Duma (Syria)

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دوما
duma
Duma (Syria)
duma
duma
Coordinates 33 ° 34 ′  N , 36 ° 24 ′  E Coordinates: 33 ° 34 ′  N , 36 ° 24 ′  E
Basic data
Country Syria

Governorate

Rif Dimashq
ISO 3166-2 SY-RD
height 660 m
Residents 117,679 (2007)

Duma ( Arabic دوما, DMG Dūmā , French also Douma ) is the administrative center of the Syrian district of the same name and the governorate of Rif Dimaschq . Duma is about 660 m above sea level. M. and has 117,679 inhabitants (2007). This makes Duma the ninth largest city in Syria. It belongs to the north-eastern agglomeration of the capital Damascus .

Civil war since 2011

The Duma Grand Mosque shortly after the departure of the radical Islamist militia Jaish al-Islam in April 2018

On January 21, 2012, the city became the second city to be captured by armed groups for a few hours after the city of Zabadani 30 km northwest of Damascus.

The city had been trapped by government troops since 2013 and was controlled by the radical Salafist militia, Jaish al-Islam . The supply of the population was at the "mercy" of smugglers. During the siege, the Syrian civil code of 1949 was never repealed, which meant that, contrary to the time of the Ba'ath Party, civil society organizations could indeed be formed. A women's center was established in Duma in which women were informed about their rights, as well as a library in which the majority of women obtain information.

A revolutionary magazine by civil rights activists had to be abandoned in 2017 because of “un-Islamic values”. The prominent activist Razan Zaitouneh had disappeared in Duma since 2014 and did not appear again as of March 2018; she had documented the human rights violations of all groups.

A large part of the Eastern Ghouta region was conquered by the Syrian army in March 2018, the remaining areas under the control of various Islamist groups, including the city of Duma, were split into three cauldrons. After the clearing of the Harasta pocket , talks were held in March with the Islamist group Jaish al-Islam about the task of the city of Duma.

Alleged use of poisonous gas in April 2018

After various reports of chlorine gas attacks on March 7th and 11th, according to the Syrian Civil Defense Organization (White Helmets), a combat helicopter of the Syrian Air Force dropped a container with chemicals over the site on April 7th, 2018 . According to her, there were at least 150 dead and over 1,000 injured. The Union des organizations de secours et soins médicaux (UOSSM) reported 25 deaths and more than 500 injuries. According to Mohamed Khyer Smoud, head of the UOSSM branch in Ghouta, there has never been an opportunity to manufacture weapons, especially not after seven years of sieging Eastern Ghouta and certainly not in Duma.

The Russian side claims there was no chemical weapon attack. Rather, it is a staging. The Russian state broadcaster Rossija 1 had distributed recordings that showed an actual film set and claimed that it was a Hollywood-style staging of White Helmets. However, the images could actually be assigned to a film set of the propaganda film Revolution Man , produced by the Syrian state and directed by the speaker of the Syrian parliament. In response to the alleged use of poison gas , US, French and British forces attacked three targets in Syria believed to be linked to a secret chemical weapons program with rockets at 4 a.m. local time on April 14 .

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should begin on-site investigations and secure samples from April 14th. On April 16, the Syrian government reported to the OPCW that the Duma was under the control of the Russian military police; The security situation on site does not allow the inspectors to visit.

The inspectors could not take samples until April 21. The US State Department had previously said it had credible evidence that Russia had worked with the Syrian government to delay inspectors' access to the crime scene and remove incriminating evidence. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov , rejected this allegation. On April 25, OPCW inspectors took samples at a second location in Duma.

On July 6, 2018, the OPCW published an interim report. Nerve gas could not be detected, but chlorine residues, which suggested the use of chlorine gas for the Spiegel ("apparently chlorine gas was used"), while the BBC indicated that the experts were still examining the significance of these residues, as were the containers. However, the BBC also noted that in other cases with the same residue in Saraqib and Ltamenah , the OPCW had concluded that chlorine gas was used as a weapon.

The final report was published on March 1, 2019. It stated that there were reasonable grounds to believe that toxic chemicals were used in the attack and that it was most likely chlorine gas.

In May 2019, Assad refused entry to OPCW investigators, who were supposed to determine who was responsible for the chlorine attack.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GoogleEarth, accessed January 22, 2012.
  2. ↑ Syria's Rebels in Control of Douma
  3. ↑ Syrian deserters withdraw from Duma again , TagesWoche , accessed on January 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ a b Fights off Damascus - A civil rights activist reports from the besieged Duma , NZZ , February 8, 2018
  5. ^ Eastern Ghouta: The Dream of Self-Determination - in the Middle of Hell , NZZ, March 13, 2018
  6. ↑ Syrian rebel group withdraws from East Ghuta
  7. ↑ https://www.armscontrol.org/taxonomy/term/17
  8. ↑ At least 48 dead in air strikes in Eastern Ghouta - poison gas attack suspected. Der Spiegel, April 7, 2018.
  9. ↑ https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/04/11/open-source-survey-alleged-chemical-attacks-douma-7th-april-2018/
  10. ↑ "The Syrian massacre has been going on for seven years" , SRF, April 11, 2018
  11. ↑ This is how white helmets shot their C-weapons video: Eleven year old “victim” unpacks. In: Sputnik Germany. International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya, April 19, 2018, retrieved on April 20, 2018 : " According to the Russian authorities, the so-called White Helmets faked the chemical weapons attack on instructions from London to give the USA and its allies a formal pretext for the military strike against the Assad government. "
  12. ↑ Russia accuses the British of orchestrating a poison gas attack . zeit.de from April 13, 2018
  13. ↑ Releasing the "Revolution Man" movie with a special display by Syriatel , media release by the sponsor Syriatel on the film produced by the Ministry of Culture
  14. ↑ tagesschau.de: Propaganda in Syria: Between Fiction and Reality. Retrieved April 18, 2018 .
  15. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung (online edition): An overview of the Syrian civil war . First version dated April 12, 2018, later updated without a date, accessed on June 15, 2018 (PDF).
  16. ↑ USA allegedly have evidence of poison gas attack by the Syrian government , Tagesspiegel, April 13, 2018
  17. ^ Syria chemical attack: UN weapons inspectors to investigate site. In: theguardian.com . April 14, 2018, accessed April 13, 2018 .
  18. ↑ https://www.opcw.org/news/article/media-alert-update-on-the-deployment-of-the-opcw-fact-finding-mission-to-douma-syria/
  19. ↑ https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-fact-finding-mission-team-visits-douma-syria/
  20. ↑ "We have credible information that indicates that Russian officials are working with the Syrian regime to deny and to delay these inspectors from gaining access to Duma. We believe it is an effort to conduct their own staged investigations. Russian officials have worked with the Syrian regime, we believe to sanitize the locations of those suspected attacks and remove incriminating evidence of chemical weapons use. "
  21. ↑ OPCW in Duma - West will blame Moscow for chemical attacks in any case. In: Sputnik Germany. International News Agency Rossiya Segodnya, April 21, 2018, retrieved on April 23, 2018 : “For his part, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia had not tampered with anything in the Duma, where a chemical attack according to Western sources was carried out on April 7th. "I guarantee that Russia has not touched anything at the alleged crime scene," Lavrov said in an interview with the BBC broadcaster. But who will believe him, since the Russians are said to have "highly likely" destroyed all the evidence! Even more: From a western perspective, Russia and Syria had denied the OPCW experts access to the city. Meanwhile, the head of the Russian reconciliation center in Syria, Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, said that the Russian military OPCW experts are guaranteeing transport and protection. "
  22. ↑ https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-fact-finding-mission-visits-second-site-in-douma-syria/
  23. ↑ OPCW Issues Fact-Finding Mission Reports on Chemical Weapons Use Allegations in Douma, Syria in 2018 and in Al-Hamadaniya and Karm Al-Tarrab in 2016. OPCW, July 6, 2018, accessed on July 13, 2018 .
  24. ↑ OPCW detects traces of chlorine gas in Duma , SPON, July 6, 2018
  25. ↑ REPORT OF THE OPCW FACT-FINDING MISSION IN SYRIA REGARDING TO ALLEGED INCIDENT IN SARAQIB, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC ON 4 FEBRUARY 2018 , OPCW, May 15, 2018
  26. ↑ OPCW Confirms Use of Sarin and Chlorine in Ltamenah, Syria, on 24 and 25 March 2017
  27. ↑ Syria was: What we know about Douma 'chemical attack' , BBC, July 10, 2018
  28. ↑ Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Duma is very likely. In: Deutschlandfunk from March 1, 2019.
  29. ↑ OPCW Issues Fact-Finding Mission Report on Chemical Weapons Use Allegation in Douma, Syria, in 2018. OPCW press release of March 1, 2019.
  30. ↑ REPORT OF THE FACT-FINDING MISSION REGARDING THE INCIDENT OF ALLEGED USE OF TOXIC CHEMICALS AS A WEAPON IN DOUMA, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC, ON 7 APRIL 2018. Final report, opcw.org, March 1, 2019 (PDF, engl., 106 pp .)
  31. ↑ https://eaworldview.com/2019/05/syria-daily-regime-tries-to-block-further-investigation-of-douma-chlorine-attack/
  32. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nytimes.com