SYRIA: Is Aleppo War-ravaged Aleppo A Travel Destination?

In the next instalment of its increasingly bizarre strategy to woo tourists, Syria’s Ministry of Tourism has released a new video spruiking war-ravaged Aleppo as a travel destination — using the Game of Thrones theme song as a soundtrack.

In the video, sweeping, panoramic scenes of Aleppo — a peaceful, green and thriving Aleppo — are presented against an acoustic version of composer Ramin Djawadi’s theme for the HBO series.

The one-minute clip shows off the city’s wide boulevards, impressive buildings and lush parks, and ends with the words: “Aleppo: Will of Life”.

It’s likely the scenes in the video were filmed quite some distance from the eastern, rebel-held areas of Aleppo, where air strikes are daily and whole neighbourhoods have been destroyed due to the five-year conflict, according to the United Nations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week “even a slaughterhouse is more humane” than the humanitarian crisis crippling Aleppo.

Elsewhere in Syria, all six of the country’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites have been destroyed or badly damaged, including Palmyra’s 2000-year-old Arch of Triumph, a former tourist hotspot destroyed by the Islamic State terror group last year.

Given Game of Thrones is centred on a bloodied, years-long civil war in fictional Westeros, Syria’s decision to use it in its latest tourism promo seems a little odd. But it’s just the latest attempt by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to brag about Syria’s worth as a holiday hotspot.

In August, the Ministry of Tourism released a clip portraying the Mediterranean city of Tartus as a glamorous, sun-drenched luxury resort, packed with expensive speed boats and happy beachgoers.

Earlier this year, Syria’s tourism minister Bushr Yazedji talked up his country’s potential as an international travel destination, saying: “After the liberation of some of our cities, which once used to be major touristic highlights, we noticed that their residents were willing to revitalise local tourism.”

And just last week, Syria’s state news agency tweeted a picture of locals enjoying Aleppo’s “thriving night-life” despite the city’s dangerous reputation.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade strongly advises Australians against travelling to anywhere in Syria, in what is the highest travel advisory level issued by the Australian government.

Hezbollah Boss Mustafa Badreddin Killed In Syria

Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an Israeli strike in Syria this week, the Lebanese Shia group has said.

"He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," Hezbollah said in a statement on Friday, announcing his death and describing him as a "great jihadi leader".

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and believed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mustafa Badreddine was buried in Beirut after a funeral procession in a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital.
He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said, adding that the attack targeted one of Hezbollah's bases near Damascus airport, the group's nerve-centre in the Syrian capital.

On Friday, thousands of Hezbollah supporters carried the coffin of Badreddine, draped in a Hezbollah flag, during his funeral procession in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The group said it was working to "define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an air strike, or missile attack or artillery".

Mustafa Badreddine replaced his brother-in-law Imad Mughniyah after the Hezbollah commander was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008.

Israel officially denied being behind Mughniyah's killing, but Israeli media reported at the time that the Hezbollah commander had been a target of Israeli assassination attempts since the 1990s.

Mughniyah was assassinated by Israeli intelligence agents in revenge for the 2006 Lebanon War.

Earlier on Friday, the Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen reported that Badreddine had also been killed in an Israeli attack.

However, there was no immediate response from Israel, which has attacked Hezbollah targets in Syria several times during the country's five-year conflict.

"We decline to comment," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Badreddine was the highest-ranking Hezbollah commander to have been killed in Syria since the conflict began five years ago.

"Some Hezbollah sources are saying that when Imad Mughniyah was killed, he was not replaced by just one man, Badreddine, but rather by several men. Nonetheless, Badreddine was a very high-ranking figure in the organisation.

"Hezbollah has suffered heavy losses in Syria, with some sources estimating that at least 1,200 fighters have died since the group started its involvement in the war. The group is weakened and some in Lebanon are wondering what Hezbollah's exit strategy is.

"Hezbollah's military intervention in Syria caused a divide in Lebanon. Some say it was totally wrong as it exposed Lebanon to threats. However, Hezbollah sees this as an existential decision because the Syrian government provides a lifeline to the group."

Badreddine was indicted by the United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the 2005 killing of a former prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri, and was also sanctioned by the United States.

Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

"This is a pretty significant blow to Hezbollah ... He was extremely close to the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah," Levitt said.

RUSSIA: Kremlin Says Russia's Egypt Flight Ban May Last 'several months'

A top Kremlin official has said that Russia's ban on Egypt-bound flights will likely remain for 'several months.' The British FM said the UK took a similar decision after examining footage from Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday that a flight ban to Egypt will likely remain in place for several months. Authorities suspect that a bomb brought down the Russian passenger flight 9268 on October 31, killing all 224 people on board.

"It's for a long time. For how long, I can't say, but I think for several months, at least," Ivanov said.

"To be honest, we stopped flights to Egypt not knowing the final version (of the crash), but we did this as a preventative measure, as a precaution," Ivanov noted.

The Russian official said that security protocols at Egyptian airports needed to be improved, not only at Sharm el-Sheikh but "those places where Russian planes fly," such as the capital Cairo and resort town Hurghada. The move is likely to impact Egypt's economy, which heavily relies on the country's tourism industry.

Egypt's security amiss

Kremlin's Ivanov added that it would be an impossible task for Egyptian authorities to revamp security within a month, stressing that efforts needed to be taken to bring standards up to a sufficient level.

More than 25,000 Russian tourists - stranded in the country when Russia suspended flights to Egypt - have left the country with carry-on luggage.

Cargo jets operated by Russia's Emergency Services Ministry were charged with transporting larger luggage amid fears of a possible attack.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told reporters on Tuesday that after reviewing security footage at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport, the UK decided to ban flights to the airport.

"They looked back on CCTV footage of the search areas and things over the previous couple of days," Hammond said.

"On the basis of what we saw, we decided that we had to stop flying until we'd sorted out, until the Egyptians had sorted it out."

The downed aircraft was claimed as an attack by a Sinai-based militant group affiliated with the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" group.

In September, Russia launched airstrikes against the group in Syria, in a move Western states consider a ploy to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

EGYPT: Embattled Tourism Industry, Terribly Affected Recovery Will Take Time

It has been four years since the revolution that toppled then president Hosni Mubarak, and Egypt was gearing itself up to lure the foreign tourists back.

Just this month, authorities were set to launch a worldwide advertising campaign to show tourists the country was safe to return to.

Incidentally, parliamentary elections are also taking place this month, which marks a step along the road map Egypt hoped would bring peace and normality to its politics again.

Tourist numbers showed a slight increase this year after dipping from 14.7 million in 2010, when tourism accounted for 11% of Egypt’s gross domestic product – and was down to 9.9 million last year.

The news of the crash of a Russian plane that took off from the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg last Saturday, which killed all 217 passengers and seven crew members, was bad enough for the embattled tourism industry, but it was made worse due to the increasing belief by foreign leaders that the plane was brought down by a terrorist bomb.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was the first to publicly state this as Britain cancelled flights to Egyptian resorts and helped tourists return home.

Even Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who had stood by Egypt’s explanation for six days that the crash was caused by a defect, on Friday suspended Russian flights to Egypt for fear of another attack.

Egypt, however, is sticking to its story, dismissing suggestions that there was a bomb as “premature”, “surprising” and “unwarranted”.

Tour guide Mahmood Hussein, who depends on a strong tourism industry to make a living, has dismissed the possibility that it could have been a bomb.

“It was something wrong with the plane itself; this is what I know,” he said on Friday.

He said things had been increasingly difficult for him since the 2011 revolution and the 2013 toppling of Mubarak’s successor, Mohamed Morsi, and things had only recently started looking better.

He had also been posting pictures on social media of Egypt’s ancient and natural beauty with the hashtag #this_is_egypt in an attempt to get foreign tourists to return for visits to the pyramids, the mosques and the beach resorts in the country.

Now it seems Egypt’s tourism revolution might have to be deferred, at best.

There was confusion and even panic at resorts in Sharm el-Sheikh following the suspension of flights.

Abdel Bari Atwan, who has written a book about the fundamentalist group the Islamic State, said a terrorist attack would be damaging to Egypt “because this would be the biggest blow to the jewel of the crown of the tourism industry in Egypt”.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the plane crash, and Atwan said he believed the group.

“There is no information on how they did it. I know personally those people usually tell the truth; it is very rare for them to tell lies. That’s why many people looking at the theatre of disaster feel there is something wrong,” he said.

The crash could, however, strengthen Russia’s resolve in Syria, where it has been assisting the regime of Bashar al-Assad to fight terrorism.

The attack comes as many Egyptians believe the heavy-handed approach to radicals of Egypt’s incumbent president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is paying off and deterring terrorists. He has banned the Muslim Brotherhood and imprisoned thousands of dissenters.

The first phase of the country’s parliamentary elections last month went off without a hitch, even though the parties and candidates who stood were mostly el-Sisi supporters or sympathisers.

But in its preliminary findings of its observation mission, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa said the elections took place “within the context of heightened security surveillance due to the increased threat of terrorism within the country”.

There has been speculation that the low turnout could have been due to this, and the lack of what critics say was real electoral competition.

The attack is unlikely to harm el-Sisi’s support as the other half of the country goes to vote in the second phase of the elections later this month, because many citizens approve of his tough stance.

Experts, however, warn that suppression could breed radicalism.

Raeesah Cassim Cachalia from the Institute for Security studies wrote in the think-tank’s publication ISS Today that a study in east Africa found that “state repression has been a leading facilitator of radicalisation”.

El-Sisi’s current strategy might keep the voters happy, but if he wants to keep the country safe and witness the return of the tourists, he might have to consider treating the underlying malaise as well.