Syria

Call for Immediate Aid to Syrians Dying of Starvation Due to Siege

January 9, 2014 § 1 Comment

Doctors, Faith, and Peace Leaders Gather at UN to Announce International Solidarity Hunger Strike for Syria, Demand Lifting of Military “Starvation Siege”

Photo by Maysun Aleina

On Friday, January 10, at 10:00 a.m. a working group of leaders representing the Syrian American Medical Society, the Syrian Nonviolence Movement and the Minnesota-based Friends for a NonViolent World will hold a press conference in the United Nations Plaza to announce an International Solidarity Hunger Strike for Syria, a major global campaign, and to demand the lifting of the starvation sieges of dozens of Syrian towns that are preventing hundreds of thousands of Syrians from eating or getting medical treatment.

To address the background of the siege, they will be joined by Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch and Dr. Annie Sparrow, an expert in complex humanitarian emergencies at Mount Sinai Global Health Center. Leaders representing interfaith and peace organizations will express their support for the hunger strike.

WHEN: Friday, January 10, at 10:00 a.m.

WHAT: Press Conference about the International Solidarity Hunger Strike for Syria

WHO: Doctors, Faith and Human Rights Leaders Representing the Syrian American Medical Society, the Syrian Nonviolence Movement, Friends for a NonViolent World and Other Organizations

WHERE: Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office, 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120. The entrance is on East 48th Street, just off of 1st Avenue, on the same side of 1st Avenue as the UN. It’s the first building north of the UN gardens.

The speakers at the press conference will include:

Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch
Zaher Sahloul, President of the Syrian American Medical Society
Mohja Kahf, Member of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement & Professor of Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas
Dr. Annie Sparrow, Pediatrician, Teacher in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, Professor at Mount Sinai Global Health Center
Haris Tarin, Director of the Washington, DC office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
Rev. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY)
Leila Zand, Fellowship of Reconciliation

The working group demands the following:

a binding resolution from the United Nations Security Council to require unhampered access, across borders and military lines, for international humanitarian agencies to bring food and medicine to besieged populations in Syria, with neither preconditions nor discrimination based on sect, ethnicity, gender, or political views, with a monitoring provision to ensure compliance
the lifting of the starvation sieges in Syria as a trust-building prelude to the Geneva Conference on Syria scheduled to convene on January 22
solidarity for starving Syrians, inviting people of conscience to join the International Hunger Strike on any day until January 22

An estimated million and a half Syrian civilians are dying of malnutrition and treatable diseases in an entirely preventable humanitarian crisis. Children have died in malnutrition and starvation around Damascus in the same areas that were hit with chemical weapons attacks. Military forces blockade dozens of Syrian towns, barring entry of food and medicine, while chemical weapons inspectors are allowed unfettered access by UNSC mandate. The siege violates international laws prohibiting the use of starvation as a war weapon.

Soad Nofal, a schoolteacher from the Syrian city of Raqqa who has protested both Assad and Islamist authoritarianism, launched a hunger strike on November 4 with dozens of Syrians, to protest the siege. Qusai Zakarya, a Palestinian Syrian besieged in Moadamiya, Syria, recently conducted a 33-day hunger strike. The International Solidarity Strike is inspired by the civil resistance of Soad and Qusai.

Rev. Kristin Stoneking and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, co-founder of the Shalom Shomer Network for Jewish Nonviolence, led the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest interfaith peace and justice organization in North America, into the Strike.

The International Solidarity Hunger Strike for Syria has been endorsed by prominent philosophers, poets, faith leaders, peace activists, public figures and global civil society voices, including:

Philosophers Jürgen Habermas, Slavoj Žižek, Seyla Benhabib and Simon Critchley
Celebrated poets Andrei Codrescu, Carolyn Forché, Martín Espada, and Marilyn Hacker
Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota’s 5th District and Muhammed Sacirbey, former Bosnian Ambassador to the United Nations
Jawdat Said, Syrian nonviolence teacher; Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Syrian writer and former political prisoner; Razan Ghazzawi, Syrian blogger-activist and former political prisoner; Taysir Alkarim, Syrian field doctor and former prisoner of conscience; Afra Jalabi, writer and member of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK and Global Exchange; Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence; Gail Daneker, Director of Peace Education Advocacy for Friends for a NonViolent World; Michael Nagler, President of the Metta Center for Nonviolence
Noam Chomsky, internationally renowned author; Huwaida Arraf, Palestinian-American co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement; Bill Fletcher Jr, labor activist and former president of the TransAfrica Forum; Maryam al-Khawaja, Bahraini human rights activist
Imam Dr. Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Parliament of the World’s Religions; Rabbi Michael Lerner, co-founder of the Network of Spiritual Progressives; Rami Nashashibi, Executive Director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN); Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Founder and Director of The Shalom Center

See the full list of signatories and the full text of the call.

For more information about the press conference, contact Katrina Jørgensen, Media & Communications Coordinator for the Syrian American Medical Society, at katrinaj@sams-usa.net or817-881-8199.

source

January 10, 2014 0

The Battle Against ISIS

January 6, 2014 § Leave a Comment

This is a little difficult to process for those infantile minds that think the Syrian revolution is “all al-Qa’ida”. The Free Army and the Islamic Front are engaging in battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria all across the north, while protestors across the country demonstrate against the al-Qa’ida franchise. Valerie Szybala writes a good summary:

The situation is changing rapidly in northern Syria as rebel fighters have launched widespread attacks against the al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in dozens of locations in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. The situation began on the night of Thursday January 2^nd, when ISIS tried to storm the town of Atareb in Aleppo. Friday saw widespread protests across Syria against ISIS, even in locations in the south such as Damascus and Deraa, which is unusual. Concurrently, violent clashes broke out across northeastern Syria as rebel forces attacked ISIS fighters.

In addition to the ISIS incursion into Atareb, citizens and rebel fighters have been increasingly upset over ISIS persecution in northern Syria. One of the most recent incidents includes the abduction, torture, and killing of the Ahrar al-Sham member Dr. Hussein al-Suleiman (aka Abu Rayyan), whose mutilated body was found on Wednesday, January 1. Many of the protests on Friday included slogans such as “We are all the shaheed Abu Rayyan,” which alluded to the anger over his death. In at least one village, ISIS opened fire on unarmed protestors. ISIS also recently attacked media activists in the village of Kafrnabel, the “voice of the uprising,” which has become a symbol of the Syrian revolution for its stream of witty slogans and caricatures. There have also been violent confrontations between Ahrar al-Sham and ISIS in Maskanah, Aleppo in recent weeks.

Additionally, many Syrians hold the suspicion that ISIS is actually working with the regime, claiming that the Syrian military does not attack ISIS-held positions. These rumors have been flying wildly around social media sites in recent days as anti-ISIS sentiment bubbled to the surface, along with political cartoons and hashtags.

Actions taken against ISIS include the arrest of its fighters and commanders, negotiations for ISIS to leave certain areas, and violent confrontations. In many areas fierce battles between ISIS and rebel groups are still ongoing, and ISIS has begun using car bombs against rebel fighters. Chaos has reportedly engulfed Jarablus, which is the town which ISIS possibly had the strongest control over, with everyone including the Kurds rebelling against ISIS fighters who have started acting erratically according to sources in the area.

The three major rebel coalitions involved in the attacks on ISIS, the: Islamic Front, Jaysh al-Mujahideen, and the Syrian Revolutionaries Front, have all issued statements detailing their grievances with ISIS and making demands for ISIS to withdraw. These groups include Islamic factions, FSA-affiliated groups, and there are even indications that Jabhat al-Nusra is involved.

In response ISIS has reportedly pulled out of several towns that it controlled – including Atmeh and ad-Dana – without a fight, and is bringing in reinforcements from western provinces. This indicates that a large counteroffensive is imminent and the rebels of northern Syria may not have long to revel in their victories before ISIS hits back hard.

This fighting in Syria comes at the same time when ISIS has gone on the offensive across the region. In Iraq they have launched offensives to take urban centers. ISIS has also released a statement claiming responsbility for a deadly suicide bombing targeting Hezbollah in southern Beirut on January 2^nd.

Although there have been clashes and disputes between ISIS and other rebel groups before in Syria, the scale of what is happening right now is unprecedented. This situation is still incredibly fluid and volatile. Further updates will be posted as the details become clearer

January 6, 2014 0

Wound

December 30, 2013 § Leave a Comment

The story of a civil activist, secretly working as a nurse in a field hospital. Eight and a half intense minutes of strength and weakness, hope and despair, and conflicted emotions that Syrian activists experience, as they fight against dictatorship.

The activist, who used to work in an Intensive Care Unit in one of the most important hospitals in the Syrian capital Damascus, left her job and devoted her time to save those injured in demonstrations against the regime. As soon as her phone rings, she quickly carries a bag stuffed with medical supplies and medicines, and rushes towards another crime scene, passing through regime barriers with unstoppable courage, where she gets detained.

Wound is the tale of a woman who is aware of the brutality of the regime, but simultaneously knows quite well that Syrians can not stop fighting until they get hold of their freedom, because to her “this regime has consumed Syrians’ every breath”. In the short film you can see her crying while stitching wounds amid the shelling and destruction. Still, she refuses to give up saying “for the sake of a friend of mine who was killed yesterday, I must go on. For the sake of a friend who got detained I can’t lose hope.”

Wound was produced by Bidayat corporation and directed by Maher Qadlo, who dedicated his work to his friend: the field nurse who risked her own life to save others, in the hope of turning the wounds of many, into a long-awaited freedom.

source

December 30, 2013 0

15 Palestinians dead from hunger in Syria camp: UNRWA

A Palestinian boy, who had been living at Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, looks out of a bus window, as the bus arrives at the Lebanese-Syrian border, in al-Masnaa December 18, 2012. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

BEIRUT: At least 15 Palestinians have died of hunger since September in a besieged refugee camp in the Syrian capital Damascus, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told AFP on Monday.

“Reports have come in over the weekend that at least five Palestinian refugees in the besieged refugee camp of Yarmuk in Damascus have died because of malnutrition, bringing the total number of reported cases to 15,” UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP.

He warned of a deteriorating situation in the camp, where some 20,000 Palestinians are trapped, with limited food and medical supplies.

“Since September 2013 we have been unable to enter the area to deliver desperately needed relief supplies,” Gunness said.

“The continued presence of armed groups that entered the area at the end of 2012 and its closure by government forces have thwarted all our humanitarian efforts.”

Most of the Yarmuk camp in southern Damascus is under the control of the armed opposition, and it has been under a siege by troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad for around a year.

The blockade has resulted in a humanitarian crisis, and the exodus of tens of thousands of the camp’s 170,000 residents.

On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO reported five people in the camp had died of malnutrition, including an elderly man, a disabled man and a woman.

UNRWA chief Filippo Grandi addressed the situation earlier this month, warning that conditions in Yarmuk had “progressively deteriorated”.

“If this situation is not addressed urgently, it may be too late to save the lives of thousands of people including children,” he warned.

Gunness said UNRWA was calling “all parties to immediately heed their legal obligations and facilitate the urgent provision of humanitarian assistance to Yarmuk and other Palestinian refugee camps.”

Syria is officially home to nearly 500,000 Palestinian refugees, around half of whom have been displaced by the deadly conflict that broke out in March 2011, becoming refugees for a second time.

More than 126,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict.

December 30, 2013 0

Inside Assad’s Torture Chambers – Syria

via Pulse

December 27, 2013 0

Answering Karl reMarks: The Case Against Anti-Interventionism

Karl reMarks: The Case Against Anti-Interventionism

Posted: 25 Dec 2013 08:35 AM PST

Karl reMarks has written an essay describing the Arab uprising as a missed opportunity for self determination. I agree with him that there is a serious lack of historical context and political understanding when it comes to analysing and understanding the Arab spring, but I think his conclusions are, on the one hand, premature when it comes to judging some aspects of this spring a failure, and on the other, inaccurate when we come to the question of interventionism and the role played by outside countries in these national struggles. It is premature to say that any of these struggles has “failed” any more than it would be to proclaim that one has succeeded. After all, what does a “successful” revolution look like?

This is not a trivial question, but a very serious one. There is today a constant barrage of academics and journalists who talk about revolutions as if they were some kind of a project to be completed with tangible milestones and clear targets. And yet, if we look at the history of revolutions, we find them to be just as messy and chaotic as what we are seeing in the Arab world. Not only that, but almost all of these revolutions unleashed consequences and actors that none could have foreseen before they commenced. Karl argues that the Arab revolutions represented a real opportunity for change, albeit one that has now been missed. He pins this failure on a twin dynamic: The failure of the domestic political opposition to seize this opportunity; and the intervention of outside powers. And yet we are reading his words only three years after the first protests began in Tunisia. If a commentator were to have written similar arguments three years after the Russian, French, or even English, revolutions would that not also have been considered equally premature?

None of these revolutions could have been considered a “success” three years after their eruption, nor were they free of outside intervention. Even during the American revolution, the Founding Fathers did not think it beneath their principles to accept assistance from France in their struggle against King George III. And none of these revolutions lacked failed political leaderships and lost opportunities. So why are we constantly expecting so much from the Arab revolutions? And why is the concept of national sovereignty only invoked when a foreign country is about to intervene but not when it comes to tyrants usurping the state and subverting the laws of the land. Is the Assad regime’s bastardization of Syrian law and his emasculation of Parliament no less an infringement on Syrian national sovereignty? And is that not worthy of the outrage of foreign and domestic commentators alike?

Furthermore, and to use the “language of humanitarianism” as Karl described it, is it not just as legitimate to draw parallels between Hitler’s hijacking of Germany in the thirties and the Assad regime’s hollowing out of the Syrian state today? And can we not see in the regime’s systematic brutalization of Syria’s Sunni hinterland the same sectarian ferocity of a Milosevic? I disagree strongly with Karl in that the Holocaust and Bosnia are not tired cliches that have been misused but important lessons from the past that tell us what happens when “The State” goes insane. It is only when we move beyond this triviality that we can see national sovereignty for what it is, a privilege and not a right, and it is based upon these valuable lessons that doctrines such as the Responsibility to Protect have arisen.

Should we dismiss this doctrine simply because it has been cynically used by some countries for their own interests? Certainly not. The fact that the intervention in Libya or in Sudan was triggered by Western interests and not a genuine humanitarian concern should not detract from the very real crisis faced by the Libyans and Sudanese, and continues to be faced by Syrians today. Karl refers to the Western intervention as somehow denying a national Libyan expression from coming into its own as it fought Gaddafi’s brigades, but it is difficult to see how anything could have grown under the withering brutality of that tyrant. In the early days of the Libyan revolution, as would be echoed in the Syrian town of Deraa, the regime used anti-aircraft guns to fire rounds the size of Coca-Cola bottles at unarmed protesters. That a national opposition with principles that Karl can approve of could emerge under such difficult conditions is extremely doubtful. The sad fact is that the modern means at the disposal of “states” makes it all but impossible for the kind of national resistance movement we saw in Algeria and it would be simply impossible for such movements to ever come into existence through their own efforts. If such an endeavor was ever attempted seriously today the consequences on the civilian population would be far greater than what we are seeing in Syria or what we ever saw in Libya.

Viewed in this light, the “competition to gain victim status” as Karl so derisively puts it, is nothing more than the sheer desperation of people who are looking directly into the abyss. In such a situation who could be blamed for wanting any other country to come and assist, and at any cost? And who are we to insist that they die for the principles of self determination? I refer here to the example of a Syrian woman reported to have crossed the borders into the occupied Golan Heights to give birth in an Israeli hospital. Was she in contravention to the principles of self determination that would make a revolution legitimate and successful? Are we to tell her that it would be far better to risk her and her child’s life by giving birth in a ditch somewhere whilst under shelling? Have we become so crass? I should hope not, and I will not be the one to rebuke her brave decision or even question her judgment.

To choose inaction against regimes that fire rounds the size of Coca Cola bottles at unarmed protesters and drop barrel bombs on their own citizens is to turn a blind eye to it under the pretext of respecting a non-existent national sovereignty. The reality that has never changed is that we do live in a world where states meddle in the affairs of other countries, and where non-state actors will constantly try to subvert law and exist in conditions of lawlessness. Karl’s description of al Qaeda as the Syrian opposition’s scapegoat for its own failures is at best disingenuous. We should not dismiss the “vacuum theory” of extremist groups in Syria lightly, in the same way that we cannot blame the existence of al Qaeda in Iraq on the American invasion in 2003, regardless of its legality. Can we really claim that it was only Western intervention which turned Iraq into a “disaster” ignore over thirty years of Saddam’s rule that scourged an entire generation of Iraqis and Iranians in a needless ten year war? That states cynically play games with each other is not news, nor is it only something that Western governments do. In Vietnam, Chinese support was essential to the North Vietnamese. The “catastrophic” intervention in Afghanistan, as Karl puts it, was nowhere near as controversial in the wake of the World Trade Centre attacks in 2001. Missing in this narrative is that the collapse of Afghanistan as a country was triggered by Soviet intervention, and that the rise of the Taleban after the Soviet withdrawal came about precisely because Western assistance was pulled back as a result of that withdrawal.

The world has moved on from the days of the United Fruit Company and Guatemala, and believe it or not it has also moved on from the Iraq invasion of 2003. There have been numerous foreign interventions in many countries that have been illegal, catastrophic and immoral, but there have also been interventions such as in Kosovo and Bosnia where many people are alive today as a result. And, to be fair, let us not forget the invasion of Cambodia that put an end to the butchery of the Khmer Rouge, a butchery that had no end in sight were it not for outside intervention, even if it was by China. It has not been Western foreign meddling which has escalated the war in Syria, but the Assad regime and its allies. Answering unarmed protesters with live ammunition and tanks in the streets represents a pretty significant escalation, in my opinion. And when we consider the paucity of Western aid to the rebels, especially in the early days when one could still speak of a nascent Free Syrian Army espousing a moderately secular vision of Syria, the idea that Western “meddling” has somehow provoked Iran and Hezbullah to escalate their support for the regime, as if such allies needed this pretext, detracts from the very real advances made by the Syrian rebel groups in the early days, advances that came about mostly because of their own ingenuity in stealing, bartering and buying the weapons that they needed to advance and hold ground. In effect it was the kind of self determination that Karl laments today and which was in fact crushed by the one-sided foreign assistance given to Assad. The only foolish meddling the West can be accused of has been in its amateurish diplomacy with Russia and Iran, rather than any kind of material support for the Syrian people.

December 26, 2013 0

Christmas in Saraqeb

December 24, 2013

Christmas in Saraqeb, Idlib provine, Syria. Happy Christmas everyone, and especially to Syrian Christians. May we all celebrate next year i freedom and peace.

source

December 25, 2013 0

ABU DHABI // They asked you to open your hearts and open your wallets – and your response was magnificent

.
Comment Helping Syrians will require a global response

ABU DHABI // They asked you to open your hearts and open your wallets – and your response was magnificent.

* Anwar Ahmad

A three-day fundraising telethon drive on Abu Dhabi TV ended on Saturday with more than Dh120 million raised to help thousands displaced by Syria’s civil war to survive a freezing winter in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon.

There was a further boost when Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, ordered Dh15.5m worth of heavy equipment to be delivered to Jordan to clear away the heavy snow and ice that has been hampering the distribution of vital humanitarian aid.

The scale of the task confronting aid agencies was brought tragically home during Saturday’s telethon. As cash donations poured in, viewers learnt that their generosity had come too late for a two-year-old child in a camp in Jordan set up by the UAE.

“The killer snow storms led to the death of a child in the camp,” Ahmed Al Yamahi reported from the camp, which provides shelter for about 4,000 refugees.

Children, mothers and the elderly were crying and fighting for their survival amid severe weather conditions, Al Yamahi said.

Syed Mustafa, Syrian refugee affairs manager in Jordan, said: “There are 10,000 refugees in different parts of Jordan and they are going through tough times as the weather here is fatal.”

The telethon broadcast live footage of the living conditions of Syrian refugees, some of whom told of their suffering and fight for survival as winter storms battered their makeshift homes.

One refugee, Hazim Al Habiah, told Abu Dhabi TV: “We have lost everything. I don’t have home, work, food and nothing to lead a life. Everything has gone.

“Children are fighting the cold as temperatures drop below zero here. The situation here is very, very bad and further deteriorating.”

A woman, Syedah Sharifah, said: “I have five children and live here in the Emirati camp. My children demand different things to eat and wear and I satisfy them somehow.

“There are no proper things to support life for our children. We need food, medicines and clothing to protect ourselves from the cold.”

She thanked Sheikh Khalifa, the President and the people of the UAE for helping them and supplying food and medicines.

Emaa, a five-year-old girl in the refugee camp, said: “I feel cold during the night and my sister is not able to sleep due to cold and hunger.”

Another little girl, Rahaf, 6, said: “We need help and we don’t have access to food and water and life is very difficult here.”

Alaa, a boy of about 10, said, “I thank the Emirates for their help and thank the government of Jordan too.”

An elderly man from the camp said: “We don’t have food, water to drink and medicine. We need all kind of assistance. All thanks to the Emirates, as we are brothers, they are doing so much for us.”

To cope with the flood of donations, Abu Dhabi TV extended the telethon until 6pm, two hours after its scheduled close.

The funds have been raised as part of the Emirates Red Crescent’s “Our Hearts Are With the Syrian People” campaign, launched after a directive from the President, Sheikh Khalifa.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi donated Dh3m, National Investment Corporation and an anonymous donor gave Dh2m each, Abdur Rehman Al Awais Dh2m, Sharjah Islamic Bank Dh1m, Ahmed Siddique and Sons Dh1m, Saif bin Darwesh Company Dh1m, Dubai Charity Association Dh1m, Sheikh Mohammed bin Nasir Al Hajiri Dh1m, Sheikha Alya bint Khalifa Al Maktoum Dh1m, Fujairah Welfare Association Dh1m, Ali Khalfan Al Dhahiri and Sons Dh1m and Awqaf Dh1m.

Habib Al Sayegh, adviser on editorial affairs at the Sharjah publishers Dar Al Khaleej, said during the telethon: “About 15,000 doctors have left Syria since the crisis started two years back. So the country is in dire need of doctors as many people there are dying of cold due to harsh weather now.”

More than 2.3 million Syrians have been forced out of their homes since the civil war broke out on March 2011. About 800,000 refugees are in Lebanon, with 569,000 in Jordan, 553,000 in Turkey and 209,460 in Iraq.

About 5,000 people flee Syria every day.

Abu Dhabi TV is owned by Abu Dhabi Media, publishers of The National.

anwar@thenational.ae

■ UAE has clothing drive for Syrian refugees
■ Dh66 million raised for Syrian refugees
■ Dh18.1m raised in first day of Syrian refugee charity campaign
■ Friday sermon: Help the Syrian refugees

Topic

Charity
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed
Syria unrest

Donation timeline

First day (Thursday) Dh18.1 million

Second day (Friday) Dh66m

Third day (yesterday)

2.40pm more than Dh84m

3.30pm more than Dh85m

4.30pm more than Dh88m

5.27pm more than Dh90m

5.45pm more than Dh106m

Final more than Dh120m