WarSclerotic

Syria in the grip of fascists.

Former ambassador to Syria from Pakistan

Eight months ago the mass protests in Syria erupted like a volcano, and took the Baath Party led Syrian regime by surprise. Since 40 years the Baath Party has ruled Syria with an iron hand in total disregard of the aspirations of the majority Sunni 80% and Kurd 10%. The Allawite – Air Force Major General Hafez-Al-Asad after a coup-d-etat in 1968 remained in power 30 years. Since his death in 1969 his son Bashar Al Asad, a dentist by profession, a nominee of the Baath Party, Syrian military and the powerful Mukhabarat- Syrian Intelligence Agency has continued the repressive regime since eleven years. The mass protests in Syria since April 2011 erupted after the “Arab Spring” rallies in Tunisia, which unseated President Zain-Al-Abidin after 22 years of misrule; and in Egypt after President Hosni Mubarak was removed from power after forty one years of brutal rule. Syrian people inspired by the “Arab Spring”, took to he streets hoping to topple Bashar al Asad.

Having spent five years as Pakistan’s Ambassador in Damascus, I understand the psyche of the Syrian people and the vicious nature and mentality of the Allavite’s – Baathist rulers, who slaughtered 42000 people in Hama in 1982 and 4000 people since March 2011 to perpetuat Bashar’s tyranny. After forty two years of Baath Party dictatorship, which has shackled the 22 million Syrian men and women into bondage, the “Arab Spring” infused the Sunni’s -75% and Kurds 7%, to rise in peaceful protests to rid the country of the Allawite fascists, who had trampled underfoot their rights and aspirations. Syria is a fascist police state where the majority lives in fear of Mukhabarat thugs, who crack down on the people like Nazi Getapo or Soviet KGB.

In April 1982 after the kidnapping of 15 Sunni girls by Syrian Army soldiers in the city of Hama, the criminals were killed by the youth in retaliation. President Hafez Al Assad ordered retribution and revenge. Hama was besieged by two divisions of the Syrian Army, with tanks, artillery and the city was bombed for two weeks. Syrian Air Force was ordered to bomb the city regardless of civilian casualties. During the 14 days of incessant bombing forty two thousand people died and fifty thousand were injured. Hama was flattened and turned into a heap of rubble. The Turkish Ambassador came to seen me after seeing the Hama carnage and, narrated the Syrian governments barbarity with tears in his eyes. Turks never cry, and seeing tears in his eye I was moved. European and the American media condemned the Sunni carnage calling Assad “The Butcher of Hama”. At the Roland Reagan Library in Los-Angeles I saw a large portrait of Hafez al Assad with the caption- THE BUTCHER OF HAMA. No Arab of Islamic leader condemned Hafez al Asad for this mass slaughter. The Arab League of 20 Arab states and the Islamic Ummah-57 countries took little notice of this barbarity.

The recent wave of street protests in Syria started on January 26, 2011. The Army was ordered into the main cities, towns and villages. When Syrian Army fired and killed large number of protestors in the cities of Hama, Darra, Homs, Douma, Baniyas, Talkalakh, Deir ez Zor Aleppo Latakia and Damascus, the rallies turned into a mass uprising by 15 march 2011. Unafraid of Army tanks, Mukhabart threats and kidnappings and military brutality, Syrian protestors demanded President Bashar al Assad to step down. They demanded the ruling Baath Party government to allow other political parties to function freely. They demanded parliamentary elections to replace the puppet Parliament. They demanded removal of the Army from cities, and riddance of corrupt party and government officials. That people held in jails without trial be released. Millions of jobless youth be given jobs. The Kurd minority demanded equality, end to harassment and grant of citizenship denied to them by the Baath regime since 42 years. Masses demanded political and press freedom, and freedom of speech and assembly. Instead of listening and heeding public demands, Bashar al Assad unleashed the Syrian Army and the dreaded Mukhabarat to silence dissent, and muzzle and crush all opposition to his demonic regime. Bashar al Assad is embarked on snuffing out the “Arab Spring” in Syria and is resolved to clamp down on the people with military force. The protest marches were fired upon, mosque protestors were brutalized, slogans, banners, hunger strikes, were condemned as rioting and vandalism by Islamic anti state and foreign elements and dealt with ruthlessly. After the slaughter of 4000 citizens, injury to 30000 and beatings and jailing thousands, Bashar al Asad claims that he has the situation under control.But street protests are continuing with daily killings of scores of citizens. Syrian tanks have been rushed into all cities, and tanks and snipers have forced the people to stay indoor. Public beatings have become a norm. Food stores have been emptied to starve the people into submission. Water and electricity were shut off, from the cities named above. Syrian Army has repeatedly stormed into houses and tortured inmate to perpetrate terror. In August the violence escalated as a crisis and thousands fled into neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Soldiers are refusing to fire on the civilians and a large number have defected. Soldiers who refuse to fire on civilians are executed. Syrian government has denied defections or execution of soldiers. Hundreds of detainees have reportedly been tortured and killed. Syrian authorities state that all those captured are terrorists, receiving aid from Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

President Bashar al-Assad has addressed the Parliament-Majilis twice and announced reforms and concessions. The opposition has termed these as trivial eyewash, and Syrian protestors are demanding meaningful reforms. On April 21 the government had repealed the Emergency law, which had been in place since 1963, thereby fully establishing that Syria has been a fascist police state since fifty years. These draconian laws had given the government sweeping authority to suspend constitutional rights of the people. On 24 July a draft law was debated by the Parliament to allow more political parties, with the proviso that they must be secular, non-religious, shun tribal and ethnic beliefs, and do not discriminate against gender and race. Protestors have dismissed this draft law, and called it a wash up as long as Article 8 of the Syrian Constitution which grants the Baath Party the role as leader of the state and society is not repealed. On November 14 Syrian militants and the Army were engaged in a wave of violence across the country, that included deadly ambushes of government forces. In the southern province of Deraa seventy people had died in clashes including 36 Army and Security officers. The military officers were ambushed by defected soldiers. Nineteen dead bodies were delivered to hospital’s without identification papers. Four hundred people have died this month. People are in revolt and want a representative government, but Bashar al Assad is determined to keep Syria as a one party state by grant of total supremacy to the Baath Party.

The world media, has exposed the excesses of the Syrian regime. The united Nations, European union, the US, the Arab League and leaders across the world are deeply concerned at Bashar al Asad’s insane behavior. Sanctions have been slammed on the Syrian regime to force it to halt repression. European Investment Bank has stopped grants and loans to Syria. EU Banks have stopped all banking activities in Syria. European Union has frozen the assets of 19 Syrian companies, and financial and trading institutions. Embargo on Syrian oil imports has reduced oil production by 75%. Revenue from oil exports represents 35% of nation budget. 90% of Syrian POL is exported to EU countries.

The unabated barbarity has angered Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who warned Bashar al Assad “not to feed on blood. Bashar is on the edge of a cliff.” In his personal message to Bashar, whom he addressed by his first name to show disrespect, Erdogan stated, “ those who fire on their own people will go down in history as leaders who feed on the blood of their own people. You are on the same path”. Addressing Turkish legislators from the ruling Justice party Eerdogan said, “No one expects the Syrian regime to meet the expectations of the people and of the international community, because it is in continuous deception.” Following his blunt statement Turkey shut down electricity supply and has cancelled oil exploration in Syria. Thousands of Syrian dissidents have fled to Turkey to escape death. They have a safe heaven in Turkey. In his blatant criticism fearless Eerdogan said that Bashar al Asad should resign. He compared Bashar to self delusional dictator like Muamar Gaddafi, and urged him not to forget Gaddafi’s end. “Just remove yourself from the seat before shedding more blood. Before torturing moreand for the welfare of your country and the region. It is not heroism to fight your own people. Look at Hitler, Mussolini and Ceausescu, and learn your lesson. Turkey had no interest in meddling in Syria, but when the Syrian nation which is our kin and relative is being tormented, we have absolutely no intention to turn our backs against the cornered people of Syria.” Like wise the Ummah should heed the heartrending appeal of Prime Minister Eerdogan, and try to rescue the people of Syria from the clutches of the tyrant and his fascist regime.

INDEPENDENT online.

Only last May, the European Union appeared incapable of imposing an embargo on oil imports from Syria

Even then, faced with only peaceful opposition to his decades-long rule, Assad had no qualms about shelling his own country’s towns and cities with tanks. 3,500 Syrians have died since then, according to the UN, most of whom were presumably civilians. Yet few would have imagined how quickly events would progress since last spring. Even those who pushed successfully for EU sanctions likely believed that they would be little more than a symbolic show of support for Syria’s doomed opposition forces. Assad’s regime simply appeared too strong, its support from the large Alawite minority too loyal, and the protesters too powerless, for economic sanctions to effectively turn the tide against Syria’s ruler.

Yet in thinking in this way, what many of us forgot was that the context of international politics in the Mediterranean has been transformed beyond all recognition. Back in spring, even the initiative for EU sanctions against Syria looked as though it would be stillborn. And when it wasn’t, when EU member states agreed to slap Assad’s regime with relatively tough sanctions, it was hardly expected that anything more would come of it. Russia and China would continue to block any initiatives through the UN Security Council and the Arab League would remain as toothless and irrelevant to regional politics as we had long grown accustomed to believing, allowing Syria to continue making brisk trade with its neighbours and oil-thirsty China.

Then, surprising the cynics in the West, the Arab League jumped to the rescue of Syria’s beleaguered people. It began conservatively enough: With a negotiated deal that proscribed the Syrian president from storming urban areas with his army. When it became very clear that Assad had no intention of sticking to the deal, things began to move quickly. The Arab League, once dominated by secular authoritarian rulers like Syria’s – which would have almost certainly turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by one of their own – is now largely composed of revolutionary governments. Syria was summarily suspended and it now faces the prospect of economic sanctions from its regional partners if it doesn’t accept a 500-strong mission of Arab League observers. This is nothing if not a watershed in the history of the regional body.

Most importantly, of course, the Arab League’s decisive stance is a huge boon for Syria’s opposition movement. But not only because of the direct show of support from the country’s neighbours. The indirect consequences are likely more important for the ultimate fate of Assad: The fact that the vast majority of Arab states have now turned on the Syrian regime has opened the way for the international community to take bolder action, for not only has the regime lost all legitimacy domestically but also regionally. It has effectively lost all support, with the important exception of Russia, its arms supplier. China remains non-committal – but recent history shows that it is less likely than Russia to attempt to permanently frustrate strong and unwavering international opinion on a subject.

Now humanitarian intervention, what was only a few weeks ago dismissed as impossible by most commentators due to the lack of political will, is under active consideration. The French Foreign Minister, Alan Juppe, after recognising the opposition Syrian National Council as the country’s legitimate interlocutor last Wednesday, has announced his intention to propose sending international troops into the country to protect civilians. A statement soon followed by the European Union’s representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, which appears to show tacit support for France’s line.

Assad’s once unassailable grip on power is now no longer simply faced with an opposition movement but with an existential threat: His brutal crackdown on defenceless protesters has spawned a heavily armed opposition fighting force, led by defectors from his army and, crucially, the international community, no longer distracted by events in Libya and elsewhere, has now turned its full attention on Syria. The country’s dictator, through his ruthlessness in holding onto power, has dug himself into a hole: He has nowhere to hide and no one to turn to. It is now only a question of how many more will have to die before he is forced out.

The answer to that question depends, to a great extent, on whether the European Union and its international partners find the political will – and the support from their own citizens, including us – not necessarily to overthrow one of the Mediterranean’s last dictators but, at the very least, to stop him from doing his worst.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Special Report November 26, 2011, 11:33 AM (GMT+02:00)

The USS Bush enters Syrian waters

The Syrian crisis aassumed a big power dimension this week with the build-up of rival United States and Russia naval air carrier armadas in Syrian waters, debkafile‘s military sources report.

The USS George H.W. Bush arrived Wednesday, Nov. 23, in the wake of the three Russian warships anchored earlier opposite Tartus which established a command post in the Syrian port. They will be augmented by Russia’s only air carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is due in mid-week.

By deploying 70 ship-borne fighter-bombers plus three heavy guided missile cruisers and five guided missile destroyers opposite Syria, Washington has laid down military support for any intervention the Arab League in conjunction with Turkey may decide on.

Bashar Assad can see for himself that Washington has hoisted a nuclear aerial umbrella to protect its allies, Israel, Turkey, and Jordan, against the retaliation his armed forces high command pledged Friday for the deaths of six Syrian air force elite pilots in an ambush Thursday.

For some time, Ankara has been weighing the creation of a protected haven for rebels and refugees inside Syria. France has proposed slicing “humanitarian corridors” through Syria for them to flee safely from military tank and gunfire and secure supply of food, medicines and other essential supplies to the cities under army siege.

Both plans would depend on being safeguarded by substantial ground and air strength inside Syria which would certainly face fierce resistance from Assad’s military.

The Arab League has scheduled weekend meetings to decide how to proceed after Damascus ignored its Friday deadline for accepting hundreds of monitors. Saturday, Nov. 26, AL finance ministers will discuss economic sanctions. In the past 48 hours, at least 70 people were reported killed as the Syrian army continued its crackdown in the face of spreading armed opposition.

The Russian Kuznetzov carrier and its accompanying strike vessels will join the three Russian warships parked opposite Tartus for more than a week. It will enter the same Syrian offshore waters as the USS Bush and the US Sixth Fleet, which is permanently posted in the Mediterranean.

The Syrian crisis is therefore building up to a superpower face-off unparalleled since the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union ended in the nineties, debkafile‘s military sources note.

While Washington clearly stands ready to back operations against the Assad regime, Moscow is drawing a red line around his presidential palace in Damascus. The Kremlin is warning the US, NATO and the Arab League that they will not be allowed to repeat their feat in Libya of overthrowing Muammar Qaddafi against Assad.

In the face of this escalating big power standoff and the high possibility of the Syrian ruler deciding to lash out against his country’s neighbors, the Israeli, Jordanian and Turkey armies have declared a high state of war preparedness.

Activists Report Fierce Clashes in Eastern Syria – ABC News.

Activists say Syrian military forces have clashed with army defectors using machine guns and heavy weaponry in the country’s east.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 10 Syrian soldiers were killed in the clashes that took place late Friday in the town of Deir el-Zour.

The group said Saturday that there were also several casualties among the group of armed dissidents known as the Free Syrian Army.

The Local Coordination Committees activist network also reported fierce clashes, followed by house-to-house raids by troops searching for defectors.

Syria’s 8-month uprising has grown increasingly militarized.

On Friday, the military blamed terrorists for an attack a day earlier in the central city of Homs, saying six pilots and four others were killed in an ambush.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian military vowed Friday to “cut every evil hand” that targets the country’s security, a defiant stance by the regime as it faces the possibility of sweeping economic sanctions from the Arab League.

The military statement could signal darker days to come in an eight-month revolt against President Bashar Assad that is turning more violent by the day.

AP

Pro-Syrian regime protesters shout slogans… View Full Caption

Pro-Syrian regime protesters shout slogans and carry a huge portrait of the Syrian president Bashar Assad during a protest against the Arab League decisions, in Damascus, Syria, on Friday Nov. 25, 2011. Syria missed an Arab League deadline Friday to allow hundreds of observers into the country, prompting the bloc to consider economic sanctions against Damascus for its eight-month crackdown on dissent, a senior diplomat said. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman) Close

Until recently in the uprising, most of the bloodshed came as security forces fired on mainly peaceful protests. But there have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting Assad’s forces — a development that some say plays into the regime’s hands by giving government troops a pretext to crack down with overwhelming force.

“The choice offered by the regime appears clear-cut: preservation of Assad’s rule or collective destruction,” the International Crisis Group said in a report this week.

Assad blames the unrest on a foreign plot to destabilize Syria, saying extremists and terrorists — not true reformers — are driving the calls to oust him. On Friday, the military blamed terrorists for an attack a day earlier in Homs, saying six elite pilots and four technical officers were killed in an ambush.

“The general command of the armed forces sees that enemies of the country are behind this terrorist act,” the military said. “The armed forces will continue to carry out its mission … and will cut every evil hand that targets Syrian blood.”

Although many Syrians resent police and intelligence agencies that they blame for oppressing the uprising, they respect the armed forces, which is seen as a bulwark against Israel.

Unlike the armies of Tunisia and Egypt, Syria’s military has stood fiercely by the country’s leader as Assad faces down an extraordinary protest movement.

In the past 40 years, Assad and his father before him stacked key military posts with members of their minority Alawite sect — an offshoot of Shiite Islam — ensuring the loyalty of the armed forces by melding the fate of the army and the regime. Syria is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.

“Many regime supporters are terrified about their future and thus liable to resist till the bitter end,” the Brussels-based ICG said in its report. “A majority of Alawite officials, security officers and ordinary citizens, along with segments of the Christian community and some secularists, have become convinced that their fate is either to kill or be killed.”

Iran general threatens retaliation against Israel nuclear sites – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

General Yadollah Javano of the Revolutionary Guards says that Iran could attack any part of Israel in response to an Israeli strike on Iran.

By DPA

An Iranian general on Saturday threatened retaliation against Israel if any of its nuclear or security sites are attacked.

“If Israeli missiles hit one of our nuclear facilities or other vital centers, then they should know that any part of Israeli territory would be target of our missiles, including their nuclear sites,” General Yadollah Javani of the Revolutionary Guards told ISNA news agency.

	Nuclear research installation in Dimona, Israel.
	Photo by: AFP

“They (Israel) know that we have the capability to do so.”

Javani, the former head of the military’s political department, was referring to mounting speculation that Israel would strike Iran’s nuclear facilities after the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran had tested designs used to make nuclear warheads.

Iranian political and military officials have warned Israel that it would face retaliation from Shahab-3 missiles that can reach any part of Israel.

Iranian volunteers affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards have held several gatherings in recent days and vowed a harsh reply to any military attacks on nuclear sites.