WarSclerotic

Syrian city of Hama blacked out – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Phone lines, electricity cut as Assad’s forces continue brutal Hama crackdown

Associated Press

Dozens die, thousands flee Hama amid Syria… JPost – Middle East.

    Syrian troops killed at least 45 civilians in a tank assault to occupy the center of the besieged city of Hama, an activist said on Thursday, in a sharp escalation of a campaign to crush an uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule.

Thousands of civilians were fleeing the city, a bastion of protest surrounded by a ring of steel of troops with tanks and heavy weapons.

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Electricity and communications have been cut off and as many as 130 people have been killed in a four-day military assault since Assad sent troops into the city on Sunday, activists say.

Reacting to the intensifying assaults on Hama and other Syrian districts, the UN Security Council condemned the use of force against civilians — its first substantive response to nearly five months of unrest in Syria.

In Hama, residents said tanks had advanced into the main Orontes Square, the site of some of the biggest protests against Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez Assad in 2000. Snipers spread onto rooftops and into a nearby citadel.

An activist who managed to leave the city told Reuters that 40 people were killed by heavy machinegun fire and shelling by tanks in al-Hader district on Wednesday and early on Thursday.

The activist, who gave his name as Thaer, said five more people from the Fakhri and Assa’ad families, including two children, were killed as they were trying to leave Hama by car on the al-Dhahirya highway.

Hama has been one of the main centers of protest against Assad, reviving memories of 1982, when Assad’s father sent troops to crush Islamist protests in the city, killing thousands of people and razing much of al-Hader district to the ground.

Last week tanks also moved into the eastern provincial capital of Deir al-Zor and the town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq’s Sunni heartland. Both towns have also witnessed large pro-democracy protests.

“The security apparatus thinks it can wrap this uprising up by relying on the security option and killing as many Syrians as it thinks it will take,” a diplomat in the Syrian capital said.

“Tanks are firing their guns at residential buildings in Hama and Deir al-Zor after the two cities were left for weeks to protest peacefully. This is the first time the regime is using tanks with such targeted ferocity,” the diplomat said.

Syrian authorities say the army has gone into Hama to confront armed groups trying to take control of the city. They say at least eight soldiers have been killed by gunmen.

The contrasting accounts from activists and state media are difficult to verify because Syria has barred most independent media since the beginning of the protests.

Rights groups said the lack of communication with the besieged city was alarming. There were also some reports that water supplies were blocked.

“Hama has been cut off. We’re in the dark and of course we’re very worried,” said Human Rights Watch’s Beirut-based senior Syria and Lebanon researcher, Nadim Houry.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 1,500 families managed to flee Hama in the last 48 hours, heading mainly to the east or the west of the besieged city. Other activists said authorities had blocked the road north toward Aleppo and Turkey.

“We are talking about hundreds of families leaving Hama since yesterday by cars and pick-up trucks,” said one activist in touch with the families which escaped.

“The Aleppo road is the most dangerous, with most ‘shabbiha’ (pro-Assad militia) stationed there to prevent movement up to Turkey,” he said. A resident of Aleppo said police were turning families from Hama back at roadblocks.

Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory said seven other people were killed across Syria during protests on Wednesday night, three of them in the southern Deraa province and two in the Damascus district of Midan.

Assad opens Syria to multi-party politics

Alongside the military crackdown, Assad has also lifted a state of emergency in place for nearly 50 years and promised constitutional changes to open Syria up to multi-party politics.

On Thursday he formally approved laws passed by the cabinet last week allowing the formation of political parties other than his ruling Baath Party and regulating elections to parliament, which has so far been a rubber-stamp assembly.

But most figures in Syria’s fractured opposition reject any dialogue with Assad while the repression continues.

The United States, which says Assad has lost legitimacy to rule, described him on Wednesday as the cause of instability in the country. “Syria would be a better place without President Assad,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

In New York, Indian Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, president this month of the Security Council, read out a statement condemning “widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities”.
The UN document agreed after three days of hard bargaining urged Damascus to fully respect human rights and comply with its obligations under international law.

But it also urged all sides to act with restraint, reflecting divisions between the West on one hand, and China and Russia, which has a naval base in Syria. Russia said it was important that the U.N. document discouraged international involvement in Syria’s affairs.

“Moscow is convinced that a solution to the situation in that country must be brought about by the Syrians themselves without any outside interference in the all-Syrian dialogue,” the foreign ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

A Syrian pharmacist who managed to talk with her family in Hama told Reuters that they had tried to flee but that the “shabbiha” were randomly shooting residents.

The official Syrian news agency said “armed terrorist groups” had abducted three oil-well guards in Deir al-Zor on Wednesday, and killed one policeman.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report August 4, 2011, 10:51 AM (GMT+02:00)

Bodies of Hama citizens in the Orontes

Horrifying images of bodies and limbs floating in the Orontes River in Hama were aired by Syrian state television early Thursday, Aug. 4. Contrary to official claims that they belonged to Syrian soldiers torn to pieces by protesters, debkafile reports they are the victims of Syrian tank fire and ZU-23 automatic anti-aircraft artillery trained on residential buildings and streets in the last 48 hours as the dead pile up in the streets.

Citizens cowering in their homes are throwing the dead out of windows and off roofs into the river.
They are reliving the terrors of the massacre President Bashar Assad’s father inflicted on this city of half-a-million in 1982 which left 30,000 dead.

Our sources report that the Syrian ruler decided to take advantage of three events for unleashing an all-out assault against rebellious Hama:
1.  World attention was riveted on the deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s trial which opened in Cairo Wednesday. As Mubarak was stunningly wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher and deposited in an iron cage, Syrian tanks thundered into central Hama, indiscriminately shelling buildings and torching them. Their anti-aircraft guns mowed down the rebels who were firing anti-tank weapons from roadblocks.

Buildings suspected of housing snipers at windows or on rooftops were flattened.
Casualty figures cannot be confirmed because the Syrian authorities have cut off all the city’s ground and cell telephone and Internet links. Electrical current and water are also switched off. The dead are believed to be in the hundreds and rising all the time because the thousands of injured cannot be reached for medical care.
The satellite phones in the hands of some of the dissident leaders provide the only source of information on the situation in the embattled city.

2.  The crisis between the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the army after the entire top command resigned in a body, which Assad expected would preoccupy all the decision-making levels in Ankara to the exclusion of Syria. He counted on no one in authority venturing to order the Turkish units poised on the Syrian border for weeks to cross into northern Syria and establish a buffer zone there to ease the siege on Hama and other towns.

3. The UN Security Council convening Wednesday night routinely condemned the killing of civilians in Syria and human rights abuses but stopped at approving sanctions or any concrete penalties for the delinquent Assad regime.
Although US UN representative Susan Rice called the statement “an important and strong step,” Bashar Assad was not impressed and the Syrian army’s onslaught on Hama kept going through the night.

Assad was further encouraged by an event in the US Congress. After the Senate Tuesday, Aug. 3 approved the bill raising the national debt ceiling, the lawmakers were scheduled to turn to the crisis in Syria. However, US Ambassador Robert Ford, on hand to brief the senators, saw them hurrying to leave Capitol Hill. Only one senator remained for the briefing.

The Syrian ruler has therefore concluded he can safely ignore international opinion. In the face of US and Western indifference, he can continue to mercilessly slaughter his people without fear of the sort of intervention they undertook in Libya or UN sanctions.

Jerusalem Issue Briefs-Hizbullah’s Predicament in Light of Syria’s Decline.

Shimon Shapira

• Five years after the Second Lebanon War, a war whose results Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah considers a “divine victory,” Hizbullah has currently reached one of its lowest points due to the endangered survival of the Assad regime in Syria, as well as the international tribunal that has demanded the extradition of four Hizbullah members suspected of murdering former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

• Damascus functions as the primary bridge between Iran and Hizbullah in terms of all military and other assistance arriving from Tehran. This comes on top of the direct transfer of rocket and missile weaponry from the Syrian army’s arms depots to Hizbullah’s fighting units.

• Hizbullah has adopted a clear-cut stand in support of Bashar Assad, and therefore Hizbullah flags are being burned in the streets of Syria together with Nasrallah’s portrait. Without Syrian backing, Hizbullah will find it hard to continue dictating political moves in Lebanon.

• Recent signs of Hizbullah’s weakened position include the public revelation of an espionage network run by the CIA of people in important positions within the movement; the open sale of alcoholic beverages in Nabatiye, Hizbullah’s capital in southern Lebanon; and the attempt by the Lebanese government to appoint a security chief for Beirut International Airport from within the Maronite community, contrary to Hizbullah’s wishes.

• In light of all this, Nasrallah is looking for a new pretext to confront Israel, focusing this time on the gas fields that Israel is developing within its maritime economic zone. Nasrallah believes his threats will distract attention from the decline in Hizbullah’s status and the international accusations that it currently faces.

Hassan Nasrallah delivered an address on July 26, 2011, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Second Lebanon War. He recounted the war’s achievements from his perspective, including Hizbullah’s increased military build-up and its power to deter an Israel that is frantically maneuvering to protect its civilian rear. As a result, Israel has strictly preserved the quiet in southern Lebanon. Nasrallah made it clear that Israeli warnings about “surprises” that it was preparing for Hizbullah in the event of a military confrontation were merely psychological warfare that was doomed to fail. In response to the demands by the international tribunal in The Hague (STL) to extradite Hizbullah members accused of murdering former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, Nasrallah observed that the accused are examples of the “honorable resistance” and they would not be extradited.¹

Nasrallah used the occasion to make it clear that in addition to acting as the defender of Lebanese security, henceforth he would also protect the Lebanese state’s natural resources. “Lebanon now has a real chance to become a wealthy state since treasures of natural gas and oil lie opposite its shores.” “These treasures do not belong to any sect or party, but constitute the national treasures of the Lebanese state and are valued at billions of dollars. This represents an opportunity to improve living conditions in Lebanon and pay off the Lebanese state’s debts. This is a golden opportunity and we must behave responsibly.” Israel claims about 850 km of maritime waters that contain Lebanese gas and oil and Israel has no rights to this gas and oil, Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah demanded that the Lebanese government act expeditiously to chart Lebanon’s maritime boundaries and commence production at the appropriate time. The Hizbullah leader clarified that this was the Lebanese government’s top national priority. Nasrallah followed this up with threats: “I can say with confidence that Lebanon is capable of defending its oil and gas installations. We will avenge any attack on these installations. We warn Israel against taking any steps whatsoever to steal natural treasures from beneath our territorial waters.”²

Five years after the Second Lebanon War, a war whose results Nasrallah considers both a “veritable miracle” and a “divine victory” that God bestowed on his party, Hizbullah has currently reached one of its lowest points. Nasrallah is confronting a genuine crisis that poses a significant challenge to Hizbullah’s status in Lebanon.

Two major reasons account for this strategic reversal:

• The endangered survival of the Assad regime in Syria.

• The international tribunal in The Hague has demanded the extradition of four Hizbullah members suspected of murdering Prime Minister Hariri. Heading the group is Mustafa Badr al-Din, who replaced Imad Mughniyeh as head of the military and security wing and is part of the Hizbullah leadership.

The threat to the Assad regime’s survival is having a direct impact on Hizbullah’s strategic position in both the internal Lebanese arena and vis-à-vis Israel. It is true that Iran gave birth to Hizbullah as a small militia during the era of Hafez Assad, but during the reign of Bashar Assad it matured and attained the dimensions of a state in social, economic, and military terms, one that threatens the very existence of the Lebanese state. Syria represents the womb in which Hizbullah was born and it served as the militia’s adoptive mother that suckled and nurtured it, together with Iran, since its establishment.

Damascus functions as the primary bridge between Iran and Hizbullah in terms of all military and other assistance arriving from Tehran. This comes on top of the direct transfer of rocket and missile weaponry from the Syrian army’s arms depots to Hizbullah’s fighting units. Hizbullah has adopted a clear-cut stand in support of Bashar Assad, and therefore Hizbullah flags are being burned in the streets of Syria together with Nasrallah’s portrait. The images of Saladin and Gamal Abd el-Nasser that were once displayed together with that of Nasrallah have been replaced by derogatory slogans against the Shiite leader who is offering support to the Alawite leader in the mass slaughter in Syria. It is now clear to Hizbullah that without Syrian backing it will find it hard to continue dictating political moves in Lebanon. The removal of Hizbullah missiles from the Syrian interior and their recent transfer to the Bekaa Valley provides the most tangible sign that Hizbullah is apprehensive about the Assad regime’s future.

At the same time, Hizbullah is being forced to contend with the demands of the International Tribunal at The Hague (STL) to extradite the murderers of Prime Minister Hariri, a demand that enjoys the support of the international community. Nasrallah’s blatant refusal to extradite the “patriotic mujahedin,” “neither in 30 days nor in 30 years,” carries with it the potential of touching off an internal Lebanese conflagration. Powerful parties in Lebanon are just itching for Hizbullah to weaken as a result of the Assad regime’s fall in Syria and intensified international pressures on Nasrallah in order to erode Hizbullah’s political standing and subsequently Hizbullah’s military power as well.

The first signs of Hizbullah’s weakened position have recently appeared:

• In internal meetings that Nasrallah held with Hizbullah activists, he spoke frankly about the difficult circumstances in which Hizbullah finds itself – the most serious that the movement has experienced since the 1990s. Its main problems include the public revelation of an espionage network run by the CIA of people in important positions within the movement, including Mahmoud al-Haj (“Abu Turab”), the man responsible for training Hizbullah’s military forces, and Mohammed Atwe, responsible for supervision and inspection of the armed forces. Likewise, an additional person, who only had his initials A.B. publicized, turns out to be none other than Ahmed Badr al-Din, who holds no official Hizbullah position but is related to Mustafa Badr al-Din and served as a money-launderer for Hizbullah.³
• In Nabatiye, Hizbullah’s capital in southern Lebanon, the total prohibition imposed by Hizbullah on the sale of alcoholic beverages is being violated and one can find alcoholic beverages on sale. Previously, Hizbullah hastened to forcibly shut down any store that violated this prohibition, but now it is hesitating to act. Hizbullah vented its humiliation and anger on the village of Houla in south Lebanon, where Hizbullah activists attacked a store selling alcohol. However, for the first time, they encountered opposition by leftist elements and members of the Communist Party who defended the sale of alcohol – an incident that is a most definite rarity in recent decades and ever since the beginning of the 1980s.⁴
• An additional event that could cloud Hizbullah’s prospects is the attempt by the Lebanese government to appoint a security chief with the rank of Brigadier General for Beirut International Airport from within the Maronite Christian community, contrary to Hizbullah’s wishes. It may be recalled that in 2008 Hizbullah set Beirut ablaze and took over regions that it had not previously controlled in response to the attempted removal of a Shiite officer loyal to Hizbullah from the same position.⁵

In light of all this, it would appear that Nasrallah is looking for a new pretext to confront Israel in order to make it clear that jihad – the movement’s raison d’etre – is alive and well and that Hizbullah constitutes the spearhead of the struggle against Israel. The pretext this time is the gas fields that Israel has discovered and is developing in the framework of its maritime economic zone. Nasrallah is threatening a renewed conflagration and believes that his threats will distract attention from the decline in Hizbullah’s status and the international accusations that it currently faces. Nasrallah has already argued in the past that had he anticipated the Israeli response, he would have refrained from kidnapping the Israeli soldiers in 2006, the event that triggered the Second Lebanese War. One can only hope that five years after this war, Nasrallah still remembers his grievous mistake.

*     *     *

Notes

1. Moqawama.org, July 26, 2011.

2. Ibid.

3. Majalat Aleman, July 16, 2011; al-Shiraa, July 15, 2011.

4. Hanin Ghaddar, “Hizbollah Is Bleeding Alone,” Now Lebanon, July 25, 2011.

5. Naharnet.com, July 25, 2011.

*     *     *

Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira is a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

With Syria in tailspin, Lebanon said under control of Iran, Hizbullah.

NICOSIA — The Lebanese government, amid the decline of its Syrian mentor, has lost control over much of the country.

Opposition sources said the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati has lost control over the military and security services. They said the pro-Hizbullah government has watched how Iran and Hizbullah have taken virtual command over units in such areas as southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and the north.

“There are commanders in charge of key border areas who have little contact let alone take orders from the General Staff,” an opposition source said.

On Aug. 1, the U.S.-trained Lebanese Army opened fire on an Israel Army patrol along the border town of Rajar. The Israelis returned fire and a Lebanese soldier was injured in the second such incident in a year. The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon determined that the Israelis had not crossed in Lebanon.

The sources, who include opposition parliamentarians, said neither Mikati, President Michel Suleiman nor Chief of Staff Gen. Jean Kahwaji has control over much of the military. They said Hizbullah now dominates all military forces along the border regions with Israel and Syria.

“The Israeli enemy tried again to revert back to attacks and provocations in the Wazani region, but you stood guard,” Suleiman, a former chief of staff, told Lebanese soldiers.

Kahwaji was also said to have lost control over Sunni areas of Lebanon. The sources pointed to the lack of communications and coordination in wake of the latest bombing of a UNIFIL convoy near Sidon on July 26. Five French officers were wounded in the attack, with the Lebanese authorities unable to make arrests or identify the suspected bombers.

“The culprits for this attack and the previous attack on the Italians on May 27 must be found and detained and tried,” UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, said on Aug. 2.

The sources said they expect attacks on Israel and UNIFIL to increase over the next few weeks. They said the decline of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has left a power vacuum filled by Iran and Hizbullah.

“It [Hizbullah] is exercising hegemony over the state’s strategic decisions,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said. “Hizbullah is not even willing to let its allies take part in these decisions.”