Noah Bonsey: “Liberation Front Represents Mainstream National Militant Alliance”
Posted by Joshua on Monday, February 11th, 2013
Abdel Qader Salih of the Liberation Front
Noah Bonsey to Aron Lund, [See the last two posts for their contributions and dialogue about the relative strength of Syria’s two principle rebel-militia alliances.]
Excellent point on the Liwa al-Islam/Tajammu’ Ansar al-Islam split in your last post. I have not been following the Damascus militant scene as closely recently and completely missed that.
It seems that we agree on the central point: The Supreme Military Command [the formation of which was announced in December as a counterpart to the Opposition Coalition put together in Doha] holds little direct influence, Free Syrian Army figureheads even less, and the Liberation Front currently represents the closest thing to a mainstream national militant alliance.
You make an interesting point regarding the Liberation Front having lots of fighters but no real leadership. Certainly it is true that they have no single leading figure or faction, and–unlike the Islamic Front–they lack a defined ideological or political platform.
I think both of these apparent weaknesses, however, result largely from the individual strength of the alliance’s leading components. Liwa al-Towhid, al-Farouq, Saqour al-Sham and Liwa al-Islam have all proven to be among the most powerful groups within their respective areas of operation over the last six months (and in some cases longer). The Liberation Front’s situation thus differs from that of the Islamic Front, in which Ahrar al-Sham is clearly the dominant faction (and was so even before it absorbed Harakat al-Fajr, et al) and is thus well positioned to steer the coalition toward adopting concrete political and ideological stances in line with its own agenda.
Also, while the Liberation Front lacks a single body capable of leading the alliance as a whole, it is richer than the Islamic Front in terms of charismatic, publicly recognized individual leaders. This may prove important down the road, as neither Ahrar al-Sham nor any of its junior partners has anyone who can compete on the national stage with Abdul Qader Saleh.
In any case, again much enjoyed your post and look forward to your full report.
Best, Noah
Syrian Rebels Capture Country’s Largest Dam
2013-02-11
By BARBARA SURK, Associated Press
BEIRUT — Syrian rebels captured the country’s largest dam on Monday after days of intense clashes, giving them control over water and electricity supplies for much of the country in a major blow to President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The rebels had already seized two other dams on the Euphrates River. But the latest conquest, the al-Furat dam in northeastern Raqqa province, was a major coup for the opposition. It handed them control over water and electricity supplies for both government-held areas and large swathes of land the opposition has captured over the past 22 months of fighting….
Rami Abdul-Rahman, a Britain-based anti-regime activist, said rebels took control of al-Furat dam around midday after successfully pushing out a group of Assad loyalist from the control room. Most of the regime troops in the area had stopped fighting on Sunday following the fall of the nearby town of al-Thawra, Abdul-Rahman said. Hesaid, “This is the biggest economic loss for the regime since the start of the revolution.”
The rebel assault on the dam was led by al-Qaida-linked militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been fighting alongside the rebels trying to oust Assad. Al-Nusra Front is considered the most effective fighting force on the anti-regime side….
The government did not confirm it has lost control of the dam….
The Tabqa Dam, the country’s largest hydro-electric dam, fell in the hands of the Syrian opposition earlier today, a development that is highly symbolic but that has limited economic importance.
According to various news reports rebels took control of the dam, also called in Syria the Euphrates Dam, and of the nearby town of Al-Thawra between yesterday and today. All the operations at the dam are apparently continuing to function normally.
Inaugurated in 1978 by late President Hafez Al-Assad, the Euphrates dam was at the time of its completion hailed as a major achievement not only for the Baath Party but for Syrians as whole.
The town of Tabqa, where the dam is located, was renamed Al-Thawra, or the revolution. Across Syrian society, the project was seen as a sign of the prowess of Syrian engineers and of the economic and social development potential of the country.
The dam was expected to contribute significantly to the country’s food independence through the irrigation of more than 640,000 hectares of land and to the generation of some 800MW of electricity.
In practice, however, it never fulfilled its expectations and both land irrigated and power generated are at around a fifth of their capacity. Problems associated with the project included low water flows from Turkey, lack of maintenance and poor soil quality in reclaimed areas.
The main importance of the dam is the fact that Lake Assad, which was created behind the dam and is the largest water reservoir in the country, is a major source of drinking water for the city of Aleppo.
The Tabqa dam together with two other dams on the Euphrates, Tishreen and Al-Baath, are managed by the General Organization of the Euphrates Dam, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Water Resources.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition’s leader Moaz al-Khatib made a statement on his Facebook page in which he wrote that the Assad regime had “lost a chance to engage in a dialogue” to end the nearing two year conflict. Khatib had made an offer for talks with the government, but the government did not issue an official response. On Friday, Syria’s Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said the government was open to holding talks, but without preconditions. Khatib had called for the release of 160,000 political prisoners, beginning with women whom he pushed to be released by Sunday.
The Alawis – An excellent program produced by Damian Quinn
BBC, 30 minutes, February 2013
The government of President Assad of Syria is under threat. So too is the secretive Shia sect known as the Alawis – or Alawites – to which he and many of the governing party and security officials belong.
Hostility towards the minority Alawi population is such that one leading commentator predicts they are likely to be the victims of the world’s next genocide.Presenter Owen Bennett Jones investigates the Alawis’ origins,….
Presenter Owen Bennett Jones investigates the Alawis’ origins, history and culture and asks how these once marginalised people came to power in a Sunni majority state. He discovers that for many their fortunes changed fifty years ago when the Baath party seized power in a coup d’etat. Alawis were dominant among the army officers who took control. They set about modernising the country and rolling out a secular agenda.
Now, as Syria’s revolution has morphed into a civil war, many Alawis believe their only choice is to kill or be killed. Are the majority of Alawis right to be convinced that the Assad regime is all that stands between them and a return to second-class status, or worse? If the opposition wins in Syria, are warnings about pogroms against the Alawis alarmist, or inevitable?
NATO head: No Syrian intervention coming
2013-02-11, BRUSSELS, Feb. 11 (UPI) —
NATO’s secretary general said the military alliance will not become involved in Syria’s civil war unless member-state Turkey is attacked.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Belgium told EUobserver it wasn’t the purpose of the trans-Atlantic defense alliance to solve every military crisis in the world. “NATO cannot act as the world’s policeman. We cannot travel from country to country to solve every conflict. It’s simply not possible,” he said. “The essence of being a defense alliance is that we are here to ensure the territorial defense of our member states.”
Homs’ displaced residents begin to return
after year of sustained bombing Syrian city is guarded about relative calm as governor calls for unity against al-Qaida and intense fighting continues elsewhere
Jonathan Steele in Homs, guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 February 2013
A Homs taxi is stopped at a checkpoint by the Syrian national defence. Five hundred women are being trained for duty at checkpoints. Photograph: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images
A year after this city captured the world’s attention as the victim of the worst shelling that Syria’s civil war had yet seen, Homs has become a – relatively – safe haven. Hundreds of families who fled to other Syrian cities in fear last February have loaded their belongings and returned. Civilians from Aleppo and Deir el-Zour – where fighting is still intense – are moving to Homs because they have heard it is more livable.
“It’s the only case I know of in Syria where people are returning after a long period of displacement. Homs may be quieter than Damascus”, Khaled Erksoussi, the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent’s emergency response team told me in the capital before I set off on the 100-mile drive north. He was right. The boom of heavy shelling, promptly followed by the screeching of birds in panic, repeatedly fills the Damascene sky. It was in full and murderous throat again when I returned. Yet for 24 hours in Homs I heard only a few explosions, apparently directed towards targets beyond the ring road. In the city centre the street markets are thronged with shoppers. Groups of students wander in and out of the university, or stand around chatting. Checkpoints at several cross-roads create minor traffic jams but the soldiers seem relaxed and perfunctory as they check ID cards and car-boots, no doubt happy to be assigned to minor tasks rather than be sent to risky, remote areas. Homs even boasts a number of armed women in uniform who have volunteered for a newly created home guard.
Homs is Syria’s third largest city and local officials estimate about 150,000 of its 2,300,000 people are thought to have left and not returned. In human terms the figure is huge but it is a smaller exodus in proportional terms than Damascus or Aleppo have suffered….While the rest of his testimony could only be taken on trust, his point that Homs was enjoying a virtual ceasefire was confirmed by many other people I spoke to in the city. Whether this city, which was once a byword for wanton destruction, could one day be a model for the rest of Syria remains to be seen.
Syria’s Salma scarred by war
DW.DE
Build on a hill’s slope, the village of Kurt used to be half Alawite, half Sunni – a religious diversity unusual in the rest of the country where small communities tend to be predominantly Sunni, Alawite, Druze or Christian.
Mohamed Abul Abed, a 30-year-old Sunni, grew up with Alawite friends. Like any other neighbors, he says they would routinely visit each other, share tea and play ball.
But Mohamed says his friends grew apart as the revolution unfolded. “They told me they were afraid they’d be persecuted if the regime falls,” Mohamed says. “I told them no. We are against the regime, not against Alawites. But whatever I said, they were convinced their fate was tied to that of the regime. Because that’s what the Assads have put in their mind.”
The Road to Latakia City: Copyight: DW/M. Olivesi The Road to Latakia City: The coastal town is a stronghold of the Assad regimeWhen the Free Syrian Army took control of Kurt last spring, Alawites stayed put at first and life went on. Then weeks later, a resident spotted a group of young Alawites from the village manning a government checkpoint far from Kurt. Neighbors accused them of working as “Shabihas,” the name for the regime’s militiamen.
Mohamed says he can’t imagine his childhood friends doing any harm. “I think they didn’t kill anyone…” He pauses. “I hope they didn’t.”
Even so, Mohamed blames them for enabling the regime to turn the revolution into a civil war. And he says he’ll probably never forgive them.
Did the CIA Betray Syria’s Rebels?
Feb 12, 2013 12:00 AM EST
Americans didn’t keep promises to opposition leaders. Now they’ve turned against the U.S. By Mike Giglio.
In mid-August, a well-connected Syrian activist drove to the border city of Gaziantep in southern Turkey to meet two officers from the CIA. The officers had set up shop in a conference room at a luxury hotel, where representatives from a handful of opposition groups lounged in the lobby, waiting for their turn at an audience.
The activist, who had been a journalist before the conflict, came with three colleagues from Aleppo, the Syrian commercial capital that had recently turned into the main theater of the war. Inside the room, two casually dressed Americans were rolling up maps from the previous meeting. The Americans introduced themselves as CIA officers and said they were there to help with the overthrow of Syria’s authoritarian president, Bashar al-Assad.
The activist declined to be named for this article, because he didn’t want to be connected publicly to U.S. intelligence. He is respected in Aleppo, and I first met him, in another southern Turkey hotel, at a State Department–funded training seminar for activists, where he was a keynote speaker. According to the activist, the officers questioned the group about creeping Islamism in the rebel ranks. Were Aleppo rebels supportive of democracy? Hostile to the West? What about al Qaeda? Then the officers asked how they could help. The activists wanted armed support for the rebels in Aleppo—in particular, surface-to-air missiles—but the officers explained that America worried such weapons could fall into the hands of extremists. “Let’s leave military matters aside,” one of the officers said. The group made a list of things like satellite phones and medical supplies, and the officers promised to be back in touch soon. “We are here to help you bring down Assad,” one of the officers repeated.
However, in the months since, that activist, as well as many senior figures in the rebellion, have begun to suspect that the United States has no intention of living up to its promises. In a turn of events resonant of Iraq, many who had once been eager to work with the Americans feel betrayed, and some see meetings like those in Gaziantep as little more than a hostile intelligence-gathering exercise.
At the time of the meeting, the war against Assad had been intensifying, and the big question was whether the international community would step in to help the rebels with weapons or even a no-fly zone. In the absence of an intervention, official U.S. policy was to provide only nonlethal support—and that policy remains. But in Gaziantep, sources said, the CIA officers blurred that line.
I spoke with three of the men present when the rebel battalion Liwa al-Fatah met with the CIA in August, just before the Aleppo activists were in the room; two of them—Haytham Darwish, a defected Syrian colonel who led the battalion at the time, and a civilian liaison named Ali Badran—agreed to let me use their names. The men said the officers proposed a two-step plan. First, they would supply Liwa al-Fatah with telecommunications equipment. If the rebels proved reliable, weapons would then be sent their way. The officers didn’t say who would provide the weapons, but Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two U.S. allies, were known to be channeling support to rebel groups. “They said, ‘We can’t promise you now, but in the future, the weapons will be there,’” one of the meeting participants told me. “Which is a promise, actually.” The officers, these rebels added, said the communications equipment would arrive in a matter of weeks.
The Gaziantep meetings had been arranged by Firas Tlass, a Syrian businessman who once had deep ties to Assad. Tlass’s father, Mustafa, had been the country’s feared minister of defense for three decades, while his older brother, Manaf, was a close friend and top aide to Assad before a highly publicized defection in July. Firas Tlass had done well under Assad, but he too had switched sides, vowing to spend his own money to help fund the revolution.
In a phone interview in January, Tlass told me he had been present at the meetings with the Aleppo activists and the Liwa al-Fatah rebels, and he confirmed their accounts. He said that he had arranged a number of similar meetings with the CIA, and that promises like the ones the officers made in Gaziantep were commonplace—including the indirect promise of arms. “They promised to provide telecommunications devices, and afterward, if the rebels proved effective and honest, then they would [help] provide military support,” he said. Tlass told me that the Americans had kept none of those promises, that not even the communications equipment or hospital supplies had materialized. He then accused America of pushing a dark agenda in Syria—working to keep the war going instead of helping with the overthrow of Assad. “America,” Tlass said, “is trying to prolong the Syrian revolution.”…
Obama’s Post-Election Pivot on Syria
U.S. President Barack Obama calls on Congress to pass a small package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the larger, automatic “sequester” cuts from going into effect during an announcement in the White House briefing room in Washington Feb. 5, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)
By: Geoffrey Aronson for Al-Monitor. Posted on February 6.
Soon after re-election Obama explained that Washington will not support an expansion of existing military efforts to topple the regime: “In a situation like Syria, I have to ask: Can we make a difference? Could it trigger even worse violence or the use of chemical weapons? What offers the best prospect of a stable post-Assad regime? And how do I weigh tens of thousands who’ve been killed in Syria versus the tens of thousands who are currently being killed in the Congo?”
The Congo standard for U.S. intervention closes the door on the strategy announced by the president in August 2011. In its place a far more sober and nuanced effort is unfolding, one that retains the prospect of harnessing Washington’s considerable power in support of a diplomatic outcome. This is not leading from behind, nor is it a a policy of simply arming the opposition, or winking at those who do.
Obama has evidently tired of waiting for others to do the self-evident “right thing.” Washington remains as committed as ever to a democratic transition that results in Assad’s departure, but it has now opened the door in support of negotiations with all parties to achieve it. In the past, the suggestion that Assad was prepared to lose an election in 2014 could not be made in polite company. No longer. This change does not insure success, but at the very least it helps to establish a formidable and broad-based diplomatic counterweight to the killing.
Washington’s pragmatic reassessment is not occurring in a vacuum. Leading members of the Syrian opposition and the government itself have made conciliatory statements in support of a diplomatic engagement. Moscow and Tehran have also added their voices to the chorus.
Obama’s Congo standard however carries a more ominous message. Millions have died in the heart of Africa. There has been no pivot, where interests are defined and protected as part of a new order. The Congo has been abandoned to its fate. Woe to Syria if Obama treats it as he does the Congo.
Aid doesn’t reach camp for displaced Syrians just outside Turkey
At Azaz camp for displaced Syrians, more than 12,000 are housed in the 1000 tents, but there’s a waiting list for 1400 more tents, and in the meantime families must live in nearby villages, which are subject to government bombing raids. | Andree Kaiser/MCT
By Roy Gutman | McClatchy Newspapers
ATMA, Syria — From a distance, the tents look like an unfurled streamer, a wave of white filling the olive grove and crawling up the barren hillside on the Syrian-Turkish border, almost a work of environmental art.
This is Syria’s biggest camp for the internally displaced, and the flimsy tents shelter more than 20,000 people who have nowhere else to go.
In its poverty and dire shortages, its poor hygiene and lack of utilities, Atma’s white wave has become a symbol of the plight of the hundreds of thousands of Syrians who’ve fled the fighting in their country.
The United States has deferred to the United Nations in distributing food and other aid to Syria’s displaced, but the U.N. won’t enter any part of Syria without the government’s permission. That’s even more ironic here because Atma is directly across the border from Turkey, with no checkpoints or roadblocks. Yet U.N. agencies haven’t come even for an inspection.
“We know about Atma,” said Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a little-known U.N. agency. “In order to get to these parts of northern Syria you have to cross the border,” she told McClatchy on Wednesday. “We have to work with the government of Syria in order to cross the border.”
Three hundred or more civilians, often with only the clothes on their back, drive up the winding, rutted road every day, traveling in the cargo bays of open trucks, which they hire for the trip. Then comes the letdown: There are no more tents, and the only place to sleep is in the small mosque.
Syria is not Iraq
07 Feb 2013
Shadi Hamid writes: More than a year ago, a real debate began over whether to intervene militarily in Syria. Here in The Atlantic, Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations was one of the first to propose taking military action – or at least thinking seriously about it. When Cook wrote his article (which, […]
Comments (165)
Ghufran said:
أبدى وزير المصالحة الوطنية السوري، علي حيدر، استعداده لإجراء محادثات مع أحمد معاذ الخطيب رئيس “الائتلاف الوطني لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السورية خارج سوريا، بعد المبادرة التي طرحها لفتح حوار مع النظام.
وأشار حيدر في مقابلة مع صحيفة “الغارديان” إلى ان “الحوار الوطني هو وسيلة لتوفير آلية للوصول إلى انتخابات برلمانية ورئاسية حرة، وهذا يمثل واحداً من الموضوعات التي ستتم مناقشتها على طاولة الحوار، وهذا الشيء يمكن أن يكون نتيجة للمفاوضات ولكن ليس شرطاً مسبقاً، لأننا نرفض الحوار القائم فقط على تسليم السلطة من جانب واحد إلى آخر”.
I think the opposition needs to outmaneuver the regime, saying no to dialogue is not an answer.
February 11th, 2013, 6:59 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Landis, when did you join the secret cabals of the New World Order who are masterminding all these fake color revolutions and using Islamists to accomplish this long planned goal of subjecting our planet to the ***** rule. Is it ideology that you harbor or cash need?
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2011/12/26/world-war-iii-first-asymmetric-war-long-pentagon-think-tanks.html
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/who-really-controls-the-world
February 11th, 2013, 7:29 pm
revenire said:
Dear Ghufran I believe you know that no dialogue starts with “we are going to discuss how to eliminate you without more blood being shed.”
Aldendeshe shhh, don’t give away the secret.
February 11th, 2013, 7:39 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
We might as well mention in the history books, that once Syria had an Alawi community,they took power, abused the Syrian people,killed 1/2 million,then revolution get rid of them, they no longer exist in Syria.
some military leaders are known, some are not mentioned much, Qassem Saad aldeen would be my favorite.
February 11th, 2013, 8:05 pm
Observer said:
Alhayat and Alquds are both reporting that the bombing in Turkey targeted a delegation of the SNC that was about to enter the country and talk to rebel commanders but they were late and therefore survived the incident.
I am not sure if it is true or not. If the regime tried to kill them then
If true it sends a signal that this is the dialogue that it wants or
The SNC may have a backlash against Alkhatib for even suggesting talking while the regime is trying to kill them and hence force them to harden their position in an effort to wiggle out of any real discussion
If the regime did it to send a signal and if so to whom: Turkey, the opposition or both. If it is not to kill the opposition then is it to embarrass Turkey? To force it to withdraw support to the opposition or what? Is it to embarrass the opposition and create mistrust with the Turks?
If it is not the regime is it the Kurds and what could they possible get from such an act.
Haidar wants to talk in Geneva. They want the boy prethident to run in 2014. After all any syrian citizen can run in a presidential election. or so he says. Especially one that has clean hands and honest background right?
Again we have a post today that talks about Obama and Russia and the internal opposition and I have yet to see a post by JL about the inner circle and who does what and how it functions and what is being discussed if he has any inklings. If not I would like to hear from him which makes predictions less predictable and incomplete.
Also, why is Syria different than the Congo? I would say the closeness to Israel but whatever happens is not going to be existential threat to Israel. It would destabilize Iraq. So what? Let it be destabilized, they still cannot drink their oil and the Kurds will be more independent to exploit theirs.
Turkey at stake. Not really, they will survive any implosion of Syria. A buffer zone will be more easy to create and keep the refugees there.
Lebanon, the shiny Somalia on the coast; who cares, let it go into more low level warlordism. After all HA is in power.
Russia, great, more training ground for jihadists that travel back and forth.
Congo it is and Congo it will be. The US will use to beat Russia and Iran with it.
It will break up and millions will be displaced and maybe hundreds of thousands will die; what is it for the strategic interests of the US?
Perhaps my previous estimation that a superpower has to act is false for maybe Obama does not care about empire and wants to save the Republic.
February 11th, 2013, 8:24 pm
Syrian said:
The capture of few sybomlic Batta’s Shabihs from
last night take over of one of the security centers inside Damascus,
http://youtu.be/L-djYePHHQc
February 11th, 2013, 8:25 pm
Ghufran said:
Read this garbage;
“4. MAJEDKHALDOUN said:
We might as well mention in the history books, that once Syria had an Alawi community,they took power, abused the Syrian people,killed 1/2 million,then revolution get rid of them, they no longer exist in Syria”.
Any question why nobody now wants to give his neck to khalloudeh’s thugs?
Syrians will eventually reject militants from all sides and go back to their senses, this may take time but it needs to happen if Syria is to rise again.
February 11th, 2013, 8:33 pm
Ghufran said:
I see no indication that the current surge in violence will change much on the ground, Syrians who will die due to this new wave of violence are dying for nothing, no party ,including Assad’s, will be allowed to dominate the new syria, I feel sorry for the fools and angry at those who know that fact but are still lying and sending their foot soldiers to die in a senseless war.
اعتبر المنسق العام لـ«هيئة التنسيق الوطنية لقوى التغيير الديمقراطي» في سورية حسن عبد العظيم أن التصعيد العسكري الأخير من قبل المعارضة وخصوصاً في دمشق وريفها إنما «يمثل في وجه منه خلافاً ضمن الائتلاف الوطني السوري، كما يمكن تفسيره بأنه محاولة لتقوية وتعزيز المواقف والحصول على تحقيق أكبر قدر من المكاسب على الأرض قبل الجلوس إلى طاولة المفاوضات والشروع بالحل السياسي».
وفي مؤتمر صحفي عقدته الهيئة في مقرها بدمشق أمس، أعلن عبد العظيم رفضه المشاركة بالحوار الوطني الشامل المزمع عقده قريباًً، موضحاً أن الهيئة تقبل بالتفاوض مع النظام بضمانات دولية وإقليمية وعربية.
Nobody should trust the regime or the Islamists .
February 11th, 2013, 8:44 pm
Visitor said:
The Druze of Suweida and adjoining region have proven to be patriotic Syrians and are loyal to the great revolution of the Syrian people,
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/ar/nowspecialar/مشايخ-دروز-يفتون-سرا-بعدم-الإنضمام-لميليشيات-النظام-السوري
The Druze of Syria will, therefore, have a major role to play in the new Syria, when the criminal regime is destroyed.
I must agree with MajedK @10, even though I posted ahead of him. The behaviour of our Druze brothers proves MajedK’s point.
February 11th, 2013, 9:05 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Kookoo Ghufran
After your thugs killed 150,000 and plan to kill half million syrian, there is no way we can live togather, the Evil that you come from has to be cleaned from Syria,You have no right in it anymore,go back to Taloqan.
we gave you long time to change, you kept on killing us, and you kept attacking the freedom fighters FSA, do not expect us to be friend with you anymore, you are evil,you don’t deserve Syrian citizenship.
February 11th, 2013, 9:05 pm
revenire said:
February 11th, 2013, 9:22 pm
Ghufran said:
More garbage from the belly dancer turned surgeon:
“After your thugs killed 150,000 and plan to kill half million syrian, there is no way we can live togather”
You have to be a total fool to accept the piece of pure filth that came out of khalloudeh’s post, I can not believe that an educated person can get to this low level, however, I am always reminded that zawahiri is a medical doctor too.
Calling for genocide publically is a federal crime, mr khalloudeh should spend his retirement years in Afghanistan or in alnusea boot camp for seniors.
Shame on you and everybody like you.
February 11th, 2013, 9:23 pm
omen said:
please reconsider, khaldoun. ghufran is not evil. he’s not responsible for the regime. there are extremist voices on the blog more worthy of contempt. ghufran is hardly that. succumbing to the temptation to taint the innocent through guilt by association is what the regime is guilty of doing. surely you are not advocating collective punishment.
listen to the bbc piece highlighted on the blog. minorities have been victims of the regime as well.
February 11th, 2013, 9:27 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Yes Kookoo
Bashar is a doctor too, Your brother AbuGhassan is a doctor too,,And what come out from your mouth ,I get rid of it every morning from my asshole.
My brother was 76 year old, it was cold he went to buy firewood,for his wood stove, since there is no Mazoat,your criminal thugs shot him dead a month ago, I tell you something if I see one thug Assad supporter I will take revenge,without hesitation.
February 11th, 2013, 9:34 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Omen
No I don’t advocate collective punishment, but revenge from murderers is our right, those who attack the FSA are co murderer, MY brother was killed,he did not do any thing, he went to buy wood for his fire wood stove they shot him dead, he was 76 year old,the criminals and those who defend criminals,must pay.
February 11th, 2013, 9:41 pm
Visitor said:
Ghufran,
Don’t get so apparently upset and behave as if your are an aggrieved party. The Germans also had to get rid of the Nazis after WWII. We have a similar situation in Syria.
————————–
Omen,
Ghufran IS evil.
February 11th, 2013, 9:45 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Rebels have seized Syria’s largest dam. They appear to be making progress. Slow, but definite progress.
The war continues.
P.S. I also don’t think the different groups in Syria can live together after this.
February 11th, 2013, 10:23 pm
Ghufran said:
I did what I did to provoke a response from terrorist supporters and violence advicates to give readers a view of how Islamists who want to rule Syria think , they responded quickly and I am glad, now it is easier for many to see why I come hard on Islamists and supporters of alnusea and alqaida , those people have an agenda, a violent one, they supported terror against western nations and their own countries, they are a universal disease that requires a universal treatment.
I am appauled as much as anybody by the crimes committed by Assad supporters and i support setting up a syrian tribunal for ALL war ctimes , butt those crimes do not justify the call to exterminate millions of Syrians , that is what the nazis did and that is what alqaida and Nusea supporters think of alawis , they see them as the Jews of the 21 century.
February 11th, 2013, 10:26 pm
Visitor said:
MariGold @17,
The war will continue for the time being, but Syria will remain whole. There is no way a single atom of Syrian soil to be lost. So do not go in that direction, please.
February 11th, 2013, 10:31 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The number of angry, vengeful Sunnis in Syria increase with each passing day. And they will welcome anyone who will fight on their behalf.
As I’ve said before, the longer the war continues, the worse it will be for the Alawis. What comes around, goes around.
And the war continues.
February 11th, 2013, 10:31 pm
MarigoldRan said:
@ Visitor
On other points, I agree with you, but on this point I must disagree with you. Syria will not and should not stay together. The different sects have proven they cannot live together.
February 11th, 2013, 10:37 pm
Aldendeshe said:
My brother was 76 year old, it was cold he went to buy firewood,for his wood stove, since there is no Mazoat,your criminal thugs shot him dead a month ago, I tell you something if I see one thug Assad supporter I will take revenge,without hesitation.
__________________________________________________________________
So Hafez killed my MB cousin Muthanna (20’s) and Bashar killed my young cousin Hammoudi (20’s), I was little boy when peasants in Zaafrane put a Kalashnikov straight to my forehead and told my father never to return to his land, we never did. Do I suppose to start genocide in Syria now against all? May I ask you what did you, or your father do in Syria for living? I bet you both were in Baath party apparatus or government employee at one point in time. If so, should I hold you responsible and seek revenge now. How does personal injury to one justify the killing of anyone innocent, robbing businesses, destroying an entire country just to get even!! I don’t get the relation at all. It is your country, isn’t it? Or you are an Israeli Jews with genetically acquired trait of hatred to Syrians. If you have an issue, a cause for revenge against someone, some leader, official, system, why the whole country has to be punished and destroyed like you are doing to Syria?
February 11th, 2013, 10:47 pm
Visitor said:
MariGold @21,
OK, but you will be proven wrong on this one.
February 11th, 2013, 10:57 pm
revenire said:
حاول إنزال العلم السوري فشاهد ما حدث به
February 11th, 2013, 11:00 pm
Ghufran said:
أمر النائب العام المصري بضبط وإحضار داعية سلفي لقوله إن الشريعة الإسلامية تقضي بقتل قادة “جبهة الإنقاذ الوطني” المعارضة، لسعيها لإسقاط الرئيس محمد مرسي.
وعزت النيابة سبب اعتقال الأستاذ في جامعة الأزهر محمود شعبان إلى “التحقيق معه في شأن اتهامه بالتحريض على قتل وإهدار دم قيادات جبهة الإنقاذ الوطني”.
وكان شعبان خص بالذكر في تصريحات في برنامج في قناة “الحافظ” التلفزيونية المنسق العام لـ”جبهة الإنقاذ” محمد البرادعي والعضو القيادي فيها حمدين صباحي.
وقال شعبان “ما لا يعلمه كثيرون أن جبهة الإنقاذ التي تبحث عن الكرسي بوضوح الآن حكمها في شريعة الله القتل”.
Hint hint hint
February 11th, 2013, 11:01 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Al dendeshi
No one is calling to kill innocents, but those who have blood on their hands are over 100,000, when Assad is gone those and their families will flee,to different countries, they can not,ever come back,there is no need to divide Syria,they were given choice,they were told to join us for a democratic system, they prefered to fight till death,they chose their fate, the revolution is not sectarian, the regime is sectarian, attacking the FSA is a crime, The FSA is fighting in self defence,if they overthrow Bashar then they are our brothers,if they keep attacking the FSA they are our enemy.
February 11th, 2013, 11:03 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
22. ALDENDESHE
“My brother was 76 year old, it was cold he went to buy firewood,for his wood stove, since there is no Mazoat. your criminal thugs shot him dead a month ago, I tell you something if I see one thug Assad supporter I will take revenge, without hesitation.”
February 11th, 2013, 11:03 pm
omen said:
dear dr.khaldoun, i am so sorry! please forgive my insensitivity. i did not know. i cannot even fathom such a shock. you and your family are in my prayers.
February 11th, 2013, 11:05 pm
Visitor said:
Ghufran @18,
You seem to have lost your nerves and have turned frantic. So when did you and your comrades come out from Auschwitz?
You see how EVIL you are, and just as manipulative as the rest of your comrades on this forum? You think anyone will believe your snake’s tears?
Your BMS must have been quite noisy when you wrote that last comment full of bullsh*t. Your kind (regime supporters) are finished and it is all your doing. So, blame no one but your side. We will go for accountability till the last supporter of this abomination is brought to justice and made to pay the price he/she deserves, and with no mercy. Have no doubt about that snake-skin!
February 11th, 2013, 11:05 pm
omen said:
please, ghufran, tell the doctor you too are sorry for his loss.
February 11th, 2013, 11:09 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The regime waged war on everyone else. There is a blood debt to pay.
February 11th, 2013, 11:11 pm
revenire said:
Yawn.
February 11th, 2013, 11:18 pm
Ghufran said:
I do not know if khaldoun is telling the truth but if he was, I certainly hope that those who killed the old man , khaldoun’s brother or any innocent Syrian, get a fair punishment in this life and the after life, if there was one, killers of innocent Syrians do not deserve mercy, for the killing to stop, the war needs to stop, do not kid yourself by thinking that killing innocent Syrians is the proper way to bring justice to those who were wrongly killed, I do not know what Quran some people are reading from, it is not the one we read at school.
February 11th, 2013, 11:22 pm
revenire said:
How would the killing stop? Who will stop it? Don’t be so naive.
The only end to this is victory for Assad. Anything else means death unlike anything you’ve seen so far.
For example, if tomorrow Assad was assassinated his supporters would go on a killing spree driven by revenge. Hundreds of thousands could die.
The army has not used its air force to really “go all out”. Not even 10% of its power has been used. The same with the army. They are holding back to save lives. I know many soldiers who want to do their job and are been restrained.
This is war. You wanted war. You have war.
The war continues.
February 11th, 2013, 11:36 pm
omen said:
ghufran, put politics and self justification aside for one second and stop to offer some empathy. you are not conceding an argument to do so. you’re always calling for dialogue between the two sides but you cannot offer a simple condolence and say i’m sorry for your loss?
February 11th, 2013, 11:41 pm
Syrian said:
Mk
Sorry about your great lose, your borother in a better place,I pray you get over the lose and give you the patience to go on
February 11th, 2013, 11:45 pm
Syrian said:
Mk
Sorry about your great loss, your brother is in a better place,I pray you get over the loss and give you the patience to go on
February 11th, 2013, 11:46 pm
Aldendeshe said:
I am absolutely positive beyond a shadow of doubt , according to reliable intelligence, that all these Islamic terrorists organizations and groups are ALCIADA-MOSSAD financed trained and setup with few front persons as Islamists, the rest just foreign mercenaries operating from behind, actually doing most of the work. They are recruited from various Islamic/African countries in the past decade or so by the Secret Cabals operating a global network, moving them around from one country to another, using local front for public faces. Landis with help from Jew/Mossad Lund here is building them up into something they are not, part of the plot and strategy. Unfortunately to the plotters, there are wide and far reaching intelligence available now that will makes these ops ending in miserable failure. We are in post 9/11 and many have all the needed threads and files to track accurately what is going on. Putin dealt a severe blow to scam artists, Bashar and his Iranian backers are not informed about them, so both are getting beating for some time now.
February 12th, 2013, 12:12 am
Tara said:
Majedkhaldoun,
The killers shall be killed period. In our culture, dying this way..he is a martyr and he is most definitely in a better place. The killers shall be killed…and we are seeing it now.. Alahmar family’s killers were brought to justice, Albari family were brought to justice and so Asef Shawkat, and Maher al Assad. Even Anisa is brought to a perhaps more intense divine justice.. and eventually Batta and everyone else with blood on their hands, and no we shall not forgive.
February 12th, 2013, 12:18 am
Uzair8 said:
Asma, possibly pound-for-pound the top first lady (of a tyrant) of the last century, has kept a fairly low profile during the conflict. I guess her rival, her enemy is Sara Netanyahu.
Btw, it seems Sara also has a fondness for luxury shopping during times of conflict (2006 Leb War).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Netanyahu
February 12th, 2013, 1:50 am
ann said:
We want JOBS JOBS JOBS …
http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/who-s-stronger-on-syria-obama-or-mccain-20130211
There’s no groundswell among Americans for the United States to get involved more deeply in the ongoing tragedy of Syria.
Three polls released in December, by Pew, CNN, and ABC News/Washington Post make that completely clear.
Nearly two-thirds in the Pew poll said America doesn’t have a responsibility to do something about fighting in Syria, and a similar supermajority said the United States shouldn’t send arms to groups trying to overthrow the Syrian government. Arms were opposed by 55 percent in the CNN poll, and ground troops were a complete nonstarter. Three-quarters in the ABC/Post poll opposed intervention (though majorities said they’d favor it if Syrian government forces invaded a neighbor or used chemical weapons on their own people).
So there’s no question that last year, in the middle of his reelection campaign, President Obama was in tune with public opinion when he rejected the recommendations of his entire national security team—the secretaries of State and Defense, the CIA director, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff—to arm the Syrian rebels. Did politics drive Obama’s decision? Or did he show strength in resisting the recommendations of the team, given concerns that U.S. weapons could fall into the wrong hands?
Imagine for a moment that you’re Obama, leading a country burdened by debt, unemployment, and intractable politics, digging slowly out of a deep recession and two wars. Then think about the inevitability of unintended consequences. Egyptian democracy, strongly supported by the United States, has produced a government led by the Muslim Brotherhood. Libya, where we helped oust Muammar el-Qaddafi, is so dangerous and chaotic that the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were murdered. Some of Qaddafi’s weapons, meanwhile, ended up in the hands of Islamic terrorists in Mali.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/who-s-stronger-on-syria-obama-or-mccain-20130211
February 12th, 2013, 2:03 am
ann said:
Reminds me of the mall’s shoe shine man 😀
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/65816000/jpg/_65816452_65815454.jpg
They sure know how to pick’em 😀
February 12th, 2013, 2:21 am
Uzair8 said:
I wouldn’t be surprised if the regime holds compromising (embarrassing) material on officials, important businessmen and merchants etc. in order to keep them from abandoning the regime.
Over 40 years the regime would’ve known that giving them a piece of the pie may not necessarily guaranteee loyalty thus they would need something else to keep loyalty.
In such a context, it may not be so risky for the regime, in order to give the impression of a non-sectarian regime, to promote…let’s say…for example..a Sunni to the highest rank in the army.
Wasn’t it Buthaina Shaaban who threatened to release compromising material on Gulf leaders? It’s a real possibility that many important people are being blackmailed by this mafia regime.
February 12th, 2013, 2:25 am
MarigoldRan said:
That was a pretty important dam the rebels just captured. It controls electricity and water flow to LARGE areas of the country.
The regime continues to crumble.
February 12th, 2013, 2:32 am
MarigoldRan said:
“This is one of the biggest projects that have a moral value in Syria’s history,” said Dubai-based Syrian economist Samir Seifan. “It was the Syrian government’s biggest project in the 20th century.”
February 12th, 2013, 2:35 am
Uzair8 said:
Read the following on Yalla Souriya (YS) last night. Apparently it’s from FSAUnited, a name I’ve seen a few times recently.
I’d have thought the number of tank losses would a little higher. I remember one poster on a forum many months ago claimed that over a 1000 tanks/BMPs had been destroyed. Yes that claim was very high although I felt it was possible.
The 150,000 figure for regime military/shabeeha deaths seems very high.
A section of the post on YS:
_________________
Statistics about the losses in the Syria Army (FSAUnited)
[…]
Statistics are important for military losses to the Syrian regime’s army, Reuters reported ::
Number of military deaths from the Syrian army and security and Shabiha exceeded 150,000.
[…]
We recall here, according to information received from the Syrian army for equipts that (…) and become out of service:
368 tanks of various type
248 BMP
131 RDM
146 military trucks
236 small cars including the vans
17 armored vehicles BTR
122 Pickup various style
148 ambulance civilian and military
3 military helicopters Mi-Antonov
[…]
Read more:
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/statistics-about-the-losses-in-the-syria-army-fsaunited/
February 12th, 2013, 2:37 am
MarigoldRan said:
In the meantime, Khatib offers to talk with regime officials…
in Northern Syria.
Clever man.
February 12th, 2013, 2:37 am
MarigoldRan said:
It is, in many ways, a wonderful thing that the regime has left so many arms caches around the country for the rebels to capture.
February 12th, 2013, 3:03 am
Uzair8 said:
From AJE blog. Saw a video of Jarrah airport a few minutes ago on Syrian Smurfs twitter.
https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf/status/301230654673276928
I’m assuming the AJE post is about the same location.
________________________________
Syria 16 minutes ago
Rebels seized a military airport in the north Syria province of Aleppo on Tuesday, killing, injuring and capturing a total of around 40 troops, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“The remainder of the troops pulled out from the airport, leaving behind several warplanes and large amounts of ammunition,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/rebels-overrun-military-airport-north-syria-%E2%80%93-afp
February 12th, 2013, 3:48 am
MarigoldRan said:
There were DOZENS of planes and jets at that captured installation.
Hmmm: I wonder if some of them are still serviceable. If the retreating regime forces have failed to destroy their jets before the airbases’s capture, it means their morale is really shot to hell.
February 12th, 2013, 3:53 am
ann said:
Armed rebels attack ancient village, church in northern Syria – 2013-02-11
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/11/c_132164734.htm
DAMASCUS, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) — Armed rebels have wreaked havoc on an archeological village in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, the pro-government al-Watan daily said Monday.
Gunmen attacked the archeological Brad village, some 40 km north of Aleppo. The village, inhabited by 5,000 Kurds and annually visited by Christian pilgrims, combines a tomb and church of Saint Maroun, the patron saint of the Maronites, according to the report.
Quoting local villagers, al-Watan said the Mar Maroun Church was vandalized and its windows were smashed.
The incident comes after a rare visit by Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai to Syria on Saturday.
On Sunday, al-Rai said during the enthronement of Greek Orthodox leader, John al-Yaziji, that Syria is paining from ” futile wars,” stressing that everything that is befalling the country “doesn’t equal one innocent drop of Syria’s blood.”
The Lebanese Patriarch’s visit came amid reports of harassment against Christians in rebel-held areas in Syria by the opposition fighters, whose ranks have been overwhelmed with [filthy] Islamist radicals.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/11/c_132164734.htm
February 12th, 2013, 4:18 am
ann said:
US allies provide Syrian rebels with weapons ‘at wink and nod’ of Washington – Churkin to RT – 11 February, 2013
http://rt.com/news/churkin-syria-weapons-us-862/
Washington has a lot of influence on countries like Qatar, which is reportedly the main source of weapons and support for the Syrian rebels, so they are not absolved from responsibility, Russia’s ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told RT.
With a civil war raging in Syria, French intervention in Mali, the risk of a military strike against Iran and the increased threat of Islamic terrorism in North Africa, the international community is faced with a series of complex challenges that offer no simple solutions.
Ambassador Churkin explained to RT why diplomacy is the only way out of the crises in Syria and Iran, why Mali was a legitimate intervention, and how the rush to unilateral, military action cripples efforts at legitimate, multilateral solutions.
RT: I’m very pleased to introduce Russia’s envoy to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin. Ambassador Churkin, thank you very much for making yourself available for this interview.
Vitaly Churkin: Thank you.
RT: Let me begin with Iran. Russia is about to sit down yet again for talks with five other world powers on Iran’s nuclear program. The negotiations are due at the end of February. The US Vice-President Joe Biden said that the US was ready for direct negotiations with Iran. Do you see it as a breakthrough, as a serious push for diplomacy on the part of Washington?
VC: Well, hopefully, and of course we are looking forward to the resumption of the talks of the six with Iran in Astana in late February. And we have always welcomed the possibility of direct contacts between the United States and Iran. Unfortunately, over the years there has been some back-and-forth: some positive statements on the one side were met by negative statements on the other side.
This time, I understand, there’s been a strong negative statement from a high level from Tehran which was saying that those talks were impossible. The Iranians are notoriously difficult negotiators, and of course the subject matter is very complex, so on each particular issue there are always very difficult discussions, and it is quite a challenge to make headway. But we believe that there has been some headway on the substance of those discussions, and we hope that there is a good point from which the negotiators can proceed with making some progress.
RT: Just speaking more generally, when talking about progress in relations with Russia, I heard many times members of the Obama administration say, “Well we’ve got Russia” – quote unquote – “on board – to put more pressure on Iran.” In what context, in what ways do you see Russia on board with the United States on Iran? Do you see points where Russia is on board with the US on Iran?
VC: Our American colleagues have an interesting way of describing the situation. They very often tend to talk, as you tried to quote them, in terms of the American positions and others coming over to those positions. This is not the case at all, this is not the way we see it. When we enter into some discussions with the United States and other partners in various situations we try to find a common position, so sometimes they move towards us, sometimes it’s a compromise where we have to come together midway, this is the way we find a compromise.
We’re prepared to continue working together within the format of the six, even though we make no secret of the fact that we think that some of the things which are being done by some members of the six are counterproductive because, in addition to Security Council sanctions, they piled up all sorts of unilateral sanctions, which we believe are not needed as a matter of principle. Because once we agree to work together, once we develop a certain system based on Security Council resolutions, to add anything on top of that is the wrong thing to do, and in our view this is creating some humanitarian problems in Iran which should not be there, and it’s creating some bad blood in the talks with Iran which is not really necessary.
RT: If the US and Israel, together or separately, were about to make the decision to strike Iran, is there anything that could stop them?
VC: I hope common sense and good reason will stop them because this would be the worst thing to do. First of all, the opportunities for a dialogue are there. Nobody, no member of the six, including the United States, maintains that the Iranians have already made the political decision to develop a nuclear weapon. They accept, they say, that as far as they know the Iranians have not yet made that decision. Since this decision has not yet been made – even according to them – then certainly there is room for diplomatic discussions, for diplomacy etc. etc.
A military strike would certainly make no further talks with Iran possible, so every opportunity for political discussions would be lost. I agree with those who believe that in fact that would give a great push to those in Iran – if that strike were to happen – who might be advocating building a nuclear bomb. So that would be an irrational dangerous step, to say nothing of the regional repercussions of the conflict with Iran because now we are facing instability in the region as one of the ‘standing on its own feet’ phenomenon. Until recently we were talking about common threats which we needed to face, like terrorism, international economic crisis. Now I would suggest a new common threat which we have to come to grips with and do something about it – it’s instability in a major region spreading from Mali and Libya in northwest Africa all the way to Iran.
RT: Speaking of Mali, how do you assess France’s military operation there?
VC: I believe the extremists of the north made a pretty bad miscalculation, they got carried away and they decided to make a military move to the south, heading towards the capital, Bamako. Then the government of Mali requested the French to send in the troops, and they did. And we understood; we had no objections, because in terms of international law it was a completely clear request of the government, because of a clear threat to its security and integrity of the country. So we supported that in our discussions in the Security Council.
Basically, everything that is happening – and now the African troops have moved in, too, in support of the French – is within the context of the resolution of the Security Council. We do have, let’s face it, sometimes quite acrimonious discussions in the Security Council, but this is not one of those situations. This is a situation where people understand the dangers, and also have a very frank exchange of views about what needs to be done in order to avoid finding ourselves, putting the United Nations in an overly precarious or dangerous situation.
RT: What effects did the Arab Spring have on the situation that is unfolding in Mali right now?
VC: One repercussion of the Arab Spring was the dramatic events in Libya. In the course of that crisis lots of weapons were brought into Libya, and there were lots of weapons as it is. But still, many more weapons were brought into Libya. During the recent hearings, which then-Secretary of State Clinton had in the House of Representatives, one of the congressmen said that they had information that Qatar “with a wink and nod from the United States”, as he put it, brought in 20,000 tons of weapons into Libya. And, you know, [with] 20,000 tons – you can arm a small terrorist army. And of course, this is exactly what happened.
In Mali, we definitely see a spillover of the Libyan crisis to a neighboring country. And most likely, the spillover has affected other places as well. For instance, it may well be – there are many indications to that effect – that the terrorist attack in Algeria close to the Libyan border also had some sort of Libyan connection in terms of people, maybe weapons, terrorists emanating from Libya participating in that attack.
RT: Did you say “at the wink of the United States”?
VC: This is his expression. And I think, “at the wink and nod of the United States”. In my understanding of English, it means some kind of encouragement, so the United States was aware of that. And, incidentally, he…
RT: (interrupts) I want to ask, actually, about Syria. The US now insists that their support for the Syrian opposition is non-lethal. Could it be that the allies of the United States are providing weapons “at the wink and nod of the United States”?
VC: Well, this is definitely the case. I mean, the United States chose to stay clean of the bad guys. At some point of the crisis they realized that things were going very wrong, that terrorist groups were coming in, the radical Islamists were active. And they were beginning to realize, maybe before some of our other Western colleagues, that things were making a very dangerous turn, and that the original scenario that they had in mind – that it will take just a couple of months to topple the Assad regime and then democracy will triumph – was completely unrealistic and had nothing to do with the actual situation on the ground. But the United States is an extremely powerful country, definitely with a lot of influence on, for example, such a country as Qatar, which is, reportedly, the main source of weapons and support for armed opposition.
If the United States wanted to be logical and really take a stand, it certainly could make it clear to those who supply weapons to the Syrian armed opposition groups. So the fact that they simply say that they themselves are not doing that does not really absolve them completely from responsibility of what is happening there in terms of the activity of armed opposition groups.
RT: You said that at some point US officials started to realize… I think that is a sense that a lot of people are getting. Because the Obama administration seems to be a lot more cautious talking about Syria now as opposed to a year ago, for example. They talk about how complex the situation is on the ground. So have you noticed that change?
VC: Yes, this is what I am saying. This change is clear, and this change is clear here in our informal discussions in the Security Council. Clearly, one could feel that their understanding of the situation has become much closer to our understanding of the complexity of what is going on there. So this is what I think makes it important to continue our dialogue in that format. But there is one disconcerting thing, among other things. There is a lot of talk about chemical weapons in Syria, which is a valid concern, and we have also talked very seriously with the Syrian government and they’ve given us all sorts of assurances that, as they put it, if there are chemical weapons in Syria they do not intend to use those weapons. But to our liking there is too much talk about that in a sort of a threatening context – that should something happen, then all sorts of things will be done. So sometimes it does give us an impression that somebody is looking for a pretext for a military intervention, to say nothing of the fact that this kind of narrative, we fear, might provide an incentive for the opposition to do something extremely dangerous with chemical weapons.
RT: What kind of interference, what kind of an international effort would Russia support?
VC: Now I think what Syria needs is more diplomatic support. We were the only ones who were trying to work both with the government and the opposition to bring them to the table, to try to form that transitional body, which is referred to in the Geneva document. Now our partners keep saying that the Geneva document is indeed the only rational document, point of departure, which is there on the table in order to try to arrange a political dialogue between the government and the opposition.
RT: Why were they reluctant then?
VC: I suppose they were still clinging to their idea of toppling the government and the opposition was not prepared to go into dialogue with the government. Our Western partners made a mistake and sent a very bad signal when they recognized the newly formed National Coalition on the basis of a platform which rejected any dialogue with the government and which called for the destruction of the government structures. But on the basis of that platform they did recognize them.
[…]
http://rt.com/news/churkin-syria-weapons-us-862/
February 12th, 2013, 4:26 am
apple_mini said:
To anyone promoting killing on this board. I think the person needs to go to the war zone, joining in whatever group they prefer. No need to be a couch warrior. That should give the person the ultimate pleasure.
You will not be missed.
February 12th, 2013, 5:01 am
Dolly Buster said:
Can you imagine what the Russians would do if they were the leading power of the world? They would enslave the planet.
Luckily, Russia is now reduced to making hateful comments through morons like Vitaliy Churkin.
February 12th, 2013, 5:35 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Thank you Tara
Thank you Omen, Syrian, and Visitor
February 12th, 2013, 6:24 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Few days ago I said a major military base will fall to the FSA
yesterday :
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syrian-rebels-capture-countrys-largest-dam-18468317
Yet another victory is coming ,also.
God bless FSA
February 12th, 2013, 8:09 am
zoo said:
With another North Syria military base claimed to be taken by the islamists, time is running out for a political solution and for preventing Al Qaeda to take over the North of Syria. splitting the country in two.
We will see a sudden flurry of political moves from the USA, the UN and also Turkey to put pressure on both sides to accept a dialog with no conditions. I doubt the Syrian government will budge as it still hold all the large cities in Syria and has expressed his stands multiple times.
It is also yet to see if the al Nusra will be able to use the military base for anything else that picking the amunitions and preventing bombing on the empty villages and towns of North Syria.
Time is ticking for Al Khatib and the opposition if they want to remain relevant and ‘save’ Syria.
They have no choice than to dialog with the Syrian government now.
February 12th, 2013, 9:34 am
zoo said:
Syria’s Assad Ready to Meet Opposition as Rebels Seize Base
By Zaid Sabah & Glen Carey – Feb 12, 2013 9:13 AM ET
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-12/syrian-government-ready-to-meet-opposition-as-rebels-seize-base.html
Syria’s government signaled it’s ready to hold talks with the opposition Syrian National Coalition as rebel forces seized a dam and an airport and pressed their attack across the country.
Ali Haidar, Syria’s minister for national reconciliation, is willing to meet Moaz al-Khatib “in any foreign city where I can go in order to discuss preparations for a national dialogue,” the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper cited Haidar as saying. Four days earlier, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the government would hold talks if the opposition abandons weapons and sets no pre-conditions.
Al-Khatib renewed his offer of dialogue yesterday with the government of President Bashar al-Assad, saying he’s prepared to hold the meetings in rebel-held areas in northern Syria. Talks should focus on finding a way for Assad to leave power to prevent “more death and destruction,” al-Khatib said on his Facebook page.
February 12th, 2013, 9:38 am
Tara said:
Syria crisis: Rebels ‘seize northern air base’
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21424569
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activists group, said rebels killed or held about 40 government troops as they took over al-Jarrah air base.
AFP quoted SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman as saying that, for the first time, rebels captured usable MiG fighter jets, whereas previous air bases had yielded only damaged aircraft.
Amateur video posted on the internet appeared to show rebels overrunning the air base, with helicopters and fighter jets on the tarmac and in shelters.
Last month, rebels took control of the strategic Taftanaz military air base in north-western Syria after weeks of fierce fighting with government forces.
The base had been a logistically important supply centre and housed helicopters which had been used to drop bombs on rebel-held areas in the north.
,,,,
February 12th, 2013, 9:41 am
majedkhaldoun said:
The base has a runway of three KM, it house jets,usually ten jet.
The regime is losing ground,it is the regime who is running out of time, and will call for dialogue,Ali Haider accepted dialogue with Khatib in Geneve.This is implied admission that Muaz Khatib is the opposition.
The relevance of Khatib is determined by FSA only,anything he agrees to has to be O.K. by the FSA
February 12th, 2013, 10:16 am
zoo said:
“These so-called commanders send us to die and they themselves stay behind to make money.
‘Beautiful’ Syria revolt marred by corruption: rebel leader
AFPBy Herve Bar | AFP – 2 hours 9 minutes ago
…
Some rebel leaders have “enriched (themselves) shamefully at the cost of true revolutionaries who die on the front line,” he says.
Abu Mahmoud’s remarks confirm growing reports of looting and corruption by leading insurgents in rebel-controlled areas of strife-torn Syria.
…
“I have a problem with the Islam that comes with these people. It is not the Islam that I know,” he says, questioning the identity and the political agenda of the jihadists.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/beautiful-syria-revolt-marred-corruption-rebel-leader-130042246.html
February 12th, 2013, 10:17 am
zoo said:
Two Migs operational out of 42 in Jarrah military base
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/12/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE91A0MU20130212
Abu Abdallah Minbij, one of the opposition commanders who planned the attack on the airport, said by phone that two operational MiG jets and ammunition were found intact at the base, along with 40 disused fighter jets.
February 12th, 2013, 10:26 am
Tara said:
Any defected pilot to drive those Migs and bomb the presidential palace and let us get it over with?
February 12th, 2013, 10:37 am
apple_mini said:
I do not believe the regime is under military pressure to negotiate. Political pressure is always there and they have suffered too many men.
Military prospective ahead relies on how long it will take the regime to secure the great Damascus. If there is more heat on regime, we might see much intense bombing and shelling.
Battle for Deir Ezzor is looming. That is more significant fighting. If the regime loses it, there will be repercussion on every levels.
Apparently only one trainer jet without electronic detection capacity might be able to be flew at the Jirah airbase. Assume munition left still usable, how the rebel is going to deliver those?
Lost of the dam causes some weapons and munition got into rebels’ hand. Also possible power cut. That could a headache for the regime.
The regime has been gaining in Aleppo due to arrival of reinforcement of an infantry.
I think Assad and his generals have been counting on that battle.
One possible scenario is that the regime will further contracts its army and regain solid ground on those major cities, supply routes and military bases. After that, with the help of their militias on defense, their infantries and army can move to less strategic locations.
From military point of view, the war is far from being over, but the rebel are definitely not having upper hand.
February 12th, 2013, 10:51 am
AIG said:
Fighter jets can easily be flown to another base. The fact that it wasn’t done shows how inept and stupid the regime is. Or that all the pilots defected. Or that they ran out of fuel. In any case, very bad news for the cowards of the regime.
February 12th, 2013, 10:54 am
Aldendeshe said:
“I have a problem with the Islam that comes with these people. It is not the Islam that I know,” he says, questioning the identity and the political agenda of the jihadists.
___________________________________________________________________
38. ALDENDESHESAID:
I am absolutely positive beyond a shadow of doubt , according to reliable intelligence, that all these Islamic terrorists organizations and groups are ALCIADA-MOSSAD financed trained and setup with few front persons as Islamists, the rest just foreign mercenaries operating from behind, actually doing most of the work. They are recruited from various Islamic/African countries in the past decade or so by the Secret Cabals operating a global network, moving them around from one country to another, using local front for public faces. Landis with help from Jew/Mossad Lund here is building them up into something they are not, part of the plot and strategy. Unfortunately to the plotters, there are wide and far reaching intelligence available now that will makes these ops ending in miserable failure. We are in post 9/11 and many have all the needed threads and files to track accurately what is going on. Putin dealt a severe blow to scam artists, Bashar and his Iranian backers are not informed about them, so both are getting beating for some time now.
4 13
BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT MOSLEMS. THEY ARE ISRAELI JEWS AND MERCENARIES THAT GROWN BEARD AND TAN, LOOKING WAHABI MIDDLE EASTERN WORKING FOR FOREIGN INTEL AGENCY AND THE SECRET CABALS. ONCE THE DESTRUCTIVE GOALS ACCOMPLISHED THEY WILL NO LONGER LEAD, THEY WILL EITHER FAKELY GET KLLED OR SIMPLY DISSAPEAR AND REAPPEAR IN ANOTHER SO CALLED REVOLUTION LIKE ZIRQAWI MYTH AND BIN LADIN.
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2011/12/26/world-war-iii-first-asymmetric-war-long-pentagon-think-tanks.html
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/who-really-controls-the-world
February 12th, 2013, 10:56 am
revenire said:
There are no MIGs capable of flying there – maybe 40 years ago they could have flown but not today. There isn’t even a single L-39 there.
There will be no FSA “pilots” “driving” any MIGs to see Assad in Damascus.
Calm down rats.
It is nothing but more propaganda to excite you.
February 12th, 2013, 11:02 am
Syrian Nationalist Party said:
WHAT HAPPENED TO ASSAD MIGHTY SYRIAN ARAB ARMY!!! ALL THOSE HUNDRED OF BILLIONS SPENT IN THE PAST 50 YEARS. 25% OF SYRIA BUDGET ALL ALONG THOSE YEARS !!! AAHHH, IT IS AN “ARAB” ARMY…
February 12th, 2013, 11:19 am
Observer said:
News are that the 80th Division is no more. This is one that is very close to the Aleppo International Airport.
6 airplanes are reported operational and mutliple AA missiles have been obtained.
They tried to bomb the airport but fled when missiles were shot at the aircraft.
Also in his attempt to take back the defense industry complex, Athad lost 12 T-80 tanks to the rebels.
This news was on Alquds about HA overtly joining the fight in Syria.
I am not sure 100% of any of these news but I usually go to the regime and supporters of the regime sites first.
It is not a good day for the boy prethident.
Desperate ZOO is desperate for the Alkhatib to talk and to be forced to talk.
It is too late to talk.
It will be settled on the ground.
Homs is calmer because he withdrew troops to Damascus.
Cheers
February 12th, 2013, 11:49 am
Antoine said:
19-minute full video of inside tour of Euphrates Dam operations rooms with FSA ( Ahrar al Sham, Liwa al Islam & co. ). Good news is that Dam is still working as of now.
February 12th, 2013, 12:00 pm
revenire said:
Observer uh huh. Homs is quiet because the government controls it and the rats who occupied sections of it are all dead.
Ask Big Al Brand. 🙂
February 12th, 2013, 12:01 pm
Aldendeshe said:
PETRUS ROMANUS
__________________________________________________________________
In recent history, several Catholic priests – some deceased now – have been surprisingly outspoken about what they have seen as this inevitable danger rising from within the ranks of Catholicism as a result of secret satanic “Illuminati-Masonic” influences.
These priests claim secret knowledge of a multinational power elite and occult hierarchy operating behind supranatural and global political machinations. Within this secret society are sinister false Catholic infiltrators who understand that as the Roman Catholic Church represents one-sixth of the world’s population and over half of all Christians, it is indispensable for controlling future global elements in matters of church and state. The dark forces seek to fulfill a diabolical plan they call “Alta Vendetta,” which is set to assume control of the papacy and to help the False Prophet deceive the world’s faithful (including Catholics) into worshipping Antichrist.
February 12th, 2013, 12:04 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Aig
Assad thugs pilots are cowards,all jets are placed in a ready status in situation like this, their gas tank is full for quick response,the important thing is that the total planes that either downed or damaged are over 200.
I doubt the number 42 is accurate, usually this base house ten jets,there is a chance that the rest are helicopters.
I expected those defending Assad to say this base is NOT IMPORTANT, and the rebels victory is SYMBOLIC, I heared that the presidential palace in Damascus is going to undergo MAINTENANCE.
Assad needs time, he will agree to dialogue with what he dubbs TERRORIST before.
The weather is getting warmer, and Assad is losing sleep,and is getting irritated.
February 12th, 2013, 12:20 pm
Badr said:
Israeli Says Syrian Media Misreported Exile’s Views
حوار مع معاذ الخطيب.. الثائر من ميدان الحريقة
أجرى اللقاء: رونين برغمان – ميونيخ
February 12th, 2013, 12:40 pm
revenire said:
Majedkhaldoun people don’t trust media reports from tainted sources such as yours. Activists have said they’ve done this and done that for years now and the ground situation doesn’t translate into the frenzied propaganda. To this day there isn’t one area of Syria that the terrorists control. There are plenty of contested areas but no area under rebel control. Not one city is held after tens of thousand of deaths. My sources tell me over 2000 rats have been killed in the past week alone.
You yourself Majedkhaldoun are worked up over your brother’s death and said you’d kill any Assad supporter you met. You’re a doctor? What’s your name? Doctor Death?
You say the pilots are all cowards but if they defected you’d say they were heroes.
My belief is the story you tell of your brother isn’t true. My guess is he was a terrorist.
The dam story yesterday was just a story. There is zero evidence the rats have taken the dam. None.
People like Syrian Smurf, and others, are simply not credible. You are not credible Majedkhaldoun. Certainly on this small message forum you will have those that agree with things you say but what does that amount to? Nothing. Less than nothing.
The SAA won’t be beaten. In two years it has remained solid with few defections. You don’t even hear the fake stories of defections any longer. Remember when the pro-terrorist media was pushing the silly stories of defecting generals almost daily? The way they told the story I am surprised Assad has one general left.
I saw terrorist media reporting on SAA hardware losses yesterday or the day before. Even from those sources it wasn’t bad at all. Something less that 400 tanks total. That’s it. All hardware gets replaced by Iran, Russian and other allies.
This is the reality. All your hate-filled cheering for fantasy victories is meaningless. It probably depresses you because you know I am right.
February 12th, 2013, 12:43 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Another defections today
February 12th, 2013, 12:51 pm
Tara said:
Reve,
From JL’s post above:
“BEIRUT — Syrian rebels captured the country’s largest dam on Monday after days of intense clashes, giving them control over water and electricity supplies for much of the country in a major blow to President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The rebels had already seized two other dams on the Euphrates River. But the latest conquest, the al-Furat dam in northeastern …”
You insisted yesterday that it is all propaganda and erroneously stated the rebels claimed they captured the Euphrates dam in 2012 not realizing there are more than one dam in Syria. You kept on and on . .. wasting our time.
Can you do some reading before you post? And
Do you understand now why Marigoldran calls you what he/she calls you? The below average comprehension makes discussing very uninteresting. Sorry for being blunt. It needs to be said so I just said it. And do not worry, someone will rush to make you feel good “totally agree with you” .
February 12th, 2013, 12:54 pm
Observer said:
Why do we have MIGs that cannot fly. Is this the way the maintenance works in this garbage called thouriah alathad.
Near Tucson AZ there is a huge parking lot for aircraft that are used for spare parts and then sold as scrap metal. Even using scrap metal has not been the case in this sorry state called thouriah Alathad.
Perhaps out of the 40, then can refurbish 5 or 10 and see if they can use them; even for reconnaissance
The sword is sharper than the book when it comes to deciding the final outcome.
thouriah is bikhair and khilset and balaha
February 12th, 2013, 12:59 pm
revenire said:
Tara Dr. Landis also reported Assad was living on a Russian ship. He recanted that “news” later and changed the headline.
The source Dr. Landis cited above is none other than Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Dr. Landis knows that the SOHR is an unreliable source.
Take it for what it is worth. If you believe the dam is held by al-Nusra that’s fine with me. I don’t care what you believe.
My sources come from Syria and often from the army. The dam is fine. The government controls it. I didn’t post anything about it yesterday. You’re, as usual, mistaken. I don’t respond to terrorist claims.
It is you who should read stories before jumping up and down like a school girl. Today you wondered if the FSA had any pilots who could “drive” MIGs to Damascus. You’ve said other similarly ridiculous things Tara. You read nonsense and post it as if it were true. I laugh at you.
I have said many times the FBI should arrest you for supporting Jabhat al-Nusra. Your reply to me was to try to guess where I am and to make empty threats.
You’re banned from Syria Tara. If you enter Air Force Intelligence will arrest you and you can post about Asma’s cousins from a cell.
If my posts trouble you just skip over them. If I took your time that’s your fault and not mine. I don’t waste any on you.
The UN now claims 70,000 have died. Before the rats take one city it will be 140,000.
The war continues.
February 12th, 2013, 1:06 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Retards don’t know the difference between critiquing Joshua and lying about him by ascribing words to him that he did not say.
Joshua reported news-summaries. If the retards want to talk about bogus news, then they should be invited to their own posts.
February 12th, 2013, 1:19 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Retards don’t know the difference between critiquing Joshua and lying about him by ascribing words to him that he did not say.
Joshua reported news-summaries. If the retards want to talk about bogus news, then they should be invited to their own posts.
February 12th, 2013, 1:20 pm
revenire said:
I have the post by Dr. Landis archived for the record. He clearly reported Assad had taken refuge on a Russian ship, as did many of the terrorist apes here. Dr. Landis later changed his story. Most of you were eager to believe that Assad fled to a Russian ship. You were fools to believe it just like you are fools to believe dams and air bases have been taken.
I have no problem with Dr. Landis but merely pointing out the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is pro-terrorist and not credible.
Posting a tweet from “Syrian Smurf” is not credible.
You believe what you like.
February 12th, 2013, 1:24 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Dear Majed
My heart is with you and your family. I must say however that those aiding and abetting the thugs on Syria Comment do share part of the responsibility for prolonging the pain of Syria . I am amazed at your courage knowing that some of those you are interacting with are among the advocates of the murder of your brother.
May your brother rest in peace, may your family be granted solace in these difficult times, and may his murderers receive just punishment.
February 12th, 2013, 1:36 pm
Visitor said:
The capture of Division 80 is a major achievement for the holy warriors of the FSA,
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/8244a4b1-f15c-46a6-a0a6-5034d32a1f72?GoogleStatID=1
I believe that the number of thuggish aircraft destroyed so far exceeds 300.
Syrians must support the FSA, especially those most efficient, disciplined and organised battalions such as Nusra, Ahrar, Fajr and others that are achieving the major breakthroughs. At the same time other FSA formations must be urged and encouraged to become equally organized, disciplined and efficient. There is no need to rely on outside help, especially from western countries, when Syrians themselves can rely on their own resources. When Syrians succeed in this blessed revolution they will become the guiding light for the other revolutions in the region.
February 12th, 2013, 2:05 pm
zoo said:
It seems the ‘SNC president’ and “executive members” are now targeted even in ‘liberated areas”.
One wonders who really wants to get rid of them? the regime or the rebels affiliated with Al Nusra?
Syrian opposition group says it was blast target
By BARBARA SURK | Associated Press – 2 hrs 49 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-group-says-blast-target-161539742.html
BEIRUT (AP) — A major Syrian opposition faction has accused the government of a bombing at a border checkpoint, saying it narrowly missed 13 leaders of the group including its president.
Syrian National Council President George Sabra told reporters in Turkey on Tuesday that the car bomb a day earlier went off shortly before the SNC president and 12 other members of the group’s executive council drove through a border crossing with Turkey.
February 12th, 2013, 2:10 pm
zoo said:
…
February 12th, 2013, 2:18 pm
revenire said:
Probably both huh? Or maybe just al-Nusra and their rat brothers. I doubt Assad cares one way or the other way the SNC says or does.
February 12th, 2013, 2:25 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
I have been living in Syria for 19 years. When finally I decided to leave Syria on november 2011 I left many things and almost all my life behind.
But I swore I would not come back until Assad falls.
When I think of all the years and experiences left behind, of all the days and nights I spent in many places all around Syria I realize I never felt sick inside thinking about other´s religions. Even if I am a christian most of my colleagues were sunna, druze and ismailis. I always tried to find the connecting points between syrians as human and as citizens never as sect mindless members or tribal pieces.
Now, I am desiring the alawis to be finished and probably reduced to gethos. Nos because I hated them in the past in any way but because this is the only sign that the Assad Regime will be finished. And also because many of them have showed in the last two years that they do not care a Shxxt about Syria and syrians but just their families connections, privileges and corruptions.
I desire for them the best in a new regime but as regime members (not as alawi members) many will be executed and other judged to death penalty for the mess in Syria.
February 12th, 2013, 2:27 pm
zoo said:
Al Qaeda in Syria is building a constituency under the complacent eyes of international community.
Syria’s Al Qaeda-linked militants gain hearts by providing food
Justin Vela Feb 13, 2013
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syrias-al-qaeda-linked-militants-gain-hearts-by-providing-food
ISTANBUL // With little international aid reaching Syria’s besieged population, Islamist militants such as the Al Qaeda-linked group Jabhat Al Nusra are building support by providing food and other items in scant supply after two years of civil war.
By distributing fresh vegetables, bread, cooking oil, water and blankets to Syrians in rebel-held areas, the Al Nusra fighters – considered one of the most effective rebel groups but blacklisted as terrorists by the US – have exploited an opportunity to boost their popularity for when the regime of Bashar Al Assad falls.
“It’s a way for them to win hearts and minds even if people don’t agree with their ideology,” said Aaron Y Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, referring to the group’s end goal of creating a strict Islamist state.
“They are essentially trying to build a constituency and build support within society.”
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syrias-al-qaeda-linked-militants-gain-hearts-by-providing-food#ixzz2KiMXLkLb
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook
February 12th, 2013, 2:27 pm
zoo said:
#63 Tara
It is yet to prove that the 2 jet MIGS abandoned by the Syrian army are not booby trapped or defective.
No helicopter were reported left in the base.
February 12th, 2013, 2:28 pm
omen said:
these kinds of initiatives get little attention.
February 12th, 2013, 2:29 pm
omen said:
…
February 12th, 2013, 2:34 pm
zoo said:
Egyptian New Mufti has no political affiliation
The new mufti will be Egypt’s 19th Grand Mufti to head the Dar al-Ifta which was formed in 1895.
Dr. Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim: In Brief
– Born in 1961 in Kom Hamada, Beira Governorate.
– Married with 4 children.
– Chairman of the Department of Jurisprudence at the School of Sharia at Al-Azhar University’s Tanta branch.
– Worked in Al-Azhar’s Department of Jurisprudence, before obtaining a PhD and becoming head of this department.
– Obtained PhD from Al-Azhar College of Jurisprudence and Sharia.
– Authored book on political rights of women in Islam.
February 12th, 2013, 2:35 pm
omen said:
this i need help deciphering. does this mean the regime bombed itself again?
February 12th, 2013, 2:40 pm
omen said:
86. sandro, there are many sunni civil servants who are helping to keep the government running. (i forget if the figure i saw was in tens of thousands or in the hundreds of thousands.) i have been waiting for them to walk out in protest in order to help speed the collapse of the regime. why haven’t they done so? one article i ran across said state workers are threatened if they don’t show up in their offices. even so, in face of so much injustice, how can they continue to help prop up the regime? don’t these workers realize there is power in unity? if they all walk off en masse, it would immediately cripple the government.
February 12th, 2013, 2:54 pm
zoo said:
#85 Revenire
The rebels hardliners and their Al Qaeda allies do not want any political solution to emerge, because they know they will be sidelined and crushed. Therefore they will try all they can to prevent it from happening.
For them, in their future plan for Syria, there is no place for the Syrian Coalition.
Now as they see that Al Khatib and the CN are been pressured by the international community to accept a political deal, they will target them for elimination. Of course they know that the blame will fall on the regime. This time they failed in Bab Al Hawa, but I am certain they will try again.
Al Khatib is in danger because of his courageous stand.
February 12th, 2013, 3:00 pm
zoo said:
#93 Omen
“why haven’t they done so?”
Isn’t obvious? Because they are less and less convinced that what’s coming after this regime is better.
February 12th, 2013, 3:04 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Militarily, it doesn’t matter if the FSA can fly those jets. The important thing is that the regime just lost 40+ jets ON THE GROUND. The fact that the regime cannot muster the resources to defend an important base like that, or to fly the jets out, shows how badly weakened the regime has become.
If ANY of the jets are operational, this means that the regime did a rush-job in sabotaging their jets. Which ALSO means that their morale has broke. Sabotaging a jet on the ground is not that difficult. If they couldn’t even do that effectively….
February 12th, 2013, 3:05 pm
MarigoldRan said:
@ Zoo
All of your predictions about the regime have been wrong. The regime has been STEADILY losing ground over the last 6 months.
Almost everyone here, with the exception of some nutcases, have very little faith in the accuracy of your “predictions.” You’re becoming a laughingstock.
EDIT: The regime did not wish to negotiate when they started this war. Why should their enemies negotiate, now that the regime is OBVIOUSLY losing? As I’ve said before, what comes around goes around.
February 12th, 2013, 3:08 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
93. OMEN
You are right most of the officials are sunna. If they did not leave until now it is because one of two causes:
a) Fear
b) Sympathy for the status quo
Also many rich and medium-high class who belong to sunna are still supporting the regime for the single reason that they built their fortunes on behalf of clientelism through the mafia state.
All rich I know in Damascus are mostly sunna and half of them have already left to Dubai, Lebanon, Europe or North America.
February 12th, 2013, 3:14 pm
omen said:
95. zoo: Isn’t obvious? Because they are less and less convinced that what’s coming after this regime is better.
if the government was so beneficial, it would not need to stoop to threatening civil servants to continue to show up for work.
obviously there still remains deep fear of the regime but, also, i suspect, people putting self interest above the common good. with the economy in such bad shape as it is, people must be grateful to still have a job.
if the west had half a conscience, it would guarantee these civil servants a salary once the regime is removed and replaced as an enticement to step down. instead, by its inaction, the west seems more invested in the regime remaining.
February 12th, 2013, 3:23 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The rebel group that attacked Jobar had the right idea:
Damascus cannot be easily taken in direct assault. BUT it can be cut off from sources of reinforcement and supplies.
The weakness of ALL cities is that they have to be supplied from the outside. But roads and supply routes can be cut….
February 12th, 2013, 3:32 pm
zoo said:
#omen
Then why ask if you know the answer?
February 12th, 2013, 3:39 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
100. MARIGOLDRAN
“Damascus cannot be easily taken in direct assault. BUT it can be cut off from sources of reinforcement and supplies.
The weakness of ALL cities is that they have to be supplied from the outside. But roads and supply routes can be cut”
BINGO! Cut the veins and arteries and let it bleed until the heart stops beating. And then, one by one, they will ask for terms. It will be like Teheran when the Shah was packing his bags to leave…
A New Bashar Cartoon:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/36e91c20f1b03b80b0f705273d0a7488/tumblr_mhrdwpRbSk1r1boeoo1_r1_500.jpg
February 12th, 2013, 3:43 pm
omen said:
zoo, i am not an expert. i don’t KNOW the answers. i haven’t interviewed these civil servants. i can only hazard guesses and piece together the little bits i do know, plus recognize common sense scenarios. fear of alqaeda boogieman doesn’t fit very well as an answer to the question why civil servants remain on the job.
February 12th, 2013, 3:52 pm
Tara said:
Zoo@ 88
Let’s stay positive. The glass is half full. There is one or two functional MiG. Two defected pilots will scarifie themselves and fly them over the presidential palace, and some other places on my wish list, bomb them all out and then Syria will live happily ever after. If I was a pilot, I would most definitely do it.
February 12th, 2013, 3:53 pm
Visitor said:
“Damascus cannot be easily taken in direct assault. BUT it can be cut off from sources of reinforcement and supplies.”
Marigold @100,
صح النوم to everyone.
Nusra Front has been doing that for over a year. That’s why it has proven to be the most effective fighting force, in addition to being the most disciplined, the most organized and the most dedicated.
February 12th, 2013, 4:00 pm
Tara said:
Omen,
I’ll answer. Lots of ordinary Syrians have profound apathy. Living 40 years under oppression makes one has no interest. We all saw it in ourselves when we first moved out comparing to people from other nations. No activism. No volunteerism. Nothing… The younger generation may be different. The old and middle age are completely apathetic. There is a saying in Arabic to reflect that. The literal translation is “the one who marries my mom, becomes my step father”. They accept their destiny as a fate from Godvand do not try to change it. If you are not an Arab, it would be very difficult for you to understand how this saying reflects our apathetic state. Additionally, fear and apprehension about not being able to feed your family is what keeps these civil servants going to work everyday. I personally can’t put a blame on them. I understand their mental status.
February 12th, 2013, 4:02 pm
zoo said:
…
February 12th, 2013, 4:05 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Syrian Hamster
Thank you, you are so kind.
The people will revolt by quiting their jobs, they either are cowards, or they worry about their financial needs, and or their women,remember this is a horrific regime will not hesitate to rape kill ,and steel or destroy their homes, but as inflation get worse, they will,they are doing something,they are hiding their sons,who may get recruited to the army,even Alawis are doing that..
The regime army is exhausted physically,bankrupt morally,they could not take Darayya till now, a friend of Maher Assad was assasinated yesterday( general Zareef)expect more assasination of such high ranking officers.
Things will accelerate in the future,you can see the fear among Assad thugs ,they are becoming worthless, and I am told their women are wearing HIJAB now to hide.
February 12th, 2013, 4:06 pm
zoo said:
#104 Tara
Enjoy one more of your fantasies, you seem to entertain a lot.
I have yet to see a defected FSA pilot be courageous enough to face Syria Air defense system.
February 12th, 2013, 4:06 pm
zoo said:
…
February 12th, 2013, 4:28 pm
zoo said:
In view of the imminent collapse of the FSA almost totally overtaken by Al Nusra, the desperate new FSA commander Brig. Gen. Salim Idriss asks the US to save what is left of it by financing, training and arming a ‘elite rebels unit’.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-what-path-now-for-syria/2013/02/12/69b233f2-754b-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html
The al-Nusra Front has been a catalyst and beneficiary of the rebels’ success. According to Syrian sources, al-Nusra is gaining strength in Homs, a city in central Syria where the group was never strong. One Syrian source told the State Department: “They have money, they are helping people with everything including daily living supplies. I heard that some fighters are leaving their [former] brigades and joining [Al-Nusra], some of them selling their weapons to feed their families.”
One Syrian who works closely with the Free Syrian Army explained how creating an elite commando force could help check Syria’s drift toward becoming a failed state: “We still believe FSA on the ground is still needed badly to tip the power and support other parallel solutions, including the political one. But FSA [has] become a jungle. . .
One potential game-changer is a request for U.S. help in training elite rebel units, which has been drafted by Brig. Gen. Salim Idriss, the new commander of the opposition Free Syrian Army. In a letter dated Feb. 4, he seeks U.S. assistance in “training for: (1) special operations; (2) international humanitarian law; and (3) . . . in chemical weapons security.”
Idriss requested various supplies for these elite units, including: “(1) combat armor; (2) night vision goggles; (3) hand held monocular and longer range spotting equipment; (4) strategic communications; (5) winterization packs; and (6) tactical communications.”
February 12th, 2013, 4:33 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Syria what?
Syria Air Defense system?
what is that? Is it a club name? Where was it when the Israeli planes came in, bombed its targets and left?
February 12th, 2013, 4:33 pm
zoo said:
Shaken Erdogan has food for thoughts…
Syria border bombing: How will Turkey respond if attacks continue?
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0212/Syria-border-bombing-How-will-Turkey-respond-if-attacks-continue
Turkey has worried about Syria’s war creeping across the border since the uprising began. Yesterday’s bombing at a border crossing indicates it may finally be happening.
….
The uncertainty surrounding attacks like the Bab al-Hawa bombing underscore Turkey’s deepening concerns for its own stability as Syria’s conflict drags on.
…
The Syrian opposition, which has long struggled to present a unified front, is now at risk of fracturing even further, with many Syrians concerned that these tensions could eventually erupt into violence. This could be of particular concern to Turkey, which hosts members of the opposition along with more than 170,000 refugees.
“You don’t know who all these refugees are. You don’t know whether these people are members of the Nusra Front or opposition figures who are more acceptable to the West,” says Christopher Chivvis, a senior political scientist at Rand Corp., referencing Jabhat al-Nusra, an opposition group recently classified as a terrorist organization by the US.
“The refugee crisis is their primary concern. It’s a burden to begin with, for the cities to have to absorb these refugees,” adds Mr. Chivvis.
By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent / February 12, 2013
February 12th, 2013, 4:40 pm
zoo said:
#111 Tara
You have a very short memory, it’s the system that shot down the Turkish spy American made plane in a matter of seconds.
By the way the planes abandoned in Jerrah are two “Czech-built ground assault planes”. I wonder if any ex-pilot would dare fly them. In addition their identity is already recorded in the Syrian air Defense system and it will be shot down immediately.
These planes may build up more of your murder fantasies but they are actually only good for a kamikaze.
Oh, I forgot Al Nusra could very well provide a suicide pilot…
February 12th, 2013, 4:53 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/12/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE91B19C20130212
UN said the syrian death toll is approaching 70,000
February 12th, 2013, 4:58 pm
Uzair8 said:
MajedKhaldoun
I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your brother.
It just goes to show that for some the situation (pain) is all too real (personal).
I pray Allah Almighty grants your brother, and all syrian martyrs, a high station in Jannat al-Firdaus and their families and loved ones Sabr-e-Jameel.
February 12th, 2013, 5:00 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Don’t worry about my memory. I am young with sharp memory.
Then provide me a reason for why the “system” did not shot down the Israeli planes. Not recently, not when they flew over dear leader’s bedroom?
If the system is so effective as you claim, the only plausible explanation is cowardice. Were Batta so afraid of bringing an Israeli jet down in case they eliminate him completely?
February 12th, 2013, 5:03 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Don’t worry about my memory. I am young with sharp memory.
Then provide me a reason for why the “system” did not shot down the Israeli planes. Not recently, not when they flew over dear leader’s bedroom?
If the system is so effective as you claim, the only plausible explanation is cowardice. Were Batta so afraid of bringing an Israeli jet down in case they eliminate him completely?
February 12th, 2013, 5:03 pm
zoo said:
Yemen a year after: A glimpse at what may happen when a VP takes over a country with the help of Qatar and Saudi Arabia…
Yemen has one more year to save itself from collapse
Gregory Johnsen Feb 13, 2013
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/yemen-has-one-more-year-to-save-itself-from-collapse
In February 2012, Mr Saleh’s long-serving vice president, Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, took over the presidency in a process capped by a strange referendum-like vote, in which Yemenis were confronted with a single name and only the “yes” box. The one-man election was the result of an international deal put together by the US, the UN and regional GCC countries
..
One year after what was billed as a “historic vote”, hopes for the new Yemen that protesters thought they had won are quickly disappearing in the face of a crumbling economy and a worsening political situation. Student activists in Sanaa’s Square of Change are disheartened and disorganised. The sectarian situation has once again turned ugly and, in places violent, particularly the continuing clashes between Islah supporters and Huthis in the northern highlands.
Yemen is a broken country and no one – not the US, Saudi Arabia or any of the varied Yemeni factions – has the strength to put it back together again. Outsiders like the US are more concerned with fighting Al Qaeda than with rebuilding, and the Saudis have always worked to keep Yemen divided and dysfunctional. None of the Yemeni power groups have enough strength to impose their will upon anyone else, but most of them have enough guns and men to act as a spoiler.
The problem today remains what it was a year ago: the deal that brought Mr Hadi to power was less a solution than a mechanism to buy time.
February 12th, 2013, 5:06 pm
zoo said:
#118
The Isreali have advanced system to pass through radars, their planes are US made and their code identity must be deciphered. In any case it was a surprise attack.
The “Czech made assault” planes have no chance.
You seem so adamant in having Bashar al Assad’s presidential palace bombed and he and his family killed that maybe you know a suicide pilot you can recommend to your friends in Al Nusra.
Maybe you can ask Juergen as he has an impressive network of friends in Syria who hate Bashar like you.
February 12th, 2013, 5:17 pm
zoo said:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/02/12/wrd-syria-aleppo-airport.html
National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haider told reporters in Damascus that the government has fulfilled a package of measures to renew the passports of Syrians abroad and they have been put in force.
February 12th, 2013, 5:34 pm
Tara said:
Zoo, dear
#
Well, I am glad you are admitting the Russians’ s inferiority compared to the Americans when it comes to being superpower. It is long due.
Additionally, your fantasy about my “personal” feeling towards your beloved leader is becoming
A bit dull.. Can you write a more interesting script about your imaginary Tara?
February 12th, 2013, 5:36 pm
revenire said:
Tara my friends in Damascus inform me Bashar goes out running without bodyguards nearly every single day. Perhaps let the Israelis know? It should not be that hard to find him if they want him dead.
I feel this hatred is eating at you. Maybe take a break from Syria for a few years. When you come back it will all be over and Assad will still be president.
🙂
February 12th, 2013, 5:39 pm
Visitor said:
Fighting is now taking place between the the blessed FSA holy warriors and the rodent thugs of Assad on the Damascus-Homs highway.
Fighting is now taking place between the blessed FSA holy warriors and the rodent thugs of Assad in the Hama military airbase.
The holy warriors of the blessed FSA are now encircling the rodent Assad thugs cowering like cowards in the city of Deir Ezzor.
February 12th, 2013, 5:42 pm
Observer said:
Turkish airplanes are US made and are NATO planes.
They were older and they were not expecting to be targeted.
I think that there is no such thing as an effective air defense system in Syria right now.
If there is anything it is a Russian manned system not a Syrian manned system.
TARA I would not send the airplanes towards Damascus. It is not worth the cost benefit analysis. I would send it to finish off Aleppo airbases and check points and I would send it to destroy any fuel depots and supply lines. An army marches on its belly as Napoleon said a long time ago.
I also would use them against the column that was sent to Sfaira and destroy the supply trucks and then the tanks can be acquired by the rebels and used against other bases.
Who would have thought two years ago that the demonstrations would become tank and heavy weapons battles in the suburbs of Damascus and Beirut Hariri International airport the venue where the officials come and go to visit the city.
Athad’s survival and his leadership position is important only in the logic of the regime supporters for he is a deity to them. Bombing the palace is a useless military gesture but bombing his supply lines and supply trucks and lines of communications is vital for his fighting ability.
I would also say that the helicopter base was Taftanaz and this one is training but the training planes were used for ground support operations.
Also the latest air attack that resulted in the pilot bombing regime troops is due to the fact that the rebels used the beacon placed to direct the aircraft to its targets near the regime base building. More than a 120 moukhabarat were killed by their own air force.
Another nice target would be Jalaa sports area in Mezzeh as it is filled with MRL artillery and to bomb the positions over Kassyoun that bomb the suburbs blindly.
February 12th, 2013, 5:45 pm
revenire said:
Tara now that the rats have taken a base full of fighter jets, just sitting there for the taking, they can send them to the palace and end the war.
See? It all works out in the end.
February 12th, 2013, 5:47 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
AIG,
I told you these retards have no chance against TARA. Watch the traps she makes them dig for themselves. The marionettes and their puppeteer just keep falling in their own Shxt,
TARA, you are a master.
I also agree with Observer. Supply lines, supply lines, and supply lines.
The regime has now shrunk significantly to the point where the retards on SC now do matter in terms of force count. LOL.
February 12th, 2013, 5:52 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
123. REVENIRE:
¨Tara my friends in Damascus inform me Bashar goes out running without bodyguards nearly every single day.¨
Hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, really funny. You are so funny Revenire. I like your sense of humor.
Do you mean Bashar goes running around his bed every morning? Or maybe in the garden of the palace. Tell us, who are ¨your friends¨? The President´s dogs? We are so afraid of your friends…
It reminds me of one Army high rank official who buyed meat for their dogs for 25.000 sp monthly while the medium salary was 5.000 in the 90´s.
February 12th, 2013, 6:12 pm
Aldendeshe said:
I feel this hatred is eating at you. Maybe take a break from Syria for a few years. When you come back it will all be over and Assad will still be president.
_________________________________________________________________
She needs the paycheck, waiting for another color revolution to get transfered to that blog with dozen more in here getting Syria burn-out.
TITLE: I Was a Paid Internet Shill: How Shadowy Groups Manipulate Internet Opinion and Debate
http://consciouslifenews.com/paid-internet-shill-shadowy-groups-manipulate-internet-opinion-debate/1147073/
February 12th, 2013, 6:21 pm
Tara said:
I love you too Syrian Hamster.
February 12th, 2013, 6:24 pm
revenire said:
Sandro we have to laugh at things or we’d spend all our time crying. I laughed a lot when I heard about the air base with jets that don’t take off to fire upon attackers.
It is possible but not plausible.
A base with working MIGs that is under attack but doesn’t send one jet into the air to take care of it? Is this because the air force thinks that its bases are not targets or they’re all stupid until they defect and then they become military geniuses?
Do you ever notice how the army is described as composed of cowards until those same men defect and then all of a sudden they’re brave?
This is called a paradox.
(And there are very, very few defections now.)
Even funnier is the idea of the army not fighting for their nation and their families. Two years of war and they are just all dying – literally – to defect right?
Glad I could cheer you up. I wasn’t kidding about Bashar’s runs through Damascus. Check around and confirm. He drives alone as well.
February 12th, 2013, 6:25 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
131. REVENIRE
I am checking through my window and in fact Bashar is running ….. out of intelligence, strategy, support, family, fighters and morals.
You just need to make a small effort to realize that Assad supporters are going nowhere. There is not a single dictatorship that at the end is remembered as a brilliant period. Your are going to be ousted, all Assad statuary burned down and The Mafia Regime remembered and a black period in Syria´s history.
February 12th, 2013, 6:50 pm
zoo said:
#122 Tara
I am just admitting that the Syrian soldiers left garbage and junk airplanes for the genius of the Al Nusra to fix.
Your murderous fantasies on Bashar and his family indicate clearly your present state of mind and unfortunately it also says a lot about you.
I don’t need to invent, I just have to read all your hateful and confused messages that conveniently ignores the humiliation of the poor Syrians who for fourty years under the Assad did not have to beg and who are now reduced to live out of the charity of foreigners and live in tents.
I know that you prefer to concentrate your energy on cursing a man and his family. If it makes you feel less guilty, go on.
February 12th, 2013, 7:23 pm
Dolly Buster said:
Tara is the sweetest woman ever, all the gentlemen here must respect her.
The claim about Bashar “Dead” Assad being on a Russian ship sounds credible – from the Russian side. They would in fact be willing to shelter this tyrant and Taghiyah.
But in the end the story is not true, for the simple reason that leaving Syria would be reasonable and Bashar is nuts.
The army is composed of only 2 parts: 1) dead-enders of the Shiite regime 2) draftees and conscripts scared of getting shot for deserting.
February 12th, 2013, 7:25 pm
zoo said:
A miracle! God saved them! Georges Sabra said that the group of opposition was saved because they ‘prayed’ longer than usual and missed the bomb.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/mysterious-blast-at-turkeys-syrian-border.aspx?pageID=449&nID=40999&NewsCatID=409
The Syrian National Coalition spokesman George Sabra said the bomb was planted by forces loyal to al-Assad and was aimed at them. He said in an Istanbul press conference yesterday that they were on way back from a coalition meeting in Aleppo, Syria with a delegation of 13 in a van similar to the one next to the exploded car and had they not taken longer than necessary to pray during the journey they would not have been saved from the blast
February 12th, 2013, 7:30 pm
revenire said:
Sandro I don’t consider the Syrian government a dictatorship by any means. I consider the Saudis and Obama dictatorships but not Assad.
We will just have to disagree.
February 12th, 2013, 7:36 pm
Ghufran said:
Sandro’s turn to teach and impress :
“Now, I am desiring the alawis to be finished and probably reduced to gethos. Nos because I hated them in the past in any way but because this is the only sign that the Assad Regime will be finished. And also because many of them have showed in the last two years that they do not care a Shxxt about Syria and syrians but just their families connections, privileges and corruptions.
I desire for them the best in a new regime but as regime members (not as alawi members) many will be executed and other judged to death penalty for the mess in Syria”
I am indeed confused and would like to know what you, even as a non Syrian, plan for alawis with the help of “beardful ” and hateful nusra, alqaida,etc friends ( you can still apply for membership even as a Christian but you may have to accept a class-B membership).
The true hate comes first in a typical message then the poster wakes up and add a line or two to be PC, that makes the post both hateful and incoherent.
Mr sandro, I do not believe a word of what you said including your claim about your religion and the time you spent in Syria.
On a serious note, there has to be accountability for national reconciliation to occur, big heads of corruption and brutality along with people who committed war crimes must be brought to justice,that will not happen with Bashar in charge, however, this holy war against the army and all alawites, guilty or not, is a sign that planners of violence on the opposition side have no intention to seek justice, what they want is domination, then revenge. Do not expect possible targets of this holy war to trust anything Islamist thugs and their supporters say or do, instead of trying to kill the other side, the focus must be on stopping this war and deploying an international force to help bring back a sense of security to many Syrians. advocates of violence are untrustworthy and are not interested in anything that does not satisfy their morbid love for blood.
February 12th, 2013, 7:39 pm
revenire said:
Only the biggest of fools would believe a story about working MIGs and L-39s just sitting for the taking. Any number of pilots could have taken fighters up and destroyed the base or the terrorists or both.
To believe that the Syrian Air Force is so stupid as to leave air bases undefended is pure delusion. It is beyond ridiculous.
Anyone who believes it believes it because they want it to be true. That’s what is boils down to. Delusions.
My sources in the SAA tell me this base hasn’t fallen (nor has any dam been taken over) and when the base does I will be the first to admit it. I have full confidence in our army.
My information is that the rats are getting destroyed. I am talking thousands dead in the last week or so. Thousands.
Perhaps it is only 2000 rats instead of 3000. I don’t know. There are so many to bag and dispose of we lose track.
February 12th, 2013, 7:44 pm
zoo said:
The Islamists “attack” on the Jarrah Airbase before it was bombed by the Syrian airforce. Any candidate for a kamikaze attack on loyalists?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights… said the Syrian Air Force had responded to the Jarrah seizure by bombarding it, presumably to destroy or incapacitate the planes there.
…
By late Tuesday it was unclear if any planes of the Jarrah-based fleet had suffered damage, either in the two-day siege by the insurgents to capture the airfield, or in the Syrian Air Force’s response.
…
But even if rebel pilots can start fighting the Syrian Air Force in the sky, they remain heavily outgunned, a reality that some fighters acknowledged on Tuesday in Skype interviews following news of the Jarrah airfield capture. One suggested that the planes could be used in kamikaze raids on Mr. Assad’s loyalists.
“It is very hard to use these warplanes because the regime has radars and long-distance rockets, unless it is a suicidal attack,” said the fighter, who identified himself only by his first name, Saado, for security reasons.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/world/middleeast/syrian-rebels-claim-to-have-seized-military-airfield-and-warplanes.html
February 12th, 2013, 7:45 pm
revenire said:
You see rats, the purpose of war propaganda is to boost morale and create fear and confusion in the enemy. This is what your victory stories are intended to do. The media of the West, because they are anti-Syria, plays along. Rats get excited.
Look at Tara. She was practically panting at the idea a MIG could be sent to kill Bashar, Asma and the children. This is how animals – rats – respond. That is why our army has to kill them all.
These drugged up al-Nusra rats are going to all die in Syria.
February 12th, 2013, 7:49 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Note that so far all “betho secular” retards on SC share one trait, they hate a woman who is not afraid of her feminist side.
Their venomous relentless attack on Tara have for long exposed them as chauvinists, hateful slaves of the most retarded imbecile abomination, born to abominations, bread and raised in shxt, married to an airhead heartless shopaholic, whose only quality is a British accent, and event that isn’t necessarily a good quality.
This family they are defending brought so much misery to my country. and should face-up the for what they did. Hating them is treating them with kid-glove for contempt is far more generous than what they and their defenders deserve.
يا بشار طز فيك
وطز بيللي بيحييك
Oh by the way, here is the Million man pro-demonstration athad and this athma mobilized earlier today at the heart of damascus, the good news is that retards are becoming a rare insect specie in Syria.
February 12th, 2013, 7:51 pm
Ghufran said:
Atwan in alquds alarabi:
ابلغ الكلمات تعبيرا عن وضع الثورة السورية في الوقت الراهن هي تلك التي قالها مقاتل سوري معارض قرر ترك البندقية، والعودة الى رعي الغنم يأسا واحباطا.
ماذا قال هذا الرجل الذي رفض ان يذكر اسمه عندما التقاه مندوب وكالة الصحافة الفرنسية في بلدة اطمة الواقعة شمال غرب سورية؟
قال بالحرف الواحد ‘الثورة الحقيقية في سورية انتهت، لقد تعرضنا للخيانة، ثورتنا الجميلة سرقها اللصوص والفاسدون’، وقدم شرحا مطولا للسرقات والجرائم التي يرتكبها بعض القادة العسكريين المحسوبين على الثورة والثوار، الذين يدفعون بالشباب الى الجبهات للقتال حتى الموت بينما هم يكوّنون الثروات، ويبنون المنازل الفخمة، ويتزوجون بثانية وثالثة على حد وصفه، الأمر الذي دفع اعدادا متزايدة من الثوار الى ترك السلاح.
لو كانت هوية الوكالة الناقــــلة لمثــــل هذه الأقـــوال روسية او ايرانية، او جاءت في محطة تلفزيونية موالية للنظام السوري او متعاطفة معه، لما توقفنا عندها، لكن ان تأتي في برقية لوكالة فرنســية دعمت دولتها الثورة السورية، واستضافت قياداتها ومؤتمرات اصدقاء الشعب السوري، وتنبأ رئيسها اكثر من مرة بأن ايام الاسد باتت معدودة، فإن من حقنا ان نقف متأملين ومحللين ومستقرئين لمستقبل يبدو اشد قتامة مما توقعه اكثر المتشائمين تشاؤما.
الحقيقة المرّة التي يحاول البعض تجاهلها ان المجتمع الدولي خدع الشعب السوري، او قطاعا عريضا منه، واستخدمه من اجل تحقيق هدف كان عصيا جدا عليه، اي تدمير سورية، واستنزاف جيشها واغراقها في حروب اهلية وعرقية لتمزيقها، وبما يخدم اسرائيل في نهاية المطاف’
بعض المعارضين السوريين يطالبون بمحاكمة رؤوس النظام الحالي بسبب مسؤوليتهم عن قتل عشرات الآلاف من السوريين، ولكن مطلوب ايضا محاكمة من ورطوا الشعب السوري في هذه الحرب من قادة المعارضة، الذين صوروا له ان التدخل العسكري الامريكي لإطاحة النظام بات وشيكا، وان اصدقاء الشعب السوري الذين فاق عددهم 150 دولة سيكررون سيناريو النيتو في ليبيا،وان الخلاص بات وشيكا.
February 12th, 2013, 8:00 pm
zoo said:
Is the Syrian government allowing the North and North-East to be taken by the rebel tribes?
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=32883
The Observatory claimed that “the regular forces did not demonstrate any real resistance. On the contrary, the security organs’ commanders fled by helicopters to Tabaqah’s military airport and many security elements fled from the town’s neighborhoods.”
Luay al-Miqdad, the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) media and political coordinator, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the capture of the dam was part of the rebel’s strategy to seize territory in the north and east of the country, where the authority of the central government in Damascus was weakest.
He said “the Syrian regime is militarily weak in Al-Raqqah Governorate and cannot disperse its land forces deployed in the capital inside the governorate’s areas, which facilitated the operation to control the dam.” He stressed that the FSA fighters in most eastern areas “belong to the area’s social fabric and are not strangers, which undermines the regime’s attempts to use money to plant sedition and incite the tribes against each other
February 12th, 2013, 8:10 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Again, this is the million man pro insect betho demonstration earlier today.
Where is ANN smug smily… retards.
When I said, the retards on Syria Comment are now significant proportion of force count,i meant it. So retards, keep in denial, you are merely becoming the joke your prethident and his pathetic wife already are.
Note: I will repeat this picture in random intervals. It is realy fun to watch. Recall, And these insects are demonstrating under the full protection of your betho army. Waite a minute, are they?
February 12th, 2013, 8:10 pm
zoo said:
Syrian rebels want gains on ground before dialogue: analysts
2013-02-12
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/12/c_132166216.htm
DAMASCUS, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) — The armed rebels have been intensifying violence in Syria with a purpose of achieving gains on the ground before embarking on negotiations with President Bashar al-Assad’s administration, observers said.
Since last week, the rebels reinforced their attacks at the eastern and northern suburbs around the capital Damascus, while over the past two days, the armed rebels have reportedly seized a number of government and army establishments and overrun a town in the country’s north.
….
Hasan Abdul-Azim, head of the oppositional National Coordination Body, said the recent escalation in military showdown by the rebels aims at enhancing their positions and achieving as much gains as they can on the ground before sitting down for talks.
In an interview with the pro-government al-Watan daily released Tuesday, Abdul-Azim said his party welcomes the dialogue initiative called for by the head of the opposition coalition in exile, Moaz al-Khatib.
February 12th, 2013, 8:17 pm
zoo said:
Is it moving toward a dialog? Al Khatib has yet to put his offer to the Syrian government in writing
Syrian minister confirms readiness for talks with opposition
2013-02-13
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/13/c_124343770.htm
• Ali Haidar confirmed Tuesday that his government is ready to hold talks with Moaz al-Khatib.
• However, Haidar noted the Syrian government did not receive any written initiative from the opposition.
• Haidar said he has expressed readiness to handle the detainees issue, but asked for a list of names.
February 12th, 2013, 8:22 pm
Aldendeshe said:
في المعركة يتم النظر إليهم كأبطال، لكن الويل لهم إن جُرحوا. عشرات من جرحى ومشوهي مقاتلي المعارضة السورية يعيشون في بؤس في لبنان. والأموال التي يتبرع بها أغنياء العرب إلى المتمردين تدخل إلى جيوب غيرهم.
يمكن للمرء القول إن مشاكل مشهور ومن مثله من الرجال تتمثل في النساء والأطفال والرشوة. فالنساء والأطفال يستحوذون على الحجم الأكبر من المساعدات التي تقدمها منظمات الغوث الدولية. تفضّل المنظمات غير الحكومية الغربية تقديم المساعدات إلى الأرامل واليتامى بدل مساعدة مقاتلين ملطخة أيديهم بالدماء على استعادة عافيتهم. أما الأموال التي تدفعها دول عربية للمتمردين فكثيرا ما تتبخر في أعلى هرم التنظيمات السياسية للمعارضة ولا يصل منها إلى “مشهور” وأمثاله في القاع شيئا. سنتان من الحرب الضروس حولتا عددا غير قليل من المتمردين الشرفاء إلى فاسدين، يقوم بعضهم بتكديس الأموال على حساب إخوته في السلاح.
يُضاف إلى هذا كله أن كثيرا من الأموال العربية تتلقاها في غالب الأحوال جماعات دينية. “لو كنت منتميا إلى جماعة الإخوان المسلمين، كانت العناية بي ستختلف اختلافا جذريا، وكنت سأحصل على كل ما أحتاج إليه”، يقول “مختار” الذي كان يعمل في الماضي كمهندس ديكور، شارك بعدها في القتال قبل أن تخرجه عدة إصابات بالرصاص في الذراعين والساقين من المعركة. يضيف “مختار”: “أنا لم أخرج إلى الشارع كي أستبدل بشار الأسد بالإخوان المسلمين ولا لكي أتلقى الأوامر منهم”.
لا مجال للعودة أو للتراجع. هذا ما يتفق عليه الشباب جميعا. أما السؤال حول ما إذا كانوا سينتفضون مجددا في وجه الدكتاتورية لو عاد بهم الزمن إلى الوراء فثمة خلاف حول الإجابة عليه. يقول مختار: “لو كنا نعلم أن نهاية المطاف بنا ستكون على هذا الشكل، لكنّا قررنا أنه من الأفضل الاستمرار تحت حكم بشار الأسد”
__________________________________________________________________
Who are the lame idiots that plotted this Syrian Revolution? Read the whole article Dr. Revolutionary Mufti Addulharballah Landis:
http://www.syriatruth.org/الأخبار/أخباروتقاريرأخرى/tabid/94/Article/9141/Default.aspx
February 12th, 2013, 8:34 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
Psychoanalysis? Then let me take a shot at it.
It looks like the only fantasy Tara has had over the last 2 years was about Zoo. Believing that Zoo loves Syria passionately and wholeheartedly as opposed to loving the master.
Tara’s issue with Bashar is indeed up close and personal but what you are missing is that this personal vendetta is part of history and humanity vendetta against the children killer. Yet, with a magnificent imagination, your mind invented and clanged to this elaborative weird fantasy about a Tara having something personal with Assad family to justify your views where you submit completely in your slavery to the master and to justify your inability to see the horrors inflicted upon Syrians by the retarded thug. After all, Tara, in your mind, could not fit an Islamist profile. She is a rather am expressive woman who wears miniskirts and high heels, discussing unabashed forbidden subjects and expressing wildest emotions. It just logically follows in your mind that if Tara is not an islamist with a Burqa, Tara could not possibly be a boring ordinary Syrian woman shocked to the bone by the horror, she must be hiding some mental, personal family feud that keeps igniting her “murderous fantasies” about Bashar and his family and this where the crux of the problem lies:
It is your refusal to acknowledge that the revolution is legit revolution of the people against the tyrant. To you, we are all either Islamists or evil…
You give the imaginary Tara an interesting dimension that reflects your own emotions about Syria, the master, and the evil revolution. I say that It is time you get rid of the imaginary Tara in your brain. She does not exist.
February 12th, 2013, 8:44 pm
revenire said:
Tara just remember when you wake up tomorrow Assad will be president and the euphoria from today’s propaganda will have worn off to be replaced by a hangover. Let’s call it a “love hangover”.
February 12th, 2013, 8:50 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
I know, it is boring. But the retard should remember it will wake up tomorrow and it will be a retarف So would be its prethident, also a retard. As for the retard’s beloved lady, the prethident wife, for whom it shall kill, she will wake up uglier tomorrow than she is today.
Did you see your ; million man demonstration supporting your idiot idol in Damascus ?
Is حافر up from the dead yet?
Did you pray for Kin-Jung-Un today?
February 12th, 2013, 8:58 pm
MarigoldRan said:
As I’ve said before:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Revenire is a retard
And a loser too.
I’m proud of this poem. I think it sums up Revenire’s personality perfectly.
February 12th, 2013, 9:06 pm
Syrian said:
Laugh at Homsi’s supporters
http://www.facebook.com/Homs.N.N
منذ منذ 13 دقائق عبر الهاتف المحمول
عاجل || مصدر عسكري خاص : الطائرا الحربية التابعة للجيش العربي السوري لا يستطيع احد التحليق بها الا عبر شيفرة خاصة من البلد المصنع و بالتالي يستطيع البلد المصنع ايقافها و منعها من التحليق و لا احد يستطيع الطيران بها الا بأمر من قيادة الأركان.
1أعجبني · · المشاركة
66 أشخاص معجبون بهذا.
Zoya Syrian و لو كان في خونة ؟؟
منذ 10 دقائق بواسطة الهاتف المحمول · أعجبني · 1
Samir Tawaifi خير شو في
منذ 10 دقائق بواسطة الهاتف المحمول · أعجبني
سامي رجب طمنتونا الله يعلن ابو هالزمان وصلنا لهون ياشباب وين كل الكذب عن طيارين اجانب بدهم يسرقوا طيارات ولا وين مابدنا بنحط دان الجرة والله عيب احسن شي يحرقوا المطار بالطيارات يلي فيه مانهم اغلى من الشهداء في المطار … الله يعلن كل خاين
منذ 9 دقائق · أعجبني · 3
فريد رحال خير
منذ 9 دقائق · أعجبني
Melad Khalil قال المعتوه عبد الجبار العكيدي قال سوف نستحدم الميغ قريبااااا….ههههههه صدقوا جالون العراعييررر
منذ 9 دقائق · أعجبني · 1
IOsama Ali هههههههههه يعني مشي الحال هلق؟؟؟؟؟اذا حسو انو ما راح يستفادو منها راح يفجروها وتكون وقتا الخسارة بالمليارات
منذ 8 دقائق · أعجبني · 1
Iqbal Koppa شو يعني هالكلام انو مسيطرين على شي طيارة مثلا؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟؟
منذ 8 دقائق · أعجبني · 1
سوري حتى النخاع كم طيارة بالجراح وشو انواعها
منذ 8 دقائق بواسطة الهاتف المحمول · أعجبني · 1
Soher Kazak يارب تنصر سوريا وجيشها
منذ 5 دقائق · أعجبني
سوري حتى النخاع لك هاد الخبر كانو مدسوس لتأكيد سيطرة الكلاب على طائرات هلق شو المصدر ادمن
منذ 5 دقائق بواسطة الهاتف المحمول · أعجبني
أقوى من الأيام لعنة الله على الخونة أتباع الوهابية والسعودية و غطر
منذ 5 دقائق بواسطة الهاتف المحمول · أعجبني
فريد رحال ينعن أخت الأخبار .. لروح حشش أحسن شي
February 12th, 2013, 9:17 pm
Visitor said:
Today the FSA put an end to all speculations about so-called dialog (of the deaf) between criminals occupying Damascus and non-representative pretenders to representing the Syrian people under the guise of so-called recognition by foreign governments.
Salim Idris made it clear that such empty talk among the deaf is no concern to his leadership and those he commands. Not long ago other FSA commanders made similar announcements dissocating themselves from Khatib’s fiasco. Therefore, we could simply say the so-called NC is a non-entity and Khatib is a no-brainer.
On the other hand, Prince Saud Al-Faysal once again brought up the subject of the Syrian Revolution with world governments today calling openly for arming the revolution with advanced weapons. His call prompted the minister of debauchery 3Imran Al-Zo’ebi to open his wide jaws and address the Prince in a very disrespectful manner revealing the thug’s frantic foreboding at the prospect of the FSA receiving advanced weaponry fom the Kingdom. He accused the Prince of being a toy in th hands of HBJ, dispelling the propaganda put forth by stinky moose on this forum that our brotherly KSA is not supporting the revolution and is opposed to Qatar’s position. But we all knw the moose is stinky and never tells a word of truth.
As I said not long ago, a huge qualitative and quantitative jump in weapons delivery to the revolution will take place very soon.
February 12th, 2013, 9:17 pm
Syrian said:
Some of the weapons recovered by the FSA from Batta’s militia from Jarah air base in Aleppo
http://youtu.be/KsZc9yppeHc
February 12th, 2013, 9:29 pm
Ghufran said:
This is a departure from the garbage fed to readers of SC by few idiots on this blog.
The article published in Newsweek is a must read for both pro and anti regime, it tells american and other western readers few things, much of that does not come as a surprise to many Syrians:
1. The CIA did not keep promises it gave to the FSA, am I surprised or what?
2. Rebels dealt with the CIA, no way !!
3. Firas Tlas also dealt with the CIA, did that include the hookers ?
4. Syrians , and I said that two dozen times, are idiots for destroying their country and expecting others to help them save it.
Find the article on dailybeast, search for Newsweek Syria, I will not post the link:
Did the CIA Betray Syria’s Rebels?
Feb 12, 2013 12:00 AM EST
Americans didn’t keep promises to opposition leaders. Now they’ve turned against the U.S. By Mike Giglio.
يا أمة ضحكت من جهلها الامم
February 12th, 2013, 10:19 pm
Syrian said:
أوباما الآن في خطابه على CNN:
سنعمل على توفير الدعم للمعارضة في سوريا !!!!!!
Thanks but no thanks.
Actually the FSA can send you some if you need
Heat seeking missiles from Jarah airbase
http://youtu.be/D36kevm4eqI
February 12th, 2013, 10:19 pm
zoo said:
…
February 12th, 2013, 10:26 pm
zoo said:
Tara
Many rich Syrians families participated actively in corrupting the country. They had government connections that helped their business while ignoring the poverty of others. They send their children to study abroad, they buy expensive clothes and shoes and they have summer villas. For corruption to bloom, it must have multiple partners.
If you call Bashar al Assad a tyrant, I will call these families worse tyrants, because they hide like snakes and will change their color depending on the ruler.
If you want to wish death to the tyrant, be honest with yourself, extend your death wish to all the tyrants in Syria.
February 12th, 2013, 10:32 pm
zoo said:
Ghufran
The article you mentioned is in Joshua Landis selection of articles, that you probably missed.
February 12th, 2013, 10:35 pm
Ghufran said:
This is amusing, the author is Sami Qasem Mahmoud Almilaiji from Egypt:
‘الاحداث التي تمر بها البلاد الآن تشبه تماما الاحداث التي مرت بالمسلمين زمن خلافة سيدنا علي رضي الله عنه.. الذي اجتمعت الامة على مبايعته، ومع ذلك حملت الفئة الباغية راية التمرد والعصيان عليه والتاريخ يكرر نفسه، فالفئة الباغية اليوم ممن يسمون انفسهم جبهة الانقاذ الوطني لا يكتفون بمعارضة النظام الحالي الذي جاءت به صناديق الانتخابات، بل يطلقون البلطجية والمشاغبين ليخربوا المنشآت العامة ويروعون المواطنين الآمنين، بل وصلت جرأتهم لمهاجمة قصر الاتحادية.. والعجيب ان منطق الفئة الباغية في زماننا التي تسمي نفسها جبهة الانقاذ هو منطق الفئة الباغية نفسها زمن سيدنا على رضي الله عنه، الذين قتلوا سيدنا عمار بن ياسر في موقعة صفين، ورغم تحقق نبوءة رسول الله- صلي الله عليه وسلم- فيهم في قوله: ‘ويح ابن سمية تقتله الفئة الباغية’.. الا انهم فسروا هذه النبوءة حسب اهوائهم بأن الذين قتلوه هم الذين اخرجوه ليحارب في صفوفهم، أليس هذا هو منطق جبهة الانقاذ الآن الذين يحملون رئيس الجمهورية مسؤولية الدماء التي سالت من جماعات العنف والتخريب؟ وهل رئيس الجمهورية هو الذي اخرجهم ليفعلوا ذلك أم من غرروا بهم من العلمانيين والليبراليين؟ ومن قبل رفضت الفئة الباغية نتيجة اجماع المسلمين على مبايعة سيدنا على للخلافة والآن ترفض ايضا الفئة الباغية لهذا العصر نتيجة صناديق الانتخابات في انتخاب رئيس الجمهورية’. طبعا وحسب شرحه فأن وصف الفئة الباغية ينصرف ايضا الى أم المؤمنين السيدة عائشة وطلحة والزبير- رضي الله عنهم- لأنهم سبقوا معاوية وعمر وبن العاص في الخروج على سيدنا علي، وتوجهوا لمحاربته في العراق في موقعة الجمل التي قتل فيها آلاف من الطرفين.. كان من بينهم عدد من العشرة المبشرين بالجنة ومئات من صحابة رسول الله- صلي الله عليه وسلم- لكن سامي استهول ان يزج باسم السيدة عائشة فزج باسم صحابي آخر هو معاوية.
Zoo, I only read a fraction of what is posted, I noticed the article, I still like to remind and repeat
التكرار يعلم الشطار
February 12th, 2013, 10:35 pm
revenire said:
I am sorry to inform you Dr. Ghufran that Newsweek is not respected but we can agree that perhaps it has a few has a few juicy tidbits that might pan out: the stuff about the CIA paying for Pretty Boy Tlas’ whores.
All the weapons of any consequence that the terrorists have came from Obama giving a green light to his underlings in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Libya. That’s just a fact. The weapons they use are not from captured bases etc.
Sorry to bring bad news but don’t shoot the messenger please (or behead me).
February 12th, 2013, 10:42 pm
Visitor said:
لم تجتمع الامة على خلافة علي.
February 12th, 2013, 11:35 pm
apple_mini said:
It is very clear now that US has achieved its initial objectives on Syria civil war. Syria is no longer a meaningful threat to Israel. Even Assad and his regime survives, the crescent resistance has a very weak link. So it can be considered a broken link there.
Right now, their priority is containment of fall-out of those Islamic radicals and Jihadist.
When Obama said Assad needed to go, it signaled US policy towards Syria and lead the momentum to elements inside Syria and most of all NATO and GCC: it was a green light to every possible way to topple the regime. Understandably, Israel keeps its silence and heighten its watch on its border.
Attack to US compound in Libya might be a wake-up call to Obama regarding blowback from using Jihadists, or he had conscious concerns about the destruction and brutality from both sides in Syria. Facing those uncertainties during campaign season, he turned down the proposal to arm chosen Syrian rebels. By that time, objective to weaken Assad has achieved its goal, so even the proposal was given approval be every branches except Obama, there was no discrepancy on US policy or interest.
Right after Obama won the election, Cameron staged a PR by visiting Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and claimed he had to convince Obama that Syrian crisis should be Obama’s first priority after winning. US did not buy it.
US and UK are a little different regarding foreign policy towards GCC. GCC no only want a weak Syria, they also want to make sure her future government is the same color as them. I bet they have been dreaming to impose and infuse their ideology and influence in Syria. It is personal and almost an obsession. Syria is the jewel of crown, the beacon of Arabic culture and identity.
US did not buy Cameron’s enthusiasm. The continuous fall-out of Jihadists in Syria has been snow-balling. Turkey is no longer immune to it. By dipping their feet deep in Syria mess, Turkey is not doing itself or NATO any good. That somehow frustrates US on how to contain spillover of Jihadists in the region. The priority and objective of US have turned from regime change to containing global threats of Jihadists from Syria. But Turkey still obsessed with Assad. Even though, Turkey is a member of NATO and considered to be an ally of US. But Turkey is really not that trusty on US policy book.
Israel dictates US ME policy. Turkey is dispensable if there is any conflict.
My prediction is that sooner or later, US drone attacks will be all over Syrian not to fight the regime but the Jihadists.
Iran does need to give moral supports to HB in Lebanon and Assad. Consider the superiority of Israeli military power, having a crescent resistance is nice. HB and Syria serve a very good buffer and distraction when it comes to confrontation with Israel.
Iranian priority is her nuclear prowess. The success of DPRK’s newest nuclear test pretty much means Iran is ready. After Iran becomes official nuclear capable, Iran can safely step back from the crescent resistance. Although, it is not going to happen since it is not Iranian interest.
February 13th, 2013, 1:32 am
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