Announcement of Islamic State in Aleppo Met with Widespread Denials. Opposition Gains Ground and Recognition in Europe
Posted by Joshua on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012
Obama offers new Syria coalition praise but not weapons – LA Times
“We have seen extremist elements insinuate themselves into the opposition, and one of the things that we have to be on guard about — particularly when we start talking about arming opposition figures — is that we’re not indirectly putting arms in the hands of folks who would do Americans harm, or do Israelis harm, or otherwise engage in actions that are detrimental to our national security.
So we’re constantly probing and working on that issue. The more engaged we are, the more we’ll be in a position to make sure that we are encouraging the most moderate, thoughtful elements of the opposition that are committed to inclusion, observance of human rights, and working cooperatively with us over the long term.”
AP Exclusive: Syrian rebels seize base, arms trove
By BEN HUBBARD | Associated Press –
Syrian army soldier prisoners stand near ammunition after Syrian fighters took over the military base in Aleppo, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
Here is video of the arms
BASE OF THE 46TH REGIMENT, Syria (AP) — After a nearly two-month siege, Syrian rebels overwhelmed a large military base in the north of the country and made off with tanks, armored vehicles and truckloads of munitions that rebel leaders say will give them a boost in the fight against President Bashar Assad’s army.
The rebel capture of the base of the Syrian army’s 46th Regiment is a sharp blow to the government’s efforts to roll back rebels gains and shows a rising level of organization among opposition forces.
More important than the base’s fall, however, are the weapons the rebels found inside.
At a rebel base where the much of the haul was taken after the weekend victory, rebel fighters unloaded half a dozen large trucks piled high with green boxes full of mortars, artillery shells, rockets and rifles taken from the base. Parked nearby were five tanks, two armored vehicles, two rocket launchers and two heavy-caliber artillery cannons.
Around 20 Syrian soldiers captured in the battle were put to work carrying munitions boxes, barefoot and stripped to the waist. Rebels refused to let reporters talk to them or see where they were being held.
The World’s Next Genocide
By SIMON ADAMS – Op-Ed Contributor
New York Times November 15, 2012
AT a recent meeting hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Peter W. Galbraith, a former American ambassador who witnessed ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, made a chilling prediction. “The next genocide in the world,” he said, “will likely be against the Alawites in Syria.”
A few months ago, talk of possible massacres of Alawites, who dominate Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, seemed like pro-regime propaganda. Now, it is a real possibility.
For more than a year, Mr. Assad’s government has been committing crimes against humanity in Syria. As it fights for survival on the streets of Aleppo and Damascus, the risk of unrestrained reprisals against Mr. Assad’s Alawite sect and Syria’s other religious minorities is growing every day. …..
As the civil war intensifies, Mr. Assad is increasingly outsourcing the dirty work. In Damascus, militia groups within Druse, Christian and Shiite areas are being armed by the government. While the justifications for these militias are “neighborhood self-defense” and the protection of religious sites, the shabiha emerged in a similar way before becoming killing squads for Mr. Assad. And by drawing Christians, Druse, Shiites and Alawites into the civil war on an explicitly sectarian basis, the Syrian government has all but guaranteed that there will be reprisals against these communities if Mr. Assad falls…..
Governments that have publicly committed themselves to helping end Syria’s misery, including the United States, must immediately do two things to help prevent a violent backlash against Alawites and other minorities. First, they must impress upon the newly united Syrian opposition that support depends on strict adherence to international humanitarian law. Armed groups who advocate fracturing Syria along sectarian or regional lines should be denied funds; there should be absolutely no aid for rebel groups who target Alawites and other minorities for reprisals or who commit war crimes….
Der Spiegel: Thirst for Revenge Syrian Rebels Have Lost Their Innocence
2012-11-20
By Christoph Reuter The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has perpetrated brutal attacks on both rebel fighters and civilians alike. Lately, though, the spotlight of world attention has been on alleged atrocities committed by those attempting …
In the new video, 13 Islamic radical factions denounced the coalition as a foreign creation.
Most important among them were the al-Tawheed Brigade, which is one of the largest rebel groups operating in Aleppo, and Jabhat al-Nusra – Arabic for “the Support Front” – which is mainly made up of foreign jihadi fighters. Jabhat al-Nusra has become notorious for suicide bombings targeting regime and military facilities and is at the forefront of fighting in Aleppo.
“We are the representatives of the fighting formations in Aleppo and we declare our rejection of the conspiratorial project, the so-called national alliance,” an unidentified speaker said in the video. “We have unanimously agreed to urgently establish an Islamic state.”
Islamist rebels challenge National Coalition
November 20, 2012
By Marlin Dick, The Daily Star
BEIRUT: A group of Islamist rebel factions in Aleppo has emphatically denounced the Syrian National Coalition and vowed to establish an Islamic state in Syria, highlighting the newly formed body’s struggle to shore up the ranks of the armed opposition.
But while the Islamist declaration generated vocal outrage by opposition activists and was at odds with rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, the National Coalition has at best a short honeymoon period in which to score tangible achievements.
A video posted on YouTube late Sunday showed representatives from more than a dozen Islamist rebel factions gathered in Aleppo to express their rejection of “the so-called conspiratorial ‘National Coalition,’” which was established in Doha, Qatar on Nov. 11 by leading opposition groups and figures.
The National Coalition was formed after pressure from Washington, which was disappointed with the performance over the last year by the principal opposition-in-exile bloc, the Syrian National Council.
The fighter who reads the announcement adds that the Islamist rebel factions are “unanimously agreed on establishing a just Islamic state,” as they reject any type of “foreign [-sponsored] coalitions and councils that are imposed on us.”
After the speaker concludes his short statement, one of the fighters standing around a long table adds an impromptu appeal to make the Quran the Constitution of a new Syrian state.
The Aleppo statement is made in the name of the Nusra Front, Tawhid Brigade and a host of other hard-line Islamist groups.
The mainstream FSA, according to Col. Malek al-Kurdi, its Turkey-based deputy commander, rejected the announcement and speculated that it had been made without the knowledge of the groups supposedly represented.
“We are trying, along with many battalions, to achieve the unity of arms against the regime of Bashar Assad,” Kurdi told The Daily Star.
“We do not support any talk of formation of [Islamic] emirates … the people will decide the type of regime” that should be established if the Assad government falls, he continued.
Kurdi dismissed the criticism by the Aleppo Islamists that the National Coalition was a foreign-dominated organization. “We support the National Coalition, which remains incomplete” in terms of its membership, he said, referring to the fact that the FSA had yet to be named to the group’s executive committee because it was involved in its own re-organization drive.
Kurdi said that foreign countries were supporting the attempts to unify the armed opposition into a single command structure, but “this doesn’t mean that the National Coalition is subject to a foreign agenda.”
The Aleppo announcement provoked objections and outrage by wide swathes of pro-uprising Syrians – they might not be enamored of the FSA, but view the brazen declaration of an Islamic state as contradicting the goals of the uprising.
The authenticity of the statement is also in doubt, as spokesmen from at least two of the main Islamist groups, the Tawhid Brigade and the Ahrar al-Sham Battalions, disassociated themselves from the development, in comments to Al-Jazeera television.
The head of the National Coalition, Ahmad Moaz Khatib, told Al-Jazeera he had doubts about how representative the statement was, and said “the street,” and not individual rebel groups, would decide Syria’s political future. ….
UK recognises Syria opposition coalition: London says National Coalition is the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
4th Friends of Syria conference to be held in Marrakech, Morocco
2012-11-20
Nov. 20, 2012 (Xinhua) — The 4th Friends of Syria conference will be held in Marrakech in central Morocco on Dec. 12, in an attempt to increase pressure on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a statement released by Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday.
Syrian rebels’ unnoticed gains
With events in Gaza dominating the news from the Middle East, the long-running conflict in Syria has slid down in the headlines. To the extent that Syria is being reported at all, the main story for several days has been of political wrangling over leadership of the opposition.
This is unfortunate, because important things are happening on the ground – largely unnoticed. Rebel fighters have made significant gains while the regime, despite its continuing ability to flatten whole streets with bombs and shellfire, appears to be making an unsteady retreat.
At the weekend, after a siege of more than a month, rebels overran the 46th Division’s base at Atarib, west of Aleppo city. The base, spread over 12 sq km and said to be the largest in northern Syria, had played a key role in the Assad regime’s defence of Aleppo.
Here is a report from Andrew Simmons of al-Jazeera English:….
This doesn’t mean that the fall of the regime is imminent. But it does mean the regime is now well beyond any point from which it can seriously hope to recover. And, as the rebels capture more and more of its own weapons, its decline is likely to quicken.
Comments (261)
Visitor said:
Where was ambassador Galbraith during the last 20 months?
Has he not already witnessed the massacres commited by the Alawite Shabi7ha? Why di he not speak about that?
As for the coalition, here it is again in a nutshell:
Strictly speaking the coalition does not have a mandate from the people. Therefore, anyone, and particularly the FSA, is entitled to challenge it on that basis. However, nothing should prevent those who challenge it to work with it if they agree with its platform keeping in mind that the current members of the coalition are not popularly elected. The coalition must declare also that it honors such challenges.
The members should also strictly behave themselves as such, i.e. non-elected members.
Perhaps the coalition should address that point and make it clear once and for all that once the regime has fallen, it will abide by any outcome of an internationally supervised election to elect a body that will replace it to lead the transition period.
This will also address the concerns of those countries who are hesitant to give the coalition full recognition.
November 20th, 2012, 6:35 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Militarily, it’s just a matter of time before the regime falls.
Assad now has to pull all his forces to defend Damascus. DAMASCUS. And the more troops he pulls to protect his capital city, the less troops he has for other fronts, such as Aleppo.
In the meantime the FSA grows stronger as they capture more and more weapons. With the newly captured heavy weapons, the FSA can begin to assault entrenched positions [EDITED]. If they can use their heavy weapons to capture more bases, the FSA will get MORE heavy weapons, and be able to attack even larger bases.
Furthermore, as the regime loses in territory and strength, more and more Sunni soldiers and officers will defect. Right now the primary thing keeping them in the regime’s army is fear of retaliation. But as the regime weakens, that fear weakens as well.
This is how guerilla wars are won.
Sometime within the next year, the siege of Damascus will begin.
November 20th, 2012, 6:36 pm
Syrialover said:
MARIGOLDRAN #2
You want the FSA to use captured weapons to besiege the historic Aleppo citadel?
I sure don’t. And neither do the people of Aleppo.
They should use historical precedent to surround it and starve the army out.
November 20th, 2012, 6:42 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Edited. Right. There’s more to a revolution than just war. You would not believe me if I told you who I am and where I’m living right now [and no, don’t bother asking].
November 20th, 2012, 6:44 pm
Syrialover said:
ALEPPO REBELS RETRACT REJECTION OF COALITION
Commanders in Aleppo voice their support to Syrian National Coalition but call for greater representation in it.
Opposition commanders in the Syrian city of Aleppo have voiced their support to the Syrian National Coalition, a day after a video emerged showing fighters from at least 14 brigades announcing their rejection of the opposition bloc.
The powerful Liwaa al-Tawhid Brigade, along with the Aleppo Military Council and Transitional Military Council, in a video uploaded on YouTube on Tuesday, said they would co-operate with the newly formed opposition body, but called for greater representation in it.
They also said that the earlier statement by some local commanders rejecting the coalition was due to “the marginalisation of the revolutionary forces on the ground”.
“We call on [the coalition] to increase the representation of the revolutionary forces and to activate their role in the coalition’s offices and apparatus,” Tuesday’s statement, read by Abdel Qader Saleh, the head the Liwaa al-Tawhid Brigade, said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/2012112016567298627.html
Comment: As expected, their heat-of-battle heads cooled down. Maybe Moaz al-Khatib gave them a friendly but firm fatherly call.
November 20th, 2012, 6:55 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Two days ago I mentioned Peter Galbraith article at the OTW walls blog,and offered what I believe in it.There will not be massacre against the Alawites,but they must not fight to the end,they should be smart and abandone Bashar,those who don’t , they will certainly lose.
At least there has been over 40,000 Sunni who were killed by Assad supporters,This is a huge massacre committed by Assad,the time is up for dictatorship,freedom and democracy for all, must be what we demand.
To the commentors, please avoid personal insults and avoid fabrications,or changing the article that you quote.
November 20th, 2012, 7:00 pm
Tara said:
I am glad that the Kurdish parties were not invited. They have ruined every single opposition meeting since the beginning of the revolution.. They have created scenes inside the meetings and stormed out from the locations in what looked to me like staged acts to show division. They have marginalized themselves and they deserved that position. I am sorry to day it.
Syria Kurdish leader rejects new opposition coalition
By Mohammed Abbas | Reuters – 2 hrs 56 mins ago
LONDON (Reuters) – A party that controls much of Syria’s Kurdish region on Tuesday rejected the new opposition coalition, highlighting the deep divisions still remaining between the many Syrian armed groups 20 months into the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said he had not been invited to talks in Doha this month in which the Syrian National Coalition was formed, and he labeled the group a proxy of Turkey and Qatar.
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-kurdish-leader-rejects-opposition-coalition-211415689.html
November 20th, 2012, 7:16 pm
SYR.EXPAT said:
“They should use historical precedent to surround it and starve the army out.”
That’s a good one. Please make sure you somehow find a way to send this suggestion to the FSA in Aleppo. No need for more destruction of historical site.
November 20th, 2012, 7:21 pm
SYR.EXPAT said:
“Obama offers new Syria coalition praise but not weapons”
Well, the FSA don’t seem to be interested in his praise or weapons. They are able to get them directly from the Syrian army for FREE with no strings attached.
November 20th, 2012, 7:27 pm
Citizen said:
The Assads: Washington’s one-time favorite family in Damascus
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2012/11/20/the-assads-washingtons-one-time-favorite-family-in-damascus.html
November 20th, 2012, 7:30 pm
mjabali said:
Majedkhaldoun:
I have a question for you?
You always attacked me because I question Islam among other things. What do you say when someone (Amjad of Arabia) say that his dick is the 6th pillar of Islam and people should worship his dick?
What do you say to this?
November 20th, 2012, 7:34 pm
mjabali said:
Amjad of Arabia al-Munafiq:
What you called “7th c. Jihadis” enslaved locals almost everywhere they went. They stole and messed up the place. People were better before these blood thirsty arrived? what do you say to that?
November 20th, 2012, 7:37 pm
Citizen said:
Fresh clashes erupt between Syrian rebels and Kurdish groups in Ras al-Ain
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/fresh-clashes-erupt-between-syrian-rebels-and-kurdish-groups-ras-al-ain
November 20th, 2012, 7:41 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
“The next genocide in the world will be against the Alawites in Syria.”
Wrong. The next will be against the unarmed Syrian Christians. It will be harder for the Jihadis to get at the Alawites. After all, the Alawites are armed and they have a tendency to shoot back.
November 20th, 2012, 7:43 pm
Sheila said:
Dear Majedkhaldoun,
The 40,000 Syrians killed so far are not all Sunni. The majority are Sunni, but this is because Sunnis are the majority in Syria. There are Syrians from all walks of life and maybe a disproportionate number of Alawiis due to the fact that they are disproportionately represented in the army.
November 20th, 2012, 7:55 pm
Majedkhaldoun said:
Dear Sheila
The number of dead are more than 40,000 by far probably over 65000, and yes there are Alawites and other sects who were killed,probably over 10,000,the real number we will know after we find out about those who disappeared,or presumably in jail,but no one knows what happen to them.
All these death is primarily due to the violent security brutal actions by Assad, he should have never used weapons against his people, they all are dead, this is already a huge massacre,but we must not go for revenge, massacre is bad, revenge is wrong,there is no moral justification for murder.
November 20th, 2012, 8:16 pm
Citizen said:
Weitere Sammlung aus und über Syrien, News, Videos, Fundstücke #Syria
16/11/2012
tags: Banditen, Contras, Erdogan, Exekutionen, Faschisten, Jihadisten, Katar, Kriegsverbrecher, Libyen, Merkel, NATO-Mafia-Allianz, Raqqa-Milizen, Ras Al Ain, Saudi Arabien, Takfiristen, türkische Nato-Proxy-Milizen, Tel Abiad, Westerwelle
Deutsche Regierung will deutsche Armee an Angriffskrieg gegen Syrien beteiligen
17. November 2012
Es ist offiziell: Wie die staatliche deutsche Tagesschau soeben mitteilte, will die deutsche Bunesregierung die deutsche Armee am türkischen Angriffskrieg gegen Syrien beteiligen….
http://urs1798.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/weitere-sammlung-aus-und-uber-syrien-news-videos-fundstucke-syria/comment-page-2/#comment-36872?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Net+News+Global&utm_term=Net+News+Global&utm_content=News+von+Net+News+Global
Die deutschen Soldaten sollen dort im türkisch-syrischen Grenzgebiet die Aufgabe wahrnehmen, Söldner und Todesschwadronen, die von der Türkei nach Syrien eindringen und dort Massaker verüben, bei ihren Verbrechen des Angriffskrieges Feuerschutz zu geben. Propagandistisch getarnt werden soll die Beteiligung deutscher Soldaten am Angriffskrieg gegen die Türkei als deutscher Beitrag zur Verteidigung des NATO-Bündnispartners Türkei…
../../..
November 20th, 2012, 8:18 pm
Sheila said:
Dear Mjabali,
You are one of the few that I respect from the opposite side. I had many good conversations with you and found you to be intelligent and knowledgeable. Please do not let them provoke you into this kind of talk. I understand your frustration with the bigotry and double standards of some people on this blog, but I assure you that not all people in the opposition think the same way. I actually think that the Alawii community is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I remember how in the beginning of the revolution, a group of 40 ex- government officers, most notably of which was Muhammad Salman the former information minister, issued an open letter to Bashar Alassad urging him to change course and fulfill the public demands. This group had many Alawii members. They were immediately hit hard by the regime and completely marginalized.
November 20th, 2012, 8:23 pm
True said:
What an episode on Aljazeera TV -The opposite direction … this shabi7 Shareef Sha7a6a was literally f***ed by the other Palestinian guy eh 🙂
November 20th, 2012, 8:26 pm
Sheila said:
Dear Marigoldran,
I am so intrigued! Give us a hint. At least what part of Syria are you from.
November 20th, 2012, 8:27 pm
SYR.EXPAT said:
“The next genocide in the world will be against the Alawites in Syria.”
Nonsense. However, those who stuck by the terrorist Syrian regime regardless of their religion or sect will surely pay the price. You can’t have it both ways. We hope the price will be paid through the legal system, with the possibility of forgiveness highly considered.
Those who robbed the country blind during the Assads’ reign of terror will have to give back the stolen property. Those who have blood on their hands will have to pay the price.
I am sure some of those people are now feeling the noose tightening around their ugly necks. I won’t blame them. The game is almost over.
So, why wait until it’s too late. This is the time to quickly disassociate from the terrorist Assad regime and seek forgiveness. If not, then they should blame no one but themselves.
November 20th, 2012, 9:05 pm
Visitor said:
The rag-tag al-mayadeen, mouthpiece of the so-called axis of resistance and reluctance, published on its Facebook page on Sunday a picture of a Syrian boy and a Syrian girl who were murdered by the criminal regime, fully bloodied, and claimed that this was a picture of Gazan kids killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. It, the rag-tag, later removed the pictures after its fiasco was uncovered but never bothered to acknowledge its fabrication or that the picture was that of Syrian kids killed by the criminal thugs that are still occupying few parts of Syria.
This is just so you know.
November 20th, 2012, 9:06 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
“The Friends of Syria Conference will be held in Marrakech, Morocco on Dec. 12”
I should definitely go. Quick! Where’s my backpack?
November 20th, 2012, 9:08 pm
Ghufran said:
So,if the rebels have plenty of fighters and weapons why do not they kick out those Takfiri terrorists especially those who are not Syrian and stop car bombs, random violence,etc?
Another question, if rebels do not want more blood shed why do not they extend an olive branch and a workable plan to absorb,instead of kiiling, thousands of Syrians who happen to work for the state ?
اسمع كلامك يعجبني أشوف فعايلك استعجب
At the end of the day,for Syria to stand up on its feet all Syrians have to live in peace with each other under the rule of the law,and if elections bring a moderate Islamist,then be it,people want to live and let live,Assad and his thugs may take their millions and run out of the country,it is those millions of Syrians who have no way out that I am worried about, personally,my loyalty and yours I hope, should be for the country and its people not politicians or leaders who are disposable and must serve the people not the other way around.
Look at the cities that has little or no violence, people actually live a near normal life, their main problems are traffic, prices and long security lines, I will take that any day over car bombs and air raids.
November 20th, 2012, 9:15 pm
Visitor said:
I feel compelled to make few corrections to some observers who may have made incorrect observations. We know for a fact that many of the deaths suffered by the Syrian armed forces, particularly at the very beginning of the events, were Sunnis killed by Alawite officers who were positioned behind them and shot them in the back. Even if we accept the claim that Alawites are disproportionately represented in the armed forces, yet most of the deaths suffered by the armed forces were low rank Sunni army soldiers. I would like to also question this claim of disproportionate representation and correct it by saying that they, the Alawites, are dispropotionately represented in the higher ranks and certain branches only.
The crime committed by the Alawites supporting the regime is unforgivable. We know that some, may be many, do not support the regime. But we only heard of few of them and they will be treated as citizens of equal rights and duties. But the criminals, no matter what sect they belong to will be punished. Have no doubts about it.
November 20th, 2012, 9:24 pm
Observer said:
There is clearly visceral hatred of Sunnis and a point of view about Sunni Islam as being inherently as evidenced by the comments of Warren and Majbali.
There is in my opinion very significant bizarre and deviant thinking in many current ideologies. I find it quite astonishing and disgusting to have clerics in Sunni Islam pontificate about the right of women to drive and about the so called evil of music. Some musician believe they see God when they listen to music and some mathematicians believe God exists in the beauty and exactness of mathematics. Certainly Hallaj understood the concept of surrender to the will of God fully and the first mystic is supposed to be Rabiaa al Adwyia the nurse of the prophet and Ali Ibn Abi Taleb as well. There is also some bizarre ideology in the Shia doctrine with the belief of the disappearance of the 12th Imam and his expected return at the end of time. Likewise the belief that Ali is divine. It is no less bizarre than so called 623 daily rules in Judaism.
Again as Renan had said nationalism is a distorted and self centered view of one’s history and ideology combined with utter hatred and contempt of some other. This is exactly the same when it comes to rabid religious self centered ideologies. I can fully understand that some Muslims have revolted against the extremism exhibited by some Sunnis and their pretense of being the only right ones. But in this revolt the sects have also built on a false ideology of hatred and victimhood.
The Crusades practiced cannibalism for the terror’s sake for example and all in the name of that most gentle and beautiful of messages and messengers; for if anyone reads the four Gospels one cannot find one instance of hatred or malice; yes anger at the hypocrisy of some but certainly no hate.
Remember the Hindu that came crying to Ghandi telling him that he just smashed the head of a Muslim boy and slaughtered his family, and Ghandi asking him to go adopt a Muslim orphan boy and RAISE him as a Muslim for the sake of his redemption. This is tolerance; it is not compromise on principles or accepting the other’s pretense of righteousness but honest and civil disagreement.
So when I read the venom coming out from both sides of the fence on these issues I pity the protagonists.
I have heard people express the desire for revenge on the Assad family including the children and I shudder at the hatred that I am witnessing and reading on this blog.
Justice is not revenge. Truth and reconciliation commission now.
In the meantime, I would have never ever thought that parts of the Damascus suburbs are now off limits to a regime that insinuated itself into every little aspect of people’s life and used all means and all methods and barbarism to remain in power and terrorize the population. I am sorry that the pro regime groups and supporters are now in terror.
Can someone tell me how is it possible that a whole division is defeated? Where are the supporting divisions? How come the undisputed air force cannot come to the rescue? How is it possible that tanks and artillery are falling into the hands of the FSA? How is it possible that Mezzeh is getting mortar rounds? If this is not a collapse of the regime then what is it?
Cheers
November 20th, 2012, 9:37 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Observer
I like to answer your last paragraph
The reason this is happening is that the military machine of Assad are getting weak,morally,physically and there are defections, the pace of the end is always faster than the begining,collapse of the regime may come much faster than anyone would expect,and will surprise us all.
November 20th, 2012, 9:54 pm
Aldendeshe said:
WLEEEEE, WLEEEEEE, WLEEEEE…Oh Landis, LOL and LOL, I kind like your womanly attribute, always liked softy men who act like woman, maybe because I like women and hate men, hell if I was a women I will never give a man a minute of my time, it will be a waste of precious moment that can be spent with another woman.
But girly man, stop screaming the “THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING” when a dozen army conscripts, 5 boxes of ammunition and half a dozen armored tanks falls into the fighters. Assad still have 5438 operable tank alone, few thousand strategic missiles, enough ammo to last 10 years, and of course all the WMD that can wipe planet earth 3 times over.
That said I am not discounting the accomplishment of the fighters.
November 20th, 2012, 9:58 pm
Syrialover said:
MJABALI I agree with what SHEILA said about you in #18.
I also respect you from earlier discussions, and it’s been disappointing to see you caught up in recent dogfights here.
The case SHIELA gave about Alawis who voiced objections is not the only one. I remember a number of similar situations being reported and the severe retaliation against them.
I have heard of Christians and Alawis out there fighting with the FSA. And Alawis will certainly be included in the new Coalition (such as their new representative in Paris).
This signals the importance of all Alawis who are not directly implicated in regime atrocities being given loud and clear reassurance, inclusion and protection by those who will be replacing Assad. And the rest given due legal process.
The Coalition and FSA and LCC leadership already know that, and that if post-Assad Alawi massacres occur it will be very damaging to everyone in the new Syria.
November 20th, 2012, 10:23 pm
Richard said:
28 Aldendeshe
Assad has plenty of weapons, not enough dedicated people to use them. The rebellion has the opposite condition. Therefore, the capture of weapons by the rebellion, together with signs of further erosion of Assad’s support, are very significant.
Also, don’t be ashamed of your sexual attraction to Dr. Landis, but it is not necessary to share your feelings with the group.
November 20th, 2012, 10:26 pm
Syrialover said:
What a relief to have a break from the ugly WARREN posts.
I guess he’s busy with his favourite porn and neo-Nazi sites or gone out on a lonely forage for some junk food takeaways.
November 20th, 2012, 10:40 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Not related to the subject matter, but To Whom It May Concern: I am amazed about them having the ability to keep Silver and Gold spot suppressed with such tenacity. My feeling, this action will have a spring effect catapulting the prices to no man land at the first opportunity. This is going to aggravate the situation badly, considering 2.8 million ounces of physical silver withdrawal, and the refusal of you know who to even allow German inspectors to look from afar-inspect own German gold reserve held in the U.S. last week. Something very twisted and wrong here. Where is all the real gold gone? They shipped it all out to them up there or gave it to the one living down there, or I think they are just hiding it all in those underground cities to be used later. This is perhaps is the story of mythical Solomon riches Myth, it was all along the story for the future riches, hidden as the past that never found. Add that to the Nova Scotia Bank World Gold Reserves stolen on the eve before and day of 9/11 and the Middle East coutries reserves. WOW, Something is going on, go figure. A country like Germany is not allowed to inspect own gold reserves and Americans who are not allowed to inspect gold at Fort Knott, what a mystery huh. It is either given out to them dwelling up or down, or hidden as Solomon Riches for private use later. For sure, it is not on the earth surface no more.
November 20th, 2012, 11:20 pm
AJ said:
28. ALDENDESHE said:
“Assad still have 5438 operable tank alone, few thousand strategic missiles, enough ammo to last 10 years, and of course all the WMD that can wipe planet earth 3 times over.”
Wow, that is truly amazing. But how can a leader with so many supporters and enough weapons to wipe the whole planet lose some territory within his own country?
November 20th, 2012, 11:27 pm
AJ said:
These new weapons are sure coming in handy 😀
November 20th, 2012, 11:28 pm
Aldendeshe said:
He is a wimp have you not figured that out yet. Did he ever liberate one inch of Iskenderun, the Syrian Golan, he is like the wimpy skirt wearing Ayatollahs and Bedouins. Did those Ayatollahs, after decades of rule, ever liberated a single inch of Moslem land or an inch of Jerusalem, did they fight for Afghanistan or Iraq or helped the invaders, conspired with them. The Ayatollah sends his President with all his hugs and kisses and that is all. As I said many times before, they all serve the GRAND ZIONIST PLAN, just like an actor playing ISLAMIC President MORSI.
November 20th, 2012, 11:40 pm
Visitor said:
Could you, Amjad, reply to Ghufy?
He seems eager to join the revo, but he doesn’t know how. He wants to join on his own terms, it seems.
But be very sensitive. Otherwise we may lose his blessings. He has trouble digesting both words and nutrients.
What should the revo do to get him? We need him so badly! Just can’t live without him! We may even love-him4ever!
You think Ghufy what I am saying is working on you? That is the best I can do!
November 21st, 2012, 12:27 am
Syrialover said:
Waiting, waiting … for Egypt and Tunisia to recogise the Syrian Coalition.
Anybody know what’s going on there?
Libya didn’t hesitate.
November 21st, 2012, 12:47 am
Juergen said:
Father Paolo is back in Syria.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=492777857434118&set=a.202390936472813.54034.202038843174689&type=1&theater
SL
I just send a letter to my government asking when will be their anouncement of the recognition take place, the EU has done so, the French and the English have done already.
Its a shame to wait.
November 21st, 2012, 1:29 am
Warren said:
Amajad the salafi catamite
Read the articles you spastic, you sunnis practice nikah al mutah with and buy/sell sunni refugee girls! Are you denying that?
__________________________________________________________________
Syrian Refugee Girls Forced into ‘Pleasure Marriages’
Apart from being a cover for legalized prostitution (the marriage can last for as little as 30 minutes), Nikah al-Mut’ah deprives the wife of many rights.
No divorce is necessary in “pleasure marriages,” for instance, and the husband may void the marriage earlier than agreed.
What is most disturbing about this practice is not even whether or not the wife has rights, so much as that Muslim scholars and preachers have given the green light to their followers to exploit the plight of the poor and helpless Syrian girls.
Muslim men from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have in the past few weeks asked their embassies in Amman and Baghdad to help them find Syrian girls living in makeshift refugee camps in Jordan and Iraq.
This is happening at a time when the oil-rich Arab countries are doing almost nothing to help the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are living in extremely difficult conditions.
Some Arab human rights activists have condemned the phenomenon, but their voice has thus far fallen on deaf ears.
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/syrian-refugee-girls-forced-into-pleasure-marriages/2012/09/12/
__________________________________________________________________
Wahhaistan prohibits music and women from driving, refute that if you can you evasive lying cretin. Are you denying that? Perhaps you subscribe to the Wahhabi ulema view that if women start driving they’ll be no more virgins in the wahhabistan?
___________________________________________________________________
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will be ‘end of virginity’
Academics at the Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, which is Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, said the relaxation of the rules would inevitably lead to “no more virgins”.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving.
The academics, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the conservative King Fahd University, produced the conclusions in a report for the country’s legislative assembly, the Shura Council.
It warned that allowing women to drive would “provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce”.
Within 10 years of the ban being lifted, it claimed, there would be “no more virgins” in the Islamic kingdom.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8930168/Allowing-women-drivers-in-Saudi-Arabia-will-be-end-of-virginity.html
__________________________________________________________________
You have no arguments you retard; just obfuscations, inane bravado and empty threats that you can never back up.
November 21st, 2012, 2:06 am
Warren said:
Saudi clerics issue fatwa okaying adult breast-feeding as way of circumventing Islamic law
Kissing cousins? Not quite.
While it has been common for women to breast-feed their young male relations so that they may be allowed together alone later, two Saudi clerics recently advocated extending the practice to unrelated adult males.
As part of Islamic law, men and women are forbidden to be alone together, unless they are blood relatives or have established maternal relations, in order to prevent sexual contact.
As a way to avoid breaking this rule – which can result in lashings or prison time – Sheikh Al Obeikan, adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, told Gulf News that women should give their breast milk to male colleagues, acquaintances or anyone with whom they come into regular contact.
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-06-09/news/27066690_1_breast-milk-breast-feeding-saudi-clerics
__________________________________________________________________
More fatwas of wisdom from wahhabistan. No doubt the Amajad the salafi catamite will lie as usual and say this ain’t true.
November 21st, 2012, 2:13 am
Warren said:
Saudi Arabia the world’s third most lazy country, new study finds
A new study by the Lancet Medical Journal has found that Saudi Arabia’s population is the third most slothful in the world with 68.3 percent of adults failing to get any exercise.
Only in Malta and Swaziland are adults even more inactive than in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi newspaper Al Watan newspaper reported that the news, first published in the Times of Malta, shows that the lack of exercise is leading to fatal diseases.
According to the study, one-fifth of all deaths in Malta, where more people die of inactivity than anywhere else in the world, are attributed to the lack of physical activity, a primary factor behind coronary heart diseases.
The report, which uses data from the World Health Organization, suggests that “the couch potato lifestyle” kills about five million people worldwide a year, making inactive lifestyles comparable to smoking in terms of the effect on health.
The study defines inactivity as not performing any of the following three sorts of activities: 30 minutes of moderate activity such as brisk walking at least five times a week; 20 minutes of vigorous activity at least three times a week; or an equivalent combination of the two said activities.
Inactivity has largely been blamed on wrong social trends, such as spending more time in cars and in front of computers.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/22/227656.html
November 21st, 2012, 2:16 am
Warren said:
Oil and education don’t mix, OECD finds
The oil-rich countries of the Gulf are investing heavily in education to diversify their economies and build a workforce capable of competing in knowledge-intensive industries.
But a paper by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released on Monday has some bad news for them. Students in resource-rich economies nearly always underperform compared with their peers in countries where people have to study and work hard for a living.
The OECD reached its conclusion after surveying the educational performance of students across 65 countries globally, measuring them with a standardized test called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Looking at the Middle East, the paper compared PISA scores from 2009 by resource-poor Israel with the energy exporters Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“As the Bible notes, Moses arduously led the Jews for 40 years through the desert – just to bring them to the only country in the Middle East that had no oil. But Moses may have gotten it right, after all,” Andreas Schleicher, special adviser on education policy to the OECD secretary-general and head of its Indicators and Analysis Division, said in an online comment.
Israel, which derives a tiny fraction of its gross domestic product from natural resources, scored a national average of 447 points on the mathematics PISA, the highest in the Middle East. By comparison, Saudi Arabia, which gets close to half its national income from energy extraction, scored close to the bottom of the 65 countries surveyed with an average of 336. Other energy exporters scored little better.
http://www.jpost.com/Features/InThespotlight/Article.aspx?id=261551
November 21st, 2012, 2:43 am
Juergen said:
Children painting:
In Deutsch sagt man: “Kindermund tut Wahrheit kund.”
one could translate that very poorly into:
-Children always tell the truth-
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=427058110681419&set=a.175745522479347.51899.175737975813435&type=1&theater
November 21st, 2012, 2:48 am
Warren said:
Salafi Tunisian Imam Displays Shrouds, Threatens to Fight the Islamic Al-Nahda Party
November 21st, 2012, 2:49 am
Citizen said:
الرئيس الأسد ان حكى
شارل ايوب
http://diyar.charlesayoub.com/index.php/aldiyar-topic-article/4481/18430
November 21st, 2012, 3:32 am
Albo said:
5
”
“We call on [the coalition] to increase the representation of the revolutionary forces and to activate their role in the coalition’s offices and apparatus,” Tuesday’s statement, read by Abdel Qader Saleh, the head the Liwaa al-Tawhid Brigade, said.
”
Whether such group defies the coalition or joins it, you should wonder what choice is the worse for you. Both situations aren’t playing well with the international opinion and foreign governments.
It highlights the importance of terrorists in your so-called revolution, something you people were more comfortable to sweep under the rug.
November 21st, 2012, 4:04 am
MarigoldRan said:
Before, I didn’t think much of Hamas. But now I’m not so sure any more. What Hamas is doing: how is it any different from what the FSA is doing?
November 21st, 2012, 4:05 am
Warren said:
Marigoldran # 48
Notice how all the loud mouth cyber tough guy sunnites that urge sunnites in Syria to rebel and use violence. Are silent or urging compliance/truce in Palestine?
No Friends of Palestine meetings, no Palestinian National Council, no Palestinian Free Army. sunnites have given up on Palestine, the Israelis have broken the backs and spirit of the sunnites. Kudos to the Israelis!
The Gaza conflict has exposed how impotent sunnite leaders such as Mursi, Erdogan, Sauds, Al Thanis, etc really are. None of these sunnite leaders or regimes will risk their necks for the Pallies, they fear the wrath of the West if they do. All sunnites leaders pay lip service to the Pallies. If you support Pallies you become pariah states like Syria and Iran. Even if you help the Pallies, they’ll stab you in the back like Hamas. Even the allah hu akbar screaming sunnite clowns on youtube don’t talk about the Pallies anymore.
November 21st, 2012, 4:24 am
MarigoldRan said:
After the regime is finished, an accommodation will need to be reached with the jihadists. After all, they came to the aid of the FSA from the very beginning, unlike the West who offered only words and a smidgen of humanitarian aid.
And terrorism? I’m not sure I like that word anymore. Consider: if a car bomb blows himself up in an Alawite community, is that terrorism? What about if a regime jet drops a big bomb on a Sunni village? Is that terrorism? If one act is a terrorist act, the other act has to be a terrorist act too.
BOTH acts are legitimate techniques of war in a guerilla insurgency. The FSA is backed by the Sunni majority, and the regime are backed by the Alawite minority. Civilians on both sides serve as propagandists, informers, spies, mules, etc. In other words, civilians are combatants too, albeit without guns.
Therefore, from this perspective, in a guerilla war like this, of one community against another community, THERE ARE NO NON-COMBATANTS. Terrorizing the other community is a legitimate form of war- after all the point of war is to use violence to beat the other side. And terror is a good tactic.
BUT though both sides use terror, there is a big difference between the regime and the FSA. The regime relies on terror to a much greater extent than the FSA. They drop more bombs, and their entire STRATEGY of fighting this war is to terrorize the opposition into submission. On the opposition side, the only group that espouses terror is the extremist group, Al-Nusra. But Al-Nusra is a fringe group. In contrast:
THE PRESIDENT OF THE SYRIAN REGIME is personally signing orders for his jet fighters to bomb Sunni communities. In other words, the regime, to its very core, believes in the use of terror to achieve its goals. It knows no other way to rule.
***************************************************************
So Albo and Warren, shut it with the moral equivalency crap. The FSA may have bad apples, but the regime is MUCH MUCH WORSE.
November 21st, 2012, 4:25 am
MarigoldRan said:
To Warren:
You should not be saying these words, because you’re indirectly damning the regime you support. EVERYONE in the Sunni areas has a common enemy in the Assad regime, which is why they don’t want a war with Israel yet. The amazing fact is that the regime has become even more hated than the Israelites.
Yes, Israel has behaved badly. But the regime is worse, which is an amazing thing to say.
This is not the time to deal with Israel yet. Assad is first.
November 21st, 2012, 4:38 am
Warren said:
Marigoldran # 51
So what would a sunnite dominated Syria be able to do for the Pallies the sunnite dominated Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Wahhabistan couldn’t?
Remember the Pallies were expelled from Kuwait, Wahhabistan, UAE after the Gulf War for supporting Saddam’s invasion. Pallies aren’t love in the Khaleej.
November 21st, 2012, 4:47 am
Sheila said:
Dear Observer @26,
Thank you for this wonderful post. I hope everyone will read it and internalize it. People tend to forget that hatred and revenge hurt both sides in a major way.
November 21st, 2012, 7:10 am
Sheila said:
Dear Tara @7,
I was very sad to read this post and especially because it was written by you. I have always liked your posts and held you in high regards. The Kurds are a very important part of Syria. They have probably witnessed the worst discrimination of all the ethnic groups. They are also indigenous population. No other group can claim more attachment to the land than them. They are also currently divided, like the rest of Syrians. Some are supporting the regime and others are against it. We want the Kurds fully involved and we want them to finally have their rights guaranteed in the new Syria.
November 21st, 2012, 7:15 am
Sheila said:
Dear Syrialover @29,
Thank you for the support. I truly appreciate it.
November 21st, 2012, 7:18 am
Sheila said:
Dear Amjad of Arabia,
I do not understand what you are trying to achieve with your venomous posts. I can assure you, nothing positive. Even though I am an ardent supporter of the revolution, I find reading your posts just as sickening as those of Warren, who by the way, is Christian.
November 21st, 2012, 7:25 am
Syrialover said:
SHEILA #56,
Please amend that to WARREN being a “political Christian” which is different from following the Christian religion.
I have pointed out here that if he printed out his posts and took them along to a mainstream Christian church I am sure he would be seen as troubled and in need of help, or even asked to leave.
WARREN’s crude hatred and paranoia about Muslims would be an embarrassment and unnacceptable to Christians I know.
November 21st, 2012, 8:01 am
Warren said:
Pope Benedict Criticizes Islam
“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
These words, expressed six centuries ago by a Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, in dialogue with an Iranian scholar, spur three reflections.
Pope Benedict XVI offered the above quote, neither endorsing nor condemning it, in his academic speech, “Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections,” delivered in German last week in Germany. It served to introduce his erudite critique of the Western concept of reason since the Enlightenment.
But did he have other purposes? The head of the Benedictine order, Abbot Notker Wolf, understood the pope’s quote as “a blatant allusion to [Iran’s President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad.” Vatican insiders told the London Sunday Times that Benedict “was trying to pre-empt an aggressive letter aimed at the papacy by the president of Iran, which was why he cited the debate involving a Persian.”
First reflection: Benedict has offered elusive comments, brief statements, and now this delphic quotation, but he has not provided a much-needed major statement on this vital topic of Islam. One hopes it is in the offing.
Whatever the pope’s purpose, he prompted the near-predictable furor in the Muslim world. Religious and political authorities widely condemned the speech, with some calling for violence.
http://www.danielpipes.org/3968/pope-benedict-criticizes-islam
__________________________________________________________________
If the Pope can criticize Islam: why can’t I? No doubt the salafi lover will say the Pope and the Catholic Church aren’t “mainstream”.
The definition of “mainstream” for the likes of the salafi lover and amajad the salafi catamite, is any Christian Church or organization that capitulates to and never criticizes the barbarism of islam.
Heaven forbid anyone, especially us kaffirs from criticizing the allah hu akbar screamers!
November 21st, 2012, 8:14 am
Warren said:
Libya: Benghazi police chief assassinated
The police chief of the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi has been assassinated overnight, officials have said.
Farraj al-Dursi was targeted outside his home in a drive-by shooting.
Col Dursi was appointed shortly after an attack on the US consulate in the September in which the US ambassador and three other Americans died.
More than a dozen security officers have been assassinated this year in Benghazi, where the uprising against the late Muammar Gaddafi’s rule began.
The BBC’s Rana Jawad in the capital, Tripoli, says most are believed to have been targeted because of their ties to the previous government.
Before last year’s revolution that toppled and killed Gaddafi, Col Dursi was known to have been in charge of an official unit combating drugs, she says.
“Three men opened fire, killed him and then fled the scene,” AP news agency quotes Omar al-Khadrawi, Libya’s Deputy Interior Minister, as saying.
He was pronounced dead in hospital, officials have said.
With the widespread availability of weapons and rogue militia groups who answer to no-one, security across the country remains a leading challenge for Libya’s new authorities, our correspondent says.
The country’s newly elected cabinet came to power last week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20424432
November 21st, 2012, 8:25 am
Warren said:
Israel-Gaza crisis: ‘Bomb blast’ on bus in Tel Aviv
At least 10 people have been injured in an explosion on a bus in Israel’s commercial capital, Tel Aviv.
One Israeli official said the blast, near the military headquarters, was a “terrorist attack”.
After the incident, huge blasts were heard in Gaza, in an apparent Israeli strike on the football stadium, while militants fired more rockets at Israel.
International efforts to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel after eight days of exchanges are continuing.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are in the region.
They held talks on the West Bank early on Wednesday and Mrs Clinton has now arrived in Cairo for talks with the Egyptian president.
Celebratory gunfire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman said on his Twitter account that the explosion was caused by a bomb and that it was “terrorist attack”.
Emergency services say three of the wounded in the bus explosion are in a serious condition.
The bus was reportedly passing the military headquarters in the city at the time of the blast.
Police believe a bomb was planted on the bus and they are still searching for a suspect.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the injured were being taken to Ichilov hospital.
Loudspeaker announcements in Gaza City said that Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that has run Gaza since 2007, had carried out the attack.
Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters: “Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres… in Gaza.”
Celebratory gunfire reportedly rang out when local radio relayed news of the attack.
BBC correspondents then reported a series of massive explosions in Gaza, in an apparent Israeli strike on the sports stadium.
According to Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs, the last bomb attack in Tel Aviv was in April 2006, when a suicide bombing on a restaurant killed 11.
‘Profound concern’
The bus blast comes on the eighth day of exchanges between Israel and militants in Gaza.
Some 139 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed.
Overnight, Israel’s military, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said it had attacked more than 100 sites in Gaza “of which approximately 50 were underground rocket launchers”.
A key Hamas government compound was reduced to little more than dust and rubble, the BBC’s Paul Danahar in Gaza says.
Our correspondent says this was probably the largest attack so far – on a compound that organises Hajj visits, issues passports and licences and houses a Hamas interior ministry office.
Other sites hit in Gaza included a banker’s villa, tunnels to Egypt used by smugglers and a media office, said to be linked to Hamas, that was situated two floors above the Agence France-Presse office in Gaza City.
The IDF said 29 rockets had been launched into Israel by militants in Gaza, of which 12 were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defence system.
The latest violence will further complicate ceasefire discussions taking place in the region.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Ban have been in the West Bank for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The two international mediators are both expected to hold talks with Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi in Cairo.
In the West Bank, Mr Ban expressed “profound concern” at the civilian casualties in Gaza and also called on militants to end immediately their “indiscriminate attacks on Israeli population centres”.
Officials from Hamas had suggested on Tuesday that a truce would come into effect at midnight, but Israel later said it had not agreed to a text.
Israel’s demands include no hostile fire of any kind from Gaza and international efforts to prevent Hamas from re-arming, while Hamas is demanding an end to the blockade on Gaza and targeted killings by Israel.
Israel launched its current offensive a week ago with the killing of Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari. The Israeli government says his assassination, and the subsequent offensive, is designed to end rocket fire from Gaza.
Israel has troops massed along the Gaza border but says it is holding off on a possible ground invasion as talks continue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20425352
__________________________________________________________________
Israel is going to be even more determined to eliminate the sunnis terrorists now. All this talk of Ikhwani/Morsi/Qatari/Wahhabi brokered cease fire is nonsense.
November 21st, 2012, 8:30 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
Warren the fake Christian Qurdahan Persian
” Perhaps you subscribe to the Wahhabi ulema view that if women start driving they’ll be no more virgins in the wahhabistan? ”
I think it’s painfully obvious to everyone by now that your continued frustrated virginity will more than make up for any lack of virginity in Saudi Arabia LOL! Sexual frustrations such as yours can manifest itself in many forms, and the gift of the Internet is that we get to see your psychological meltdown in real time.
“If the Pope can criticize Islam: why can’t I? No doubt the salafi lover will say the Pope and the Catholic Church aren’t “mainstream”.”
Fake Christian Qurdahan Persian Warren the Sexually Frustrated Virgin has run out of material in this century, he has to go back six hundred years. A Byzantine emperor? Ahahahahaha! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And tell me ya son of a mut3a marriage between Aldendeshe’s feudal grandaddy and a Qurdahan peasant girl, where are the Byzantines now? Crushed by the mighty Ottoman PILLARS!
Sheila #56
“I do not understand what you are trying to achieve with your venomous posts. I can assure you, nothing positive. Even though I am an ardent supporter of the revolution, I find reading your posts just as sickening as those of Warren, who by the way, is Christian.”
Tell me Sheila, have you ever seen a “Christian” get so worked up over insults to their precious Ayatollahs? He is as Persian as the idiot Khomenei of “Economics is for Donkeys” infamy. Talks about Sunnis extremists and then worships a brain dead moron who passes fatwas against authors.
So Sheila, am I being too extreme? Too racist? Too bloodthirsty? How long have I been calling for a complete leveling of Qurdahan villages and towns? A few months now. And in that time, how many massacres of Alawites have actually been committed on the ground?
Zero. None. Zilch. When was the last time an Alawite child lost its life in Syria? Or an Alawite woman was kidnapped and raped? The worst that can be said of the Jihadis is that they executed 20 shabihas. Cry me a river.
The pathetic regime is obviously in no shape to defend its own, and the reason there hasn’t been a massacre of Alawite civilians is because of the morality and humanity of those who fight in the revolution. The menhebakji filth on this board should be very grateful that Amjad isn’t in charge of things on the ground, and more humane people are actually in charge. The Alawites should be made aware that there are far worse people out there than Al-Nusrah et al, and spare us the bellyaching of a dead shabih or two(dozen).
Over 30,000 Syrians were killed by the regime. Let’s say we took 1 Qurdahan eye for every 10 Syrian eyes, that would mean a massacre of 3000 Qurdahans, and even then it would be merciful considering we didn’t go for an “eye for an eye”. And yet nothing even remotely like that has happened in 20 months.
So yes, after listening to me for a few months, I hope the Qurdahans have learned some appreciation for the upstanding morality, humanity, mercy and benevolence of the FSA at large. You don’t like the FSA? Imagine what things would be like under the Amjad Brigade.
November 21st, 2012, 8:40 am
Jasmine said:
The aim was always to weaken Syria and not to remove Assad.
Some food for thoughts:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/syrians-better-off-without-cheerleaders
November 21st, 2012, 9:04 am
zoo said:
Any follow-up on the FSA announcements of the hot spots they ‘liberated’:
Fill in the blank
Maaret Al Numan: “still in the hand of the rebels”? _____
Wadi Deif :
Harem :
Ras Al Ain : fights going on with Kurds against the FSA
Duma:
Deraa:
Base 46: partially or fully ‘liberated’ ?
etc.. etc..
Usually after 1 week of such announcement, the opposition media are suddenly silent.
November 21st, 2012, 9:14 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
“Usually after 1 week of such announcement, the opposition media are suddenly silent.”
Fine, then that must mean that Jaysh abu Shahata has “cleansed” the area in one of their “qualitative operations”. When will we be seeing Al-dunya TV in those places, showing us pro-Batta demonstrations?
Answer, never. Aleppo held its last pro-Batta demo months ago, and will never hold another one ever again.
November 21st, 2012, 9:17 am
Citizen said:
Clinton Seeks Middle East Ceasefire
Does the State Department knows the meaning of realism or it deals in accordance with the wishes! Is it a disease dementi???? After dirty playing under the table and all this western savagery in intent to do everything taboo , Ms. Hitlery wearing velvet and wishs a peace virtuous! Damn you lady !
http://mycatbirdseat.com/2012/11/clinton-seeks-middle-east-ceasefire/
Clinton and President Obama are sinking considerable political capital into their effort to halt the Israeli assault. Their efforts are badly handicapped by the burden of untruth they carry which pretends that the “conflict” between Israel and Gaza is a battle between equals. It is not. It is, rather, a struggle between jailer and prisoner, with all the power, except that of morally justified protest, is on the jailer’s side.
by James M Wall
November 21st, 2012, 9:17 am
zoo said:
Armenians fleeing Aleppo: the loss of the Syrian multi-ethnic identity
….
A 22-year-old former shop manager in Aleppo’s Midan district, who identified himself as Jak Jakian, has been living at his uncle’s house with his mother and 20-year-old brother in Yerevan’s working-class Erebuni district for the past two months. He managed to find a factory job where he earns about US$200 (Dh735) a month.
“I still love my president. We were happy about our president,” Mr Jakian said of Bashar Al Assad. He and his mother said they appreciated the economic subsidies provided by the Syrian regime for staples such as rice and sugar.
Other Syrian Armenians spoke of the churches and schools their community was freely allowed to maintain under the Al Assad regime.
Mr Jakian, and other Syrian Armenians interviewed, said they preferred the regime’s rule and described coexisting peacefully with Syrians of other religions, blaming the conflict on a foreign conspiracy.
“There is a world war in Syria,” Mr Jakian said. Echoing a line of the Al Assad regime, he added: “Terrorists came into Syria with guns and bombs.”
Though nearly all expressed a desire to return to Syria, their doubts showed how the conflict has endangered Syria’s multi-ethnic identity.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syrian-armenians-our-enemys-flag-made-us-happy-but-ashamed#ixzz2Crnt5cex
November 21st, 2012, 9:20 am
zoo said:
#65 citizen
Calamity Hillary has been sent to supposedly recover her reputation tarnished in the Benghazi murder.
It think her arrogance and incompetence will be making almost impossible to reach a deal in the Gaza_Israel war.
It’s time she goes back to Bill’s kitchen or to the hair dresser.
She has no place in foreign diplomacy.
November 21st, 2012, 9:25 am
Ghufran said:
Every house needs a toilet, we have two on this blog , without garbage quality posts, good comments may not shine as they should, I hereby state my appreciation for the two toilets we have on this blog.
As of now we do not have an opposition body that can claim to be inclusive , the largest Kurdish party was not even invited to the Doha meeting,and the largest Kurdish group in Syria came back swinging at that Franco Qtarai circus. If you read some posts here you might think that Damascus is about to fall in the hands of the rebels,who are not in control of any Syrian Metro as if now. Regime media,as usual,is trying to distract supporters who should be looking at the new reality in Syria where most of rural areas in the north and the east are under rebels control, without a realistic political deal,Syria will be partitioned in defacto without necessarily declaring that partition in a press conference.
November 21st, 2012, 9:51 am
zoo said:
While recognizing its legitimacy as a coalition of opposition groups representing Syrians, in reality and contrary to Al Jazeera and other media’s declaration, the EU did NOT give “full” recognition (exclusivity) or diplomatic recognition to the group.
The recognition of the group as strictly an “opposition group” or as a “government in exile” that solely represents the Syrian people will be left to each EU country to decide. France made its choice to recognize it as new government. No other EU country has got to that point.
“We have recognized the coalition that brings together the various opposition groups as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people,” Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti told reporters in Doha on Monday.
http://rt.com/news/syria-opposition-eu-representative-099/
ISTANBUL — The European Union offered crucial support for the new Syrian political opposition on Monday, calling the group legitimate representatives for the Syrian people in a move that burnished the new coalition’s credibility as it seeks more international aid to help in the fight against the government of Bashar al-Assad.
The union stopped short of conferring full diplomatic recognition, as France, Turkey and several Arab countries of the Persian Gulf have done, and instead urged the coalition to develop a plan to create a “credible alternative to the current regime.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/middleeast/islamists-reject-new-syrian-opposition-coalition.html?_r=0
November 21st, 2012, 9:55 am
zoo said:
To make it clear and avoid ambiguity in what the media reports often inaccurately, these are the levels of recognition that the international community may give to the new coalition
1) It is “A” legitimate entity representing groups of Syrians opposed to the regime ( “basic” recognition)
2) It is the “sole” legitimate entity representing group of Syrians opposed to the regime ( “full’ recognition), thus discarding other Syria opposition groups
3) It is the sole legitimate group representing ALL the Syrians: It becomes a government in exile. Thus all embassies and consular personnel should be replaced and the diplomatic relation with the present government severed. ( ‘diplomatic’ recognition)
4) It’s a government in exile recognized by the UN. (international ‘diplomatic’ recognition)
From what was reported and needs to be scrutinized:
EU and USA said 1)
Turkey, the Arab League(?), UK and Italy(?) said 2)
GCC and France said 3)
The UN said nothing.
Note that the SNC reached 1) and never was able to climb one level further.
November 21st, 2012, 10:24 am
zoo said:
Base 46 is back under the control of the Syrian Army. Any confirmation?
November 21st, 2012, 10:42 am
Warren said:
Are we now being censored?
November 21st, 2012, 11:17 am
Warren said:
Again my reply to salafi catamite has been blocked, why?
November 21st, 2012, 11:22 am
Dolly Buster said:
Zoo, why are you quoting Russian propaganda? What exactly are you advocating here? A return to Soviet times?
Warren, you are unable to figure out which words are disallowed. That is why you click Send and nothing happens.
I on the other hand, have used my Intellect to realize that the term Nusaуri is banned. So I write it by using font tricks.
November 21st, 2012, 11:23 am
Ghat Al Bird said:
Since the Governments of France and England have “recognized” Assad’s opposition group why does not Assad reciprocate and recognize the Basque and the IRA groups?
If “none Syrians” are empowered to determine who is in charge in Syria then should not the Syrians have the same rights?
November 21st, 2012, 11:26 am
ann said:
ARAB SPRING For PALESTINE
Arab Spring has changed factors in Israel-Palestine equation – Nov 21, 2012
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1515460
The drama unfolding in Gaza seems numbingly familiar. This time, however, there’s a big and potentially tragic difference: Not even the actors — Palestinians and Israelis — can possibly know how it will turn out.
Henry Kissinger’s famous observation about Israel’s security was there could be no war without Egypt, no peace without Syria. For more than three decades, Israel has had a peace treaty with Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous state, and a strictly observed truce with Syria across the Golan Heights. But then came the Arab Spring.
There are far too many variables for anyone to be confident of what happens next. Perhaps Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh have an exquisite sense of how far they can push before things spin out of control. I hope so.
Both leaders say they want a cease-fire. Once the fighting stops, there must be renewed negotiations toward the obvious two-state solution. The Obama administration should use its power and influence to bring Israelis and Palestinians to the table, kicking and screaming if necessary.
[…]
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1515460
November 21st, 2012, 11:29 am
Visitor said:
We see that the love-u-4ever squad here on SC is busy doing damage control regarding the innumerable defeats they have suffered lately
Well, here’s another one for today. a company of armed thugs controlled by the criminal regime was detsroyed near Latakia,
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/792f40da-4994-4235-a11c-b050e716678b?GoogleStatID=9
————————————-
For the record, there is nothing wrong with what Amjad is saying. Warren, Mjabali, and the rest of the chorus deserve every post he made about them. Continue with your mission as usual AoA.
November 21st, 2012, 11:36 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
Dolly
“I on the other hand, have used my Intellect to realize that the term Nusaуri is banned. So I write it by using font tricks.”
Hahaha, now the fake Christian Frustrated Virgin son of a mut3a marriage “Warren” needs help getting his posts seen, hahaha 🙂 Does he need someone to help him wipe his butt too after he goes “noo noo”?
Visitor
“We see that the love-u-4ever squad here on SC is busy doing damage control regarding the innumerable defeats they have suffered lately”
Just like Iraq’s Comical Ali “There are no Americans in Baghdad!”
November 21st, 2012, 11:43 am
Warren said:
salafi catamite #61
Learn to read properly you raghead turd! The Pope quoted the Byzantine emperor because he believes it is relevant for today and agrees with the emperor’s view on the vile arab cult. Why else would the Pope include that quote in his speech? Islamics understood Pope’s speech was a criticism and predictably started whinging violently.
The nikah al mutah marriages and deals are taking place in sunnite refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey, where your wretched daughters/sisters/mothers are being sold to Khaliji paedophiles and sexually frustrated raghead khalijis who are too poor to pay for a dowry back home. Cheap sunnite refugee girls from Homs are being bargained and traded every day! lol
__________________________________________________________________
Syrian Refugee Girls Forced into ‘Pleasure Marriages’
Apart from being a cover for legalized prostitution (the marriage can last for as little as 30 minutes), Nikah al-Mut’ah deprives the wife of many rights.
No divorce is necessary in “pleasure marriages,” for instance, and the husband may void the marriage earlier than agreed.
What is most disturbing about this practice is not even whether or not the wife has rights, so much as that Muslim scholars and preachers have given the green light to their followers to exploit the plight of the poor and helpless Syrian girls.
Muslim men from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have in the past few weeks asked their embassies in Amman and Baghdad to help them find Syrian girls living in makeshift refugee camps in Jordan and Iraq.
This is happening at a time when the oil-rich Arab countries are doing almost nothing to help the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who are living in extremely difficult conditions.
Some Arab human rights activists have condemned the phenomenon, but their voice has thus far fallen on deaf ears.
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/syrian-refugee-girls-forced-into-pleasure-marriages/2012/09/12/
__________________________________________________________________
November 21st, 2012, 11:46 am
HANZALA said:
Downed helicopter in Abu Kamal
November 21st, 2012, 11:52 am
ann said:
79. Warren said:
“”” Muslim men from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have in the past few weeks asked their embassies in Amman and Baghdad to help them find Syrian girls living in makeshift refugee camps in Jordan and Iraq. “””
Warren, please don’t refer to those creatures as men. They are CRIMINAL MONSTERS!
Where’s victoria nuland when you need her?!
November 21st, 2012, 11:53 am
Warren said:
Ann #81
These Wahhabis practice paedophilia, its part of their culture, wahhabi ulema sanction it in their fatwats. So buying and raping sunnite refugee girls is halal for them! Its sunna!
__________________________________________________________________
Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabian Mufti, Says Girls Ready For Marriage At 10 Years Old
“Those who call for raising the age of marriage to 25 are absolutely mistaken.”
That’s what Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh said when asked about marrying minor girls without their consent, according to The World Observer.
He also insisted that girls are ready for marriage by age 10 or 12.
“Our mothers and grandmothers got married when they were barely 12,” he said, according to the Observer. “Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age.”
Omid Safi, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, told The Huffington Post that al-Sheikh’s comments show he is out of touch with modern Islam.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/sheikh-abdul-aziz-al-al-sheikh_n_1450449.html
__________________________________________________________________
These are the practices the salafi catamites vatty and amajad want to bring to Syria! And I’m the bad guy for exposing and opposing it? lol
November 21st, 2012, 12:00 pm
Tara said:
How long Batta is going to live on financial aid?
Syria now running a war economy as conflict spreads
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | Reuters – 2 hrs 41 mins ago
As the government focuses on trying to overcome the rebels it is directing economic resources to Assad supporters by maintaining high subsidies, increasing public sector wages and stockpiling wheat and other staple goods – on top of having to increase defense spending.
That is putting a severe strain on public finances, raising the risk that the authorities will eventually have to resort to printing money to support the economy, something Damascus has long tried to avoid for fear of fuelling hyperinflation and further social unrest.
….
“Revenues have deteriorated and the authorities have used up their reserves and what is keeping them afloat is some financial aid from Iran and possibly Russia,” said Seifan.
Seifan estimates that Syria’s gross domestic product shrank by at least 30 to 40 percent last year due to the collapse of tourism, which used to account for 11 percent of GDP, and the drop in oil output which previously contributed 23 percent of GDP.
A near 65 percent drop in the Syrian pound since the crisis began has sent the cost of importing fuel and other goods surging and shortages are also evident.
“The shortages in gasoline and diesel are mainly due to rising demand by the army,” said a Syrian civil servant working in a non-defense ministry, interviewed via Skype.
The government’s budget deficit had been a manageable 3-5 percent of GDP before the crisis but the 2013 budget forecasts a 745 billion Syrian pound deficit, or nearly a quarter of the country’s pre-crisis GDP of $50 billion-$60 billion.
“There is a part we don’t see, this is why the budget is a mystery,” he said.
The touchiest subject remains how much the authorities have drawn on their real war chest – foreign and gold reserves that were at least $18 billion before the crisis.
….
Syria has requested a loan from Russia to support its economy, with economists saying it is asking for up to $2 billion, although Russia has made no comment. If Damascus fails to secure substantial overseas aid economists say it will have to resort to money printing, raising the risk of pushing inflation – already running at 40 percent on an annual basis – even further into hyperinflation.
(…)
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-now-running-war-economy-conflict-spreads-140213759.html
November 21st, 2012, 12:02 pm
Warren said:
Saudi Marriage Official Says 1-Year-Old Brides OK
Call it marriage, Islamic style.
Saudi marriage officiant Dr. Ahmad al-Mu’bi told Lebanese television viewers last week that it’s permissible for girls as young as 1 to marry — as long as sex is postponed.
Al-Mu’bi’s remarkable comments also included an explanation that “there is no minimal age for entering marriage.”
“You can have a marriage contract even with a 1-year-old girl, not to mention a girl of 9, 7 or 8,” he said. “But is the girl ready for sex or not?” What is the appropriate age for sex for the first time? This varies according to environment and tradition,” al-Mu’bi said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371581,00.html#ixzz2CsTFJy34
__________________________________________________________________
Of course its so bigoted to mention these things? lol
November 21st, 2012, 12:04 pm
swanson said:
the quality of comments has deteriorated badly.
November 21st, 2012, 12:04 pm
ann said:
Paper Tiger `bibi natanyahu bending over to Palestinian demands 🙂
November 21st, 2012, 1:02 pm
Tara said:
Can we thank Mr. Morsi for the ceasefire? What do you think Zoo? Did he deliver?
November 21st, 2012, 1:23 pm
Visitor said:
With Hillary’s ‘blessings’, Gaza ceasefire begins at 9:00PM GMT today:
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/21/251031.html
November 21st, 2012, 1:28 pm
Mina said:
Egypt: It is all the same for detainees
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/58821/Egypt/Politics-/A-Year-of-Abuses-Against-Egyptian-detained-childre.aspx
November 21st, 2012, 1:41 pm
5 dancing shlomos said:
toilet-paper tiger benyammern nuthnyahoo blathers without demand.
only israeli propaganda allowed here.
most syrians posting here are in tel aviv or brooklyn.
November 21st, 2012, 1:59 pm
Syrialover said:
JASMINE #62
That article you posted was both patronising about Syrians and conspiracy theorist abut the west. You can see how crazies came out in excited swarms to endorse it in the comments section.
November 21st, 2012, 2:04 pm
Citizen said:
80
is helicopter Israeli ? or is the shooter is Israeli ?
November 21st, 2012, 2:05 pm
5 dancing shlomos said:
thanksgiving eve in amurderka.
let all give thanks.
soon amurderka and the parasite will pass not into the pages of history but into the bottom of an out house.
November 21st, 2012, 2:07 pm
Uzair8 said:
AJE blog.
Syria 15 minutes ago
Three days after their capture of Base 46, a sprawling army base in northern Syria, rebels gathered the remaining the booty of arms and ammunition.
Rebel fighters seized the hilltop base in the embattled province of Aleppo after weeks of intense fighting with regime forces.
Defected General Mohammed Ahmed al-Faj, who commanded the assault, hailed Sunday’s capture of Base 46 as “one of our biggest victories since the start of the revolution” against President Bashar al-Assad.
“Nearly 300 regime troops were killed in the fighting,” he told AFP. “Some 60 others were taken prisoner, and they will be tried soon. Many are guilty of war crimes.”
The rebels seized around 15 tanks and Soviet-era armoured vehicles, artillery cannons, 120 mm mortars and several rocket launchers which they moved to their rear bases near the Turkish border, an AFP journalist said.
Base 46 was one of the army’s last remaining bases in the area bordering Turkey, which supports the revolt against Assad. It is located some 12 kilometres (eight miles) west of Aleppo, and near the rebel-held town of Atarib.
All the buildings that make up the sprawling base have been gutted by shelling or machine-gun fire, including dormitories, a garage, an arms depot and the officers’ mess.
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syrian-rebels-take-remaining-war-booty-after-capturing-last-aleppo-base
November 21st, 2012, 2:08 pm
Visitor said:
Very soon, the Northern skies will be off limit to criminal aircraft,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/21/251026.html
Better stay out of the Patriots’ range coming soon to the border.
November 21st, 2012, 2:08 pm
5 dancing shlomos said:
and
the legitimate govt of syria will continue.
the terrorist thugs will also join their masters in the out house receptacle.
November 21st, 2012, 2:09 pm
Jasmine said:
91. SYRIALOVER said:
That article you posted was both patronising about Syrians and conspiracy theorist abut the west. You can see how crazies came out in excited swarms to endorse it in the comments section.
And what is your personal opinion?
Could you please share with us your thoughts?
November 21st, 2012, 2:19 pm
Visitor said:
You got all that wrong hi 5 Shake it baby Schlomos Shake it.
November 21st, 2012, 2:21 pm
Uzair8 said:
Syria about 4 hours ago
Four young Syrian women have been arrested by regime forces today after they staged a demonstration in a Damascus market wearing long white dresses and holding banners that called for an end to the conflict.
“Syria is for all of us”, one banner said.
“For the sake of the Syrian human, the civil society calls for stopping all military operations in Syria,” another one read.
“You’re tired and we are tired. We want to live.”
[IMAGE]
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syrian-women-arrested-protesting-against-conflict-damascus-market
November 21st, 2012, 2:45 pm
Uzair8 said:
Pto
[Sorry]
November 21st, 2012, 2:48 pm
Albo said:
87. TARA said:
“Can we thank Mr. Morsi for the ceasefire? What do you think Zoo? Did he deliver?”
Depends on how long before Egyptians start to call him a bearded Mubarak. Israel remains unchallenged and that will prop up hardliners.
85. SWANSON
Very true, some people act like children and don’t understand the purpose of internet discussions.
November 21st, 2012, 2:49 pm
Uzair8 said:
417. Syrialover
RE: S. Commando.
I have to say even after making such defeatist tweets Mr SC does resume posting regime ‘successes’ hours later.
Still it’s significant. Public expressions of pessimism and defeat are not what propagandists do. Such expressions have become common now.
November 21st, 2012, 2:54 pm
Albo said:
It’s significant only to the extent you want it to be. He’s a nobody but a rather emotional one. How is Pakistan by the way?
November 21st, 2012, 2:59 pm
Syrialover said:
Riad Hijab, the Syrian Prime Minister who fled to Jordan 3 months ago, has just been interviewed on the BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’ program.
Hijab is the most senior Syrian official to defect from Bashar Assad’s regime. He quit after only a few weeks in the PM role.
He was very clear and consistent about 2 things:
– the detailed role Iran is now playing in running Syria (Iranian advisers everywhere at HQ etc) and
– the inflexibility of Bashar Assad about conceding or negotiating any change in the status quo (Hijab said he and other officials constantly challenged Assad in meetings about the continued killings and destruction and were rigidly ignored).
Hear the 24-minute interview (Hijab spoke in Arabic and was translated): http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ht
My comment: In line with the program’s style, the interviewer asked Riad Hijab some fairly tough questions about his official role and his motives and method of escape.
However, I was left waiting to hear questions about his career and attitudes (he’s a Sunni who became governor of Lattakia) i.e. his long-term devotion and serving of the Assad regime while fully aware and complicit in its corruption, state security brutality, denial of freedoms and rule of law etc
The program introduction said there was a lot of things not known about his past, but then didn’t pursue it. Maybe lack of time.
Hijab got away with saying he had been a peaceful fellow whose favorite activity was being out talking with the people, and his focus was entirely on technical things as Minister for Agricuture. It was being appointed to a role where he was expected to lead defence and state security ministries that made him decide to leave.
I also found implausible the image of Hijab and some other regime officials persistently confronting and nagging Assad about stopping the killing and destruction. Really? And still being trusted and given access?
November 21st, 2012, 3:00 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
“Very true, some people act like children and don’t understand the purpose of internet discussions.”
Indeed, Mr “Suck my d*ck”
Pope benedict XVI and Islam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI_and_Islam
Saudi Arabia
“Pope Benedict XVI welcomed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to the Vatican on November 6, 2007, marking the first time that a Saudi king has officially held talks with the Pope”
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
“The Pope strongly condemned the Mohammed cartoons, first published by a Danish newspaper and later in other European papers, saying “In the international context we are living at present, the Catholic Church continues convinced that, to foster peace and understanding between peoples and men, it is necessary and urgent that religions and their symbols be respected.” He also added that this implies that “believers [of various religions] not be the object of provocations that wound their lives and religious sentiments.” Pope Benedict XVI noted that “for believers, as for all people of good will, the only path that can lead to peace and fraternity is respect for the convictions and religious practices of others”
Immigration
“Pope Benedict XVI has called for Christians “to open their arms and hearts” to Muslim immigrants and “to dialogue” with them on religious issues. The Pope told participants that the Catholic Church is “increasingly aware” that “interreligious dialogue is a part of its commitment to the service of humanity in the modern world.” In fact, this “conviction” has become “the daily bread” of those who work with migrants, refugees and itinerant peoples, he said”
Concerning the Middle East Conflict
The Pope called for the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said: “May the international community, which re-affirms Israel’s just right to exist in peace, assist the Palestinian people to overcome the precarious conditions in which they live and to build their future, moving towards the constitution of a state that is truly their own”
Concerning the war in Iraq
The head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interfaith Dialogue said on March 26, 2006 that the war in Iraq should not be viewed as a “crusade” launched by Christian countries against Muslims, and that “Western” was not synonymous to “Christian”
Pope Benedict XVI condemns pre-emptive war. It is the Pope’s view that the invasion of Iraq “has no moral justification”. As a cardinal, Benedict was critical about President George W. Bush’s choice of sending an army into the heart of Islam to impose democracy. “The damage would be greater than the values one hopes to save”, he concluded. He also said that “The concept of preventive war does not appear in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
The Vatican condemned the execution of Saddam Hussein as a “tragic” event and warned that it risked fomenting a spirit of vendetta and sowing fresh violence in Iraq
Concerning the Islam controversy
Pope Benedict expressed his regret for any offense his words had given: “The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers,” said Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone in a statement.[42][43] According to CNN, the Vatican comments fell short of a literal apology.[44]
On September 17, 2006, from the balcony at his residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, Pope Benedict publicly expressed that he was ‘deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries’ and stressed that the words which ‘were considered offensive’ were not his own, but were quoted from a medieval text, and that his speech was intended to act as an invitation to mutually respectful dialogue with Muslims, rather than an attempt to cause offense
————————
Needless to say, the Qurdahan son of a mut3a marriage “Warren” completely and utterly misread the character of Pope Benedict. Being the shallow, intellectually challenged meti snorter that he is, the mut3a child once again displayed his complete and utter inability to come up with an original thought, or even analyze the the opinions of others. Showing him up for the fool he is isn’t really a fair fight, it’s like beating up a blind kid on crutches hehehehehe 🙂
November 21st, 2012, 3:27 pm
5 dancing shlomos said:
to end the war against syria
point your signs and requests
to the sponsors of terrorism in syria: the judaized west
and its puppets.
it is not a revolution. it is not a civil war.
it is a criminal aggression by external war mongers: israel, u.s. england, france, arabia, qatar, turkey, joined by syrian stooges, thugs.
syria will defeat them all. is defeating them as we exchange comments here.
November 21st, 2012, 3:28 pm
Albo said:
105. AMJAD OF ARABIA said:
““Very true, some people act like children and don’t understand the purpose of internet discussions.”
Indeed, Mr “Suck my d*ck””
Thank you for just confirming what I was saying. We aren’t interested in your sexuality, Saudi boy.
November 21st, 2012, 3:30 pm
Syrialover said:
UZAIR8 (#102)
You say notorious Assadist internet thug Syrian Commando has returned to chirping about Bashar’s “successes”. I must go back to his twitter account and have a look.
Still, there was that clear stretch a day or so ago when he let his pants fall down and his backside be exposed by making pessimistic tweets and accusing Bashar Assad of weakness, bluff and lack of decision making. (Comments you and I posted in the last thread).
And of course ALBO (#103), pro-Assad propagandist Syrian Commando becomes a “nobody” in your view if he says anything that does not suit the regime.
November 21st, 2012, 3:39 pm
Albo said:
you could say that if you saw me quote him or praise him after all this time, but I never paid attention. Sorry to disappoint you sectarian SL, but the accusation is cheap.
November 21st, 2012, 3:46 pm
Uzair8 said:
103. Albo said:
“How is Pakistan by the way?”
Can’t say. I don’t follow news from there. Only know as much as Warren informs us on the topic on SC.
November 21st, 2012, 4:09 pm
Citizen said:
FREE PALESTINE !
FREE GAZA!
November 21st, 2012, 4:16 pm
ALI said:
It’s a well known fact that Jihadists in Saudi and Afghanistan have tendency towards homosexuality, that’s in addition to 4 wives in the pocket for decoration purposes. They claim that they have been promised with anything in heaven including ” child molestation and Dancing Boys” so committing this act for them is like getting a down payment before the big reward. In Gulf they call them “فرخ او قلاب” and no doubt a Homsi boy with fair skin complexion could attract many of them, especially if this boy is so keen to comfort Jihadists.
November 21st, 2012, 4:25 pm
Uzair8 said:
108. Syrialover
You’re right. I haven’t checked much but there are the odd reports of ‘successes’ or taking encouragement from Kurdish support.
November 21st, 2012, 4:30 pm
mjabali said:
Amjad of Arabia: aka Munafiq of Arabia, the video game Corporal said:
“Imagine what things would be like under the Amjad Brigade.”
Dude: that would happen only in your dream or in your video game. You had your chance to fight in Syria and you ran away.
Here knowing your personal history I would like to apply on you a verse from Suran Umran from al-Quran:
وَلِيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ نَافَقُواْ وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا قَاتِلُواْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَوِ ادْفَعُواْ قَالُواْ لَوْ نَعْلَمُ قِتَالاً لاَّتَّبَعْنَاكُمْ هُمْ لِلْكُفْرِ يَوْمَئِذٍ أَقْرَبُ مِنْهُمْ لِلإِيمَانِ يَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِهِم مَّا لَيْسَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَكْتُمُونَ
I know your knowledge of Islam is average. Here is a text to teach you something.
AS for cursing and using foul language: in Arabic they say:
الإناء ينضح بما فيه
November 21st, 2012, 4:32 pm
mjabali said:
السيدة شيلا:
Thanks for you standing up to bigots. Unlike many munafiqin on this blog, you called them out.
To explain what is my position about this mess in Syria, here is something I like. I read it on facebook.
بين جيش التطهير وجيش التحرير
نحنا يلي عم نطير
وما بين تكبير ومنحبك يا كبير
الشعب صار ع الحصير
وبين نجمتين حمر وتلاته خضر
الشعب شاف نجوم الضهر
والمعركه بسوريا انتهت بالتعادل مع وفاة الشعب
والشعب السوري بدأ انسحابا تكتيكيا من سوريا للمحافظه على سلامة الجيشين
(منقول)
November 21st, 2012, 4:38 pm
Citizen said:
Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/10/11/225863/
……..
The geopolitical dimension
he significant question to be asked at this point is what could bind Israel, Turkey, Qatar in a form of unholy alliance on the one side, and Assad’s Syria, Iran, Russia and China on the other side, in such deadly confrontation over the political future of Syria? One answer is energy geopolitics.
What has yet to be fully appreciated in geopolitical assessments of the Middle East is the dramatically rising importance of the control of natural gas to the future of not only Middle East gas producing countries, but also of the EU and Eurasia including Russia as producer and China as consumer.
Natural gas is rapidly becoming the “clean energy” of choice to replace coal and nuclear electric generation across the European Union, most especially since Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear after the Fukushima disaster. Gas is regarded as far more “environmentally friendly” in terms of its so-called “carbon footprint.”
The only realistic way EU governments, from Germany to France to Italy to Spain, will be able to meet EU mandated CO2 reduction targets by 2020 is a major shift to burning gas instead of coal. Gas reduces CO2 emissions by 50-60% over coal.[xiii]
Given that the economic cost of using gas instead of wind or other alternative energy forms is dramatically lower, gas is rapidly becoming the energy of demand for the EU, the biggest emerging gas market in the world.
Huge gas resource discoveries in Israel, in Qatar and in Syria combined with the emergence of the EU as the world’s potentially largest natural gas consumer, combine to create the seeds of the present geopolitical clash over the Assad regime.
November 21st, 2012, 4:40 pm
ALI said:
Mjabali:
Subhanallah the verse you chose fits perfectly Abu Sabaa2 of Arabia, he once claimed being in Homs but decided to run away like a rat to the lap of Wahabies.
For now “خليه يعوي زي الكلاب”
November 21st, 2012, 4:53 pm
mjabali said:
Observer aka Renan Franklin aka sour old money syndicate on ice:
I hate amongst the Sunnis, and everyone else, those who do not have space for others, and who think they should conquer and spread their way of living. Those who glorify a violent past and present.
I see that you can not see any of that amongst some people on this blog. I thought you were an “observer.” I should call you the napper, taking naps while reading the aggressive blood thirsty language of your comrades in religion. Dude, see what is going on and do not write these long boring irrelevant texts.
Focus on Syria and Islam the two main topics.
November 21st, 2012, 4:54 pm
ALI said:
A unity between Syria and Iraq could be the perfect blow to all Jihadists and Zionists
“نباء عن دراسة “أفكار” لخطوة اتحادية بين العراق وسورية بهدف مواجهة مصير غامض مشترك
اتصالات جارية بين خبراء من البلدين هدفها “تخطي التنسيق والتشاور الحالي والتوجه نحو حدث أكبر من ذلك مفاده البحث في إعلان اتحاد أو وحدة بين البلدين الذين يواجهان مصيراًغامضاً”.
هذه الاتصالات مقتصرة في المرحلة الراهنة على دراسة إمكانات هذه الوحدة وردود الفعل عليها خليجياً ومصرياً وتركياً ودولياً.”
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=latest/data/2012-11-21-14-25-06.htm
November 21st, 2012, 5:04 pm
zoo said:
If it lasts, the deal is a great victory for Hamas over Israel. In addition, it is a boost and a great responsibility to Morsi as he sponsors the deal.
Key details of cease-fire agreement reached Wednesday between Israel and Hamas to end fighting:
Details of Hamas-Israel cease-fire deal
http://news.yahoo.com/details-hamas-israel-cease-fire-deal-205758127.html
— Israel agrees to stop hostilities in Gaza, including targeted killings.
— Palestinians agree to stop rocket fire into Israel and attacks along the border with Gaza.
— Ease the movement of people and goods through Gaza border crossings 24 hours after truce takes hold.
— Egypt will act as sponsor of agreement.
November 21st, 2012, 5:09 pm
Darryl said:
114. MJABALI said:
Dear MJABALI, if Amjad’s rod is to be used as a new pillar for his faith, then it maybe also be appropriate to quote what Allah said in Surat Al-Imran verse 14 as it fits with the new place of residence. And Allah knows best.
November 21st, 2012, 5:10 pm
Syrialover said:
ALBO (109#),
Interesting you could pronounce Syrian Commando a “nobody” just because you never paid him any attention.
That’s surprising because he attracts plenty of attention from others. He’s had a lot of airplay out there and was even posting aggressive anti-opposition stuff here on SyriaComment until early this year.
He’s also been exposed for having various internet identities and being behind some of the regime “dirty tricks” propaganda campaigns.
http://akhyasouria.tumblr.com/search/syriancommando
November 21st, 2012, 5:12 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
WAAM at 119
“A unity between Syria and Iraq could be the perfect blow to all Jihadists and Zionists”
Uh yeah, and what is Iraq gonna have unity with? The few pieces of the coast still under Batta’s control? Desperate Qurdahans are desperate.
First you filth were saying you were going to crush the revolution. Then you said you’d sulk and go make your own state. Then you begged for a “political settlement”. And now this, a “unity” with Iraq to save your unsalvageable buggery loving gang. Next week, I expect you people to start looking to the skies for signs of Hafiz descending with a UFO and brandishing a flaming sword of Ali.
November 21st, 2012, 5:17 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Syrialover
“ALBO (109#),
Interesting you could pronounce Syrian Commando a “nobody” just because you never paid him any attention. ”
Which proves one more weary time what I’ve been saying, Albong’s “knowledge” is shallow, and he is an amateur who jumped on the Syria bandwagon when the “Occupy Wallstreet maaaan snooooooort” movement became stale.
Reuters once described Syrian-Command-Ho as a “prominent online activist”, which the poor schmuck was overjoyed at, until someone pointed out to him the Reuters article was about infantile menhebakjis who were claiming that Syria losing to Qatar 1-2 in some FIFA game was somehow “losing the battle but winning the war”
November 21st, 2012, 5:27 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
5 Working Braincells
“it is a criminal aggression by external war mongers: israel, u.s. england, france, arabia, qatar, turkey, joined by syrian stooges, thugs.”
Why stop there. Why not include the Stone-Masons/Elders of Zion/The Joker/Zod/The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
Gesh, and I thought the only person other than Batta to have so many nemesis was Superman.
November 21st, 2012, 5:32 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Correction on my post of 123 Instead of
“totally destroyed the Shia Hamas’ standing in the Arab world”
it should be “completely and brilliantly shattered the lie of the sectarian,terrorist Hizbollshaytan as a pan-Arab resistor of Israel, and exposed it as the perverted martydom-seeking kill-all-infidels gang of sectarian thugs that it is, brilliantly doing what George Bush and Israel couldn’t in 2006”
Hamas is now firmly outside the Iranian sphere, and is reward is an easing of the blockade on Gaza, something the Ayatollahs couldn’t accomplish for them. Learn from the GCC, and stop obsessing over your baning your women from university
November 21st, 2012, 5:42 pm
Visitor said:
AoA,
This ignorant jabali quotes the Holy Qura’n without understanding a thing even though its Arabic is clear for those who pay attention.
The verse he quoted sets two conditions for the munafiq. if you do not satisfy BOTH conditions then you are a munafiq.
1) You are called to fight in the way of Allah but you decline.
2) you do not pay in support of those who fight in the way of Allah, as you can easily surmise by reading …أَوِ ادْفَعُواْ …
I have been calling on this forum for the last two months at least for all capable Syrians to support the FSA financially. Furthermore, I have made it a case that such contributions must go directly to the FSA with no middlemen such as Red Cross, Red Crescent, HCI or other agencies of ‘charity=defeat’ since Syrians do not accept charity, and by doing so you get maximum benefits.
I therefore continue to support the FSA and have sent them enough money to feed this jabali and his clan as well as this Albo thing and Ali Baba and his forty thieves for few generations.
Are you not doing the same AoA from Saudi with the help of Ar’our? I am sure you are.
But what is jabali doing? Zilch. he comes here and lectures. What is Albo doing? Zilch. He comes here and plays with numbers and wants us to call him Dr. of Economics. What is Ali Baba doing? Zilch. He comes here and lectures the revolution.
Who is the Munafiq in this case for Allah’s Sake?
As for the pillars of Islam, who said that they are objects of worship? This is sheer ignorance, total nonesense and the greatest insult to Islam uttered by Zibala so far. Obviously he is no longer being tutored by his very knowledgeable dog which deserves all the respect it can get while Zibala deserves none.
I am sure if you ask jabali to enumerate the known pillars he will have hard time doing so. Does jabali believe Allah is One and Muhammad is Allah’s Prophet? Does jabali pray? Does he fast? Does he go to Hajj? Does he pay Zakat?
No he doesn’t do any of the above. This is the greatest hypocricy there is. He believes Ali is god (la 7hawla wala quwwata illa billah). He believes Gabriel mistook Muhammad for Ali due to age difference. He believes Ib Nusayr is the gate to his god the so-called absent imam. He is more than munafiq. He is a heathen with no religion whatsoever.
November 21st, 2012, 5:44 pm
ALI said:
يا غلام يا اجرب
“But I’ll be going back to Homs,”
You need to get a written permission from your Saudi guarantor “kefeel” before you could step a foot out of your city of residence. I hope you’re attractive enough to lure him to sign your freeing certificate you slave. Sunnis are such ungrateful people, at least when we have enslaved you for 40 long years, we were allowing you to travel around but not before bringing your sister, mother and siblings to security branch for Mwafaqa Amniya.
“Generic Qurdahan”
There you start your non sense accusations, but anyway do you still remember the days when your daddy and mummy were shutting your mouth when you just driving by the entrance of Qurdaha on your way to Latakia. I did enjoy these days and mostly I enjoyed the nights by the blue beach “الشاطئ الازرق” when Qurdahans were coming to hit on your girls and you Sunni folks were looking so hopeless, I have to admit Sunni girls are way more attractive. We didn’t even need zawag mut3a at that time to get things done.
So why did you flee your “hometown” Homs and left your Jihadi brothers behind? Ah true because Qurdahans were coming to get you. and could you please tell us how low did you put your head at the airport showing your slavery DNA to your masters of Qurdahans?
Talking about running away, do you still remember how “The Syrian Commando” kicked your white as* on this blog?
November 21st, 2012, 5:52 pm
mjabali said:
Visitor:
It hurts you bastards like hell when I use al-Quran to expose you.
AS for what I do or did, How do you know?
One of the things I do is call for peace and call for no violence. What you do: you call for violence and more violence.
you should apply what al-Quran says ya munafiq:
إدْعُ إِلَى سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُمْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ ضَلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ
Do you really apply ya mumafiq what is in this text.
November 21st, 2012, 6:10 pm
Mina said:
Some seem to have had fun today
http://angryarab.blogspot.de/2012/11/muslim-brotherhood-and-gaza.html
November 21st, 2012, 6:10 pm
Syrian Natonalist Party said:
WHAT DRUG YOU GUYS POSTING HERE ARE GIVEN TO YOU BY ALCIADA/MOSSAD DAILY? WHEN THEY WILL TEACH YOU ARABIC, WE TIRED OF LISTENING TO YOUR HEBRAIC ZOMBIE LANGUAGE.
November 21st, 2012, 6:11 pm
Mina said:
It’s unheard of if you’ve been reading Western media, but Morsi is now fully enjoyjng the “Zero problem policy” famous since Erdogan’s achieved it by becoming the base for Islamists wishing to see Jesus come down the Umeyads’ mosque minbar.
Egyptian police and army fighting each other in Alexandria;
Police and demonstrators fighting each other in Cairo, Mahalla, Ismailiyya;
It is not clear how many of the members of the Constituent Assembly remain, after 6 April, Seculars, and Christians have walked out in the recent weeks.
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/army-police-face-again
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/police-officer-injured-clashes-between-brotherhood-and-protesters-ismailia
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/wave-walkouts-leaves-constituent-assembly-islamists-hands
But as long as the West is bailing out Egypt, no reason to speak of embarassing topics!
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/egypt-finalize-imf-loan-agreement-december-source-says
November 21st, 2012, 6:21 pm
Citizen said:
great video! Bravo Ruslan Fedotow !
Nothing in more natural than the Syrian persons, they are cool, good, nice and helpful.
This amazing video has been captured by an amazing photographer to show us the other side of Syria
Thanks for this video
November 21st, 2012, 6:22 pm
ALI said:
“Nothing in more natural than the Syrian persons, they are cool, good, nice and helpful”
Jihadi group on this blog this does not apply to you.
November 21st, 2012, 6:29 pm
Citizen said:
Syrian persons ! not soldiers of Hulagu and Genghis Khan !
November 21st, 2012, 6:40 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Generic Qurdahan Ali
“Talking about running away, do you still remember how “The Syrian Commando” kicked your white as* on this blog?”
Uh, seriously? Is this the same kind of “victory” that you people claimed when the Syrian team lost against Qatar 1-2? And Syrian-Command-Ho has protected his tweets and account on Twitter, he’s such a wuss. It’s the equivalent of crawling up in a fetal position while the big boys use you as a football, heheheh. It isn’t “winning” when you’re so gutless you can’t bear to let people see your tweets.
“You need to get a written permission from your Saudi guarantor “kefeel” before you could step a foot out of your city of residence”
Actualy, Saudi Arabia in its magnificent generosity has now allowed every Syrian in the country to be a free agent. Deportations have been suspended no matter what the reason. It is an unprecedented acts of benevolence on the part of the generous Saudis, who have also allowed Syrian students to study in government universities and schools free of charge. What are schools in Syria being used for, ya ibn el mut3a inta? Barracks for your jaysh abu shahata to shoot crack up their noses while they lose yet another village and town.
The M in the WAAM
“One of the things I do is call for peace and call for no violence”
Just a few weeks ago you were calling for your own Qurdahan mini-state. When that idea flopped you suddenly became Ghandi and begged the Jihadis for “peace and brotherly love blah blah”. The split personalities of the menhebakjis when cornered is indeed a pleasure to watch. On the one hand he calls Sunnis the worst people on Earth, on the other he expects the “worst people on Earth” to sit down and negotiate with murdering and raping filth.
You see, the revolution has more men than it has arms. The regime has more arms than it has men. Any military analyst who isn’t a historically challenged hypocrite will tell you that the regime has the more pressing need for men. Therefore, the hypocritical suppressed gay menhebakjis on this forum would best serve their cause by packing their bags, leaving their lives in the West, and coming back to Syria and enlisting. Oh wait, there isn’t a border checkpoint or airport they could possibly use right now, hehehehe.
I expect before soon, Aldendeshe will repeat his feudal grandady’s accomplishments by having “biblical knowledge” of every peasant Qurdahan girl working in his house and on his farm hehehehe.
Notice how Mjahali has stopped mentioning his plan to whine to the Saudis about my mighty pillar. A fiasco that he will never be able to live down. Anyone with an ounce of self respect would have died of shame.
But then, considering the illegitimate way these people’s parents’ were conceived, it would take a hell of alot more to shame them.
November 21st, 2012, 6:49 pm
Syrialover said:
I enjoy thinking about scenarios for the coming end of Syria-hater Bashar.
One is someone in Bashar Assad’s inner circle losing trust, becoming paranoid and afraid of what’s in the “leader’s” mind, and deciding to kill Bashar before getting killed themselves.
Another is Bashar “standing tough”, then suddenly making a cowardly panicky dash for it, badly hampered by having legless Maher and all his wife’s Louboutin shoes as luggage.
Or him pretending to be at his by post using faked broadcasts while being spirited offstage like a slippery snake by his entourage of Iranian puppetmasters (bizarrely warehousing their puppet in case there’s a chance of a comeback).
There’s endless other scenarios, but that’s enough for now.
November 21st, 2012, 6:54 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Well done Visitor. See people, this is what genuine knowledge looks like, and not the shallow “read from the bullet points and paste crap you haven’t even read” that is the bread and butter of the menhebakjis. Each verse in the Quran has a really deep meaning, which I wouldn’t pretend to understand.
“Are you not doing the same AoA from Saudi with the help of Ar’our? I am sure you are.”
I cannot begin to count the thousands of dollars I’ve spent getting people released from the clutches of the mukhabarat. It isn’t a security organization anymore, it is a f*cking mafia ransom racket. People are snatched off the streets to be ransomed. Paying off the mukhabarat is controversial, and some people criticize the practice, but I believe it’s worth it, as it isn’t a source of income that can go on indefinitely.
And it’s useful to know who are the easily corruptible elements in the mukhabarat; where do you think the FSA is getting its weapons from. The “security” agencies have more holes in them than have been opened by the Saudis in Albong and Warren’s behinds, hehehe.
November 21st, 2012, 6:58 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Generic Qurdahan Ali
“when Qurdahans were coming to hit on your girls and you Sunni folks were looking so hopeless”
Dude, please, it’s obvious to everyone here your knowledge of the female anatomy is limited to peeking at your sister when she’s in the bathroom. Seriously, kindly spare us the overcompensating for your virgin state, this is a serious blog where you are at least expected to know how many pillars there are in Islam if you want to discuss religion.
And tell that tant Syrian-Command-Ho to open up his Twitter account already and stop hiding behind it. What a pussy. Are his feelings that fragile?
November 21st, 2012, 7:03 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
I will not deny a word that the generic Qurdahan Ali said in #130. He is right, 100%. Every humiliation he described is true.
And you people wonder why the country is in revolt? Straight from the donkey’s mouth, you heard how life was like under Alawite rule. Only a simpleton would think there was a need for a Qatari/Zionist/NATO conthpirathy for the country to rise up and start killing their oppressors.
I will save that comment’s link
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=16753#comment-335661
and post it everytime someone anywhere on the Internet claims that the revolution is a foreign “conthpirathy”. But the generic Qurdahan can only dream of the past. The future is whatever Adnan Ar’or deems it to be. Hehehehe, this is going to be fun.
November 21st, 2012, 7:22 pm
Citizen said:
Hulagu and Genghis Khan warriors and Kurdish YPG fight over one northern town
http://welati.net/nuce.php?ziman=ar&id=3959&niviskar=1&cure=3&kijan=
November 21st, 2012, 7:32 pm
Warren said:
salafi catamite # 105
Copying and pasting an entire Wikipedia page as a rebuttal: pathetic, desperate and weak! Just like the sunnites that sell their daughters to paedophile khaleejis in mutah deals for money: shameless sunnites. Now you sunnites have expanded to the Egyptian mutah market. lol
Syrian Refugees Struggle in Egypt
Kamal Saeed is a prominent Syrian refugee in Egypt. He is originally from Zabadani. He has a wife, three sons and one daughter. He said some Egyptians are taking advantage of the Syrians’ poor economic conditions and offering to help a Syrian family in return for marrying one of their daughters. Saeed claimed that Syrian families are feeling humiliated by such offers. He said that Egyptians should unconditionally help Syrian families in light of the Syrian plight that has killed thousands of Syrians. He said that some refugees have chosen to send their daughters to work as dancers in clubs or have pushed them into prostitution with Gulf Arabs, even though these Syrian families are financially better off than the rest. A large number of these Syrians live in Aamraniyya. They number about 670 families and belong to one of the Syrian tribes.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/11/the-plight-of-syrian-refugees-in-egypt.html#ixzz2CuOe782f
Returning to your c+p “rebuttal”, the Roman Catholic Church and the Papacy is acutely aware of the threat posed by Islam, and is confronting this threat! Here are the RC and Pope Benedict’s views on the following pressing issues.
Islamic immigration and demographics:
The Pope vs. Muslims
An upcoming autobiography from press baron Conrad Black reveals that Pope Benedict lamented the ‘slow suicide of Europe’ because of Muslim immigration. By Andrew Roberts
Now, however, Lord Black’s authoritative and highly readable new memoir (full disclosure: I’m a dedicatee) reveals that at a small dinner party given at the home of Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, the then–cardinal archbishop of Toronto, in 1990, the then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—now Pope Benedict—”lamented ‘the slow suicide of Europe:’ its population was aging and shrinking, and the unborn were being partly replaced by unassimilable immigrants. He thought that Europe would awake from its torpor, but that there were difficult days head.” Black concluded that “Like other cardinals of my acquaintance (including our host), he was a far-sighted judge of important secular matters.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/25/muslims-in-europe-pope-lamented-slow-suicide.html
Wahhabistan:
Europe bishops slam Saudi fatwa against Gulf churches
Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, chairman of the German Bishops Conference, said the mufti “shows no respect for the religious freedom and free co-existence of religions”, especially all the foreign labourers who made its economy work.
“It would be a slap in the face to these people if the few churches available to them were to be taken away,” he said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/26/uk-saudi-christians-fatwa-idUSLNE82P01220120326
Middle East:
Pope says religious freedom is necessary for Middle East peace
Peace will not come to the Middle East until its nations enjoy religious freedom, since only the free practice of faith can inspire the region’s diverse peoples to unite around basic human values, Pope Benedict XVI said Sept. 15.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1203868.htm
Islamic intolerance:
Pope Calls Christians the Most Persecuted
He wrote that he was especially thinking of Iraq “,which continues to be a theater of violence and strife” as it aims for stability and reconciliation.
Benedict singled out the “reprehensible attack” on a Baghdad cathedral during Mass in October, killing two priests and more than 50 other worshippers, as well as attacks on private homes that “spread fear within the Christian community and (create) a desire on the part of many to emigrate in search of a better life.”
The Vatican voiced concerns that the steadily flight of Christians from Iraq will effectively eliminate the ancient community there.
“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith,” the pontiff asserted, and cited Christian communities suffering from violence and intolerance particularly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Holy Land.
“This situation is intolerable, since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity” as well as “a threat to security and peace,” Benedict wrote in one of the 17-page-long message’s strongest passages.
He appealed to authorities to “act promptly to end every injustice” against Christians.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/16/pope-calls-christians-persecuted/#ixzz2CuMYk3rw
__________________________________________________________________
Contrary to the spiel you spouted, the Pope and the Catholic Church does not adhere to a policy of appeasement regarding Islam. Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church have repeatedly criticized Islamic misdeeds! And Kudos to them!
November 21st, 2012, 8:13 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Um, Warren, aren’t you the guy that posts a gazillion links to websites that no one reads?
November 21st, 2012, 8:17 pm
ALI said:
” every peasant Qurdahan girl working in his house and on his farm hehehehe”
Those peasants you’re making fun of have made your country a great nation, those peasants were working their as* off to earn their right in running the country while your bourgeoisie upper class people were busy humiliating and slaving them, but guess what the peasants won. Rest assured Mr.Jihadi these days of humiliation are gone for good and it’s our responsibility to defend the country from people like yourself.
“Only a simpleton would think there was a need for a Qatari/Zionist/NATO conthpirathy for the country to rise up and start killing their oppressors”
There’s no oppressor here, we’re putting our life on the line to protect the nation and all of you with no exception from yourself first and from the Zionists coming from the Gulf.
November 21st, 2012, 8:21 pm
Warren said:
A proposal Saudis can’t refuse
It may be the world’s most puritanical kingdom but there are still legal ways to have sex on the side
Saudi Arabia’s conservative society stands divided on the issue of misyar, a no-strings marriage of convenience that has become increasingly popular in the kingdom.
Misyar is a form of marriage that allows couples to live separately but come together for sexual relations. For the women who accept it – spinsters, divorcees and widows – it’s a something-is-better-than-nothing option, though they waive almost all the rights that a normal Muslim marriage entitles them to. For men it offers an opportunity for a bit of fun on the side, in secret, and at a huge discount.
Reasons for popularity of misyar include the high cost of marriage – the dowry, several dinners, parties, decoration of a flat or a villa and the honeymoon. All this may set back the groom by several hundred thousand riyals. Misyar for cash-strapped men is a boon.
Hamdan, a Saudi colleague of mine back in Jeddah – distraught and depressed after the break-up of his first marriage – entered into a succession of misyar marriages. None lasted for more than six months. He confided that he had hoped to find a compatible partner for a permanent relationship but it didn’t work out. He also said that misyar wives are crafty and inclined to extract money and gifts. In his words: misyar marriages are not cost-effective. The colleague is now married again – in a normal marriage – and hopes to live happily ever after.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/aug/16/saudi-arabia-marriage
November 21st, 2012, 8:24 pm
MarigoldRan said:
No, Syria has never been a great nation in modern history. If it was such a great nation in the past, why is it in the middle of a civil war right now?
November 21st, 2012, 8:25 pm
ALI said:
where’s your post Tara? why did you remove it? Are you afraid of something?
November 21st, 2012, 8:25 pm
Warren said:
New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as ‘Marriage’
Muslim “child-marriage”—euphemism for pedophilia—is making headlines again, at least in Arabic media: Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, just issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage, and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle.”
Appearing in Saudi papers on July 13, the fatwa complains that “Uninformed interference with Sharia rulings by the press and journalists is on the increase, posing dire consequences to society, including their interference with the question of marriage to small girls who have not reached maturity, and their demand that a minimum age be set for girls to marry.”
Fawzan insists that nowhere does Sharia set an age limit for marrying girls: like countless Muslim scholars before him, he relies on Koran 65:4, which discusses marriage to females who have not yet begun menstruating (i.e., are prepubescent) and the fact that Muhammad, Islam’s role model, married Aisha when she was 6-years-old, “consummating” the marriage—or, in modern parlance, raping her—when she was 9.
The point of the Saudi fatwa, however, is not that girls as young as 9 can have sex, based on Muhammad’s example, but rather that there is no age limit whatsoever; the only question open to consideration is whether the girl is physically capable of handling her husband/rapist. Fawzan documents this point by quoting Ibn Batal’s authoritative exegesis of Sahih Bukhari:
The ulema [Islam’s interpreters] have agreed that it is permissible for fathers to marry off their small daughters, even if they are in the cradle. But it is not permissible for their husbands to have sex with them unless they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men. And their capability in this regard varies based on their nature and capacity. Aisha was 6 when she married the prophet, but he had sex with her when she was 9 [i.e., when she was deemed capable].
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/raymond-ibrahim/new-saudi-fatwa-defends-pedophilia-as-%E2%80%98marriage%E2%80%99/
November 21st, 2012, 8:29 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Warren appears unusually interested in the sexual habits of Saudi men.
Look, why is this such a big deal? Compared to bombing and terrorizing your country, what does this matter? What’s with this fascination with sex, Warren?
November 21st, 2012, 8:32 pm
Syrialover said:
I’m trying to find that beautiful photo of priest Father Paolo (who is now apparently back in Syria) standing in a row of his Muslim counterparts, all of them praying together in their own way.
What a powerful surge of clean pure air to blast away those wisps of vile toxic waste the creepy “Christian” WARREN keeps frantically dumping here.
If anyone has a link to that photo, please post it. I will if I find it.
November 21st, 2012, 8:32 pm
ALI said:
“No, Syria has never been a great nation in modern history”
Are you kidding me? Syria has emerged from nothing to an important player in the geopolitical map. Nothing could happen in the area without a permission of Syria. We supported resistance groups in Lebanon, Palestine and Sudan, we stood firmly against dividing the Yemen and we were the front line in stopping Israel from expansion. All these achievements and you say not a great nation
“why is it in the middle of a civil war right now”
simple because Jihadists decided to declare an Islamic Imara on our land.
November 21st, 2012, 8:34 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Syria was a nation that was very good for a small minority of people, like the Assads. It was a very bad nation for the majority of the people, like for example, most Sunnis. This is why it’s in the middle of a civil war:
The Sunnis rose up to overthrow the minority and dictatorial regime.
Based on your name, you’re probably not Sunni. Based on your answer, it appears like you’re just another regime stooge, on the losing end of the civil war.
November 21st, 2012, 8:39 pm
MarigoldRan said:
It’s time for the Alawites and the regime supporters to feel fear in Syria. This war is justice, for 40 years of humiliation.
The longer this goes on, the worse it will be for everyone. But it will be ESPECIALLY bad for the Alwaites and the minorities, because they have the most to lose. The rebels, well, they already have lost everything except their lives. So they may as well keep fighting for justice and for the future.
November 21st, 2012, 8:42 pm
Tara said:
Ali,
What do you think I am afraid of Ali?
November 21st, 2012, 8:43 pm
ALI said:
Tara:
Why did you remove your post?
November 21st, 2012, 8:46 pm
Warren said:
Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-Munajid: Hurricane Sandy Is Allah’s Punishment For Afghanistan And Iraq
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6826.htm
__________________________________________________________________
More words of wisdom from a saudistani
November 21st, 2012, 8:48 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Generic Qurdahan Ali
““why is it in the middle of a civil war right now”
simple because Jihadists decided to declare an Islamic Imara on our land.”
No, this is why we are in a civil war, straight from the donkey’s mouth
https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=16753#comment-335661
“Nothing could happen in the area without a permission of Syria”
Oh yes, because Sadat got Batta senior’s permission to sign a peace treaty with Israel right?
Jordan got Batta-senior’s permission too, right?
The PLO got Batta-senior’s permission to sign a peace deal too, right?
Hafiz pissed his pants when the Turks were going to invade the north of the country in the late 90s. Where is Abdullah Ocalan now eh?
And the way Batta’s jaysh abu shahata had to scurry out of Lebanon was very humiliating, unprecedented infact.
And did George W Bush get Batta’s permission to invade Iraq? The next day Batta was crying and wetting his pants and on the phone to the Gulf, begging them to reassure him that he wouldn’t be next.
The magnificent political maneuverings of the Saudis and Qataris have in one year diminished Batta’s influence even in his own country to next to zilch, and that of his sectarian buddies Hizbollshaytan to the same level, and managed to empty Iran’s coffers, all at no cost to themselves, a state of affairs only a mut3a child could fail to see.
November 21st, 2012, 8:49 pm
SYR.EXPAT said:
152. SYRIALOVER
Here you go.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=305444156231467&set=a.274485085994041.57430.273098146132735&type=1&theater
One piece of advice. Don’t waste your time with bigoted idiots who crave attention. Let hatred eating them up.
November 21st, 2012, 8:51 pm
Tara said:
Ali,
I’ll answer because I like the persistence
I thought the second paragraph was silly and that I should care less about a hungry Sunni family from Homs so I removed it all together.
I sense something strange about you Ali. I still do not know what it is.
November 21st, 2012, 8:54 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
I am pasting again Pope Benedict’s positions on certain issues, to show everyone just how isolated and fringe the Qurdahan Virgin Warren is. All of these are recent examples, while the poor outmatched Qurdahan had to dig up a 22 year old dubious source from a book that hasn’t even been published yet, by convicted criminal.
Pope benedict XVI and Islam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI_and_Islam
Saudi Arabia
“Pope Benedict XVI welcomed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to the Vatican on November 6, 2007, marking the first time that a Saudi king has officially held talks with the Pope”
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
“The Pope strongly condemned the Mohammed cartoons, first published by a Danish newspaper and later in other European papers, saying “In the international context we are living at present, the Catholic Church continues convinced that, to foster peace and understanding between peoples and men, it is necessary and urgent that religions and their symbols be respected.” He also added that this implies that “believers [of various religions] not be the object of provocations that wound their lives and religious sentiments.” Pope Benedict XVI noted that “for believers, as for all people of good will, the only path that can lead to peace and fraternity is respect for the convictions and religious practices of others”
Immigration
“Pope Benedict XVI has called for Christians “to open their arms and hearts” to Muslim immigrants and “to dialogue” with them on religious issues. The Pope told participants that the Catholic Church is “increasingly aware” that “interreligious dialogue is a part of its commitment to the service of humanity in the modern world.” In fact, this “conviction” has become “the daily bread” of those who work with migrants, refugees and itinerant peoples, he said”
Concerning the Middle East Conflict
The Pope called for the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said: “May the international community, which re-affirms Israel’s just right to exist in peace, assist the Palestinian people to overcome the precarious conditions in which they live and to build their future, moving towards the constitution of a state that is truly their own”
Concerning the war in Iraq
The head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interfaith Dialogue said on March 26, 2006 that the war in Iraq should not be viewed as a “crusade” launched by Christian countries against Muslims, and that “Western” was not synonymous to “Christian”
Pope Benedict XVI condemns pre-emptive war. It is the Pope’s view that the invasion of Iraq “has no moral justification”. As a cardinal, Benedict was critical about President George W. Bush’s choice of sending an army into the heart of Islam to impose democracy. “The damage would be greater than the values one hopes to save”, he concluded. He also said that “The concept of preventive war does not appear in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
The Vatican condemned the execution of Saddam Hussein as a “tragic” event and warned that it risked fomenting a spirit of vendetta and sowing fresh violence in Iraq
Concerning the Islam controversy
Pope Benedict expressed his regret for any offense his words had given: “The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers,” said Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone in a statement.[42][43] According to CNN, the Vatican comments fell short of a literal apology.[44]
On September 17, 2006, from the balcony at his residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome, Pope Benedict publicly expressed that he was ‘deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries’ and stressed that the words which ‘were considered offensive’ were not his own, but were quoted from a medieval text, and that his speech was intended to act as an invitation to mutually respectful dialogue with Muslims, rather than an attempt to cause offense
—————-
Such moderation, such sensible leanings, tsk tsk, why did Batta and the Qurdahans never learn such religious tolerance. For shame.
November 21st, 2012, 8:55 pm
ALI said:
“ow is it possible that Jordan and Lebanon have much higher standards of living and freedom of expression than Syria ever managed?”
Lebanon could not reach its current standards without our existence in there, Syrian soldiers were the security valve for Lebanon. Beside, and I’m saying no secret here, Lebanon is just a Syrian province and you as a Syrian has the full rights to live and work permanently there, so that means it was your choice to live in a poor other province.
Jordan, without Syrian wheat and water there would be no Jordan. It’s another example how Syria controls and influence over the Levant.
“and yet they can’t even manage to get water to the countryside”
This is a wrong statement, the Euphrates dam on Buhayrat al-Assad has secured water and power to all Syria.
November 21st, 2012, 9:01 pm
ALI said:
Tara:
You’re such a good soul trapped in a Jihadi mind.
November 21st, 2012, 9:08 pm
Warren said:
Saudi Cleric Rules for Child Marriage
Sheik Saleh al-Fawzan, one of Saudi Arabia’s most influential clerics, has backed a religious ruling that allows fathers to arrange marriages for their daughters “even if they are in the cradle.” But he drew the line when it came to sex, writing in his fatwa that husbands cannot have intercourse with their child spouses “unless they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of men.” Al-Fawzan’s ruling—which comes on the heels of the Justice Ministry’s legislative attempt to regulate marriages between prepubescent girls and men—has spurred a confrontation between the Saudi government and the country’s powerful conservative clergy. According to Saudi media, the Justice Ministry would fight to set a minimum age for marriage in the male-dominated, Islamic kingdom—but it’s not clear how much power al-Fawzan’s fatwa would have in the case
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/07/29/saudi-cleric-rules-in-favor-of-child-marriage.html
November 21st, 2012, 9:09 pm
Warren said:
Mickey Mouse must die, says Saudi Arabian cleric
Mickey Mouse is a corrupting influence and must die, a Muslim cleric has declared.
Sheikh Muhammad Munajid claimed the mouse is “one of Satan’s soldiers” and makes everything it touches impure.
But he warned that depictions of the creature in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney’s Mickey Mouse, had taught children that it was in fact loveable.
The cleric, a former diplomat at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, said that under Sharia, both household mice and their cartoon counterparts must be killed.
Mr Munajid was asked to give Islam’s teaching on mice during a religious affairs programme broadcast on al-Majd TV, an Arab television network.
According to a translation prepared by the Middle East Media Research Institute, an American press monitoring service, he said: “The mouse is one of Satan’s soldiers and is steered by him.
“If a mouse falls into a pot of food – if the food is solid, you should chuck out the mouse and the food touching it, and if it is liquid – you should chuck out the whole thing, because the mouse is impure.
“According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today – after Tom and Jerry?
“Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children. Even mice.
“Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases.”
Last month Mr Munajid condemned the Beijing Olympics as the “bikini Olympics”, claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes dressed in skimpy outfits.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/2963744/Mickey-Mouse-must-die-says-Saudi-Arabian-cleric.html#_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart%2Concircled%2Conload&id=I0_1353548780000&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk
November 21st, 2012, 9:14 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
“This is a wrong statement, the Euphrates dam on Buhayrat al-Assad has secured water and power to all Syria.”
Hasbi Allah wa ne3mal wakel. Ya zalami, meshan rab mohamad haj tashbeh ya!
Read the this ICG report, and for the first time in your life read just how badly your regime messed up the countryside and caused an unprecedented abandonment of the areas to the cities;
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/egypt-syria-lebanon/syria/109-popular-protest-in-north-africa-and-the-middle-east-vii-the-syrian-regimes-slow-motion-suicide.aspx
” Lebanon is just a Syrian province and you as a Syrian has the full rights to live and work permanently there”
Yeah, and do you know why Lebanon made it so easy for Syrians to move and live there? They want the cheap labor. First time in history that the conquered employed the “conquerors”. It is f*cking unheard of.
November 21st, 2012, 9:15 pm
Sami said:
“we’re putting our life on the line to protect the nation”
Well for full fledged genocide enthusiasts when they say: “protecting the nation” what they really mean is cowardly dropping THREE BARRELS FULL OF TNT ON A HOSPITAL full of patients:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5qrkk5n4W0&feature=player_embedded
(Al-Shifaa Hospital in Shaar Aleppo.)
And by putting their life on the line they mean cowardly dropping incendiary cluster bombs (RBK-250 ZAB 2.5M) on it OWN PEOPLE from MiGs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgZtbhWFfvk&feature=player_embedded
http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Air-Launched-Weapons/RBK-250-ZAB-25M-and-RBK-500-ZAB-25SM-cluster-bombs-Russian-Federation.html
And in between dropping Incendiary Cluster Bombs, and targeting Hospitals this sub-human entity called the Assad regime arrests 4 young women holding banners in Souk Medhat Basha that said this:
Now you would think this raging homicidal regime would stop there, but no these cowards attack a funeral procession at a cemetery with mortars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoX7VaS6qaQ&feature=player_embedded
All of this is a days work for jaysh Al-Assad.
Protecting 2aal…
November 21st, 2012, 9:16 pm
Warren said:
More than 1 million Saudis on unemployment benefit
More than 1 million Saudi Arabians are now receiving unemployment benefit, the labor ministry said on Wednesday, underlining a source of potential discontent that the rulers of the world’s top oil exporter are keen to contain.
The “Hafiz” program, which pays unemployed Saudis 2,000 riyals ($533) a month for up to one year, was announced by King Abdullah during the Arab uprisings last spring and introduced in late 2011.
“The number of beneficiaries this month rose by 40 percent from last month and by 170 percent from December when the program started to pay the monthly subsidy,” said the official Saudi Press Agency, quoting Khaled al-Ajmi, the Labor Ministry official in charge of Hafiz.
Thanks to a decades-long population boom, the Saudi government can no longer afford to reduce unemployment by creating public sector jobs. Last year’s revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Syria were blamed by some on high youth unemployment.
Officially the kingdom’s unemployment rate is 10.5 percent, but that figure does not include the large numbers of working-age Saudis not counted as part of the labor force.
Recent government figures show the labor force participation rate, meaning people who are in jobs or who say they are looking for work, is 36.4 percent, about half the global average, say economists.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/28/us-saudi-unemployment-subsidy-idUSBRE82R0L320120328
November 21st, 2012, 9:20 pm
Tara said:
Ya Ali,
“You’re such a good soul trapped in a Jihadi mind.”
Be careful Ali. You are roaming freely and not following the script.
I took above as a nice compliment..and thank you.
November 21st, 2012, 9:22 pm
ALI said:
“Syria being the last country in the region to get Internet, mobile phones and ATMs makes it a “great nation”
You don’t measure the greatness of a nation based on ATM cards. Syria faced sanctions for long years and nobody could break our determination. Syria defended the whole Arabs and Muslims against the Israeli threat.
but yes sometime due to the specialty and necessities of the period we should focus on things over others things, so yes while we were little bit late on technology but our internal unity was getting better day after day in preparation for a moment like we’re facing.
After things settle down in Syria and after your apologize publicly on this blog to every peasant as you call them, then I will forgive you and we can go back to old days of living in harmony with no sectarian thinking.
Agree?
November 21st, 2012, 9:23 pm
Warren said:
Special Report: U.S. cables detail Saudi royal welfare program
When Saudi King Abdullah arrived home last week, he came bearing gifts: handouts worth $37 billion, apparently intended to placate Saudis of modest means and insulate the world’s biggest oil exporter from the wave of protest sweeping the Arab world.
But some of the biggest handouts over the past two decades have gone to his own extended family, according to unpublished American diplomatic cables dating back to 1996.
The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and reviewed by Reuters, provide remarkable insight into how much the vast royal welfare program has cost the country — not just financially but in terms of undermining social cohesion.
Besides the huge monthly stipends that every Saudi royal receives, the cables detail various money-making schemes some royals have used to finance their lavish lifestyles over the years. Among them: siphoning off money from “off-budget” programs controlled by senior princes, sponsoring expatriate workers who then pay a small monthly fee to their royal patron and, simply, “borrowing from the banks, and not paying them back.”
As long ago as 1996, U.S. officials noted that such unrestrained behavior could fuel a backlash against the Saudi elite. In the assessment of the U.S. embassy in Riyadh in a cable from that year, “of the priority issues the country faces, getting a grip on royal family excesses is at the top.”
A 2007 cable showed that King Abdullah has made changes since taking the throne six years ago, but recent turmoil in the Middle East underlines the deep-seated resentment about economic disparities and corruption in the region.
A Saudi government spokesman contacted by Reuters declined to comment.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/28/us-wiki-saudi-money-idUSTRE71R2SA20110228
November 21st, 2012, 9:26 pm
ALI said:
“Hasbi Allah wa ne3mal wakel. Ya zalami, meshan rab mohamad haj tashbeh ya!
Read the this ICG report …”
Man you don’t feel tired? I’m doing no tashbeh Itaqi Allah ya rajol which is more important having internet and more TV channels or defending Palestine?
I read the report carefully and yes I agree that there were some mistakes and we must get them fixed but it does not make sense after 40 years of building the state you suddenly come and say “no we want everything or we destroy the country”, it just does not make sense.
We gave you the prime minister, the head of parliament, ministers, the head of Baeth party and ……. but still you come ans ask for everything?
November 21st, 2012, 9:35 pm
Visitor said:
The Patriots are coming. The US just announced its approval for deployment. Seventy to one hundred sixty kilometers of northern skies from Turkish borders southward will all of a sudden be off limit to criminal aircraft. Learn more,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIM-104_Patriot#Introduction
November 21st, 2012, 9:38 pm
ALI said:
MarigoldRan:
Please don’t judge me based on my name and you know it’s just an alias.
I’m a better Syrian than most of you here, at least I didn’t advocate and encouraged killing like Jihadists do, and didn’t betray my people.
November 21st, 2012, 9:40 pm
Warren said:
WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices
US diplomat convinced by Saudi expert that reserves of world’s biggest oil exporter have been overstated by nearly 40%
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/08/saudi-oil-reserves-overstated-wikileaks
__________________________________________________________________
With the United States being abundant with kerogen shale and becoming the largest oil producer by 2020 according to the IEA. The strategic need for Wahhabistan is decreasing every day. The faustian pact successive US administrations have kept with the barbaric saudi kleptocrats: oil for security. Is no longer valid US interests lay elsewhere hence the pivot to Asia. US treasure and blood won’t be spent to keep a barbaric tribe preserve its tyranny, Arabia once the oil runs out will revert to being a wasteland of feuding tribes and fanatics.
November 21st, 2012, 9:53 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Fair enough on the alias part.
But internal unity… huh? Syria had internal unity in the past? What sort of internal unity was there if the country can so easily collapse into civil war? The Assad regime treats three-quarters of the country as an enemy. So of course everyone treats him as an enemy too.
Do you support the regime, or do you not support the regime? If you support the regime, that means you support the killing and destruction of villages and towns through bombs. If you don’t support the regime, then why are you not against it? Why are you not against the bombing and the killing?
People talk about jihadists on the FSA side. But even the most extreme of the FSA has not done a hundreth of the killing or the damage that the regime has done.
November 21st, 2012, 9:53 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Warren knows he cannot talk about the regime, because he knows it is a losing topic. Even he knows that the regime is indefensible. So instead he tries to change the discussion about silly articles on Saudi Arabia.
Warren, this blog is Syria comment. In other words, a blog about Syria. If you want to spend your time talking about Saudi Arabia, go somewhere else.
November 21st, 2012, 9:56 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Ali, the whole “sacrifice everything for Palestine” shtick was a big fat lie. The regime and Iran and Hizbollah used hatred for the Jews to grant themselves legitimacy, without which everyone would have seen that the emperor had no clothes. Not a stitch.
“After things settle down in Syria and after your apologize publicly on this blog to every peasant as you call them, then I will forgive you and we can go back to old days of living in harmony with no sectarian thinking. ”
When pigs fly. But you haven’t resorted to name calling in the last few posts, and I’ll respect that.
Now, who was the know-it-all menhebakji on this forum who said that the rebels would never be able to exploit the oil fields they captured?
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/11/21/3928960/with-syrias-eastern-oilfields.html
“With Syria’s eastern oilfields in rebel hands, a brisk business in pirated crude grows”
November 21st, 2012, 10:14 pm
ALI said:
MarigoldRan:
First of all I have to put it out there very clear that I’m not with the current regime but at the same time I’m against the Jihadists.
Although I should appreciate that Bashar brought us internet and civilized the image of the country, but I don’t think he’s the man for this age, he’s very incompetent and soft. This period and this crisis needs only one man to fix it, it needs Mr. President Hafiz (RIP) he’s the only capable man of taking Syrians to the shores of safety. His son has failed us and failed the country.
I’ll give you one clear example of internal unity. Simply did anybody before the revolution ever talked about sects and sectarian belonging? the answer is No, and this is the internal unity I’m talking about. The revolution has changed the Sunni mind, Sunnis didn’t keep their promise of protecting the country.
you might ask what promise? well every Syrian student including Sunnis were repeating the oath of allegiance every morning at schools since 1982, every day they repeated it from heart and soul, every day they promised to fight the gangs of Muslim Brotherhood. But suddenly they forgot their oath and followed their sect, that’s why I’m really mad with most (not all) Sunnis but Inshallah they’ll realize their mistake soon and come back to the mother Syria.
November 21st, 2012, 10:21 pm
ALI said:
Amjad:
Thanks for your understanding, I’m very sure that we will be good friends after the crisis and I’ll host you in our farm.
November 21st, 2012, 10:24 pm
Dolly Buster said:
106. 5 DANCING SHLOMOS said:
▒ it is a criminal aggression by external war mongers: israel, u.s. england, france, arabia, qatar, turkey, joined by syrian stooges, thugs. ▒
No, it is another battle between democracy (USA, UK, France) and dictatorship (China, Russia).
People have a choice between:
a) relaxing with iPhones 5 and Starbucks (democracy);
b) living in a police state (← offered by russia, china).
November 21st, 2012, 10:52 pm
Syialover said:
ALI #182
You desperately need to start reading statements and interviews with intelligent Syrian opposition figures where they spell out the idiocies and evils of the Syrian Assadist SYSTEM.
Your last couple of statements give us a better understanding of where you are at. You have a long, long journey ahead.
November 21st, 2012, 11:23 pm
ann said:
30 rebels, 10 gov’t troops killed in fresh wave of violence – 2012-11-22
• 30 armed men were killed Wednesday inSyria’s Deir al-Zour during clashes with government troops.
• 10 government forces were also killed Wednesday in a roadside bomb blast in Idlib.
• SANA: scores of ” terrorists” had been killed during operation in Damascus suburb of Daraya.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/22/c_123983759.htm
DAMASCUS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — As many as 30 armed men were killed Wednesday in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour during clashes with government troops, a pro-government media reported, as sources said that a total of 10 government forces were also killed Wednesday in a roadside bomb blast in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The armed men were killed during clashes with the Syrian forces near al-Rawda mosque in the town of Jubaila in Deir al-Zour, Sham FM radio said.
Separately, the state-run SANA news agency said scores of ” terrorists” had been killed during a qualitative operation carried out by the Syrian army against their gatherings at the orchards of the Damascus suburb of Daraya.
It added that the army has liberated tens of people, including children and women, who were kidnapped and besieged in Daraya by the terrorists to use them as human shield.
SANA said also that the army has seized a makeshift factory to make bombs and a tunnel to store weapons and ammunition in the area.
In the northern province of Idilb, Sham FM said a roadside bomb went off on the Idlib-Mastouma road, killing and injuring unidentified number of people.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/22/c_123983759.htm
November 21st, 2012, 11:24 pm
Syrialover said:
ALI #182
You desperately need to start reading statements and interviews with intelligent Syrian opposition figures where they spell out the idiocies and evils of the Syrian Assadist SYSTEM.
Your last couple of statements give us a better understanding of where you are at.
You have a long, long journey ahead.
November 21st, 2012, 11:25 pm
ann said:
Feature: Syrians frequent cafes to discuss, or seek respite from, crisis – 2012-11-22
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/22/c_131990489.htm
DAMASCUS, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — Despite a months-long crisis besetting the country, cafes in downtown Damascus have managed to remain open, catering to people of all walks of life seeking discussions about, or a respite from, Syria’s woes.
The cafes, with walls and chairs bearing the memory of the city and even the country, have played an integral role in Syria’s social, cultural and political landscape. They witnessed the hashing of plans for military coups in the fifties of the last century and hosted meetings of the founders of the ruling Baath Party and their constituent conferences.
These days, in spite of the violence that has inflicted much misery on the country, the cafes still draw people from all ages and all walks of life.
The downtown Havana cafe, best known as the cafe of the intellectuals, still attracts a significant number of patrons, though they now choose to meet at noon, because most Syrians have lately avoided going out after sunset.
The focus of the customers’ talk is the dragging on of the crisis enveloping the country, with some showing unwavering support to the government and others whispering criticism of the government’s handling of the situation.
Mohammad Ibrahim, a 58-year-old teacher, is one of the regulars at Havana cafe.
“It’s very useful and interesting for me to discuss the crisis with educated people here in order to get some clues to where our country is heading,” he said.
The area gathers many ancient cafes where people of all walks of life, including writers and poets, flock to on a daily basis, playing chess or backgammon and puffing water pipes.
At the Kamal Cafe, a waiter told Xinhua that business hasn’t been much affected by the crisis, except that no customers come after 11 at the night while the cafe witnesses massive turnout from 7 a.m. till 9 p.m.
“Unlike the cafes in remote areas or far from the city center, the crisis has not cast its dim shadow on the capital’s cafes,” he said.
Most of the cafes and restaurants in Damascus’ suburbs have been closed amid raging clashes between government troops and rebels, causing a boom in the cafes in downtown Damascus.
Some customers go to the cafes to escape from the pressure of life and stay away from political news.
“We are fed up… We don’t want to talk about the crisis that has overwhelmed our lives for nearly two years,” said Amir Hamdan, 68, a retired government employee. “I come here to try to forget and find some fun.”
“As soon as I come here, I immediately ask the waiter to turn off the TV or to change the channel from news to sports or music,” he said.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-11/22/c_131990489.htm
November 21st, 2012, 11:33 pm
SYFRIAN HAMSTER said:
Although I should appreciate that Bashar brought us internet and civilized the image of the country,
Syria was the cradle of civilization, it does not need a buffoon like Jr to civilize its image. Syrian statesmen were respected worldwide as some of the most cosmopolitan and educated and you’r telling us that this buffoon brought anything good. His father and him will be remembered as those who destroyed Syria.. not those who brought anything but misery and halted the country’s development for forty year.
The problem with loyalists, covert and overt, is that they don’t have a single ounce of trust in Syria and in the Syrian people. They have no clue about the country’s incredible potential so everything becomes a gift from the dictator, even when it is rotten at the core. How sad it is to be a slave, and how ugly to be a house-slave.
As for internal unity, it was a unity of fear and oppression. LOL, that thuggish criminal family even failed even in indoctrination despite of forty years.
Oath, now that is the most laughable. If I didn’t know any better, i would have called the comment naive, but it is not.
November 21st, 2012, 11:38 pm
Visitor said:
AoA,
Based on Ali @ 182 and on your inside information how many Syrians are now lined up for urinal release at the Hafez resting toilet place up in Qurdaha?
Can you see the end of the line from where you stand?
How long have these Syrians been holding the release in order to max out the flood?
November 21st, 2012, 11:40 pm
Visitor said:
AoA,
Hey…
What do you think of what Ali said addressing you @175?
“We gave you the prime minister, the head of parliament, ministers, the head of Baeth party and ……. but still you come ans ask for everything?”
WE GAVE YOU…?
What the hell this moron of a clown think he is this piece of sh*t? He owns Syria and speaks of himself as WE?
This is the most conceited idiot we came across on this forum!!
November 21st, 2012, 11:56 pm
Syrialover said:
Imagine if Iran hadn’t been taken over by idiot ignorant Mullahs and had developed into a modern secular democracy.
With its human and energy resources, Iran could be a wealthy, sophisticated, widely respected and highly influential player on the world stage.
It would have few enemies and no interest in making any.
And significantly, it would not have been the source of crippling interference, poison and mischief in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Just imagine.
November 22nd, 2012, 12:20 am
Syrialover said:
SYR.EXPAT (#161)
Thanks for that link to the picture of Christian Father Paolo with his Muslim brothers on his return to Idlib province in defiance of the regime.
Your advice is right.
TARA
Something for future Syrian school history textbooks?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=305444156231467&set=a.274485085994041.57430.273098146132735&type=1&theater
November 22nd, 2012, 12:32 am
Juergen said:
As long as peaceful demonstrators end up in the dungeons of Al Wahash…
Four young Syrian women have been arrested by regime forces today after they staged a demonstration in a Damascus market wearing long white dresses and holding banners that called for an end to the conflict.
“Syria is for all of us”, one banner said.
“For the sake of the Syrian human, the civil society calls for stopping all military operations in Syria,” another one read.
“You’re tired and we are tired. We want to live.”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=452229904813122&set=a.186824541353661.34965.182806365088812&type=1&theater
Ann,
Thank you for this heartful story of Damascene coffeehouses. I really hope and pray that the war does not affect the sales at the City Center Mall and that the noveau riche ( which you seem to adore) can still have their fashion shows at Costa.
November 22nd, 2012, 1:48 am
Hanzala said:
entire Assad convoy wiped out on its way to Damascus
November 22nd, 2012, 2:05 am
ALI said:
“What the hell this moron of a clown think he is this piece of sh*t? He owns Syria and speaks of himself as WE?”
You barking pitbull Visitor shame on you speaking in such a manner, we’re trying to find the reason why Sunnis broke their oath with Syria after all what we gave you, and yes we gave you the prime minister, the head of parliament, ministers, the head of Baeth party and …… but it seems it’s not the position you after but maybe another agenda.
Yes WE lead and protected each one of you for 40 years, we gave you free education and health system. We even educated you politically from very young stage to understand the risk of Zionists and imperialism. We built dams,bridges, hospitals, and subsidized everything from sugar to tissues. You owe us, yes big time you owe us for all what we offered you for the last 40 years but it seems “اذا اكرمت الكريم ملكته واذا اكرمت اللئيم تمردا”
November 22nd, 2012, 2:19 am
Juergen said:
Ali
Now the amusement starts… such delusional talking of the ungratefulness to Al Wahash and its henchmen. You forgot to mention the advantages of murder, imprisonment and torture. I bet you will find neverending mercy in all of that.
BTW all the government position you listed which were given to “Sunnis”, what is the position of an PM worth in Al Wahashs farm?
Ever been to an syrian hospital? Your free system is worth almost nothing. Without money the nurses ( most of them got their job by wasta not qualification) wont even look at you.
November 22nd, 2012, 2:35 am
Syrialover said:
“We even educated you politically from very a young stage to understand the risk of Zionists and imperialism.” (ALI #194)
In other words, crude brainwashing of young Syrians in a fossilized dinosaur Soviet-style curriculum.
Not an enlightened and balanced approach to education which encourages young people to be intellectually curious, to research the facts, explore different viewpoints and learn to think for themselves.
November 22nd, 2012, 2:57 am
Syrialover said:
ALI #194 says:
..”and subsidized everything from sugar to tissues”
Creating a distorted, stunted, backward and dysfuntional economic system, with practices that were silly and unsustainable.
In a properly run, open and healthy economy there’s no need to for anything to be subsidized, let alone daily necessities!
And what clumsy junk so much of it was, forcing Syrians to support the archaic industrial disaster zone of the Sovier Union.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:14 am
Albo said:
The forum is completely filled with rubbish.
Garbage of Arabia
“Now, who was the know-it-all menhebakji on this forum who said that the rebels would never be able to exploit the oil fields they captured?”
Article says:
“Abu Mohammed said the price at which the rebels sell the oil is largely a symbolic one, and prices at the various wells in operation appeared to be about $5 a barrel, far below the world price that hovers above $80 a barrel.
”
You still can’t read. Don’t you get bored of all these monologues? seriously get out go visit your saudi boyfriends or something.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:15 am
Syrialover said:
ALBO #198
The real point is, loser Bashar Assad failed to keep Syria’s oil fields secure, which are crucial to running the country.
But maybe this is part of his genius “Assad or we burn the country” scheme, along with destroying crops in the fields and smashing infrastructure, urban areas and heritage buildings.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:37 am
Albo said:
Not much is secure in Syria right now, and it won’t be so for a long time.
What is destroying the country is guerrilla and counter-guerrilla, you can’t exclude one side. The shia in Iraq could also claim legitimate grievances and decades of repression, yet their militias took an active part in destroying what was left of the country. Their children and grand children won’t be able to write off their responsibility, likewise the Lebanese youth by large isn’t trying to justify who started what and who was “right”, many reject the civil war entirely and blame all the participants.
It will be the same for Syria.
November 22nd, 2012, 4:17 am
Mina said:
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/nabil-abdel-fattah-crisis-clones
“What happened was not revolution. It was an uprising or a rebellion that did not succeed in destroying the old structures and building new ones in their place,” he said. “The rulers now are the Muslim Brotherhood; they are a strong part of the former regime, even if their legitimacy was blocked all these past years.”
Nevertheless, Fattah still believes that substantial and radical change will eventually counter what he called the duplicating minds. “All the prisons of conscience in the name of the new Islamist patriarchy will be destroyed,” he said. There will be “revolution against the guards at the gates of the man-made temples, where the sheikhs speaking in the name of Islam justify taking power, as they use it for their political and economic interests.”
November 22nd, 2012, 4:19 am
Syrialover said:
ALI,
You may not believe it, but I respect and accept your perspectives because I know they are sincerely believed and based on your personal experiences, background and what you have been taught and exposed to. I would be polite to you if we were fellow dinner guests or sitting next to each other on an air flight.
What I will resist though, is your assumption that the system you blindly accept is the limit of what Syrians should ever hope for and deserve.
A system poorly constructed and corruptly and ineptly run by a dictatorship. A regime with no realistic or legitimate basis for insisting that they can be the only ones to do it on behalf of all Syrians.
This revolution is partly about Syrians saying enough is enough, but also about a core younger sector of the population standing up in the 21st century and saying how come we aren’t entitled to the same freedoms, choices, systems, opportunities and possibilities as other humans elsewhere we know of.
November 22nd, 2012, 4:20 am
ALI said:
SyriaLover:
Thanks for hearing a non-Jihadi opinion. Yes there were mistakes in running the state but the biggest mistake was to appoint Bashar, we all knew at that time that he was not the right man. We all hoped for Ali Doba or Hekmet Shihabi to run the state but sh1t happened.
Now it’s never too late, we happy to oust Bashar but with the condition that things should go back to what they were.
November 22nd, 2012, 4:47 am
MarigoldRan said:
No, the country will never be the same again, even after Assad dies. After the Alawites lose, they will be forever branded as heretics that brought ruin to the country. The Sunnis are never going to forget the two generations when the Alawites ran the country… and ran it to the ground. The seeds of hatred will run deep for centuries.
And no, Ali, you are wrong. An iron fist is a mistake. Bashar Assad failed because HIS FATHER created a state that could not adapt to changing times. An iron fist can last only for a generation or two, before it falls into chaos and civil war. If you have not learned this, you have learned NOTHING from this war.
You say you like Hafiz Assad because he ruled with an iron fist. But in reality you liked him because he was YOUR iron fist. How would you like it if a jihadist group, your enemy, took over Syria, and ruled it with an iron fist? They could proclaim, for example, that Alawites are heretics, and any that resisted them shall have their houses burned, their cities destroyed, and their children tortured. Would you like this? Or would you pick up weapons and fight?
And yet this is precisely what the regime is trying to do. They are trying to rule the country with an Iron Fist, and look where it has brought them. Look at where it has brought the country. If the people look for an Iron Fist to rule them, they will always be slaves, and the country will always fall into disaster.
November 22nd, 2012, 5:25 am
MarigoldRan said:
If you are an Alawite, or a Christian, or a regime supporter, pray PRAY that the next government will be democratic that will abide by international rules and respect minority rights. Pray that Syria will never be ruled by an Iron Fist again.
Because if a dictatorship rises in Syria, the next dictatorship shall be a SUNNI dictatorship. And that dictatorship shall visit upon the “heretics” all of the humiliation and the pain that was inflicted upon them for the last 40 years.
if the Alawite community had any brains in them, they would end the war NOW and beg the West to save them from the Sunnis! Instead they blindly follow their stupid leader off a cliff….
November 22nd, 2012, 5:32 am
Syrialover said:
No, ALI (#203)
The mistake was Hafez Assad seizing power and keeping it.
How things were is not worth returning to. People are dying to avoid it.
This discussion has nothing to do with jihadis.
Admit you are making a joke.
November 22nd, 2012, 5:36 am
Syrialeader said:
Thoughtful piece by Hassan Hassan on why the world needs to
to fully recognise and meaningfully aid the opposition or be an accomplice to the ongoing survival of the Assad regime.
Article: Strengthen Syria’s opposition – or be complicit in the war
Excerpt:
“…the coalition is the most representative political entity to emerge during the 20-month uprising, reversing the domination of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Syrian National Council. The coalition, unlike the SNC, is structurally open to other forces, which allows for even more inclusiveness. Also unlike the SNC, the coalition has a limited mandate and does not aim to manage the transition period on its own. Above all, it has been well-received by the majority of anti-regime Syrians.
The world has long demanded a “viable alternative” to the Assad regime. An “alternative” should be offered by Syrians, but “viability” will only be attained with the assistance of countries that support their democratic aspirations. The coalition’s leadership and structure is well-suited to deal with the challenges on the ground, particularly because it is led by a person – Moaz Al Khatib – who has dedicated his career to fighting sectarianism, extremism and vigilantism.
Mr Al Khatib might not yet be a savvy politician, but he is a well-spoken community leader who has extensive ties with like-minded clerics and other influential people. That is exactly what Syria needs to meet the challenges that face the rebellion on the ground. Mr Al Khatib has a record of unequivocally arguing against sectarianism, and religious and extremist sentiments. The first time he was banned from preaching in 2007 at the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus was because he preached about secularism: he said that secularism did not contradict religiosity and that a Muslim could be secular just as an atheist could. The regime disapproved because the talk involved politics.
Read in full:
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/strengthen-syrias-opposition-or-be-complicit-in-the-war#ixzz2CwUAfEJy
November 22nd, 2012, 5:54 am
Syrialover said:
Here’s a thoughtful piece by Hassan Hassan on why the world needs to fully recognise and meaningfully aid the opposition or be an accomplice to the ongoing survival of the Assad regime.
Article: Strengthen Syria’s opposition – or be complicit in the war
Excerpt:
“…the coalition is the most representative political entity to emerge during the 20-month uprising, reversing the domination of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Syrian National Council. The coalition, unlike the SNC, is structurally open to other forces, which allows for even more inclusiveness. Also unlike the SNC, the coalition has a limited mandate and does not aim to manage the transition period on its own. Above all, it has been well-received by the majority of anti-regime Syrians.
The world has long demanded a “viable alternative” to the Assad regime. An “alternative” should be offered by Syrians, but “viability” will only be attained with the assistance of countries that support their democratic aspirations. The coalition’s leadership and structure is well-suited to deal with the challenges on the ground, particularly because it is led by a person – Moaz Al Khatib – who has dedicated his career to fighting sectarianism, extremism and vigilantism.
Mr Al Khatib might not yet be a savvy politician, but he is a well-spoken community leader who has extensive ties with like-minded clerics and other influential people. That is exactly what Syria needs to meet the challenges that face the rebellion on the ground. Mr Al Khatib has a record of unequivocally arguing against sectarianism, and religious and extremist sentiments. The first time he was banned from preaching in 2007 at the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus was because he preached about secularism: he said that secularism did not contradict religiosity and that a Muslim could be secular just as an atheist could. The regime disapproved because the talk involved politics.
Read in full:
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/strengthen-syrias-opposition-or-be-complicit-in-the-war#ixzz2CwUAfEJy
November 22nd, 2012, 5:56 am
Visitor said:
Ali 194 the beggar clown,
You moron micro head , you are historical beggars. You have nothing. You gave nothing and your idol hafiz stole the country and turned it into the most backward zoo of nazi criminals in which you happen to be one such nazi thug.
Soon the FSA with the help of our brothers in faith will liberate Qurdaha and every thing will be dismantled. you better start looking for a cave in the mountains to go back to just where you beggars came from.
November 22nd, 2012, 6:14 am
ALI said:
I was expecting you to disagree with me,but let me assure you that your stubbornness will just destroy the country. Every expat I met talked about the lovely Syria before the crisis, nobody i know complained ever about anything and now suddenly you decide to change the power structure,it just does not make sense. I’m shocked how all of you just can’t get it, Syria must be ruled by a minority in order to secure social justice across the population.
I had Sunni friends and ALL of them were super happy with my friendship. They’ve loved it when I was inviting them to the farm and always complimented my father, they used to call me at anytime for any issue or problem to be solved and I was always there for them. How would I guess that those “friends” weren’t happy with the Alawis while they were only expressing gratefulness and gratitude. I just can’t understand Sunnis.
PS: Those friends put some hurting words on my facebook before unfriending me.
November 22nd, 2012, 6:20 am
ALI said:
barking pitbull:
“rt looking for a cave in the mountains to go back to just where you beggars came from”
Rest assured I won’t run anywhere, this country is ours and we either live to rule it or die defending it. I told you earlier we’re protecting you all.
Maybe once we were beggars, servants or peasants but that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Look at you rich aristocratic people, 40 years of putting the mask of hypocrisy and 40 years working for the beggars.
November 22nd, 2012, 6:29 am
Visitor said:
Ali the micro head clown asks,
“I just can’t understand Sunnis. P.S: those friends put some hurting words on my Facebook before unfriending me”
Anyone would understand except micro heads. Because you and your father are beggars.
——————————
Here is where the FSA are today. They are at the outskirts of Latakia fully equiped with modern weapons ready to move in and liberate the city then the rest of the moles left in Syria under lowly criminal thugs. Soon 7haffeh, Jableh and Qurdaha will join the rest of Free Syria leaving the thugs occupying Damascus with no lines for retreat.
All of the north is now under FSA control. Deir el-Zor is now fully under FSA control with the defeat of the last battalion yesterday. The FSA is now moving to the coast to complete its liberation as I predicted not long ago,
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/3950a5de-2fc8-4c21-98ef-82e94d2990ea?GoogleStatID=9
November 22nd, 2012, 6:35 am
Visitor said:
Micro head Ali 210, you want to die? then die you will.
November 22nd, 2012, 6:42 am
Syrialover said:
ALI #209,
You gotta start reading those statements by intelligent opposition figures about the evils and idiocies of the Assad dictatorship. Otherwise reality is going to do your head in.
You said: ” Every expat I met talked about the lovely Syria before the crisis, nobody i know complained ever about anything ”
Expatriates who came to Syria usually fell in love with the people of Syria and its heritage. Things that had nothing to do with the Assads. The rotten underpinnings were not visible to them in the circuits they went, the people they mixed with. They were oblivious to the power structure, the invisible undercurrent of fear.
Therefore many westerners who were tourists in Syria or visited there on a short term basis are now deeply freaked out, stunned and ashamed of their naivety after their discovery on their TV news of the true nature of the Assad regime. Ask any of them.
They are also deeply distressed and outraged at Bashar Assad’s treatment of Syrians and the destruction of Syria’s heritage.
So don’t quote them to support your claim that nothing was wrong in the glorious, good old pre-revolution days.
November 22nd, 2012, 7:13 am
Juergen said:
Ali
Of course I could lament in your way and say how much fun it was to be in Syria for the first time back in 2005. I felt secure, safe, even jewish friends visited Damascus and even were able to visit the remains of what is left from the prosperous jewish life.
I remember well one restaurant visit in the old town, the place was packed as always, but the atmnosphere was tense. I asked my syrian freinds and they told me not to look at the table which was near the entrance, there sat the chief of security services inside Lebanon. This atmosphere of fear, was for me a good reminder of what has been reality in East Germany for way too long. You may be right that many tourists might not have seen or experienced the cruelty of this regime. I always made sure to show friends the sights of some notorious torture chambers, and by the way the regime never really made big efforts to hide their attitudes. Even as a tourist the high court is well on the way to Souk al Hamidiye, and some of the scenes I have seen in front of this building made sure to always know in what kind of a country you are.
November 22nd, 2012, 7:20 am
swanson said:
Turkey wants to deploy patriot defense system along the southern border, Turkey must be expecting war with Syria
November 22nd, 2012, 7:55 am
Albo said:
214 Juergen
Before the usual suspects muddy the discussion as per usual,
I know and understand everything you’re talking about Juergen, but I want to ask you the only important and straightforward question: was it worth it to destroy the country?
Ghufran explained it to you people. That the regime would react with brutality was a given due to historical precedents, especially against a militarized opposition. So people were well aware of what would happen, and you all knew it.
There certainly were peaceful demonstrators who were repressed, but had people stopped their demonstrations because of this, would your movement and all dissent have stopped? Hardly. The government would still have been under heavy pressure. It’s not a question of whether they wanted or not to make reforms. In every Arab country not toppled by the Arab Spring, the regimes in place were compelled to begin reforms, not because of any willingness to do so but because they are compelled to do so. In time, they will all go or be changed from top to bottom, but gradually, orderly.
In Syria, the country is being destroyed, will be impoverished for decades and is fragmenting.
Yes fragmenting because, radicals, extremists who hope that Kurdish, Druze, Christians, Alawis will be under the Sunni boot are deluded. Iraqi Sunnis are still living in their regions and strongholds, Maronite militias and their war criminals are still comfortable in their areas in Lebanon; so the nutcases here shouldn’t hold their breath, should the crisis worsen. Remember that western powers who decide for you didn’t give a mandate for your most rabid dreams.
November 22nd, 2012, 8:12 am
Krzysztof said:
Some good news from Syria:
Syrian army repels rebel attack on base: watchdog
November/21/2012
Syria’s army repelled a rebel attack Wednesday on a military base at Sheikh Suleiman, 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of the city of Aleppo, and killed at least 25 insurgents, a watchdog said.
Rebel fighters have besieged the base for several weeks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. They have now been forced to pull back as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad win back ground in northwest Syria.
At least 25 rebel fighters were killed, said the Britain-based monitoring group, citing rebels.
The area was mined and came under aerial bombardment, it said.
Rebels seized the strategically located Base 46 late last week, according to the monitoring group. The base is a large military complex perched on a hill, and is also located near Syria’s second city Aleppo.
Base 46 was one of the army’s last remaining bases in the area bordering Turkey, which supports the revolt against Assad.
Rebels had aimed to expel the army from Sheikh Suleiman, as they edge towards declaring the “liberation” from regime hands of northwestern Syria.
In violence in the capital on Tuesday, a mortar shell smashed into an upmarket district that houses several embassies, killing one person and injuring several others, the Observatory and Syria’s official media said.
The blast in Abu Rummaneh marked the first time the wealthy district has been targeted since the March 2011 outbreak of the revolt against the regime.
Pro-government Al-Watan daily also reported the attack, saying “a mortar shell fell near the Madfaa garden in the district of Abu Rummaneh, causing casualties.” It did not elaborate.
On Wednesday, the army shelled the southern belt of Damascus and the town of Daraya southwest of the capital, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists, doctors and lawyers to compile and verify its data.
The group added that helicopters and warplanes were deployed over the capital’s Eastern Ghouta area as the army launched new operations to retake control of areas of Damascus province from the rebel Free Syrian Army.
November/21/2012
November 22nd, 2012, 8:27 am
Sami said:
I love it when sectarian genocide enthusiast lecture us about how this regime that kills, maims, and destroys Syria for the sake of Assad was ever willing to reform.
Ya sectarian genocide enthusiast care to tell us why Giath Mattar was killed by your brave shabeeha? Why were four innocent ladies arrested yesterday for holding up signs in Medhat Basha? Care to tell us why a protest was shelled in Aleppo last Friday? Why was a HOSPITAL BARREL BOMBED THREE TIMES?
November 22nd, 2012, 8:30 am
Tara said:
One small victory after the other…liberating Syria an inch after an inch.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9694453/Syria-rebels-fight-to-unite-opposition-held-areas-before-final-push-for-Damascus.html
Syria: rebels fight to unite opposition-held areas before ‘final push’ for Damascus
Syrian rebels are fighting to unite a string of opposition-held districts in southern Damascus before making a ‘final and coordinated’ push for the seat of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Rebel factions that have until now fought Mr Assad’s government in separate, largely independent battles are now working together to create one, large ‘liberated’ area of Damascus from where they could launch a major assault on the city.
The movement represents the most serious challenge to the president’s hold on the Syrian capital in months.
“The rebels are trying to connect towns in south Damascus so that the Free Syrian Army can move between them and closer inside,” a Damascus activist calling himself Saif Dimaskhy told The Daily Telegraph.
,,,
November 22nd, 2012, 8:36 am
Sami said:
This was Dar Al-Shifaa hospital before the brave Assadi forces protected it by dropping three barrel bombs on it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2vUZBSPsSQ&feature=player_embedded&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2Ft2vUZBSPsSQ%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded
(A 7 minute documentary about the hospital before it was bombed)
November 22nd, 2012, 8:47 am
Albo said:
217. SAMI said:
“I love it when sectarian genocide enthusiast lecture us about how this regime that kills, maims, and destroys Syria for the sake of Assad was ever willing to reform.
Ya sectarian genocide enthusiast ”
If this is addressed to me, you must show me where I ever cheered bombing of civilians, or repression. I never did. While people on your side here make death threats daily and some precisely advocate that, the targeting of civilians. It’s very clear where is the bulk of genocide enthusiasts here, so give up about the moral high ground, there is none. Uzair made a mistake by quoting that article describing the parallels between the Syrian rebels and the people’s war of Mao:
“To increase popular antipathy towards the security forces, rebel forces often play a cynical game; launching attacks that are sure to enrage security forces but not substantively harm them, and then withdrawing, prompting bloody retaliation against the civilian population that the guerrillas claim to defend. This will reliably polarize and radicalize the civilian population, to the advantage of the guerrillas. This is exactly what has been taking place across rural Syria for the last 8 months”
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/chairman-mao-vs-president-assad-people%E2%80%99s-war-in-syria
BTW, I said that whether he was willing or not to reform doesn’t matter, most dictatures which made gradual transitions weren’t willing either but the conditions forced them through a peaceful process. The regime must and should be blamed, but I want you to reflect on Uzair’s article.
November 22nd, 2012, 9:06 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
So it was Albong who said that the rebels would never make a penny out of the oil fields. Surprise surprise, he turned out to be wrong, yet again. And he continues to display his shocking ignorance of basic economics by pointing out the disparity of the world price for oil and the price the rebels are selling it for.
Let me educate you, oh stoner. Your favorite white candy, cocaine, is worth very little in the jungles where it is first processed. But by the time it hits your streets to your local dealer, it is worth a great deal more.
You said the rebels would never exploit the oil fields. You were wrong, yet again. You have never been right on anything, and once more everytime you are caught out, you twist and turn to qualify your statements, going all the way back to “education is the most important indicator of a society EXCEPT for literacy which Syria really sucks at after 40 years of Batta and co”
And I find it amazing that not one pro-regimists can bring themselves to comment on the very fact that the rebels managed to capture the oil fields in the first place. Shocking, absolutely shocking.
The rebels have the oil fields, the pathetic regime doesn’t.Har har har har.And by the way, the price of oil is set by the OPEC cartel, and anything set by a cartel is going to be way higher than its fair price. Yet another example of how the brilliant GCC have the balls of the rest of the world in a vice.
November 22nd, 2012, 9:19 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
Albong
“launching attacks that are sure to enrage security forces but not substantively harm them, and then withdrawing”
There was no FSA in Homs on April 2011, when your shabiha murdered over 100 people in one night at a sit in. It’s a day I’ve noticed no menhebakji ever wants to mention or discuss, because it clearly puts the lie to the whole “Salafi gangs” notion.
After that, and after the international community’s failure to restrain the regime, it was perfectly permissible for everyone in Syria to take up arms to defend themselves.
It is shocking how the regime has treated Aleppo, once a bastion of support for them. Obviously, it doesn’t care about the long term consequences of its indiscriminate and barbaric bombing of the city, just as long as it can preserve itself. To the regime, even its Sunni supporters and loyalist foot soldiers are mere sheep, cannon fodder to be used up like rounds of ammunition or barrels of oil (which the regime has rather less of now)
November 22nd, 2012, 9:26 am
Albo said:
”
You said the rebels would never exploit the oil fields. You were wrong, yet again. You have never been right on anything, and once more everytime you are caught out, you twist and turn to qualify your statements, going all the way back to “education is the most important indicator of a society EXCEPT for literacy which Syria really sucks at after 40 years of Batta and co”
”
I didn’t say that they wouldn’t exploit them, I said that economic assets wouldn’t be in productive use, that’s why you can’t read, go check. Selling to such low prices is not exactly how you make profits, if they really pump a lot of it (which I doubt) billions would be lost for your future Syria.
As for literacy, I said education is the most important factor for future economic success (except when you have resource windfalls), obviously it was never just about literacy, you’re still not getting it.
November 22nd, 2012, 9:28 am
Albo said:
“It is shocking how the regime has treated Aleppo, once a bastion of support for them. Obviously, it doesn’t care about the long term consequences of its indiscriminate and barbaric bombing of the city, just as long as it can preserve itself. To the regime, even its Sunni supporters and loyalist foot soldiers are mere sheep, cannon fodder to be used up like rounds of ammunition or barrels of oil (which the regime has rather less of now)
”
and yes it can be said of their alawi rank and file, you know those you dream to murder, if they keep fighting it’s because they know you people, they know your thinking Amjad. Not because of their so-called privileges or their love for Assad, but I don’t expect you to realize that.
November 22nd, 2012, 9:33 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Ali
You said we gave you, Did you own it before? was it yours? it belongs to all Syrian people , not to you, you can not give what you don’t own.
You said minority must rule Syria, where did you get this logic from?
You said we either rule Syria or we die, I found such statement suicidal, the majority always win .
November 22nd, 2012, 9:41 am
Albo said:
Always? What about Bahrain?
November 22nd, 2012, 9:49 am
Majedkhaldoun said:
Even in Bahrain, if there is armed revolution the majority will win
November 22nd, 2012, 9:54 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
“Always? What about Bahrain?”
Obviously, since the revolutions in Bahrain and Iran sputtered out, a majority of those peoples were not siding with the opposition, and were content to live as they are.
November 22nd, 2012, 9:57 am
Albo said:
227 The Bahraini regime is pro-american, Bahrain harbors their Fifth Fleet, so don’t hold your breath.
November 22nd, 2012, 9:58 am
Visitor said:
Talk about Bahrain?
The majority in Bahrain is Sunni. The Shia living in Bahrain came in the sixties from Iran. they are not Bahrainis. If they oppose the King they will be rounded up and sent back to Iran, period. If they fight, the Saudis and the rest of the GCC will roll out their armed forces again and KSA will annex Bahrain.
You Shia: لكم اللطم ولنا الحكم الى ابد الآبدين شئتم ام ابيتم.
November 22nd, 2012, 10:30 am
Albo said:
228 Do you have any reliable production figures so that we laugh, you’re never gonna be able to export to pre-crisis levels in the current conditions, that’s my point, besides the price thing. How many times were pipelines blown up? What tells you this facility won’t get bombed? etc…
“But if I was an Alawite, and I knew that Chechans and Saudis and Libyans were running amok in the north of the country, I too would take up arms to defend my village and society. ”
Some empathy, now this is surprising coming from you.
“But defending one’s towns is one thing, and committing war crimes in an effort to reimpose a state of fear on a populace is something else. I have yet to see one menhebakji on this forum condemn the undeniable war crimes committed in the name of the regime.”
If you think I’m happy to see civilians hacked to pieces, that it’s how a better future should be built in my country, seriously dude…
And did you condemn the early attack on Jisr al-Shughur and other ambushes in the beginning? Many conscripts died in those, the killing of random Syrians wasn’t a problem for those hell-bent on inflaming the situation, hence the similarity with the people’s war in the quote above.
November 22nd, 2012, 10:31 am
Juergen said:
Albo
I will answer you later after I had my evening cup of tea.
November 22nd, 2012, 10:44 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
“And did you condemn the early attack on Jisr al-Shughur and other ambushes in the beginning?”
A funeral at Jisr Al Shughur was shot up, dozens of people killed. The people of the town retaliated against the police station where the snipers were based. 100% legitimate. Bravo, more power to them!
“Do you have any reliable production figures so that we laugh, you’re never gonna be able to export to pre-crisis levels in the current conditions”
Oh my God dude could you stretch anymore? My God anymore stretching and you could replace the plastic dude in the Fantastic 4. It’s been maybe a week since the oil fields were captured. Denying the regime its source of funds is a brilliant move. Actually making some money out of the fields is genius.
“Some empathy, now this is surprising coming from you. ”
Ben Gurion once said “judge a man on his record, not his speeches”. Would you rather I made long condescending comments about brotherhood and love and blah blah and yet go murder children? Or speak a bad scary game, but remain as I am, with not a spot of blood on my hands. Hell, I’m a living paradigm of virtue mutha fuggas.
November 22nd, 2012, 10:55 am
Albo said:
“The majority in Bahrain is Sunni.”
Then why every source claims otherwise, is it a conspiracy or something?
“The Shia living in Bahrain came in the sixties from Iran. they are not Bahrainis. If they oppose the King they will be rounded up and sent back to Iran, period. If they fight, the Saudis and the rest of the GCC will roll out their armed forces again and KSA will annex Bahrain.”
1) Juan Cole points to very ancient shi’ite roots in the general population
“The Baharina gradually traded the radical, egalitarian Isma’ilism of the ninth through 11th century Carmathian movement for a more quietist version of Shi’ism-the Twelver or Imami branch- which Sunni rulers considered less objectionable.5 ”
http://influxsrv.com/pl/PDFS/3729409-Rival-Empires-of-Trade-and-Imami-Shiism-in-Eastern-Arabia-13001800.pdf
2) It’s not clear how many Iranian immigrants there were, a source says “30,000 Iranians were granted citizenship in the past 50 years.”
http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/193398/1/azu_etd_10189_sip1_m.pdf I can’t say how many descendants they have, (2x to 3x as much, probably). Also there would be another 100000 arabized Persians among the 500000 or so Bahraini citizens, who have been living there for centuries, so they are old-stock, arab families now.(the two shouldn’t be confused). Citizens are citizens, once they were granted this status they should have political rights, you live in the West so you know.
In any case, Syrian ‘revolutionaries’ who also support Khalifa’s rule are extreme hypocrites, or they should make clear that their struggle is more religious than political (not a problem in your case).
November 22nd, 2012, 11:26 am
Visitor said:
Under nazi thugs in Syria, families are born in jail… and also grow in jail,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/11/22/251155.html
————————-
Albo 235,
Quite likely, you’re not Arab because you do not understand Arabic. If you understand Arabic, then obviously you’re a pathetic birdbrain. Here it is again,
You Shia: لكم اللطم ولنا الحكم الى ابد الآبدين شئتم ام ابيتم
As some one already noticed, repition could be useful in your case, but there are no guarantees with birdbrains.
November 22nd, 2012, 11:32 am
Warren said:
Albo
Notice how Vatty never provides independent verifiable sources for his farcical statements about Bahrain’s demographics and history? As if his word and empty threats constitutes irrefutable evidence: what a deluded cyber jihadi loser! No wonder Al Assad has remained in power for so long; when his Sunnite opponents are this retarded!
No wonder the Israeli-Arab peace talks never go anywhere, as Arabs can’t distinguish fact from fiction, propaganda from reality, never engage in debate but rather self-aggrandizing monologues. In such circumstances Israel’s forceful approaches with Arabs gains results.
November 22nd, 2012, 12:01 pm
Warren said:
New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as ‘Marriage’
Muslim “child-marriage”—euphemism for pedophilia—is making headlines again, at least in Arabic media: Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, just issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage, and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle.”
Appearing in Saudi papers on July 13, the fatwa complains that “Uninformed interference with Sharia rulings by the press and journalists is on the increase, posing dire consequences to society, including their interference with the question of marriage to small girls who have not reached maturity, and their demand that a minimum age be set for girls to marry.”
Fawzan insists that nowhere does Sharia set an age limit for marrying girls: like countless Muslim scholars before him, he relies on Koran 65:4, which discusses marriage to females who have not yet begun menstruating (i.e., are prepubescent) and the fact that Muhammad, Islam’s role model, married Aisha when she was 6-years-old, “consummating” the marriage—or, in modern parlance, raping her—when she was 9.
The point of the Saudi fatwa, however, is not that girls as young as 9 can have sex, based on Muhammad’s example, but rather that there is no age limit whatsoever; the only question open to consideration is whether the girl is physically capable of handling her husband/rapist. Fawzan documents this point by quoting Ibn Batal’s authoritative exegesis of Sahih Bukhari:
The ulema [Islam’s interpreters] have agreed that it is permissible for fathers to marry off their small daughters, even if they are in the cradle. But it is not permissible for their husbands to have sex with them unless they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men. And their capability in this regard varies based on their nature and capacity. Aisha was 6 when she married the prophet, but he had sex with her when she was 9 [i.e., when she was deemed capable].
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/raymond-ibrahim/new-saudi-fatwa-defends-pedophilia-as-%E2%80%98marriage%E2%80%99/
__________________________________________________________________
Not a single sunnite here has condemned this fatwa: it can only be assumed that sunnites support this!
November 22nd, 2012, 12:07 pm
Warren said:
Rebels warn Israel against Syria interference
Free Syria Army says Israeli fire in response to Syrian shell hit near northern border was meant to ‘aid Assad’s criminal regime’
“Israel assisted Assad’s criminal regime by firing at FSA forces that were closing in on Damascus forces and negotiating their surrender,” the Free Syria Army statement said.
“The Israeli forces interfered with the intent of saving Assad’s force by delivering a direct hit to the rebels and breaking their siege over Assad’s criminal forces.”
The statement repeatedly warned “the Israeli enemy against any interference in the Syrian conflict in favor of Assad’s regime.
“Any artificial tension created by Israel in the occupied Golan Heights is an attempt to assist Assad’s regime by distracting the Syrian people from their revolution,” the statement said.
Last week, three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights, while pursing rebel forces.
A senior member of the Syrian opposition told one of the resistance’s media outlets that Israel not only allowed the tank to enter the restricted buffer zone, but also assisted them by sending up flares to illuminate the area and ease their mission.
He further claimed the UNIFIL forces stationed in the demilitarized zone were assisting Assad’s forces.
These claims have not been corroborated or reiterated by any other source.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4304098,00.html
__________________________________________________________________
The Israelis know what these sunnite insurgents are about and acted robustly!
November 22nd, 2012, 12:26 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Recently, Israel and US had joint military wargames,testing the patriot missil system, with 80% success, Israel wanted to test it against Gaza missles, which they are similar to HA missiles, as it was mostly successfull, the next step is HA in Lebanon will be tested by Israel, this is to go to the next step against Iran.
The patriot missles Turkey is asking NATO to provide are not intended against Syria, they are intended against Iran.
Syrian Army is too weak to hurt Turkey.
November 22nd, 2012, 12:30 pm
Jasmine said:
Happy Thanksgiving to Prof.Landis and family.
November 22nd, 2012, 12:32 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
Pfft, Warren the wannabe-Cyber-Crusader, you really are the last person in Christendom in a position to talk about credibility. Your entire existence revolves around copy/pasting articles you are lifting wholesale from a xenophobic website. You have yet to provide a single shred of evidence that Pope Benedict shares your Islamophobia (other than the weak reference to an unpublished book by a convicted felon and swindler on an incident 22 years old).
“Not a single sunnite here has condemned this fatwa: it can only be assumed that sunnites support this!”
Sorry, I was too busy hunting down Mickey Mouse and murdering him LOOOOOOOOL! Wallak telhaz tezi sho bet 3awi, khaleeq qa3ed 3ala hal khazooooooq eli khoza’ok fee
“Jasmine said:
Happy Thanksgiving to Prof.Landis and family.”
Thank you for reminding us. Happy Thanksgiving Professor Landis, I hope the turkey is tasty.
November 22nd, 2012, 1:17 pm
Amjad of Arabia said:
“No wonder the Israeli-Arab peace talks never go anywhere”
Peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
Peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.
Peace treaty between the Palestinians and Israel.
Pretty good for a process that “never go anywhere”. And Im sure your beloved Batta made some under the table deals with Israel, hence the Golan being the quietest of Israel’s borders.
November 22nd, 2012, 1:21 pm
Observer said:
Majbali
Why the invectives and the insults.
If you find my post boring do not read them.
Do you also hate those from other ideologies that exclude the other and want to impose their views and their ideas and their way of life on others?
Remember what Renan said and remember what Ben Franklin said
Those that sacrifice liberty for security will get and deserve neither.
Cheers and Justice for Hamza Alkhatib
November 22nd, 2012, 1:22 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Warren 238:
Not a single sunnite here has condemned this fatwa: it can only be assumed that sunnites support this!
Well, the appropriate age for having sex with girls, is after they start menstruating. That is typically 13 years old.
As for these marriages with prepubescent girls, they are non-sexual marriages.
So, there is no pedophilia until you show that someone had sex with a non-menstruating girl.
November 22nd, 2012, 1:33 pm
Albo said:
236. VISITOR
It’s always funny to see Visitor’s reaction when he’s proved full of sh*t and has nothing to say.
“You Shia: لكم اللطم ولنا الحكم الى ابد الآبدين شئتم ام ابيتم”
Really? Be careful, the following reflects US strategic thinking, the author at Stratfor always have had contacts with defense and intelligence circles. I know your head will hurt, but read these arguments, they belong to the old US rationale about the opportunity to strike a deal with Iran. America isn’t wedded to your Sunni monarchs, very far from it:
”
This is a historic opportunity for Iran. It is the first moment in which no outside power is in a direct position to block Iran militarily or politically. Whatever the pain of sanctions, trading that moment for lifting the sanctions would not be rational. The threat of Iranian influence is the problem, and Iran would not trade that influence for an end to sanctions. So assuming the nuclear issue was to go away, what exactly is the United States prepared to offer?
The United States has assured access to oil from the Persian Gulf — not only for itself, but also for the global industrial world — since World War II. It does not want to face a potential interruption of oil for any reason, like the one that occurred in 1973. Certainly, as Iran expands its influence, the possibility of conflict increases, along with the possibility that the United States would intervene to protect its allies in Arabia from Iranian-sponsored subversion or even direct attack. The United States does not want to intervene in the region. It does not want an interruption of oil. It also does not want an extension of Iranian power. It is not clear that Washington can have all three.
Iran wants three things, too.
First, it wants the United States to reduce its presence in the Persian Gulf dramatically. Having seen two U.S. interventions against Iraq and one against Afghanistan, Iran is aware of U.S. power and the way American political sentiment can shift. It experienced the shift from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan, so it knows how fast things can change. Tehran sees the United States in the Persian Gulf coupled with U.S. and Israeli covert operations and destabilization campaigns as an unpredictable danger to Iranian national security.
Second, the Iranians want to be recognized as the leading power in the region. This does not mean they intend to occupy any nation directly. It does mean that Iran doesn’t want Saudi Arabia, for example, to pose a military threat against it.
Third, Iran wants a restructuring of oil revenue in the region. How this is formally achieved — whether by allowing Iranian investment in Arabian oil companies (possibly financed by the host country) or some other means — is unimportant. What does matter is that the Iranians want a bigger share of the region’s vast financial resources.
The United States doesn’t want a conflict with Iran. Iran doesn’t want one with the United States. Neither can be sure how such a conflict would play out. The Iranians want to sell oil. The Americans want the West to be able to buy oil. The issue really comes down to whether the United States wants to guarantee the flow of oil militarily or via a political accommodation with the country that could disrupt the flow of oil — namely, Iran. That in turn raises two questions. First, could the United States trust Iran? And second, could it live with withdrawing the American protectorate on the Arabian Peninsula, casting old allies adrift?
When we listen to the rhetoric of American and Iranian politicians, it is difficult to imagine trust between them. But when we recall the U.S. alliance with Stalin and Mao or the Islamic republic’s collaboration with the Soviet Union, we find rhetoric is a very poor guide. Nations pursue their national interest, and while those interests are never eternal, they can be substantial. From a purely rhetorical point of view it is not always easy to tell which sides’ politicians are more colorful. It will be difficult to sell an alliance between the Great Satan and a founding member of the Axis of Evil to the respective public of each country, but harder things have been managed.
Iran’s ultimate interest is security against the United States and the ability to sell oil at a more substantial profit. (This would entail an easing of sanctions and a redefinition of how oil revenues in the region are distributed.) The United States’ ultimate interest is access to oil and manageable prices that do not require American military intervention. On that basis, Iranian and American interests are not that far apart.
The Arabian Factor and a Possible Accommodation
The key point in this scenario is the future of U.S. relations with the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Any deal between Iran and the United States affects them two ways. First, the reduction of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf requires them to reach an accommodation with the Iranians, something difficult and potentially destabilizing for them. Second, the shift in the financial flow will hurt them and probably will not be the final deal. Over time, the Iranians will use their strengthened position in the region to continue pushing for additional concessions from them.
There is always danger in abandoning allies. Other allies might be made uncomfortable, for example. But these things have happened before. Abandoning old allies for the national interest is not something the United States invented. The idea that the United States should find money flowing to the Saudis inherently more attractive than money flowing to the Iranians is not obvious.
“
November 22nd, 2012, 1:44 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
Happy Turkey Day, Syria.
November 22nd, 2012, 1:49 pm
Syrialover said:
WARREN said in #237,
“Arabs can’t distinguish fact from fiction, propaganda from reality, never engage in debate but rather self-aggrandizing monologues.”
This is getting hilarious. The self-loathing shame-filled WARREN has just delivered what he thinks is a knockout punch insult to whatever he imagines as “Arabs” by accusing them of being exactly like himself!
November 22nd, 2012, 1:50 pm
Visitor said:
Again birbrain @ 246,
Nothing new or even to worry about!!
When the GCC rolled out its military into Bahrain last time, it did so despite US objections. The Iranians just cowered down and did zilch.
Since Persia was conquered by Omar in the 7th century, the Persians up till today did nothing but empty posturing. And you are doing exactly the same here on this forum. They will continue to do so for the next millenium long after you’re gone.
GCC does not need the USA for anything. It is the other way around.
November 22nd, 2012, 1:59 pm
Citizen said:
Russia Opposes NATO Missile Deployment on Turkey-Syria Border
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-opposes-nato-missile-deployment-on-turkey-syria-border/471832.html#.UK52Ed5GqN4.twitter
The Moscow Times
“The militarization of the Syrian-Turkish border is an alarming signal,” Lukashevich said at a weekly briefing. “Our advice to our Turkish colleagues consists of something else entirely: to use Turkey’s potential influence on the Syrian opposition to seek the start of an inter-Syrian dialogue as swiftly as possible and not to flex their muscles and move the situation in such a dangerous direction.”
November 22nd, 2012, 2:07 pm
Citizen said:
As Israel-Gaza Charade Concludes, West Pivots Back to Syria
http://www.infowars.com/as-israel-gaza-charade-concludes-west-pivots-back-to-syria/
Reuters reported in their article, “Jubilant Palestinians mob Gaza streets,” regarding the ceasefire agreement “brokered” by Egypt that, “the agreement calls on Hamas and Israel to cease all forms of military activity, including Israel’s targeted killings of militants, and for an easing of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza.”
The article featured a photograph of cheering Palestinians in Gaza waving the Egyptian flag, reflecting both the true purpose and success of the Israeli-Gaza charade. Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s conveniently-timed visit to Gaza just days before hostilities erupted was designed to give the despotic Persian Gulf monarchy a boost in both legitimacy and credibility after the conclusion of this staged spectacle – as was highly publicized rhetoric made by Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan against Israel.
Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, all in fact partners with Israel and its Western sponsors in the subversion and overthrow of Syria, now have a renewed popular mandate across the Arab World, as a direct result of Israel’s premeditated, predictable failure in Gaza.
Already, Western pundits and policy makers are gloating over one additional result of the ceasefire, one already being spun into a narrative regarding the “new Middle East.” The Brookings Institution’s Doha Center director, Salman Shaikh, boasted in Tweets that the ceasefire deal handed in particular, Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar credit for both the support of Gaza and the cessation of hostilities. He would state specifically:
../../..
It should be noted that Shaikh, of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, has been heavily involved in the enumerating and documentation of Western designs against Syria – and is in fact based in the allegedly anti-Israeli nation of Qatar. He was the co-author of the Brookings Saban Center, Middle East Memo #21 “Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf), which articulated plans involving the carving out of “safe havens” within Syrian territory along the Turkish border and a coordinated campaign by both Turkey and Israel to pressure Syria’s borders to exact defections within Syria’s military ranks. The report was written in March 2012, and since then, both Turkey and Israel have demonstrably coordinated efforts to apply pressure on Syria’s borders.
With a strategic defeat of Israel by what the Washington Post calls “a changed Middle East,” the Saudi-Qatari-Egyptian-Turkey axis, a united front of sectarian-hardliners long-sought by Wall Street and London to fight its regional enemies, will be better prepared to confront Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon – to accomplish what the US and Israel have themselves already tried but failed to achieve.
../../..
Canada’s Globe and Mail also featured an editorial citing the Israeli-Gaza conflict as a sign of waning Iranian-Syrian influence over Palestine, and the emergence of a “new Middle East.” Titled, “Gaza is testing the limits of Iran’s Mideast ambitions,”
Now, the focus is shifting away from Iran and to the “winners” of the Arab spring. Now, their commitment to a new foreign policy for a New Middle East will be tested. Will Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood pursue a more assertive policy vis-a-vis Israel compared to that of former president Hosni Mubarak? If there is more continuity than change in Egypt’s Israel policy, how will that affect Mr. Morsi’s apparent bid for regional leadership – or his hold on power at home?
Will Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s new role as the champion of the Sunni Arabs following his aggressive opposition to Mr. Assad survive if he fails to re-adopt his pre-Syria assertiveness against Israel’s Gaza policy? If he fails, will it prove that Mr. Erdogan’s Syria policy has weakened the “arc of resistance” and strengthened Israel regionally? Tehran certainly seems to hope that this will be the conclusion many in the region will reach.
Additional op-eds across the Western press are sure to be rolled out over the next week, hailing the “new Middle East’s” triumph during the Israeli-Gaza conflict. US President Barack Obama has already praised the Western-installed and backed regime in Cairo, Egypt, for its role in “mediating” the cease fire. Following the afterglow of this manufactured US-Israeli PR coup for its regional Arab and Turkish partners, a renewed push against Syria will ensue.
November 22nd, 2012, 2:56 pm
Citizen said:
Happy Thanksgiving ….
funny break : calling all Turkeys
November 22nd, 2012, 3:04 pm
MarigoldRan said:
“Is it worth it to destroy the country to get rid of Assad?”
YES.
At this point most of the FSA are not fighting for themselves anymore. They’re fighting either for jihad, or for their children, and both are more important than the country. They know that if they do not finish off the regime this generation, their children will have to fight another war in the next. Best to do the job now, painful though it may be.
At this point only the Alawites, and perhaps some Christians and Sunni collaborators, want the power structure to survive. They say, “we want to protect the country,” but what they’re really saying is “we want to protect OUR country.” The country that they live in, and the country that most Sunnis live in, are two totally different countries. If they had really wanted to protect their country, they would have protested when Assad began attacking the protesters.
It’s time for the regime and its supporters to eat their medicine.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:13 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Citizen 251,
Yes. It goes to show how much the regime is hated.
EVERYONE in the Sunni Middle East and almost EVERYONE in the West wants it finished.
The fact that the West is technically on the same side as Al Qaeda goes to show how doomed the regime is.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:18 pm
Syrialover said:
New post up and new thread started
November 22nd, 2012, 3:39 pm
Syrialover said:
There’s a new post up and new thread started
November 22nd, 2012, 3:40 pm
Citizen said:
254. MARIGOLDRAN
Where the term can be found (EVERYONE in the Sunny Middle East )
The Middle East is a mosaic of civilization in its most beautiful form.Why do you want the polarization for it ?
Are you a student in the College of religious and ethnic’s Engineering divide and conquer?
November 22nd, 2012, 3:40 pm
Albo said:
“When the GCC rolled out its military into Bahrain last time, it did so despite US objections. The Iranians just cowered down and did zilch.
GCC does not need the USA for anything. It is the other way around.”
They notified the US in advance and Americans didn’t object when it happened. The US imports only 13% of its oil from GCC countries, they are more interested in controlling the spigot for the rest of the world.
It’s obvious that Gulf countries don’t need them when the Americans concentrate all these forces, fleets and bases in their waters and on their soil. When they sell them all this military equipment, when their companies invest so heavily in their hydrocarbons resources. Makes total sense.
______________
253
““Is it worth it to destroy the country to get rid of Assad?”
YES.
At this point most of the FSA are not fighting for themselves anymore. They’re fighting either for jihad, or for their children, and both are more important than the country. ”
Crazy talk. There weren’t 2 countries, Sunnis hate to admit it but their higher classes collaborated to a great extent and had it good. As for yourself, you’re clearly an islamist, but it’s unclear if you are even Syrian.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:44 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The Middle East is polarized already. Look at Iraq and Lebanon. And now Syria. It has Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, all of whom hate each other. It has Bahrain and Yemen, polarized countries too.
Yes, it would be nice if Muslims could work together, but reality is reality. No use denying it.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:53 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Albo:
Half-true, half-false. Many rich Sunnis collaborated with the regime. That’s truth. But even before the civil war, the country WAS divided in two: between the rich and the well-connected, and the poor. So your statement about “one country” was false.
On your statement about myself, also half-true and half-false.
November 22nd, 2012, 3:57 pm
Albo said:
Your division was one of sect. You just admitted that it isn’t accurate, contrary to the narrative of many Sunnis.
“the country WAS divided in two: between the rich and the well-connected, and the poor.”
I deny this division, why? Because while so many countries have high level of income inequality, they are not usually presented as “two countries”, inequality is more the norm in this world than equality anyway.
November 22nd, 2012, 4:08 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Albo,
Syria was divided before the war by both SECT and ECONOMICS. However, the vast majority of the poor were Sunnis. And the vast majority of Sunnis were poor. It was complicated. But without a doubt, the country WAS divided in two.
In the West, it is possible for poor people to rise to positions of affluence and power. Just look at Obama! He came from a lower-middle class/poor family. Now he is president of the US!
In Syria, there was no opportunities if you were Sunni and poor. You would ALWAYS remain Sunni and poor. And so would your children. The government treated you like dirt, and if you protested, they would arrest and beat you.
A government like that will never survive long. The civil war is justice.
November 22nd, 2012, 4:23 pm
ann said:
Turkey warned against ‘Patriots’ – Friday, November 23, 2012
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-144613-Turkey-warned-against-Patriots
MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday warned Turkey against deploying surface-to-air Patriot missiles to protect its troubled border with Syria, saying it should instead use its influence to help broker peace in the war-torn country.
“The militarisation of the Syrian-Turkish border is of course a worrying sign,” foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a briefing. Turkey, he said, should use its influence with the Syrian opposition to help the two sides in the civil war start a dialogue as soon as possible instead of “flexing muscles and placing the situation on a dangerous course.”
“Such steps clearly do not add optimism from the point of view of a political settlement,” he told reporters regarding the possible missile placement.
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http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-144613-Turkey-warned-against-Patriots
November 22nd, 2012, 10:15 pm
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