ICRC Syria

Syria – ICRC Bulletin No. 01 / 2012

1 March 2012

Syria: with no halt in fighting, aid effort faces major challenges

In areas affected by the violence, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, with ICRC support, is doing its utmost to evacuate the wounded and others in need. It is also distributing essential aid to the population in areas of unrest.

On 21 February, the ICRC called for a daily humanitarian pause in the fighting of at least two hours, so that ICRC staff and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have enough time to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded and the sick.

In Homs, as the violence continues, the humanitarian situation is very worrying. Despite ongoing negotiations with the authorities and opposition groups, Syrian Arab Red Crescent personnel managed to enter Baba Amr only twice in the last seven days. The situation makes it impossible to distribute aid in the Baba Amr and Il-Insha'at areas at present. However, assistance operations are taking place in other areas, sometimes with difficulty owing to the security conditions.

In Al-Zabadani, 50 kilometres north-west of Damascus, people have been leaving the city for Bludan and Madaya, near the Lebanese border, in search of safety. Bludan residents and people they took in from Al-Zabadani were without medical care for 10 days. There were reports of shortages – of food, electricity and water – resulting from the lack of security in the Zabadani area.

Evacuating the wounded and distributing aid in Baba Amr and elsewhere in Homs

●   Convoys of 13 trucks carrying relief goods and food, and five other Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC vehicles, entered Homs between 11 and 28 February. The supplies they carried included medical items, food for 30,000 people for one month, 3,000 blankets, 1,000 baby-milk tins and hygiene items for 9,000 people.

●   The Homs branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has been distributing the aid since 15 February in four areas of Homs (Al-Khalidiyah, Karm al-Zaytun, Al-Rastan and Al-Tawzi' al-Ijbari). Subsequent distributions also took place in six other parts of the city.

●   A convoy of nine ambulances, a mobile medical unit and three Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC vehicles entered the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs on 24 February. Syrian Arab Red Crescent ambulances evacuated seven seriously wounded people and 20 sick women and children to the nearby Al-Amin Hospital.

●   Three other people, including two women, were evacuated on 27 February.

●   On 11 February, ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent personnel joined local Red Crescent volunteers in Homs in evacuating more than 80 inhabitants of the Insha'at area to a mosque in a safer neighbourhood. "A period of calm made it possible for us to evacuate people," said Jeroen Carrin, an ICRC delegate who took part in the evacuation. "People looked exhausted. They had been trying to leave the neighbourhood for nearly a week. Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers provided first aid for those who needed it."

●   The ICRC also provided medical supplies for the private hospitals that continue to function in the city.

Bringing aid to Hama, Idlib and Dara'a

●   During the past week, humanitarian convoys entered Hama, Idlib and Dara'a. The relief goods they were carrying included the first ICRC aid to reach Hama since 17 January. A total of 2,000 food parcels, 500 blankets and hygiene items for 2,200 people were delivered to the Syrian Arab Red Crescent branch in Hama. "The distribution of the assistance started on 28 February," said Rula Daoud, an ICRC field officer on the scene.

●   Another convoy reached Idlib on 28 February, carrying 1,500 food parcels, 1,000 blankets and hygiene items for 9,000 people.

●   In addition, 500 food parcels were delivered to Dara'a for distribution by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent branch in the city.

Medical teams enter Bludan and Madaaya

●   On 18 and 19 February, the ICRC set up another first-aid and medical post in Al-Zabadani, manned by 17 Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers, including three doctors and 11 first-aid workers, and provided with two ambulances and a mobile clinic. Three specialized clinics (paediatrics and surgery) were formed to provide medical care. The ambulances brought in people who would otherwise have been unable to reach the post for treatment. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent also set up a pharmacy to dispense medicines. Nearly 700 people have been treated.

●   On 12 February, Syrian Arab Red Crescent set up a medical post in Bludan. For three days, volunteer doctors attended to more than 250 people, many of them injured. Returning to Damascus, the medical team brought five patients with them, including a woman and her daughter, who could not receive proper medical treatment on location.

●   On 11 February, a Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy of ambulances and trucks carrying 480 baby-milk tins and other food for 16,200 people, 800 blankets and hygiene supplies entered Bludan.

During the same period, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent delivered and distributed 1,500 20-kilogram ICRC food parcels to the affected population in Bludan, Madaya and Buqqin and 1,000 57-kilogram food parcels from the World Food Programme in Al-Zabadani. In addition, at least a dozen injured people were evacuated to Damascus for treatment and then returned to their homes a day later.

Activities in the Golan

The ICRC continued its activities to ease the effects of the occupation on Syrian Arabs living in the Golan Heights. On 27 February, ICRC staff facilitated the return to the occupied Golan of a bride, three students, and five other people whose travel to Damascus had been arranged for humanitarian reasons.

For further information, please contact:

Saleh Dabbakeh, ICRC Damascus, tel: +963 993 700 847 or +963 11 331 0476

Hicham Hassan, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 41 or +41 79 536 92 57

or visit our website: www.icrc.org

To preview and download the latest ICRC video footage in broadcast quality, go to

www.icrcvideonewsroom.org

To find out what the ICRC is doing to put an end to attacks on health workers and patients, go to

icrc.org/eng/life-death

Follow the ICRC on facebook.com/icrcfans and twitter.com/icrc_english

Winds of War

With American/NATO, Iranian and Russian warships playing chicken, it appears a missing plug in, in today’s language, is the only thing missing.

Syria could be it. Israel could be the decider

There is increasing evidence that the Putin Regime wants to match arms with the U.S., a battle it lost long ago and is not likely to win again.

Clearly it is a way to guarantee his election to a second presidential term. Only time will tell whether the tactic can be dropped once the victory is won.

Critics of expanding relations with Moscow would say we have already given away most our leverage. Last December Moscow was allowed in the World Trade Organization.

Retired CIA station chief Robert Grenier, writing for Al Jazeera, said, “Any conventional war involving Israel, the US, Iran and perhaps other regional powers would be a limited one. Military efforts to degrade Iranian nuclear capabilities and defence infrastructure will surely not include an attempt at occupying the country, nor at forcibly removing its government. Even the US would not be capable of doing so, even if it were so inclined. Nor is war likely to induce either the Iranian regime or its people to capitulate on their nuclear program, regardless of its ultimate intent. Instead, armed intervention is far more likely to swing the Iranians more solidly behind their government and its nationalist agenda, even if that agenda were temporarily set back.”

I recall France once rather ominously pointed out  that it has a very dirty bomb that could be used and keep property damage limited.

Should strong force be needed to drive Syria’s Assad from power could that cause Iran to step back. Would Russia attempt to forcefully block the West, not if its recents signals are accurate.

U.N. to Intervene in Syria

Top AFP Free Syria Army Bottom  Reuters

The U.N. is intervening indirectly in Syria by agreeing to train Arab League monitors, who have lost the confidence of most of the outside world.
More than 400 people have died since the League monitors arrived Dec. 27, the Security Council was told in a closed-door meeting, the Washington Post reported.

The training will begin after a meeting this weekend in Cairo, AFP reported. It was not clear whether any of the monitors already in Syria will be among those trained or whether they will be withdrawn, as previously scheduled Thursday.

A U.N. spokeswoman, Vannina Maestracci, confirmed the plan.

The decision, which followed a request by Arab League member Qatar to send troops into Syria, is one step short of it.

Pressure for a military intervention in Syria was growing as President Bashar al-Assad sent out mixed messages on his intentions. Russia appeared so concerned about what seemed likely that it introduced a third resolution in the U.N. in hopes of stopping it.

Turkish media reported a Russian ship delivered fresh weapons Monday. But with the country’s economy near collapse some members of Parliament, following an example set in Libya, fled the country.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who had already warned Assad to stop the killing, sent a message from Abu Dabi to the Security Council to deal seriously with the 10-month uprising. More than 6,000 are believed to have died, the vast majority opponents of the regime or those who happened into the line of fire.

Assad, promised a referendum on a new constitution in March and said he was issuing a countrywide general amnesty for those involved in protests. However, he also said he would use an “iron fist” to suppress his opponents, who he said were backed by Western governments and media.

http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=15325

Syria: Growing Pressure for Military Intervention

Pressure for a military intervention in Syria is growing as President Bashar al-Assad sends out mixed messages on his intentions.

One member of the Arab League, Qatar, has called for troops to be sent in to stop the regime’s killing of Syrians opposed to Assad. Qatar played a leading role in support of ousting the late Muammar Gaddafi.

“Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in a  a conference on democracy in the Arab world held in Lebanon on Sunday.
"The lessons of the past year are eloquent and clear. The winds of change will not cease to blow. The flame ignited in Tunisia will not be dimmed. Let us remember as well, none of these great changes began with a call for a regime change. First and foremost, people wanted dignity," he said.

Assad, promised a referendum on a new constitution in March and said he was issuing a countrywide general amnesty for those involved in protests. However, he also said he would use an “iron fist” to suppress his opponents, who he said were backed by Western governments and media.

 The Guardian reported Assad vowed "God willing, we will be victorious … We are nearing the end of the crisis." Supporters cheered him at the end of what was described as a rambling 100-minute speech at Damascus University.

Russian media, which had roundly condemned the Libya intervention, was more reserved on the Syrian situation. Moscow, however, continues to oppose sanctions. The U.S. has indicated support for intervention if the bloodshed does not stop.

Arab media carried a wide variety of reports ranging from Assad would install a new government in February to Moscow refusing to support Damascus because the death toll was too high.

The U.N., relying partly on human rights organizations, says 5,000 have been killed by Assad’s troops. The government claims up to 2,000 soldiers have died.

Although Syria’s military is stronger than the forces Gaddafi deployed, the country is much smaller geographically and is surrounded by much stronger armies, including Turkey.


http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=15325
https://sites.google.com/site/robertweller/rubicon

Does The Blood From Syria Lead To Moscow

Those choosing to blame the U.S. and the U.N. for not stopping the hospital murders in Syria need to review the Soviet role. Is it another Hungary, just in a different style?


They began throwing their weight around in Syria decades before the fall of the Soviet Empire. Without their weapons would there be a toll of several thousand in what is nearly a civil war?


Indeed, Russia was only the Soviet Union for about 70 years but its defeat by the West was a humiliation it has not lived down. The nationalism it appears to be returning to lasted more than 400 years, and even preceeded the Russian empire. The Tsar was known as the “Tsar of all the Russias.”


There is no doubt Russia is preventing the U.N. from blasting Bashar Al-Assad from power, what would be an easy job compared to Libya. Syria is much smaller geographically, and is surrounded mostly by Turkey, Iraq and Israel.


Why does Vladimir Putin take this stand? His critics say it is because Russia is returning to its nationalist heritage.


Moscow plans to restore a naval base in Syria near Tartus next year to handle modern warships. The port has been left to rust for years.


Moscow also supplies weapons to Damascus, though whether it will get paid remains unknown.


Putin’s government has put itself in such a gridlock with Arab League countries facing increasing demands for democracy it is trying diversions like supporting admission of Palestine to UNESCO. Should they support allowing Palestine into the U.N. that might mean something.


Perhaps the play given Ria Novosti to a story about the Arab League calling for peace talks to begin within 15 days indicates Putin understands Al-Assad will fall, and it will be two losses in a row for Moscow when it betted on the wrong horse.


Putin’s critics, including Mikhail Gorbachev, accuse him of trying to draw the former republics back into its circle.


Gorbachev, who stood up against the Communists to end their rule, opposed Putin’s decision to run for president again. He said Putin’s United Russian party reminded him of the Communist Party, and he feared the repression of old would be brought back.


He told Der Spiegel that Putin was “dragging the country into the past, when it is on fire with modernization.”


Putin this week denied any ambition to restore the former empire and told Western critics “to mind their own business,” the kind of diplomacy no doubt taught at the KGB.


So far Putin has met with only moderate resistance from the U.S. and Western Europe but it would not be a surprise if the U.N. becomes a verbal battlefield like the one that existed during the Cold War.


Can Moscow expect to be invited into NATO? Perhaps entry into the World Trade Organization. But even being in trade organizations do not rule out restrictions being imposed base on human rights’ issues or monopolistic policies originating from poorly hidden nationalistic tendencies.