.Syrian Activist Warns of Civil War
Syrian activists formed a council to coordinate efforts to end President Bashar al-Assad’s violent rule and stop a crackdown that has claimed more than 3,600 lives this year.
The Syrian National Council will include the head of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political party banned in the country, as well as Kurdish and other groups, Burhan Ghaliun, a political sociologist at Paris’s Sorbonne University and member of the council, told reporters in Istanbul yesterday. Assad’s crackdown on dissenters threatens the country with civil war, he said.
“The council is a big step, and I think it will indeed help with getting international support,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of the book “In the Lion’s Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington’s Battle with Syria.” “It organizes the opposition more comprehensively and beyond previous groups gathered around core principles. It’s a transitional council in all but name really.’ ‘
Syria’s opposition is following the path taken by Libya’s rebels, who formed a National Transitional Council during that nation’s uprising. The NTC became the main governing authority in Libya in late August after rebels seized Tripoli, the capital, and ended the four-decade rule of Muammar Qaddafi. The Libyan and Syrian revolts were inspired by a wave of unrest that ousted Tunisia’s President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak the following month.
Syrian Cohesion Lacking
Fadi Hakura, an analyst at Chatham House research institute in London, said the Syrian alliance may be fragile. “The so- called opposition council has been created outside Syrian territory, there doesn’t seem to be much close cooperation with the protesters on the ground in Syria, and there aren’t any clear responsibilities,” Hakura said in a phone interview from New York. “The Libyan transitional council was a cohesive unit with clear objectives and you don’t see that with the Syrians.”
In Libya, opposition fighters yesterday tightened their cordon around Sirte, the hometown of Qaddafi and one of the last loyalist strongholds, as NATO said it was preparing to wind down its mission there.
Interim government forces, which have been shelling Qaddafi loyalists in Sirte backed by NATO air strikes, are seeking a two-day truce to let civilians escape the coastal city. A family of four was killed by machine-gun fire as they fled Sirte Oct. 1, the Associated Press reported.
Sirte Hospital Supplies
A doctor led a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross on Oct. 1 in delivering surgical supplies to Sirte’s Ibn Sina hospital to treat an estimated 200 people with injuries, the Geneva-based group said. The team didn’t remain long enough to fully assess the humanitarian needs, citing a “volatile security situation,” Hichem Khadraoui, who headed the Red Cross operation, said in a statement.
“There is a desperate need for oxygen,” Khadraoui said. “On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military mission is nearing completion and may begin winding down its involvement in the North African country as soon as this week, the AP reported. Army General Carter Ham, the top U.S. commander for Africa, told the news agency that U.S. military chiefs likely will provide NATO officials in Brussels with their assessments on Libya late this week.
Qaddafi remains at large. The National Transitional Council has been working to stabilize the economy and establish authority over factions that rebelled against the deposed Libyan leader, including the military council in Misrata, the main rebel stronghold in the west during the seven-month conflict, which is leading the Sirte operation.
Bloomberg
The Syrian National Council will include the head of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political party banned in the country, as well as Kurdish and other groups, Burhan Ghaliun, a political sociologist at Paris’s Sorbonne University and member of the council, told reporters in Istanbul yesterday. Assad’s crackdown on dissenters threatens the country with civil war, he said.
“The council is a big step, and I think it will indeed help with getting international support,” said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of the book “In the Lion’s Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington’s Battle with Syria.” “It organizes the opposition more comprehensively and beyond previous groups gathered around core principles. It’s a transitional council in all but name really.’ ‘
Syria’s opposition is following the path taken by Libya’s rebels, who formed a National Transitional Council during that nation’s uprising. The NTC became the main governing authority in Libya in late August after rebels seized Tripoli, the capital, and ended the four-decade rule of Muammar Qaddafi. The Libyan and Syrian revolts were inspired by a wave of unrest that ousted Tunisia’s President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak the following month.
Syrian Cohesion Lacking
Fadi Hakura, an analyst at Chatham House research institute in London, said the Syrian alliance may be fragile. “The so- called opposition council has been created outside Syrian territory, there doesn’t seem to be much close cooperation with the protesters on the ground in Syria, and there aren’t any clear responsibilities,” Hakura said in a phone interview from New York. “The Libyan transitional council was a cohesive unit with clear objectives and you don’t see that with the Syrians.”
In Libya, opposition fighters yesterday tightened their cordon around Sirte, the hometown of Qaddafi and one of the last loyalist strongholds, as NATO said it was preparing to wind down its mission there.
Interim government forces, which have been shelling Qaddafi loyalists in Sirte backed by NATO air strikes, are seeking a two-day truce to let civilians escape the coastal city. A family of four was killed by machine-gun fire as they fled Sirte Oct. 1, the Associated Press reported.
Sirte Hospital Supplies
A doctor led a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross on Oct. 1 in delivering surgical supplies to Sirte’s Ibn Sina hospital to treat an estimated 200 people with injuries, the Geneva-based group said. The team didn’t remain long enough to fully assess the humanitarian needs, citing a “volatile security situation,” Hichem Khadraoui, who headed the Red Cross operation, said in a statement.
“There is a desperate need for oxygen,” Khadraoui said. “On top of that, the water reservoir has been damaged.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military mission is nearing completion and may begin winding down its involvement in the North African country as soon as this week, the AP reported. Army General Carter Ham, the top U.S. commander for Africa, told the news agency that U.S. military chiefs likely will provide NATO officials in Brussels with their assessments on Libya late this week.
Qaddafi remains at large. The National Transitional Council has been working to stabilize the economy and establish authority over factions that rebelled against the deposed Libyan leader, including the military council in Misrata, the main rebel stronghold in the west during the seven-month conflict, which is leading the Sirte operation.
Bloomberg
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