News:

On the 6th of February, Al-Jazeera reported on the dire situation facing thousands of Syrian refugees in Lebanon who were left homeless due to the country's army clearing refugee settlements in areas that border Syria as a result of perceived security threats. This recent decision made by the Lebanese authorities is said to affect 32 informal settlements housing around 7000 Syrian refugees and labourers. The Al Jazeera article stated that according to Lebanese army sources, the decision was taken to clear areas along the eastern Bekaa border, from Majdal Anjar next to the Masnaa border crossing, all the way to al-Qusayr. The piece also quoted from Abu Ahmed, a refugee from Deir Ezzor and one of those made homeless by this security sweep. He said, "The Lebanese army came in last night and broke everything; our water tanks, our shelters. Where are we supposed to let our children sleep?" He also said, "We have nowhere to go anymore; we have no idea where we'll be sleeping tonight. What are we supposed to do?"

Comment:

The misery and agonizing levels of suffering being endured by Syrian refugees is relentless. Not only are they struggling to survive in flimsy, makeshift tents with little food and sometimes no heating in the biting cold, but now due to this atrocious action by the heartless Lebanese government, thousands are now left abandoned, forced to weather the elements of a harsh winter, including freezing sub-zero temperatures without even having shelter over their heads. These secular regimes have demonstrated their utter lack of humanity! In January, it was reported that a number of Syrian refugees died near the Lebanese - Syrian border due to inadequate protection from the extreme cold and the severe weather of Storm Zina, which brought with it an onslaught of snow and rain that battered the refugee camps, including those in the Bekaa valley. These deaths included a 3 month old baby who died after being stuck at the Masnaa border crossing for 4 days; a 6 year old boy who froze to death crossing into the Shebaa area in Southern Lebanon; and a Syrian mother of two who died inside her unheated tent in Baalbek. It is also reported that the Syrian Muslim refugees are resorting to burning rubbish to keep warm despite the toxic fumes that this generates. They have been placed in an impossible situation with heartbreaking options - having to decide whether they and their children should freeze from the cold, or try and create some warmth but accept the risk of being poisoned by the fumes.

This heart-rending reality is only a fragment of the ongoing destitution and desperation that our dear brothers and sisters of Syria are suffering, having been abandoned by the conscienceless regimes of the Muslim world and the self-serving Western states who have been nothing but onlookers to this human tragedy. So many tens of thousands of Syrian Muslims are dying slow deaths due the absence of basic humanitarian needs and care from their host governments. This whole crisis has also emphasized the complete impotence of the UN and other international bodies in protecting the lives of our Ummah. They have proven utterly incapable or unwilling to take any stand against the negligence or oppressive actions of host states against their refugee populations.

So, as the attention of secular media and political circles focuses on the events in Iraq, a human catastrophe of monstrous proportions continues to play out upon our brothers and sisters in Al-Sham and the acts of barbarity of the Assad regime continues unabated. And as the regimes of the Muslim world fight wars on behalf of their Western masters rather than mobilising their armies to remove the butcher Bashar, our sisters and their children are forced to make a heartbreaking choice - to die from the bombs and bullets of a tyrant or to freeze to death in neighbouring states governed by rulers who do not carry an ounce of compassion or care for their plight?

This desperate state of our Ummah in Syria will only come to an end with the urgent establishment of the Khilafah "Caliphate" state - the shield, guardian, and protector of the Muslims. Indeed, placing trust in the international community to look after Syria's refugees only prolongs their suffering. Similarly, believing that Western governments or the UN can end the bloodshed in Al-Sham is a dangerous delusion which simply buys Syria's Pharun time to kill and maim to save his throne. So let us intensify our efforts to establish the System of Allah (swt) once again upon this earth that is the only true path to saving our oppressed Ummah in Syria and across the world from their plight. It is this state alone, built purely upon Islam that will mobilise its soldiers without hesitation or delay to liberate the Muslims from their oppressors, and care for them with the affection that a father cares for his child - for Islam accepts nothing less of a ruler and leadership.

«‏إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ ‏‏جُنَّةٌ ‏ ‏يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ»

"Indeed the Imam (Khaleefah) is a shield from behind whom (one) would fight and one would protect oneself."

Written for The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

On Wednesday 11th February 2015, the Women's Section in the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir launched an extensive global campaign entitled, "Women and Shariah: Separating Fact from Fiction" which will culminate in a momentous international women's conference on March 28, 2015, by the will of Allah.

Anyone who has followed the American policy against the blessed Ash-Sham revolution sees clearly that it follows several methods to contain it leaving it bankrupt of purpose; through the policy of flooding political dirty money to control the decisions of the factions and distract them with side battles, and the policy of subjugation against the Muslims in Ash-Sham by giving the green light to its criminal agent, Bashar, to use all kinds of weapons and put restrictions on those displaced in the camps, to the infighting policy between factions operating on the ground to distract them from the primary purpose and to drain their combating, material, and military energy, and to ease pressure on its criminal agent, Bashar. America has created this fighting through an atmosphere of division, and made it a followed policy by entering the Mujahideen in a maze of classifications between Kharijites and apostates and "Awakening" movement and transgressors against the state, (Baghi). It also worked on the division between the Mujahideen: those belonging to Islamist and those belonging to the Free Army, and between moderates and extremists. We regret that some Mujahideen have drifted with these words, forgetting that we are all Muslims, and we share one belief, the doctrine of La Ilaha Ila Allah Muhammad Rasool Allah (There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) and that our enemy is this criminal regime backed by the Kaffir West, which works hard to disunite and strike the Mujahideen through each other, as what took place in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the result in both cases was a great loss to the Islamic Ummah against the cunning West and its aides, though if the Mujahideen realized the seriousness of the plot then, some of them would not have sought to reap the fruits immaturely, and face other factions; When this fragmentation took place, which prolonged the oppressive regime, thus prolonging the suffering of Muslims in Ash-Sham. As we demonstrate this fact, we hold all factions fully responsible before Allah (swt) for every drop of bloodshed by the hands of the sons of this Ummah, which have only sacrificed their loved ones but to fight the tyrant of this age, and to live with dignity and pride under the guided Khilafah "Caliphate" on the method of Prophethood, the law of the Lord of mankind, which is the glad-tiding of the Messenger of Allah (saw), and not for the killing of its sons at the hands of its brothers under any pretext.

O scholars in the land of Ash-Sham:

Allah (swt) has praised the scholars by His (swt) saying,

((إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ))

"Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Forgiving" [Fatir: 28]

This is a great responsibility Allah (swt) has entrusted in them, so strive to unite your ranks, and remove Muslims from division and fighting, and prevent every effort leading to it.

O Muslims in Ash-Sham the Abode of Islam:

It is your duty, now that you see the West has united against you, to meet your responsibility before Allah (swt), and to support your sons who are deceived by these classifications and drifted behind them, and to stand boldly in the face of any attempt that will involve them in fighting that is not theirs, fighting only make the matter worse, and will add more suffering to the revolution.

O soldiers stationed in Ash-Sham of Dignity:

We know that Shariah has firmly laid down the limits of Jihad; do not allow the killing between you, your blood is sacred like the sanctity of the house of Allah, and Muhammad (saw) that you declared as your leader said:,

«لهدم الكعبة مائة مرة أهون على الله من إراقة دم مسلم»

"The destruction of the Ka'ba one hundred times is to Allah lesser than the spilling of Muslim blood"

So beware before you are inflicted with a calamity like your predecessors, and know that you will stand before Allah, the Avenger and Compeller

((يَوْمَ لَا يَنْفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ * إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ))

"The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children * But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart" [Ash-Shu'ara: 88-89]

((هَذَا بَلَاغٌ لِلنَّاسِ وَلِيُنْذَرُوا بِهِ وَلِيَعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ وَلِيَذَّكَّرَ أُولُو الْأَلْبَاب))

"This [Qur'an] is notification for the people that they may be warned thereby and that they may know that He is but one God and that those of understanding will be reminded" [Ibrahim: 52]

Ahmad Abdul Wahab

Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

Wilayah of Syria