By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 18 --
The Syrian
National
Coalition
sends out a
steady stream
of press
releases, for
example
today's,
headlined
"President
Khoja
Addresses the
Syrian
People." The
SNC did the
same under
Khaled Khoja's
predecessor
Hadi al-Bahra.
But
on January 17
when US
Senator John
McCain tweeted
about his and
others' visit
to the SNC in
Saudi Arabia,
he wrote
"In #KSA
delegation met
w/ #Syrian
Opposition
Coalition Pres
Ahmed Jarba."
Inner City
Press on the
evening of
January 17 tweeted
back,
"Wait - Jarba
is still
prez?"
A wire service
which
initially
simply
reported,
based on
McCain's
tweet, that
Jarba IS the
president of
the Coalition
then changed
it.
Ahmad Jarba
hasn't been
president of
the Syrian
Coalition for
some time -
although he
was and
presumably is
Saudi
supported. So
did McCain
simply
misidentify
the apparently
forgettable
president of
the Coalition?
Or is Jarba
still in the
mix?
Back
on December 21
from its base
in Turkey the
Syria
Coalition
issued a
strange press
release or at
least headline
on December 21
about Bert
Koenders,
the
Netherlands'
foreign
minister and
former UN
official in
Cote d'Ivoire
and Mali:
Koenders
Reminds Bahra:
The Situation
in Syria
Involves More
Than Just
Assad's War
Against ISIS
Hadi
Al-Bahra,
President of
the Syrian
Coalition,
stressed that
"defeating
terrorism in
the region can
only be
achieved
through the
elimination of
its root
cause, which
is the Assad
regime,"
during a
meeting held
yesterday with
the Dutch
Foreign
Minister Bert
Koenders in
Istanbul.
Bahra stresses
"the need to
support the
Free Syrian
Army with
advanced
weapons for
its battle
against Assad
and ISIS,”
pointing out
that the FSA
was the first
to declare war
on ISIS. The
meeting
discussed the
24-point peace
plan put
forward by the
Syrian
Coalition
during the
Geneva talks.
The Dutch
Minister of
Foreign
Affairs
reaffirmed his
country’s
support for
the moderate
Syrian
opposition,
pointing out
that the
Syrian
Revolution
began when
demonstrators
took to the
streets
demanding
freedom and
that the
situation in
Syria is not a
war between
ISIS and the
Assad regime."
The meeting
also discussed
the plan of
the UN envoy
to Syria
Staffan de
Mistura, and
both sides
agreed that
many points
regarding the
plan needs to
be clarified.
At the end of
the meeting,
Koenders
reiterates his
government’s
continued
support for
the projects
that provide
services to
the Syrian
people.
(Source:
Syrian
Coalition)
The last
paragraph
seems to
connote that
al Bahra's
Coalition is
now lobbying
European
ministers
against
Staffan de
Mistura's
plan.
(Inner City
Press asked
the president
of the
Security
Council for
December when
de Mistura
will brief the
Council on his
progress; next
month at
earliest, it
seems.)
But did the
Syria
Coalition
really need to
be "reminded"
by Koenders?
Or should
Koenders be
reminded of
what he left
so abruptly in
Mali, a
shooting
gallery and
trap of IEDs
against UN
peacekeepers?
DPKO and its
foot soldiers
are just
cannon fodder,
some say, for
the diplomats
who drift or
float through
at the top
levels, using
it.
After
UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous
ordered surrenders
to Jabhat al
Nusra in the
Golan Heights,
the UN's report
dated December
1 said:
"Armed
groups had
seized a
number of
vehicles
during the
incidents
involving the
detention of
the 45
peacekeepers
from United
Nations
position 27
and the
confinement of
others at
positions 68
and 69 late in
August. While
UNDOF
hurriedly
moved
personnel and
most United
Nations
assets,
including
vehicles, from
Camp Faouar
and other
United Nations
positions were
temporarily
vacated,
unfortunately
some assets
and equipment
were left
behind."
Now there are
reports
of UN vehicles
being used
for suicide
car bombs attacks in
Daraa in
Syria.
Who in the UN
will be held
responsible?
Ladsous who
reported
ordered the
surrender then
never answered
questions
about it? What
steps if any
did the UN
take since
then to try to
avoid UN
vehicles being
used in car
bomb attacks?
Is this
another case
of UN
Peacekeeping
negligence?
Back on
September 30
when now
outgoing
UN
humanitarian
aid chief
Valerie Amos
spoke on Syria
to the
Security
Council, one
expected her
to describe
the impact of
the airstrikes
in Syria by
the US and
five Arab
kingdoms which
began fully
eight days
before on
September 22.
But Amos stuck
to the script,
a written
report with a
cut-off date
of September
17. Thus she
did not
mention the
reports of
airstrikes
hitting grain
mills in
Manjib. One
question is,
will she ever?
Update:
Amos in public
also did not
mention the
"other"
UN-named
terrorist
group in
Syria, Jabhat
al Nusra.
Inner City
Press has
learned that
in the
closed-door
consultations
that followed,
Amos presented
a map of who
controls what
in Syria,
listing
ISIL-affiliates
groups and
then, in
another color,
other groups.
That includes
Al Nusra --
that is, Nusra
and the Free
Syrian Army.
We'll have
more on this.
Syrian
Permanent
Representative
Bashar
Ja'afari
came out of
the Security
Council.
Off-camera, he
told Inner
City Press
that the
airstrikes
since
September 22
-- the only
day on which
he said Syria
was notified
by the US --
have killed
"only 14
Da'esh" or
ISIL fighters.
On UNTV
camera, Inner
City Press
asked Ja'afari
about the
impact of the
strikes; he
said the
number of
civilians
casualties is
not yet known
but when he
has the
information,
he will
provided it.
Inner City
Press asked
about the
order by UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous that
troops from
Fiji and the
Philippines
surrender to
Al Nusra.
Ja'afari said
Ladsous has
not gotten
back to Syria
-- strange,
given that it
hosts a
peacekeeping
mission, and
that Ladsous
met
untransparently
with Sudan's
Omar al
Bashir.
But Ladsous is
getting more
and more
selective,
more recently
blocking
Inner City
Press' camera
and then
taking his
favored
scribes away
from the
scheduled (and
canceled)
stakeout for a
"briefing." Video here from Minute
1:19.
The UN
released its
August 19 -
September 17
Syria aid
access report
for September
in an even
more pre-spun
way than it
did on April
23, then
on May 22,
on
June 20
and then
on July 24
and August 28.
The UN has
declined or
refused to
reform its
broken "gray
lady" system.
This report
cuts off on
September 17
-- before the
airstrikes by
the US and
five Kingdoms.
The new
report,
cutting off on
September 17,
says
"Government
forces also
shelled and
undertook
airstrikes
against ISIL
positions in
the northern
and eastern
parts of the
country in an
attempt to
stop
ISIL."
What about the
US and five
Kingdom's
airstrikes?
Inner City
Press on
behalf of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
went to the UN
Spokesperson's
Office on
September 29,
the eve of the
Security
Council's
month meeting,
and asked for
an explanation
why rather
than reform
the pre-spin
system, the
reports are
simply not
pre-released.
There was no
explanation.
Update
II: on
September 30,
the UN
Spokesperson's
office put the
report, dated
September 23,
into its "Gray
Lady." What
was the point?
We'll have
more on this.
The UN should
be
transparent.
The
new report
goes on,
"Government-
controlled
cities and
towns
continued to
be subject
toindiscriminate
mortar
attacks,
shelling and
vehicle-borne
improvised
explosivedevices
by armed
opposition,
extremist and
designated
terrorist
groups,
notably in
Aleppo and
Damascus
governorates.
For example,
in Aleppo
city,
extensive
shellingin the
Khalideah
residential
and commercial
area at the
beginning of
September
resulted in
the deaths of
eight
civilians,
including
women and
children."
On a
group neither
listed with
ISIL and Al
Nursa, nor
(formally)
with the Free
Syrian Army,
the new UN
report says
"On September
5, armed
opposition
groups took
control of the
Dokhanya and
Ein Tarma
suburbs of
Damascus and
engaged
government
forces in
Midan and
Zahira al
Jadida,
located less
than 2 km from
the Old City.
A similar
operation took
place in
Teshrine
district,
north of
Damascus. On
16 September,
one of the
main Islamic
Front factions
(Ajnad al
Sham)
announced the
beginning of a
second phase
of rocket
attacks on the
centre of
Damascus."
In the new
system,
selective
reports
circulate for
days before
the UN's
actual report.
The spoon-fed
pre-spinner,
ironically,
has engaged in
censorship
of other
leaks, click
here for
ChillingEffects.org,
here
for critique
by the
Electronic
Frontier
Foundation.
As Inner City
Press reported
here,
Australia
along with
Luxembourg and
Jordan pushed
a
resolution on
Syria aid
access.
Again,
the UN report
does not
directly
address calls
in Washington
to support the
Free
Syrian Army --
which is still
listed by
another part
of the UN as
recruiting and
using child
soldiers.
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