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Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare

Syrian Civil War 2011-2012 - Societa italiana di storia militare

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On 15 February, <strong>Syrian</strong> state television announced that the government would hold a referendum on a new constitution on 26<br />

February, in an attempt to end the conflict. [138] One of the amendments in the draft would replace the old article 8, which entrenches<br />

the power of the Ba'ath party, with a new article rea<strong>di</strong>ng: The state's political system is based on political pluralism and power is<br />

practiced democratically through voting. [139] <strong>Syrian</strong>s voted in favour of the new constitution on 26 February. [140] Parliamentary<br />

elections were held in May after the ratification of the new constitution. [141] After the elections, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham was<br />

elected as the new <strong>Syrian</strong> speaker of parliament. [142]<br />

Censorship On 5 February <strong>2011</strong>, there were reports that the government was limiting internet services, though Facebook and<br />

YouTube were reported to have been restored three days later. [143] Suggestions were made that easing the ban could be a way to track<br />

activists. [144] In August <strong>2011</strong>, <strong>Syrian</strong> security forces attacked the country's best-known political cartoonist, Ali Farzat, a noted critic of<br />

Syria's government and its crackdown. Relatives of the severely beaten humorist told Western me<strong>di</strong>a that the attackers threatened to<br />

break Farzat's bones as a warning to stop drawing cartoons of government officials, particularly Assad. Farzat, who recently<br />

celebrated his 60th birthday, was hospitalized with fractures in both hands and blunt force trauma to the head. Also, government<br />

loyalists have been blamed for cutting the vocal cords of poets and other censorship crimes of this nature. [145]<br />

Violence and human rights violations Main article: Human rights violations during the <strong>Syrian</strong> civil war The "vast majority" of<br />

human rights violations, inclu<strong>di</strong>ng the international crimes, documented have been committed by the <strong>Syrian</strong> armed and security forces<br />

and their allied militia. [98]:4[99]:1[146]:10[147]:20 Some violations are so serious, deliberate and systematic as to constitute crimes against<br />

humanity [97]:5[146]:7[147]:18–20[148] and war crimes. [146]:7 Human Rights Watch accused the Assad government of creating an "archipelago<br />

of torture centers". [149]:1 The key role in the repression, and particularly torture, is played by the mukhabarat: the Department of<br />

Military Intelligence, the Political Security Directorate, the General Intelligence Directorate, and the Air Force Intelligence<br />

[97]:9[149]:1, 35<br />

Directorate.<br />

With regard to armed opposition groups, the UN accused them of: unlawful killing; torture and ill-treatment; kidnapping and hostage<br />

taking; and the use of children in dangerous non-combat roles. [99]:4–5<br />

Other On 15 January <strong>2012</strong>, SANA, the official <strong>Syrian</strong> news agency, announced a "general amnesty for crimes committed" during the<br />

uprising. The amnesty covered the period between 15 March <strong>2011</strong> and 15 January <strong>2012</strong>. [150] Hours later, <strong>Syrian</strong> authorities released<br />

80-year-old former judge Haitham al-Maleh, one of Assad's most outspoken critics, under an amnesty marking the anniversary of the<br />

1963 coup which brought the Ba'ath Party to power. Twelve <strong>Syrian</strong> human rights organisations called on the government to scrap the<br />

state of emergency which had been in effect for almost 50 years. [151] On 16 February, government critic and <strong>di</strong>rector of the<br />

Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria (ODFS) Ribal al-Assad, son of Rifaat al-Assad and cousin to <strong>Syrian</strong> President<br />

Bashar al-Assad, held a press conference in London, in which he made it clear that he "does not want to see a <strong>Syrian</strong> revolution, but a<br />

peaceful change of power". [152] In a 5 April interview, Ribal al-Assad warned of Syria's risk for a civil war. [153] A <strong>Syrian</strong> American<br />

man, Mohamad Anas Haitham Soueid, was charged by U.S. federal prosecutors on 5 October with tracking <strong>Syrian</strong> Americans<br />

supporting the uprising in the United States and passing information to <strong>Syrian</strong> authorities, who then arrested family members of the<br />

<strong>di</strong>ssidents living in Syria. The U.S. government alleges that Soueid met with Assad during a two-week trip to Syria in summer<br />

<strong>2011</strong>. [154] In October, Amnesty International published a report showing that at least 30 <strong>Syrian</strong> <strong>di</strong>ssidents living in Canada, Chile,<br />

France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, faced intimidation by <strong>Syrian</strong> embassy officials, and that<br />

in some cases, their relatives in Syria were harassed, detained and tortured. <strong>Syrian</strong> embassy officials in London and Washington, D.C.<br />

were alleged to have taken photographs and videos of local <strong>Syrian</strong> <strong>di</strong>ssidents and sent them to <strong>Syrian</strong> authorities, who then retaliated<br />

against their families. [155] On 4 June, Channel 4 News's chief correspondent Alex Thompson stated that <strong>Syrian</strong> rebels he was with had<br />

purposely tried to lead him and his team into a death trap so that they would be killed by gunfire from government forces in an alleged<br />

bid to <strong>di</strong>scre<strong>di</strong>t the Assad regime. Thomson stated that they were trying to return to government lines when their rebel escort led them<br />

down what he described as a dead-end in the middle of a "free-fire zone". [156]<br />

Protests and military sieges As protests continued, the <strong>Syrian</strong> government used tanks and snipers to force people off the streets.<br />

Water and electricity were shut off in the city of Daraa, and security forces began confiscating flour and food. [157] A similar situation<br />

was reported in Homs. [158] In May, the <strong>Syrian</strong> army entered the cities of Baniyas, Hama, Homs, Talkalakh, Latakia, the Al-Midan and<br />

Douma <strong>di</strong>stricts of Damascus, and several other towns. [159][160]<br />

Baniyas was besieged in early May, and <strong>di</strong>vided into zones of de facto control, with protesters largely controlling the south and<br />

security forces enforcing the laws of the government in the north. Major demonstrations saw nearly 20 deaths on 6 May, and the<br />

government said 11 sol<strong>di</strong>ers were shot by "armed groups" on the same day. [161] The violent suppression of protests in Homs, Daraa,<br />

and other rebellious cities continued throughout the month. [162][163] A 17 May report of claims by refugees coming from Telkalakh on<br />

the Lebanese border in<strong>di</strong>cated that sectarian attacks may have been occurring. Sunni refugees said that uniformed Alawite Shabiha<br />

militiamen were killing Sunnis in the town of Telkalakh. The reporter also stated that accor<strong>di</strong>ng to arms dealers, "sales of black<br />

market weapons in Lebanon have skyrocketed in recent weeks driven almost entirely by demand in Syria." [164]<br />

Early June, the <strong>Syrian</strong> government said more than 20 <strong>Syrian</strong> demonstrators were shot dead at the Golan Heights by Israeli forces,<br />

when trying to cross the cease-fire line during Naksa Day demonstrations. This was perceived by Israelis as a way for the <strong>Syrian</strong><br />

government to <strong>di</strong>vert attention from the <strong>Syrian</strong> unrest by allowing demonstrators to reach all the way to the Golan Heights. [165] The<br />

army also besieged the northern cities of Jisr ash-Shugur [166] and Maarat al-Numaan near the Turkish border. [167] The <strong>Syrian</strong> Army<br />

claimed the towns were the site of mass graves of <strong>Syrian</strong> security personnel killed during the uprising and justified the attacks as<br />

operations to rid the region of "armed gangs", [168] though local residents claimed the dead <strong>Syrian</strong> troops and officers were executed for<br />

refusing to fire on protesters. [169] The siege of Daraa continued in the meantime, with a French journalist reporting famine-like<br />

con<strong>di</strong>tions in the town. [170] On 20 June, in a speech lasting nearly an hour, in response to the demands of protesters and foreign<br />

pressure, Assad promised a "national <strong>di</strong>alogue" involving movement toward reform, new parliamentary elections, and greater<br />

freedoms. He also urged refugees to return home from Turkey, while assuring them amnesty and blaming all unrest on a small number<br />

of "saboteurs". The speech received mixed reactions domestically and abroad and was largely <strong>di</strong>smissed by protesters. [171] On 30 June,<br />

large protests erupted against the Assad government in Aleppo (Syria's second largest city) which were labeled the "Aleppo<br />

volcano". [172]<br />

In mid-July, pro-government protesters attacked the US and French embassies in Damascus, respon<strong>di</strong>ng to those countries' support for<br />

the opposition. [173] Attacks on protests continued throughout July, with government forces repeatedly firing at protesters and<br />

employing tanks against demonstrations, as well as conducting arrests. On 31 July, a siege of Hama escalated during a so-called

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