MADAyuMadyan
- RT. 'Laporan membimbangkan mengatakan pembunuhan 450 Kurdish di Syria' Laporan yang tidak disahkan telah muncul memperincikan pembunuhan beramai-ramai baru di mana 450 Kurdish - termasuk 120 kanak-kanak - didakwa dibunuh oleh pemberontak al-Qaeda berkaitan menentang kerajaan Syria. Laporan itu telah mencetuskan kebimbangan antarabangsa.
Menurut Iran saluran TV Al-Alam, militan dari Jabhat al-Nusra Front menyerang bandar Tal Abyad pada hari Isnin, membunuh 120 kanak-kanak dan 330 wanita dan warga tua berhampiran sempadan Turki.
Saluran ini juga berlari rakaman ngeri ‘uncensored’ dari tempat kejadian - kesahihan yang tidak boleh disahkan secara bebas pada masa ini. Atas sebab-sebab etika, RT akan mengelak daripada menyiarkan video.
Pihak kerajaan Syria atau pembangkang telah mengesahkan laporan itu. RT dihubungi beberapa sumber, termasuk beberapa ditemubual Kurdish, yang memberi keterangan bahawa peperangan meningkat telah mengambil tempat di kawasan mereka.
“Militan al-Nusra dan pasukan pemberontak lain mengepung kampung itu,” Yasin Tarbush, saudara-mara salah seorang mangsa serangan Kurdish, memberitahu RT. "Mereka mula pergi pintu ke pintu, memasuki setiap rumah. Jika terdapat mana-mana lelaki, mereka membunuh mereka dan mengambil wanita-wanita dan kanak-kanak sebagai tebusan.”
Mengulas mengenai laporan, pejabat PBB Hak Asasi Manusia di Geneva berkata, mereka sedang menyiasat dan jika ia mengesahkan mereka, akan menganggap ia satu jenayah perang dan mencari penjenayah yang dibawa ke muka pengadilan.
“Kumpulan Tentera juga mempunyai tanggungjawab di bawah undang-undang antarabangsa dan tidak berfikir bahawa mereka adalah kebal daripada pendakwaan,” kata Navi Pillay dalam satu kenyataan.
Rusia menggesa Majlis Keselamatan PBB untuk mengutuk keganasan di Syria dari yang segi jelasan.
“Kita melihat sebelum beberapa anggota Majlis Keselamatan enggan mengutuk serangan pengganas di Syria atas alasan bahawa - sebagai sinis kerana ia berbunyi - serangan mereka sedang dijalankan oleh orang-orang menentang rejim usang,” kata Menteri Luar Rusia Sergey Lavrov. “Kedudukan ini adalah benar-benar tidak boleh diterima. Tiada double standard boleh digunakan untuk keganasan.”
Serangan Islam
RT ini Irina Galushko bercakap kepada wartawan Kurdi Barzan Iso, yang mengesahkan bahawa “Al-Qaeda mula menyerang kampung-kampung Kurdis pada 19 Julai. Selepas serangan ini mereka menculik ramai Kurdish. Kami tidak mempunyai statistik yang tertentu, “katanya, merujuk kepada fakta bahawa banyak kawasan-kawasan yang dikuasai oleh Jabhat al-Nusra dan militan al-Qaeda berkaitan yang tidak membenarkan Kurdish untuk mendapat akses dan menyiasat.
Iso menjelaskan Kurdish 'bukan setia kepada kedua-dua belah konflik Syria: “Sejak awal peristiwa di Syria, Kurdish cuba untuk tidak menjadi sebahagian daripada konflik sivil . . . terdapat Kurdish bukan Islam, serta Alawi Kurdish - itulah sebabnya mereka cuba untuk berada jauh dari (Itu). Tetapi kini, beberapa kumpulan pembangkang menggunakan al-Qaeda dan al-Nusra untuk menyerang Kurdish. Punca utama adalah bahawa mereka mempunyai mentaliti nasionalis radikal. Itulah sebabnya mereka menggunakan al-Qaeda sebagai payung untuk menyerang orang-orang Kurdish.”
Iso mendakwa bahawa apabila dia bercakap kepada ahli-ahli Gabungan Kebangsaan Syria, komponen politik pihak pembangkang yang disokong oleh Barat, mereka sedia menyalahkan serangan terhadap Islam Kurdish pada cakera Kurdi kemerdekaan. Front Al-Nusra, sebuah cabang cawangan Iraq-berasaskan Al-Qaeda, memohon untuk menuntut wilayah Kurdish untuk sebuah negara Islam yang merangkumi bahagian-bahagian Iraq dan Syria, di mana kumpulan itu mahu bina.
Syrian rebels (AFP Phot /Daniel Leal-Olivas)
Laporan berikut contoh-contoh lain persengketaan berat antara etnik Kurdis dan militan al-Qaeda berkaitan dalam sejarah Kurdis diselesaikan utara dan timur laut Syria.
Pendirian berkecuali tegang Kurdis
Orang Kurdis adalah kumpulan etnik yang terbesar di DUNIA tanpa sebuah negara mereka sendiri. Mereka kini tinggal di wilayah yang bersempadan dengan Syria, bersempadan Turki, bersempadan Iran, dan bersempadan Iraq. Idea mengukir sebuah negara Kurdis bebas mempunyai banyak penyokong di kalangan orang Kurdis, dengan negara-negara tuan rumah cuba untuk tahun untuk menentang secessionism.
Dalam pra-perang Syria, penduduk Kurdish telah dinafikan beberapa hak yang kumpulan etnik lain nikmati. Walau bagaimanapun pada awal konflik kerajaan Presiden Bashar Assad memberi beberapa konsesi kepada orang Kurdis, termasuk pemberian kewarganegaraan kepada beribu-ribu daripada mereka.
Sejak itu, Kurdis telah cuba untuk menjauhkan diri daripada tumpuan perang saudara, membentuk militia untuk mempertahankan wilayah mereka, tetapi sebaliknya tidak menyokong mana-mana pihak. Dalam beberapa bulan kebelakangan radikal kumpulan anti-Assad telah semakin menyerang bandar-bandar Kurdis, yang, menurut beberapa laporan, telah memberikan Kurdis insentif untuk sampingan yang lebih dengan kerajaan Syria.
Pada 30 Julai, sebuah militia Kurdis telah mengumumkan mobilisasi terhadap militan al-Qaeda berkaitan di timur Syria selepas pembunuhan pemimpin pembangkang Kurdis Isa Huso.
“Kami menyeru rakyat Kurdish . . . untuk melangkah ke hadapan . . . sesiapa patut memikul senjata perlu menyertai barisan Jawatankuasa bagi Perlindungan Rakyat Kurdis (YPG) dan untuk menghadapi serangan-serangan kumpulan-kumpulan bersenjata,” kata kenyataan YPG berbunyi.
Portal berita Suriya al-Ain mendakwa bahawa pengganas melaksanakan tahanan Kurdis sebagai “dendam terhadap orang Kurdis, kerana kekalahan yang dikenakan ke atas mereka.” Satu minggu lalu, militan al-Nusra menyerang 2 bandar-bandar Syria, mengambil kira-kira 200 orang awam tebusan. Ia telah dilaporkan bahawa semua orang-orang diculik datang dari keluarga tentera Briged Kurdish yang sebelum ini sebahagian daripada pembangkang Free Syrian Army, tetapi kemudian berpaling tadah kepada Kurdis kuasa sendiri Pertahanan.
Perang Saudara Syria - di mana pemberontak cuba untuk menggulingkan rejim Assad - telah mengamuk sejak 2011, dengan lebih daripada 100,000 orang terbunuh dan hampir 8 juta pelarian, menurut anggaran PBB.
Melengkapkan Al-Qaeda
Banyak negara-negara Barat dan sekutu serantau, termasuk Turki, Arab Saudi dan Qatar, menyuarakan sokongan mereka yang kurang radikal kuasa-kuasa anti-Assad. Tetapi realitinya adalah bahawa jihad Al-Qaeda berkaitan, termasuk Al-Nusra Front, yang mendominasi pemberontak.
Contoh terbaru ialah pengambilalihan lapangan terbang tentera penting di utara Syria pada hari Selasa oleh pasukan diterajui-Islam. Lapangan terbang itu, yang telah dikunci sejak Oktober, telah diambil dalam serangan 2 hari oleh gabungan 9 kumpulan pemberontak, termasuk beberapa yang disokong oleh Barat, menurut laporan McClatchy.
“Kemenangan itu sekali lagi memberi impak utama strategik yang dimainkan oleh militan Islam, khususnya di utara Syria,” Charles Lister, yang memantau berjuang untuk berpangkalan di London tentera analisis kumpulan IHS Janes, katanya. “Setiap serangan besar di utara Syria pada tahun ini telah diumumkan, yang diketuai dan diselaraskan oleh Islam.”
Beberapa kali, ahli-ahli politik Barat telah menegaskan bahawa mereka tidak mahu pelampau berjalan berleluasa di seluruh Timur Tengah dan mendapat akses kepada bekalan senjata asing seperti yang mereka lakukan di Libya dan lain-lain konflik baru-baru ini. Walau bagaimanapun, ini adalah apa yang berlaku di Syria, sains politik akademik Colin Cavell, di Bluefield State College di West Virginia, memberitahu RT.
“Buat masa ini kebanyakan orang Amerika adalah sangat jelas tentang apa yang sedang berlaku. Jenis media kami memastikan ia turun rendah pada satu yang hujung, dan pada akhirnya yang lain ia berkata kami menyokong pembangkang demokratik sederhana, yang kelakar kepada sesiapa yang mengikuti ini. Kami menyokong Golongan Al-Qaeda berkaitan, yang ‘massacring’ rakyat, "katanya.
Walaupun panggilan oleh Barat untuk melengkapkan pemberontak Syria dalam perjuangan mereka menentang kerajaan Assad, masih tiada cara yang tepat membezakan pihak pembangkang bukan radikal dari militan Islam berazam untuk mewujudkan negara berdaulat mereka sendiri di Timur Tengah.
Disturbing report alleges killings of 450 Kurds in Syria . . .
Unconfirmed reports have emerged detailing a new massacre in which 450 Kurds - including 120 children - were allegedly slaughtered by al-Qaeda-linked rebels fighting against the Syrian government. The report has sparked international concern.
According to Iranian TV channel Al-Alam, militants from the Jabhat al-Nusra Front attacked the town of Tal Abyad on Monday, killing 120 children and 330 women and elderly near the Turkish border.
The channel also ran horrific uncensored footage from the scene - the authenticity of which can’t be independently verified at this moment. For ethical reasons, RT will refrain from airing the video.
Neither the Syrian government nor the opposition has confirmed the report. RT contacted a number of sources, including several Kurdish interviewees, who testified that increased fighting has been taking place in their areas.
“The al-Nusra militants and other rebel forces surrounded the village,” Yasin Tarbush, the relative of one of the Kurdish attack victims, told RT. “They started going door to door, entering every house. If there were any men, they killed them and took the women and children hostage.”
Commenting on the reports, the UN Human Rights office in Geneva said they are investigating and if it confirms them, would consider it a war crime and seek that perpetrators are brought to justice. “Armed groups also have responsibilities under international law and should not think that they are immune from prosecution,” Navi Pillay said in a statement.
Russia called on the UN Security Council to condemn acts of terrorism in Syria in unambiguous terms.
“We saw before some Security Council members reluctant to condemn terror attacks in Syria on the grounds that – as cynical as it sounds – those attacks are being carried out by people fighting against an obsolete regime,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “This position is absolutely unacceptable. No double standards can be applied to terrorism.”
Islamists on offensive
RT’s Irina Galushko spoke to Kurdish journalist Barzan Iso, who confirmed that “Al-Qaeda started attacking Kurdish villages on the 19th of July. After these attacks they kidnapped many Kurds. We don’t have a specific statistic,” he said, alluding to the fact that many of the areas are dominated by Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda-linked militants who do not allow Kurds to gain access and investigate.
Iso explained the Kurds’ non-allegiance to either side of the Syrian conflict: “Since the beginning of the events in Syria, the Kurds tried not to be a part of the civil conflict…there are non-Muslim Kurds, as well as Alawite Kurds – that’s why they tried to be away from [it]. But now, some of the opposition groups are using al-Qaeda and al-Nusra to attack Kurds. The main cause is that they have the mentality of radical nationalists. That’s why they are using al-Qaeda as an umbrella to attack the Kurdish people.”
Iso claims that when he spoke to members of the Syrian National Coalition, the political component of the West-backed opposition forces, they readily blamed the Islamist attacks against Kurds on the Kurdish drive for independence. Al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of an Iraq-based Al-Qaeda branch, is seeking to claim Kurdish territories for an Islamist state encompassing parts of Iraq and Syria, which the group wants to create.
Syrian rebels (AFP Phot /Daniel Leal-Olivas)
The report follows other instances of heavy strife between ethnic Kurds and al-Qaeda-linked militants in historically Kurdish-settled northern and north-eastern Syria.
Kurdish neutrality stance strained
The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state of their own. They currently live in the bordering territories of Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. The idea of carving an independent Kurdish state has numerous supporters among Kurds, with host countries trying for years to oppose secessionism.
In pre-war Syria, the Kurdish population was denied some of the rights that other ethnic groups enjoyed. However in the early months of the conflict the government of President Bashar Assad gave a number of concessions to the Kurds, including granting citizenship to thousands of them.
Since then, Kurds have been trying to distance themselves from the focus of the civil war, forming militias to defend their territory, but otherwise not supporting any side. In recent months radical anti-Assad groups have been increasingly attacking Kurdish towns, which, according to some reports, has given Kurds an incentive to side more with the Syrian government.
On July 30, a Kurdish militia has announced its mobilization against al-Qaeda-linked militants in north-eastern Syria after the assassination of Kurdish opposition leader Isa Huso.
“We call on the Kurdish people…to step forward . . . anyone fit to bear arms should join the ranks of the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) and to face the assaults of these armed groups,” the YPG statement reads.
The Suriya al-Ain news portal claims that the terrorists are executing Kurdish prisoners as “revenge on the Kurds, for defeats inflicted on them.” One week ago, al-Nusra militants attacked two Syrian towns, taking around 200 civilians hostage. It was reported that all of those abducted came from the families of soldiers of the Kurdish Brigades who were previously part of the opposition Free Syrian Army, but later defected to the Kurdish Self-Defense forces.
The Syrian Civil War – in which rebels are trying to topple the Assad regime – has been raging since 2011, with more than 100,000 people killed and nearly 8 million displaced, according to UN estimates.
Arming Al-Qaeda
Many Western countries and their regional allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, voiced their support for the less-radical anti-Assad forces. But the reality on the ground is that Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists, including Al-Nusra Front, are dominating the rebels.
The latest example is the takeover of a crucial military airport in northern Syria on Tuesday by Islamists-spearheaded forces. The airport, which had been locked down since October, was taken in a two-day assault by a coalition of nine rebel groups, including some supported by the West, according to a McClatchy report.
“The victory again underlines the leading strategic impact being played by militant Islamists, particularly in northern Syria,” Charles Lister, who is monitoring the fight for the London-based military analysis group IHS Janes, said. “Every major offensive in northern Syria this year has been announced, led and coordinated by Islamists.”
On numerous occasions, Western politicians have emphasized that they do not want extremists running rampant across the Middle East and gaining access to foreign arms supplies as they did in Libya and other recent conflicts. However, this is what is happening in Syria, Colin Cavell, a political science academic at Bluefield State College in West Virginia, told RT.
“Right now most of the American people are very unclear about exactly what is going on. Our media kind of keeps it down low on one end, and on the other end it says we are supporting moderate democratic opposition, which is hilarious to anybody who is following this. We are supporting Al-Qaeda-linked Jihadists, who are massacring people,” he stated.
Despite calls by the West to arm Syrian rebels in their fight against Assad’s government, there is still no accurate way of distinguishing non-radicalized opposition forces from Islamist militants determined to create their own sovereign state in the Middle East.
