An Appeal Against Attacking Syria
Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate, today appealed to the Rt. Hon. William Hague, British Foreign Minister, and M.
Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, to stop calling for military action against Syria which, she said, will only
lead the Middle East into even more violence and bloodshed for its people.
Maguire said:
Arming rebels and authorizing military action by USA/NATO forces will not solve the problem facing Syria, but indeed
could lead to the death of thousands of Syrians, the breaking-up of Syria, and it falling under the control of violent
fundamentalist jihadist forces. It will mean the further fleeing of Syrians into surrounding countries which will
themselves become destabilised. The entire Middle East will become unstable and violence will spiral out of control.
Contrary to some foreign governments current policies of arming the rebels and pushing for military intervention, the
people of Syria are calling out for peace and reconciliation and a political solution to the crisis, which continues to
be enflamed by outside forces with thousands of foreign fighters funded and supported by outside countries for their own
political ends.
Having visited Syria in May, 2013, after leading a 16 person delegation I returned convinced that the civil community,
with groups such as Mussalaha, who are working on the ground building peace and reconciliation, can solve their own
problems if their plea for outsiders to remain out of the conflict is honoured by the international community.
During our visit we met with all sections of the community, most of whom are sick of violence and death and want peace
and reconciliation and a political solution. We met with the Syrian Prime Minister and 7 other government ministers, and
we were assured that the Government did not use sarin gas on its own people, and they invited the UN to send in
inspectors to see what was happening.
Currently there is an International Commission of Inquiry on Chemical Weapons in Damascus staying at Four Seasons Hotel,
which is less than ten minutes from the areas where the chemical weapons were allegedly used. The western media,
particularly vocal being the British and French Foreign Ministers, are accusing President Assad of using chemical
weapons on his own people but have no proof of this accusation, rather some things point to rebels as the ones who used
such weapons.
The question must be asked, what would it benefit Assad to use sarin gas in the vicinity of visiting international UN
inspectors and in his own environment and neighbourhood where it would affect his soldiers, etc., personally, I do not
believe the latest accusations against the Assad government using sarin gas, and in order that the world can hear the
truth, I would appeal to the International Commission of Inquiry to go into the areas in question immediately and report
as quickly as possible. In the meantime I appeal to the Foreign Ministers of Britain and France to encourage, as the
Syrian people wish, dialogue and negotiation as a way forward. We all remember the fear, panic and lies spun by the
British and American governments, and others that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and it was not true.
Let us learn the lesson of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya where so many millions have been killed in invasions and war,
and many continue to die in violence. Violence is not the answer, let’s end this ‘war on terror’ and give nonviolence
and peace a chance.
Report and Appeal to the International community to support a process of dialogue and reconciliation in Syria between
its people and Syrian government and reject outside intervention and war.
BY Mairead Maguire, Nobel peace laureate. Spokesperson for Mussalaha International
Peace delegation to Lebanon/Syria l-llth May, 2013,
After a 10 days visit to Lebanon and Syria, leading a 16 person delegation from 8 countries, invited by Mussalaha
Reconciliation Movement, I have returned hopeful that peace is possible in Syria, if all outside interference is stopped
and the Syrians are allowed to solve their own problems upholding their right to self-determination.
An appeal to end all violence and for Syrians to be left alone from outside interference was made by all those we met
during our visit to Syria. We have tried to forward it to the International community in our Concluding Declaration(l).
During our visit we went to refugee camps, affected communities, met religious leaders, combatants, government
representatives, opposition delegations and many others, perpetrators and victims, in Lebanon and Syria.
1. Visits to refugee camps: In Lebanon we visited several refugee camps, hosted by Lebanese or Palestinian communities. One Woman said: "before
this conflict started we were happy and had a good life (there is free education, free healthcare, subsidies for fuel,
in Syria ,) and now we live in poverty". Her daughter and son-in-law (a pharmacist and engineer) standing on a cement
floor in a Palestinian refugee camp, with not even a mattress, told us that this violence had erupted to everyone
surprise’s and spread so quickly they were all still in shock, but when well armed, foreign fighters came to Homs, they
took over their homes, raped their women, and killed young males who refused to join their ranks, so the people fled in
terror. They said that these foreign fighters were from many countries like Libyans, Saudis, Tunisians, Chechens,
Afghanis, Pakistanis, Emiratis, Lebanese, Jordanians, Turkish, Europeans, Australian, and these gangs are financed and
trained by foreign governments. They attach suicide vests around peoples’ bodies and threaten to explode them if they
don’t do what they are told. One refugee woman asked me ‘when can we go home’? (To my great delighted a few days later
in Damascus I met a woman working on a government programme which is helping refugees to return to Syria and over 200
have returned to date).
Religious and government leaders have called upon people not to flee Syria and it is to be hoped many will heed this
call, as after seeing so many Syrian refugees living in tents and being exploited in so many ways, including sexually, I
believe the best solution is the stability of Syria so its people feel safe enough to stay in Syria. If refugees
continue to flee Syria then surrounding countries could be destabilized, causing the domino effect and destabilizing the
entire Middle East.
Many people have fled into camps in surrounding countries like Turkey, Jordan or Lebanon, all of whom are trying to
manage the huge influx of Syrian refugees. Although the host countries are doing their best to cope they are overwhelmed
by refugee numbers. (UNHCR’s official figure of refugees is one million). Through our meetings we have been informed
that Turkey invites Syrian refugees into the country and forbid them to go back home. It is documented that Syrian
refugees in Turkey and Jordan are mistreated. Some young Syrian refugee girls are sold for forced marriage in Jordan.
From OHCHR reports we know that more than 4 million Syrians are displaced inside their own country, living in great
need.
A representative from Red Cross, told us that there is freedom to do their work throughout Syria for all NGO and the
Syrian Red crescent in co-ordination with the Ministry of Social affairs and under such dire circumstances, they are
doing their best, providing services to as many people as possible. However there is a great shortage of funds for them
to cope with this humanitarian tragedy of refugees and internally displaced population. The economic sanctions, as in
Iraq,are causing great hardship to many people and all those whom we met called for them to be lifted. Our delegation
called for the lifting of these illegal US-led sanctions that target the Syrian Population for purely political reasons
in order to achieve regime change.
2- Hospitals: We visited the hospitals and saw many people injured by shootings, bombings, and armed attacks. A moderate Sunni Imam
told me how he was abducted by jihadists, who tortured him, cut off his ear, tried to cut his throat, slicing his legs,
and left him for dead. He said when he goes back to his mosque they will slaughter him. He told us "these men are
foreign fighters, jihadists from foreign countries, well armed, well trained, with money, they are in our country to
destroy it. They are not true Muslims but are religious extremist/fundamentalists terrorizing, abducting, killing our
people". The government spokesman also confirmed that they have in detention captured foreign fighters from 29
countries, including Chechens, Iraqis, and many others. The Ministry of Health showed us a documentary on the terrible
killings by Jihadists and the terror caused by these foreigners with the killing of medics and destruction of medical
infrastructure of the Syrian State which has made it difficult to answer the needs of the population.
3- Meeting with Opposition: Our delegation participated in an open forum with many representatives of internal opposition’s parties. One political
opponent who was in prison 24 years under the Assad regime, and has been out for 11 years, wants political change with
more than 20 other internal opposition components, but without outside interference and the use of violence. We met with
‘armed’ opposition people in a local community who said they had accepted the governments offer of amnesty and were
working for a peaceful way forward. One man told me he had accepted money from Jihadists to fight but had been shocked
by their cruelty and the way they treated fellow Syrian muslims considering them as not real Muslims. He said foreign
Jihadists wanted to take over Syria, not save it.
The 10th May a part of our delegation headed to Homs, invited by the opposition community of Al Waar city where
displaced families from Baba Amro, Khalidiyeh and other rebel’s strongholds seek refuge. The Delegation saw all the
conditions of this city and is studying a Pilot Project for Reconciliation and peaceful reintegration between this
community and the surrounded non rebel communities (Shia and Alaouites) with whom 15 days ago an agreement of non
belligerence has been signed through the auspices of Mussalaha.
4 - Meeting with Officials: Our Delegation met, and spoke, at the Parliament, and also with the Governor, Prime Minister and 7 other Ministries. We
were given details of the new Constitution and political reforms being put in place, and plans for elections in 2014.
Government Ministers admitted that they had made mistakes in being slow to respond to legitimate demands for change from
civil community but these were now being implemented. They told us when the conflict started it was peaceful for change
but quickly turned into bloodshed when armed men killed many soldiers.
In the first days soldiers were unarmed but when people started asking for protection the government and military
responded to defend the people and in self defence.
When we enquired from the Prime Minister regarding the allegation that the Syrian Government had used Sarin gas, he told
us that as soon as news came from Aleppo that allegedly gas had been used, his government invited immediately the UN to
come into investigate, but heard nothing from them. Most recently however, a UN investigator, High Commissioner Carla
Del Ponte, has confirmed that it was rebels, not Syrian government, who used Sarin gas. During meeting with Justice
Minister, we requested that a list of 72 non-violent political dissidents currently detained be released. The justice
Minister said after checking those listed were indeed non-violent political dissidents, he would, in principal, agree to
the release of these nonviolent detainees. He also informed us they they do not implement the death penalty and it is
hoped that when things settle in Syria they will move to have the death penalty abolished. We also asked the Justice
Minister (an international lawyer) about Syrian Government’s Human rights abuses, namely the artillery shelling into
no-go areas being held by jihadists and armed opposition. The Minister accepted those facts but alleged that the
Government had a duty to clear these areas. We suggested there was a better way to deal with the problem than artillery
shelling but he insisted that the government had responsibility to clear the areas of rebel forces and this was the way
in which they were doing it
The Ministers and Governor said that President Assad was their President and has their support. There were many people
we spoke to who expressed such sentiments. However, some young people said they support the opposition but in order to
protect the Unity of Syria from outside destruction, they will support the government and President Assad, until the
election next year and then they will vote for the opposition. They said the Doha Coalition in Qatar does not represent
them and that no one outside Syria has a right to remove President Assad but the Syrian people through the elections
next year. The journalists in Syria are in great danger from the religious extremist/fundamentals,and during my visit to
a television station a young journalist told me how his mother was killed by jihadists and he showed me his arm where he
had been shot and almost killed.
5- Meeting with religious leaders: We attended in the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus a prayer gathering led by the Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab Republic,
Dr. Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun and the Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham with the delegate of Greek Orthodox
Patriarch John X Yazigi, and clerics of all traditions. The Assembly prayed for the peace and unity of Syria and the
non-interference of outsiders in their country. They stressed the conflict in Syria is not a religious conflict, as
Muslims and Christians have always lived together in Syria, and they are,(in spite of living with suffering and violence
much of which is not of their own making), unified in their wish to be a light of peace and reconciliation to the world.
The Patriarch said that from the Mosque and Christian churches goes out a great movement of peace and reconciliation and
asked both those inside and outside Syria, to reject all violence and support the people of Syria in this work of
dialogue, reconciliation and peacemaking.
The Muslim and Christian Spiritual Leaders are very conscious if the religious extremist/fundamentalists gain momentum
and control Syria, the future of those who are not supportive of fundamentalists like moderate Muslims, Christians,
minorities, and other Syrians is in great danger. Indeed the Middle East could loose its precious pluralistic social
fabric with the Christians, like in Iraq, being the first to flee the country. This would be a tragedy for all concerned
in this multi-religious, multi-cultural secular Syria, once a light of peaceful conviviality in the Arab world.
AN OVERVIEW:
Following many authorized reports in the mainstream Medias and our own evidences I can stress that the Syrian State and
its population are under a proxy war led by foreign countries and directly financed and backed mainly by Qatar who has
imposed its views on the Arab League. Turkey, a part of the Lebanese opposition and some of the Jordan authorities offer
a safe haven to a diversity of jihadist groups, each with its own agenda, recruited from many countries. Bands of
jihadists armed and financed from foreign countries invade Syria through Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon porous frontiers in
an effort to destabilize Syria. There are an estimated 50,000 foreign jihadist fighters terrorizing Syria. Those death
squads are destroying systematically the Syrian State infrastructures (Electricity, Oil, Gas and water plants, High
Tension Pylons, hospitals, schools, public buildings, cultural heritage sites and even religious sanctuaries). Moreover
the country is submerged by snipers, bombers, agitators, bandits. They use aggression and Sharia rules and hijack the
freedom and dignity of the Syrian population. They torture and kill those who refuse to join them. They have strange
religious beliefs which make them feel comfortable even perpetrating the cruelest acts like killing and torture of their
opponents. It is well documented that many of those terrorists are permanently under stimulant like Captagon. The
general lack of security unlashes the terrible phenomenon of abduction for ransoms or for political pressure. Thousands
of innocents are missing, among them the two Bishops, Youhanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, many priests and Imams.
UN and EU economic sanctions as well as a severe embargo are pushing Syria to the edge of social collapse. Unfortunately
the international media network is ignoring those realities and is bent on demonizing, lying, destabilizing the country
and fuelling more violence and contradiction.
In summary: the war in Syria is not as depicted a civil war but a proxy war with serious breaches of International laws
and the Humanitarian International laws.. The protection of the foreign fighters by some foreign countries among the
most powerful gives them a kind of an unaccountability that pushes them with impunity to all kind of cruel deeds against
innocent civilians. Even war conventions are not respected incurring in many war crimes and, even, crimes against
Humanity.
CONCLUSION:
During our visit to Syria, our delegation was met with great kindness by everyone and I offer to each one who
facilitated or hosted our Delegation my most sincere feelings of gratitude. We witnessed that the Syrian people have
suffered very deeply and continue to do so. The entire population of 23 million people are under tremendous threat of
continued infiltration by foreign terrorists. Many are still stunned by the horrors and suddenness of all this violence
and worried their country will be attacked and divided by outside forces, and are all too aware that geopolitical forces
are at work to destabilize Syria for political control, oil and resources. One Druze leader said ‘if westerns want our
Oil – both Lebanon and Syria have oil reserves – let us negotiate for it, but do not destroy our country to take it’. In
Syria memories of next door Iraq’s destruction by US/UK/NATO forces are fresh in people's minds, including in the minds
of the one and a half million Iraqis who fled Iraqi’s conflict, including many Christians, and were given refuge in
Syria by the Syrian Government.
The greatest hope we took was from Mussalaha, a non political movement from all sections of Syrian society, who have
working teams throughout Syria and is proceeding through dialogue to building peace and reconciliation. Mussalaha
mediates between armed gunmen and security forces, help get release of many people who have been abducted, and bring
together all parties to the conflict for dialogue and practical solutions. It was this movement who hosted us, under the
leadership of Mother Agnes-Mariam, Superior of Saint James’ Monastery, supported by the Patriarch Gregory III Laham,
head of the Catholic Hierarchy of Syria.
This great civil community movement building a peace process and National Reconciliation from the ground up, will, if
given space, time, and non-interference from outside, help bring Peace to Syria. They recognize that there must be an
unconditional, all inclusive political solution, with compromises and they are confident this is happening at many
levels of society and is the only way forward for Syrian peace.
I support this National Reconciliation process which, many Syrian believe, is the only way to bring Peace to SYRIA and
the entire Middle East. I am myself committed to this peaceful process and hope that the International Community, the
Religious and Political Leaders as well as any person of good will will help Syria to bypass violence and prejudice and
anchor in a new era of Social peace and prosperity. This cradle of civilizations where Syria occupies the heart is an
enormous spiritual heritage for humanity, let us strive to establish a non war zone and proclaim it an OASIS of Peace
for the Human Family.
Audio:
ENDS