Sectarian tensions underlying conflict in Syria erupt in Sydney and MelbourneBy Caro Meldrum-Hanna
The sectarian tensions underlying the conflict in Syria have erupted in Australia, with acts of violence, harassment and threats committed by both sides.
In the past few months, the uprising against the regime of president Bashar al-Assad has escalated into a full-blown civil war which has claimed around 80,000 lives.
A United Nations investigative team has found "reasonable grounds" to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons have been used by both sides of the conflict.
But while Syria may be 14,000 kilometres away, last week the ABC's 7.30 reported on the scores of Australians travelling there to join the humanitarian effort and the fighting.
Now the hostilities have spilled over into communities here as well.
Australian nurse Sonya Abbas, a Sunni Muslim, has travelled to Syria twice. She says she is planning to return again to help in the humanitarian effort.
"I'm not a political person. What made me talk is because it's hurting me inside. It's what I see I have to say," she said.
Ms Abbas filmed what she saw during her last visit in March, documenting the civilian casualties
"I was hands-on in medical procedures, I basically helped in surgeries, I trained nursing staff."
Her husband Khalil Soubjaki spent time with the rebel Free Syria Army.
They were threatening me and calling me every second day, sometimes every three hours, two hours.
They say they want to kill me, shoot me, they wanna rape my wife, they wanna my daughter.
Khalil Soubjaki
"I understand now that I've gone easy because I could've been killed that many times, me and my husband, while we were there as well, so we were lucky to come back alive," Ms Abbas said.
Her brother Roger was not so lucky. A champion kickboxer, Mr Abbas is one of four Australians recently killed in Syria.
He was gunned down in the province of Aleppo in October.
A martyr website says he was fighting with the Al Qaeda-backed rebel group Jabhat al Nusra, but Ms Abbas wants her brother to be remembered as a humanitarian.
"Why is it all about Australians fighting in Syria? Why can't you see the fact that people are helping? Why?
"Anyone that goes to help is being accused of being a terrorist. This is what gets me angry."
The Abbas family's support for the rebel Free Syria Army has made them targets of Assad supporters at home.
Mr Soubjaki says he has six security cameras installed at his home.
"They were threatening me and calling me every second day, sometimes every three hours, two hours," he said.
"They say they want to kill me, shoot me, they wanna rape my wife, they wanna my daughter."
He says letters were also left on his SUV, signed by "the men of Assad".
Mr Soubjaki's caryard in Melbourne was also firebombed last year.
Both sides involved in Sydney violence
The sectarian violence has also erupted in Sydney and both sides are involved.
Jamal Daoud, a high-profile community leader in western Sydney, says the situation is becoming "very vicious".
Although he is a Sunni Muslim, because of his opposition to removing the Syrian regime by force, Mr Daoud says extremists at home view him with the same hatred they have for Shiites and Alawites.
He received the following message on his mobile phone:
You wanna go to war ya f***ing shiite dogs? We're gonna take you and your alawis to war ya f***ing dogs, all of yas to war in sydney
Yeah, boys you listening? Ya f***in dogs you can suck my c***, you and the police... Blood in blood out ya motha f***ers
Mr Daoud believes the trouble is coming from a small minority group who support the Jabhat al Nusra in Syria.
"This is the source of the violence in Sydney, the Jabhat al Nusra supporters," he said.
"The last two years they have flourished in western Sydney, they have flourished. We have seen a lot of new bookstores, masallahs and other centres."
One of these new centres is the Al Risalah bookstore in Bankstown, which over the past year has gained a reputation for being one of the most extreme Islamic centres in the country.
Al Risalah supporters played a prominent role in last year's protests in Sydney's CBD, which deteriorated into rioting against a film that mocked the Prophet Mohammed.
"We noticed after they created this bookstore, a lot of trouble started in Bankstown," Mr Dahoud said.
"For the last one-and-a-half years there was a lot of trouble... like extortion and threatening, bullying, intimidation.
"There is attacks on many Shiite businesses in that area."
The owner of a juice bar in Bankstown says he was forced to sell his business in June last year after being intimidated and assaulted by a group of men who reportedly emerged from the Al Risalah bookstore, which is located directly across the road.
Al Risalah declined 7.30's requests for an interview. A spokesman said he had no knowledge of the attack on the juice bar or any extortions or threats.
Business owners too afraid to speak out
More than 20 businesses in western Sydney have been targeted in the past year.
In a boycott list published on Facebook, most of their owners were too afraid to speak to us.
But one was prepared to talk with the help of Mr Daoud translating.
"Some people came and ask, demand from us donations for jihad in Syria and we refuse," the owner said.
"They used abusive language and threatened us more. He said if you no leave the area, no leave the shop after one week, one month, maybe I kill you, I kill your children."
NSW Police are encouraging people to come forward otherwise they are powerless to act.
"We do get intelligence about some of this going on, but the dilemma is someone has to be prepared to step forward and say, 'I will make a complaint, I will make a statement'," said Deputy Commissioner Nick Kaldas.
"And if they do, they have our guarantee that they will be looked after and taken care of and the matter will be dealt with."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-04/syria-hostilities-reach-back-to-australia/4733292
Topic: Sectarian tensions underlying conflict in Syria erupt in Australia