Amnesty: Syrian rebels guilty of war crimes

Amnesty: Syrian rebels guilty of war crimes

    Friday, July 08, 2016   No comments

ISR comment: Four years later, NGOs and western media start to report on the crimes committed by opposition groups in Syria. As early as 2012, ISR reported on war crimes and crimes against humanity--self-documented crimes-- committed by the so-called Free Syrian Army groups, which were--and many of them still are--sponsored and protected by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey and their Western allies.

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Armed groups surrounding the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo city have repeatedly carried out indiscriminate attacks that have struck civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques, killing and injuring civilians and displaying a shameful disregard for human life, said Amnesty International.

The organization has gathered strong evidence of serious violations from eyewitnesses, and obtained the names of at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, who were killed by attacks in Sheikh Maqsoud between February and April 2016. More than 700 civilians were also injured, according to the local field hospital. Video evidence seen by Amnesty International shows artillery shelling, rocket and mortar attacks carried out by the Fatah Halab (Aleppo Conquest) coalition of armed groups in the area, targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) controlling the area.

“The relentless pummelling of Sheikh Maqsoud has devastated the lives of civilians in the area. A wide array of armed groups from the Fatah Halab coalition has launched what appear to be repeated indiscriminate attacks that may amount to war crimes,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

There are around 30,000 civilians living in Sheikh Maqsoud which is a predominately Kurdish part of Aleppo city. The area is controlled by YPG forces and surrounded from the northern, eastern and western fronts by opposition armed groups who have targeted it from all three sides. Syrian government forces control areas south of Sheikh Maqsoud. In 2014, YPG forces started fighting against the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS). In recent months however tensions have increased with opposition armed groups, particularly in the Aleppo area. Attacks by armed groups have killed at least 62 YPG fighters, according to the Families of the Martyrs Association.

In recent days the very fragile cessation of hostilities across Syria agreed to in Geneva in February was extended to areas around Sheikh Maqsoud in the Aleppo Countryside governorate. However, attacks on Sheikh Maqsoud have continued unabated over the past few months.
Mounting evidence of indiscriminate attacks

Satellite imagery, obtained by Amnesty International and corroborated by testimony from residents, shows destroyed and badly damaged houses in a residential street in the western part of Sheikh Maqsoud, more than 800 metres away from the frontline.

Mohamad lost seven members of his family when his home in Sheikh Maqsoud was struck by an improvised ‘Hamim’ rocket launched by an armed group on 5 April 2016. Those killed included his 18-month-old daughter, his two sons, aged 15 and 10, and an eight-year-old nephew. He and two of his other young nephews sustained shrapnel wounds and were critically injured. His home is 800 metres away from the frontline.

“There are no [military] checkpoints near my house. It is a residential street and there are even people displaced by fighting or who fled airstrikes in Aleppo city living on the same street,” he told Amnesty International.

Two days earlier Mohamad’s neighbour’s house was hit by a mortar which killed two children.

Another resident of Sheikh Maqsoud told Amnesty International that the shelling intensified in February and that people spent days in their homes unable to leave. She described how her home was attacked in April by what she believed was a weapon fitted with a gas canister.

“All I remember was the walls collapsing and hearing an explosion. We got injured – I had shrapnel in my hands and legs […] We live […] very far away from the frontline. There are no checkpoints close by or any other military points,” she said.

Saad, a local pharmacist living in Sheikh Maqsoud, described 5 April 2016 as “the bloodiest day the neighbourhood had witnessed”. Shelling from armed groups continued for nine hours straight, he said.

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Chilcot Report on Iraq War: Devastating critique of Tony Blair and his government

Chilcot Report on Iraq War: Devastating critique of Tony Blair and his government

    Wednesday, July 06, 2016   No comments

The effects of the illegal war on Iraq is still being felt in Iraq and Syria.

Iraqi casualties of 2003 war and occupation

The Guardian commented and summarized the report as follows:

John Chilcot has delivered a devastating critique of Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003, with his long-awaited report concluding that Britain chose to join the US invasion before “peaceful options for disarmament” had been exhausted.

The head of the Iraq war inquiry said the UK’s decision to attack and occupy a sovereign state for the first time since the second world war was a decision of “utmost gravity”. He described Iraq’s president, Saddam Hussein, as “undoubtedly a brutal dictator” who had repressed his own people and attacked his neighbours.

But Chilcot – whom Gordon Brown asked seven years ago to head an inquiry into the conflict – was withering about Blair’s choice to join the US invasion. Chilcot said: “We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.”

The report suggests that Blair’s self-belief was a major factor in the decision to go to war. In a section headed Lessons, Chilcot writes: “When the potential for military action arises, the government should not commit to a firm political objective before it is clear it can be achieved. Regular reassessment is essential.”

The report also bitterly criticises the way in which Blair made the case for Britain to go to war. It says the notorious dossier presented in September 2002 by Blair to the House of Commons did not support his claim that Iraq had a growing programme of chemical and biological weapons.

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Chilcot’s report is more damning than expected and amounts to arguably the most scathing official verdict given on any modern British prime minister. His 2.6m-word, 12-volume report was released on Wednesday morning, together with a 145-page executive summary.

It concludes:

• There was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.

• The strategy of containment could have been adopted and continued for some time.

• The judgments about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction – WMDs – were presented with a certainty that was not justified.

• Despite explicit warnings, the consequences of the invasion were underestimated. The planning and preparations for Iraq after Saddam were wholly inadequate.

• The government failed to achieve its stated objectives.

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The Report of the Iraq Inquiry - The Executive Summary:
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/246416/the-report-of-the-iraq-inquiry_executive-summary.pdf

Full report can be found here:
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/the-report/

Who killed 150 to 250 ISIS fighters and destroyed their vehicles near Fallujah?

Who killed 150 to 250 ISIS fighters and destroyed their vehicles near Fallujah?

    Thursday, June 30, 2016   No comments

It seems that the different players in the fight against ISIL are now competing for credit.

On Wednesday, Iraqi military released footage showing destroyed cars and trucks. Military officials claimed that the raid was carried out by Iraqi pilots who were using Russian made helicopters. It should be noted that it was reported that "Iraq has received their final batch of Russian Mi-28 NE Night Hunter military helicopters". The attack footage indicated that these helicopters were used. NBC News reported the same story.

Reuters, on the other hand, reported the following:

U.S.-led coalition aircraft waged a series of deadly strikes against Islamic State around the city of Falluja on Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters, with one citing a preliminary estimate of at least 250 suspected fighters killed and at least 40 vehicles destroyed.

Iraqi officials indicated that U.S. refused to assist with the attack they took credit for. These conflicting reports show that the U.S. led anti-ISIL coalition is not as unified behind the mission as they claim.

Video footage of the attack, one of the attacks, or something like that:

Meanwhile, more American weapons fell in the hands of ISIS when another so-called "moderate" Syrian rebel group attempted to push out ISIS from a town near the Iraqi border. According to reports, 40 of the rebel were killed and 15 taken prisoners by ISIS.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the group's offensive against ISIS was being mounted with the backing of Western special forces and US-led air strikes.

U.S. ally, Bahrain, rearrests top human rights activist Nabeel Rajab

U.S. ally, Bahrain, rearrests top human rights activist Nabeel Rajab

    Monday, June 13, 2016   No comments

DM, UK: Bahraini security forces on Monday rearrested leading human rights activist Nabeel Rajab in a dawn raid in the Gulf kingdom, his family said on Twitter.

Rajab, 51, who was detained in 2014 for tweets deemed insulting to the authorities before his release on health grounds, was apprehended at his home in the mainly Shiite village of Bani Jamra near Manama, his family said.

"Rajab was arrested from his house and his house was searched," tweeted his wife Sumaya Rajab.

There was no immediate clarification on the reason for his latest arrest.

Rajab, who has led anti-government marches and heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, had previously served two years in jail for taking part in unauthorised protests.

He was sentenced to six months in jail for his tweets but pardoned in July 2015 after King Hamad issued a royal pardon "for health reasons".

Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been rocked by unrest since security forces crushed Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

Washington had previously called for Rajab's release, and international rights groups have condemned trials against opponents of the Sunni regime.

His arrest comes a week after another leading opposition activist, Zeinab al-Khawaja, fled Bahrain following her release from jail on "humanitarian grounds".

"It pains me to leave, but I leave carrying our cause on my back, and my love for my country in my chest," Khawaja, who left for Denmark where she also holds nationality, said on Twitter.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights has said Khawaja was jailed for three years and one month on charges including tearing up the monarch's picture and insulting a police officer.

Amnesty International's deputy MENA director James Lynch said Rajab's arrest "appears to be another alarming example of Bahrain's zero-tolerance stance towards peaceful dissent and activism, which it enforces through arbitrary measures including revolving-doors detention".

#IslamicSocietiesReview: Saudi Arabia blackmails UN, "no money unless the Kingdom is removed from the blacklist"

#IslamicSocietiesReview: Saudi Arabia blackmails UN, "no money unless the Kingdom is removed from the blacklist"

    Wednesday, June 08, 2016   No comments

FP published an exclusive story reporting that "Saudi Arabia threatened to break relations with U.N. over human rights criticism in Yemen." The magazine added that "Riyadh warned Turtle Bay it would pull hundreds of millions of dollars from U.N. programs if it was singled out for killing and maiming children in Yemen."

FP reported:

Saudi Arabia threatened this week to break relations with the United Nations and cut hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to its humanitarian relief and counterterrorism programs to strong-arm the U.N. into removing Riyadh and its allies from a blacklist of groups that are accused of harming children in armed conflict.

The threat — which has not been previously reported — worked, and the U.N. subsequently dropped the Saudis from a rogues’ gallery of the world’s worst violators of children’s rights in conflict zones.

Saudi Arabia often uses its wealth to influence poor countries' diplomatic policies and actions. The Arab coalition that is ostensibly supporting its war on Yemen consists of the weaker and smaller GCC partners and several other Arab countries who depend on Saudi money. The Same applies to the so-called "anti-Terrorism" coalition, assembled by the heir apparent, Mohammed Ibn Salman. 

The Saudis might have told the UN that it will use its influence over these 34 countries to leave UN institutions unless Saudi Arabia is removed from the list.

The UN cave in to the rulers of Saudi Arabia shows that an intergovernmental organization, such as the UN, is not fit to objectively and effectively report on human rights abuses, which are by definition, committed by governments and large corporations with immense influence over governments. The proper way to advocate for human rights is to support NGOs and strengthen civil society institutions instead.

The rulers of Saudi Arabia also use religion for political ends. Reuters reported that, in addition to using OIC, which is a tool created by Saudi Arabia, Wahhabi religious figures were to meet and issue a fatwa, declaring UN, anti-Muslims. This bizarre use of fatwa-on-demand shows the true nature of Saudi brand of Islam which uses religious institutions to legitimize the rulers archaic political power structure.

Saudi-led military coalition added to UN's blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen

Saudi-led military coalition added to UN's blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen

    Thursday, June 02, 2016   No comments

children are among the victims of Saudi Arabia's airstrikes in Yemen

On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon  placed the Saudi-led military coalition that launched a war on Yemen on an annual blacklist over the deaths of hundreds of children in airstrikes.

Yemen's Shiite Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014 were also added to the list of children's rights violators released Thursday, detailing offenses in 14 countries.

"Emerging and escalating crises had a horrific impact on boys and girls," said a statement from the office of the UN envoy for children and armed conflict.

"The situation in Yemen was particularly worrisome with a five-fold increase in the number of children recruited (by armed groups) and six times more children killed and maimed compared to 2014," it said.

The Saudi-led coalition is responsible for 60 percent of the total 785 children who were killed and 1,168 wounded last year in Yemen, said the report.

Saudi Arabia to behead 14 people--under "haraba" law

Saudi Arabia to behead 14 people--under "haraba" law

    Thursday, June 02, 2016   No comments

Absence of details provided by government officials, local Saudi media reported Wednesday that 14 people were sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia. According to Alarabiya, the decision was made by a court in the eastern city of Al Qatif with the predominantly Shia population.
The 14 people were charged of crime of "haraba", whose punishment is beheading by the sword.


The suspects were accused of several crimes, including the murder of representatives of law enforcement forces, the destruction of private property, the armed attack on collectors of a bank.

Some family members accuse the government of torturing their relatives to secure false confessions. They deny that their relatives were involved in any armed activities. They add that their relatives were arrested for participating in peaceful protests in 2011.


Saudi Arabia often uses anti-terror laws to prosecute dissidents, bloggers, and human rights activists.

In 2015, a Saudi blogger convicted of "insulting Islam" received a 1,000-lash sentence in addition to prison. Raif Badawi has been behind bars since 2012 for his online posts and running a blog called "Saudi Arabian Liberals," where he hosted political and religious debate and advocated secularism in a highly religious society.

In January 2016, 47 people were executed in Riyadh, including a prominent Shia theologian Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Arabia is among the top five countries with the highest number of executions in 2015. Other countries include China, Iran, Pakistan and the United States, according to Amnesty International.

Saudi Arabia's alliance with Western powers provide it with cover to commit human rights abuses at human and interfere in other nations affairs and face no consequences. For instance, Saudi Arabia is known supporter of terrorist groups in Syria but beheads dissidents who protest its abuses at home, while meeting no condemnation from Western governments.

The rulers of the kingdom often use perverted interpretation of Islam, Wahhabism, to carry out practices that are cruel and inhumane.

Dalai Lama: 'Refugees Go Home... Germany should never be an Arab country"

Dalai Lama: 'Refugees Go Home... Germany should never be an Arab country"

    Wednesday, June 01, 2016   No comments

Refugees should only be accepted in Europe on a temporary basis, and Germany can never become an Arab land, the Dalai Lama told German newspaper FAZ.

Too many people have arrived recently in Europe seeking refuge and most of them should go home, the Dalai Lama told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Tuesday.

"If you look at each individual refugee, especially women and children, we feel their suffering. A person who is doing better has a duty to help them," the Dalai Lama said.

"On the other hand, there are now too many. Europe, for example Germany, can't become an Arab country. Germany is Germany. There are so many (refugees), that things are difficult in
practice. Also from a moral point of view I think that these refugees should only be accepted on a temporary basis. The goal should be that they return and help to rebuild their own countries."

#IslamicSocietiesReview: ISIL's cruelty as catalyst for positive social change in Syria and Iraq

#IslamicSocietiesReview: ISIL's cruelty as catalyst for positive social change in Syria and Iraq

    Thursday, May 12, 2016   No comments

They share little more than an enemy and struggle to communicate on the battlefield, but together two relatively obscure groups have opened up a new front against Islamic State militants in a remote corner of Iraq.

The unlikely alliance between an offshoot of a leftist Kurdish organization and an Arab tribal militia in northern Iraq is a measure of the extent to which Islamic State has upended the regional order.

Across Iraq and Syria, new groups have emerged where old powers have waned, competing to claim fragments of territory from Islamic State and complicating the outlook when they win.

"Chaos sometimes produces unexpected things," said the head of the Arab tribal force, Abdulkhaleq al-Jarba. "After Daesh (Islamic State), the political map of the region has changed. There is a new reality and we are part of it."

In Nineveh province, this "new reality" was born in 2014 when official security forces failed to defend the Sinjar area against the Sunni Islamic State militants who purged its Yazidi population.

A Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) came to the rescue, which won the gratitude of Yazidis, and another local franchise called the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) was set up.

The mainly Kurdish secular group, which includes Yazidis, controls a pocket of territory in Sinjar and recently formed an alliance with a Sunni Arab militia drawn from the powerful Shammar tribe.
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#IslamicSocietiesReview: rights NGO says "Syrian refugees beaten, shot by Turkish border guards"

#IslamicSocietiesReview: rights NGO says "Syrian refugees beaten, shot by Turkish border guards"

    Tuesday, May 10, 2016   No comments

Turkish border guards have beaten and shot Syrians trying to reach Turkey, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday, as fighting in the border province of Aleppo intensifies threatening to force more people to flee.

HRW said in a report based on interviews with victims, witnesses and Syrian locals that in March and April 2016, five people, including a child were killed and 14 were seriously injured as a result of border guards' shootings and beatings.

In response to the report, a senior Turkish presidency official said the authenticity of the video could not be verified. Reuters was not able to verify the report.

A video released by HRW purporting to show the victims of the beatings and shootings depicted a bloodied body with bandages around his exposed torso. Another male corpse is shown with red and purple marks all over his back and arms.

A recent surge in fighting in Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, wrecked a 10-week-old partial truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow that had allowed U.N.-brokered peace talks to convene in Geneva.


Ankara says it keeps an "open door" policy for those fleeing the five-year conflict. For over a year, only those requiring emergency medical treatment not available on the Syrian side have been able to cross legally while others rely on expensive smugglers to guide them on the dangerous route.

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