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ALWATAN DAILY
regional
friDAY, march 2, 2012
Syrian opposition forms military council BEIRUT: Syria’s main opposition group formed a military council Thursday to organize and unify all armed resistance to President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime as the conflict veered ever closer to civil war. The Paris-based leadership of the Syrian National Council said its plan was coordinated with the most potent armed opposition force - the Free Syrian Army - made up mainly of army defectors. “The revolution started peacefully and kept up its peaceful nature for months, but the reality today is different and the SNC must shoulder its responsibilities in the face of this new reality,” SNC president Burhan Ghalioun told reporters in Paris, saying any weapons flowing into the country should go through the council. Still he tried to play down the risks of all-out warfare. “We want to control the use of weapons so that there won’t be a civil war,” he said. “Our aim is to help avoid civil war.” The SNC has called for arming rebels in the past, but this was the first time it sought to organize the fighters under one umbrella. The plan coincides with a ferocious government offensive on the opposition stronghold of Homs in central Syria that has been going on for nearly a month. International pressure on the regime has been growing more intense by the day. The UN’s top human rights body voted Thursday to condemn Syria for its “widespread and systematic violations” against civilians, and the UK and Switzerland closed their embassies in Damascus over worsening security. The US closed its embassy in February. But the US has not advocated arming the rebels, in part out of fear it would create an even more bloody and prolonged conflict because of Syria’s complex web of allegiances in the region that extend to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Syrian activists said government forces have cut off communications to Bab Amr, jamming satellite phone signals as they mass for an apparent ground assault. The neighborhood has been under siege for about four weeks and hundreds have died in shelling. Authorities had previously blocked land and mobile
A boy stands in front of a shop destroyed in Syrian Army shelling in the center of Idlib, north of Syria, Feb. 27, 2012. (AP)
phone lines, but activists were able to communicate with the outside world with satellite phones. The activist Revolutionary Council of Homs said it could no longer reach anyone inside Baba Amr. All satellite signals were jammed, it said. Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there was “fierce fight-
Student kills American teacher in northern Iraq ARBIL: An Iraqi student shot dead his American teacher and then shot himself in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region on Thursday, the provincial governor said. “There was an argument between the student and his American teacher ... and as a result of that argument the student shot dead his teacher using a pistol he had, and then shot himself,” said Sulaimaniya Province Governor Zan Mohammad Salih. He said the student had survived the shooting and was now in hospital. Salih gave the American teacher’s name as Jeremiah Small and identified the student as Beyar Al-Talabani. “We cannot say there is a political or religious dimension to the incident and the investigation is still going on. It is an ordinary criminal incident,” the governor said. Jeremiah Small’s blog page on the photo sharing website Flickr describes him as a teacher, hailing from western Washington
State, and based in Sulaimaniya. The northern Kurdish region was spared the extreme violence that has plagued the rest of Iraq, and is the only part of Iraq that draws large numbers of Westerners living and working without special security measures. US forces withdrew from Iraq in December, nearly nine years after the invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, which was followed by a fierce insurgency and sectarian conflict. Washington maintains a consulate in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish zone. A US embassy spokesman said: “We have heard reports regarding the shooting of a teacher in Sulaimaniya and are working through our consulate in Arbil and Iraqi authorities to ascertain the details of the incident. “At this time we are waiting for identification to be complete and for the family to be notified.” -Reuters
Israel legalizes unsanctioned settler enclave
SHVUT RACHEL, West Bank: Israel has legalized one of the oldest and largest of the unsanctioned settler enclaves dotting the West Bank, a step denounced by the Palestinians and Israeli activists as a show of bad faith ahead of talks next week between the Israeli leader and President Barack Obama. The dispute over settlements has confounded Washington’s attempts to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, mostly on hold since 2008. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to stop construction and the Palestinians say they won’t negotiate while Israel unilaterally determines the borders of their state through settlement-building. Now, the question of outposts Israel has not formally sanctioned is coming to a head: The government is under Supreme Court orders to evacuate residents from Migron, a relatively large such enclave, by the end of March. Aware that doing so could badly unsettle the ruling rightist coalition, officials have attempted to avoid a confrontation by persuading residents, so far unsuccessfully, to move to a nearby sanctioned settlement. The stalled talks and dispute over settlements is bound to come up when Netanyahu meets Obama on Monday. Shvut Rachel, home to 95 Israeli families, was established 21 years ago on a hilltop in the heart of the West Bank - an area Israel would likely have to withdraw from to make way for a Palestinian state. The settlers grabbed the land without government permission. Now that approval seems at hand. A planning committee last week retroactively legalized 115 apartments already built or under construction in Shvut Rachel, according to government officials and the community’s acting mayor, Yaakov Moshe Levi. The move apparently resulted from pressure by peace activists to stop construction there. In its decision, the panel also approved in principle nearly 500 more apartments; though a construction start would require further permits and could be years away, government officials said. Hagit Ofran of Israel’s Peace Now group says this amounts to establishing a new settlement, contrary to pledges by successive governments over the past two decades not to do so. Israel’s Defense Ministry rejected that characterization, saying Shvut Rachel is a neighborhood of the nearby governmentsanctioned settlement of Shilo. Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian spokesman, said setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel is becoming “practically impossible” because of such construction. He denounced the Shvut Rachel decision as an escalation of Israel’s practices. The Palestinians want to set up their state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. However, half a million Israelis already live on war-seized land, in more than 130 government-sanctioned settlements and some 100 unauthorized outposts set up by settlers who are open about their desire to impede any partition. There is little discussion of Jewish settlers remaining in a Palestinian state and Israel has a history of using the location of settlements to stake claims on West Bank land in the context of negotiations. Spokesman Mark Regev insists the current Israeli government “has shown more restraint on the issue of settlements than any previous government,” referring to a 10-month construction slowdown in 2010. He reiterated that the fate of settlements must be determined in negotiations and that Israel is willing to resume talks immediately. But a visit to the West Bank’s heartland suggests that an Israeli withdrawal would be increasingly difficult. Settlers control many hilltops, their communities flourishing with government support, including for unauthorized outposts. -AP
ing” at the entrances to Baba Amr and troops have been unable to enter so far. Ghalioun said regime forces are facing strong resistance from the rebels in Baba Amr. “Our position is very strong. We control the terrain there,” he said. “The situation in Baba Amr is that the FSA ... has relocated in some areas to other areas. In some points,
they still maintain a stronghold and the regime is unable to take over. Their strategy is to take one neighborhood one street at a time, but the resistance there is still strong.” The opposition’s main problem over the past year has been its inability to coalesce behind a single leader or ideology beyond toppling the regime. Western powers trying to help the anti-government forces oust Al-Assad have repeatedly stressed the importance of the fragmented opposition pulling together. The SNC announcement seemed to respond to those calls. “The Military Bureau will track the armed opposition groups, organize and unify their ranks under one central command, defining their defense missions while placing them under the political supervision of the SNC, and coordinating their activities in accordance with the overall strategy of the revolution,” the SNC said in a statement. Members of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday voted 37 in favor and three against a resolution proposed by Turkey that calls on Syria to immediately stop all attacks on civilians and grant unhindered access to aid groups. Three members of the 47-nation body abstained and four didn’t vote. Russia, China and Cuba objected to the resolution. The Geneva-based council’s vote carries no legal weight but diplomats consider it a strong moral signal that may encourage a similar resolution in the powerful UN Security Council. The UN estimated that more than 7,500 people have been killed since the anti-Assad struggle started in March 2011, when protesters inspired by successful Arab Spring uprisings against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt took to the streets in Syria. As Al-Assad’s forces used deadly force to stop the unrest, protests spread and some Syrians took up arms against the regime. Activists put the total death toll at more than 8,000, most of them civilians. There was no immediate reaction from the rulers in the oil-rich Gulf state. Some lawmakers also have proposed severing diplomatic ties with Al-Assad’s regime, but the issue has not come up for full debate. -AP
Yemen troops protest demanding army chiefs’ ouster CAPITALS: Hundreds of Yemeni soldiers staged protests at several military institutions across the country on Thursday demanding the departure of their chiefs, whom they accuse of corruption. The demonstrations come just days after Ali Abdullah Saleh formally handed power to his deputy Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi following a year of protest. Around 500 soldiers and officers from the First Brigade of Marine Infantry, based on the Yemeni island of Socotra in the Gulf of Aden, protested outside Hadi’s residence in the capital Sanaa, an AFP correspondent reported. The soldiers were calling for the ouster of Brigadier General Hussein Khairan whom they accuse of corruption. Several soldiers told AFP that the remaining officers were also staging a sit-in at their base in Socotra. Meanwhile, air force soldiers held a massive rally that began outside Hadi’s residence and headed towards the air base near Sanaa International Airport, calling for the ouster of air force commander General Mohammed Saleh Al-Ahmar. Military sources said that protests against AlAhmar, a half brother of Saleh, were also being held at other air bases - Al-Anad in the south and in Taez, Yemen’s second city. Anti-corruption strikes have spread across several military and government departments in the impoverished Arab country, where the economy is on the brink of collapse after last year’s popular uprising and months of violence.
Anti-government protesters demonstrate in Sanaa March 1, 2012. (Reuters)
Saleh finally stepped down on Monday after 33 years in power, based on a Gulf-brokered power transfer deal he signed in November. But during his time in office, he carefully chose members of his regime, appointing relatives to head the country’s military and security apparatus. In addition to his half brother, Saleh’s
South Sudan accuses Khartoum of air strikes
JUBA: Sudanese fighter jets have bombed oil and water wells deep inside South Sudan and its ground troops have crossed into contested oil-rich border regions, South Sudan officials said Thursday. But Khartoum swiftly denied the claims. Border tensions have mounted since South Sudan split from Sudan in July after decades of war to become the world’s newest nation, with each side accusing the other of backing proxy rebel forces against it. “They have flown into our territory 74 kilometers (46 miles) and are violating South Sudanese airspace,” South Sudan Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said of the air strikes Wednesday. Sudanese ground troops had also moved 17 kilometres inside South Sudan’s oil-rich Unity state, army spokesman Philip Aguer said. Khartoum and Juba dispute areas along the undemarcated border. South Sudan has accused the north of carrying out several recent bombing raids in frontier regions, but the claims have been denied by the Sudanese army. “Two MiG (fighter jets) bombed Panakuat in Pariang county,” Aguer told AFP on Thursday, adding two bombs struck an oil well and a drinking water well. “Khartoum... have been bombing South Sudan since last year, but this is the first time MiGs have come,” Aguer said, adding that previous attacks had been far less accurate bombs rolled out the back of Antonov aircraft. Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad dismissed the latest accusations by the South. “This information is completely incorrect - they have to show the evidence about the bombing or our troops going 17 kilometers inside the border,” Saad told AFP in Khartoum. The region borders Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state where rebels - once part of the ex-guerrilla turned official South Sudanese army - are battling the Khartoum government forces. “They say that we are supporting wars in their territory and it’s simply not true,” Benjamin said. “The government is in a position to protect its citizens and territory, but it will not be dragged back to a senseless war.” South Sudan took three quarters of Sudan’s oil reserves, but all pipeline and export facilities are controlled by the north. The South halted oil production in January - stopping the flow of the resource that accounts for 98 percent of government revenue - after Juba accused Khartoum of stealing $815 million worth of crude oil. Last month the two sides signed a nonaggression pact agreeing to “respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and to “refrain from launching any attack, including bombardment.” Juba accused Khartoum of breaking the accord by bombing border regions just days later. Last month UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned that tensions between the two nations could escalate if the oil crisis is not resolved. -AFP
son commands the elite Republican Guard troops while his nephew Yehya commands the central security services and Tariq, another nephew, controls the presidential guard. The power transfer deal stipulates that during the two-year interim period, Hadi will oversee the restructuring of the army. -AFP
Egypt says US NGO workers cleared to leave CAIRO: Egypt’s airport authorities have been told that a travel ban on US pro-democracy activists has been lifted, airport sources said on Thursday, opening the way to defuse a row that US officials linked to 1.3 billion US dollars of annual military aid. A judge had said on Wednesday that Egypt was scrapping the ban, which barred the departure of US citizens and others working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that Cairo says received foreign funds illegally. Judge Abdel Moez Ibrahim told state media on Thursday that, after an appeal by those charged, the case was switched from a criminal court to one handling misdemeanors where the maximum penalty was a fine, not jail. With that, those involved could post bail of 2 million Egyptian pounds ($330,000) each and the travel ban would be lifted. Officials had earlier said the ban had been lifted only from the Americans involved. The latest comments suggest the travel ban could also be lifted from Egyptians, Serbs, Norwegians and Germans involved in the case once they post bail. “Instructions have arrived to lift the travel ban on the accused Americans in the case of foreign financing to allow them to leave should they turn up to travel,” one airport source said. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said on Wednesday she expected a swift resolution to the row, which included slapping a travel ban on the son of the US transportation secretary who works for an NGO in Egypt. Sixteen of the 43 people charged are Americans. Seven of the Americans are in Egypt and some of those have sought refuge in the US embassy, which had no
comment on the case. Ibrahim, head of the Cairo Appeals Court who appoints judges to the case, told Reuters on Wednesday that a decision had been taken to lift the travel ban. Sources at Cairo international airport had said late on Wednesday that a US military plane had arrived from Cyprus to take the Americans out. It was not clear when any of the Americans would leave or if they would take commercial flights. Two of the groups involved, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), are loosely affiliated with the major US political parties and one of the accused, IRI Egypt Director Sam LaHood, is the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Once the US and other foreign NGO employees have left the country, and the media spotlight moves on, the threat remains over the Egyptian employees (of NGOs involved) as does a large question mark over the way that NGOs and civil society are seen in Egypt,” said one Western diplomat. He said the case may have been used, at least in part, to divert attention from a faltering economy. Alongside charges that NGOs received foreign funds without Egypt’s approval, the workers are also alleged to have carried out political activities unrelated to their work and accused of failing to obtain necessary operating licenses. A judicial source said charges would not be dropped. The first session of the court that was initially hearing the case took place on Sunday. It had been adjourned until April 26, but a new date will now be set since the case has been transferred to another court, the judge said. -Reuters