How to cover Syria from Stanislaus County, California

[Originally posted at NOW]

[A humble contribution to the recent offerings of helpful tips for fellow journalists covering Syria]

1. Maintain a diverse list of credible sources. Publish the testimonies of a couple of strangers who email you from time to time, saying they live in Syria. An obscure blogger here and there can also prove handy, regardless of where they live. Remember that the more your sources’ accounts differ from those of the hundreds of professional journalists inside Syria, the more accurate they’re likely to be.

2. See through the propaganda. Understand that every Sunni Muslim is a member of al-Qaeda, bent on slaughtering infidels and reinstating the Caliphate. There was a time when this kind of presumption was called Islamophobia, but nowadays it’s common sense. Difficult as it may seem to believe that over 70% of Syrians have actually been zealous Bin Ladenists all these years, that’s the only explanation for the situation in Syria today. Ignorant Western journalists in Beirut will argue that the bulk of the Syrian opposition is nationalist, fed up with their unelected and unwanted dictator. But you know that these “journalists” are in turn mere agents of al-Qaeda’s notorious proxy, the Hariri press office.

3. (NB: Palestinian Sunni Muslims are the exception to the above rule. Sure, some Palestinian groups might go on about “jihad” from time to time. Some might even be armed and funded by Islamist regimes. But in no way can they be compared to the Syrian opposition. Palestinians fighting Israel and Syrians fighting Assad quite simply have nothing in common.)

4. Take a courageous stand. Hezbollah is getting a lot of heat these days for its staunch support of Assad. Counter this by posting glamorous old photos of Hassan Nasrallah aiming rifles toward Israel.

5. Be objective. Though the Syrian opposition is certainly among the most infamous terrorist groups of all time, the regime is not entirely without fault. When Assad air-strikes a Palestinian refugee camp, for example, condemn him with forceful words like “lousy”.

6. Finally, when in doubt, fall back on the Golden Rule of Independent Thinking: Always disagree with US foreign policy. Now, sometimes, US foreign policy might start to look dangerously similar to your own position – e.g., when it classifies a powerful opposition brigade as al-Qaeda, or when it repeatedly rejects even indirect military intervention in Syria. In this case, change the subject to al-Qaeda’s alarming and growing infiltration of Human Rights Watch.

Let the conspiracy theories begin

[Originally posted at NOW]

Though you would barely know it from reading your Twitter feed today, a car bomb detonated in Tyre late yesterday afternoon, wounding the mayor of Yaroun, a tiny southern village just a few hundred meters from the Blue Line. While some outlets are calling it an accident, others including al-Jadeed say it was an assassination attempt – a prospect made all the juicier by reports that the victim, Hassan Moussa Awada, was a Hezbollah affiliate.

Since we don’t and probably never will know for sure what happened, let’s run down the various possible scenarios:

Israeli assassination attempt

Yaroun is a mixed Shiite-Christian village to the east of Rmeish, approximately 1km from the Israeli border and 2km from the Israeli villages of Yir’on and Bar’am. Moreover, it’s about 5km south of the famous Hezbollah fortress town of Bint Jbeil, where Nasrallah gave his victory speech following the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, and which the Israelis tried and failed three times to capture in the 2006 war.

Yaroun has also been used as a rocket launch site by Hezbollah in the past. A Human Rights Watch report investigating the 2006 war found that Party militants fired rockets from “several places inside the village,” resulting in overwhelming Israeli retaliation that “virtually completed destroyed” it and killed at least 5 civilian residents.

It seems almost certain, then, that Yaroun’s mayor would have to be on friendly terms with Hezbollah, if not indeed a party member. Perhaps Israel had a score to settle or merely saw a window of opportunity and took it.

Hezbollah assassination attempt

By the same token, Mayor Awada would be an equally endangered man if he was not on friendly terms with Hezbollah. With such a major increase in Israeli aerial incursions in recent weeks, the Party may be taking no chances with those it doesn’t fully trust.

Organized crime

The former Israeli occupation zone in the south has for decades been home to a murky underworld of Mafiosi, warlords, drug bosses, agents, double-agents, hitmen and gangsters in general. The celebrated case of Ramzi Nohra is only the tip of the iceberg. I don’t wish to make disobliging speculations about Mayor Awada’s character – for all I know he is a man of unimpeachable integrity. But in the shadows of the occupation zone, anything is possible.

Sheer accident

Of course, this could all be perfect nonsense, and Mayor Awada may have been the victim of a tragic accident – faulty gas canister, freak engine malfunction, you name it.

Whatever the case, I wish him a swift and complete recovery, and hope that any crime involved is met with full and firm justice.

Syrian defector in Lebanon faces uncertain fate

[Originally posted at NOW]

A 30-year-old Syrian army defector in Lebanon faces possible torture and even death after being sentenced Monday by a Lebanese military tribunal to two months’ imprisonment and a 100,000LL ($67) fine followed by deportation, for the crime of entering the country illegally.

Muhammad Tlas, a former officer from Al-Rastan who had joined the rebel Free Syrian Army, was arrested on 6 December 2012, while taking an injured comrade to a Lebanese hospital, according to Nabil al-Halabi, laywer and executive director of the Lebanese Foundation for Democracy and Human rights (“Life”), who publicized Tlas’ case in a press release Tuesday.

When the military tribunal delivered its sentence Monday, preparations were quickly made to deport Tlas on the grounds that his two month detention had already been served, said Halabi. “He is now being kept in a General Security prison in the Beqaa Valley,” he told NOW. General Security could not be reached for comment.

In spite of these steps, the Lebanese government has hinted it may not enforce the deportation order. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Wednesday that though he had “not examined this case […] such extraditions are generally not carried out.” And on Thursday, President Michel Suleiman said on Twitter that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, no Syrians would be deported to Syria.

Indeed, according to Marie Daunay, president of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH), the organization that assigned a lawyer to Tlas’ case, he has not yet been deported and probably will not be.

“It seems to have been the policy of the Lebanese authorities in the past few months not to implement deportation orders for Syrians, due to the policy of dissociation from the Syrian conflict,” she told NOW.

Nadim Houry, deputy director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) for the Middle East and North Africa, also told NOW that while Tlas’ fate remains uncertain, “most deportation orders in Lebanon against Syrians are not carried out. The last one we are aware of was…in August.” On that occasion, Lebanon deported 14 Syrians – some of them believed to be opposition activists – earning criticism from HRW and a number of foreign embassies.

Regardless, Daunay condemned the decision to sentence Tlas to any punishment in the first place. “The decision…made by the military tribunal is in contravention of Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture. This violation happened even though this point was raised in court by the defense lawyer.” Article 3 of the Convention, to which Lebanon is a party, states that “No State Party shall expel, return (‘refouler’) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”

Moreover, Daunay criticized the continued detention of Tlas, in spite of Charbel’s and Suleiman’s statements. “He is still pending deportation, even though he should already have been released.”

Houry agreed, telling NOW that “From [HRW’s] end, the first key principle here is no deportations for anyone fearing persecution or torture in Syria. That obviously includes someone who defected or decided not to do his military service. That’s a clear obligation; these deportations cannot take place.

“The second key principle is no detention of any Syrian, or person from Syria such as a Palestinian refugee, merely for being in the country illegally.”

Indeed, Halabi told NOW that, in the majority of cases, defecting Syrian officers and refugees alike had no choice but to enter Lebanon illegally.

“Whenever there is conflict in some area, it is impossible for rebels to pass through checkpoints and passport control; they have to escape and take illegal ways to a safe place. One cannot condemn refugees as illegal immigrants.”

“The Turkish and Jordanian governments acknowledge the impossibility of refugees passing through legal check points, and they establish refugee camps in many places. Yet the Lebanese government is still following and arresting refugees for illegal entry. This is unacceptable, on a legal and humanitarian level.”

Moreover, “the Syrian embassy stopped renewing passports, so now we have a situation where refugees cannot go back to Syria, don’t have the freedom of mobility in Lebanon and cannot travel with expired passports. Something has to be done.”

Yara Chehayed contributed reporting.

HRW: "Serious human rights abuses" by Syrian opposition

[Originally posted at NOW Lebanon]

In a disturbing development that indicates the increasingly gruesome direction in which the Syrian conflict is heading, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published an ‘Open Letter to the Leaders of the Syrian Opposition, in which it documents cases of what it describes as “serious human rights abuses” perpetrated by individuals opposed to the Assad regime, including:

- Summary executions of civilians, including the elderly, for sectarian reasons
- Kidnapping of civilians for ransom
- Torturing to death of non-combatant government officials and supporters
- ‘Revenge’ killings of captured Syrian military and paramilitary prisoners-of-war

Also worrying are HRW’s findings of apparently independent armed groups, such as the “Salafist” “Al-Nur battalion”, which do not answer to the Free Syria Army and have carried out multiple kidnappings of civilians. If true, the existence of such groups would add a further complication to the already-near-chaotic situation on the ground.

The opposition must immediately distance itself from such groups and such practices if it is to retain its moral high ground. As HRW’s Middle East director Sarah Leah Watson put it, “The Syrian government’s brutal tactics cannot justify abuses by armed opposition groups. Opposition leaders should make it clear to their followers that they must not torture, kidnap, or execute under any circumstances”. Moral considerations aside, a failure to do so will only make it that much more difficult for an already-divided and hesitant international community to unite behind their cause.