Current situation in Homs

• Date: Nov 4 2011 Time: 12:24
• Description:
  Syria crisis Avaaz diplomatic briefing / analysis Thursday November 3, 2011 Current situation in Homs The Syrian army, security forces and Shabiha death squads are still in the city of Homs. At 3am this morning, tanks started shelling the northeast area of Baba Amr neighbourhood. Ensha’at district in Homs was raided by security forces supported by death squads, who targeted houses searching for activists. Military reinforcements from Hama arrived to Homs in the early hours of this morning. Two nights ago, an armed resistance group in Homs kidnapped and killed 9 Alawites, severely stoking sectarian tensions and provoking retaliatory attacks on Sunni in a tissue factory in Hawla. Sources from Alawite neighbourhoods claimed that the attack on the tissue factory and killing of 11 Sunni workers was a spontaneous reaction from people in the Alawite community, and that the army was not involved in the incident. Avaaz has been working hard to calm the rising sectarian tensions in Homs. Wissam Tarif, Arabic campaigner at Avaaz, said: “Since the early hours of this morning we have been engaging activists in talks with community leaders from both sides. It is crucial to note that retaliatory attacks are provoked by the regime in Homs. Unlike in other parts of the country where death squads are brought in from other regions, death squads operating in Homs are from neighbouring towns. Those looking to exact revenge on the Alawite death squads are targeting anyone in their own Alawite community as a result. The regime strategy is to specifically and very deliberately incite division between Alawites and Sunnis in Homs. Community leaders from both sides understand what is happening. The attacks are sowing the seeds of very personal and long-term violence, as the vendetta will lead to specific families being targeted. The situation so far is containable and opposition figures are talking with Sunni clerics to calm people down. Alawite artists and intellectuals are dealing with the Alawite groups intent on violence.” Weapons trade The number of Syrians buying weapons in Lebanon has increased significantly during the last three weeks. Lebanese businesses selling hunting weapons are flourishing - especially in the Bekaa Valley. Nevertheless smuggling operations in general into Syria from Bekaa have not been effective and the smuggling of weapons has been seriously hampered by the regime, which is determined to stop weapons from getting into the Damascus suburbs. Ambushes by armed gangs were reported in Zabadani and Madaya last month, nevertheless we are seeing less and less of it now as the regime has tightened up security significantly along that stretch of the border. Still, the smuggling of cigarettes and other goods is operating without hindrance. Smuggling networks have been penetrated by regime security forces and is a main source of income for many of them. Therefore they decide what gets through and what doesn’t. On the northern Lebanese border, Syrian activists have developed close ties to arms traders in Lebanon. Their operation is still on a small scale and primarily financed by Syrians in the diaspora, although we know that some people in Homs have even sold the furniture from their homes to buy weapons and smuggle them into Homs. Having met with Lebanese politicians, activists, smugglers and Homs residents who are active on the military front, we have come to the conclusion that no Lebanese political party is involved in smuggling weapons into Syria. Due to the relatively small volume of trade, it is clear that no country is involved in financing the weapons smuggling to Syria. A prominent Lebanese politician known for being opposed to the Assad regime, said: “Lebanon cannot afford to destabilize the Syrian regime. Smuggling is taking place under the regime’s nose. They see it and they allow it. It takes them less than two hours to secure their border and stop any form of weapon smuggling inside their border. The weapons trade is manipulated by the Syrian regime and using usual networks to list what is allowed and what is not allowed to be sold to Syrian activists. The operation is fully exposed to Syrian security forces.” The implication of these remarks is that the Syrian regime is actively trying to foment violence, knowing that it needs to allow a certain amount of armed resistance to the continued crackdown in order to verbally justify its heavy-handed repression of the protesters. Arab League initiative It had been expected that the regime would accept the initiative, and throw the ball in the Syrian National Council’s court by proposing dialogue. The SNC is in a difficult position. Protesters’ demands are clear - they are anti-dialogue and against any political process not focused on regime change. Borhan Ghalioun, the president of the Syrian National Council released a statement today, regarding the Arab League deal with the Assad regime. He said that the acceptance of the Arab League initiative by the regime does not mean that the regime will respect the clauses of this agreement. He asked for assurances, in summary: 1. The immediate implementation of all the provisions of the initiative before the start of any negotiations in order to test the intentions of the regime. Specifically, the SNC expects the army to withdraw from cities and to stop the killing of civilians. 2. The appointment of human rights committees and organizations to document the abuses faced by detainees as well as to hold the perpetrators accountable. 3. The involvement of the United Nations in order to ensure implementation and compliance. 4. A deadline for the regime to fully implement the initiative. Dima Moussa, a member of the Syrian National Council, told Avaaz today: “The regime has been violating the Arab League Initiative from the moment it agreed to it. The military offensive against Homs today, especially in Baba Amr, since agreeing two days ago to immediately stop military operations against the civilians, was a clear violation. We encourage everyone to monitor what the regime is doing, by sending in human rights observers or the media, which by the regime's own agreement, should be allowed into Syria to travel around to freely and observe and report the conditions inside.”