A critical response to calls for a geographically-limited No-Fly Zone

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon writes in the Guardian of his visits to Syria to investigate chlorine attacks and to help Syrians survive them:

Only a no-fly zone can curb chemical attacks in Syria

He describes the UK Parliament’s August 2013 vote against action in response to Assad’s Sarin massacre as “the greatest strategic military mistake this century,” writing that “it kept Assad in power – with the result that thousands more are dead and injured – and fuelled the rise of Islamic State.”

Finally he advocates a no-fly zone in a limited part of Syria to curb Assad’s chlorine attacks.

I strongly disagree with the proposal to limit the area to just part of the country. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon’s reasoning is that a nationwide no-fly would bring those enforcing it “into conflict with Syria and Iran who are also fighting IS with jets” and that limiting the area might make it more palatable to Russia.

When Assad’s air force bombed the ISIS-held city of Raqqa last year, the targets were not ISIS buildings, and the vast majority of victims were civilians, according to Amnesty’s detailed report on the attacks. Those few ISIS members who were killed were in civilian clothes, not identifiable as ISIS by sight, and therefore likely to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time as Assad’s aircraft went about their usual practice of targeting the civilian population.

Allowing Assad to continue to bomb ISIS-held areas would cost more civilian lives; it not help the campaign against ISIS in any great way, but would likely further discredit that campaign in the eyes of the population.

The Avaaz Safe zone for Syrians, now! petition which I posted on last month has since passed a million signatures. The scale of the response is wonderful, but this also proposes a geographically limited air exclusion zone in the north of Syria.

A geographically limited no-fly zone would displace bombing, not necessarily reduce it. The limited zone would risk encouraging the regime to focus on forced clearing of resisting populations from areas beyond the zone, with a view to partitioning Syria and entrenching a geographically reduced Assad state.

Proponents of a geographically-limited No-Fly Zone need to remember the events of 1991 in Iraq when a limited no-fly zone in the north of that country protected one part of the population while leaving Saddam free to slaughter another. The numbers given for the dead in that horror range from 50,000 to hundreds of thousands. It was over a year later when a second no-fly zone was imposed in Iraq’s south—far too late. We should not promote the same mistake in Syria. A no-fly zone must be Syria-wide.

Why we support a No-Fly Zone

Cross-posted from Syria Solidarity UK.







Read more: A manifesto for Syria

Join us in London on the 26th of April to answer the call from Syria.

A manifesto for Syria

Cross-posted from Syria Solidarity UK.



In this UK election, let’s talk about Syria.

For a peaceful, democratic Syria, a Syria without Assad and a Syria without ISIS, we support the calls by Planet Syria activists and Syria Civil Defence rescue volunteers for action to stop the violence.

Read more:

• A manifesto for Syria
• Syrian refugees welcome here
• A No-Fly Zone for Syria

Join us in London on the 26th of April to answer the call from Syria.

Call from Syria: London march 26th April

From Syria Solidarity UK:




Sunday 26th April will be a global day of action to answer a Call from Syria:

• Stop Chemical Attacks
• Stop the Bombs
• A No-Fly Zone for Syria

Facebook event page.

In London, we will assemble at 1pm at Marble Arch, before marching to the US Embassy, and then on to the BBC via Oxford Street.

The Assad regime remains the greatest threat to civilians in Syria. Despite multiple UN Security Council resolutions, barrel bombs filled with explosives, and sometimes chlorine gas, are still being used by the regime to terrorise, maim, and kill.

We come together to ask for a No-Fly Zone for Syria. Only a No-Fly Zone can help turn the tide in this humanitarian tragedy.

We also gather to condemn the lack of coverage in the mass media of the horrific chemical attacks in Sarmin, Binnesh and Idlib. The media must be the voice of our collective humanity.

Amongst those calling for a No-Fly Zone are Syria Civil Defence, also known as The White Helmets. They have been joined by a coalition of non-violent activists united in the Planet Syria campaign who are calling for an end to barrel bombing, if necessary by means of a No-Fly Zone, as an essential requirement to enable meaningful peace talks.

Just words? Ed Miliband and the Anne Frank Declaration

Recently Ed Miliband, along with all other members of the Shadow Cabinet, including Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander, signed the Anne Frank Declaration:

Anne Frank is a symbol of the millions of innocent children who have been victims of persecution. Anne’s life shows us what can happen when prejudice and hatred go unchallenged.

Because prejudice and hatred harm us all, I declare that:

• I will stand up for what is right and speak out against what is unfair and wrong
• I will try to defend those who cannot defend themselves
• I will strive for a world in which our differences will make no difference – a world in which everyone is treated fairly and has an equal chance in life

Since then, Ed Miliband has been talking about his August 2013 decision to block joint UK-US action in response to the Assad regime’s mass killing of civilians with Sarin chemical weapons. He said that this choice proves he is “tough enough” to be prime minister: “Hell yes.” Many of his supporters seem to agree, and “Hell yes” t-shirts have been produced, celebrating Ed Miliband’s toughness in helping get a mass-murdering regime off the hook.

Not that they see it in quite that way. Jamie Glackin, Chair of Scottish Labour, denied that there was any connection between Ed Miliband’s “hell yes” phrase and the August 2013 chemical attack: “It’s got nothing to do with that. At all.”

But it has everything to do with that. Ed Miliband’s chosen anecdote to show toughness was to point to the time he prevented action against a mass-murdering dictatorship, one that gave refuge to a key Nazi war criminal, that has tortured its citizens on an industrial scale, that is inflicting starvation sieges on hundreds of thousands of people, that has driven half of the population from their homes, four million of them driven out of the country as refugees, and that has continued killing civilians in their tens of thousands since Ed Miliband said “no” to action.

Anne’s life shows us what can happen when prejudice and hatred go unchallenged.

When asked about the consequent events in Syria, Ed Miliband shirked responsibility. “It’s a failure of the international community,” he said. But we are the international community. The UK is a key member of the international community, one of only five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and one of only three functioning democracies amongst those five. When Ed Miliband blocked UK action, the consequences were critical.

I will try to defend those who cannot defend themselves.

Anne Frank was 15 when she was killed in the Holocaust. The Anne Frank Trust is holding a #notsilent campaign to mark the 70th Anniversary of her murder on the 14th of April. You can also read more about her at the Anne Frank House museum’s website.

According to a November 2013 report by the Oxford Research Group, Stolen Futures: The hidden toll of child casualties in Syria, 128 children were recorded amongst the killed in the Ghouta chemical attack: 65 girls and 63 boys.

Something of two of those girls, Fatima Ghorra, three years old, and her sister, Hiba Ghorra, four years old, is told by Hisham Ashkar here.

The names of 54 of the girls killed are listed by the Violations Documentation Center in Syria. For some, clicking on a name will give a little more information, such as a photograph of one in life, or in death, or their age.

Washington DC Friday: Rally to Stop the Bombs in Syria

This Friday 27 March, 1-2pm at the White House.

From the Facebook event page:

Join us as we stage a protest to demand the United States take action to stop the Syrian regime dropping barrel bombs and chemical weapons on civilians.

Come and add your voice to the voices of Syrian volunteer rescue workers - the White Helmets, thousands of non-violent activists in Syria and nearly 600,000 people around the world who are calling for a no fly zone.

On the 16th March the Syrian regime dropped barrels of chlorine on civilians in Sarmeen, Idlib killing six and injuring dozens.

The attack came just 11 days after the UN Security Council voted on a resolution saying it would take further measures, including the possibility of military force, if chlorine gas was used again in Syria. Now it has been used. The Syrian regime is testing us – if the international community doesn't take action, if our leaders break their word, it will be a green light for thousands more to be killed using poison gas and barrel bombs.

The attack also comes 390 days after the UN Security Council passed a resolution banning the use of barrel bombs. Despite these threats, the Syrian regime is doing nothing to ease its attacks on civilians. Barrel bombs have killed nearly 2000 children.

Every barrel bomb Assad drops also strengthens ISIS. Any support these extremists have in Syria is directly linked to the mass human rights violations of the Assad regime. If we want to defeat ISIS we have to end the violence in Syria.

Stand with the Syrian people because no one is free until we’re all free.

Please join if you can.

A call from Planet Syria: Is anybody out there?

Planet Syria is an initiative by non-violent Syrian activists. They write:

Non-violent activists across Syria are calling for global solidarity around their joint demands of stopping the regime's barrel bombs and pushing for inclusive peace talks.

Scroll down on their website, www.planetsyria.org, to read more:

STOP THE BOMBS

Extremism breeds from injustice – the biggest killer of civilians in Syria today is the ‘barrel bomb’. These are often old oil barrels filled with explosive and scrap metal and rolled out of government helicopters and planes miles up in the air onto hospitals, schools and homes.

The UN Security Council unanimously banned them a year ago. Nothing has changed since then – nearly 2,000 children have been killed since UN Resolution 2139 was signed on February 22, 2014.

Many of us were against foreign military intervention in Syria. But in September 2014 the US-led coalition started bombing ISIS in our country. Now there is a deep hypocrisy to letting the Assad regime fly in the same airspace and kill civilians. Many more than are killed by ISIS.

The international community must follow through on its demands and stop the regime’s barrel bombs and air attacks – even if that means with a ‘no fly zone’.

You’ll also find Planet Syria on Facebook and Twitter.

Support Syria Civil Defence: Write to your MP

The petition being run by Syria Civil Defence and The Syria Campaign calling for a No-Fly Zone has now been joined by another organised by Avaaz. The Avaaz petition calls for “an air exclusion zone in Northern Syria, including Aleppo” rather than an all-Syria no-fly zone, but it’s still most welcome, and Syria Civil Defence are encouraging followers to sign.

WHITE HELMETS PETITION

AVAAZ PETITION

I have signed the Avaaz petition, though it’s not just northern Syria that needs a no-fly zone. For example Douma in the south near Damascus has been suffering greatly from Assad’s air attacks. At least 26 people were killed there on Sunday alone. Here’s a video of rescuers on the scene.

What’s needed is to ground Assad’s air force nationwide through deterrence and—if necessary—retaliation. This means demanding air attacks cease immediately, and if there is a single air attack after that demand then retaliating against Assad’s air bases with standoff weapons. A ‘deter and retaliate’ strategy is no harder to apply nationwide than it is in just a part of the country as it doesn’t require air patrols to enforce.

As well as these two petitions, if you’re in the US you can email your representatives in Congress, courtesy of the Syrian American Council:

TELL CONGRESS TO ENACT A NO-FLY ZONE

Inspired by that, I have set up a similar page for UK voters to email their Member of Parliament. If you’re in the UK please use this page to email your MP and ask them to support Syria Civil Defence in their call for a No-Fly Zone:

WRITE TO YOUR MP

The major parties in the UK are now largely silent on Syria, adopting a ‘don’t mention the war’ approach in the run up to the election. We need to do all we can to break that silence.

Finally, if you’re in London tomorrow, please join Syria Solidarity UK and others calling for a no-fly zone at the American Embassy from 2 to 4pm.

PROTEST 22 MARCH: US EMBASSY IN LONDON