KURDWATCH NEWSLETTER (II) OCTOBER 2012
Damascus: Did President Assad order the assassination of Mishʿal at‑Tammu?
KURDWATCH, October 24, 2012—On October 10, 2012, the Saudi news channel al‑ʿArabiya published classified Syrian documents according to which Bashar al‑Assad allegedly instructed the Air Force Intelligence Service to assassinate Mishʿal at‑Tammu . In the first of the documents, which was »delivered to accounting« on October 9, 2011, Brigadier General Saqr Manun instructed Colonel Jawdat Hasan to carry out the aforementioned order. In the second, undated document, Manun informs the President that Mishʿal at‑Tammu, his son Marsil, and the Kurdish activist Zahida Rashkilo were killed on 7. October 2011. In fact, the latter two survived the attack with injuries . In addition, the document refers to writing by the president on September 22, 2011 concerning an »operation« that is intended to prompt Turkish leadership to take a neutral and cooperative stance toward the Syrian crisis.
Al-Malikiyah: Activist kidnapped
KURDWATCH, October 28, 2012—On October 16, 2012, several masked people kidnapped the activist Azad Muhammad ʿAta (b. 1984 in al-Malikiyah) in front of a school in al Malikiyah (Dêrik). According to eyewitnesses, the kidnappers drove a silver taxi. The reasons for the kidnapping are not yet known. The town of al-Malikiyah is currently controlled by the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Aleppo: Once again deaths in air attack near ʿAnadan
KURDWATCH, October 28, 2012—On October 15, 2012, an attack by the Syrian Air Force near ʿAnadan (ten kilometers north of Aleppo) once again hit a minivan. Ruwayda al‑ʿAbdullah, ʿAbdo Mustafa Qarbuz, and Walid Khalil Khanjar were killed and numerous other people were injured. ʿAnadan is located on route between Turkey and Aleppo, a route through which the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is supplied with weapons and ammunition.
Al-Qamishli: Kurdish National Council decides against anti‑American demonstration slogan
KURDWATCH, October 25, 2012—Nationwide protests on October 19, 2012 resulted again in numerous dead and injured. Throughout the country, demonstrators demanded the fall of the regime. In large parts of the country, protestors took to the streets under the slogan »America, hasn’t your hate been satisfied by our blood?« Supporters of the Kurdish National Council and many Kurdish youth groups decided against this slogan and protested under their own slogan »No celebrations [the Feast of Sacrifice] in the shadow of the Baʿth regimes«. Supporters of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) demonstrated under the motto »Young people are a guarantee for a free future«. In al‑Qamishli, one demonstration took place in each of the districts of al‑ʿAntariyah (organized by the Biratî, Rojava, Shaikh Maʿshuq and Farhad Martyrs youth groups), Kurnish (organized by supporters of the Kurdish Future Movement in Syria under Rezan Bari Shaikhmus, the Sewa youth group, and other independent youth groups) and Munir Habib (organized by the Kurdish National Council). Two protest marches by PYD supporters—one from ad‑Darbasiyah and the other from al‑Malikiyah (Dêrik)—arrived in al‑Qamishli and joined together in an event to remember the 1998 arrest of Abdullah Öcalan in Kenya. The participants in the protests had begun marching several days earlier. In ʿAmudah, three separate demonstrations took place, organized by the PYD, the Kurdish National Council, and various youth groups. Three demonstrations also took place in al‑Hasakah. A funeral march for the burial of Adib Mala Sulayman [further information on the case] took place in ʿAyn al‑ʿArab (Kobanî). In Raʾs al‑ʿAyn (Serê Kaniyê), a jointly organized demonstration split into three separate protest marches, led by the Kurdish National Council, the PYD, and several youth groups. As has been the case for several months, no Friday demonstrations took place in al‑Maʿbada (Girkê Legê) and al‑Malikiyah (Dêrik); demonstrations were held during the week. There were no protests in ʿAfrin or in the mainly Kurdish districts of Aleppo and Damascus.
Aleppo: One dead in air attack
KURDWATCH, October 24, 2012—On October 17, 2012, Adib ʿAbdurrahman Mala Sulayman (b. 1966 in ʿAyn al‑ʿArab [Kobanî], married, seven children) and two of his sons were hit in their private vehicle and severely injured during a Syrian Air Force attack near al‑Bab (fifty kilometers northeast of Aleppo). Sulayman succumbed to his injuries the same day. The Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria, of which Sulayman was a member, organized a funeral service for the deceased on October 19 in ʿAyn al‑ʿArab [Kobanî].
Damascus: Two dead following rocket attack
KURDWATCH, October 29, 2012—On October 20, 2012, Muhammad Sabri Ose (b. 1986 in ʿAyn Diwar, married, no children) and Muhammad Sharif Yusuf ʿAbbas (b. 1982 in al‑Maʿbada [Girkê Legê], married, one child) were killed in their homes during a Syrian Army rocket attack on the village of as‑Sabinah (five kilometers south of Damascus).