Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 196

TARTUS, Syria — Through its steadfast agencies and institutions, the Syrian regime remains relentless in the areas it controls. On the Syrian coast, and in large swaths of Homs, Hama, Damascus and Suwayda, pro- as well as anti-regime residents are equally living according to the laws and regulations imposed by the Syrian regime. All men are required to fulfill compulsory military service or join military reserve forces. In addition to oppositionists who refuse to fight with the regime because of their political sympathies, there are hundreds of neutral or pro-regime citizens who do not wish to take part in the fighting.

Many of those summoned by the army to fulfill military service have left the regime-controlled areas for the areas held by rebel armed factions, some of whom join the factions while others live away from the fighting. A significant number of “draft dodgers” have also left the country for good, while some continue to live in regime-controlled areas either because they could not leave the country or didn’t want to leave. Despite the overwhelming risks draft dodgers take, in fear of being arrested or taken by force by the army, their living in regime-held areas has yet to become intolerable.

In a small village in the mountains of the Syrian coast, 30-year-old Mohammad (a pseudonym) lives in a small grove adjacent to his place, even though he was summoned to reserve military service a year and a half ago. He spends the majority of his time farming, or working in a workshop nearby.

Mohammad says he does not want to “go to death.” This is why he refused to join the military service. “Military police have not tried to take me by force until now, and I will not allow them [to do so]. I do not support the regime or the Islamist Sunnis and I will not take part in the fighting,” he declared.

On July 31 2014 07:04 Redox wrote:
Saw a video posted by ISIS that featured them executing hundreds of Shia civilians. Dont think I should post that here though. It was just the same as you know from WW2 videos of nazi Einsatzgruppen rounding up and shooting jews in ditches. Only that it is in colour and HD now. I really dont understand why the world is ignoring this.

On July 31 2014 07:04 Redox wrote:
Saw a video posted by ISIS that featured them executing hundreds of Shia civilians. Dont think I should post that here though. It was just the same as you know from WW2 videos of nazi Einsatzgruppen rounding up and shooting jews in ditches. Only that it is in colour and HD now. Made me absolutely sick.

I really dont understand why the world is ignoring this.

On July 31 2014 07:08 xDaunt wrote:

Because we can afford to right now, as sad as that sounds. But yeah, some people need killing, and ISIS is right up there on my list.

On July 31 2014 07:24 Redox wrote:

No it is more complicated than that. For example the US is regularly bombing militants/terrorists in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia without looking for much approval from anywhere. But they wont do anything in Iraq or Syria where there is the worst manifestation of islamist terror yet in the form of ISIS. As long as you dont send ground troops it is really not much of a cost issue.

YPG operation against ISIS west of Kobani

HERMEL, Lebanon: Hezbollah and the Syrian regime tightened the noose on armed rebels fighting in the mountainous regions straddling the border between Lebanon and Syria, in a major push to uproot fighters opposed to the embattled Assad regime. Hezbollah fighters gained control of hills surrounding rebel hideouts in the border province of Qalamoun and in the mountains bordering Shiite villages in northeastern Lebanon, helping seal off food and ammunition supply lines to the stranded fighters, a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star.

Most of the fighters belong to the Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, the security source said. But some of the fighters are believed to have pledged allegiance to the Al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), after its advances in Iraq.

Battles raged in Qalamoun, which lies opposite to the mountainous region bordering the pro-Syrian opposition town of Arsal, and in the mountains surrounding Shiite villages like Labweh, Nahlet Younin and Al-Ain in Lebanon’s northeast, between Hezbollah and the Syrian regime armed with warplanes on one side and opposition rebels on the other.

BEIRUT: A Hezbollah commander has died during a mission in Iraq, sources familiar with the incident said on Wednesday, indicating the Lebanese group that is already fighting in Syria’s civil war may be involved in a second conflict in the region.

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shi’ite Islamist group, has not previously announced any role in the conflict in Iraq, which escalated last month when radical Sunni militants seized large areas of territory from the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad.
Four sources in Lebanon named the Hezbollah commander as Ibrahim al-Haj, a technical specialist involved in training.

They said he was “martyred” in a battle near Mosul, a city in northern Iraq seized from government control last month by an al Qaeda offshoot known as the Islamic State.

An Independent Human rights group has revealed that as a result of intense fightings in the Kurdish city of Kobane in northern Syria 35 Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) have been killed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that there have been heavy clashes in Northern Syria between the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) the military with for Democratic Union Party (PYD) and ISIS militants in recent days.

The London-based group also reported that the Kurdish forces were able to control a number of key positions in the area.

The vicar of the only Anglican church in Iraq has warned the end for Christians in the country appears “very near” as he appealed for help after a deadline set by Islamic militants to convert or be killed expired.
For those Christians who did not comply with the decree by 19 July, Isis warned that "there is nothing to give them but the sword.” Many have since fled their homes and Rev. Andrew-White told BBC Radio 4 Today desperate Christians were trapped in the desert or on the streets with nowhere to go.

"Things are so desperate, our people are disappearing," he said. "We have had people massacred, their heads chopped off.

"Are we seeing the end of Christianity? We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end, but it looks as though the end could be very near."
A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that from 14 July homes in Mosul were painted with the letter “N” for Nasrani (the Arabic word for Christian). Others were painted with the letter “R” for Rafidah, a word commonly used by Sunni to describe Shia.
The vicar is in London to speak about the crisis and raise awareness of the urgent need to provide more help to the persecuted minority.

"The Christians are in grave danger. There are literally Christians living in the desert and on the street. They have nowhere to go," he told the programme.

"We do not want Britain to forget us. We - and I'm saying 'we' talking like an Iraqi Christian - have always been with the British because they have already been with us.

"Individual churches, individual Christians in Britain, have been a bigger help than anybody around the world."

Up to a million Christians lived in Iraq prior to the US-led invasion in 2003, with many residing in areas such as Mosul where the communities date back to the first centuries of Christianity.

There are now thought to be fewer than half that number.