Syrian village 'liberated' by rebels... who then forced Christians to convert to Islam
- Syrian rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters have gained control of a Christian village north-east of the capital Damascus
- Government media has provided a different account suggesting regime forces are winning
- The battle is taking place in Maaloula, a scenic mountain village where people still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic
By TARA BRADY
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Syrian rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters have gained control of a Christian village north-east of the capital Damascus, it has been claimed today.
However, government media has provided a dramatically different account of the battle suggesting regime forces are winning.
It has been impossible to independently verify reports from Maaloula, a scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the world where people still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic.
A Syrian military solider fires a heavy machine gun during clashes with rebels in Maaloula
The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites.
The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious minorities about the role played by Islamic extremists within the rebel ranks.
It was not immediately clear why the army couldn't sufficiently reinforce its troops to prevent the rebel advance in the area which is 25 miles from Damascus.
Some activists say that Assad's forces are stretched thin, fighting in other areas in the north and south of the country.
Government media has provided a different account of the battle suggesting regime forces are winning
Rami Abdul-Rahman, who runs the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Jabhat al-Nusra backed by another group, the Qalamon Liberation Front, moved into the village after heavy clashes with the army late on Saturday. He said around 1,500 rebels are inside the town.
'The army pulled back to the outskirts of the village and both (rebel groups) are in total control of Maaloula now,' said Abdul-Rahman.
He said pro-government fighters remain inside the village, in hiding.
Initially, troops loyal to President Bashar Assad moved into Maaloula early Saturday, he said, 'but they left when rebels started pouring into the village.'
Now, Abdul-Rahman said the army is surrounding the village and controlling its entrances and exits.
A general view of Maaloula, northeast of the capital Damascus. Rebels including al-Qaida-linked fighters are believed to have gained control of the village
A Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and shouting God is great, attacked Christian homes and churches shortly after moving into the village overnight.
'They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village,' said the resident, reached by telephone from neighboring Jordan.
'So many people fled the village for safety.'
Now, Maaloula 'is a ghost town. Where is President Obama to see what befallen on us?' asked the man.
Another resident who fled the village of 3,000 inhabitants earlier in the day said in a telephone interview that Assad's forces deployed on the outskirts of the village, while gunmen inside refused to allow anybody in.
He said the gunmen declined to allow fleeing people to take five dead bodies out of the village with them.
Syrian government forces stand guard in Maaloula village, a scenic mountain village where people still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic
He said one of the churches, called Demyanos, had been torched and that gunmen stormed into two other churches and robbed them.
Most of the gunmen are foreigners, he said, adding that he heard different dialects, mainly of Tunisians, Libyans, Moroccans and Chechens.
Another resident, a Christian man, said he saw militants forcing some Christian residents to convert to Islam.
'I saw the militants grabbing five villagers Wednesday and threatening them (saying): `"Either you convert to Islam, or you will be beheaded,"' he said.
The two other residents said they heard about the conversions but did not see them.
All three spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears of retaliation.
Historic: A church in Maaloula which is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites
A Christian woman who spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday also said there were reports that militants threatened villagers with death if they did not convert.
Syria's state SANA news agency said the army reported 'progress' in its offensive against the rebels in Maaloula.
'The army inflicted heavy losses in the ranks of the terrorists,' it said, using a government term to describe the rebels.
'Military operations are continuing in the vicinity of Maaloula and its entrances,' SANA said.
State-run TV reported that all churches in Maaloula were now safe and the army was chasing gunmen in the western hills.
State-run TV reported that all churches in Maaloula were now safe and the army was chasing gunmen in the western hills
The development came as President Barack Obama's administration pressed ahead with efforts to win congressional backing and international support for military strikes against Syria over an alleged chemical attack in August outside Damascus.
The U.S. says Assad's forces fired rockets loaded with the nerve agent sarin on rebel-held areas near the capital before dawn on August 21, killing at least 1,429 people.
A Christian woman who spoke to the Associated Press on Thursday also said there were reports that militants threatened villagers with death if they did not convert to Christianity
A church in Maaloula where fighting has been taking place overnight. A poster with the portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad is seen bottom right
Back in Washington after a trip to Europe that included a two-day visit to Russia to attend a Group of 20 summit, Obama will intensify his efforts to sell a skeptical Congress and a war-weary American public on a military strike against Syria.
A debate is underway in Congress and the administration's lobbying campaign culminates Tuesday, as Obama gives an Oval Office speech the evening before a critical vote on possible action in Syria.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told France 3 TV: 'No one is for war'.
'The question we ask is if we want to get to a political resolution, will Bashar Assad accept if nothing is done? My opinion is no. There has to be a firm response to push toward a political negotiation.'
Fabius said that a military intervention didn't require every country to be behind it. He said: 'We must be vigilant against barbarity.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415586/Syrian-rebels-attack-historic-Christian-village-residents-speak-language-Jesus.html#ixzz2eL87uILS
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Britain sent poison gas chemicals to Assad: Proof that the UK delivered Sarin agent to Syrian regime for SIX years
- British companies delivered sodium flouride to Syrian firm from 2004-2010
- The chemical is a key component in manufacture of nerve gas
- Sale has been blasted as 'grossly irresponsible' in light of chemical attacks
- Intelligence expert says substance will have been diverted to regime
By MARK NICOL
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British companies sold chemicals to Syria that could have been used to produce the deadly nerve agent that killed 1,400 people, The Mail on Sunday can reveal today.
Between July 2004 and May 2010 the Government issued five export licences to two companies, allowing them to sell Syria sodium fluoride, which is used to make sarin.
The Government last night admitted for the first time that the chemical was delivered to Syria – a clear breach of international protocol on the trade of dangerous substances that has been condemned as ‘grossly irresponsible’.
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A Syrian man mourns over a dead body after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces. It has emerged that British companies sold the Syrian regime a key ingredient in the manufacture of sarin gas
The sales were made at a time when President Bashar Assad was strongly suspected to be stockpiling the chemical weapons that have caused an international crisis.
The UK firms delivered sodium fluoride to a Syrian cosmetics company for what they claim were legitimate purposes. But intelligence experts believe President Assad’s regime uses such companies to divert chemicals into its weapons programme.
Thomas Docherty MP, a member of the Commons Arms Export Controls Committee, said: ‘These are very disturbing revelations uncovered by The Mail on Sunday regarding the provision of sodium fluoride to Syria. At no time should we have allowed President Assad’s regime to get its hands on this substance.
How the British chemicals aid Assad
‘Previously we thought that while export licences had been granted, no chemicals were actually delivered. Now we know that in the build-up to the Syrian civil war, UK companies – with the backing of our Government – were supplying this potentially lethal substance.
‘While the last export licence was issued in May 2010, these licences are obtained prior to manufacture and the industry standard is for four to five months to pass before the chemicals are delivered.
'So we are looking at late 2010 for the British supplies of sodium fluoride reaching Syria. The Government has some very serious questions to answer.’
Last week it was revealed that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) had granted export licences in 2012 – but they were not used to send sodium fluoride to Syria.
The European Union subsequently banned exports outright.
Prime Minister David Cameron (left) failed to secure support for military action against Syria. An intelligence expert says President Assad will have diverted sodium flouride to chemical weapons programmes
Last night the BIS refused to answer questions regarding how much sodium fluoride was bought and sold – or which companies were involved.
Intelligence expert Richard Kemp, a former member of the Government’s COBRA emergency committee, said last night: ‘President Assad would undoubtedly have diverted legitimately exported supplies of sodium fluoride in order to make chemical weapons.
‘He would have absolutely no qualms about doing this, and his practice was well known to British diplomats and our intelligence agencies. In this light, it is grossly irresponsible of BIS to have approved these licences from 2004 to 2010.’
Scientists at the UK’s military research laboratory at Porton Down proved that sarin was used in the chemical attack on August 21 after testing items of clothing recovered from the scene.
A Syrian army soldier walks on a street in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, Syria
The US says the attack, near Damascus, killed 1,429 people, including 426 children.
And yesterday, EU officials meeting in Lithuania announced that they are convinced that the chemical attack was the work of President Assad’s forces rather than any opposition fighters.
Last night a senior scientist condemned the sale, as Syria is one of just five countries to have refused to sign protocols against the use of chemical weapons.
The other nations not to have signed up to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) accords are North Korea, South Sudan, Egypt and Angola.
Professor Alastair Hay, a toxicology expert at Leeds University, said: ‘The Government’s approval of sodium fluoride sales to Syria during a period when it was widely suspected the regime was stockpiling dangerous substances is deeply disturbing.
'This was a serious mistake on BIS’s part as while sodium fluoride has a multitude of benign uses, such as toothpaste, it remains a key ingredient in the manufacture of sarin. Quite simply, you need fluoride to make sarin.
A Free Syrian Army fighter carries the body of a fellow fighter during clashes in Aleppo last month
‘Given Syria’s refusal to sign up to the OPCW’s regulations I cannot see any justification for these sales. Have we learned nothing since the 1990s? Back then sodium fluoride was sold by the UK to intermediaries buying the chemical for Iraq where Saddam Hussein gassed his own people.’
Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind also condemned the sale. He said: ‘When you have a dual-use chemical and one of the uses is for the construction of chemical weapons, as a general policy that should not be permitted for sale to any regime that is either known to have or might be interested in constructing chemical weapons or to a country that has failed to sign up to the international accords on the trade in restricted substances.
‘So in the case of these licences being awarded to sell sodium fluoride to Syria it sounds as if some serious errors were made.’
The BIS approved the sales of sodium fluoride to Syria on the basis that it was strictly for use in the cosmetics industry. But last night, a department spokesman said naming the firms involved in the trade would breach their client confidentiality.
Sarin, which is made by combining the fluorine in sodium fluoride with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorous, is considered one of the world’s most dangerous chemical warfare agents. It disrupts the nervous system, over-stimulating muscles and vital organs.
It is more than 500 times as toxic as cyanide. It can be inhaled as a gas or absorbed through the skin. In high doses, sarin suffocates its victims by paralysing the muscles around their lungs, and one drop can kill in minutes.
Last night a BIS spokesman said: ‘The five licences were granted to two UK exporters. We cannot publish their names for reasons of commercial confidentiality. The end users were two Syrian commercial companies.
'The quantities of sodium fluoride involved were commensurate with the stated end use in the production of cosmetics and there was no reason to link them with Syria’s chemical weapons programme. This remains the case.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415081/Britain-sent-poison-chemicals-Assad-Proof-UK-delivered-Sarin-agent-Syrian-regime.html#ixzz2eL8iQ6wg
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