Paul Maley
The Australian
October 7, 2013
SYRIA'S two-year-old civil war is spilling on to the streets of Sydney and Melbourne, with advocates on both sides claiming violence and persecution are commonplace.
Sonya El-Abbas, a Melbourne-based nurse who has twice visited Syria to assist in humanitarian relief efforts, said her husband's car had been firebombed and the family home attacked.
"Basically, they tried to burn it while we were in Syria and prior to that they tried to shoot at us at our home," Ms El-Abbas said. "We were copping it big time."
Ms El-Abbas, whose brother Robert was killed in the conflict last year, said her husband's car displayed the emblem of the Free Syrian Army, with whom she had worked during her trips to Syria.
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Ms El-Abbas said Australians were heavily involved in the Syrian conflict although she stressed they were working in a humanitarian capacity, not as fighters. "I've seen heaps of people go after I've come back and a lot of people want to go," she said. "Every day I come across these people and not to fight, no."
Jamal Daoud, an opponent of the uprising, said he was routinely abused and threatened. Mr Daoud was assaulted on the street, with his attacker convicted.
"For the last one year we have seen a lot of attacks on the Shia," he said. "There have been a lot of attacks on Shia and Alawi businesses. We are also seeing boycotts of business."
Syria's civil war has pitted the country's Sunni Muslims against the Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad. The Alawites are a Syrian-origin offshoot of Shia Islam.
In Australia, much of the sectarian division has been played out online, with Facebook pages and websites naming Shia businesses and urging boycotts.
Police have also seen a rise in the transmission of gruesome footage from the war, which proliferates quickly in the community via text message or social media.
Generally, though, police have played down suggestions the conflict was generating ethnic tensions in Australia, arguing much of the violence thought to have been triggered by the war has in fact been criminal or personal disputes overlaid with a sectarian veneer. However, there is no doubt the pipeline of Australians travelling to Syria is keeping police and ASIO busy. ASIO routinely interviews Australians known to have travelled to Syria, typically inviting people to meet at a restaurant. Asked if she had been contacted by ASIO, Ms Abbas said simply: "Of course".
"The minute you come back from the airport, even if you've got nothing on you they'll go, 'Go to Customs'," she said.
"(They) check your bags and see what photos you've got, they take your phone away."
The head of the Australian Syrian Association, Mohammad Al-Hamwi, agreed the war had exacerbated tensions. He had received more than 23 threats on his mobile phone. Mr Hamwi, whose group supported the uprising, said the two groups were wary of travelling into Shia or Sunni enclaves.
"There are some (Shia) areas where we don't go and vice versa," Mr Hamwi said.
And this from Janurary 2013
Pia Akerman and Dan Box
The Australian
Janurary 3,2013I
THE sister of a Melbourne man killed in Syria has vowed to follow in her brother's footsteps and travel to the war-torn country to provide humanitarian aid.
Sonya El-Abbas said a recent trip to Syria to learn more about the circumstances of her brother Roger's death had compelled her to return with medical supplies and other necessities to assist victims of the civil war.
"I'm so proud of Roger, he has done the right thing," said the registered nurse, who lives in Melbourne with her young family. "I'm going to follow what he was doing and what he started."
Ms El-Abbas said her trip had yielded first-hand accounts of how her brother, 23, was giving humanitarian aid when he was caught in crossfire.
Abbas, a kickboxer, is among three Australians known to have died in the Syrian conflict. Australian government agencies believe more than 100 citizens have joined the civil war, sparking fears a wave of home-grown jihadists with battle experience could emerge.
Overseas news footage purports to show the body of another Australian reportedly killed in the fighting mid last month, but offers no verification. The latest Australian fatality, former Melbourne bricklayer Yusuf Toprakkaya, has been hailed as a martyr after being killed on the weekend.
Mr Toprakkaya's family believe he was there for humanitarian reasons, though videos posted online show the 30-year-old posing with heavy weaponry and building homemade bombs.
This would make him the first Australian who was clearly involved in the fighting when killed.
His name and date of birth also correspond to a list in a secret 2010 cable from the US embassy in Canberra, which requested 23 Australians be added to a terrorist screening database. Ms El-Abbas backed a call by Sydney man Zaky Mallah, who was previously charged under anti-terror laws, for Australians to travel to Syria despite the dangers.
"There is a high chance that you will die," Mr Mallah said. "If that means death, then so be it. To die as a martyr is a great thing in our religion."
Australian Muslim leaders said they had raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to send to Syria, but there are fears among security agencies that some of this may be flowing to extremist groups.
A delegation of about 30 Islamic leaders, including the Australian Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, visited the Al-Zatary refugee camp in Jordan earlier this week, to which thousands of Syrians have fled.
Keysar Trad, founder of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said many of the delegation were in tears at conditions inside the camp.
Security analysts said they were unaware of Mr Toprakkaya before his name appeared on the US cable, which named people alleged to have some "demonstrated connections" or "association" with al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Monash University's Shandon Harris-Hogan said "he's at the lower end of the list" and may have been included after simply trying to contact the group or one of its senior clerics, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in 2011.
Unlike many other Australians known to have travelled to Syrian since the outbreak of the civil war, Mr Toprakkaya appeared to have no family connection to those involved. "He's not going there for any personal reason; he's making the decision to help, to fight, because it's something he believes in," said Mr Harris-Hogan, of the university's Global Terrorism Research Centre.
In the absence of any other evidence of a link to extremist groups, it would have been impossible for Australian security agencies to prevent him from travelling overseas, he said.
Deputy Opposition leader Julie Bishop said Mr Toprakkaya' s death "raised questions" over the effectiveness of Australian intelligence services, which had been monitoring him since at least 2010.
"There are numerous groups within the Syrian rebel forces, including several aligned with extremist organisations such as al-Qa'ida," she said.
"So it's important to know what how and where he came to join the forces and whether there are any links back to Australia."
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