Kurds and FSA Fight as Clinton’s Efforts to Build New Government Stir Hornet’s Nest
Posted by Joshua on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012
Kurds and FSA Build Bad Blood
The brewing war between Syria’s Kurds and Arabs may not wait until Assad falls. The murder of Nujeen Dirik, the 42 year old Kurdish female militia leader from Aleppo, by the FSA is likely to spark revenge killings. The FSA in Aleppo lured Dirik into a trap by making a deal to exchange bodies of the dead and kidnapped supporters. When Dirik led a group of Kurdish fighters to the anti-regime insurgents to make the hand-off, she was snatched. A week later she was killed by the FSA rather than traded.
Dirik headed a militia unit charged with protecting the Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud districts of Aleppo. This was a clear show of force by the FSA meant to demonstrate to the Kurds not to try to intimidate FSA insurgents. The Kurds may suck up this defeat and choose not to launch a war of vengeance, but it is unlikely that they will not make a move to reassurt their control over the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood that was penetrated by FSA troops last week.
Syria rebels kill woman Kurd militia leader: NGO
November 02, 2012, Agence France Presse
BEIRUT: Syrian rebels have killed a Kurdish woman militia leader in the northern city of Aleppo, highlighting growing tensions between anti-regime fighters and the Kurds, a monitoring group said Friday.
“Shaha Ali Abdu, also known as Nujeen Dirik, was killed early on Friday. She headed a Kurdish popular defence unit that is part of the Democratic Union Party (PYD),” Syria’s branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “She was killed a week after she was captured by rebels,” the Britain-based watchdog added. The PYD opposes the regime of President Bashar al-Assad but has taken a neutral position in ongoing fighting in embattled Aleppo, the country’s commercial hub.
A wider Arab-Kurdish war could follow any regime change in Damascus” says Joost Hilterman http://ow.ly/eXR23
No matter who wins Tuesday’s election, U.S. likely to become entangled in Syria’s war
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers
“I believe America does not want to do anything, but to allow Bashar Assad to destroy Syria,” said Haythem al-Maleh, a former judge and political activist. “Only in Syria can the army kill people without any limit, with people of the world just looking on.”
Syria’s rebels fear foreign jihadis in their midst
As Salafis arrive to seek final battle with Shias, one town elder claims: ‘They will demand that we return to the seventh century’
Martin Chulov in Aleppo, guardian, 1 Nov 2012
In early summer, Abu Ismael, a six-year veteran of al-Qaida, left the insurgency still blazing in his homeland of Iraq and travelled to what he believes is the start of the apocalypse.
He secured cash from a benefactor in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, then approached a weapons dealer in Anbar province, a desolate corner of the country that was not long ago a staging point for jihadis arriving from Syria and is now a gateway for those going the other way.
“It was easy,” he said, in the sitting room of a house in the Syrian city of Aleppo. “The money was no problem, neither was the weapon, or the motivation. This will be a fight against the great enemy.”
Around the hard-bitten 23-year-old sat three members of a Syrian rebel militia who were acting as his hosts. They looked at the floor as the young jihadi explained Qur’anic teachings that he said were shaping the battle ahead. “I don’t care about the future,” he said. “I care about today. Muhammad the Messenger said there would be a battle between the Persians and the Sunnis. And it is coming.
“When the regime falls, all those who fought against the Muslims will be my enemy, especially the Shias,” he said, reiterating a view held by some Sunni extremists that Shia are their biggest foes.
The hosts shifted nervously, still avoiding eye contact. The stranger in their midst had sought refuge among them two months ago. Since then he had rented a house, won a ride to the battle zone whenever he wants and earned the support of some of the area’s rebel units.
He has even won a more coveted prize: the right to marry the daughter of one of the fighter’s cousins, a union that took place on Thursday with the qualified blessing of residents and clerics.
Not everyone in the unit was happy with the wedding. “It’s you scratch my back, I scratch yours,” said one young rebel, Abu Saif. “He’s a Salafi, there is no doubt about that,” he added, referring to the ultra-fundamentalist school of Qur’anic thinking. “And he doesn’t represent what we believe.”
Remonstrating with the unnamed young girl’s uncle sitting nearby, Abu Saif said: “You tell me what benefit we get from him, or that your family gets.” The uncle shrugged, offering no reply.
As Syria’s civil war grinds inexorably on, it is becoming as much a clash of ideologies as a battle of military will. The frontlines that were hurriedly carved out of Aleppo’s ancient stone heart and concrete suburbs during the heady days of summer now seem almost secondary in the contest to determine the type of society that will one day rise from the ruins.
For the most part, the opposition movement is staying true to the ethos that led many of the country’s towns and citizens to mount a challenge to President Bashar al-Assad’s absolute state control over their lives. But around the fringes, there are signs that the revolution’s original values are starting to fray. The narrative of a defiant street versus a draconian state, so simple in March 2011, is now far more complicated.
“We want just what they got in Tunis and Egypt,” said Mahmoud Razak, a shop-keeper in the outer suburbs. “Freedom and the chance to progress in life. But we thought it would take 19 days like it took [in Egypt]. It’s now 19 months. We didn’t know it would be this difficult.”
To those now hosting Abu Ismael, the Iraqi jihadi embodies one of the major problems. Though for the most part conservative and pious, the men of this part of Aleppo refuse to see the crisis now consuming Syria in existential terms. To them, this is still a fight for self-determination, not the forum for an apocalyptic showdown with a preordained foe.
“What is this global jihad that he talks about?” asked a town elder, Abu Abdullah, after the Iraqi had left to prepare for his wedding. “We will be used as toys by them, just as the Sunni communities were in Iraq. When they have had their way with us they will demand that we return to the seventh century under the blade of a sword.”
Abu Ismael made no secret of his wish for Syria to be the heartland of an al-Qaida-led renaissance. Nor, unusually, did he hide what he had done in Iraq, or what he planned to do in the new war. In a candid hour-long discussion, he offered a rare insight into the terror group’s designs on Syria and the organisation’s fraught battle to assert itself. “I was a member of the al-Qaida organisation from 2005-11,” he said, his black eyes set in an unflinching stare. “I joined them with my father when I was 16 and apart from one and a half months in prison, I was very active in every way.”
The young Iraqi’s attire and demeanour were unmistakably those of a Salafi. He refused cigarettes, cuffed the bottoms of his fatigues at ankle level and wore a black skull cap over closely cropped black hair. More instructively, he spoke with derision about Shia Muslims, whom he said were increasingly travelling to Syria to fight the Sunni-led opposition.
“They are saying they are going to protect the Sit Zeinab mosque in Damascus,” he said of a shrine revered by Shias. “The Jaish al-Mahdi [Mahdi army] and Hezbollah are just using that as cover to enter the rest of Syria. We will not let them. We will attack it, perhaps not to destroy it, but to drive them out.
“There are around 50 Iraqis in each area of northern Syria. Perhaps more. It was not difficult to get here and it is not hard to find other mujahideen. We can fight where we want to and when we want to. And God willing we will prevail.”
His restless hosts were not so sure. Bound by social customs that offer wayfarers shelter and hospitality, this rebel unit seemed to sense that trouble is brewing between them and the growing band of global jihadis. Many rebel groups the Guardian spoke to this week said a showdown was looming with the new arrivals.
“I give it six months,” said one rebel officer at a checkpoint in the old market place in the central Aleppo suburb of Midan on Thursday. “Maybe a year,” said another. “I was in Iraq fighting the Americans and I saw how they changed once they sensed they had power.”
“It’s so mixed up,” said a third young rebel, a defector from Damascus. “And this is just how Bashar wants it.”
Rise of the Salafis
Bashar al-Assad has insisted from the start that Syria was facing attack by “armed terrorist gangs”, not a popular uprising – though there is ample evidence of the army firing on mostly unarmed demonstrators. But it has become clear that extremist Salafi or jihadi groups, some linked to al-Qaida, are now a significant element of the armed opposition.
Alongside fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq or Fatah al-Islam from Lebanon is the mysterious Jabhat al-Nusra, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Damascus and Aleppo. It is sympathetic to al-Qaida. Others hail from Jordan, Libya and Algeria.
The overwhelming majority of jihadis are Syrian, with the number of foreigners ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 members. Jihadi groups in Syria represent less than 10% of all fighters. Still, many have combat experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Libya and compete for funds and weapons with the Free Syrian Army, the main armed opposition group.
“Most foreign fighters go abroad to defend their fellow Muslim brethren from being slaughtered,” according to Aaron Y Zelin, an analyst at the Washington Institute.
“Once in the area of battle, though, many come into closer contact with hardline jihadis, as well as fighters from other countries, and are exposed to new ideas.
“Therefore, portions of foreign fighters are not fighting to help establish a future state for Syrian nationals. Rather, they hope to annex it to be part of their grander aims of establishing emirates that will eventually lead to a re-established caliphate – however fanciful this project might be.” Ian Black
Syrian opposition group tells U.S. to stay out of internal politics
By Roy Gutman | McClatchy Newspapers
ISTANBUL — A U.S. decision to de-recognize a Syrian exile umbrella group and to propose a new political forum – and even who should be on it – drew an angry response from opposition figures Thursday, who charged that Washington was trying to impose its will on them while passively watching the bombardment of cities and towns by the Assad regime.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the United States would no longer view the Syrian National Council “as the visible leader” of the opposition and said she had “recommended names and organizations which we believe should be included in any leadership structure.”
“The politics of the United States are very, very bad, very stupid,” said Mohammed Sarmini, spokesman for the Syrian National Council, whose 310 members represent most of the major parties and organizations in exile. “This may be an American project, but it is very offensive to the Syrian people. You should support us on the ground, not get into our politics.”
A respected Syrian scholar who heads a Washington think tank was equally critical.
“I think that no country . . . can interfere or can impose the leaders on the Syrian opposition,” said Radwan Ziadeh, executive director of the Syrian Center for Political and Strategic Studies, who’s also a Syrian National Council member. “I call on the international community to back and support the Syrian opposition groups so they can organize themselves, not to interfere in the different groups.”
The U.S. move came on the eve of a conference in Doha, Qatar, where the Syrian National Council, known as the SNC, plans to elect a new board and restructure itself, then later meet with other groups not under its umbrella and forge a common strategy. The meetings coincide with the U.S. presidential election.
Clinton said she had consulted European allies and members of the Arab League before reaching the decision, but there were signs that the Obama administration may be out of touch with Syrian exile politics.
Just as Clinton was speaking in Zagreb, Croatia, to reporters accompanying her on a two-day swing through the Balkans, Ziadeh was wrapping up a three-day conference in an Istanbul suburb where all the Syrian opposition parties reached accord on a plan leading to a transitional government.
Jihadist killing of captives widens the split among rebel fighters in Syria
Martin Chulov in Aleppo, Guardian
Islamists are being favoured with arms and funds
Rebel groups are accusing Syria’s military council of infighting and nepotism and a failure to lead in the wake of a video that shows an opposition unit killing around two dozen captured regime soldiers.
Armed opposition units across the Aleppo hinterland say the western-backed council is failing in its bid to create a co-ordinated opposition army, partly because of its refusal to deal with Islamist-leaning Syrian groups.
The groups say the military council’s favouritism towards some units means other militias are unwilling to act with discipline or to be held accountable. The disturbing scenes of the captured regime troops being killed, shortly after their post near Damascus was overrun, have angered rebel units in the north.
“We have to show we are different from the regime,” said Sheik Omar Othman from the Islamist-leaning Liwat al-Tawheed unit in Aleppo. “Because they do it, it means that we don’t.”
Syrian Islamist groups have been at the vanguard of the fighting in Aleppo for the past three months, but are not able to match the better-armed and funded global jihadist units, who are increasingly taking centre stage in the war for the north of the country.
“This will soon mean that Jabhat al-Nusraf (an al-Qaida-aligned group) will be the only group capable of mounting the lethal operations on bases and security headquarters,” said a leader of Liwat al-Tawheed, which has been a key player in the fighting in Aleppo. “It already means that we can’t win without them.”
Islamist groups in Aleppo say that they aim to do no more than oust the Assad regime. Most of their clerics and leaders reject the ideology of the jihadists, who openly view the battle in Syria as a vital phase of a global sectarian war.
With Aleppo effectively locked in stalemate since mid-August, commanders from Liwat al-Tawheed and other units in and around Syria’s second city have been travelling to near the Turkish border to meet military council leaders. “They say, ‘join us, or we won’t give you anything’,” said Othman. “We are not opposed to doing that if it means that we get a share of the weapons that they are distributing…..
Syria Media Roundup (November 1) – Jadiliyya
WSJ [Reg]: Iran Hides Behind Exotic Flags to Help Syria
2012-11-01 BY BENOÎT FAUCON
LONDON—Iran is playing a complex game of cat-and-mouse as it tries to assist its ally Syria while avoiding tighter international sanctions on its oil trade. Iran is shipping oil to Syria by hiding vessels behind front companies and exotic flags to evade international sanctions and aid its isolated ally, according to sanctions experts and people in the shipping industry.
Iran sent an oil tanker loaded with refined products from its Persian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas to Syria’s Mediterranean terminal at Baniyas last week, according to ship-tracking website Marine Traffic, which follows radio signals emitted by vessels, and a shipping official working at the Syrian oil port.
When it docked at Baniyas, the tanker was named the Hillari and was flying the Honduran flag, the …
Reuters reports: Syrian rebels said on Wednesday they had begun arming sympathetic Palestinians to fight a pro-Assad faction in a Palestinian enclave in Damascus – a move which could fuel spiraling intra-Palestinian violence. Two rebel commanders told Reuters they expected their Palestinian allies to fight the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command […]
CIA Takes Heat for Role in Libya
By ADAM ENTOUS, SIOBHAN GORMAN and MARGARET COKER
Wall Street Journal, November 1, 2012
Death toll at more than 100,000 in Syria, estimates European diplomat in Istanbul who closely monitors Syria” http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/11/01/173336/syrian-opposition-group-tells.html#storylink=cpy …
Gregg Carlstrom: Press conference for this big Syrian opposition confab in Doha is scheduled for… Nov. 6. Election day. Syrian rebels, you need new PR guys
What is Hezbollah’s Role in the Syrian Crisis?
Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 10 Issue: 20
November 2, 2012, By: Nicholas A. Heras
[Photo: Ali Hussein Nassif (Source Yalibnan)]Recent reports of an increase in Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria’s civil war as combatants alongside the Syrian military represent a potentially sharp escalation in the regional impact of the ongoing conflict. Accusations concerning Hezbollah’s military support for the Assad government leveled by the party’s Lebanese political opponents, the Syrian opposition and pro-opposition states have been persistent since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011.Hezbollah’s leadership has replied that it is protecting Lebanese Shi’a villagers living along the Lebanese-Syrian border from attacks by Syrian rebels and that the Syrian opposition is actively being funded and armed by anti-Assad international actors, including Hezbollah’s Lebanese opponents in the March 14 political bloc (Daily Star [Beirut], October 15).
On October 3, Free Syrian Army (FSA) chief Colonel Riyad Musa al-As’ad stated that the FSA had killed a senior Hezbollah military commander named Ali Hussein Nassif (a.k.a. “Abu Abbas”) and two of his bodyguards near the restive city of Qusayr on the Lebanese-Syrian border. Colonel al-As’ad further asserted that Nassif’s activities in the area had been monitored for two weeks, and that his death was the result of a carefully planned FSA targeted assassination intended as part of a larger FSA offensive against Hezbollah in and around Qusayr (The Daily Star, October 3). Hezbollah officials simply stated that Nassif had died “performing his jihadi duties” (AP, October 2). Several weeks after Nassif’s death, the FSA claimed it had killed an additional 60 Hezbollah fighters and captured 13 in the vicinity of Qusayr (al-Mustaqbal [Beirut], October 12).
Lebanese newspapers (some of them antagonistic to Hezbollah) have recently begun publishing stories describing a deeper military commitment by Hezbollah to the Syrian regime. According to one such report, an agreement between the Syrian Defense Ministry and Hezbollah calls for the latter to provide over 2,000 “elite” fighters to Syria in the event of a foreign invasion. The report also claimed that Hassan Nasrallah offered the Assad government the full use of Hezbollah’s military capabilities in the event that “urgent assistance” was needed (al-Jamhouria [Beirut], July 26).
Another Lebanese publication claimed that Unit 901, an alleged elite Hezbollah military unit, had crossed into Syria to fight in the cities of Qusayr, al-Rastan, Talbiseh, and Homs, all near the Lebanese-Syrian border (An-Nahar [Beirut], July 27). This movement of Hezbollah troops into Syria was reported to be the result of the Syrian military’s need for assistance in the campaign to defeat rebels in Aleppo (Majalla, August 23). Hezbollah, along with the Iranian Quds Force, was also alleged to be training a 60,000-person Syrian military division modeled after the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to protect the Alawite-majority Latakia Governorate of Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat, September 30).
Hezbollah’s soldiers were recently reported to have been participating as shock troops in several of the most intense battles of the conflict, including in and around Homs, Hama, suburbs of Damascus such as Zabadani and in the vital northern city of Aleppo (al-Sharq al-Awsat, October 20). FSA units operating in Qusayr claim they have killed over 300 Hezbollah and Iranian fighters (AFP, October 7). A defected member of the powerful Syrian Air Force Intelligence Branch has asserted that Hezbollah has 1,500 fighters supporting the Syrian military inside the country (Times UK, October 6).
Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary General, has refuted these allegations, stating that his party only supports the al-Assad government politically and that it was assisting 30,000 Lebanese Shi’a villagers living in 20 villages in Syria near the Lebanese border. [1] The villagers, in close vicinity to Qusayr and the city of Hermel in Lebanon, had, according to Nasrallah, been the victims of targeted assaults by the FSA and deserved the right to self-defense and support from the party (Ahul Bayt News Agency, October 12).
Shi’a refugees from the embattled villages claimed that over 5,000 armed men, the majority with ties to Hezbollah, were protecting the villages from attack (AFP, October 17). Hezbollah is alleged to have used Katyusha rockets against Sunni villages on the Syrian side of the border (Independent, October 26).
In spite of Hezbollah’s strong support for the al-Assad government, the presence of thousands of Hezbollah fighters actively participating in Syrian battlefields would be a significant departure from the established understanding of the party’s force capabilities. At present, the most consistent reports of direct Hezbollah military involvement in Syria occur in regions of the country that border Lebanon and have a significant Shi’a population, or in areas that are of strategic interest to Hezbollah because of their use as routes for moving weapons from Iran through Syria, such as the route through the Zabadan District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate.
Fissures in Hizballah’s Edifice of Control
On August 15, Beirut awoke to the news that more than 20 alleged members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had been captured by a group calling itself “the military wing of the al-Miqdad family.” The group had sent footage…
Syria’s rebels need to strike at the regime’s backbone
If Syria’s rebels are to achieve palpable results, they need an effective strategy that includes hitting the regime where it hurts……
The regime’s leaders still believe that they can win this conflict as long as the ground forces are resilient and able to fight a protracted civil war, which could last for several years.
If rank-and-file officers begin to feel that they are bearing the brunt of the fighting, they will recognise the limits of their power, and the importance of compromise to save their own skins.
The second area that rebels must work on is establishing political leadership with a strong presence on the ground. Contrary to popular belief, a unified political opposition is even more urgent than a unified command-and-control structure among the armed rebels. Many of the disagreements among anti-regime fighters are the result of rivalries at the political level – the most salient example is the distribution of arms according to political loyalties.
A unified on-the-ground resistance cannot be the prerequisite for assistance and weapons supplies.
A coherent political leadership, backed financially and politically by foreign states, is more urgent than ever….
On October 26, 2012, the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam published a communiqué from Abu ‘Abdallah Al-Hamawi, commander of the “Ahrar Al-Sham” (“Syrian Liberation”) Brigades, in which he greeted the mujahideen in Syria specifically, and the Muslim ummah in general, on the occasion of ‘Eid Al-Adha (which falls this year on October 26-29). He noted that despite the heavy price the Syrian people was paying, “the buds of victory have become a torch lighting the roadsides and strengthening the hands of the mujahideen,” adding that the latter would cling to their path until oppression and tyranny were done away with.
Pictures Of Jabhat Al-Nusra Training Camp Posted Online
On October 28, 2012, the jihadi website Shumoukh Al-Islam posted what it described as exclusive pictures from Jabhat Al-Nusra’s “Fatih” camp. Fatih is said to be a training camp in Syria where the group trains its fighters. The pictures show dozens of masked men training with weapons, including an anti-aircraft gun.
The following is a selection of pictures posted on the website:
The Al-Maqreze Center For Historical Studies in London, run by Dr. Hani Al-Siba’i, a member of the shari’a council for the jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, published an October 21, 2012 fatwa by Sheikh Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti, another member of the shari’a council, concerning the duty of Sunni Muslims to fight the Alawites. In his fatwa, Al-Shinqiti rules that the Alawites are not Muslims, and that it is the duty of all Muslims to fight them. He says that the Alawites are committed to the hatred of Muslims and Islam, and that since the dawn of history they have persecuted the Sunnis and joined forces with the enemies of Islam. He stresses that this duty to fight Alawites refers not only to a war against the current Syrian regime or the Ba’th party, but a war against the entire Alawite sect because, he states, “Syria will see no revival of Islam unless it rids itself of this infidel sect.”
Following are excerpts from Al-Shinqiti’s fatwa:
Al-Shinqiti begins by saying that one of tragedies of Islam today is that apostate sects are considered an inseparable part of the Islamic Ummah. Therefore, he says, there are those who work to hide the truth about the principles of the Alawite faith despite the horrors they inflict upon Islam and Muslims, and demand that the Alawites be treated the same as Muslims. He explains that in light of this reality, he has decided to expose the truth regarding the Alawites’ heretical faith and their hatred of Islam.
A famous American coloring shampoo advertisement years ago used the effective slogan, referring to whether or not the woman in the ad dyed her hair, “Does she or doesn’t she?” The same question can be asked today about Hilary Clinton’s attitude to the Syrian opposition and the uprising to overthrow President…The second problem is that any Syrian or Arab groups that the U.S. now publicly supports will be tainted as hand-picked agents of Washington, a status that is usually the kiss of death for most individuals or organizations in the Arab world, where public opinion still sees the U.S. and Israel as the two most serious threats to the Arab security.The third problem is that this smacks of yet another dimension of a neocolonial mindset and enterprise that still plagues the Middle East,The double irony of this situation for the U.S. and others who worry that Islamists and militant Salafists are playing a bigger role in the resistance to Assad’s regime is that this move is likely to strengthen, rather than weaken, the Islamists’ role in the national rebellion,[…]
Comments (73)
Sami said:
Dr. Landis according to Mishaal Temmo’s son and other Kurdish activists she is alive and well, and that the PYD made up the story of her abduction to stir the pot (he even went as far as calling the PYD the Kurdish counter part of Addunia TV):
??????? ????? ?????: ???? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????. ??? ?? ????????? ???? ???? ??? ?? ? ? ?
????? ???? ?? ??? ????????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ??????. ???? ?? ??? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????
https://twitter.com/fideltemo/status/264772453652381697
This is confirmed by other Kurdish activists:
It’s “coup de grace” to PYD claims/theatres about unity/protecting Kurds, If it has been confirmed that Nujin Derik is alive.
https://twitter.com/Avend93/status/264786279164674048
November 3rd, 2012, 11:26 pm
ghufran said:
(most of the people I know will vote for Obama)
Recent polls show the majority of Arab Americans intend to vote for incumbent President Barack Obama in next week’s election – but some say they have lost faith in the United States’ first black president.
(The US lost 18 long months before it started to understand the reality of the Syrian conflict, I am still not sure how Obama,if reelected, will help Syria if Syrians themsleves are not willing to start talking to each other)
November 4th, 2012, 12:23 am
Syrialover said:
SAMI #1
Thanks for blowing away some of the smoke.
The Kurds have a lot to gain by cleaning out their own house (including external credibility)- and too much to lose if they don’t.
I don’t know whether you saw this article a couple of weeks ago, it talks about the constant see-sawing of internal alliances and antagonisms within their commmnity.
Syria’s Kurds: Troubled Past, Uncertain Future
http://carnegie-mec.org/publications/?fa=49703
November 4th, 2012, 1:19 am
Juergen said:
SL
thank you for the brilliant article. I would add that to me the majority of the people will go along with any kind of regime because this is the path of least resistence. But mark my words, after the downfall of the regime you wont see anyone who ever supported the Wahash clan, all were used and even those in the muhabarat mafia will claim that they were forced to work there.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=384680641611119&set=a.117471844998668.23576.114744738604712&type=1&theater
Amir, where are you?
November 4th, 2012, 2:08 am
annie said:
4. Juergen
don’t be too hard on the non resisters; except for living in exile they did not have much of a choice. OK, joining the mukhabarat may not have been the only option available but many people were forced to cooperate. I would say half of the population.
When I lived there I trusted nobody.
November 4th, 2012, 2:31 am
annie said:
http://youtu.be/5A-_7QVnWNM
WORDS OF GOLD!!! WORDS OF ABSOLUTE GOLD!!!!!!!!! BY ALLAH SWT THIS MAN SPEAKS HAQQ!!!
???? ????? ????? ??? ?? ???
TRANSLATION# THIS SYRIAN MAN FROM DEIR EZOUR ON THE BORDERS WITH IRAQ SENDS OUT A MESSAGE TO SAUDI ARABIA AND ALL THE MUSLIMS OF THE WORLD THE AHLUL SUNNAH , FROM THE HEART OF THE BATTLEFIELD YOU CAN EVEN HEAR THE SOUNDS OF THE GUNFIRE IN THE BACKGROUND..
HE SAYS ITS NOT JUST ASSAD SLAUGHTERING US AHLUL SUNNAH IN SYRIA ITS IRAN, HIZBULSHAYTAN, MALAKI OF IRAQ, THEY SEND ASSAD EVERYTHING
IN ARMS AND TROOPS, AND WE HAVE NOTHING BUT ALLAH SWT AND OUR SELVES, WE ARE YOU NOT HELPING US, AREN’T WE YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ISLAM??? ALL YOUR CHEAP PROMISES MEAN NOTHING TO US, WE ARE FIGHTING FOR ALLAH SWT CAUSE TO BE THE NUMBER ONE IN THIS LAND AND FOR THE ALL OF SUNNAH EVERYWHERE!! THE SHIAS ARE RAPING OUR WOMEN SLAUGHTERING OUR CHILDREN! FEAR ALLAH MUSLIMS!!! WHY DO YOU HAVE ALL THESE TANKS AND WARPLANES ???!! IS IT ONLY FOR PARADES??!! ..BASHAR HAS DONE FAR WORSE THAN HALACO OF THE MONGOLS AND HITLER!!! FEAR ALLAH FEAR ALLAH YA AHLUL SUNNAH WE ARE SUFFERING!!! DONT YOU FEAR ALLAH SWT??!! ARE WE NOT MUSLIMS??!! IVE SOLD EVERYTHING I HAVE EVEN MY WIFES GOLD AND MY DAUGHTERS GOLD JUST TO BUY ARMS AND DEFEND THEM AND THE SISTERS OF SYRIA!!!
November 4th, 2012, 2:39 am
Observer said:
Regarding Warren
TARA and all of our colleagues on this post; points on his/her posts are
1. The revolution in Syria is a freedom revolution, with a wide spectrum of people who have not coalesced around a single ideology EXCEPT that the regime must be uprooted because the regime has decided that it wants to ENSLAVE the syrian people.
2. The discussion about the fundamentalist nature of some members of the opposition is a pure DISTRACTION from the point above.
3. It is extremely important to hear the views of those that consider islam itself to be inherently evil; it gives us an idea of the long standing and often unspoken views that many hold regarding muslims and islam.
4. It is extremely important to realize that the first step in massacring a whole population is to dehumanize them and to demonize them subsequently before their slaughter.
5. It is extremely important to read his/her thoughts as it shows a one sided view of history. Lest we forget about the threat to civilization, it is important to remind everyone that from the point of view of the people of the colonies of Western interventions since the 16th century there are numerous examples of unspeakable atrocities
a) there are no natives in Uruguay they were all killed in one single battle
b) Dutch depopulations of whole islands in Indonesia
c) at least a million killed in Vietnam
d) 95% of all German prisoners in the Soviet Union were killed
f) the rape of Nanking and the genocide in Mandchuria
g) the Armenian saga
h) the holocaust of Jews and Gypsies and others including the Slavic people of the European East
i) the cannibals of the crusades in Maarat Al Numaan not due to starvation but for terrorizing the population
j) and yes Muslim atrocities committed throughout the ages
Evil is human and ANY ideology can be used towards EVIL. Today notoriously peaceful Buda followers are killing Rohinghas
k) last but not least, it was two very secular ideologies in the last century that resulted in the worst massacres of oppression of people and on an industrial scale namely Nazi and Communist ideologies.
I also very much like to read WARREN and MAJBALI AND SYRIA NO KANDAHAR for they truly give me at least a very nice glimpse of important views they have of the OTHER.
Cheers
November 4th, 2012, 2:52 am
Citizen said:
The future of an independent, sovereign country – Syria – is being discussed today by foreign governments in a foreign country…Dukes!
November 4th, 2012, 4:43 am
Citizen said:
The future of an independent, sovereign country – Syria – is being discussed today by foreign governments in a foreign country…Dukes!
Hollande in Beirut for talks on Syria crisis
http://www.france24.com/en/20121104-hollande-beirut-talks-syria-crisis-sleiman-lebanon-hassan-security-unrest-france?ns_campaign=editorial&ns_source=RSS_public&ns_mchannel=RSS&ns_fee=&ns_linkname=20121104_hollande_beirut_talks_syria_crisis_sleiman&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
November 4th, 2012, 4:49 am
Citizen said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrEPadG0pQk
SyrianGirl debates FSA on Australian show ‘Insight’
November 4th, 2012, 5:00 am
Citizen said:
Turkey’s Silent Crisis
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/31/turkey_s_silent_crisis
November 4th, 2012, 5:03 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
?. ???? ???? ?????
??? ?? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ????? .. ???? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ????? “?????”? ?????? ????? ????????
?????? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ???????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ??
??? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ????.
https://www.facebook.com/akkadj/posts/368743759876048
November 4th, 2012, 5:27 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
???? ???? ??????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ????? .. ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?????. ??? ??????
??????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ????? ????? .. ?? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??
??????? ?? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ?? ?? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ?????
??????? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??? ?????? .. ????? ?? ???? ??? ????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ?????????? .. ???? ??? ???
????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?????.
https://www.facebook.com/akkadj/posts/368743569876067
November 4th, 2012, 5:29 am
Citizen said:
“Insurgents are Washington proxies. Key NATO partners, rogue Arab League states, and Israel are very much involved.
The same dirty game repeats. Independent states are targeted for regime change. All options are used. They include full-scale war, mass killing, and turning nations into charnel houses on the pretext of liberating them.” – Stephen Lendman, “Nothing Civil about Washington’s War on Syria. US-NATO Violate International Humanitarian Law,” July 17, 2012.
Last week, the US-backed Islamist terrorists in Syria, aka the FSA, attacked a Kurdish neighbourhood in Aleppo, and fired on demonstrators because they were resisting their unwanted presence. The invading terrorists demanded obedience from the Kurds, but what they got instead was fierce resistance.
Bill Van Auken wrote about the battle that followed the FSA’s attack on Kurdish civilians in his article, “Fighting erupts between Western-backed “rebels” and Syrian Kurds”:
The fighting began on Friday after several hundred armed opponents of the Syrian government, dressed in black and wearing black bandanas inscribed with Islamist slogans, moved into the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Ashrafiya.
The incursion triggered a demonstration by Kurdish residents of the district, who marched on the positions taken by the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), demanding that its fighters leave the neighborhood. According to reports, the FSA fighters fired on the demonstrators, killing five and wounding 10 more.
The fighting that followed claimed at least 30 lives, including those of 22 combatants, before the Kurds reasserted control over the district. According to the reports, five Kurdish fighters died in the clashes, with the rest of the fatalities consisting of the Islamist insurgents and civilians.
The Kurdish fighters who drove out the foreign Jihadist terrorists in the FSA belong to the, “Popular Protection Unit (YPG), a Kurdish militia set up to protect the Kurdish areas from opposing forces,” writes Danny Gold in his article, “Meet the YPG, the Kurdish Militia That Doesn’t Want Help from Anyone.” Here is a longer excerpt:
The Kurds, for the most part, have tried to prevent the catastrophic violence of the civil war from entering their region. In Kurdish cities in the northeast, demonstrations against the regime have been ongoing, and Assad forces pulled back with minimal conflict a few months ago, leaving the Kurds with some sense of independence. Some have accused the Kurds of making a deal with the regime, but it appears that both groups are simply acting practically. Assad does not wish to open up a new front, and the Kurds simply want to protect their cities and their people. Though some media outlets have reported that there is an official truce between some Kurds and the regime, there is no evidence of this being true.
Kurds make up around 10 percent of the population in Syria, totaling about 2 million, but have been treated as second-class citizens for generations. Kurdish rights activists have been subjected to imprisonment, torture, and assassinations. In 2004, the Kurds in the city of Qamishlo revolted against the Assad regime, but the rebellion was quickly crushed and more than 30 Kurds were killed.
Members of the YPG do not come from Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, and they are not pushing an extremist agenda, so they have popular legitimacy in the Kurdish communities. They say they have no support from outside powers. They are mostly young, self-reliant Kurds who are fighting for their rights, their dignity, and their land. There are also women within their ranks. Here is a video of them.
A spokesperson for the YPG told Gold that the group is a purely defensive force. Gold says: “One point Hassan stressed over and over was that the YPG is a defensive force. The militia is meant as a deterrent to the FSA, Jihadi groups, and the regime, and they will only attack if provoked, he told me.”
By supporting Al-Qaeda terrorists against the Kurds, the U.S. government has lost its narrative that the removal of Assad will lead to a democratic, free, and secular Syria.
The point has come where the war criminals in Washington have no choice but to get rid of the facade of the old propaganda and arm the Islamist terrorists unashamedly as a part of a larger effort to topple the Syrian government. Tony Cartalucci wrote in his article, “US to Focus Exclusively on Arming Al Qaeda in Syria”:
It is clear that both the West’s political proxies, and its armed militant proxies have been compromised and the narrative that tentatively worked against Libya, is now unraveling and failing against Syria.
Independent Kurdish groups like the YPG do not want Kurds to be victims of Washington’s reign of Islamist terror. They are fighting the FSA not only because they are supported by the oppressive Turkish and Saudi Arabian governments, but also because of their sectarian, anti-women rights, anti-democracy, and anti-secularism views.
There is a big chance that the war between U.S.-backed Jihadist groups and Kurdish fighters will escalate in the coming months. The U.S. may get directly involved. The writer “b” from Moon of Alabama predicts, “The U.S. government seems to renew its attempt to overthrow the Syrian government by force. This will, as I wrote, likely intensify as soon as the election in the U.S. is over.”
In the battle for Syria, the U.S. government and other Western governments have taken the side of Islamic extremists who champion Bin Laden, honour Saddam Hussein as a martyr, and wish to massacre Syria’s minorities such as Alawites, Christians, and Kurds.
The forces of morality, reason, truth, and justice are not on Washington’s side. U.S. leaders are making one tragic mistake after another. History will not remember them kindly.
http://poorrichards-blog.blogspot.fr/2012/11/syrian-kurds-become-new-victims-of.html
November 4th, 2012, 6:33 am
zoo said:
Have Visitor and his snipers ‘tactically’ retreated?
November 4th, 2012, 7:04 am
Citizen said:
Blast near hotel in Damascus, several wounded
Syrian state TV reports of an explosion near Dama Rose hotel in Damascus. Several people have reportedly been injured. No information about casualties is available at the moment. The hotel Dama Rose is situated close to the residence of government-controlled labor union.
November 4th, 2012, 7:22 am
Citizen said:
Must (Syrian revolution) to sink blood all sects and religions and races to growing hatred between all components of the Syrian people so divided and distracted and kill each other ( the 3 phase )
Bravo Bernard, Bravo Zionism, bravo to Zimbabwe!
November 4th, 2012, 7:31 am
Syrialover said:
http://twitter.com/SalaamSyria/status/264881095743504384/photo/1
Don’t blame Bashar alone for what happened in Syria, he is only 1/4 of the problem!
November 4th, 2012, 7:38 am
Ghufran said:
?????? “???? ????” ???? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? “???? ????” ?? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ????? “????? ??????”
Actor Muhammad raffi’ was murdered by an armed gang that called itself ” grandsons of the Sideeq (abuBakr) according to his Dad.
November 4th, 2012, 8:00 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
???? ???? ??? || ????? ????:
“????? ???? ???? ??? ????? ????? ??????
??? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ?????
???? ??? ???? ????? ???? ??????
???? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?
???????: ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ? ????? ??? ?? ??? ?? ????????? ??!
????? ?????? ?????? : ??? ???? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? !
?? ?? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ?????? ?????? !
?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???? ?? ? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ??????
? ????? ???? ????? ????
???? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ? ?????? ????? ?? ?????”
__________________________________
???? ????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?????
November 4th, 2012, 8:20 am
Sami said:
Nowhere to run
President Bashar Assad’s homeland is no longer a safe place to retreat to
UM HAYAN, a 48-year-old mother, used to travel the 30 kilometres (19 miles) from her home in the wooded hills of Jebel Turkman to Latakia city to buy clothes. There she gossiped with friends, stopping off for tea in various villages on the way back up. “Now the road has checkpoints and there is no contact between us,” she says. Her friends are members of an esoteric Shia sect known as the Alawites who make up 12% of the Syrian population, including President Bashar Assad.
Seen by many Syrians as a driving force behind the regime’s harsh tactics in the civil war, Alawites have come to feel unwelcome in much of the country. Now that is so even in Latakia, their home region along the Mediterranean, which had been relatively calm until recently.
Some senior security chiefs have sent their families to the province. It could be where the regime plans to make its last stand, but it is looking less like a refuge these days. The rebels have made headway in the ethnically mixed province since they gathered local forces several months ago. “On a clear day you can see Latakia city,” says Abu Adnan, whose Hateen brigade has taken up position in an abandoned house. “And these are the Alawite villages,” he says, gesturing to settlements nestled just a few hundred metres away.
Though the insurgent groups are small, poorly armed and not united, their knowledge of the mountainous terrain has helped them to take over eight Alawite villages. As the death toll on both sides rises and front lines divide Sunni and Alawite settlements, one-time neighbours become enemies.
[…]
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21565680-president-bashar-assad’s-homeland-no-longer-safe-place-retreat
November 4th, 2012, 8:55 am
Syrialover said:
HAMSTER,
Even if Assad gets interrupted before he completes his 100% burning of the country, he’s 100% burnt many millions of Syrians lives.
Tens of of thousands of Syrians are now struggling the rest of their lives with physical damage inflicted on them by Bashar Assad.
And millions have had their lives dislocated forever by the loss or injury of family members, economic ruin, destruction of their homes and neighborhoods, unfinished education. You name it.
But Syria’s biggest hidden scar will be the countless millions damaged mentally by what they have experienced courtesy of Assad. People of all ages, walks of life and sides in this conflict left unable to function normally due to depression, post-traumatic stress, crippling anxiety and worse.
Physical rebuilding will be the easy part.
November 4th, 2012, 8:58 am
Sami said:
Syria’s Digital Proxy War
There is a proxy war going on in Syria, one measured in megabytes rather than in arms. On one side, Iran is providing Bashar al-Assad’s regime with the tools of digital dictatorship to locate and bait the Syrian opposition. On the other side, the United States is trying to help the opposition protect itself from such attacks and set up alternate channels of communication. The outcome of this proxy war will affect the lives of many Syrians and the credibility of the State Department’s efforts to promote digital freedom internationally.
The Syrian regime has long been interested in improving its online repression. Dlshad Othman, a member of the Syrian opposition and an Internet expert, says that in recent years the regime has sent its bureaucrats abroad for technical training in places like Dubai. But Assad’s censorship efforts remained clumsy and at times ineffectual until the uprising against him began last year. He then re-opened social media to the public in order to better monitor and crush dissent, and confided in the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security for surveillance techniques. We are now seeing Iran’s sophisticated online crackdown on its own Green Movement in 2009 being applied by Assad in Syria. Pro-regime hackers pose as dissidents in chat rooms to lure and locate the opposition before gunmen are dispatched to kill them.
Contrary to recent reports that the Syrian regime could unplug the country from the web entirely, Assad considers the Internet a vital tool to winning the civil war. This is a cyber war, Othman told me. It is an opportune time for the United States to show that its support of digital freedom can save lives. If communications technology is the way in which the United States chooses to intervene in the Syrian conflict, why not unleash the full capabilities of American technology?
[…]
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/syrias-digital-proxy-war/264309/
November 4th, 2012, 8:59 am
Syrialover said:
OBSERVER #6.
Excellent points as usual. Thanks.
But I’d argue there is something particularly cheap and silly about Warren with his jeering at “Pakis” etc and half-baked obsession with Islam. SNK and Mjabali are on a much different plane.
November 4th, 2012, 9:13 am
Citizen said:
?????? .. ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????????? ?????? ??? ???????? ????? ?????
??????- ?? ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?????, ??? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ??? “???? ??????? ????? ?????” ??????? ?? ????? ?????????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????? ???????? ??????? ????? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? YPG ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?????????.
??? ??? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ????????? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???????? ????? ??? ????? ????????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ????, ??? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ????? ????? ??????, ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ???????? ????? ?????? ?????.
??? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????????.
http://ar.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=4951
November 4th, 2012, 9:29 am
Citizen said:
ANF reports ALL Kurdish prisoners (estimated to be over 8000) in Turkish jails will join the hunger strike on November 5th
Kurds all around the world will be writing “Kurdish hunger strike” on bank notes to draw attention to the on-going strikes!!!!!
November 4th, 2012, 9:47 am
Syrialover said:
14. ZOO said: “Have Visitor and his snipers ‘tactically’ retreated?”
No, I think they saw that you did.
Amjad and Visitor will now probably spot your ears pricked up cautiously behind that demolished wall and come back on duty again.
November 4th, 2012, 9:47 am
Sami said:
“????? ?????” ???? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????
?????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ?????????? ?????? PYD ??? ???????? ?? ?????? ??????? “????? ????? ?????” ????? ????? ??? ??? ????.
???? ????? ?? ????? ??? “??????” ?? ??????? ???????? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????.
????? “????? ????? ?????” ????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ?? ???.
???? ??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ????.
http://alkurdiyanews.net/?????-?????-????-???-??????-???-?????-???-??????-??-???-?????-????
And BTW Firat News Arabic needs to update its news to match its Kurdish counterpart:
http://www.firatnews.eu/index.php?rupel=nuce&nuceID=70832
Google translation for those that don’t know Kurdish:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.firatnews.eu%2Findex.php%3Frupel%3Dnuce%26nuceID%3D70832
Oh and that supposed “agreement” between the Turks and the Syrian Kurds is nothing but pure fabrication from PYD, who seem intent on making a case for the Syrian regime:
Erbil: Agreement between Syrian Kurds and the Turkish government clearly PKK?propaganda
http://www.kurdwatch.org/?aid=2677&z=en&cure=245
November 4th, 2012, 9:48 am
Citizen said:
Risk of death close for Turkish hunger strike: doctors
(Reuters) – Jailed Kurdish militants on hunger strike in Turkey may start to die within the next 10 days, Turkey’s main medical association warned on Thursday, saying the prime minister’s dismissal of the protest as a “show” risked hardening their resolve.
The hunger strike entered its 51st day on Thursday, with some 700 prisoners refusing food in dozens of prisons across Turkey, demanding the government grant greater Kurdish minority rights and better conditions for their jailed leader.
But the inmates are consuming sugar, water and vitamins that would prolong their lives and the protest by weeks.
The main demand of the protesters, mostly convicted members of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, is improved jail conditions for PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned on an island in the Marmara Sea south of Istanbul.
The protests follow a surge in violence between Turkey and the PKK, which took up arms 28 years ago to try to carve out a Kurdish homeland in Turkey’s southeast and which is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the United States and European Union.
“Our worry is that after around 40 days lasting damage begins to emerge and after 60 days deaths may begin,” Ozdemir Aktan, head of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), which represents 80 percent of the nation’s doctors, told Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/01/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE8A00SZ20121101
November 4th, 2012, 9:50 am
Sami said:
A must read, sheds light on the civil aspect of this revolution.
In rebel-held Aleppo, Syrian civilians try to impose law through courts, not guns
The United Legal Council of Aleppo, formed by lawyers and judges, hears about 15 cases daily, and has buy-in from some rebels. But it faces a tough challenge from those who want to impose their own justice in the war-torn city.
Mahad Youssef walks into this bare, new office, sinks into a chair, and holds her head in her hands. Her two adult daughters stand beside her, arms crossed and looking worried, as Mrs. Youssef tearfully petitions the man in the pressed suit sitting behind a desk.
“I swear on the Quran, my son did nothing,” she says. “My son is a good man. If he confessed anything, it’s because they are torturing him.”
This, the newest court in Aleppo, is her last hope to get her son back. And perhaps the slump in her shoulders is an indication of her confidence in its abilities.
Ms. Youssef’s son was recently arrested by a brigade of the Free Syrian Army, who accused him of being a member of the shabiha, or a thug working for the Assad regime. They were detaining him, and, she is afraid, torturing him. The judge, who sits behind his desk, waves to a court investigator, who enters the room and informs the woman that he visited the brigade that captured her son, and they promised to turn him over to the court tomorrow. Youssef begins to cry.
“I swear on the Quran, I swear on the Quran, my son is innocent!” she cries.
[…]
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1103/In-rebel-held-Aleppo-Syrian-civilians-try-to-impose-law-through-courts-not-guns
November 4th, 2012, 9:55 am
Amjad of Arabia said:
“No, I think they saw that you did.
Amjad and Visitor will now probably spot your ears pricked up cautiously behind that demolished wall and come back on duty again.”
Hehehe,actually Im waiting for the fake right-wing Christian Warren to show up, I got a few choice words for him. If they hate me now, just wait a bit for when the fake-Christian makes another post.
November 4th, 2012, 9:55 am
Citizen said:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A63VCUQCcAEJ1Yv.jpg
Spread the mesaage via your currency bills!
November 4th, 2012, 9:56 am
Syrialover said:
CITIZEN
Any update on that Ukranian woman journalist who disappeared in Syria?
November 4th, 2012, 9:57 am
Sami said:
SyriaLover,
Thank you for sharing the article, a very good read indeed.
The PKK and PYD are just like the regime, no respect for human rights and do not care for anything but expanding their influence.
Just in the past 48 hours 3 Kurdish activists have been detained by them, and people keep parroting that they “protect” the Kurds in Syria…
http://www.kurdwatch.org/?aid=2680&z=en&cure=245
http://www.kurdwatch.org/?aid=2679&z=en&cure=245
November 4th, 2012, 10:02 am
Citizen said:
SYRIALOVERS
November 4th, 2012, 10:29 am
Citizen said:
Syria: When will the west stop supporting Syrialovers?
In answer to this question, let us examine the connection between NATO and terrorist organizations over the last decade and let us examine what NATO did to leaders of sovereign states who dared to stand up against Al-Qaeda. The findings are very curious and bring into question the entire credibility of the myth of “western democracy”.
There is no doubt at all that out of the five terrorist groups operating in Syria, support from NATO is a constant factor (by “NATO” read also the GCC, the Gulf Cooperation Council, in the words of al-Qadhafi, “donkeys ridden by foreigners”, or else Turkey, the state which complains about the Kurdish activists but which then sponsors terrorist organizations in Syria, or allows them to use its territory as a base).
Yet this is hardly surprising for those who wish to present an overview of the last few decades. All we have to do is re-read the history book, albeit the history book not present in western media, and we can draw our own conclusions.
In 1998, according to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, an interview which vaporised from the Internet (together with a good many of my articles, for example), Mullah Omar (the leader of the Talebaan) stated that the United States of America had offered his government 5 billion USD to build a pipeline across Afghanistan and through Pakistan to the Indian Ocean.
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/29-10-2012/122605-syria_west_terrorists-0/
November 4th, 2012, 10:44 am
Syrialover said:
I checked out the Syian girls on youtube that Citizen posted in #6.
Well, well, well. Both had that scary look and ease with lies that marks them as hopeful wannabe Bouthaina Shaabans. But they weren’t very good.
I found the first one Hanadi Assoud to be a very busy little worker for Assad, organizing demonstrations for him in Australia where she has a comfortable life studying at a local university.
Here’s a taste of her approach reported a couple of months ago:
Protesters waving Syrian flags and carrying banners which read “Thank you Russia and China 4 vetoes” and “Let the whole world hear: Syria is our nation, Bashar is our leader”, the group marched to government offices in central Sydney.
[Hanadi Assoud, one of the organizers of the event] accused the media of misrepresenting the conflict, saying that opposition forces had been responsible for any killings that had taken place.
“Why would the government kill its own people?” she said.
She said those marching wanted to have their voices heard in Australia after comments by Foreign Minister Bob Carr, who has condemned the Assad regime.
“We know that Bob Carr has got an agenda. He was saying that the Assad regime must go. How can he be so biased?” Assoud told AFP.
Syria closed its embassy in Australia in late July, two months after Canberra expelled the Syrian charge d’affaires along with one other diplomat over the killings of more than 100 people in Houla.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArchiveDetails.aspx?ID=425151#ixzz2BGmel8Bz
November 4th, 2012, 10:55 am
Sami said:
Assadi soldiers cut off the ears of executed FSA members:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wsSpY-B5-o&feature=player_embedded
Assadi soldier repeatedly stab executed FSA members and tries to decapitate one of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8QlD2WZNaA&feature=player_embedded
These are extremely graphic.
November 4th, 2012, 11:54 am
Dawoud said:
Subject: Shia Terrorists
Iran (Ayatollah-istan) is the source of all evil these days, at least as far as Syria is concerned. A few days ago the NYT had an article on Iraq and how Iraqi Shia terrorists are first transported to Iran for terrorism training before flying to Syria to kill Syrians.
Syria will not see freedom until the shia terrorists from Hizbistan (Lebanon), Iraq, and Ayatollah-istan (Iran) are crushed and defeated!
As I have said for a million times, political assassinations in Lebanon have Hasan Nasrillat’s fingerprints:
????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ???????
??????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?????
http://www.alquds.co.uk/index.asp?fname=data\2012\11\11-022z496.htm&arc=data\2012\11\11-022z496.htm
Free Syria, Free Palestine, STOP Shia terrorism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 4th, 2012, 12:02 pm
HANZALA said:
Syria rebels ‘capture oilfield’ in Deir Ezzor
Al-Ward is said to be one of the most important oilfields in Deir Ezzor, which holds most of Syria’s energy reserves.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20199240
November 4th, 2012, 12:21 pm
Visitor said:
Syrialover 36,
The Living at the Zoo is just snooping its head out of the cage to test the waters for a possible return after its humiliating encagement.
It is not looking for Visitor nor for Amjad.
November 4th, 2012, 12:24 pm
Citizen said:
Syrian rebels capture major oilfield – opposition watchdog
Syrian opposition forces have seized a major oilfield in the country’s east after three days of stand-off with government troops, says the London-based Observatory for Human Rights. The rebels allegedly captured the al-Ward oilfield in Deir el-Zour province, near the Iraqi border, on Sunday. The field is reported to have been functioning almost up to the time when the rebels overran it. The observatory also claims the rebels downed a warplane in the same region. Al-Ward is known as one of the most important oilfields in Deir el-Zour, which holds most of Syria’s energy reserves.
http://rt.com/news/line/2012-11-04/#id40007
November 4th, 2012, 12:28 pm
zoo said:
False hopes. After a short break to get more ammunition, the snipers are back, always looking for the blood of the heretics.
Enjoy their civilized presence…
November 4th, 2012, 12:36 pm
Visitor said:
I told you so Syrialover.
You should always trust my judgement.
November 4th, 2012, 12:40 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
How can you allow yourself to be bullied? It is painful to watch.. Visitor insulted me many times, he is to be ignored.
November 4th, 2012, 12:57 pm
Citizen said:
32. SYRIALOVER
Thank you! Because of your great love for Syria now Somalia is ranked, along with Syria, as the most dangerous place for journalists to operate!!!
http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/11/somali-journalists?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/perilousprofession
November 4th, 2012, 1:15 pm
revenire said:
A lot of the posts by Landis are just a collection of “news” stories from sources that are doubtful, like many of the comments.
November 4th, 2012, 1:21 pm
Visitor said:
# 44
I am the one ignoring you. Because this is what you deserve and what you understand.
But ready to insult you anytime you step out of line
November 4th, 2012, 1:38 pm
Citizen said:
Flooding Syria with Foreign Arms
http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/22614-franklinlamb-damascus.html
Across Syria these days, one is able to examine massive evidence that this ancient civilization, the historic bastion of nationalist Arabism and since the 1948 Nabka, an essential pillar of the growing culture of Resistance to the Zionist occupation of Palestine, is becoming awash with foreign arms being funneled to “rebels” by countries advocating regime change.
This observer has been researching foreign arms transfers into certain Middle East countries since last summer in Libya, where to a lesser degree the identical foreign actors were involved in facilitating the transfer of arms and fighters to topple the then, “Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.”
During a recent stay in Syria, I was able to observe first hand, substantial demonstrative evidence supporting the thesis that American, Zionist and Gulf intelligence agencies as well as private arms dealers from these countries top the list of more than two dozen countries benefiting from the crisis in Syria by injecting arms. These countries gain politically and financially, via governmental and black market arms transfers.
Which countries are sending the most weapons into Syria to arm militia?
A list of the top 24 countries, among the more than three dozen that are currently involved in sending weapons to Syria to achieve regime change include: USA, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, UK, France, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Brazil, Portugal, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, and Argentina.
Nearly two-thirds of the above listed arms suppliers are members of NATO and constitute almost half of NATO’s 28 country membership………………..
The intervention in Syria by more than three dozen countries supplying weapons must be stopped. Both sides of the Syrian crisis need to manifest by actions, not just words, a serious commitment to meaningful dialogue. The above noted arms supplying countries, and others off stage, have a solemn obligation to their citizens and to the world community to immediately halt the shipment of arms.
It’s time for the international community to end the Syrian crisis diplomatically, stop funneling arms and cash fueling hoped for regime change elements. Instead, they must demand that all the involved parties immediately engage in serious dialogue and settle their differences.
November 4th, 2012, 2:09 pm
Citizen said:
The Case of the Swedish weapons in Syria
How did warning flares from a small town near Gothenburg find their way into the weaponry of the anti-Assad resistance?
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-case-of-the-swedish-weapons-in-syria-8281068.html
November 4th, 2012, 2:17 pm
Ghufran said:
Thursday, November 1st, 2012 | Posted by WorldTribune.com
China charges Turkey recruiting Uighur Muslims to join forces with Syrian rebels
Special to WorldTribune.com
LONDON — China has asserted that Muslim separatists joined the Sunni
revolt in Syria.
An official Chinese newspaper said fighters from the ethnic Turkish
Uighur minority were recruited to join Sunni rebels in Syria. The Global Times, based in Beijing, said at least two separatist groups linked to Al Qaida were coordinating the trip from China to Syria.
“After receiving orders from Al Qaida, terrorists from China came to
Syria to meet with jihadists already on the ground before forming groups on the front lines,” an unidentified Chinese official told the newspaper on Oct. 29.
The newspaper said Turkey was playing a role in recruiting and financing the Chinese fighters. Officials identified the Turkish groups as the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and the East Turkestan Education and Solidarity Association. Chinese separatists have called their short-lived countries East Turkistan.
November 4th, 2012, 2:24 pm
Ghufran said:
???? ??????
?????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???????/???? ??? ???? ?? ??? ?????? (????? ??? ?????) ???? ??????? ??? ????????????? ?????????? ??? ?????????? ?? ??? ????????? ??? ?? ?????? ??????. ??? ???? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ????????? ???? ????? ?? ?? ????. ???? ??? ???????? ????????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ???????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ????????? ??????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???????. ????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ????????? ????? ??? ????????? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?????. ?????? ?? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ???????? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ???????? ????? ?????????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ???????.
November 4th, 2012, 2:30 pm
Ghufran said:
Riyad Saif denies being a candidate for the position of PM of an exile government :
???? ???: ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? ???? .. ? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ???? |
??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ???? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ???? ???????
???? ??? ????????? ??? ???? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? “?? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ???? 66 ??? ???? ????? ????”.
????? “??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ??????”.
????? ??? “?????? ???? ????????? ??? ????? ????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ???????”.
The proposed government is not likely to have any significant support among minorities and it is not clear if its members will agree to negotiate with the regime ( many opposition figures want Assad to resign first), I would like to see who is out before I can judge this new move. Qatar was a poor choice for the meeting.
November 4th, 2012, 2:48 pm
Ghufran said:
Riyad Hijab has given his first full interview to a western newspaper, UK Telegrapg.
Here is one piece:
Mr Hijab said the violence would continue and the regime would stay in power for as long as Russia and Iran continued to provide support. But even if they cut their allegiance, he said Mr Assad would most probably still refuse to quit.
“I am shocked to see Bashar do what he has doing,” he said. “He used to seem like a good human being, but he is worse than his father.
Hafez is a criminal for what he did in Hama, but Bashar is a criminal for what he is doing everywhere.”
(Hijab said that Bashar thinks he can win militarily and that he has no intention to negotiate.
November 4th, 2012, 3:16 pm
Syrialover said:
For those irritated by Ghufran’s link-free post on Riyad Hijab above, here are the details:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9654320/Bashar-al-Assad-wants-war-not-peace-reveals-Syrias-former-prime-minister-Riyad-Hijab.html
Bashar al-Assad wants war not peace reveals Syria’s former prime minister Riyad Hijab
The most senior politician to defect from the Bashar al-Assad’s regime has revealed that the President repeatedly rejected calls by his own government for a political compromise, in favour of all-out war.
(continues…)
November 4th, 2012, 3:43 pm
Uzair8 said:
Posted on YS about half an hour ago:
Alexblx
#FSA ‘surround #Syria Air force Intelligence HQ west of #Aleppo – Will be big success for rebels if they can take it.
Rebels believe if they can take Air force Intelligence HQ, Aleppo will be theirs. Confidence is very high in the City
But IF Aleppo Air Force Intel HQ falls – the rebels still have to take over the Military Intel office nearby.
Still, they are talking big’
From @AlexCrawfordSky
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/alexblx-fsa-surround-syria-air-force-intelligence-hq/
November 4th, 2012, 4:15 pm
Syrialover said:
A new on the spot description of the damage done to Aleppo’s heritage souk and Great Mosque, pointing to regime attacks by tank and mortars:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9652009/Death-of-monument-to-human-history-in-Syrias-war-torn-Aleppo.html
COMMENT: Heartbreaking, but even more sickening when you imagine this article used by Assad’s Iranian advisers as evidence to get bigger bonuses from their bosses back home. The Mullahs are probably doing high fives about the burning of the library of priceless old books in the Sunni mosque. Primitive brain dead depravity, their best effort at foreign policy.
November 4th, 2012, 4:19 pm
Uzair8 said:
A couple of months ago an ordinary user on a forum claimed (suspected) 1000+ tanks and BMP’s had been destroyed so far and I shared the claim on SC.
The following was posted on YS over 3 hrs ago [MBT probably means ‘Main Battle Tank’]:
__________________________________________________
DavidKenner
Approximate Syrian armour losses to 4/11/2012 (via ACIG):
211x MBTs,
194x BMPs,
11x ZSU-23-4,
1x 2S1 = 417 AFVs
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/davidkenner-approximate-syrian-armour-losses-to-4-11/
November 4th, 2012, 4:50 pm
Syrialover said:
Syrian opposition needs to accept change in Doha
The SNC has proved, time and again, that it cannot reform on its own. In Cairo in July, a committee was established to help opposition groups to unify under one body – the SNC rejected its authority, fearing it would lose its own supremacy within the opposition. Since attempts to persuade the SNC to restructure itself have failed, it is essential that foreign countries – which provide aid and have some influence over opposition groups – mediate a solution.
To their own discredit, SNC members are campaigning against the Doha initiative. Several have described the plan as a “plot” to force negotiations with the Assad regime. Others discount the initiative because it has the backing of the US administration, which has a dubious record so far in the Syria uprising. The plan has also been criticised because it is supported by Riad Seif, a former political prisoner who is not widely known to be influential in opposition circles.
But at heart, the SNC opposes the plan simply because it will be replaced. Instead of using its influence built over the past 19 months to benefit the Syrian opposition on the ground, it is operating on a narrow agenda of political survival.
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/editorial/syria-opposition-needs-to-accept-change-at-doha#ixzz2BIHv3FWS
November 4th, 2012, 5:08 pm
Tara said:
Syria’s opposition fail to show united front at Qatar conference
Syrian National Council refuses to support US-backed plan that would sideline it, but may be forced to accept compromise
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/04/syria-opposition-united-qatar-conference
..
At the Doha conference, the SNC will have to decide whether to accept a plan proposed by a prominent dissident, Riad Seif, to set up a new leadership group of about 50 members. The SNC would get some 15 seats, meaning its influence would be diluted, while military commanders and local leaders in rebel-held areas would win wider representation.
Seif said his plan has broad international backing and portrayed it as a stepping stone to more robust foreign aid.
,,,
The SNC is to decide on Wednesday whether to accept Seif’s plan. Sieda said the SNC believes it deserves at least 40% of the seats, should it decide to join the new group, suggesting the group may have decided it is under too much pressure to reject the plan entirely.
November 4th, 2012, 7:17 pm
Ghufran said:
After the Kurds, now come the Palestinians (btw, Muhammad rafe’ has Palestinian parents), rebels are engaging mukhayyam alyarmouk and have murdered a number of Palestinians including 3 women. I do not know who is making plans for the rebels but he has to be a total idiot. There is over 475,000 Palestinians in Syria.
November 4th, 2012, 7:17 pm
Ghufran said:
?????? ?????? ???? ???????
????? ???? ??? ?????? ? ??? ??? ??? ? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ???? ???????? ? ???? ???? ???????? ? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?????.
? ????? ??? ?? “??????” ???? ??? ??????? ? ??? ?????? ? ???? ??????????? ????????? ???????? ? ???? ?????? ? ?? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ? ????? ?????????? ? ????? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ??????.
? ????? ?????? ?? “??????” ???? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??????? ? ??????? ? ?????????? ??? ????? ????? ? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ?????????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ? ??? ?????? ??????????.
November 4th, 2012, 7:29 pm
Ghufran said:
One more reason to install puppet governments in Syria and Lebanon:
Large reserves of oil and natural gas.
Assuming the two countries manage to stay in one piece, it will only take 7-10 years for cash to flow. Before you ridicule the story , try to read about the subject, Israel is already paying 50-100% higher salaries to petroleum engineers from the US to go to Israel. Israel,according to available info has less reserves than Lebanon which has less reserves than Syria. Conservative estimates look at Syria being able to triple its oil production by 2022. Where is ehsani when we need him?
Israel is already drilling and is now stealing oil and gas from Lebanon while retarded Arabs are trying to figure out who is the true Muslim and who should be in power.
November 4th, 2012, 8:05 pm
Uzair8 said:
Angry Arab may have been angry before, however he has been furious ever since the uprising began on the 15th of March 2011, ruining his birthday the following day.
November 4th, 2012, 9:02 pm
Uzair8 said:
Regime losses (vehicle/aerial assets). All the tweets below from about 8 hrs ago:
_____________________
Rex Brynen ?@RexBrynen
Approximate Syrian helo losses to 31/10/2012 (via ACIG):
14 Mi-2/8/17 + up to 13 hit on the ground, 3 force-landed
https://twitter.com/RexBrynen/status/265147776491454464
_____________________
Rex Brynen ?@RexBrynen
Approximate Syrian fixed-wing losses to 31/10/2012 (via ACIG):
5 L-39 (+4 damaged),
4-7 MiG 21 (+1 defection),
1 UAV (+other a/c damaged)
https://twitter.com/RexBrynen/status/265147517908447232
_____________________
Rex Brynen ?@RexBrynen
Approximate Syrian armour losses to 4/11/2012 (via ACIG):
211x MBTs,
194x BMPs,
11x ZSU-23-4,
1x 2S1 = 417 AFVs
https://twitter.com/RexBrynen/status/265146325606207488
November 4th, 2012, 9:15 pm
Visitor said:
While Mrs. Clinton continues to bark on her way out of State office just as she’s been doing for the last year over bodies of Syrians, and while so-called SNC and NCCB continue to fight and bicker over political positions none has yet while Syrians get killed, the true heroes of the revolution, none other than the brave and courageous FSA, destroyed four criminal helicopters today.
That’s what action is where action is needed.
Syrians must make priorities clear as crystal. Support the FSA with with everything you got. Unless the war is won, there is no going forward.
Down with Russia and its dog Lavrov.
November 4th, 2012, 9:51 pm
ghufran said:
Syria is a nation in crisis but this tragic situation also produced a class of people who are getting rich at the expense of ordinary syrians. I called around and listened to reports about food and gas prices in Syria and I am absolutely disgusted, I do not know how people in Syria are finding money to feed their kids when food prices are up by 2-3 times in some cases. I do not care if you are pro or anti regime, this is not the time to be stingy, send what you can to help people in need, I was told that there are many students who are literally hungry and can only hope for one meal per day, if that does not make you give money to Syrians in need you are either a non Syrian who does not care or an actual Syrian SOB (excuse the language)What I heard today made me physically sick, I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.
November 4th, 2012, 10:14 pm
Syrialover said:
A tweet that says it all:
“The Syrian opposition should make time to watch the news. Al Assad is destroying the country. It is not time for personal branding.”
http://twitter.com/wissamtarif/status/265249479937118208
November 4th, 2012, 10:24 pm
Syrialover said:
GHUFRAN #61
How I wish and dream what you’ve written about Syria exploiting major reserves of oil and gas in the future could be true.
But you haven’t given sources for that claim, and every other thing I’ve read flatly contradicts it.
I’m aware there have been huge natural gas finds offshore in the Levantine basin in the last three years, with the two big prizewinners being Israel (with some grumblings from Lebanon) and Cyprus (with some grumblings from Turkey).
I’ve read the reports eagerly, but Syria never gets a mention.
No winnings for Syria in oil, either. Its reserves are fast dwindling and there has been no serious talk of potential further finds.
But if you have better information, please direct me to references. I’d be thrilled to be wrong.
November 4th, 2012, 11:20 pm
zoo said:
It seems that all agree now that the SNC is living its last 3 days of agony in denial. It will be followed by the FSA now abandoned by its oil-money supporters and eaten up by the snakes it welcomed in its bosom. Like the SNC, it’s just a matter of time.
November 4th, 2012, 11:26 pm
Syrialover said:
Joshua has just put up a new post
November 5th, 2012, 12:10 am
ann said:
Divisions emerge at Syria opposition conference – November 4. 2012 8)
Sharp disagreements arose Sunday on the first day of a Syrian opposition conference meant to forge a more cohesive leadership that the international community says is necessary before it will boost its support for those trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
The main opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Council, balked at a U.S.-backed plan that would largely sideline it to make room in a new leadership council for fighters and activists inside Syria.
Failure to reach a deal in Doha could further heighten tensions between Syria’s political opposition and the international community. Opposition leaders feel abandoned by the U.S. and other foreign backers, saying they are not providing the money and weapons the rebels need to defeat Assad in a stalemated civil war. Washington and others say they can’t step up aid unless the opposition stops bickering and establishes a more representative — and unified — leadership.
The disagreements at the conference reinforced doubts in the opposition’s ability create a new structure the U.S. and its allies can work with. The U.S. hopes a more representative body can provide a reliable partner, buffer against interference by extremists and help bring Syria’s allies Russia and China on board with change.
However, divisions among political leaders are not the only concern.
Rebel fighters are split into small largely autonomous groups, some led by local figures little known outside Syria. Most nominally belong to the umbrella Free Syrian Army, but their ties to it are often just lip-service. In many hotspots, fighters from a radical Islamic group inspired by the al-Qaida terror network have taken on prominent roles.
[…]
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/04/syria-opposition-conference/1680931/
November 5th, 2012, 12:11 am
habib said:
Lol, how can jihadi retards have the guts to threaten Russia and China? These two countries eat Islamic “rebels” for breakfast.
November 5th, 2012, 7:55 pm
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