In US-Backed Bahrain, Detention and Torture of Children is Routine
John Glaser – AntiWar.com – 16 September, 2013

“Bahrain security forces routinely detain children without cause and subject them to ill-treatment that may rise to the level of torture,” Human Rights Watch said in a report this week.
Obama meets with Bahrain King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa

Obama meets with Bahrain King Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa

“Rounding up kids, throwing them in jail and beating and threatening them is no way for a country to treat its children,” said Joe Stork, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Bahraini authorities need to look into these allegations and immediately call a halt to any arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of children.”

HRW:

Information recently obtained from victims, family members, and local rights activists suggests that Bahraini authorities often hold children for long periods in detention and subject them to similar forms of mistreatment as adult detainees, including beatings and threats of torture. The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires governments to protect children from ill-treatment and torture, to give all child detainees – those under 18 – special protections and to separate them from adults in detention.

A human rights probe back in 2011 found that the U.S.-backed dictatorship in Bahrain has engaged in “systematic” torture since the start of Arab Spring protests several years ago.

But Bahrain has long engaged in torture in its time as a U.S. ally. One year before the democratic protests broke out, HRW released a report revealing torture including “electro-shock devices, suspension in painful positions, and beatings.” Many detainees also reported being threatened with rape or murder, or that their families would be harmed.

A confidential State Department cable was issued at the same time acknowledging the widespread torture, indicating the Obama administration was fully aware of the abuse, but continued unconditional U.S. support.

The people being tortured and beaten are being detained for entirely illegitimate reasons. The regime has outlawed protesting, specifically prohibiting “sit-ins, rallies and gatherings in the capital Manama.” It is also illegal to “incite hatred” against the security forces (whatever that means), and people can be thrown in prison for calling the king a “dictator” on Twitter (something that has happened to at least eleven people).

Unsurprisingly, the Obama administration has been mum about the vicious crackdown in Bahrain over the course of nearly three years now. The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet is stationed in the tiny Persian Gulf island, giving Washington control over the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf, through which over 40 percent of the world’s seaborne oil transits. …more

IHS Jane’s report: Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country’s civil war.

Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists
By Ben Farmer, Ruth Sherlock – UK Telegraph – 15 September, 2013

Opposition forces battling Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria now number around 100,000 fighters, but after more than two years of fighting they are fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands.

The new study by IHS Jane’s, a defence consultancy, estimates there are around 10,000 jihadists – who would include foreign fighters – fighting for powerful factions linked to al-Qaeda..

Another 30,000 to 35,000 are hardline Islamists who share much of the outlook of the jihadists, but are focused purely on the Syrian war rather than a wider international struggle.

There are also at least a further 30,000 moderates belonging to groups that have an Islamic character, meaning only a small minority of the rebels are linked to secular or purely nationalist groups.

The stark assessment, to be published later this week, accords with the view of Western diplomats estimate that less than one third of the opposition forces are “palatable” to Britain, while American envoys put the figure even lower.

Fears that the rebellion against the Assad regime is being increasingly dominated by extremists has fuelled concerns in the West over supplying weaponry that will fall into hostile hands. These fears contributed to unease in the US and elsewhere over military intervention in Syria.

Charles Lister, author of the analysis, said: “The insurgency is now dominated by groups which have at least an Islamist viewpoint on the conflict. The idea that it is mostly secular groups leading the opposition is just not borne out.”

The study is based on intelligence estimates and interviews with activists and militants. The lengthy fighting has seen the emergence of hundreds of separate rebel bands, each operating in small pockets of the country, which are usually loyal to larger factions.

Rebels from Jabhat al-Nusra at Taftanaz air base, Idlib, in 2011 (AP)

Two factions linked to al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) – also know as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) – have come to dominate among the more extremist fighters, Mr Lister said. Their influence has risen significantly in the past year.

“Because of the Islamist make up of such a large proportion of the opposition, the fear is that if the West doesn’t play its cards right, it will end up pushing these people away from the people we are backing,” he said. “If the West looks as though it is not interested in removing Assad, moderate Islamists are also likely to be pushed further towards extremists.”

Though still a minority in number, ISIL has become more prominent in rebel-held parts of Syria in recent months. Members in northern Syria have sought to assert their dominance over the local population and over the more moderate rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA).

The aim of moderate rebel fighters is the overthrow of their country’s authoritarian dictator, but jihadist groups want to transform Syria into a hard-line Islamic state within a regional Islamic “caliphate”.

These competing visions have caused rancour which last week erupted into fighting between ISIL and two of the larger moderate rebel factions.

A statement posted online by Islamists announced the launch of an ISIL military offensive in the eastern district of Aleppo which it called “Cleansing Evil”. “We will target regime collaborators, shabiha [pro-Assad militias], and those who blatantly attacked the Islamic state,” it added, naming the Farouq and Nasr factions.

Al-Qaeda has assassinated several FSA rebel commanders in northern Latakia province in recent weeks, and locals say they fear this is part of a jihadist campaign to gain complete control of the territory.

As well as being better armed and tougher fighters, ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra have taken control of much of the income-generating resources in the north of the country, including oil, gas and grain.

This has given them significant economic clout, allowing them to “win hearts and minds” by providing food for the local population in a way that other rebel groups cannot.

ISIS has also begun a programme of “indoctrination” of civilians in rebel-held areas, trying to educate Syria’s traditionally moderate Sunni Muslims into a more hard-line interpretation of Islam.

In early September, the group distributed black backpacks with the words “Islamic State of Iraq” stamped on them. They also now control schools in Aleppo where young boys are reportedly taught to sing jihadist anthems.

“It seems it is some sort of a long-term plan to brainwash the children and recruit potential fighters,” said Elie Wehbe, a Lebanese journalists who is conducting research into these activities. …source

Extremists in Syria admit killing 30 Alawites
16 September, 2013 – Shia Post

Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremists in Syria say they are targeting members of the Alawite community in the country, adding that they massacred dozens of Alawites in three Homs villages last week.

On Sunday, terrorist group Al-Nusra Front claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks in which at least 30 Alawites, including several women, children and elderly men, were shot dead in cold blood.

Al-Nusra said in an internet statement that its militants entered the villages of Massudiyeh, Maksar al-Hissan and Jab al-Jerah in Homs province and carried out the massacre.

The group said one of its jurists asked them to slay Alawites whom he called “enemies of God”.

“… this was the first time these villages were entered and such a high number was killed,” it added.

Last month, Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a commander of al-Nusra, threatened to target Alawites with rockets.

“On top of that we will prepare a thousand rockets that will be fired on their towns in revenge for the Damascus Ghouta massacre,” he said in an audio recording posted on YouTube on August 25.

Al-Nusra and other militant groups fighting against the Syrian government and people accuse Damascus of launching the August 21 chemical weapons attack which they claimed killed about 1400 people.

The government has rejected the accusation, saying it has proof that the militants were behind the attack.

On August 24, the Syrian forces found chemical agents in tunnels dug by the militants in Jobar, near Damascus. A number of soldiers suffocated as they entered the area.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

According to the UN, more than 100,000 people have been killed and a total of 7.8 million of others displaced due to the violence. …source

Bahrain to shut Shia clerics’ council amid new protests
16 September, 2013 – Tehran Times

According to agencies, the ministry said it wanted the office of the Olamaa Islamic Council to be closed and its assets liquidated for “functioning outside the law.”

The lawsuit came as authorities in the Sunni-ruled monarchy crack down on opposition action by Shias, who make up the majority of the population in the Gulf archipelago.

The council, which is led by prominent cleric Issa Qassem, “violates the constitution and the laws of the kingdom,” the ministry said, accusing its members of “using it to practice politics under a confessional cover.”
The council also “adopted the call for the so-called revolution,” the ministry charged, referring to the protests against the government, which erupted in February 2011 and were dispersed a month later.

Meanwhile, a Bahraini court jailed on Sunday three dissidents for 10 years each after convicting them of attempting to kill police officers during anti-government protests, lawyers said.

The trio, Jaafar Ali, Hussain Mansur and Mustafa Abdulkarim, had been charged of attempting to kill three policemen “with premeditation” on February 16, in the village of Karzakan, southwest of Manama.

The public prosecution had also accused the men of “possessing homemade shotguns, as well as employing violence against police, and participating in an unauthorized protest.”

Home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Persian Gulf from Iran, Bahrain still sees demonstrations on almost daily basis.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, around 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence first broke out in 2011. …source

Bahrain courts ignore testimonies of torture
17 Septemebr, 2013 – ABNA.co

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Testimonies of torture, brutal assault and coerced confession are repeatedly given by detainees before courts in Bahrain. But the courts do not take any measures in such cases. A number of detainees accused in the claimed “Riffa bombing” have boycotted Sunday’s hearing session (15th September) because they do not trust the judiciary, the detainees’ lawyers said.

The defense lawyers said the detainees have been repeatedly subjected to torture while the courts have failed to take necessary measures.

Al-Wefaq had demanded that an independent and impartial commission be formed to investigate incidents claimed to have happened by the security apparatuses, such as the Riffa bombing. A big number of claims made the security apparatuses have been proven false before courts, leading to the natural conclusion that they lack credibility.
…source

Bahrain protest condemns threats to deport cleric
17 Septemebr, 2013 – PressTV

People in Bahrain have held a fresh anti-regime demonstration south of the capital Manama to condemn the regime’s threats to send a senior cleric into exile.

The demonstration was held on the island of Sitra on Monday in response to the Al Khalifa regime’s threats to deport Ayatollah Hossein Nejati, who is Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s representative in Bahrain.

The protest turned violent after Saudi-backed Bahraini security forces fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Manama has recently revoked the citizenship of Ayatollah Nejati and his family members as well as 31 other Bahrainis in a move that has been widely described as unconstitutional.

The Bahraini regime began pressures on Ayatollah Nejati after some of the country’s distinguished religious scholars met him to pledge their allegiance.

Tension has heightened in the tiny Persian Gulf country over the past few days following the killing of Mohammed Abdul Jalil Yousif, a young activist, by the regime forces last week.

According to activists, the 20-year-old was run over by a vehicle belonging to the security forces.

The Bahraini uprising began in mid-February 2011.

Bahrainis primarily called for political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests. …source

The chemical weapons of Ghouta came from the Turkish Army
Voltaire Network – 17 September, 2013

The TV channel Al-Ikbariya broadcasted, on Sunday the 15th of September 2013, a long interview of a prisoner reporting the way that he had transported chemical weapons from a Turkish military base to Damascus.

According to this report, the Turkish army was aiming to provoke an international intervention against Syria.

This limited bombing would have been accompanied by a vast communication initiative.

This broadcast was followed by a debate between general Ali Maksoud and the political specialist, Thierry Meyssan, regarding the Turkish implication in the conflict and the Russian proposition of Syrian signing of the Convention forbidding the use of chemical weapons.
…source

Syria security official says rebels have missiles, sarin gas
17 September 17, 2013 – Agence France Presse

DAMASCUS: Syria rebels possess ground-to-ground missiles and sarin, and a UN report on chemical weapons use shows they carried out attacks near Damascus, a high-ranking Syrian security source said Tuesday.

“I categorically deny that we have used sarin gas, for the reason that we had no interest in doing so. We were winning in the battlefield,” the official said a day after a UN report on an August 21 attack was published.

“It is generally the losers who adopt such a suicidal attitude. On the contrary, the army was winning,” he told AFP.

The UN investigation team said in its report that it had “clear and convincing” evidence that sarin gas was used in an August 21 attack on rebel areas near Damascus, and that chemical weapons have been used on a “relatively large-scale” in the 30-month-old Syrian conflict.

The UN report does not say who used the weapons, though the opposition and its allies have blamed Assad’s troops.

According to the Syrian security source, “the terrorists locally manufacture ground-to-ground missiles, and it is highly likely that they used them to transport” the toxic chemical sarin.

President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has systematically referred to opponents and rebels fighting its loyalists as “terrorists”.

“Of course the rebels know how to load missiles with sarin. They have been trained by the US, French and British secret services, which are active on the ground,” said the source.

Asked why the Syrian army stocked chemical arms, he said: “At a particular time in history, there was the desire to have this kind of weapon to create a strategic balance with Israel.

“It was nothing more than a way to dissuade the Zionist enemy, which has an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.”
…source

Tuesday Sep 17, 201303:48 PM GMT
Russia steps up naval presence in Mediterranean amid US threats
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Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey must turn in chemical arms: Iran MP
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov address a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, September 12, 2013, after agreeing on a deal on Syrian chemical weapons.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov address a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, September 12, 2013, after agreeing on a deal on Syrian chemical weapons.
Tue Sep 17, 2013 5:10AM GMT
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Following three days of intense talks in Geneva, Switzerland, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on the details of a plan that would identify and purge Syrian chemical weapons.”
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An Iranian lawmaker says the Israeli regime, Saudi Arabia and Turkey must also turn over their chemical weapons, as Syria has agreed to, if a US-Russia deal on Syrian chemical arms is to be implemented.

Spokesman for Iran’s Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Hossein Naqavi Hosseini made the remark on Monday, adding that the US demand from the Syrian government to hand over its chemical arms while also intending to take military action against the Middle Eastern country is illogical and contrary to international norms.

US President Barack Obama had said in 2012 that Washington’s “red line” on Syria would be the use of chemical weapons or their transfer to other parties.

One year later, on August 21, the militants operating inside Syria and its foreign-backed opposition claimed that the Syrian government had carried out a chemical attack on suburban Damascus, killing over a thousand people.

Damascus categorically rejected the accusation.

Nevertheless, the unsubstantiated claim prompted the US to start repositioning military assets in the Mediterranean Sea near Syria. Repeated threats were also issued by the US against the crisis-hit country, alarming the world that a new US war could be just around the corner.

However, events seemed to take a different course when Syria nodded to a Russian proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control.

Later, following three days of intense talks in Geneva, Switzerland, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on the details of a plan that would identify and purge Syrian chemical weapons. Syria had earlier announced its readiness to join the international convention that bans chemical weapons.

Naqavi Hosseini called for a US pledge of not attacking Syria, describing such a guarantee as key to the implementation of the plan for the Syrian chemical weapons to be put under international supervision.

This plan should not be implemented unless the US guarantees that it will not engage in an attack against the people and government of Syria, Naqavi Hosseini said.

The United States will experience a worse situation than what it went through in Vietnam in case it does engage in a military offensive against Syria, he added.

Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari said on September 12 that the “main danger of WMD is the Israeli nuclear arsenal.”

The Tel Aviv regime also possesses chemical weapons but “nobody is speaking about that,” the Syrian envoy added.

Ja’afari said Syria’s chemical weapons served as “a mere deterrence against the Israeli nuclear arsenal” and other WMDs, referring to a declassified CIA report on Israel’s chemical weapons program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said that the Syrian chemical arms were intended for deterrence purposes against Israeli nukes.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since 2011.