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The Reyhanli Explosions
As I wrote yesterday:
But don’t bet on a turn around yet. I expect some nefarious things are being cooked up right now. There are lots of talks of “massacres” without any evidence that such happen. We may soon see one with “evidence” and then should be careful when attributing that to the responsible side.
Now here is a “massacre” as tweeted by the BBC’s Jon Williams:
Reports up to 25 dead after explosions in Turkish town of #Reyhanli on #Syria border. Transit point for rebels going in, refugees coming out.
Here is a first gruesome video of the incident. Looks like a big one went off. Some gunfire can be heard in the background.
We can expect the Turkish prime minister to accuse the Syrian government over this incident and to demand at least retaliation if not outright war.
But we do not know yet how those explosions happened. There is talk of Scud missile but that seems unlikely. As I said we have to very careful with attributions.
This tweet by the Turkish journalist Mahir Zeynalov may help with assessing the incident:
Two explosions outside Reyhanlı municipality and post office, many wounded. This place is predominantly populated by pro-Assad Alawites.
Update: The Turkish interior minister claims a “car bomb” exploded. At least 4 dead and 18 wounded.
Update: Up to 4 carbombs, 18 dead, 22+ injuried. Some harsh words towards Erdogan from people interviewed on Turkish TV.
Update: In this video one can see the damage of the first explosion and then hear/see a second (smaller?) one aimed at first responders. Typical “double tap”?
Update: 40+ dead, 100+ wounded 30+ seriously
No direct blame on Syria yet from the Turkish government but this could get serious:
Turkey sends military reinforcements to Syrian border after blast
The Turkish military dispatched additional troops to the Syrian border after car bombs killed at least 40 people in the Reyhanlı district of Hatay on Saturday.
The Cihan news agency said the military began deploying huge number of air and ground military reinforcements to Reyhanlı on the Syrian border after the blasts.
Update: Why is this guy looking so satisfied?
Tunisians in Syria: Dangerous
Jihadists or Brainwashed Youth?
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/05/tunisia-jihadists-syria-misguided.html#ixzz2T3akC9EC
“Tunisia is not a land of jihad, and those who wish to engage in holy war will have to head to Palestine!” These were the words of the leader of Ennahda, Rachid Ghannouchi, on May 6 in response to the terrorist bombings that took place in Jebel ech Chambi.
About This Article
Summary :
Amid growing reports of Tunisians going to Syria to fight the regime, some argue these “jihadists” are merely disenfranchised youth, brainwashed by Salafists.
Ghannouchi added that the Tunisian police, army and society are Muslim and therefore no “jihad” can be tolerated in Tunisia. He went as far as to say that “Jihad is to be waged in Palestine against the Zionist enemy and not in Kesserine or Jebel ech Chambi.”
So what about young Tunisians who are joining the jihad alongside rebels in Syria against the [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad regime? Are they “soldiers of God,” warriors, mercenaries or simply brainwashed people?
It is worth recalling that during his Friday sermon on Aug. 10, 2012, Ghannouchi said he wanted to unify an “ummah that lacks cohesion and unity.”
He cited examples of genocide in Burma, Syria and Bangladesh. “The Muslim world is going through a period of turmoil that will mark its ascent,” he said.
At the time, the Ennahda leader had called for “gathering the ranks of the ummah to work for the real jihad in order to fight despotism.”
Moreover, it should be noted that on Saturday, March 23, 2013, Minister of Religious Affairs Noureddin Khademi said it has become mandatory to increase efforts and investigations to expose those responsible for recruiting young Tunisians for the jihad in Syria.
However, this same minister appeared in a video dated August 2011, when he was not yet a minister, delivering a Friday sermon. During the sermon, he called upon young Tunisians to join the war in Syria, as part of the holy war — the jihad.
The ruling Islamist Ennahda party is probably adopting openly and publicly a double standard discourse about the jihad in Syria. As we see, it is a deliberate and strategic ambiguity that has produced a phenomenon affecting a large segment of the Tunisian population.
Ali Laarayedh, head of the government, said in his speech at the plenary session of May 8, 2013, that authorities have started fighting against this scourge. “We have already dismantled gangs that are involved in human trafficking and also nearly 1,000 people have been prevented from leaving the country, because their destinations seemed suspicious.”
For their part, civil society groups were forced to act given the magnitude of the phenomenon. Thus, an organization known as the Association for the Aid of Tunisians Abroad, was born on April 15. We met with one of its founding members, Badis Koubakji, and asked him about the association’s objectives and strategies to this effect.
“We want to help the families of young people who went to fight in the wars in Syria, Mali, Iraq. … We intend to help them at least to recover the remains of deceased persons, and deliver them back to their families,” he said.
“We made inquiries and found that many young Tunisians are victims of fraud, given the existence of a network targeting young people from poor neighborhoods,” he added.
Koubakji stressed that groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ansar al-Sharia have been targeting thousands of young people to steer them toward jihad. “They use many ways to instill in them the doctrine of holy war. They even tempt them with financial consideration and promise to marry them off to Syrians,” he said.
Salafists, according to our interlocutor, have infiltrated everywhere into the country, in coastal regions, rural areas and cities. They have controlled several mosques. Although the Ministry of Religious Affairs has announced the “liberation” of hundreds of mosques under Salafist control, several mosques continue to serve as a place for recruitment.
Besides sermons and religious education, Salafists have gone as far as to force people to join their ranks. “We have even seen elderly people being beaten up just because they did not have beards. The association’s activists have also visited the “hot spot” neighborhoods and saw many “madrasas” (education establishments run by religious institutions) that are exactly similar to the Afghan model. The families living in these areas appear to be perfectly adapted to such facilities and do not seem to fear for their children.”
Finally, the association believes that young people who go to fight jihad are merely victims of manipulation. This sounds the alarm about the danger of Salafists who are sending them to destruction or death.
“These jihadists who go to war are not terrorists. They are our compatriots, our children, who have been brainwashed by messages inciting violence under the guise of holy war. They take advantage of their religious beliefs and their dire economic and social conditions. We seek to repatriate our fellow citizens, reintegrate them into society and take care of them physically and mentally,” Koubakji said.
etc
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/05/tunisia-jihadists-syria-misguided.html
Posted by: brian | May 12 2013 6:43 utc | 73
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