By Countercurrents.org
01 February, 2013
@ Countercurrents.org
Syria has turned into a hotbed of deadly competition of interests while the common people are suffering. The following three reports tell a part of the story:
A Reuters report [1] reveals a few hard facts from interventionists held parts of Syria. The story was reported by a visiting journalist whose name has been withheld by Reuters for security reasons.
The report datelined Mayadin, Syria said:
In a small town in Syria’s east, Islamist militants have taken unclothed mannequins they see as sexually enticing out of the shops.
Members of the al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, have also prevented women from wearing trousers, preferring that they adopt the shapeless head-to-toe black veil.
The town of 54,000 on the Euphrates river offers a snapshot of what life could be like if Islamist rebels take control of significant areas of Syria as President Bashar al-Assad loses further ground.
Of all the hundreds of rebel units, al-Nusra is considered the most effective. Its fighters, who seek out death in battle as a form of martyrdom, have achieved victories in attacks on several military bases across the country.
They still represent a small fraction of the armed anti-Assad groups fighting in Syria but are growing in size and influence.
Their militants, bolstered by veteran Iraqis who battled US forces, fought alongside rebel units from the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of rebels ranging from those who say they are fighting for democracy to hardline Islamists, to take Mayadin.
Government forces left the town in November and half its inhabitants fled during the fighting.
Now al-Nusra, the Free Syrian Army, local militia and tribal groups have carved the town into fiefdoms. Residents say there are around 8,000 armed men in total.
Insurgents with long Sunni-Muslim-style beards patrol the streets enforcing a strict interpretation of Islam. Alcohol is removed from shops. Daily religious teaching is provided for Mayadin’s children, who get free loaves of bread if they attend.
One young boy who attends these classes told Reuters that pupils are taught about praying, the role of women, the place of polygamy in marriage and jihad against “Assad’s Alawite regime.”
A turn to sectarianism
The revolt has turned sectarian, with majority Sunnis fighting Assad’s army, of which the top generals are mostly Alawite, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Assad, himself an Alawite, has framed the revolt as a foreign-backed terrorist conspiracy and blames the West and Sunni Gulf states.
Moderate rebel groups find themselves increasingly overshadowed by extremist units and peaceful opposition activists say they now have little say in the war.
Al-Nusra fighters present a threat to those who want democracy in Syria. Instead, they envision a caliphate and a return to the lifestyle of the 7th century. Shops are forcibly closed at prayer times and people are rounded up in the streets five times daily to go to mosques.
Liberal residents try to continue life as normal but are feeling the day-to-day effects of strict Islamist rule. Many stocked up on Arak, a grape-based liquor, when they heard that al-Nusra fighters were closing down the shops. A bottle of Arak can now be bought in Mayadin for five times Damascus’ prices but the transaction must be done in secret.
Selling oil
Al-Nusra has been shrewd. They took control of the nearby al-Ward oil and gas field and also went straight for the grain silos. They control the resources, which gives them power.
In the streets of Mayadin, oil can be bought at marked up prices and al-Nusra will even trade with the enemy if it means extra cash.
Residents of Mayadin said that al-Nusra has been transporting crude oil in large tankers to Deir al-Zor, 28 miles (45km) to the north, where the government still has a presence.
They say that the local authorities in Deir al-Zor are so stretched that even they will buy oil off the group Damascus says are terrorists.
Assad has lost huge areas of land, especially in the north and the east. Rebels have pushed into most major cities but the army has dig in and a military stalemate has ensued.
But the government has been punishing Mayadin for the rebel presence. Civilians stay away from al-Nusra and other rebel brigades as they are targets for aerial strikes and long range artillery from government positions to the north.
Damascus still controls the electricity supply and cuts it off regularly, residents say.
There is little bread and water, no telephone or Internet services and schools have closed.
People eat weeds from the Euphrates and some will make the journey to Deir al-Zor to buy food, risking arrest or death as they cross enemy lines.
Order has broken down in Mayadin and residents say looting and theft are rampant. The streets empty after dark.
Gaining support
Still, residents say al-Nusra are gaining support in Syria’s east. Militants have set up checkpoints at the entrances to the city where they try to recruit men and teenage boys.
“I will follow anyone who is fighting the regime,” said 19-year-old Mohammed, a law student who grew up in Mayadin. He agrees that al-Nusra fighters present a distorted moral framework, but says they have managed to battle back against Assad’s forces – his number one aim.
Members of al-Nusra refused to be interviewed by a female reporter but rebel fighters working with them talk of a strict hierarchy and coordination.
Hussein, a 28-year-old fighter from the Osama Ibn Ziad brigade of the Free Syrian Army, sees a strategic benefit from al-Nusra, who are well armed and include foreigner fighters who can advise on guerrilla warfare.
“The guys from al-Nusra are good people. We have to fight this regime and they are very well organized with strong fighters,” he said.
But Abu Mahmoud, a 55-year-old laborer and father, says he fears his kids will be drawn into the group.
“We don’t go out unless it is absolutely necessary. I sent my young children to a relative in Hasaka because I don’t want them to be armed,” he said, referring to the northern city near the border with Turkey.
Others hope that the tribal system of the arid desert east will prevent an Islamist takeover. “I don’t think al-Nusra will be able to do what they want. We have our traditions and tribes won’t let them,” said Imad, 22, a student of engineering.
A lost city
But many residents have organized demonstrations against rebel groups, include al-Nusra, whom they see as thieves. Across the country, rebels have taken over schools and hospitals to use as bases and take medical supplies and equipment for their war.
“The government abandoned us and there is nothing here; no life and no services. The bad situation will make all our young men join al-Nusra,” said Yamen, a 20-year-old maths student. “They want to fight the regime and see al-Nusra as the last solution for Syria.”
Many feel helpless.
“We lost our city and our children and now we will lose our future,” said Fadia, a 22-year-old housewife. “There is nothing here. I hate all sides; the regime, the opposition, the Free Syrian Army and al-Nusra, because none of them care about civilians.”
A call
An earlier Reuters report by Paul Taylor [2] from Davos said:
A senior member of Saudi Arabia’s monarchy called for Syrian rebels to be given anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to “level the playing field” in their battle against President Bashar al-Assad.
“What are needed are sophisticated, high-level weapons that can bring down planes, can take out tanks at a distance. This is not getting through,” said Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief and brother of the Saudi foreign minister.
“I’m not in government so I don’t have to be diplomatic. I assume we’re sending weapons and if we were not sending weapons it would be terrible mistake on our part,” the Saudi prince said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“You have to level the playing field. Most of the weapons the rebels have come from captured Syrian stocks and defectors bringing their weapons,” he said.
King Abdullah of Jordan told the Davos meeting that anyone who thought Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was going to fall within weeks did not understand the complex situation and the balance of forces.
One major problem was that radical al Qaeda forces had established themselves in Syria for the last year and were receiving money and equipment from abroad, he said.
New Taliban in Syria?
Noting that Jordanian forces were still fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan alongside NATO troops, he said: “The new Taliban we are going to have to deal with will be in Syria.”
Even in the most optimistic scenario, it would take at least three years to “clean them up” after the fall of the Assad government, the monarch said.
He called for major powers to craft “a real and inclusive transition plan” for Syria, saying the army must be preserved intact to form the backbone of any new system and avoid the anarchy that prevailed in Iraq after the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.
Syria has accused Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United States and France of funding and arming the rebels, something they have all denied. But U.N. diplomats say that weapons are clearly reaching the rebels via Gulf Arab states and Turkey.
Saudi Arabia has called in the past for the rebels to be armed, but diplomats say that Western countries are reluctant to allow sophisticated weapons into the country, fearing they would fall into the hands of increasingly powerful Islamist forces.
The United States has designated one Islamist group in Syria – the Nusra Front – as a terrorist organization and expressed concern about the growing Islamist militant strength in Syria.
But the Saudi prince said foreign powers should have enough information on the many rebel brigades to ensure weapons only reached specific groups.
“Leveling the plain militarily should go hand in hand with a diplomatic initiative … You can select the good guys and give them these means and build their credibility,” he said.
Call to showdown of Islamists
An Amman datelined Reuters report by Alistair Lyon and Suleiman Al-Khalidi [3] said:
A Jordanian Muslim preacher who encourages a flow of militants to Syria predicts an eventual showdown between Islamists and secular rebel groups should president Bashar al-Assad fall.
Mohammed Shalabi, better known as Abu Sayyaf, said Islamist fighters with groups such as the Nusra Front, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization, had refused offers to join the rebel Free Syrian Army in return for pay and weapons.
If Assad is overthrown, he told Reuters, the Free Syrian Army, or elements within it ideologically hostile to the Nusra Front, would immediately order Islamist groups to disarm.
“Then there will be a confrontation between us and losses will rise, but I don’t want to pre-empt events,” he said.
Abu Sayyaf is a marked man, who has spent 10 years behind bars for militant activities including a plot to attack US troops in Jordan, but seems unconcerned about surveillance.
Interviewed in his car outside the state security court in Amman this week, the Salafi jihadi leader said the Jordanian authorities were trying to stop young militants from crossing the border to join the battle against Assad’s forces.
“We have sat with the security forces and asked them what harm would come if they let us go to Syria freely,” said Abu Sayyaf, 46, a burly man with a flowing beard, dressed like a tribesman in a red chequered headdress and a white robe.
“You tell us we are troublesome, so let us get killed in Syria, leave us to meet our fate in this inferno,” he said he had told Jordanian intelligence officers when they called him in to ask him to restrain fighters bent on traveling to Syria.
“What they fear is that these youths will return like the ‘Afghan Arabs’ did. They fear they would come back one day and declare jihad and fight here,” he declared.
Abu Sayyaf, based in the volatile desert city of Maan, 160 km (100 miles) south of Amman, where he was involved in clashes with security forces in 2002, said at least 350 Jordanians were now fighting in Syria and nearly 25 had been “martyred”.
About 50 had been detained in Jordan before they could reach Syria and some were now facing trial at the state security court – although he said the authorities had softened their treatment of militants since Arab uprisings erupted two years ago.
Abu Sayyaf said: “We don’t have an organization that sends youths in an organized way,” adding that most entered Syria with the help of established drug smugglers in return for money.
“Trust me, there is no organizational link between al Qaeda and the Nusra Front, though they share the same views and methods,” he said, adding that these were based on the Koran.
He defended al Qaeda attacks such as those in the United States on September 11, 2001 as justified responses to Western or Israeli incursions into Muslim lands, and hinted that France could also become a target for its recent intervention in Mali.
“It’s France that has come to Mali, we did not go to your home territory,” he said of the French-led military action to regain control of northern Mali from Islamist militants.
Abu Sayyaf criticized Jordan’s King Abdullah for warning last week about the danger of a “new Taliban” arising in Syria, saying this reflected concerns of his Western allies about al Qaeda, which only masked worries about “true Islam”.
He said that just as al Qaeda’s aims in Afghanistan were once aligned with those of the West during the Cold War, Islamist militants shared a Western interest in Assad’s removal.
“Because the removal of the regime matters to us, if the Americans or the British or any party helps us to get rid of this regime, we don’t have a problem.”
Source:
[1] Jan 30, 2013, “Eastern Syrian town lives under al Qaeda rules”,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/30/us-syria-crisis-town-idUSBRE90T0VH20130130
[2] Jan 25, 2013, “Saudi prince calls for Syrian rebels to be armed”,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/25/us-syria-crisis-saudi-idUSBRE90O0M120130125
[3] Jan 31, 2013, “Jordan Islamist sees clash with secular Syrian rebels”,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/31/us-syria-crisis-preacher-idUSBRE90U0E320130131