sunnis, has become a key logistical base for the Syrian rebels who have been fighting for months to keep their hold on the strategic Syrian town of Yabroud, only 20 miles away (30 kilometers) across the border.

On a recent day, armed fighters in pickup trucks and on motorbikes were seen scrambling down dusty roads out of Arsal into the mountains to cross into Syria and head to Yabroud. Syrian rebels move freely back and forth across the border, and rebels wounded in the battle are brought to Arsal for treatment in clandestine hospitals.

At the same time, Lebanese Shiite fighters from the Hezbollah guerrilla group are crossing into Syria to fight alongside the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad that have been besieging Yabroud since November.

For the past three years, Lebanon has been struggling with the spillover from Syria's civil war. Sectarian tensions in Lebanon have escalated, as its Sunni community largely supports the mainly Sunni Syrian rebel movement, while its Shiites back Assad. Hezbollah, the most powerful armed force in Lebanon, has thrown its weight behind Assad, sending fighters who have tipped some battles in the government's favor.

The violence has blown back into Lebanon itself, with suspected Sunni extremists carrying out a string of retaliatory bombings against Hezbollah-controlled Shiite areas.

Map locates Arsal, Lebanon

Around Arsal, all sides are brought into dangerously close proximity, exacerbated by the battle raging just over the border.

The town's Sunni population strongly sympathizes with Syria's rebels. Lebanese security officials say a few hundred Lebanese Sunnis are believed to be offering logistical support or fighting alongside the rebels, particularly in Yabroud. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

But Arsal is surrounded by mainly Shiite towns in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley, raising the potential for friction between the various fighters on Lebanese soil. The town of Baalbek, 20 miles (30 kilometers) to the south, is a source of many of the Hezbollah fighters heading to join the Yabroud battle.

Syrian rebels being treated at Arsal hospitals said Hezbollah guerrillas make up the bulk of the forces besieging Yabroud.

"They have many weapons, and they are fighting hard because Yabroud is important for them," one rebel, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, Basel, told The Associated Press. "But it's our country and we are strong men. We will defend our people, our land and our honor until we die."

In this picture taken on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, Ibrahim, right, and Adul-Karim, left, both18, Syr …

 

Basel was seriously injured in the groin and left thigh when he and four other rebels were preparing to ambush pro-government forces at Yabroud but were instead ambushed themselves by troops who descended on them from behind.

The 27-year-old needs surgery that Arsal's makeshift hospital, attached to a mosque, cannot provide. But his brother, standing at his bedside, said he will not send him anywhere in Lebanon outside Arsal because he fears he could be captured on route by Hezbollah fighters manning several checkpoints in a neighboring Shiite village.

"I am going to pay more money to bring doctors here to help him, but he's only leaving this bed to go back to Syria," the brother said. He declined to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Another wounded Syrian rebel, Mohammed Awad, was barely out of the operating room when he began pleading with doctors to let him go back to the front at Yabroud.

The 20-year-old was wounded when a rocket hit a vehicle carrying him and other fighters. His face bandaged after doctors removed shrapnel from his jaw and left hand, Awad said he was determined to rejoin the battle because he is originally from Syrian town of Qusair, another border town that was a rebel stronghold until Hezbollah fighters helped overrun it last year in their first major incursion in Syria's war.

In this picture taken on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, a Lebanese nurse, right, helps Adul-Karim, 18, a  …

 

"This is enough reason to want to fight Hezbollah and Assad to death," Awad said.

But there is the issue of personal revenge too, he said: He lost four uncles, two cousins and four female relatives amid the fighting in Qusair.

The battle for Yabroud is particularly fierce because the town is key for rebels. It is their last stronghold in Syria's Qalamoun region, between the Lebanese border and the Syrian capital Damascus, an important route for smuggling supplies to rebels from Lebanon.

Government forces have taken a string of other rebel-held towns in the area in the past month and are now making a final push on Yabroud. Earlier this week, Syrian helicopters attacked the town's outskirts with barrel bombs — containers packed with explosives and fuel that the government has used to devastating effect in other rebel-held urban areas in Sryia.

The fighting has contributed to a wave of refugees fleeing across the border to to Arsal. In the past two weeks alone, 13,000 arrived in Arsal, which has already been overwhelmed by Syrians settling in makeshift camps in the fields and hills on its outskirts.

In this picture taken on Wednesday, March 5, 2014, a Lebanese nurse, left, and Syrian man, right, ca …

 

Facilities for the rebels have geared up as well in Arsal. Two months ago, a new hospital opened in the town with two operating theaters, an emergency room and seven doctors on staff, including several surgeons, who perform an average six operations a day.

So far, up to 200 people have been treated there, mostly Syrian fighters and civilians, said Bassem Faris, a Syrian doctor and the hospital's manager. He was previously in Yabroud treating fighters at a makeshift hospital but had to flee the area after the fall of Qusair.

"Every one of us has a role to play in this revolution, and I will be more useful if I treat people and save lives," Faris said.

 

Syria rebels seize most of Aleppo jail, free hundreds

February 6, 2014 
Source: Yahoo News

 

Beirut (AFP) - Syrian rebels on Thursday seized control of most of Aleppo's central prison, freeing hundreds of detainees, an NGO said, prompting a denial from state media.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said members of the Islamic Front coalition, dominated by the Ahrar al-Sham brigade and Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, mounted the assault.

"Ahrar al-Sham and Al-Nusra Front have taken control of 80 percent of Aleppo central prison and freed hundreds of prisoners," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

But state television carried a breaking news alert, saying soldiers and security forces had "thwarted an attack against the prison by terrorist groups."

Abdel Rahman said the rebel assault started with a suicide attack carried out by an Al-Nusra fighter at the prison's main entrance.

"Large numbers of rebels then followed by attacking the prison," he added.

Ahrar al-Sham said opposition fighters had taken full control of the prison, as did the Aleppo Media Centre, a citizen-journalist outlet.

But Abdel Rahman said fighting was still ongoing at the complex, which reportedly holds some 3,000 detainees, including Islamists, activists and minors.

Rebels have launched attacks on the prisons for months, trying without success on several occasions to seize full control.

Conditions inside are said to be dire, with the Observatory reporting outbreaks of tuberculosis and other diseases.

The conditions prompted the government to announce in December the release of 366 prisoners for "humanitarian reasons".

Al-Qaida breaks ties with group in Syria

50 minutes ago
By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF
Source: Yahoo News

CAIRO (AP) — Al-Qaida's central leadership broke off ties with one of the most powerful militant groups in Syria, known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and distanced itself from the rebel infighting in that country's civil war, according to a statement Monday.

The announcement appeared to be an attempt by al-Qaida to put its house in order and reassert influence among rival Islamic groups that have turned against one another in Syria, where the groups have joined rebels in fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

In past months, the Islamic State — created by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of al-Qaida's branch in Iraq — has increasingly clashed with other hard-line Islamic factions, including assassinating commanders of rival groups with car bombs and shootings.

Al-Baghdadi created the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant last year in defiance of orders from the terror network's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, who at the time ordered him to remain the head of al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, while authorizing another group, Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, to operate in Syria in al-Qaida's name. Al-Baghdadi went ahead and created the new group, becoming a powerful force in Syria's conflict.

In Monday's statement, al-Qaida's general command announced it has "no connection" with the Islamic State, underlined that the group "is not a branch of the al-Qaida organization," and said al-Qaida "is not responsible for its actions."

Al-Qaida did not condone the group's creation "and in fact ordered it to stop," the statement said.

It also condemned the infighting among Islamic groups, saying, "We distance ourselves from the sedition taking place among the mujahedeen factions (in Syria) and of the forbidden blood shed by any faction." It warned that mujahedeen, of holy warriors, must recognize the "enormity of the catastrophe" caused by "this sedition."

The authenticity of the statement could not independently be verified but it was posted on websites commonly used by al-Qaida.

The rebel-on-rebel fighting has added another bloody dimension to the Syrian crisis, which erupted in March 2011 as an uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule but later evolved into an armed insurgency and civil war.

The war provided fertile ground for militant Islamic groups and over time, the Islamic State and the Nusra Front emerged as the two main al-Qaida-linked groups until their falling out last spring. The Islamic State, meanwhile, largely eclipsed the Nusra Front in many parts of northern Syria.

Charles Lister of the Brookings Doha Center said the al-Qaida statement reflected its "attempt to definitively re-assert some level of authority over the jihad in Syria."

It also showed al-Qaida leadership's failure to take a genuinely commanding line in the rivalry between the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, and made it inevitable that al-Zawahri had to issue a decisive ruling with permanent consequences, said Lister.

___

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Syria: Extremists Restricting Women’s Rights

January 13, 2014
Source: Human RightsWatch

Harsh Rules on Dress, Work, School

(New York) – Certain extremist armed opposition groups are imposing strict and discriminatory rules on women and girls that have no basis in Syrian law, Human Rights Watch said today. The harsh rules that some groups are administering in areas under their control in northern and northeastern Syria violate women’s and girls’ human rights and limit their ability to carry out essential daily activities.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 43 refugees from Syria in Iraqi Kurdistan and conducted telephone interviews with two refugees from Syria in Turkey in November and December 2013. The refugees interviewed said that the extremist armed groups Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) have enforced their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, by requiring women and girls to wear headscarves (hijabs) and full-length robes (abayas), and threatening to punish those who do not comply. In some areas, the groups are imposing discriminatory measures prohibiting women and girls, particularly those who do not abide by the dress code, from moving freely in public, working, and attending school.

“Extremist groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra are undermining the freedoms that Syria’s women and girls enjoyed, which were a longtime strength of Syrian society,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “What kind of victory do these groups promise for women and girls who are watching their rights slip away.”

The regulations imposed on women by Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS have a far-reaching impact on women’s and girls’ daily lives, affecting their ability to obtain education, provide for their families and even procure basic necessities crucial to survival. Some refugees reported abductions of women by these groups, and one refugee said that a widowed neighbor and her three young children died during fighting because a prohibition on leaving her home without a male guardian left her afraid to flee the area.

The refugees from Syria in Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey told Human Rights Watch that, between September 2012 and November 2013, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS imposed restrictions on women’s and girls’ dress and movement in the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, the towns of Afrin and Tel Aran in Aleppo governorate, the city of Hassakeh, the town of Ras al-Ayn in Hassakeh governorate, the city of Idlib, and the town of Tel Abyad in Raqqa governorate. These areas include religiously diverse communities of Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Alawites, Syriac Christians, and Armenian Christians.

Interviewees said that members of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS insisted that women follow a strict dress code that mandated the abaya and hijab and prohibited jeans, close-fitting clothing, and make-up. According to interviewees, members of these groups forbade women from being in public without a male family member in Idlib city, Ras al-Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran. Women and girls who did not abide by the restrictions were threatened with punishment and, in some cases, blocked from using public transportation, accessing education, and buying bread.

Interviewees from Idlib city, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran also said that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS banned women from working outside the home in these areas.

While interviewees were not always able to distinguish among members of various extremist armed groups with absolute certainty, reports from media sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights support the refugees' contentions that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS have imposed these restrictions. Human Rights Watch cannot confirm whether other extremist armed groups present in the areas mentioned were involved in imposing restrictions.

Syria does not have a state-mandated religion and its constitution protects freedom of religion. While the Syrian penal code and personal status laws, which govern matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, contain provisions that are discriminatory to women and girls, the Syrian constitution guarantees gender equality. Public protests in June 2009 led the government to abandon an effort to introduce more regressive personal status laws. Interviewees told Human Rights Watch that, in the past, women and girls were largely able to participate in public life, including work and school, and exercise freedom of movement, religion, and conscience.

Refugees said that Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS also imposed limitations on male dress and movement in the village of Jindires in Afrin and in Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran, but all said that greater restrictions were placed on women and girls. Former residents of Tel Abyad and Tel Aran said that the armed groups did not permit males to wear jeans or fitted pants, but that the groups imposed a less specific dress code on males than on females.

Interviewees said that restrictions on movement for men and boys in the village of Jindires in Afrin and in Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Tel Aran were part of universal restrictions on movement, such as evening curfews; they said that, in October 2012 in Ras al Ayn and July and August 2013 in Tel Aran, armed extremist groups including Jabhat al-Nusra exerted control by announcing that no one could go out in public after 5 p.m. In no cases were limitations on dress or freedom of movement applied solely to men and boys.

While unjustified restrictions on dress and freedom of movement for anyone violate their rights and should be rescinded, restrictions that apply to and affect women and girls disproportionately are discriminatory.

Commanders of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS should immediately and publicly rescind all policies that violate women’s rights, including mandatory dress codes and limitations on freedom of movement. The groups should cease punishing and threatening women and girls whose dress or behavior does not conform to the strict rules imposed by these groups. They should also halt unlawful interference in women’s and girls’ rights to privacy, autonomy, and freedom of expression, religion, thought and conscience, enforce adherence to international human rights law, and punish those under their command who restrict women’s dress and access to work, education, or public space. Any concerned governments with influence over these groups should also press them to put an end to these discriminatory restrictions on women, Human Rights Watch said.

“Groups like ISIS and al-Nusra claim to be part of a social movement, yet they seem more focused on diminishing freedom for women and girls than providing any social benefit,” Gerntholtz said. “As we have seen in situations in Somalia, Mali, and elsewhere, these kinds of restrictions often mark the beginning of a complete breakdown of women’s and girls’ rights.”

Link: http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/01/13/syria-extremists-restricting-women-s-rights.

5 Ways Life Has Become Intolerable for This Country's Women

 

By Kristine Wong | Takepart.com.11 hours ago Takepart.com

Source: Yahoo News

 

The woman and her three young children sat in the house, growing more anxious every time the sounds of war echoed around their walls. As her neighbors fled, she knew it was time to seek safer ground.

But she couldn't leave the house. Women are forbidden to go out in public without a male relative, and she was a widow with no other male family members around. If she left, she could be beaten or abducted, like some of the other women who defied the restrictions.

So she stayed. The fighting intensified, and grew closer, until a shell hit their home. A neighbor told human rights watchers that their bodies were trapped in rubble for four days afterward. They all died.

The family lived in the town of Tell Aran in northern Syria’s Aleppo Governorate. It’s part of the bigger story of how draconian restrictions on women—implemented by extremists in the country’s ongoing civil war—have curtailed freedoms and changed their lives dramatically.

Trapped indoors: They can’t go where they want, when they want

Life before the war wasn't perfect, but Syrian women had relatively reasonable levels of independence in society, especially compared with their counterparts in the Arab world. The government boasted reduced penalties for honor killings targeting females, and women had to get permission from a male relative to travel abroad. But there was participation in public life through schools and working outside the home.

Ever since armed extremist groups Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham took control of the country’s north and northeastern areas, said Human Rights Watch, refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkey are reporting major changes in interviews.

Women could not go outside in public on their own—even to buy essentials such as food—without a male relative to escort them. Those who showed up solo to markets and bakeries were turned away by armed extremists.

One refugee told Human Rights Watch: “It was like we were in jail. We couldn’t even go outside near our house. If we went outside, Jabhat al-Nusra would tell us to go back in our houses.”

Some women were barred from driving and prevented from taking public transportation.

Going to work or school is not an option

In some places in Syria, women were prohibited from working outside the home and getting an outside education.

One 20-year-old refugee said that extremists prevented her and other female students from signing up for university exams. “They refused to talk to me, even though I was wearing a head scarf,” she told Human Rights Watch. “I was wearing Western clothes, and they said this was not acceptable.”

Another young refugee reported that she and her friends decided to stop going to school because they were afraid of the extremists.

In other areas, they were barred from going to work and school as a punishment for not following strict Muslim dress codes.

The lack of male family members makes the restrictions even more punishing

Given that 85 to 90 percent of the approximately 130,000 who have died in Syria’s civil war to date are men, said Liesl Gerntholtz, executive director of women’s rights at Human Rights Watch, the restrictions on women’s movement are especially damaging.

“A lot of men are either fighting, away, or have died,” she said. “So now, many households are headed by women who don’t have male relatives around.”

Even access to essential survival items has been limited.

All the restrictions have a domino effect. Women have a tough time buying food for their family or accessing health care.

According to two refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch, some women would go to villages far away where extremists were not present. This way, they could buy food and other necessities without fear.

Forced to cover and conform to Islamic dress

Islamic law, known as sharia, requires women to cover their hair and most of their bodies and dress modestly—and has been enforced by the extremist groups. Makeup, close-fitting clothing, and jeans are prohibited. The groups announced these requirements at mosques and via posters and pamphlets, but thuggish enforcers got more personal if they didn’t see women comply.

One refugee told Human Rights Watch that fighters from the extremist groups would visit homes and threaten the males of the household as a way to get the women to wear head scarves and full-length robes.

“They would say, ‘This time we are saying this to you; next time we will take action,’ ” the man told Human Rights Watch.

The climate of fear keeps them from defying orders

Reports of beatings and threats of violence against women who didn't comply—as well as abductions of women who were alone in public—has made them feel that they have no choice but to obey.

Six refugees told Human Rights Watch that in the towns of Ras al Ayn, Tel Abyad, and Azaz, local women were declared what was referred to as property “halal” by extremist leaders—which was interpreted by them that the fighters could abduct women and not be punished.

While these restrictions have played out a little differently within the north and northeastern regions of Syria, the women and men Human Rights Watch interviewed reported that they were fairly widespread between September 2012 and October 2013, according to Gerntholtz.

Though she said that it’s difficult to say whether these restrictions are representative of conditions across the entire country, she added that Human Rights Watch has no reason to believe that the other parts of the country held by extremists are handled differently.

Gerntholtz warned that these restrictions could be just the beginning of a downward spiral for the freedom of Syrian women and girls.
 

“Groups like ISIS and al-Nusra claim to be part of a social movement, yet they seem more focused on diminishing freedom for women and girls than providing any social benefit,” Gerntholtz said. “As we have seen in situations in Somalia, Mali, and elsewhere, these kinds of restrictions often mark the beginning of a complete breakdown of women’s and girls’ rights.”