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Contrasting with the image of a massively deployed Hezbollah, it shows some atomized elements of the Iranian Special Forces, moving from town to town, following orders and offering training or advice to regime forces elite corps of the Syrian Army, hezbollahis militias or Yemenis. Occasionally these wandering Iranian servicemen fought against the opposition. In all, several hundreds of Iranian military advisers were reportedly deployed to the Syrian territory, near sensitive strategic sites and also in Shiite-concentrated localities for example, Latakia.
It is very difficult to precisely quantify their militia strength, but it seems that several thousands of fighters crossed the Iraqi-Syrian border in recent months. Mainly Iraqi and Lebanese, these privates, trained and heavily equipped rotated in and out back-to-back , bringing the operational reserve to 30,, or about twice more than the foreign fighters jihadists of the opposition Moreover, the presence of some Yemeni houthis , Afghan and Pakistani soldiers can also be emphasized.
This degrees semantic shift follows a plural sense: In their eyes, Shaytan embodied absolute evil, which should be fought against for religious and even humanitarian imperatives:. Hezbollah is the enemy. They are called the Party of God. But who are they to call themselves thus? They are nobodies; they are the enemy, the enemy indeed, that's why they are called the Party of Satan.
This is what Youssef Al Qaradawi explains in a video posted in May on the social network Youtube. It can legitimately be described as the alter ego of God, Al Shaytan. In fact, since the beginning of the war in Iraq, there was a tendency amongst the Salafi-Jihadis movements to lash out against Hezbollah and, in general, against the Twelver Shiiism Paz, The novelty of the Syrian conflict resides in the fact that, henceforth, this criticism with very strong religious undertones is shared by a majority of people who do not have any links with the Salafi movement. In the face of a spiral of barbarism, Syrians were then seeking for a religious explanation, transforming the revolution into a struggle between Good khayr and Evil shir.
Moreover, the Syrian Government provided supplies and logistics to the military wing of Hezbollah; without the unwavering support of Damascus, it is likely that the outcome of the war would not have been the same. And yet, Hezbollah's entry into the war in Syria led many Syrians to lump together the Shiite political movement and its supporters, thereby recalling the events of In , the Shiites came to our country. We welcomed them; my aunt housed an entire family all through the war.
They got along well, there were no problems. And now, this is how they thank us: Here, it is not a matter of denouncing the participation of the Shiite party in the fightings with the FSA or Islamist militias, but how Syrian refugees were received across the border and comparing with the summer of For example, the video of a forced tattooing of a young Syrian by qabadayat 21 of the Dahiyeh 22 really created a lasting impression on people's minds Live on Al Jazirah , the colonel-doctor Abdel Hamid Zakarayah, then spokesman of the chief of staff of the FSA, was asked to react to an opinion poll revealing that for The party of Satan is lost.
First and foremost, I do not want anyone to understand my words as a sectarian or ideological war. My words here are only intended to rally [ yuhashidu ] people against the killings [ qatala ], they are directed to the Sunnis, the Shiites or the Alawis. Iran and Hezbollah do not represent the Shiites, but they represent the killings. There are only two camps in Syria: However, his introductory remarks actually refer to the djinn Hizb Al Shaytan. Broadly speaking, it plays on the widespread representation of a sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites. In reality, it is highly symbolic but particularly ambiguous.
The conflict in Syria is a revolution that is linked to a Shiite conspiracy. Look at what is happening: Syria is no longer only for Syrians, it hosts all the armies of the region. You have the Lebanese of Hezbollah, Iranians, and Iraqi militias. And all are Shiites. They do not want to lose Syria, and for them this is important. It is known [ maarouf ] that the Syrian army no longer controls anything. May be even [Bashar al-] Assad himself no longer gives orders to anyone.
Located 55 kilometres from the Syrian capital, it has since the summer of been the scene of violent clashes between militia groups identified as belonging to Al Qaeda and the Syrian army. In fact, since the beginning of the war in Iraq, there was a tendency amongst the Salafi-Jihadis movements to lash out against Hezbollah and, in general, against the Twelver Shiiism Paz, On Wednesday, Ahmad had been separated from his family — as happens to many children in the chaotic aftermath of an attack — in the Mashhad neighborhood of Aleppo. And the US was angry when safe passages were opened to fleeing Syrians. There are a few historians who compare current Syria with Syria during the 11th century: Meanwhile, it seems the Syrian regime had largely contributed to this self-fulfilling prophecy by releasing dozens of Syrian and foreign jihadists, veterans of the Iraq war, by then imprisoned in Syria.
Everywhere, Iranians, Russians and Hezbollahis have taken over control of the administration. Each Alawite political leader has an adviser who tells him what to do exactly. As for the Army, it no longer does anything, it obeys the orders of Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards, but that's all.
Syria has been completely bled dry. Hundreds of thousands of deaths thus sanctioned a predefined project, that of an Iran seeking to expand the territorial scope of its empire. The Syrian civil war was ultimately not the result of a horrible uncontrollable vicious circle, but a strong desire to serve the interests of global Shiism by establishing a geographical and sectarian connection between Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Indeed, unlike in neighbouring Lebanon where the Shiism can be seen by other faiths as expansionist, Syrians interviewed do not fear to be overwhelmed demographically, given that they are acutely aware of their overwhelming numerical superiority.
Rather, they especially fear that a foreign power Lebanese, Iranian or Russian can swallow up the Syrian political apparatus.
Qabadayat of modern times, their loyalty to the Assad family cannot be doubted. As such, as perpetrators of civil rights abuses, they are very much hated by the Syrian people:. They have been around for decades. They began their massacres under Hafez, and continued with Bashar. They were there at the beginning of the revolution; in Damascus, their job was to deter crowds from coming together by beating them up. They are still there now; they are being referred to, all the time, everywhere. They rape, kill and massacre. They are worse than the [foreign] militias, who answer for their actions [to their hierarchy], worse than the popular committees which are just lost children, worse than everybody because they are answerable to nobody, absolutely nobody.
So, they kill, rape, beat children on behalf of Bashar al-Assad. In this case, for many spokespersons, the term does not denote supporters of Bashar al-Assad but actors from the ranks of the opposition. Killed in the fightings in November , Naameh was considered by many members of the Syrian opposition as directly responsible for the loss of the city of Khirbet Al Ghazaleh, recaptured by the Syrian army in May Although these accusations primarily reflect interpersonal tensions, they are indicative of the discursive process to identify, within the revolution, its enemies. This is the case of Naameh who blocked supplies from entering the town of Khirbet Al Ghazaleh or self-proclaimed revolutionary actors, using their political or family legitimacy to divert humanitarian funds.
By hijacking the revolution, they transform themselves into the 'ghosts' of the revolution. These fundamentalist groups rapidly occupied a major place in the representations of the Syrian opposition. Such scenes, coupled with occasional recreational moments like a football match among the ruins and a visit to the playground with the children on a sunny day, brighten the otherwise bleak and claustrophobic mood. But paradise and hell have become interchangeable in Aleppo, and what begins as play quickly turns into terror when a new threat presents itself.
Like when Israel bombed a beach in Gaza, killing an entire family, where kids were playing soccer. The question of escaping the crumbled, dismal town frequently comes up among the men: Kids in Yemen are Not fairing as well and dying of famine, diphtheria and cholera. But that life will be easier elsewhere is simply an illusion. Leaving means enduring even more dreadful conditions in refugee camps at the Turkish border and perhaps being stranded there, or embarking on a perilous journey across the sea to reach Europe and possibly dying along the way.
Les contributeurs Christophe Boltanski: Noir Blanc Et Caetera , qui sommes-nous? De nombreux projets sont en cours pour et Aleppo is also the name of the surrounding province. Gary Johnson may never have heard of the city, but Shakespeare did back in the early 17th century. Large factories produced everything there from textiles to processed gold to laurel soap, all of which would fill markets in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and elsewhere.
Syria was debt free for over 3 decades: It was a tourist draw as well. Because I previously only thought it would be disatrous if people took the libertarian party seriously, let alone its candidate for president. Although the city resisted being drawn into the Syrian uprising when it began in , opposition forces advanced into the towns and villages around it and eventually breached the city itself in July By , the government and the opposition were locked in a stalemate. The opposition held the east, and the government controlled the west. Since then, each side has repeatedly tried to oust the other from the city, with varying degrees of success.
On the east side, accurate figures are harder to come by, but the area is thought to hold up to , people. Some opposition activists say the number is , Russian and Syrian warplanes pound the rebel side, leaving hundreds dead and wounded just in the last month.
And chemical bombs too? Aleppo is now in the center of a diplomatic duel between the U. A breakthrough there, world powers hope, will usher in a larger ceasefire and present a path toward resolving the five-year Syrian civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands the U. There will be no end to the plight of these Syrians belonging to Al Nusra ideology. There are a few historians who compare current Syria with Syria during the 11th century: Damascus was the center of power for the Sunnis against Aleppo that was mostly in the hands of the rebel sects karamitah, shia, minority sects….
Likewise, the Sunnis in the western part of Aleppo who want to be part of a unified Syrian nation, regardless of the current regime. Actually, the regime is different from the one before Over , mercenaries were dispatched into Syria since Turkey, Saudi Kingdom and Europe sent 25, each. East Aleppo is currently totally surrounded by the Syrian troops and a political settlement is being worked out to withdraw the rebels fighters outside Aleppo.
Today, as I was getting out of the US embassy, extatic for having gotten a new tourist Visa , I see a US passport on the ground, and a gentleman standing right by it. So I rushed to pick it up and deliver it to the embassy guard, who apparently had received a report about it missing earlier in the morning. Some of us stand in line for endless hours, with their endless piles of papers, waiting for that glimmer, that chance to leave on a vacation, for education, or for business… while some people are lucky to have that priviledge and take it for granted.
I say yes; so he kindly asks me if I can give him a ride. At that point, I noticed his undistinguishable Aleppan accent. I felt a bit embarassed for asking so many question, but the kindness and humbleness he displayed were out of this world.
Mahmoud had escaped Aleppo , which in and of itself is a miracle, a couple of days ago. The war in Syria shattered that dream for the moment. His younger borther is a pharmacist who managed to go to Germany on assylum. His youngest brother is a civil engineer. He is stuck in Aleppo with his brother and parents, and was hoping to get that chance to go to the US, all the while knowing that he will have to leave his family behind. He got accepted into a language program in the US, but his visa was rejected. I drove him to the bus station, where he was to catch a bus to Damascus, and wait for the right moment to sneak back into Aleppo.
Here I was, complaining about a silly passport, while this brave man was risking his entire life and leaving his entire family in the most brutalized city on earth today with the hopes of getting an opportunity to work and give to the world. And when he did not get that chance, he simply hitchhiked his way back to the place he escaped to be with his family.
So I decided to share this experience, with the frustrating realization that this is really the only thing I can do for Mahmoud at this moment…. These 7 Went Unnoticed. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Omran Daqneesh , a small Syrian boy from the embattled rebel-held section of Aleppo, somehow snapped to attention millions of people around the world, who watched and shared the arresting video of him as he wiped dried blood and thick soot from his face.
The widespread interest in 5-year-old Omran surprised the doctors who treated him, the photographer who shot the video and many Syrians who wondered whether the world had only just discovered how children have suffered every day in a war that has raged for more than five years.
Omran was injured on Wednesday by either a Syrian or a Russian airstrike — Russia has denied involvement — that destroyed the building where his family lived in eastern Aleppo. On Thursday, a pro-government website published a photograph of a young girl that it said was hurt — around the same time as Omran — by rebel mortar attacks on the government-held western side of the city.
The rebels have no air power, but chemical weapons and missiles and tanks and canons? And the US was angry when safe passages were opened to fleeing Syrians. For each family, the loss is immeasurable. And there are children constantly caught up in battles in other places, on all sides, across war-torn Syria. Here are images of seven of the many other children treated in the past week at hospitals in the same region and in other regions?
They are taken from among several that were posted by doctors and other residents of Aleppo on a WhatsApp group for journalists. Doctors did not know who this child was when he arrived at the same hospital that treated Omran.
On Wednesday, Ahmad had been separated from his family — as happens to many children in the chaotic aftermath of an attack — in the Mashhad neighborhood of Aleppo. He underwent surgery for serious injuries to his head, groin and right arm and leg. Later identified, Ahmad was kept in the intensive care unit of the hospital along with his father. The Hanoun sisters were wounded on Wednesday in the same airstrike that injured Omran. They were among 12 children under 15 who were treated at the same hospital in Aleppo. Both of the girls had suffered shrapnel wounds, but were treated and then released on Thursday morning.
Doctors shared their picture with the WhatsApp group around the same time they shared the photograph of Omran. Aisel suffered wounds to her head and to one of her legs on Tuesday, and was treated at Al Quds hospital. The severity of her injuries could not be confirmed because doctors were busy treating new cases. The Hayouk siblings suffered cuts and bruises when an aircraft opened fire on Wednesday over the Sakhour neighborhood, and they were treated around the same time and at the same hospital as Omran.
Efforts to identify this boy, below, were unsuccessful. He was treated on Tuesday night at the Omar Hospital and released, said Baraa al-Halabi, a citizen journalist who photographed him.
None of the medical workers who could be reached remembered the boy, which is not unusual in the overwhelmed hospitals. The children were Aisha, 12; Mohammad, 11; Obaida, 7; and Afraa, 6. There is no picture of their injuries to show because they were pulled dead from the rubble. Pictures and videos can make a slight difference. If the world media conglomerates were Not owned by US and Saudi Kingdom , this ugly and savage civil war in Syria would have ended long time ago.
So many brutal casualties were committed throughout Syria but the media turned a blind eye. The same case for the Yemeni children dying from malnutrition and lack of basic medicines. I obsessively photographed the apartment where my father grew up and where I spent much of my youth. I took only a few sentimental pieces with me when I left to go back to my home in America.
I wish I had taken everything. This diverse part of the city, in the west, has largely avoided the destruction of the war swirling around it — so far. Aleppo, where I spent my adolescent years, where I went to college and became an adult before returning to the United States, where I was born, has been split in two since The west side is in the clutches of the government, and the east is held by rebel forces transformed into terrorist Al Nusra? Over the last four years, brutal territorial battles tore through the city, dividing neighborhoods that had been interwoven for centuries.
Aleppo is the last major city where the rebels control significant territory, and President Bashar al-Assad thinks that capturing it could bring him close to so-called victory. Supplies of food and medicine were choked off; hundreds of civilians died. And the USA and Europe were angry that passages were opened for people to flee? At the beginning of August, the power struggle on the ground shifted unexpectedly.
Activists set thousands of tires alight, creating huge clouds of black smoke, a weak attempt at a homemade no-fly zone to hide the east side from Russian airplanes.
The planes are Not bombing inside Aleppo. Together, they battled Mr. Trucks from nearby Idlib brought the trapped civilians fresh food for the first time in weeks.