More Mass Executions

Less Hope For An End To The War
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Bodies Dragged Out Of Kuwait River In Aleppo)

Syria was the original source for The Darkness Visible series. The horrific massacres that marked the outbreak of "civil war" in Syria inspired a seemingly endless focus on the tragedy. At times I have been unable to think of anything else but Syria and how easily it could be ended. Knowing what was happening due to Assad's insanity was making me question my own. Today Syria calls out to the world once more.

When Houla broke last May the world couldn't help but stare with their mouths hung open. Among the 108 dead were 49 children and babies. Many of the children had had their throats slit and or shot at point-blank range. This was the worse atrocity in the civil war up to that point. 

The UN has finally accepted the fact that the Shabiha (an Alawite death squad) had been the murderers in Houla. This was a claim that human rights organizations had backed from the start. It was obvious that Assad was paying this minority sect of Islam, Assad's own sect, to commit bouts of ethnic cleansing across Syria. The Houla massacre was just one of the many atrocities that became the hallmarks of Assad's genocidal campaign. 

This latest massacre is just one more grotesque display of Assad's dedication to the destruction of Syria. It is obvious by the trademarks of this massacre that the Shabiha were most likely responsible for the slaughter. Key points, such as hands being bound and signs of torture, point to the brutal mob and the support of the Syrian army. 

"With every day, with every week, with every month, the chances of him surviving are becoming less and less," Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev.

As for the Russians and Chinese, their support for Syrian president Bashar Assad remains in tact. Instead of focusing on the innocent civilians the Russians continue to focus on their desire to keep Assad in power. This dedication is born out of a desire to keep rather lucrative arms sales up and running and their control of the region alongside Iran. For the Chinese their allegiance is born out of both arms sales and the promise of cheap oil and the backing of their exploitation of Africa. 

(Civilians Shot Execution Style And Dumped In The River)

"... the tragedy does not have an end." Lakhdar Brahimi while speaking to the UN.

Around 70 young men were pulled from the Kuwait River near Aleppo. The people in the area who had missing relatives came to identify the dead as best as they could. However with the victims having been bound and shot in the head or face, identification was difficult. The fact that all of the victims were male was impossible to miss. And the fact that the youngest victim was 12 years of age was even more difficult to overlook. 

This was a war crime at best. And given that the victims will most likely all be Sunni and not Shia (or Alawite) this is possibly a case of genocide. After all, Assad's goal and the goal of his family since they took power has been to sustain control over the majority of Syria's Sunni Muslims. This goal has required countless infringements upon even the most basic of human rights in the past. It now requires that Assad kill any and all those who oppose his heartless rule. 

The question that arises from this struggle between the two basic sects of Islam is that of whether the outside world can label this as genocide. Is it possible for two competing views of the same faith to engage in genocide against one another? Or will we now need to rewrite the definition of genocide to better fit the internal struggle Islam faces today and has faced for hundreds of years? 

It is the humble opinion of Alder's Ledge that genocide occurs when any group (especially a modern state) engages in acts that are meant to destroy or diminish a given targeted community. The targeted community is most often defined by a given faith, ethnicity, creed, or distinguishable social class such as those given in the caste system of India. The term genocide thus becomes imperative when the attacks are shown to be targeted at either driving the targeted community out of an area, decrease their presence in the area, or ultimately annihilate the community all together.

Assad's actions show that he is operating off a "burnt earth" policy. Reprisals committed against the civilian population, though common in war, in the case of Assad are blatantly targeted at his religious competitors. More importantly there remains the fact that Assad has gone out of his way to raise his own religious group up in social standings while deliberately crushing outsiders and targeting those from directly opposing religious groups. 

For these reasons Alder's Ledge believes that this latest massacre is just one more display of a brutal genocide being carried out by a dictator we have often referred to as the "Nero of Damascus". And as we have stated time and time again it is the duty of the civilized world to step in and put an end to this crisis immediately. We can not wait till the tragedy plays itself out while we talk about polite policy as it relates to "national sovereignty". The wanton murder of one's own citizens must not be treated any differently than it would be if Assad's actions crossed the border over into Turkey or Israel. It is time that Assad be stopped and the cease fire be enforced with more than blue hat smurfs that run away the moment they are shot at. 

How many more need to die?

Source Documents Used  (note not all sources are listed) 

The Australian

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/civilians-shot-in-aleppo-massacre/story-fnb1brze-1226565396059

The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/29/syrian-rebels-bodies-aleppo-canal

The Telegraph 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9838299/Aleppo-massacre-as-more-bodies-are-lifted-from-the-river-families-bury-their-dead.html

The Independent 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bodies-of-at-least-65-young-men-are-pulled-from-river-in-syria-following-mass-execution-8471362.html

France 24

http://www.france24.com/en/20130129-syrias-aleppo-horrific-new-massacre

French Government Website

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/syria-295/events-5888/article/syria-massacre-in-aleppo-30-01-13

Al Jazeera English (video)

Watching The World Burn

Damascus's Nero Promises Chemical Attacks
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Syrian Baby Killed In Syrian Air Strikes)

Today Assad made it clear to the UN and US that his military had "chemical weapons that could be used within two hours". Bashar al-Assad said in no uncertain terms that his air force had "dozens of 500lb bombs" ready to be deployed at a moments notice. Expanding on the subject Assad assured the West that these bombs were already or were currently being armed with sarin nerve gas. Assad stated that air bases across the country were already armed with these chemical weapons and the planes simply had to be sent up to start spreading his toxic payloads. 

This message out of Syria's regime appears to be a delayed response to President Barack Obama's warning that the use of chemical weapons would have "consequences". In many ways this response can also be looked at as Assad's way of thumbing his nose at the West. After all, much like Saddam Hussein, Assad views this war as a war of annihilation and that if he survives it he will have won. And after nearly two years of a war his regime launched it is obvious that Assad still controls Syria. After all, he controls the military, the sky, and the flow of food and fuel. 

(Man Holds His Wounded Son)

Before this war began the Syrian people had been led to believe that the war planes Assad had purchased by the dozen were meant to defend against Israeli aggression. Assad had made it appear as though he was planning to either stand up to Israel or even go on the offense. Yet the military build up continued as Assad's stance with Israel remained stagnant. Nobody would have guessed that these planes were meant to put down the threat Assad saw within Syria itself. 

Before this war began the Syrian people had little interest in the difference between the majority Sunni Muslims and the ruling minority Alawi Shia Muslims. Yet it appears now that this split between the two groups was always on the mind of Assad. His father had risen out of the Syrian version of an air force. He had taken control by appearing as a military hero. Assad on the other hand didn't have this image to hide behind. He appears to have known all along that the religious differences would eventually trump the old image his father had created. 

Now it is painfully obvious that the Alawi and their handful of loyalist are fighting a war of religious greed. This is a war the ruling class must win. It is a struggle to maintain the dominance of the version of Islam that Assad holds dear.

We know from the history of war in the region that once religion mixes with political power the use of unconventional warfare suddenly becomes acceptable. When Saddam needed to subjugate the Kurdish peoples of northern Iraq the use of chemical weapons was justified by drawing upon the Koran. When the Iraq-Iran war became a stalemate the Iranians decided it would be acceptable to force men onto the front lines or face death... and the deaths of their families. 

Assad is no different from those who came before him. The tide of war has turned against Assad in recent months. Rebels are finding ways to turn the big guns back on Damascus. No matter how many of his own citizens he kills, Assad can't seem to turn back his foes. Where ever Assad goes the rebels rise up to meet him. In this aspect Assad is fighting a guerrilla war in his own homeland.

(Lucky Syrian Baby Brought to Field Hospital)

So how long do we have before Assad decides to launch his final push back against the Free Syrian Army? 

Nobody can say for sure when the attack will come. Assad has already used organized and systematical torture, starvation and deprivation, shutting off the grid, cluster bombs, fire bombs, indiscriminate artillery shelling, blitz attacks followed by Shabiha mobs, aerial bombardment, summary executions, attacking refugee camps, and the butchering of children. So chemical weapons are just the next step in a failed attempt on Assad's part to keep control of Syria's government. 

More importantly, and the more direct question here, is how many more need to die before the West decides to intervene?

Obama's White House offered a seemingly endless flow of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people trapped by this war. Today the news has finally admitted that their "bighearted" President's gesture was just that. Over a million Syrians have no access to this food and water. Instead the humanitarian aid goes to waste as the Syrian people remains hungry and homeless. 

If we add those million lives to the already 60 to 100 thousand civilian casualties in Syria will the West finally consider the "red line" to have been crossed? 

Children who come out looking for food and fuel for their families are often kidnapped by Syrian military and killed or used as slaves and gang rapes. Those who are returned are often dead or close to it. But after the Houla massacre it is obvious that this is not the "red line" that Obama was talking about. 

Will we really have to wait till the chemicals are falling from the sky before we decide to act? It is time to wake up America. It is time to wake up Europe. This is a deliberate act of genocide being conducted by a failing tyrant. His regime is not afraid to take Syria to the very edge of the abyss. So why are we fooling ourselves in imagining that not even Assad would plummet all of Syria into the pits of hell?