Syrian Rebels Accused of Killing Hundreds of Civilians. A new Human Rights Watch report details what the organization calls “the first evidence of crimes against humanity by opposition forces,” collecting evidence that al-Qaida-linked groups massacred civilians in Alawite towns in an August offensive.
A synopsis of the report, from Reuters: “Syrian rebels killed at least 190 civilians and took more than 200 hostage during an offensive in Latakia province in August. HRW said many of the dead had been executed by militant groups, some linked to al-Qaida, who overran army positions at dawn on 4 August and then moved into 10 villages nearby where members of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect lived. In some cases, entire families were executed or gunned down as they fled.”
“HRW identified five rebel groups instrumental to funding, organizing, planning and carrying out the Latakia attacks, including the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant groups, as well as the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham and another unit of foreign jihadi fighters.”
The role of the Free Syrian Army, it says, is unclear.
The attack marks another uptick in the sectarian nature of Syria’s war. Some good think tank reports for background on Syria’s intensifying religious divide: Brookings on the New Sectarianism and the Middle East Policy Council on the Roots of Sunni-Alawite Rivalry in Syria.
Civilians Bore Brunt of Rebels’ Fury. Anne Barnard of the New York Times, reporting from Latakia, talked to a survivor of the attack.
“Before dawn on Aug. 4, Raed Shakouhi, an olive and walnut farmer in a government-held hilltop village near the Syrian coast, just across a valley from rebel territory, was woken by gunshots and cries of ‘God is great,’” she reports.
“Mr. Shakouhi, 42, hid among nearby trees with his wife and four young children. The next day, he emerged to find his uncle shot dead, his family’s possessions stolen or destroyed, and the streets littered with bloodstains and the carcasses of farm animals, he recalled last month in an interview in the state-run shelter where he now lives. Many of his neighbors here in Latakia and in the surrounding villages, mostly members of Syria’s minority Alawite sect, fared even worse.”
U.N. Pushes Forward with Arms Destruction as Chemical Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize. As the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons wins the Nobel Peace Prize, its inspectors are pushing forward with dangerous work on the ground. Officials tell the AP that U.N. chemical weapons inspectors have completed visits to three sites while working in an active war zone; they’re expected to visit at least 20 in total.
TIME reports that “the 15-member U.N. Security Council has thrown its weight behind a scheme tabled by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week that promises to destroy Syria’s chemical arsenal within a year.”
The plan stipulates that 100 experts “from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will oversee neutralizing the illicit stockpile by mid-2014. However, the ambitious timeframe is at odds with previous estimates from munitions experts. During an interview with Foreign Policy in September, Los Alamos National Laboratory specialist in chemical weapons Cheryl Rofer said she “wouldn’t be surprised to see this [Syria cleanup effort] last as long as 10 years.”
Reuters reports that the U.S. is suggesting the inspectors use a U.S.-made device as the primary destruction unit for Syria’s chemical weapons. Each device costs $5 million to build.
“This is very big business, very political, and several governments are pushing for it,” chemical weapons expert Dieter Rothbacher told the newswire.
Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:
HRW: Executions, Hostage Taking by Rebels
Reuters: Child Refugees Face Exploitation, UNICEF Says
Reuters: Sunni Rebels, Shi’ite Militia Clash Near Damascus Shrine
The Daily Beast: Whose Problem is Syria?
The Economist: Will the Jihadists Overreach?
The Washington Post: Media Analysts in Syria Debate Have Ties to Defense Contractors
Reuters: Arab League, OIC Call for Eid Cease-fire