SARMEEN, Syria - As the
death toll in Syria tops 40,000 and some 400,000
have taken refuge beyond the country’s borders, a
dearth of funding for civilian projects in areas
under Free Syrian control risks undermining
efforts to keep inhabitants united and the limited
lines of communication flowing.
A number
of young Syrian activist groups travel between
Istanbul and cities under Free Syrian Army (FSA)
control to set up local administration councils,
racing to provide essential services to the
population before another winter arrives amid
scant electricity, dwindling access to basic
necessities and continued shelling of civilian
areas. The groups coordinate with medical workers
in the border area and FSA members, and maintain
regular contact with
embassies, individual
donors and local populations.
Abdullah
Labwani, 27-year-old nephew of well-known
dissident and physician Kamal Labwani, works with
the Istanbul-based NGO Civil Administration
Councils (CAC). In "another life", as he called
the period leading up to the revolution, he worked
as an architect and taught at the University of
Damascus. From Istanbul he maintains contact with
those inside Syria while trying to convince
Western diplomatic representatives to send funds
for medical, communications and food needs as
managed by the councils.
This IPS
correspondent travelled with Labwani to Sarmeen in
the northwestern Syrian province Idlib in early
November. With just over 20,000 inhabitants before
the uprising, several thousand had fled the town
amid continuing conflict in the area. In March
this year, some 318 houses, 87 shops and numerous
warehouses, pharmacies and mosques were destroyed
in attacks by Syrian government forces on the
town.
Human Rights Watch found that regime
troops had killed at least 95 civilians, many by
summary execution, in the assault on the eastern
and southern parts of the province. Three brothers
from Sarmeen’s Hajj Hussein family, for example,
were taken out of their home, had their hands tied
behind their backs and were killed and burned in
front of their mother as a "lesson" to the town’s
inhabitants.
Sarmeen has been under Free
Syrian Army control since late March, but regime
shelling near the town can be heard frequently. In
the days spent there, helicopters were spotted
flying overheard a number of times. The regime has
reportedly engaged in extensive dropping of barrel
bombs and cluster munitions on towns in the
province.
Residents use flashlights,
candles, oil lamps and generators, and are
fortunate to get an hour or two of power a day -
an hour when everyone hastens to turn on
television sets to see the news and to recharge
phone batteries.
To the background noise
of generators whirling, a meeting was held on my
first night there in the basement of a building by
the members of the community selected to form the
council. The 20 to 25 local men who took part were
enthusiastic over the possibility voiced by
Labwani of sending some of them to Istanbul for
training courses if CAC manages to raise funding.
Sugary tea and Turkish-produced cola drinks were
brought round whenever attention started to wane.
A few wore the traditional red and white
keffiyeh, and an imam and a doctor were in long
flowing robes, but most of those in their twenties
sported jeans and the older men were dressed in
more formal Western-style trousers and shirts.
The major point of contention was whether
or not FSA members could be included in such
initiatives and their role in the civil
administration, as embassies potentially willing
to put up the funds require a clear distinction
between helping civilian initiatives and aiding
military ones. FSA commanders feel they deserve
the right to positions of authority in the town
administration.
In the following days this
correspondent visited the nearby village Ta’um,
not far from the military base in Taftanaz. Of
some 7,000 inhabitants before the conflict, less
than 2,000 are said to remain. Mostly only FSA
members have chosen to stay on in this village
filled with rubble, the remains of exploded and
unexploded ordnance, and a few stray cats. It
continues to be bombed, as do approximately 60 to
200 other towns across Syria every day.
FSA fighters repeatedly call for more
weapons, and claim that if they get them soon
enough they could "prevent the need for large
amounts of food aid and other assistance," one of
them, Abu Yassir, told IPS.
Given the
fallout resulting from funneling weapons to
non-state actors in recent decades, though, it is
unlikely that arms will be supplied in any
substantial amounts directly to the FSA by Western
nations unless the Syrian National Coalition
receives recognition as a government in exile, and
until the FSA is seen as being under its command
structure.
The Syrian National Coalition
was founded in Doha on November 11 to replace the
Syrian National Council, and has thus far been
recognized as the "sole legitimate representative"
of the Syrian people by the Cooperation Council
for the Arab States of the Gulf, France, Turkey
and the United Kingdom.
Whether those
doing the fighting will be willing to relinquish
control to those who are not remains to be seen.
That said, with the exception of the commanders,
all of the FSA members IPS spoke to had other
hopes for the future - to return to their studies,
to open a business, or attend a military academy
"to get some real training", as the fighter and
former university student Abu Yahia put it.
In the meantime, civil administration
councils seem one of the few ways to keep
communities organized, make sure outside funding
goes towards providing essential services, and
establish a structured channel for communication
and coordination between those inside and those
outside the conflict area.
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