Syrian civil society reacts to coalition bombings
September 29, 2014 Following is a sampling of civil society […]
29 September 2014
September 29, 2014
Following is a sampling of civil society reactions to the American-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State and other Islamist brigades across the north and east of Syria, compiled and translated by Dan Wilkofsky:
“The last thing civilians need is international murderers.” This photo has spread across numerous LCC Facebook pages. Photo caption of Salqin LCC.
“A terrible misfortune has afflicted Syria today, as the forces of what is known as the ‘international coalition’ have come to direct attacks at Islam, and Muslims, claiming that they are fighting ‘terrorism.'”
“We, a number of Local Coordination Committees and revolutionary gatherings and bodies in Damascus, its outskirts and all over Syria, announce our rejection to the coalition’s operations in Syrian territory. If there is terrorism in Syria that needs to be fought, it is the terrorism of Bashar al-Assad and his misguided criminal gangs.”
“We announce our rejection to the targeting of a number of mujahideen brigades, whom we have only seen as brave men, fierce on the battlefield…who are all compliant with the decisions of courts formed and agreed upon by all [rebel] brigades.”
Local Coordination committee of al-Hara City, in Daraa province
A play on words in Arabic reads as “Screw you, King Abdullah [of Saudi Arabia].”
“Screw you [lit. screw your moustache] and screw every Arab leader who participated in the oppression of the Syrian people and declared them fair game…Really, Arabs no longer have any shame.”
The page also includes the following poem in Arabic:
“Those who didn’t die by Assad’s planes
Died by the planes of Al Saud
The planes multiplied
And the bombing is one.”
Violations Documentation Center
“The present air strikes against those groups raise concerns that civilians may also pay a heavy price, as such groups establish command centers in civilian areas, in various Syrian towns and villages. Furthermore, a number of the command centers have been converted by those groups to become detention centers.
Thousands of inmates and persons who have been kidnapped, including many activists and journalists are now detained in such centers. Those groups also control installations containing dangerous materials, including the Conoco gas plant, in the Khasham village near Deir Ezzor. This plant contains one of the largest ISIS centers. If its gas stocks are hit, this may cause enormous destruction as well as an environmental hazard of incalculable proportions.”
“The international coalition will pursue the destruction of infrastructure—roads, bridges, electricity stations, different economic institutions—and the goal is to destroy the life and resilience of our people.”
General Commission of Sport and Youth in Syria, a civil organization made up of of opposition sports figures and supporters
“There are a multitude of opinions and analyses around these attacks. The attackers say that they are targeting terrorism, represented by the Islamic State, but when everyone sees how the coalition warplanes target other brigades which are fighting the regime, and avoid hitting the regime or its terrorist militias, the [aforementioned opinions and analyses] become muddled.
Destroying terrorism needs to begin from the top, in the palaces of the Assad regime, and putting an end to the flow of Syrian blood begins with the fall of this regime.”
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