يثير الهدوء النسبي التي تشهده المواجهة بين قوى المعارضة السورية ونظام بشار الأسد في جنوب سوريا الكثير من التساؤلات؛ فلأول وهله تبدو حقائق الجغرافيا والوقائع الموضوعية وحسابات القوى الإقليمية العربية، سيما الأردن، عوامل يفترض أن تسهل وتحفز حسم المواجهة لصالح قوى المعارضة في المنطقة.
فنظرا لأن هذه المنطقة تتاخم الحدود مع الأردن، فبإمكان الدول العربية التي تجاهر بسعيها لإنهاء حكم بشار الأسد أن توفر السلاح والإمكانيات العسكرية التي تمكن المعارضة من حسم المواجهة في هذه المنطقة بشكل سريع.
ولا حاجة للتذكير بأن إشعال جبهة الجنوب سيفضي إلى تقليص هامش المناورة أمام نظام بشار الأسد والأطراف التي تقاتل إلى جانبه، مما سيفضي إلى تقليص التحديات التي تتعرض لها قوى المعارضة السورية في المناطق الأخرى، سيما في محيط دمشقومنطقة الشمال، بشكل يفضي إلى تمكن قوى المعارضة من استعادة زمام المبادرة في عموم سوريا.
من ناحية ثانية، وعلى الرغم من أن قوات النظام استفادت من الغطاء الجوي الروسي في تثبيت الواقع الميداني جنوبي سوريا، فإن الطيران الروسي يبدي أقصى درجات الحذر في العمل في هذه المنطقة، خشية الدخول في المجال الجوي لفلسطين المحتلة، بشكل يتناقض مع قواعد التنسيق المشترك التي تم التوافق عليها بين إسرائيل وروسيا. فخلال بعض الغارات التي شنتها الطائرات الروسية على درعا وريفها في فبراير/شباط الماضي اضطرت الطائرات الروسية إلى اختراق المجال الجوي لفلسطين المحتلة، وهو ما أفضى إلى احتجاج إسرائيلي لضمان عدم تكرار الأمر.
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وقد كان ألوف بن، رئيس تحرير صحيفة "هارتس" أول من كشف مرتكزات تفاهم نظام الحكم في الأردن مع إسرائيل والولايات المتحدة. ففي مقال مهم نشرته الصحيفة بتاريخ 15-4-2013 أوضح بن أن رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي قام خلال شهر ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2012 ويناير/كانون الثاني 2013 بأربع زيارات سرية لعمان التقى خلالها بالملك عبد الله للتفاهم على تدشين "حزام أمني واقعي"، يضمن الهدوء على الحدود من جهة، ومن جهة ثانية يعفي الكيان الصهيوني من تبعات التدخل في سوريا. وعلى الرغم من أنه لا يمكن توقع أن يتبرع كل من النظام في الأردن أو إسرائيل بالكشف عن الخطوات وميكانيزمات التحرك التي ضمنت تدشين هذا الحزام الواقعي، فإنه من الواضع أن الذي يدلل على وجوده هو تثبيت الواقع السياسي والعسكري في المنطقة.
الورقة الدرزية
إن الاعتبار المهم الآخر الذي يدفع إسرائيل للعمل على تثبيت الواقع الميداني في جنوب سوريا هو خوفها أن تفضي خسارة النظام معاقله في الجنوب السوري، سيما في السويداء إلى المس بالدروز الذين يقطنون تلك المنطقة، مما سيفضي إلى ردة فعل للدروز الذين يعيشون في إسرائيل ويخدمون في جيشها وأجهزتها الأمنية.
ونظرا للدور الكبير الذي يلعبه الدروز في إسرائيل في حماية الأمن الصهيوني، فقد عقد ممثلو الدروز في إسرائيل في مايو/أيار 2015 عدة لقاءات مع وزير الحرب الصهيوني السابق موشيه يعلون للتباحث حول مصير الدروز في جنوب سوريا. ونقلت صحيفة معاريف في عددها الصادر بتاريخ 6-6-2015 عن نائب وزير التعاون الإقليمي الإسرائيلي أيوب قرا، وهو درزي، أن القيادة الإسرائيلية قامت "بنقل الرسائل المطلوبة لضمان عدم المس بالدروز جنوبي سوريا". ومن الواضح أن إسرائيل معنية بأن يساعد الأردن في صياغة الواقع الأمني في جنوب سوريا بشكل لا يفضي للمس بالدروز، إذ الجيش الإسرائيلي لا يضع في حساباته التدخل العسكري المباشر لحماية الدروز في المنطقة (هارتس، 12-6-2015).
تنسيق وثيق
لقد سمح ملك الأردن عبد الله الثاني بإطلالة نادرة ومهمة على طابع التنسيق الإسرائيلي الأردني المشترك فيما يتعلق بسوريا. ولعل ما قاله الملك عبد الله في الاجتماع الذي عقده مع 11 سيناتور أميركي في11 يناير/كانون الثاني الماضي في واشنطن، وكشف عنه الصحافي ديفيد هيرست في تقرير نشره موقع "ميدل إيست آي" في مارس/آذار الماضي، يشي بعمق التعاون بين الجانبين. فقد أقر الملك بأنه استجاب لطلب قيادة الجيش الإسرائيلي وأمر جيشه بتدشين قناة اتصال بالجيش الروسي، على غرار القناة التي دشنها الجيش الإسرائيلي، إلى جانب تأكيده أنه بادر بالاتصال برئيس الموساد والطلب منه الالتقاء به لتحسين قدرة الطرفين على التنسيق المشترك في سوريا.
ونقل موقع "وللا" الإسرائيلي بتاريخ 18-2-2015 عن مصدر أمني صهيوني كبير قوله إن التعاون والتنسيق الأمني والاستخباري بين الأردن وإسرائيل بشأن سوريا "فاق كل التوقعات". وقد وصل التنسيق إلى درجة أن سلاح الجو الأردني والإسرائيلي أجريا عدة مناورات مشتركة، وذلك لمواجهات تبعات التحولات المحتملة في سوريا (هارتس، 2-7-2016).
لعبة مزدوجة
لكن في مواجهة الخدمات الإستراتيجية الهائلة التي تقدمها عمان، فإن حكام تل أبيب يمارسون لعبة مزدوجة مع نظام الحكم في الأردن من خلال التشكيك في قدرته على الصمود والمجاهرة بالكشف عن دور إسرائيل في ضمان بقائه، كما زعم مؤخرا وزير الحرب السابق موشيه يعلون(يسرائيل هيوم، 27-7-2016). وفي مناسبة أخرى دعا يعلون جيشه للاستعداد لمواجهة تبعات سقوط النظام في عمان؛ وهو ما جعل الجيش الإسرائيلي يجري مناورات على تنفيذ عمليات في عمق الأردن ذاته (هارتس،17-7-2015).
وبسبب عدم ثقتها في استقرار نظام الحكم في عمان، فقد أحبطت إسرائيل تنفيذ صفقة التزمت الولايات المتحدة بموجبها بتزويد الأردن بطائرات بدون طيار ذات قدرات هجومية؛ حيث بررت تل أبيب موقفها بأن هناك مخاطر على استقرار نظام الحكم وأن هذه الطائرات يمكن أن تصل في النهاية إلى جهات "أصولية متطرفة" (معاريف، 4-7-2015). ولم تحرص إسرائيل على أدنى مراعاة لمصالح الأردن عندما قامت بتدشين مطار "تمناع" شمال إيلات، حيث تبين أن العمل في هذا المطار سيشوش بشكل خطير على حركة الملاحة الجوية في مطار العقبة، كما تؤكد عمان ذلك. ومما يثير الاستهجان، حقيقة أنه على الرغم من مظاهر السلوك الإسرائيلي السلبي الفج تجاه الأردن، فإنها لم تواجه بردة فعل من قبل نظام الحكم في عمان.
قصارى القول، ما تقدم يدلل على أن اعتبارات المصلحة الإسرائيلية تلعب دورا مهما في تثبيت الواقع السياسي والعسكري جنوبي سوريا. والمؤسف هو أن الأطراف العربية التي تبدي كل هذا الحرص على المصالح الإسرائيلية وتسهم بذلك في إطالة أمد معاناة الشعب السوري تقدم على ذلك وهي تغض الطرف عن عدم تردد إسرائيل بالمس بمصالحها القومية.
The Syrian city of Aleppo has been hit by a suspected chlorine attack, which would amount to a war crime if confirmed, and constitutes an alarming sign that Syrian government forces are intensifying their use of chemical weapons against civilians, Amnesty International said Thursday.
The attack on a residential neighbourhood in a part of Aleppo controlled by armed groups is the third reported use of chemical weapons in northern Syria in just two weeks and has reportedly killed at least four people. Amnesty International has confirmed at least 60 others, mostly children, sought medical care after showing symptoms characteristic of a chlorine attack.
“This attack in Aleppo is yet another flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and signals a distressing pattern in the use of chemical weapons by regime forces,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
The latest attack comes as Russia announced a three-hour daily ceasefire on the city, as humanitarian aid is desperately needed in some areas.
“We call for the immediate cessation of air raids on civilian targets in Aleppo. It is imperative that chemical attacks and other war crimes end now. We also call for the unrestricted free flow of aid to the tens of thousands of people trapped in the city’s east,” said Magdalena Mughrabi.
“Three hours a day to deliver aid is grossly inadequate given the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in eastern Aleppo and the perilous and time-consuming nature of such deliveries.”
It is imperative that chemical attacks and other war crimes end now
Amnesty International spoke to a doctor in Aleppo who said that of the 60 injured in the latest attack, 40 were children.
“They were all suffering from the same symptoms, mainly coughing and shortness of breath. I could easily smell chlorine on people’s clothes,” he said.
“We will soon run out of medical supplies if the frequency of attacks continues like this.”
In July, Syrian armed forces backed by Russian air power encircled eastern Aleppo, which has been held by armed groups since 2012. The government siege essentially cut some 250,000 people off from basic food, medicine and fuel supplies that keep ambulances and hospital generators running. Russia has carried out airstrikes over Syria since September last year in support of the government forces.
I could easily smell chlorine on people’s clothes
Yesterday’s attack occurred in the al-Zibdiye neighbourhood of Aleppo one kilometre away from the frontline.
Armed groups this week broke the Syrian government forces’ siege but this was followed with intensified bombing of the city by government and Russian
forces.
Two barrel bombs allegedly containing chlorine gas were dropped on 1 August in two residential neighbourhoods in the city of Saraqeb in Idleb province, reportedly injuring at least 28 civilians.
This attack comes almost exactly a year after the UN Security Council passed a resolution to establish a mechanism to investigate chemical attacks in Syria and identify their perpetrators. If it is confirmed that bombs dropped yesterday contained chlorine it will underline the extent to which government forces – as well as other parties to the conflict – are continuing to flagrantly violate international humanitarian law with impunity.
Media reports on 2 August said another chemical attack had been launched in Aleppo. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of chemical weapons and requires States Parties to destroy chemical weapon stockpiles. The use of prohibited weapons such as chemical weapons is a war crime under customary international law.
Syrian government forces are suspected of carrying out dozens of horrific attacks with chlorine and other chemical weapons on opposition-held areas since 2012, killing hundreds and inflicting terrible injuries on others. All such attacks are prohibited by international humanitarian law.
In September 2013, after hundreds of people died in alleged sarin gas attacks on Ghouta, outside Damascus, Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention and President al-Assad pledged to destroy the country’s stockpile of prohibited chemical agents.
However, a year later, in September 2014, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding mission found “compelling confirmation” that a toxic chemical was used “systematically and repeatedly” as a weapon in villages in northern Syria.
(New York) – Syrian and Russian military attacks on hospitals in recent weeks during the government air campaign in the Aleppo region are causing deaths and injuries and shutting down medical facilities. The United Nations Security Council should ask the secretary-general to conduct an independent inquiry into the attacks.
A medic inspects the damage inside Anadan Hospital, sponsored by Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), after it was hit by an airstrike in the rebel held city of Anadan, northern Aleppo province, Syria on July 31, 2016.
Human Rights Watch documented six airstrikes by Syrian government or Russian planes on health facilities in Idlib and Aleppo over the past two weeks, all of which forced the medical facilities to temporarily shut down. The airstrikes also killed 17 civilians and wounded at least six people. According to the Syrian American Medical Society, which operates clinics and field hospitals in opposition-controlled areas, there were 43 such attacks in July, the worst month for attacks on medical facilities since the conflict in Syria began.
“Airstrikes on hospitals are becoming routine in Syria, but we have yet to see any investigation or accountability for these criminal acts,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. “With heavy bombing continuing relentlessly in Aleppo especially, hospitals and clinics need to be treated as the sacred life-saving places they are, not as additional bombing targets.”
Human Rights Watch spoke by Whatsapp messaging to administrators of four hospitals and of a blood bank, as well as of two facilities hit on August 6, the Medecins Sans Frontiers-supported Amal Hospital in Millis, a village in Idlib province, and the hospital in Sarmin village in Idlib. All said that the facilities were clearly marked as medical facilities and that there were no armed combatants in the vicinity of the facilities at the time of the attacks.
Under international humanitarian law, medical facilities are afforded special protection, while also retaining the general protections applied to civilians and civilian structures. They should never be attacked unless they are being used for military purposes to commit acts harmful to a party to the conflict. Absent these conditions deliberate attacks on medical facilities are violations of the laws of war and could be prosecuted as war crimes.
The attacks on medical facilities also have a direct impact on the right to health for residents of northern Syria, Human Rights Watch said. A UN inquiry should identify the attackers, collect and preserve evidence for future prosecutions, and take measures to sanction those responsible.
On July 23, 2016, airstrikes struck four clinics – al-Hakim Children’s Hospital, al-Daqaq Hospital, al-Zahra’ Hospital and al-Bayan hospital – and the Central Blood Bank in Aleppo’s al-Sha`ar densely populated neighborhood. All are clearly marked as hospitals. There was no claim of responsibility from either the Syrian or Russian government.
Men and civil defence members look for survivors after an airstrike on a hospital in the town of Meles, western Idlib city in opposition armed forces-held Idlib province, Syria on August 6, 2016.
“The rocket fell right on top of the building,” said Abu al-Motassim, head of al-Zahra’ hospital, a 24-hour medical facility for gynecological and maternity needs in Aleppo. “I can’t describe the feeling when it hit – I thought the whole building was going to collapse on our heads. It was chaos.”
The World Health Organization had said that there was only one hospital in East Aleppo still offering obstetric services, with two gynecologists handling a caseload of 30–35 deliveries per day.
According to Physicians for Human Rights, 750 medical personnel have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict, 698 of them by Syrian government forces or the Russian military. According to the organization, there were 373 attacks on 265 medical facilities between March 22, 2011 and May, 2016. They said that the majority of the attacks deliberately targeted the medical facilities.
On May 3, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2286, condemning “abuses committed against medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities in armed conflict.” The Security Council urged member countries to protect “the wounded and sick, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, as well as hospitals and other medical facilities in armed conflict, and, where appropriate, take action against those responsible in accordance with domestic and international law, with a view to reinforcing preventive measures, ensuring accountability and addressing the grievances of victims.”
Shrapnel flew into the hospital and tore the wire leading to the oxygen tank of Mohamad Shebli, a two-day-old baby, who died instantly. The smoke and dust also caused by the strike caused the death of three other ICU babies.
Dr. Hatem Abu Yazen
Head of al-Hakim children’s hospital
Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted on December 18, 2015, called on all parties to the conflict in Syria to “immediately cease any attacks against civilians and civilian objects as such, including attacks against medical facilities and personnel, and any indiscriminate use of weapons, including through shelling and aerial bombardment.”
In December 2014, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that urges countries to take specific actions to prevent attacks on health services.
“For the doctors and nurses in Syria as well as to the sick and wounded, the words of the Security Council are empty promises,” Houry said. “The world powers may not be able to agree on a solution to the Syrian conflict, but surely they must be able to agree on steps to ensure that those who attack hospitals will one day face justice.”
The July 23 Attacks Human Rights Watch spoke to heads of the four hospitals hit on July 23 as well as an administrator at the Aleppo Central Blood Bank.
Abu al-Motassim, head of al-Zahra’ hospital said the hospital was hit at 1 a.m.
Some doctors were in the middle of an open-stomach operation when the strike happened, and they had to quickly use fans to blow away the dust and smoke out of the operating room so they could tie up the patient and move her out of the operating room. The doors, windows, the walls were all damaged, and some equipment was destroyed.
We were just so happy that we were alive. We didn’t have any deaths or injuries and the hospital staff was fine, but the building is badly damaged and now we are not operational anymore.
Dr. Hatem Abu Yazen, the head of the nearby al-Hakim children’s hospital, said that the hospital was struck later that day, at 1 p.m. and again at 11 p.m. with shrapnel and damage, causing the deaths of four newborns in the intensive care unit:
The missile fell seven to eight meters away from the hospital in the residential building nearby. The impact of the strike destroyed the hospital’s windows, doors, and a corrugated ceiling. It also destroyed three incubators, and some hospital equipment was damaged. Shrapnel flew into the hospital and tore the wire leading to the oxygen tank of Mohamad Shebli, a two-day-old baby, who died instantly. The smoke and dust also caused by the strike caused the death of three other ICU babies – Rahaf Mohamed, 3 days old, Taha Sabah, 4 days old, and Hassan Makhzoum, 3 days old.
Dr. Ahmad Yaseen, head of al-Bayan hospital, a general surgery facility, said that his hospital, which had first been hit on June 8, was hit at 12 a.m. on July 23. Video posted on YouTube showed smoke billowing into the area where babies slept in incubators. Outside the doors of the hospital, much dust and smoke and rubble could be seen. He said:
The missile fell in the street just 10 meters outside the hospital and we suffered a huge amount of damage to the hospital walls and doors and windows and infrastructure in general. Luckily there were no injuries or deaths because it was very late at night and not many people were at the hospital. I was in the hospital at the time of the strike and all I heard was a plane circling in the sky and within seconds we were all thrown to the floor along with a huge explosion and the sounds of breaking glass and smoke and dust everywhere and women and neighbors screaming. We are in a very residential area and there are no headquarters of any security or military anywhere close by.
Abu Kamel, an administrator at the Central Blood Bank in Aleppo, said that a missile fell in the building across from the blood bank at 4 p.m., causing much damage to his building, and that another fell on the street in front of the facility, but did not explode. He said there was one injury but no deaths. Another strike occurred at 11 p.m. the same day.
The destruction was material, including doors, windows, and equipment. The second strike at night hit the building behind the blood bank and the impact of the strike blew out all the doors and windows of our building. I was in the building during the 4 p.m. strike and it was terrifying. The sound was very loud, and you could hear the shrapnel hitting walls all around us, and no one knew whether or not to leave the building or to stay put. al-Sha’ar is a residential area and we are part of a complex of medical facilities which agreed with all the military and security personnel in Aleppo to stay away from our buildings. Now we are closed completely and we are not operational.
The administrators of all four medical facilities said that there are no military or security headquarters or offices anywhere near the hospitals. Yaseen said the area is a “very residential area with many shops and restaurants.”
The August 6 Attacks On August 6, airstrikes hit the Medecins Sans Frontiers-supported Amal Hospital in Millis, a village in Idlib province, at 2 p.m. The attack killed four medical staff and nine civilians, including five children and two women, and injured six others from the medical staff, according to the head of the hospital, Dr. Taher Abdelbaqi, who spoke to Human Rights Watch, and a statement from MSF. MSF said the bombing destroyed “most of the hospital building, including the operating theater, intensive care unit, pediatric department, and around 80 percent of the medical devices, the ambulances and the generator.”
Video posted on YouTube of the aftermath of the attack shows people clearing rubble, smoke rising from the charred hospital building, and firefighters putting out fires from what seems to be the hospital. Rescue workers are also shown pulling out a young boy with a bloodied face from underneath the concrete. Photos showed the building barely standing with a collapsed ceiling and interior walls.
Dr. Abdelbaqi said that 250 to 300 people are served by the hospital on a daily basis. He said that he was in the doctor’s rest area when the attack came:
The electrical generators are so loud that we can’t hear any planes or other sounds before the attack. All we felt was a huge explosion and all of a sudden smoke and dust filled the hospital. There is a building nearby that used to be used by armed groups but they abandoned it a year ago and it is empty now.
Also on August 6, at 9:30 a.m., airstrikes hit the hospital in Sarmin village in Idlib, said a hospital administrator and a nurse who spoke to Human Rights Watch. Photos posted on Twitter show a large crater in the ground near the hospital where the rocket fell, another photo shows the rubble collapsing in the middle of what seemed to be a children’s section of the hospital. Villages in Idlib have been the target of intensive aerial attacks by Russian and Syrian jets, particularly after armed groups shot down a Russian Mi-8 helicopter in Saraqeb, 10 kilometers from Sarmin on August 1. Two Russian officers and three crew members were killed in the attack.
Omar Jajouk, an administrator with Sarmin Hospital, said that the attack came at about 9:30 a.m. He said there were no injuries or deaths but that the building was damaged:
The hospital is made up of three buildings next to each other – the physical therapy center, the clinics section, and the hospital itself. The rockets fell in the middle of the three buildings, only about 10 meters away from each one. The hospital is out of commission at the moment until we finish maintenance on the damaged doors, windows and other parts of the hospital. The hospital is in the middle of a residential quarter of the village and there is a school nearby… There are no military or Free Syrian Army presence in the village or near the hospital.
Mustafa Khalil, a nurse at Sarmin hospital said he was in the ground floor in the operating area when the attack came:
The explosion was very strong and one of the walls collapsed into a room in front of me. All the doors and windows were completely broken. The dust and smoke entered into the hospital and affected the patients in the rooms and they were very frightened.
"As conflicts from Iraq to Syria have forced a record 60 million people around the world to flee their homes and become refugees, we speak with Scott Anderson about his in-depth new report, "Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart." Occupying the entire print edition of this week’s New York Times Magazine, it examines what has happened in the region in the past 13 years since the the U.S. invaded Iraq through the eyes of six characters in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. Anderson is also author of the book, "Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East."...."
شهدت الأيام الأخيرة لقاءات ثنائية أميركية روسية، وتركية روسية، وتركية إيرانية أعلن بعد كل منها عن النية للتنسيق بشأن سورية. الغائب هو الدول العربية، بما في ذلك سورية وشعبها. وزن الدولة العربية السياسي في تناقص مستمر دوليا وإقليميا، وصورة العدو والصديق لديها مرتبكة تماما، فما زالت الدولة العربية تقتصر على نظام سياسي يصارع على بقائه، ولا كيان متميز للدولة منفصل عن النظام الحاكم ومعاركه واولوياته.
لندن- القدس العربي- تعرّض منزل فنان الكاريكاتير السوري علي فرزات في دمشق لاعتداء طال عدداً من أعمال الفنية كما أكد الفنان، الذي كان ترك دمشق في العام 2011 إثر عملية خطفه من وسط العاصمة السورية، والاعتداء عليه جسدياً وتهشيم أصابعه في محاولة لإسكاته رسوماته الناقدة للنظام.
فرزات أكد، في حديث لـ “القدس العربي”، أن قوة أمنية يترأسها ضابط برتبة رائد، كسرت قفل المنزل، وبدّلته، ثم ترك أربعة عناصر فيه. ليجري بعدها سرقة أثاث المنزل، وخلع صناديق وخزائن وسرقة رسوم”.
ونقل فرزات عن شهود عيان أن جيران المنزل سألوا القوة المداهمة فجاء الجواب بأن “لدينا أوامر عليا”، و”هذا ليس شغلكم”.
وتساءل الفنان السوري “دولة المؤسسات والقانون تلجأ عادة إلى مؤسسات قضاء مختصة، وتختم بالشمع الأحمر، أما ما يفعلونه هنا فهو “سلبطة” أمام الجميع″. وأضاف “هم فوق ذلك صادروا البيت وينوون عرضه للبيع في مزاد علني”.
الفنان قال إنه “بات من المعتاد التحريض على الفنانين والأدباء، ومصادرة بيوتهم نتيجة مواقفهم المعارضة”، وتساءل “ما الفرق بين النظام وبين “داعش” الذي يعتدي على المتاحف والتماثيل، فيما هم يكسرون أعمال الفنانين المعاصرين”.
وأضاف “يبدو أن الفكر والفن يوجعهم أكثر من أي شيء آخر. علي فرزات لا يملك سوى القلم، ليس لديه سلاح ولا آربي جي”.
ولم يخف الفنان سخريته، حتى وهو يراقب هذا الاعتداء على أعمال عزيزة بالنسبة له، حين قال “إنها لوحة كاريكاتيرية، حين نراهم يصادرون اللوحة مع الطنجرة والمقلاية. هناك سريالية في المشهد أكثر من سريالية وكاريكاتيرية اللوحة”.
الحادثة الجديدة أعادت إلى الأذهان الاعتداء الذي تعرض له فرزات مع بداية الثورة السورية العام 2011، حيث خطف من ساحة الأمويين وسط دمشق، وضرب وهشمت أصابعه قبل أن يلقى في الطريق. وهو يعلق بالقول “الحادثة كانت سببها النقد والرسم، بعد أن اعتبروا بعض رسوماتي التي تتناول الرئيس أو فروع الأمن تجاوزاً للمحرمات. لكن الحقيقة أنهم أدركوا أننا كسرنا حاجز الخوف، ولم نعد نقبل بتأليه الأشخاص الذين قدسوهم لأربعين عاماً”.
كذلك أشار الفنان إلى العديد من الحوادث المماثلة التي تعرّض لها فنانون، من أمثال الفنانين جمال سليمان ويارا صبري وعبدالحكيم قطيفان ومالك جندلي وابراهيم القاشوش”.
وختم فرزات بالقول “لا أدري إلى أين يريدون أن يصلوا. لديهم دائماً هاجس معاقبة الفنان ومنعه من الرسم. يحاولون لوي يدي ومنعي من القول”.
Woman and two children killed in suspected chlorine attack in Aleppo – one of dozens of such attacks reported since Syria gave up its weapons stockpile
A civilian breathes through an oxygen mask after an alleged chlorine gas attack in Aleppo. Photograph: Abdalrhman Ismail/ReutersThe Guardian Link
A woman and two children have been killed and dozens injured in an alleged chlorine gas attack in Aleppo, doctors have said, as experts warned that the frequent use of chemical weapons in Syria risks normalising war crimes.
There have been dozens of attacks with chlorine gas since Syria officially agreed to give up its weapons stockpile following a 2013 sarin gas assault on a Damascus suburb, rights groups and doctors on the ground said.
The latest reports came as Russia offered to halt fighting for three hours a day to allow aid into besieged parts of the city, but the UN countered by saying it needed at least 48 hours a week to take convoys through heavily bombed and mined roads into eastern Aleppo.
There are still 1.5 million people living in Aleppo, the city that was Syria’s largest before the civil war and is now at the heart of the brutal battle for its future. About 300,000 civilians in rebel-held areas are at grave risk from water shortages and disease as fighting has intensified, said the UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura.
Asked about the chemical attack on the Aleppo district of Zubdiya, he said there was a lot of evidence that it took place, and it would constitute a war crime if chlorine gas was used, but he added that it was not his remit to verify the attack. “If it did take place, it is a war crime and as such it would require everyone … to address it immediately,” he added.
Last week, doctors in the neighbouring province of Idlib said they had treated more than two dozen patients following a suspected chlorine attack on the town of Saraqeb.
The challenge of verifying the use of chemical weapons in a war zone, particularly chlorine – which disperses rapidly and does not leave a unique chemical trace when used as a weapon – has hampered efforts to track their use.
However, the UN’s chemical weapons watchdog says it is confident that chlorine gas has been used as a weapon. It does not apportion blame but has said the bombs were probably dropped by helicopters used by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons, and since the US president, Barack Obama, stepped back from enforcing his “red line” on their use, attacks have drawn nothing more than public condemnation from western leaders.
Although most recent attacks have been relatively small, the toll of dead and maimed civilians and activists is mounting, and experts are concerned that the use of chemical weapons is no longer as shocking as it was a few years ago.
“There is certainly a huge risk of normalising [the use of chemical weapons],” said Richard Guthrie, a British chemical weapons expert who has raised concerns about the wider impacts of Syria’s continued use of toxins as weapons.
A damaged vehicle after a Syrian army helicopter belonging hit a residential area in Aleppo with barrel bombs. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
“In recent decades, chemical weapons have slowly been de-legitimised as a currency of power. The continued reports of use of these abhorrent weapons are deeply concerning. This latest allegation of use is another contribution to the slow and steady diminishing of the taboo.”
Amnesty International and doctors on the ground said the timing of the attacks indicated they may be used as reprisals against civilians in areas where rebels make military gains. “There may also be a punishment angle to this,” said Neil Sammonds, Syria researcher with Amnesty. “Its beneficial for them to keep terrorising and making life as painful as possible for people living in areas they don’t control.”
The latest apparent attack happened after opposition fighters broke a siege on eastern Aleppo. Within hours, doctors said they were preparing for a chemical attack. Another chlorine attack reported this month was near where a Russian helicopter was shot down.
“Using chemical agents without accountability has become the new normal in Syria. It is a very dangerous precedent that the international community is setting,” said Zaher Sahloul, a Syrian-American doctor who regularly volunteers in Aleppo.
“Since the UN security council resolution to destroy chemical weapon stockpiles in Syria, there were more than 70 attacks with chemical agents by the Syrian regime but this time with chlorine gas,” added Sahloul, whose organisation tracks reported chemical attacks.
A rescue worker treating a baby allegedly affected by a chlorine gas attack in Saraqeb. Photograph: Motie Jalal / Syria Civil Defense/ Idlib/EPA
Most recent attacks attributed to government forces have used chlorine gas, which analysts say may be due to its ready availability as a common industrial chemical and the challenges of tracing it.
“[Chlorine], although militarily not a very efficient way of conducting war, is extremely effective at sowing terror. It’s also a very useful weapon if you don’t want to be traced,” said Jerry Smith, director of security consultancy RameHead International and a former UN chemical weapons inspector in Syria.
“So all you are left with after an attack is reporting and witness statements. And in an investigation, if you base everything on witnesses, some people will question if that is ever sufficient.”
Smith, who said chlorine has probably been used several times in Syria, believes the challenge of tracing the gas and the international community’s weak response may make it a particularly attractive weapon for regime forces.
“Its impact is two-fold, not only is it a terror weapon, but victims know it’s a terror weapon, and that regimes shouldn’t use it under international law. So that almost increases the impact of terror,” said Smith.
The impact of Syria’s use of chemical weapons could allow chemical weapons to flourish far beyond its own civil war, Guthrie has warned. “As it stands today, one lesson of Syria that could be drawn by other dictatorships is that a chemical weapons programme may buy you time within a civil war,” he told a recentinternational conference.
“If the major disincentives to producing chemical weapons and then to use them might be fear of being deposed by internal or external forces or getting caught by the international community and being brought to trial, then the Syria case has illustrated none of these.”
