the limping messenger

Coalitions, alliances, fractions and factions all weaponed, all fighting and infighting for ‘their cause’ have taken over the whole of Syria with the non-combatant population, civilians, caught in between all these belligerents, and with the daily changes of battle frontiers not knowing anymore which way to flee. Is it safer in the territory of the enemy of your enemy, are those who say they are your friends really friends?

I take this daily note on the battlefront from a source that certainly is a partisan view, as objectivity has long been lost in this raging Civil War. What is conveyed is clear enough, it points to the structural dilemma of those caught in between many fires, with changing winds spreading the fire one day this way, the other day in reversed direction.

These are the opening paragraphs of the Syria Direct news-service:

“In battle for one corner of Al-Hasakah, 30,000 displaced move south toward Islamic State territory amidst fears of Kurdish-led SDFAMMAN: Tens of thousands of residents in Islamic State territory in the southern Al-Hasakah countryside have fled south towards neighboring Deir e-Zor in the wake of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lightning advances towards the former’s last stronghold in Syria’s far northeastern province.Residents are reportedly heading south, deeper into IS-controlled areas, rather than north, east or west into territory currently controlled by the Kurdish-majority SDF because they say they are afraid of arrests, expulsions and revenge killings, Abdullah al-Ahmad, an activist in Al-Hasakah city, told Syria Direct on Monday.“The crimes that civilians witnessed the Kurdish militias commit in neighboring villages, such as expelling them [from their homes], along with arrests, killings and pillaging, is driving them toward IS despite people’s hatred of them,” said al-Ahmad.”

Full article at: http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=de5b0724de9eafd679e2e0c36&id=4e23967217&e=2f8eb48d76