August 8, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared on state television yesterday for the first time in weeks to greet Iran’s security chief, Saeed Jalili.  Jalili assured Assad that Syria is part of a vital regional alliance–an “axis of resistance”–that Iran will not allow to be broken. Assad, in turn, affirmed  his determination “to cleanse the country from the terrorists and fight against terrorism unreservedly.”

The government of Iran is currently trying to secure the release of 48 Iranians abducted by Free Syrian Army rebels from a bus in Damascus on August 4. The Free Syrian Army claims the men are members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The government of Iran maintains that they are pilgrims who had been heading t a Shi’ite Muslim religious site.

Iran is Syria's only ally in the Middle East. (World Book map)

In a major blow to Assad, Syria’s prime minister, Riad Hijab, defected on August 6 and fled to Jordan. Hijab is the highest-profile defector from the Assad regime since the uprising began in March 2011.

In Aleppo, residents continue to flee the embattled city by the tens of thousands as government fighter jets accelerate bombing raids in an attempt to drive rebels from neighborhood strongholds. United Nations monitors pulled out yesterday “due to deterioration in the security situation.” Talal Atrissi, a Lebanese political analyst, noted, “The regime is ready to destroy all of Aleppo. The regime will never allow the fall of Aleppo because it would start a countdown to their demise.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a Special Report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

July 30, 2012

Syrian rebels in communication with western media have revealed that what began in 2011 as a largely secular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad is quickly becoming more radicalized. Muslim jihadists and al-Qa’ida fighters, possibly from Iraq, are taking a more prominent role in the resistance and are pushing an agenda based on jihad. (One meaning of jihad is an armed struggle against those perceived as enemies of Islam.) Even less zealous factions of the resistance, such as the Free Syrian Army, are adopting a more Islamic stance, largely because it attracts funding from radical elements in the Middle East. On July 26, the Free Syrian Army commander fighting in Aleppo issued a YouTube video warning that men joining the rebellion whose intentions were not for God should stay home: “if your intention is for God, then you go for jihad and you gain an afterlife and heaven.”

(World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Government forces launched the ground assault on Aleppo on July 28 after several days of sporadic shelling and sorties by fighter jets. Intense fighting in Syria’s largest city and commercial hub has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee. A BBC foreign correspondent just outside the city reports that rebels are outgunned by the army but are fighting an effective guerrilla street war.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

July 19, 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly left Damascus, the capital, for the coastal city of Latakia to direct the defense of his regime. Latakia is the heartland of his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi`ite Islam. Alawites dominate the Syrian government, military, and business community.

In Damascus, government troops remain in a standoff against armed rebels. Artillery, helicopter gunships, and tanks are being deployed in the southwest and northeast sections of the city, and civilians are being ordered out of these neighborhoods. In an announcement issued by the Syrian state news agency, the armed forces stated that it would “decisively” eliminate “the criminal and murder gangs, chasing them out of their rotten hide-outs wherever they are until clearing the homeland of their evils.” Fighting began in Damascus on July 15, one day after the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross declared that it viewed the conflict in Syria as a full-blown civil war.

Yesterday, three high-ranking Syrian officials–the defense minister, the deputy chief of staff of the Syrian military, and the head of the crisis management office–were killed in a massive bomb attack at National Security Headquarters in Damascus. The deputy chief of staff, General Assef Shawkat, was President Assad’s brother-in-law. The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility.

Bashar al-Assad became president of Syria in July 2000. AP/Wide World

In Washington, D.C., U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta described the situation in Syria as “rapidly spinning out of control,” and he warned Assad’s government to safeguard its large stockpile of chemical weapons. At the United Nations (UN) in New York City, Russia and China for a third time vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for tougher sanctions on Syria. More than 16,000 people are believed to have been killed since the uprising in Syria began in March 2011.

Additional World Book articles:

• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

July 16, 2012

Fierce clashes between antigovernment activists and the Syrian military continue in Damascus for a second day. Troops backed by armored personnel carriers are being deployed in various parts of the city. According to witnesses communicating by cell phone to media outside the country, the deployment in the capital is the largest in the 16-month uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. A Syrian activist told the Associated Press that the main road to Damascus International Airport in the south has been closed. Speaking to a BBC reporter, one resident stated, “It’s mainly in the southern parts of the city which are effectively besieged at the moment. . . The feeling, among people around me, is that it’s our turn now. We are really feeling this. That this is the final fight, building up to who wins control of the regime.” Yesterday, the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross declared that it now viewed the conflict in Syria as a full-blown civil war.

Clashes between antigovernment activists and the Syrian military, ongoing since March 2011, have recently spread into the capital city of Damascus.

Last week, more than 200 Syrians were massacred in a village near the city of Hama. Helicopter gunships and tanks bombarded Tremseh before militiamen stormed the farming village and carried out execution-style killings, in what could prove to be the worst single incident of violence since the start of the uprising.

In response, Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares, announced that he had defected from Assad’s government and was supporting the opposition. The diplomat’s move comes just days after another top-level defection. On July 4, Brigadier General Manaf Tlass, a long-time friend and member of Assad’s inner circle, crossed into Turkey with his family and several lesser ranking members of the Syrian military. According to the Turkish government, hundreds of Syrian soldiers have sought refuge across the border.

Kofi Annan, the special United Nations (UN) and Arab League envoy for Syria, arrived in Moscow today (July 16) to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is expected to urge Putin to pressure Syria’s leaders to begin a political transition. A long-time ally of Syria, Russia has vetoed several UN Security Council resolutions for foreign intervention. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also expected to discuss the situation in Syria with Chinese leaders when he arrives in Beijing for a China-Africa summit. China has joined Russia in vetoing the Security Council resolutions. Some 16,000 people are believed to have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011.

Additional World Book articles:

• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

June 8, 2012

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon informed the General Assembly yesterday that UN monitors were shot at trying to get to the scene of yet another massacre in Syria. According to opposition activists, at least 78 people in the village of Qubair, near Hama, were slaughtered on June 6 by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The victims included as many as 40 women and children. Condemning “this unspeakable barbarity,” Ban stated that for many months it had been evident that Assad and his government “have lost all legitimacy” as well as “its fundamental humanity.”

On May 29, major Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats in response to the May 25 massacre of 108 civilians in the Houla region of Syria. (Houla is an area northwest of the city of Homs, center of the 14-month uprising against the Assad regime.) Outrage over the killings–one of the gravest atrocities in the uprising–prompted the governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States to inform the various Syrian legations that top diplomats were to leave within the week.

Syria. World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.

Members of the UN Human Rights Council believe that the Syrian army and the feared shabiha militia may have carried out both massacres. It is widely believed that the shabiha, consisting mainly of Alawite Muslims, is the Assad regime’s hired death squad. (Alawites are a mystical Sunni religious group prominent in Syria. The Assad family and most Syrian government officials are members of the sect.)

The UN Security Council has condemned the Syrian government “in the strongest possible terms.” The council pronounced the “outrageous use of violence against civilians” a violation of international law. At least 10,000 people have died in Syria since protests against the Assad regime broke out in March 2011.

Additional World Book articles:

• Diplomacy
• Hafez al-Assad
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)

May 29, 2012

Major Western nations today expelled Syrian diplomats in response to the massacre of 108 civilians in the Houla region of Syria on May 25. (Houla is an area northwest of the city of Homs, center of the 14-month uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.) Outrage over the killings–one of the gravest atrocities in the uprising–prompted the governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States to inform the various Syrian legations that top diplomats are to leave within the week.

(World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

In Syria’s capital, Damascus, United Nations (UN) special envoy Kofi Annan announced that he has warned Assad that time is running out. “We are at a tipping point,” he stated at a news conference. “The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division. Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today. As I reminded the president, the international community will soon be reviewing the situation.”

UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville announced earlier in the day that investigations suggest that most of those killed in the village of Taldou, near Houla–including 49 children and 34 women–were “summarily executed,” killed by close-range gunfire or knife attack. Survivors claimed that the army and the feared shabiha militia from nearby Alawite villages carried out the atrocities. (Alawites are a mystical Sunni Muslim religious group prominent in Syria. The Assad family and most Syrian government officials are members of the sect.) It is widely believed that the shabiha–Arabic for “thugs”–are the Assad regime’s hired goons.

Kofi Annan (AP/Wide World and Kathy Willens)

On May 27, the UN Security Council, meeting in emergency session, condemned the Syrian government “in the strongest possible terms” for “the killings . . . of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more.” The council pronounced the “outrageous use of violence against civilians” constituted a violation of international law. (Russia, for the first time, acted with other members of the council against Syria, a long-time ally.) According to UN monitors, before the atrocities took place, the area had been bombarded with artillery and tank shells, weapons available only to the Syrian army. The Syrian government has blamed the massacre on terrorists and Islamic extremists. At least 10,000 people have died in Syria since protests against the Assad regime broke out in March 2011.

Additional World Book articles:

• Diplomacy
• Hafez al-Assad
• Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)