{"id":29835,"date":"2013-06-10T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=29835"},"modified":"2015-05-06T12:52:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-06T11:52:52","slug":"syria-un-report-reveals-opposition-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2013\/06\/syria-un-report-reveals-opposition-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria: UN Report Reveals Opposition Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A United Nations (UN) report<\/a> presented yesterday [4 June 2013] by the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria (ICIS) in Geneva sheds light on the increasing brutality of the Syrian war and its potential to trigger a major international crisis.<\/p>\n

The contents of the report are a devastating indictment of the imperialist powers in the United States and Europe and their regional allies, who have fueled a sectarian-based civil war in Syria for more than two years to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n

According to the report, 6.8 million people are \u201ctrapped in conflict-affected and opposition-held areas.\u201d The number of internally-displaced Syrians is now 4.35 million, and 1.6 million Syrians have been forced to flee the country. On May 15, the UN estimated that 80,000 people had died in the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cSyria is in free fall,\u201d Paulo Pinheiro, the chairman of a commission of inquiry investigating the hostilities in Syria, said at the news in Geneva. He added, \u201cCrimes that shock the conscience have become a daily reality. Humanity has been the casualty of this war.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report points to the international dimension of the conflict, stating that \u201cthe current political impasse and military escalation are the by-product of the regional and international stand-off between the Government\u2019s backers and its opponents, translating into arms consignments and political backing to both sides by their respective allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report refers to the \u201cEuropean Union\u2019s decision to allow a ban on weapon deliveries to the Syrian opposition to lapse on June 1, and Russia\u2019s announced shipment of S-300 missile batteries to the Government.\u201d It also points to the increasingly sectarian nature of the conflict and warns that it \u201ceven became more complex as violence spilled over into neighboring countries, threatening regional peace and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently, the report says, \u201cHezbollah fighters are openly supporting the Syrian military during operations\u201d near the key strategic town of al-Qusayr along the Lebanese border \u201cwhile members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine \u2013 General Command have done the same around Yarmouk camp in Damascus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing \u201cnew levels of cruelty and brutality\u201d the report admits that the opposition in Syria is dominated by violent Islamist elements responsible for horrific crimes against the Syrian population.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe on-going violence has accelerated radicalisation among Anti-Government fighters, allowing radical groups, in particular Jabhat al-Nusra, to become more influential.\u201d The report identifies Al Nusra as the opposition\u2019s military backbone against Assad, indicating that it received increasing \u201cexternal support… in terms of recruits and equipment\u201d with \u201cforeign fighters with jihadist inclinations, often arriving from neighboring countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the report claims that the opposition\u2019s crimes did not \u201creach the intensity and scale\u201d of those committed by the Assad regime, the facts it reports suggest otherwise. The report depicts the rebels as ruling the areas it controls through murder and despotic terror.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-Government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, sentencing and execution without due process, torture, hostage-taking and pillage. They continue to endanger the civilian population by positioning military objectives in civilian areas,\u201d the report explains. It describes how \u201ccivilians and hors de combat<\/i> [i.e., disarmed] Government soldiers \u2013 were sentenced and executed without due process\u201d in the governorates of Aleppo, Damascus, Dara’a, Idlib, Dayr Al-Zawr and Al-Raqqah.<\/p>\n

The report refers to some of the numerous massacres and executions committed by the rebels, documented in graphic videos posted on YouTube. In Dayr Al-Zawr, an infamous leader of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Qassoura Al-Jazrawi, executed<\/a> at least eleven men \u201cwho were kneeling in front of him, hands tied and blindfolded.\u201d In another incident, \u201cvideo footage<\/a> emerged showing a child participating in the beheading of two kidnapped men.\u201d The report estimates that \u201cfollowing investigation, it is believed that the video is authentic.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the reported crimes are only a small portion of the atrocities committed by the Syrian opposition, they explode the lies that the United States and the European powers are fighting for democratic government in Syria. In fact, the imperialist powers are backing oppressive Islamist forces to overthrow Assad and install a pro-Western regime in Syria.<\/p>\n

However, during the past weeks, the Syrian government\u2014increasingly supported by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia\u2014has been beating back the rebels on the ground.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday the Saudi-owned, pro-opposition news channel Al-Arabiya admitted that \u201cSyrian troops advanced toward the center of the strategic town of Qusayr near the border with Lebanon and chased rebels from another key district on the edge of Damascus.\u201d A government official in Homs province said that the Syrian army is \u201capproaching victory\u201d in Qusayr. Last week, Assad declared in an interview<\/a> that that \u201cthe balance of power [in Syria] is now with the Syrian army.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Western-backed rebels\u2014lacking any significant support amongst the Syrian population\u2014face a crushing defeat, the imperialist powers are seizing upon the UN report to argue for military intervention, based on lies and unsubstantiated claims about weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Ten years after bogus claims about WMD were used as a pretext for the criminal US war in Iraq, similar \u201cbig lie\u201d techniques are being mobilized to threaten war with Syria.<\/p>\n

The report claims that \u201cthere are reasonable grounds to believe that chemical agents have been used as weapons.\u201d However it adds that \u201cthe precise agents, delivery systems or perpetrators could not be identified.\u201d At the news conference in Geneva, the ICIS demanded of the Syrian government that the UN investigation commission be \u201cgranted full access to Syria\u201d to test samples taken directly from the victims and the sites of alleged attacks.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s assessment clearly contradicts earlier statements by a well-informed member of the ICIS. Last month Carla del Ponte stated<\/a> that Sarin gas used in Syria was fired by the opposition, not the Assad regime.<\/p>\n

After the UN report was presented in Geneva, the imperialist powers immediately intensified their propaganda, with France\u2014the former colonial power of Syria and Lebanon\u2014leading the campaign. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius claimed that tests carried out on samples in Paris showed that \u201cthere is no doubt that it\u2019s the regime and its accomplices\u201d who were responsible, he told France 2 TV.<\/p>\n

Fabius said that the test results had been handed over to the UN and \u201call options are on the table.\u201d That \u201cmeans either we decide not to react or we decide to react including by armed actions targeting the place where the gas is stored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington is joining its French ally. Asked about Fabius\u2019 statements, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she is familiar with the reports, adding that the US is \u201cseeking more information.\u201d For \u201cthe time being, I would refer you all to the French government,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Jay Carney stressed the need \u201cto establish a body of information that can be presented and reviewed, and upon which policy decisions can be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI can assure you that we are working very diligently as an administration with our allies and the Syrian opposition on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last summer US President Barack Obama declared the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would cross a \u201cred line\u201d and provoke a US attack.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 wsws.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A UN report presented yesterday [4 June 2013] by the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria in Geneva represents a devastating indictment of the United States and Europe and their regional allies, who have fueled a sectarian-based civil war in Syria for more than two years to topple the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,204,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-militarism","category-syria-in-context","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}