Report from Syria: on the Road to Damascus
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dignity of the Syrian population. They torture and kill those who refuse to join them. They have strange reli- Report from Syria gious beliefs which make them feel comfortable even perpetrating the cruelest acts, like the killing and tortur- ing of their opponents. It is well-documented that many of those terrorists On the Road are permanently under stimulants like Captagon. The general lack of security unleashes the terrible phenom- To Damascus enon of abduction for ransom or for political pressure. Thousands of innocents are missing, among them the by Antonio S.C. Rosa two Bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, and many priests and Imams. Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa is the editor of the Peace UN and EU economic sanctions, as well as a severe Journalism website, TRANSCEND Media Service, and embargo, are pushing Syria to the edge of social col- the Eurolatina Convener for the TRANSCEND Net- lapse. Unfortunately, the international media network is work for Peace, Development and Environment. His ignoring those realities, and is bent on demonizing, report, excerpted here, is dated May 22, 2013. lying, and destabilizing the country, and fueling more violence and contradiction. I participated, May 1-11, 2013, in the Mussalaha Inter- In summary: The war in Syria is not as depicted, a national Peace Delegation to Lebanon-Syria alongside civil war, but a proxy war with serious breaches of in- fellow TRANSCEND member Nobel Peace Laureate ternational laws and the humanitarian international Mairead Maguire, from laws. The protection of the foreign fighters by some for- Ireland, and 15 others eign countries among the most powerful gives them a from eight countries. kind of an unaccountability that pushes them with im- Keenly aware of my re- punity to all kind of cruel deeds against innocent civil- sponsibility, especially ians. Even war conventions are not respected, resulting to my newly made in many war crimes and, even, crimes against Human- Syrian and Lebanese ity. friends left behind, I shall try to report, de- Conclusion scribe, make sense of . .We witnessed that the Syrian people have suf- what I saw, heard, and fered very deeply and continue to do so. The entire pop- experienced; also offer ulation of 23 million people are under tremendous views and insights based threat of continued infiltration by foreign terrorists. on interviews. Many are still stunned by the horrors and suddenness of First impressions all this violence and worried that their country will be first: the people, the civil Antonio S.C. Rosa: “Bashar al-Assad is not the sole attacked and divided by outside forces, and are all too society, women, men, culprit. He is a well-liked aware that geopolitical forces are at work to destabilize the youth, elderly, chil- leader all over, which is evident Syria for political control, oil, and other resources. One dren, workers, the Arab in different cities, in talks with Druze leader said, “If Westerners want our oil—both street, as it is called. differing kinds of persons, and by their attitudes and actions.” Lebanon and Syria have oil reserves—let us negotiate After some time I no- for it, but do not destroy our country to take it.” ticed a striking absence In Syria memories of next door Iraq’s destruction by of anger or negative excitement in the air; people going US/UK/NATO forces are fresh in people’s minds, in- about their daily business as if nothing was happening, cluding in the minds of the one and a half million Iraqis as if life were normal. who fled Iraq’s conflict, including many Christians, and . .Nonetheless, the country has been as if divided were given refuge in Syria by the Syrian Govern- by checkpoints in every strategic entrance and exit. To ment. give an idea, our Damascus hotel was surrounded by June 7, 2013 EIR International 47 six different checkpoints strategically located around it. Israel, . by the autocratic dictatorships of the GCC- Armed personnel and soldiers on the streets are a Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bah- common sight that adds to a sense of security. rain, Kuwait, Oman, UAE (mostly Sunni Muslims) in Mairead [Maguire] and Mother Agnès-Maryam partnership with Turkey (secular), and by Al Qaeda, Soeur (our leaders) met privately with Syrian armed plus a diversity of mercenary jihadists (by definition fighters, and we were introduced to some persons vic- terrorist groups), each with its own agenda, recruited timized by their atrocities. Audiences included: Syrian from 29 countries and paid by GCC/CIA. Syrians are Prime Minister Mr. Wael Al Halki, Deputy PM and Min- also assailed by UN sanctions and an embargo, and by ister of Economic Affairs Mr. Qadri Jameel (opposi- a foreign press bent on demonizing, lying, destabilizing tion), Minister of Health Dr. Saed Anayef, Minister of the country (not merely the regime). Social Affairs Ms. Kinda Al-Shammat (a pleasant and We visited and talked with a chief of family of refu- intelligent young lady), Minister of Justice Dr. Najem gees in Lebanon, and saw 20 people living in a space Hamad Al-Ahmad, Minister of Information Mr. Omran roughly 6x6 without ventilation, a room inside a ware- Ahed Al-Zouabi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Walid house, for which they pay the equivalent of $400/ Muallem, the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Mr. Ali month. One filthy kitchen, one bathroom. And that is Abd Karim Ali, the Iranian AmbassadorOB to Lebanon, that. They are on their own to find work and everything and General Michael Aoun, an influential Lebanese else. Some resort to stealing and committing petty party leader (who is rumored to discriminate against crimes to survive. This is typical, not an exception. Palestinian refugees). In one of the refugee camps we visited in Lebanon We visited the People’s Council of Syria (parlia- (more aptly called a concentration camp) we talked ment), hospitals, refugee camps, were briefed by senior with a couple from Homs—he being a pharmacist and field coordinator Maeve Murphy at the UNHCR [UN engineer—who had their house and business blown up High Commissioner for Refugees] intake center in due to terrorist activities. Now they live by charity in Zahleh-Lebanon, and met with a representative of the the Bekaa Valley-Lebanon, under a tent and with noth- Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and with ambulance drivers ing but the clothes over their bodies. They are not al- and health workers. We were also welcomed by some lowed to work, own property, have a dignified life. ten leaders from various religions, sects, and faiths, There is no sanitation, and there are checkpoints with were greeted in churches and mosques. armed soldiers at the gates. Multiply this by about 1.5 million and you will have an approximate dimension of Actors and Parties to the Conflict the human tragedy. .Of one thing you may rest assured: Bashar al- This is how it works, according to Prime Minister Assad is not the sole culprit, THE bad guy in this saga. Wael Al Halki himself, with whom we spent 2.5 hours: He is a well-liked leader all over, which is evident in . .Jihadists take a village by assault, kill public offi- different cities, in talks with differing kinds of persons, cials, take over private houses in which to hide, burn and by their attitudes and actions. Body languages, eye plantations, spread terror and devastation. Their aim is contacts, non-verbal messages work wonders in bring- simple: to render the country as ungovernable as they ing hidden messages to the surface. Billboards with his possibly can, disrupt normal life, destroy institutions, picture are spread throughout the land and they are livestock, people. They occupy hospitals forcing medi- clean, well-preserved. One does not see graffiti over cal personnel to look only after foreign fighters, not al- them, obscenities or anything like that. lowing wounded locals or government soldiers to be In addition, as much as I tried, no one leader could treated. This has created a wave of refugees from a total or would answer my two basic questions: What is the population of 21.9 million. Internal displacement is cal- source of this conflict? What are the solutions?. But I culated at 1.5 million people. And 600,000 external ref- got a generalized reply based and around a single ugees according to the Minister of Social Affairs, Ms theme: “The violence must stop!”. Kinda Al-Shammat (estimate). Refugees Government Retaliation The Syrian state and its population are being indi- Syrian authorities, on the other hand, reacted to the rectly attacked by US/EU/NATO/UN; and directly by rampant and aggressive terrorism through a policy 48 International EIR June 7, 2013 from the neighborhood, but that others were strangers.” Conclusion A positive note: we were gifted with a VIP visit to the famous Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Damascus, fourth-holiest [Islamic] place after Mecca, where is located the tomb and shrine of St. John the Baptist right at the center of the huge 4,000 year-old con- struction that had previously been a temple of Jupiter in Roman times and the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist. This mosque is at the end of the famous Road to Damascus, of St. Paul’s conver- sion, which we walked by foot seeing the exact spot of the event. Upon exiting the mosque complex, one could see an- Wikimedia Commons other building erected by Saladin (1174- The Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Damascus is emblematic of the religious 1193), also buried in Umayyad. tolerance that existed in Syria before the war.