{"id":15947,"date":"2012-09-05T11:26:33","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T15:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=15947"},"modified":"2012-09-05T12:14:51","modified_gmt":"2012-09-05T16:14:51","slug":"flood-of-refugees-underlines-the-spreading-sectarian-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/flood-of-refugees-underlines-the-spreading-sectarian-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Flood of Refugees Underlines the Spreading Sectarian War"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Record Number Of Syrians Fled Country In August<\/a>
\nListen to the Story on NPR Radio, All Things Considered [4 min 33 sec]<\/p>\n

Activist groups are reporting that more than 5,000 people died in Syria in the month of August. Along with the death toll, the number of Syrians fleeing their country is also on the rise. Melissa Block talks to Joshua Landis about the bigger picture in Syria and what happens next…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

LANDIS: The Syrian army remains very strong. Even though it’s losing ground, it has strong backing in Iran and Russia, and its got a command and control, which is what the opposition – although it has numbers, the opposition, and it has a lot of international support, it does not have good command and control. And it doesn’t have the kind of weaponry that the Syrian army has.<\/p>\n

BLOCK: How resilient would you say the Syrian army is? How much can it take?<\/p>\n

LANDIS: It can take a lot. This is the problem, is that the Syrian army is transforming itself. As the Sunni Arabs defect from the army, and increasingly, the Sunni elements in the army are not trusted, the army has been remaking itself as an Alawite militia, increasingly. And we’re seeing this war devolve into a civil war between Alawites, the Shiite heterodox group – 12 percent of Syrians – and the Syrian Sunni Arabs who are 70 percent of the population roughly. And that’s why things are becoming increasingly more brutal, but it’s also why the Syrian army will not likely give up.<\/p>\n

If they were to give up, the leadership in the army will be killed. And many Alawites believe that they would be marginalized in society as the Sunni Arabs take over. So they’re fighting a very brutal war, and it’s hard to see how this comes to an end anytime soon…..<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Syrian Children Offer Glimpse of a Future of Reprisals<\/a>
\nBy DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, September 3, 2012, New York Times<\/p>\n

ZAATARI, Jordan \u2014 Like all the small children in the desert refugee camp here, Ibtisam, 11, is eager to go home to the toys, bicycles, books, cartoons and classmates she left behind in Syria.<\/p>\n

But not if that means living with Alawites, members of the same minority offshoot of Shiite Islam as Syria\u2019s president, Bashar al-Assad. \u201cI hate the Alawites and the Shiites,\u201d Ibtisam said as a crowd of children and adults nodded in agreement. \u201cWe are going to kill them with our knives, just like they killed us.\u201d ….<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear it all the time from the kids, but also from the parents \u2014 that this is not political at all, and not a call for democracy, but is about people fed up and angry at rule by a minority, the Alawites,\u201d said Saba al-Mobaslat, director for Jordan of the nonprofit group Save the Children, which provides toys to refugee children and tries to teach them understanding. \u201cThere is a concern that this is a whole generation that is being brought up to hate, that can\u2019t see the other\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n

The roots of the animosity toward the Alawites from members of Syria\u2019s Sunni Muslim majority, who make up about 75 percent of the population, run deep into history. During the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, the two groups lived in separate communities, and the Sunni majority so thoroughly marginalized Alawites that they were not even allowed to testify in court until after World War I.<\/p>\n

Then, in a pattern repeated across the region, said Joshua Landis, a Syria scholar at the University of Oklahoma, French colonialists collaborated with the Alawite minority to control the conquered Syrian population \u2014 as colonialists did with Christians in Lebanon, Jews in Palestine and Sunni Muslims in Iraq. The French brought Alawites into the colony\u2019s military to help control the Sunnis. And after Syria\u2019s independence from France, the military eventually took control of the country, putting Alawites in top government positions, much to the resentment of the Sunni majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the Alawites believe \u2014 possibly correctly \u2014 that the Sunnis are going to try to kill them, and that is why the Alawite Army now is killing Sunnis in this beastly way,\u201d Professor Landis said. \u201cThe Alawites feel justified in brutality because they fear what may be in store for them if they lay down their guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any way out of that,\u201d he said, \u201cexcept to say that we are in for a long, difficult ride, and you pray that the Syrians are going to get over this somehow.\u201d….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Inside Syria\u2019s Fracturing Rebellion<\/a>
\nSarah Birke and Katie Paul, August 30, 2012 | New Republic<\/p>\n

JEBEL ZAWIYA, SYRIA\u2014The unglamorous municipal building, on which black daubs evince graffiti wars between the regime (\u201cBashar Assad or the country burns!\u201d) and the opposition (\u201cLeave, oh Bashar!\u201d) did not look fit for a king. But it was immediately obvious when the man in the pressed green khakis strode in that we were in the presence of a leader. Men who had been sitting around in the room chatting fell silent. The leather chair behind the desk was seamlessly vacated. A bulky companion, who appeared to be a bodyguard, took the chair nearest the door; the American-made weapon laid across his knees stood out against the Kalashnikovs we had seen slung over shoulders for the last few days.<\/p>\n

We had sat waiting for two hours in Serjeh, a village perched on a ridge in the mountainous Jebel Zawiya region of Syria\u2019s northwestern Idleb province, and were about to give up hope when Ahmed Abu Issa, the head of Saqour al-Sham (the \u201cSham Falcons\u201d; Sham refers both to Damascus and Greater Syria) appeared. The 40-year-old cut a striking figure, with his bushel of thick hair and grey eyes that betrayed no emotion; a holster was strapped across broad shoulders and he trailed a waft of cologne. The enormous turquoise rock adorning his right ring finger was conspicuously displayed as he clamped his hands on the table.<\/p>\n

As head of a group of some 4,000 or so fighters that operates out of Serjeh, Abu Issa is one of the most influential men in the province\u2014and he knows it. Within two minutes of our arrival, intelligence networks had clicked into action, as a gun-toting teenager rode up to inquire as to the nature of our visit. Elsewhere around his territory, he runs three field hospitals, a court based on sharia law, and a prison. (He refused to show us the prison, though YouTube footage later revealed a less savory side of his outfit: some captives have been sent off in booby-trapped cars to be blown apart at army checkpoints.) His immediate motivations are the same, he tells us, as that of other rebel groups: the ouster of Assad. But in the longer-term he wants an Islamist state: \u201cNot as the West understands it: one not too far to the left, and not too far to the right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The source of his authority derives neither from military prowess nor local prominence, but rather from a peculiar collection of personal attributes. Abu Issa has charisma by the bucketload: a spellbinding way of orating in flawless formal Arabic and, when addressing issues he deems unpleasant, one side of his upper lip momentarily curls up into a snarl. Rebel fighters have flocked to his side, he says, because of the \u201crectitude\u201d of his vision and because \u201cSyrians need someone to lead them.\u201d Like many men in his brigade, he is also driven by personal scores to settle with the Assad family. His father was killed in the notorious Tadmor jail in the 1980s; he too spent time in prison in 2003 because the regime didn\u2019t much like his sharia studies nor his \u201cvoluntary work\u201d mediating disputes between local families. Sixteen relatives have perished in the current conflict, including two brothers and his sixteen-year-old son (after which he donned a more overtly religious tone.)<\/p>\n

Money and weapons help draw followers as much as personal authority, of course. Asked how a small-town religious scholar is able to amass the military might to challenge the army, he is coy. \u201cNeed,\u201d he says, with a sly smile, \u201cis the mother of invention.\u201d In fact, swashbuckling performances in videos have made Saquor al-Sham a name on forums outside the country and with it income from private Gulfi backers. Serjeh was something of this year\u2019s Ramadan rebel financier hotspot.<\/p>\n

This support leaves him better placed than most rebel groups. It also allows him to dismiss with the flap of a hand the floundering myriad opposition institutions\u2014the Free Syrian Army, Syrian National Council, Muslim Brotherhood\u2014who might want to have a say over his plans. Despite this independence, Abu Issa says he will not fight to impose his vision on Syria: \u201cThe political field is a market: you offer your goods and I offer mine,\u201d he told us. \u201cPeople will come to me because mine are clean.\u201d But the spirit of cooperation many only extend so far: should there be any attempt to \u201cforce me to close my store,\u201d he says, then \u201cthe sword will be the judgment.\u201d….<\/p>\n

the men in Jabal Zawiya offer an insight into the evolving power structures in Syria as Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime contracts. The groups are currently bound together by a common aim to rid the country of Assad and strive not to act like his regime, but the seeds of struggles are being planted\u2014aided by the brewing geopolitical reckoning. Rather than build the united country once imagined by protesters, rebel warlords are each taking their own bit of land and implementing their own vision\u2014though militarily coordination continues. ….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turkey\u2019s Anti-Assad Policy Ricochets Back:
\nPublic Opinion Shifts Against Ankara As Conflict in Syria Crosses Border<\/a>
\nBY JOE PARKINSON<\/p>\n

ISTANBUL\u2014The Turkish government, which is spearheading efforts to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, is facing public skepticism over its Syria policy as the civil war next door increasingly spills across the border.<\/p>\n

Developments in recent weeks have magnified Turks\u2019 unease over Syria\u2019s 18-month uprising.<\/p>\n

More than 82,000 Syrians have now sought refuge in Turkey, at a cost of around $300 million to the Turkish government, Ankara said Tuesday, as Turkish border towns that relied on trade with Syria have seen economic activity wither and unemployment rise. Turkish television is showing footage of the country\u2019s nationals, which have been …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Iran Supplying Syrian Military via Iraqi Airspace<\/a>
\nBy MICHAEL R. GORDON, September 4, 2012<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace in a new effort to bolster the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, according to senior American officials.<\/p>\n

The Obama administration pressed Iraq to shut down the air corridor that Iran had been using earlier this year, raising the issue with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq. But as Syrian rebels gained ground and Mr. Assad\u2019s government was rocked by a bombing that killed several high officials, Iran doubled down in supporting the Syrian leader. The flights started up again in July and, to the frustration of American officials, have continued ever since. ….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Assad assures Red Cross on aid operations<\/a>
\nThe Peninsula – 05 September, 2012<\/p>\n

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad promised yesterday to allow the Red Cross to expand its humanitarian operations in his country which is gripped by a 17-month insurgency that forced more than 100,000 people to flee last month alone….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

U.N. says 100,000 refugees fled Syria in August<\/a> – AP<\/div>\n
\n
\u00a0Some 100,000 refugees fled Syria during August making it by far the highest monthly total since hostilities began, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.<\/div>\n

The tide in people fleeing the civil war, a figure that includes both refugees who are registered and those awaiting registration with the Geneva-based U.N. refugee agency, underscores the intensifying violence between the regime of Syria\u2019s president, Bashar Assad, and the armed anti-government groups.<\/p>\n

The August total represents more than 40 percent of the 234,368 Syrian refugees who, as of the last count on September 2, had fled for surrounding countries since the uprising began 17 months ago.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Making of a Syrian Rebel: The Saga of Abboud Barri<\/a>
\nHis callousness is more pronounced than most, but the story of Abboud Barri reflects the universal struggle to preserve humanity in the face of the exigencies of war
\nBy Rania Abouzeid \/ Jabal al-Zawya | September 4, 2012 | 1<\/p>\n

Free Syrian Army soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint in the northern town of Ariha, on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, June 10, 2012<\/p>\n

Abboud Barri jiggles the dog tags as if they belonged to animals being raised in a puppy mill. \u201cI have a lot of these,\u201d Barri says. \u201cAny buyers?\u201d He is joking. The tags belong to human beings, soldiers of the hated Assad regime now held captive or killed by Barri, a local commander of one of the franchise groups of the rebel Free Syrian Army. Unlike some other militia leaders, Barri says he isn\u2019t interested in ransoming his captives from their families. He says he keeps the ID tags so that those families know \u201cto look for them in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

He keeps the eight military-issued dog tags in the right pocket of his sand-colored desert camouflage cargo pants; they are war booty from his unit\u2019s recent assault on a loyalist checkpoint in Kfranbel in Idlib province….<\/p>\n

The fighter was extremely troubled as he recalled the incident. \u201cSee this blood,\u201d he said pointing to a patch on the knees of his jeans, \u201cit\u2019s Alawite blood.\u201d He held his head in his hands, asking God for forgiveness. \u201cWhat are we becoming?\u201d he said. There was no way to verify his account….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

U.S. Hones Plans for Big Bailout of Egypt<\/a> – WSJ<\/p>\n

CAIRO\u2014American diplomats are closing in on an agreement to dole out $1 billion in debt relief to Egypt, part of a gilded-charm offensive that Washington hopes will help shore up the country’s economy and prevent its new Islamist leadership from drifting beyond America’s foreign-policy orbit.<\/p>\n

A team of senior State Department economic officials have spent the past week in Egypt’s capital completing the terms of an aid package that President Barack Obama first announced last year after Egypt’s pro-democracy uprising rattled the country’s once-promising economic future.<\/p>\n

The money has since sat in policy limbo as Egyptian and American diplomats disagreed<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Muslim Brotherhood establishes militia inside Syria<\/a><\/p>\n

The Muslim Brotherhood has established its own militia inside Syria as the country’s rebels fracture between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have told The Daily Telegraph.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Who Will Govern Syrian Kurdistan?<\/a>
\nBy Giorgio Cafiero, August 31, 2012<\/p>\n

Last month, as the Free Syrian Army took over<\/a> areas of the Syrian-Turkish border, a power vacuum emerged in northeastern Syria. It was not the Free Syrian Army that filled the vacuum, but instead the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the most heavily armed Kurdish faction in Syria. In early August, the Wall Street Journal<\/em> reported<\/a> that \u201cKurdish political parties and paramilitary groups have almost completely usurped the Syrian state apparatus,\u201d taking over municipal buildings and vital infrastructure, providing security, and controlling the distribution of resources.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Egypt President Slams Syria in Iran<\/strong>
\nWSJ<\/p>\n

TEHRAN, Iran\u2014Egypt’s new president described the Syrian regime as “oppressive” and called for it to transfer power to a democratic system during a visit to Syria’s key regional ally Iran on Thursday.<\/p>\n

President Mohammed Morsi’s visit to Iran is the first by an Egyptian leader to the Islamic Republic in decades. It represents a major thaw in relations between the two regional powerhouses following Mr. Morsi’s election win in June in the aftermath of the country’s 2011 uprising. But the two countries remain deeply divided over the situation in Syria.<\/p>\n

Tehran cut ties with Egypt following Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CBS News: Bosnians who fled Syria describe a hellish war<\/a>
\n2012-08-30<\/p>\n

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina &#8212 A Bosnian woman who fled Syria says the war in the Arab country is worse than the fighting in her homeland 20 years ago. A group of 35 Bosnians landed at the Sarajevo airport Thursday, flying in from Istanbul …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reuters<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/strong> France plans to channel aid to rebel-held parts of Syria so that these \u201cliberated zones\u201d can administer themselves and staunch an outflow of refugees, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.<\/p>\n

He said France and Turkey had identified areas in the north and south that had escaped President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s control, creating a chance for local communities to govern themselves without feeling they had to flee to neighboring countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe in these liberated zones Syrians who want to flee the regime will find refuge which in turn makes it less necessary to cross the border whether in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan or Iraq,\u201d Fabius said after a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday.<\/p>\n

However, civilians in rebel-held parts of Syria have suffered frequent deadly air strikes from Assad\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n

It was not clear how Fabius\u2019s promise to allocate much of its future 5 million euros ($6.25 million) aid for Syria to these areas would protect civilians and deter them from fleeing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Associated Press<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/strong> Turkey appealed to a reluctant U.N. Security Council Thursday for a safe haven for thousands of Syrians facing a \u201chumanitarian disaster\u201d as Britain and France said they would rule out no options \u2014 including a no-fly zone \u2014 to aid residents fleeing an escalating civil war.<\/p>\n

But Turkish leaders held out little hope for the endorsement of a deeply divided council that has been paralyzed on taking action to stop the 18-month uprising that has killed more than 20,000 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?\u201d asked Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. \u201cLet\u2019s not forget that if we do not act against such a crime against humanity happening in front of our eyes, we become accomplices to the crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davutoglu, whose country is hosting more than 80,000 Syrian refugees, said he came to the council with hope that its members would take \u201clong overdue steps\u201d to help suffering people and establish camps inside Syria for those forced to flee their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently, I was wrong about my expectations,\u201d he told the council. \u201cThis meeting will not even end with a presidential or press statement, let alone a robust resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The path to the council\u2019s agreement on a safe zone for Syrians is fraught with obstacles, headed by the reluctance of Russia and China, Syria\u2019s most important allies. They have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions in the Security Council seeking to pressure President Bashar Assad\u2019s government with the threat of sanctions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Record Number Of Syrians Fled Country In August Listen to the Story on NPR Radio, All Things Considered [4 min 33 sec] Activist groups are reporting that more than 5,000 people died in Syria in the month of August. 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