Biden urged to sanction Syrians involved in 2013 Tadamon massacre

Syrian activists display pictures documenting the torture of detainees inside the Assad regime's detention centers on March 17, 2016 in Geneva. (AFP)
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Updated 02 June 2022
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Biden urged to sanction Syrians involved in 2013 Tadamon massacre

  • A congressional group that supports regime change in Syria called on the US president to act against those involved in killings of civilians caught on video
  • During a joint webinar, another group said: ‘We will not rest until the people of Syria are free to live their lives free from oppression from the Assad regime’

WASHINGTON: A US congressional group that supports regime change in Syria has called on President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on key figures accused of involvement in events captured in a recently discovered video that appears to show the mass killing of Syrian civilians in the Tadamon neighborhood of Damascus almost a decade ago.

The Friends of a Free, Stable and Democratic Syria Caucus, along with Citizens for a Secure and Safe America, held an online webinar on Wednesday, attended by Arab News. During it, part of the graphic video — said to show the massacre of 228 Syrian civilians, including seven women and 12 children, on April 16, 2013 — was played.

According to C4SSA, an organization that believes a free, democratic and secular Syria will lead to a safer and more secure America, the congressional group sent a letter to Biden in which they urged him to “impose sanctions … against the individuals who have been documented to have participated in this heinous act of inhumanity. Those individuals are Jamal Al-Ismail, Jamal Al-Khatib, Amjad Youssef and Shafiq Massa.”

A devastating civil war broke out in Syria in 2011 in the aftermath of the so-called Arab Spring. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed, injured or disappeared, and millions were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in other parts of Syria or other countries.

The congressional group is co-chaired by Representative Brendan Boyle from Pennsylvania and Representative Adam Kinzinger from Illinois.

After the video was played during the webinar, Boyle said: “I feel sick,” and described it as “incredibly difficult to watch.”

It showed gunmen wearing military fatigues shooting blindfolded men whose hands were tied behind their backs. The bodies were then thrown into a large pit in a battle-scarred residential area.

Boyle accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad of a “genocide” against the Syrian people, and said it has resulted in 12 million people being displaced internally and to other countries.

“Anything that I say is going to be insufficient after having watched that, which shows how brutal Assad has been in the last decade,” he said. 

The video shows only a fraction of the suffering the Syrian people have endured during a war that has devastated their country, Boyle added.

He bemoaned the fact that the international media no longer seems interested in Syria. “Our job here is to change that,” he said as he urged outlets to continue to monitor and report on events in the country.

Kinzinger echoed his colleague’s comments in denouncing the brutality of the Assad regime and the killing of innocent Syrians. A veteran of the US military, he said he cannot imagine how someone can pull a trigger and kill an unarmed civilian simply for demanding freedom. Assad and his cronies must be held accountable for genocide and sanctioned, he added.

Mohammed Bakr Ghbeis, the president of C4SSA, said his group is filing a report with the UN’s Human Rights Council calling for charges to be brought against the individuals shown in the video killing civilians.

“C4SSA has contacted the office of Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary Executions, and will be filing the appropriate paperwork to begin the process of bringing those individuals and members of Military Intelligence Branch 227 to justice,” he added.

“We will not rest until the people of Syria are free to live their lives free from oppression from the Assad regime.”


Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills

Updated 53 min 21 sec ago
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Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills

  • A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews

ANKARA: An explosion occurred at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, an official said, adding the situation was “under control” and there were no reports of any casualties.
Mayor Tahir Buyukakin told private NTV television that the blast occurred at the Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, Tupras, in Izmit provicince during “routine drills.”
A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.


Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

Updated 05 November 2024
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Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiyeh coastal area south of Beirut on Tuesday, more than a month into the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The official National News Agency said “a raid targeted a residential apartment in a building in the town of Jiyeh,” where an AFP correspondent said a large plume of grey smoke covered the area.


Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan

Updated 05 November 2024
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Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan

  • Militants from the Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid in Sistan-Baluchistan province on October 26
  • Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces

TEHRAN: Iran’s military has killed eight militants in an operation in the restive southeast since a deadly attack last month on a police station, state media reported Tuesday.
Militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid on October 26 in Sistan-Baluchistan province — one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent months.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and extremists, opposed to the authorities in Iran.
Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Shafahi said “a total of eight terrorists have been killed” since the beginning of operations in the province, according to the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
“Fourteen other terrorists have been arrested,” including key figures involved in the attack, he said, adding security forces seized weapons and ammunition.
Shortly after the attack in Taftan county, some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, a report on the Tasnim news agency said four militants had been killed and four others arrested.
Late on Monday, IRNA quoted Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour as saying the attackers “were not Iranian,” though he did not specify their nationalities.
In early October, at least six people including police officers were killed in two separate attacks in the province.
Jaish Al-Adl said on Telegram they had carried out the attacks.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by both Iran and the United States.
 
 


Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

Updated 05 November 2024
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Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

  • The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing

GENEVA: More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday in a rare transfer out of the war-ravaged enclave, a World Health Organization official said.
“These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before flying to the United Arab Emirates, he added, and then a portion will travel to Romania.


Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions

Updated 05 November 2024
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Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions

  • In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security

DUBAI: Two French citizens detained in Iran since May 2022 are in good health and being held in good detention conditions, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday, according to state media.
Last month, France’s foreign ministry said the conditions that three of its nationals were being held in by Iran were unacceptable.
“According to the relevant authorities, these two people have good conditions in the detention center and are in good health, so any claim regarding their conditions being abnormal is rejected,” Jahangir said.
The spokesperson was referring to Cecile Koehler and Jacques Paris, who he said were arrested on charges of espionage and will have their next court hearing on Nov. 24.
Jahangir did not mention the third French national detained in Iran. French media have disclosed only his first name, Olivier.
In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.