叙利亚政府强拆大马士革支持叛乱社区

All that remains of Abu Mohammed's ancestral home here in Syria's capital are two small adobe brick rooms and a few fig, loquat and mulberry trees.

在叙利亚首都大马士革，穆罕默德(Abu Mohammed)家世代居住的家园如今只剩下两间土坯建造的小屋和几棵无花果树、枇杷树和桑树。

It was bulldozed as part of a government slum-clearance program that appears to have a political motive: isolate neighborhoods sympathetic to Syria's armed insurrection, and then obliterate them, according to critics, human-rights groups and even some officials within the government itself. 'We are like gypsies now,' says Mr. Mohammed, who took his wife and five children to another part of the city after sections of his neighborhood, Qaboun─one of the first to rise up against Syria's regime─were flattened and ringed by military posts.

作为政府贫民窟清理项目的部分，他的家被铲平了。而据批评人士、人权组织甚至还有政府内部的一些官员说，该项目似乎还有一个政治目的：孤立同情叙利亚武装叛乱的社区，并将这些社区彻底消灭。穆罕默德说，我们现在就像吉普赛人一样。他所在的社区Qaboun是第一批反抗叙利亚政权的社区之一。在Qaboun的一些部分被夷为平地并被军队的岗哨包围之后，穆罕默德带着他的妻子和五个孩子转移到了城市的另一个地方。

The campaign stands in contrast to the all-out urban warfare in the northern city of Aleppo. Here in the capital, Damascus, the strategy appears designed to cripple and disperse the rebels through the destruction and encirclement of communities where they operate.

大马士革的行动与叙利亚北部的阿勒颇城内爆发的全面战争形成了对比。首都大马士革的战略似乎是要阻碍和驱散暴乱分子，方法是破坏和包围暴乱分子活跃的社区。

For the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the stakes in Damascus are nothing short of retaining control of the nation itself. 'If they lose Damascus, they lose the state,' says Patrick Seale, a British author and Syria expert.

对于叙利亚总统阿萨德(Bashar al-Assad)领导的政府来说，大马士革的局势关系到叙利亚政府对整个国家的控制。英国作家、叙利亚问题专家西尔(Patrick Seale)说，如果他们失去大马士革，他们就会失去整个叙利亚。

Senior security officials within the Assad regime say partial demolitions of pro-rebel neighborhoods in and around Damascus are a key element of an ambitious counterinsurgency plan now unfolding. The plan also involves the expansion of regime-funded militias known as 'Popular Committees' within the capital.

阿萨德政府的高级安全官员说，对大马士革内部及周围支持叛乱的社区进行部分拆除，是一项正在进行中的大规模打击叛乱计划的一个关键组成部分。该计划还包括在大马士革扩大政府资助的国民军（即Popular Committees）。

These officials say the strategy applies lessons learned from other offensives against the rebels since the start of the conflict more than 20 months ago, most notably in the central city of Homs.

这些官员说，政府在制定这一战略时已经从逾20个月以来针对暴乱分子的进攻行动中吸取了教训，尤其是在中心城市霍姆斯对叛乱分子的进攻行动。

The government's official position is that the destruction is part of a long-discussed master plan to rid Damascus of illegal slums. City officials say illegal settlements account for nearly 20% of the capital's 26,500 acres.

政府的官方说法是，这次的拆除行动是一个经过长时间讨论的旨在清除大马士革非法贫民窟的总体规划的一部分。大马士革的官员说，在大马士革26,500英亩（约合107平方公里）土地中，非法定居点占据了接近20%。

Based on several extended visits to Damascus and vicinity last month─some of which coincided with demolition by military authorities─the destruction appears to be occurring only in areas where opposition fighters have been active. In addition, much of it has been overseen by the military rather than municipal authorities, residents say.

记者上个月对大马士革和附近地区进行了多次访问，在其中几次访问期间军方的强拆行动也在进行。基于这些访问得知，这次拆除行动似乎只在反对派武装分子活跃的地方进行。此外，一些居民说，大部分拆除行动由军方监督执行，而不是市政机构。

'There's still work to be done, we are not finished yet with cleansing operations that are in response to popular demand,' says Hussein Makhlouf, a relative of Mr. Assad and governor of Rif Damascus, the province surrounding the capital.

阿萨德的亲戚、大马士革附近大马士革农村省省长马赫卢夫(Hussein Makhlouf)说，我们还有工作要做，清理行动还没有完成，我们是按照广大民众的要求这么做的。