Syria’s Second War

This is a screenshot from a crowd-sourced map of Syria. The red dots are not representative of major towns or cities. Rather, the red dots indicate where the latest reports of sexual violence have come from, and the number of attacks reported. Women Under Siege, like other organizations, has dedicated itself to tracking the casualties of the civil war. It is a particularly difficult task in Syria, where NGOs, aid groups, journalists and health workers have limited access, but it is clear that violence against citizens, especially violence against women and children, is rampant in the ongoing conflict. It would appear that there are two battles raging: the fighting between the rebel groups and the Syrian military, and the quieter, but no less devastating war being waged on the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

Rape is tragically almost inevitable in war. Yet in Syria, as in Bosnia and Darfur, the mass rape of both women and men has been particularly widespread and vicious. The armed government forces are said to be responsible for the worst of the attacks, rather than rebels or citizens, making the government’s destruction of its people psychological as well as physical. Rape is used as a tool of intimidation and humiliation. Waves and waves of horrific stories are emerging from Syria. Soldiers who are mentally tortured by having their wives, sisters or mothers raped in front of them. Women detained to be kept as sex slaves. Soldiers forced to rape as part of duty. One 23 year old who identifies himself as Mohamed, describes what caused him to defect to the rebel side:

“The officers were mostly Alawite, and they would target the houses of [opposition] activists in Homs and gather the young girls and rape them,” Mohamed said. “After they’d finished they’d tell the soldiers outside to come in and rape the girls, too. The girls would generally be shot when everyone had finished. They wanted it to be known in the neighbourhoods that the girls had been raped, but they didn’t want the girls to survive and be able to identify them later.” (source: http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/08/13/syrian-army-accused-of-vicious-systematic-rape/)

The counts of human rights violations is Syria are mounting daily. While the rest of the world is becoming numb to the endless stream of news of carnage and causalities, it is incredibly difficult and incredibly important to remember that behind the skyrocketing figures are real women and children caught in the crossfire of Syria’s hellish civil war.

Violence map: https://syriatracker.crowdmap.com/reports/view/2720
Women Under Siege’s map: https://womenundersiegesyria.crowdmap.com/

[headlines] Syria: Opposition using children in conflict

Boys Report Serving as Fighters, Guards, and Lookouts
(New York) November 29, 2012 – Armed opposition groups fighting in Syria are using children for combat and other military purposes, Human Rights Watch said today. Children as young as 14 have served in at least three opposition brigades, transporting weapons and supplies and acting as lookouts, Human Rights Watch found, and children as young as 16 have carried arms and taken combat roles against government forces. Opposition commanders should make public commitments to end this practice, and to prohibit the use of anyone under 18 for military purposes – even if they volunteer.

Human Rights Watch interviewed five boys between the ages of 14 and 16 who said they had worked with the armed opposition in Homs, Daraa, and Khirbet al-Jawz, a small Idlib town near the Turkish border. Three of the boys, all age 16, said they carried weapons. One said he received military training and participated in attack missions. Two boys – ages 14 and 15 – said they, together with other boys, supported opposition brigades by conducting reconnaissance or transporting weapons and supplies. In addition, Human Rights Watch interviewed three Syrian parents who said their sons under 18 had remained in Syria to fight.

“All eyes are on the Syrian opposition to prove they’re trying to protect children from bullets and bombs, rather than placing them in danger,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “One of the best ways opposition military commanders can protect children is to make a strong, public commitment against use of children in their forces, and to verify boys’ ages before allowing them to enlist.”

In some cases, boys interviewed said that they had volunteered to fight along with older siblings or family members. In other cases, they said opposition soldiers asked them to participate. In all cases, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, to which Syria became party in 2003, states that, “Armed groups, distinct from the armed forces of a State, should not under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.”

The Syria Violations Documenting Center, a Syrian opposition monitoring group, has documented the deaths of at least 17 children who fought with the FSA. Many others have been severely injured, and some permanently disabled.

Ongoing initiatives to have armed opposition groups adopt and enforce codes of conduct that promote respect for human rights and international humanitarian law should include provisions making clear that children should not participate in the armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

“Majid,” a 16-year-old boy from Khalidiya, Homs, told Human Rights Watchthat he participated in combat missions in Syria. “I used to carry a Kalashnikov…. I used to shoot checkpoints … to capture and take the weapons.” Majid added that his battalion, which he said had more than 2,000 fighters, gave him combat training. “They taught us how to shoot, how to dismantle and put together a weapon, how to target,” he told Human Rights Watch. He volunteered along with his older brother and other relatives, he said.

“Haitham” and “Qassim,” two sixteen-year-old boys from Daraa province currently living in Jordan, told Human Rights Watch that they had voluntarily joined a local brigade, though they did not participate in attacks and had not received training. “The FSA just gave us weapons, there wasn’t any training,” Qassim said, referring to the Free Syrian Army. “We had Kalashnikovs, but we had only 30 bullets. I did reconnaissance, we would guard the village at night. When someone came, we would inform the others…. we didn’t go on missions because we were too young.”

“ is accepting people from 16 and up,” Haitham told Human Rights Watch. “They’re under a lot of pressure .” Majid from Homs also indicated that the FSA accepted children, despite their age. “The job you have depends on you,” he said. “If you have a brave heart, they’ll send you to fight checkpoints.” He added that while he held a combat post for several months, his commanders eventually told him to leave the unit because of his age. “They said we need older guys – you’re too young,” he said.

“Raed,” 14, told Human Rights Watch that he transported weapons, food, and other supplies for opposition fighters in Khirbet al-Jawz, near the Turkish border. Raed and his brother had camped out on the border when their town in northern Syria came under attack. He told Human Rights Watch that fighters asked him to assist them by carrying supplies across the border:

We would help the FSA by bringing them … supplies from Turkey, weapons. We would bring bullets and Russiyets . All of the kids were helping like this. We were 10 boys between 14 and 18 years old. I know the guys in the FSA and they asked me to help in this way. I did this for four or five months.

In June 2012, government forces began shooting at the border area where Raed and his brother were sleeping, near a group of FSA fighters. “ grandparents were at home, but we slept at the border with the FSA,” he told Human Rights Watch. “The day I got shot was the first time that I slept at the border. When I was shot, I was running, and I was shot from behind. The army was about 100 meters away.” Raed received medical treatment in Turkey, but he suffered permanent damage from his injury. “The bullet hit my nerves,” he said. “I feel my leg but I can’t move it. I’ve had four surgeries and have three surgeries left…. I don’t know if I will walk again.”

“Karim,” 15, told Human Rights Watch that before he left Homs in June or July, he and his friends used to climb trees to scout for the Free Syrian Army. “I used to go into the trees,” he said. “I would hide there to see the situation on the ground. We used to help the FSA this way.”

International law sets 18 as the minimum age for participation in direct hostilities. Under the International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute, it is a war crime for armed forces or groups to conscript or enlist children under 15, or to use them “to participate actively in hostilities.” According to definitive interpretations of the statute, active participation in hostilities does not only cover children’s direct participation in combat, but includes activities linked to combat such as scouting, spying, sabotage, and the use of children as decoys, couriers, or at military checkpoints. The prohibition on active participation also includes use of children in “direct” support functions, such as carrying supplies to the front line.

In August, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria issued a report in which it “note with concern reports that children under 18 are fighting and performing auxiliary roles for anti-Government armed groups.” It added that, “The commission received assurances from Colonel Riad al-Asaad that an FSA policy not to use children in combat is in place. There is evidence to suggest, however, that this policy is not uniformly being adhered to by the FSA and other anti-Government armed groups.”

“Even when children volunteer to fight, commanders have a responsibility to protect them by turning them away,” Motaparthy said. “Children are easily influenced by older relatives and friends, but their participation in armed hostilities places them in grave danger of being killed, permanently disabled, or severely traumatized.”

Countries financing or supplying arms to opposition groups should urge the FSA to prohibit the use of those under 18 for military purposes, whether as active combatants or in support roles, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch found that refugee boys in neighboring countries remain vulnerable to recruitment and participation. In three group interviews with Syrian refugees, older men, including FSA fighters on leave, asked children in the group what army they supported and showed Human Rights Watch photographs or videos of children carrying weapons and chanting FSA rallying cries. On at least two occasions while interviewing refugees, Human Rights Watch witnessed men encouraging boys to join the armed opposition. Human Rights Watch also reviewed several YouTube videos, including videos on FSA brigades’ Facebook pages or YouTube channels, featuring former child combatant “martyrs” or children who say they hope to be martyred.

“We’ve watched men urge boys to support the FSA and join the fight,” Motaparthy said. “Particularly when their older family members fight with armed opposition groups, or have been killed by regime forces, boys can face pressure to pick up weapons and fight back, sometimes even at very young ages.”

Boys who served the armed opposition groups interviewed by Human Rights Watch came from particularly vulnerable segments of the Syrian population. Three of the five boys interviewed said they did not know how to read, and four had worked full-time before participating in FSA activities. None were attending school at the time they joined the FSA, as even those who formerly attended stopped because schools had closed in their community or because their families deemed the security risk too great.

Some of the boys interviewed by Human Rights Watch outside Syria said they had left Syria only to bring their female relatives to safety, while others said they had left temporarily but planned to return. Majid said that while he had been discharged from his battalion because of his age, he had come to Jordan only to drop off his female family members. He planned to travel to Daraa with a friend to try to enlist in a different unit. “Maybe it’ll be different there,” he said.

Haitham and Qassim said they also planned to return to Syria and continue fighting. “ a weapons shortage,” Qassim said. “I am waiting for a call telling me they have more weapons, then I will return.” Raed said that he and his older brother accompanied their family to a refugee camp in Turkey, but then returned to Syria and joined the FSA, with whom he worked until he was shot in the leg.

“The FSA comes to the camp and spreads the message that it is not acceptable to stay in the camp while others are fighting in Syria,” one international organization representative working with Syrian refugees in Jordan told Human Rights Watch. While Syrian refugees have been allowed access to school in host communities, and schools have been established in refugee camps, space remains limited.

“Many older children are choosing not to go to school,” Motaparthy said. “They have missed as many as two years of school inside Syria and they say they don’t see the value any longer. Humanitarian groups working with refugees should work to prevent recruitment in the camps and communities and ensure that all children have access to education.”
Human Rights Watch Press release

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From inside the Palm of a Revolution- Part I

Just as the dawn of the New Year has broken, the winds of change sweeping through the Arab World are still throbbing with the pulse of revolution. The Arab Spring has now whittled into the Arab Winter, and is well on its way to another phase of spring what with a couple of states still continuing in their crusade for democracy. Throughout this entire span of time, the revolutionary uprisings have pivoted around the youth in these countries. Robust, strong and vociferous, the contribution of the youth through digital media has been immensely significant in the course of these revolutions. One such youngster who blogs for Syria is Mariya Suriya. She is an interior designer who gave up her designing profession to turn to activism for her country. In a quick exchange of emails with me, for Delta Women, Mariya responded to a couple of questions on Syria, and activism. Mariya blogs here and can be followed on twitter as @Peace4Syria.

Mariya Suriya is A Peace Blogger and Activist from Syria

Your country is on the brink of change. Why did it take a revolution in Tunisia and Egypt to inspire the people of Syria?               
This is such a good question; the main reason would have to be the great repression people anticipated in case of a revolution, deep down inside each Syrian he/she knew what was to come ahead. Tunisia and Egypt, despite all, would not be matched by the Syrian regime we knew
so well. Our regime is closet in nature to those of Libya, Iraq [formally], N. Korea, and China. Other reasons would have to be connected to the geopolitical position of Syria, which will always
make things all the more complicated, and also the internal nature of the Syrian society in term of variety and sectarian issues. Yet, the relative ease with which it happened in Tunisia, and the spirit of the events in Egypt, our two sister countries, made most Syrians think “Why not?”, a “why not” that’s coming from a deep down place inside every human to reflect our natural yearning for freedom.

With news that Razan Ghazzawi has been arrested recently, as a girl blogger based in Syria, what are some of your biggest challenges? Do you feel threatened by anything?           
Firstly, I’d like to express how brave, strong, and important I believe Razan to be; she’s one of many heroes the revolution brought forth. She’s out now, but awaiting trial as we speak! Challenges are immense, you will either choose a fake identity and use all software programmers there is to stay as safe as possible, or be on the open but restrict your activities and comments to the absolute minimum and even then you’re in probable danger and constant fear. Very few are Razan-like! But they’re increasing. The worst that activists might face is not death, but torture! And what’s even worse is going after their loved ones just like what happened to our America based musician Malek Jandali whose parents were beaten up in their apartment in Damascus, and are therefore now with their son in the US. Furthermore, being a female blogger/activist or a male one makes no
difference. Our regime is not sexist when it comes to crushing the revolution!  

The Egyptian, Libyan and Tunisian revolutions have been described as very much a "youth"-led revolt and dependent on social media technologies like Facebook and Twitter for its success. Is that quite the same in Syria? As a young person in Syria, do you feel there is a difference in the Syrian situation?

I love this question! The answer is a big fat YES. Youth are at the core of all these revolutions aided by modern technologies. And this was actually the biggest surprise even to the young themselves!
Internet, being less physical and more about thoughts and aspirations, gave youth, who mastered it by default, new spaces and new means. Being largely uncontrollable and highly unpredictable, it created the perfect platform from which free flowing ideas and thought would then materialize. It, for a starter, was an eye through which people gazed into the world outside the bubble, and it looked juicy! Facebook in our case acted as an oasis where all met away from the arid areas of the regimes; specific calls for demos and protests were organized, ideas were shared and discussed, information was passed on to each other and to the media. We have groups and pages for discussions, workshops, and planning. Twitter played an extra role, in my own experience, of connecting us to the outer world, whereas Facebook remained to a certain degree local. What’s special about the Syrian revolution is that I can safely call it the “YouTube Revolution”, for YouTube played a key part in our case to expose the regime’s crimes and violations with the huge number of horrible images coming out to the open and moving the human part in all of us. These social sites, to a large extent, replaced the media that was forbidden from entering the country. Suddenly, we all became journalists, cameramen, and editors! In short, they have power, tanks, armies, and money. We have Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and our high spirits!

Mariya was an Interior Designer before she took to Blogging and Tweeting for Syria

What do you feel about the West's stance on Syria? Do you think there is a need for military intervention?
This is definitely the most difficult question of all. The hypocrisy and double standards of our current world presents a dilemma! Upon years of experience, we believe that the west doesn’t really care about values of democracy in our counties even if that’s what they keep talking about, otherwise international intervention would have been the perfect solution. So, with that in mind, I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I told you that you might hear 23 million answers to this question, let alone Syrians outside! It is true that in many protests there were calls for western intervention, but the silent majority which in large supports the revolts have all sorts of ideas, and interpretation are many; some call for a full military intervention, others want a no-fly zone, or buffer zones, some want aids to the FSA [Free Syrian Army formed by brave defected soldiers and officers], others call for international observers, while others believe it must remain an internal affair no matter what. Opposition is as divided about this as the normal folks. Personally, I believe and hope that we will make it with as little military intervention as possible, and the key word in the last sentence is “as possible”! We may or may not pay a heavier price on the short run, but on the long run we will be more independent and will experience greater freedom. It’s a revolution after all!         

A recent revelation showed that a Syrian blogger who claimed to be a girl was actually a man! What do you think is necessary for a reader outside Syria to rely on while evaluating the credibility of information coming in from Syria?    
As funny as it may seem to an outsider, I would really be surprised if post revolution period did not reveal more cases as such! Activists are having to take on fake identities because of the necessity that the current circumstances bring about, and as long as this doesn’t involve impersonating another real character, then it is okay for my money.  Credibility-wise, yeah this must affect the credibility more or less, but the grave intensity of the repression more than balances the
equation. In other words, I’m sure international organizations and human rights groups consider the tough situation we face in their quest of verifying and documenting information pouring in. Other
outsiders must take the same considerations in mind, and they can always rely on bigger media and organizations in any case.     

A recent image uploaded by Mariya on Twitter, with the caption in Arabic reading:
Strike dignity: The first day of publication Aladhara

Seeing how events are panning out in Egypt, do you think Democracy will be fitting for Syria? Is the walk up to democracy difficult?            
That’s easy to answer! Democracy fits anywhere, especially if it had not been imposed on a certain society, but had rather come from within. I’m referring here to the case of Iraq, where “American
democracy” could not solve problems in the country, but rather put salt on their wounds, not to mention why the US were in Iraq in the first place! Anyhow, in Egypt, as I read the situation, democracy’s road will be bumpy and dangerous; old powers will try to hang on and protect whatever privileges remaining, international powers will attempt to adopt the new born democracy to suit their needs, while insiders will have their own battles. Same goes for Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen. Syria is no exception, yet the challenge in our country is greater because unity is vital. Democracy is not a bunch of rules and regulations, but a culture which we will have to grow into after years of the opposite. Therefore, it won’t be easy, but it’s the only guarantee for a more peaceful society. The most important thing in the post revolution era is to enforce just laws on all Syrian, because that will create a proper environment within which democracy can flourish.


By Kirthi Jayakumar