NGOs fall victim to Syrian “Oppostion” that many of them once supported

Observatory in the crosshairs for its coverage
December 31, 2013 – By Marlin Dick – The Daily Star

BEIRUT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, one of the leading sources of information about the war in Syria, has received death threats over its work from members of the opposition, the group said Monday.

The Observatory, which is based in the United Kingdom and relies on a range of sources from inside the country, said it was being targeted by a “methodical campaign” by activists that reminded it of the methods of the Syrian regime.

The organization provides nearly hourly updates of armed clashes between the warring parties, as well as the shelling and airstrikes conducted by government forces, and the acts of violence undertaken by some rebel groups, particularly when they target civilians.

It has also publicized the grisly videos of summary executions conducted by the most hard-line rebel groups, such as the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Observatory said it had recently received a large number of messages of intimidation and death threats, sent to both its official Facebook page and the accounts of a number of activists working with the group.

Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman told AFP that the threats originated from Islamist extremists, declining to specify which ones.

“These groups are trying to locate our sources in the regions under their control,” he said, particularly in the north and east of the country, as well as in parts of Damascus province.

“These sources are being threatened,” he said.

However, the Observatory has come in for harsh criticism by mainstream opposition supporters, particularly in the wake of two recent incidents in the province of rural Damascus.

These took place in Adra, an industrial suburb in Damascus, and near the town of Nabk, in the Qalamoun mountains north of the capital.

In Adra, which was stormed by rebel units earlier this month, the Observatory said that more than a dozen civilians – mainly from minority religious sects such as Alawites and Druze – had been slaughtered during the offensive.

But pro-opposition sources quickly countered the version of events. They said that the rebels, which included the hard-line Nusra Front Al-Qaeda affiliate, did kill people in Adra, a sprawling industrial area that also contains a notorious prison. …more