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

(January–April 2012)
January 2012
1 January Multiple reports on Twitter claimed that Syrians in several restive neighborhoods and cities, including Midan in central
Damascus, Baba Amr in Homs, and Idlib city, were marching in New Year's Day protests against the regime in the early morning,
shortly after midnight. The opposition Local Co-ordinating Committees announced it had confirmed 5,862 deaths in the Syrian
uprising during 2011, including 287 prisoners allegedly tortured to death. The LCC also announced the first confirmed death from the
uprising in 2012, a wounded person who died due to insufficient blood plasma supply at a hospital. [3] That death toll rose to eight,
several of them fatalities from Syrian security forces firing on protesters in the Damascene suburb of Daria, the LCC reported near the
end of the day. [4] Neoconservative commentator Nick Cohen, writing for the British newspaper The Guardian, said that the Western
world should in intervene militarily to oust President Bashar al-Assad and stop the Syrian Army from committing further human
rights violations. The editorial echoed opposition claims that interrogators in Aleppo had invented a new type of torture wherein
detainees are forced to stand on a heated metal plate until they confess or else collapse from extensive damage to their feet. [5] The
Arab Parliament, a consultative pan-Arab body created by the Arab League, called for the withdrawal of the supranational
organization's observers from Syria. Ali El-Salem El-Dekbas, the Speaker of the Parliament, said the observers were doing no good
and it was a disgrace to keep them in Syria with the crackdown ongoing. "The mission of the Arab League team has missed its aim of
stopping the killing of children and ensuring the withdrawal of troops from the Syrian streets, giving the Syrian regime a cover to
commit inhumane acts under the noses of the Arab League observers," Dekbas said in a statement. [6] Assad insider and Syrian security
officer Colonel Hafez Makhlouf's plans to visit Switzerland were waylaid when the Swiss Federal Tribunal ruled that Makhlouf
should not be granted a visa. Makhlouf had reportedly planned to consult with an attorney in Switzerland on a bid to overturn
international sanctions freezing his assets and restricting his travel. [7] According to Iranian state news agency PressTV, a poll
conducted by The Doha Debates showed that 55% of Syrian respondents did not want Assad to resign. [8]
2 January Nabil Elaraby, secretary-general of the Arab League, defended the observer mission after the Arab Parliament's call for its
withdrawal. Elaraby claimed that, as a result of the monitors' presence placing pressure on the Syrian government to comply with the
Arab peace initiative, Syrian Army (SA) tanks had been withdrawn from cities, almost 3,500 detainees had been released, and
humanitarian aid had been delivered to formerly besieged cities. However, contradicting mission leader General Mohammed Ahmed
Mustafa al-Dabi's remarks on Newshour two days earlier, Elaraby acknowledged snipers remained in several areas and shooting was
still ongoing, though it was hard for monitors to tell who was shooting and at whom. Opposition activists contested Elaraby's remarks,
telling The Los Angeles Times that many tanks had not withdrawn and were being hidden within striking distance of city centers in
restive areas. [9] Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset that he judged Assad's remaining time in power
could be measured in weeks. [10] The opposition Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC) said four were killed in Syria by
security forces as of 9 am local time. [11] The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the state-run media outlet in Syria, said a school
worker was killed by gunmen holding her hostage and a journalist died of wounds suffered in a shooting in Daraya, a Damascus
suburb, some days earlier. [12] In northern Syria's Idlib Governorate, near the border with Turkey, the opposition Syrian Observatory
For Human Rights (SOHR) said that, despite a self-imposed moratorium on offensive actions against the regime during the Arab
League mission, Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters captured two military checkpoints and took several dozen soldiers prisoner, and
clashed with security forces at a third, leaving an unspecified number of SA soldiers dead or wounded. The claim could not be
immediately confirmed due to tight restrictions on foreign media in Syria. [12]
3 January According to the SOHR, at least 18 people were killed in Jassem during clashes between SA soldiers after loyalist troops
allegedly fired on comrades who were attempting to defect. Security forces swept through the area, detaining more than 100, after the
fighting. [13] Witnesses said several were killed when security forces fired live ammunition into demonstrators massing in Hama.
According to SANA, a policeman was shot dead outside Homs National Hospital and another policeman was shot dead at al-Khudra
market, Idlib. [14] The Syrian government claimed "terrorists" destroyed a gas pipeline near Rastan, disrupting the electricity supply to
parts of the country. [15] FSA leader Colonel Riad al-Asaad said the FSA may mount "a huge escalation of our operations" in coming
days. However, some analysts cast aspersions on the claim, suggesting Asaad may be more a figurehead than a practical leader. [16]
President Nicolas Sarkozy, the French head of state, accused Assad of committing "massacres" in Syria. His criticism was echoed by
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, who called on the Syrian government to allow the Arab League's monitors unrestricted
access. [13] In Cairo, the Arab League called an emergency meeting for 7 January to review the observer mission's work and discuss its
future. [15]
4 January Syrian Defence Ministry official Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad defected to the opposition, The Guardian and other
major news outlets reported. [17] Hamad was the Head Inspector of the Syrian Ministry of Defence. [18] He also held a press conference
on Wednesday in Cairo to announce his defection. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamad, who was also an inspector at the monetary
center for the interior ministry, denied government claims that the ongoing violence was caused by “terrorists” aided from abroad.
“We were analysing and seeing for ourselves that the regime's story about armed gangs going out and killing protesters was
all lies," he said. "I confirm there are no armed gangs, they are all unarmed protesters.”
Hamad said the government has spent about $40m on loyalist militias to crush demonstrations since March, as security forces, at
times backed by tanks, laid siege to protests hubs across the nation.
“While auditing, I found two billion Syrian pounds [$40m] paid out to the regime's paid thugs, and seen an increase in the
spending of the intelligence and defense ministries for the purpose of paying thugs. We saw them preparing and heading out
in their armored vehicles and buses toward the young protesters and killing them. It has been happening since the beginning
of the protests.”
Hamad also said most government officials and employees want to defect but are afraid of the consequences.
"Syrian government officials live in a kind of prison...No one can go anywhere without being accompanied by a member of
the security services," he added.