Sudan - Satellites confirm bombings

Sudan: Clooney - Sudan Offensive Caught By Satellites, Civilians Now in Danger

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New DigitalGlobe satellite imagery and analysis confirms the military buildup and the destructive impact of a large-scale Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, offensive against the Sudan Revolutionary Front, or SRF.

Satellite imagery of the strategically important West Kordofan town of Abu Zabad confirms its aerial bombardment and provides a snapshot of the hostilities. In late October 2013, the Satellite Sentinel Project issued a human security warning based on increased activity at Sudanese military installations. In early November, Sudanese Defense Minister Ahmed Hussein announced a campaign, promising not to "stop until we crush them."

George Clooney, Satellite Sentinel Project co-founder observed: "Last month, our satellites detected the first signs of this Sudanese government offensive. Now, with these latest shots, we have proof of its destructive impact. We're going to keep watching and reporting to keep the spotlight on as bombs drop from the sky and villages burn once again."

Satellite imagery in the new report documents the clashes reported on November 17, 2013 in Abu Zabad, and shows four craters consistent with aerial bombardment, two burning buildings, and several vehicles on fire.

John Prendergast, Co-Founder of the Satellite Sentinel Project and the Enough Project said: "We sounded the alarm and issued an urgent human security warning last month. Now our satellites have caught Sudanese forces massing, deploying, and engaging in active clashes on the ground. Erratic efforts to address conflict inflaming Sudan's periphery have failed. We need a more comprehensive approach to ending Sudan's wars."

Akshaya Kumar, Sudan and South Sudan Analyst at the Enough Project added: "Air strikes and ground clashes directly threaten vulnerable civilians at the critical harvest season, when many take to open fields to reap crops. Now that conflict has reignited, we may have also lost the window for a desperately needed polio vaccination campaign for babies and children in rebel-held areas."

Thanks Chiki for this article maybe next week I can get back to doing more than coming to COH. I have not spent any real time on twitter yet. Thanks again.

I just read the full report in my opinion this is major news. I hope that it got major news coverage, like it should have. It really shows what a monumental idea George had while looking at the stars one night in Africa with John Prendergast Now working on getting a satellite over Syria is terrific. Out Hero has found a way to use technology in a non-violent way to keep an eye on the bad guys as George would say. xxx

No problem, take your time. I'm glad to help.

I'm following very close the Syrian revolution from the first days, so I'm very excited about SSP's news on Syria. Syrian regime is still using chemical weapons and cluster bombs against civilians, every day. I do hope George can help them. Maybe he could get evidences of Assad's atrocities. He's one of the baddest guys right now

Thank you, Chiki. Goodness only knows, this Sudan story could do with some more coverage.

As for Syria and SSP, let's hope they'll be even-handed and be able to recognise any equally appalling behaviour from Al-Quada operatives too

Thanks for the artical. Interesting to read

Ok, with my limited english, I will now attempt to explain my point of view in this respect. I would like to give a broad view on syrian war, including all contenders. I'm sorry, this is very long, but I try to explain a reality that is not shown on the news.
With the support of Russia, China and Iran, syrian regime has got focus all the atention on the extremists, hiding the daily reality (hard, cruel, inhuman.....)  for syrians, that, from the begining, only wanted freedom and democracy.  And it's very unfair the world only talk about Al-Qaeda, after all they have lived during three extremely painful years.
Sure, all attacks on human rights must be investigated, no doubt. But Al-Qaeda is a minimum part of this conflict. Once Assad is captured, all this will be over. He is the big evil here. Like every "good" dictator, Assad uses the propaganda wisely. At the moment in which "Arab spring" began, he kicked off his speech about "I'm protecting the world against terrorism". Meanwhile, he was supporting Hezbollah against Israel. (He did it during years before the war. In 2004, Assad was sanctioned by U.S., among other allegations, for not prevent the passage of the occupied country combatants and support radical Palestinian groups and the Lebanese Hezbollah). This is merely one example of the Assad's propaganda.
Some Syria facts:
Half of population are now displaced or refugees, inside Syria or at refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. 1 million are kids.
110.000 killed because of regime bombings, not only with chemical weapons. Actually, most of them were killed by "traditional weapons". More than 11.000 were kids.
Although syrian regime was investigated about chemical weapons, it continues using  against civilians, not only chemical weapons, but cluster bombs and incendiary bombs, all of them expressly prohibited under Geneva Convention.
At the begining of war, one of the main targets for syrian aviation were hospitals. Indeed, the sanitarian personal, doctors....., everything that could help injured people. Almost all healthcare network was destroyed during the first year. From there, only clandestine hospitals and International organizations could help the civilians, putting their lives in danger. In addition, in the last year, doctors and nurses are kidnapped by islamist if they don't support them. (of course, most of them don't do it, so the risk for them is even bigger)
Homs, Aleppo, Rastan, Hama.... all of them are living under siege since the begining. Now, almost 3 years later, they have no access to food, fresh water, medicines. Polio is back, after being erradicated 15 years ago. The situation is critical for the civilians.
And yes, now want it or not, they have to live with radicals islamist, who threat them if don't live on "islamic way of life".
Now, the opposition. Who is "the opposition"?
We can consider three main groups:
The protesters
You know the begining of syrian revolution happened in the city of Daraa in March 2011, when people took the streets after a dozen boys under the age of 15 were arrested for paint on a wall "The people want to topple the regime". After that, across the country, people took the streets, and created a network of local groups against Assad regime.  This network was the origen of Local Coordination Comittees, formed by citizens and without leaders.
The Syrian political opposition.
Another pattern that is repeated in every dictatorship, is all political opposition is in jail or in exile. In the case of Syria, most of Syrian National Coalition (main organization for opposition) was formed in exile. More than 120 countries, including the U.S. and its allies, have recognized the coalition as the “legitimate representative” of the Syrian people.
However, they are a very fractured group, unable to make decisions (Absurd, but very common under long dictatorships) Indeed, the future of Syria is really unpredictable. But for a real future in freedom for Syria, is imperative the overthrow of Assad.

The Armed Opposition  (here we go...)
You know the regime response against peaceful protests was shooting on them. Then the rebels took up arms to fight back (a legitime right if someone fires on you). Some were defectors from Assad’s army, others were civilians who joined the fight. In the summer of 2011, those brigades came together as the Free Syrian Army (FSA). They took up arms to establish a democratic Syria, free from Assad rule.
FSA lacked the funding and weapons to fight at the same level against Assad's army and blamed the West for not backing them with meaningful support. They were fighting alone, without support, for almost a year.
From there, the conflict gets more complicated. While FSA was fighting against the regime, a series of rebel brigades with more extremist views began to emerge.
In January 2012, Jabhat al-Nusra announced it had joined the fight against Assad. Foreign fighters joined al-Nusra’s ranks. More than a year later, Al-Qaeda in Iraq announced a merger with Jabhat al-Nusra, creating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (?¿ )
Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS are the most extreme of rebel groups, fighting for Islamic rule over Syria. Many Syrians are against this groups, even they’ve protested and battled against their presence in the country.
But al-Nusra and ISIS are also very effective fighters on the battlefield. They are relatively small in number, but (remember, at this point FSA was fighting without resources and most of them were only armed civilians) they had the weapons, funding and know-how to wage war.
Of course, everyone has right to form an opinion, but please, always try to do it based on facts. Having said all that, I hope SSP obtains evidences of all abuses on human rights, regardless of the perpetrator, but always for good of Syrians.
(Thanks for read all this........and maybe I went off topic,    )

Chiki thanks so much for your summary on Syria, I have to say I am not knowledgeable on this part of the world. I still feel like a novice when it comes to Darfur. I will try to get a little better informed. Thanks again for your input.

Don't think I was aware of this before today, but Satellite Sentinel's twitter page (@SudanSentinel) says that they're also tracking the Lord's Resistance Army's poaching of elephants to sell their tusks to buy more arms. Video footage on the site

chiki wrote:Ok, with my limited english, I will now attempt to explain my point of view in this respect. I would like to give a broad view on syrian war, including all contenders. I'm sorry, this is very long, but I try to explain a reality that is not shown on the news.
With the support of Russia, China and Iran, syrian regime has got focus all the atention on the extremists, hiding the daily reality (hard, cruel, inhuman.....)  for syrians, that, from the begining, only wanted freedom and democracy.  And it's very unfair the world only talk about Al-Qaeda, after all they have lived during three extremely painful years.
Sure, all attacks on human rights must be investigated, no doubt. But Al-Qaeda is a minimum part of this conflict. Once Assad is captured, all this will be over. He is the big evil here. Like every "good" dictator, Assad uses the propaganda wisely. At the moment in which "Arab spring" began, he kicked off his speech about "I'm protecting the world against terrorism". Meanwhile, he was supporting Hezbollah against Israel. (He did it during years before the war. In 2004, Assad was sanctioned by U.S., among other allegations, for not prevent the passage of the occupied country combatants and support radical Palestinian groups and the Lebanese Hezbollah). This is merely one example of the Assad's propaganda.
Some Syria facts:
Half of population are now displaced or refugees, inside Syria or at refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. 1 million are kids.
110.000 killed because of regime bombings, not only with chemical weapons. Actually, most of them were killed by "traditional weapons". More than 11.000 were kids.
Although syrian regime was investigated about chemical weapons, it continues using  against civilians, not only chemical weapons, but cluster bombs and incendiary bombs, all of them expressly prohibited under Geneva Convention.
At the begining of war, one of the main targets for syrian aviation were hospitals. Indeed, the sanitarian personal, doctors....., everything that could help injured people. Almost all healthcare network was destroyed during the first year. From there, only clandestine hospitals and International organizations could help the civilians, putting their lives in danger. In addition, in the last year, doctors and nurses are kidnapped by islamist if they don't support them. (of course, most of them don't do it, so the risk for them is even bigger)
Homs, Aleppo, Rastan, Hama.... all of them are living under siege since the begining. Now, almost 3 years later, they have no access to food, fresh water, medicines. Polio is back, after being erradicated 15 years ago. The situation is critical for the civilians.
And yes, now want it or not, they have to live with radicals islamist, who threat them if don't live on "islamic way of life".
Now, the opposition. Who is "the opposition"?
We can consider three main groups:
The protesters
You know the begining of syrian revolution happened in the city of Daraa in March 2011, when people took the streets after a dozen boys under the age of 15 were arrested for paint on a wall "The people want to topple the regime". After that, across the country, people took the streets, and created a network of local groups against Assad regime.  This network was the origen of Local Coordination Comittees, formed by citizens and without leaders.
The Syrian political opposition.
Another pattern that is repeated in every dictatorship, is all political opposition is in jail or in exile. In the case of Syria, most of Syrian National Coalition (main organization for opposition) was formed in exile. More than 120 countries, including the U.S. and its allies, have recognized the coalition as the “legitimate representative” of the Syrian people.
However, they are a very fractured group, unable to make decisions (Absurd, but very common under long dictatorships) Indeed, the future of Syria is really unpredictable. But for a real future in freedom for Syria, is imperative the overthrow of Assad.

The Armed Opposition  (here we go...)
You know the regime response against peaceful protests was shooting on them. Then the rebels took up arms to fight back (a legitime right if someone fires on you). Some were defectors from Assad’s army, others were civilians who joined the fight. In the summer of 2011, those brigades came together as the Free Syrian Army (FSA). They took up arms to establish a democratic Syria, free from Assad rule.
FSA lacked the funding and weapons to fight at the same level against Assad's army and blamed the West for not backing them with meaningful support. They were fighting alone, without support, for almost a year.
From there, the conflict gets more complicated. While FSA was fighting against the regime, a series of rebel brigades with more extremist views began to emerge.
In January 2012, Jabhat al-Nusra announced it had joined the fight against Assad. Foreign fighters joined al-Nusra’s ranks. More than a year later, Al-Qaeda in Iraq announced a merger with Jabhat al-Nusra, creating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (?¿ )
Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS are the most extreme of rebel groups, fighting for Islamic rule over Syria. Many Syrians are against this groups, even they’ve protested and battled against their presence in the country.
But al-Nusra and ISIS are also very effective fighters on the battlefield. They are relatively small in number, but (remember, at this point FSA was fighting without resources and most of them were only armed civilians) they had the weapons, funding and know-how to wage war.
Of course, everyone has right to form an opinion, but please, always try to do it based on facts. Having said all that, I hope SSP obtains evidences of all abuses on human rights, regardless of the perpetrator, but always for good of Syrians.
(Thanks for read all this........and maybe I went off topic,    )

Chiki, I don't want you to endanger yourself, so don't answer this if it will cause you any trouble--but are you from the area?

Have you heard of Mother Agnes Mariam? If you have, what do you know about her?

I have read this report and was stunned by what I read about the children and the videos being doctored. Here's the link:

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oh, yes, Mother Agnes, I know her. She's a well known pro-assad. Actually I don't think she's pro-assad on purpose, but at the end, maybe because of fear, she is defending his crimes. I can understand she is frightened about radical islamists, as syrian people and rebels are, but (once again) it's totally unfair mixing islamists and rebels. As I explained, ISIS is made up of yihadists groups, wich are completely outside to syrian rebels. Most of atrocities have been perpetrated by islamists or Assad's army. But, most of all, as I said before, every war crime must be investigated, regardless of the authors.

Thanks for post this link, is always good to  analyse and discuss. About it, here's my opinion (I stress that is my opinion)

She denies the Ghouta massacre, but HRW has refuted her theory point by point. To me, HRW has greater credibility since is its work.
(here's a link about Mother Agnes theory and HRW's response)

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and this one is about the attack. (sorry, it's a pic gallery, but in spanish)

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The article says:  "The journalists – neither of whom have produced any notable body of work on Syria – appear to have followed the lead of a breed of Syria “activists” who have given us doozies like “Assad is about to fall,” “Assad has no support,” “the opposition is peaceful,” “the opposition is unarmed,” “this is a popular revolution,” “the revolution is not foreign-backed,” “there is no Al Qaeda in Syria,” “the dead are mostly civilians,” and other such gems."

Ok, maybe these two haven't worked in Syria before, but I'm sure she knows there are right now 30 foreign journalists kidnapped in Syria by ISIS. All of them are missing just  for writing things like that "gems", as article says. I find this part specially discusting. For example, James Foley has been missing today for 417 days today.

"Stop the war coalition", calls for non-violence, but only in one way. Of course, I don't like non-violence, but I don't know where she was when Al-Assad fired for the first time on syrian people. She's never asked Al-Assad for non-violence.

About Mouadamiya, according to civilians, after the evacuation, 300 men were handed over to Assad army. But there is no evidence of that.

What I mean with all this is I don't like radicals, any kind of them. ISIS has perpetrated crimes against humanity and must pay for that, she  is absolutely right in this respect. But for that, she can't defend a butcher like Assad, never.

Btw, I have to say my previous post needs some updates.
- Few days later before, the FSA (syrian rebels) oficially declared war on ISIS. I'm sorry, I can't find a link about this right now. (I post if I find it)
- I can't remember now the date, but even Jabath al Nusra has broken with them, too late, but they aren´t part of the islamist alliance now.  
- After several weeks of combats, and thanks to FSA, ISIS is leaving most of its controled areas in northern Syria. Unfortunately, as they flee, they are killing all the prisoners in ISIS jails.  
- In the last two months the civilians have called demonstrations against ISIS in every part of the country.

and, answering you, no, I'm not syrian. But, for personal reasons, I'm following very close the Syrian Revolution since the beginning. I'm not an expert at all, but I know syrians very involved in this, and I learn from them. Obviously, I'm with rebels...as far I know, with the syrian people, and their legitimate right to freedom and democracy. But  it's my point of view.

chiki wrote:oh, yes, Mother Agnes, I know her. She's a well known pro-assad. Actually I don't think she's pro-assad on purpose, but at the end, maybe because of fear, she is defending his crimes. I can understand she is frightened about radical islamists, as syrian people and rebels are, but (once again) it's totally unfair mixing islamists and rebels. As I explained, ISIS is made up of yihadists groups, wich are completely outside to syrian rebels. Most of atrocities have been perpetrated by islamists or Assad's army. But, most of all, as I said before, every war crime must be investigated, regardless of the authors.

Thanks for post this link, is always good to  analyse and discuss. About it, here's my opinion (I stress that is my opinion)

She denies the Ghouta massacre, but HRW has refuted her theory point by point. To me, HRW has greater credibility since is its work.
(here's a link about Mother Agnes theory and HRW's response)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

and this one is about the attack. (sorry, it's a pic gallery, but in spanish)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]


The article says:  "The journalists – neither of whom have produced any notable body of work on Syria – appear to have followed the lead of a breed of Syria “activists” who have given us doozies like “Assad is about to fall,” “Assad has no support,” “the opposition is peaceful,” “the opposition is unarmed,” “this is a popular revolution,” “the revolution is not foreign-backed,” “there is no Al Qaeda in Syria,” “the dead are mostly civilians,” and other such gems."

Ok, maybe these two haven't worked in Syria before, but I'm sure she knows there are right now 30 foreign journalists kidnapped in Syria by ISIS. All of them are missing just  for writing things like that "gems", as article says. I find this part specially discusting. For example, James Foley has been missing today for 417 days today.

"Stop the war coalition", calls for non-violence, but only in one way. Of course, I don't like non-violence, but I don't know where she was when Al-Assad fired for the first time on syrian people. She's never asked Al-Assad for non-violence.

About Mouadamiya, according to civilians, after the evacuation, 300 men were handed over to Assad army. But there is no evidence of that.

What I mean with all this is I don't like radicals, any kind of them. ISIS has perpetrated crimes against humanity and must pay for that, she  is absolutely right in this respect. But for that, she can't defend a butcher like Assad, never.

Btw, I have to say my previous post needs some updates.
- Few days later before, the FSA (syrian rebels) oficially declared war on ISIS. I'm sorry, I can't find a link about this right now. (I post if I find it)
- I can't remember now the date, but even Jabath al Nusra has broken with them, too late, but they aren´t part of the islamist alliance now.  
- After several weeks of combats, and thanks to FSA, ISIS is leaving most of its controled areas in northern Syria. Unfortunately, as they flee, they are killing all the prisoners in ISIS jails.  
- In the last two months the civilians have called demonstrations against ISIS in every part of the country.

and, answering you, no, I'm not syrian. But, for personal reasons, I'm following very close the Syrian Revolution since the beginning. I'm not an expert at all, but I know syrians very involved in this, and I learn from them. Obviously, I'm with rebels...as far I know, with the syrian people, and their legitimate right to freedom and democracy. But  it's my point of view.

Thank you, Chiki, for the thoughtful post. I appreciate your opinion since you seem to know more than what is being reported. I also respect Human Rights Watch for their opinion. So, perhaps Mother Agnes is in fear, because it makes no sense that she says she wants to see Syrian leaders democratically elected, but defends Assad.