Washington, get ready for more Iranian influence after Bashar al-Assad falls in Syria
After the fall of Bashar-al Assad in Syria, Iran will compensate for its lost ally by strengthening its influence in Lebanon alongside its affiliate Hezbollah – the Shiite militant group that now dominates the country. To prevent this, Washington must take a leadership role in the Lebanon http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/...falls-in-Syria
December 16th, 2012, 15:34
American Patriot
Re: Syria
Oh, Washington WILL take up leadership by making sure that the Muslim Brotherhood gets in like all the other places....after all we can't discriminate against ONE terrorist group can we?
/shakes head
December 18th, 2012, 13:58
American Patriot
Re: Syria
Russia sends warships to Syria for possible evacuation
By Erika Solomon
BEIRUT | Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:29am EST
(Reuters) - Russia sent warships to the Mediterranean to prepare a potential evacuation of its citizens from Syria, a Russian news agency said on Tuesday, a sign President Bashar al-Assad's key ally is worried about rebel advances that now threaten even the capital.
Moscow acted a day after insurgents waging a 21-month-old uprising obtained a possible springboard for a thrust into Damascus by seizing the Yarmouk Palestinian camp just 2 miles from the heart of the city, activists said.
The anti-Assad opposition has posted significant military and diplomatic gains in recent weeks, capturing a series of army installations across Syria and securing formal recognition from Western and Arab states for its new coalition.
Assad's pivotal allies have largely stood behind him. But Russia, his main arms supplier, appeared to waver this week with contradictory statements repeating opposition to Assad stepping down and airing concerns about a possible rebel victory.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted unnamed naval sources on Tuesday as saying that two assault ships, a tanker and an escort vessel had left a Baltic port for the Mediterranean Sea, where Russia has a port in Syria's coastal city of Tartus.
"They are heading to the Syrian coast to assist in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens ... Preparations for the deployment were carried out in a hurry and were heavily classified," the Russian agency quoted the source as saying.
It was not possible to independently verify the report, which came a day after Russia confirmed that two citizens working in Syria were kidnapped along with an Italian citizen.
YARMOUK A "RED LINE"
In Damascus, activists reported overnight explosions and early morning sniper fire around the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. The Yarmouk and Palestine refugee "camps" are actually densely populated urban districts home to thousands of impoverished Palestinian refugees and Syrians.
"The rebels control the camp but army forces are gathering in the Palestine camp and snipers can fire in on the southern parts of Yarmouk," rebel spokesman Abu Nidal said by Skype.
"Strategically, this site is very important because it is one of the best doors into central Damascus. The regime normally does not fight to regain areas captured any more because its forces have been drained. But I think they could see Yarmouk as a red line and fight back fiercely."
Syria hosts half a million Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, descendants of those admitted after the creation of Israel in 1948, and has always cast itself as a champion of the Palestinian struggle, sponsoring several guerrilla factions.
The battle in Yarmouk was one of a series of conflicts on the southern edges of Damascus, as rebels try to choke off the capital to end 42 years of rule by the Assad family, who belong to the minority Alawite sect, derived from Shi'ite Islam.
Both Assad's government and the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels have enlisted and armed divided Palestinian factions as the uprising mushroomed from street protests into a civil war.
Streams of refugees have fled Yarmouk, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. Many have headed to central Damascus while hundreds more have gone across the frontier into Lebanon.
MEDICAL SHORTAGES, EXTREME HUNGER
More than 40,000 people have died in Syria's conflict, activists say. Around 200 died on Monday alone, according to the British-based Observatory, which has a network of activists across Syria. Violence has risen sharply, and with it humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.
The World Health Organisation said around 100 people were being admitted daily to the main hospital of Damascus and that supplies of medicines and anesthetics were scarce.
It also reported a rise in cases of extreme hunger and malnutrition coming from across Syria, including the rebel-dominated rural areas outside the capital, where the army has launched punishing air raids.
Aid organizations say fighting has blocked their access into many conflict zones, and residents in rebel-held areas in particular have grappled with severe food and medical shortages.
Fighting raged across Syria on Tuesday, with fighter jets and ground rockets bombarding rebel-dominated eastern suburbs of the capital and army forces shelling a town in Hama province after clashes reignited there over the weekend.
Rebels overran at least five army sites in a new offensive in Hama on Monday, opposition activists said.
Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the newly established rebel military command, said on Sunday fighters had been ordered to surround and attack army positions across Hama province. He said Assad's forces were given 48 hours to surrender or be killed.
In 1982 Hafez al-Assad, late father of the current ruler, crushed an uprising in Hama city, killing up to 30,000 civilians.
Qatiba al-Naasan, a rebel from Hama, said the offensive would probably bring retaliatory air strikes from the government but said that rebels were keen to put more strain on the army as living conditions deteriorated in the province.
"For sure there will be slaughter - if the army wants to shell us, many people will die," he said by Skype. "But at the same time our situation is already getting miserable. "
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that neither Assad's forces nor rebels seeking to overthrow him can win the war.
Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim in a power elite dominated by Assad's Alawites, is not part of the president's inner circle directing the fight against Sunni rebels but is the most prominent figure to say in public that Assad would not prevail.
(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes, Erika Solomon and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Afif Diab in Masnaa, Lebanon; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
In this image made from video, NBC News Chief Correspondent Richard Engel exits a car after crossing back into Turkey, after Engel and his team were freed unharmed following a firefight at a checkpoint after five days of captivity inside Syria, in Cilvegozu, Turkey, Tuesday, Dec. 18.
Anadolu via AP TV/AP
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition
NBC News Chief Correspondent Richard Engel and three members of his production crew were released safely from captivity last night, five days after being kidnapped in Syria, the news network reports. It is unclear who is responsible for the kidnapping, but the episode highlights the dangerous nature of reporting in war-torn Syria, a country the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) dubbed the deadliest place for journalists this year.
NBC reports that Mr. Engel’s captors have not been identified but are “not believed to be loyal to the Assad regime.” Engel and his team went missing after crossing into Syria from Turkey last week, and there had been no communication with the network – neither requesting ransom nor laying claim for the kidnapping – while the team was in captivity.
After entering Syria, Engel and his team were abducted, tossed into the back of a truck and blindfolded before being transported to an unknown location believed to be near the small town of Ma’arrat Misrin. During their captivity, they were blindfolded and bound, but otherwise not physically harmed, the network said.
Early Monday evening local time, the prisoners were being moved to a new location in a vehicle when their captors ran into a checkpoint manned by members of the Ahrar al-Sham brigade, a Syrian rebel group. There was a confrontation and a firefight ensued. Two of the captors were killed, while an unknown number of others escaped, the network said.
CPJ projects that 2012 will be the deadliest year yet for journalists, with 67 journalist deaths registered through mid-December alone. The high numbers are in large part attributed to the conflict in Syria and how it has impacted local and international journalists trying to report there. Four international journalists were killed in Syria in 2012, but the majority of the 28 journalists killed there this year were local reporters, largely working online.
“This feels like the first YouTube war,” BBC Middle East correspondent Paul Wood told CPJ. “There’s a guy with a machine gun and two guys next to him with camera phones.” Mr. Wood added that local journalists are facing multiple risks. “We’ve seen pro-regime journalists targeted by rebels – it is well known. But opposition journalists say the regime is intent on targeting them as journalists.”
The number of fatalities related to the Syrian conflict approached the worst annual toll recorded during the war in Iraq, where 32 journalists were killed in both 2006 and 2007.
Paul Wood … who covered Iraq and numerous other wars, said the Syrian conflict “is the most difficult one we’ve done.” Bashar al-Assad’s government sought to cut off the flow of information by barring entry to international reporters, forcing Wood and many other international journalists to travel clandestinely into Syria to cover the conflict. “We’ve hidden in vegetable trucks, been chased by Syrian police – things happen when you try to report covertly.”
With international journalists blocked and traditional domestic media under state control, citizen journalists picked up cameras and notepads to document the conflict – and at least 13 of them paid the ultimate price. One, Anas al-Tarsha, was only 17 years old. At least five of the citizen journalists worked for Damascus-based Shaam News Network, whose videos have been used extensively by international news organizations.
Engel is an experienced reporter who reported on the Iraq war in its entirety and has “covered wars, revolutions and political transitions around the world over the last 15 years,” according to NBC. But there are many factors making reporting by inexperienced journalists in high-risk countries like Syria increasingly common today.
In addition to the rise of Internet journalism, there are other factors like “relatively cheap flights to some of the world’s trouble spots” and “shrinking budgets for foreign news” that “have dramatically reduced barriers to entry for would-be foreign correspondents,” reports the BBC.
For organisations working to improve the safety of journalists it’s a cause for increasing concern.
“There’s something of a worrying trend developing,” says Hannah Storm, director of the International News Safety Institute. “I’m hearing it from people that have recently graduated. I’m seeing it on Facebook. And I see it sometimes when I talk to students in universities.
“It feels like now in places like Syria there are more and more people in their early or mid-20s with little or no experience - but with an overriding enthusiasm which makes them want to go out there and make a name for themselves, without taking the realities on board.”
Many of these young reporters are working as freelancers, which can create an additional risk. Freelance reporter Austin Tice has been missing since August when he was kidnapped near Syria’s capital, Damascus. The Monitor reports that the number of journalists kidnapped has gone up, and "with the rise in the number of reporters operating in dangerous places like Syria – and with many parties seeing value in targeting them – many expect the threat to persist,” reports the Monitor. However, while all journalists reporting in conflict zones can expect to face threats, the increasing number of freelancers can make working in places like Syria “particularly acute, as they are often operating without significant institutional backing and experience.”
"More and more of those journalists are freelancers because of the nature of the changing field," El Zein says, referring to the rise in the number of freelancers reporting in dangerous places, traditionally more a world for journalists on the staff of major publications.
"Especially in Syria, the risks are very high for journalists, and a freelancer going in there without any support structure – it can be very risky and daunting."
The Christian Science Monitor’s Tom Peter has been in and out of Syria over the course of the past few months and noted other distinct differences in reporting from Syria compared to other conflict zones in the past. “With Aleppo just a two-hour drive from Kilis [Turkey], many journalists have opted to drive into Syria each morning and return to Turkey to write stories and sleep. Not only is it safer, but electricity and Internet access are a sure thing,” he writes.
The commute made my job of writing and filing stories easier, but it also made for a surreal reporting experience. In one afternoon, I might find myself taking cover as windows blew out around me in a bombing. By that evening, I'd be back in Kilis getting my hair cut in a barbershop where a miscommunication led to an accidental mud facial mask.
I've always thought the hardest part of conflict journalism is the anxiety you feel before and after an assignment. When you're navigating a war, you're too busy to think about the what-ifs. Commuting in and out every day creates one of the strangest cycles of stress and decompression I've ever experienced.
December 18th, 2012, 17:05
American Patriot
Re: Syria
Russia eyes Syria evacuation as rebels take Damascus district
Mon, Dec 17 2012
Homes destroyed in Syria airstrike
Free Syrian Army fighters from Al-Farooq battalion celebrate after the fighters said they fought and defeated government troops in Halfaya, near Hama December 18, 2012. REUTERS/Samer Al-Hamwi/Shaam News Network/Handout
By Erika Solomon
BEIRUT | Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:27am EST
(Reuters) - Russia sent warships to the Mediterranean to prepare a potential evacuation of its citizens from Syria, a Russian news agency said on Tuesday, a sign President Bashar al-Assad's key ally is worried about rebel advances now threatening even the capital.
Moscow acted a day after insurgents waging a 21-month-old uprising obtained a possible springboard for a thrust into Damascus by seizing the Yarmouk Palestinian camp, an urban zone just 2 miles from the heart of the city, activists said.
The Syrian opposition has scored significant military and diplomatic gains in recent weeks, capturing several army installations across Syria and securing formal recognition from Western and Arab states for its new coalition.
Despite those rebel successes, bloodshed has been rising with more than 40,000 killed in a movement that began as peaceful street protests but has transformed into civil war.
Assad's pivotal allies have largely stood behind him and Iran, believed to be his main bankroller in the conflict, said there were no signs of Assad was on the verge of being toppled.
"The Syrian army and the state machine are working smoothly," Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Moscow on Tuesday.
But Russia, Assad's primary arms supplier, has appeared to waver with contradictory statements over the past week stressing opposition to Assad stepping down and airing concerns about a possible rebel victory.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted unnamed naval sources on Tuesday as saying that two armed landing craft, a tanker and an escort vessel had left a Baltic port for the Mediterranean Sea. Russia has a naval maintenance base in the Syrian port of Tartus, around 250 km (155 miles) northwest of Damascus.
"They are heading to the Syrian coast to assist in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens ... Preparations for the deployment were carried out in a hurry and were heavily classified," the Russian agency quoted the source as saying.
Assad and his minority Alawite sect retain a solid grip on most of the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, where their numbers are high. But the mostly Sunni Muslim rebels now control wide swathes of rural Syria, have seized border zones near Turkey in the north and Iraq to the east, and are pushing hard to advance on Damascus, Assad's fulcrum of power that sits close to the western frontier with Lebanon.
It was not possible to independently verify the Interfax report, which came a day after Russia confirmed that two citizens working in the Latakia province were kidnapped along with an Italian citizen. About 5,3000 Russian citizens are registered with consular authorities in Syria.
YARMOUK A "RED LINE"
In Damascus, activists reported overnight explosions and early morning sniper fire around the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. The Yarmouk and Palestine refugee "camps" are actually densely populated urban districts home to thousands of impoverished Palestinian refugees and Syrians.
"The rebels control the camp but army forces are gathering in the Palestine camp and snipers can fire in on the southern parts of Yarmouk," rebel spokesman Abu Nidal said by Skype.
"Strategically, this site is very important because it is one of the best doors into central Damascus. The regime normally does not fight to regain areas captured any more because its forces have been drained. But I think they could see Yarmouk as a red line and fight back fiercely."
Syria hosts half a million Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, descendants of those admitted after the creation of Israel in 1948. Damascus has always cast itself as a champion of the Palestinian struggle, sponsoring several guerrilla factions.
The battle in Yarmouk was one of a series of conflicts on the southern edges of Damascus, as the rebels try to seal off the capital in their campaign to end 42 years of rule over the major Arab state by the Assad family.
Both Assad's government and the rebels have enlisted and armed divided Palestinian factions.
Streams of refugees have fled Yarmouk. Many have headed to central Damascus while hundreds more have crossed into Lebanon.
"We walked out on foot without our belongings until we reached central Damascus. We got in a taxi and drove straight for the border," said 75-year-old Abu Ali, speaking at the Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing.
Abu Ali said around 70 percent of Yarmouk residents had fled and many had slept rough on the streets of Damascus.
MEDICAL SHORTAGES, EXTREME HUNGER
Around 200 people died in Syria on Monday alone, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across the nation. Violence has risen sharply, and with it humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.
The World Health Organisation said around 100 people were being admitted daily to the main hospital of Damascus and that supplies of medicines and anesthetics were scarce.
It also reported a rise in cases of extreme hunger and malnutrition coming from across Syria, including the insurgent-dominated rural areas outside the capital, where Assad has unleashed warplanes to try to dislodge rebel units.
Aid organizations say fighting has blocked their access into many conflict zones, and residents in rebel-held areas in particular have grappled with severe food and medical shortages.
Fighting raged across Syria on Tuesday, with fighter jets and ground rockets bombarding rebel-controlled eastern suburbs of the capital and army forces shelling a town in Hama province after clashes reignited there over the weekend.
The Syrian government severely restricts media access into the country, making it difficult to report events on the ground.
An news team for the American NBC network who were kidnapped after entering Syria through the rebel-held northern border returned to Turkey on Tuesday after being freed in a gunfight.
NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel said his team was held by an unidentified band for five days, and the men were subjected to psychological torture including mock shootings.
He said he had a "very good idea" who his captors were.
"This was a group known as the shabbiha. This is a government militia. These are people who are loyal to President Bashar Assad," he said on NBC, adding that the kidnappers spoke openly about their allegiance to the Damascus government.
(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes, Erika Solomon and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Afif Diab in Masnaa, Lebanon, Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Russia is planning to install Iskander surface missiles in Syria and its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, in a response to United States missile interceptors in Poland and U.S.-Israeli military aid to Georgia, an Israeli news agency reported on Monday.
Moscow seems to be eying Poland, the Middle East, and possibly Ukraine, as the main arenas for its reprisals, as Russia is reported to plan arming warships, submarines and long-range bombers in the Baltic and Middle East with nuclear warheads, DEBKAfile reported.The plan includes the establishment of big Russian military, naval and air bases in Syria and the release of advanced weapons systems withheld until now to Iran, with the S-300 air-missile defense system, and the nuclear-capable Iskander to Syria.
Shortly before the Georgian conflict flared, Moscow promised Washington not to let Iran and Syria have these sophisticated pieces of hardware.
The Iskander's cruise attributes make its launch and trajectory extremely hard to detect and intercept. If this missile reaches Syria, Israel will have to revamp its anti-missile defense array and Air Force assault plans for the third time in two years, as it constitutes a threat which transcends all its defensive red lines.
Moscow's military planners know this and are therefore considering new sea and air bases in Syria as sites for the Iskander missiles, DEBKAfile reported. Russia would thus keep the missiles under its hand and make sure they were not transferred to Iran, it added.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be invited to Moscow soon to finalize these plans in detail, according to the report.
Military spokesmen in Moscow also said at the weekend that Russian military planners started redesigning the nation’s strategic plans as a fitting response to the U.S. decision to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and over the recent clashes in Georgia, DEBKAfile reported.
December 21st, 2012, 14:09
American Patriot
Re: Syria
Geez.
The Mayan's got it wrong, today wasn't the day. But it's coming and soon....
December 30th, 2012, 01:59
falcon
Re: Syria
Hidden US-Israeli Military Agenda: “Break Syria into Pieces”
A timely article in the Jerusalem Post in June brings to the forefront the unspoken objective of US foreign policy, namely the breaking up of Syria as a sovereign nation state –along ethnic and religious lines– into several separate and “independent” political entities. The article also confirms the role of Israel in the process of political destabilization of Syria. The JP article is titled: “Veteran Kurdish politician calls on Israel to support the break-up of Syria‘ (by Jonathan Spyer) (The Jerusalem Post (May 16, 2012) The objective of the US sponsored armed insurgency is –with the help of Israel– to “Break Syria into Pieces”.
The “balkanisation of the Syrian Arab Republic” is to be carried out by fostering sectarian divisions, which will eventually lead to a “civil war” modelled on the former Yugoslavia. Last month, Syrian “opposition militants” were dispatched to Kosovo to organize training sessions using the “terrorist expertise” of the US sponsored Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in fighting the Yugoslav armed forces.
Sherkoh Abbas, President of the US based Kurdistan National Assembly of Syria (KNA) has “called on Israel to support the break-up of Syria into a series of federal structures based on the country’s various ethnicities.” (Ibid)
One possible ”break-up scenario” pertaining to Syria, which constitutes a secular multi-ethnic society, would be the formation of separate and “independent” Sunni, Alawite-Shiite, Kurdish and Druze states: “We need to break Syria into pieces,” Abbas said. (Quoted in JP, op. cit., emphasis added).
“The Syrian Kurdish dissident argued that a federal Syria, separated into four or five regions on an ethnic basis, would also serve as a natural “buffer” for Israel against both Sunni and Shi’ite Islamist forces.” (Ibid.).
Ironically, while Islamist forces are said to constitute the main threat to the Jewish State, Tel Aviv is providing covert support to the Islamist Free Syrian Army (FSA). http://www.globalresearch.ca/article...riakurd438.jpg Map 1 Meeting behind Closed Doors at the US State Department
A top level US State Department meeting was held in May with members of the Syrian Kurdish opposition. In attendance were representatives of the Kurdish National Council (KNC), Robert Stephen Ford, the outgoing US ambassador to Syria (who has played a key role in channelling support to the rebels) as well as Frederic C. Hof, a former business partner of Richard Armitage, who currently serves as the administration’s “special coordinator on Syria”. (Ibid). The delegation also met with Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.
Frederic C. Hof, Robert Stephen Ford and Jeffrey Feltman are the State Department’s key Syria policy-makers, with close links to the Syrian Free Army (SFA) and the Syrian National Council (SNC).
http://www.globalresearch.ca/article...es/Feltman.bmp
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman http://www.globalresearch.ca/articlePictures/hof.jpg
Frederic C. Hof, The Administration’s “special coordinator on Syria” http://www.globalresearch.ca/article...ordrobert3.jpg
Robert S. Ford, outgoing US Ambassador to Syria
The public statements of KNA leader Sherkoh Abbas in the wake of the State Department meeting suggest that the political fracturing of the Syrian Arab Republic along ethnic and religious lines as well as the creation of an “independent Kurdistan” were discussed. “State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner described [the meeting's] purpose as part of ‘ongoing efforts… to help the Syrian [Kurdish] opposition build a more cohesive opposition to Assad.’” (Ibid).
The KNA leader called upon Washington to support the creation of a separate Kurdish State consisting of “an autonomous region in Syria; joining the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq – which borders the Kurdish region in Syria; or perhaps an even larger Kurdish state” [Greater Kurdistan].
“The Kurdish people, in all parts of Kurdistan, seek the right to form an independent Kurdish state. We can only achieve this cherished goal with the help of the western democracies, and first and foremost the U.S.” said Sherkoh Abbas. (Syria: An Alternative, Choice, Ekurd.net, May 22, 2012)
It is worth noting, in this regard, that the creation of a “Greater Kurdistan” has been envisaged for several years by the Pentagon as part of a broader “Plan for Redrawing the Middle East”.(See map 2 below)
This option, which appears unlikely in the near future, would go against the interests of Turkey, a staunch ally of both the US and Israel. Another scenario, which is contemplated by Ankara would consist in the annexation to Turkey of parts of Syrian Kurdistan. (See map above).
“Greater Kurdistan” would include portions of Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey as conveyed in Coronel Ralph Peters (ret) celebrated map of “The New Middle East” (see below). (For Further details see Mahdi Nazemroaya’s November 2006 Global Research article).
Colonel Peters taught at the US Military Academy. Detailed analysis on Syria.
Over 30 chapters, available from Global Research at no charge SYRIA: NATO’s Next “Humanitarian” War?
ONLINE INTERACTIVE I-BOOK
- by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky – 2012-07-15 Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a “New Middle East”
- by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya – 2006-11-18
Towards the balkanization (division) and finlandization (pacification) of the Middle East Map 2. The New Middle East
http://www.globalresearch.ca/article...dle%20East.jpg
The following map was prepared by Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters. It was published in the Armed Forces Journal in June 2006,
Peters is a retired colonel of the U.S. National War Academy. (Map Copyright Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Peters 2006).
Although the map does not officially reflect Pentagon doctrine, it has been used in a training program at NATO’s Defense College for senior military officers.
This map, as well as other similar maps, has most probably been used at the National War Academy as well as in military planning circles. http://www.globalresearch.ca/hidden-...o-pieces/31454
December 30th, 2012, 16:44
American Patriot
Re: Syria
You know... if that were A plan it would be better than NO plan in my opinion. They are killing their civilians right and left.
To me, it's merely "the shape of things to come" to America.
December 31st, 2012, 17:31
American Patriot
Re: Syria
Reports: Russia sends another naval ship to Syria
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian news agencies say the navy is sending another ship to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base.
The reports Sunday by the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official in the military general staff as saying the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, has set sail from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The ship is expected to arrive in the Tartus area in early January.
The reports gave no information on the ship's intent. But Russian diplomats have said that Moscow is preparing a plan to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The Defense Ministry announced two weeks ago that several ships were being dispatched to the Mediterranean.
The White House on Thursday again evaded direct questions about whether chemical weapons have been deployed in Syria.
White House press secretary Jay Carney would not deny definitively that chemical weapons were used in the city of Homs, despite claims made in a recent classified State Department cable that such weapons had been used.
Carney referred to the information in the cable as “anecdotal” and said that the State Department could not independently corroborate the information in the cable, which originated from a third-party source on the ground in Syria.
“The State Department addressed this issue yesterday. One of our diplomatic posts received anecdotal information from a third party regarding an alleged incident in Syria in December,” Carney said during the White House press briefing.
“This information was relayed to the State Department in Washington. We looked into these allegations at the time we received the information and found no credible evidence to corroborate or confirm that chemical weapons were used,” Carney said.
Foreign Policy magazine broke the news of the cable earlier this week and provided additional evidence that chemical weapons were likely used:
Activist and doctors on the ground in Homs have been circulating evidence of the Dec. 23 incident over the past three weeks in an attempt to convince the international community of its veracity. An Arabic-language report circulated by the rebels’ Homs medical committee detailed the symptoms of several of the victims who were brought to a makeshift field hospital inside the city and claims that the victims suffered severe effects of inhaling poisonous gas.
Activists have also been circulating videos of the victims on YouTube and Facebook. In one of the videos, victims can be seen struggling for breath and choking on their own vomit. (More videos, which are graphic, can be found here, here, here, here, hereand here.)
Carney went on to say in Thursday’s briefing that the U.S. is “closely” monitoring the situation.
“We continue to closely monitor Syria’s proliferation-sensitive materials and facilities and have been consistent and clear about our red lines regarding chemical weapons in Syria,” Carney said. “As the president said, if the Assad regime makes the tragic mistake of using chemical weapons or fails to meet its obligation to secure them, they will be held accountable.”
President Barack Obama has dubbed the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a “red line” that would force the U.S. to take action.
However, the White House’s continued refusal to acknowledge that reported use of chemical weapons could be an indication that those red lines are flexible.
It is difficult to verify the use of chemical weapons, particularly in Syria where the situation is consistently in flux.
While Carney maintained that the Foreign Policy report provided no “credible” evidence of a chemical weapons attack, he declined to elaborate on how the State Department made this determination.
January 17th, 2013, 21:00
Ryan Ruck
Re: Syria
It's probably being kept under wraps because if it was acknowledged they were used, Obama would actually have to do something about it since that was the "red line" he set.
January 17th, 2013, 21:20
American Patriot
Re: Syria
It seems to me that if they are "keeping it under wraps" there's yet again an impeachable offense. Leastways seems so to me.
Benghazi
Second Amendment
Syria
When does this stop?
January 17th, 2013, 21:22
American Patriot
Re: Syria
And I forgot to MENTION Algeria... it's apparently pretty bad.
Many contractors dead. Americans missing, dead or hostages.
Not good
January 30th, 2013, 16:57
vector7
Re: Syria
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Donaldson
It seems to me that if they are "keeping it under wraps" there's yet again an impeachable offense. Leastways seems so to me.
Just a month after war-criminal Barack Obama made a big show of threatening Damascus if they attempt deployment of any chemical weapons -labeling their potential use by the cornered Assad regime as 'totally unacceptable'- emails now uncovered by a hacker in Germany betray a downright evil scheme between Obama and the Gulf Arab state of Qatar to supply 'Free Syrian Army' rebels with chemical artillery shells -apparently fire them into civilian areas- then blame their use on the Assad regime... nice, huh?
One can only assume this was an effort to establish a false pretext for US intervention in Syria- on the side of the jihadis, of course! The hacked document shows that chemical weapons were to be delivered to Homs, Syria via Qatar -who got the green light from Obama/would pay the agent handsomely- and was careful to specify the kind of Soviet-era shells to be sourced from Qaddafi's residual chemical stockpiles (proof you can't take it with you), as the type was thought to be plentiful in Assad's depots and would be assumed by the world to have been his...any of you dizzy, snake-fascinated Obama voters finally waking up this time?
The email sent last Xmas day from from Britam's Business Development Director David Goulding to (company founder) Philip Doughty:
'Phil: We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington. 'We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. 'They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record. 'Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion? 'Kind regards, David.'
January 30th, 2013, 17:02
American Patriot
Re: Syria
So.... some people IN the US Government are complicit in trying to set up the chemical warfare thing then?
So all of that other stuff about chemicals being readied, was that all window dressing by and for the media to set things up?????
January 30th, 2013, 17:17
vector7
Re: Syria
A Fast and Furious with MB/AQ rebels in Benghazi earmarked for Syria, creating a Responsibility to Protect:
Earlier this week, Frank Gaffney appeared on Fox Business News with Eric Bolling to discuss the civil war in Libya. First, Aaron Klein of WND reports on Obama national security adviser Samantha Power’s relationship with far-leftist George Soros and their common affinity for the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ provision in the UN’s Libya resolution. The left correctly sees this ‘Responsibility to Protect’ at least as a blow to American sovereignty; it’s time all Americans get to know the implications of this dangerous new precedent.
Also featured in the clip is San Francisco attorney Yasser Tabbara, appearing as a representative for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an unindicted coconspirator in the largest terrorist finance trial in American history. Tabbara– just back from Egypt– accuses Frank of demonizing the Muslim Brotherhood.
Now with more funding:
Quote:
Originally Posted by vector7
More manufactured Crisis...
Muslim Brotherhood establishes militia inside Syria The Muslim Brotherhood has established its own militia inside Syria as the country's rebels fracture between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have told The Daily Telegraph.
Syrian refugees at the Turkey- Syria border in Hatay Photo: EPA
By Ruth Sherlock, Richard Spencer in Beirut
6:48PM BST 03 Aug 2012
Calling itself the "Armed Men of the Muslim Brotherhood", the militia has a presence in Damascus as well as opposition hot spots like Homs and Idlib. One of their organisers, who called himself Abu Hamza, said that he started the movement along with a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the opposition alliance.
"We saw there were civilians with weapons inside, so we decided to co-operate with them and put them under one umbrella," he said.
Hossam Abu Habel, whose late father was in Syria's Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s, said that he raised $40-50,000 (£25,000-£32,000) a month to supply Islamist militias in Homs province with weapons and other aid.
The militias he funded were not affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main rebel movement, added Mr Abu Habel.
"Our mission is to build a civil country but with an Islamic base," he said. "We are trying to raise awareness for Islam and for jihad."
The Syrian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood has been revitalised by the organisation's success in Egypt, where it won both parliamentary and presidential elections.
In the early days of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, secular and Islamist rebels were both prepared to fight under the FSA's banner and recognise the SNC as their political masters.
But the FSA, dominated by defectors from the regime's army, has fallen out with the SNC, whose leaders are in exile. It now has its own political front, the Syrian Support Group (SSG). This split has divided the revolution's main international backers, with Saudi Arabia supporting the FSA and Qatar moving closer to the SNC and the Islamist militias.
The divisions are affecting operations on the ground: competing militias co-operate when necessary but otherwise disavow each other. "I would take it as an insult if you described me as FSA," said Abu Bakri, a front line commander of an Islamist militia in Aleppo calling itself the Abu Emara Battalion.
One activist described how he was working with Sunni politicians in Lebanon to buy arms for the FSA with Saudi money.
A member of the FSA command centre, located in neighbouring Turkey, told the Daily Telegraph that they have this week received large consignments of ammunition, machine guns and anti-tank missiles. At one point Saudi Arabia and Qatar were both funding the FSA, with the command centre receiving up to $3 million in cash every month. But the operative said the situation had changed.
"Now we are not working with the Qataris because they made so many mistakes supporting other groups."
But the fracturing of the armed opposition raises the prospect of post-Assad Syria becoming a battleground. "This adds to the fragmentation and tones down the credibility of the opposition," said Louay Sakka, the SSG's Executive Director. "Supporters should go through the proper channel of the Free Syrian Army military council rather than build their own militias."
Amr al-Azm, a Syrian-American academic who was briefly on the SNC, said that Syria risked the same kind of disintegration that was set in motion by Saddam Hussein's downfall in neighbouring Iraq. The West's decision to limit its involvement in the Syrian conflict – and refrain from supplying lethal weapons – had left a gap for the Islamists to fill.
"By playing to your own fears, you are making them come true," said Mr Azm. "By not intervening, you are forcing people to go those who have resources. No one wants to go to al-Qaeda, but if you are down to your last five bullets and someone asks you to say 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest) five times, you do it."
FOX NEWS – President Barack Obama says the U.S. now recognizes Syria’s main opposition group as the “legitimate representative” of the country’s people.
Obama says the Syrian Opposition Council is now “inclusive enough” to be granted greater legitimacy in the international community. The president says that level of recognition comes with responsibility, including making sure the group organizes itself effectively and is committed to a political transition that respects the rights of women and minorities.
The move paves the way for greater U.S. support as the group seeks the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Obama spoke in an interview with ABC News.
Here’s a description of the rebels that Obama just endorsed (h/t: sDee):
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Syrian rebel groups have chosen Brigadier Selim Idris, a former officer in President Bashar al-Assad’s army, to head their new Islamist-dominated military command, opposition sources said on Saturday.
…
The joint command named Islamist commanders Abdelbasset Tawil from the northern province of Idlib and Abdelqader Saleh from the adjacent province of Aleppo to serve as Idris’s deputies, the source said.
The unified command includes many with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and to Salafists, who follow a puritanical interpretation of Islam. It excludes the most senior officers who had defected from Assad’s military.
Its composition, estimated to be two-thirds from the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies, reflects the growing strength of Islamist fighters on the ground and resembles that of the civilian opposition leadership coalition created under Western and Arab auspices in Qatar last month.
http://www.newmediajournal.us/islami...m/09192011.jpg Sources say Syrian rebels, along with paramilitary brigades affiliated to al-Qaeda, are already being trained by Turkish military officers at “makeshift installations in Turkish bases near the Syrian border.”
Al-Qaeda insurgents have now crossed into Syria in an effort to bring down the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad. The armed presence of the terror group raises new concerns over what factions within the Syrian anti-government coalition will emerge triumphant if and when Assad falls.
Iraqi military officials have claimed hundreds of armed al-Qaeda insurgents from northern Iraq have recently crossed into Syria to join the fight against the security forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime. According to Iraqi officials, as the terrorists attempted to gain entrance into Syria, “dozens” of al-Qaeda fighters were arrested and three buses and a truck filled with heavy and light weapons were seized.
The terrorists, reportedly based in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh and its western province of Anbar, have also used Jordan and Turkey as access points into Syria. One Iraqi official said that Nineveh and Anbar have become “land bridges for the transportation of weapons and ammunition from the huge arsenal built up over its years of existence in Iraq.” Funding for the al-Qaeda incursion into Syria is reportedly coming from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states in the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The troubling news comes as Bashar Assad continues his vicious crackdown on Syria’s anti-government protesters, an assault which has to date killed an estimated 3,000 people and wounded over 10,000. However, the Syrian regime now finds itself faced with a growing armed resistance in the guise of the Free Syria Army, a newly organized militia comprised of defectors from Syria’s armed forces.
Now, the entrance of al-Qaeda onto the scene threatens to push Syria toward outright civil war. Moreover, the presence of al-Qaeda inter-mixed with Syrian rebels bring to mind the scenario recently played out in Libya in which the armed opposition, trained and equipped by NATO, consisted of a motley and nefarious hodgepodge of Islamists, former regime supporters and al-Qaeda insurgents.
In fact, other similarities to the Libyan campaign come to mind with the increasing role that NATO is playing behind the scenes of the conflict. According to Israeli intelligence sources, NATO, in conjunction with Turkey’s Military High Command, is already drawing up plans to arm rebels with “large quantities of anti-tank and anti-air rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns.”
Moreover, these same sources say Syrian rebels, along with paramilitary brigades affiliated to al-Qaeda, are already being trained by Turkish military officers at “makeshift installations in Turkish bases near the Syrian border.”
That Syrian President Bashar Assad should now find himself and his regime at odds with al-Qaeda should surprise little, given the terror group’s announcement in July of its solidarity with Syria’s anti-regime protesters.
Their ringing endorsement came in a video message delivered by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in which he claimed that Assad had betrayed the Arab world as “America’s partner in the war on Islam.” To that end, al-Zawahri urged the “free people of Syria and its mujahideen” to overthrow Assad, the “leader of criminal gangs.”
Par for the course, and outrageously wrongheaded. "Exclusive: Obama authorizes secret U.S. support for Syrian rebels," by Mark Hosenball for Reuters, August 1 (thanks to Ima):
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.
But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.
The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
'NERVE CENTER'
A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.
Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad's opponents.
This "nerve center" is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.
Turkey's moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with growing vehemence. Turkish authorities are said by current and former U.S. government officials to be increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.
European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad's departure.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be used against Assad's helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.
NBC said the shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, had been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.
On Wednesday, however, Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya that the group had "not obtained any such weapons at all." U.S. government sources said they could not confirm the MANPADs deliveries, but could not rule them out either.
Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.
Indications are that U.S. agencies have not been involved in providing weapons to Assad's opponents. In order to do so, Obama would have to approve a supplement, known as a "memorandum of notification, to his initial broad intelligence finding.
Further such memoranda would have to be signed by Obama to authorize other specific clandestine operations to support Syrian rebels.
Reuters first reported last week that the White House had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. It was unclear at that time whether Obama had signed it.
OVERT SUPPORT
Separately from the president's secret order, the Obama administration has stated publicly that it is providing some backing for Assad's opponents.
The State Department said on Wednesday the U.S. government had set aside a total of $25 million for "non-lethal" assistance to the Syrian opposition. A U.S. official said that was mostly for communications equipment, including encrypted radios....
Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, Washington representative of one of the most active rebel factions, the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group's behalf. The authorization was first reported on Friday by Al-Monitor, a Middle East news and commentary website....
Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government become directly involved in arming Assad's opponents.
The same clowns who are lining up against Michele Bachmann for wanting Muslim Brotherhood influence in the government investigated. What a coincidence.
Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups. Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad's opponents.
U.S. and European officials say that, so far, intelligence agencies do not believe the militants' role in the anti-Assad opposition is dominant.
President Obama announces an additional $155 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by the violence of the Assad regime. This aid from the American people is providing food, clean water, medicine, medical treatment, immunizations for children, clothing, and winter supplies for millions of people in need inside Syria and in neighboring countries.
Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country.
A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme 'approved by Washington' is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons.
Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S. would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people.
Scroll down for video
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...10_634x393.jpg
War games: An explosion in the Syrian city of Homs last month. It has been now been suggested that the U.S. backed the use of chemical weapons to spur international military intervention
According to ********.com, the December 25 email was sent from Britam's Business Development Director David Goulding to company founder Philip Doughty.
It reads: 'Phil... We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.
'We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.
'They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.
'Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?
'Kind regards, David.'
Britam Defence had not yet returned a request for comment to MailOnline.
Enlarge http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...57_634x269.jpg
Leaked: The email was allegedly sent from a top official at a British defense contractor regarding a 'Washington approved' chemical attack in Syria which could be blamed on Assad's regime
The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumés and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.
Dave Goulding's Linkedin profile lists him as Business Development Director at Britam Defence Ltd in Security and Investigations. A business networking profile for Phil Doughty lists him as Chief Operationg Officer for Britam, United Arab Emirates, Security and Investigations.
An official at the U.S. State Department told MailOnline today that the idea of leaked emails was 'absolutely ridiculous'.
The use of chemical warfare was raised at a press briefing in D.C. on January 28.
A spokesman said that the U.S. joined the international community in 'setting common redlines about the consequences of using chemical weapons'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...59_634x377.jpg
Devastation: People gather at a site hit by what activists said was missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet from forces loyal to Assad, at the souk of Azaz, north of Aleppo on January 13
A leaked U.S. government cable revealed that the Syrian army more than likely had used chemical weapons during an attack in the city of Homs in December.
The document, revealed in The Cable, revealed the findings of an investigation by Scott Frederic Kilner, the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, into accusations that the Syrian army used chemical weapons in the December 23 attack.
An Obama administration official who had access to the document was reported as saying: 'We can't definitely say 100 per cent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 was used in Homs on Dec. 23.'
Mr Kilner's investigation included interviews with civilians, doctors, and rebels present during the attack, as well as the former general and head of the Syrian WMD program, Mustafa al-Sheikh.
Dr. Nashwan Abu Abdo, a neurologist in Homs, is certain chemical weapons were used. He told The Cable: 'It was a chemical weapon, we are sure of that, because tear gas can't cause the death of people.'
Eye witness accounts from the investigation revealed that a tank launched chemical weapons and caused people exposed to them to suffer nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, delirium, seizures, and respiratory distress.
The symptoms suggest that the weaponized compound Agent-15 was responsible. Syria denied using chemical weapons and said it would never use them against citizens.
Speaking to Pentagon reporters at the time, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said his biggest concern was how the U.S. and allies would secure the chemical and biological weapons sites scattered across Syria and ensure the components don't end up in the wrong hands if the regime falls, particularly under violent conditions.
Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out brutal warfare in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT : 'SYRIAN REBELS TESTING CHEMICAL WEAPONS
ON RABBITS'
Over 300 Russian Marines are onboard a flotilla of at least five warships from Russia’s Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet en route to the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean, both Russian and Israeli sources have confirmed.
http://www.worldtribune.com/wp-conte...1/russnavy.jpg
Warships of the Black Sea, Baltic and North Fleets are participating in what Russian officials described as “the biggest combat exercises for decades.” /sana-syria.com
Moscow had earlier stated that the purpose of sending warships to Syria was to prepare for civilian evacuation in case of regime collapse.
However, that mission would not have required hundreds of Russian marines.
As the full-blown civil war rages on in Syria, Russia’s steadfast support of the Bashar Assad regime seems to be hardening in recent weeks, as NATO started to deploy Patriot anti-missile systems in Turkey to prevent Assad’s last minute desperate attack on Turkey.