Syria Policy Brief:

The situation in Syria and how the US can support the pro-democracy uprising.

Prepared by:

www.AllianceForSyria.org NAFS@AllianceForSyria.org

917-408-3228

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Summary:

Since mid-March, millions of Syrians have taken to the streets, in peaceful protest, demanding the overthrow of the brutal regime led by Bashar Al-Assad and a change to a democratic system of government. Triggered by the torture of children in the southern Syrian city of Deraa, what began as provincial grievances against corruption, nepotism and human rights abuses now has reached a tipping point with large segments of the Syrian population supporting change – there are major protests in every city, every day. The regime will fall, it is just a matter of when, and how many people will die. While the International community increases its condemnation of Assad, it is a critical that the US should lead, not follow, and clearly articulate a policy grounded in support of the uprising for the International community to stand behind. This brief highlights the background, and key steps the US should take in support the Syrian revolution.

Contents:

The Situation o Millions of Syrians march for change o Assad Regime Response o Regime ‘Ramadan’ Offensive o Maturing Opposition o International Reaction o US – moving from ‘reform’ to ‘lost legitimacy’ o Why this is important to the US

What is Needed o 5 Actions for the US to take

Testimonials

o Child torture, the story of Hamza Al-Khatib o Syrian refugees in Turkey, story of Umm Omar o Defections in the military, story of Wasif o Syrian-American family attacked, story of Malek Jandali

About the National Alliance for Syria

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The Situation Millions of Syrians march for change Since mid-March, millions of Syrians have taken to the streets, in peaceful protest, demanding the overthrow of the brutal regime led by Bashar Al-Assad and a change to a democratic system of government. Triggered by the torture of children in the southern Syrian city of Deraa, what began as provincial grievances against corruption, nepotism and human rights abuses now has reached a tipping point with large segments of the Syrian population supporting change – there are major protests in every city, every day. The regime will fall, it is just a matter of when, and how many people will die. Brutal Regime Response The response to these demands by the Assad regime has been terrible; as of early August:

• More than 2,000 civilians have been murdered, including scores of children • More than 350 Syrian soldiers have been killed by the regime for disobeying orders to

shoot unarmed protestors • More than 3,000 civilians have ‘disappeared’ • Some 20,000 have been arrested. They face torture and in many cases death • More than 12,000 externally displaced refugees (in Turkey & Lebanon) • There are tens of thousands of internally displaced civilians

Please note, for a nation of ~22 million individuals, these numbers are staggering. From a proportional perspective, if Syria was the size of the US, there would be 25,000+ killed & 130,000 detained in a matter of months. Regime ‘Ramadan’ Offensive Since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (August 1st), the regime has become increasingly desperate, and has moved to crush the uprising. Military units under the command of Maher Al-Assad (the president’s brother) have laid siege to multiple cities - Hama, Deir Ezzor & Homs - systematically bombarding the cities, shutting off electricity, restricting food/ aid/ medical access and cutting off any escape for civilians. Supported by pro-regime militiamen (aka “Shabiha”), they are terrorizing the populations through mass-killing and broad detention sweeps. Even under this pressure, the protests continue, showing the resolve of the Syrian people in their demands for a free nation. Decentralized Leadership of Protests Evolving into a Mature Opposition Much has been made of the lack of organized opposition in Syria, whether in or out of the country. This has been a major success for the regime. Brutality pays: Over the past 40 years, through massacres, human rights violations, the culture of fear, sectarian divisions, military and political impotency, no institutions have been left intact which could be used as a means to oppose the regime. With this reality, at the outset of the uprising, the opposition was truly in its infancy, however despite the systematic assault on activists and community leaders across Syria (estimates are that one activist disappears every hour in Syria), the decentralized movement is maturing into a well-

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connected network of organizers, activists and community leaders – all preparing for the inevitable collapse of the Assad regime by establishing local representation, connecting them nationally & internationally and formalizing political platforms. As this broad-based opposition representing the diversity of Syria develops, it is critical to note that the Syrian people will not accept an externally fabricated opposition that is not reflective and grounded in the aspirations of the Syrian people. Examples of this are Ahmed Chalabi in the case of Iraq, or Farid Ghadry (the Syrian ‘Chalabi’), based in Washington DC. International Reaction With the ‘Ramadan’ offensive by the regime, the international community is beginning to issue broad condemnations. In the past week alone:

On August 3rd, the UN Security Council issued a presidential statement condemning the Syrian government's "widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians."

Even those nations within the UN Security Council who have been supportive of Assad are now shifting:

o Brazil, India and South Africa are sending envoys to Damascus to deliver strong messages of concern

o Even Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that if Assad did not shift course "a sad fate awaits him …”

Turkey has repeatedly condemned Assad and most recently their Foreign Minister went to Syria to deliver the message that Ankara “is running out of patience”

Italy recalled its ambassador for consultations, citing Damascus’ “horrible repression against the civilian population”

A day following the Gulf Co-operation Council urged Syria to "end the bloodshed" Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain recalled ambassadors from Damascus, with the strongest condemnation coming from Saudi King Abdullah who called on Syria to “stop the killing machine” and said the violent repression by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government had “nothing to do with religion, or values, or morality.”

o Even the impotent Arab league put out a statement recently calling for a halt on the recent Regime offensive

Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for an adequate response to the ''legitimate aspirations'' of the Syrian people

Only Iran continues to stand by the Assad regime, and in mid-July even announced the offering of a massive $5.8 billion financial aid package to stabilize the isolated regime. US – moving from ‘reform’ to ‘lost legitimacy’ While the International community increases its condemnation of Assad, it is a critical that the US should lead, not follow, and clearly articulate a policy grounded in support of the uprising for the International community to stand behind. Until recently, the Obama administration has focused on asking for ‘restraint’ and ‘reform’. It took a regime-orchestrated mob attacking the US embassy in July to finally trigger a strong response from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicating that the US had “absolutely nothing invested in him [Bashar] remaining in power.”

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With the ongoing regime offensive to quell the uprising during Ramadan, international condemnation has intensified, and as highlighted above, even long time ‘friends’ of the Syrian regime have provided stern warnings. The US administration is inching forward cautiously, and now Clinton has said that Washington believes the regime is responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in their crackdown of pro-democracy protestors and repeated that the US believes Assad has "lost his legitimacy to govern the Syrian people". Why this is important to the US Syria is at the center of most US foreign policy goals in the Middle East: Syria is a key influencer in ensuring the stability in Iraq; is at the core of both Iran and Turkey’s regional policy; is still in a state of Cold war with Israel; and is a major stakeholder in Lebanon’s political landscape. A democratic Syria will no doubt be in the interest of the US, especially if the Syrian people view the US as a friend in their time in need and not a nation that stood on the sidelines while Syrians bravely demanded freedom from a ruthless regime.

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What is Needed: The US has been painfully slow in clearly demonstrating a strategy aimed at supporting the pro-democracy aspirations of the Syrian people. It is now time to put forth the strongest condemnation possible, and align with the pro-democracy movement in Syria.

1. Unequivocally, declare Bashar Al-Assad’s regime illegitimate and call for him to step down.

a. It is time for the US to take a firm stance and not wordsmith responses of condemnation while leaving the door open for ‘reform’

b. The Syrian people will not accept anything but the removal of the regime, and the opposition is maturing and will emerge to lead the nation ‘the day after’ Assad falls

2. Further sanction the regime, and the industries propping them up

a. We applaud the expanded list of targeted sanctions on members of the regime, however Syrian oil needs to be embargoed as ~1/4 of the regime budget is derived from this sector and is funding the military and security apparatus

Building on this, the US will need to pressure European consumers of Syrian oil to slash consumption of Syrian oil – while this will not make a major impact in the worlds oil market, it will severely restrict the regimes ability to fund the onslaught

3. Exert pressure through the United Nations (UN) to isolate the regime

a. Push for the temporary suspension of Syrian activity in the UN b. Pressure the UN Security Council to refer Regime leaders to the International

Criminal Court (ICC) c. Assign a special representative of the Secretary-General to go to Syria, act as a

monitor (assess humanitarian needs) and report-back to the UN 4. Pressure Turkey and Lebanon to declare Syrian civilians seeking refuge as refugees to enable

UN access to provide protection and assistance a. The Syrian refugees in Turkey and Lebanon have been isolated from the UN/NGOs

and the rest of the world. They are currently suffering as the Turks are sequestering them in the hopes that other refugees will not cross the border. In Lebanon, there are numerous reports of some Lebanese factions are deporting refugees back to Syria. As the regime becomes more desperate and more refugees cross the border, this will turn into a humanitarian disaster

5. Showcase solidarity with pro-democracy movement by cutting or reducing diplomatic

relations a. Take the lead by immediately expelling the Syrian Ambassador, and pressuring allies

to do the same around the world b. Coordinate the withdrawal of foreign ambassadors from Syria while keeping a

skeleton diplomatic presence to ensure monitoring and further reiterate the world’s rejection of the Assad regime

c. Urge for opening the nation to international media

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In conclusion The Syrian people are NOT asking for military intervention. Rather, they are asking for the US to stand by the values it preaches and to support the aspirations of the people by isolating the regime, politically and economically.

What the Syrian people are urging the US to do is to stand on the side of history. For the Assad regime will fall - sooner rather than later. But the Syrian blood, shed today with US acquiescence will NOT be recovered. Nor it will be forgotten. Rather, it will stay unforgivable and haunting.

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Testimonials from the Syrian Revolution

Story of 13 year old Hamza Ali-Khateeb – tortured and killed by Syrian Government

Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb (October 24, 1997 – May 2011) was a 13-year-old Syrian boy who died while in the custody of the Syrian government in Deraa during the 2011 Syrian uprising.

On April 29, 2011, he was detained during a protest. One week later, his body was delivered to his family, having been badly bruised; along with burn marks, three gunshot wounds, and severed genitals. Hamza's family distributed photos and video of his body to journalists and activists. Shocked by what those depicted, thousands of people showed their support for Hamza online and in street protests. Many news organizations described Hamza as the new symbol of the Syrian revolution.

Hamza lived with his parents in a village called Al Jeezah or Al Giza in Daraa Governorate. He was a seventh-grade student who enjoyed swimming and watching his collected homing pigeons fly above his house. He had a reputation for being generous. "He would often ask his parents for money to give to the poor. I remember once he wanted to give someone 100 Syrian Pounds ($2), and his family said it was too much. But Hamza said, 'I have a bed and food while that guy has nothing.' And so he persuaded his parents to give the poor man the 100," his cousin told Al Jazeera.

Hamza's family reported that he was not interested in politics, but on April 29, 2011, he joined his family in a rally to break the siege of the city of Daraa. "Everybody seemed to be going to the protest, so he went along as well," said his cousin. Hamza walked with friends and family 12 km along the road from his Al Jeezah north-west to Saida. Firing began almost as the protesters reached Saida. Hamza's cousin reported: "People were killed and wounded, some were arrested. It was chaotic we didn't know at that point what had happened to Hamza. He just disappeared."

Sources confirmed that Hamza had been among 51 protesters detained by Air Force Intelligence, which detainees described as having a reputation for brutal torture.

Syrian Refugees in Turkey (Stories of Umm Ahmed) as told to NPR

As Syrian troops continue their crackdown against demonstrators in the north of the country, more Syrians are massing on the border with Turkey. Nearly 10,500 Syrians are already seeking refuge there, and Turkish officials are scrambling to keep the situation from getting out of hand. For many

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of them, Turkey is the nearest safe haven, although not everyone is willing to be crammed into what Turkish officials insist on calling "temporary tent cities" and not "refugee camps."

Umm Ahmed, 34, sits with her sister and three of her seven children in a small room where they were taken in by relatives. Many families cross borders in this part of the world, not always by choice." It was very scary. We wanted to stay at first, thinking we could be safe. But then we saw men in the village had bullet wounds, and people told us the army was coming our way," she says. "So we had to run." Fleeing is nothing new to her. She says her husband opposed the regime in the 1980s, and the family was forced to flee, that time to Iraq. Returning more than two decades later, after Assad offered amnesty, she says her husband was arrested. His health failed in prison, and he died soon after. Her daughters listen to this recitation of the family history without blinking. There's no show of emotion when their mother is asked what they will do now, if this conflict drags on. She replies with the stoicism of the powerless: Now we wait here, and we will see what our destiny will be. Down in the valley beneath this hillside village, masses of Syrians squat in damp fields, wondering where they will go next. Turkey has tried to project an image of being in control of a situation that has no obvious resolution.

Syrian Army Defector (Story of Wasid) as told to The Guardian

Wasid, a Syrian conscript, set off for the southern town of Deraa in late April filled with the zeal of a soldier going to war. "We were going to fight terrorists," he said. But less than a day after arriving there, he was planning to defect. The Syrian regime has cast the uprising in Deraa as a conflict between a loyal military and a large and highly mobile group of heavily-armed foreign-backed insurgents, roaming the country attempting to ignite sectarian strife.

Over three hours in an Istanbul safehouse, Wasid, 20, described events in the southern town where the wave of dissent that has swept Syria first broke. In the month they were stationed there, neither Wasid nor any of his colleagues saw any demonstrators with weapons in Deraa or the nearby town of Izraa. And instead of confronting armed insurgents, the unit was ordered to shoot protesters. In the weeks leading up his deployment with the Syrian army's 14th Division, commanders had given regular briefings on the "violence" ahead.

"When we were at the base in Damascus before we left for Deraa, we were not allowed to watch television at all, except for two hours each day when we could watch Rami Makhlouf's channel," he said. [Makhlouf, a tycoon, is Bashar al-Assad's first cousin]. "All they showed were armed groups roaming the villages. I found out later that these groups were on our [the regime's] side – they were the Shabiha." According to Wasid, the Shabiha – ghosts – were the only civilian gunmen in town. Their group has strong links to the military and has developed a reputation over recent bloody months of being willing to do the dirty work in troublesome towns and villages.

"The first day we arrived there, 24 April, the Shabiha came to the base to speak with our officers. It was clear that the relationship was close." Wasid showed the Guardian his military ID and application for refugee status, copies of which have been kept. He did not want his real name or photograph used out of fear that his family may be targeted for reprisals.

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"I never saw an Islamist or anybody that resembled one," said Wasid. "And nor did anyone else with me." He estimated that about 30% of his unit were disaffected with the military. But neither dissent nor defection are easy in Syria, where conscripts are paid £6 a month. "One guy – I only know his name as Wael, he was from the east – told an officer that what we were doing was wrong.” The next day he was killed. They said he had been shot by terrorists."

Defections have been regularly reported during the uprising, but on a small scale.

Syrian-American singer’s family attacked in Syria, as reported on CNN

The family of the singer, Malek Jandali, a US citizen, was attacked in Syria after he performed at a rally in Washington DC in support of the pro-democracy movement.

Regime security forces attacked Jandali's father and mother, wrecked their home in Homs, and locked the couple in the bathroom.

“The father, Dr. Mamoun Jandali, 73, was carrying groceries from his car to his home in Homs when a man grabbed him from behind and asked him to help care for someone who had been injured, Jandali told CNN Friday in a telephone interview from Orlando, Florida.

When the doctor agreed to do so, the man spoke into his cell phone and said to bring the patient. Moments later, two other men showed up unaccompanied by any patient. They handcuffed the doctor, covered his mouth and nose with duct tape, then took him upstairs, Jandali said. The musician's 66-year-old mother, Linah, was in bed.

"All of a sudden, she finds two men attacking her while the guy was holding my dad and ordering the other two to beat my mom in the head and eyes," Jandali said. "My dad, he couldn't do anything other than watch this atrocity."

The three men broke his mother's teeth and beat his father, then locked them both in their bathroom and ransacked the house, their son said. After the attackers had departed, the father, who had held on to his cell phone throughout the ordeal, called relatives. He had to call security forces to remove his handcuffs.”

About the National Alliance for Syria (NAFS)

NAFS is a network of Syrian-Americans; activists, community groups, organizations all dedicated to creation and development of a democratic Syria, free from sectarian privileges, a nation to represent the people, equally. For more information, please visit www.AllianceForSyria.org.