Canada sending $2 million to help NGOs deal with Syrian refugees in Jordan

By The Canadian Press - Monday, May 13, 2013 at 11:54 AM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Canada is contributing $2 million to help Syrian refugees who are flooding into Jordan.

The money is intended to help a number of non-governmental organizations provide humanitarian assistance for the refugees.

CARE Canada is providing 2,500 unregistered Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanian households with emergency shelter, food and non-food products.

Save the Children Canada is providing access to education and other support to 9,000 Syrian and Jordanian children living in overburdened host communities.

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Homage to Latakia: Comparing Syria and the Spanish Civil War

By Michael Petrou - Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 12:50 PM - 0 Comments

Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

I’m guilty, perhaps, of seeing too much of today’s conflicts through the lens of the Spanish Civil War. I spent years of my life immersed in studying and writing about it, and it shaped the way I think.

And yet the lessons from that tragedy continue to reverberate, even if they are largely ignored. The primary one is that fascism cannot be appeased. Few openly dispute that today, given the near-universal acceptance that the Second World War was a good and necessary war, and that we waited too long to confront the fascism behind it.

Instead, we pretend fascism isn’t there, to justify not fighting against it. We sneer at those who use the term to describe the Khomeinists in Iran — although that state’s demand for subservient conformity, its murderous suppression of dissent, and the oppression it visits on its Baha’i religious minority doesn’t leave room for a lot of other equally accurate adjectives.

We ignore the Taliban’s bloodlust, their ethnic and religious supremacism, and we say they are in fact Pashtun nationalists, or conservative Muslims, or anti-imperialists, or something else we cannot understand because we are Western and they are not and it’s arrogant for us to even try. And so we abandon their victims and congratulate ourselves on not making the same mistakes as George W. Bush. Continue…

Is Syria turning into another Afghanistan?

By Adnan R. Khan - Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 5:47 PM - 0 Comments

Photograph by Adnan R. Khan

When Canadian Foreign Affairs Minster John Baird announced on March 31 that Canada would be donating an additional $13 million to help Syrian refugees, he was clear on one point: the money would be funnelled through the Jordanian government. The added funds increased Canada’s contribution to Jordan to $24.5 million dollars, half of all the money Canada has pledged so far to ease Syria’s growing humanitarian crisis.

The choice of Jordan was no accident. With the level of chaos currently playing out in Syria, having a trusted partner to ensure the legitimate distribution of aid has become one of the most pressing concerns of the international community.

Already, the signs are worrying. If there is one thing that is not in short supply in Syria, it is greed. Even as bombs fall in Aleppo and rebels tighten their grip on the capital, Damascus, armed groups, of which there are now hundreds, are eyeing the international aid industry for the money to support their cause.

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Syrian prime minister survives assassination attempt

By Emily Senger - Monday, April 29, 2013 at 9:11 AM - 0 Comments

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria on Monday, April. 29, 2013. (SANA/AP)

Syrian Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi escaped death after a car bomb exploded next to his car in Damascus Monday, in what appears to be an assassination attempt.

According to a report in The New York Times, al-Halqi was travelling through the distict of Mezzeh, an upscale neighbourhood where many government officials live, when the bomb went off.

A government official told The Associated Press the the bomb was placed under a parked car and it detonated when al-Halqi’s car drove past.

The Associated press says that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reports that the prime minister’s body guard was killed in the bombing. There are also reports of other casualties, says BBC News.

Reports conflicted as to whether al-Halqi had been hurt, or not, but state news played a short interview with al-Halqi that it said was taken after the attack. “He appears assured but somewhat shaken in the interview, in which he talks about a meeting he has just attended on the economy,” reports BBC News.

This is the latest attempt to kill a member of President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Ali Balan, the government’s chief co-ordinator of emergency aid distribution to civilians, was killed by a gunman while at a restaurant in the same neighbourhood less than two weeks ago.

Baird doesn’t doubt reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, but wants UN probe

By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press - Friday, April 26, 2013 at 2:53 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – There is no reason to doubt reports of chemical weapons being used in Syria, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Friday.

But there still needs to be a formal inquiry, he said in an interview from London.

“We would like to see a full investigation by the United Nations,” Baird said, noting that Canada has already pledged money to help the U.N. investigation, which has yet to be allowed into Syria.

Still, “there’s no reason to discount or doubt what Israel and the U.S. are reporting,” Baird said.

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Baird doesn’t doubt reports of chemical weapons use in Syria, wants UN probe

By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press - Friday, April 26, 2013 at 10:36 AM - 0 Comments

(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

OTTAWA – There is no reason to doubt reports of chemical weapons being used in Syria, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Friday.

But there still needs to be a formal inquiry, he said in an interview from London.

“We would like to see a full investigation by the United Nations,” Baird said, noting that Canada has already pledged money to help the U.N. investigation, which has yet to be allowed into Syria.

Still, “there’s no reason to discount or doubt what Israel and the U.S. are reporting,” Baird said.

Earlier this week, Israel published military intelligence reports saying that the Assad government has used chemical weapons repeatedly. On Thursday, U.S. officials said they’ve concluded the Syrian government has used the weapons twice.

“Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically, the chemical agent sarin,” the White House said in letters to two U.S. Senators.

While it is a fact that there are chemical weapons stashed in Syria, it is unclear who exactly has access to them, Baird suggested.

“We suspect it’s the government, we don’t know it’s the government,” he said.

Syrian officials denied Friday that government forces have used chemical weapons against rebels, marking Damascus’s first response to the U.S. assertions.

In the Syrian capital, a government official said President Bashar Assad’s military “did not and will not use chemical weapons even if it had them.” He instead accused opposition forces of using them in a March attack on the village of Khan al-Assad outside of the northern city of Aleppo.

Both sides have accused each other of the deadly attack.

Baird wouldn’t say whether Canada would consider the use of chemical weapons as a trigger for international military involvement in the country.

President Barack Obama had previously declared the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” for a major military response, but the White House says a quick strike isn’t imminent.

Canada is concerned about the reports and will work with its allies to determine a response, Baird said.

The war in Iraq hangs over the debate about whether the presence of chemical weapons in Syria should kickstart military engagement.

The U.S.-led military invasion there was predicated on claims that Iraq had a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, a claim that was never proven.

Baird said the situation is not the same.

“There is no argument whatsoever that there are weapons of mass destruction in Syria, it’s a fact,” he said, adding there are more than a dozen known sites of sarin and mustard gas stockpiles.

“It’s very different from Iraq.”

The New Democrats also called this week for a full UN investigation.

“What we need to see is a validation of those reports,” NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar said late Thursday.

“We need to see the UN involved here and if it is the case where there were — the reports are true, that there were uses of chemical weapons in these two instances, then the full prosecution of the international law. This is — it would be a war crime.”

Baird was in London this week for meetings of the Commonwealth ministerial action group, which is made up of nine foreign ministers.

The next Commonwealth summit is scheduled for this fall in Sri Lanka. The country’s human rights record has prompted calls for a boycott and suggestions the meeting be moved.

“Sri Lanka should not be hosting,” Baird said.

The ministerial meetings in London didn’t address the issue formally, according to the final communique.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he won’t attend the gathering unless there are major reforms in Sri Lanka.

And Baird said because the November meeting is for heads of government, it would be up to the prime minister to decide if anyone at all goes to represent Canada.

- with files from The Associated Press

Chuck Hagel says Syria likely used chemical weapons: Now what?

By Luiza Ch. Savage - Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 12:42 PM - 0 Comments

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks with reporters after reading a statement on chemical weapon use in Syria during a press conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Thursday, April 25, 2013. (Jim Watson/AP, Pool)

The U.S. Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, today told journalists traveling with him in the Middle East, that U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed “with varying degrees of confidence” that Syria has used small amounts of chemical weapons. Hagel said the weapons may have included the nerve gas sarin. A UN investigation in underway.

On March 20th at a joint press conference on with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama said his administration was trying to establish whether reports were of chemical weapons use were true. Obama said:

Once we establish the facts I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a gamechanger.  And I won’t make an announcement today about next steps because I think we have to gather the facts. But I do think that when you start seeing weapons that can cause potential devastation and mass casualties and you let that genie out of the bottle, then you are looking potentially at even more horrific scenes than we’ve already seen in Syria.  And the international community has to act on that additional information.

Earlier, in a March 4 speech to the AIPAC policy conference, Obama said:

Because we recognize the great danger Assad’s chemical and biological arsenals pose to Israel and the United States, to the whole world, we’ve set a clear red line against the use of the transfer of the those weapons. 

Does it matter that the weapons were used in “small amounts,” as Hagel said? What does “the international community has to act” translate into?

Recently, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee joined Republicans such as John McCain in calling for a direct intervention in Syria – including establishing a no-fly zone and direct arming of rebel fights.

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney gave a vague answer about how the administration would respond to chemical weapons use by Syria:

Well, I’m not going to speculate about consequences.  What I will say is that the President made clear that the use of or transmission of chemical weapons, including the transmission of chemical weapons to non-state actors, would be unacceptable in the President’s view, unacceptable to the United States.

The New York Times reports today that the Pentagon is considering its options:

Administration officials said that the Pentagon had prepared a menu of military options for Mr. Obama if he concluded that there was incontrovertible evidence that chemical weapons had been used. Those options, one official said, could include missile strikes on Syrian aircraft from American ships in the Mediterranean or commando raids.

 

UPDATE: On a conference call this afternoon with reporters, a senior White House official speaking on background, emphasized that the Obama administration is not taking the “intelligence assessments” at face value – but will continue to investigate to corroborate the facts. The official said the evidence is based on a “broad mosaic of information” which includes “physiological samples,” but added that the “chain of custody is not clear” for the samples, and administration “cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions.”

Alluding to the mistaken assessments about weapons of mass destruction in pre-invasion Iraq, the official said “intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient” and that more investigation was needed because “only corroborated facts can guide our decision-making.”

“Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including assessment of weapons of mass destruction, it’s very important that we are able to establish this with certainty, and that we are able to present evidence that is air-tight in a public and credible fashion to underpin all our decision-making. That is the threshold that is demanded given how serious this issue is. But nobody should have any mistake about what our red line is. When we firmly establish that there has been chemical weapons use within Syria, that is not acceptable the United States, nor is transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist organizations.”

Hagel’s comments reflected the contents of a letter sent to U.S. senators who asked whether the Assad regime had used chemical weapons.

The official said that while a UN investigation is underway, the administration is “seeking to make it more comprehensive.” If chemical weapons were used, the administration believes they were used by Assad: “We are very skeptical that the reports of use of chemicals weapons could be attributed to anyone other than Assad regime given our belief that they maintain custody of those weapons. If it is established in a credible way, we do believe Assad is ultimately accountable,” the official said.

Syria likely used chemical weapons: White House

By Emily Senger - Thursday, April 25, 2013 at 12:06 PM - 0 Comments

Nati Harnik/AP

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has confirmed that Syria very likely used chemical weapons against its own citizens in the country’s ongoing civil war.

The finding was released to senators in a letter.

“Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin,” Michael Rodriguez, White House director of Legislative Affairs, wrote in a letter to senators Thursday.

Hagel confirmed these findings in a press conference in Abu Dhabi, where he was ending a week-long Middle East tour.

This finding is significant because President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons could be the “red line” that forces the U.S. to take action against Syrian President Bashar Assad as he attempts to hang on to power. The U.S. has, until now, not sent troops to Syria and it is reluctant to do so. Continue…

Time to intervene in Syria?

By Michael Petrou - Friday, February 15, 2013 at 1:00 PM - 0 Comments

Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

Late last month, U.S. President Barack Obama stood before a shivering but enthusiastic crowd gathered on Washington’s National Mall to hear him lay out his vision for his final term in office. America was emerging from a dark period of struggle and conflict, he told them in his inauguration address. “A decade of war is ending.”

Had they lived long enough, this might have come as news to the 210 people who died in Syria that day—a fraction of the approximately 60,000 who have perished since an uprising began against dictator Bashar al-Assad almost two years ago.

The dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, included 15 children and at least 68 civilians—one of whom was tortured to death by the regime. The toll has continued apace. “Every single day has become a fixed price: 250 casualties,” says Hassan Hachimi, a Syrian-Canadian member of the Syrian National Coalition, an umbrella coalition of opposition groups.

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Canada gives $25M to Syrian crisis

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 12:53 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Canada is contributing an additional $25 million to help people displaced by the Syrian crisis.

The money will help provide food, water, shelter, medical care and safety for the estimated 700,000 refugees who have fled Syria during its 22-month-old civil war.

International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino announced the new funds at an international donors’ conference in Kuwait.

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The week’s good news and bad news

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, January 2, 2013 at 10:29 AM - 0 Comments

Tom Hanson/CP

GOOD NEWS

Change is coming

Syria is on the brink of change, as the head of President Bashar al-Assad’s military police defected to what he describes as the “People’s Revolution,” while Assad’s last ally of influence, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, says that “a change in leadership” is imminent. Questions remain about Islamist groups jockeying to replace Assad. But the short-term goal is to end the bloodshed, and for that to happen, Assad must go. Mercifully, it’s no longer a question of if, but when.

No free lunches

Is sanity creeping into the executive suite? Last week, Apple revealed that CEO Tim Cook’s compensation has been cut by nearly 99 per cent in 2012, to a comfortable $4.17 million, as the company’s stock price continued to slide. Goldman Sachs—oft criticized for lavish executive pay—has cut the salaries of senior staff in London by 50 per cent, while the National Australia Bank agreed to tie executive pay to company performance. The world’s corporate elite have not yet restored the trust they broke by taking massive payouts during the recession. Now, at least, they have examples to follow.

Choked Cherry

The longer the NHL lockout drags on, the better Don Cherry gets at Twitter. The irascible former coach used the social medium to give Russian hockey star Nail Yakupov a well-deserved tongue lashing for saying, on the eve of the world junior championship, that Canada “plays dirty.” Canadians, Cherry noted acidly, allowed Yakupov to hone his game in its junior system, adding: “We treat him royally, give him great coaching so he can go number one overall [in the NHL draft] and he calls us dirty.” We couldn’t have tweeted it better.

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NBC correspondent Richard Engel escapes Syria kidnapping

By The Associated Press - Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 9:11 AM - 0 Comments

BEIRUT – More than a dozen pro-regime gunmen kidnapped and held NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and several colleagues for five days inside Syria, threatening them with mock executions and blindfolding them before the team finally escaped unharmed during a firefight between their captors and rebels, Engel said Tuesday.

Speaking to NBC’s “Today” show one day after the escape, an unshaven Engel said the kidnappers executed at least one of his rebel escorts on the spot at the time he was captured. He also said he believes the kidnappers were a Shiite militia group loyal to the Syrian government, which is fighting a deadly civil war against rebels.

“They kept us blindfolded, bound,” said 39-year-old Engel, who speaks and reads Arabic. “We weren’t physically beaten or tortured. A lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed. They made us choose which one of us would be shot first and when we refused, there were mock shootings,” he added.

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Hundreds killed during a bloody day in Syria

By Scaachi Koul - Thursday, September 27, 2012 at 10:54 AM - 0 Comments

More than 300 people were reported killed Wednesday in the deadliest day in Syria’s revolt. The UN refugee agency has warned that as many as 70,000 Syrian refugees could flee the country by the end of the year.

The Local Co-ordination Committee is reporting that 343 people have been killed — the greatest number of casualties in one day. Other reports say the death toll is around 305.

Hezbollah has stepped up support for the Syrian government by sending military advisers to help against the opposition. It may signify trouble ahead for the rebels who will now have to deal with more militia.

What Putin said to Harper

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 4:48 PM - 0 Comments

David Akin reports details of the conversation between the Prime Minister and Vladimir Putin during last weekend’s summit.

But none of this will surprise Russian President Vladimir Putin who as much warned Prime Minister Stephen Harper during their one-on-one meeting in Vladivostok on the weekend that the West should expect this kind of thing for “instigating” mobs in Egypt and Libya. According to officials in the room with the two men, Putin said Harper and other Western leaders are acting like “Trotskyites” – that was Putin’s line — for exporting revolution and promoting instability.

I’m not sure how Putin connects the dots between Stephen Harper and Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky, but Putin’s basic point to Harper was that Western leaders were being dangerously naive by meddling in the affairs of the dictators of the Middle East.

Red Cross chief pleads with President al-Assad

By Scaachi Koul - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 9:34 AM - 0 Comments

While in Syria on a mercy mission aiming to get more protection for civilians, Red Cross chief Peter Maurer met President Bashar al-Assad to express his concerns. He was in the country on the same day that bombings and clashes shed even more blood in Aleppo.

During their 45-minute meeting, Maurer urged al-Assad to respect international humanitarian law and to boost assistance on the ground. Maurer arrived in Damascus on Monday night. He has also met with Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 5,000 people were killed in August. It’s the highest monthly figure since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in March last year.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s summer of defections

By Michael Petrou - Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 5:50 AM - 0 Comments

AP Photo/SANA

A dictator’s hold on power rests on several pillars. He needs the support of a sizeable chunk of the population, or failing that, he needs its fear. He needs the loyalty of the army and security services. And he must have control of the media—primarily so people will either love or fear him.

These pillars have been crumbling steadily under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since an uprising against his rule began more than a year ago.

When he responded to protests with deadly force, demonstrators did not back down. They were no longer afraid. He could rely on the army for a time; the first defections were mostly of low-rank soldiers. But these have increased in number and importance. In July, Manaf Tlass, a former brigadier general and member of Assad’s inner circle, joined the opposition. Riad Hijab, Syria’s newly appointed prime minister, defected in August.

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Baird puts new sanctions down on Syria

By Scaachi Koul - Friday, August 31, 2012 at 1:12 PM - 0 Comments

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Friday that an additional 47 people and three companies would be barred from business dealings under Canadian sanctions already put in place with Syria.

At a press conference, Baird said that Canada continue to urge the UN Security Council to put sanctions in place against Syria as a sign that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has to go. He included Security Councils members who have previously blocked action. China and Russia have been reluctant to apply pressure.

The three businesses barred from dealing with Canada are: Drex Technologies S.A., the Cotton Marketing Organization, and Syrian Arab Airlines.

370 die on the deadliest day so far in Syrian uprising

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 27, 2012 at 10:10 AM - 0 Comments

Saturday was the deadliest day of the Syrian uprising Ya Libnan reports. At least 370 people were reported dead, say opposition activists, after the Assad government re-seized Aleppo, a commercially and culturally vibrant area around Damascus.

The government’s military assault on the opposition appears to be escalating, with indiscriminate bombs and rockets being fired into civilian areas.

More than 10 missiles landed in Idlib province on Saturday, as planes opened fire with machine guns, the LCC said. Meanwhile, residents in Aleppo endured “intense aerial shelling” by a regime warplane Saturday, the group said.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government had a different take on the situation, with state-run news reporting saying “Armed forces continue pursuing terrorists in Aleppo and its countryside, armed forces destroy seven cars equipped with machine guns, kill terrorists and seize their weapons.”

Algerian diplomat to take over from Kofi Annan

By Scaachi Koul - Friday, August 17, 2012 at 12:30 PM - 0 Comments

Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will be replacing Kofi Annan as the international mediator on Syria. Annan announced earlier this months he would step at the end of August after six months citing frustration over the mediation process and calling on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Reuters is reporting that Brahimi agreed to take the job but has an amended title and a new approach to the 17-month-old conflict. Annan has previously said that his peace plan for Syria fell apart due to a divided UN Security Council.

It’s unclear when an official announcement will be made.

Fund Syria’s rebels — but be honest about it

By Michael Petrou - Friday, August 17, 2012 at 6:01 AM - 0 Comments

It’s probably a good thing that Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs wasn’t in charge of covertly supporting the Afghan mujahedeen during the Cold War. Given DFAIT’s clumsy attempts to channel aid to Syria this week, I’m not even sure an underage teenager hanging around the LCBO parking lot should trust Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to secretly buy him booze.

Last weekend, Canada announced it was providing $2 million to Canadian Relief for Syria, little-known group with no previous international aid experience and no charitable status in Canada. The original press release said the aid would “provide medical supplies for doctors and health-care providers within Syria’s borders.”

The announcement struck a non-partisan tone: “‘Canada calls on all sides of the conflict to immediately allow humanitarian access so that assistance reaches those most in need,’ said [International Cooperation Minister Julian] Fantino.”

The website of Canadian Relief for Syria also claimed neutrality: “CRS is a non-political, non-denominational, non-governmental organization, set up to co-ordinate help and support to Syrian families.” Continue…

It’s lonely at the top for Bashar al-Assad

By Michael Petrou - Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 2:47 PM - 0 Comments

AP Photo/SANA

There is little in Riad Hijab’s past that hints at personal or moral courage. He was a long-time member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Party, serving it as minister of agriculture and before that as governor of two provinces. In official photographs he glares at the camera wearing a sober suit and sporting the same toothbrush moustache as Assad: a company man. Which may be why Assad appointed him prime minster in June. He needed a safe pair of hands as the rebellion against his rule raged ever hotter.

And yet this month Hijab risked his life and those of more than 30 family members when he defected to the opposition, fleeing the country for Jordan in a daring and complex operation that struck a blow against the Assad regime and emboldened Syria’s opposition after 17 months of war.

In his first public appearance since defecting, Hijab said the Syrian government is collapsing and urged the army to join the revolution. He said he had no desire to hold political office. “In a free Syria, which I will see coming soon, I consider myself as a soldier in the path of righteousness.”

Hijab is the highest-ranking politician to defect. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, a former commander of an elite Republican Guard unit and longtime ally of Assad, also defected, signalling deep fissures even within the upper ranks of Syria’s armed forces.

But Hijab’s defection is different, says David Schenker, director of the program on Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Operationally, it will have little impact on the course of the war and the repression of political opponents, which is carried out by military, security and intelligence forces. But Hijab’s defection will shake another pillar of support for the Assad regime: the Sunni civilian elite.

Bashar al-Assad and many of the most powerful men in his regime are Alawites, members of an offshoot sect of Shia Islam who make up about 10 per cent of Syria’s population. Though Sunni Muslims form the majority of the opposition, Assad has traditionally been able to count on the loyalty of powerful Sunnis, especially businessmen.

“Even until pretty recently, this business elite has been seen to be on the fence. They had been totally co-opted into this system, corrupt as it was,” says Schenker. “If Hijab leaves, this will likely encourage other Sunni elites to reconsider their support for the al-Assad regime.”

For Syrians who have already thrown themselves behind the uprising, Hijab’s defection is another sign that Assad’s end draws near. “It’s one more step that shows we are on the way to break this regime and take power soon in Damascus,” says Basel Alchikh-Sulaiman, an opposition activist who left Syria in 2005 and is now based in Toronto.

Alchikh-Sulaiman says Syrians opposed to Assad will excuse Hijab’s long association with the dictator’s regime. “He might have done some mistakes before, but right now we appreciate his sacrifice. Personally I’m very proud of the prime minister. I think he’s done the best thing in his life.”

Baird reverses decision to send medical aid to Syria via Canadian group

By The Canadian Press - Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 7:48 AM - 0 Comments

Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has abruptly reversed course on his plan to get badly needed medical supplies into Syria by way of a Canadian aid organization.

Just days after travelling all the way to Jordan to announce some $2 million in aid, Baird confirmed Wednesday that the government will not be providing the money to the group known as Canadian Relief for Syria.

“I have directed officials to change course and to review alternatives to deliver medical supplies to the victims of the Assad regime in Syria,” Baird said.

He said concerns about where the money would be going arose after the announcement, when the government sat down with the group to reach a contribution agreement.

“We wanted to ensure that supplies could make their way to the victims of the Assad regime in the best way possible, and that it wouldn’t fund things like warehouses and infrastructure,” Baird said.

It remains a “top priority” of the federal government to assist the victims of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, whether they be opposition fighters, civilians or others caught in the crossfire, he added.

“The situation in Syria is a top priority for me, for my department and for our allies, and that’s why we’ll be moving as expeditiously as we possibly can.”

Momtaz Almoussly, a spokesman for the aid group, expressed shock Wednesday at the sudden about-face, insisting no one ever said the money would be used for anything but medical supplies and equipment.

“Maybe they sent an e-mail or something, but nobody has spoken to us from the government about this decision,” Almoussly said. He declined to comment further, saying the group is planning a press conference for later this week.

The group was established earlier this year and is in the process of obtaining charitable status.

It describes itself as “a non-political, non-denominational, non-governmental organization” devoted to supporting Syrian families in and outside of the country.

But Baird’s announcement prompted questions about why the relatively new organization received foreign aid when there are more established groups on the ground.

Some media reports have linked the group to a charity with an office in Pakistan that was once run by alleged al-Qaida financier Ahmed Said Khadr, whose son Omar is currently languishing behind bars in Guantanamo Bay.

Another report Wednesday suggested Canadian Relief for Syria was chosen because it would be better able to ensure opposition forces received care.

But the doctors on the ground weren’t going to single out anyone, Almoussly said in an interview Wednesday before the decision was made to revoke the funding.

“The treatment centre, when it receives a patient, they don’t ask are you a civilian, are you from the left or from the right,” he said in an interview.

“It’s just a medical centre.”

At a news conference earlier this week, Prime Minister Stephen Harper defended his government’s choice.

“I’m told that our officials have done due diligence on all the organizations to which we’ve given money,” he said.

“I’m told they have the appropriate connections by which to deliver aid on the ground. And as I say, it is our officials who carefully research these groups and make sure they fit the needs of the government of Canada.”

Almoussly echoed those comments and said he didn’t know how the impression was formed that those networks would channel aid specifically to rebel groups.

“Because, maybe, of our connections and networks in areas that are difficult for international organizations, they labelled us that way,” he said. “But as I said, medical relief is impartial.”

Western countries have largely stopped short of providing material aid to the network of opposition forces in Syria who have been fighting against al-Assad’s regime since last year.

The United Kingdom recently announced funds to supply communications equipment, body armour and medical supplies and said the equipment was only for those not directly involved in the fighting.

Baird said Wednesday that Canada’s aid money was not directly intended for opposition forces.

“The sad reality is that far too much of the hospital and health care system has collapsed in Syria because of the war,” he said.

“Civilians are suffering greatly — whether it’s someone with a heart attack or a woman giving birth — so this medical assistance will go to support all the victims of Assad.”

That includes those fighting against the regime, but the money was never intended to help the opposition’s military effort, Baird said. “It’s entirely 100 per cent medical supplies.”

Canada has so far channelled the lion’s share of its aid for Syria through groups like the International Red Cross.

But the Syrian government has been severely restricting the number of visas available for foreign aid workers, making it difficult for outside groups to intervene.

This week, the United Nations humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos is in Syria to press for more access for aid.

But she told the BBC on Wednesday that the Syrian government doesn’t want international aid groups on the ground because they fear they’ll assist rebel forces.

Almoussly said his group’s network of medical staff is already there and can move around with ease.

He said the money was going to be used to purchase medical supplies which would be brought into the country via Jordan and Turkey.

“Canadians should know that they can help, they can make a difference,” he said. “It’s unacceptable to see people dying from non-fatal wounds due to the lack of medical treatment.”

The UN released a report Wednesday accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and their militia backers of war crimes in the killings of more than 100 civilians — nearly half children — in the village of Houla in May.

It said the civil war was moving in a “brutal” direction on both sides.

The report was the first time the U.S. has described events in Syria’s civil war as war crimes and could be used in possible future prosecution against Assad or others.

— with files from The Associated Press

Bomb explodes near Damascus hotel

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, August 15, 2012 at 9:40 AM - 0 Comments

A bomb connected to a fuel truck exploded on Wednesday outside of a Damascus hotel, reports The Globe and Mail. The hotel is where UN observers are staying.

None of the UN staff was hurt, but the explosion is another in a long line of Damascus attacks in the clash between government troops and rebels. Syria’s state TV reported that at least three people have been wounded.

The hotel was only slightly damaged with some shattered windows. Smoke was seen billowing into the sky and a Labor Union building across the hotel was also damaged.

The UN has no official statement yet.

The fight for Aleppo: Of bread lines, garbage piles, missiles and death — death everywhere

By Jamie Dettmer - Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 1:04 PM - 0 Comments

Al Bab, Aleppo Governorate -- Fighters at a Free Syrian Army hospital wait to take away the body of an unidentified comrade, shot in the eye by a sniper. (Photo: George Kurian)

ALEPPO, Syria — An infant’s inert feet poke from underneath a grubby blanket. From the corner of the crowded makeshift field hospital, behind a curtain, a mother howls — not for her own injuries but for her 18-month-old daughter, Ahlam Saleh.

Her wails rise above the din of doctors and attendants, as an imam uncovers the child’s body: The world should see what Syrian President Bashar al-Assad does, he shouts. A medic promptly shoos away and gently replaces the blanket, muttering as he does so, “How can they kill like this?”

War snatched Ahlam’s life in a casual way, as a bright yellow sun set over the rural scene of her father’s small olive-tree farm on the outskirts of Al Bab, a town of 130,000 northeast of Aleppo. The family was piling into a car to head to town for iftar, the meal breaking a day’s fast during Ramadan, when a Syrian Air Force warplane circling above fired a missile close by, say relatives.

Ahlam isn’t the first infant to die and she won’t be the last in this vicious, dogged struggle to control Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city. Both sides believe this could make or break the 18-month rebellion against Assad and death comes from warplanes, helicopter gunships, tanks and snipers.

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