What's new

Syria nuclear attack

So what is the "Axis of resistance" going to do about the Israeli terrorism? Assad said something about immidiate retalliation?


Report: Israel behind recent strike on Syria missile depot, U.S. officials say

Several blasts that took place on July 5 at a critical Syrian port was the result of airstrikes by Israeli fighter jets, multiple U.S. officials told CNN.

Friday's CNN report cited three unnamed U.S. officials as saying that the airstrikes targeted Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles.

No one had officially claimed responsibility for the explosions at Latakia, in Syria's north.

Israel's government has also declined to comment on the allegations.

In a statement released the previous Friday, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "huge explosions shook the area where a large Syrian army base and weapons depots are located."

According to reports that have reached the rights group, fighter jets were seen in the skies in the area of the city of Al-Haffah, east of Latakia. It was further reported that several troops have been killed and wounded in the explosions. Fires broke out in the region.

If the report is proven to be true, this would be the fourth Israeli strike in Syria in six months. In January, Israel struck a convoy carrying weapons evidently meant for Hezbollah while it had stopped at a Syrian research center on the outskirts of Damascus. Israel attacked twice more, over the course of one weekend in May, targeting a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles at the Damascus international airport.

Also according to CNN, the United States believes some supplies, including ammunition and small arms, have been unloaded in recent weeks at the Syrian port. Evidently, heavy weapons or helicopters that the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad anticipates have not been delivered so far.

The Yakhont is an anti-ship missile that has a range of 300 kilometers and can carry a warhead weighing 250 kilograms. Russia has supplied Syria with such missile battrries in 2011.

This past May, The New York Times cited U.S. officials as saying that Russia has recently sent a new shipment of upgraded Yakhont missiles to Syria. The new version is outfitted with an advanced radar that makes it more effective, according to the report.

Yakhont missiles pose a threat to maritime transport arriving in and departing from Israel, as well as vital infrastructure located near the country's coast, including gas reservoirs and the power station in Hadera.
 
.
I don't really know what is the real mainspring under the situation. Because it is quite complicated.
As a person, I always stand on the peace side. But today I have read a news, it makes my heart burst into fire.
According to Human Rights Watch, Syrian government is unlawfully capturing huge number of political detainees simply because they have done some peace-intended activities. What's even more worth concerning is that many of those detainees have been held for long periods of time and even tortured, if not killed.

Targets of such detention and tortures are not only criminals, but also peaceful dissent

For example, there are individual stories of 21 Syrians who have been detained since the start of Syrian uprising in 2011. The reason is only because those Syrian have exercised the rights to free expression, provided medical care to injured people and shelters to displaced people.

“Behind the awful brutality of the fighting in Syria is the unseen abuse of political detainees – arrested, tortured, and even killed for peacefully criticizing the government or helping people in need,” said Joe Stork, acting Middle East and North Africa director. “Arbitrary detention and torture have become business as usual for Syrian security forces.”

The detention and torture organized by the Syrian government should be convicted of inhumanity. Concerned country leaders need to be involved and make Syrian government responsible for the abuse and face justice for their actions.

The arrested and tortured detainees comprise of those who are trying to make seemingly positive contribution. Those include peaceful protesters, local businessmen who raised money to buy blankets for displaced people, software developers who facilitate free speech on the Internet. Women and children are not exception.

Such arbitrary arrests and tortures have been even more facilitated due to the introduction of Counterterrorism Law. Though the name clearly represents positive intention, it has been used as a legal tool to criminalize almost all peaceful opposition activities.

One featured case is the detention of Bassel Khartabil on March 15, 2012, in Damascus. Khartabil is a computer engineer, who founded Creative Commons Syria, a nonprofit organization that helped people legally share artistics and other work with free tools. “My life did not just change after Bassel’s arrest,” a relative told Human Rights Watch. “It literally froze in time.” While he was imprisoned, his family wasn't able to gain any information about him until December 24, when he was moved from one prison to another in Damascus. He is being tried before a military field court.

According to former detainnees, detainees are immorally tortured in many different ways. Stress positions, sex abuse, beaten using torturing methods and devices. A Syrian monitoring group named Violations Documentation Center has reported the death of 1200 detained people.


From

FNOTW: Syria: Unlawful detention and torture threaten peaceful activists
 
.

Pakistan Affairs Latest Posts

Back
Top Bottom