Syrian Lawmaker Becomes First Presidential Challenger
AFP reports that Maher Abdel Hafiz Hajjar, an independent Syrian parliamentarian, is the first to sign up to challenge Assad in June 3’s presidential elections. State television quoted parliamentary speaker Mohammed Lahham in making the announcement.
“Assad, who became president on the death of his father Hafez in 2000 and whose current term ends on July 17, is expected to stand and win another seven-year term despite the three-year-old civil war. It will be Syria’s first presidential election — previously a referendum was held on a single candidate but that system was replaced by an amendment to the constitution,” the wire reports.
“Election rules require candidates to have lived in Syria for the last decade, effectively preventing key opposition figures in exile from standing. The Syrian opposition has slammed the planned election as a ‘farce,’ while the United Nations and the Arab League have said it poses a major obstacle to efforts for a negotiated peace.”
Homs Emerges as Turning Point in Shaping Syria’s Future
The New York Times reports from Homs, the beleaguered central city which it says will play a key role in the reshaping of Syria.
“As insurgents who long held much of the Old City make what could be their last stand against withering bombardment, and the government declares it is on the verge of fully controlling the city, Homs — not for the first time — represents an important turning point for Syria. If the government is victorious here, it will control a devastated landscape, a physically fragmented and socially divided city where many community bonds, not just houses, have been destroyed.
“A government victory in this battle would serve to lay bare the more vexing challenge confronting all Syrians after more than three years of civil war: how to stitch the country back together. For both sides, Homs, a central Syrian crossroads city with a diverse prewar population of one million, is crucial to the future.”
Chlorine Attack Claims Overshadow Progress on Chemical Weapons
The Times also reports that while nearly 90 percent of the chemicals in Syria’s weapons cache have been exported, the progress “was overshadowed by growing concerns that the Syrian military may be dropping bombs filled with chlorine, a common industrial compound not on the list of prohibited poisons.
“Disarmament experts said that if the unconfirmed reports that Syrian warplanes and helicopters have been using chlorine-filled bombs in the civil war were true, that would be a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty signed by Syria last year and could constitute a war crime.”
Amy E. Smithson, an expert on chemical weapons in the Washington office of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, tells the paper that “The C.W.C. prohibits the use of any chemical on the battlefield to achieve military purposes,” and that the “telltale sign of responsibility may be the reports that this stuff was delivered by air.”
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