Syrian Elector

Syria Update: Suspect Reactor Site Dismantled

David Albright, Paul Brannan and Jacqueline Shire

The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS)

October 25, 2007

ISIS has obtained commercial satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe taken on October 24, 2007 that shows the suspected reactor construction building completely removed and the ground scraped (Figure 1). ISIS released a report on October 23, 2007 that featured DigitalGlobe imagery from August 10, 2007 showing the suspected reactor construction site of the September 6, 2007 Israeli raid inside Syria. A comparison of these two images effectively confirms that this site was indeed the target of the Israeli raid. (see Figures 2 through 5)

The pump house and secondary structure still remain in the October 24, 2007 imagery, but the suspected reactor building has been razed to the ground. Dismantling and removing the building at such a rapid pace dramatically complicates any inspection of the facilities and suggests

that Syria may be trying to hide what was there. Iraq followed a similar strategy in the 1991 after the first Gulf War, though eventually the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UN inspectors pieced together a full picture of Iraq's activities. Iran razed the site at Lavizan and insisted that no prohibited nuclear activity was conducted at the facility.

Tractors or bulldozers can be seen in the October 24 imagery where the suspected reactor building once stood. Scrape marks can be seen around the razed part of the site. There also appears to be a trench in the October 24, 2007 imagery that is better defined than in the August 10, 2007 imagery. This trench may be more visible as a result of the Syrians digging up buried pipelines running from the pump station to the now-gone suspected reactor construction building. Because of a more prominent shadow in the October 24, 2007 imagery, there appears to be evidence of an underground portion of the suspect reactor building.

Syria: End Repression of Human Rights Groups

Security Services Regularly Arrest and Harass Activists

(New York, October 17, 2007) – Syrian authorities should stop restricting the freedom of human rights activists to express their views and to associate as a group, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The country's security services regularly harass the activists by arresting them and preventing them from meeting or traveling.

The 46-page report, "No Room to Breathe: State Repression of Human Rights Activism in Syria," documents the restrictions imposed on activists by examining the legal environment in which they operate and the government practices to which they are subject. It also charts the development of Syria's human rights community and the challenges it faces today. It is based on extensive interviews with representatives of all of Syria's major human rights groups, independent lawyers, and members of the international diplomatic community in Damascus.

"The human rights community in Syria has grown in important ways in the last few years, but they remain under siege by authorities that cannot fathom any criticism of their record," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Under Syrian law, the Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor controls the registration of all civil society associations and has wide jurisdiction to intervene in the internal governance and day-to-day operations of any association by appointing board members and attending meetings. Despite these very strict control mechanisms, Syrian authorities have refused to recognize any of the human rights groups that have applied for registration.

The Tharwa Digest - Volume 1, Issue 2

A biweekly digest of select reports prepared by Tharwa-Syria

Note: All links below are to the original articles in Arabic.

The Struggle for Syria  

Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Battle for the Sunnifaciton/Shiazation of Syria

The struggle between Iranians and the Saudis for what amounts to control over Syria's soul and future political behavior is manifesting itself in their active campaigning to spread their particular versions of Islam: Twelver Shiism in the case of the former, and Wahhabi Sunnism in the case of the latter. The campaigns, the author notes, include buying up property in impoverished areas, especially along the coastal regions of Syria, renovating ancient religious shrines and establishing religious centers, as well as exploiting Hizbollah prestige and grassroots popularity in some parts of the country. This competition, the author notes, is exacerbating the already tense relations between the country's various sectarian and religious groups and are bound to wreak havoc on the future of the country. 

Syria and Lebanon

Syrian and Lebanon - a border dispute or an existential one?

Syrian author, Hanan Yazbek, accuses her country’s ruling regime of dealing with existing regional crises solely as cards to be used to consecrate its hegemony and rule. In this regard, the author argues, the regime excelled in its manipulation of the Lebanese card, by exploiting the internal differences between the various Lebanese factions, thus transforming the existing crisis between the two countries into an existential one for both the Lebanese people and the Syrian regime. 

Terrorism in Lebanon - the efforts to clone the Absi experience

The author of this report examines the history of the Absi terrorist cell that has recently been defeated in the Palestinian Camp of Nahr el-Bared in Lebanon and notes, considering that all evidence points to its Syrian origins of this group and to the large role that Syrian security apparatuses played in supporting this group, the experiment is bound to be coned in the future in order to further the Syrian regime's design over Lebanon. 

Constitutional Affairs

Syria and the Continuing Prevalence of Unconstitutional Practices and Laws

Syrian Lawyer Michel Shammas continues his attempt to highlight the various constitutional problems that faces the country and its ruling regime in the absence of any efforts for political and constitutional reforms. In a recent two-part article, Mr. Shammas points out various internal contradictions within the Constitution itself, including the clause assuring the right of every citizen to contribute to the "political, economic, social and cultural life" in the country, and Article 8 which imposes Baath rule over the country. Mr. Shammas also pointed out to the inherent contradictions between the state's current drive to privatize education and Constitutional guarantees of free universal education. The frequent unconstitutional practices and laws issued by the country's parliament's were also highlighted, including the law passed on 10/04/2005 which allowed for dismissal of 81 judges without providing any justifications or allowing for any legal recourse in the matter. The author concluded by reminding readers of the unconstitutional nature of the acting government and all laws passed by it, since it has not yet been renewed following the Presidential referendum on May 27.

Human Rights

In Syria, we need a state that respects human rights not Muslim rights

In this article, Tharwa regular Ghassan al-Mefleh, adds his two cents to the ongoing debate between secular author Yaseen al-Haj Saleh and Islamist author Al-Tahir Ibrahim concerning the role of religion in society, which has been occupying the intellectual circles in Syria for weeks now. The debate initially focused on the case of a Muslim convert to Christianity in Egypt, quickly mushroomed into an overall debate on the role of Islam in contemporary Arab societies. To many, the debate served to highlight the double-speak employed by Islamists with regards to human rights, but it also affored secular authors such as Yaseen and Ghassan the opportunity to frame the secular point of view on the issue of the necessary separation of religion and state in manner that is clear and clearly embedded in the contemporary realities of the Middle East.

During this period, Tharwa also published a number of articles and reports commemorating the 45th anniversary of the law that stripped many Syrian Kurds of their Syrian citizenship, including a long field report based on interviews with many of the over 300,000 Kurds affected by this situation.

Intellectual affairs

The New Seljukes

Author Nizar Shafeeq Abboud makes a strong argument for the continuing possibility of change and modernization in the Arab societies drawing on historical comparisons with Seljuke and Crusader times, while highlighting the importance of democratic and secular reforms in the Middle East. 

Two Internet Activists Held Incommunicado, May Be 'Disappeared'

Syria: Stop Arrests for Online Comments

(New York, October 8, 2007) – Syria should immediately release writers and activists detained solely for expressing their opinions or reporting information online, Human Rights Watch said today. Syrian authorities have held two men in incommunicado detention since June for expressing online views that are critical of the Syrian government. Authorities have refused to disclose the whereabouts of the detained men to their families. On September 23, the Supreme State Security Court sentenced a third man to two years in prison for posting online comments that displeased the authorities.

"The fact that Syria arrests people solely because they criticize the state speaks volumes about the government's utter disregard for the most basic human rights," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Even worse, Syrian intelligence has the nasty habit of not telling families where their loved ones are being detained – in effect, disappearing them for periods of time."

On June 7, the Mantaqa Branch of Military Intelligence detained Karim `Arbaji, 29, allegedly for moderating www.akhawia.net, a popular online forum for Syrian youth covering social and political issues. Persons familiar with the case told Human Rights Watch that the Mantaqa Branch may have transferred him to the Palestine Branch in Damascus, but the authorities have provided no official notification of `Arbaji's whereabouts. On June 30, 2007, Military Intelligence in the coastal city of Tartous arrested Tarek Biasi, 22, because he "went online and insulted security services," according to a person familiar with the case. Biasi remains in incommunicado detention, his whereabouts unknown. On September 23, the Supreme State Security Court sentenced Ali Zein al-`Abideen Mej`an to two years in prison for "undertaking acts or writing or speeches unauthorized by the government ... that spoil its ties with a foreign state" because he posted comments online attacking Saudi Arabia.