THE LOCAL CONTEXT

A. THE HAND IN HAND FOR SYRIA BRITISH NGOB. THE GEOGRAPHYC. THE AL ATAREB HOSPITAL AND THE MEDICAL SYSTEM IN THE SO CALLED “LIBERATED AREAS”D. THE “IQRA” SCHOOL AND THE SCHOLAR SYSTEM IN THE SO CALLED “LIBERATED AREAS”

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A. THE HAND IN HAND FOR SYRIA BRITISH NGOThe Panorama documentary and other media items on the matter are all linked to an NGO called “Hand in Hand for Syria”. This NGO began to work in 2012. We can find many things on its activity on its official website: http://www.handinhandforsyria.org.uk/On the facebook page we read that Hand in Hand is a UK Registered charity providing humanitarian support for the people of Syria. You can help us by donating online. Visit www.handinhandforsyria.org.uk The genesis of this NGO is not so simple and honorable.

We thought in the beginning of our investigation that the HAND IN HAND that is working in URUM AL KUBRA was the same Syrian NGO called HAND IN HAND. But in reality it is not: It has stolen the name of a Syrian NGO called YADAN BI YAD (in Arabic: HAND IN HAND). How?

- HAND IN HAND (all for special needs) was founded in Aleppo in 2007 by Mrs. Zeinab Al Khauli whose son is handicapped. HAND IN HAND was launched as “a partner in the Institute for professional rehabilitation for handicapped where it began its work with people with special needs”. It grew very quickly and, when the conflict began in 2011, it had the biggest rehabilitation plant with the most sophisticated tools for handicapped in Syria.

- When the crisis began in Aleppo, one of the specialized educators called Najwa Al Da3if “sold” the brand to “foreigners” coming from Turkey. She lived in the village of Haz, in Jabal Al Zawiyah and said to her Chairman, Mrs Zeinab AL Kauli, that “those people come from Reyhanieh, Gazientep and Antioch. They want to work inside Syria, but they are foreigners, they come with Turks. They are paying us very high salaries”. So she stopped coming to Aleppo and drove other employees to the Northern Province of Aleppo.

- The employees who followed her in this hijacking of the brand and of the resources of the original HAND IN HAND NGO were:

Hammoud Haj Hammoud special education Asma Al Nayef special education Ma2moun Sa3do physiotherapeuth Ala3 Cheikho special education Mhammad Jaafar psycho thérapeute

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- Very soon after Massaken Hanano, where the headquarters of the original HAND IN HAND were situated, in the Aleppo’s working area, were invaded by the “rebels” of the FSA. They tried to be “compassionate” with the handicapped but, very quickly, they looted everything and got installed in the Institute which served once as headquarters and once as field hospital before to be completely destroyed. They abducted the HAND IN HAND’s driver Mouhamad Abdel Karim, habitant of Abzimo, near Urum AL Kubra, with the 24 places bus pertaining to the NGO. Today HAND IN HAND is in exile, in Aleppo. The area where its headquarters were situated has just been secured by the Syrian Army. Zeinab AL Khauli could not yet go there.

B. THE GEOGRAPHY

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C. THE MEDICAL SYSTEM IN THE SO CALLED “LIBERATED AREAS” OF NORTHERN ALEPPO PROVINCE

ALATARIB HOSPITALThis is the hospital:

And it is the sole hospital that we see in the BBC panorama. Look at the fence and the iron doors.

It has been founded by Hand in Hand for Syria who constantly launches a campaign for supporting it (http://www.handinhandforsyria.org.uk/).

Photo: Nurse at Atareb Hospital, via the Hand in Hand For Syria Facebook page.http://www.alt-syria.org/2014/06/campaign-to-save-atareb-hospital-aleppo.html

On www.Orient.net page we read that Orient Humanitarian network has been providing aid for Alatareb Hospital so that in august 2013 this hospital is called “Orient Hand in Hand’s Hospital”. (http://orient-news.net/?page=news_show&id=4688).

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But the reputation of Alatareb Hospital is not as bright as Hand in Hand for Syria is painting it. On the contrary. This hospital is facing sharp critics and even, lately, a trial. There is a page on facebook dedicated to “clarify errors in the hospital Alatareb and the way to correct them in order to keep the hospital running” (https://www.facebook.com/MshaklMshfyAlatarb) where we see that, since June 2013, this Hospital is facing very serious problems of administration, honesty, transparency and professionalism. An example of the critics (we translate from Arabic): 3rd of July 2013It is a question of public interestIf it is said that to be conceded a job at Alatareb’s Hospital you have to be a revolutionary and the owner of a certificate, how did they refuse revolutionaries that have certificates and accepted revolutionary people that do not have certificates or even experience to work in the hospital ......??????5th of July 2013A question without answer: what is the interest of Hand in Hand or its goal to emphasize the problems that exist in the hospital and magnify them instead of finding a solution. Why do they disdain the habitants of the region and oblige the administration of the hospital to things that will produce more problems in the hospital as well as division between the habitants of the region knowing that Hand in Hand is not sponsoring anymore, but the one who is sponsoring is Orient Organization….

8th of August 2014

The fate of Al Atareb Hospital is in danger and nobody knows where it heads. We ask any person with conscious to work for the permanency of this hospital that serves more than 500 000 lifes and which has a strategic importance because it is the nearest hospital to the fireline of Aleppo front in the western Aleppo Province. Do not let the blood of the martyrs be useless. This hospital serves the Jihadis in the same time as the martyrs’ sons and their families. Allah will take revenge and will hear the condemnations of the deplored mothers and the widows for all who is responsible of the closure of this hospital. Try to acquire the heaven recompense of all those who will be cured in the hospital.

There has been also a serious problem with the “Free Syrian Army”, we can read an article on this delicate issue in http://www.all4syria.info/Archive/143247 written the 22/04/2014 where Alatareb Hospital is accused to have caused the death of the captain of the Alatareb martyrs Brigade, Yasser Taher, and Hand in Hand’s NGO is accused of negligence. The problems of Alatareb Hospital on the ground in Syria are contrasting with the bright reputation that is given to it to the British public opinion and in the British press. A huge campaign is launched to prevent this hospital from closing, but nothing is said about its disastrous situation. All the contrary the British and activist media present this hospital as “One of the country's most sophisticated remaining hospitals closing its doors. Syrian doctors say it will have a devastating effect on locals in Aleppo.”

http://www.syriadeeply.org/articles/2014/06/5617/syria-er-cash-hospital-forced-close/ Syria ER: Out of Cash, a Hospital Is Forced to Close

orhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/29/syria-charity-blames-red-tape-atareb-hospital-closure-aleppo

“Syria charity blames red tape for closure of Aleppo hospitalStaff at much-needed hospital given a month's notice because charity needs established funding partner to keep facility open”.

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BAB EL HAWA HOSPITALIn the coverage of the so called Napalm attacks, some patients are said to have been redirected to Bab El Hawa’s Hospital or to Turkey medical facilities. The Bab EL Hawa Hospital is said to have been completely built by the Turkish Government and the Coalition. Mrs. Lama Alatassi, vice president of the Coalition, who was present the inauguration day said that it has “deleted the borders between the opposition from the inside of Syria and the opposition from the outside”. It was inaugurated the

Bab el Hawa Hospital (BHH)

Bab El Hawa Hospital was targeted by the Syrian Army the 7th of june 2014 and suffered heavy damages:

http://eldorar.com/node/50589

ATMEH HOSPITAL

ATMEH HOSPITAL is called “Orient Hospital”, it is bigger than Alatarib Hospital, with 75 beds, it was founded and equipped by the Orient humanitarian organization that sponsored also Alatarib Hospital. Atmeh is the place of a Syrian refugee camp in a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey, 3kms from the Turkish border. It contains more than 25000 refugees that are scattered until the ancient Bab El Hawa border, located 5 kms away from the modern border. They receive help mainly from the Turkish Red Crescent and some flour from NGO’s.

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http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/314838

Atmeh’s refugee camp

Atmeh’s Orient Hospital is better managed than Alatarib hospital. On its facebook page, the critic of Alatarib hospital says that “People from Atmeh are engaged in the Atmeh Hospital and they do not allow foreigners to intervene in their internal issues, while Alatarib population is prevented by Hand in Hand’s organization to be engaged and only foreigners rule the hospital”.

Atmeh’s Hospital under terrorist attack http://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2014/02/23/499645.html

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http://www.alarabiya.net/ar/arab-and-world/syria/2014/02/23/%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%81%D9%89-%D9%85%D9%8A

%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D8%B7%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A7.html

The 22nd of February 2014 the Atmeh’s hospital was targeted by a terrorist explosion due to an explosive car, attributed by the local public opinion to Al Nosra with the compromise of the Syrian Coalition. It was completely devastated.Soon after Orient Organization donated for its rehabilitation

https://orient-news.net/index.php?page=news_show&id=8096

WHO IS ORIENT INSTITUTION FOR MEDIA AND HUMANITARIAN RELIEF?It’s founder and owner is Ghassan Abboud. It seems that this institution and its owner are from a more moderate ideology than the extremists of Jubhat Al Nosra.

Statement from Ghassan Abboud, Head of Orient TV, on Kidnap of Crew

Fri 26 Jul 2013By The Syrian Observer

http://syrianobserver.com/Resources/Res_Statements/Statement+from+Ghassan+Abboud+on+Kidnap+of+Orient+News+Crew

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AL DANA HOSPITAL

https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%81%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%8A-Addana-surgical-hospital/404529472976761

The Hospital is from the Government era, as we can see from its inside design. It has been transformed in a surgical hospital for the “Mujahedeen and their families along with civilians and displaced people from the refugee camps and the surrounds” (https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D9%85%D8%B4%D9%81%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%8A-Addana-surgical-hospital/404529472976761?id=404529472976761&sk=info). No mention here of the activity of Orient Institution or that of Hand in Hand. It seems that, even in the medical issues the same divisions exist among the opposition sectors as in the military and the political fields….

D. THE “IQRA” SCHOOL AND THE SCHOLAR SYSTEM IN THE SO CALLED “LIBERATED AREAS”

Following our careful investigation, since the beginning of the uprising it was forbidden to the children and to the students to go to school because it was linked to the Syrian Government. The rebels could never install an educational system. Some NGO’s helped occasionally to secure some elements of education in some places. But it was very rare. Instead the revolutionaries enhanced the “religious courses” to “change” the mentality of the Syrian people from secular to “religious”.

As the name is meaning “IQRA” (the first word pronounced by the angel Gabriel talking to Muhammad) educational institutions are a kind of proselyte Islamic educational centers. They are not formally situated in a place. As we see in the documents published by the BBC we are not in a real school or college but in a villa. An “IQRA” center is mobile and will receive Muslim clerics, imposed by the local rebel council, to verify if the “ideas” of the population are in harmony with the religious wahhabi fundamentalism that is adopted by the revolutionaries, let them be from the Muslim Brotherhood or from Al Qaeda.

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The building is a small villa with a swimming pool. The room (4x10m) is too small to contain 100 persons!

The place of ONE alleged Napalm bomb

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The Muslim Cleric will not come on a steady basis, but from time to time. It is an informal meeting for adults where children are almost absent. The meeting is never very crowded but will have a maximum of 35 to 40 people.

This is in sharp contrast with the story of the BBC documentaries. In the villa that is shown there is no room for 100 students. And it is not a “school” but an Iqra apparatus that is very versatile.

This man is said to be the “institutor”. This is in contradiction with the “IQRA” system where the “institutor” is not a civilian professor but a muslim cleric called “Sheikh”.

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