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CNN reporter, briefly in Syria, hears ‘horror’ stories
From Arwa Damon, CNN

Near Kherbet Al-Jouz, Syria (CNN) — As the Syrian military on Tuesday continued its relentless advance against protesters, citizens who had fled their homes for safety related “horror story upon horror story” to a reporter who managed to enter the country.

Despite the Syrian government’s consistent refusal to give CNN and other international news organizations permission to enter the country, a CNN reporter crossed the Turkish border into northwestern Syria for a few hours Tuesday.

She spoke to people at a makeshift campsite near Kherbet al-Jouz, where tarpaulins strung between trees provided the only shelter from the elements for the hundreds of Syrians encamped there. One family said they had spent an entire night standing rather than lie in the mud. One man tried to protect himself from the rain with branches and a piece of tarpaulin.

Families bathed in a muddy stream, where they also washed the few clothes they had brought with them.

Thousands of Syrians head to Turkey

Illness has already begun to spread, said Mohammed Merri, a pharmacist who carried supplies with him as he fled, then set up something of a field hospital once he arrived at the camp. “My biggest problem is the children and people with heart disease,” he said. “I don’t have the medicine for that.”

Most of the refugees here are from the region that includes the nearby city of Jisr al-Shugur, which government forces entered Sunday.

A number of people said they had witnessed bombings around the city as they fled. One man said soldiers shot at him, and a woman said she witnessed death.

The Security Council has failed, so far, to react on Syria, which I think is extraordinary and disappointing
–Carne Ross, former U.N. diplomat

Syria’s turmoil through amateur video

UN takes no action on Syria
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Syrian Politics

United Nations Security Council

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“They set our fields on fire, destroyed our homes,” said a woman who added that she was planning to try to cross into Turkey for protection. But others said they would remain in Syria, some hoping to find loved ones lost in the chaos, others hoping against hope to return to their homes.

Mousa, 26, said he tried to do just that a few days ago, but didn’t succeed. “I was on my friend’s motorcycle and suddenly I saw the military advancing through the olive groves,” he said. “And they started shooting at me.”

Jisr al-Shugur is not the only town in the area that was occupied by the military. On Sunday, the army also entered Dair Alzour and set up a presence in four areas of the town, an activist said. They arrived aboard tanks and pickup trucks carrying heavy weaponry, the activist said.

But protests were continuing in defiance of the military, the activist said. Since such protests started in Dair Alzour a month ago, four people have been killed and about 200 wounded, some of them seriously, the activist said. In addition, some 1,500 people have been arrested.

But on Tuesday, about 16 tanks were leaving Dair Alzour heading toward Albu Kamal, on the border with Iraq, the activist said. Residents of the tribal area have strong connections with tribes in eastern Iraq.

As of Monday, 6,817 Syrian refugees had crossed into Turkey, said Metin Corabatir of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office in Ankara.

Amnesty International said last week it believes more than 1,100 people — including 82 children — have been killed in Syria since the crackdown started in mid-March.

As a result of such reports and the distribution on social media platforms of chilling videos depicting violence, Syria’s government has drawn international condemnation — albeit no response from the U.N. Security Council.

“The Security Council has failed, so far, to react on Syria, which I think is extraordinary and disappointing,” said Carne Ross, a former U.N. diplomat.

The United States has imposed sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad and other senior Syrian officials because of human rights abuses, freezing any assets held in the country.

The four European members of the Security Council — Britain, France, Germany and Portugal — have said the council must act. But ambassadors from China and Russia disagree, stating that U.N. action would risk further destabilizing the key Middle Eastern nation.

“China and Russia are concerned that if the U.N. Security Council feels empowered to address the major human rights violations occurring around the world, eventually the Security Council will focus on issues within China and in the neighborhood of Russia,” said Jamie Metzl, executive vice president of the Asia Society.

“The failure of the U.N. Security Council to act is a tragedy,” he said.

Some countries’ reluctance to act may be traceable to the Security Council’s resolution aimed at protecting civilians in Libya. Russia and others quickly signed off on the resolution, but — nearly three months later — efforts by NATO forces appear caught in a stalemate.

As for Jisr al-Shugur, the Syrian military seized control of the town over the weekend, a network of human rights activists said Monday.

The Syrian government gave a similar assessment. “Army units on Monday restored security and tranquility to the city of Jisr al-Shugur,” state-run news agency SANA reported.

The Syrian government insists it is stopping “armed terrorist groups” who carried out a “massacre” in the city; opposition activists say the government’s claims are a ruse to justify a crackdown on demonstrators demanding government reform, in keeping with the wave of political protests across the Middle East and North Africa this year.

Throughout Syria’s uprising, its government has described activist leaders as terrorists looking to destabilize the country. This month, the government said 120 members of the security forces had been killed by “armed groups” in Jisr al-Shugur.

But Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey said some Syrian soldiers rebelled after being ordered to fire on unarmed protesters and instead started fighting among themselves.

Syrian opposition members, including human rights activist Wissam Tarif, also said the deaths likely stemmed from a rift within security forces.

Because of the restrictions on journalists’ entry into Syria, CNN has been unable to independently confirm the accounts.

CNN’s Richard Roth, Salma Abdelaziz and Saad Abedine contributed to this report.
June 15, 2011
‘Gay Girl in Damascus’ blog was really a man in Istanbul

By Richard Hall

The Independent

Jelena Lecic … the Croat living in London said the Gay Girl in Damascus blog was carrying a picture of her. Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/technology/gay-girl-in-damascus-is-a-man-called-tom-20110613-1fzmw.html#ixzz1PEE2ZHwp

A blog purportedly written by a Syrian-American woman living in Damascus has been confirmed as a hoax.

Writing under the name of Amina Arraf, the blog entitled “A Gay Girl in Damascus” documented events during the Syrian uprising.

It hit the headlines worldwide last week when a post signed by a cousin of Amina appeared on the site saying she had been abducted by security forces.

But an admission was posted on the site last night by the blog’s real author, a man named Tom MacMaster who claimed to be living in Istanbul, in which he admits fictionalising the entire story.

In the post, Mr MacMaster apologised to readers, but insisted he had harmed no one. “While the narrative voice may have been fictional, the facts on this blog are true and not misleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe I have harmed anyone – I feel I’ve created an important voice for issues I feel strongly about,” he wrote. Speculation over the author’s identity has been rife since a reporter from The Washington Post noticed the blog had an Edinburgh IP address. Suspicions were raised futher when a London woman named Jelena Lecic claimed she was the person in the photo which the blog claimed was Amina.

Mr MacMaster identified himself as “the sole author of all posts on this blog”, adding: “I have been deeply touched by the reactions of readers.”

via ‘Gay Girl in Damascus’ blog was really a man in Istanbul – Online, Media – The Independent.

June 14, 2011
Gay Girl in Damascus comes out…as a man in Istanbul

A Gay Girl in Damascus: Apology to readers

Apology to readers

I never expected this level of attention. While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone — I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about.

I only hope that people pay as much attention to the people of the Middle East and their struggles in thıs year of revolutions. The events there are beıng shaped by the people living them on a daily basis. I have only tried to illuminate them for a western audience.

This experience has sadly only confirmed my feelings regarding the often superficial coverage of the Middle East and the pervasiveness of new forms of liberal Orientalism.

However, I have been deeply touched by the reactions of readers.

Best,

Tom MacMaster,

Istanbul, Turkey

July 12, 2011

The sole author of all posts on this blog

via A Gay Girl in Damascus: Apology to readers.

Suriyeli blogcu Amina Arraf’ın serbest bırakılması için sen de bir imza ver!

June 13, 2011
Video: Syrians flee violence to Turkey

Fearing a massacre, thousands of Syrians flock to Turkey as protesters in the US demand the UN take action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Lindsey Parietti reports..

via Video: Syrians flee violence to Turkey | Gamut News.

June 12, 2011
Syria’s state TV director tells BBC ‘refugees’ just visiting family in Turkey

Reem Haddad puts spin on the desperate attempt of hundreds of locals to flee Jisr al-Shughour before government clampdown

Esther Addley
guardian.co.uk

Reem Haddad

Reem Haddad acts as Syria's information ministry spokeswoman and has tried to portray the emerging humanitarian crisis as 'normal'.

She may look like the actor Isla Fisher and speak like a Mayfair lady who lunches, but appearances – and words – can be deceptive. As hundreds of refugees fled the Syrian border town Jisr al-Shughour on Thursday, desperate to avoid an expected government clampdown after the killing earlier this week of 120 soldiers, Reem Haddad , the director of Syria’s state TV network, gave an interview to the BBC to account for the crowds pouring into Turkey.

Many have relatives in villages just the other side of the border, she said. “A lot of them find it easy to move across because their relatives are there. It’s a bit like having a problem in your street, and your mum lives in the next street, so you go and visit your mum for a bit.”

As Syria’s security and humanitarian crisis escalates, Haddad, who acts as a spokeswoman for the country’s information ministry, has become one of the most familiar faces of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with a talent for insisting on innocent explanations for the brutal government response to the protests.

In this she has drawn comparisons to Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, whose exuberant insistence on behalf of Saddam Hussein’s government that the Iraqi army was invincible earned him the nickname Comical Ali before the 2003 allied invasion.

Little is known about Haddad’s early career to date, though her father served as Syria’s ambassador to East Germany and is said to have modelled Syria’s secret police on the Stasi.

“I don’t think she believes all of what she’s saying, though I think she believes some of it,” Amr al-Azm, a former colleague at a Damascus language school in the early 1990s, told the Times. “She believes there’s a war here between two ideologies, two groups, and she believes she’s on the right side.”

Would the government allow the gathering protesters to make their demonstrations peacefully, she was asked by al-Jazeera in late April.

There were no demonstrators, she said. On the contrary, said the journalist, many people on the ground were reporting gathering crowds.

“I know, you have this ‘eyewitness phenomenon’ thing,” replied Haddad. “But we have our cameras everywhere and we have seen no gathering at all.” In principle, however, demonstrations were permitted. “But they have to apply for a licence and they have to tell the police, and the police will tell them along which routes they should follow, and how long they should demonstrate and how many people there should be.”

The same broadcaster, some weeks later, asked about 500 civilians thought to have been shot dead by security forces in street protests (that figure is now more than 1,000). “How do you know that sir, may I ask?” replied Haddad. “How do you know that 500 people have been shot dead, where is your information coming from?” It was a figure compiled by human rights organisations in Syria and London, among others, said the journalist.

“But my dear they are sitting in London. How can they confirm anything!” The world should confirm its facts independently, said the spokeswoman, “rather than taking shoddy, shoddy if I may say, eyewitness accounts.” As Haddad well knows, all foreign journalists are banned from Syria.

via Syria’s state TV director tells BBC ‘refugees’ just visiting family in Turkey | World news | The Guardian.

June 11, 2011
Syrian Forces Hit Protest Hub

By A WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER in Damascus and NOUR MALAS in Antalya, Turkey

Syrian forces using tanks and machine guns pressed into towns outside Homs, the country’s third-largest city, in an apparent effort to shut down the area’s broad-based opposition movement, as activists meeting in Turkey drafted a road map for their effort to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Activists chanted slogans against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after a meeting of opposition groups in Antalya, Turkey on Thursday.

At least 25 people were killed by security forces Thursday in Rastan, north of Homs, according to activists and Homs residents with family members in the town, continuing what has been one of the deadliest crackdowns by the regime since the start of the uprising three months ago.

Rastan and the nearby town of Talbiseh have been scenes of large and sustained protests in recent weeks, as powerful tribal and merchant clans in the region have thrown their weight behind the opposition movement.

Residents have also reported incidents in which protesters in the region have fought back against security forces and members of Mr. Assad’s ruling Alawite ethnic minority, which has been the subject of growing resentment from the Sunni majority around Homs.

Many residents in the area own guns, which are easily smuggled over the border from Lebanon. The area is also home to tribal families with codes that dictate that the spilling of blood must be avenged, raising the potential that opponents of the regime will take up arms.

Ethnic tensions in the area were stirred in late April, when tanks belonging to predominantly Alawite army brigades moved into Sunni neighborhoods of Homs.

Unrest in Syria

Despite the rising death toll from weeks of unrest, people across Syria continue to protest the government of President Bashar al-Assad. See events by day.

Residents said armed Alawite gangs backing the Assad regime set up checkpoints in their neighborhoods, helped crack down on protests and ransacked houses in restive areas.

In one incident, on May 20—a day of nationwide protests in which at least 11 people were killed in Homs—a fight broke out between adjacent Alawite and Sunni neighborhoods, a resident said.

A resident of Deir Baalbe, a poor area close to the Alawite-majority district of al-Zahara, said tensions between the two groups were rising.

“We look next door and see people with jobs and decent services, whilst in our area we have nothing,” he said.

Homs residents say armed clashes with supporters of the Assad regime have been limited, and have grown out of opposition to the government, not to the dominant sect.

“The people on the streets of Homs don’t have a problem with spilled blood anymore,” a resident said. “In some cases they’re instigating the security forces because they’re tired and they’re angry and they’re fed up.”

Syria’s government—echoed by many Syrians and supporters of the regime—has often pointed to neighboring Iraq as an example of what they say is the kind of violent, sectarian power struggle that could break out if the Assad regime were to fall.

Tanks moved to surround several towns around Homs Saturday night, activists and residents said, in what has become the Syrian regime’s standard procedure for dealing with towns with large protest movements.

Communications, electricity and water were cut, before soldiers and security forces carried out shootings and ransacked houses, residents said.

The death toll since security forces began a siege in the area Sunday has risen to more than 70, according to the Local Coordinating Committees, a nationwide activist network that tallies only victims who have been identified by name.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition groups meeting in Turkey drafted a statement calling on President Assad to step down and hand over power temporarily to the vice president until a transitional council is formed and a new constitution drafted.

They also laid the groundwork for a plan to support protesters working toward that goal.

At the conference, in the Turkish coastal town of Antalya, some 300 activists elected representatives who would name a nine-member committee to implement a support strategy for the protesters.

Attendees also committed more than $200,000 to finance the protests and pay compensation to families of those killed during the uprising.

Of the more 300 activists attending, almost all were supporting the movement from outside the country. Only one or two dozen attendees were Syria-based organizers.

The group has yet to bridge the divide between younger, street protesters and older, exiled opposition activists trying to create a political alternative to Mr. Assad, observers said.

via Syrian Forces Hit Protest Hub – WSJ.com.

June 5, 2011