Syrian Freedom

Rebel rivalry and suspicions threaten #Syria revolt

By Erika Solomon

ANTAKYA, Turkey, April 26 (Reuters) - Rebel fighter Mustafa and his trio of burly men look out of place at a trendy Turkish cafe near the Syrian border, dressed in tattered jeans and silently puffing on cigarettes as they scoop into tall ice-cream sundaes.

Their battleground is across the frontier in Syria, where they are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. But like many rebels in northern Syria, they are so desperate for weapons and money, they are searching for new donors in Turkey.

“When it comes to getting weapons, every group knows they are on their own,” says the 25-year-old with a patchy beard. “It’s a fight for resources.”

Nominally Mustafa’s rebels fight for the Free Syrian Army (FSA), but the FSA, lacking international recognition or direct state funding, is a often just a convenient label for a host of local armed groups competing fiercely for scarce financing.

So fiercely, they sometimes turn their guns on each other.

“Everyone needs weapons. There is tension. There is anger and yes, sometimes there is fighting if rebels in one town seem to have an unfair share of weapons,” said Mustafa, who comes from Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, which borders Turkey and has been a hotbed of resistance to Assad.

Such mistrust is compounded by the competing agendas of outside parties who are further fragmenting the rebel movement.

Finding a donor usually means using personal connections, rebels say. They get relatives or expatriate friends to put them in touch with businessmen or Syrian groups abroad.

But once fighters go to private donors for weapons, they have to negotiate, and the price may be ideological.

Many say Islamist groups, from hardline Salafists to the exiled Muslim Brotherhood, bankroll many battalions that share their religious outlook. The Brotherhood has representatives in Antakya ready to meet interested rebels, fighters say.

Leftist politicians and other opponents of Islamists are trying to counter that influence by funding rival armed bands.

“These groups are all making their own militias, like they are some kind of warlords. This is dividing people,” said one activist who asked not to be named. “They aren’t thinking about military strategies, they are thinking about politics.”

SPLINTER GROUPS

With the U.N. peace plan for Syria on the ropes, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, regional rivals of Assad’s main ally Iran, are likely to increase calls for the insurgents to be armed.

Western powers wary of military entanglement in another Middle Eastern hotspot have so far said this would not be helpful, while proposing non-lethal aid to the opposition.

Even if that were to change, it is not clear how military supplies could be directed to competing insurgents hopelessly outgunned by Assad’s artillery and tanks, many of whom don’t even agree on a military strategy.

Several rebel groups have formally broken with the FSA to form outfits such as the Syrian Liberation Army, the Patriotic Army and The Alternative Movement, whose real identity and clout are hard to assess, because the government restricts media access to Syria.

The FSA has pledged to honour the shaky U.N.-backed truce that took effect on April 16 if the army reciprocates. But the Syrian Liberation Army says it will keep fighting.

“We don’t accept the ceasefire. We have slowed down a bit, only because we don’t have enough weapons,” its spokesman, Haitham Qudeimati, told Reuters.

Fighters say private donors, possibly frontmen for Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have funnelled millions of dollars to favoured rebel groups. Many suspect the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis are getting the lion’s share.

A 60-year-old rebel commander called Abu Shaham, from the central city of Hama, accused the Brotherhood of hanging back from the battlefront to overpower other rebel groups later.

“The Brotherhood is pumping money into the rebel units yet their men don’t fight as much as us. They are almost always the first to retreat. Why?” he asked.

“They are not thinking about this phase in the battle. They care about what comes next. They want to save themselves for the struggle after Assad falls, to come out the strongest.”

Analyst Joseph Holliday, of the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War, said if foreign powers do not engage with the rebels in an orderly way, their rivalries could create chaos.

“If we don’t recognise the rebels, anyone can set up shop in Turkey and start funding opposing groups,” said Joseph Holliday, of the U.S-based Institute for the Study of War. “We don’t know who is arming who … I’m afraid by the time the West decides to do something it may be too late.”

Some rebels worry Islamist radicals could stoke tensions between majority Sunni Muslims, who have driven the revolt, and minority Alawites, Shi’ites and Christians, who are wary of it.

“There are a lot of jihadists who want to come from abroad, this is real,” said one insurgent, who asked not to be named. “Then we will no longer be talking about Syria’s fight for freedom, we’ll be talking about a sectarian war.”

KILLING THE “FLEAS”

Qudeimati says most rebels do not belong to any unified group because of a culture of distrust, fostered by years of fear under Syria’s infamous secret police.

“The problem is the Assad regime had 40 years to create mistrust between Syrians,” Qudeimati said. “The lack of unity has been part of the regime’s strategy.”

Some FSA rebels say they even keep a distance from the FSA’s top officers, fearing they too are infiltrated.

Suspicion of “fleas” - slang for collaborators - has bred an environment where vigilante killing almost seems the norm.

“There are a lot of groups on the ground working alone and not all of them are good guys,” said rebel commander Abu Shaham.

“Some are thieves or criminals taking advantage of the chaos. So we go after the fleas and chase them out or kill them. We don’t have a problem shooting these people.”

Last month, the commander of a rebel unit in Homs province, Amjad al-Hameed, who claimed to be funded by The Alternative Movement, criticised the leaders of several other groups.

“We have armed men among our civilians that are a burden to our revolution,” he told a crowd in a March 17 YouTube video. “They are just thieves … It is impermissible for anyone to rape women, otherwise we are no different from Bashar al-Assad.”

The next day, unidentified gunmen shot him dead.

Hameed’s battalion did not blame the government but other rebels, vowing to “punish them as they deserve. “

Some rebels adopt the FSA label simply to improve their chances of getting funds.

“We felt forced into aligning with the Free Syrian Army because it is the most widely known. If it gets recognised, we’ll get foreign aid,” says the Idlib rebel Mahmoud.

At a refugee camp in Turkey, Mahmoud and his eager comrades sit next to a muscular Syrian exile who discreetly shows them his laptop and chats with them about military strategy.

He won’t say who has sent him or what he wants in return. But he hints there could be weapons on offer, joking: “I’ve come to help buy the boys their fruits and vegetables.” (Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Letter from Ricken Patel of Avaaz on citizen journalists in #Syria

Dear friends,

This morning, 4 western journalists are home safe with their families, the echoes of the horror and heroism of Baba Amr still ringing in their ears. Over 50 Syrian activists, supported by Avaaz, volunteered to rescue them and scores of wounded civilians from the Syrian army’s killzone. Many of those incredible activists have not survived the week.

Abu Hanin is one of the heroes. He’s 26, a poet, and when his community needed him, he took the lead in organizing the citizen journalists that Avaaz has supported to help the voices of Syrians reach the world. The last contact with Abu Hanin was on Thursday, as regime troops closed in on his location. He read his last will and testament to the Avaaz team in Beirut, and told us where he had buried the bodies of the two western journalists killed in the shelling. Since then, his neighborhood of Baba Amr has been a black hole, and we still don’t know his fate.

It’s easy to despair when seeing Syria today, but to honour the dead, we must carry forward the hope they died with. As Baba Amr went dark and fears of massacre spread, Syrians took to the streets — yet again — across the country, in a peaceful protest that showed staggering bravery.

Their bravery is our lesson, the gift of the Syrian people to the rest of us. Because in their spirit, in their courage to face the worst darkness our world has to offer, a new world is being born.

And in that new world, the Syrian people are not alone. Millions of us from every nation have stood with them time and time again, right from the beginning of their struggle. Nearly 75,000 of us have donated almost $3 million to fund people-powered movements and deliver high-tech communications equipment to help them tell their story, and enable the Avaaz team to help smuggle in over $2 million worth of medical supplies. We’ve taken millions of online actions to push for action from the Security Council and the Arab League and for sanctions from many countries, and delivered those online campaigns in dozens of stunts, media campaigns and high-level advocacy meetings with top world leaders. Together we’ve helped win many of these battles, including for unprecedented action by the Arab League, and oil sanctions from Europe.

Our team in Beirut has also provided a valuable communications hub for brave and skilled activists to coordinate complex smuggling operations and the rescue of the wounded and the journalists. Avaaz does not direct these activities, but we facilitate, support and advise. We have also established safe houses for activists, and supported the outreach and diplomatic engagement of the Syrian National Council — the opposition movement’s fledgling political representative body. Much of the world’s major media have covered Avaaz’s work to help the Syrian people, including features on BBC, CNN, El Pais, TIME, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, AFP and many more, citing our “central role” in the Syrian peaceful protest movement.

Today, a dozen more nightmares like that visited on the city of Homs are unfolding across Syria. The situation will get worse before it gets better. It will be bloody, and complicated, and as some protesters take up arms to defend themselves, the line between right and wrong will blur. But President Assad’s brutal regime will fall, and there will be peace, and elections, and accountability. The Syrian people simply will not stop until that happens — and it may happen sooner than we all think.

Every expert told us at the beginning that an uprising in Syria was unthinkable. But we sent in satellite communications equipment anyway. Because our community knows something that the experts and cynics don’t — that people power and a new spirit of citizenship are sweeping our world today, and they are fearless, and unstoppable, and will bring hope to the darkest places. Marie Colvin, an American journalist covering the violence in Homs, told Avaaz before she died, “I’m not leaving these people.” And neither will we.

With hope, and admiration for the Syrian people and courageous citizens everywhere,

Ricken, Wissam, Stephanie, Alice, David, Antonia, Will, Sam, Emma, Wen-Hua, Veronique and the whole Avaaz team

P.S. If you want to do more, click here to help keep our lifeline of hope into Syria open:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/smuggle_hope_into_syria_rb//?vl

Powered by millions of online actions and donations from 75,000 of us, our community is playing a central role in supporting the Syrian people as they persist in peaceful protest against all odds. Together, we’re empowering citizen journalism, smuggling in medical supplies and western journalists, and much more. We’re making a difference, but the staggering bravery of the Syrian people is their gift to the rest of us. Read this email for the full story, or look at this recent media coverage of Avaaz’s work on Syria:BBC, CNN, El Pais, TIME, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, AFP.

Assad gains ground as Syrian opposition wars with itself #Syria

06/03/12 Hassaan Hassan

Over the past month, as the question of arming Syria’s opposition gained momentum, the Syrian National Council has been dealt two major blows. In late February, Haitham Al Maleh, a prominent opposition figure, unilaterally announced the formation of a group that was supposed to arm and fund the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of military defectors.

Then last week, a prominent retired brigadier general, Akil Hashem, stormed out of a Paris conference on armed resistance. Later, Gen Hashem criticised Burhan Ghalioun, chairman of the Syrian National Council, for refusing to demand foreign military intervention.

The real reason for that falling out, however, is probably over who will lead the newly formed Military Bureau, which is also responsible for arming defectors.

These rivalries come to light as the Baathist regime’s forces are “cleansing” Baba Amr neighbourhood in Homs, conducting house-by-house sweeps to tighten the regime’s control before the opposition fully militarises. The sweeps are also taking place in Hama and Rastan.

Opposition figures outside the country are trying to take charge of defector groups, raising serious questions about their intentions. Millions of dollars have been pledged to the Free Syrian Army, with recent media reports and activists saying that funds collected for humanitarian aid or weapons have been stolen by members of the opposition-in-exile.

Lt Baseem Khaled, one of the earliest army defectors and a leader of the Free Officers Movement (which is only technically connected to the Free Syrian Army), told me in a telephone interview from Turkey that only “crumbs” of funds donated to his group had been received. “Impostors” posing as opposition leaders, Lt Khaled said, had diverted the money intended for fighters.

There is also the issue of opposition groups arming their own loyalists, a worrying trend for Syria’s future. In an interview with Time magazine last month, an anonymous military leader, referred to only as “Doctor”, was quoted as telling other defectors: “The opposition that has money is the Muslim Brotherhood, [the radical Sunni cleric Sheikh Adnan] Arour, and the Free Syrian Army command. Forget about them, they won’t help you.”

Those rifts are only the latest in the saga of the opposition’s fragmentation, which threatens to alienate other Syrians. The Syrian National Council took seven months to come together after two attempts failed, largely because of disagreements over representation and the involvement of Islamists. In October, when a more representative council was formed, it was hoped that this disunity would be a thing of the past.

In the meantime, President Bashar Al Assad has been winning battles on the ground and in the propaganda war. At the beginning of the protests, now one year old, fear was a major factor that kept the majority of Syrians silent. As the fear barrier was broken, more Syrians came into the streets.

But the opposition’s poor performance and lack of vision only reinforces the fears of the undecided. Even some regime opponents have said the protests should stop to reach a political compromise with Mr Al Assad because they fear chaos. The regime’s campaign against civilians in Homs and elsewhere, however, is yielding results, which is making protesters on the ground more determined.

There is a perception among protesters that opposition leaders are more interested in narrow personal gains. The Syrian National Council, based in Turkey, and the National Coordinating Body, inside Syria, are both considered incompetent and untrustworthy. Protesters stand behind one or the other because there are no other options. The Free Syrian Army is arguably the only popular force within the opposition, which inclines political leaders to support militarisation, which in turn pushes more undecided Syrians towards siding with the regime.

In Tunisia and Egypt, there was no decisive political leadership in the traditional sense. Protesters did not face the same dilemma of incompetence that opposition Syrians do. In Libya, an opposition was recognised 12 days after Qaddafi declared war against his people. In Yemen, where there was a similar break between the youth movement and the political opposition, Gulf states brokered a deal.

It is worth noting that the international Friends of Syria’s “recognition” of the Syrian National Council (recognising it as a representative of the Syrian people but, crucially, not as the sole representative) came when the council was at its least popular. Why was it recognised when it was being criticised, and not when protesters risked their lives to raise banners saying “the Syrian National Council represents me” on the streets?

The international community’s rhetoric has played into the regime’s hands. Almost every week since the protests began, a Nato or western official has made a statement ruling out military intervention. What is the point of saying anything? They only reassure the regime that it can kill with impunity.

An indifferent world and profoundly incompetent opposition make it too easy for dictators. The activists who began the protests - to rescue their country from the bloody rule and repression of the Assads - cannot stand by themselves. The political opposition must come together for a political settlement to save Syria from chaos, civil strife and economic disaster.

#Syria’n activist Razan Ghazzawi (@RedRazan) is freed by authorities for a second time

Monday, 20 February 2012

Prominent blogger Razan Ghazzawi currently works at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression where she was reportedly arrested last week. (File photo)

By Al Arabiya and Agencies

Syrian authorities have freed prominent blogger Razan Ghazzawi, along with six other female activists arrested last week during a security raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, located in central Damascus and headed by rights activist Mazen Darwish.

It was her sister Nadine who confirmed the news on Twitter: “@NadineGhazzawi: #FreeRazan #Syria Sister is home…but she can’t leave the country anymore…they won’t allow her”.

The arrest is yet another sign of the efforts deployed by the government to crack down on bloggers and activists and to put out all social media platforms supporting the revolution.

The women were released late Saturday, while other male activists from the same group, including Darwish, remain in custody.

Razan and the other women were ordered to report to the police on daily basis in order to pursue their interrogation. According to human rights lawyer Anwar Bunni, the authorities are investigating the sources of information used by the center, as well as its origin of funding.

Since the start of the Syrian uprising, nearly a year ago, Razan, an English literature graduate from Damascus University, has been arrested (and freed) twice, becoming a symbol of the opposition to the Assad’s regime. Her first arrest last December took place by the border while on her way to attend a conference in Jordan.

The U.S.-born Syrian blogger is known for her fierce criticism of the Syrian government, mostly expressed on her blog Razaniyyat (razanghazzawi.com),
and via her twitter account @RedRazan.

Ghazzawi currently works at the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression where she was reportedly arrested last week. Many believe the blogger was released (twice) thanks to propagated media and online campaigns that drew attention to her situation and possibly because she carries a U.S. passport as well.

In one of her latest blog posts Razan wrote: “People who do not live in a country that is living a revolution may not know that time, is revolutionaries’ biggest enemy.”