قتل ثلاثة إيرانيين في سورية، اثنان منهم من عسكريي "اللواء 65"، التابع للقوات البرية الخاصة، والتابعة بدورها للجيش الإيراني، وفق ما أعلنت وكالة أنباء فارس الإيرانية، اليوم الأربعاء، ليصل عدد قتلى هذا اللواء إلى سبعة أشخاص.
وأفادت "فارس" أن العسكريين، ويدعيان صادق شيبك وحسين همتي، ذهبا إلى سورية "لأداء واجبهم في الدفاع عن مرقد السيدة زينب"،وفققولها، وقد قتلا خلال اشتباكات مع من وصفتهم بـ"التكفيريين".
في السياق ذاته، أفاد موقع "تسنيم"، نقلا عن مكتب العلاقات العامة التابع للحرس الثوري الإيراني، أن افشين زورقي قد قتل هو الآخر خلال اشتباكات مسلحة في سورية.
وينتسب زورقي إلى منطقة سياهتلو في غرغان، التابعة لمحافظة غيلان شمالي إيران، وقد ذهب، بشكل طوعي، إلى سورية، بحسب الموقع، الذي أضاف أنه ثامن قتلى إيران من هذه المحافظة، وسيشيع جثمانه يوم الجمعة، ليوارى قي الثرى في مسقط رأسه.
وبهذا يصل عدد قتلى عسكريي إيران في سورية إلى 239، وهذا منذ أن أعلنت قوات الحرس الثوري عن زيادة عدد مستشاريها هناك بالتزامن مع بدء توجيه الضربات الجوية الروسية لمواقع في سورية قبل أشهر.
وقد أعلن الجيش الإيراني، مؤخرا، عن إرسال عناصر من "اللواء 65" التابع للقوات البرية الخاصة، بهدف تقديم استشارات عسكرية ميدانية، وفق تصريحات جاءت على لسان قادة عسكريين إيرانيين.
(Istanbul) – Syrian military attacks on armed opposition groups near the Turkish border hit two displaced persons camps on April 13 and 15, 2016, causing at least 3,000 people to flee, although they were unable to cross the border to safety, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch interviewed camp residents and members of the local civil defense forces, who said there were no fatalities in the camps, near the town of Bidama, though there was damage to tents and other property. A separate attack on a nearby displaced persons camp in late January killed two people and seriously injured three others. Turkey should open its borders to fleeing Syrians who have been forced into these camps near Turkey’s southwest border.
“Under fire even in makeshift border camps, Syrian victims of Turkey’s border pushbacks are paying the price,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch. “As the world struggles to end attacks on Syrian civilians, it should at least support Turkey to open its border to people fleeing the conflict, and stop turning them into sitting ducks.”
Over the past three months, displaced Syrians who tried to seek refuge in Turkey were repeatedly pushed back at the border and into insecure border camps in the area. On April 14, Human Rights Watch reported that Turkish border guards enforcing Turkey’s one-year-old border closure shot at Syrians escaping ISIS advances northeast of Aleppo.
The Syrian military should immediately end indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, and uphold its obligation to take all feasible precautions to avoid killing or injuring civilians, and damaging civilian objects, including camps for displaced people, Human Rights Watch said. Likewise, Turkey should respect its obligations to allow all Syrian civilians fleeing fighting to seek protection in Turkey.
Hossam Zleito, head of the Bidama Syrian Civil Defense, made up of volunteer search and rescue workers, said that on April 13 and 15, the Syrian government struck areas around Bidama, including the Khirmash and Hambushiyah camps, to the northeast of the town. The Syrian government issued no statements on the attacks. On April 18, armed opposition groups announced that they would open a new offensive in the area, known as Jabal al-Akrad (or Kurdish Mountains).
According to humanitarian agencies monitoring the situation, at least 17,000 displaced civilians are in the area.
Syrian government forces’ advances since October 2015 in the Kurdish and Turkmen mountains to the northeast of the Syrian city of Latakia have displaced thousands of people. They have fled to various locations northeast of Latakia, near the Turkish border.
On April 16, Human Rights Watch spoke with five Syrians who had been living in the camps that were attacked the day before, Khirmash and Khabasi, which sheltered 2,000 people. Two Turkish border guard watchtowers overlook the camps.
Two of the witnesses said that Syrian government forces whom they believed were positioned in Ghamam, about 25 kilometers southwest of Bidama, and Ain Ashra, about 10 kilometers southwest of Bidama, started shelling roads near the camps on April 14, including the main roads between Bidama, Ain al-Hur and al-Hanbushiya. Human Rights Watch could not confirm where the attack had been launched.
The camp residents said that on April 15, artillery projectiles landed near both camps and inside Khirmash and that its 1,500 inhabitants had fled to nearby villages or into the hills.
One said:
It was early evening and the camp was full of families preparing for prayer and dinner. Suddenly, we heard an explosion near the camp, I think about 50 meters away. All the other explosions the day before and earlier that day were a few kilometers away in the towns, but we were worried. We called the Syrian Civil Defense and we started to evacuate everyone. We took all the women and children to the nearby camp school. About 15 minutes later, another shell landed in the middle the camp and there was a big explosion. Later we found out it landed near a cooking gas canister. After that, about four other shells landed in and very close to the camp. Everyone was very scared.
A member of the Syrian Civil Defense said:
At 6:15 p.m., we received a phone call from some in Khirmash camp who said a shell had landed close by and that everyone was afraid. Four of us went straight to the camp. While we were there another shell landed, this time in the camp. We ran toward the explosion and looked in all the nearby tents to make sure no one was injured. Fortunately everyone had already left and only one of the tents was destroyed.
Over the next hour, we then used as many cars and trucks as we could to get people out of the camp. During that time another four shells landed in the camp and six outside the camp. People were very scared, but fortunately no one was hurt. This morning some of the men came back to pack up their things. They were crying and said their children were now extremely afraid and that they didn’t know where to go.
The camp representatives told Human Rights Watch that the people in the camps were mostly from Bidama, which government forces attacked in early February. Those interviewed said the camp residents had first fled to the Khurbat al Juz-Guvecci border crossing, 10 kilometers northeast of Bidama, but that Turkish border guards had repeatedly denied them entry. They then moved to the Khirmash and Khabasi camps.
One of the men said that on April 13, Turkish border guards in the nearby watchtowers had used loudspeakers to announce in Arabic that no one should approach the border and that anyone who did would be shot.
When asked about humanitarian needs in the camps, such as food and shelter, one said: “We don’t care about those things. All we want is to go to Turkey and be safe.” He added that some of the people who had fled the Khabasi camp were trying to dig a cave into the mountainside to protect themselves from shelling.
“The message from the Syrians to Turkey and other countries is loud and clear,” said Simpson. “We need safety first; food and tents cannot protect against shelling.”
Blocked at Border, Fleeing from One Camp to Another Human Rights Watch also spoke with other Syrians displaced by government attacks who had been repeatedly blocked from crossing into Turkey by Turkish border guards since late January and are now living in their second or third displacement camp.
Two Syrians living in poor conditions in the overcrowded Sheikh Sayyah camp a few kilometers from the border town of Khurbat al Juz said they had previously lived for five months in the al-Hambushiya displaced persons camp, about three kilometers northeast of Bidama, but that on April 13, Syrian government forces had shelled the camp, forcing its approximately 1,000 inhabitants to flee yet again. Both said they had tried to flee to Turkey through the Khurbat al Juz-Guvecci crossing, but that border guards had pushed them back.
Human Rights Watch also spoke with two of the 15,000 Syrians living in two displaced persons camps in Duria on the Turkish border, 15 kilometers northeast of Bidama. They had previously lived in the Yunsiya displaced persons camp, three kilometers southwest of Bidama, but fled with thousands of others at the end of January, when Syrian government forces attacked the nearby village and camp.
A third man in the Duria camp said that at the end of January 2016, he had also fled with hundreds of other displaced Syrians from the Itqan camp, which was struck by government shelling on January 30. The head of Bidama’s Syrian Civil Defense confirmed that two people had been killed and three injured in the attack. Two of the injured had to have arms amputated. An aid worker familiar with the area said that many of the Itqan residents tried to flee to Turkey, but were pushed back and went to Duria.
Local Civil Defence Forces extinguishing flames in tent after Syrian government forces shelling hit Khirmash displaced persons camp in Syria on Turkey’s border on April 15, 2016.
The Duria camp representative told Human Rights Watch that in early February, all 15,000 residents had tried to flee to Turkey through the Khurbat al Juz-Guvecci border crossing, but had been pushed back by Turkish border guards, triggering the construction of the Duria camp. One woman said that she and thousands of others had sat for 10 days in the rain next to the Turkish border fence at Khurbat al Juz begging the guards to let them in.
“Turkey isn’t just pushing Syrians back who recently left their homes for the first time,” said Simpson. “It’s also blocking desperate people who have repeatedly fled attacks on displaced persons camps.”
Turkey’s Closed Border Since early 2015, Turkey has all but closed its borders to Syrians fleeing the conflict. Between April 12 and 19, 2016, Human Rights Watch interviewed 25 people who described how Turkish border guards at the Syrian border pushed them and dozens – in some cases hundreds – of others back to Syria between February and mid-April. Many described serious violence and two said that Turkish border guards beat fellow asylum seekers so badly that they were hardly recognizable.
These recent accounts of Turkish border guard abuses are consistent with Human Rights Watch findings in late 2015 of Turkish border guards beating and summarily expelling dozens of Syrians who crossed to Turkey using smugglers.
As of early April, Turkey had completed a third of a 911-kilometer, rocket-resistant, concrete wall along its border with Syria and was working to fortify the rest of its border.
Turkey is obliged to respect the principle of non-refoulement. That principle, under customary international law, prohibits rejecting asylum seekers at borders when rejection would expose them to the threat of persecution, torture, and threats to life and freedom.
Turkey’s refusal to allow Syrian refugees to cross the border comes as the European Union is closing its own external borders to asylum seekers. In mid-March, the EU concluded a controversial migration deal with Ankara to curb refugee and migration flows to Europe, offering €6 billion in aid to assist Syrians in Turkey, reinvigorated EU membership negotiations, and the prospect of visa-free travel for Turkish citizens. The deal provides for the return to Turkey of asylum seekers and refugees, including Syrians, who reach Greece by boat, on the grounds that Turkey is a safe country for them. The deal also commits the EU to work with Turkey to create areas inside Syria that will be “more safe.”
“As EU leaders celebrate lower numbers of Syrians reaching EU shores, they should reflect on the heavy price paid by tens of thousands of civilians trapped right now on Turkey’s border,” Simpson said. “Closing their eyes to suffering doesn’t mean it’s gone away.”
The terrifying reality of the Syrian government’s relentless barrel bombing of the besieged city of Daraya, outside Damascus, is made brutally clear in a new video released by Amnesty International today amid the latest round of peace talks in Geneva.
The organization hopes the harrowing eyewitness footage will spur the international community to re-double its demands on the Syrian government to grant immediate lifesaving humanitarian access to Daraya and all areas still under siege.
Although no barrel bombs have been dropped on Daraya since the partial “cessation of hostilities” came into effect on 26 February, there have been attacks with other weaponry and thousands of civilians who remain in the city continue to suffer from severe food and medical shortages and no electricity.
“This video conveys the sheer terror experienced by besieged civilians coming under relentless pummelling by the Syrian government’s barrel bombs. It shows in shocking close-up detail what civilians in Daraya have had to live through,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Middle East and North Africa interim Deputy Programme Director at Amnesty International.
This video conveys the sheer terror experienced by besieged civilians coming under relentless pummelling by the Syrian government’s barrel bombs.
“It is absolutely outrageous – though not surprising – that the Syrian government has continued to bombard and starve its own civilians. And it is unacceptable that the UN and other influential international players are not doing more to address the critical situation in Daraya and other besieged locations.”
Imprecise barrel bombs
Barrel bombs are crude but deadly weapons fashioned out of oil barrels, fuel tanks or gas cylinders which are packed with explosives, fuel, and metal fragments and dropped from helicopters and planes. They are by definition imprecise and must never be used in the vicinity of civilians.
Daraya has endured thousands of barrel bombs on top of more than three years of crippling siege by Syrian government forces.
According to data collected by the Local Council of Daraya City, around 6,800 barrel bombs have been dropped there between January 2014 until the “cessation of hostilities” agreement on 26 February 2016.
The resulting damage and destruction is evident from countless videos and other images. At least 42 civilians, including 17 children, have been killed by these imprecise explosive weapons. According to local activists, a further 1,200 civilians have been injured. Local activists believe that the death toll would almost certainly be higher except for the fact that residents have become so used to rushing to shelters whenever helicopters are spotted.
Most of Daraya’s original residents fled the devastation years ago and now only between 4,000 and 8,000 remain, a fraction of its original population.
Harrowing testimonies
They want to kill me.
The video, shot by civilians in Daraya between 2014 and late February 2016, includes footage that has never before been made public.
It shows scenes of Syrian government forces’ barrel bombs falling and exploding inside the city, interspersed with civilians – including children and the elderly – describing the sheer terror of living under such relentless attacks in a city under siege.
“They want to kill me,” a bespectacled young girl with curly hair says when asked about the bombs.
In another harrowing scene, an injured young boy lies alongside the corpse of his brother who was killed in a barrel bomb attack, weeping and begging: “My brother, please don’t leave me.”
“It is difficult even to imagine the scale and depth of human suffering endured by civilians in Daraya and other besieged areas of Syria, some of which have received no humanitarian aid during years of fighting. Every day that goes by without aid delivery means that the humanitarian crisis in Daraya worsens,” said Magdalena Mughrabi.
It is difficult even to imagine the scale and depth of human suffering endured by civilians in Daraya and other besieged areas of Syria, some of which have received no humanitarian aid during years of fighting.
“With peace talks again under way in Geneva, it is absolutely crucial that opening humanitarian access to such areas is a priority. While many of the guns have mostly fallen silent and the barrage of bombs onto Daraya has stopped since the 26 February ceasefire, the threat that they might one day return must be taken off the table for good. And there must be accountability for all those responsible for war crimes during the conflict.”
Humanitarian crisis amid the siege of Daraya
In addition to widespread and large-scale destruction caused by the thousands of barrel bombs dropped on Daraya, government forces have cut off the city and not allowed any humanitarian aid at all since November 2012.
Medical workers are severely under-resourced to cope with the scale of the humanitarian crisis they face. The besieged city’s only remaining field hospital has been targeted 15 times by government forces.
Daraya’s Medical Office sent Amnesty International lists of more than 100 medicines, supplies and equipment it urgently needs. Among the items they lack are: antibiotics, painkillers and anaesthetics; disinfectants and other cleaning supplies; and equipment including dialysis machines, CT scanners and hospital beds and cots.
As of 26 March, one month after the “cessation of hostilities” came into effect, the Syrian government had not granted humanitarian access to at least six besieged areas, including parts of Eastern Ghouta and Daraya, despite repeated requests from the UN, according to a report of the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council.
The Syrian government must allow urgently needed aid to get into to Daraya, in compliance with its obligations under international humanitarian law and binding UN Security Council resolutions.
The International Syria Support Group and UN agencies, especially the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), must ensure this is made to happen for Daraya and all other besieged locations.
Background
In May 2015, Amnesty International released a report, ‘Death everywhere’: War crimes and human rights abuses in Aleppo, which documented the sheer terror of civilians living under relentless barrel bomb and other attacks by Syrian government forces in Aleppo.
In June 2014, Amnesty International released its Updated briefing on sieges across Syria, which documented the effect of sieges on civilians in Daraya and other areas.
“We won’t act like them, we will not use violence or force, we are peaceful, we believe in peace, in peaceful popular resistance.” This was part of a message issued by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in October, only days after a few incidents took place in which Palestinian youth were accused of attacking Israeli soldiers and settlers with knives.
The message would have carried some weight were it not laden with contradictions. On one hand, Abbas’ supposed ‘peace’ quest has only entrenched the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank, and all but completely isolated illegally occupied and annexed East Jerusalem.
Moreover, what ‘peaceful popular resistance’ is Abbas, 80, referring to? What war of ‘peaceful’ national liberation has he been leading? And how could a leader, ever so unpopular, be leading a ‘popular resistance’ anyway?
Just two weeks before Abbas made that statement in which he referred to some illusory ‘popular resistance’ under his command, a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah revealed that a majority of Palestinians, 65% of respondents, want him to resign.
Of course, while Abbas continues to prophesize about some non-existent peace – as he has done for most of his lucrative career – Israel continues to wreak havoc on Palestinians, using every means of violence at its disposal.
Granted, Israel’s propensity to maintain its violent occupation cannot be blamed on Abbas. It is Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his rightwing coalition that should be blamed squarely for the Occupation, the mistreatment and humiliation of Palestinians on a daily basis.
However, such truth should not detract from Abbas’ terrible legacy and ongoing misconduct. In fact, some urgent questions must be asked in that regard:
If Abbas is such a peacenik, why is his military budget so disproportionately large?
According to information published by Visualizing Palestine, 31% of the PA budget is spent on the military and policing of the West Bank. Compare this to 18% on education, 13% on health and only 1% on agriculture. The latter percentage is particularly troubling, considering that Palestinian land, orchards and olive groves are the main target for Israel, which usurps the land in order to expand its military zones and illegal settlements.
The huge discrepancy between funds allocated to Palestinian security forces – which never confront Israel’s military occupation, only Palestinian Resistance – and those spent to assist farmers in their ‘sumoud’ (steadfastness) while their land is being targeted and confiscated daily, is a testament to the mixed priorities of Abbas and his Authority.
Even Israel, which is obsessed with its security, and manages several fronts of war and military occupation spends only 22% of its total budget on the military, which is still quite high by average standards.
Abbas’ ‘peace’ is, of course, quite selective. He rules over Occupied Palestinians with an iron fist, rarely tolerates dissent within his party, Fatah’s, ranks, and has done his utmost to isolate Gaza and sustain a state of conflict with his enemies in the Hamas movement.
More recently, and due to mere criticism levelled at him by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a prominent Palestinian faction and PLO member, Abbas decided to choke them of funds. In Abbas’ ‘peaceful’ world, there is zero room for tolerance.
The PFLP criticism was a response to statements he made on Israeli television.
In a recent interview, he insisted that security coordination with Israel is a top priority for him. Without such coordination, the PA will find itself “on the brink of collapse,” he told Israel Channel 2 on March 31.
Apart from apprehending suspected Palestinian resisters, the security coordination includes searching school children’s bags for knives, according to the Palestinian leader. “Our security forces are entering schools and checking if students are carrying knives. In one school, we found 70 students with knives, and we told them that this was wrong. I told them I do not want you to kill someone and die; I want you to live and for others to live, too.”
Abbas’ statement on life and death does not, in the least, address the context of oppression, the humiliation of military occupation and the prevailing sense of despair that exists among young Palestinians, caught between a belligerent, violent Occupation, and a submissive leadership.
Convincing them not to ‘kill someone and die, “involved the security forces arresting the students who were found with knives, questioning them, torturing them and threatening their families,” wrote Palestinian commentator, Munir Shafiq.
“We only need to listen to the experiences of many who were tortured by the Israeli Shabak and the Palestinian security agencies, who said that the Palestinian security agencies are harsher, more barbaric and more brutal than the Shabak,” Shafiq wrote in Arabi21. So much for being ‘peaceful’ and ‘believing in peace.’
Writing in Rai al-Youm, Kamal Khalf wonders if it is time to look into the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas, a man who has ruled with an expired mandate for years. While refraining from any personal attack on Abbas, Khalf raises the possibility whether the PA President’s emotional and psychological well-being in his old age ought to be questioned, especially when one considers some of his latest statements: attacking Palestinian Resistance, searching children’s schoolbags and avowing his love for Israeli music.
When Abbas Zaki, the well-respected member of Fatah’s Central Committee, returned from a recent visit to Tehran, he was attacked by Abbas who “accused him of receiving $50 thousand from the Iranians and he demanded the money be given to him instead”, he wrote.
The number of Abbas’ bizarre actions and strange statements seem to be increasing with age. It is no secret, of course, that there has been much discussion about succession within Fatah and the PA, once Abbas is no longer in the picture. Until then, such eccentricity should be expected.
However, it is essential that the discussion does not entirely focus on Abbas, for he is merely representative of a whole class of usurpers who have used the Palestinian cause to advance their own positions, wealth and prestige.
There is little evidence to suggest that Abbas’ current position – soft on the Occupation, hard on the Palestinians – is new, or motivated by age and mental health. For the sake of fairness, the arbitrator of the Oslo accords has been consistent in this regard.
Since Arafat’s death in 2004, and his advent to power through a questionable democratic process in 2005, Abbas has worked laboriously to co-exist with the Israeli Occupation but failed to co-exist with his own Palestinian rivals.
True, it has been a decade of unmitigated Palestinian leadership failure, but it certainly took more than Abbas to manage that political fiasco. Now, at 80, Abbas seems to have become a scapegoat for a whole class of Palestinians which has worked to manage the Occupation and benefit from it.
When American and Russian spokespersons deny the existence of a secret agreement between them over Syria, they’re not necessarily lying - but they are being misleading.
They don’t need an agreement to have an understanding. This is evident by what they’ve highlighted as much as what they de-emphasised during US Secretary of State John Kerry’s last visit to Moscow.
It’s also evident in Kerry’s attempts to bring US regional allies on board with these new understandings.
Syria four years on: What is the prospect for peace?
Russian media is abuzz with leaks and innuendos about the US finally recognising that the way forward in Syria goes through Moscow, and that treating Russia like a second-rate power - whether in Eastern Europe or the Middle East - could equally hurt American interests.
ISIL first
After a four-hour meeting between Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the relations between the two countries, which soured over Ukraine, appeared to be softening.
The secretary said the US "reached a better understanding of decisions President [Vladimir] Putin has made of late", a particularly tolerant comment after the two countries engaged in what seemed to be a proxy war in Syria.
They came out of their meeting with a "target schedule" and agreed to speed up the timetable for Syrian political transition - with the goal of having a new Syrian draft constitution by August.
Now that Putin has strengthened Bashar al-Assad’s position, and Obama made it clear he will only focus on fighting ISIL during his last year in office, the ducks are lined up for a Russo-American 'understanding' on Syria.
Indeed, despite their distaste for each other, US President Barack Obama and Putin have found a way to work out their differences through their foreign ministers. (This is the subject of a five-part series that Al Jazeera will publish in the coming days).
The US administration doesn't deny its need for and willingness to work with the Kremlin to get this done, especially when Obama made it clear that he has no intention to get his own hands dirty in distant conflicts.
Well, with one exception: ISIL.
The Obama administration announced this week that it will expand its military campaign against ISIL and find ways to intensify the battle.
Now that Putin has strengthened Bashar al-Assad's position, and Obama made it clear he will only focus on fighting ISIL during his last year in office, the ducks are lined up for a Russo-American "understanding" on Syria.
In short: ISIL first, Assad last.
Assad last
The US has caved in on the need for Assad to go and accepted the Russian position that the choice should be left to the Syrians - or, in other words, that Assad must stay.
Lavrov covered up their disagreements on the issue by saying: "The US has plenty of partners who do not agree with them ... It does not mean that the differences on one particular issue should stop them from talking at all."
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [Reuters]
Unless asked about the Syrian dictator, the secretary didn’t even bother bringing him up after the talks - refusing to say whether or not the future of Assad figured in the talks.
The new Russo-American complicity centres on ignoring the “contentious” issue of Assad’s future in favour of focusing instead on writing a new constitution that redefines the Syrian system of governance and the role of the presidency.
They reckon that if the Syrians embrace a parliamentary system with only a symbolic role for the presidency, then Assad would lose his powers.
And even if Syrians embrace a presidential system, Assad could run like any other Syrian in a future transparent, internationally monitored election based on a new constitution with clear divisions of authority.
No, Assad is not "like any other Syrian”. Any such phrasing is an insult to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who died because Assad insisted on monopolising power.
It’s an understatement to say that Assad has forfeited his right to run for president when he barrel-bombed his own cities. But such a moral argument is lost on the cynics, many of those governing the region and the world.
And what about the political argument? The basic premise advanced by Moscow and embraced by Washington, goes as follows: Why dictate who should or could govern the Syrians, when they can make that decision in their own in democratic elections to be held in just over a year's time.
A site hit by what activists said were barrel bombs thrown by forces loyal to Assad, in the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp on the southern outskirts of Damascus [Reuters]
What appears to be a pragmatic, even a democratic position is in fact an utterly cynical one. Assad is like no other Syrian, not only because he’s responsible for more war crimes than any other, but also because he's got all the power in his hands and all the security services under his command.
As long as he continues to control or intimidate the population centres of the country, notably the capital, he will continue to dictate progress and regress during the transitional period according to the interests of his regime.
The lesson from Yemen is instructive in this regard. Even when the international community sidelined President Ali Abdullah Saleh, he continued to exercise great power through his links with the military, and eventually conspired in driving the country into civil war.
Does anyone really think that a dictator like Assad, who ruled over Syria for the past 16 years, is about to run and lose elections?
You know something? Maybe he would have if only he hadn't sacrificed a quarter of a million people just to hold on to power.
That's why after five years of indifference to their suffering, asking the Syrians to fight ISIL and to give Assad a chance is as short-sighted as it is deceitful and dangerous.
Marwan Bishara is the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera. Follow him onFacebook.
![A girl shows a sniper bullet that was found in the school yard in the rebel-held city of Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria [EPA]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tf8pDdXfQneeUeBzJleAWBSEyl7Ku8Z-j3AMdP56WP7INkFkEsSNjTLurqGbZ8VKpRJVftsTpeGrd8IPM0q21vtxwJp_etWu4P5MPU5kMHLRPSopNyIYsk5Xqz-KGMjILHhJjv0DVjsi20dLRe8N3vkHu6mxHkS351pu39UrfERDFocv2SvOfXbHw1jDZvtBfBqj37MQa4NiPN=s0-d)
