It is very important now that a revolutionary goverment is formed.

It is a terrible sign when an attack on a university with over 80 dead does not even warrant a mention in a new blog post. I am no blaming Mr. Landis – it is just a terrible realization of how bad things have gotten!

Hoff’s analysis and suggestion for a government (in exile) are both flawed and reflect a deep misunderstanding of the Syrian Revolution.

In addition, Hoff must now understand that the US lost the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama is eager to run away from Afghanistan by 2014.

Forming a government in exile will be a toothless exercise in futility. This so-called government will have no say on events happening on the ground.

Even if the US listens to Hoff’s suggestions and begins arming so-called moderate militias there is no guarantee that such arming would produce results. Most of the corrupted defectors are actually among the so-called moderates being the products of the corrupt regime.

The Nusra success is due to its discipline, organization and dedication to the cause it believes in.

So-called moderates are useless precisely because they still subscribe to the characteristically Syrian bourgoisie Machiavellian attitude which cannot succeed in a revolution.

Only Nusra and its similarly organized groups can be trusted to accomplish the task at hand. The US shot itself in the foot by labelling the group as ‘terrorists’ shutting itself out of real influence and playing right into the hands of the criminal regime. The US is a hopeless scandal when it comes to foreign policy making.

“Syria’s fate will likely be decided by men with guns.”
I think every body agrees to that
A goverment that calls for democratic, civil society based on the supremacy of citizenship,will leaves no excuse for the west to delay help for the Syrian revolution, a help that is badly needed to end Assad regime in short time, a provisional goverment is not permanent goverment, the future of Syria must be decided by democratic election free election.meanwhile we must end Assad regime,this is a priority.

Turkey’s pimps in action:
مصادر كردية أبلغت «السفير» أن اشتباكات متقطعة وقعت أمس بين «وحدات حماية الشعب» الكردية من جهة، وبين كتائب مسلحة كانت قد دخلت محيط رأس العين عبر الأراضي التركية
وفي اتصال مع «السفير»، أكد المتحدث باسم «وحدات حماية الشعب» الكردية خبات ابراهيم أن «مقاتلي الجيش السوري الحر أطلقوا النار باتجاه مواقع تابعة لوحدات حماية الشعب»، مشدداً على أن المقاتلين الأكراد «التزموا السيطرة على النفس» بانتظار تقييم الموقف بشأن أهداف هذا التحرك.
وأضاف أن المسلحين حاولوا دخول رأس العين عبر محور حي المحطة، لكن المقاتلين الأكراد نجحوا في ردعهم.
وأوضح ابراهيم أن الهجوم تم انطلاقاً من الأراضي التركية، مشيراً إلى أن الفصائل التي قامت بالهجوم هي «كتيبة أحفاد الرسول» و«لواء المشعل»، وهي مجموعات مسلحة يصفها المتحدث الكردي بأنها «سلفية في الظاهر… وأداة تركية في الباطن».
ووضع ابراهيم هذا الهجوم في إطار «محاولة خلق فتنة» في المناطق السورية التي يسيطر عليها الأكراد، محذراً من أنه قد يكون «استفزازاً لجر الأكراد إلى فتنة» او «مقدمة لعملية أوسع نطاقاً».
وبالرغم من أن التوقعات الكردية من الجانب الكردي ترجّح السيناريو الأول، إلا أن ما تردد عبر مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي التابعة لمسلحي المعارضة، خلال الأيام الماضية، يوحي بأن «الجيش الحر» تحضر لعملية واسعة في رأس العين، وذلك بالنظر إلى الأهمية الإستراتيجية لهذه البلدة الحدودية مع تركيا.
وتبعد المدينة، التي يبلغ عدد سكانها حوالي 80 ألف نسمة، والتي تشكل فسيفساء سكانية متنوعة، حيث يقطنها خليط من العرب والسريان والأكراد والأرمن والشيشان والتركمان والماردلية، مسافة 85 كيلومتراً عن مدينة الحسكة، و90 كيلومتراً عن مدينة القامشلي.
Rebels are fighting the Kurds instead of trying to win them over, it was obvious that having Sayda as a chief in the SNC was just done for PR purposes, this violent rebellion has alienated a large section of the Syrian society, they may or may not win this battle but they can not win the war for hearts and minds and will not be able to rule Syria even with GCC money and Turkish support.
Turkey is a major problem in Syria’s war today, Turkish government is not likely to change its behavior until Kurds rise up again, I wonder how dignified Turkey’s supporters feel when they are treated as disposable soldiers in an Ottoman army.

The written report of Paul Wood on Al-Nusra

Frederic C. Hof says, “Syria is dying.”

Let it die like a dinosaur. Move on to the next phase, which is ten or twenty mini-states where Christians, Druze, Alawis, Kurds, etc, can live in peace amongst their own without having unconscionable cunts like Vattie or Mossie deciding their fates for them…

A New Bashar Cartoon:

http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/83/2012/12/14/123911_600.jpg

Badr @6

Al Nusra speaks…

Totally depressing. In comparison Bashar’s regime is Disneyland.

Joojoo,

Have you found your new role in the revolution: Posting cheerful cartoons?

Majie

“I think every body agrees to that”

Who is “everybody”? You mean you and your islamists terrorists friends?

Wizi

“Only Nusra and its similarly organized groups can be trusted to accomplish the task at hand. ”

Which ‘task’? Make Syria an islamic caliphate and a safe haven for Al Qaeda?

Syria accuses Turkey at U.N. of receiving stolen factory goods

UNITED NATIONS | Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:11pm EST

Jan 17 (Reuters) – War-ravaged Syria has accused Turkey of receiving stolen goods from armed groups, who it said plundered some 1,000 factories in the industrial city of Aleppo, and called on the United Nations to condemn its neighbor’s involvement.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, released on Thursday, that armed groups “transferred the stolen goods to Turkey, with the full knowledge of the Turkish Government.”

“Syria would like to point out that these unethical acts … are tantamount to direct participation in transnational crime and piracy,” he wrote in the letter dated Jan. 7.

“The Syrian Arab Republic calls on the Security Council and the Secretary-General to condemn clearly these destructive acts of terrorism and do what is required to hold accountable their perpetrators, as well as those states and regional and international powers that stand behind them,” Ja’afari wrote.

“Which ‘task’? Make Syria an islamic caliphate and a safe haven for Al Qaeda?”

Z Idiot Ewe @ 11

The task is to LIBERATE Syria from criminal thugs that you love-4ever and worship_till_hell_freezes.

After Damascus where the rebels failed their offensive and are now retreating, Northern Syria has become the new focus of the Syrian army efforts to restore these areas under the government control, thus allowing the refugees to come back.
Syrian Kurds are doing their part.

Fights between Syrian opposition and PYD forces drags on, 8 militants dead

17 January 2013 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL,
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-304366-fights-between-syrian-opposition-and-pyd-forces-drags-on-8-militants-dead.html

Skirmishes between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), continued on Thursday along the Turkish-Syrian border, leaving eight terrorists dead and scores wounded.

#13 Wizi

Oh really? It seems that your stupidity is reaching unknown level. Are you so idiotic as to think that Al Nusra will stop at that?

I saw zombies, but you beat them all

Zoozoo
you keep on Qee qee Qeeqee
Who are the Islamist terrorists? are they your chief terrorist Hasan Nasrallah(nis Lira) or the Safawi regime in Persia/ or are you refering to Assad Thugs who call themslves Muslems and they are killing civilians(terrorists)

Majie

Don’t start with your Shiaphobia again…

Aleppo Syrians react and a little crying girl testifies of her experience

صور التفجير الارهابي في جامعة حلب والذي أسفر عن وقوع شهداء وجرحى واضرار مادية

“Oh really? It seems that your stupidity is reaching unknown level. Are you so idiotic as to think that Al Nusra will stop at that?”

Z Idiot Par Excellence @15,

Yeah, really!!

Why should I care where they stop?

May be they will stop in Qurdaha after they clear you and your idiot idols from all the coast.

I would not ask them to stop anywhere. They should complete the task and clean all of Syria of your likes.

You see? When idiocy loses directions it seeks you!!

Wizi and Majie

Pray for the soul of one your leaders

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=524043950949002

wizi

Why should I care where they stop?

Of course, you would’nt care, you are out of reach in the USA.

In any case they have already enough idiots in their ranks, they wouldn’t know what to do with you or your twin American Jihadist.

“In any case they have already enough idiots in their ranks,”

So said Z Idiot!!!

أول دعوة خاصة للدكتور هيثم مناع على قناة المنار

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JzwUw_uv17c

14 January 2013

Lavrov responds to Vicky Nuland who accused the Syrian governement of being responsible for the Aleppo University deadly attack: “Blasphemous”

Lavrov hits out at US for blaming Syria regime for blasts

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=56507

Russian FM says he cannot imagine anything more blasphemous than CNN’s accusation of Syrian regime of being behind deadly Aleppo blasts.

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday hit out at the United States for “blasphemous” accusations blaming this week’s blasts in the city of Aleppo on the Syrian regime.

“Yesterday I saw a semi-neutral report on CNN that it was not ruled out that this terrorist act had been staged by the government forces themselves,” Lavrov said in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.

“I cannot imagine anything more blasphemous.”

Hof claims Syrians are “begging” for foreign intervention. That is obviously not true. Are the people in breadlines in Aleppo gathered together, chanting for NATO?

There is a civil war going on. All of the belligerents are responsible. If the belligerents did not want a war, they would be talking around a table.

A foreign intervention would do nothing to change the fact of there being a civil war in Syria. Foreigners would only complicate and compound the war by adding more parties to the conflict, with more agendas, with their own shifting alliances, with their own domestic constituencies and partisanships–and with even less responsibility to Syrians. At least the current combatants are mostly Syrian and know they must live with the consequences of the war they’re waging. Foreigners, on the other hand, especially rich powerful foreigners, have no accountability to Syrians whatsoever.

If foreign intevenors want to be accountable to Syrians, then let them place Syrians as officers in charge of all the human and material resources which they send to Syria. Let Syrians tell the foreigners where to go, what to do, whom to kill, how much to spend, when to come, when to leave, when to start and when to stop. Let President Obama be publicly made to serve at the exclusive behest of a Syrian command. Let NATO troops be subject to operational command and under the military justice provided by an exclusively Syrian leadership.

That would be the only true test of foreign intervenors’ goodwill. If the foreigners cannot submit themselves to Syrian command, then they intend to intervene only for their own purposes, and not those of Syria.

A new post and already filled with 50% Zooey idiotic comments.

This blog of Landis will not regain respect until Zoo, Revenire, Ann and Ghufran are either banned altogether or limited to one 500-characters comment per Landis post.

If you cannot say what you want to say in one comment, then obviously you are either seeking to hijack the site, or veer the discussion towards an agenda of your own choosing or both.

In addition, all the contributions of these characters are copy and paste of links that we can easily find on our own, not to mention that some of these buggers sometimes just copy and plagiarize without linking or even in some cases distort the information by insering their own words into the copied articles.

If you haven’t noticed already these characters do not provide more than one to three original sentences (maximum) in which they express their own thinking (or lack thereof). This is nothing but trolling pure and simple.

O’ And I forgot in 27 to include Citizen in the list of trollers.

Zoo obviously is obviously unemployed or only partially employed.

Given the frequency of his posts (twice as much as anyone else) he’s got nothing better to do during the day so he makes himself a permanent fixture on the comments section of a blog.

A good article by Martin Shulov-The Guardian, here is a piece:

“We will fight them on day two after Assad falls,” one senior commander told the Guardian. “Until then we will no longer work with them.”
In recent weeks Liwa al-Tawheed and other militias who form part of the overall Free Syrian Army brand have started conducting their own operations without inviting al-Nusra to join them.
A raid on an infantry school north of Aleppo in mid-December was one such occasion, as are ongoing attacks against Battalion 80 on the outskirts of the city’s international airport and a military base to the east, known as Querres.
“They are not happy with us,” the rebel commander said. “But they had been hoarding all their weapons anyway.”
Another significant issue for rebel leaders is what to do with state assets that have now fallen into the hands of the opposition.
“They see stealing things that used to belong to the government, like copper factories, or any factory, as no problem,” said the rebel commander. “They are selling it to the Turks and using the money for themselves. This is wrong. This is money for the people.
(wait until Assad is gone and then you will see the real firework, armed thugs can not live without conflict, as soon as they are done with their enemy they will find another or fight each other)

wizi

Keep dreaming and whining. I suggest you write directly to J.L to express your frustration and your idiotic suggestions. The best he can do is to send you a lollipop to calm you down.

Obviously your contribution to this blog is limited to repeating writing idiotic praises of Al Nusra and the islamist terrorists.

In that, you compete with your shiaphobe jihadist twin who is courageous enough to continue making idiotic and bloody predictions despite the fact all he made failed miserably.

Ziad has an alert on his blog dealing with the latest rat massacre.

HOMS – SYRIAN PERSPECTIVE ALERT!!

The Syrian Army has engaged and annihilated a huge concentration of rodent excrement in and around the village of Al-Haswiyyeh. This village has been played up in the media today based on nothing more than the clumsy reporting of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in London. Be advised, the SOHR is a Qatari-funded creation of the British Foreign Office with very strong connection to MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA. Wael has confirmed that SOHR was in contact with the NACOSROF gang who gave him a message about increasing the propaganda content about this battle. Wael speculates that General Salim Idris was desperate to get a message out about a massacre so that Syrian forces might be slowed down to give the rats a chance to escape. Syria has ignored the wild reports from SOHR and persisted in bringing the battle to an end.

THERE WAS NO MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS AT AL-HASWIYYEH. THERE WAS A MASSACRE OF THE RAT MERCENARIES, TO BE SURE. So far, Wael says over 50 bodies of rodents have been counted with many more yet to be addressed. Do not believe any reports from the SOHR because they are coordinated with the NACOSROF gang.

@29 Mari

You hit the jackpot… I enjoy very much “making a permanent fixture on the comments section of a blog.”

Do you have any objection? t Do as I do with many commenters posts, skip mine and stop whining.

“Keep dreaming and whining…”

Z Idiot,

This is not dreaming, and Landis knows what to do with his own site. This is exposing you and the rest of the trolls as nothing but un-employed and un-employable bums, as some keen observers noticed already.

But your idiocy knows no limit as we all know by now – BUM.

It IS too late, there was a time window where people got excited about a post Assad regime and it has passed. People just want their lives back. The regime and opposition are hated almost equally now, when you talk to anyone (from all walks of life and any political/religious affiliation) and all they say they no longer care – they just want security and stability back. This will turn into another Algerian civil war lasting 10 years, Assad may not be around in 7-8 years but the regime or the Syrian Army will still be in control and the country will be completely destroyed.

The only thing that can tip the balance now is outside intervention and that is unlikely to happen at this point.

Assad ¨Il Padrino¨ situation is much worse than 3 years ago. Right that he can stand longer than rebels ever imagined but it is right too that he will be in power much shorter than he ever imagined before the revolution started.

Il Padrino´s end is nearer than ever before and his situation worse than ever. Nothing good is coming for him and his family.

God judges him.

The weather in Syria is getting better ,temperature in Damascus reached 64 F,.
Zoozoo is Sunni-phobic,Zoozoo, do you know that Iran was 80% sunni before that idiot Safawi force people to change to Shiite?
Zoozoo, do you know that Abu Lu2lu2a ,was never a moslem,and yet your kind built a mosque in his name?
Zoozoo, Do you know that your kind consider Ali a Wali,even that God said in the last verse in Israa Sourah God has no Wali?
Zoozoo, do you know that Sunni outnumber Shiite 9 to 1?
Zoozoo, do you know that Syrians are much better than persians?

LOL who cares?

US agrees to French request for airlift, ground support in Mali operation – reports
http://rt.com/news/mali-ground-operation-us-231/

There are some slightly different facts; Mali, despite having the 3rd largest gold reserves in Africa, ranked 178 out of 182 countries in the 2009 Human Development Index. It is a desperately poor country with vast mineral wealth of which the ordinary people see not one dime. France is only concerned with Mali because the vast majority of the uranium it needs for its nuclear power programme comes down the Niger, and both France and the US are interested in the potentially huge oil reserves in the Taoudeni basin – these are the reasons for the sudden urgency about intervening militarily.

Nobody gives a crap about the the population of Mali, nobody gives a crap about the Touareg militants and whether they have specific and legitimate grievances that need addressing – it is simply a lot easier to label any opposition to the corporate resource extraction regime in Africa ‘terrorist’, or ‘al Qaeda’ and try and kill as many of them as possible in order not to interrupt the flow of corporate profits from the rape of Africa. That loud sucking sound you can hear is the corporate vacuum cleaner, cleaning up every last scrap of saleable resource on the continent, and the silence that follows is the silence of death..

32. REVENIRE,

I have no words to describe someone so rude and irrelevant who names as ¨rats¨ the syrians who die under indiscriminated bombs from the Great Criminal Assad.

You can call rat a criminal or some who commits a crime but not a whole village, town or city´s citizens who suffer and die under bombs.

Maybe you are the real rat? Think twice before you open your mouth.

35. Damascus Rose

The only one thing that is tipping the balance right now is the foreign intervention of Russia and Iran who control Syria ¨de facto¨. That is the real foreign intervention in Syria.

The Russian General Staff follows the situation with the supply of Patriot missile air-defense complexes to Turkey, Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov, and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, told reporters after the meeting of the Russia-NATO Council at the level of Chiefs of General Staff on Wednesday.
“Any accumulation of armaments, particularly in crisis areas, creates added risks,” he said. “There is also the danger of provocations regarding these armaments and servicemen deploying them,” he said. The General Staff “closely follows this situation,” the Russian military commander stressed.
“Partners tell us that these air-defense weapons will not be used to create any no-flight zones over Syria,” Gerasimov went on. Meanwhile, “there is concern that certain forces show increasingly an inclination to settle the conflict in a military way.”
“Our view is that it is for the Syrians to solve their own problems. Outside interference will have catastrophic consequences for the region,” Gerasimov said.

Assad can not provide stability and security anymore, we need arms not military intervention, no fly zone is no longer our demand,FSA can and will destroy Assad thugs planes.

Those Shabbiha and Nabbiha they don’t believe in justice they will face justice,
Zoozoo said Taftanaz airport will not be taken by the rebels,and it was taken,Mennagh airport will be taken too and Queress will be taken,
As the weather improve so the ability of FSA will get better

Russians should stop drinking so much vodka. Instaed of cooperating for the massacre and killing of syrians, Russians should help the thousands of russian alcoholics who die year after year under the snow and ice throughout the streets of Russia

Russia has always been a total disaster in international relations during the last 250 years at least.

Take a little bit of vodka from Great Russia
http://youtu.be/0EW196Ka2so?t=11s
RPK-8 Antisubmarine MRLS is designed for protection of the surface ships against submarines as well as for destruction of the ship attacking torpedoes and underwater saboteurs. RPK-8 MRLS is comprised also of:
– Loading, feeding and storage device intended for storage of the rockets in the lower compartment, their transportation to the hoist, lifting and loading into the launcher. Overall conveyor capacity – 60. The launcher loading is automatic.
– Fire control equipment, comprising of:
1. Command unit with control system, computer and monitor.
2. Unit for data output and input to the Rocket Launcher.
Dangerous zones unit to ensure the locking of the acting decoys in the dangerous zones. Weight of the Fire control equipment is 180 kg.

Sandro Loewe I didn’t ask what you thought but since you wanted my attention I will give it to you: All the FSA al-Nusra rats should be killed. I am confident our boys will do the job with relish.

Furthermore, who asked you? In my esteemed opinion you support terrorists and belong in a cage.

It’s war. We’re not playing games.

France is now killing the Al-Qaeda rats in Mali and Algeria. In honor of French I am having a glass of French wine and some cheese. (The French are odd. First they get rid of Gaddafi and allow the vermin to take over Libya only to later bomb the rats. Oh well.)

Vive la France!

This one is for the guy who posts the cartoons. Everyone loves a good laugh, me included.

مقتل الصحفي الفرنسي ” إيف ديباي ” وهو يقوم بتغطية أعمال عبيد العثمانيين في محيط سجن حلب المركزي

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/c101.0.403.403/p403x403/580731_344542528992858_1176106365_n.jpg

If some of you have a problem with a Ghufran,you have 2 Ghufrans now,Damascus rose is right and shaikh alnabbiha, khaldoun basha, is wrong, the outcome of this war will be determined by the lack of support by Syrians for terrorists and the hesitation of outside powers to intervene. Assad is no longer a major issue, the big dog in this fight is the army, yes that army needs to be reformed and cleaned but it also needs to prevail and survive, without a credible force to bring the fear of god to the hearts of thugs , Syria will be worse than Somalia, Assad is fighting for his survival and his family “legacy”, most Syrians could not care less if he gets sacked or killed, people need to live and take back what was stolen from them by both the regime and the rebels.
We may end up with a dysfunctional system where every dog has a bone to chew on but the country as a whole may never go back to being a unified state, it will take a generation or two to rebuild Syria,by that time most of us on this blog will be dead.

VISITOR, correction to your comment that around-the-clock pro-Assad commentators here are “nothing but un-employed and un-employable bums”

They are obviously employed.

And paid by the number of entries and amount of space they take up here.

But they are doing a poorer quality job than some of their predecessors did here over a year ago.

The consolidation of Syrian military’s positions across the country and the withdrawal of foreign-backed militants from their strongholds have fuelled speculations that Saudi Arabia is considering shifting its policy towards Syria, a report says.

A recent report released by the Lebanese As-Safir daily has suggested a likely withdrawal of Saudi Arabia from among the list of foreign states that are funding and supporting the Syrian opposition.

The Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah’s recent meetings with Syrian officials along with Jordanian intelligence officers seem to have provided apparent proof for the case.

The paper touches upon Riyadh’s worries over the intensification of the crisis across Syria and the Egyptian and Saudi foreign ministers’ willingness for a political resolution of Syrian crisis, which is deemed as a major shift in the two states’ stance on Syria.

Communication is currently under way between Riyadh and Damascus with an Egyptian security delegation visiting Syrian officials in the capital, according to the report.

The speculation comes after Riyadh’s estimations about Syria turned out to be wrong and the extremist Salafi groups started creating problems for the Saudi government, particularly a recent explosion in Saudi capital for which they were blamed.

Syria, however, has rejected any compromise with Saudi officials unless the Arab kingdom puts an end to funding and militarizing the terrorists. The Syrian government has also called for the withdrawal of foreign-backed militants from the country, the report went on to say.

Syria’s 22-month-long resistance and the dangerous consequences of Salafists’ actions for Riyadh and Washington seem to be the major reasons behind the alteration of the Saudi approach toward Syria.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a large number of the militants in Syria are foreign nationals.

Several international human rights organizations have accused the foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes in Syria.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/09/282619/ksa-mulls-shifting-policy-toward-syria/

New video game casts players as rebels to explore Syrian civil war

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-video-game-casts-players-as-rebels-to-explore-syrian-civil-war/2013/01/17/4f9ed420-60ec-11e2-8f16-7b37a1341b04_story.html

By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, January 17, 4:25 PM

BEIRUT — A new video game based on Syria’s civil war challenges players to make the hard choices facing the country’s rebels. Is it better to negotiate peace with the regime of President Bashar Assad, for example, or dispatch jihadist fighters to kill pro-government thugs?

The British designer of “Endgame: Syria” says he hopes the game will inform people who might otherwise remain ignorant about the conflict.

Views differ, however, on the appropriateness of using a video game to discuss a complex crisis that has killed more than 60,000 people since March 2011. Computer giant Apple has refused to distribute the game and some observers consider the mere idea insulting. Others love it, and one fan from inside Syria has suggested changes to make the game better mirror the actual war.

Kookoo Ghufran I called you one of the Nabbiha first, so you are the one whose name is Nabbiha.

#34 Wizi

“Landis knows what to do with his own site. This is exposing you and the rest of the trolls..”

I am sure that Landis has nothing important to do other than worry about some idiotic schoolboy who is sometimes whining but most of the time calling Al Nusra terrorists his heroes.

have apologists offered mea culpas yet? & acknowledge the regime bombed the university:

Russia blames terrorists for Aleppo university massacre. Which terrorists told you to evacuate your next-door Consulate one day ahead of strike?

Majie

Until you show the post where I said that, your affirmation is a lie.
“Zoozoo said Taftanaz airport will not be taken by the rebels”

I can bring all the posts where you announced twice the fall of Damascus and other ridiculous predictions…

Despite media assurances claiming otherwise, the Syrian Air Force was not responsible for the bombing of Aleppo university. These rumours and claims are made in the spirit of demonizing the Syrian armed forces. If the Syrian Air Force was so careless as to bomb targets within highly populated areas, this conflict would have ended within a month of starting.

The terrorist bombing was conducted in two stages, the first having much smaller explosive power than the second, as a means to attract the largest amount of people.

There are videos released of “contrails” near the site, but the Syrian Air Force regularly overflies the area when bombing Turkish targets in North Syria. Needless to say, a missile fired by a jet would not have the kind of explosive power to cause this many casualties, which number 82 dead and more than 200 wounded. The sheer destructive power points to a bomb power more than 2000kg. This has been done before by the “Jabhat al-Nusra” Al-Qaeda-like organisation that is actively funded by the US State Department despite them listing it as a terrorist group to hide the fact.

Attached is post from the Facebook page of the terrorist organisation that they quickly deleted after public reaction to their terrorist campaign was clear. Herein they took responsibility for the bombing, adding that it was a car bomb.

Investigation surrounding the bombing and who aided the terrorists are ongoing.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/156318_305469862907450_367804229_n.jpg

Omen
That is a good one

Zoozoo and Kookoo nabbiha
I heared that Karl Max once said If I knew Haytham Manna and Qadri Jamil will claim they are Socialists,I would have joined Jabhat AlNusra

Zoozoo
there is one virtue you don’t have ,that is honesty

A pessimistic view of Idlib and the FSA.
“Taftanaz , another base with no strategic importance to the army ”

Interview with Pierre PICCININ da PRATA, just coming back from Idlib… (Le Soir.be, 16 janvier 2013) ( in french)

In the region of Idlib, the Free Syrian Army has melted like snow in the sun.

The Belgian historian Pierre Piccinin da Prata is back from Syria. He investigated the governorate of Idlib, in the northwest of the country. Since 2011, he has already visited Syria seven times.His last evaluation confirms the pessimism that he has been living with since last summer: Inside the rebellion, the Free Syrian Army is getting little or no help from outside, and is losing ground to jihadist groups
…
Why did you choose to go to the region of Idlib in particular?

Because this is a region where there is an increasing presence of Islamic jihadists. That was my main objective in preparing a second book on Syria, which will be released in March.

Idlib is indeed a Sunni stronghold, from which particular Adnan Al-Arour a radical preacher who lives mostly in Saudi Arabia.

But the city of Idlib, strictly speaking, remains in the hands of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, as indeed all the cities, except for a portion of Aleppo. The rebellion is only in the rural areas, villages. But the army could reoccupy them. If it does not, it is for strategic reasons and lack of manpower.

I saw the famous Base 46, abducted by the rebels a few months ago: What was presented as a great victory was nothing other some barracks and a large military fenced fences, untenable, and that the army was probably not intending to protect.

Taftenaz same situation, a military airport fell last week. I was there, along with Islamist brigades who attacked it: it was guarded by two hundred and fifty men only, who lived in tents, and there were only helicopters, no planes. In short, another base which did not really have a strategic importance to the army …

…
http://www.pierrepiccinin.eu/article-syrie-entretien-avec-pierre-piccinin-da-prata-de-retour-d-idlib-114452972.html

“The situation is now clear.  They don’t want what we want”..

Syria crisis: al-Qaida fighters revealing their true colours, rebels say
A schism is developing in northern Syria between jihadists and Free Syrian Army units, which threatens to pitch both groups against each other and open a new phase in the Syrian civil war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/17/syria-crisis-alqaida-fighters-true-colours

Over the past two months al-Nusra has felt emboldened enough to step from the shadows. It has opened shopfronts in most towns and villages, from Aleppo to the Turkish border, and has even set up a headquarters in plain sight in the centre of the city, alongside the base of a regular Free Syrian Army unit, Liwa al-Tawhid.

A simple black Islamic banner, the same one adopted by al-Qaida in Iraq, from where many of al-Nusra’s members hail, hangs at each of the outposts.

In these hubs al-Nusra cadres receive residents who come to them to resolve disputes and seek aid. Men with notebooks sit inside chronicling complaints and sometimes giving out vouchers for food or fuel.
..
Their prowess as fighters has been acknowledged by other rebel units, who in the early days began to defer to the better-armed and organised jihadists among them.

It was, for a while, a tale of dramatic gains; of revolutionary zeal and a fervour to get things finished, no matter the methods or consequences. Ideological and religious differences were set aside in the battle against a common enemy – the Assad regime.

“But then they [al-Nusra] began to reveal themselves,” said a senior rebel commander in Aleppo. “The situation is now very clear. They don’t want what we want.”

Read more..

232. Observer said: Iran is to give Syria one billion dollars.

turkey earlier offered iran a gold-for-fuel deal. why is turkey helping iran stay afloat? such a betrayal.

before now, economists were predicting regime would run out of money by april. how many massacres does one billion dollars buy?

#60 Tara

This is confirmed by the Belgium journalists in the rest of the article: Many young FSA rebels are defecting to join the Islamists groups who have stocks of brand new weapons and who offer them a salary, training and salafi brainwashing.

As I forecasted it, by opening their ranks to the islamists, the FSA has open a door to a snake that is killing them.
The process of the desintegration of the FSA is now irreversible

Then we get the naive opinion that when Bashar be toppled, these islamist terrrists will go home or become ‘moderate’

Zoo,

Bashar brought them in. Their arrival and growth was inevitable. The only way to rid Syria of al Qaeda is to arm the FSA and support them financially until they eradicate Batta and isolate the Al Nusra and force them out. I’m sorry that Obama has not seen the light yet.

Of course no one tops the regime terror. It wins the Grammy Award of terror. It has killed more people than all terrorist organizations combined.

Qunfuz (aka Robin Yassin-Kassab) has a strongly-argued post just up. It’s called “Iran Shoots Itself in the Foot,” and takes rhetorical slices out of the double-standards and self-deception of the theocratic regime, its handling of the shifting sands of the Arab Spring, and its inartful propaganda.

Most of what we know of the tergiversation and contortions of the IRI is included.

Higjlights:

In August 2012 Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi attended a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran. His presence at the conference was something of a diplomatic victory for the Iranian leadership, whose relations with Egypt, the pivotal Arab state, had been at the lowest of ebbs since the 1979 revolution.

Egypt’s President Sadat laid on a state funeral for the exiled Iranian shah. A Tehran street was later named after Khalid Islambouli, one of Sadat’s assassins. Like every Arab country except Syria, Egypt backed Iraq against Iran in the First Gulf War. Later, Hosni Mubarak opposed Iranian influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, worked with the US and Saudi Arabia against Iran’s nuclear program, and was one of the Arab dictators (alongside the Abdullahs of Jordan and Saudi Arabia) to warn darkly of a rising “Shi’ite cresent”. Not surprisingly, Iran was so overjoyed by the 2011 revolution in Egypt that it portrayed it as a replay of its own Islamic Revolution.

Iran also rhetorically supported the revolutions in Tunisia and Libya, the uprising in Yemen, and, most fervently, the uprising in Shia-majority Bahrain.

[ . . . ]

Iran’s backing for al-Assad is ironic because at a certain point the Syrian revolution was the one that most resembled 1979 in Iran – the violent repression of demonstrations leading to angry funerals leading to still more in a constantly expanding circle of anger and defiance; the people chanting allahu akbar from their balconies at night; women in hijabs joining women with bouffant hair to protest against regime brutality.

It was also a massive miscalculation, a lesser cousin to the miscalculations made by Bashaar al-Assad, and one which stripped the Islamic Republic of the last shreds of its revolutionary legitimacy. Like the Syrian president, Iran was popular among Syrians until twenty two months ago, even among many sectarian-minded Sunnis. (So too was Hizbullah, now widely reviled. In 2006, the Syrian people – not the regime – welcomed into their homes a million south Lebanese refugees from Israeli bombing.) It now seems very unlikely that any post-Assad dispensation in Syria will want to preserve Iranian influence. The Free Syrian Army, the anti-Assad Islamist militias, and the Syrian National Coalition all see Iran as an enemy of Syria, not as an honest broker that could help negotiate a transition.

Iranian popularity has also collapsed in the wider Arab world, where its pro-Assad policy has undercut its position more effectively than American or Israeli messaging could ever have done. (James Zogby’s poll was conducted in June 2011, too early for revulsion over Syria to have fully developed, but it nevertheless shows a dramatic decrease in favourable attitudes to Iran.)

[ . . . ]

Morsi was actually offering something substantial to the Iranians. It’s difficult to see how negotiations involving the Americans could produce better results so long as the US, bound up as it is with Israel’s self-perceived interests in the region, insists on sanctioning Iran’s nuclear program.

This is a great shame. Alongside Russia, Iran is the only power to exert any real influence on Bashaar al-Assad. It is to be hoped that, as the fall of the Assad regime becomes more apparent, wisdom will eventually prevail in Tehran. A volte face even at this late stage would strengthen Iran in its battles with the West and would temper rising anti-Shia sentiment in Syria and the wider Arab World.

“I’m sorry that Obama has not seen the light yet.”

“before now, economists were predicting regime would run out of money by april. how many massacres does one billion dollars buy?”

LOVE IT! LOL

The glorious SAA is wiping out the rats by the hundreds. This is the Year of Assad! GO GO GO! Use the gas on them Mr. President! Leave no cockroach alive!

Oh God Scherk, give it a rest. Join a debating society.

You should have added MUST READ to the thing. Zzzzz

#63 Tara

Did Bashar brought the terrorists in Algeria too?
Come on…
We know that, because the FSA got no help, they turned to the islamists for help, it is as simple as that.
The fault is that the FSA has never been able to coordinate with the SNC because of their respective egos and mutual suspicions. Therefore the SNC could not present a unified opposition to get a credibility in front of the International community and they obtained zero help.
Who can be blamed for that except themselves?

Revenire

I agree with you.. More effective than a sleeping pill

Say what you want about Al Nusra, but it is better than the regime.

Al Nusra has its problems. But the regime is simply evil.

There was a recent massacre near Homs of a Sunni village by Alawites.

Oh God, Revenire, get a job.

Stop being a f-ing loser who spends 24 hours on this blog.

Zoo,

As long as Syrians are killed by Batta , the jihadists will stay, grow, and recruit more people from inside and from outside. They will not sit tight watching the slaughter of what they considered their Muslim brothers being slaughtered in Bilad al Sham Al Moubaraka. You know that. The blame is on the regime. Syrians must get rid of Batta first before they can deal with al Qaeda.

Salafists Vow to Fight Until There Is ‘Islamic State in Syria’

By: Tulin Daloglu for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. posted on January 16.

“Rami Youssef” is his revolutionary alias. This young man — aged 18 with dark features and a full, circular beard and shaved mustache in the tradition of the Prophet — has been in Turkey for less than a week. His elder brother said of Rami, “He wants to go back to Aleppo tomorrow and continue fighting.” Speaking to Al-Monitor on Jan. 15 via Skype from his brother’s house in Gaziantep, Rami acknowledged that he is from the al-Suddik brigade of the Ahrar al-Sham Battalions.

It is rare for Salafist fighters to speak with reporters. In his conversation with Al-Monitor, Rami Youssef shed light on the origins and objectives of Ahrar al-Sham (Free People of Syria), which was established in late 2011 as a Salafist group, as well as the still-fragmented nature of the Syrian opposition.

“We are an Islamic group, and we want to establish an Islamic country when the [Syrian President Bashar al-]Assad era ends,” said Rami. Rami claimed to have no knowledge of Mouaz Alkhatib, the former imam of a Damascus mosque and the new, internationally recognized leader of the Syrian opposition.

“Most of the fighters just fight because Assad is evil, but they don’t know anything about this guy or the opposition outside. They just believe Assad needs to go.” He then stressed, “We will fight until we establish an Islamic state in Syria. Even the 75% of the Free Syrian Army is fighting with this in mind. We don’t want it as strict as Saudi Arabia, but we will not let go until we achieve our goal.”

Rami told Al-Monitor that three months after Ahrar al-Sham was established, nine trainers arrived from abroad to assist them.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/01/fighter-syria-aleppo-turkey.html#ixzz2IHuHaQ2D

After reading of the recent massacre, a friend of mine wants to go to Syria and wreck vengeance.

He’s not going to. Don’t misquote me. He’s too smart for that, and he has a job and a family in the West. But that’s what he feels like.

The point? The more massacres the regime commits, the more people support the rebels, FSA or Al Nusra.

#71 Tara

The only choices left are either to deal with secular Bashar or accept that Syria becomes an islamic Caliphate.

I made my choice a long time ago. I guess, as you are lucky to have made your life outside Syria and have no intention to resettle there anytime soon, you made you choice too.

73. MarigoldRan

If I was you, I would certainly encourage him.
It’s a chance of a lifetime to show he is a good moslem.

@ Zoo

That’s a false choice. The other alternatives are Lebanization or Afghanization of the country.

Personally, I think an Islamic Caliphate would be better than Assad. And I believe an Isalmic Caliphate would be awful.

But look at the situation in Syria. This is what a “secular” state under Assad looks like. Even an Islamic Caliphate would be better than this.

Al Nusra is gaining popularity in Syria at the expense of both the more secular FSA and the more secular regime.

The longer the war goes on, the stronger Al Nusra will get. And that’s very understandable. Syria has been a “secular” state for the last 50 years. Look at the disaster this has caused. Even I’m coming to the position that secularism, or rather forced secularism, doesn’t work in the Middle East. It just leads to disaster.

When Muslims preach that a secular state is evil, they need only to refer to Assad’s regime to make their point. Given the situation in Syria, they have a pretty good argument there.

Baathism is a total and utter failure. Just look at Iraq and Syria for examples.

From Aleppo University to Homs, criminal thugs from the Zoo are out on a rampage of massacres,

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jan-18/202731-nearly-100-dead-in-homs-massacre.ashx#axzz2IHxSLuEE

Only Nusra fighters are capable of exacting revenge and sending the criminals to lowest hell.

300 soldiers defected today and joined Nusra.

Zoo,

Religion is not confined to ancient books from ancient prophets. “Assad or we burn the country” and “No God except Bashar” is the most perverted religion ever existed. Please stop referring to Batta’s regime as secular. It ain’t it. It practices the most fanatic ideology and religious fundementalism. The only difference is that its followers worship Batta the retard, not a divine God.

wizi

“300 soldiers defected today and joined Nusra.”

Defected from the FSA?

BBC has a short dispatch on the situation in northern Mali. The internal link says “Freedom to smoke without fear after Mali Islamists flee,” while the main story carries this headline:

Mali crisis: ‘Timbuktu joy after life of fear’

Residents of Timbuktu in northern Mali have been living under Islamist rule for the last nine months.

The historic city is a World Heritage site, renowned for its architecture, manuscript libraries and centuries-old shrines to Islamic saints – revered by Sufi Muslims but which the Salafi militants consider idolatrous.

Following France’s intervention in Mali last week, a Timbuktu resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told BBC Africa about reaction in the city to the Islamist fighters’ apparent withdrawal.

[ . . . ]

Another story at the Beeb tell us that Gazzafi Jr, Saif al-Islam, has appeared in a Libyan court — along with his co-defendant International Criminal Court lawyer Melinda Taylor …

29. MarigoldRan

“Zoo is obviously unemployed or only partially employed”

He’s neither. He’s Pakistani. Which means he’s congenitally fucked up. Pakis involve themselves in everyone else’s business while their own country goes to hell. If you invite a Paki into your home, he will open your refrigerator and comment on every item in there. The only way to get him to leave is to threaten to shoot him.

A New Bashar Cartoon

http://www.cartoonaday.com/images/cartoons/2011/08/syria-and-world-press-disagree-598×499.jpg

اسفر التحقيق الذي اجراه فريق المرصد  السوري  لحقوق  الانسان حول  مجزرة جامعة  حلب والتي  ارتكبت يوم الثلاثاء 15 /1/2013 وذهب ضحيتها  مالايقل عن 87 مواطنا  معظمها  من الطلاب  الجامعيين ومستقبل سورية  الواعد عن  النتائج  التالية
1-      أجمع  الطلاب  الذين التقاهم  فريق  المرصد  ان الانفجارين ناجمين عن صواريخ من الاعلى
2-      أكد وا  وجود  طائرات حربية  في سماء  المنطقة  وقت حدوث  الانفجارين
3-      أكدت مصادر متعددة وخبراء أن  شدة الانفجارين وحجم الدمار الذي  حدث في  المنطقة  لايمكن ان يكون ناجم عن قذائف هاون  اوصواريخ  محلية  الصنع
وبناء على  هذه  المعلومات ان المرصد  السوري  لحقوق  الانسان  يحمل  السلطات  السورية المسؤولية  عن  مجزرة جامعة  حلب  ويطالب  بتشكيل  فريق  تحقيق من قضاة  ومحامين مشهود لهم  بالنزاهة للتحقيق الفوري  بمجزرة جامعة حلب  وكشف نتائج  التحقيق  للرأي العام السوري  من أجل  تقديم
مرتكيبها للعدالة
Only in Syria you get a conviction before a trial , the regime did that to thousands of Syrians,the opposition is copying that behavior now. The proper wording should be:
“We suspect that the regime was behind the bombing of Aleppo unvi , we demand a neutral investigation to find the truth”
SOHR is clearly a tool in the hands of the SNC
( regime media is now using the report by Chulov in the Guardian to deny its responsibility for the bombing, Chulov report was posted here on SC, the silence of western intelligence about where the missiles came from is strange,it is a common knowledge that the launch of those missiles can be easily tracked by satellites )

jordantimes:

“I saw the plane twice fire rockets at the university. I heard two explosions,” a 25-year-old minibus driver who crosses the city daily and who gave his name as Abu Mohammed told AFP.

cnn:

“I was on campus when I heard a plane over head from a distance,” Simon recalled to CNN.

“Suddenly a loud explosion erupted just 50 meters away at the gates of the College of Architecture,” he said. […]

Simon told CNN that 15 minutes after the explosions, Al Duniya TV, a pro-government station, was on the scene.

“We were wondering how they got there so fast,” he said.

He said that when the bombs went off, the university gates were closed, and campus security would not open them.

“Students were trying to climb the fences to get out, but security pushed them back,” he said.

The students then turned on the Duniya TV crew and began beating them.

Zoo,

Stop cozying up with Reve. Your interacting with him annoys me… You and him are not in the same league. He is a criminal. He calls for war crimes against the people of Syria. He should be investigated for inciting the use of chemical weapons and cluster bombs against civilians. And yes it is my business and no, you can’t interact with whoever you want whenever you want…not with criminals.

While Gulf businessmen are selling their properties in Lebanon, it is reported that rich Syrian businessmen are buying luxurious properties…

Z Real Idiot @80,

You badly need to learn English.

Defection can only be properly used to describe abandoning the criminal thuggish terrorist regime bandits to becoming freedom fighter.

Joining the Nusra is referred to as becoming a dedicated, disciplined and fearless soldier of the Syrian people. It is an ascending process that may begin by defection from Assadist thugs to defender of the people as Nusra holy fighters. However, in most cases the defector may be tainted by corrupt habits due to forces of acclamitization among baathist thugs and will have to go hrough a purging process to prove his worthiness. In case of failure he will be ejected as unsuitable for the task at hand.

@ Johannes

I would agree, except that Pakistan is a BETTER country than Syria.

(I can’t believe I’m saying this).

@ Everyone

Today, we say a failed state is “like Somalia.” In the future, we will say a failed state “is like Syria.”

Syria is an epic example of why Baathism and dictatorships do not work. To repeat: Even PAKISTAN is a better country than formerly Baathist states like Syria or Iraq.

Tara

I still prefer a dialog and I reject violence, but I am not sure that Al Nusra militants, affiliated to Al Qaeeda should be spared.

Better Al Nusra than the regime. And I normally believe in secularism.

Say what you want about the Islamic militants, but they’re better than the regime.

With each passing month, Al Nusra will grow stronger.

The West abandoned Syria. The jihadists did not. So guess who Syrians are going to support in the future?

Qadri Jamil indirectly rejects Assad’s assertion that he will not negotiate with armed rebels, he suggested that Jabhat Alnusra is using money to buy loyalty while the regime is doing enough to help people in need. The man, a communist, used the word ” Allah” more than once to describe gas station owners , some of whom ” know god” and are not engaged in stealing hard earned money from poor Syrians.
Rebels who stole wheat started selling it to bakeries ” at competitive prices” , that helped reduce the bread crisis in Aleppo and made one bakery owner say a word of praise for the terrorist group on NPR.

The regime is neither secular nor moderate. It is illegitimate criminal family enterprise that has recruited criminals and taken the sect hostage to its designs.

The regime is of extreme brutality and of extreme expediency. It has not an ounce of shame or decency. It has failed to provide any service and its one original redeeming value of providing some security is long gone and is now exposed fully as an utter failure.

Iran is lending them one billion; that is at the very most 2 months worth of salaries and support.
Once again going through the Addounia Alalam RT Arabic ( which by the way had no news on Syria ) Mayyaddeen and Manar, and finally other, I can say that the Russian fleet is going back with only one landing ship left.
Did they land any weapons or fuel? I do not know. Champress for example claims that the bombing of rural Damascus is targeting an area empty of civilians and has only “armed elements”.

All of these news are clearly an indication that there is little going the way of the regime. It is clear that the official SANA version of an AA missile gone astray is bonkers. These missiles do not carry that much firepower. It is also clear that the lack of craters makes a car bomb incredible. That leaves rockets fired by either an aircraft or ballistic missiles.

This is another attempt to so call drive the people away from the rebels but it clearly backfired.

What about the massacres in Homs, using blunt and sharp white weapons to slaughter women and children?

Russia is going to fail to do an Iraq in reverse just as the US toppled a regime only to be defeated in Iraq.

As in Iraq the most effective force is going to be religiously motivated whether we like it or not.

Likewise, 60 years of Ideological Syrian Arab Army has not liberated one inch of land, we have only another religiously inspired organization that defeated IDF in 2000 and in 2006 and has now a credible deterrence and that is HA. Notwithstanding its criminal role in Syria, it is a religiously motivated group that is getting results.

To end the circle of news, a secular anti islamist regime in Syria is getting a loan from an Islamic Republic with the Rule of the Jurisprudent and the sovereignty of God on earth as its motto. A country that has also achieved a measure of importance and a role on the regional agenda.

So in the case of the Nazi Racist Illegitimate Criminal Sectarian mafia called Thouria Alathad the end justifies the means.

Please ignore trolling and distractions on this blog.

Justice for Hamza one Shabih at a time in a court of law starting with the Prethident Shabih.

89. zoo said: I still prefer a dialog and I reject violence

people who reject violence don’t defend this regime.

74. zoo said: The only choices left are either to deal with secular Bashar or accept that Syria becomes an islamic Caliphate.

the regime cannot be ascribed as secular when it’s waging sectarian cleansing while supplementing the army with hezbollah forces.

this is a strangely blinkered perspective. you are debating the virtues of one system versus another while ignoring the slaughter.

i’m kinda jealous. must be nice to be in denial.

“secular” also connotes lack of bias or fairness when there is nothing fair about this corrupt regime. this family has looted the country and (for the most part) only regime insiders benefited economically. isn’t there a limit to how much reality you can ignore?

Omen the government is not conducting ethnic cleansing. You’re crazy.

Revenire,

Real people are dying and you think it’s a game. What does this say about you?

Go have a cry about it Maigoldran. All you do every day, all day, is sit here moaning about it. If you feel so strongly sign up for al-Nusra. You’re living the easy life.

You’ve said 1,000,000 times the army has to die. Anyone who doesn’t want a Terrorist Paradise is shabiha.

I don’t care. If I was Assad I would order the air force to start bombing runs today. In about a week he’d have peace throughout all Syria. I don’t care if 100,000 rats have to die.

What good are they alive?

Syrian army regains control of central town

http://www.china.org.cn/world/2013-01/17/content_27725446.htm

The Syrian army on Thursday regained control of a central town in unrest-hit Hama province, said a military source, as activists reported killings of many people in several hotspots in the country.

The military source was quoted by the state-run SANA news agency as saying that the Zour Abi Hasan town in central Hama province has been secured by the troops after fights with armed groups, most of whom were killed or injured.

The source called on the locals to return to their homes after the army destroyed all of the armed groups’ hideouts.

is there any more word about prisoners swap? why were rumors spread there would be more than one release? how cruel for the families.

Qatar urges dialog with the terrorists in Mali

Military intervention won’t help Mali, says Qatar PM

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

DOHA (AFP) — Qatar cast doubt yesterday over the value of France’s military intervention in Mali against Islamist rebels, arguing that force would not solve the problem and instead urged dialogue.

“Of course we wish that this problem could be solved through dialogue, a political dialogue. I think that political dialogue is important and necessary. I don’t think that power will solve the problem,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani told reporters.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Military-intervention-won-t-help-Mali–says-Qatar-PM_13404880#ixzz2IITioGXd

Re the commentary at #56, at first glance it seems a sure-footed piece of prose compared to the usual gibbering, although it is steeped in House of Assad self-deception and garble. The commentator is perhaps growing fatigued, and so getting sloppy with the copy/paste action; if not outright plagiarism — since the link does not lead to the text — the comment leaves the impression that psychoactives have actually kicked in, and successfully quelled mania.

REVENIRE, is the prose at #56 your own words, or is it borrowed? If it is yours, it is fairly well written — better than your usual bumf. If not, you have plagiarized.

Oh well, all is fair in love and war.

On that note, at bottom is my secret coded ‘terrorist’ message to
ZOO’s newish snugglebunny:

On the subject of un-moored jpegs of now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t Facebook claims, here’s something you might be interested in (as you were interested in the opinions of the real Aleppine, Edward Dark):

Rose Alhomsi @tweets4peace:

#Syria regime fb page admin “defects” & swears at Assad after his brother was killed at #Aleppo uni by regime warplanes pic.twitter.com/2PQVVpxL

4:24 PM – 15 Jan 13

TARA, regarding the snuggles and giggles of ZOO and Revenire under the quilt, politics do makes strange bedfellows, but ZOO is careful never to agree with commentary such as “GO GO GO! Use the gas on them Mr. President!“.

In any case, there is nothing wrong with a little bromance here, surely?

— more seriously, REVENIRE is not accquainted with the text of the order designating al-Nusra as a terrorist organization. I will point in my next post to the part of that order that rebounds upon REVENIRE himself, and which supports your challenge to ZOO completely.

I still haven’t figured out who ZOO means with his cheerless notes on “SC Jihadist twins, Islamist twins, the two pseudo-Italians and the two Pakistanis” …

MAJEDKHALDOUN, repeating the stupid slurs against GHUFRAN subverts your points. Zoozoo Googoo Nahhiba are just as stupid as ZOO’s Wizi Mrs Marple yadda yadda, and just as childish as GHUFRAN’s angry slurs back at you. Being on the ‘revolution’ side does not give carte blanche to act like nutters of the other side.

– principalement dirigé vers notre ami qui buvait du bon vin français, qui mangeait du fromâge bon français — qui vas de celébrer bientôt son anniversaire. Fais gaffe!:

˙

ʎʇsɐuʎp pɐss∀ ǝɥʇ ɟo ʎɹolƃ ǝɥʇ puɐ ‘ǝʇɐʇs ǝʇıʍɐl∀ pǝʇɐɔunɹʇ ǝɥʇ ‘qɐq ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ‘ʎllɐuɹǝʇǝ sɹno⅄

˙ƃuıop sı puɐɥ ʇɥƃıɹ sıɥ ʇɐɥʍ ʍouʞ ʇou sǝop puɐɥ ʇɟǝl ǝsoɥʍ uɐɯ ɐ ɟo uoıssǝɹdɯı ǝɥʇ ʇɟǝl ɟo puıʞ noʎ ‘ǝsɐq ɹǝʇdoɔılǝɥ zɐuɐʇɟɐ┴ ǝɥʇ ɟo ƃuılqɐsıp ǝɥʇ uo ǝɔɐɟ-ǝʇloʌ º08Ɩ ɹnoʎ pǝʇnɔǝxǝ noʎ uǝɥM ˙ʇuǝɯnƃɹɐ ɟo ǝɹnʇɐǝɟ ʇuɐʇɹodɯı uɐ sɐ ǝɔuǝɹǝɥoɔ ɹǝpısuoɔ ʇɥƃıɯ noʎ ‘ʎlsnoıɹǝs ǝɹoW

˙ʇlnɐǝuƃıΛ sǝllıפ ɟo snıuǝƃ ǝɥʇ oʇ sǝıƃolodɐ ɥʇıʍ —

ɹnoɯɐ,p ɹǝlɹɐd
ɹǝssıɐl ǝʇ ǝp
ɹnoʇ uoʇ à ʇsǝ,Ɔ
ǝɹıuǝʌǝɹ ɹǝɥɔ uoW

Bill I am not Dante. This is a message board not a literary class. Come on. Don’t bust my balls about my Associated Press Stylebook.

This is a war. You want “Assad” (the Syrian government) to lose. I want “Assad” (the Syrian government) to win. You want the rebels to win. I want the government to win. And so it goes, like a washing machine agitating 24/7.

I wish Assad was the brutal dictator your terrorist pals say he is. This thing would be over by Monday.

I have no idea how you were radicalized Bill. It is sort of strange but life is full of odd things isn’t it? If you switch sides I will applaud you.

You’ve been hanging around with jihadis too long. It is rubbing off on you. What happened to the sweet man who championed the little guy (Syria) vs. the big bad wolf (the Western conspiracy against Syria)?

Go apologize to Susan for tormenting her.

Oh, no, Revenire, I’m not going to cry over you. I’m just stating what I think: which is that you’re a despicable and retarded person.

Personally I’m glad you’re on this blog. It shows to the rest of us how much better as people we are than some in this world, like you.

“honest” nusra:

Relative who runs guns for the FSA in Damascus was picked up by some Nusra guys and beaten for refusing to give them the guns.

Revenire,

Reading your posts makes me feel ashamed that there are Syrians that think (and behave) the way you do, though I’m not surprised. The day when you (and your clansmen) will be marginalized is coming, it may take years, but it’s coming. We’ll see how tough you will act then, there are terrible atrocities committed by both sides but the regime forces are the ones carrying the indiscriminate shelling and bombing of civilians, there’s no justification whatsoever no matter how many “rats” they kill, you can not be a human being and condone what’s happening on the ground, shame on you!

Revenire is NOT Syrian. He can’t read or write Arabic.

He’s some retarded idiot who think it’s just a game. He also has something personal against WSS.

In other words, he’s a retard. That’s the best explanation for his retarded behavior.

Don’t bother talking to him about Syria. He’s a troll with a personal grudge against someone on this blog. Instead, just insult him. It’s more fun that way.

DAMASCUSROSE spare me the “innocent civilian” talk. That’s garbage. Those animals shooting our soldiers and bombing our universities aren’t not peaceful protesters. They are enemy combatants and must be killed. That is how you win a war: KILL THE ENEMY!

We are at war.

I support our army 1000% and wish they’d break out the big stuff to get this over with (and anyone who thinks the SAA has used their “big stuff” is delusional). It would save Syrian lives in the long run. A few weeks of carpet bombing any village with FSA members hiding in it will end this fast.

Then we will be ready for 2014 elections (which Assad will win).

No more fake tears for your fake revolution.

I bet you’re in the US.

As I said before, Revenire is a retard.

See?

He oozes hate. Almost every paragraph that he writes is filled with hate or malice.

In other words, a retard. Perhaps even a psychopathic retard. Revenire, take your meds and go see your psychiatrist. It’s better for everyone, including you.

Marigoldran why are you here? You want Assad gone right? Is Assad here? You post like 70 times a day. Most of your posts are about me.

I mean what is your act all about? Is this your idea of a social life?

I don’t give a damn what you think. I want every terrorist in Syria killed and want our army to do it.

Enough of rats sent by Turkey. To Hell.

I post closer to 30 times a day, at certain times, unlike Zoo or you, who go up to 80 posts at ALL times. I have a job.

But yes, trolling you is fun. You’re such an idiot, Revenire. You make it easy for everyone else.

If you have something personal against WSS, go and discuss it with him. Don’t go on a public forum and start acting like a retard, which is what you are. Personally, after reading some of this, my sympathies are entirely with WSS. If he’s hated personally by you, that means he must have done something right.

I don’t have anything personal against WSS. Like you, he begs for attention. That’s all. I don’t care about him. I don’t even know the man outside of his Tweets supporting terrorism.

I don’t care what you do. If it were up to me you’d be arrested and given to Air Force Intelligence for questioning but you’re another one of these US keyboard warriors.

William
You made three major mistakes and have not appologized yet, even that you said in the past that if you make mistake you would appologize. But let me teach you something:
The word Alawi is not a correct name there original name is نصيري
Alawi is the name of Tribe in Morroco from which the king of Morroco is Alawi, yet he is Sunni, Alawi is confused with Alavi, they are Sunni but practice in Turkish language. many Syrian last name is Alawi yet they are Sunni.
Alawis think that Ali is God,yet they call themselve Musslems, it is a lie, now Ali was a human , born and died,infact he was killed, he was very close to the prophet Muhammad, and he believed in what Muhammad said, and believe in God as the only God and God has no son and no equal, infact he get mad of people who told him that they consider him Wali, he stood up angry and cussed them and told them that he never want to see them again, when Ali was dying he told his son to hide his tomb so no one will know where he was burried, when some claim to be Musslem and yet say God is Ali this is major violation of Islam and calling themselves Muslem is hypocracy, and what we call it in Islam Scherk.
There are many things I can teach you but I expect you to appolgize first.

Liar. Who the heck is Susan?

You can’t even lie properly, Revenire.

And given your propensities for spewing hate, what does it matter what WSS did? You support the gassing and razing of entire villages. If someone came and raped your sister, that would be insignificant compared to what you propose on a daily basis.

What comes around, goes around.

6 months, deja vu…another friedman unit?

Senior US diplomats told their Turkish counterparts, led by Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who is on a visit in Washington, that the Assad regime has six months to live. The timeline was conveyed to the Turkish side when Sinirlioğlu urged the US diplomats to take clear position on the Syrian crisis that has now left more than 60,000 dead.

Revenire is not Syrian. If I had to guess I would say he’s part of the lebanese hzbistani cult.

MariGold

Have you exhausted the ‘idiot’ mantra that you want to exhaust us by repeating the ‘retard’ mantra?
Can’t you find something more interesting to bring here other than your repeated insults and you whining about how bad Syria and how much better it would as an Islamic Caliphate or as the peaceful and lovely Pakistan?

Try to put some variety in your post, take WSS as a model. At least he makes an effort to appear knowledgeable, well read and in control by emitting judgments with a pedantic tone.
I am sure you could do much better if you just stop the insults.

#114 George

Oh, another self declared Shiaphobe.. Are you a Alawiphobe too?

@ Zoo

What comes around, goes around. If Revenire wishes to spew hate, then he’ll get hate in return.

Note how I specifically attack only HIM. Unlike the regime, I do not indiscriminately attack everyone just because I’m pissed off at one person.

On an emotional level, the regime IS idiotic and self-destructive like Revenire. When someone challenges it, it lashes out indiscriminately at everyone around it, making all of its neighbors enemies.

I said I supported the Syrian Arab Army’s war on terror. They’re doing the world a favor. The more rats they kill the safer it is for all of us.

I didn’t say “gas random villages” – I said carpet bomb/gas villages hiding the FSA after giving civilians 24 hours to get out. Just bomb the hell out of them and keep bombing until we run low on ammo – Iran and Russia will send more. I swear to God after two weeks of that this war will be nearly over and the army can take a rest on the coast.

What is wrong with that? What is your solution? Let the terrorists keep bombing universities?

Even in Aleppo: I’d give the population in areas where the FSA hides 24 hours to leave and then gas the area.

Maybe 100,000 lives would be saved. It is no different than the US dropping nuclear bombs on Japan.

My solution is the humane solution.

ZOO
Shiaphobe? What part of my post is shiaphobia?

Every time the regime bombs and attacks indiscriminately, it makes more enemies. For every FSA or jihadist it kills, it creates two more.

The regime’s enemies multiply, while the regime grows weaker. That is the secret to guerilla warfare.

I would know.

William,
Why do you allow yourself to call Druze Druze, name after Durzi, and not call them with what they like to be called Muahhideen?

@ Revenire

You think that’s a HUMANE solution? No wonder you’re a psychopath.

How would you feel if someone came to your neighborhood and razed your entire neighborhood and your house (after a 24-hour warning to get out) because there was a “terrorist” hiding in a house nearby?

Millions of Syrians have had this happen to them. That’s why they’re joining Al Nusra and the FSA in droves.

EDIT: Even if I was on your side (and I’m not) I wouldn’t recommend your strategy. Your solution is the perfect solution for LOSING a guerilla war.

#119 Georges

Playing smart?

Georges please, don’t start with that.

I support Hezbollah and admire Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. He is one of my personal heroes and is a hero to the entire Arab world.

Marigoldran honest citizens will leave the area. Terrorist supporters deserve death during war. It is part of life. We are not in a utopia. This is the real world. We want to end this. We want to save lives. My way does both.

I don’t care about terrorists. They brought this war to Syria – let them die there.

Ok. This is why I say you’re a psychopath. Even as a troll your comments are disturbing.

You’re utterly incapable of understanding how others think or feel about things, just like the regime. No wonder you support it.

The regime is a reflection of your stunted, empty soul. In many ways you’re a surprisingly good analogy of what the regime is like, unintended or otherwise.

122. MARIGOLDRAN

Why are you even bothering? Revenire is either a troll or a genuine partisan of the regime’s terrorist methods. Either way there’s no point in arguing with him and his ilks. Ignoring him is the best thing to do.

Georges,

I enjoy beating up on trolls. And I think something good can come of it. At least it shows and reminds to all of us what the regime is like.

Revenire may not have intended it, but he’s a surprisingly apt analogy of the emotional nature of the regime. The stuff that he proposes are actually what the regime does.

In many ways, he’s nailed the regime’s thoughts and emotions perfectly, albeit unintentionally. And that deserves response.

The regime has been isolated and in power for so long that it is INCAPABLE of understanding how others think.

It is INCAPABLE of talking to equals.

And that is why it is losing.

It lashes out indiscriminately at the guerillas. But with each artillery shell, and each jet bomb, its enemies grow stronger, more convinced in the rightness of their cause, and more numerous. Having come from a country that experienced this, I would know.

Every family forced into a refugee camp is another recruit for AL Nusra or the FSA.

You have to be an idiot (like the regime, or Revenire) to not see this.

Marigoldran aside from killing Assad and hoping everyone surrenders to the Salafists what is your plan for peace? Wait, as you’ve said over and over, for years in hopes Assad will fall? If we do that there could be 500,000 dead. My way is quick and painless for most Syrians. Sure a few traitors will be eliminated but it is better for the majority that way.

I don’t agree with what you just said, but you said it reasonably, and that deserves a reasonable response.

The strategy that you propose is what the regime is trying. And it is not working. The mistake in your logic is that you have forgotten that you are making NEW enemies with each OLD enemy that you kill.

Consider: 10 “terrorists” hide in a village. You bomb the village and maybe kill 5 of the “terrorists.” Unfortunately, during the process of bombing, you killed 15 children.

Guess what their dads are going to do? That’s right, they’re going to join the FSA or Al Nusra

Are they “terrorists” too? If they join the FSA and “infiltrate” another village, are you going to bomb that village too?

If this process continues, what do you think is going to happen?

EDIT: Even if you give the villagers warning to leave, this will not help. The villagers are going to remember, while they’re shivering in a refugee camp, that it was YOUR regime that destroyed their houses.

Every house your regime bombs is another recruit for the FSA or AL Nusra. And your stupid regime has bombed many, many houses. Why do you think your enemies are multiplying and growing stronger with each passing month?

My peace plan? Split the country in three parts, with the Alawites in Lattakia, the Kurds in the North-East, and the Sunnis everywhere else.

Assad leaves. We take a Lebanese solution. No other way. Put the three ethnic groups together in one nation, and they’ll just kill one another. We can see that happening today.

The other options are genocide or Afghanization. Syria is not a nation. Best for everyone to go their separate ways.

When i’m asked if i believe in god and always take the time to think about it with full consideration to possibility…

I saw a man today dragged down the street half naked, beaten and insulted, then when he requested that he see his children before he dies to say his farewells; one of the soldiers replied “if you let us fuck your wife we will let you see your children” the man said that his wife was the crown on his head, his eyes at this stage read a clear message of hopelessness that he would ever see his loved ones again.

We see sacrifice of this kind in Syria everyday but we also see distortion to their reality. you see it is those that have the upper hand that tell us whats going on in our world and those that win wars will continue to write history. we no longer live isolated from reality, its actually right in front of us to see but still we are played with, society is played with, our society. there are no solutions in sight that say civilized earth will put a stop to tyranny rather than fuel it towards an atmosphere that feeds to their interests…and no I don’t believe in God.

101. MOSSIE

“I am not Dante”

The main problem here, Mossie, is we’re dealing with Syrians, who are by definition the least-read race in the known universe. They don’t know their own history, they know nothing about literature or art. They wouldn’t know Pablo Picasso or D H Lawrence if they walked up and bit them on the ass.

Nevertheless, here’re some lines from Dante’s Inferno:

With those who felt the agony of blows
By making counterstand to Robert Guiscard,
And all the rest, whose bones are gathered still

At Ceperano, where a renegade
Was each Apulian, and at Tagliacozzo,
Where without arms the old Alardo conquered,

And one his limb transpierced, and one lopped off,
Should show, it would be nothing to compare
With the disgusting mode of the ninth Bolgia.

A cask by losing centre-piece or cant
Was never shattered so, as I saw one
Rent from the chin to where one breaketh wind.

Between his legs were hanging down his entrails;
His heart was visible, and the dismal sack
That maketh excrement of what is eaten.

While I was all absorbed in seeing him,
He looked at me, and opened with his hands
His bosom, saying: “See now how I rend me;

How mutilated, see, is Mohammed;
In front of me doth Ali weeping go,
Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin;

And all the others whom thou here beholdest,
Disseminators of scandal and of schism
While living were, and therefore are cleft thus.

A devil is behind here, who doth cleave us
Thus cruelly, unto the falchion’s edge
Putting again each one of all this ream,

Good stuff! Especially the stuff about Mo and Ali…

Your solution, Revenire, is NOT humane. In fact, it’s not even effective.

Bombing peoples’ houses? Destroying entire neighborhoods? How is that humane? The regime claims it’s protecting Syria, but in reality all it protects is itself.

The regime cannot beat its enemies into submission. The methods that you suggest will only lead the country deeper into hell.

Revenire,

On average, I am incapable of understanding stupidity. I don’t get it. That’s why I think you’re a troll. Your suggestions are so idiotic that I can’t understand how anyone with a sane, non-malicious mind could suggest things like that.

But if you honestly believe in the stuff that you write, then I suggest that you get your head checked. You are a crazy man. If this is how the regime thinks, then the entire regime is crazy.

When did bombing people’s villages and driving people out of their homes become a HUMANE solution? These tactics aren’t even EFFECTIVE. Everything the regime has tried to do has only made the problem worse. With each passing month, the regime grows weaker and the FSA and Al Nusra grow stronger. Can you not see this?

that’s a messed up thing to say, johannes. tell me you’re joking.

No, people are smart… entities like you play smart.

I respectfully disagree.

I think evil, on average, is stupid.

Intelligent, non-crazy people weigh the facts and make decisions based on their best interests. And most of the time their best interests coincides with the best interests of the people around them.

But crazy people, or evil people, make enemies out of their neighbors. Do this long enough, and it will lead to its destruction. What comes around, goes around. Bomb your neighbors, and your neighbors will bomb you.

Madrigoldran my way saves lives and saves them fast. Two weeks of bombing and it is all over. I mean BOMBING not this barrel bomb here and barrel bomb there. I mean full on “shock and awe” devastation. Civilians would learn to leave after the first few areas are leveled. The only trouble is the FSA doesn’t control any areas so targets are slim for the kind of total war I envisage. That is the only hitch I see in my plan. Otherwise it is a thing of beauty.

The opposition refuses to negotiate right? They say “only after Assad goes” right? Okay let’s just kill them all. I don’t agree that for each terrorist the SAA kills 10 more spring up. That is a wet dream of yours but has no basis in fact.

The missiles can be equipped quickly. We just need areas the FSA controls to target. I asked a week ago for FSA supporters to name me one little city the FSA controls but so far no dice. Can anyone help?

Revenire,

I’m going to assume you’re being honest.

The Soviets tried this strategy in Afghanistan. They bombed everything.

They failed. For every Mujahidin the Soviets killed, two more took his place. The Mujahidin’s source of manpower came from the refugee camps, which the Soviets could not touch. There are parallels to the current situation in Syria, you know.

Furthermore, I don’t think the regime has the military capacity for it. How many functioning missiles and jet fighters does it still have? What if you bomb everything and the opposition still refuses to negotiate? Do you bomb everything again?

And yes, your point about bombing the right places hits the mark, though you missed it. How do you bomb a target that moves around constantly? How do you bomb a guerilla that does not want to be bombed?

The rebels are not stupid, you know. They’re not going to sit around and wait for you to bomb them. And your regime does NOT have the military capacity of the Americans, with their laser-guided bombs, who can pick and choose their targets.

Do you then bomb EVERYTHING? In which case, what is left of Syria then? What’s the point of ruling a country if it’s completely destroyed?

at least some make some profit of the war
As I remember this Hayek guy is a real star to many Syrians.

Syrians turn to astrology for signs of hope

“In Syria’s neighbor Lebanon, which was dominated politically and militarily for nearly 30 years by Damascus, television astrologer Michel Hayek predicted the fall of Assad in his latest annual reading on anti-Assad channel MTV.

Hayek, the country’s most famous astrologer, wrongly forecast the toppling of the regime in 2012. This year, he said that women and members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect will play an important role in Syria’s future political life.”

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syrians_turn_to_astrology_for_signs_of_hope

Revenire,

Why is the regime copying its anti-guerilla tactics from the SOVIETS?

Didn’t the Soviets LOSE in Afghanistan? Why is the regime copying a LOSING strategy?

I mean, Hell, let’s get down to it: What is the FSA plan? Keep bombing civilians? They can’t hope to beat the army. I think the rebels are stupid. They’ve shown ape-like stupidity over and over. The move into Aleppo backfired on them. They announced at least twice they were going to liberate Damascus and failed to even scratch it. They said they’d liberate Homs and can’t. Hama same thing.

The Twitter myth among the expat community is the army is out of ammo except Russia and Iran (and Ukraine and North Korea) replenish arms. We have plenty of weapons. We have a sea of weapons to use. Let’s use them Mr. President. Kill these bastards. Gas them.

As far as “bombing everything” goes Madrigoldran you yourself told me Syria is a failed state and wasn’t a nation any longer so yeah let’s just blow the Hell out of everything and kill all the terrorists we can for about 2-3 weeks with the big stuff. Blitzkrieg.

I think my way can bring an end to this and in the long run save lives. Sure there might be 20-30,000 dead in 2-3 weeks but after that is will be a mop-up operation for our boys.

Revenire,

You wrote “shock and awe.” That is an American term.

Are you trying to copy what the Americans did in Iraq?

But Revenire, that is stupid. The regime cannot copy the Americans. The Americans fought in Vietnam, and they learned from it. Your regime, until this war, never had that experience. Even worse, you don’t have the weapons or the media support for it.

Your regime cannot copy the American strategy. It will only lead to disaster.

And also, another thing to consider: the Taliban is still around and so are many insurgents who fought against the Americans in Iraq (they’re now fighting in Syria). In the long run, Shock and Awe does not work. It can supress the insurgents, but they’ll just come back at a later time.

Sure Revenire, suggest whatever it is that you wish.

As I said, you’re a crazy troll. Either way, it doesn’t matter. My point stands:

You’re retarded.

EDIT: Retarded is a catch-all phrase. It works both ways. If you’re crazy, that means you’re retarded. If you’re a troll, that also means you’re retarded.

So there. You’re a retard, regardless. Accept it.

EDIT 2: You want to pretend you’re a regime supporter? Fine. I’ll troll you there. You want to pretend to be a troll? That’s fine too. I’ll troll you there too.

You’re a retard, Revenire. You’re dumb and you don’t realize just how dumb you are.

Iran’s Cyber Threat Potential Great, U.S. General Says – Jan 17, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-17/iran-s-cyber-threat-potential-great-u-s-general-says.html

Iran’s developing ability to launch cyber attacks will make it “a force to be reckoned with,” the head of the U.S. Air Force Space Command said.

General William Shelton said the Iranians are responding to an attack on the computer operating system that runs the uranium enrichment facilities in the country’s suspected nuclear-weapons program.

“It’s clear that the Natanz situation generated a reaction by them,” Shelton told reporters yesterday.

Iran’s main uranium enrichment site at Natanz was hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer virus. Last year U.S. officials told the New York Times that President Barack Obama had secretly ordered stepped-up cyber attacks on that country’s nuclear program.

U.S. intelligence officials and independent analysts such as Misha Glenny at Columbia University in New York have criticized the Obama White House for taking credit for the Stuxnet attack, warning that doing so would come back to haunt the administration.

Iran has denied responsibility for a spate of cyber attacks against online banking sites that accelerated in September. U.S. banks, including JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC), have said some customers were having difficulty at times accessing their websites. Former Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, was among those who have said Iran may be at fault.

Iran’s Comment

“Iran respects international law and refrains from targeting other nations’ economic or financial institutions,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a Jan. 11 statement, according to the a report on the website of the state run Press TV news channel.

Shelton said Iran poses a risk because of the “potential capabilities that they will develop over the years and the potential threat that will represent” to the U.S.

Now some of the U.S. banks are seeking assistance from a number of government agencies, including the National Security Agency, which oversees the government’s defensive and offensive cyber programs, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Treasury Department.

[…]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-17/iran-s-cyber-threat-potential-great-u-s-general-says.html

If a troll pretends to be dumb, just tell them repeatedly how dumb they are. After all, most of them ARE dumb.

It’ll get to them eventually.

Only stupid trolls like Revenire still use that strategy of pretending to be dumb. Revenire is incapable of being clever. So instead he reverts to his normal state:

Stupidity.

Revenire, you think you’re pretending to be stupid. But in reality, you’re just stupid.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LOVELY FAMILY!

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/408390_474951439207310_713245105_n.jpg

A LITTLE LION HAS BEEN BORN !! ..

Who want’s to Congratulate our Brave Warrior and Commander of Syria’s Legendary Republican Guard, on becoming a Father again recently to a new born son ” Basil Maher Hafez Al-Assad” ??

A big Congratulations to Our Frontline Warrior General Maher Al-Assad on the arrival of his son, may God bless and protect them ..

Many thanks to The General’s biggest fan and our friend Patti, for sharing the information ♥ … – M.D

Yeah, run like the little coward that you are.

You just got owned. Good night.

Marigoldran you talk like a child. Owned? Run?

What is it you want? Have you come up with a list of targets for our boys? You know, the cities the FSA controls. Oh, there are none?

Lina Sinjab praised documentary on women of the revolution

News from Depardieu, now that his love for dictators is world known, he has released an song together with the daughter of Uzbekistans “President” Gulnara Karimova, known as the most hated women in Uzbekistan.

Btw, this lady has a warrant on her in the US for her business attitudes.

I really got pissed off hearing that she is calling herself Googoosha, there is only one marvellous Googoosh, and she comes from Iran!

Here their song:

When the US State department announced its update to Executive Order 13224, news agencies and reporters generally ran with the news that Jabat al-Nusra was named a terrorist organization.

Not much remarked was the designation of the irregular militias as terrorist organizations.

As one of our commentators yammered:

Tara, and other terrorist supporters (talking to you Bill Scherk and you Amal Hanano), the US State Department doesn’t mince words below. Al-Nusra IS Al-Qaeda. If you’re in the United States and you issue public statements of support for the al-Nusrah Front terrorists you could very well be arrested under US law (Bill gets out of it because he’s in Vancouver).

[ . . . ]

[quoting State dept spokesperson] Al-Nusrah Front has sought to portray itself as part of a legitimate Syrian opposition, but today’s actions are intended to expose them and make clear that the United States believes that al-Nusrah’s extremist ideology has no role in a post-Assad Syria. Among the consequences of today’s actions is a prohibition against knowingly providing or attempting or conspiring to provide material support or resources to or engaging in transactions with al-Nusrah Front.

Now, did that poster skim past this part of the self-same comment?

The actions we took today fall into basically two buckets: actions against two militias that have been perpetrating violence in coordination with and in affiliation with the Assad government, and then actions in concert with the al-Nusrah [ … ] the Shabiha have operated as a direct action arm of the Government of Syria and its security services, with Shabiha units providing support to units from designated security services, such as the Syrian Air Force intelligence and Syrian military intelligence, that have been among the most active in the violence. [ … ] The other pro-regime militia that we are sanctioning today is Jaysh al-Sha’bi, which operates throughout Syria and has been particularly active in Damascus and Aleppo where the militia has supplemented Syrian Government forces operations against the opposition. Jaysh al-Sha’bi was created and continues to be funded and maintained with support from Iran and Hezbollah, and it is modeled after the Iranian Basij militia, which has proven so deadly and effective at using violence and intimidation to suppress political dissent in Iraq.

Copy. Paste. Post post post. Drink French wine. Burp. Carry on …

Here below is the official designation from the Treasury Department, which enforces the order’s sanctions — with details on the Assad-affiliated militias deemed terrorist organizations.

Recall that our plagiarist used multiple posts to menace TARA, and recall also that he botched his reading: the crime that applies to US citizens contains this proviso: the crime is perpetrated when the citizen ‘knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization (FTO)’

In other words, the anonymous FTO supporter REVENIRE is a much more choice target for Homeland Security than is TARA — by his own terrorist-supporting words on this blog.

Jaysh al-Sha’bi

Jaysh al-Sha’bi is a militia controlled by the Syrian government and has conducted unilateral and joint operations with Syrian military and security elements against the Syrian opposition that have resulted in the deaths and injuries of Syrian opposition members.

Jaysh al-Sha’bi operates throughout Syria and has been particularly active in Damascus and Aleppo, where the militia has supplemented Syrian government forces’ operations against the opposition.

Iran has helped establish and train the Jaysh al-Sha’bi militia in Syria to support the Asad regime and relieve pressure on Syrian government forces. Since mid-2012, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah have provided training, advice, and weapons and equipment for Jaysh al-Sha’bi. Iran has also provided routine funding worth millions of dollars to the militia.

Iran’s IRGC Commander Mohamad Ali Jafari also claimed that the militia, which he claimed has 50,000 members, was modeled after Iran’s own Basij, a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC that has been heavily involved in the violent crackdowns and serious human rights abuses occurring in Iran since the June 2009 contested presidential election.

Shabiha

Since the beginning of the unrest in Syria, the Shabiha have operated as a direct action arm of the Government of Syria and its security services and Shabiha units have provided support to units from designated security services such as the Syrian Air Force Intelligence and Syrian Military Intelligence.

Shabiha units have worked with Syrian Military Intelligence to provide security at Syrian regime facilities and to man security checkpoints in Syrian cities and the Shabiha have been used by the Syrian military during operations in and around Damascus to interrogate and kill potential supporters of the Syrian opposition.

In addition to the Shabiha being identified as part of the Government of Syria pursuant to E.O. 13582, today the Treasury Department also designated the group pursuant to E.O. 13572 for being responsible for or complicit in the commission of human rights abuses in Syria, including those related to repression.

Since the beginning of the unrest, the Shabiha have fired into crowds of peaceful Syrian demonstrators, shot and killed Syrian demonstrators, arbitrarily detained Syrian civilians, and shot Syrian soldiers who refused to fire on peaceful demonstrators. In May 2011, the Shabiha were firing on Syrian civilians trying to cross into Lebanon near the town of al-Bire, Lebanon.

Nice stalking with you, young snuggle bunny. Fais gaffe!

Time will come and The king of Jordan will sure be de-throned.

Jordan Says It Won’t Accept New Refugees if Syria Falls

“We do not encourage our Syrian brothers to come to Jordan because their country needs them more and they should remain there,” the prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, told reporters in Amman, Jordan, according to Reuters. “We will stop them and keep them in their country.”
,,,,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/world/middleeast/syria-war-developments.html?_r=1&

He will surely be happier to live in London, its much more entertaining than dull Amman. And as a plus he does not have to speak Arabic.

Those recent deadly rocket attacks in Aleppo against residents are most likely works of Al Nusra front. As they had claimed their ”game change” after they obtained some heavy rockets from Taftanaz air base. I wonder why the regime would have left munition after their loss/retreat from those bases.

It seems the Al Nusra front is utilizing terror attack on civilians in those regime controlled areas. Most likely more large causalities on civilians are expected in those areas.

What is next for this country and how much more suffering will people endure?

Is Turkey using the jihadists to kill PKK Kurds in Syria?

Kurd-jihadist firefights rage in northern Syria
January 18, 2013 02:17 PM

..
A Kurdish resident of Ras al-Ain, who said he opposed Assad’s regime, said the jihadists crossed the Turkish border with three tanks into Ras al-Ain on Thursday.

“The Kurdish fighters have seized one of the tanks,” the activist, who identified himself as Havidar, told AFP via the Internet.

While Turkey supports the revolt against Assad, it is also home to a sizeable Kurdish minority that has suffered much persecution and suppression.

Activists say they fear Turkey may be using jihadists in Syria to fight its own battle against the Kurds.

“The advancing rebels did not use the tanks to fight the regime. Instead, they used them to shell Ras al-Ain,” Havidar said.

Analysts and activists have voiced fears over the potential consequences if the fighting between Kurdish militia and jihadists continues.

“Should the fight morph into a struggle between Kurds and Arabs… Syria and the revolt (against Assad) are both in real danger,” said prominent Kurdish activist and journalist Massoud Akko.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jan-18/202794-kurd-jihadist-firefights-rage-in-northern-syria.ashx#ixzz2IKtwf7tZ
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

After their fiasco in Damascus, the jihadists try again in Aleppo ahead of the FOS meeting.

Large blast hits Aleppo neighbourhood in Syria -TV

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/large-blast-hits-aleppo-neighbourhood-syria-tv-115842291.html

American sissy getting cosy with some Nusra bears: http://youtu.be/JDl8RDnSu-8

Hey, they’re “sexy”, didn’t you know?

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/08/15/ridiculously_photogenic_syrian_soldier_a_weapon_of_mass_seduction

Does Anyone Give a Damn About Syria?
Posted: 01/16/2013 10:51 pm

It’s hard to believe that every day the news reports have Syrians dying like flies and no one seems to give much of a damn. The report yesterday that 80 students were blown to smithereens was particularly galling. They were studying at their University in Aleppo when, apparently, death rained down from the sky, either through a missile or a bomb. One image had a female hand with a pen still in it, dismembered from the rest of her body. She apparently died while doing school work.

I was a Rabbi at a University. If 80 students had died in a military attack it would have shaken the foundations of the academic world. Professors everywhere would have condemned this violation of the sacred halls of academia. But in Syria it’s just another day of indiscriminate slaughter.

Full article here : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-shmuley-boteach/syria_b_2492155.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

The Arab world is increasingly plagued by the Islamist terrorists that have been kicked out from Afghanistan and proliferating now in the Middle East and Africa. They are being used as convenient proxy fighters by some countries to settle their account with their enemies.

As they are all of Sunni Wahhabi inspiration, they get unlimited fundings. They offer a great potential as ruthless fighters and therefore are the favorites to use by countries who don’t want or cannot involve their own troops to reach their military, political or ideological goal.

They are mainly in Afghanistan, Yemen, North Africa and Iraq but they have recently been invited to move to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Their presence is yet discreet in the GCC countries.

Turkey is using them to fight Kurds.
KSA is using them to fight Iraqi Shias
Qatar and KSA are using them to fight Syria’s goverment
Israel and the USA are using them to fight Iran and its allies.

All in all, these jihadists are the jack of all trades, always ready to kill for their “jihad”.

The question is that once they have done their job, how to control them? The experience of using them against the Soviets in Afghanistan should have taught a lesson.
But countries never learn, they always think they are smarter.

Zoo,

Sunni..Sunni…Sunni…Sunnis .

It is so sad that you think we are not your ordinary boring everyday people. We are just normal you know..and nice but underappreciated.

“They believed that in that chaos their jihad would thrive.”

Mali Need Not Be France’s Afghanistan
By DAVID ROHDE

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/18/mali-need-not-be-frances-afghanistan/

“They would tell me repeatedly that their objective was to extend the chaos of Somalia across the Sahel to the Atlantic coast,” Fowler said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “They believed that in that chaos their jihad would thrive.”

My perspective is not neutral. Four years ago two Afghan colleagues and I were kidnapped by the Taliban and held captive for seven months in Pakistan. I saw their brutality, ignorance and determination first-hand.

I believe economic growth is the best way to counter militancy, not massive Western military interventions. To me, a threat exists from militancy. It is not manufactured. Yet we declare that there is no threat or we grow impatient when it is not quickly solved.

France faces months of casualties and conflict, but that should be expected. Quick solutions are illusory. So are claims that we can ignore violent militants. Countering militancy involves a combination of limited military force, expansive diplomacy and patience. We, Americans, rarely show those qualities. I hope the French do.

Tara

I was careful to specify “Sunni Wahabbi” Do you identify with them?

Jordan starting to feel the Islamist’s ideology conveniently disguised in calls for “freedom”

Jordan’s Islamists, opposition rally against vote

Friday’s peaceful demonstration drew about 1,300 Muslim Brotherhood members and others, united in the election boycott and in demands that King Abdullah II cede some of his powers and give parliament more say in the country.

Holding up small yellow cards mimicking a judge’s warning to players in soccer games, the protesters chanted: “Freedom, freedom. This is not a royal gift, but our right.”

http://news.yahoo.com/jordans-islamists-opposition-rally-against-vote-132548671.html

William Schreck
Do you like it when Zoo attack Sunni, but hate it when someone responds and attacks Shiite?

I found you to be Mr. nonsense guy. today there was massacre against sunni city close to Homs, committed by Assad Shabbiha, Zoo friends,now who is the terrorists?I know you will stay quiet,but doing that it proves that your credibility is zero,and again you don’t have the dignity to appologize.

apple_mini

It is clear that the FSA is finished. It is now a full Al Nusra fight for chaos. Terror is the way to that: Bombing universities, car bombings, inflicting as much civilians casualties with many objectives:

– Give the impression that the Syrian army is loosing, thus attracting more terrorists fighters.
– Use the media propaganda to accuse the Syrian army of these crimes, thus bringing the attention of Western countries on the cruelty of the ‘regime’
– Create a chaos as food, and basic amenities are becoming scarce so people turn toward the Jihadist for help, thus discrediting all the governement institutions so Syrians become dependent on the Jihadist for security and food.

Unless the Western countries realize that soon enough and change their course, Syria will fall into the chaos, a preliminary to an Islamic Caliphate and a haven for jihadists.

Amidst Bloody Crackdown, U.S. Pumps Arms into Bahrain

By Justin Elliott
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2013/01/17/amidst_bloody_crackdown_us_pumps_arms_into_bahrain_100484.html

Despite Bahrain’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the U.S. has continued to provide weapons and maintenance to the small Mideast nation.

Defense Department documents released to ProPublica give the fullest picture yet of the arms sales: The list includes ammunition, combat vehicle parts, communications equipment, Blackhawk helicopters, and an unidentified missile system. (Read the documents.)

The documents, which were provided in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and cover a yearlong period ending in February 2012, still leave many questions unanswered. It’s not clear whether in each case the arms listed have been delivered. And some entries that only cite the names of weapons may in fact refer to maintenance or spare parts.

Defense Department spokesman Paul Ebner declined to offer any more detail. “We won’t get into specifics in any of these because of the security of Bahrain,” said Ebner.

While the U.S. has maintained it is selling Bahrain arms only for external defense, human rights advocates say the documents raise questions about items that could be used against civilian protesters.

“The U.S. government should not be providing additional military equipment that could make matters worse,” said Sunjeev Bery, Middle East advocacy director for Amnesty International USA.

Zoo,

Ok. Just checking..

Do you like the Jordanians? One of my relative is married to a now retired head of Mukhabarat in Jordan. I am so blessed with family’s marital relationships…

Al Nusra ‘martyrs’ in action…

Syria Suicide Attacks Hit Near Mosque In Daraa

By BARBARA SURK 01/18/13 10:33 AM ET EST AP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/syria-suicide-attacks_n_2501945.html?utm_hp_ref=world

BEIRUT — Two car bombs exploded in southern Syria and a rocket slammed into a building in the north, killing at least 12 people in a spike in civil war violence Friday that Syrian state media blamed on rebel fighters trying to topple President Bashar Assad.

a belgium reporter, yves debay, was killed by a sniper in aleppo last night. was it by accident? did he get in the line of fire? or is the regime getting cocky and it’s open season on western reporters now?

this made me wonder about martin chulov reporting out of aleppo and his claim that nusra fired missiles at the university. maybe that’s what he heard. or maybe it was something else. somebody noted the regime was making hay out of it.

i’m reminded during libya, following nic robertson’s reporting for cnn. one day, he’s describing how the gaddafi army was reducing a city to rubble with grad rockets. the next day, a similar report but this time he lets out a whooper that the regime was taking great care to avoid civilians! a complete lie. but low and behold, not long after, robertson won a sit down interview with saif gaddafi, the son.

obviously, the story was slanted in order to curry access. this is how the game is played.

is this what chulov was doing? i wonder if he threw a curve ball not to win access but as a sort of insurance policy. if the regime finds him occasionally useful, they are less likely to hunt him down. i don’t bring this up to denigrate him. i still have regard for him as a reporter but we should be aware that calculations might be at play that aren’t readily apparent.

Tara’s on that reality show: The Real Wahabi Housewives of New Jersey. She’s not allowed to show her face. She’s the fat one who yells a lot.

Just kidding Tara. You know I love my little al-Nusra American girl.

#170

Tara

What counts for me is the people’s personality and qualities, not their nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, race or social class. There are good and bad people everywhere. I try to avoid the ones I perceive as bad.

Thank God, I am lucky not to have any relatives in such positions.

Reve,

“She’s the fat one who yells a lot”

In your wildest dream..

Not fat….

but may be morbidly obese.

#172 Omen

How did the belgium journalist died? That’s what it is said.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/sniper-kills-french-journalist-in-syrias-aleppo-ngo.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39363&NewsCatID=352

Another activist who spoke to AFP via the Internet on condition of anonymity said he helped put Debay’s body in an ambulance en route to the Bab al-Salama border crossing with Turkey.

“It is not exactly clear how he was killed, but it seems like he entered a very dangerous street where the army and pro-regime militia were positioned,” said the activist.

Debay founded Assaut magazine, a French publication specialised in defence. He reportedly described himself as a “rebel journalist.” Debay was born in 1954 in Lubumbashi, in what was then the Belgian Congo.

Syria: Islamist Nusra Front gives BBC exclusive interview

An activist was explaining to me how the bread shortage in rebel-held parts of Aleppo was another crime to be heaped on the head of Bashar al-Assad.

He was waved away by a stout matron in a hijab and long black coat.

“Don’t blame Bashar. What’s happening to us is of our own making,” she said as, behind her, Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters struggled to keep order.

It is widely believed in Aleppo that the bread shortage was caused by the FSA stealing flour to sell elsewhere.

An FSA officer confirmed as much when I asked him if this had been done by individual fighters or was ordered by commanders to fund their operations.

“Both,” he said, “including my own brigade.” He added, ruefully: “We are all thieves.”

It was a joke, and his men erupted in laughter, but he meant it seriously, too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21061018

__________________________________________________________________

Notice the tone and coverage of the soonite insurgents has changed? Long gone are the days when the Western media spewed uncritical frowning praise and propaganda for the soonite insurgency! The West now aware of the true nature and goals of the soonite insurgency is reporting the truth now! That means 8 hour bread queues, with FSA thieves stealing flour and bread from the people, FSA kangaroo courts summarily executing anyone who opposes them, FSA deliberately using civilians as human shields and looting people’s homes!

The West has given up on the soonite insurgency, because the West has come to conclusion the soonite insurgents and opposition will be no friends of the West. The West has made the correct and perhaps cynical calculation its better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know! At least President Bashar Al Assad is predictable and a known quantity; whereas the rabid soonite insurgents are an unpredictable and incoherent force.

The critical emphasis now, in the Western media of the soonite extremists and terrorists that make up ranks of the soonite insurgency. Is a clear sign, Western governments wish to distance themselves and sever links with the soonite insurgency. The West simply does not trust the soonite insurgents and hence refuses to arm them. The US and Russia will now impose a settlement to the Syrian crisis: the soonites have failed in their putsch!

“The rebels don’t have such weapons”?

Even after the rebels looted Taftanaz and other military bases and boasted on videos about all the rockets propellers and stocks of heavy weapons they seized, the defenders of the armed rebels keep claiming that the rebels ‘don’t have such weapons’ when it comes to bomb Aleppo…

Is the propaganda of their ‘victories’ playing now against them?

Where those refugees are supposed to go if this fight continues?

BEIRUT, Lebanon — In the latest sign of the intense pressures Syria’s war has placed on its neighbors, Jordan’s prime minister said Thursday that his country would not accept thousands of new refugees likely to flee Syria if President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed.
“We do not encourage our Syrian brothers to come to Jordan because their country needs them more and they should remain there,” the prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, told reporters in Amman, Jordan, according to Reuters. “We will stop them and keep them in their country.”
Jordan’s government would instead deploy special forces troops to create “secure safe havens” for the refugees inside Syrian territory, Mr. Ensour said, without elaborating.

Zoozoo
You mean the rebels have jet planes flew over Aleppo and bombed the university?

Majie

According to you, the FSA are “angels’, so they don’t need jet planes to fly and throw their bombs to kill as many ‘heretics’ as possible.

Salam Alaikum, notice the black flags with the FSA flags. Friday protests.

manbij

Sh3ar, Aleppo city

Salah el din, Aleppo city

Kurdistan and FSA flags

..

#179 Ghufran

Turkey keeps announcing it is building high-tech Syrian ‘guest’ villages with washing machines, internet and children schools and playground with visits of celebrities such as Angelina Jolie after Erdogan’s and Moaz Al Khatib.
They also are now supposedly training the ‘guests’ about “democracy” as they make them vote for their guest village leaders.

Reward: After a few years, these guests will speak fluently Turkish and will be forever grateful.

Frankly who can compete with that?

Hassan Nassrallah Shiite terrorists are committing murders in Darayya, Darrayya now has more martyrs than any other Syrian city,Nassrallah will be hanged in Damascus next to the chief murderer Bashar, they both are نجس و خسيسين

“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Far from this regime.”

I wonder whether poor Assad may be suffering from seasickness? I’m sure Asma, having probably passed her morning sickness phase, would be turning her attention to dutifully nursing her husband back to health. [If rumours are to be believed she’s 7 months expecting.]

He could do without this adding to his possibly already heightened paranoia. I’m sure Asma is calming him down and reassuring him such motion sickness isn’t fatal.

I understand ginger, fennel seeds and peppermint are some natural remedies.

Majie

Again your shiaphobia crisis!

” Darrayya now has more martyrs than any other Syrian city”

and less terrorists… Maybe they are the same.

Another Qeeqee from Zoozoo #181

BTW the Jordanian minister said Jordan will not accept more refugees AFTER the fall of Assad, so Assad thugs has only Lebanon to flee to,

majedkhaldoun do we need yet more hatred?

“Hassan Nassrallah Shiite terrorists are committing murders in Darayya, Darrayya now has more martyrs than any other Syrian city,Nassrallah will be hanged in Damascus next to the chief murderer Bashar, they both are نجس و خسيسين”

Show some respect. If the rats are being cleansed – and they are – we should all be happy.

I hope Hezbollah is killing them all but I sort of doubt they are even fighting there. We haven’t asked them and don’t need them. The SAA has plenty of soldiers to get rid of the rats.

Next time you go to the races pick a better horse.

Google translation of Sh. Yaqoubi’s arabic statement posted on facebook on Tuesday 15th Jan.

Why people rose in Syria

Sheikh Mohammed Abul Huda al-Yacoubi

Why people rose in Syria?

Question may be innocent if asked twenty months ago, but today either he is ignorant and wants to learn or spiteful wants to scoff, and each one of them say in answer:

People’s revolution in Syria is the revolution of a nation subjected to the most kinds of injustice and oppression, tyranny and war on Islam and virtue and morality for fifty years only looted the country and trafficking in major issues of the nation.

The Hub people to overthrow this regime and defend the dignity and religion and honor compound had ridden each of the revolution has an interest of countries regulations, but that does not change anything from the facts:

People kill … And children massacred … And bombed cities …
And system زبانية and of Gelaozath torturing people
Some people were buried alive
Cut people alive parties
Burning people alive
Raping women and girls and children
Take turns raping children in front of parents
And raping women in front of boys and Alawaj.
Kill soldiers who refuse to fire,
Bakery bombing of people die of starvation,
Kill the wounded in hospitals
Injecting prisoners with AIDS
Islkhoun skins prisoners and melt prisoners acid,
Bombing cities with poison gas.
Claim to worship Bashar al-Assad
And forced people to prostrate forms and to say: there is no god but that pig despicable …

Avelam after all this from taking up arms the Raba grievance to defend the honor and dignity or gave people money and arms to defend himself?

Avelam took to the streets calling for filling: “Syria Bdha freedom” means freedom from slavery to God Almighty, freedom from repression system, murder is no freedom no freedom of Russian America.

The overthrow of this system is the duty of the religion, Islam and morality and custom policy and without hesitation to the ruling or a lack of evidence.

Each of supporting this system contributes to the support of crime and carries the burden of helping the killer and the offender for his crimes, whether military or employees, whether a scientist or a judge or a political or a merchant.

Wake up people! It annihilated people and violate symptoms and religion insulted and destroy the country

Revolution is the option and the duty of Jihad until liberation Sham killers of these criminals.

https://www.facebook.com/ShaykhMuhammadAbulhudaAlYaqoubi/posts/251435494987207

Yaqoubi sounds like he’s been hitting the bottle again.

Zoozoo
To you 80% of Syrian are terrorists,while the truth is Assad thugs are terrorists,Nasraallah Shabbiha are terrorists

That’s silly majedkhaldoun. Most Syrians support the government and the army. The rats can’t even get demos going anymore.

Nasrallah is a hero to the entire world. He’s a great man.

Amnesty International criticizes Jordan’s decision to refuse refugees.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/refugees-from-syria-face-further-suffering-if-jordan-closes-border-2013-01-18

“At a time when people in Syria may need protection the most, Jordan is effectively threatening to close its borders, further exposing them to harm,” said Charlotte Phillips from Amnesty International’s refugee team.

“Supporters of the al-Assad government, many from Syria’s minorities, are already facing human rights abuses by armed opposition forces.”

“If the al-Assad government is overthrown, there is a very real concern that those perceived supporters will be at risk of harm, including reprisal attacks, from armed opposition groups.”

It is also likely that many others will need to seek sanctuary from the continuing violence and humanitarian emergency which has taken hold in Syria. Civilians, regardless of which group or community they belong to, may need to leave Syria to avoid being caught up in fighting between the various factions.

At Thursday’s press conference, the Jordanian Prime Minister also stated that Palestinians fleeing Syria with Syrian identity cards are being blocked from entry.

“Jordan, as well as other countries neighbouring Syria, have an obligation under international law to ensure that all those fleeing persecution or human rights abuses are able to seek asylum on their territories, both now and in the future,” said Phillips

“Everyone has a right to leave their country and seek asylum. States are prohibited from forcibly returning anyone, in any manner whatsoever, to a country or territory where they would face a real risk of persecution or serious human rights abuses. This includes rejecting people at the border.”

“Palestinians should not be denied the right to seek asylum because of their identity.”

MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE TERRORISTS! GO USA!!

I had a dream that the United States woke up from its nightmare and stopped supporting regime change in Syria and helped Assad exterminate all the filthy swine attacking Syria’s people. Hey, a guy can hope can’t he?

“US has no evidence of chemical weapons use in Syria” – Panetta
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_18/US-has-no-evidence-of-chemical-weapons-use-in-Syria-Panetta/

The US does not have evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its people in domestic armed conflicts, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview with ABC Friday.

Earlier Security Council representative Tommy Vietor made a similar statement denying recent media reports which suggested the use of chemical weapons in Syria, citing a source with the State Department sources.

Voice of Russia, Interfax

What MajedK said is what most Syrian would agree with.

Revenire and Zoo are both idiots and do not represent anything close to being Syrian.
They should pack up and get the hell over to Qom-stan. They do not belong in Syria or any where else in the Arab world. They belong with Mullah apes as slave objects of mut3a.

Very good MejedK.

Wizi and Majie

The twin Jihadists shiaphobe and alawiphobe finally unite

Where is the wedding? In Idlib or in Hatay?

Zoozoo
Actually there is no place for Assad thugs to go ,not even Lebanon, Lebanese Goverment will fall quickly once Assad is gone,they will be rejected by everyone except underground

I saw on U tube women Shabbiha in Homs,may be Assad is running out of Men Shabbiha.

Muaz Khatib will withdraw from Syrian Coalition, that leaves George Sabra.and Attasi

Syria Violence May Worsen Post-Assad

http://www.voanews.com/content/syria-assad-fighting/1586600.html

LONDON — Syria’s civil war drags on, with diplomatic efforts making little headway and, according to the United Nations, more than 60,000 people killed. Experts don’t see a quick solution, and believe that even if the rebels succeed in ousting President Bashar al-Assad, the violence could well continue, and even get worse.

“Of course, the worst case in Syria is more than imaginable: It’s possible,” said. Middle East expert Alia Brahimi of the London School of Economics.

“What is looking more likely is that if the regime were to collapse, you would get the worst-case scenario of revenge killings and inter-communal violence. And you would also probably see violent power struggles from within the victorious opposition, and then of course regional actors coming in to back their own horses,” Brahimi.

It’s a bleak scenario, but not a surprising one. Syria is split among Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, various clans and sects, and Islamic militants and liberals.

“Syria is a crisis that may not be resolved for years to come, precisely because it plays into all these underlying sectarian and regional power struggles,” Brahimi said.

Brahimi is referring to Iran, a Shi’ite power that backs Syria’s Shi’ite leaders from the Alawite sect — who in turn facilitate its influence in Lebanon — and Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that would like to see a Sunni-led Syria and a weaker Iran.

Beyond that, Western powers would like to see a liberal, democratic Syria, while Russia is determined to protect its influence in the country.

But experts like Chris Doyle, at the Council for Arab-British Understanding, say an extended Syrian civil war is not inevitable if the various domestic and international players can be convinced their interests will be protected.

“If the regime was to fall from power right now there would be a huge power struggle within Syria. If, however, there is some sort of political solution, a very clear transition process, then there is some chance that Syria can exit this dreadful crisis with something to look forward to,” Doyle said.

But that would require agreement on the most contentious issue — whether President Assad would resign immediately or stay at least for a transitional period. Neither side is budging on that.

“It’s possible to resolve this. It’s just that nobody really wants to at the moment,” Brahimi said.

And that means Syrians are likely facing more months, if not years, of fighting — whether Assad is in office or not.

Mouaz al-Khatib = LOL

That clown is going no place fast. I wish he’d set up his headquarters in the “liberated areas” of Syria so our air force can send him someplace…

You ask where?

To Hell!

#198 Majie

If this is true that Al Khatib is gone, that’s a good news… I have repeated it, the guy turned out to be useless.

After the secular Ghaliun, we got the Kurd Sayda, then the moderate ‘islamist’ Al Khatib.

Now the choice is Sabra, a Christian or Atasi, a unveiled moslem woman
It looks that the coalition can say goodbye to Saudi and Qatari money as well as to Turkey’s support.

Will next one be a Alawi?

Revenire literally posts about once per hour.

I’m not talking about someone who posts maybe 10 things, and then stops posting for 10 hours (like me). Revenire is a person who goes online and posts regularly once every hour or so, all day, during the week and the weekend, with breaks for sleeping.

Wow.

EDIT: I mean, this guy literally has nothing better to do than to go online and annoy people. He has no job, and it appears he has no life either.

Mari

Are you obsessed by Revenire? Do you see him in your dreams too?

@ Zoo

In the meantime you’re becoming obsessed by me. I think that’s rather sweet.

Also, last time I checked you posted a lot too, and pretty regularly as well. Would you like me to confirm exactly how often you post too? It’s pretty easy to check. The time stamps are all there.

Zoozoo
I got you excited , didn’t I

If what you said about me is true Marigoldran then what about you? How do you know how many times a day I post or what I am doing? Are you watching me?

Please stop obsessing about me. I am not Assad (wish I was because Asma is one of the most beautiful women on Earth).

Maybe this is the job I was assigned by Air Force Intelligence? Maybe I am Batman?

The funny thing is you post more than anyone here.

Marigoldran yes, please check out how many times a day both Zoo and I post. Make up a spreadsheet and upload it someplace. I’d love it. I am honored you care about us so much.

Have a nice day.

أيها الأخوة المواطنون
أيها الأبناء
لا أخطر على الإسلام……
لا أخطر على الإسلام من أن تشوه معانيه ومضامينه وأنت تلبس رداء الإسلام ……
لا أخطر على الإسلام من أن تشوه معانيه وأنت تلبس ردائه……
وهذا مايفعله الإخوان المجرمون……
هذا مايفعله الإخوان المجرمون……
يقتلون بإسم الإسلام ……
يغتالون بإسم الإسلام……
يذبحون الأطفال والنساء والشيوخ بإسم الإسلام
……
يقتلون عائلات بكاملها بإسم الإسلام ……
يمدون يدهم إلى الأجنبي وإلى عملاء الأجنبي وإلى الأنظمة الأمريكية العميلة على حدودنا……
يمدون إلى هولاء أيديهم ليقبضوا المال وليأخذوا السلاح
ليغدروا بهذا الوطن
ليقتلوا المواطنين
الذين عاشوا معهم
في وطن واحد
في مدينة واحدة
في حي واحد
وأحياناً في بيت واحد
هذا مايفعله
هذا مايفعله المجرمون
من الإخوان المسلمين
يمدون يدهم إلى الأجنبي مباشرة
ويمدون أيديهم إلى وكلاء أمريكا على حدودنا
يقبضون المال
ويأخذون السلاح
ليغتالوا هذا الوطن
ليقتلوا هذا الوطن
ليضعفوا هذا الوطن
في وقت تقفون فيه وحدكم في مواجهة أشرس عدو وأشرس عدوان

القائد الباقي في القلوب حافظ الأسد
لروحك السلام والرحمة

Yeah. Assad-ism is a religious cult. There’s no other way to explain it.

I don’t know which is worse, Revenire. Pretending to be a cultist or actually being a cultist. Both are disturbing.

And I’ll bet money that you paid someone to do that for you. Can you post in Arabic consistently? And can you post unique sentences that aren’t cut and pasted from the web?

Syria: Aleppo insurgents fired a missile at a residential home, there are victims
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fworld.lb.ua%2Fnews%2F2013%2F01%2F18%2F186127_siriya_aleppo_povstantsi_vipustili.html%3Futm_source%3Dtwitterfeed

To the Western Crocodiles !

Obama Backed Terrorists Threaten Mass Beheadings

For those of you in USA, UK, France, Netherlands and Germany, these are the crazy butchers that your country are supporting. The world cries over children killed in a school in the US, yet there is no mention in the western media about the students killed in Syria when a US backed car bomb attacked a university.

Do the west think that Syrian children are unworthy of getting any acknowledgement or sympathy, except from Russia.

This video footage shows an Arab Jihadi (most likely Saudi or Libyan) holding a sword in his hand and speaking to the camera very angrily. This footage is taken from the year 2013.
http://youtu.be/B8lSvQXElEQ?t=1m26s
In his first message, he promises mass beheadings for all ‘traitors of Aisha and Abu Bakr’ – in reference to Shia Muslims and Alawites.

In his second message to the Arab Muslim world, he calls them traitors because they failed to help the Jihadis by sending them rockets to kill more Syrians faster. He also promises to chop their heads off with his sword.

These are the people supported by the West and hailed as “freedom fighters.”

MARIGOLDRAN, the al-Shabi’ terrorist supporter and plagiarist has ‘borrowed’ almost all of the copy/paste at #208. The Arabic texts/snippets are taken from this Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/President.Hafez.ALassad

— I cannot figure out why he does this kind of blatant plagiarizing. It stains his entire output with fraudulence. Sad and revealing, the cognitive contorsions regime supporters can perform.

Recall that he has instructed everyone here that only Syrians inside Syria have a right to comment on the war and the future of Syria. This contains an implication that he himself is Syrian, in Syria. (never mind his creepy menaces, eg that TARA should be picked up by Mukhabarat on her next entry into her homeland). These claims and assertaions do not cohere, do not add up.

Boggles the mind. Perhaps he is a bit like Silentio (D.a.l.e) and has a grandfather from Syria, and has been fed Assadism since birth. If so, it shows how well Baath entraining can work. Cult dynamics, as you suggest …

Psychologically, very interesting. I still suspect a ‘ringer’ or an impersonation. We will never know.

About Syria
Russia’s world in 2013
http://rt.com/programs/crosstalk/world-2013-russia-assad/
What does 2013 hold for Russian foreign policy? Should we expect significant turmoil? Moscow’s position regarding Syrian President Bashar Assad is widely misunderstood – what kind of influence does Russia actually have on Syria, and the region? And is the ‘re-Sovietization’ of Russia really happening? CrossTalking with Mark Sleboda, Dmitry Babich and Fyodor Lukyanov.

CrossTalk is grateful to the Terrine restaurant for providing the recording set.

We read everywhere that 2 foreign journalists were killed today.
When Syrian journalists are murdered, the western media just ignore them.

These foreign journalists have entered illegally in the country and have embedded voluntarily with terrorists.
Then it’s no surprise if they share the same fate.

قتل مراسل قناة “الجزيرة” القطرية محمد الحوراني برصاص قناص تابع للقوات السورية في محافظة درعا، بحسب ما افادت القناة.
وبثت القناة في شريط اخباري عاجل “استشهاد الزميل محمد الحوراني مراسل الجزيرة برصاص قناصة النظام السوري في محافظة درعا”، مشيرة الى انه استهدف “خلال تغطيته لاشتباكات في بصرى الحرير”.
Aljazeera reporter in Daraa died after getting shot by a sniper .

I think most of the Western journalists are spies. I have no evidence of it. Let’s just call it a hunch.

The hypocrites of the West said nothing about Maya Naser or Yara Saleh (or the team she was part of). It’s sickening.

I have no sympathy for spies. Take them out and have them executed Mr. President. It is what any nation at war would do.

Can Jordan or Lebanese camps compete?

Turkey has spent around $350 million on more than 157,000 Syrian refugees to date, according to official figures.

There are around 3,000 staff members working at Syrian refugee camps in Turkey, according to the official figures. The needs of the Syrian refugees are being met in terms of shelter, food, health services, security, social activities, education, religious services, translation, telecommunication and banking, the document added.
….
There are 143 specialist medical doctors, 553 general practitioners and 1,089 health workers in total at the hospitals built in the camps. There are also more than 26,000 students studying at educational classes in the camps, in which 345 Turkish and 833 Arab teachers work.

#216 Revenire

If you read about the french journalist Yves Debay killed by a sniper, he started his career in war as a mercenary in a ‘white’ militia fighting the blacks in Apartheid South Africa.
He was considered an addict to wars and not looked positively by other journalists.
He got the death he wanted, in a war zone.

He was not a spy, just an adventurer addicted to the smell of blood and war. I have no sympathy for such a character.

http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2013/01/18/yves-debay-la-guerre-etait-sa-vie_1819190_3218.html

Reminds me of Austin Tice hanging around with terrorists and then getting kidnapped by them. His TL has him partying with al-Nusra a day or two before they grabbed him.

Many pro-regime syrians are snob people (sine nobilitate). It reminds me of a fuxxxing weekly publication in Syria or Lebanon called SNOB. Very explicit indeed. They are rich sons of rich party members who made fortunes in a fast and easy way profitting from power positions inside the party or in the administration. All in all a real social, political and economic disaster. They will be very proud of it, of course, since they are purely ignorant in moral, social and cultural questions. But I think the only think they were proud of were the wonderfull villas they built with stolen money and the Porsches and Hummers they bought with the bribes and corruption revenues.

When Assad finally dies, in a question of months, nobody will remember him, as it happened with ¨Prophet Gaddafi¨, hahahahahah

212. William Scott Scherk

Thanks for Hafez Al Assad facebook recycle bin……… Hahahahhahhhaaaa ………. it is really incredible…… how can some people have so miserable lifes as to make this kind of facebook sites and also write on it….. hahahhahahhaha

So indredibly miserable….!!!!!!!

Yesterday, gunmen killed brother Deputy Speaker of the Syrian Parliament, a little earlier – his cousin, and before that – the athlete, national champion in race walking before him – a boxer, and even directors, journalists, religious leaders and relatives themselves, doctors, artists, actors, engineers, pilots – aces, politicians, TV personalities, teachers, university professors, lawyers, scientists, etc. Importantly, these people – not just the supporters of the Syrian president – they are the “cream” of Syrian society, his brains, which are not necessary for those who are planning a “bright” future of Syria. In their understanding, the future society of the country should not be a drain. Its citizens must be brainless religious-radical sentiment, which can be easily managed.
Syria has always distinguished itself from other countries in the region particularly the pride of its citizens, their religious tolerance and the same complacency all dissent, and patriotism inherent Syrians, there was even a cause of hostility to them in certain countries. That is it for the destruction of the very essence of a society, its values and aims, those who want to make an obedient puppet of Syria

222. CITIZEN,

If you want to analize the syrian society´s essences please do it without introducing you political speak.

Syria has been under political repression for at least 42 years. The essence of syrians is yes religious tolerance but also many other positive aspects as hospitality, commerce, cultural mixture. But do not forget that due to the Assad regime, other negative features have become also the essence of the syrian people today: the fear about the authority and its repression, violent repression and torture. We can consider another essence is the lack of political freedom. Also corruption on a massive scale. Let´s try to analize rigourously. Do not try to center in just one aspect. When I was in Syria, I thought much more about political repression, lack of freedoms and fear than about my religion or the other´s religion.

Where are those Assad supporters who used to appear in this SC forum like JAD, and many others? Have they been killed in the front defending Bashar Al Wahsh´s honour or divine message?

Or maybe they have been replaced by iranian who cannot write english and arabic or even replaced by lebanese Hezballah supporters who do not even know to read but drive a Hummer because they fought 34 days against Israel in 2006?

Sandro please, not all of us subscribe to your terrorist agenda for Syria.

We’re not interested in your personal perspective. This is a message forum not a confessional.

Thank you.

Mari,

I don ‘t think Reve is acting being a cultist. I think he is a genuine worshiper of Batta’s toes.

Reve, can you share with us which toe you worship and if the toe number has any relevance in your cult ideology. I am stii wondering if the Fb page worshiping Batta’s toes is still active.

225. REVENIRE,

Revenire, kindly avoid talking about questions you do not control just because you are a follower of Ignacio Ramonet and the frustrated generation of westerners who support dictators all around the world.

You better go to Mali to fight with your president Hollande against the pirates of the desert.

Frankly, have you even been in something similar to Syria?

REVENIRE,

You have posted more than 30 posts out of 227. It makes more than 10 %. It is clear that you are overpassing your dosis while you are offering information that adds nothing new to this question. If at least you had valuable inside information from syrian cities and villages, personalities, political parties or activists. But you add nothing positive that can help Syria.

Will antiwar orgs get behind HCR 107 to prevent war on Syria?
http://www.federaljack.com/?p=178994
http://youtu.be/g9szk50VQes?t=7s

31

Western media are increasing publication of the reality of what is happening in Syria. Despite attempts to shut up and hide the truth, it is gaining ground, confirming the statement that I have heard repeatedly from the start lawlessness in the country: “God save Syria” That’s always said the Syrians, in the belief that truth and justice will prevail .
The newspaper “The Washington Post”, American journalist and author David Ignatius published an article in which the situation in the north of Syria, described as chaos sown by armed groups, which some countries presented the international community as the “Free Syrian Army.”
The author writes that it is now a separate armed group is demoralized, looting, rape and robbery. Where they are, they are widely practiced kidnapping for ransom, attacks on private property, especially zealously they rob and factories. They steal cars and rob houses of citizens. Trafficked stolen on the Syrian-Turkish border, where you could buy at cheap prices. Outrageous plunder and robbery supervised if it can be called only a single organized force, which to some extent subject to these small groups – is “Djebhat Al-Nusra” That spread its influence among these, so to speak, “insurgents”, but in fact just gang members, consisting of 10-20 criminals mostly with criminal records.
In the same article, the author argues that the so-called “rebel army” is actually split into bands that darn lawlessness and manage not only the property, but also the lives of people caught in the grip of chaos sown. Field commanders decide the fate of citizens in one Available immediately, without trial, betraying their penalty most cruel ways.
Previously, a non-governmental humanitarian organization “International Rescue Committee” (The International Rescue Committee, IRC) released a report, “Syria: regional crisis,” which told of numerous instances of sexual violence not only against women and girls, and the children, they suffer from by members of armed terrorist groups.
The report presents the results of the investigation organization inhuman crimes of the Syrian women who, often, after the violence, sometimes in public, tortured and killed. Those who survived were not particularly want to talk about what happened, being intimidated by the killings, which promise to inflict on the victims of so-called “fighters” FSA.

• US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was “deeply concerned about those who remain in danger.” A state department spokeswoman said the United States would not negotiate with terrorists. The Associated Press reported that Americans are among the hostages who remain at the site.

And same with us. The revolution would not negotiate with the terrorist regime in Damascus.

The UN Security Council’s president has said the council is divided over whether to refer reports of war crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Five council members – France, Britain, Luxembourg, Australia and South Korea – made a joint statement urging the world body to send the problem to the International Criminal Court to prosecute war criminals.

But council president Masood Khan, the ambassador of Pakistan, said the council is divided in private deliberations over what to do.

Some council members contend that having the court pursue prosecutions will encourage Syrian president Bashar Assad’s regime to dig in and resist to the end.
,
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/un-council-split-over-syria-crimes-16263371.html

216. MOSSIE

“Most Western journalists are spies”

I think you’re a spy. But I think you don’t know who you’re spying for. Of course, not knowing is one of the benefits of being insane…

A New Bashar Cartoon:

http://www.cartoonaday.com/images/cartoons/2011/04/democracy-in-syria-cartoon-598×427.jpg

In order to punish Iraq and HA Shiite that fought and killed Syrians, I propose that once the revolution expels Assad, the revolution should hike the entry price to Zainab’s shrine.  Make it like…500$ ticket to visit per day with multiple entries allowed.   Provide nice amenities, encourage religious tourism and let them worship as much as they want.  500$ should only be a courtesy to our Arab brethren.  Iranian brethren should pay a1000$ per ticket.       

Video appears to show Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiites fighting in Syria

Initially, there was some unease among Hezbollah supporters over the party directly assisting the Assad regime in its brutal suppression of a popular uprising. Some fretted that Hezbollah’s image as a champion of the oppressed would be tarnished and that fighting in Syria would distract its attention from the struggle against Israel.

In October, Fawwaz Traboulsi, a Lebanese political scientist and author, called on Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from Syria.
“I appeal to them for the sake of Palestine; for the sake of preserving the credibility of the party and the role of the Islamic Resistance [the party’s military wing] in the Arab-Israeli struggle; for the sake of preserving the honor of the weapons of the resistance, so that they may continue waging their jihad against the Israeli enemy only,” he wrote in an opinion piece published by Lebanon’s daily As-Safir newspaper
However, as the conflict in Syria has intensified, atrocities reportedly committed by the rebels combined with the rise of extremist Sunni groups appear to have diminished misgivings previously felt by some Lebanese Shiites at Hezbollah’s presence in Syria. Radical Salafi jihadist groups, such as Jabhat al-Nusra, the largest and militarily the most successful of the rebel groups in Syria, are regarded by Hezbollah as a potent threat because of their Takfiri ideology which treats Shiites as heretics.

“It’s not a secret anymore [about Hezbollah in Syria]. Hezbollah may not be talking about it openly but everyone knows they are going over there,” said a Lebanese Shiite who lives in the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut but asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.
..

http://news.yahoo.com/video-appears-show-hezbollah-iraqi-shiites-fighting-syria-192551171.html

Today I had a conversation with a guy from Al Jazeera in Syria. He explained to me how his father converted to Shiite Islam by getting 5.000 Syrian Pounds per family member. I means that they got some 35.000 sp, since they are 7 persons. Last two years I was in Syria (2.009 and 2.010) I was receiving rummors about people being converted to Shiite Islam. Now I realize once again most rummors have a basis of true.

Sayedeh Zainab tomb, it is empty tomb, how come she has three burial sites,one in Syria,one in Egypt,and one in Medina? there is no one burried there,and the prophet ordered us not to build a mosque around a tomb, , in Iraq Ali tomb is where dog start barking, they suspect it was where Ali was burried, agains no body knows where he was burried, Shiite are what we read in Fatiha Dhalleen,ضالين

Tara

The revolution would not negotiate with the terrorist regime in Damascus.

The regime in Damascus, like any UN recognized State, will not negotiate with a terrorist revolution.

It’ll wipe them out.

Zoo,

The regime in Damascus is illegit. More than 50 countries so far have signed a request to refer it to the ICC. The US said it is. France said it is. The UK said it is. What was the General Assembly vote last year against the regime again? Most of the world said it is illegit. It is still not official because of the veto power of China and Russia

Majed

It is up to them who they worship in my view. Empty or not. We as the host country should make it a religious tourism..not different than medical tourism, or any other Kind of tourism. Let them pay and pray. Let us use the money to build Syria.

Tara you’re a fool. Those nations didn’t refer Syria to the ICC. Their governments did. It is a desperate political stunt.

The people of those nations didn’t do it. Half the electorate of the US doesn’t support its government – they just don’t take guns and cut off government worker’s heads like your rats do. If they tried that the US government would destroy the terrorists.

The ICC is not going to work. Russia and China will see to that and the combined population of those two nations is like half the world.

Go soak your head and try to restore thinking ability.

REVENIRE,

You should experience what means being under Assad moukhabaraat rats´ interrogation or being hit until death in torture chambers at Kafr Soussa, Anjar or Tadmor centrals. These things were happening before the revolution and during 42 years to all those who was suspect of belonging to the political opposition to the great rats of the Assad Regime. You do not know anything.

If you have suffered the rats of the Baath Party Leadership and their mercenary killing organization for only one minute you would be with us against the Great Rat.

Regarding islamists they are just a consequence of the Great Rat bombing villages and towns and promoting chaos in the country.

Good night and good luck.

And the entice cleansing continues.

Reports of a massacre at Haswiya emerged on Thursday from opposition and human rights activists, but they could not be verified immediately.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said women and children had been among 106 people killed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Some of the dead were “burnt inside their homes while others were killed with knives” and other weapons, the UK-based activist group said. It added that there were reports that “whole families were executed, one of them made up of 32 members.”

“This needs to be investigated by the United Nations,” said Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the UK-based activist group.

However, a government official in Damascus denied reports of a massacre.
…
One woman told the BBC the same. But out of earshot of the official Syrian minders, another woman said the army was present at the time and that some soldiers even apologised for the murders, saying others had acted without orders.

The SOHR said all of the dead appeared to be Sunni Muslims, who make up a majority of the population and have been at the forefront of the revolt against the state during the 22-month conflict that the UN says has left more than 60,000 people dead.
,,,,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21073447

Tara
Certainly, they are free to worship what they want, but they should call themselves other name, so they don’t confuse things about Islam,and as long as they don’t hurt other people.,or help others to hurt other people

Jordan is heading toward more trouble, and Iraq demonstrations are spreading more, Sistani plan is reasonable,but Maliki should be responsible for what he is doing.

Reve,

I am glad you are from Chicago or Wisconsin. I am vacationing in Montreal this summer and I do not want to run into you during the Jaz festival. You are not polite.

LOL I never said where I was from. Tara keep trying to guess who and where I am. When you get close you will win a prize but until then just remember Assad is my president.

241. MOSSIE

“Tara, you’re a fool”

This coming from a dude whose basic plan is to go down with the ship. Glub glub glub. Everybody else is heading for the lifeboat stations and donning flotation vests. But not Mossie. Nossir! He’s gonna drown with Bashir, Asma and the three little brats.

A New Bashir Cartoon

http://africartoons.com/sites/default/files/images/20120927w_Chip_CArgus.preview.jpg

#239 Tara

“The regime in Damascus is illegit.”

Until the Coalition creates a Syrian governement in exile recognized by the UN, the sole legitimate government of Syria is the current one under the presidency of Bashar al Assad.

All the rest is just noise and wishful thinking.

By the way the USA, China and Russia do not recognize the ICC juridiction, it is all hot air…

Reve,

Sorry. Only in your dream that I care to know anything about you. Completely not interested.

Uh huh, sure Tara. You sure try for my attention for someone who doesn’t care. You care a lot. You’ve been throwing yourself at me ever since I started posting here.

If this is some sort of come on I am not interested. I could never date a woman that apologizes for terrorists that chop heads off.

Zoo@ 248

The coalition is retarded too. What are they waiting to form a government in exile for God sake? A dinner invitation? What has al Khatib been doing other then rhetorics? Discuss and form the ” damn” government. People are dying.

#237 Majed

As you know a lots about relics and tumbs, is Prophet Yehia’s head in Ummayad Mosque in Damascus or not?

#251 Tara

They are preparing their next vacation in Rome… with a mandatory visit by Georges Sabra to the pope.

The rest of the time they go from conferences to conferences ( just came out of a conference in the UK with ‘experts”) to discuss what to do after Bashar is toppled, but never in how to topple him.
This can go on for years…

Zoo @253

Unfortunately I agree with all you said. Very true indeed. From one conference to another conference and never discussing how to topple Bashar. At least Ghalioun visited with the FSA inside Syria and boosted their morales.

Again, what is the coalition waiting for to form a government in exile? A revelation from God? Why is it our destiny to only have impotent people. From an impotent Ibrahimi to now an impotent coalition.

Joumblatt, feeling the wind of changes in favor of Bashar al Assad remaining in power, is readjusting his position.

Jumblatt endorses Geneva plan

January 19, 2013 01:22 AM
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Jan-19/202863-jumblatt-endorses-geneva-plan.ashx#axzz2IFHea1SR

BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said Friday that he supported the Geneva plan to end the crisis in Syria and added that Russia was willing to assist in resolving the growing refugee crisis in Lebanon.

“The Geneva plan is the basis for a solution to the crisis of Lebanon’s neighbor,” Jumblatt told reporters following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

The Geneva Plan stipulates a cease-fire and the formation of a transitional government to oversee parliamentary and presidential elections. It does not call for the the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, a key demand of the Syrian opposition in any potential agreement.

“The participants exchanged viewpoints over the developments in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon and Syria,” said a statement from the PSP media office. In the wake of the developments in Syria, Jumblatt has taken a different stance than the parties represented within the coalition government. “Both sides [Jumblatt and Russian officials] agreed to continue their talks and on their commitment to stability and security in the region,” said the statement.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Jan-19/202863-jumblatt-endorses-geneva-plan.ashx#ixzz2INtFbdle
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

#254 Tara

After their stupid demand to the USA to rescind the Al Nusra comdemnation, no country will recognize a ‘government’ who supports a terrorist group and who has no control over its military wing. They blew it.
Even France, now fighting Al Qaeeda in Mali, will never dare to recognize such government.
The Coalition is going the same way as the SNC, to the dustbin.

MajedK @237,

You raise a good point. All these sites must be destroyed including the ones in Egypt, Medina, Iraq and Damascus. The Iraqi brothers have awakened now and soon they will kick the mullah agents of Qom-stan out of Iraq.

This is business for their mullahs. These bugger apes should not be allowed to steal from the poor in order to buy mut3a slaves.

In new Syria, Allah Willing, the site will be razed to the ground.

Zoo,
Yahya tomb is in Umayya mosque, and must be removed and placed in different site.
as for geneva agreement,you are wrong it says specifically that the transitional goverment must have full and complete authority, this statement you keep ignoring,it means Assad will not have authority anymore.

Visitor
yes we must dig the tomb of Ali and if there is a dead man bone there then we must remove the mosque from there,the new technology may permit us to reincarnate that body and verify if that body belong to Ali,Hassan and Husain body can be checked too to prove that they are related to supposedly Ali bone.

Zoo,
Yahya tomb is in Umayya mosque, and must be removed and placed in different site.
as for Geneva agreement,you are wrong it says specifically that the transitional goverment must have full and complete authority, this statement you keep ignoring,it means Assad will not have authority anymore.

Visitor
yes we must dig the tomb of Ali and if there is a dead man bone there then we must remove the mosque from there,the new technology may permit us to reincarnate that body and verify if that body belong to Ali,Hassan and Husain body can be checked too to prove that they are related to supposedly Ali bone

MajedK @258,

Agree Yahya must be removed from the mosque and buried somewhere else.

Ali’s tomb is not in Iraq. This site is another business franchise for mullahs. Ali was never buried and no one knows where his body ended. The Afghans claim to have his body in Mazar but that is another hoax

Zoo
Jumblatt is not saying Assad should stay,he supports the ceasefire but how is Assad going to comply is still what he questions, Assad proved to be lier,he will never stop the security solution, and he can never be trusted to do reform.

Syria, an alternate reality. Interview with Anastasia Popova
http://www.pressenza.com/2013/01/syria-an-alternate-reality-interview-with-anastasia-popova/

Pressenza has recently re-launched an article written by Silvia Cattori, that reported the documentary made by Anastasia Popova and transmitted by the channel Russia 24. This publication has attracted praise and criticism for the point of view about what is happening in Syria that is very different from the one circulating in the European media.

For this reason we decided to pursue this issue by talking to the author of the report, a young journalist who covered the “Arab spring” in different countries and has spent some time in Syria, in contact with many people involved in the conflict.

Anastasia, first of all many thanks for your willingness. How long have you been in Syria with your crew?

We were there for 7 months in total, from August of 2011, when there was no war yet, until now when the war in full swing. So, you can say that all the events unfolded right in front of our eyes. On average we were on the ground in Syria for about a month at a time, from Deraa to Idleb and Aleppo and from Latakia along the Turkish border to al-Qamishli and down to Deir Ez Zour.

What is your general impression about the state of the conflict?

From the time when we arrived in August all the way until December, what struck us the most was the difference between what was being said about Syria from the outside and what was actually happening inside the country. Sometimes it would reach the point of absurdity, when we would get calls from our channel asking us about so-and-so square where an anti-government demonstration was being shot at by tanks or artillery. We would get to that square and there was literally nothing — a few pedestrians and a policeman directing traffic.

Despite all our attempts we didn’t manage to find the thousands-strong demonstrations against the government so often talked about by the Western media. We spoke to the opposition, and even they told us that it was very difficult to gather people to protest. The only way to do this was through the mosques, and if they managed to get even 50 people to come out for fifteen minutes and film them, they considered it a victory. The vast majority of the population was just not interested.

Then provocations started, people were killed for belonging to the wrong religion, armed attacks on government buildings and employees, police stations and court houses began.

Nevertheless, the government responded to the peaceful demands. Laws were changed. A commission was created for a national dialogue that included almost all the opposition groups. Based on the work of this commission a new Constitution was adopted through a national referendum. Then, elections were held, and a lot of the political opposition inside Syria got seats in the Parliament. And so, the whole topic of mass protests became moot.

But as it turns out, for the key interested players this was not the end of the game. They put together what can be called “the foreign opposition”, composed mainly of people who had been living in Europe for over 40 years. Obviously, due to lack of support inside Syria, this opposition had no chance of coming to power via elections, so they turned to the only option available to them — overthrowing the current government with weapons.

They began pitting religious confessions against one another and at the same time sending in foreign insurgents. The proof of this can be found in the latest UN report, which lists armed people from 29 countries (!) fighting against the Syrian army.

They use foreign weapons that cannot be purchased in Syria, which we filmed, and which the Syrian army does not have, including M16 sniper rifles, European machine guns, various anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as advanced satellite communications equipment which is openly provided to them by certain Western states.

These weapons are first sent to Turkey (evidence of this was provided by an Egyptian businessman), then given to the FSA by Turkish officers on the border.

This was witnessed by a Lebanese journalist who tried to film it but was arrested in Turkey for three days and had her camera broken.

By the way, the border between Syria and Turkey is controlled by the Turkish army due to an agreement between the two countries signed in 1998. There is no Syrian border patrol. I have been there and I have seen it.

In addition Western states openly provide the opposition, which is composed largely of foreigners, with money. Because of all this, it is hard to call what is happening in Syria a civil war, although now they managed to divide the people and there are cases when half of a family is fighting for the government and the other half against it.

Do you think there could be a peaceful solution?

I think it is the only way to end this crisis. Most wars between countries at some point stopped by signing a peace agreement. The situation on the ground is this: all the major cities are still controlled by the government. After more than a year of fierce fighting armed groups still couldn’t create any strongholds or take the main part of the territory. They keep splitting up because some lose financial support, some end up looting, some already began battling foreign insurgents, some join al-Qaida, which is also fighting against Syria and which, if I may remind you, is officially named a terrorist group. So with whom should they negotiate? Even the UN monitors couldn’t find any single leader of these armed groups and another attempt to reach a ceasefire had failed. And yet, in his recent speech the president once again stressed his readiness to negotiate, but this time he openly referred to the foreign sponsors of the militants. Unfortunately, a peaceful solution does not seem to be on their agenda — they’ve already rejected his offer.

Why did you realize this documentary? Have you been asked by your superior or was it your initiative?

The original decision to send me to Syria was made by my superiors, but naturally, during the course of my work there I made friends, many of whom were subsequently killed. I went to Syria to report facts, but in time I realized that people are not facts — they are people, and I felt their pain in my own heart.

This movie was my personal initiative. It was an emotional response to the events which I was reporting. I made it to honour my fallen friends and the people of Syria, who don’t care about politics and who just want to live in peace.

Fortunately, my job provides me an outlet to get this point across to many people, and I used this opportunity, although getting my superiors to approve this film was not that easy.

We have received criticism that Russia 24 is a channel that only reflects the position of the Russian government: what can you reply?

It’s easy to attack the messenger when you don’t like the message. When people see reports done from comfortable hotel rooms in Lebanon, citing “unverified information” from activists about supposed government atrocities, they chant “Yes! Yes! Kill the evil dictator!”, but when someone actually spends considerable time in Syria trying to figure out what’s going on, then comes back and says, “Hey guys, that is not AT ALL what is happening…”, people brand it as government propaganda. So what can I reply? That a ticket to Syria is not that expensive and its borders are open. Over 300 foreign media outlets worked there and sent their reports via the Internet, freely and without any censorship from the Syrian government; 3G is available all over the country. If you do not trust me, “a young reporter from a state-owned Russian channel”, go and see for yourself. But don’t be surprised to end up in an alternate reality.

Here is a good example from The Independent: “I have now been in Damascus for 10 days, and every day I am struck by the fact that the situation in areas of
Syria I have visited is wholly different from the picture given to the world both by foreign leaders and by the foreign media.”

(http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/syria-the-descent-into-holy-war-8420309.html)

Another one from The Guardian:
FSA- “There has been no real progress on the fronts and that has affected our sponsors, who haven’t been sending us ammunition…Even the people are fed up with us. We were liberators, but now they denounce us and demonstrate against us.

(http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/27/syrian-rebels-scramble-spoils-war)

What do you think of the attitude of the Russian government regarding the situation in Syria?

I think they are perfectly aware of the situation on the ground and they constantly insist on peace — immediate ceasefire and all-inclusive dialogue.
What more can you ask for?

You are going to leave for a well-deserved vacation. Will you return to Syria? What hope do you have about it?

It was not my decision to go there in the first place. I was sent to Syria as a special reporter and I was just doing my job. It’s up to my superiors to decide where I go next but if they say Syria – I guess I will agree.

MAJEDKHALDOUN #258

I would rather that modern technology was applied to forensically proving the source of that deeply disgusting and cowardly attack on the exam-sitting students at Aleppo University. If 80 were killed many more would also have been permanently disabled.

I wonder how much REVENIRE added to his scorecard with that long, chaotic, unreadable rubbish dump of a post above.

That is a model example of filling space simply to displace and distract on this forum.

Childish.

I get paid by the word. 🙂

syrialover, good to see you again. missed you in passing the other day. /smile

Kurds ready to fight militant groups in Syria: Radwan Rizk
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/18/284264/kurds-enter-syria-war-into-a-new-phase/

A political analyst tells Press TV that the war in Syria is entering a new phase with the Kurds joining the fighting in support of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and they will be able to defeat their territories.

The comments came after reports said clashes have broken out between Syrian Kurds and militants near the Turkey-Syria border. The militants in three tanks crossed into Syria via the Turkish border on Thursday in an effort to take control of the town of Ras al-Ain.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Radwan Rizk, political analyst, to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We are hearing fierce clashes now between Syrian Kurds and the foreign-backed insurgents. Do you think that this is taking the whole situation into a new phase?

Rizk: Well we all know that the opposition were expecting the Kurds to take the side of the opposition for fighting the regime or join the oppositions on fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

But it seems that the Kurds reached a point where they did not agree on anything to go into the coalition of the oppositions or the opposition groups. On the contrary, they did not join any fighting on the ground against the Syrian army and they have reached some kind of understanding with the government of Syria.

They protected their territories, they abandoned any fighting groups to enter their territories and they could defend even and control the land of the [parts] where the Kurds live in the northern part of Syria.

Now the Kurds are going to pay the price from the opposition groups by getting the revenge fighting from the groups trying to invade the Kurds parts and of course they will do lots of massacres against the civilian Kurds.

It seems that Ras al-Ain was fighting since, not now, this is not new, this is something been going for the past six months. Ras al-Ain fought many battles and successfully defeated all the attackers, the groups, they were retreated and did not have any chance to enter the city or to uphold or control any part of the city which located near the Turkish borders.

So now we are seeing a new phase of this war. Kurds of course will join the fighting hopefully. They will be able to hold their territories and defend it. I think so they are able to because they are well-trained, well-armed and they are not agreeing on anything with the oppositions or taking any action or serious action against the government and on the contrary they are very strong ally to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

So now this phase will enter the Kurds into the fighting and that could turn the fighting around and they will be able to uphold and defeat their territories and the groups do not have any chance to enter the Kurds parts.

AHK/JR

179. Ghufran said: Where those refugees are supposed to go if this fight continues?

BEIRUT, Lebanon — In the latest sign of the intense pressures Syria’s war has placed on its neighbors, Jordan’s prime minister said Thursday that his country would not accept thousands of new refugees likely to flee Syria if President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed.

once the regime is removed, syrians will be able to come back home.

…

48. ghufran said: If some of you have a problem with a Ghufran,you have 2 Ghufrans now

seriously? are there really two? i must protest. add a number or something next to your name so we can differentiate. two people with the same name is confusing. why would you want to adopt the same name as somebody else?

Syrian women from the newly formed National Defence Army in Syria guard a checkpoint in Homs:

i am of the belief that after the regime falls, equilibrium will return and the different sects will continue to be able to live together.

but this pbs video that examines alawite community in hatay, turkey – says syrian alawis will be welcome in the country if they choose to relocate. i inadvertently laughed. after all the badmouthing of turkey zoo has dished out over the months, i find this ironic.

At #257, we hear modified praise for #237, for adding wrong-religion crosshairs to niche parts of the Muslim world. We hear affirmation, agreement that “All these sites must be destroyed.”

I am atheist and could not give a tozz for ‘rights’ given by gawds to this or that piece of property or heritage. But, shrine-destruction is criminal to my eyes, as was criminal in intent the Taliban’s artillery assault on giant buddhas, ‘Assad in Homs’ style.

Disguieting to hear a bland call for hurtful and unecessary violence. I am again appalled by the V’s reckless words.

Sensing a pleasure in the tone of voice announcing the necessity to destroy, raze that which another individual (and community) have built and attend in devotion — this is once more ugly to hear from a fellow Canadian. These are devilish words, Ye Who Fear God/Jah/Master, by my reckoning.

I thus reject and revile this kind of rhetoric. It is incitement and a call to deepen pain. In the pain of community schism, mistrust and misrule, these are shameful words to be added to the heartbreak

*If you love Syria, the real/the myth/the ideals, why not show some compassion no matter what stripe? Who calls for the destruction of ‘sacred’ historical places and archealogical riches? Who, or rather, what logic leads to the destruction of Syria’s ‘protestant’ infections in favour of the ‘catholic’ majority?

This is fascism and mirrors the belligerence of the Assadist Nutterzone. This is almost as vile as the kooky ‘regime/loyalist/cough neutral’ parties like whackjob REVENIRE, who has now fastened like a clam on MARIGOLDRAN.

MajedK @237, my apologies to you will be in private, if ever, unless you tone down your hateful rhetoric.

ZOO, do I get a snuggle now as given in spades to REVENIRE? We may be on the same side of an issue here …

I will also denounce the senile and grotesque oligarchic governments of FamilyFarm Arabia, on request. TARA will fill our cups and talk about cultural achievements that move her, as will I, as will you. On that Damascus veranda, free. In about 2019, perhaps …

MARIGOLDRAN, it might be time to install a brainfilter — to avoid getting riled by The Ringer. And with an 8 + six = 11/13th the number slaughtered in civil war in The Homeland today, I am outa here.

Nutterzone All-Stars semi-finalist Hoser Mullah extends a point:

“You raise a good point. All these sites must be destroyed including the ones in Egypt, Iraq and Damascus.”

When a revolution supporter starts to sound like REVENIRE’s boogey-man, it’s time for a drink all round.

Edited for personal attack.

Bill are you drunk again? Your language is particularly florid today.

I know who you remind me of: Lawrence of Arabia, sort of.

Tozz? My my Bill your slang is picking up.

Cheers.

there has been a rash of similar articles painting rebels as unpopular & in competition to nusra.

why have different columnists all jumped on the same bandwagon? reflection of echo chamber effect or is this meme something coordinated?

these articles have been centered around aleppo but a casual reader might jump to the erroneous conclusion that rebels are equally unpopular in whole of syria.

a convenient consensus to manufacture if one is invested in moving public opinion against intervention.

@268Rev.
You are putting videos of a terrorist designated group by the US
Read WSS@154
“In other words, the anonymous FTO supporter REVENIRE is a much more choice target for Homeland Security than is TARA — by his own terrorist-supporting words on this blog.
Jaysh al-Sha’bi

Jaysh al-Sha’bi is a militia controlled by the Syrian government and has conducted unilateral and joint operations with Syrian military and security elements against the Syrian opposition that have resulted in the deaths and injuries of Syrian opposition members.

Jaysh al-Sha’bi operates throughout Syria and has been particularly active in Damascus and Aleppo, where the militia has supplemented Syrian government forces’ operations against the opposition.”

For rebels to take over Damascus the city will be destroyed, nobody except those with deep hatred for Syria, Syrians and history will allow this to happen, I hope the rebels find another way to fight their war other than helping to destroy that beautiful city, Aleppo suffered tremendously due to the brutality of the regime and the combined idiocy and criminality of rebels and their masters. The discussion about religious sites and using DNA to figure out the identity of remains of dead people is sickening and it clearly reflects the moral decay of some people here but I am glad new readers of this blog have the opportunity to see how islamoids think.
الاسلام منهم بريء
Assad remind an obsticle and I wish he was never born but a bigger problem is to keep law and order after his regime fails,the lack of leadership and plans is a crime against Syria’s future, there are people who indeed prefer chaos and a blood bath over a relatively peaceful transition becuse they have little to lose and are unwilling to share power and resources, the regime and its enemies are similar in many ways, you guys need to wake up , it is most Syrians who are paying the price while rich expats, filthy rich regime dogs and GCC pimps and their financiers are giving press conferences and spending millions on unnecessary travel instead of sitting down to do people’s business.

Eh toz feek alone william!

Have I not told you already you’re fake?

Now you are even faker.

There are more reasons to destroy the Damascus site than MajedK identified.

Who needs a site that gves carte blanche to basij terrorists masquarading as fake ‘pilgrim’ to come and kill Syrians??

But being fake yourself makes you the ideal pretender to speaking in support of fakery!

Buzz off.

@ WSS

I think the simple fact that a certain loser writes on the comments section of someone else’s blog for 16 hours a day, 2 or 3 times every hour, speaks for itself.

‘Nuff said. Trolling him anymore would be cruel. We’ve already established what he’s like.

275. visitor, correct me if i’m wrong but isn’t it against islam to destroy a mosque?

So, the same people are bad terrorists in Algeria and Mali but they are freedom fighters in Syria? Liwaaa Attawheed and similar groups are still enjoying a non terrorist status, even Alnusra is still being funded by turkey and the GCC despite the cosmetic designation by the US of this group as a terrorist organization. This designation will be used later to justify certain military measures especially if the group attacks Israel.
Here is the headline of Fisk’s article on Algerian attack:
ROBERT FISK
Friday 18 January 2013
Algeria, Mali, and why this week has looked like an obscene remake of earlier Western interventions
We are outraged not by the massacre of the innocents, but because the hostages killed were largely white, blue-eyed chaps rather than darker, brown-eyed chaps
( as soon as the fire of Syrian war extends to affect ” important people” you will see real action by the west, until then seeing Syrians killing Syrians may actually be amusing to some and helpful to many)
Abdel Bari Atwan had a good article on the subject today.
يا أمة ضحكت من جهلها الامم

“275. visitor, correct me if i’m wrong but isn’t it against islam to destroy a mosque?”

More of your ‘freedom fighters liberating’ a nation already free but then again you live in the USA and don’t understand certain realities.

SANA is gushing over the fat guy with big teeth who poses for photos as Syrian Prime Minister. He is in Tehran again showing his teeth and talking about the committee, a committee so great, a committee so new, charged with zeal to implement The Plan.

In case you haven’t hearD about it, follows The Plan. Potential voters are apparently ordered to the urns at some dismal point in the future, I mean YOU (not I) who are eligible to vote in Syria come when, or alllowed in, or who not have departed ‘illegally,’ and who are not on The List.

Will the cut-out hostage Vice President Silent Combover chair the massive Dialogue? Bets are on. I bet ZOO an undisclosed donation to his favourite charity that the regime will find not a neutral but a regime stooge:

The media of Belarus, Soviet Russia, Cuba, the Islamic Republic of Iran, The Democrative People’s Republic of Korea, Venezuela, the Trans-Dneister Young Nitwits, China, and the People’s Republic of Haytham Mana’a have all weighed-in on the PEACE plan. They loooooove it.

I am sure Prime Minister Smiley In Tehran and his committee love it too. Long live Baath Absurdistania.

From SANA’s meticulous English translation of the Assad Peace Plan:

President al-Assad : Out of Womb of Pain, Hope Should Be Begotten, from Suffering Important Solutions Rise

[T]he political solution in Syria will be as follows:

Stage 1:

First: the concerned regional and international countries commit themselves to putting an end to funding, arming and harboring armed elements. On parallel, armed elements stop their terrorist operations, which will facilitate the return of displaced Syrians to their original residential places safely.

Immediately afterwards, the Armed Forces halt the military operations but preserve the right to respond in case the homeland, citizens and public and private facilities came under any attack.

Second: Finding a mechanism to make sure that all are committed to the aforementioned item, particularly with regard to border control.

[image of standing audience, with full Cabinet in front row,¸all the well-groomed paper powers, except for Vice President Combover and Aunty. Almost zero uniforms, no SAA/few sect hats. Does not feature Franco II. Keepsake HD image courtesy SANA:
http://www.sana-syria.com/gallery.html?&gid=309&newlang=eng ]

Third: The current government immediately starts making intensive contacts with all the spectrums of the Syrian society with all its parties and bodies to conduct open discussion to pave the way for holding a national dialogue conference in which all the forces seeking a solution in Syria take part, whether they are inside or outside the country.

Stage 2:

First: The current government calls for holding a comprehensive national dialogue conference to reach a national pact that adheres to Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity as well as to rejecting interference in its affairs and discarding terrorism and violence in all its forms.

The government’s call upon the parties and the spectrums of the society is aimed at setting the criteria for this conference which is to be held later.

As for the pact, it will draw the political future for Syria and propose the constitutional and judicial system and the political and economic features, as it will also include agreement on new laws for the parties, elections and local administration, etc.

Second: The pact will be put to referendum.

Third: An expanded government will be formed to represent the components of Syrian society, which will be assigned with implementing the provisions of the national pact.

Fourth: The new constitution will be put to referendum, and after it is approved the expanded government will adopt the laws agreed on at the dialogue conference according the new constitution, including the elections law. Afterwards, new parliamentary elections are held.

We may put the word ‘if’ as far as everything related to the constitution and laws is concerned because everything will be contingent on reaching agreement regarding the contribution and laws in the dialogue conference, which will be then presented by the government once they are agreed on.

[another Opera picture of the front bench talent of Assad’s team (minus, as I said, any uniforms, sect hats/brass, Combover and Aunty: http://www.sana-syria.com/servers/gallery/201301/20130106-173206.jpg%5D

Stage 3:

First: A new government will be formed according to the constitution existing at the time.

Second: A general conference for national reconciliation will be held and a general amnesty will be granted to those detained due to the events while preserving the civil rights of plaintiffs.

Third: Working on infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction and giving and compensating those affected by the events.

As for the amnesty, the civil rights of the complainants will be preserved as the state can waive its right but has no right to waive the rights of the plaintiffs.

I believe though that when we have reached that stage, it will be an amnesty granted not only by the state but also by those who have rights. Then we will have practically reached the national reconciliation when everybody would forgive everybody else.

These main features of the political solution as we view it are only titles that need details. The government will be in charge of this issue as it will be tasked with drawing out the details and expanding on these titles so as to later present this vision in the form of an initiative in the coming few days and follow up on all these stages according to the aforementioned items.

Let us put each issue in its context, since we are living now in an age of falsification and misinterpretation. It’s not us who are interpreting things, but this is the general case, that is to interpret things contrary to their meanings. Therefore, let us place things in their context and correct the ideas and terms being proposed.

First, regarding this vision, some will be worried and feel concerned, considering it a step backwards in terms of security, but I reassure everyone that when it comes to combating terrorism, we will not stop as long as there is a single terrorist in Syria. What we started, we won’t stop. Anything we do in this initiative doesn’t mean at all that we will neglect combating terrorism; to the contrary, the more we make progress in combating terrorism, the more there’s a chance for the success of this vision.

Second, this vision, whether they want to call it an initiative or a vision or ideas, is directed to all those who want dialogue and all those who want to see a political solution in the near future in Syria. It isn’t directed to those who don’t want dialogue and thus we’ll hear as of today much rejection by parties you know well, and we tell them in advance: why reject something that isn’t addressed to you in the first place. So they don’t need to waste their time.

Third, any initiative proposed by any party, figure or country must be based on the Syrian vision; meaning that no initiative can replace what we view as a solution to the crisis in Syria. In clearer language, any initiative is an initiative to help what the Syrians will do and doesn’t replace that. After posing the ideas by the government, any initiative that comes from abroad must be based on these ideas and assist them. There’s no need to waste our time and others’ time with initiatives that deviate from this context.

At the same time, if we wonder how foreign initiatives can help us, there are two axes: the political work axis, and the counter-terrorism axis. In the first axis, we don’t need help, and we as Syrians are capable of carrying out an integrated political process, and those who want to help Syria in a practical actual and honest manner and want to succeed can focus on the issue of stopping the entry of gunmen, weapons and funds to Syria. This is a message to everyone working from abroad to know where to focus. We don’t want someone to come to Syria and tell us what to do in a political process. A country that is thousands of years old knows how to manage its affairs.

The fourth point, supporting helpful foreign initiatives doesn’t mean in any way accepting its interpretation if it doesn’t match our vision. We don’t accept any interpretation of these initiatives except in a manner that serves Syrian interest. In this framework I’m talking about the Geneva initiative which Syria supported but had an ambiguous article which is the transitional stage article.

Of course, it isn’t explained for a simple reason, because when we speak of a transitional stage then the first thing we ask is transition from where to where, or from what to what. Is it a transition from a free, independent country to a country under occupation, for example? Do we make a transition from a country that has a state to a country without a state and a state of utter chaos? Or do we make a transition from independent national decision to handing this decision to foreigners?

Of course, opponents want all three together, and for us in such circumstances, a transitional stage is transition from instability to stability, and any other interpretation doesn’t concern us. In other situations if there hadn’t been a crisis, a natural transition would be from a state to a better state. This comes in the context of the development process, and any transition in terms of any transitional stage must be through constitutional means. For us, what we’re doing now, these ideas; for us this is the transitional stage.

Fifth, any initiative we accepted, we did so because it is based on the principle of sovereignty and the people’s decision. Indeed, the initiatives that were proposed and we dealt with, focus on this point from the beginning. Therefore, things agreed upon within Syria or outside it must be by the people’s decision. Thus, even the national pact which could be approved by the national dialogue conference will not pass without a referendum. This means that there must be a popular referendum on anything, particularly in these difficult conditions. We told everyone we met that anything or any idea that comes from outside or inside my pass through popular referendum, not through the president [ . . . ]

I am willing to discuss the fourth point. Any takers?

@277

Obviously you know very little, otherwise you wouldn’t ask such a question with the implication that you know the answer.

The answer to your question is NO it is not against Islam.

MajedK,

It looks like Steinbeck-wanna-be-Scherck got upset over our agreement on things so he sought the support of none but a stupid extension in KooKoo ZooZoo!!

And here is the gem. Wanna-be-Scherck would only apologize in private for harms he commited in public!!!

What a pathetic fake of a pretende!!!

Majed

Come on, the Prophet may not have wanted that his house became part of the mosque, nor did he want to be buried in Madinah itself, but they did it. Of course those saudi wahabis will always point out that they have left a wall to seperate the gravesite( he was buried under the site of his bed in his house) from the mosque.
They also find a way to close the masjid after isha prayer, an custom unknown to Islams history, but they seem to see think they need to protect Islam from harm. ( in that case from people showing their affection towards the Prophet and to Omar and Abu Bakr)
If you take out any mosque which has graves on their property or even within their hall of worship (like the Omayad mosque) then practically a big number of mosques are places of what some would call places of shirk. I guess religion does not need reason, not many would need the knowledge that Zakaria or Zainab are really buried there. I would say, what matters is the memory itself and only narrow minded folks with a life dependancy of facts and reason will f.e. destroy the 2nd quibla in Masjid al Quiblatain in Madinah.

Everytime I see this muppet, I feel reminded of Assad. He too messed up things pretty badly.

Holding on in Aleppo, Syria

Days after a massive bombing in Aleppo, we check-in with Issa Touma. He’s a gallery owner and photographer who is committed to staying, in spite of the destruction of so many places he loves. He tells Dick that buildings can be repaired, but the people who are dying cannot be replaced.

radio report

http://thestory.org/archive/20130118_The_Story__Holding_on_in_Aleppo.mp3/view

Kafranbel

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476466779056101&set=a.186824541353661.34965.182806365088812&type=1&theater

I got off the phone with a friend who has lost his restaurant which he and his family operated right at the Krak de Chevaliers. Now he lives with his family in Damascus in Jaramana, since 8 months no work for him, he told me, he has no life worth living.

More on Issa Touma:

http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/features/one-photographer-in-aleppo-keeps-battling-the-odds_10135

Assad cartoon:

How much do you love me?
Like Assad loves Iranians.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=552147831481036&set=a.201716413190848.57037.201686009860555&type=1&theater

Like other spiritual revelation, true religion is one of the utmost rewarding life experiences and one of deepest and ernest inner personal adventures. When those religious people impose their doctrine and codes upon other people, they turn their so called faith into a cult. It is simply repulsive and ugly. Worst, when they decide to use forces and violence to achieve it, that is barbarian and inhumane.

Obviously, education without elevation does not help those people. On the contrary, they might do more damage by poisoning the rest.

Kafranbel

http://ow.ly/i/1orqQ

W.Scherk
You are a man with no dignity, appology must be in public not in private, you made statements (lied) in public,not in private, so should be your appology.

WSS when someone state a principal and behave against that principal then he deserves no respect, you say something and do the opposite is stupid, The prophet said only one God,and he is not a man or a stone.
Tawheed,this is the main thing in Islam, Those who believe there are two or three Gods they are violating the principle of Islam,you are free to do it but call it something else.
As for destroying Holly Shrine,The shrine is holly when it is truly holly, what is wrong with verification, is in’t stupid to worship something only to find out later that was fake and nothing there to worship, or do you advocate self deceiving?,we may find a carcass of a dog there, is that what you consider holly?

Clinton is too busy supporting cold blooded Mercenary Islamist Terrorists killers in Syria while Americans are dying at their hands in Libya and Algeria!

Ghufran
You talk about peaceful transition, I will try to take you serious once but what peaceful transition you are talking about, is using the Shabbiha and the security forces or the army(which suppose to protect people,not kill citizens) is this peaceful?, ask yourself is Assad honest? can he be trusted to do peaceful true reform? didn’t we try peaceful demonstrations only to be killed by the regime forces?,can you explain your plan?

Wss.
you advocate changes through constitutional means, a constitution that is designed to serve the dictator not the people, do you understand what you say?
You talk about stability and security,when you don’t have freedom, you dont have security

#28o WSS

I am still waiting for the ‘plan’ concocted by experts in the latest UK conference with the opposition.
Where is the preacher turned president’s announcement of his government in exile? It’s true he got two homeless ambassadors already, that’ an encouraging start, but we are eagerly waiting for that government that has a plan that could match Bashar’s plan.
I guess al Nusra will become the Revolutionary Guards in charge of preserving the revolution and making sure that all tombs of ‘saints’ are moved to Lebanon.

Afterall these defectors showed that they are only capable of defecating.

The disturbing video of his shooting that Al Jazeera did not show for “understandable” reasons.
From the video, it is clear that he was not targeted because he was a journalist, as Al Jazeera claims.

“A sniper has shot dead Al Jazeera freelance reporter Mohamed Al-Massalma in the southern Syrian province of Deraa, the Qatar-based media network has said.

“The Syrian journalist, 33, used the pseudonym of Mohamed Al-Horani. He was shot with three bullets, during covering the fights at the front lines in the town of Busra Al-Harir in the countryside of Deraa.” the news channel said in a press release on Friday.” ( Al Jazeera)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/gallery/2013/jan/19/observer-20-photographs-week#/?picture=402675098&index=13

The fat boy has spoken.

Syria decries war crimes petition

Syrian FM denounces petition calling for war crimes case against Damascus, accuses signatories of funding ‘terrorists’ and ‘hindering the Syrian dialogue’
AFP , Saturday 19 Jan 2013

Syria’s foreign ministry on Saturday decried a petition by 58 countries calling for a war crimes case against Damascus, in a letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council.
“The Syrian government regrets the persistence of these countries in following the wrong approach and refusing to recognise the duty of the Syrian state to protect its people from terrorism imposed from abroad,” it said.

The ministry accused some signatories to the petition of funding, training and harbouring “terrorists,” a blanket term used to describe opposition forces trying to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/62819/World/Region/Syria-decries-war-crimes-petition.aspx

I still thinkنبش القبور isحرام in Islam.

Should leave the dead alone.

I still think people should be free to worship and the host country should be free to charge access to its premises.  Make it a lucrative business.  5 stars hotel to accommodate the pilgrims with shrine view and city view.  Babysitting arrangement, good restaurant, thriving good market, bus tours around Syria, etc..  Same should be applied to Maalula and any other touristic attraction.  We paid lots of money to enter magnificent church in Sienna so why can’t just do that.        

As for “Shirk”, let the divine God judge them. Why would I want such a responsibility?

via british journo in syria:

There are reports MiG pilot attacked Syria army in Daraya area & has defected. I certainly heard MiG attacks there but target unclear.

Just 2 clarify-reports that Syrian MiG pilot hs defected is rebel claim-Damascus Mil. Council. Clearly thr ws a MiG pilot atacking nr Daraya.

Unclear why a defecting pilot wd just attack army positions nr Daraya. If defecting,Assad’s palace or army HQ R nr thr- mr logical targets.

The martyr Mohammad Almasalmeh, Aljazeera journalist stayed alive all that time, BECAUSE he was not wearing marks that he is a journlist, other wise he would have been killed long time ago by the regime sniper.

Since the Arab shiaa follows the Mullahs in Iran, why would the Arab shiaa women do not dress like the Iranian women?  Why are they so much covered?   

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/gallery/2013/jan/19/observer-20-photographs-week#/?picture=402675104&index=15

al arabiya

A defected Syrian pilot has carried out airstrikes on positions of the Syrian regime forces in an area outside Damascus, the opposition military command in the capital announced Saturday, according to Al Arabiya TV.

Amr Hamza, of the revolution command council in Damascus suburb, told Al Arabiya eyewitnesses initially thought the plane was bombing regime army positions by mistake, but after several air raids followed by Syrian regime air defense fires, “the hypothesis of mistake was dismissed.”

The Assad’s regime has regularly used the air power to target opposition fighters across the country and airstrikes often caused heavy civilian casualties.

It was the first time in the nearly two-year conflict that a regime pilot turned fire against the regime forces.

Omen, what a hero!

He will open up the way for more pilot defections.

Do we know anything about him? Is he Alawi or Sunni?

Tara please avoid the distractions and let me remind everyone that
the regime is illegitimate because of
1. It arrived to power by a coup, first in 1962 and with subsequent ones until 1970 when the loser of the Golan became the Prethident of the country.
2. Thereafter the constitution enshrined a concentration of power that is Stalinist to say the least as the three powers are all in the hands of the Prethident.
3. The sole political body is that of the National Front with the super primacy of one party and only one party. The ideology of that party was and remains racist as it denies the heritage of Kurds Armenians Assyrians Circassians and imposes Islam as the religion of the Prethident therefore denying other faiths a shot at the role.
4. It put the security services above the law
5. It ruled entirely by the state of emergency and by decrees without any recourse
6. It denied any freedom of expression and any freedom of the press.

Therefore in the most basic jurisprudence of the human race it has no basis for legitimacy; it excludes sections of the citizenry; it concentrates power in one person; gives him full security authority; allows him the use of force in a completely arbitrary fashion.

The Stewarts in England wanted the same powers; the Doges of Venice in their dictatorial tendencies destroyed the economy so that now it is only a tourist destination; and likewise the KSA despite all the money it has is still a third world backward country where there are no basic human guarantees.

So having J’amuse Jaffaari at the helm at the UN is an added insult to the Syrian People.

Last but no least this stupid Prethident came to be the head of state illegally and unconstitutionally as well. His last constitution is also a farce and his reforms are nothing more than window dressing.
At least there is debate on the other side.
The wall of fear is gone: there is no turning back.

Justice for Hamza

tara, i don’t know anymore than what i posted. i hope he’s alawi. rumor says regime fearing defections, has only been allowing alawites fly nowadays. i don’t know how accurate that is though.

should give people pause who have been inciting hate speech and railing against how alawites are killing sunnis (instead of specifying regime.) makes me cringe when even westerners are doing this.

wonder how many syrian army this pilot killed! hope there is video.

Omen,

I agree. I am hoping very much he is an Alawi… For the sake of Syria.

Shirk it looks like your Takfiri brothers have rejected you. I guess we could all see this coming. Sorry Bill.

Look at the freedom fighters:

From Ali, Angry Arab’s chief correspondent in Turkey: “Praising Osama bin Laden and promising cleansing Alawites from Levant.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FUFrkNw1LZs

Nice boys.

Is the US government violating its own laws on terror in Syria?

From Alan: “An opinion I received from a friend which I think makes a very valid point with regard to U.S. double standards regarding Syria.

“It would seem that the US-backed “opposition coalition” in Syria is collaborating with and acting in support of a designated terrorist, the al-Nusra front. For US citizens to do this is contrary to US law, specifically USC § 2339B

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002339—B000-.html

(Providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations), which reads:

“Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. To violate this paragraph, a person must have knowledge that the organization is a designated terrorist organization (as defined in subsection (g)(6)), that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), or that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989).”

For the US government to back financially and politically (and perhaps militarily) the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, a body that is collaborating with a designated terrorist organisation implicates the US government itself in the violation of its own anti-terror laws.2″”

Omen did the CIA pipe that into you US location? Or is the most Twitter chatter from “activists” – is is on Al Arabiya (because if it is then it must be true).

I’m surprised the pilot didn’t fire on Assad’s Russian ship and end this once and for all.

The Syrian Air Force pilots are all Alawite? LOL where did that gem of information come from? Perhaps they’re all cousins of Bashar? Maybe they are really Iranian pilots disguised as pilgrims?

WARNING TO ALL FSA AL-NUSRA FRONT SUPPORTERS

British man jailed for Facebook beheading videos

A British man has been sentenced to five years in prison after posting beheading videos on Facebook. Craig Slee, 42, created two online profiles, one of which he used to imply that he was a Taliban member and talk about fictional trips to Afghanistan. Despite not having any connections to terrorist organizations, he pleaded guilty to four terrorism offenses and possession of a canister of tear gas. Although he was not planning a specific attack, the influence his violent propaganda may have had over others was deemed significant.

the bbc has reached the bottom in open racism towards the algerian gov. they would NEVER speak this way of any Gulf kingdom.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21073655

“the weapons purportedly seized from kidnappers”

the us/uk too are pretty offensive in their condemnation of the algerian methods. of course 600 algerian hostages is peanuts for them compared to their guys. the west like to pay huge bribes to the warlords and its okay when a guy gets beheaded after a few years in captivity. by then he is anonymous as are the innocents dying everyday under drone strikes.

Another victory achieved by the true heroes of the Free Army,

http://www.alarabiya.net/default.html

The heroes of the Islam Brigade overran the site which is used by the mullahs to spy upon Syrians. It only took these heroes of the Syrian people two hours to take over the installation in a very well planned operation despite criminal regime desperate attempt using air force to hide what is inside the installation. Documents were uncovered proving mullahs role in the crimes being perpetrated against the Syrian people.

300. Tara

speaking of dress, did they really wear this much color in the olden days?

Saudi old Qaseemi style

Hey terrorist supporters! Watch this. It is from your favorite TV station Al Jazeera. FSA not doing too well.

To Hell!

NEWS STRAIGHT FROM THE BATTLE ZONE TO SYRPER:

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY THE FSA, NATO, QATAR AND AL-QAEDA ARE DESPERATE, READ THIS STRAIGHT FROM SYRIA:

DEIR AL-ZOR: At Al-Huweija, the SAA delivered a knock-out blow to a terrorist unit killing at least five rats in the process:

Abdul-Qader Abdul-Jaser (?)
Ahmad Sawadi
Hisham Alam
Fahd Al-Abdallah
Mahmoud Dia

DAMASCUS:

At Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, the Syrian Army delivered a crushing blow to a gang of thieves pretending to be revolutionaries and killed two of their leaders:

Munir Al-Namousi
Saadallah Ali Jaafar

At Mleiha, a successful ambush by the SAA netted the following simian refuse:

Jabbar Anbari
Ali Abu-Al-Nusoor
Ali Hussein Al-Abrash
Saber Hubeishi (Yemeni born with Saudi papers)
Hassan Mahmoud Doughman
Tariq Ahmad Al-Masri
Muhammad Ma’moun Saleh
Abdel-Raouf Hassan Bitinjani

At Irbeen, the SAA annihilated a pack of rats inside a warehouse filled with weapons and materiel. The losses to the terrorists was massive and Monzer is trying to get a complete list of the dead. He has confirmed the killing of “Ansar Al-Islam” rat-leader and a few others:

Abdul-Salaam Hamed (rat leader)
Jamil Al-Shaghouri
Bilal Samih Ulabi
Muhammad Razmo
Muhammad Al-Kamadani
Marwan Abu-Zaydan

At Douma, the fighting continues with our troops confronting rats at Al-Shifooniyya and killed the following vermin:

Talii’ Al-Jaradi
Muflih Jassem Ali (Iraqi)
Ali Hussein Tabbara

Also, a 23 mm anti-aircraft gun was seized after the battle.

At Yabroud, 16 rats were killed in a battle between themselves over loot. One of the killed was identified as:

Mustafa Kahhaleh

At Al-Nabak, SAA destroyed three cars being used by terrorist mercenary rats. Monzer says 12 enemy rodents went up in flames but he does not have any names for them.

IBLIB:

At Salqin, SAA faced off against terrorists from Turkey. According to Monzer and Wael, many rats were killed. Wael has only the names of two culprits:

Dawoud Ikrambey
Ramzi Hussein Falhout

AL-HASAKEH:

I have the names of 42 rodents dispatched in a great battle in which our helicopters turned a pack of them into mincemeat. These particular criminals were involved heavily in looting. No names available.

AL-RAQQA:

After destroying 100 tons of cotton, terrorists were encircled by SAA forces and 27 were killed. I don’t have time to transcribe all their names.

RA’S AL-EIN: The entry-point from Turkey remains in the hands of the PKK, especially after a huge number of reinforcements arrived. Hanadi was contacted about this but she has little detail other than hearing about a PKK victory in that town. She is very happy with the way the war is going.

ANKARA: The Turkish communist party has begun a vigil protesting the deployment of Patriot missiles. Things are getting hotter for Erdoghan and they well explode when the truth comes out about the assassinations in Paris.

ALEPPO: We can confirm stunning victories for the SAA all over Aleppo Governorate. I will try to transcribe the Intel I have later. I have a funeral to attend. Suffice to say, Wael affirms that 230 rats were killed yesterday in Aleppo. I have a list of many names from battles fought at Nayrab and Hanano.

كشف الخطيب عن مجمل ما تلقاه الائتلاف من معونات مالية فقال: كل ما تلقاه الائتلاف بشكل مباشر حتى الآن هو أربعمائة ألف دولار لا غير من إحدى الدول العربية لتغطية نفقات سفر أو مؤتمرات أو رواتب موظفين. كما ان هناك مواطنا سوري الأصل مقيم في دولة غربية تبرع بأربعة آلاف دولار سلمت إلى قيادة الائتلاف لتصرف بإشرافها” حسب قوله.
I think Moaz will resign sooner or later,probably sooner,after he realized that Turkey and the GCC are only protecting their own interests,not Syria’s. This war will end when Syrians decide that they love Syria more than they hate each other. I disagree with those who called Moaz a traitor, I think he is not, I fault him for accepting the MB domination and for failing to attract non islamists but that does not mean he is a traitor.
If the West and the GCC (and their pimps) were intereted in helping the NC succeed they would have provided the money needed and helped the NC broaden its base, the NC at its current form is not inclusive or trustworthy and will fail, forming a government in exile is another circus-type move that will lead to nothing, Syrians,pro and anti, need to abandon violence then talk to each other. The regime decided to recruit ordinary Syrians and give them guns, thus adding another element to the already complicated picture and opening the door for new alliances and random violence,this move should not surprise anybody, the regime is short on fighters but has a lot of weapons,those fighters need money that does not exist, the only way for armed thugs in Syria to be funded is through looting , smuggling and kidnapping, and now drugs trade through Turkey.
You wanted a revolution but you got a wasteland ruled by thugs, congratulations, Tozz feekum wa bihal regime wal althawra, tnain akhra min baadon.

Shedding crocodile tears while collaborating with US-led sanctions – Saturday, 19 January 2013

The Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation targeting Syria’s civilian population

http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/24202-shedding-crocodile-tears.html

ne powerful image from Damascus that has become seared into this observers mind these days is when I walk by a Western Union office. Most of them remain open despite the brutal US-led sanctions which in their pervasive effects target almost entirely the civilian population. But all Western Union offices were closed last Thursday and Friday due to heavy snowfall, some say the deepest here for more than a quarter century. Still, some Syrians braved the extreme cold and could be seen huddled outside some branches, evidently in vain hope that they might open and their families might eat.

One of the few economic lifelines not yet cut by the ever strangling, profoundly immoral and illegal US-led sanctions with their throat-hold tightening around the civilian population in Syria in order to achieve regime change, “WU” as it’s known, has become, for some, literally a lifesaver. This is because its money transfer service is still allowing family and friends from abroad to send in assistance to Syria for their desperate families caught up in this regional contest between Resistance and a return to Western hegemony.

Peering in the window or stepping inside a Western Union outlet in Damascus, reminds this observer of scenes from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange or a European bourse wherein traders wave pieces of paper or other objects trying to get the attention of someone. But in Syria those trying to submit their ten digit Money Control Transfer Number (MTCN) numbers and ID’s in order to collect cash, are not wearing clothes from the fashion houses. Rather, given the frigid temperatures and lack of mazot (heating oil that 90% of the population here relies on for heat) they are tightly bundled. Women and kids generally wrapped tight in thick head scarves.

Last week this observer went into the Western Union office in central Damascus to collect some cash sent from Canada for a family that had managed to escape from Aleppo. The place was packed but orderly. I smiled to myself as I thought about my own country when sometimes during a Black Friday type sale, the scene of waiting in queue collapses into yelling, insults, fights, throwing objects, threats, all to save a few dollars or get one’s hands on the, soon to be trashed, “must have” sale item.

The stressed but committed staff behind the WU counter could not give assurance how long I would have to wait but graciously did agree to take my passport and I could return later. On arriving after about three hours, my MCTN # had just been processed and I was in and out fast. I can’t imagine that I will see a yellow and black Western Union sign ever again without thinking about US sanctions targeting the Syrian civilian population.

An historical irony is that it was a Syrian gentlemen, Mr. Hiram Sibley, one of the thousands of Syrians who emigrated to the United States in the mid-19th Century (the first and largest Arab migration then and since came from Syria) who in 1851 established the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company with the goal of creating one great telegraph system with unified and efficient operations. Four years later Western Union was born and became an American icon and thirty three years on it had become one of the top ten companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange the day it opened in 1888.

The reason Western Union is able to avoid the US-led sanctions that include medicines and food (White House claims to the contrary notwithstanding), is quite simply that the US Treasury Department cannot easily face the domestic American political fallout from curtailing Western Union anywhere.

According to a July 2012 US Senate Banking Committee memo, were Treasury to be seen as tampering with Western Union’s $7 billion annual revenues, there would be a significant problem. Already there are growing complaints from US businesses flooding the White House & Congress claiming that sanctions imposed on Syria are costing American businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in lost profits — even more regarding US sanctions on Iran. So to date the Office of Financial Assets Control (OFAC) at Treasury has kept its hands off Western Union and this is good for Syrian civilians.

For these reasons a thin lifeline — a reed really — exists for many in Syria with families and friends abroad able to use WU’s “Money in Minutes” to help them. It’s a relatively small factor in the larger Syrian crisis but it does help many.

Much more significant than Western Union remaining open, and the subject of much current criticism here, is the lack of assistance to Syria’s severely sanctioned civilian population from the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, neither of which lack officials who are wringing their hands in public these days, in mock anguish it is claimed, over their brothers and co-religionists “victimization.”

Claiming solidarity with the Syrian people, on 11/12/2011 the Arab League suspended the membership of Syria (Lebanon and Yemen voted no and Iraq abstained) and cancelled its monitoring mission in Syria on 1/28/12. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation suspended Syria’s membership on 5/15/12 at a summit of Muslim leaders in Mecca. Saudi Arabia, the summit’s host, has led all Arab League and OIC calls for the Syrian rebel opposition to be armed, which Foreign Minister Saud al-Fasial described in February and since as “an excellent idea.”

By their actions, the OIC and the Arab League are themselves sanctioning the Syrian people in brutal forms and doing nothing to object to the immoral and illegal aspects of the American sanctions. Both organizations stand accused of abandoning their charters in order to maintain profitable relations with NATO countries as they funnel large sums of money and weapons to various militias inside Syria. It is their “agents,” the jihadist groups, who have turned on the Syrian civilian population increasingly resorting to theft, kidnapping for ransom, rape, sale of children and killing hundreds according to UN agencies.

In one poignant interview near Omayyad Square the other day, a solemn, long bearded Sunni Sheik told this observer that the American sanctions are also directly targeting Islam because the sanctions constitute an attack on Islamic values. When pressed for specifics, he reluctantly replied, “Because your countries sanctions are impoverishing our people and forcing our Muslim women into prostitution.

These sanctions are also flooding the streets with Muslim beggars, both adults and children. I am sure you have seen them, here in Damascus, across Syria and in bordering countries. But the claimed protectors of our holy sites are silent and shed only insincere tears in public. But if they resisted these sanctions they could defeat them. What is required in a 1970’s type Arab boycott of American and western companies until these anti-Muslim sanctions are lifted.”The honorable gentleman has a point.

The Arab League’s recent ministerial-level meeting held in Cairo was called to focus on the Syrian refugees file. But the rather pathetic quick one day deliberations ignored the causes of the suffering of the civilian population as well as the fact that most of the 22 countries comprising the Arab League have been a main cause behind the displacement of the Syrian civilian population. Both the AL and the OIC stand accused here in Syria of participation in the sanctions which are decimating the Syrian people’s livelihood. Some AL and OIC officials are shedding crocodile tears about the miserable living conditions of the Syrian refugees “in spite of spending millions on recruiting mercenaries and salifi-takfiries, training them and purchasing weapons for the terrorists,” the Sheik explained.

One frustrated American NGO director, affiliated loosely with the World Food Program, expressed her frustration: “If these organizations (AL and OIC) wanted to aid Syrian refugees they should stop supplying the gunmen with weapons and money and stop inciting sedition in Syria.”

The Arab League Secretary General, Nabil al-Arabi, still does not get it.

He used last week’s Arab League session to insist on foreign intervention and regime change, renewing the AL demand that the UN Security Council deploy international forces in Syria.

The Lebanese Foreign Minister, Adnan Mansour, offered his views of the Syrian refugee’s displacement. Notable causations, he claimed, are the flow of weapons and money into Syria, the entry of foreign gunmen and not joining a political dialogue. To his credit, Mansour called on the AL and OIC to “shoulder their responsibilities towards the refugees through ensuring their humanitarian, medical, livelihood, educational and services requirements in order to ease their daily suffering.”

As for the Kuwaiti Minister, he considered that the US-led sanctions were not a problem but rather that the suffering of the Syrian people was caused by the failure of the UN Security Council to meet the demands of the AL for immediate military intervention in Syria. He also insisted that Kuwait has mobilized all its resources to ensure that financial and relief resources alleviated the suffering of the Syrian refugees.

To date, the Syrian refugees, victims of US led and AL-OIC complicity, have not received any of the assistance Kuwait, the Arab League or the Organization of the Islamic Conference has promised. Rather, these organizations appear to be propping up the US-led sanctions.

[…]

http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/24202-shedding-crocodile-tears.html

“Hof, Doran, and Shaikh argue for greater US role in guiding Syrian opposition and transition”

translation:

amurderkan propagandists and stooges argue for more amurderkan terrorism to keep jewry happy.

that is how rat-brained dogs earn their treats.

give the dogs some bones.

how to know when the u.s. and its stooges lie.

when their mouths open.

LOL

allahu akbar mullah David Cameron is angry with Algeria for killing his well trained mercenary islamist terrorist boys!

Mullah David Cameron wanted to negotiate a safe passage for his terrorists to Syria via Ottoman land with all the money and guns they can carry 😉

Hostage crisis: Algeria turned down our special forces, says angry David Cameron – 18 Jan 2013

David Cameron has revealed his anger that Algeria had refused British offers of military assistance to resolve the BP hostage crisis and instead launched a botched rescue attempt without consulting him

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/9812208/Hostage-crisis-Algeria-turned-down-our-special-forces-says-angry-David-Cameron.html

The Prime Minister told MPs that he had offered extensive British support to the Algerians, including Special Forces troops and specialist hostage-negotiators. Those offers had been rejected, however.

“I offered UK technical and intelligence support, including from experts in HOSTAGE NEGOTIATION and rescue, to help find a successful resolution,” Mr Cameron told the Commons on Friday.

[…]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/9812208/Hostage-crisis-Algeria-turned-down-our-special-forces-says-angry-David-Cameron.html

The Coalition’s moment of truth in an Istanbul hotel: If they fail to announce a government that will be widely recognized, their chance of surviving as an credible opposition is very slim.
Yet, inside the coalition, there seems to be only confusion.

Syrian opposition in new search for transitional government ( in a non publicized meeting in Istambul)

19/01/2013
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=32618

ISTANBUL – Syria’s opposition leaders on Saturday launched their second bid to form a transitional government, with their credibility at stake as the country slides deeper into civil war.

Agreement among the National Coalition, an umbrella group for the Syrian opposition, could help address international concern about the risk of Syria disintegrating along ethnic and sectarian lines if President Bashar al-Assad falls.

Failure at the talks, being held in an Istanbul hotel, would highlight divisions in the coalition, formed with Western and Gulf backing in Qatar two months ago, and undermine that support.

Leading opposition campaigner Kamal al-Labwani, a member of the coalition, said the group needed at least to name a prime minister to maintain credibility as a democratic alternative to four decades of family rule by Assad and his late father, President Hafez al-Assad.

“The coalition is a legislature and we need an executive. There have been lots of mistakes and the people we are supposed to represent inside feel marginalised,” said Labwani, one of a minority of liberal figures in the Islamist-dominated coalition.
…
With diminishing prospects for a deal to remove Assad, any prime minister named by the coalition would have to be acceptable to rebels who have been making incremental gains on the ground despite massive air and artillery bombardment.

Naming a transitional government was part of the original agreement under which the coalition was formed last year.

But some in the opposition have grown wary since, fearing that Western powers were influencing the process to come up with a government that would negotiate with Assad and keep the minority-ruled police state intact, according to various opposition sources.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood, the only organised political force in the opposition, is largely against forming a government at present, although Arab and Western-backed members of the coalition want one, the sources said.

The 70-member coalition was formed with Western and Gulf backing in Qatar at the beginning of December. Power struggles swiftly emerged among its members, contributing to failed efforts to agree on a transitional government.

Labwani, a respected former political prisoner, said a transitional government would not negotiate any deal that kept Assad in power. He said he would nominate former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, the highest-ranking official to defect since the revolt, to be the next transitional premier.

Labwani dismissed concerns among the opposition that Hijab had served Assad.

“I am not sure what the problem is. Hijab is qualified and is now serving the revolution. We have already hundreds of defectors in the Free Syrian army,” he said.

Another possible contender is Asaad Mustafa, who left Syria after a stint as agriculture minister under Hafez al-Assad.

But coalition member Abdul Ahad Astephoa, one of three Christians in the group, said there were larger issues to be resolved first.

“We have already received many promises that once we unite we will get international support. Very little came and the international community, sadly, is not ready to end the Assad regime,” Astephoa said.

“If we form a government we have to make sure first it will receive international recognition, have enough financing and be able to operate in the liberated areas of Syria,” he added.

re aleppo uni bombing –

i might owe chulov an apology.

did fsa chiefs feed chulov bad info in order to implicate nusra just to cast them in bad light?

link

when the rivalry is such that you are willing to cut the regime slack in order to go after your competitor, that’s pretty stupid…and does not bode well.

315. ghufran

“I think Moaz will resign sooner or later”

The meeting in Istanbul of the Coalition that Shark Al Awsat ( a Saudi mouthpiece) reported is crucial for Al Khatib.
If nothing comes of it, Al Khatib has no choice than to resign. He may be a nice guy and he preaches well, but he totally lacks a minimum of political sense. By supporting Al Nusra and “giving advices” to the USA, he has totally burnt himself.
He will quit very soon, I think and that may well be the end of SNC-NC-CNOFF etc… the ‘sole representative of the Syrian people”.questionning.

more on the hero pilot & the tragedy of daraya

Just over an hour later the Damascus Military Council, a group claiming to speak for the rebels, said a MiG pilot had defected and attacked three army positions in the Daraya area. It claimed fifteen soldiers from the 4th Syrian Army brigade had been killed.

[…]

Damascus is now losing its inhabitants at an alarming rate. Take the suburb of Daraya. Two years ago it was home to around 200,000 people. It was a bustling place. The population now is estimated to be around 10,000, at most. Many of those, say activists, are rebels.

They are there fighting a deadly battle for this strategic suburb. Daraya is being pounded to dust. It is itself a victim of a war that is swallowing its people.

A week ago the Syrian government said its forces had captured most of Daraya from rebels who’ve been holding most of the suburb for the last year or so. “It will be safe within a few days,” one official said.

One week on, it’s clear they are not capturing it and it is not safe.

I spent hours today circling Daraya in a car. I’d like to have got in but the four main access roads are blocked by army checkpoints and the whole area is crawling with troops.

I watched a sustained barrage of shelling by the army, the munitions landing in one small area, plumes of white and black smoke rising and mushrooming up into the clear blue sky.

[…]

I have seen Daraya pounded.

It is crucial because, lying at the Western edge of Damascus near a military airport, it is a gateway to the city centre. Both sides are fighting furiously for it because to lose it would be a huge blow. For the regime, it sits near military bases and is only a few kilometres below President Assad’s home and the compounds of his guard and army.

One activist says more than a thousand people have been killed recently in the battle for control of it.

As I write I can still hear the explosions from the direction of Daraya. The war there is intense. It is not “safe”. And it won’t be for some time.

Tara

Al Arabya in Wonderland is known to be an expert in spreading false rumors based on ‘saudi intelligence’ or whatever.

Wait for a confirmation before jumping of joy !

300. Tara

Weird question! It’s a funeral in a religious place, do you want them to wear colourful miniskirts?

Zoozoo
Another prediction by you, The end of SNC and the end of NC, keep making such predictions,and we know none will come true

قال رئيس جبهة النضال الوطني في لبنان النائب وليد جنبلاط ان “استقرار الشرق الاوسط مبني على سورية وهي قلب المنطقة، لذلك لابد من حل سياسي يقوم على اقتراح جنيف بتشكيل الحكومة الانتقالية”.
The guy who visited Russia yesterday is sending signals that there is indeed a change in Washington about Syria. Leaks from regime circle indicates that there is a new sense of “relief” among top regime officials. the next few weeks will reveal if these reports are flase or not, I doubt that Obama will play along with any attack plan,he has enough problems on his plate, this leaves rebels with three choices: score a decisive victory and forcing a solution on their terms (unlikely), keep pushing and continue to be part of a lethal and a destructive campaign that will transform Syria into another Afghanistan, or sit down and try to get as many concessions as possible from the regime.
Regime loyalists have already made up their mind, they will try to crush the rebels or reduce their gains to force a solution on Assad’s terms, that will not be easy to do.
The end result is the same, Syria needs more than $ 120 Billion to rebuild, the cheapest way to get the money is to freeze all regime bank accounts abroad and sell their assets in Syria after after toppling the regime, from what I see,this is not likely to happen, Syrians will be beggers for years to come, it personally hurts me to say that.

250. MOSSIE

“Tara, you’ve been throwing yourself at me ever since I started posting. If this is some sort of come on I am not interested. I could never date a woman that apologizes for terrorists”

That’s such a pathetically lame rejection, Mossie. Do it like Joe Don Baker did in the movie, Charley Varrick: “I never sleep with whores, at least not knowingly.”

A New Bashar Cartoon

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BAvloLPCAAAnG1y.jpg

#328

Majie, I see, the SNC is not dead? Ghaliun is not gone? soon Khatib will follow and the Coalition too but in order to hide their desintegration, they will change their name ( by the way, what is their official name as it keeps changing?) and find a new leader, the favorite is now Kamal al-Labwani and not Georges Sabra or Attasi whose election will bankrupt the coalition.

Maybe their next meeting will be under a tent, there are plenty in Turkey, I am sure Erdogan can arrange that.

Zoozoo
So your predictions are
1- NC will go bankrupt
2- NC meeting will be under a tent.
Smart,
Your previous prediction that FSA will disappear.
Keep on, Qeeqee Qeeqee

[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Syria and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Syria Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week’s roundup to syria@jadaliyya.com by Monday night of every week.]

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/9607/syria-media-roundup-%28january-17%29

332 majie

Yes, and the FSA will be totally taken over by Al Nusra and will cease to exist as such. The left overs will try to regroup under a different name just for the sake of showing a ‘united’ front and saving face.

btw, the meeting under one of Erdogan’s tent is not a prediction, it is a suggestion as whatever is left of the ‘sole.. bla bla bla..” will have no more money to meet in 5 stars hotels.

My prediction that the SNC would collapse has been accomplished a few months ago.

UN Humanitarian official expects donors to be “generous” in upcoming Syria Conf. in Kuwait
19/01/2013 |

http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2287741&language=en

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 18 (KUNA) — Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos on Friday said the focus of the International Donor Conference on Syria to be held in Kuwait on January 30th will be to gather the USD 1.5 Billion to help Syrians inside and outside the country.
She told reporters following a briefing to the Security Council behind closed doors on the humanitarian situation in Syria that the Conference is “absolutely critical to start money coming through,” adding that the USD 1.5 billion is for the next six months only.
She told KUNA that this Conference was focused on supporting the multilateral effort which is the USD 1.5 billion appeal of December 19, 2012.
…
She also thanked Kuwait for the USD two million donation to her office earlier this week, saying “I am delighted that Kuwait is supporting our efforts.” Amos also told reporters that she was concerned about the impact of the Syria conflict on its neighbours politically and economically.

329. ghufran said: sit down and try to get as many concessions as possible from the regime.

great, let’s get the sanctioned opposition to set up a meeting. oh wait, they’re in jail.

Omen what’s your plan? You’re in the States so really what is this to you? Everyone has a hobby I suppose but still…

Love to hear your plan for ending the war.

Mine is to carpet bomb all rebel areas and gas the ones trying to escape. I believe it would save lives in the long run.

اعتقال المجرم الشبيح عضو مجلس الشعب خالد العبود ابو المربعات والدوائر قبل قليل
عقبالك يا شحاطة

Zoo @327

I think that is what they wear, funeral or not.

I do not think the text in Qur’an is meant to degrade women in such a drastic way. This is too much. I understand the text as not to dress in revealing seductive way in order not to invite temptation. Dressing in such a manner is very degrading. That us my opinion and I know it applies to shiaa and Sunni too.

For Syria Study, OHCHR Paid Benetech $25,000 But Selection Process Not Yet Disclosed

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 4 — After the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights announced on January 2 that 60,000 people have been killed in Syria, Inner City Press asked OHCHR and its contractor Benetech how Benetech had been selected, and how much it got paid.

The how-much we can now report, answered by OHCHR: $25,000. But how was Benetech picked?

One basis for the question was Benetech’s human rights project’s listed funders, including the US State Department and the National Endowment for Democracy.

With all due respect, Inner City Press has asked OHCHR if “perceived independence (including from funding by the foreign ministries of P5 countries with a strong position on Syria) played a role in the assessment and selection” of Benetech, and how exactly Benetech was selected, from among how many bidders?

Benetech itself had told Inner City Press, “Yes, there was an RFP for this project. For the specific selection mechanism, you should contact OHCHR who can provide the details.”

Understanding that OHCHR’s hardworking spokesperson was busy with larger if not more critical media, Inner City Press waited some hours and then published a story, which was picked up in the UK Guardian. When the next day January 3 OHCHR did respond, this Inner City Press questioning, quoted in the Guardian, was characterized as “casting aspersions.”

Inner City Press replied that it’s not ” casting aspersions to ask questions about how the contractor was selected, and to note who the contractor’s other funders are… To listen to the doubts of some Security Council members and try to get to the bottom of how the selection of contractor was made is, I think, journalism, maybe more so than just slavishly reporting what a UN agency is saying.”

OHCHR has for now said “We agreed to pay 25,000 dollars for the work, and yes due procedure was followed.”

But what procedure is that? Many readers have written in; hence this interim story.

Inner City Press has asked, “Is the Request for Proposals public? How many companies responded? What criteria were used?” We anticipate answers, despite being told in advance it is a waste of time, on Monday, January 7.

http://www.innercitypress.com/ohchr4benetech010413.html

@ Ghufran

Pipe dreams. There are no negotiations with this regime.

Furthermore, it doesn’t matter what the Americans want. They have no say in the matter. If the West won’t help, that means the West will have no influence.

The war continues. The defections continue. The regime continues to lose.

A survivor from Harem:
” تركتنا الحكومة في حارم نحارب بمفردنا، لم ترسل لنا أية تعزيزات، كما لم تحاول بجد أن تفك حصارنا، حتى المساعدات التي ارسلتها لنا عبر الطيران لم تصلنا، وصلت للمسلحين، ولا نعرف السبب”.
Calls to save Harem fell on deaf ears, the town fell at the end in the hands of armed islamists after losing 400 of its citizens and a number of missing civilians, there are no known survivors from the army. This is the regime some of you are still defending.

The regime and its foreign backers, Iran and Russia, STILL don’t understand.

The regime is politically dead. No one in the revolution is talking to it, and no one will talk to it.

The regime wanted a fight to the death, so it will be a fight to the death.

i’m sorry ghufran, that was harsh, but how else to get point across? the regime cannot be reasoned with.

Western intelligence sources tell Le Monde that chemical weapons were used in Homs on Dec. 23.

google translate here:

Another hypothesis, complementary, may be issued. Russian-American pressure exerted on the regime in Damascus for more that recourse to these chemical weapons may have been based on a fair exchange: the silence of the great powers against assurance that the incident would Homs the latter for use.

csmonitor: Video appears to show Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiites fighting in Syria

In October, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah admitted that some members of the party were fighting to defend a string of villages just inside Syria that are populated by Lebanese Shiites.
…

A Western diplomat with contacts within the regime and opposition confirmed that Hezbollah militants were fighting in south Damascus. He added that if Sayyida Zeinab were to fall, “the FSA would be one big step closer to having jumping off positions for an attack on the city center.” The diplomat adds: “It could be quite a crucial battle with all those Hezbollah around.”

http://www.aawsat.com//
Women from HA are fighting in Syria, there is video shows several women in Homs, and in AlSharq AlAwasat the above picture,
Assad is forming the national army, its members are Shabbiha they take regular salaries.
Assad can not trust the Syrian army,because of defections

قال وزير الخارجية وليد المعلم، يوم السبت، إنه “من غير المسموح لأحد التطاول على مقام الرئاسة”، مضيفا “ونحن لن نحاور أحدا بأي شيء خارج البرنامج” السياسي الذي طرحه الرئيس بشار الأسد.

it is either NATO or their own governments,at the end, Arabs are tortured in one way or the other:
(wa kuntom khayr ummaten Ukhrijat linnas)
“Britain will face fresh charges of breaching international law over the alleged torture and killing of prisoners during the war in Iraq, which began almost exactly 10 years ago. The allegations will be unveiled in the high court, when Britain will stand accused of a “systemic” policy of abuse committed over five years, from 2003 to 2008″

how can this be?

Syria National Coalition issues a statement about $519 million worth of aid the UN has given to Assad to distribute to Syrians.

Time for another 50 REALLY INTELLIGENT comments. Andddddd GO!

France is fighting in Mali, if we compare this to US war in Afganistan, and after 11 years , and US was not able to end such war, I wonder how wise is it for France to get involved in Mali.France involvement in Mali will make it impossible for France to be involved in Syria.

The opposition in Iraq has to get help from Jordan, we missed King Hussein,the current king is very scared to do anything.

What Almouallem, a student of the regime, wants is to pimp the UN into patrolling borders with Turkey and solidifying regime’s positions in areas that are still under government control, he thinks the regime can manage Damascus and eventually pacify Aleppo. There is also a shift in public opinion that only people in denial can ignore, that shift is not in rebels favor despite the new “bread initiative ” Alnusra has taken. One has to wonder whether Obama and his new SOS are about to pour cold water on Turkey and Qatar.

This does not look good:
( Kurds and rebels fighting in Raas Alayn with rebels taking heavy losses in a proxy war for turkey who is using the rebels to advance its own national agenda)
قتل 33 شخصا غالبيتهم من المقاتلين المعارضين للنظام السوري في الاشتباكات الجارية منذ 48 ساعة بين مجموعات مسلحة ومقاتلين اكراد في منطقة رأس العين الحدودية مع تركيا، بحسب ما افاد “المرصد السوري لحقوق الانسان”.
وقال مدير المرصد رامي عبد الرحمن: “قتل خمسة اكراد من لجان الحماية الشعبية و28 مقاتلا معارضا في المواجهات المسلحة الجارية بين الطرفين منذ 48 ساعة في منطقة رأس العين في محافظة الحسكة”.
واشار الى استمرار هذه المعارك التي يشارك فيها من جانب المعارضة مقاتلون اسلاميون من غير جبهة “النصرة” ومقاتلون من “الجيش السوري الحر”. فيما ترتبط “لجان حماية الشعب الكردي” بالهيئة الكردية العليا التي يعتبر “حزب الاتحاد الديموقراطي” ابرز مكوناتها. ويحاول الاكراد تحييد مناطقهم في النزاع الدائر في سوريا وتأكيد سيطرتهم عليها.
ووجه المجلس المحلي في رأس العين التابع للمجلس الوطني الكردي في سوريا (يضم ممثلين عن معظم الاحزاب الكردية) نداء الى المعارضة السورية لتعمل على وقف هذه المعارك.
وطالب البيان بـ”وقف فوري لهذه الحرب والقصف العشوائي بالدبابات والمدافع حفاظا على أرواح المدنيين”.
كما طالب “الائتلاف الوطني والمجلس الوطني السوري والجيش الحر بالضغط على المسلحين لوقف هذه الحرب الاجرامية كونها تسيء لمبادىء وأهداف الثورة السورية”.

aje : a more cogent summary of the le monde cw story.

…

haaretz : hero pilot refused orders to bomb civilians.

For anyone who loves Aleppo.

Here’s a beautiful tribute to the city by writer Nihad Sirees, who puts his memories of growing up there against the violence and horror of the present.

Geography of Secrets:

http://www.englishpen.org/geography-of-secrets/

Arabic readers can go here for the el Nashra original article « كيلو: إيران ستتخلى عن الاسد اذا حصلت تحولات في توازن القوى على الأرض » but here are some statements from Michel Kilo (who, when younger said he had spent half his life in jail**). The statements in full awful Google machine translation, for the enigmatic beginners-Arabic entity:

Kilo: Iran will abandon Assad if I got shifts in the balance of power on the ground

Said Michel Kilo, member of the Democratic Forum of Syrian opposition , that “the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Nabil Elaraby call for deployment of peacekeeping forces in Syria under Chapter VII as the only way to end the crisis — is an old demand, not new,” explaining that the League referred the Syrian file to the Security Council “seven months ago, under Chapter VII” adding that “this demand by the the minister is due to his belief that all doors were closed to getting Syria out of the crisis — especially after the speech of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who spat on the world and ignored all of the submitted offers and efforts to resolve the crisis.”

Kilo in a television interview said that “Assad wants Syrian ceasefire and then think if he wants a cease-fire, and wants to determine who is the opposition after regarded opponents abroad dolls and who at home are not opposing it closed all the doors of the solution actually put the world in front of wall Closed. ”
Kilo noted that “the crisis is closed and there is no way out, note that there have been attempts in this direction or that are being made to find a director.”

The Kilo said that “the phenomenon of militant Islam in Syria exaggerated and no one knows what the nature of Islamic jihadists because we see them the eyes of Americans and the eyes of the Syrian regime,” and wondered “Are they Islamists jihadists really? Are they from the base really as classified by Washington and Damascus?”, Explaining that ” What we do know they are people on the high level of ideological and military training as they are willing to sacrifice to a greater extent. ”

Kilo saw that “the task of UN/AL envoy Lakhdar Brahimi seems quite deadlocked as it is, as he tries to find a way out, to resume his case anew”, stressing that “this case is not easy at all after Assad’s speech.”

The Kilo: “there is no settlement U.S. – Russian resolve the Syrian crisis,” noting that “the Syrians do not rely on the Russian position, which supports the system of affinity to Aaúh,” pointing out that “Moscow against the Arab Spring and against democracy in the Arab world,” explaining that he “will continue to exacerbate the crisis on the ground and will continue killings under occlusion horizon before any political solution in Syria.”
He kilo that “reports that indicated entry” Hezbollah “as a team in the conflict inside Syria is uncertain,” adding that “If they are correct The party may have entered the wrong place and would be the oldest error is unable to repair it in the future.”

The Kilo: “Iran where more than one direction, some supports speech Assad and others are looking for ways to protect Iran’s interests in the event of left-Assad,” noting that “the Iranians have more than attitude and are working on more than one line,” pointing out that ” Iranians insist Assad as long as he is able to withstand and abandon him with shifts in the balance of power on the ground.”

If you got through that, you can drink your evening aperatif, North Americans. I should note this article was recommended by Syria Comment and Syria Dialogue contributor Camille Alexandre Otrakji.

That will not satisfy all, so here is a special picture for TARA only:

http://www.SpecialPicture/TARA.jpeg

— and one for ANN and the others at her adult daycare:

http://www.SyrianBloodsportsGiggleVideos/GrossestRebelDeaths/Vol2/spatter.jpeg

Assad is a red line. ~ Ali Akbar Velayati, advisor to Iran’s supreme leader.

Syrian FM calls on rebels to disarm and negotiate

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s foreign minister invited the country’s rebels on Saturday to lay down their weapons and take part in a national dialogue, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new Cabinet with wide executive powers.

Walid al-Moallem said in a live interview on state TV late Saturday that any opposition parties could join the Cabinet as long as they reject foreign intervention in Syria. The Syrian government has started contacting “representatives of the Syrian people,” he added.

Earlier this month, President Bashar Assad dismissed calls that he step down, vowing to keep fighting the rebels. Assad also proposed a national reconciliation conference, elections and a new constitution — concessions offered previously over the course of the uprising that began in March 2011. The opposition says that Assad can play no role in a resolution to the conflict.

“I tell the young men who carried arms to change and reform, take part in the dialogue for a new Syria and you will be a partner in building it. Why carry arms,” al-Moallem said in the hour-long interview. “Those who want foreign intervention will not be among us.”

Bread queues lengthen in Damascus

20 January 2013
Lyse Doucet
BBC Chief international correspondent

There is still what is called the Damascus bubble – a place where civil servants dutifully go to work on public transport, and children sit their exams. But that bubble is slowly, steadily, being squeezed.
. . .
For Syrian civilians, trapped in a vicious spiral of a war of global consequence, it’s shocking they are not getting enough help. But for them, it is equally shocking and shameful that they have to seek aid at all.

OMEN #358

“[Syrian Foreign Minister] Walid al-Moallem said in a live interview on state TV late Saturday that any opposition parties could join the Cabinet as long as they reject foreign intervention in Syria”

Challenge to Walid Moallem:

Hey, let’s see you do it first Walid. And when you’ve loudly and sincerely rejected Russian and Iranian intervention in Syria, maybe others will pay attention.

In the meantime everybody, excuse Mr Moallem while he runs off to have lunch:

http://akhyasouria.tumblr.com/post/29984363488/walid-muallem-during-lunch

# 352. MAJEDKHALDOUN

It’s not really a good comparison between the French in Mali and the situation in Afghanistan.

First, France has strong connections to the region and is there at the request of 14 West African nations who are also sending in troops, plus the main government of Mali. Watch Algeria now join in.

Second, the fighting in Afghanistan has been sustained due to (i) massive input to the Taliban from Pakistan next door and (ii) weak commitment from Kabul.

And as for involvement in Mail excluding France from involvement in Syria, we might be seeing in Mali a powerful precedent for collective jumping on Islamic extremists. Those violent extremists in Algeria have probably accelerated moves in that direction.

قال وزير الخارجية وليد المعلم، يوم السبت، إنه “من غير المسموح لأحد التطاول على مقام الرئاسة”، مضيفا “ونحن لن نحاور أحدا بأي شيء خارج البرنامج” السياسي الذي طرحه الرئيس بشار الأسد.

He means no one can make fun of the foolish dumb ass tall ignorant uncivilized murderer illegitimately installed scarecrow prethident bathar alfathad.

ويا بشار طز فيك
وطز بيللي بيحييك

A gift from Zakarya Tamer:

الشبيحة مهذبون أيضاً

من أكثر المناظر شيوعاً في برامج النقاش السياسي التي تقدمها المحطات الفضائية هو منظر الشبيح المؤيد للنظام السوري يصفر وجهه غيظاً واستنكاراً حين يشـرع خصمه المعارض للنظام السوري في شتم رأس النظام بما لذ وطاب من الشتائم الثقيلة، ويطالبه بالتوقف عن الشتم والالتزام بالتهذيب واحترام الرؤساء.

وهؤلاء الشبيحة ليسوا كاذبين، فهم الذين يستمتعون بأكل الخراء، ولكنهم يتوقفون عن أكله مشمئزين لحظة يعثرون فيه على شعرة.

here we go:
أعلنت 11 كتيبة وجماعة وحركة سورية مقاتلة في أنحاء سوريا، ومعارضة للنظام، عن تشكيلها «الجبهة الإسلامية السورية الموحدة»؛ بهدف إسقاط النظام وبناء مجتمع إسلامي حضاري يحكم بشرع الله. غير أن «جبهة النصرة» رفضت الانضمام إلى الجبهة الجديدة، مكتفية بالتنسيق معها ميدانيا، بالإضافة إلى إنشاء الطرفين محكمة شرعية مشتركة تحمل اسم «محكمة الهيئة الشرعية في مدينة حلب».
وكشفت الجبهة عن ميثاقها الذي تضمن أهدافها ومرتكزاتها الأساسية، والعلاقة بين أعضائها، والعلاقة مع مكونات المجتمع السوري، والوسائل المعتمدة لتحقيق الأهداف.
وشدد الميثاق على أن الإسلام «هو دين الدولة والمصدر الرئيس والوحيد للتشريع، وبالتالي فإن الجبهة ستعمل بالأساليب الشرعية كافة على أن لا يكون في البلاد أي قانون يخالف الثوابت المعتمدة في الشريعة الإسلامية».

Expect more of this similar to what took place in Iraq:
محافظة درعا :: اغتال مسلحون الشيخ “خالد الهلال”عضو لجنة المصالحة الوطنية وثلاثة من مرافقيه على طريق الشهيب –تل اصفر بريف درعا
Any Syrian,especially if Sunni,who tries to bring peace to his community and does not join Islamist gangs will be a target under the popular lame accusation of being a Shabeeh.
Another piece of news that keeps popping up is the presence of Shia fighters around Shia holy sites in Syria:
Rebels source in Damascus claimed that hizbullah and Iraqi armed guards took over security at sayyida Zainab shrine in Damascus
(this may be an introduction to an attack on the compound)

« France involvement in Mali will make it impossible for France to be involved in Syria. »

If this just means “more involved than France already is in Syria,” I agree, and I agree that Hollande rushed to establish some credentials by (needlessly) strong-arming the Malians, giving itself carte blanche. It might get Hollande’s list more seats in the next French parliament but far too ‘force de frappe’ for me.

Meanwhile again, of course, several of the many French tentacles continue to do their work in Syria and on Syria.

If it is Syria/French diplo-milito-intello news you want, you have to haunt French media, which was MINA’s beat, and now she only lurks.

Algeria’s shame, cries social media, according to Courrier International:

http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/2013/01/17/reseaux-sociaux-une-honte-pour-l-algerie

“Vous êtes sûrs ?” écrit Ali Benyoucef. “Moi aussi, j’ai du mal à y croire”, souligne Shinobi Nouh Plaza.

Certains internautes s’interrogent sur la souveraineté nationale : “Ah ! ah ! ah ! L’Algérie, pays souverain ?” commente Omar Uribe.

“Elle n’a pas le choix !” rétorque Semia Thalas.

“A quoi joue notre pouvoir ? A quoi jouent nos responsables ? Aux apprentis sorciers ? Ça ne va certainement pas les sauver. Laisser passer toute cette armée française par notre ciel est une menace directe pour notre souveraineté nationale !” renchérit Rachid Chouitem.

D’autres critiquent la politique étrangère algérienne.

“La seule chose pour laquelle je soutenais notre président est tombée à l’eau ! La politique étrangère de l’Algérie et son devoir de non-ingérence. L’usinette Renault [accord conclu le 19 décembre lors de la visite de François Hollande pour l’implantation d’une usine à Oran] montre bien qu’il est le larbin des Français”, écrit Akim Mikoyan.

Voir aussi: http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2012/10/13/mali-menace-islamiste-contre-hollande-et-les-otages-francais-au-sahel_1775177_3212.html et http://www.legrandsoir.info/francois-hollande-le-guerrier-l-intervention-imperialiste-francaise-au-mali.html

— at #292 MAJEDKHALDOUN writes to Ghufran:

You talk about peaceful transition, I will try to take you serious once but what peaceful transition you are talking about, is using the Shabbiha and the security forces or the army(which suppose to protect people,not kill citizens) is this peaceful?, ask yourself is Assad honest? can he be trusted to do peaceful true reform? didn’t we try peaceful demonstrations only to be killed by the regime forces?,can you explain your plan?

No, I don’t think GHUFRAN01 has any illusions about the fraudulent Assadist Peace Plan. It is designed to fail. No one will come “under the roof of the nation” if it means coming under the thumb of an Assad. No one outside the eunuch and lapdogs and the People’s Republic of Haytham Mana’a will talk ‘under the roof’ of the House of Assad. It is a non-starter and Ghufran, you, and most of us know this to be true.

The place to start and end is with the only documents that got a pawprint from the Palace: Geneva and the predecessor AL plan … and that plan is also moribund.

you advocate changes through constitutional means

By posting the inexplicable and unworkable Assad Peace Plan? No. Not at all. I posted that for discussion. This is really what the megalomaniac hierarchy think will get Syria out of its torment. I do not agree with this bogus plan, MajedK …

a constitution that is designed to serve the dictator not the people, do you understand what you say?

Please remember that we stand together for the end of the dynasty, the Baath police state, the war crimes of the SAA/Shab’i militias/Mukhabarat/Air Force intel, etcetera. Please don’t get stuck on your first impressions. They are not always accurate.

You talk about stability and security,when you don’t have freedom, you dont have security

NO, I do not talk about stability and security, the man in the Palance spoke about security and stability and put forward a plan that is garbled, not serious, and has the life-span of a duck.

Lower your guns on friendlies, MajedK. Quit giving us your awful suggestions to destroy/defame heretics if you want to be respected. Everyone can get on their hind legs and howl angrily. You can do better, and Syria needs better, not worse, don’t you think.

As for the other mullah-in-training, what? You say fake fake fakity fake fake and the world still keeps on turning, brother. If you make your main focus (at times) rooting out bad / unholy / yadda yadda infections, you will get my shoe (as a fellow Canuckistani).

It doesn’t work on civic-minded people, VISITOR; they do not grasp the necessity to rub Shi’a — or any religious face — in the dung of humiliation — on the basis of whose holy mummers are holier than the next one. It is ugly wherever it comes from. Personal responsibility for crimes, and individual trial and punishment/restitution/apology for crimes, not collective guilt and not collective destruction.

I wonder what you like about Canada, since you cannot curb your fellow Muslims as you might wish to do here.

Puzzles of the righteous.

If the regime is beginning to have trouble supplying Damascus with bread, that’s a bad sign for the regime.

The battle for Damascus will not be won in Damascus but along the supply route connecting the city to Lattakia.

Steinbek-wanna-be-Scherck is now relying on material supplied by a mysterious characte, Otrakji. Based on comments made recently by True and Hamster, this character seems to be a regime stooge who has been involved in exchanging information with idiot Emad Musapha about some expats, having been involved in some moderation role here at Syriacomment sometime ago. In other words this Otrakji is a مخبر

That is quite heartening and revealing knowing that wanna-be dumbass Shcherck has now revealed his true color, confirming, in addition to MajedK’s charges against him of dishonesty and compete lack of dignity, accusations made against him by some commentators that he too abused priviliges while acting in the same role as moderator here at SC, got suspended as a result and is still harboring some hopes that Landis will call him back to do moderation.

The article he copies from this idiot Otrakji site suffers from many flaws not the least of which being written by none other than Kilo who for all practical purposes has become nobody in this current ongoing revolution of the Syrian people.

Scherck-wanna-be-DH-Lawrence continues to wag with his tail like a hounded dog, offering at times to engage in futile discussions about so-called stability and security in Syria, i.e. shamelessly inviting to fall into regime hands and agenda, and naively assuming that Syrians are gullible by birth to simply oblige at the mere invitation, while at other times offers spent ammunition material written by characters of bygone era (Kilo) presenting none other than Mullah-stan seemingly offering a carrot to the Syrians for the hope of maintaining its stranglehold over Syria, again assuming Syrians are inherently stupid.

Dimwit, dumbass, stonehead Scherck-wanna-be is not just fake. He is a charlatan cheat con man. I raise my hat to MajedK for exposing him for the dumbass he truly is.

DOES ANYONE CARE ?
Syrie. Le régime aurait utilisé une arme chimique à Homs
Mis à jour le 19/01/2013 | 17:23 , publié le 19/01/2013 | 16:58

C’était une “ligne rouge” à ne pas franchir, selon les avertissements de Washington. Pourtant, le régime syrien aurait bien utilisé une arme chimique contre des opposants, selon Le Monde daté du 20 janvier, sans déclencher d’intervention internationale en Syrie. Le site d’informations Foreign Policy (en anglais) précise que le ministère américain des Affaires étrangères avait été informé de la manoeuvre. Francetv info détaille ce que l’on sait de l’affaire.
De quelle arme chimique s’agit-il ?

Le gaz employé n’est pas nommé par Le Monde, “faute d’échantillon” à analyser. Il s’agirait d’une “arme chimique incapacitante, non létale”, précise le quotidien, qui cite des sources au sein de services de renseignements occidentaux. Pourtant, Foreign Policy, s’appuyant sur un télégramme diplomatique, affirme avec une quasi-certitude qu’il s’agit d'”Agent 15″, un gaz paralysant qui provoque notamment de graves troubles respiratoires, des nausées et peut entraîner la cécité et la mort.
Où et quand ?

Le régime aurait tiré quatre roquettes chargées de gaz sur Homs, l’un des centres nerveux de l’opposition, le 23 décembre. Dès le lendemain, l’opposition avait dénoncé l’usage de grenades dont “s’échappait une fumée blanche”. C’est la première date à laquelle cette arme aurait servi.
Un test de Bachar Al-Assad ?

“La décision de l’employer a été prise tout au sommet” de l’Etat syrien, selon Le Monde. L’objectif, d’après les multiples sources anonymes du quotidien était de tester la réaction des Occidentaux. Car les Etats-Unis, suivis de la France et d’autres puissances occidentales avaient mis en garde Damas. L’emploi d’armes chimiques était “une ligne rouge” dont le franchissement aurait “des conséquences”, avait menacé Barack Obama, sans plus de précision. Dans la foulée, en août 2012, François Hollande affirmait qu’il s’agirait d’une “cause légitime d’intervention directe”.
Washington informé par un diplomate ?

La porte-parole du Département d’Etat américain, Victoria Nuland, interrogée sur les révélations de Foreign Policy, n’a pas contesté l’existence d’un télégramme diplomatique, envoyé par le consul américain à Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, informant le ministère des Affaires étrangères de l’utilisation de gaz. Mais elle en a écarté la conclusion : “Nous avons vérifié les informations obtenues, et n’avons trouvé aucun élément crédible permettant de corroborer ni confirmer que des armes chimiques ont été employées”.

http://www.francetvinfo.fr/syrie-le-regime-aurait-utilise-une-arme-chimique-a-homs_207053.html

article @ Foreign Policy : http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/01/16/state_dept_we_do_not_believe_chemical_weapons_used_in_syria?wp_login_redirect=0

another article in French about last year use of such weapons : depuis le mois d’avril 2012. Témoignages des médecins, témoignages imprécis certes, mais des blessures suffisement inhabituelles pour que les médecins les aient signalées: http://contresubversion.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/chemical-weapons-used-by-syrian-army-against-people-of-rastan-and-homs-armes-chimiques-utilisees-par-larmee-contre-la-population-de-rastan/

رثاء للشهيد محمد الحوراني .. من شاعرة حوران محاميد
http://youtu.be/MKZL8cE-jS4

thanx N.Z.

And a picture for ANNIE:

http://www.oldDamascus.com/LateDinneForAnnie.jpeg

Thirteen shia heretic thugs of Hizbistan were eliminated today in 7homs and ended up in lowest hell wherein they will abide 4ever to be joined soon with their mullah apes and the idiot of Qurdaha.

Angry in Alberta writes:

Wanna-be dumbass Shcherck has now revealed his true color, confirming, in addition to MajedK’s charges against him of dishonesty and compete lack of dignity, accusations made against him by some commentators that he too abused priviliges while acting in the same role as moderator here at SC, got suspended as a result and is still harboring some hopes that Landis will call him back to do moderation.

Camille was the person who outed me as moderator, with a post on Facebook that he immediately pulled down. I have many beefs with Camille/Alex, but I do not suggest he passed on emails or whatever the fuck. I didn’t pass on whatever the fuck the idiot Minhebakji get all freaky about, VISITOR — you are just repeating slurs and accusations based only on rumour.

I don’t like Camille’s sneering, and I did not like when he was lead editor/poster *and* moderator at the same time. It made for a subtle domination and correctitude that was bad handled. Landis has long since given him the boot from these precincts — or Camille/Alex has long since removed his name from the talent roster up left.

Alex/Camille has never explained his ‘outing’ and I expect he has no hand in the ‘Scherk Steals Your Eyeballs’ nutterzone charges. I do not like him but I do not add sleaze to his already groaning bag of BS.

His Dialogue is worth criticizing, is what I am saying. If you would get off the high horse long enough to remember what you are angrily fighting for, you would recognize allied forces.

Instead you grow vengeful and angrier still. Ye gawds, Visitor, if you are going to shoot, why not shoot your own foot some more? It would make as much sense as your shooting your mouth off about me and your problems with being called on over-the-top rants …

You know nothing of the truth of your charges above, you are reckless and hateful at times. That gets you a bit of bite-back, which any man of stature could handle without sleaze and rumour splodging.

Have a nice day otherwise, though. Aleppo air force base is having difficulties under a sustained FSA assault as we speak. An Alawite (homeland security thugs) militia slaughtered up to a hundred yesterday reports are beginning to circulate. Dera’a is getting pounded, Homs is under its 400 oddth day of siege and pulverization … and a defected pilot is said to have taken to the skies for a raid on SAA forces who have committed war crimes.

You want to get angry, Visitor? Good. Pack it in a shell and explode it on your enemy’s forces. You will feel better and so will most anti-Baathists like me. Pack it in a bomb, strap it to your ass and go do your part for the glory of Syria.

Seriously, the high horse is tired from you thundering off in all directions, all guns blazing. Get off it soon, please.

Visitor we might not agree on much but I am in agreement on this “Bill” character. He reminds me of the guy that writes the sex advice column – Dan Savage. His writing style is the same.

Bill is also QUITE pretentious in the manner he addresses us lesser beings. I’ve cried myself to sleep after reading his posts.

Bill we’re not at the UN. This is a message forum. People are angry. The terrorist supporters are angry they’re losing. I’m angry our boys are dying killing rats sent by NATO.

Bill aside from cynicism what is your peace plan? We can all deride the other side but few offer anything constructive.

I have a plan that involves carpet bombing and bringing in the Orkin Man to gas those who escape the bombing runs. I feel this would end the war quicker than anything else I’ve read on this forum the entire time I’ve been here!!!

Large areas of Damascus countryside under FSA control

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkBR_ehAPkM

Aleppo, successful operation by FSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k53SU_XKIt8

Rebels attacked cotton ginnery in al-Raqqa province and set it on fire. More than 100 tons of cotton was lost. They also killed every civilians who worked there. The army guards over there were either killed or executed.

I do not understand their tactics. Assuming those rebels are Syrians, what is the point of doing this?

They destroyed essential things for the public and they killed everyone on the regime’s side, even those not necessarily combatant personnel.

Where is the sense of being Syrian in them?

Batta did indeed use non-lethal chemical weapon to test the water 

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/non-lethal-chemical-weapons-used-syria-le-monde-222221144.html

Non-lethal chemical weapons used in Syria, Le Monde says

Reuters – 14 hours ago
PARIS (Reuters) – Syrian forces used non-lethal chemical weapons against rebels in the town of Homs in late December, according to intelligence service sources cited by French daily Le Monde on Saturday.

The weapons were used in four rockets fired on December 23, according to unnamed sources in Western intelligence services cited by the newspaper. Le Monde suggested Western powers played down an isolated event in the hope it would not be repeated.
…

Some of the pro-revolution on SC behave exactly like the opposition, attacking each other instead of attacking the enemy. I have yet to see regime supporters attacking each other. They cozy up even when one of them call for crimes against humanity.

Are we just hopeless?

A new vedio of Assad’s soldiers atrocities, a young boy being beaten,slapped, forced to kiss the officer’s boot, to declare that his sister and mother are whores, and to declare that Assad is his God, among many other humiliations acts
http://youtu.be/pAyOrLpLwZg

WS SCHERCK said
” and any transition in terms of any transitional stage must be through constitutional means”.
Then he said
“By posting the inexplicable and unworkable Assad Peace Plan? No”

Mr. Scherck(Atheist)
There is contradictions in the two statements you made.

Further, in reading your comment I don’t understand the connections between my statments and your responses,

Again, this forum is about politics and religion.

A new vedio of Assad’s soldiers atrocities, a young boy being beaten,slapped, forced to kiss the officer’s boot, to declare that his sister and mother are whores, and to declare that Assad is his God, among many other humiliations acts
http://youtu.be/pAyOrLpLwZg

#339 Tara

I disagree. In every religious ceremony, there is a traditional dress code.
For Islam it happens to be that one. Islam is a conservative religion, so these codes won’t change easily

After Istanbul, now Paris to salvage the crumbling coalition

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syria-opposition-backers-meet-paris-minister-114955847.html

PARIS (Reuters) – Syrian opposition leaders will meet in Paris this month, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday, decrying an “abominable” situation in which he said 100 people a day were being killed in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

“The situation is horrific and Bashar must go as fast as possible,” Fabius said.

“There will be a meeting of the coalition in Paris in a few days, on the 28th. It’s a coalition recognised by more than 100 countries, led by extremely respectable people who simply want to restore democracy in Syria,” he said.

Syria’s opposition leaders met in Istanbul on Saturday to launch their second bid to form a transitional government.

Who is bombing indiscriminately unarmed civilians?

Kurds condemn rebel siege

Date January 21, 2013

SYRIAN Kurds have urged the opposition to halt a siege against them by Islamist rebels, as the UN condemned the killing of dozens of children across the country over the past week.

The Kurdish National Council, a pro-opposition umbrella group of Syrian Kurdish parties, condemned what it said was a continuing assault ”against unarmed civilians” in the northern town of Ras al-Ain.

It said the rebels, who came across the border from Turkey, were shelling the town indiscriminately, and called on the main opposition National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army to ”pressure these militants to stop this criminal war which is detrimental to the Syrian revolution”.

On Saturday, one rebel was killed in shelling and fierce clashes that pitted the Islamist al-Nusra Front against Kurdish fighters, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A resident of Ras al-Ain said Kurdish fighters were building fortifications and digging trenches and rebels were bringing in reinforcements from across the border. Turkey, which supports the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is home to a large Kurdish minority whose demands for greater independence it has moved to suppress.

Activists say Turkey may be using jihadists in Syria to fight its own battle against the Kurds.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/kurds-condemn-rebel-siege-20130120-2d173.html#ixzz2IWhse5Fn

Statement regarding terrorist attacks on Syrian Kurdish town Sere Kaniye/Ras al-Ain
National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria —

January 20, 2013
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/1/syriakurd726.htm

Our people in Ras al-Ain / Sere Kaniye in north Syria have been under suspicious armed attack from outside and inside the Syrian borders for some time which has become fiercer since 16 January 2013, with accompanying repugnant irresponsible statements aiming to split the national front and the social identity that forms the demographics of this part of Syria.

These attacks have been perpetrated by some of the brigades and divisions that claim to be the arm of the Syrian revolution, such as the Brigades of Ahrar Al’oma (the free people of the nation), Ahrar Gowairan (free people of Gowairan), Mishaal Tamo, Gorabaa Alsham, the descendants of the Ahfad al-Rasul Brigade, Abna Saad bin Abi Waqas Brigade and troops linked to the military council of the Free Army.

Dumbass Scherck @373,

The correct terms you should have used pretentious wanna-be are contemptuous, scorn, disgust or derision.

But angry? Not in your wildest dreams pretentious bum!!

Idiots like you by no means can drive me to anger

And for a while I thought you memorize the webster dictionary up your dumbass.

What a misrable pathetic disappointing piece of pretentious ‘blot’ attempting to get undeserved credit??

Nice try!!

From a pro-opposition journalist, a warning to the opposition about their dangerous intimacy with Jihadists that is triggering Western fears.

Radical elements are true winners in Syria’s stalemate

Hassan Hassan
Jan 21, 2013
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/radical-elements-are-true-winners-in-syrias-stalemate

In an interview with Syrian state television on Saturday, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Al Moallem, said most Syrians have come to understand that what they are facing are not revolutionaries challenging the Assad regime, but foreign-backed jihadists who are targeting the country’s national unity. He is only partly wrong.
Related

Comment Story of a massacre tells of the Alawites caught in the middle
Comment Assad offers only more of the same – mukhabarat brutality
Comment After all this misery, how can Syrians live together again?

This threat of radicalism is slightly exaggerated by western countries, but at the same time largely underestimated by the Syrian opposition, giving way to misunderstanding of an issue that is complicating the process of finding a way out of this crisis. I have discussed this issue with several officials from western and regional countries involved in the Syrian crisis, as the situation developed in the country over the past 22 months.

Syrians need to understand that western and some regional governments are genuinely concerned about the rise of jihadi activities in the country. These concerns are not a mere pretext to justify inaction, as the opposition tends to claim. Therefore, a common understanding is necessary to address the issue.

Jihadis represent a fraction of the anti-regime fighters. Yet since the US designated Jabhat Al Nusra, a Salafi jihadist group believed to have links to Al Qaeda, as a foreign terrorist group, the narrative has shifted, with almost every report from inside Syria focusing on this group’s ideology or operations. Western governments must understand that as the situation drags on, jihadists and Islamists in general become more powerful – a fact that an overwhelming number of experts have consistently and clearly reiterated since the beginning of the conflict.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/radical-elements-are-true-winners-in-syrias-stalemate#ixzz2IWlT31VJ
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook

Zoo,

I disagree too. This is not the traditional dress code in Islam and you are wrong. Very wrong. This is the dress code of the ultra-conservative. I come from a “religious-entrenched” family ( not my parents). None of them wear what those women wear.

Syrian opposition in Istanbul fails to agree on PM Hijab to lead the promised ‘government in exile’. Al Khatib is ignored.
One more try on the 28th in Paris in presence of the bankers?

Syria opposition seeks deal on PM-in-exile

http://www.france24.com/en/20130120-syria-opposition-seeks-deal-pm-exile

AFP – Syria’s opposition umbrella group, which most Western and Arab powers opposed to the Damascus regime have recognised, met Sunday in Istanbul in a bid to name a prime minister-in-exile, one of its leaders said.

The Syrian National Coalition was discussing the idea of a government-in-exile but differences have emerged between members of the group, including over who should lead the new executive, an opposition official told AFP.

“A proposal was made to name Riad Hijab but it has run into much criticism,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Hijab is a former prime minister under President Bashar al-Assad who defected in August last year and has since worked closely with Turkish leaders to help restructure the fragmented Syrian opposition.

He is now based in Jordan.

The Istanbul meeting is also scheduled to discuss what the opposition leader said were unkept promises by countries that had pledged diplomatic, military and financial support to the coalition.

#387 Tara

In villages, most religious women wear that at funerals in Islamic countries. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Traditions are difficult to change.

Zoo,

I think you are defending it because it appears to be more like an Arab Shiaa tradition. That is all.

#390 Tara

Don’t start that again… have you been in Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Qatar? That’s a tradition in most Islamic countries.

The head of the revolution goverment must be responsible in front of the revolution leaders, the FSA military leaders,not to the Coalition leaders.
US and western Europe, promised things and they did not deliver,I think SNC are better and smarter politicians .

Zoozoo is not Syrian,and does not know Syrian women

Alqaeda and Wahhabism spread in Syria over the last 2 years faster than the Ba’ath spread in 50 years.In fact many of the monkeys got of the Ba’ath tree to
Climb the Alqaeda revolution tree,Look at the fat ugly monkey called Tiad Hijab,
After being on Albaath tree for 20 years as مدير اتحاد طلبه then مدير فرع الحزب then
محافظ then وزير زراعه then علي بابا , As soon as he felt the tree which he stood on
For 20 years and ate its bananas every day , he decides to jump to the cocunut
Bambo trees next to the wahabis and Takfiris!!! This fat monkey now is the number one candidate for the wahabis,Takfiris,head cutters Bamboos!! Couldn’t
They have found any decent Bamboo?? And the tree of Alqeada Bamboos (so
Called revolution trees is infested with many other monkeys,parasites and سعاديين
Like the play boy سعدان monaf Tlass and the Syrian ambassador in Iraq who was
The head of a branch of الأمن السياسي befor jumping to the bamboos Alqaeda revolution tree??? How can you be a decent bamboo if you were the head of
امن سياسي???
Than is why your revolution Bamboos tree is HOPLESS.

North Africa, a taste of what will happen after-Bashar.

Did the “western experts’ in the UK and Germany advising the opposition in building a post-Assad plan took the ‘Mali’ effect into consideration or just ignored it?

Jihadists’ Surge in North Africa Reveals Grim Side of Arab Spring
By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: January 19, 2013
…
Algeria’s authoritarian government is now seen as a crucial intermediary by France and other Western countries in dealing with Islamist militants in North Africa. But the Algerians have shown reluctance to become too involved in a broad military campaign that could be very risky for them. International action against the Islamist takeover in northern Mali could push the militants back into southern Algeria, where they started. That would undo years of bloody struggle by Algeria’s military forces, which largely succeeded in pushing the jihadists outside their borders.

The Algerians also have little patience with what they see as Western naïveté about the Arab spring, analysts say.

392. Majie

As long as Syria remains secular, Syrian women won’t dress like that.

In Egypt they do more and more now.

France created the mess in Libya, now it is begging Algeria who was opposed to the Libyan war, for help…
I really hope Algeria who fought against islamists for 10 years within their borders and was accused of authoritarism and of ‘massacres of civilians’ will tell France, just f.. off!

Zoo,

“Don’t start that again..”

Zoo, every one has a bias, perhaps based on life experience and exposure. I am sure I have many biases too. It is a human nature. It is obvious that I hold you in high regards and I have slways given you the benefit of the doubt. I am not saying you are a hateful sectarian and I know you are not but it is obvious you hold Shiism in high regard and tend to defend some of its aspect that you may not approve when manifested in other sects. And that all perhaps against what you really are or what you believe in. It is perhaps unconscious but please have some insight into it..

Not my intention to have a fight. Not today. I am just stating my perception and I may be wrong.

Saw some comments on a Yalla Souriya post. Did PM Erdogan really say this today?

__________________________________________

“The good days gonna come soon InshaAllah , today Turkish pm said we can be justified in our intervention of Syria if usa intervention of Iraq is justified , they were waiting for the patriot missiles to be operational then they will screw Assad forces its near now.”

http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/homs-up-to-date-news-%e2%80%8ehoms-jobar-13/

Tara

Who wears the niqab? Just walk in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE high-tech malls.
You won’t find any in Iranian malls…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niq%C4%81b

A niqab (Arabic: نِقاب‎ niqāb , “veil” or “mask”; also called a ruband ) is a cloth which covers the face as a part of sartorial hijab. It is worn by some Muslim women in public areas and in front of non-mahram adult males. The niqab is more commonly worn in the Arab countries of the Arabian Peninsula such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the UAE. Various forms of niqab are also worn in countries such as Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, India, some parts of Israel, southern provinces of Iran, and other areas with sizeable Muslim populations.

Erdogan visits Syrian refugee camp
20 January 2013

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday visited a Syrian refugee camp in Nizip town of the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep.

Delivering a speech to the Syrian refugees staying in the tent camp, Erdogan said that Syrian people was marching towards victory with each passing day.

“We are proud as much as you are of the resistance of the heroic Syrian people who is fighting for their dignity, honor, independence, future and freedom. Your righteous struggle will be crowned with victory sooner or later,” Erdogan told the refugees. His speech was translated to Arabic through an interpreter.

Erdogan said Turks welcomed Syrian refugees as their own brothers and sisters. “You are at your own home. We are proud to share our bread, tents and blankets with you.”

Erdogan said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had surpassed his late father Hafez al-Assad in brutality, adding the Syrian president would not escape unpunished for the crimes he committed.

“He will be tried before the justice of the Syrian people,” Erdogan said.

http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=102059

#398 Uzair8

Who cares what Erdogan says? He’s been shouting and threatening for the last 2 years and all he got was expensive 200,000 refugees and useless NATO anti-missiles

Zoo,

I did not mention Iran.

I think percentage wise, more Arab Shiaa women wear Niqab than Arab Sunni women. May be I am wrong and it is a ” selection bias” judging the Lebanese and Iraqi Shiaa who come to Damascus.

What I am trying to say is that Niqab is not a mainstream Islam dress code and in my opinion, it is abhorrent to have women completely cover. I hope your wife does not wear it 😉

#400 Uzair8

Erdogan repeated the same b.s in Turkish he gave a month ago in another refugees camp.
This time though, his pupil Moaz al khatib is not present to wave his hands silently…

385. visitor

complaining about somebody being pretentious is usually code for
“i hate how your being smart makes me feel insecure.”

#402 Tara

He does, in Halloween…

401. Zoo

After Sh. Yaqoubi’s ‘glad tidings’ I’m expecting intervention from planes of a ‘friendly power’. Could it be Turkey?

zoo, you are not defending tradition. you are defending male privilege that gets to dictate women what to do.

on one hand, you rail against islamist tyranny. on the other hand, you defend how religious culture oppresses women.

is that really you, kandahar? long time, no see. you sound different.

Jumblat from Moscow: Russia Promised Financial Aid to Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Naharnet Newsdesk 2 days ago

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat announced on Friday that Russia has promised to provide financial and political aid to resolve the crisis of refugees escaping the violence in Syria to Lebanon.

In remarks to LBCI TV following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Jumblat said: “Moscow will make a financial and political contribution to resolve the crisis of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.”

“There is no alternative to dialogue in Lebanon,” he said, adding any other suggestion does not serve any party in the country.

“He does, in Halloween…”

Do not know what that meant.

And I have never been to all the countries you have mentioned.

#403 Omen

You’re ridiculous, I don’t defend that tradition, I just observe it. It is up to the Moslems to revolt against it if they don’t approve of it. Many Christians have openly rejected some dogmas and traditions of their own religion. Why are moslems so silent?

I hope this ‘tradition’ will never be imported and imposed in Syria by the Islamist-tainted opposition.

“385. visitor

complaining about somebody being pretentious is usually code for
“i hate how your being smart makes me feel insecure.”

#404,

I am amazed at your ‘ncredible powers’ of inference!!!

Shut up man and go work on your common sense.

This is he second time you claim to know what you do not really know.

#410 Tara

Sorry, my typing..I meant that my wife uses that disguise only in Halloween

Zoo,

Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Did you mean “she”?

SKT Welfare organised 3 charity dinners in UK (Birmingham, Bradford and London), with Sh. Yaqoubi as guest, in the hope of raising £1 million for Syria. The second event (Bradford) yesterday raised £639,000 and so far the total figure has exceeded the target of £1 million. Birmingham raised half-a-million. MashaAllah.

London event is today.

A selection of tweets:
______________________________________________________

SKT Welfare ‏@sktwelfare 15h
London, #SKTWelfare is coming, are you ready? This is the final fundraiser. The bar has been set high! #Stand4Syria #ShaykhMuhammadalYaqoubi

https://twitter.com/sktwelfare/status/292806830642585600

SKT Welfare ‏@sktwelfare 8h
Birmingham stood. Bradford has stood. London, will you too #Stand4Syria today? #ShaykhMuhammadalYaqoubi will be there soon… #SKTWelfare

https://twitter.com/sktwelfare/status/292915079966511104

Aasim Azizurehman ‏@azizurehman91 15h
Bradford raised £639,000 for Syria! MashaAllah, Bradford stood4syria! So far, over £1,139,000 has been raised in the #stand4syria campaign!

https://twitter.com/azizurehman91/status/292808847272333314

406. Uzair8

Forget it, Turkey has enough using the Al Qaeeda islamists to kill Syrians Kurds, its plane in Iraq killing Iraqi Kurds and its soldiers in Turkey killing Turkish kurds.

They won’t send boots or attack Syria as Iran will immediately intervene.

$415 Uzair8

What do you mean fund ‘for Syria’? refugees? opposition, weapons?

Omen,

I think you are my twin brother (or sister)

I identify too much with your moral ground.

#414

Yes… I did.,
Travelling to these countries may make you appreciate the secular, tolerant and authentic atmosphere of Syria.
I pray it does not change

#

Nothing secular about a regime that kill and torture people who refuse to say ” no god except Bashar”. I thought we have already established that.

I posted the question before I saw the edited reply.

Tara

“I thought we have already established that.”

You have, I haven’t.

417. Zoo

Humanitarian help.

Video promo:

Syria: Responding to the Crisis | Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi | SKT Welfare

412. props to you, visitor, for being honest enough not to deny it.

as for my islam question, i didn’t claim knowledge or expertise on the subject. i did humbly ask for you to correct me if i had it wrong.

speaking of which, if you don’t mind another question, what does islam say about name calling and rumor mongering?

Zoo

Then defend your stand. You want a fight. I’ll give you one.

Religion is not only about immortal Gods and ancient books.

Would you call Takfiri ideology secular? What is the difference between those who call for fighting infidels and the regime that burns its citizens alive for refusing to say “no God except Bashar”.

Al Quds Al Arabi is reporting that Anissa has joined her daughter Boushra in Dubai.

Please tell us how is it that the mother and sister have chosen to go live in the GCC country the source of backwardness, lack of Operas, deprived of culture, with a stinking health care, and pot holed roads?

How is it that they are now spending their money in the GCC which is then using that money to fund the rebels in Syria?

Or perhaps she wen to do Athma’s shoe shopping spree?

Cham Press reports that the price of an ounce of gold is 160 000 pounds. The oz of gold on the international market is 1680 dollars which means that the dollar is now worth 95 pounds. In January the frist week I knew that the dollar was worth 90 pounds.

8 months of the siege of Homs and he can only destroy.

6 weeks and he cannot enter Darraya

His own planes are bombing his troops ( by mistake of course ). I do not wish to know what happened to the pilot his wife his children and his parents for bombing by mistake let alone if he defected.

In the meantime the fat boy said that the regime will not negotiate outside of the framework laid down by the boy Prethident in his Operatic speech so what is there to talk about? Surrender? In your and his dreams.

Justice for Hamza in the near future one Shabih at a time in a court of law.

Obsever,

Justice for Hamza one Shabeeh at a time starting with Shabeeh one

“412. props to you, visitor, for being honest enough not to deny it.

speaking of which, if you don’t mind another question, what does islam say about name calling and rumor mongering?”

423,

Again amazed at your reading and comprehension skills!! My previous reply clearly indicates that you do not know what you’re talking about, and thus denies your claim. So what are you proping about? You should have just shut up and gone to learn what I suggested you go and learn. Pathetic!!

You phrased your previous question in a manner which implies you know the answer. And therefore you claimed that which you do not know.

Again your new question is a rhetorical one and therefore ridiculous.

Islam says if you do not know what you are talking then keep your mouth shut.

#415

الله يعطيكم العافيه

7Hijab for the Muslim woman is obligatory by Qura’nic injunctions and by consensus among all the four schools,

السؤال: ما حكم الحجاب في حق المرأة المسلمة، فكثيرًا ما تتعرض المرأة المحجبة عندنا للسخرية من الغير، فهل هو واجب في جميع المذاهب الأربعة؟ وما تفسير الآية الكريمة أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم: {وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ وَيَحْفَظْنَ فُرُوجَهُنَّ وَلا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ وَلا يُبْدِينَ زِينَتَهُنَّ إِلا لِبُعُولَتِهِنَّ أَوْ آبَائِهِنَّ} [سورة النور آية: 31‏]، وهل معنى قوله تعالى: {وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ} [سورة النور آية: 31‏] أي يغطين رؤوسهن وصدورهن مع العنق وهل يدخل الوجه في ذلك إذا كان كذلك فما معنى قوله تعالى: {إِلا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا} [سورة النور آية: 31‏]؟
الإجابة: الحجاب في الجملة واجب بإجماع المسلمين، قال تعالى: {وَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُنَّ مَتَاعًا فَاسْأَلُوهُنَّ مِن وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ ذَلِكُمْ أَطْهَرُ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنَّ} [سورة الأحزاب: آية 53‏]، والضمير وإن كان لزوجات النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فهو عام لجميع نساء الأمة لقوله: {ذَلِكُمْ أَطْهَرُ لِقُلُوبِكُمْ وَقُلُوبِهِنَّ‏} [سورة الأحزاب: آية 53‏]، فهذا تعليل يشمل الجميع؛ لأن طهارة القلوب مطلوبة لكل الأمة، وقال الله تعالى: {يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلابِيبِهِنَّ ذَلِكَ أَدْنَى أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلا يُؤْذَيْنَ} [سورة الأحزاب: آية 59‏]، فهذا عام لجميع النساء من أمهات المؤمنين وبنات الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم وغيرهن من نساء المؤمنين، فالحجاب في الجملة واجب بإجماع المسلمين، والسفور حرام.

وأما المراد بقوله تعالى: {إِلا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا} [سورة النور: آية 31‏]، فالصحيح من قولي المفسرين أن المراد بما ظهر منها: زينة الثياب والحلي، فالمراد بذلك الزينة التي تلبسها المرأة لا زينة الجسم، وإنما المراد بالزينة الظاهرة الزينة التي تلبسها المرأة إذا ظهر منها شيء بغير قصد، فإنها لا تؤاخذ على ذلك، أما إذا تعمدت وأظهرته فإنها تأثم بذلك ويحرم عليها، فقوله: {إِلا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا} [سورة النور: آية 31‏] أي: ظهر من غير قصد، فإذا ظهر شيء من زينة ثياب المرأة أو من حليها من غير قصد فإنها لا تأثم بذلك، ولكن إذا علمت بذلك وتركته أو تعمدت إخراجه وإظهاره فإنها تأثم لما في ذلك من الفتنة للرجال.

وأما قضية إسدال الخمار المأمور به في قوله: {وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَى جُيُوبِهِنَّ} [سورة النور: آية 31‏]، فالمراد بالخمار غطاء الرأس، والمعنى: أنها تغطي بخمارها وجهها ونحرها، فتدلي الخمار من رأسها على وجهها وعلى نحرها خلافًا لما كان عليه الأمر في الجاهلية، فإن نساء الجاهلية كن يكشفن نحورهن وصدورهن ويسدلن الخمار من ورائهن كما جاء في كتب التفسير، والله جل جلاله أمر نساء المسلمين أن يضربن بخمرهن على جيوبهن، والمراد بالجيب فتحة الثوب من أعلاه من الأمام، فهذا يستلزم أن تغطي المرأة وجهها ونحرها ولا يظهر شيء من جسمها، لأن الوجه أعظم زينة في جسم المرأة، وهو محل الأنظار، وهو محل الفتنة، وهو مركز الحسن والجمال، فهذا هو الصحيح في تفسير الآية الكريمة أن الوجه يجب ستره.

وإن كان بعض العلماء يرى جواز كشفه وكشف الكفين، ولكن كلٌّ يؤخذ من قوله ويترك إلا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وهذا القول لا يتناسب مع سياق الآية وما فسرها به أئمة السلف من الصحابة والتابعين حتى إن ابن عباس رضي الله عنهما لما سأله عبيدة السلماني عن معنى قوله تعالى: {يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلابِيبِهِنَّ} [سورة الأحزاب: آية 59‏] أدنى عبد الله بن عباس رضي الله عنهما الغطاء على وجهه وأبدى عينًا واحدة. فهذا تفسير منه للآية، وكان ابن مسعود رضي الله عنه يفسر قوله تعالى: {إِلا مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا} [سورة النور: آية 31‏] بأن المراد زينة الثياب‏ كما ذكرنا، وليس زينة الوجه كما قاله من قاله، فيكون ابن عباس إذًا رجع إلى قول ابن مسعود في آخر الأمرين كما ذكر ذلك شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية رحمه الله: أنه كان في أول الأمر يجوز للمرأة أن تبدي وجهها، ولكن بعدما نزلت آية الحجاب نسخ ذلك، وصارت يجب عليها تغطية وجهها‏.

Saying anything on top and in addition to the above reflects only the opinion of the individual, which means for all practical purposes that the person is not speaking on behalf of Islam. Quite often such opinion is contrary to Islamic teachings.

Visitor,

“والمراد بالجيب فتحة الثوب من أعلاه من الأمام”

Where does it say in Quraan to cover a woman’s face?

Doesn’t the regular hijab (as opposed to Niqab) cover the upper chest area?

430,

The explanation above is clear and should be sufficient.

#424 Tara

Since Bashar Al Assad became president I have never heard that slogan… He would be the first to disapprove if it was used by some of his zealous admirers.

Observer that was a rousing speech except one not grounded in reality. Let’s let Ziad rain on your parade:

THE SYRIAN “OPPOSITION” IS DESPERATE AS SEVERAL EVENTS ARE TAKING PLACE WHICH HAVE COMPLETELY MARGINALIZED THEIR VALUE:

Syrian Perspective can confirm the following events:

1. The Syrian Army has deployed the equivalent of two new military divisions amounting to 20,000 men. All these troops have been trained in anti-insurgency warfare. It appears that the new graduates will be transferred to the Third and Fourth Army Groups in the north of the country.

2. The Syrian High Command has announced the assimilation of 10,000 trained militiamen who will be operating under direct supervision of the Defense Ministry. Of these 10,000 new fighters, 20% are deemed experts in anti-insurgency tactics. This news is from Monzer. He says that these men were all volunteers who insist on taking the battle straight down “the throats of the mercenaries”.

3. PKK fighters are concentrating in the border town of Ra’s Al-Ain on the Turkish front in Al-Hasakeh Governorate. The PKK has condemned Erdoghan’s terrorist government for using the Jihadists to fight its war against the Kurdish people. We can confirm the death of one terrorist rat yesterday at Ra’s Al-Ain.
Hanadi sent me an e-mail from Deir El-Zor confirming a substantial migration of fighters to the town. It appears that the Jihadist rats have started firing missiles on civilian targets.

4. Two large Russian frigates have docked at Tartous with weapons and ordnance for our army. I have no more details than that.

5. Reports of Shi’i fighters joining the battle for Damascus are false. Zionist disinformation outlets keep repeating the same lie. This time the Shi’is are from Iraq and Lebanon. I can confirm that Hizbollah has fighters inside Syria in small numbers in order to relieve Syrian forces from the duty of protecting pilgrims visiting the Sayyida Zeinab shrine south of Damascus. That’s it! Iranian forces inside Syria remain garrisoned near Zabadani in a force exceeding 15,000 men. However, Syria has not asked Iran for any direct military intervention. SyrPer cannot deny that the Iranian forces are in direct contact with Hizbollah in Lebanon and around the shrine.

6. Syria’s Foreign Minister and Minister for Emigre’s has closed the door on NACOSROF and any foreign-backed “opposition group”. This is extremely important for the reason that such a position would have to be approved by both the Russian F.M and Iran’s president. In an interview yesterday on Al-Ikhbariyya in Damascus, Mr. Mouallem put the kibosh on everything the foreign-based opposition is doing. This means very clearly that the war is going well and that analyses of opposition victory are becoming increasingly vague, if not preposterous.

7. The entire strategy fashioned by the West for these terrorist murderers has become a disaster. In battle after battle, the Syrian Army has delivered defeat to the terrorist mercenaries. Here’s some proof from the front confirmed by sources in the know:

http://syrianperspective.blogspot.com/2013/01/first-post-january-20-2013-algerian.html

Visitor,

You answered my question. There is no Quranic verse that says to cover the woman’s face. I am sure you would’ve mentioned it other wise. Thank you.

Zoo,

You never heard this slogan before? Are you joking? It is like one saying he or she never heard of OBL.

It is an unacceptable response.

Tara do you really believe these rodents follow Islam? They are perverting it. It is as if someone like Pat Robertson or another liked-minded fundamentalist zealot took over the US.

Take a look at this creature. Tell me he is a Muslim. Of course he isn’t. He is just a criminal with a sword in his hand threatening to behead people in the name of God.

Tara

To my knowledge, the niqab, blue in Afghanistan (burka), black anywhere else covering the face or part of the face is exclusively a Sunni-Wahhabi-Salafi rule found in all the countries or areas influenced by these ideologies ( Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Pakistan, South Afghanistan, South of Iran, Balouchistan etc..). It is also common in Bosnia.

Niqab is outlawed in Tunisia and France and there were unsuccesfull attempts in Syria to prohibit it. In Turkey it is frowned at and very rare ( even though Erdogan may change that)

The hijab ( covering the body) mandatory in some Islamic countries, optional in others is only found in Islamic countries. It is not used in other religions. For example Jewish religious women shave their head and wear wigs. They also have a dress code similar to the hijab.

435,

Nope!

That’s what YOU said.

It is not what I said in either comment and neither what the Qura’n said.

#435 Tara

Please provide me a sample before or after the uprising, I truly have never seen one.
I am also confident that if there were any, Bashar al Assad will never accept them.
I wouldn’t say the same about megalomaniac Erdogan…

436. MOSSIE

“Tara, do you really believe these rodents follow Islam? They are perverting it.”

Sort of like the way you pervert the Assadists, right, Mossie?

A New Bashar Cartoon:

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/images/stories/2013/Jan11/cartos.jpg

Zoo,

I like the prompt response., 

Here is your sample.  To save time searching I will repost a clip posted earlier by WSS @357.    Ignore the first 1:21 as I am not in favor of bringing up ancient sectarian grievances.    

http://t.co/kSddsWV

Now what say you? 

Reve

An article of Scarlett Haddad in Lebanese french Orient-Le jour confirms what you wrote.

“The Syrian crisis will soon be two years and there is no evidence that President Bashar al-Assad is leaving, despite rumors of his imminent fall by the media. Instead what has filtered from past negotiations between the UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and representatives of Russia and the United States shows that they just stumble on the fate of Bashar al-Assad.

Even more, according to reports in the press and never denied, Brahimi wanted to get from Assad or those who support him a firm commitment that he will not present his candidacy for president in 2014.

The information seems overwhelming because it means two things: not only it assumes that the Syrian president will stay in place until 2014, although the media does not stop announcing his defeat, and secondly that he will remain sufficiently strong and popular in spring 2014 so as to worry other likely candidates, while the Western statements presented him as having lost virtually all the support of his people.

Lebanese personality that monitors the Syrian dossier reveals in this regard that the Russians and the Americans are beginning to seriously discuss the issue of the Syrian crisis. That is a positive factor since it is no longer a secret that the Syrian crisis has become an international issue and a matter of tension between the United States and its allies on the one hand, and the Russians and their allies on the other.

Of course, this does not mean an agreement has been reached, only that negotiations are starting to be serious.

In addition, the repeated statements of Russian Foreign Minister also shows that the Syrian president is a trump card. This suggests that he is not about to leave, that his army remains strong as well as the state apparatus. This is in itself a victory, said the Lebanese personality, considering the huge amount of resources available to his opponents, to the point that the United States and its allies are beginning to reconsider their positions.

They have indeed supported as much as they could the opposition in its diversity, but nearly two years after the onset disorders, it has not yet been able to score a decisive victory likely to reverse the balance of power.

Even worse, the opposition is still not united. In addition, the effective groups on the field are essentially Islamist fanatics who are not doing a service to the opposition as it is losing its credibility and the popular support it enjoyed at the beginning.
Moreover, in areas under its control (especially in the north of the country, on the border with Turkey), it has failed to reassure the population that fled not only the combat zones, but also to areas under the control of Islamist fanatics.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, and especially if there is no foreign military intervention, the situation should remain as it is, unfortunately, still with more bloodshed until an international agreement is reached.

http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/Liban/article/796992/Les_deplaces_syriens%2C_un_dossier_qui_s%27installe_dans_la_duree.html

@ 164 Zoo, re: that Rohde piece for NYT.

Note that Rohde establishes no criteria whatsoever by which success of failure of the French war can be judged. All he says is that they should just attack people in the Sahara indefinitely.

Every war should have a well-defined political objective, a clear chain of command with somebody in charge who is accountable for success or failure in achieving that objective.

A lack of aim, and unclear chain of command, has resulted in the astonishing waste and stupidity of the Western Bloc’s devastation of Afghanistan.

If you accept Rohde’s kind of argument for the Western Bloc intervention in Mali, then you have given carte blanche to imperialists. Rohde blathers a bit about “economic growth” but when you boil his argument down to its essence, all he wants the Western Bloc to do is to keep attacking very poor people in very poor countries, with no clear objective in space or time.

As for Rohde’s point about the “ignorance and brutality” of his captors, one might ask how enlightened or gentle have been the Western captors of Taliban prisoners? As a Canadian, I know for certain that soldiers and officials from my country have repeatedly tortured their prisoners of war in Afghanistan.

Ya Visitor

You are being vague to support your argument. Are you aware of any verse in the holy Quraan that explicitly says women should cover their face? The answer is yes or no.

Visitor, would it surprise you if I to tell you I know the whole Quraan by heart cover to cover? I am a bit less stupid than you think I am.

Tara

Sorry, I wonder if you are serious in making your outrageous claims based on propaganda videos whose authenticity is doubtful and whose audio sound may have been manipulated.

No sensible person in the world would accept that as a proof that supporters of the regime consider Bashar not only as a hero but as a God…I have NEVER seen that reported in any anti-regime newspaper.

I think you choose only what fits your preconceptions and they become THE truth.

It’s no point to argue on that.. Nothing that I have read and seen can convince me of the validity of your accusations.
These are propaganda fallacies that you are spreading.

ZOO,

I understand you are proud of corruption, tortures, thugish and repressive acts for last 42 years, but please leave your Assad idolatry at home. We are fed up. One day Assad will be the black past of Syria and many unmoral and politically uneducated syrians who supported him.

Sandro

oh yeah?

The Assads have been stealing massive amounts of money from all syrians. Also they have owned monopolies like telecoms with no possible competitor not being assassinated. They have been buying flats and land in places like Dubai, Lebanon, and many other countries for billions of dollars stolen to syrians and lebanese people. They have been trafficking arms and promoting unstability for kurds, lebanese, iraqis and palestinians. They have been involved in massive international drugs smuggling all around Asia and South America They have been stealing all the oild and gas pumped in Syria for long years.

Those who defend these thiefs are stupid, ignorant or simply criminals and moral excrements of history.

ZOO,

Go to your american dream city with your american dollars while you try to make us believe you are an arab and you love Syria. It really suxxx to hear the rich syrians defending the decaying elites of a decaying regime. You never deserved to own a nice country like Syria and ruling a great people like syrians. The elites in Syria are worse than jewish dealing with palestinians.

Zoo,

If you are going to dismiss anything i will show you as a propaganda why did you ask me for proof? What proof are you looking for exactly? An Op-ed piece from SANA?

And how then you are different from any cultist?

450. TARA

“Zoo, why do you ask me for proof? What proof are you looking for?”

Forget these clowns, Tara. The Assadists (Zoo and Mossie and those of that ilk) always ask for proof. And yeah, what are we supposed to give them? If you gave the Basharboys the bloody clothes off the victims of a shabeeha massacre, they’d want a lab analysis of the blood. If you show them a YouTube of a massacre, they’ll say it was faked. The fact is, they have nothing and they want you to have nothing, too. Ignore them.

A New Bashar Cartoon:

http://africartoons.com/sites/default/files/images/20130107_Brandan_BD.preview.png

Tara why do you fall for these YouTube videos that are obviously terrorist propaganda?

A good example is the “defection” of the pilot and him turning his MIG on the army. Where is the proof? Al Arabiya put the story out and other media picked it up but even most Western media haven’t reported it – some Israeli press has but that’s about it. I haven’t even seen the story on Al Jazeera. You’d think the pilot would have taken his MIG to Turkey or Jordan but I’ve not seen any reports of that either. If he had it would be blazed all over the press for propaganda purposes.

@ 448 “Also they have owned monopolies like telecoms with no possible competitor not being assassinated. They have been buying flats and land in places like Dubai, Lebanon, and many other countries for billions of dollars stolen to syrians and lebanese people. They have been trafficking arms and promoting unstability for kurds, lebanese, iraqis and palestinians. They have been involved in massive international drugs smuggling all around Asia and South America They have been stealing all the oild and gas pumped in Syria for long years.”

In the US AT&T, and a few others, have a monopoly on telecom at the behest of the financial oligarchy. It is the same in many countries. Are you trying to say people are being beheaded because their is a telecom monopoly? LOL that’s crazy.

Your charges are baseless. We need proof not Internet forum chatter.

Our boys find drugs when we capture terrorist dens. Are you trying to say Bashar sold them these drugs? That’s ludicrous. You will say anything. You look ridiculous – like a little puppet and the puppet-masters are the enemies of Syria.

Cameron boy should clean up London from Talibans before he advocated
For Syrian Talibans:
http://www.alarabiya.net/mob/ar/261497.html

453. REVENIRE

Definetely you have no idea about Syria. You are an intruder. I am sure you also defend Mr. Malboro in Algiers and Mali because they are fighting the ¨imperial west¨.

Monopolies work in Europe that´s true, but normally you do not get killed for denouncing them, as it happened in Syria.

#444,

I’m by no means vague. But you chose to insert your own reading into clear verses and ckear explanations.

The answer is YES. The 7hijab includes the face cover. But it may not necessarily look like the niqab. We know, and I know from personal experience having visited relatives in Tartous when I was only five, that Syrian women use a very ubiquitous form of face cover which in Arabic could be referred to as بيشي or in some places ملاية and that is meant to cover the face. This face cover is used widely in almost all Syrian cities.

Knowing the Qura’n by heart is good for you. Understanding it for the purpose of abiding by it is another.

In case you’re wondering what happened in my Tartous visit, that is a personal story. But just to clear a confusion that you created sometime ago, my dad is Syrian while my mom is Lebanese and that’s why you confused me with someone from Lebanon. And that’s also how my family was able to outsmart the Baathists by transferring all its assets to Lebanon when the Baathists took over. My father has a cousin who diasappeared right after that visit in the mid 80s and we never heard fom him since. He was taken by the mukhabarati thugs and his mom went crazy after the incident. She was well known in the city and at one time was the head of some union in all of Syria. The cousin who disappeared was her eldest, was very religous and he taught me a lot about the Ja7sh plans for Syria during that visit. I hope to see him some day when the revolution succeeds and the coast is liberated from these thugs once and for all.

Returning after a long absence Walid Muallem has given birth to another proposal, which I’m afraid has arrived stillborn.

Perhaps it was conceived during the unannounced visit to Tehran in July? It would be premature to think the opposition would accept this suggestion. They aren’t desperate enough to compromise on their core demands.

Btw has anyone seen new pics of the foreign minister? Does he look more relaxed and happier. Previously he always looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his person.

Sandro you don’t know what you’re talking about and can make no claims as to who is, or who isn’t, Syrian. You sound like a madman.

I support our government. You don’t.

“If the regional sides and those on the ground showed readiness to halt violence, then the Syrian Army will stop its operations immediately, except for the self-defense case and for protecting popular and private properties.” – Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem

What more could anyone want?

What is your plan for ending the war Sandro? Mine is to allow those who will set down their guns to enter negotiations and to mercilessly eliminate all those who won’t. I advocate a carpet bombing campaign – where possible – followed by gassing those who attempt to escape. My plan will save lives.

Over two years we’ve seen 10s of 1000s of Syrians die. How many more Syrians have to die for a foreign conspiracy to destroy the resistance axis?

I will look forward to your plan. Let’s hope it doesn’t start with “Assad must go” because that just dooms thousands more Syrians to death.

“Returning after a long absence Walid Muallem has given birth to another proposal, which I’m afraid has arrived stillborn.”

UZAIR8 are you head of negotiations for the opposition? You’ve certainly said more about it than Mouaz Al-Khatib.

My guess is you are yet another US citizen blabbing their fool head off all day long on the Internet.

459. MOSSIE

“My guess is you are yet another US citizen blabbing their fool head off all day long on the Internet.”

My guess is you’re a US citizen with his hair up his ass about the Arab Spring. Your English is perfectly American and your knowledge of the Middle East is minimal, Mossie. I think you’re working for the other side (hence the name, Mossie) and I think you’re doing a not very good job. You’re too hostile and unforgiving. Part of your job, Mossie, is to shake the other side’s confidence and you don’t do that by beating them over the head and pissing them off. You need to take a break and unwind at an Israeli safe house out in the Northern Virginia horse country…

Mualem can give birth to a few more proposals, a couple of cows, 6 sheep, an alligator or two and still be a fat liar.

Hamster we look forward to your solution to end the war. We are all ears. So far I’ve seen nothing but childish comments.

@ Sandra

Agreed. At the best, the Assad family is like the Mafia. At the worst, they are like a cult.

Rebels learn urban warfare in fight against Assad

Anisa is now living in Dubai.

Shaykh Mubhammad bin Rashed has the moral obligation to arrest her with her daughter and hand them over to face war crime charges.

On the other hand, it appears France will have no better luck in Mali than the Americans had in either Afghanistan or Iraq. France lost two helicopters already in the first week of its African safari adventure.

Considering the state of the French economy, comparing it to the US economy taking into consideration scaling factors, Mali may well turn out to be, as some have predicted, the grave site of French paratroopers as well as the final nail towards France’ bankruptcy.

Hanzala that isn’t a base outside of Damascus. It is a fraud. If that was going on outside Damascus they’d be bombed to Hell in about two seconds. What a joke.

Flush them.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/72888_455974437785442_474512024_n.jpg

There are rules of hospitality towards women and children which, perhaps, are best not broken.

Hello REVENIRE ! nice to see you !

Russia starts major naval drills in Mediterranean Sea amid Syria crisis
http://presstv.com/detail/2013/01/20/284563/russia-starts-largest-drills-near-syria/
Russia has launched its largest naval exercises in decades in the Mediterranean and Black Seas near the territorial waters of Syria amid the ongoing crisis in the Arab country……

The Bared Teeth of the Syrian War: Qatar Feels the Brunt
http://orientalreview.org/2013/01/17/the-bared-teeth-of-the-syrian-war-qatar-feels-the-brunt/
High-ranking officials in Qatar who wished to remain anonymous told Arabic news agencies that the Qatar monarchy was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Syrian rebels and the Syrian opposition. Widespread instances of bribery and the dissipation of funds by rebel leaders, who are “spending more and more of their time in hotels in Turkey, Europe, countries in the Gulf and Egypt” instead of performing combat missions, are responsible for this change in attitude towards those behind the Syrian revolution. Both newly-organised and veteran Syrian opposition coalitions have long preferred to keep the billions of dollars provided by the Qatar monarchy for the battle against the Syrian government in their own personal bank accounts in the USA and other countries.

Visitor

I am sorry for your loss and I hope your family will reunite soon.

The Amir of UAE is a supporter of Batta. He is providing the regime with material support. That is why Anisa and Bushra went to Dubai.

It is hilarious how quick the blowback from Libya emerged in Mali, as well as Libya itself.

Let the West support al-Qaeda in Syria all they want. Then we’ll see civil war in Europe within a few decades, when the foreign fighters return, with expertise in destroying secular states.

Like their counterparts and friends in the Puntin’s russian mafia, the ass-ads smuggled some of their loots to Dubai.

And whose fault was that?

It was Gaddafi who armed the insurgents stalking Mali.

Put the blame where it belongs.

In Syria, many of the foreign fighters fighting against Assad today were allowed into Iraq from Syria to fight against the Americans. Now they’re at war with Assad. In Syria. Amusing.

So perhaps the lesson hits closer to home, Habib.

Happy New Year to My Internet friend Visitor

My dear Visitor I have been on vacation for 4 weeks you were always in my thoughts; why? Well everywhere I pull to park my car with my lovely wife next to me, I was parking at the Visitor’s car spots, be it the hotels, restaurants, shops etc. I reckon to make sure you do not torment your opponents who disagree with you, we need to change your profile to “Permanent Resident” since Citizen is already used and you are no longer a Visitor anyway.

I have realized that you no longer start your posts with Surat Al-Ikhlas and I am wondering whether all those palaces Allah has built for your are empty and you need to rent them out? I especially loved that post to Irritated where it started and ended with the Surah.
Non-the-less, I had a philosophical question to ask you and it appears appropriate at this time as you are engaged in an exchange with Tara:

I believe Allah’s Messenger has said for every 10 recitals of Surat Al-Ikhlas, Allah will build you a palace in his paradise and for about 200 recitals you get many years of forgiveness (I forgot exact number here). Also, Allah’s Messenger seems to have said that most of hells residents are women.

What will happen if someone like Tara, who knows the whole Quran by heart yet still asks silly questions from time to time, recites Surat Al-Ikhlas so many times that she gets many many years of credits and many palaces that she becomes the “Jack Trump” of Allahs Paradise and she goes to these tequila drinking parties and given she only has a small chance of being admitted to paradise in the first place. Who gets all those Palaces that Allah has built for her? Somehow it seems that there will be many empty palaces in Islamic Paradise!

Another philosophical question, Allah has said that He created Jinn and People for the sole purpose to worship Him. What is in it for Him that people and Jinn engage in this activity and he has to build palaces?

friends in the Puntin’s russian mafia!
get it:

ANTI OPPOSITION
Headquarters of the struggle with the opposition
http://anty-oppozition.livejournal.com/

I think Assad family can be used as hostage,they should never feel safe in Dubai,they can be used to force Assad to give concessions and save Syrian lives.

Omen asked
what does islam say about name calling and rumor mongering?

Omen your question is not accurate, there is difference between friends or brothers, and between enemies
1- between friend it is forbidden to call others but by their real name,to call them by degrading names is forbidden because it cause them to seperate angry of each other.
2- for enemies it is allowed.

On Syria, Latin Absence from ICC Call, Pillay’s Benetech, Late Letters

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 — After the Syria briefing and stakeout by Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, now it is announced that five Security Council member will come to issue a joint statement: France, United Kingdom, Australia, Luxembourg and the Republic of Korea.

These five signed on to the letter urging the Council — that is, themselves — to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. The US, which hasn’t joined the ICC, didn’t dare sign on to the letter (though the US did vote to refer Libya to the ICC in Security Council Resolution 1970.)

Among members of the Security Council not signing on to the ICC call coordinated by Switzerland, and not listed in the UN Media Alert for the post-Pillay joint statement are Guatemala and Argentina — the country of former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

Meanwhile, the January 18 UN Journal, on a seven and a half month delay, made public letters from Syria dated May 31, 2011. Earlier this week Syria’s Permanent Representative Bashar Ja’afari complained about the UN delaying publication of its submissions to the Security Council, which have included lists of foreign fighters killed in Syria.

Today, Inner City Press is putting online a copy of Syria’s response to the US State Department funded Benetech’s report on deaths in Syria, commissioned for $25,000 by Pillay’s office — click here for that, here for the most recent of Inner City Press’ five stories on the topic

[…]

http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1benelatin011813.html

Russia will not cave into US over Syria: Dr. Webster Tarpley
http://youtu.be/N5EL2LeDrM4?t=18s
An analyst says the fact that Russia has stood firmly against the US drive to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power has made Washington unable in imposing its will regarding the issue. The comment comes as Moscow’s call for taking into account Assad’s three-step plan comes in the face of opposition from the United States and Britain, who dismissed the initiative and insisted that Assad should stand down. On Friday, UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi wrapped up talks in Geneva with US and Russian representatives, during which he again rejected all calls for a military solution to the Syria crisis.

“We stressed again that in our view, there was no military solution to this conflict,” Brahimi said on Friday after meetings with US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov at the United Nations European headquarters. Press TV has conducted an interview with author and historian Webster Griffin Tarpley from Washington to further discuss the issue.

On Syria, “ICC 5” Promote Doomed Referral Plan, France No Answers on Mali

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 18 — After the Syria briefing of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, five Security Council Permanent Representatives came to tell the press of their countries’ support for referring the matter to the International Criminal Court.

The countries were France and the UK, and new members Australia, Luxembourg and South Korea.

They said that “one country” in the closed door meeting was against referral to the ICC. When they finished, another Security Council member told Inner City Press this was far from true, that there is much more extensive opposition in the Council.

Of Pillay herself, on Syria, Inner City Press asked why her Office outsourced its study of casualties to Benetech, a firm funded by the US State Department, and wouldn’t disclose which two other companies her spokesman says were considered, or even what the criteria for selection were. Click here for that.

Pillay said Benetech worked on Kosovo; she did not answer on her Office’s lack of transparency on this. Video here, from Minute 5:25. (Pillay answered another Inner City Press question, which we’ll separately report.)

Of Security Council president Masood Khan, Inner City Press asked if the hostages in Algeria had been raised — Inner City Press had heard the UK had raised it, but wanted this confirmed — and if France has given any update to the Security Council on its military intervention in Mali.

Khan told Inner City Press that France has given no such update — this even as more legal and political questions are arising about France’s intervention at the invitation of Malian authorities including coup leader Amadou Sanogo.

Khan confirmed that the Algeria issue arose, and may give rise to a press statement.

But when French Ambassador Gerard Araud, UK Ambassador Lyall Grant and the three other representatives who did not speak (welcome to the Security Council!) came out, no question about Mali was allowed.

Araud’s spokesman directed the microphone (at least he didn’t seize the mic, like another UN Frenchman). After a slew of questions along the line of how Assad could be referred to the ICC despite opposition in the Security Council, it was over.

So the French Mission to the UN not only does not update the Security Council as its bombings in Mali killed civilians and have cross-border impacts — they also don’t select questions on the topic.

[…]

http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1iccfrmali011813.html

Syria does not have a government. It has a militia that has made the country its private estate and enslaved the people.

Dalila went to prison for objecting to the phone monopoly. How about the banana monopoly that one of the cousins had and would kill anyone that would come close to challenging his authority.

How about the governor of Dera’a? Was he brought to justice as promised by the boy Prethident.

Those that support the criminal enterprise that is Thouria Alatahd are either delusional or criminal by association.

Again prove to me that there is a shred of legitimacy to this regime; from its coup d’etat to its mascarade of a presidential election to the garbage constitution that enshrines the rule above the law.

This is a disaster we have been living since 1963 and only the incredible resilience of the people have allowed this gruesome monstrosity to remain.

Justice for Hamza

How can you say that Kadafi armed the extremists in Mali. They took the arms from Kadafi’s army after the fall, which was supported by the west. And it’s now a proven fact that those extremist groups, particularly Ansar el Din received shipments of arms, in Mali, from Qatar months ago.

Observer lie down for a nap.

Syria opposition meets to name PM-in-exile
By AFP | AFP – 5 hours ago

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syria-opposition-meets-name-pm-exile-193720752.html

“A proposal was made to name Riad Hijab but it has run into much criticism,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
….
Subdued and short on charisma, the 46-year-old Sunni Muslim holds a doctorate in agricultural engineering, but owes his steep ascent in Syria’s ruling party to his unwavering loyalty to Assad and the ruling Baath Party.
….
Meanwhile Assad’s mother Anisa Makhluf has left the war-torn country and joined her daughter in Dubai, Syrian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates and an activist said on Sunday.

Makhluf’s “departure from Syria is another indication of Assad losing support even from within his family,” said Ayman Abdel Nour, head of the newly formed group Syrian Christians for Democracy.

المجموعات المسلحة تحاول اللجوء الى الخديعة من خلال طلب الهدنة
http://www.xeber24.net/nuce/4088-7458.html

“Makhluf’s ‘departure from Syria is another indication of Assad losing support even from within his family,’ said Ayman Abdel Nour, head of the newly formed group Syrian Christians for Democracy.”

LOL Batta’s mother-in-law hates him.

They have some really funny writers in the propaganda department. I love it.

# 485

“Makhluf’s ‘departure from Syria is another indication of Assad losing support even from within his family,’ said Ayman Abdel Nour, head of the newly formed group Syrian Christians for Democracy.”

LOL Batta’s mother-in-law hates him.

They have some really funny writers in the propaganda department. I love it.”

—–

That proves Reve is not Syrian. ” Makhluf” referred to by the article is not Batta’s mother in law. Anisa Makhluf is Batta’s mother. A common knowledge by Syrians that is obviously lacking in Reve’s knowledge. What a pity!

LOL desperate desperate Tara out to “prove” who is really Syrian.

Tara you’re so twisted inside you can’t even laugh at a joke.

🙁

So Anisa Makhlouf has abandoned ship (Russian ship on the coast) and fled to Dubai?

What a difference a name makes. I will add the insight of this post to what Amjad of Arabia told me about the dangers of giving ones name in public (for Syrians inside and out, expats and deportees, of any political stripe); this is from the blog of the editor of AL-Monitor, Antoun Issa …

The politics of my “SSNP” name

As with most things in Lebanon, individual names are quickly affiliated with a certain sect or faction.

For an Australian-born and raised journalist of Lebanese origins working in Lebanon, affiliations associated with my name can put me in hot water.

“Antoun” is the Arabic form of “Anthony”, “Tony”, “Antoine”, “Antonio” and whatever other variation of this name exists.

It is a name common among Levantine Christians, but in Lebanon, my variation “Antoun” is a stark minority compared to the number of “Antoines” and “Tonys”.

Antoine vs Antoun

“Antoine” is a favourite among Francofied Maronite Lebanese, while “Antoun” is often referred to Antoun Saadeh, the founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).

The SSNP began in the 1930s as an anti-French, anti-colonial, staunchly nationalist party that wanted to reinforce Middle Eastern culture by rejecting any association with French or Western culture.

They scorned the Francofied Lebanese who adopted “Antoine” instead of “Antoun”, and other French names like “Camille”, “Claude”, “Pierre” and so forth. By contrast, most SSNP families, including its Christian members, stuck to Arabic names for their children.

The choice of my name was a compromise between my mother and father. Mum wanted to name her last child after her father, Antoine, a Maronite who was shot dead by suspected Palestinian militiamen in the Lebanese civil war in his Beirut home in 1976. My grandfather was not partisan, nor involved with the Phalangists – the main Maronite militia at the time – but his area was known to be a Phalangist stronghold during the war, and a frontline against neighbouring Palestinian camps.

My father, coming from an SSNP Orthodox family in the north, agreed to my mother’s proposal, with the sole exception – keeping in line with SSNP nationalist tradition – that it was the Arabic version “Antoun”.

Antoun the “Qawmi Souri“

Introducing my name in Lebanon over the past year has often been met with “ahh Qawmi Souri (SSNP)” from a variety of sectors, be them March 8 sympathisers or Lebanese Forces (LF – the traditional rivals of the SSNP).

I could write a thousand stories cursing the SSNP, but the name of “Antoun” – more specifically, I – will forever be identified with the SSNP for the majority of politicised Lebanese who cannot see beyond their sectarian lens.

One encounter was in a bar in Mar Mikhael, a Christian neighbourhood now becoming an evening hot spot.

At the bar, I found myself chatting to the owner, a jovial fella. A lot of small business owners in Beirut believe their confident sense of humour will attract foreigners and patrons, and are often fun to mingle with.

After a drink or two, “I’m George.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Antoun”

“Ahh Qawmi Souri.” The man was clearly not a fan of the SSNP, and most likely an LF sympathiser.

“Ok, thanks. Cheers.” I turned to join my friends, I wasn’t going to bother arguing the point on my night off.

This memory resurfaced, however, in downtown Beirut on Sunday as I was running with angry March 14 youths hurling projectiles at the police and army in front of the government’s headquarters, who responded with volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets.

Amidst the chaos, I found myself in conversation with some of the young men, as we ran back and forth to avoid the tear gas. Most of them were from Tarik el-Jdideh, a poor Sunni neighbourhood that has also been at the centre of recent clashes with the army and neighbouring Shia areas.

“Where are you from?”

“I’m a journalist from Australia.” My Arabic was rough, but my colloquial Lebanese is good enough to demonstrate that I’m a Lebanese from abroad.

“What the hell brought you back here? Take us to Australia. What’s your name?”

“Anto… (and then I remembered, if I said my name, they would most likely think I’m SSNP and … lynch me?) Anthony.”

“Nice to meet you Anthony, I’m Ahmad.”

Phew. I think I’ll use that from now on, as I navigate between Lebanon’s shaky sectarian and political faultlines.