Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect

by Reese Erlich

  11. “Poorest Countries in the Middle East,” Aneki, http://www.aneki.com/poorest_middle_east.htm.

  12. Nabil Samman, interview with the author, Damascus, October 5, 2011.

  13. Bouthaina Shaban, interview with the author, Damascus, October 5, 2011.

  14. Nabil Toumeh, interview with the author, Damascus, October 3, 2011.

  15. Nabil Sukkar, interview with the author, Damascus, October 5, 2011.

  16. Dr. Bassam Barakat, interview with the author, Damascus, November 4, 2013.

  17. Jason Samenow, “Drought and Syria: Manmade Climate Change or Just Climate?” Washington Post, September 9, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/09/drought-and-syria-manmade-climate-change-or-just-climate.

  18. US Energy Information Administration, “Syria,” February 18, 2014, http://www.eia.gov/countries/cab.cfm?fips=SY.

  19. World Bank, “Country and Region Specific Forecasts and Data,” http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects/data?variable=NYGDPMKTPKDZ®ion=MNA.

  20. Rana Issa, interview with the author, Damascus, October 6, 2011.

  21. Anonymous clothing store owner, interview with the author, Damascus, October 2011.

  22. Hagop, interview with the author, Damascus, November 2013.

  23. Loveday Morris, “Syrian Islamist Rebels Kill and Kidnap Hundreds of Civilians, Rights Group Says,” Washington Post, October 10, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-islamist-rebels-killed-or-kidnapped-hundreds-of-civilians-rights-goup-says/2013/10/10/9ceaac8a-31e9-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html.

  24. For further background see “Armenian Genocide,” Armenian National Institute, http://www.armenian-genocide.org/genocide.html.

  25. Nalbandian, interview with the author.

  26. Father Simon Faddul, interview with the author, Beirut, May 31, 2013.

  27. Nalbandian, interview with author.

  28. Hagop, interview with the author.

  29. Sheik Abdul Salaam al-Harash, interview with the author, Damascus, November 14, 2013.

  30. Hagop, interview with the author.

  31. Nalbandian, interview with the author.

  32. Hagop, interview with the author.

  33. Nalbandian, interview with the author.

  34. Amira Hana, interview with the author, Damascus, November 17, 2013.

  35. Nalbandian, interview with the author.

  36. Nick Cumming-Bruce, “Top UN Rights Official Links Assad to Crimes in Syria,” New York Times, December 2, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/world/middleeast/top-un-rights-official-links-assad-to-crimes-in-syria.html.

  37. Maryam, interview with the author, Zahle, Lebanon, May 2013.

  38. Most Reverend Archbishop Issam Darwish, interview with the author, Zahle, Lebanon, May 31, 2013.

  39. Joseph, interview with the author, Zahle, Lebanon, May 31, 2013.

  40. For regularly updated figures on Syrian refugees in Lebanon, see the UNHCR website, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=122.

  41. For updated figures on all Syrian refugees, see the UNHCR website, http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/regional.php.

  42. Basem Shabb, interview with the author, Beirut, June 4, 2013.

  43. Elie El-Hindy, interview with the author, Lebanon, June 5, 2013.

  44. Faddul, interview with the author.

  45. El-Hindy, interview with the author.

  46. Anonymous, interview with the author, Syria, October 2011.

  47. Hugh Macleod and Annasofie Flamand, “Syria: Brutally Violent Shabiha Militia Member Tells It Like It Is,” Global Post, June 15, 2012, http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/120614/syria-shabiha-thug-assad-mafia-guns-smuggling-violence-houla.

  48. Ibid.

  49. Michael Jansen “Russia and Iran Must Stop Enabling Syrian Government to Remain in Power, Warns Kerry,” Irish Times, February 18, 2014, http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/russia-and-iran-must-stop-enabling-syrian-government-remain-in-power-warns-kerry-1.1694963.

  50. Ebrahim, interview with the author.

  51. Peter Beaumont, “Syria: Massacres of Sunni Families Reported in Assad's Heartland,” Observer, May 4, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/04/syrian-sunni-families-die-in-assads-heartland.

  52. Anne Barnard and Hania Mourtada, “An Atrocity in Syria, with No Victim Too Small,” New York Times, May 15, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/middleeast/grisly-killings-in-syrian-towns-dim-hopes-for-peace-talks.html.

  53. Stephanie Nebehay, “Syrian Forces behind Last May's Banias Massacres as Government and Rebels Committed War Crimes, UN Reports,” Reuters, September 11, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/syria-banias-massacres_n_3906350.html.

  54. Ebrahim, interview with the author.

  55. “Leen,” interview with the author.

  CHAPTER 8. WHY IRAN BACKS SYRIA

  1. For more details on the 2009 Iranian Green Movement, see Reese Erlich, Conversations with Terrorists: Middle East Leaders on Politics, Violence, and Empire (Sausalito, CA: PoliPoint Press, 2010), p. 93.

  2. Jubin Goodarzi, “Iran and Syria,” in The Iran Primer, United States Institute of Peace, http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/iran-and-syria.

  3. James Zogby, “The Rise and Fall of Iran in Arab and Muslim Eyes—A New Poll,” Wilson Center, March 5, 2013, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/the-rise-fall-iran-arab-and-muslim-eyes-new-poll.

  4. Mohsen Milani, “Why Tehran Won't Abandon Assad(ism),” Washington Quarterly, December 1, 2013.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Ibid.

  7. Hossein Ruyvaran, interview with the author, Tehran, June 11, 2013.

  8. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, “Testimony before the US Senate,” May 15, 2013, http://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Sherman_Testimony.pdf.

  9. Professor Foad Izadi, interview with the author, Tehran, June 13, 2013.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Alex Vatanka, “Syria Drives Wedge between Turkey and Iran,” Middle East Institute, May 16, 2012, http://www.mei.edu/content/Syria-drives-wedge-between-turkey-and-iran.

  12. Izadi, interview with the author.

  13. Robert F. Worth, “Effort to Rebrand Arab Spring Backfires in Iran,” New York Times, February 2, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/world/middleeast/effort-to-rebrand-arab-spring-backfires-in-iran.html.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Sayed Mohammad Husseini, interview with the author, Tehran, June 12, 2013.

  16. Izadi, interview with the author.

  17. This story first appeared on the public radio program The World in June 2007.

  18. Ruyvaran, interview with the author.

  19. Fadi Burhan, interview with the author, Tehran, June 12, 2013.

  20. Farnaz Fassihi and Jay Solomon, “Top Iranian Official Acknowledges Military Role in Syria,” Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2012, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390443720204578000482831419570.

  21. Farnaz Fassihi, Jay Solomon, and Sam Dagher, “Shiite Militiamen from across the Arab World Train at a Base near Tehran to Do Battle in Syria,” Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2013, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323864604579067382861808984.htm.

  22. Ibid.

  23. “Iran to Sign Oil Deal with Iraq while Friendship Pipeline Still Underway,” Albawaba Business, July 21, 2013, http://www.albawaba.com/business/iran-gas-export-iraq-508114.

  24. Abbas Abdi, interview with the author, Tehran, June 14, 2013.

  25. Transcription of mobile phone recordings of Rafsanjani's August 31, 2013, speech are available in Farsi at www.bloghnews.com/news/21183.

  26. Alireza Nader, “What to Do Now? Iran Torn on Syria,” Iran Primer, US Institute of Peace, http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2013/sep/11/what-do-now-iran-torn-syria.

  27. Reese Erlich, The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis (Sausalito, CA:
PoliPoint Press, 2007), p. 28.

  28. Sherman, “Testimony before the US Senate.”

  29. Karen DeYoung and Scott Wilson, “Goal of Iran Sanctions Is Regime Collapse, US Official Says,” Washington Post, January 10, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/goal-of-iran-sanctions-is-regime-collapse-us-official-says/2012/01/10/gIQA0KJsoP_story.html/washingtonpost.com.

  30. “Yusuf Abdi,” interview with the author, Tehran, June 9, 2013.

  31. Tahereh Karimi, interview with the author, Tehran, June 9, 2013.

  32. Dr. Khodadad Asnarshari, interview with the author, Tehran, June 10, 2013.

  33. Siamak Namazi, “Sanctions and Medical Supply Shortages in Iran,” Wilson Center study, February 2013, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/sanctions-and-medical-supply-shortages-iran.

  34. Ghader Daemi Aghdam, interview with the author, Tehran, June 10, 2013.

  35. Asnarshari, interview with the author.

  36. Mohammad Sadegh Janansefat, interview with the author, Tehran, June 10, 2013.

  37. Ibid.

  38. Abbas, interview with the author, Iran, June 2013.

  39. Hassan Rouhani, “What Iran Wants in 2014,” Project-Syndicate, January 8, 2014, http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/hassan-rouhani-on-iran-s-new-moderation.

  40. AIPAC, “Congress Must Act to Ensure Iranian Compliance,” AIPAC, January 14, 2014, http://www.aipac.org/~/media/Publications/Policy%20and%20Politics/AIPAC%20Analyses/Issue%20Memos/2014/AIPAC%20Memo%20-%20Congress%20Must%20Act%20to%20Ensure%20Iranian%20Compliance.pdf.

  41. Scott Stewart, “The Covert Intelligence War against Iran,” Security Weekly, STRATFOR, December 8, 2011, http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/covert-intelligence-war-against-iran.

  42. Erlich, Iran Agenda, pp. 17–18.

  43. Sayed Mohammad Marandi, interview with the author, Tehran, June 12, 2013.

  44. Reza Marashi and Trita Parsi, “The Wrong Path to Peace with Iran,” CNN, December 31, 2013, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/31/opinion/marashi-parsi-iran-peace/index.html. NIAC is the largest Iranian American political group, and it favors normal diplomatic relations with Iran.

  45. Thomas Erdbrink, “President-Elect of Iran Says He Will Engage with the West,” New York Times, June 29, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/world/middleeast/president-elect-of-iran-says-he-will-engage-with-the-west.html.

  46. Izadi, interview with the author.

  47. Robin Wright, “Iran's Foreign Minister Says Sanctions Would Kill Nuclear Deal,” Time, December 9, 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/12/09/exclusive-irans-foreign-minister-says-sanctions-would-kill-nuclear-deal/.

  48. Mehdi Khalaji, “Syria as a Spoiler in Iran's Foreign Policy,” Washington Institute, August 27, 2013, http://washin.st/18YcyLw.

  CHAPTER 9. WILL THE KURDS HAVE THEIR WAY?

  1. Barkhodan Balo, interview with the author, Moqebleh Camp, Kurdish region, Iraq, September 15, 2011.

  2. “The Peace Treaty of Sevres,” HR-Net, Section III, Article 64, www.hri.org/docs/sevres.

  3. Mufid Abdulla, “Mahabad—The First Independent Kurdish Republic,” Kurdistan Times, June 12, 2011, http://kurdistantribune.com/2011/mahabad-first-independent-kurdish-republic/.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Jordil Tejel, Syria's Kurds: History, Politics, and Society (London: Rutledge Group, 2009), p. 48.

  6. Human Rights Watch, “Syria: The Silenced Kurds,” October 1996.

  7. Becky Lee Katz, “Turkey: Kurdish Teenager Convicted as Terrorist for Attending Demonstration,” Los Angeles Times, July 10, 2010, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/07/convicted-of-terrorism-a-young-kurdish-girl-is-serving-her-seven-year-and-nine-month-prison-sentence-in-turkeys-prison-e.html.

  8. Reese Erlich, “Brad Pitt and the Girl Guerrillas,” Mother Jones, March/April 2007, www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/03/brad-pitt-and-girl-guerrillas.

  9. Anonymous PKK women, interview with the author, Qandil Mountain camp, Kurdish region, Iraq, November 26, 2006.

  10. Soner Cagaptay, “Arab Spring Heats up Kurdish Issue,” Washington Institute, March 2012, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/arab-spring-heats-up-kurdish-issue.

  11. Abdullah Ocalan, Prison Writings: The Roots of Civilisation (London: Pluto Press 2007), p. 243.

  12. “The Kurdish Democratic Union Party,” Carnegie Middle East Center, March 1, 2012, http://carnegie-mec.org/publications/?fa=48526.

  13. “KNC Leader: Syrian Kurds Are Disappointed by PYD's Actions,” Rudlaw online news, July 1, 2012.

  14. “Can Med,” interview with the author, Erbil, Kurdish region, Iraq, September 11, 2011.

  15. Tejel, Syria's Kurds, p. 50.

  16. “Annual Human Rights Report 2008,” UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, p. 167.

  17. Bashar al-Assad, interview with the author, Damascus, June 14, 2006.

  18. “Syria's Assad Grants Nationality to Hasaka Kurds,” BBC, April 7, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12995174.

  19. Christian Sinclair and Sirwan Kajjo, “The Evolution of Kurdish Politics in Syria,” Middle East Research and Information Project, August 31, 2011, www.merip.org/mero/mero083111.

  20. Balo, interview with the author.

  21. Tejel, Syria's Kurds, p. 116.

  22. “Factbox: Why Small Producer Syria Matters to Oil Markets,” Reuters, August 27 2013, www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/27/us-syria-oil-factbox-idUSBRE97Q0JW20130827.

  23. Stanley Reed, “Iraqi Government and Kurdistan at Odds over Oil Production,” New York Times, November 14, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/business/global/delicate-balancing-act-for-western-oil-firms-in-iraq.html.

  24. Julian Borger and Mona Mahmood, “EU Decision to Lift Syrian Oil Sanctions Boosts Jihadist Groups,” Guardian, May 19, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/19/eu-syria-oil-jihadist-al-qaida.

  25. “Ciwan Rashid,” interview with the author, Erbil, Kurdish region, Iraq, September 13, 2011.

  26. Mohammad Farho, interview with the author, Erbil, Kurdish region, Iraq, September 11, 2011.

  27. Hassan Saleh, interview with the author, Erbil, Kurdish region, Iraq, September 10, 2011.

  28. “Interview with Syrian Kurdish Politician Mish'al at-Tammo,” Kurdwatch, July 21, 2011, www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/7/syriakurd342.htm.

  29. Ibid.

  30. Farnaz Fassihi, “Kurds Look beyond Assad, with Dream of Autonomy,” Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904491704576572114191429564.

  31. “Interview with Syrian Kurdish Politician Mish'al at-Tammo,” Kurdwatch.

  32. “Iraqi Kurds Blame Syria for the Death of Kurdish Figure Mish'al Tammo,” CNN, October 11, 2011, www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2011/10/syriakurd367.htm.

  33. “Can Med,” interview with the author.

  34. “Liberated Kurdish Cities in Syrian Kurdistan Move into Next Phase,” Rudlaw, July 25, 2012, http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/7/syriakurd554.htm.

  35. Wladimir van Wilgenburg, e-mail interview with the author, September 25, 2013.

  36. “Mr. Saleh Mohammed the Head of the Democratic Union Party Said in an Interview with Al Jazeera,” official PYD website in English, www.pydrojava.net/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:mr-saleh-mohammed-the-head-of-the-democratic-union-party-said-in-an-interview-with-al-jazeera&catid=34:news&Itemid=53.

  37. Mustafa Karasu, “The Third Way in Syria,” Official PKK, www.pkkonline.com/en/index.php?sys=article&artID=196.

  38. “Davutoğlu Says Turkey Not against Kurdish Autonomy in Post-Assad Syria,” Today's Zaman, August 29, 2012, www.todayszaman.com/news-289023-davutoglu-says-turkey-not-against-kurdish-autonomy-in-post-assad-syria.html.

  39. Ibid.

  40. Ben Hubbard, “Kurdish Struggle Blurs Syria's Battle Lines,” New York Times, August 1, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/world/middleeast/syria.html.

  41. Erika Solomon, “Special Report: Amid S
yria's Violence, Kurds Carve out Autonomy,” Reuters, January 23, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/22/us-syria-kurdistan-specialreport-idUSBREA0L17320140122.

  42. “Interview: Rights Official Speaks of Situation in Rojava, PYD Challenges,” Rudlaw, March 2, 2014, http://rudaw.net/english/interview/02032014.

  43. Solomon, “Special Report.”

  44. Saba, interview with the author, Zahle, Lebanon, May 31, 2013.

  45. Tracy Shelton, “Kurds in Syria: A Struggle within a Struggle,” Global Post, March 25, 2013, www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/130324/kurdish-forces-syria-war-third-party.

  46. Ibid.

  47. C. J. Chivers, “Defying Common View, Some Syrian Kurds Fight Assad,” New York Times, January 22, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/middleeast/some-syrian-kurds-resist-assad-defying-conventional-views.html.

  48. “Rebels Team up with Nusra Jihadists against Syria Kurds,” Middle East Online, August 12, 2013, www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=60674.

  49. Ibid.

  50. “Among the Kurds,” Syria Comment, August 2, 2013, www.joshualandis.com/blog/problems-for-syrians-in egypt/.

  51. Omar Mushaweh, interview with the author, Istanbul, August 8, 2012.

  52. Emrah Ulker, “US Warns Kurdish Autonomy in Syria Could Be Slippery Slope,” Today's Zaman, July 30, 2012, www.todayszaman.com/news-288108-us-warns-kurdish-autonomy-in-syria-could-be-slippery-slope.html.

  CHAPTER 10. ISRAEL, PALESTINE, AND SYRIA

  1. Chris McGreal, “Revealed: How Israel Offered to Sell South Africa Nuclear Weapons,” Guardian, May 23, 2010, www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons. See also: “How Israel Helped Apartheid South Africa Build Nuclear Weapons,” War in Context, April 5, 2013, http://warincontext.org/2013/04/05/how-israel-helped-apartheid-south-africa-build-nuclear-weapons.

  2. In 1993, as part of the Oslo peace process, Israel recognized the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the right of Palestinians to their own state. The PLO recognized the Israeli state. Years later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Hussein Ibish, “Should the Palestinians Recognize Israel as a Jewish State? Foreign Policy, May 25, 2011, www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/25/should_the_palestinians_recognize_israel_as_a_jewish_state.