Russia/Syria: Daily Cluster Munition Attacks ( Increased Use of Widely Banned Weapon )

[Jefferson23]

February 8, 2016



(Beirut) – The Syrian-Russian joint military operation in Syria has included the use of internationally banned cluster munitions in at least 14 attacks across five governorates since January 26, 2016. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens.

The International Syria Support Group, a group of 17 countries and three organizations that is scheduled to meet on February 11, should make protecting civilians and ending indiscriminate attacks, including with cluster munitions, a key priority, Human Rights Watch said.

“Any solution of the Syrian crisis needs to address ongoing indiscriminate attacks,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. “A good place to start would be a commitment by Russia and Syria to stop using cluster munitions.”

The surge in cluster munition use has taken place in the context of intensified Russian and Syrian military action to establish control over key strategic territory in the governorates of Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Homs, and Hama. The recent offensive around Aleppo has caused at least 20,000 people to flee towards the Turkish border. At least seven attacks also took place as government and anti-government forces met for peace talks in Geneva, which were suspended on February 3.

in full: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/02/08/russia/syria-daily-cluster-munition-attacks

[6chars]

1. oh well

[Jefferson23]

2. Excuse me?

[6chars]

3. it's a shame there's nothing anyone can do about it.

[bemildred]

4. Relentless Russian strikes drive mass displacement in south Syria

AMMAN: Tens of thousands of Daraa residents are fleeing a combination of regime ground advances and aerial bombardments by Russian and regime forces, local opposition authorities say, with one estimate of up to 80,000 people displaced.

Some Daraa residents are heading south to the Jordanian border, joining 15,000 to 20,000 who are already there. Others go to neighboring Quneitra province, with many more internally moving from town to town, fleeing when fighting worsens. While there’s no clear-cut pattern of displacement, thousands of people are making the difficult choice to leave their homes with no guarantee of any sort of safe haven.

“Some of these families are living in open-air camps, or under trees amidst harsh weather conditions, lacking the basic necessities of life,” Noura al-Hourani, an activist in the west Daraa countryside told Syria Direct.

While some displaced residents have received aid in the form of fuel and blankets, “there are no [wide-scale] relief campaigns providing what these families need,” al-Hourani says, since many “fled with only the clothes on their backs.”

http://syriadirect.org/news/relentless-russian-strikes-drive-mass-displacement-in-south-syria/

[bemildred]

5. Merkel Is at the Mercy of Putin and Erdogan

You have to feel for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. As the de facto head of the European Union, she has lately found herself trying to negotiate the region's future with the autocratic leaders of Europe's two big neighboring powers -- first Russia, now Turkey -- and increasingly at their mercy.

Merkel was for a long time President Vladimir Putin's interlocutor on behalf of not only the EU, but also the U.S. At a point during the Ukraine crisis, though, she stopped volunteering. She realized Putin was lying to her and saw her as an opponent to be outmaneuvered and undermined. She turned to unifying the EU around a policy of isolating Putin and his regime, through sanctions.

The situation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a little different. Unlike Russia, Turkey is at least nominally a candidate for EU membership and, unlike with Putin on Ukraine, there is a deal to be made with Erdogan on refugees. Still, he is playing Putinesque hardball to get what he wants.

Minutes of the negotiations between Erdogan and the dual presidents of the European Union institutions, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, last October were leaked on the Greek website euro2day.gr on Monday. They resemble bargaining at an Istanbul carpet bazaar, without the tea or charm. The European Commission declined to comment on the authenticity of the minutes. Since their veracity has gone unchallenged by any of those quoted and paraphrased, the notes from the meeting are worth reading.

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-09/merkel-is-at-the-mercy-of-putin-and-erdogan

[bemildred]

6. What Vladimir Putin is really up to in Syria -- By Dennis Ross

---

Putin aims to demonstrate that Russia, and not America, is the main power broker in the region and increasingly elsewhere. And he is leaving no doubt that his priority is to use the Syrian conflict for his purposes — not to pave the way for an end of the war. Certainly, were Russia's costs to increase, Putin might look for a way out. But for now, he's convinced that we will not — directly or indirectly — provide the types of arms to the opposition that would significantly raise the military costs to the Russians.

Leaving aside the prospects for continued warfare in Syria, Putin is also undercutting our aim of isolating Islamic State and having Sunnis lead the fight against it. (Islamic State is a Sunni group.) Sunni-led governments in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan won't seriously join the fight against Islamic State so long as there appears to be a war against their coreligionists in Syria. And that is what they perceive today as Russia hits non-Islamic State Sunni opposition targets and the U.S. strikes ever harder against the Sunni Islamic State.

Rather than being opposed to the Russian efforts, we look to be in league with them. We press for the diplomatic process even as Russian military strikes undercut the prospects for diplomacy. If we want the Sunnis to join the fight against Islamic State, it is time we make it clear to the Russians that unless they impose a cease-fire on Assad and Hezbollah and insist that humanitarian corridors are open, we will have no choice but to act with our partners to create a haven in Syria — for refugees and for the organization of the Syrian opposition.

The last thing Putin wants is a haven. Staunching the refugee flow would give the Europeans less reason to look to Putin to solve the Syrian crisis and their refugee problem — and, thus, reduce his leverage on them to drop sanctions over Ukraine. Organizing a less fractured opposition on Syrian territory could, meanwhile, raise the costs of supporting Assad militarily.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0209-ross-what-putin-wants-syria-20160209-story.html

[bemildred]

7. Turkish Foreign Ministry calls Russia to stop military actions in Syria

Russia must stop military actions in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Turkish TRT Haber TV channel reported Feb. 9.

Russia’s military actions in Syria led to a new wave of refugees to Turkey, he said. He also noted that Russia mainly bombs positions of the moderate Syrian opposition.

Today Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has compared Russia’s actions in Syria with the military operations in Afghanistan.

Eventually, forces that carry out military operations in Syria will leave the country in the same manner as previously left Afghanistan, according to him.

http://en.trend.az/world/turkey/2492113.html

[bemildred]

8. Turkish President Erdoğan hosts urgent security summit with top officials

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to host a hastily arranged security meeting with top officials on Feb. 9, as Turkey struggles to cope with the latest influx of refugees from Syria and ongoing operations against militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeast.

The security summit to be chaired by Erdoğan was set to begin at 4.30 p.m., and was not included in the president’s official daily schedule published in the morning.

“Developments in the region and the fight against terror” would be on agenda of the meeting, sources from the Presidency told reporters.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, Interior Minister Efkan Ala, and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Chief Hakan Fidan were all due to participate.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-president-erdogan-hosts-urgent-security-summit-with-top-officials.aspx?pageID=238&nID=94950&NewsCatID=338

[bemildred]

9. Turkey warns Russia of consequences for meddling in Syria

ANKARA, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday warned Russia against possible consequences of its moves in neighboring Syria, suggesting that Moscow might be mired in the country as the Soviet Union did in Afghanistan in 1979, Daily News reported.

"The tyrants who turned Syria, my precious Aleppo and Bayirbucak into a lake of blood will one day definitely pay the price for what they have done," Davutoglu said during a parliamentary group meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

"Nobody should forget how the Soviet forces, which were a mighty, super force during the Cold War and entered into Afghanistan, left Afghanistan in a servile situation. Those who have entered Syria today will also leave Syria in a servile way," he said.

He accused Russia of mercilessly bombing civilian targets, which has nothing to do with terror.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-02/09/c_135087094.htm

[Jefferson23]

11. Putin is getting mired in the country? Scary thing is imo, there are so many assholes who

can predict how this will end, except to say..not well.

[bemildred]

13. The clock is ticking.

If anyone wants to try to stop Putin by force, they will have to get started soon. They don't have a week, and they can expect no slack from Putin.

Which they are one and all ill prepared to do.

Meanwhile he will make damn sure the Sunni states get their share of Sunni refugees, like it or not, just to keep them busy and out of his way.

The question is whether any of the parties on the other side will jump in. You know they want to, Davoglutu is damn near speaking in tongues there.

[Jefferson23]

14. He seems to have Trumped them so far...where it leads, I don't know. n/t

[bemildred]

16. More violence seems a safe bet.

Other than that it depends on what various Kings and whatnot decide.

But yeah, that's why they hate him, it's not just he's a bad man, it's that he made them look fools.

[Jefferson23]

17. Oh totally, and why I used the term, Trumped. A shit guy who can make you look like the loser. n/t

[bemildred]

10. EU's Tusk Accuses Russia of Aggravating Syrian Conflict

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that Russia's actions in Syria “are making a very bad situation even worse,” the Interfax news agency reported.

“As a direct consequence of the Russian military campaign, the murderous regime of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad strengthens its position, the moderate Syrian opposition pulls back, and thousands of refugees flee to Turkey and Europe,” Tusk said at a joint press conference with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Interfax reported.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday condemned Russia's air strikes in Syria.

“We have been horrified by what has been caused in the way of human suffering for tens of thousands of people by bombing — bombing primarily from the Russian side,” she said, the Guardian newspaper reported.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/eus-tusk-accuses-russia-of-aggravating-syrian-conflict/559112.html

My he does look annoyed, doesn't he?

[Jefferson23]

12. If Putin's objective is to have Assad strong enough to not be ignored by the West and then

in effect forced to negotiate a cease fire and ultimately a peace deal..that would take
some doing.

In the mean time he is horrifying the world with his bombing campaign, but
from his perspective, it looks like he feels this is working in his favor.

[bemildred]

15. From his point of view it is working very well. nt