U.N. Panel Cites ‘Terror’ Campaign Against Syrian Civilians
Nick Cumming-Bruce of The New York Times reports from Geneva that the U.N. says Assad’s government has waged “a campaign of terror” against civilians through a policy of forced disappearances.
“After a series of reports documenting war crimes and widespread human rights abuses in Syria during 33 months of violence, the four-member Commission of Inquiry focused on what it said was a government policy of abducting or detaining civilians and then deliberately concealing their fate, inflicting what ‘will remain among Syria’s deepest wounds,’” he writes.
The U.N. panel reported that “most disappearances were perpetrated by security and intelligence officers, as well as by the Syrian Army, sometimes in conjunction with pro-government militias acting on behalf of the government” and that “some anti-government groups have adopted practices that could be considered tantamount to enforced disappearances.”
Investigators concluded that the disappearances were “part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population and therefore amount to a crime against humanity.”
Western Backers of Rebel Opposition in a Quandary
As jihadist groups consolidate their power, The Economist has a piece outlining the quandary faced by Western powers who seek to back the opposition heading into January’s peace talks.
“What to do when the party you have been backing loses sway? That is the question facing Western supporters of the Syrian National Coalition, the umbrella group that claims to represent the main political opposition, and its armed wing of loosely allied rebel militias, known as the Free Syrian Army. Especially on the ground in Syria, these relatively moderate groups have been losing out to other factions, particularly jihadist ones. As a result, the American administration and European governments are in a bind,” the magazine writes.
“As the jihadists grow in strength, some Western officials are starting quietly to advocate re-engagement with Bashar Assad, Syria’s president, while others think the only course left is to work with devout Islamists who reject the extremists but who nonetheless refuse to be part of the coalition hitherto backed by the West. With negotiations supposed to start in Geneva on January 22nd, Western governments are still puzzling over which military factions to back on the ground. ‘I’m not sure where we are,’ says a Western diplomat involved in preparing for the conference.”
Doctors Forced to Choose the Rebels or the Regime
Nour Malas reports for the Wall Street Journal on medical students, doctors and physicians who have formed an informal network of health-care services as Syria’s medical infrastructure collapses.
“In wheat fields and olive groves, at private homes and in the backs of trucks, Syrian doctors like him have cobbled a health-care network of medical students, nurses and civilians to supplement hospitals lost in the conflict. Most of these workers aren’t trained for the trauma injuries they see. They are short-handed, lack supplies and are targets of government forces. But without them, according to medical organizations monitoring the crisis, many more Syrians would have died in a conflict that has claimed an estimated 125,000 lives,” Malas writes.
“‘I always requested from God an adventurous and fulfilling life,’ said Dr. Ismail, a 29-year-old man of slight build who wears the neatly cropped beard common among Syria’s rebels. ‘I think he may have taken me too seriously.’”
“Samer Attar, a Syrian-American orthopedic surgeon, saw some of this work firsthand during a leave from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to volunteer this fall at a hospital in the rebel-held section of Aleppo.
“Syrian medical residents were essentially teaching themselves trauma surgery, Dr. Attar said. ‘They function as full-time surgeons,’ he said, recalling the stream of wounded: ‘People missing limbs…faces pebbled with shrapnel. A few times, people holding their bowels in their hands.’”
11,420 Children Dead In Syria’s Civil War
Deborah Amos reports for NPR on the 11,420 Syrian children killed since the conflict began in March 2011.
“To understand what’s happening to kids in Syria, you just have to look at the thousands of videos that have been posted online. In this one, posted at the end of November, children are being interviewed on the streets of Homs, one of the cities at the heart of Syria’s rebellion,” she writes.
“‘Six rockets fell just in front of me, me and my friend,’ the first boy says. He speaks directly to the camera, rocking on his bike. A little girl says she has seen many dead bodies. ‘When there is an attack, bodies are brought to my school,’ she explains. ‘My dad helps with the burials.’
“Like so many Syrian kids, they have seen terrible things. ‘One guy lost his head, another lost his hand,’ says another boy, on the aftermath of a shelling he witnessed.”
Suggested Reads from Our Editorial Team:
Bloomberg: Syria’s Rebels Schooled in Tactics Before Talks With Assad
Economist: Where Are The Good Guys?
Reuters: Russia Blocks U.N. Statement Condemning Syrian Attacks
NY Times: Jihadist Leader Envisions an Islamic State in Syria
Foreign Policy: The Political Science of Syria’s Civil War
AFP: Free Syrian Army Chief Working ‘To Unify Ranks’