Siria (Continuación)

MundoOriente Próximo

My older brother, Bashir, 26, is one of the thousands of people who have been detained by Bashar Assad's regime in recent weeks.

At first, we didn't know what had happened to him. He and two friends had been missing since they went to the northern city of Jisr Al Shoughur on June 10 to secretly film the protests and the army crackdown there. Then, last week, I was watching Syrian state television when my brother suddenly came on the screen. A caption underneath his image said he had confessed to subversive activities.

Bashir, an economics student at the University of Latakiya, is neither very religious nor very liberal in his views.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

In 2009, National Geographic published an article on Syria by a special correspondent, Don Belt, who had interviewed President Bashar al-Assad. In 2000, shortly after the funeral of his father, President Hafez al-Assad, the son entered his father’s office for only the second time in his life. His first visit had been at age 7, “running excitedly to tell his father about his first French lesson.” The president “remembers seeing a big bottle of cologne on a cabinet next to his father’s desk,” Mr. Belt wrote. “He was amazed to find it still there 27 years later, practically untouched.”

The bottle can be seen as an allegory for Syria itself — the Syria that has been out of sight for the 40 years of the Assads’ rule, a country and its aspirations placed on a shelf and forgotten for decades in the name of stability.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Conventional wisdom suggests that Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, like Moammar Gaddafi in Libya, will weather the Arab Spring by brutality alone. But the Assad regime’s days are numbered.

Assad’s latest speech, on June 20, and his admission that the government may no longer control some cities suggest that even he foresees his eventual departure. The Syrian regime is a classic “police state” — its most essential and significant assets are its security forces. But these forces are more limited than is http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/507.html widely known: They are based on certain Alawite clans, a minority that comprises about 10 percent of the population.

The regime is also hard-pressed to expand its forces beyond its own usual circles to keep up with the number of protesters.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Last January Syria seemed to belong with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as the least likely candidates for revolution. If President Bashar al-Assad had run in a real election, he may well have won. It's difficult to remember today that most Syrians did credit, if grudgingly, the regime with ensuring security and prosecuting a vaguely nationalist foreign policy. It's that desire for security, the overwhelming fear of Iraq-style chaos, that keeps a section of Syrian society loyal to the regime even now.

To start with, although they were inspired by Tunisia and Egypt, most protesters didn't aim for regime change.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Le 1er avril, au début de la troisième semaine de la révolte en Syrie, le régime avait déjà usé toute sa batterie de mensonges, la même que celle des présidents Ben Ali et Moubarak, en accusant les manifestants d'être des infiltrés, des saboteurs, des agents à la solde de l'étranger, des toxicomanes à la recherche de drogues psychédéliques. Il était allé jusqu'à inventer l'existence de bandes armées qui s'attaquaient à la police, de gangs venus des pays voisins pour semer le désordre, grassement payés par tel gouvernement arabe ou tel parti politique libanais.

Les médias officiels diffusaient des récits invraisemblables qui ne pouvaient convaincre que les convaincus, tant ils manquaient d'imagination.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Ce qui fait l'homme, c'est la lumière" (Victor Hugo). Hamzah Al-Khatib fut un homme à 13 ans. Il est mort emportant avec lui cette part de lumière que donnent le courage et la dignité. Comme l'écrit l'éditorialiste Abou Dib dans le quotidien libanais L'Orient-Le Jour (2 juin 2011), "pour la Syrie, Hamza n'a pas été torturé. On l'a juste un peu tué".

Arrêté le 29 avril à Deraa pour avoir chanté "A bas le régime !", il fut torturé, reçut des décharges électriques, fut brûlé aux pieds, aux coudes et aux genoux ; on lui a coupé le sexe, lacéré le visage et achevé ensuite par trois balles, dont l'une en pleine poitrine.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Nous ne sommes pas un pays comme les autres, nous ne pouvons pas être justiciables de la raison universelle… Tel est le credo de la religion de l'exception qui régit la Syrie depuis 1963, date de l'arrivée au pouvoir du parti de la Résurrection (Baath) à la faveur d'un putsch. Les militaires putschistes proclament alors l'état d'urgence et mettent en place des services de sécurité omnipotents flanqués de véritables tribunaux d'inquisition, ouvrant ainsi la voie à la liquidation de dizaines de milliers d'hérétiques. Mais ne jetons pas tout de suite la pierre aux militaires ! Essayons plutôt de comprendre les ressorts de la religion de l'exception qui les a engendrés et qu'ils vont eux-mêmes consacrer.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

Tema: El régimen sirio ha recurrido a las Fuerzas Armadas y de Seguridad para prevenir, contener y reprimir las revueltas pacíficas que, a pesar de la violencia empleada, se han ido extendiendo en número, geografía y reivindicaciones por toda Siria desde marzo de 2011.

Resumen: El 18 de marzo se iniciaban las revueltas en Siria, un mes después de la salida del poder de Hosni Mubarak en Egipto y dos meses después de la huída de Zine El Abidine Ben Alí de Túnez. El presidente sirio, Bashar El Assad, ha puesto de manifiesto su voluntad de aferrarse al poder frente a quienes exigen su marcha, utilizando para ello su poderoso aparato de seguridad interior reforzado a partir de abril con el uso ya bien visible de sus Fuerzas Armadas.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

“The Agency concludes that the destroyed building was very likely a nuclear reactor and should have been declared by Syria” according to the safeguards agreement.

So writes the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, Yukiya Amano, in his May 24, 2011 report to the I.A.E.A. board of governors about the installation the Israeli Air Force bombed in September 2007. Although he does not explicitly say so, Mr. Amano’s finding places Syria in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Three years in the making, the I.A.E.A. certainly cannot be accused of a rush to judgment.

Now comes the hard part: At its meeting next week, the I.A.E.A.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

En 1982 à Hama, la pilule du complot ne fut pas difficile à faire passer. Le sectarisme affiché de l'Aile combattante et sa ligne politique dure furent du pain bénit pour le régime, qui n'avait plus qu'à monter en épingle les faits et la force numérique du mouvement pour inquiéter les Syriens. Aujourd'hui, si la contestation parvient à se développer géographiquement à partir de Deraa et à dépasser ses cadres générationnels et sociaux d'origine, c'est avant tout parce que de nombreux Syriens se reconnaissent dans ses mots d'ordre - liberté, dignité, transparence, démocratie, unité. Alors que penser des théories conspirationnistes avancées par le régime pour justifier les révoltes ?…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

La Syrie n'en finit pas de compter ses morts et ses disparus. La répression implacable, effrayante, y compris à l'arme lourde, contre des manifestants pacifiques est insupportable. Des fosses communes auraient été découvertes et des réfugiés arrivent maintenant au Liban, fuyant le déchainement des violences du régime baasiste. La mollesse des réactions internationales face à ces événements est inacceptable.

La résolution du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies condamnant le régime syrien a été bloquée par les gouvernements russe et chinois. Pourtant les meurtres, les enlèvements, les bombardements des civils, lorsqu'ils relèvent d'une politique concertée – et il n'y a pas le moindre doute là-dessus – peuvent constituer des crimes contre l'humanité.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

La première réside probablement dans le fait que la Syrie reste un des Etats de la "ligne de front" dans le conflit israélo-palestinien. Une partie du territoire syrien, le plateau du Golan, d'une forte valeur stratégique pour Damas, a été occupée en 1967 puis annexée en 1980 par l'Etat hébreu, au mépris du droit international. Depuis lors, la Syrie n'a jamais accepté de compromis et incarne au sein du monde arabe un des symboles de la résistance à l'entreprise sioniste. C'est aussi dans ce cadre que Khaled Mechaal, principal dirigeant du Hamas palestinien, vit à Damas depuis de nombreuses années. En outre, nous savons les liens étroits qui existent avec le Hezbollah libanais.…  Seguir leyendo »

InternacionalONUMundoOriente Próximo

La adopción el pasado marzo por el Consejo de Seguridad de Naciones Unidas de su resolución 1973 perseguía poner coto a las atrocidades perpetradas por el régimen de Gadafi contra su propio pueblo. Significó la aplicación práctica del principio de la "responsabilidad de proteger", propiciado desde finales de los años noventa por la Asamblea General y por dos secretarios generales de la Organización, el actual Ban ki Moon y su predecesor, Kofi Annan.

El impulso onusiano lo inició Annan en 1998, empeñado en calificar la protección de los civiles como "imperativo humanitario". Eran los años inmediatamente posteriores a aquellos en que 800.000 ruandeses fueron masacrados en apenas 100 días y en que 5.000.000 de personas perdieron la vida en el Congo, Burundi, Sudán y África Occidental.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

I sat across from President Hafez al-Assad of Syria in his newest palace overlooking Damascus, on a hill at the end of a gently twisting road.

“You know, Mr. President,” I said, “on the road from the airport and throughout the capital, I couldn’t help but notice posters with your portrait everywhere, in all of the shops, in every window of every bus, every pole and lamppost, the back of the windshields of all the cars. It is quite remarkable.”

“Yes,” he replied, managing to sound even more sincere than I did. “I protest, but the people hold me in such affection, it’s almost embarrassing.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

The walls of my 3-by-7-foot cell, which I shared with another man, were covered in carvings made by former prisoners. The tick-marks in the plaster, meant to indicate how many days a person been there, were most unnerving: Khalid, 12; an unnamed man, 24; and poor Ashraf, 31. I asked myself: How many am I going to be making? I was lucky. I only got to seven, at least in that cell. I spent a second week packed into a 12-by-12-foot cell with 22 other men.

I am a student at Middlebury College, and I was planning on spending my junior year studying in Alexandria, Egypt.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Syria may be a hotbed of discontent these days, but an hour’s drive to the northwest of Damascus, a surprising peace has reigned for centuries.

To get to the shrine of St. Takla at Malula, you walk through a steep gorge just an arms’ width in places, whose walls tower above, grudgingly admitting a sliver of daylight. Legend says God parted these rocks to help a young Christian woman of beauty and virtue escape from a pagan rapist. The cave where Takla sheltered almost 2,000 years ago nestles in the cliffs above a Greek Orthodox convent where Orthodox nuns in black habits and veils scurry silently between St.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

The role of sectarianism in Syrian politics and the position in the power structure of the Alawi community – a minority sect in Islam thought to comprise approximately 12% of the population – have been off limits as a subject in public discourse until the recent crisis. This prohibition has been abandoned by the regime which is now raising the threat of sectarianism in official media narratives about armed gangs, Salafi militants and foreign conspiracies against Syrian national unity.

In response the opposition, human rights activists and local observers accuse the security forces of themselves sowing the seeds of sectarianism. According to independent reports, in coastal cities and villages where members of both Alawi and Sunni communities live, patrols of unidentified men have visited residents belonging to either group to warn them of impending sectarian attacks and to mobilise them against the other group.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo

Since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising five weeks ago, President Obama has declined to call for Bashar Assad to step down as dictator or criticize his regime on camera, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has let it be known that many American lawmakers “believe he’s a reformer.” Slippery diction notwithstanding (“I referenced opinions of others,” she later explained) most in the administration would appear to hold precisely this view of the Syrian president.

Of course, no one labors under the delusion that Mr. Assad has actually reformed anything since taking over from his deceased father 11 years ago.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in January, Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, said that his main objective was to address his people's "closed-mindedness". He made it clear that this alone impeded reform, and it might be another generation before Syria is ready for real change.

Dictators (including Assad's father, Hafez) have long presented themselves as suppressors of extremism in the region generally, and Syria in particular. They said democracy would usher in fundamentalists inherently opposed to modernity, civil dialogue, international community legitimacy and civilised human political and economic relations.

Perhaps because of this fear, the whole world was silent when Syria was passed from father to son; there were even some approving statements about the new "young and modern" president.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo,

Tema: El “efecto dominó” ha llegado a Siria. Los manifestantes exigen más libertades y el fin del Estado autoritario. El régimen sirio ha decidido blindarse considerando que las reformas no deben realizarse bajo presión popular.

Resumen: Siria se encuentra en el ojo del huracán. La revuelta que se inició en Deraa ya ha tenido réplicas en buena parte del territorio (incluida la periferia de Damasco), aunque por ahora las manifestaciones distan de ser multitudinarias y el régimen no considera amenazada su supervivencia. En su discurso ante el Parlamento, Bashar al-Asad denunció una conspiración extranjera destinada a provocar una guerra sectaria y destruir al último bastión del arabismo.…  Seguir leyendo »