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Roy Gutman was in northern Syria as a guest of the Turkish government. He effectively admits this when he says: "Reporting on the civilians displaced by the Raqqa offensive has been sparse, partly because of limited access. Citing security concerns, the Turkish government restricts reporters' access to the territory that it controls. The government permitted a Daily Beast reporter to travel here only under escort and provided an armored SUV and armed Syrian rebel units in two pickup trucks for protection". Thus, Gutman was embedded with the Turkish army and its allied militias. He seems to be Turkey's equivalent of Vanessa Beeley. Hence it is no surprise that this article contains allegations of anti-Arab racism on the part of the Syrian Democratic Front. These allegations should be treated with skepticism. Gutman cites UN reports, but draws incorrect conclusions from them. He says: "According to a May 28 UN report, 200,000 civilians have been made homeless since November - all from ISIS-controlled towns and villages surrounding Raqqa". This is the result of heavy fighting in the area, but Gutman talks of "ethnic cleansing". He admits that some of the displaced people have returned to their homes, but implies that most will not be allowed to do so. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report is critical of some measures taken by the SDF (e.g. "lengthy security checks", involving "confiscating ID cards and travel documents", and "delayed return of IDs or travel documentation"). But it makes no suggestion that these practices are ethnically motivated, or that there is an intention to permanently prevent most of the displaced people from returning to their homes. Some displaced people have been unable to return home due to hazards such as unexploded mines. For example, the UN report mentions that in the town of Tabqa, "The process of removing mines continues in the National Hospital and its surroundings". Despite this, the report says that more than 15,000 displaced people have returned to Tabqa, bringing its population up to 35,000, compared to 80,000 before the fighting. (More recently, according to Kurdish sources, the population of Tabqa has reached 65,000) The UN report gives a number of other examples of people returning home, including the following: "People continue to return to their communities of origin in the villages of the Ar-Raqqa sub-district such as Tal Elsamen Dahham, Sukariyet Tal Elsamen, Thulth Khneiz, Abbara, Kalta, Hilo Abed and Rohayat... "On 21 May SDF allowed approximately 6,000 people to return to their home town Hazima..." Despite its bias, Gutman's article does make one useful point. He points out that the US is not giving any aid to refugees in SDF-controlled areas. The UN is only able to send a small amount of aid, due to the blockade by Turkey and the [Iraqi] Kurdistan Regional Government. Chris Slee ________________________________ From: Marxism <marxism-boun...@lists.csbs.utah.edu> on behalf of Louis Proyect via Marxism <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> Sent: Thursday, 1 June 2017 10:59 PM To: Chris Slee Subject: [Marxism] Fwd: U.S. Helps Drive 200,000 Syrians From Their Homes ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. ***************************************************************** After U.S. bombing ousts ISIS militants from the villages they’ve occupied, the proxies on the ground set up by the U.S.—the Syrian Democratic Forces—enter the villages and order the mostly Arab population to leave at gunpoint. People say they are stripped of their identity cards and herded like livestock to a transit camp. The SDF, which has Arabs in its ranks but is dominated by Kurds, tells these internally displaced persons, or IDPs, as they are called in humanitarian jargon, that they can return to their homes if they find a local sponsor. Otherwise, their only option is to exit the region. Many arrive in Jarablus bearing only travel papers authorizing a one-way trip out of the Raqqa area within 24 hours. full: http://www.thedailybeast.com/us-helps-drive-200000-syrians-from-their-homes [http://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/v1496285931/170530-Gutman-Syria-03_ucwzue.jpg]<http://www.thedailybeast.com/us-helps-drive-200000-syrians-from-their-homes> U.S. Helps Drive 200,000 Syrians From Their Homes<http://www.thedailybeast.com/us-helps-drive-200000-syrians-from-their-homes> www.thedailybeast.com The latest round in Syria’s humanitarian catastrophe is now underway, aided and abetted this time by the U.S. military intervention. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm [http://www.marxmail.org/rosa.jpg]<http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm> Marxism list Subscription Information - marxmail.org<http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm> www.marxmail.org MODERATION PRINCIPLES: The Marxism mailing list is extremely permissive. 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