UAE widENS cRAckdOwN; MORE ISlAMiStS ... - Kuwait Times

ALEPPO: The route to Aleppo from the Turkish border
is a long web of dirt back roads with miles of
exposed ground. But undaunted and in total darkness,
dozens of young men jump onto white trucks
with their AK-47 rifles, keen to join the fight there.
Syria’s 16-month revolt has finally erupted in the
country’s commercial hub, but the momentum was
not generated inside the city - it was brought into
the historic city’s ancient stone alleyways from the
scorched fields of the surrounding countryside.
“We liberated the rural parts of this province. We
waited and waited for Aleppo to rise, and it didn’t.
We couldn’t rely on them to do it for themselves so
we had to bring the revolution to them,” said a
rebel commander in a nearby village, who calls
himself Abu Hashish.
The short scrawny man with a drooping grey
moustache sits juggling cell phones and a walkietalkie,
arranging for the next convoy to head for
Aleppo. Tanks of fuel and homemade grenades for
use in rocket launchers are piled up along the outside
of his house, ready to be dispatched. “About
80 percent of the fighters in this city come from the
countryside. Aleppo is a business town, people said
they wanted to stay neutral. But now that we have
come, they seem to be accepting us,” he said.
As towns across Syria were rocked by the uprising
against President Bashar Al-Assad - in which it
is estimated 18,000 people have been killed -
Aleppo, home to conservative Muslim families and
businesses, stayed largely silent. Although armed
resistance began in poorer districts where residents
had more tribal allegiances or rural backgrounds,
Aleppo’s sacrifices have paled in comparison to
nearby northern Idlib, central Homs or even
Damascus, the capital. Exasperated by the slow
progress in Aleppo, rebels in the countryside said
they were finally emboldened to push into the city
after an assassination in the capital Damascus of
four top government officials, including the
defense minister.
“It was a boost to our spirits. We were so excited
because we knew it was time. Aleppo is the economic
centre, the true source of regime power. If
we can strike it hard, and hold on, we can bring
Bashar down,” said one rebel fighter joining the
convoy who called himself Abu Bakr. As they
arrived in Aleppo before dawn, the fighters sped
through the winding alleyways of the city’s outskirts
shouting: “God is great”. And then the morning
skirmishes began. The rattle of rebel machinegun
fire greeted the thuds of army tank fire,
artillery could be heard in the distance, and an air
force fighter jet streaked overhead.
SCHOOL PARTY
The streets of rebel-held neighborhoods are a
graveyard of overturned, torched buses, specially
placed along the streets by rebels to block army
tanks from rolling in. The charred remains of tanks
can also be seen - in heaps - by palm trees lining
main thoroughfares. “So far things here are going
well for us. We have been used to fighting in olive
groves and open fields. We were always exposed,”
said Hakour, a 23-year-old with a straggly beard
wearing camouflage fatigues. Lounging inside a
school taken over by the rebels as a temporary
base, he said: “It’s much nicer to fight here where
we can hide in alleyways and buildings. We will stay
INTERNATIONAL
Rural fighters pour into Syria’s Aleppo for battle
Rebel-held areas deserted, fighters use houses as bases
JINDERES: Syrian Kurds guard a check point at the entrance of the Kurdish town of
Jinderes, near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as Kurdish activists on the Syria-
Turkey border started taking control of towns in the area without encountering
much resistance from the forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. — AFP
Kurds in secret
weapons deal
BAGHDAD: A high-ranking Iraqi official
yesterday said security agencies have
uncovered a secret weapons deal between
the autonomous Kurdistan region and an
unnamed foreign country. “Iraqi security
agencies (discovered) a secret weapons
deal between the president of the Iraqi
Kurdistan region, Massud Barzani, and a
foreign country,” the security official said on
condition of anonymity. “The weapons
include anti-armor and anti-aircraft missiles,
and a large number of heavy
weapons,” the official said, without specifying
the exact weapons systems.
The official said Iraqi authorities have
obtained “all the documents” pertaining to
the deal, which is for “weapons of a Russian
type made in 2004,” and are trying to block
it. “This step is a breach of the law and the
Iraqi constitution, because the only side
that can (buy arms) is the federal ministry
of defense,” the official said. Several Kurdish
officials either declined to comment on the
allegation or could not immediately be
reached by AFP. For its part Baghdad has
ordered 36 F-16 warplanes from the United
States, and has already fielded M1 Abrams
tanks. Barzani expressed concern over the
F-16s earlier this year, saying he was
opposed to the sale of these warplanes
while Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki was in
office, fearing they would be used against
Kurdistan.
On July 17th, Umeed Sabah, spokesman
for the Kurdistan region presidency also said
in a statement that Maliki had “plans for the
militarization of Iraqi society and supports
the option of violence as a means to reach
political aims.” Relations between Baghdad
and Kurdistan are at a low ebb over multiple
festering disputes. The two sides are at odds
over Kurdistan’s refusal to seek approval
from the central government for oil contracts
it has awarded to foreign firms, and
over a swathe of disputed territory in north
Iraq. Barzani has also supported efforts to
pass a no-confidence motion against Maliki.
And on Wednesday local Kurdish peshmerga
security forces prevented soldiers sent by
Baghdad from reaching a disputed north
Iraq area that borders Syria, a top Kurdish
security official said.— AFP
Iran young, urbanized
and educated: Census
TEHRAN: Iran is a very urbanized society with
a largely educated, young Muslim population
that ranks as the Middle East’s second-biggest,
its latest census figures, published yesterday,
show. The snapshot, issued on the website of
the presidency’s planning and strategic supervision
department (www.amar.org.ir), also corrected
some misconceptions about the country,
notably by reporting fewer than expected
Jews and Internet users. The census, whose
data was collected in 2011 and presented in
resume last week by the department’s officials,
gave Iran’s total population as 75.2 million,
99.4 percent of whom are Muslim. That was
larger than any other country in the region
except for Egypt (81 million, according to the
World Bank).
Iranians accounted for 73.5 million of the
total, with 1.5 million Afghans making up the
biggest minority living in the country. Other
minorities included Iraqis (51,500), Pakistanis
(17,700) and Turks (1,600). An overwhelming
proportion of the population - 71 percentlived
in urban areas, and Tehran and its satel-
lite towns are home to 12.2 million inhabitants.
The literacy rate for those aged between
10 and 49 was 93 percent. Most of the population
is young, with 55 percent aged under 30.
The proportion of young Iranians use to be
even higher, but a rapidly slowing birth ratean
average 1.29 children per couple, compared
to 1.62 in the last census in 2006 - has
resulted in a decrease in recent years.
The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, has recently sought to reverse a
previous policy favoring birth control in a bid
to boost the population to between 150 million
and 200 million. Even though Iran-a
Shiite theocracy-is almost completely
Muslim, other faiths are present. There are
8,756 Jews in the country, according to the
census. That was fewer than the 20,000 figure
previously estimated. There are also
117,704 Christians, the census said, as well as
25,271 Zoroastrians (adherents of a faith that
dominated pre-Islamic Persia), and 49,101
listed as “other.” A total 265,899 people did
not give a religion. —AFP
until Aleppo is free.”
Toting grenade launchers, the fighters are
incongruous alongside the school’s pastel-colored
walls. Every rebel unit that has passed through
here has left a message in graffiti. “The Farouq
Brigade was here”, “The Muthanna Brigade will topple
Bashar”, “God is with those who will triumph”.
One rebel plays on an electric keyboard that he
found in the school music room. Other men play
table tennis in the main hallway. Nearby, fighters
sleep along the walls, curled up next to their guns
and grenades.
HOMS: Armed Syrian rebels inspect a destroyed Syrian armored vehicle in Homs, Syria. — AP
TEHRAN: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-
Muallem arrived in Tehran yesterday for
unscheduled talks with Iranian officials, state
media reported. The trip, confirmed by Iran’s
foreign ministry, came as Syrian troops battle
rebels in Syria’s second city of Aleppo in an
offensive that world powers fear could result
in heavy civilian casualties and spark a
humanitarian disaster. The foreign ministry
said Muallem was greeted by Foreign Minister
Ali Akbar Salehi.
“The Syrian foreign minister in his trip to
Tehran will discuss bilateral relations, developments
in Syria, and other regional and
international issues,” Iran’s deputy foreign
minister in charge of Arab affairs, Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian, was quoted as saying by
the official IRNA news agency. He said that, as
well as Salehi, Muallem would see the head of
Iran’s supreme national security council,
Saeed Jalili, who is close to supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and parliamentary
speaker Ali Larijani.
The idea of a managed transition of power
in Syria is an “illusion,” Iran’s foreign minister
said yesterday, as his Syrian counterpart
expressed Damascus’ commitment to international
mediator Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
“Thinking naively and wrongly that if there is
a power vacuum perhaps in Syria and if there
is a transition of power in Syria, simply another
government will come to power, that I
think is just a dream,” Ali Akbar Salehi said at a
news conference with his Syrian counterpart,
Walid Al-Moualem.
“It’s an illusion. We have to look carefully at
Syria and what’s happening inside the country.”
Moualem said Syria was also committed
to Annan’s six-point plan that aims to end 16
months of violence in which 18,000 people
have been killed. The plan calls for a ceasefire,
which has been widely ignored by both sides,
as a first stage in the political transition to
ending the violence. It also calls for access for
aid, the release of arbitrarily detained people,
freedom of movement for journalists and the
freedom to protest peacefully. “We are committed
to fulfill Mr. Annan’s plan fully because
we consider this plan a reasonable plan,” he
said.
Moualem said Syria was able to defend
every inch of its soil from what he called a
conspiracy by armed terrorist groups that
served Israel’s interests. “I assure you the
Syrian people are insistent, not just on confronting
this conspiracy, but they are insistent
“It took us months and months to liberate the
countryside. But here things are moving quickly.
We have even set up a security team with a hotline
if residents want us to help them,” Hakour says. The
rebels drink fizzy soft drinks as they sing and make
jokes. But their jubilation is premature. A few minutes
later a loud blast shakes the school and the
rebels scatter to grab their weapons and head to
the basement - a reminder of the army’s determination
to crush the uprising. As another ripple of
on emerging victorious,” Moualem, who has
not appeared since a bomb attack killed four
of President Bashar Al-Assad’s top security
officials nearly two weeks ago. “Today I tell
you, Syria is stronger ... In less than a week,
they were defeated and the battle failed (in
Damascus) so they moved on to Aleppo, and I
assure you, their plots will fail,” said Moualem.
SYRIANS SHOULD BE ENABLED
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said Syrians
should be enabled to protect themselves
against government attacks but declined
direct comment on a report that it had helped
set up a secret liaison centre in Turkey to aid a
rebellion against President Bashar Al-Assad.
Gulf sources said on Friday that Saudi Arabia,
Turkey and Qatar had established a centre in
Adana, southeastern Turkey, to help the rebel
Free Syrian Army with communications and
weaponry as it battles in major cities against
forces loyal to Assad.
“The very well-known position of the kingdom
of Saudi Arabia is to extend to the Syrian
people financial and humanitarian assistance,
as well as calling upon the international com-
mortar fire echoes nearby, the men decide that
they should switch bases.
LET THEM DESTROY US
“We had to start the battle to encourage Aleppo
and get the residents accustomed to being part of
the uprising. A lot of families have given the fighters
money secretly, but they didn’t want to do more.
And there are even people unfortunately who still
support the regime,” said a fighter named Jumaa. “I
think for Aleppo the memories of the 1980s are still
very deep,” Jumaa said, referring to an Islamist uprising
which was crushed by Assad’s late father, whose
forces killed at least 10,000 people in the central
city of Hama. The rebel-held area of Aleppo visited
by a Reuters reporter appeared to be completely
deserted by residents. Fighters were using houses
as bases to sleep in. Just 20 km outside Aleppo,
rebels have declared most of the countryside free of
Assad’s forces. In the villages men gather to smoke
and chat at night, while women wrapped in colorful
veils let their children run onto the rubble-strewn
streets to cheer at smiling gunmen. “God protect
the Free Syrian Army,” they shouted. Despite the
tentative calm their home towns now enjoy, there is
a hint of resentment towards Aleppo’s residents
from rural fighters gathered on the city’s streets.
“My brother was shot dead just last month,” says 22year-old
fighter Mustafa. He points out other faces
in the crowd of rebel fighters. “His cousin died six
months ago. Soldiers poured gasoline on him and
set him on fire,” Mustafa says. Pointing to another
group, he says: “Their families have fled and they
haven’t seen them in a year.” Outside the city, rebel
commander Abu Hashish says more sacrifices are
necessary, and that the time has come for his urban
brothers to share the burden. “In Aleppo they only
think about trade, about money. They think about
their own life, they think about their children’s
future. They don’t fight the regime because they
care about the here and now,” he said. “In the countryside
we know we must give up on the present. I
will sacrifice my life and my children’s lives. Let them
destroy our homes. This fight is for a new generation
coming that will have a chance to have a life of
dignity. And for me, that is worth sacrificing everything.”
— Reuters
MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012
Notion of Syria power
transition ‘an illusion’
Syria can defend every inch of its soil: FM
SANAA: About 100 armed tribesmen loyal to
former President Ali Abdullah Saleh stormed
the Interior Ministry building in the Yemeni
capital Sanaa yesterday demanding to be
enlisted in the police force, an official said. The
tribesmen briefly held some employees
hostage before freeing them a few hours later,
the Interior Ministry official said. Yesterday’s
showdown highlighted the continuing turmoil
in the country despite a peace deal
under which Saleh stood down after months
of protests against his 33-year rule and was
replaced in February by his deputy, Abd-
Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (left) shakes hands with Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid Al-Muallem (R) in Tehran. — AFP
It is also a direct challenge to Hadi’s authority.
He is trying to restructure the armed
forces and stabilize the impoverished Arab
nation, where Saleh’s legacy still looms large.
The Interior Ministry official said the tribesmen
were Saleh loyalists, who were promised
they would be enrolled in the police force in
return for helping tackle last year’s uprising.
The reward has not been granted to them. “At
midday, the armed tribesmen... stormed the
ministry’s building, took control of it and
climbed onto the roof with their guns,” the
official said. “They refuse to leave until their
demands are met.”
munity to enable them to protect themselves
at the very least if the international community
is not able to do so,” a foreign ministry
spokesman said by text message on Saturday,
answering a Reuters query about the base.
“The Syrian regime is importing and using all
kinds of weapons to fight and oppress its own
people in a fierce war as if it’s launched
towards a foreign enemy - not against its disarmed
population”, the spokesman added.
The Gulf sources had also said the Adana
centre, which is near the Syrian border and a
US airforce base at Incirlik, was set up at the
suggestion of Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister
Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah during a trip to
Turkey. However, the foreign ministry
spokesman said Prince Abdulaziz, who was
promoted to deputy foreign minister last year,
and is a son of King Abdullah, had not visited
Turkey. Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf Arab
country by size and population has led efforts
by Sunni Muslim states to isolate President
Assad’s government, which is dominated by
members of the Alawi Shiite sect, since the
outbreak of a popular revolt against him early
last year. — Agencies
Gunmen take over ministry building
Tribesmen have fought alongside government
troops in a US-backed offensive against
Al Qaeda-linked militants that drove insurgents
out of several towns in the south of
the country last month. Many tribal fighters
also sided with Saleh who was toppled by a
popular uprising. Disgruntled tribesmen
often kidnap foreigners and bomb oil and
gas pipelines as a way to press demands on
authorities. In April, officers and tribesmen
loyal to Saleh forced Yemen’s main airport to
close for a day in protest at the sacking of
the air force commander, a half-brother of
Saleh. — Reuters