Readers Letters; News Round Up (January 22, 2013
Posted by Joshua on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013
I begin with letters from three Syria Comment readers:
Reader 1
Dr. Landis,
I have resisted writing to you for a long time. Proud to say that I was born in Aleppo. First thing I do every morning when I wake up is check on the situation of my family in Aleppo. And for the first time today, I feel overwhelming sadness for their situation. The madness, the violence, the hatred are killing Aleppo & the innocent civilians very fast while the world is watching. Five buildings collapsed last night in a very upscale area of Aleppo. The missiles that destroyed them came from ???? and targeted civilian areas & innocent people. My nephew survived the bombing of the university & had to walk over the bodies of his students to get home, covered with blood.The city is disappearing & we’re watching. I turned on The Today show at seven this morning and the highlight of the new was the new hair style of Michelle Obama. It was so exciting to watch the list of celebrities descending on the Capital for our celebration of Freedom, Liberty & Justice. They didn’t mention anything about the thousands of people who died this week in Aleppo or just last night. We do not care & the whole world does not care. Human lives are not important anymore.
Why I’m writing to you??? Because I want to know how in the year 2013 massacres & killings like this can happen??? Every country around the globe is responsible. They’re all playing their games. This war is one of the ugliest civil wars in history. Money, power & arms are the winners. All sides are corrupt, evil and yes, Syria is dying by the second. My heart is broken to trillions pieces.
Dr. Landis,
Thank you so much for your reply. Unfortunately, I will rather if you do not mention my name because I’m so concerned about my brother …. He’s very outspoken on his Facebook page about the conflict. As you know by now, most Christians support the regime. The regime is protecting the Christian area & the churches in Aleppo ” ??????? ??????” they’re surrounded by the government army since July. To go from one section to the other you go through security checks and they search your car. They’re so afraid of the the Free Syrian army & the Jihadists. The safety & security of their daily lives disappeared. They’re home by 5:00 or 6:00 pm behind their locked doors. My brother George was held hostage by the rebels in July in his business in the Jadiedeh district where everything is burned & destroyed. They let him go free after they videotaped him stepping on Assad’s picture, spiting on it & cursing the president. They let him go & then they destroyed his business & stole everything they could carry. So, can you imagine the fear of the Christians for the day when the Assad army is not protecting them??Can you tell me what’s going to happen if the jihadists & rebels take control of these areas?? When we call for Assad to step down, do we have a plan for the protection of these innocent people ?? The Aleppo industrial district is destroyed beyond imagination. The equipment & machinery has been stolen & shipped to Turkey. I have members of my family who lost their factories & businesses to the rebels. My niece’s husband was taken hostage and released for 20 millions Syrian Pounds. I can go on & on telling you how much this civil war has destroyed the spirit & lives of many people. I spend big chunk of my time everyday checking on everybody & I honestly can’t find the words to console anybody. I don’t know what to say anymore to my 20 year old niece who wanted to commit suicide so she’ll not hear the bombing night after night.
I live far away from all this madness but I can’t deny the worries & agony I’m going through everyday. The freedom we enjoy in this country works for this society & we can’t impose it on other countries & cultures. Democracy is a process you learn when you’re young & when your thinking is not brainwashed by religion & ideologies. Why don’t we criticize Saudi Arabia or Qatar for their democracy?? Can we tell them to stop their export of arms to Syria??? No, we just want to please our allies. What’s happening in Syria is the war of United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar & Turkey against Syria and Iran. It’s the war of the Sunni against Shia, the war of hate, greed & corruption. From the Assad family to the Tlass family & all of them, the corruption is destroying them.
The sad reality is they have destroyed the past, the present & the future for generations of Syrians. Thank you for taking the time to read my frustration and despair.
Tara writes:
Josh, Unfortunately the mother of the headless little girl is not sophisticated enough to have known you to write you a letter to express her disgust with the Christians in Aleppo in support of the regime that rendered her little girl headless and dead for the mere reason of maintaining their privileges. They could care less about the headless little girl and I personally could care less about their primitive fears. I call the assortment of the readers’ letters today a selection bias. Sorry for being blunt.
Addendum from Reader 1
The Christians in Aleppo opened their homes & pockets to feed & help the refuges from the destroyed areas. They do not ask them if they are ???? ????? ????? ?????or….. My heart is broken for every Syrian, every child & every life. Twelve members of a Muslim family are staying in my aunt’s house since they lost their house in July. So to say that the Christian deserve this treatment because they support the regime is the reason that Syria will never have democracy…
Reader 3
48 Hours in Damascus – January 9th/10th/11th 2013
By Mohammad D.
Every two weeks my sister used to visit Damascus. She worked and lived there part time. This routine stopped about two months when the Battle of Damascus started, or the Battle of the International Airport. I was surprised last week when I contacted her and found that she was in Damascus. I was worried about her. We contact each other one or two times a day through social media, mainly on Facebook or by Skype. We discuss everything about the situation in in Syria.
I asked her about her every move in Damascus. She reported back very vividly through an e mail and many chats. This is what she said: ”
You know how much I love this city that I had spent years in… I reached Damascus International Airport around one in the afternoon.
The moment I exited the gate of the airport I heard an artillery discharge. I thought, jokingly, that this may be saluting me since I have not visited this city that I loved when it was peaceful for two months.
My questions started raining down on the driver from the moment I entered the car about how safe is the road? Of course, he was not feeling good about my questions, and I was not feeling good about his answer since he said to me that he is afraid of being sniped.
I asked him to drive along with the other cars if he could so we would not be alone for just a second. I asked him, of course, about the dangerous areas in our way to Damascus. He replied: “all the road is dangerous.” The airport is 25 minutes away from Damascus, about 20 kilometers, if traffic was moving well.
We drove as fast as we could, and when we reached the bridge opposite of Aqraba, the driver pointed to the area where the armed men came out off a month and a half ago and fired at the car he was driving.
They came out from between the trees. He was driving an unmarked civilian car. He told me how fast he drove till he escaped. My husband was with him in the car.
On the road I noticed the destruction of the metal partition of the highway. I asked him: “Is this because of a storm?.” He said these are the traces of battles.
The forth bridge on our way in, and the area around it are dangerous to be in. I saw a tank and a barricade over the bridge.
We started coming up on al-Qazzaz area, where there are two major Mukhabarat stations: Patrols, and the Palestine Branch. In this area a booby trapped car exploded last year when the area was crowded killing many civilians and soldiers. Here there is a barricade for the Army.
Stopping on these barricades became the daily routine of Syrians. You have to leave your house well early enough according to your experience in how much time it takes to go through these barricades. People bring tools of entertainment to kill time.
It was very cold where the Siberian Storm Olga was closing on Damascus. On this barricade I noticed smoke coming from a structure built on the island in the middle of the highway. The soldiers of the barricade set up a little enclave composed of stacked cement blocks that has a hole for smoke coming out of. The walls were few meters each direction.
We heard another artillery piece firing in the distance. It was about ten minutes from the first shot I heard. We approached the barricade and were checked. I saw two of the men of the barricade sitting close to the wood stove which has a tube about a meter long taking the smoke not that far away. They were getting worm circling the stove, smoking; a very depressing scene with temperature well bellow zero.
After this area the road became filled with cars, where I felt relatively safer. The snow started falling heavy.
I reached my home while the snow was still falling heavy outside. The house was dark because the sun had went down plus the absence of electricity. Electricity became the dearest product that is absent from the life of Syrians. Continiuos deliberate sabotage of Electrical plants plus the absence of fuel amidst sanctions made the Syrian people be deprived of electricity. Without Electricity there is no heating. This grueling winter became harder with this Siberian Storm. There is no Mazot that is the most important product in these days.
Syrians searched for alternatives and they started depending on trees and whatever is growing. Wood business became a profitable business. Many unemployed found a new career: wood cutting. The skill of the wood cutter came back to life after it was almost gone. One ton of wood is sold for more than ten thousand Liras. Wood stoves are back .
I remember friends from Alleoppo who visited us. Of course these days people has to talk about the important issue of heating. They told us that in their neighborhood in Alleppo there used to be a very big tree that is planted in the sidewalk a long time ago . Everyone from the hood had played underneath it when they were kids, parked there cars under its shade, and enjoyed its smell and looks. Now, this tree is gone because the people of the street decided to cut it and divide it amongst each other for heating. There is no place for memories in times of distress.
The artillery kept on shooting periodically. They did not use the multiple rocket launchers this time. The sound of the multiple rocket launcher is like thunder.
In spite of all of this I was able to sleep a little. Damascus was all white the next day. It was very cold also.
At home I hear the artillery shooting from an area closer to our home. Shelling continued in spite of the snow. The intervals between the artilleries discharges varied. Some time it may be as long as one or two hours, or just ten minutes between two shots.
Getting food is not easy these days in Damascus. High prices made people not spend to a high degree. Prices increase weekly, if not daily. All blame the high prices on the dollar. These days even that selling parsley takes only American dollars.
This day Damascus was very cold with snow everywhere.
The men manning the barricades were still there. Someone with us tried to give an apple to one of the soldiers. The soldier could not accept because his fingers were frozen. These men are living some horrible condition. My cousin told me the other day that to boots stuck to the feet of her son, a conscript in al-Zabadani, because he wore it way to many days in the freezing temperatures.
I went out again at night looking for an internet cafe to print a text. We had no electricity at the house. I went to al-Mazah Sheikh Sa’ad, where it was very cold, but, what you think, the place was super busy.
There were people everywhere with cars lining up the streets. Traffic jams were everywhere.
There were people selling things on the sidewalk; turmus, fuul, coffee, Cappiccino. I was surprised with what I saw for many reasons; the first was the extreme cold. The second reason is the absence of fear because of the violence that hit this area many times. This area was targeted by many booby trapped cars for sectarian reasons because of its proximity to the 86 neighborhood. The third reason for why I was taken by seeing that many people out in the cold, is the astronomical high prices that is making the Syrians poor.
Although the Syrian Lira had lost %100 of its value, merchants took advantage of that and increased prices more than triple of that percentage. This is leading into the spreading of poverty in amongst Syrians.
I entered the first internet cafe where the space was filled with cigarette smoke, although there is a ban on smoking in communal places in Syria. It looks like every Syrian is taking advantage of this crisis in his own way. The place was very loud and crowded.
The owner came to me to apologize for not having any empty space for me. He pointed another cafe that provided the same services.
Of course my luck was not better in the second cafe. This place was colder, but still it was filled. The owner of this place also pointed me into a third place, where I found one empty spot.
After two hours, and after the clock was after ten at night, I passed by Autostrad al-Mazzeh to get back home. I saw the stores open with less than average number of clients. Damascus is trying to survive. It is resisting in spite of all of these tragedies.
The next day was my day to go back. I did not hear the sound of artillery in the morning till 11 am, when I left the house.
I saw many helicopters going back and forth on a route.
Before we left the house we read al-Fatiha many times along with many Du’a after Du’a, because anywhere you go in Damascus has inside a suicidal adventure. Danger is everywhere.
Stopping on the barricades, stopping at a traffic light, and any type of traffic jam, all of these hold inside the fear of the possibility of a booby trapped car blowing up. There is fear every where I went.
I asked the driver about every inch of the place. He is a Damascene born and grew up in al-Midan. He told me that his parents stayed there till last year when they were forced to leave their homes for sectarian reasons.
We had to cross five bridges till reaching the airport through al-Muhallaq al-Janubi.
In the beginning the traffic was slow and not like normal. I asked the driver about the reason and he said that these are unsafe area. If you look to the right there is Daria, which is only 3-4 kilometers from the highway. This area is filled with orchard and agricultural lots.
Moving towards the second bridge traffic stayed sparse, less than normal. The driver was exceeding 150 km per hour because he wanted to pass the dangerous areas. Here in front and to the right are the areas of Nahr Aisha, al-Midan and al-Zahira.
Upon reaching the third bridge the left over from the previous battles, or what is called the Battle of the Airport, were everywhere. You can see the metal partition separating both sides of the road smashed in many areas.
There is an ambulance belonging to the UN burnt and left on the side of the road. I took a picture of it from a distance. I could not take good pictures because of the high speed we were traveling in, also one should hide the camera when approaching the barricades. Every now and then here you see a tank on either side of the road.
When we got closer to the fourth bridge I asked the driver if we could stay with the other cars. He replied and said that we passed Aqraba and Bayt Sahm, which are dangerous areas and that now we are in areas relatively less dangerous.
Before the fifth bridge we saw a barricade from the distance. We also saw a truck that is carrying loose wheat driving sideways. Behind it there were three or four smaller trucks. We were stopped for few minutes. I started to panic. Traffic was not moving. I asked the driver whether this barricade belonged to the Army or to any other party. He said that this is for the regular (Assad) Army, even through you can not distinguish between the different groups since they all wear the same uniforms and erect barricades.
I asked him: Should we go back? Is there any danger?
Traffic started moving. We reached the barricade. It was manned by the army. The soldiers had also built a little house and put a tent on top of it. You still see the stove and the smoke coming out. We started getting closer to the airport. The driver seemed to be at more ease. He said that we reached the area of al-Jawiyah (The Air Force Intelligence).
We reach the airport. The parking lot is about 100 meters away for security reasons.
Of course the plane is late because of some mechanical problems.
Syrian opposition failure to form transitional government a ‘big blow’
Reuters, Jan 21, 2013
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said in a statement that a five-member committee would put forward proposals on forming a government within 10 days, after talks in an Istanbul hotel broke up without agreement on an interim prime minister.
Formation of a government is seen as a threat to some members of the SNC, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, which would lose influence if a smaller executive body were elected.
The Istanbul talks, the opposition’s second bid to form a government, have only highlighted divisions in the coalition and risk undermining support for the umbrella grouping, formed two months ago in Qatar with western and Gulf backing.
Power struggles within the 70-member coalition have undermined efforts to agree on a transitional government, even as Syria slides further into sectarian conflict between the Sunni Muslim majority and Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
“This is a big blow for the revolution against Bashar Al Assad,” said a Syrian opposition leader who attended the meeting….
Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines
By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond | McClatchy Newspapers
Two Syrian opposition groups say government forces have attacked bread lines and bakeries at least 100 times, causing hundreds of casualties and in most cases destroying the bakeries. A McClatchy investigation found another source for 80 of those attacks, either from videos posted on YouTube at the time of each attack or from subsequent interviews with eyewitnesses, activists and municipal council officials. The attacks couldn’t have been inadvertent: At least 14 bakeries were targeted more than once, in some instances four or five times over months. A spokesman for the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights said the findings suggested a government strategy, and he called for an end to such attacks….
The Syrian Revolution General Commission said 360 people had been killed while standing in bread lines or inside bakeries through late December and more than 500 were wounded…
Jordan Feature: The Kingdom’s “Syria Problem” (Pelham)
by Nicolas Pelham writes for The New York Review of Books:
….One renegade Syrian officer told me in November that a thousand rebels recuperating in Jordan, whom he called mujahideen, had already returned to the front, despite having signed Jordanian waivers stating that they were heading home and would not fight. Since then, the numbers have multiplied as the battle against the Assad regime moves to the southern suburbs of Damascus. And though most of the munitions entering Syria come across other borders, a merchant with ties to the well-established Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood is running guns to groups in southern Syria, according to a Western diplomat.
Despite Jordan’s claims that it is vetting the rebels to keep radicals out, the kingdom has become a prime source for foreign recruits. Abu Muhammad al-Tahawi, a Jordanian Jihadi preacher from Irbid who was jailed in 2005 for plotting to attack Americans and Israelis in the city, claims his followers have sent some 350 fighters into Syria, including some fifty last month alone. While the numbers cannot be verified, Jordanians were on a list of foreign nationals who have joined the rebel cause and been killed in the conflict, according to a list the Syrian government presented to the UN last fall. A new study by the Quilliam Foundation also suggests that Jabhat al-Nasra is highly disciplined and that “Iraqis and Jordanians constitute the main body of foreigners” who have joined its ranks.
All of this has posed a complicated challenge for Jordan’s King Abdullah. Although the King has called for Assad to step down, he also hopes to maintain a more secular order in a new Syria and has long been wary of how the conflict is giving his own Muslim Brotherhood growing clout. For years the Brotherhood has been one of the most organized political forces in the kingdom. And while the movement has remained loyal to the monarchy and worked within the system, its leaders has shown an increasing readiness to challenge royal authority in recent months, as their counterparts in other countries have swept to power. “If the Middle East is going to be run by the Brotherhood, we’re all screwed, and you can kiss moderate Islam goodbye,” a senior government official recently told me….
In an attempt to prevent Syria from turning Islamist, Abdullah has turned to Western powers for help. Citing concern that Syria’s chemical weapons’ stockpiles could fall into the wrong hands, he has welcomed more than a hundred American, British, and French military advisers into Jordan to address this menace, as well as deal with the influx of refugees and help prevent a spillover of the conflict itself. Meanwhile, Jordanian officials have strongly backed Western efforts to replace the Brotherhood-dominated Syrian National Council with a mixed-bag opposition that is inclusive of Alawites and other minorities…..
A SYRIA STRATEGY FOR OBAMA – WINEP
By Andrew J. Tabler, January 17, 2013
This piece is part of “Obama and the Middle East: Act Two,” a series of policy proposals for the president’s second term by Washington Institute fellows. To read this and other installments, go to:
A Syria expert offers three bold steps to hasten the end of Assad’s regime.
The Assad regime’s brutal suppression of the Syrian uprising has spurred a humanitarian disaster, with the United Nations now estimating over 60,000 killed and 3 million displaced. Syrians are now dying of starvation and exposure as food and medical supplies run desperately short. The regime continues to escalate its attacks with the use of artillery, combat aircraft, and, most recently, SCUD and reportedly Fatah 110 missiles against the armed and civilian opposition.
The Obama administration has repeatedly voiced its concern that the Assad regime is considering using its chemical weapons stockpile, which includes sarin nerve gas and mustard gas, against its domestic opponents. The U.S. government reportedly even investigated the possible use of a chemical agent last month in Homs. At the same time, Washington has refused to fulfill the opposition’s request for more and better weapons that would help it end the regime’s onslaught, sowing anti-American sentiment that is being increasingly harvested by Islamic extremists and al-Qaeda affiliates. There is now a real danger that the regime’s chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militants sworn to destroy the United States and its regional allies……
Obama administration …should now take bold steps to hasten the end of Assad’s regime. … Patriot missile batteries in an offensive capacity against regime aircraft … safe areas would provide a vital place for …Opposition Forces (SOC) to politically organize and provide assistance directly to Syrian civilians. If properly defended, diplomats, officials, and aid representatives from the international community could work side by side with Syrians to help alleviate suffering and build a viable government for post-Assad Syria. ….Such an integrated plan would …provide real inducements to armed groups that will soon take over large …yrian territory to hand over any captured chemical weapons to the United States and its allies. …
Should Obama Have Intervened in Syria?
Or would U.S. military involvement merely have made a disaster worse?
BY MARC LYNCH | JANUARY 17, 2013 – Foreign Policy
….What about arming the opposition? There was a debate to be had there last year, but it’s long since been overtaken by events. The United States wisely resisted sending arms into the fray based on concerns about cutting off its diplomatic options, empowering local warlords, and paving the path toward a longer and bloodier civil war. But others, particularly in the Gulf, were not so restrained, and persistent calls for more money and guns aside Syrian armed groups are now awash with weapons. The worst effects of arming the opposition have now already taken place, and the United States throwing more guns onto the fire would now have at best a marginal impact…..
Don’t Wait for Assad’s Fall to Prepare for Transition
by Bradley Bosserman, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Initiative at the New Policy Institute.
….There are fighters outside Aleppo and Damascus giving their lives each day in a grueling battle for a free Syria. Those wishing to support them need to make sure that the tools to build that new country will be ready when those brave revolutionaries call for them…..Yaser Tabbara, a Syrian-American member of the opposition, explains that the SOC has conducted studies that reveal the “cost of the management of the liberated areas” to be “close to the neighborhood of $500 million a month”. The largest donation thus far has been a commitment from Saudi Arabia of $100 million. But even Tabbara’s estimates are woefully low. In reality, a successful Syrian transition will cost billions of dollars. If the United States and the international community wish to see the formation of a democratic, stable, and secure country, they need to plan now for funding the transition.
Jerusalem Post: Over 100 people reportedly massacred in Syria’s Homs
2013-01-17
BEIRUT – More than 100 people were shot, stabbed or possibly burned to death by government forces in the Syrian city of Homs, a monitoring group said on Thursday, and fierce fighting raged across the country. The British-based Syrian Observatory for …
Syria’s Reconciliation Minister: Turkish Role in Syria ‘Very Bad’
Syria’s Minister for National Reconciliation Ali Haidar speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Aug. 21, 2012.
By: Antoun Issa for Al-Monitor. posted on January 18.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor from his office in Damascus, Syria, Ali Haidar, Syria’s minister of national reconciliation and leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, said that President Bashar Assad’s recent speech consisted of “preliminary ideas” about a transitional phase in Syria and should not be discounted.
About This Article
Summary :
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor from his office in Damascus, Ali Haidar, Syria’s minister of national reconciliation and leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, said that President Assad’s Jan. 6 speech constitutes “a step forward toward solving the crisis” and that Turkey is “supporting some of the Syrian people at the expense of others.”
“We personally think that this is the first time that the president has put forward a set of ideas which constitute a step forward toward solving the crisis,” Haidar said, adding that “the relationship between Assad’s proposal, the Geneva Initiative and Lakhdar Brahimi’s statement was a set of principles to resolve the crisis.”
Haidar, who is an Ismaili originally from Hama, explained that Assad’s proposals lay out a process leading to a referendum on a new constitution.
“This is when the role of this current government will come to an end,” Haidar said, “paving the way for a new government that will be the product of subsequent elections and the national dialogue.”
Haidar described the Turkish role in Syria as “very bad,” adding that Ankara’s “role is based upon a sectarian position, and they are supporting some of the Syrian people at the expense of others.”
In contrast, Haidar praised the roles of Iran and Russia in Syria……
Zarqawi brother-in-law killed in Syria: Jordan Salafist
January 17, 2013, Agence France Press
AMMAN: Two jihadists including a brother-in-law of slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been killed in clashes with Syrian regime forces, a senior Jordanian Salafist said on Thursday. “Adam Abulmutasem and Mohammad Jarad, who are in their 20s, were killed two days ago in clashes with regime troops in the southern province of Sweida,” Abed Shehadeh, known as Abu Mohammad Tahawi, told AFP.
“Jarad was the brother-in-law of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” Tahawi said Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed in an air strike by the US military in Iraq in 2006.
The two jihadists who were killed in Syria this week fought alongside the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, according to Tahawi.
Nusra, which first gained notoriety for its suicide bombings in Syria, has evolved into a formidable fighting force leading attacks on battlefronts throughout the embattled country.
Its extremist tactics and suspected affiliation to the Al-Qaeda offshoot in Iraq have landed it on the US list of terrorist organisations
“Twenty-two out of the 350 Jordanian jihadists currently fighting in Syria have been killed,” including the “mufti” of Nusra in Daraa, Tahawi said. Jordan arrested more than a dozen jihadists in April and June as they tried to infiltrate Syria, where insurgents are fighting to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Video appears to show Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiites fighting in Syria
The video’s production and open dissemination highlight how fighters outside Syria are jumping into the fray – and growing more bold about showing it.
By Nicholas Blanford, Correspondent / January 18, 2013 – CSM
growing conviction within Shiite circles in Lebanon that the war in Syria is no longer one between an embattled autocratic regime and a grassroots opposition but a sectarian confrontation against the emerging and increasingly influential Salafi Jihadist groups that view Shiites as heretics and Hezbollah as an enemy.
“I don’t feel that Hezbollah is defending the regime. They are defending themselves because once the regime goes, they are next,” says Ali, a glazier and staunch Hezbollah supporter from southern Beirut.
The conflict in neighboring Syria presents Hezbollah and its Iranian patron with a strategic dilemma. Assad’s Syria represents the geopolitical lynchpin that binds Hezbollah to Iran and is a core component in the “Jabhat al-Muqawama” or “Axis of Resistance,” the pan-regional alliance challenging Israel and Western ambitions in the Middle East. If Assad falls and is replaced by a moderate Sunni regime that turns away from Iran and towards Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Hezbollah could become isolated on the Mediterranean coast and potentially threatened by a Sunni resurgence in the Levant.
Sources in the Syrian opposition, the rebel Free Syrian Army, and Western embassies concur that Hezbollah is participating in some fighting and also training regular Syrian troops in urban warfare tactics and turning the pro-regime Shabiha militia into an effective paramilitary force.
In October, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah admitted that some members of the party were fighting to defend a string of villages just inside Syria that are populated by Lebanese Shiites….
Blast in Aleppo, twin bombing in south cap a week with more than 800 civilians killed in Syria: Rebels may have more sophisticated weaponry blasting with sometimes inaccurate rockets – washington post
The residential building struck in Aleppo was in a part of the city controlled by regime forces, as was a university hit earlier in the week in an attack that killed 87 people, mostly students. The government accused rebels in both attacks, saying the hit the locations with rockets, a claim the opposition denies.
But if confirmed it would signal that the rebels have acquired more sophisticated weaponry from captured regime bases and are now using them to take the fight more into government-held areas in an attempt to break a monthslong stalemate in the war.
More Information On The Equipment Looted From Taftanaz Air Base, including rockets – Brown Moses Blog – Via Bartolo’s blog
Kurd-Jihadist firefights continue to rage in northern Syria – AP
Bleeding from a triple haemorrhage
Syria faces a looming humanitarian disaster and is in the midst of an acute political paralysis, besides being at the centre of a geopolitical standoff
Three heads of the United Nations humanitarian agencies wrote a cri de coeur for Syria on January 11. Antonio Guterres (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees), Ertharin Cousins (World Food Program) and Anthony Lake (UNICEF) noted, “Syria is undoubtedly the most complex and dangerous” of all conflicts for 2013. Inside Syria, four million people are in grave danger — shelter, food, education, clean water, health care and security are no longer available to them. Additionally, two million Syrians have fled the country for Lebanon and Jordan. The most serious danger is posed to children, half of the displaced and refugees, whose well-being is compromised. “Too many have been injured or killed; too many have seen family and friends die, their homes and schools reduced to rubble.”
Syrian opposition failure to form transitional government a ‘big blow’
Reuters, Jan 21, 2013
The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said in a statement that a five-member committee would put forward proposals on forming a government within 10 days, after talks in an Istanbul hotel broke up without agreement on an interim prime minister.
Formation of a government is seen as a threat to some members of the SNC, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, which would lose influence if a smaller executive body were elected.
The Istanbul talks, the opposition’s second bid to form a government, have only highlighted divisions in the coalition and risk undermining support for the umbrella grouping, formed two months ago in Qatar with western and Gulf backing.
Power struggles within the 70-member coalition have undermined efforts to agree on a transitional government, even as Syria slides further into sectarian conflict between the Sunni Muslim majority and Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
“This is a big blow for the revolution against Bashar Al Assad,” said a Syrian opposition leader who attended the meeting….
Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines
By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond | McClatchy Newspapers
Two Syrian opposition groups say government forces have attacked bread lines and bakeries at least 100 times, causing hundreds of casualties and in most cases destroying the bakeries. A McClatchy investigation found another source for 80 of those attacks, either from videos posted on YouTube at the time of each attack or from subsequent interviews with eyewitnesses, activists and municipal council officials. The attacks couldn’t have been inadvertent: At least 14 bakeries were targeted more than once, in some instances four or five times over months. A spokesman for the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights said the findings suggested a government strategy, and he called for an end to such attacks….
The Syrian Revolution General Commission said 360 people had been killed while standing in bread lines or inside bakeries through late December and more than 500 were wounded…
Jordan Feature: The Kingdom’s “Syria Problem” (Pelham)
by Nicolas Pelham writes for The New York Review of Books:
….One renegade Syrian officer told me in November that a thousand rebels recuperating in Jordan, whom he called mujahideen, had already returned to the front, despite having signed Jordanian waivers stating that they were heading home and would not fight. Since then, the numbers have multiplied as the battle against the Assad regime moves to the southern suburbs of Damascus. And though most of the munitions entering Syria come across other borders, a merchant with ties to the well-established Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood is running guns to groups in southern Syria, according to a Western diplomat.
Despite Jordan’s claims that it is vetting the rebels to keep radicals out, the kingdom has become a prime source for foreign recruits. Abu Muhammad al-Tahawi, a Jordanian Jihadi preacher from Irbid who was jailed in 2005 for plotting to attack Americans and Israelis in the city, claims his followers have sent some 350 fighters into Syria, including some fifty last month alone. While the numbers cannot be verified, Jordanians were on a list of foreign nationals who have joined the rebel cause and been killed in the conflict, according to a list the Syrian government presented to the UN last fall. A new study by the Quilliam Foundation also suggests that Jabhat al-Nasra is highly disciplined and that “Iraqis and Jordanians constitute the main body of foreigners” who have joined its ranks.
All of this has posed a complicated challenge for Jordan’s King Abdullah. Although the King has called for Assad to step down, he also hopes to maintain a more secular order in a new Syria and has long been wary of how the conflict is giving his own Muslim Brotherhood growing clout. For years the Brotherhood has been one of the most organized political forces in the kingdom. And while the movement has remained loyal to the monarchy and worked within the system, its leaders has shown an increasing readiness to challenge royal authority in recent months, as their counterparts in other countries have swept to power. “If the Middle East is going to be run by the Brotherhood, we’re all screwed, and you can kiss moderate Islam goodbye,” a senior government official recently told me….
In an attempt to prevent Syria from turning Islamist, Abdullah has turned to Western powers for help. Citing concern that Syria’s chemical weapons’ stockpiles could fall into the wrong hands, he has welcomed more than a hundred American, British, and French military advisers into Jordan to address this menace, as well as deal with the influx of refugees and help prevent a spillover of the conflict itself. Meanwhile, Jordanian officials have strongly backed Western efforts to replace the Brotherhood-dominated Syrian National Council with a mixed-bag opposition that is inclusive of Alawites and other minorities…..
A SYRIA STRATEGY FOR OBAMA – WINEP
By Andrew J. Tabler, January 17, 2013
This piece is part of “Obama and the Middle East: Act Two,” a series of policy proposals for the president’s second term by Washington Institute fellows. To read this and other installments, go to:
A Syria expert offers three bold steps to hasten the end of Assad’s regime.
The Assad regime’s brutal suppression of the Syrian uprising has spurred a humanitarian disaster, with the United Nations now estimating over 60,000 killed and 3 million displaced. Syrians are now dying of starvation and exposure as food and medical supplies run desperately short. The regime continues to escalate its attacks with the use of artillery, combat aircraft, and, most recently, SCUD and reportedly Fatah 110 missiles against the armed and civilian opposition.
The Obama administration has repeatedly voiced its concern that the Assad regime is considering using its chemical weapons stockpile, which includes sarin nerve gas and mustard gas, against its domestic opponents. The U.S. government reportedly even investigated the possible use of a chemical agent last month in Homs. At the same time, Washington has refused to fulfill the opposition’s request for more and better weapons that would help it end the regime’s onslaught, sowing anti-American sentiment that is being increasingly harvested by Islamic extremists and al-Qaeda affiliates. There is now a real danger that the regime’s chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militants sworn to destroy the United States and its regional allies……
Obama administration …should now take bold steps to hasten the end of Assad’s regime. … Patriot missile batteries in an offensive capacity against regime aircraft … safe areas would provide a vital place for …Opposition Forces (SOC) to politically organize and provide assistance directly to Syrian civilians. If properly defended, diplomats, officials, and aid representatives from the international community could work side by side with Syrians to help alleviate suffering and build a viable government for post-Assad Syria. ….Such an integrated plan would …provide real inducements to armed groups that will soon take over large …yrian territory to hand over any captured chemical weapons to the United States and its allies. …
Don’t Wait for Assad’s Fall to Prepare for Transition
by Bradley Bosserman, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Initiative at the New Policy Institute.
….There are fighters outside Aleppo and Damascus giving their lives each day in a grueling battle for a free Syria. Those wishing to support them need to make sure that the tools to build that new country will be ready when those brave revolutionaries call for them…..Yaser Tabbara, a Syrian-American member of the opposition, explains that the SOC has conducted studies that reveal the “cost of the management of the liberated areas” to be “close to the neighborhood of $500 million a month”. The largest donation thus far has been a commitment from Saudi Arabia of $100 million. But even Tabbara’s estimates are woefully low. In reality, a successful Syrian transition will cost billions of dollars. If the United States and the international community wish to see the formation of a democratic, stable, and secure country, they need to plan now for funding the transition.
Jerusalem Post: Over 100 people reportedly massacred in Syria’s Homs
2013-01-17
BEIRUT – More than 100 people were shot, stabbed or possibly burned to death by government forces in the Syrian city of Homs, a monitoring group said on Thursday, and fierce fighting raged across the country. The British-based Syrian Observatory for …
Syria’s Reconciliation Minister: Turkish Role in Syria ‘Very Bad’
Syria’s Minister for National Reconciliation Ali Haidar speaks during a news conference in Moscow, Aug. 21, 2012.
By: Antoun Issa for Al-Monitor. posted on January 18.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor from his office in Damascus, Syria, Ali Haidar, Syria’s minister of national reconciliation and leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, said that President Bashar Assad’s recent speech consisted of “preliminary ideas” about a transitional phase in Syria and should not be discounted.
About This Article
Summary :
In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor from his office in Damascus, Ali Haidar, Syria’s minister of national reconciliation and leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, said that President Assad’s Jan. 6 speech constitutes “a step forward toward solving the crisis” and that Turkey is “supporting some of the Syrian people at the expense of others.”
“We personally think that this is the first time that the president has put forward a set of ideas which constitute a step forward toward solving the crisis,” Haidar said, adding that “the relationship between Assad’s proposal, the Geneva Initiative and Lakhdar Brahimi’s statement was a set of principles to resolve the crisis.”
Haidar, who is an Ismaili originally from Hama, explained that Assad’s proposals lay out a process leading to a referendum on a new constitution.
“This is when the role of this current government will come to an end,” Haidar said, “paving the way for a new government that will be the product of subsequent elections and the national dialogue.”
Haidar described the Turkish role in Syria as “very bad,” adding that Ankara’s “role is based upon a sectarian position, and they are supporting some of the Syrian people at the expense of others.”
In contrast, Haidar praised the roles of Iran and Russia in Syria……
Zarqawi brother-in-law killed in Syria: Jordan Salafist
January 17, 2013, Agence France Press
AMMAN: Two jihadists including a brother-in-law of slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been killed in clashes with Syrian regime forces, a senior Jordanian Salafist said on Thursday. “Adam Abulmutasem and Mohammad Jarad, who are in their 20s, were killed two days ago in clashes with regime troops in the southern province of Sweida,” Abed Shehadeh, known as Abu Mohammad Tahawi, told AFP.
“Jarad was the brother-in-law of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” Tahawi said Jordanian-born Zarqawi was killed in an air strike by the US military in Iraq in 2006.
The two jihadists who were killed in Syria this week fought alongside the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, according to Tahawi.
Nusra, which first gained notoriety for its suicide bombings in Syria, has evolved into a formidable fighting force leading attacks on battlefronts throughout the embattled country.
Its extremist tactics and suspected affiliation to the Al-Qaeda offshoot in Iraq have landed it on the US list of terrorist organisations
“Twenty-two out of the 350 Jordanian jihadists currently fighting in Syria have been killed,” including the “mufti” of Nusra in Daraa, Tahawi said. Jordan arrested more than a dozen jihadists in April and June as they tried to infiltrate Syria, where insurgents are fighting to oust the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Video appears to show Hezbollah and Iraqi Shiites fighting in Syria
The video’s production and open dissemination highlight how fighters outside Syria are jumping into the fray – and growing more bold about showing it.
By Nicholas Blanford, Correspondent / January 18, 2013 – CSM
growing conviction within Shiite circles in Lebanon that the war in Syria is no longer one between an embattled autocratic regime and a grassroots opposition but a sectarian confrontation against the emerging and increasingly influential Salafi Jihadist groups that view Shiites as heretics and Hezbollah as an enemy.
“I don’t feel that Hezbollah is defending the regime. They are defending themselves because once the regime goes, they are next,” says Ali, a glazier and staunch Hezbollah supporter from southern Beirut.
The conflict in neighboring Syria presents Hezbollah and its Iranian patron with a strategic dilemma. Assad’s Syria represents the geopolitical lynchpin that binds Hezbollah to Iran and is a core component in the “Jabhat al-Muqawama” or “Axis of Resistance,” the pan-regional alliance challenging Israel and Western ambitions in the Middle East. If Assad falls and is replaced by a moderate Sunni regime that turns away from Iran and towards Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Hezbollah could become isolated on the Mediterranean coast and potentially threatened by a Sunni resurgence in the Levant.
Sources in the Syrian opposition, the rebel Free Syrian Army, and Western embassies concur that Hezbollah is participating in some fighting and also training regular Syrian troops in urban warfare tactics and turning the pro-regime Shabiha militia into an effective paramilitary force.
In October, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah admitted that some members of the party were fighting to defend a string of villages just inside Syria that are populated by Lebanese Shiites….
Blast in Aleppo, twin bombing in south cap a week with more than 800 civilians killed in Syria: Rebels may have more sophisticated weaponry blasting with sometimes inaccurate rockets – washington post
The residential building struck in Aleppo was in a part of the city controlled by regime forces, as was a university hit earlier in the week in an attack that killed 87 people, mostly students. The government accused rebels in both attacks, saying the hit the locations with rockets, a claim the opposition denies.
But if confirmed it would signal that the rebels have acquired more sophisticated weaponry from captured regime bases and are now using them to take the fight more into government-held areas in an attempt to break a monthslong stalemate in the war.
More Information On The Equipment Looted From Taftanaz Air Base, including rockets – Brown Moses Blog – Via Bartolo’s blog
Kurd-Jihadist firefights continue to rage in northern Syria – AP
Bleeding from a triple haemorrhage
VIJAY PRASHAD, January 19, 2013, The Hindu
Syria faces a looming humanitarian disaster and is in the midst of an acute political paralysis, besides being at the centre of a geopolitical standoff
Three heads of the United Nations humanitarian agencies wrote a cri de coeur for Syria on January 11. Antonio Guterres (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees), Ertharin Cousins (World Food Program) and Anthony Lake (UNICEF) noted, “Syria is undoubtedly the most complex and dangerous” of all conflicts for 2013. Inside Syria, four million people are in grave danger — shelter, food, education, clean water, health care and security are no longer available to them. Additionally, two million Syrians have fled the country for Lebanon and Jordan. The most serious danger is posed to children, half of the displaced and refugees, whose well-being is compromised. “Too many have been injured or killed; too many have seen family and friends die, their homes and schools reduced to rubble.”
Government Increases Mazout Price by 40 Percent
Russia sending aircraft to evacuate its citizens from Syria
By Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman, Wash Post: January 21
MOSCOW — Russia is sending two planes to Lebanon on Tuesday to evacuate more than 100 of its citizens from Syria, the Emergencies Ministry said, in the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be preparing for President Bashar al-Assad’s possible defeat.
Russia has been Assad’s main foreign protector during a 22-month uprising against his rule, but a diplomat conceded last month that the government had lost territory and the rebels fighting Assad could win the war.
Moscow is also carrying out what has been called its largest naval exercises since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union in the Mediterranean and Black seas, including off Syria’s coast, which analysts say are meant to underscore its interest in the region….
Obama’s failure in Syria
By Richard Cohen, Published: January 21
There are two kinds of wars, we are told — wars of choice and wars of necessity. The former is to be avoided and the latter fought with appropriate reluctance. World War II was a good and necessary war but Vietnam was not. The war in Iraq was a matter of choice (also of imbecility) but Afghanistan was not — although it now may be. Wars can change over time. The one in Syria certainly has. It has gone from a war of choice to a war of necessity that President Obama did not choose to fight. A mountain of dead testifies to his mistake….
Saudi Arabia Sent Death Row Inmates to Fight in Syria in Lieu of Execution
(AINA) — A top secret memo sent by the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia reveals the Saudi Kingdom sent death-row inmates, sentenced to execution by decapitation, to Syria to fight Jihad against the Syrian government in exchange for commuting their sentences.According to the memo, dated April 17, 2012, the Saudi Kingdom negotiated with a total of 1239 inmates, offering them a full pardon and a monthly salary for their families, who were to remain in the Kingdom, in exchange for “…their training in order to send them to Jihad in Syria.”
The memo was signed by Abdullah bin Ali al-Rmezan, the “Director of follow up in Ministry of Interior.”
Todd Fine – the Little Syria neighborhood in Manhattan Video shown on al-Jazeera
We are worried that in the midst of all of the chaos in Lebanon and Syria New York City may allow these last traces of heritage to be destroyed.
Syria’s Kurds: A Struggle Within a Struggle – ICG
Middle East Report N°136 22 Jan 2013
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
As Syria’s conflict has expanded, the population in majority-Kurd areas has remained relatively insulated. Keeping a lower profile, it has been spared the brunt of regime attacks; over time, security forces withdrew to concentrate elsewhere. Kurdish groups stepped in to replace them: to stake out zones of influence, protect their respective areas, provide essential services and ensure an improved status for the community in a post-Assad Syria. Big gains could be reaped, yet cannot be taken for granted. Kurdish aspirations remain at the mercy of internal feuds, hostility with Arabs (evidenced by recent clashes) and regional rivalries over the Kurdish question. For Syria’s Kurds, long-suppressed and denied basic rights, prudence dictates overcoming internal divisions, clarifying their demands and – even at the cost of hard compromises – agreement with any successor Syrian power structure to define and enshrine their rights. And it is time for their non-Kurdish counterparts to devise a credible strategy to reassure all Syrians that the new-order vision of the state, minority rights, justice and accountability is both tolerant and inclusive…..
Islamist fighters deploy tanks against Kurds in Serekani/Ras al Ayin – video
Syria and the risk of Somalisation
Haian Dukhan 19 January 2013 – Open Democracy
If the crisis continues, Syria risks not so much division into hostile states as happened in Yugoslavia, but control by warlords who will persecute the Syrian people.
Assad’s overthrow ‘red line’ for Iran according to Ali Akbar Velayati, aide to Supreme Leader. Daily Star
State Dept: U.S. Government Delegation to Travel to Turkey and Jordan
2013-01-22
On January 23-31, 2013, the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development will send a delegation of senior U.S. officials to Turkey and Jordan. Throughout the trip, the delegation will meet with senior government and …
Comments (427)
Tara said:
Josh,
Unfortunately the mother of the headless little girl is not sophisticated enough to have known you to write a letter expressing her disgust with the
Christians in Aleppo in supporting regime that rendered her little girl headless and dead for the mere reason of maintaining their privileges. They could care less about the headless little girl and I personally could care less about their primitive fears.
I call the assortment of the readers’ letters today a selection bias.
Sorry for being blunt.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:01 am
zoo said:
Did you know that there has been all along daily flight Emirates-Damascus?
Emirates suspends flights to Damascus 22. Januar 2013
http://www.transportjournal.com/index.php?id=425&tx_ttnews%5BpS%5D=1358859947&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=28979&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=505&cHash=f4c787a6439d019045235bd742be7a7b
Dubai (UAE)-based Emirates has suspended its daily EK913 and EK914 services to and from Damascus (Syria) with immediate effect and until further notice. Emirates apologises for any inconvenience caused to its customers.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:27 am
zoo said:
Saudi Arabia continues to reject “negotiations’ but call for the UN to “act”: Another General Assembly useless ‘blurp’
Prince Saud Says Syria Crisis to Escalate If No UN Action
By Deema Almashabi & Glen Carey – Jan 22, 2013 7:40 AM ET
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-22/prince-saud-says-syria-crisis-to-escalate-if-no-un-action.html
The United Nations must act to end violence in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s actions make negotiations impossible, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said.
“Damascus was carpet bombed,” Prince Saud said in Riyadh today, when asked if Saudi Arabia is pushing for talks between the main rebel group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, and Assad’s government. “How can we conceive of the possibility of a negotiated solution with someone who does that to his own country, his own people, his own history?”
The General Assembly must get involved if the Security Council continues to fail to muster enough support to intervene, Prince Saud said.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:32 am
zoo said:
Tara
To make it fair, why don’t you send to J.L the letters you receive from your family and friends in Syria.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:37 am
zoo said:
Update to 3: Prince Saud wants to censor the UNSC…
That’s what deep frustration of a rich country in front of the resistance of a small country does to their leaders: The fantasy that their power is the greatest.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/saudi-says-negotiated-syria-settlement-inconceivable-132940879.html
Prince Saud said the United Nations Security Council needed to take urgent action to end the crisis.
“We have a call to make to the Security Council, to finally show the responsibility that they must show…or otherwise I think it is the duty of the General Assembly to censure the Security Council for failing in its duty,” he added.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:42 am
Erin said:
Tara
I prefer if you go and live in Syria and send your letter to JL from inside Syria. Probabaly you should join the Al Nusra as well, because it seems the longer you are on this blog, the more you are going backward.
If you going to hand Syria to pigs like the MB, Al Nusra then we rather have Assad stay.
Your Masters the Saudi are destroying Syria as we all know.
The USA is watching and not moving either side, therefore, will have another Somalia with your help and theirs.
I think you need to quit this blog giving all your MB kind here are below an Ape mentality.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:59 am
ghufran said:
The new Libya:
???? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ???????.
???? ??????? ?? ???? ” ?? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??”.
?? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ????. ????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?????.
???? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ?? ???????.
???? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ????????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?? ????.
January 22nd, 2013, 10:00 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
In a Mukhabarat state, the only emails you get out is “Bilroh..Bildam..” People are afraid to talk. People whisper even inside their own bedrooms…
January 22nd, 2013, 10:00 am
ghufran said:
This is the regime in KSA some of you are in love with:
(copied from JL posts)
AINA) — A top secret memo sent by the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia reveals the Saudi Kingdom sent death-row inmates, sentenced to execution by decapitation, to Syria to fight Jihad against the Syrian government in exchange for commuting their sentences.According to the memo, dated April 17, 2012, the Saudi Kingdom negotiated with a total of 1239 inmates, offering them a full pardon and a monthly salary for their families, who were to remain in the Kingdom, in exchange for “…their training in order to send them to Jihad in Syria.”
The memo was signed by Abdullah bin Ali al-Rmezan, the “Director of follow up in Ministry of Interior.”
January 22nd, 2013, 10:03 am
Citizen said:
Tonight on one of the busiest streets in the city of Hama province SALAAM blown up by terrorists bomb truck. Weight IED was 1000 kg., The number of victims of terrorist attacks – 25 people and injuring 150.
January 22nd, 2013, 10:10 am
Citizen said:
http://youtu.be/DOMMAd71BPU?t=2sc
January 22nd, 2013, 10:13 am
ann said:
It’s open season on killing muslims in Mali while muslims are busy killing each others in Syria 8)
Norway Mulls Sending Army Personnel to Help Mali Fight – Jan 22, 2013
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-22/norway-mulls-sending-army-personnel-to-help-mali-fight-militants.html
Norway, which isn’t a member of the EU, has received an informal request from neighboring Sweden to contribute army officers and instructors, Elisabeth Kjaer, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman, said by phone today. While the government has yet to respond, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Defense Minister Anne-Grete Stroem-Erichsen are open to offering army support, she said, confirming comments in local newspaper Aftenposten.
[…]
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-22/norway-mulls-sending-army-personnel-to-help-mali-fight-militants.html
January 22nd, 2013, 10:39 am
Citizen said:
???? ?? ?????? ????!
(???? ????????) ?????? ?????…
January 22nd, 2013, 10:58 am
Visitor said:
I do not know why there is so much redundancy in Landis’ post. I am sure he is not trying to outdo the trolls.
But my reply to that letter from the Alepine is simple and undiplomatic: We wish you wrote similar letter two years ago. Are you expecting us to feel sympathy to your pain when the only thing we recieved from your community during the last two years was callousness and indiffernece?
But, I do appreciate the honesty of the writer in stating the obvious which we all know, i.e. Christians in Syria by in large support the regime. This is clearly a conscious choice on their part. My dear writer you know full well that life is full of choices which eventually determine destinies. But We know why you wrote the letter. You are raisnig your voice to so-called westerners pleading for their support based on so-called Christian sympathies against your fellow Syrians. Another deliberate choice that determines destinies!
But, I am also certain that the revolution will make distinctions on individual basis and reward those brave Christians who stood with it and treat them as full citizens in the new Syria. But do not expect any rewards if you support a criminal regime or have shown callousness or as many Christians would like to say neutrality. There is no neutrality in this fight.
End of reply.
There is no need to shed tears on spilled milk regarding American action/inaction in Syria. Everyone knows full well that the Obama admin made a deliberate choice of policy when it first gave the criminal thug the green light to start buthchering when hilly billy outgoing Ms. Piggy labelled him a ‘reformer’ during the first week of the uprising. It is common knowledge that the massacres started only a week after she made her announcement and continued making similar announcements ever since by granting the thug time in and time out to continue to do the same. It is also known that the US admin made a deliberate choice to play right into the thugs hands by labelling some groups as so-called ‘terrorists’. The best thing for the US to do is get the hell out of the Syrian saga and would be very much appreciated if the US does not even mention Syria in statement.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:02 am
AIG said:
Tara,
Just to inform you there is nothing new about the people preaching against democracy in Syria. I have been following this blog for about 7 years and the tune has always been the same: We cannot have democracy in Syria because the unwashed masses are too stupid or too religious or too easily influenced by outside forces.
These people did nothing when Assad quashed the Damascus Spring. They did nothing when he regressed instead of reforming. They cheered about his foreign policy “genius” which included funding and protecting Islamists.
And now they complain about what is happening in Syria? The elites and the rich are always much more to blame for what is happening than the poor. People like Erin had years to demand from Assad small but meaningful steps towards more democracy and equality in Syria. Instead they, like Assad, believed that the Arab Spring will never come to Syria.
Stable dictatorships are ones that can provide economic growth and a better life for most of the population, as China is doing. But under Assad 2 million people prospered and 20 million receded into abject poverty. Now these 2 million are complaining. For example, what did they do to alleviate the suffering of over 1 million internally displaced Syrians because of the droughts? Nothing.
They are fools and you should ignore them especially since they are blaming the poor people of Syria for the situation instead of accepting that they are culpable.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:06 am
Citizen said:
Maybe some Russian combat Robots do away with Saudi rats?
http://youtu.be/0SLEtVlU15Q?t=2m35s
January 22nd, 2013, 11:12 am
habib said:
15. AIG
Don’t worry, you Zionists will soon have your wish come true, and be surrounded by hundreds of well armed Hamas-like organisations.
Syria is finished already, so all we have left is looking forward to the day Israel is overrun by the very hordes they cheered for.
It’s funny, Israel supported Hamas against the PLO in the 80s too, and they have learned as little about “blowback” as the Americans in Afghanistan.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:15 am
ann said:
allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar …
GET ME OUTA HERE! 8)
warning: dead allahu akbar islamist terrorists
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=149_1358808842
January 22nd, 2013, 11:15 am
erin said:
AIG
let’s have democracy starting with your pigs of Saudi Arabia and the GCC then will move it to Syria.
it seems you don’t understand that your radical muslims people know only one thing that the American drones will be killing them everywhere in the world, it is a fair deal as far as i am concerned. Syria is not democratic under Assad and will never be under your crapy Sharia law, you need to go to hell, Syria was taken away by the retards arabs and should go back to it is orignial christian inhibitants same way you want the jews land back.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:18 am
ann said:
17. habib said:
It’s funny, Israel supported Hamas against the PLO in the 80s too, and they have learned as little about “blowback” as the Americans in Afghanistan.
HABIB, `israel didn’t just support Hamas in the 80s, they also armed them to the teeth. A documented fact.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:23 am
AIG said:
Habib,
Israel made the mistake of thinking that an unarmed Hamas could be useful against Fatah. Yes, it was shortsighted and a mistake. It did not take into account the fact that quickly Hamas would arm itself. The difference is that everybody in Israel acknowledges this as a mistake and nobody calls this policy “genius” like you Assad supporters call your favorite dictator’s foreign policy. Israel supported Hamas for a very short time. The Assad’s supported Islamists for decades. So what are you whining about when the same Isalmists fight against you because of your “genius” foreign policy? Suck it up or admit Assad was an idiot for creating a force he cannot deal with.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:30 am
AIG said:
Tara,
I would ignore Erin completely. She/he wants to cleanse Syria of its Muslims and Arabs and is therefore completely crazy.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:37 am
AIG said:
Habib,
You write:
“Syria is finished already, so all we have left is looking forward to the day Israel is overrun by the very hordes they cheered for.”
Instead of trying to make things better for yourself, what you do is wish ill on others. Good luck with raising your kids on hatred instead of self achievement and constructive thinking. You seem to be a product of such education.
That is a huge difference between me and you. I want a democratic, prosperous and peaceful Syria living next to Israel. You want to destroy Israel.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:43 am
revenire said:
I am glad to see some fair reporting on the situation in Syria. The terrorist’s goal is to terrorize and they’ve done a good job of scaring women, children and the elderly.
“4. ZOO said:
Tara
To make it fair, why don’t you send to J.L the letters you receive from your family and friends in Syria.”
Always wise words from Zoo.
“6. ERIN said:
Tara
I prefer if you go and live in Syria and send your letter to JL from inside Syria. Probabaly you should join the Al Nusra as well, because it seems the longer you are on this blog, the more you are going backward.
If you going to hand Syria to pigs like the MB, Al Nusra then we rather have Assad stay.
Your Masters the Saudi are destroying Syria as we all know.
The USA is watching and not moving either side, therefore, will have another Somalia with your help and theirs.
I think you need to quit this blog giving all your MB kind here are below an Ape mentality.”
Bravo Erin! My feelings exactly. I am sick of these “Syrians” who are not even in Syria.
It is with the utmost confidence that I can announce if elections were held tomorrow President Assad would win 70-80% of the vote of ALL Syrians.
Thank you.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:47 am
revenire said:
“8. TARA said:
Zoo,
In a Mukhabarat state, the only emails you get out is ‘Bilroh..Bildam..’ People are afraid to talk. People whisper even inside their own bedrooms…”
Please Tara, this is silly. You don’t even live in Syria but talk as if you know who is quiet in the bedroom and who is loud. This is an all ages site so could you please keep this sort of comment to yourself?
January 22nd, 2013, 11:50 am
ann said:
MULLAH VATTY, can you explain this to the board?!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f9c_1358803264
😀
January 22nd, 2013, 12:03 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
??????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ?? ????? ????? ???????
The Iranian newspaper said they interviewd Assad and he said things are better, and now Assad is saying there was no interview, this means the Iranian are lying, ofcourse we knew that,all the pro regime are lying,including Zoozoo and Kookoo.
I am surprised at someone complaining that there wealth is going away while people are losing their lives and everything they own.
Yes there is no neutrality,during war,those who claim neutrality have no solution,something is certain,all is Assad to blame,if he truly love Syria he would have done true reform long time ago,he chose the security solution, his own security, and he is using the sectarian weapon, he should have known that such weapon will lead to revenge,the stupidity of the sects who supported asssad ,this stupidity has a price, it is their existance, they were warned and did not heed the warning,they deserve no sympathy.
The worse stupidity is Russian support to Assad,they went through the Russian revolutionthe should have known that when the people revolt,the ruler and his family and his thugs will die,while history may repeat itself,we never learned from history.
The Jordanian king is missing a chance,King Hussein would have supported the revolution much more.
January 22nd, 2013, 12:11 pm
revenire said:
HERE’S YOUR “NOBLE” REVOLUTIONARIES
Memo: Saudi Arabia sent inmates to fight “jihad” in Syria
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/memo-saudi-arabia-sent-inmates-fight-jihad-syria
A leaked top-secret memo revealed that Saudi Arabia sent death-row inmates to fight in Syria with the insurgency in exchange for commuting their execution.
News agency AINA published Sunday the April 2012 memo from the Saudi Ministry of Interior, revealing that Saudi Arabia had negotiated with 1,239 prisoners slated for execution to be trained and sent to “jihad in Syria” in return for a full pardon and a monthly stipend to their families.
The document also stipulated that the prisoners’ families would “be prevented from traveling outside Saudi Arabia.”
While 212 of the inmates were Saudi, the majority of those concerned were foreigners. The prisoners mentioned in the memo hailed from Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.
AINA said it spoke to an anonymous former member of the Iraqi parliament, who attested to the accuracy of the memo, and said that the majority of the 23 Iraqis sent to Syria had returned to their home country and were trying to get their families released from Saudi Arabia.
Al-Akhbar could not independently confirm or deny the veracity of the leaked information.
The Iraqi former MP also told AINA that Russia had threatened to bring up the issue to the United Nations if Saudi Arabia did not cease its covert activities with the Syrian rebels.
While Riyadh has publicly denied the existence of this program, it allegedly recognizes it in private circles.
Saudi Arabia has made public its support of the Syrian insurgency and its intention to arm and finance the rebels, including Islamist and Salafi insurgents.
Critics of the oil-rich kingdom’s policy in Syria accuse the US ally of trying to establish a friendly proxy government in Damascus to counter Iranian influence in the region.
The memo and an English translation can be found below
His Excellency General Suood Al-Thnayyan, may Allah protect him
The Secret [Services] Office at the Ministry of Interior
Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings
In reference to the Royal Court telegram No. 112, dated on 04/19/1433 H [March 3, 2012], referring to those held in the Kingdom jails accused with crimes to which Islamic Sharia law of execution by sword applies, we inform you that we are in dialogue with the accused criminals who have been convicted with smuggling drugs, murder, rape, from the following nationalities: 110 Yemenis, 21 Palestinians, 212 Saudis, 96 Sudanese, 254 Syrians, 82 Jordanians, 68 Somalis, 32 Afghanis, 94 Egyptians, 203 Pakistanis, 23 Iraqis, and 44 Kuwaitis.
We have reached an agreement with them that they will be exempted from the death sentence and given a monthly salary to their families and loved ones, who will be prevented from traveling outside Saudi Arabia in return for rehabilitation of the accused and their training in order to send them to Jihad in Syria.
Please accept my greetings.
Director of follow up in Ministry of Interior
Abdullah bin Ali al-Rmezan
CC:
Authority of enforcement of the common good and prevention of forbidden
Copy for general intelligence
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/3cols/saudiinmatesdecree.jpg
January 22nd, 2013, 12:28 pm
omen said:
haider: Turkish Role in Syria ‘Very Bad’
apparently, turkey treating refugees well is anathema to the regime.
for the letter writers blaming turkey for their troubles:
crisis group blog:
remember the day before the bastard’s big speech, news announced military support for rebels would be pulled back. west denying the opposition weapons – hell of a way to do “regime change.”
January 22nd, 2013, 12:36 pm
ann said:
Mercenary Islamist Terrorists groomed and trained to fight in Syria had a change of mind 8)
Canadian ‘co-ordinated’ terrorist attack, says Algerian PM – live updates – Monday 21 January 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/jan/21/algeria-hostage-death-toll-rises-live-updates
Hostage heard North American accents
Riad, an Algerian employee of Japan’s JGC engineering firm, described how three of his Japanese colleagues were executed after the Islamists attacked the bus that was taking them to the airport.
“We were all terrified when we heard bursts of gunfire at 5.30am (04.30 GMT) on Wednesday, after we realised that they had just killed our Japanese colleagues who tried to flee,” he said.
The gunmen then took the passengers to the plant’s residential compound, where they had seized hundreds of foreign and Algerian hostages.
“A terrorist shouted ‘open the door!’ with a strong North American accent, and opened fire. Two other Japanese died then and we found four other Japanese bodies” in the compound, said Riad, choking with emotion.
[…]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/jan/21/algeria-hostage-death-toll-rises-live-updates
January 22nd, 2013, 12:47 pm
omen said:
look, a sunni majority town still gaga over bashar:
Salkeen, Idlib Province
Syrian town takes strife in stride
this next part gives me hope for syria. this runs counter to predictions from doomsayers that once regime is gone, all hell will break loose. here, people disagree with one another and yet still get along. swaida was also described this way.
January 22nd, 2013, 12:50 pm
revenire said:
Omen is another deluded poster from the USA. Clearly Omen has not been at war. Omen is not in Syria and obviously knows little about Syria.
There is a war on. The enemy will be crushed. The army will kill every rodent in Syria.
It is like Ziad reports today. Read on.
DAMASCUS: General Fahd Jassem Al-Fureij, Syria’s Defense Minister, has announced that Syria “will be liberated from the plague of terrorism” and that “all terrorists will be hunted down until none are left in order to make every part of Syria safe and secure”.
His statement is interesting because it comes 2 weeks after President Assad’s ground-breaking speech in which he told the opposition allied with terrorism that it had no place at the negotiating table and after F.M. Walid Mouallem’s interview in which he seconded the president’s statements. Interesting also as it comes at the start of OPERATION CLEAN-UP ALEPPO which is aimed to finish off the rats. Let’s keep watching.
January 22nd, 2013, 12:58 pm
Akbar Palace said:
Reader 1 stated:
We do not care & the whole world does not care. Human lives are not important anymore.
Dear Reader 1,
While the Assad government was calling for the blood of Jews and Syrians were bowing-down to pictures of Assad, where were you?
A half-century of playing footsie with Islamic militants has backfired and now, all of a sudden, you need help. If you want help, ask the GOI. You may find a people who will listen.
January 22nd, 2013, 1:09 pm
Visitor said:
Where are the shabiha located? Who are they?
They are located in a compound near Deir Shmeil, west of 7Hama. Some 10000 of them are stationed in that compound headed by Fadhl Mikail, and among them is none but the brother of the so-called minister of reconciliation, Haidar. They are all ex-convicts who have been released from jail, equiped with weapons and transportations, and assigned the task of muredering Syrians. They detain over 10000 Syrians, at least 300 of which are women, in that compound alone,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/22/261892.html
In addition, Hezbistan and the heretic agents of mullah-stan in Iraq recently formed terror brigades and sent them to Syria for the purpose of suppressing the Syrian people, using murder of course.
There is no use denying it anymore, the gates of hell have openned, and quite wide for that matter.
But at least that will take away one threatening card from the pockets of criminal thug… looking at it from the only positive angle of course!!
January 22nd, 2013, 1:13 pm
revenire said:
Visitor the Saudis sound very angry their gambit has failed and Assad stands strong.
If Iran and Hezbollah have sent men to kill the terrorists I say it’s about time but Syria has not asked, nor needs, soldiers – we have plenty of volunteers eager to rid the planet of rats.
January 22nd, 2013, 1:22 pm
habib said:
21. AIG
You were “short-sighted and made a mistake”, yes, and you’re making the same mistake again.
And spare me your crocodile tears, Zionists are only humanitarians when it serves their cause.
The West is fighting the same people in Mali that they are supporting in Syria and Libya. This is a fact. Their stupidity/hypocrisy is beyond incredible. But it will come and bite them in the ass sooner than later.
January 22nd, 2013, 1:25 pm
Tara said:
Habib,
Have some pride.
Stop implicitly begging the west and Israel to crush the revolution using scare mongeing tactics. It is disgusting.
January 22nd, 2013, 1:33 pm
omen said:
wow, i came back to say it’s a pity, tara, policymakers who scan this blog unlikely to see your perspective. but there you are. bravo.
January 22nd, 2013, 1:34 pm
Visitor said:
#35,
I add my voice to those calling you retard.
Neither Mullah-stan, nor Hizbistan nor criminal thug are a match to Nusra. They will all be sent to lowest hell in body bags, and you with them, by the Nusra heroes.
January 22nd, 2013, 1:44 pm
ann said:
34. Visitor said:
Where are the shabiha located? Who are they?
Here’s your shabiha
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f9c_1358803264
January 22nd, 2013, 1:49 pm
ann said:
Pashtuns the lost tribe of israel
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=8b4_1358803018
😀
January 22nd, 2013, 1:54 pm
AIG said:
Habib,
You really have no honor or dignity. Are you for the West or against the West? If you are, why do you support Assad? If you are not, why should they help you?
Did Assad make a mistake in supporting Islamists? Yes or no?
The government in Mali is pro-Western, that is why the West is helping it. Assad, as part of his “genius” foreign policy that you so admire, decided to be against the West. Why should the West care about him or his supporters?
So, are you admitting that all of Assad’s nonsense about “resistance” was just that and in fact he is good for Israel and Israel should therefore support him?
Why don’t you try stating clearly what your position is without contradicting yourself more than twice?
January 22nd, 2013, 2:04 pm
revenire said:
Visitor that’s it my boy, lose it and threaten me with death. Show the world the real face of the “Syrian” revolution. Good job.
I am pleased so many can see the FSA/al-Nusra terrorists for what they are.
January 22nd, 2013, 2:09 pm
Uzair8 said:
AJE Syria blog about 4 hrs ago:
At least 23 Syrian government soldiers and fighters backing Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president, have been killed in three days of clashes in Homs.
Dozens of others were wounded in the clashes in the central city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.
“We have reports from the military hospital in Homs of up to 130 soldiers and pro-regime fighters killed or wounded in the past three days.”
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/least-23-assad-forces-killed-homs
January 22nd, 2013, 2:09 pm
revenire said:
AIG the resistance is very real and one of the reasons the West launched war against Syria. They want to break the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis and install puppet regimes supported by the Saudis, Qatar and Turkey.
January 22nd, 2013, 2:11 pm
Uzair8 said:
I’ve calculated the average daily military losses (suffered by the regime). I got the figures from wiki.
Total 11,487–13,276 soldiers and policemen killed – [Lets take the middle figure of 12,500]
Uprising is 1 year, 10 months and 1 week old [ = ~672days]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war
12500/672= 18.6 (daily average regime losses)
Can the regime sustain such losses? Rememeber the average will increase with time because early in the uprising the regime had few if any losses until the revolution became militarized.
Also, now the opposition is better armed the regime losses will be greater.
Also remember that it is said that the figure for injured is usually 4 times as much as that for killed.
So forming new militias, or renaming the shabeeha will not save the regime.
January 22nd, 2013, 2:13 pm
Visitor said:
#43,
you see how retarded you are. You do not need any proof besides your own words.
I didn’t threaten you with anything.
But obviously, you are scared to death that Nusra will send you to lowest hell in a body bag which I am sure they will.
January 22nd, 2013, 2:15 pm
revenire said:
No coward terrorist I don’t see how retarded I am. I don’t care if you threaten me. I know the Syrian army will destroy your kind.
January 22nd, 2013, 2:36 pm
Visitor said:
“….I don’t see how retarded I am”
#48,
No surprises here!! And no expectations to the contrary!!
January 22nd, 2013, 2:40 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
Israel supports Hamas, it backfires, Israel was foolish
Assads build up a network of terrorist organizations, rely on them to destabilize neighboring countries, especially in their most vulnerable times, it backfires big time, the Assads are geniuses.
About time we see the superiority of the shabeeha logic…
January 22nd, 2013, 2:53 pm
ERIN said:
I suggest to JL to limit this blog to all MB, terrorists, bloody killers who are in syria, then we wont have access here and they will live in peace, exactly what they want for Syria to be for them only.
it was under the turks occupation for centuries and the Sunni lived like sheep they never opened their mouth till Frace took over.
still what france did in Syria is lighting the Syrians from schools, hospitals, universities etc…
the retards Muslims want to take us back to the era of donkies and horses.
it is more insulting that you have all these retards muslims who live in the west and they have mentality equals to the Apes who they descended from.
many examples are here!
January 22nd, 2013, 3:14 pm
revenire said:
Ha ha ha.
January 22nd, 2013, 3:37 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Unlike some of the loser regime supporters who post continuously 16-24 hours a day, with multiple accounts, I actually have a life to live.
Syria is a good example of why dictatorships don’t work. It could not manage a peaceful transition to power, so instead there is a civil war and everything gets destroyed. The West has a much more clever system of government than many countries in the Arab World. They don’t tear themselves to pieces every 50 years or so, which is why the West is successful and Syria is not.
At this point even AFGHANISTAN has a better government than Syria.
EDIT: And about the Christians in the upscale neighborhood? Too bad. They wanted their life of privilege at the expense of everyone else. Now it’s their turn to pay. What comes around, goes around.
January 22nd, 2013, 3:52 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Syria is no longer a nation. It does not exist anymore. In fact, one could argue that it never existed in the first place.
If the regime tries to starve the rebels, the rebels will starve the regime. If the regime wants a war of food and gasoline, then so be it. We’ll see who blinks first.
January 22nd, 2013, 4:02 pm
Visitor said:
Brahimi will resign end of this month.
Don’t know if I should say it is about time or good riddance or both.
January 22nd, 2013, 4:04 pm
Uzair8 said:
The video of Sh. Yaqoubi on Islam Channel yesterday evening. He hosted a religious Q&A show but also took the opportunity answer questions on Syria.
Just over 39 minutes long. The first Syria related question is at
– 8min 50sec [How can doctors and nurses in UK help with the situation in Syria?]
Then at:
– 12.45 [a caller asks the Shaykh to pray for Syria and Gaza…]
– 19.25 [How did the revolution start and who is leading it now given there is confusion on..it’s a western ploy to disrupt the middle east?]
– 20.40 [How the cruelty started and history came about..?]
– 22.39 [Is it possible the syrian people will accept a solution involving Assad being given immunity in return for giving up power?]
– 28.45 [What can a muslim in UK do practically to help the syrian people?]
– 30.50 [Could you highlight ongoing projects in Syria?]
– 33.00 (How can we ensure minorities are protected in the future?)
– 34.30 (International intervention comes with conditions?)
– 36.15 (Importance of Syria – from a muslim perspective?)
January 22nd, 2013, 4:06 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/world/syria-final-battle-for-north/index.html
This is for Kookoo and Zoozoo,Mennagh airbase surrounded
January 22nd, 2013, 4:21 pm
revenire said:
Another “final battle”? Yawn. Going back to my nap. Wake me when the FSA liberates Turkey.
January 22nd, 2013, 4:24 pm
ann said:
Mullah David Cameron is not sure if al-qaida is a terrorist group or not 8)
• Cameron said that he was “extremely concerned” about the fact that al-Qaida jihadists were among the groups making up the Syrian opposition.
January 22nd, 2013, 4:24 pm
GEORGES said:
#53 MARIGOLDRAN
What about sunnis in upscale neighborhoods?
January 22nd, 2013, 4:29 pm
ghufran said:
Pieces from an excellent article in LA Times:
By Ned Parker and Alaa Hassan, Los Angeles Times
January 20, 2013, 6:19 p.m.
“Many don’t know who they hate most, the opposition or regime, because neither is offering a way forward. As they see it, they are both part of a system producing an absurd level of violence and destruction,” said Peter Harling, an analyst for the International Crisis Group. “A lot of people have paid a price and are not sure what it is for anymore.”
This is Walid:
“Someone would do something stupid in the revolution that would make me hate it,” he said. “And then I would see what the regime is doing, so I changed back to being with the revolution. Later I turned against them both.”
The war has cost him friendships with people on both sides. He hates the idea of “ruining a good friendship over politics.” He hates what has already been lost.
“What affected me the most is the sorrow over things that won’t come back,” he said. “I don’t really care if I die or not, but if I live, I will be a stranger. Maybe I have always been, but I feel we’ll never come back to how we were.”
and now,Roula:
Roula said she joined the demonstrations in the spring of 2011 full of optimism, ready to risk everything for freedom.
“It was dangerous,” she said, but she figured there was strength in numbers. “If there were many of us in the same place shouting the same things, we could protect each other,” she recalled thinking.
By the middle of last year, she had seen a change in the tenor of the protests. Gone was the moderation; gone was any sense that change could come peacefully. Now there were chants supporting the creation of an Islamic state.
“I don’t think it’s the fault of the protesters,” Roula said. “They are under pressure and it is temporary.” Anyway, she said, “extremism is always met by extremism.”
January 22nd, 2013, 4:30 pm
ann said:
You don’t mess with Syria’s brave Kurds!
Did I mention they’re Syrian Sunni moslems 😉
al-Qamishli, Syria: Funeral of YPG Hero Fighter – 22.01.2013
Two days ago a fighter of the Kurdish People´s Defense Units (YPG) called Serhed Qamislo was killed in clashes with Arab gangs in Sere Kaniye (Arabic: Ras al-Ain). In his hometown al-Qamishli crowds of people brought his body to the funeral.
For several days Arab gangs are passing the Turkish-Syria border for conducting attacks on Kurds. According to the Firat News Agency more than 84 gang members were killed in clashes between 16 and 18 January, while 6 YPG fighters lost their lives.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f2c_1358881143
January 22nd, 2013, 4:59 pm
zoo said:
8. Tara
In a Mukhabarat state, the only emails you get out is “Bilroh..Bildam..” People are afraid to talk. People whisper even inside their own bedrooms…
In “Al Khatib 70% liberated areas”, there is no email because there is no electricity. People are afraid to talk as Al Nusra revolutionary guards are watching and have their sword ready.
People shiver of cold and hunger in a tent because they lost their home and bedroom.
I am sure they don’t sing “freedom and karama” anymore.
Don’t you see yet that this revolution is a catastrophic failure?
January 22nd, 2013, 5:00 pm
GEORGES said:
Me and most of my family we’ve been supporting the revolution since the beginning and we never believed the minorities propaganda scare tactic, but the recent islamist turn made me feel like I have no part in this revolution anymore. Some of the comments here are confirming my fears.
I still verbally support the revolution against this illegitimate criminal regime because I support the people and their legit demands. Even though it is now filled with sectarian and criminals, underneath all the layers of foreign and sectarian interests there is a criminal regime on one side and oppressed people on the other.
I hope the regime falls and Assad and his cronies are tried for their crimes but I’m sure we as christians will be in a worse situation than we are under his regime.
After all Article 3 of the baathist constitution is there for a reason.
I stand for what is right, not with criminals, under no circumstances.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:02 pm
ann said:
64. GEORGES said:
Me and most of my family we’ve been supporting the revolution since the beginning and we never believed the minorities propaganda scare tactic, but the recent islamist turn made me feel like I have no part in this revolution anymore. Some of the comments here are confirming my fears.
Welcome back to the REAL world George
🙂
January 22nd, 2013, 5:12 pm
GEORGES said:
65. ANN
What was your position during the first 6 months of peaceful protests repressed by Assad’s thugs?
Maybe this is what led us to where we are today.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:16 pm
zoo said:
Turkish FM: USA estimates that 80% of the country is under rebel control, 40% of Damascus too.
Al-Assad in his last six months, US estimates
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/al-assad-in-his-last-six-months-us-estimates.aspx?pageID=238&nid=39248
WASHINGTON – Hürriyet Daily News
The US provides another ‘expiry date’ for Syria’s government, insisting to Turkish officials that Bashar al-Assad will fall in six months
Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will not last in power for more than six months at most, senior U.S. figures predicted during a recent meeting with Turkey’s senior diplomat in Washington, Turkish officials have said.
According to U.S. assessments, 80 percent of the country is under the control of militants, while almost 40 percent of Damascus has fallen into rebel hands.
….For its part, the Turkish side asked the Barack Obama administration to be more active now that the presidential elections are complete, while conveying its concerns over the 22-month-long crisis. Turkey also criticized the timing of Washington’s decision to declare the Jabhat al-Nusra front, an Islamist group at the forefront of the fight against the Syrian government, as a terrorist organization.
In December 2012, Washington blacklisted the Jabhat al-Nusra group, saying it was linked to al-Qaeda; U.S. officials fear that groups such as the front could hijack the uprising. Turkish officials, however, said it was more important to focus on the “chaos” that al-Assad has created instead of groups such as al-Nusra.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:26 pm
ann said:
66. GEORGES said:
65. ANN
What was your position during the first 6 months of peaceful protests repressed by Assad’s thugs?
If you believe this peaceful fairytale I have a bridge in New York to sell to you 😉
There’s nothing peaceful when it comes to cold blooded allahu akbar islamist terrorist killers
January 22nd, 2013, 5:27 pm
habib said:
37. Tara
Loool. This from a cheerleader for the camp that has ACTUALLY begged for the West and Israel to do their bidding! Rich as hell! All I’m saying is that Israel and the West will reap what they sow very soon, mark my words.
42. AIG
Assad should know that Salafists will always bite the hands that feed them. Their loyalty is only to sharia, and they will never stay loyal to mere men. So yes, he did a huge mistake in appeasing them. He got exactly nothing in return.
You Zionists should learn from his mistake already. Or well, don’t, then your demise will come quicker, loool.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:30 pm
Austria said:
Instead of expressing compassion for lost lives and of discussing constrctive ways out of the pain and suffering that everyone on all sides is going through, the common trend on the comment section of Syria Comment is to:
1. Banalize and denigrate human tragedies of the “opposing” side. We are all Syrians at the end of the day, right (lately I am doubting this).
2. Blame those who are complaining or suffering for being on the “wrong” side of the fight and making them (civilians) responsible for all the atrocities of this “wrong” side.
If those of us who are so articulate, educated and exposed to well functioning democracies are incapable of finding common principles and purpose, who is supposed to find them (foreign powers?):
– COMMON PRINCIPLES: that killing is wrong no matter what side is the oppressor, that stealing is wrong no matter who steals and for what purpose, that Syria is for all Syrians and not for one sect or one ethnicity, that freedom is a right of everyone everywhere in Syria (I am not sure today if there is freedom in the “liberated” areas, etc.)
– COMMON PURPOSE: that the purpose of discussion is not always to vent but to reach a constructive solution. Where is our vision of what Syria should look like in the future (democratic state, sectarian or secular, socialistor communist or capitalist, what countries are Syria’s friends, what is our stand on Israel and the US, etc.). Sometimes the thinking and the vision does not go beyond “overthrow Assad”. We are more sophisticated than this. The real question is what happens after Assad falls. The only answer I see now is unfortunately continued CIVIL WAR. The opposition (inside and outside Syria) is all over the place with very little common denominator.
The least we can do in this forum is to align on our Principles for a civilized discussion and debate our Vision of the new Syria and how to get there. We should recognize that this is no longer simply an uprising against a dictator. It is a civil war with two SYRIAN sides that have to reconcile first in order to rebuild the new Syria. The fighting may go on in Syria but we should try, as hard as it may be, to rise above our instincts and emotions and allow our brains and sanity to prevail.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:32 pm
zoo said:
GEORGES
“I have no part in this revolution anymore.”
It is too late now, the harm is done and irreversible.
You’ll spend the rest of your life regretting to have believed that this sinister mascarade could have succeeded.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:33 pm
Tara said:
George,
Excuse my blunt honesty.
The vast majority of revolting people revolted against the regime to achieve freedom, social justice, and dignity. We did not revolt to built an Islamic khilafa nor did we endure all this to oppress minorities. Moderate Sunnis are likely to suffer under Islamic Imarah as much as Christians. Fundementalists will treat us too as “kafirs” unless we follow their own interpretation of Islamic texts. In my opinion, if they manage to come to power, they will not last unless they resort to the same techniques of Assad’s mafia.
Having said that, one must say that most Syrian Christians however supported the regime out of mere selfishness to maintain their privileged status
and I personally find it extremely difficult to forget or ignore their motive at this time. While I see in my heart a place for forgiveness towards Alawis who maimed, killed, and tortured, I do have hard time feeling the same towards Christian supporters. The Alawis have suffered historical injustices and their fear was abused and manipulated by the regime. They were led to believe that they’re fighting for their existence and that if Bashar goes , they will be annihilated.
Christian supports on the other side are doing it out of GREED and selfishness. They have lived with the Muslims in Syria since the time of Christ and they can’t claim historical grievances. And I ask all to spare me the plot of Iraqi Christians. It is still not an excuse.
Look at the sample of Christian supporters that we have around: from Agnes, the liar sister from Hell, to Rai, the Lebanese priest from Hell, to Erine, to Ann, etc. Do you think that it is easy to forget Ann’s love of porn (as WSS put it) and her orgasmic relish posting the suffering and the devastating death of Syrians, and many other examples. One can’t help not to conclude that most Syrian Christians are fed on poignant hatred since childhood too.
In my opinion, Syrian Christians hold great role in destroying the Syrian fabric and at some point must acknowledge their role and apologize for it.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:47 pm
AIG said:
Habib,
Assad funded and supported Islamists that conducted suicide bombings in Israeli cities that killed 1000 Israeli civilians including many children. Assad has already shown he is a ruthless terrorist, so whatever replaces him is good, especially the muslim brotherhood. Good riddance to Assad and his whiny supporters that cheer Islamists when they fight others but whine when they fight them. You don’t have a principled bone in your body.
I also see you have joined the chorus of delusional idiots that for over 60 years have been forecasting the imminent demise of Israel while Israel has only been getting stronger in absolute terms and even more so relative to the Arab states because of fools like you that have supported leaders like Assad.
You want to remain weak and backward, be my guest. Have the Ba’ath for another 40 years.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:49 pm
revenire said:
Tara how would you know what the “vast majority” want? Go take a bath – you’re very dirty.
“80 percent of the country is under the control of militants.”
Of Turkey?
January 22nd, 2013, 5:52 pm
zoo said:
The opposition to announce ‘transitional’ government.. after the meeting on the 28th in France (if it has not been cancelled)
Published: Jan. 21, 2013 at 9:39 AM
DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 21 (UPI) — Proposals for an interim Syrian government will be drawn up within 10 days, opposition leaders said Monday.
After a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, opposition leaders named a five-person committee to consult with others before releasing a plan.
A spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition, formed in November, said the committee will consult with opposition forces, the Free Syrian Army and “friendly” countries before developing its proposals, Voice of America reported.
A statement issued by the coalition said the proposals would be drawn up within 10 days.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/01/21/Syrian-interim-govt-plan-due-in-10-days/UPI-92541358779159/#ixzz2IkPP1m2Q
January 22nd, 2013, 5:54 pm
Tara said:
George,
Please note I am not generalizing. I understand that many ( but not the vast majority) Christians are with the revolution and that I am not calling for revenge. I am just asking for mere reflection. These emotions must come out and be discussed if we to move forward as a society.
Also, please note that what I said is not applicable to my personal inter-human relationships. Politics ceases to exist in my mind when It comes to my loved ones who happen to be Christian supporters..
January 22nd, 2013, 5:56 pm
zoo said:
Tara @71
“In my opinion, Syrian” Sunni expats “hold great role in destroying the Syrian fabric and at some point must acknowledge their role and apologize for it”
January 22nd, 2013, 5:56 pm
GEORGES said:
Tara
What about Hassoun, Buti and sunni supporters of aleppo and damascus?
“Christian supports on the other side are doing it out of GREED and selfishness.”
No, they are doing it out of fear. What do we have more than other syrians to be greedy and selfish? What privileged status are you talking about?
January 22nd, 2013, 5:57 pm
Visitor said:
It is quite refreshing and also reassuring to those who believe in the just cause of the Revolution to see that the criminal thug supporters on this forum are only left with scarecrowing, fear mongering and preposterous predictions.
We all know who they are. Some are ridiculous, some are simply stupid and some are ‘exceptionally gifted’ with both qualities.
Unfortunately, the regime succeeded in driving the people into polarization, because it mis-calculated that it can only survive by doing so. But its strategy will only postpone the inevitable.
Georges you should not lose faith. Good will win in the end. We need men who are determined, disciplined and capable of fighting this most evil of all evils of regimes. There was no way the revolution could have suceeded by the simple slogans of naive silmiyye. The regime will only fall by defeating it militarily, and anyone who thinks otherwise…well jus ask Brahimi and those who came before him. The men who proved to be capable of the fight turned out to be the Islamists and that is what we have to live with until the goals are achieved.
I certainly hope you will find the role you’re looking for now and when things are over. But to succumb to a temporary situation or to scaremongering by regime thugs is the ultimate of all follies, especially when you certainly know Syrian traditions and history.
January 22nd, 2013, 5:58 pm
zoo said:
Morsi in 2010: No to Negotiations with “the Descendants of Apes and Pigs”…
January 22nd, 2013, 6:02 pm
Tara said:
George,
Buti, Hassoun, and some members in my own family, and the Sunni supporters fall into the exact same category. They must be stripped from all the privileges granted to them as a consequence of selling out the Syrian people to this rotten regime.
Minorities in Syria have privileged status when it comes to governmental contracts, etc. It is a well known fact, let’s not deny it.
Also please find me a fear factor Christians have if the revolution to succeed that is not feared also by moderate or secular Sunnis. Only then, we can discuss fear..
January 22nd, 2013, 6:08 pm
zoo said:
Georges
Don’t waste your time justifying yourself, you are dealing here with people who try to convince themselves that they belong to the majority that have been “oppressed” by minorities like yours and the Alawites when the richest, greediest and more corrupted people in Syria come from their own community, The Khaddam, the Tlass and company.
Of course now they want to put the blame on the minorities accusing them of selfishness and greed just for them to appear generous and nationalistic when they hands are the dirtiest of all.
Then they patronize you like big brothers…
If someone has to apologize is it them.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:13 pm
revenire said:
Tara your lies sicken me. I can’t believe you call yourself a Syrian.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:18 pm
Tara said:
Zoo @76
I could see with your eyes. You could never see with mine. What hurts me does not hurt you. What makes me lose sleep, you do not even acknowledge. You refuse to see even when I beg you to do so. And when I describe what I want to show you, you dismiss me off the hat as a cheap propagandist. I am not a propagandist. I just feel for the oppressed and the oppressed for me are color-less. They bare no religion, ethnicity, no genetic makeup, and have no color of any sort. They are merely black and white. I just can’t understand your failure of empathy and despite all that, you remained my second or third favorite regime supporter.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:20 pm
zoo said:
Egypt’s economy time bomb
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/OA23Ak02.html
the country requires more than US$20 billion a year simply to meet its basic needs, and Western governments will not provide that much money.
…..
Instead of acceding to IMF conditions, Morsi has adopted the usual dodge of weak governments, that is, currency devaluation and exchange controls. Egypt’s pound has lost about 10% of its value during the past month, which will be reflected in higher prices for essentials during the next several weeks. Egyptian companies, meanwhile, can withdraw no more than $30,000 per day.
Egypt’s cash position is even worse than it appears. The $7 billion or so in the central bank’s liquid cash reserves does not take into account the billions of dollars that Egyptian importers owe to unpaid suppliers. Nor does it take into account new obligations that Egypt has had to assume to get cash up front. Qatar lent Egypt $2.5 billion, all of which appears to have been spent defending the Egyptian pound on the foreign exchange market. It appears that Egypt will have to pay off the Qatari loan by purchasing natural gas from Qatar at inflated prices.
“The import price [for Qatari natural gas] is expected to reach US$14 per 1 million thermal units…The Egyptian government exports gas to Jordan at $5.50 per one million units, while Qatar exports it at more than $9,” the Egypt Independent reported December 17. It seems that Qatar is getting its money back by charging Egypt double for natural gas.
The discovery of Morsi’s apes-and-pigs comment might have provided a pretext for America’s Republican Party to wash their hands of the Egyptian president and shift the blame for the entire mess onto the Obama administration.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:22 pm
zoo said:
#83 Tara
I am not convinced and I will never be
January 22nd, 2013, 6:24 pm
Tara said:
Zoo@81
You are wrong. I don’t want to appear anything. I don’t want to appear generous or nationalistic. I am not patronizing and I am not behaving as a big brother. I am stating facts as I see it and I am not playing any role here.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:24 pm
GEORGES said:
TARA
100% of christian supporters I know are not benefiting from the regime and they have no privileged status. They are doing it because of the fear the regime has instilled in them.
This is a well-known fact, let’s not deny it.
“Also please explain find me a fear factor Christian have if the revolution to succeed that is not feared also by moderate or secular Sunnis”
I get what you mean, but this is irrelevant because christian supporters don’t think there is any moderate or secular sunni in the revolution. Their interpretation of the revolution makes them believe that moderate and secular sunnis are on their side too. They believe the regime’s narrative and they are frightened.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:42 pm
mjabali said:
Visitor ??????
Dude: have respect for this dialogue in this blog between adults and stop playing with your thumbs ups and down.
Dude: A spokesperson for Jabhat al-Nusra like you telling a Christian not to worry is like a wolf asking a sheep to go out with him to talk a walk.
????? ????? ??????
January 22nd, 2013, 6:42 pm
revenire said:
Exactly. It isn’t reassuring to hear a terrorist rat promise not to chop your head off. We’ve all seen these rodents murder civilians and I am talking about Sunni civilians.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:46 pm
zoo said:
Tara
Have you ever visited any area other than Malaki, Mazzeh, Zabadani and Bludane in your rare vacations in Syria?
You know nothing of Syria other than your precious bourgeois milieu, all “well connected” and ‘pityful’ using your own terms.
Have you ever done anything for the poor Syrians before the uprising? Have you seen how poor Syrians lived? Did it prevent you from sleeping? I doubt.
Suddenly you think that your personal hatred for Bashar will help the Syrians becoming ‘free’ while they have become poorers and desperate and lack basic necessities.
And what do you do? You blame, blame Bashar, blame the alawites, blame the christians, blame the West, blame your family..
If you want to help the average Syrians, stop blaming and do something practical. You won’t change the political stalemate by insulting, judging the others, giving advices and wasting time trying to convince others of your ‘just’ views
Stop the blame game and work to help practically the victims of that mess.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:51 pm
Tara said:
Georges,
“They believe the regime’s narrative and they are frightened”
I would like to hear this once more and again and again and again. I would like to believe it too. I know It is difficult to argue with fear. It is primitive but extremely intense emotion.
But can you explain to me why did you not have fear( at least initially) as opposed to most Christian supporters? Sandro is Christian too and so is Michel, and so many others who supported the revolution. What made you not having the same fear?
January 22nd, 2013, 6:54 pm
Tara said:
Zoo,
You do not know me. Stop judging me.
January 22nd, 2013, 6:57 pm
Syria no Kandahar said:
Alsalmia Islamist terrorists car bombing:
http://syria-politic.com/ar/Default.aspx?subject=1273#.UP8mAIl5nTo
January 22nd, 2013, 7:02 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
I Never thought the Christian minority as privilaged,or greedy or selfish, I always thought that the majority of Christians are fairminded,and those I talk to they are against the regime, but I think that some christian leaders are either stupid,or they play a privilaged role, those are few and they misled their community. there is always few bad apples, that does not mean all apples are bad.There are bad Sunni too.
Any one can see the regime as EVIL, Zoo and Ghufran are bad Alawis,but not all Alawis are as evil as those two, Revenir is a douch bag,he deserve no respect and I don’t read his comments.
Ann is ????? I don’t think she is paid to comment like Zoozoo
January 22nd, 2013, 7:09 pm
Syria no Kandahar said:
The principles of hitting women and donkeys in Islam(Imported from the revolutions exporter:KSA):
January 22nd, 2013, 7:15 pm
Visitor said:
????? ????? @88,
I presume your ‘super’ dog is busy doing your mating problems, while you announce your impotence for all to hear?
????? ??? ?? ????????
January 22nd, 2013, 7:27 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
TARA, it takes a long time to read all the stories highlighted by Joshua. It also takes a long time to read/sift through the comments. Today, my heart is encouraged. You have found your tone and it is strong and proud. You have found the proper register, and it is very wise indeed.
You speak from the heart, and apply your mind — and the criticism you face; you offer genuine conversation to those who will extend a little trust.
And today, your clarity overwhelmed the confused and demented posters, despite their volume.
Today you helped make Syria Comment’s commentary more readable and of importance to the Syria debate … in my opinion. Your heart sings and even your erstwhile opponents understand the tune or melody. I believe you broke down some (a few) barriers … your spirit of passion married to understanding exemplifies what I imagine is the Syrian Mythos: open, welcoming, intelligent.
Brava, Tara. Brava.
January 22nd, 2013, 7:30 pm
zoo said:
Tara
I wish you stop judging too.
January 22nd, 2013, 7:34 pm
zoo said:
Paul Wolfowitz: Hillary and ‘Leading From Behind’
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323485704578257641925071574.html
Why did Mrs. Clinton outsource to Qatar the arming of the opposition in Libya and Syria?
…
Four months after terrorists in Benghazi, Libya, killed four Americans—including the popular and effective Ambassador Chris Stevens—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will finally testify before Congress on Wednesday. The testimony should be an occasion to examine how the disaster was part of a larger failure in Libya and a still larger one in Syria that will haunt U.S. interests in the Middle East for decades.
…
Thus when the U.S. recognized Syria’s new opposition coalition last month, it also designated one of the important new militias, the Nusrah Front, as a terrorist organization.
Even moderate Syrian opposition groups greeted this U.S. designation with disdain, reflecting the irrelevance with which America is now regarded by many Syrians. Where the Syrian opposition started out openly hostile to Russia, China and Iran, the U.S. failure to offer anything except empty rhetoric has caused deep resentment among previously friendly Syrians.
U.S. inaction may in fact have produced a situation in which a post-Assad Syria will be intensely anti-American, perhaps even dominated by extremists. The outcome that some feared would be the result of American action may instead result from American inaction.
It is perfectly understandable why the Obama administration wants to do nothing that would lead to a repetition of the invasion of Iraq. But no one is arguing for any such thing.
…
Although the outcome in Syria won’t be known for some time, it will weigh heavily in judgments of Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. As she leaves office, the American people deserve to know whether she supports the leading-from-behind approach that has undone some of the Libyan achievement and dangerously prolonged the war in Syria. If it is the president’s policy and not hers, now is the time to voice her objections. If it is her policy, too, then it is fair to ask her to defend it and to be held accountable for its consequences.
January 22nd, 2013, 7:36 pm
Majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
Let us not forget that US designated Hizb Allah,and Your idole Nasrallah as terrorists
January 22nd, 2013, 8:10 pm
revenire said:
Scherk is drunk again.
January 22nd, 2013, 8:16 pm
Tara said:
WSS
Thank you for extending an arm to lean on..
One of those late summer night, will be sitting in a Damascene veranda reading back select passionate posts from SC celebrating with the night lights the triumph of humanity..
And then, will go for Fatteh at 3:00 AM. 😉
January 22nd, 2013, 8:28 pm
zoo said:
Al Nusra, U.S. Says, is a Savvier Al Qaeda
http://alpha.syriadeeply.org/2012/12/u-s-terror-ruling-jabhat-al-nusra/#.UP88cqyT-pA
The US sees Jabhat al Nusra as a direct affiliate of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Ford said the group’s leader, Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al-Juburi, has pledged his Islamic allegiance to Al Qaeda in Iraq. He also said its leaders have learned from Al Qaeda’s experience in Iraq, where the population turned against it for brutal attacks on civilians. Instead, they’ve approached this conflict with a softer edge.
In parts of Syria, Jabhat al Nusra’s brigades – some more moderate than others – have helped local communities with food, supplies, and social services. That’s partly why Syrians have bristled at the US terror stamp: they see Jabhat al Nusra brigades doing some good on the ground.
U.S. officials see that as window dressing, savvy PR. This week State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described Jabhat al Nusra as a branch of Al Qaeda, cloaked in the Syrian revolution. She sees it as “an attempt…to hijack the struggles of the Syrian people for its own malign purposes.”
“We know who they are, we know what they represent,” said Ford. “Nusra has a particularly narrow and extremist agenda, that’s why we singled them out.”
What Happens Next?
Analysts say Jabhat al Nusra’s success in battle comes from having experienced fighters. Activists tell Syria Deeply that up to 20% of the group’s ranks are foreign fighters, coming from Libya, Iraq, and other Arab countries.
“They have been very good on the battlefield, which has gained them a lot of respect,” said Aaron Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Jabhat al Nusra has also won favor by handing out bread and fuel in Aleppo, and for their willingness to take on suicide attacks on regime targets.
“They are audacious and don’t fear death, and, as a result, are willing to take more risks,” said Zelin.
Now that Nusra has a network of fighters and a base of popular support the group won’t easily fade away. The hope in Washington is that the new Supreme Military Command, a council of more moderate rebel brigades formed last week, will catch up in strength and overtake Nusra’s momentum.
Zelin says it’s a policy that will be difficult to get right. Young fighters who’ve trained and fought with Nusra would have to switch allegiance. Moderate Syrian leaders would have to step up as an organized force. And most critically, Jabhat al Nusra itself would have to accept its waning influence – something even the U.S. admits it won’t do without a fight.
“Most Syrians don’t believe in a future Jihadist state,” Zelin said.
“The issue is, because things are so dire and because the regime hasn’t been toppled, many are very desperate to get to the transition period. And they don’t care, at this point, who does it.”
January 22nd, 2013, 8:29 pm
omen said:
61. latimes: The war has cost him friendships with people on both sides. He hates the idea of “ruining a good friendship over politics.”
assadists are stone cold mass murderers. reducing disagreement over that as merely political strikes me as too common place. this isn’t the typical democrat vs republican divide arguing over the level of taxation. the regime is acting outside the realm of legitimate government assigned to politics.
but which word is more appropriate to describe the divide?
January 22nd, 2013, 8:29 pm
Ghufran said:
I found this on a site known to be supportive of the regime, I will post it to inform, I do not support any action taken outside the court of law especially in a country like Syria where judiciary system is often a tool for the regime:
???? “?????????? ” ?? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ???? – ?? ??? ???? – ??????? ?????? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????????? ????? ???????? ??? ??????? ?????????..
????? ????????? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ???????? ???? ?????.
???? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ??????..
January 22nd, 2013, 8:38 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
??? ????? ????: «??? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????».
It was reported that Ibrahimi was told by Assad,that Assad believes that he can win the war if he destroyed Damascus.
A murderer like Assad will destroy Damascus, and Assad thugs will defend him to the end, they have to be responsible for the destruction of Syria we will follow them whereever they are,
January 22nd, 2013, 8:44 pm
Visitor said:
Al-Faysal, who is the architect of Saudi foreign policy and one of the most influential figures in the Kingdom, today ruled out any possibility for a negotiated settlement in Syria with the current regime of criminals,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Jan-23/203438-riyadh-rules-out-political-solution-to-syrian-cris.ashx#axzz2Il3aNafP
Al-Faysal called on the UNSC to act appropriately in light of his announcement, which means authorizing the use of force to evict the illegitimate criminal regime from Damascus. While it is not expected that the UNSC will heed such call due to Russian intransigence and US acquiescence, the Prince’ statement can be interpreted as a prelude for greater Saudi role in arming the Revolutionaries in order to achieve the stated objective. The flow of arms from KSA has been ongoing and never stopped, even though it may have slowed down a little bit recently mostly because the Revolutionaries were able to acquire advanced weaponry on their own, thanks to Nusra achievements.
When the KSA opens its arsenals and financial support to the Syrian Revolution, it is logical to expect the tide of war to turn even more favorably and in a dramatic fashion in favor of the revolution leading to the ultimate demise of the most criminal of all regimes in mankind history.
With the spring on the horizon, and additional KSA support, we should expect an upsurge in the war against the abominable thugs throughout Syria.
The Arabs, and particularly the Syrians, need more of the likes of Al-Faysal and of course HBJ.
January 22nd, 2013, 8:49 pm
Ghufran said:
Jabhat Alnusra and its supporters, including few on this blog, celebrated the suicide bombing in Salamiyyah as an attack on shabeeha, they want you to ignore the fact that that terrorist attack , which indeed killed regime sympathizers , destroyed partially or fully 3 schools, a kindergarten , the only public hospital in thecarea, 5 ambulances, a number of houses and took the lives of 32 Syrians and injured 180, many in critical condition.
?? ???? ? ???????? ?????
January 22nd, 2013, 9:00 pm
Juergen said:
The silence of the world about Syria
January 22nd, 2013, 9:07 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
January 22nd, 2013, 9:19 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
January 22nd, 2013, 9:21 pm
omen said:
107. Visitor –
unsc approval is not needed for intervention. citing self-defense, turkey is within its rights to launch an offensive against the regime.
pointlessly calling for unsc to act despite continued russia/china intransigence – is just blowing more hot air. and a transference of responsibility when the saudis could easily act to do more to save syrians from this madness.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:24 pm
revenire said:
@108
“destroyed partially or fully 3 schools, a kindergarten , the only public hospital in the area, 5 ambulances, a number of houses and took the lives of 32 Syrians and injured 180, many in critical condition”
The animals here who support that belong in cages.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:25 pm
omen said:
the difference betweeen anti & pro isnt political, it’s psychological.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:28 pm
revenire said:
Self-defense? Ha ha give me some of what you’re drinking.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:38 pm
omen said:
107. Visitor –
i can’t find the quote now but someone noted the irony that despite gulf states spending billions of dollars to buy every manner of military equipment from the west, arab governments have failed to use it to defend fellow muslims in syria.
January 22nd, 2013, 9:44 pm
Visitor said:
# 111 & 115,
The Saudis are known to be among the first GCC’s to come to the aid of Syrians both in terms humanitarian and military support. Indeed, your testimony is hardly needed in this regard because the facts are well recorded. When you get your facts straight, then come back and argue.
January 22nd, 2013, 10:03 pm
MarigoldRan said:
What comes around, goes around. The war continues.
(In other words, what is there to debate?).
EDIT: This will be a long, destructive war. And at the end of it I think everyone on both sides will understand the concept of “what comes around, goes around” thoroughly.
January 22nd, 2013, 10:05 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The Syrian civil war is an excellent lesson to everyone else in the Arab world on the perils of Baathism and dictatorship.
EVERY country in the Arab world that has adopted those forms of government have fallen into disaster.
Even hereditary monarchies like the ones in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, or Qatar, have done better than “secular” dictatorships.
January 22nd, 2013, 10:32 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
http://www.voanews.com/content/us-senators-urge-stronger-response-to-syria-crisis/1589050.html
Senators say,Obama should strengthen the opposition in Syria.
The women Shabbihas are so ugly,their faces are worse than the rifles they carry
What do you call a palstinian woman married to pro Assad alawi ?
January 22nd, 2013, 10:35 pm
omen said:
116. Visitor said: # 111 & 115,
re #111 – you’re still counting on unsc approval?
The Saudis are known to be among the first GCC’s to come to the aid of Syrians both in terms humanitarian and military support.
humanitarian support, yes, this is true. saudi gov has helped fund refugee camps. but it’s saudi individuals, not gov, who are arming islamists. in fact, obama has pressured the saudi gov not to arm the rebels.
what military support are you applauding? crates of ak-47s sent to rebels? when the ksa could send jets to defeat the regime ones.
January 22nd, 2013, 10:54 pm
Syrian said:
There are a lot of honest Kurdish who are fighting with FSA,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/world/middleeast/some-syrian-kurds-resist-assad-defying-conventional-views.html
Defying Common View, Some Syrian Kurds Fight Assad
“His resistance began with peaceful demonstrations, he said. When the government answered with force, his tactics changed. “It was only after they showed that they would kill us that we became armed,” he said”
“I am Kurdish, and as a Kurdish citizen I am fighting side to side with the Free Syrian Army, because you cannot find anybody who was not stepped on by the regime, or was not wronged,” Mr. Haidar said. “We were wronged as well.”
January 22nd, 2013, 11:00 pm
Visitor said:
# 120,
You continue to argue in the same manner as you have been doing all along. In other words, you claim and state things you have no knowledge of. Therefore, do not complain when you no longer receive responses.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:04 pm
omen said:
there is also this case:
In May, a group of conservative Saudi clerics, including some who had called for volunteers to fight in Iraq, announced a fund-raising drive on Facebook to support the Syrian rebels. Days later, they posted messages saying the government had barred them from sending donations.
why defend a gov that is blocking support?
January 22nd, 2013, 11:06 pm
zoo said:
Preparing for the next UNSC resolution: A banning on illegal arms smuggling in Syria?
Ban urges world to cease arms supplies
By: Special Correspondent | January 23, 2013
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/23-Jan-2013/ban-urges-world-to-cease-arms-supplies
UNITED NATIONS – “We are still a long way from getting the Syrians together” for a political solution to the longstanding crisis in the Middle East country, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday, as he urged “all states to cease sending arms to either side in Syria.” The secretary-general, speaking at his first press conference this year, said, “The political environment remains polarised in Syria and in the region.
Yet, a deadly military momentum has taken hold,” Ban said. “I call again for all states to cease sending arms to either side in Syria.”
However, the secretary-general did not name any countries which he accused of providing arms to government forces and rebels that are fueling the ongoing fighting and violence in the Middle East country.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:19 pm
GEORGES said:
I think supporting evil and oppression is wrong no matter what. A possible threat in the future is not a valid reason to support evil and oppression in the present. Today I am against the regime and tomorrow when/if the extremist threat becomes true then I will be against it too. One thing at a time.
The regime is complete in itself, it is completely defined by itself, its characteristics are intrinsic and it can be judged based solely on itself. My judgement is that it is evil and criminal. This is completely determined by looking at the regime. I don’t need to look at America, Saudi, islamists or Al-Qaeda to determine this. Therefore it cannot be supported, to the contrary, it must be opposed.
Everything else is irrelevant in this regard.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:20 pm
revenire said:
Most of the stuff posted here by terrorist FSA supporters is just rehashed garbage from Western and Gulf press. It’s sort of funny to watch.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:23 pm
ghufran said:
From CNN Comment section:
Richard McCabe:
The opposition caters to its Jihad elements, so the West won’t support it. Dealing with the Jihad fighters also excludes deals with Syria’s many ethnic groups, which now face an ever darkening future. The opposition has also looted and committed other crimes. As a result Assad is gaining popular support. In the
last few days Syria deployed new militia units, much larger
and more widespread than the traditional Syrian militia (which
are more like the Gestapo). These units are freeing up Syrian military to concentrate their force on attacking, rather than defending. This may well be an effective strategy, given the mishandling of the revolt by the opposition and their backers.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:24 pm
zoo said:
The omnipotent and imaginative Prince Saud al Faisal:
“We have a call to make to the Security Council, to finally show the responsibility that they must show…or otherwise I think it is the duty of the General Assembly to censure the Security Council for failing in its duty,” he added.
Is the guy joking or under heavy drugs?
January 22nd, 2013, 11:26 pm
zoo said:
ghufran
The opposition blew it…It’s irreversible.
The “revolutionaries” will go down in history as the dumbest, the cruelest and the most corrupted in the history of failed revolutions that caused 60,000 useless death
January 22nd, 2013, 11:29 pm
Visitor said:
#123,
FYI,
KSA and Qatar governments both have arrangements with Turkey to channel arms to Revolutionaries. This is completely different from what private groups are doing. The KSA does not go about advertising such activities because it involves concerns of several States first among them of course is Turkey. Also, your link clearly sates financial support is provided to defecting soldiers..
In the humanitarian field, the KSA government provided hundreds of millions of dollars to refugees in addition to facilitating entry of Syrians to the Kingdom and providing free schooling to any Syrian kids who enter the Kingdom.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:33 pm
revenire said:
I am happy to see the president deploying these new forces. They remind me of the Iranian Basij. I assume they are volunteers.
Here are some nice photos of the new forces:
http://farsnews.com/imgrep.php?nn=13911103000769
Well done Dr. Assad!
January 22nd, 2013, 11:33 pm
zoo said:
Stay out of Syria!
The French Mess in Mali and Libya
Rajan Menon|
January 22, 2013
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/mali-libya-unintended-consequences-7997?page=1\
Qaddafi’s fall initiated an unanticipated chain reaction and Mali’s U.S.-trained army was overwhelmed by it. This campaign is far from over.
And it validates another lesson (the first being the risk of unintended consequences):
It’s easy to start military operations, but as the great theorist of war Karl von Clausewitz warned, what’s predictable about war is its unpredictability.
Clausewitz called this problem “friction.” Friction can shred even the best-laid plans. And it could do so in Mali.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:37 pm
ghufran said:
A voice from the past:
??? ???? ????? ??????? ?????????? ???????? ???? ??????????? ?? “?????” ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ???? 35?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ????????? ????? ??? ?? ???????? ?????????? ? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????? ?????.
???? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ?? ??? “?????” ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?????? “?????? ????????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ??? 2013”? ?? “?????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ???? ????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???????”? ?????? ?? “???????? ?????????? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ???????? ????? 4 ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ????????? ???????? ???? 25 ?? ????? ??? 2012”.
???? ??????? ??? “????? ???? ??????? ??????? ??? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ?????? ?? ?????”? ?????? ??? “?????? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ????????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ????????? ?? ??? ???????”.
???? ???? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? “?????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ????? 75.4% ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? 2012 ?????? ?? ??? 2011”? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ????? 76.4% ???? ??????.
???? ?? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? “????? ????? 35 ?? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ????????? ?? 18 ?? ????? ??????”? ??????? “?? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? 15 ?? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? 15 ?? ????? ?? ??? ????????? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?????”.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:41 pm
zoo said:
Al Khatib got his aumone. Hotels and tickets are expensive! The Coalition needs 40 million $ a day!
Qatar Hands Syrian Opposition $20m
Posted on January 22, 2013 by Womens Rights Advocate
by Francesca Astorri
http://friendsofsyria.wordpress.com/
Qatar has agreed to give US$20m to the Syrian opposition to help it form a transitional government.
Syrian National Coalition President Moaz Alkhatib visited Doha to secure Qatari financial support, but the establishment of a transitional government to run rebel-held areas has nevertheless been postponed until next month.
Financial stability is required to make a transitional government viable, but members of the coalition have opted to revisit the issue in about ten days, Reuters reported.
The Syrian opposition is meeting again on January 28 in Paris along with representatives from some 20 countries supporting its initiative.
Estimated US$40m a day is the budget needed by the transitional government to operate, according to a source quoted by Doha News.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:48 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The Russians leaving Syria cannot leave by way of airport in Syria.
Instead they have to travel to Beirut to get flown out.
Furthermore, Damascus is beginning to suffer major problems. They’re running out of both cheap bread, gas, and electricity. The only thing keeping the Syrian economy from completely collapsing is Iranian funds. But the Iranians can’t support the regime indefinitely, so as long as the FSA keep on fighting, the regime will eventually collapse from economics.
In the meantime, if Iran wants to bankrupt themselves in Syria, that’s fine according to the West. The Iranians have spent billions of dollars on the Syrian bog, and yet the regime continues to lose ground and the war is nowhere near over.
The West’s strategy is pretty simple: encourage the rebels to fight, but keep the amount of money and actual supplies low. In the meantime, encourage the Iranians to spend as much money as possible to maintain a stalemate in a losing war. That way it can weaken both Syria and Iran with minimal investment, while keeping the jihadists occupied.
It’s diabolical. And by all accounts, quite effective. Iran is completely bogged down by Syria, and hemorraging money too, for little gain. However, this strategy sacrifices the Syrian people and it’s not going to win the West any friends.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:50 pm
Syrian said:
Alawites in the Syrian Revolution ?????? ?? ?????? ???????
1 hour ago ·
???????????????????????????????????????????????????
????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ?????
2hours ago
??? : ??? : ?? ??????
?????? ????? ?????? ??? 11 ???? ?30 ???? ????? 5 ?? ???????? . ???? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?3 ????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ?????????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? 6 ????? ????? ?? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ( ???? ?????? ) .
??? ????? ?????? ???????? ??? ??????? ? ??????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ????? ????????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ??????????
Like·Comment
14 2
January 22nd, 2013, 11:53 pm
zoo said:
“Qatar’s growing influence in the Middle East has been almost completely negative and counter to American interests. ”
The Qatari Challenge to U.S. Foreign Policy
Seth Mandel | @SethAMandel 01.17.2013 – 2:05 PM
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/01/17/the-qatari-challenge-to-u-s-foreign-policy/
The evolution of the political power structure across the Mideast has a recent track record of disappointment and unmet expectations. As Turkey sought to take a leadership role in the Middle East, hopes were high for a technically secular, NATO-allied power. But of course Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Putinesque turn and support for terrorist organizations as part of his pan-Islamist ambitions poured cold water on those hopes.
And Egypt’s close relationship with the U.S. and formal peace with Israel didn’t stop a virulently anti-Semitic Islamist from taking power in Cairo and moving closer to his Hamas allies.
But perhaps no country’s influence in the region has taken as significant a step up as that of Qatar. Colum Lynch reports that the UN has found a new way to recognize the country’s new standing:
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is set to appoint a top former Qatari diplomat as his high representative of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, reinforcing the oil sheikdom’s standing as a rising diplomatic powerhouse.
Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, a former Qatari envoy to the United Nations who served as U.N. General Assembly president last year, will replace Jorge Sampaio, a former Portuguese president who currently heads the organization.
The decision places a trusted Western ally at the head of an organization that aims to bridge the cultural gap between the West and the Islamic world.
As the West fetes this “trusted Western ally,” it’s worth pointing out that Qatar’s growing influence in the Middle East has been almost completely negative and counter to American interests. Qatar funds anti-Western propaganda through Al Jazeera, which just purchased Al Gore’s television station–though the network is more benign than the other projects Qatar throws money at.
…
The Times explained:
The United States is not sending arms directly to the Syrian opposition. Instead, it is providing intelligence and other support for shipments of secondhand light weapons like rifles and grenades into Syria, mainly orchestrated from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The reports indicate that the shipments organized from Qatar, in particular, are largely going to hard-line Islamists.
January 22nd, 2013, 11:57 pm
Syrian said:
From the comment section
??? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ???? ????? …..?????” “??????? ???? ???? ??? ????? ??? ?? ????? ?? ????? …????? ????????
January 22nd, 2013, 11:59 pm
Syrian said:
A new video of the attack on Aleppo university
To the idiots who were quick to say it was an FSA heat seaking missile or a car bomb
http://youtu.be/NIZbxvrEZeM
?? ????? ? ???????????
January 23rd, 2013, 12:05 am
MarigoldRan said:
Yup. That seems pretty conclusive.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:08 am
ann said:
125. GEORGES said:
I think supporting evil and oppression is wrong no matter what. A possible threat in the future is not a valid reason to support evil and oppression in the present. Today I am against the regime and tomorrow when/if the extremist threat becomes true then I will be against it too. One thing at a time.
George you forgot to say “allahu akbar” at the end of your post!
8)
January 23rd, 2013, 12:11 am
MarigoldRan said:
That’s because he isn’t Muslim.
As Omen said, it is a matter of psychology. Decent people are vehemently against the regime. Despicable, value-less losers support the regime because the regime is a reflection of their empty, despicable souls.
It’s obvious.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:20 am
ann said:
119. majedkhaldoun said:
“”” What do you call a palstinian woman married to pro Assad alawi? “””
How LOW can you go Doctor?!!!
January 23rd, 2013, 12:22 am
MarigoldRan said:
Being called low by a loser like you ANN is a compliment.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:23 am
ann said:
144. MarigoldRan
Lonely? No one to talk to? Can’t sleep? Your tourette syndrome is flaring up?
8)
January 23rd, 2013, 12:28 am
MarigoldRan said:
ANN, get a soul. EDIT: And a job too.
Until then, there’s nothing to talk about.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:33 am
omen said:
130. Visitor said: #123, FYI,
KSA and Qatar governments both have arrangements with Turkey to channel arms to Revolutionaries. This is completely different from what private groups are doing. The KSA does not go about advertising such activities because it involves concerns of several States first among them of course is Turkey.
also from the article:
my argument is that arab states are refusing to deploy their superior military power. you don’t offer an explanation for their refusal. you are satisfied with small arms provided for when that only produces a stalemate, prolongs the killing and fails to bring the war to conclusion.
Also, your link clearly sates financial support is provided to defecting soldiers..
i listened to a forum where a reporter and political advisor returned from aleppo after examining first hand conditions there. they said dec was the first time commanders they talked to finally received salary: $100+ dollars for the month. after almost 2 years, they’re only now getting a salary? no wonder rebels resort to looting.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:37 am
ghufran said:
This is accoeding to opposition site:
?? ????? ??????? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ???????.
???? ??????: ???? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ????? ????? ????? / ???? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ????????
??????/ ???? ???? – ???? ??????? ???? ?????? – ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ???????? – ????? ???????? ? ????? ????? -???? ??????? ?????? ?
??? ???????? ????????? – ???? ???????? ???? ???? ?????? – ???? ???????
???? ??????? – ????? ???????? ???? ?????? – ????? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? – ???? ???????? ??????? ? ???? ?????? – ???? ?????????? ???????? ?????? -???? ?????????
???? ?????? -???? ??????? ????????? ?. ?????? ??????? -???? ?????? ???? ?????? – ???? ??????? ? ???? ???? – ???? ???????
???? ?????? – ???? ??????? ????????? ??? ????????? -???? ??????? ? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? – ???? ??????? ???????
-?????? / ????? ??? – ???? ???????? ? ???? ????? – ???? ??????? ? ???? ????? ??????? -???? ???? ???????
??????? ??????? ???? ???? ????????? – ???? ????? – ????? ????? ??????? . ???? ?????? – ???? ???? ???????? ????????? ???? – ???? ???? ????????
– ???? ????? – ???? ????? ?????? ????? ? ??? ?????? – ???? ?????? ????????
???? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ???
I wonder how we are supposed to believe this when a number of people on that list have openly refused to participate in a government in exile, however,I still find the list amuzing.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:38 am
ann said:
146. MarigoldRan
Try a warm glass of milk to help you relax and enjoy watching this video:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d5c_1358897248
January 23rd, 2013, 12:39 am
MarigoldRan said:
ANN,
I never touch any links provided by you or regime supporters because they probably contain a virus.
I don’t want my computer contaminated and soiled by the likes of you.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:40 am
ann said:
150. MarigoldRan
Guess you’re gonna have to settle for a nice hot glass of milk, and off to bed you go.
Sweet dreams my boy!
January 23rd, 2013, 12:47 am
MarigoldRan said:
I will when it’s nighttime. Unlike you, I have a job.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:49 am
ann said:
152. MarigoldRan said:
I will when it’s nighttime. Unlike you, I have a job.
GOOD BOY!
Everyone MarigoldRan has a job! Let me hear you all say:
“Bravo MarigoldRan! You have a job! good boy MarigoldRan!”
January 23rd, 2013, 12:56 am
Visitor said:
# 147,
I said the KSA does not go about advertising such activities for reasons mentioned. That means you do not expect such information to be published in an article such as the one you linked.
Advanced weapons did not get to the revolutionaries in large enough quantities for well known reasons, even though some such weapons were delivered to some groups in limited quantities. The FSA lacks leadership and most of it lacks discipline and some of its members are corrupt. You cannot expect Saudis or any other external power to remedy these deficiencies. These are purely Syrian shortcomings and need to be remedied before you can ask for more help.
The Nusra and other Islamist fighters do not recieve better weapons just because they have Islamic agenda. They are organized, committed, dedicated and are proven good fighters.
The main stream FSA are still the product of corrupt regime and corrupt school, and as we all know they come from the branches of the army that every one ridicules. Are you familiar with the term ??? ??? ?????? Do not understand this in the wrong sense. Most of them are well intentioned. But they suffer from the shortcomings as described above.
The Saudis will act in the next few months and increase their support and they may even help organize some groups. In fact, they already got involved in organizing. But the Syrian fighters must first prove themselves that they are not just a disparate collecton of militias.
Lastly, the revolution has proven that the characteristically Syrian Machiavellan attitude must be abandoned for the higher good of collective interests. There is too much personal greed and the regime was particularly active over the last 50 years to stoke and enourage such attitude in order to ensure its survival.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:57 am
revenire said:
“Bravo MarigoldRan! You have a job! good boy MarigoldRan!”
I didn’t know they still delivered newspapers on bicycles.
January 23rd, 2013, 1:02 am
omen said:
148. ghufran said: I wonder how we are supposed to believe this when a number of people on that list have openly refused to participate in a government in exile, however,I still find the list amuzing.
how come nawaf fares isn’t listed?
January 23rd, 2013, 1:06 am
ann said:
148. ghufran said:
I wonder how we are supposed to believe this when a number of people on that list have openly refused to participate in a government in exile, however,I still find the list amuzing.
Yea, and how come Ahmed Chalabi isn’t listed?!
😀
January 23rd, 2013, 1:21 am
ann said:
Oh! and how come benjamin netanyahu isn’t listed?!!!
January 23rd, 2013, 1:36 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
Frem the Jew/Salafi/EU/al Qaeda/CIA Press
The first Russian citizens evacuated from Syria arrived in Moscow overnight. The evacuation of 77 Russians was the first organized by Russia since the start of the Syrian conflict nearly two years ago, and it may be the beginning of what could become a difficult and dangerous operation to rescue tens of thousands of Russians living in Syria as rebels gain momentum in their fight to oust President Bashar Assad’s regime. The Russians, mainly women married to Syrians and their children, were taken by bus to Beirut and then flown to Moscow.
A New Bashar Cartoon:
http://africartoons.com/sites/default/files/images/20120214_Yalo_Sowetan.preview.jpg
January 23rd, 2013, 1:46 am
omen said:
107. Visitor said: the Prince’ statement can be interpreted as a prelude for greater Saudi role in arming the Revolutionaries in order to achieve the stated objective.
154. Visitor said: The Saudis will act in the next few months and increase their support and they may even help organize some groups. In fact, they already got involved in organizing. But the Syrian fighters must first prove themselves that they are not just a disparate collecton of militias.
you have proof the saudis plan to be more proactive?
107.The flow of arms from KSA has been ongoing and never stopped, even though it may have slowed down a little bit recently mostly because the Revolutionaries were able to acquire advanced weaponry on their own, thanks to Nusra achievements.
this brings me back to my question from last night. why isn’t nusra, with their superior training, discipline and advanced weaponry, helping to defend homs?
January 23rd, 2013, 1:46 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
Geez, Spammie Annie is actually typing words of her own. Her “John” must have stood her up, leaving her some free time…
January 23rd, 2013, 1:48 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
131. MOSSIE
“I am happy to see President Assad deploying new forces. I assume they are volunteers”
Mossie, you know what happens when you assume? Break the word down into “ass” and “u” and you make an “ass” out of “you.”
They are not volunteers. They are conscripts kidnapped from their homes and they will run off first chance they get…
January 23rd, 2013, 1:59 am
annie said:
Message to Assad
http://youtu.be/IF0JzDsGIYc
N.Z. | January 23, 2013 at 00:27
??? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ? ???? ?????? ? ? ?? ?? ?? ?????? ????? ? ??????? ? ??????? ??????? ? ??????? ? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ? ?????
??? – ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ??????? ????????.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:28 am
ann said:
358. William Scott Scherk said:
“”” – and one for ANN and the others at her adult daycare “””
699. William Scott Scherk said:
“”” And one for Xinhua’s youngest and most illiterate correspondent ANN “””
Scherk my boy. Here’s a video I thought you might enjoy when you’re not too busy stealing posters private IP addresses 8)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=693_1358876663
January 23rd, 2013, 2:34 am
annie said:
Maysaloon : http://www.maysaloon.org/2013/01/thoughts.html
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Thoughts
There is a feeling of exhaustion amongst many Syrians I meet these days. A feeling that the cold will never end and that we might never laugh again as we did before. Perhaps the saddest thing I can think of is the plight of those people who have been made homeless by the violence. When I brush off the snow from my shoulders as I walk indoors I think of those who don’t have this luxury and I shudder inwardly.
Should we feel guilty for having so much when others have so little? Or that we are safe whilst others are in harm’s way? I don’t know how to answer that. I know that I have done far too little to help end this suffering, and there are others, far braver than I, who have done more to fight injustice.
There is a feeling nagging me that we are in a trial of sorts – it’s totally irrational but also inescapable – and that these times will come to an end; that all this suffering, cold and hunger can be forgotten about eventually and that the struggle will be vindicated. But is there really anybody watching our lives as if a story? As if the good will always triumph and that no bad deed is left unpunished? I suppose it is a human impulse to give meaning to the meaningless; to see shapes in the clouds or ‘history’ as some titanic struggle between forces. But for many people right now the only reality is the cold and the hunger, and a fear of violence. For them there is no cosmic guarantee that justice is inevitable. There is only a a tiny hope that things might get better and that these bad times will soon be behind us.
People say they will never forget, but they will. People forget quickly, and that’s not a bad thing. Whether because of the passage of time or because their new lives have distracted them, people always find a way of moving on. One day they’ll move on from this tyrant, too, and all that we have been through and seen will become part of a thousand yesterdays. Then, perhaps, we can rest a bit.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:56 am
omen said:
a note from an activist on the ground:
January 23rd, 2013, 3:04 am
Citizen said:
http://4documentaries.co.nf/
January 23rd, 2013, 3:41 am
Citizen said:
‘There are countries that benefit from the war in Syria. Israel is the first among these countries’ – Lebanese politician
The Syrian problem will be the center of attention at the talks, which President of Lebanon Michel Suleiman will hold in Moscow tomorrow. The day before the arrival of President Suleiman, Walid Jumblatt, patriarch of the Lebanese and Middle Eastern policy, head of the Progressive Socialist Party and leader of the influential Druze community, conducted negotiations on the same topic in Moscow. During his visit, which ended this weekend, he met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, his Deputy Mikhail Bogdanov, and other Russian diplomats. However, he refrained from a detailed press interview with the exception of the Voice of Russia.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_21/There-are-countries-that-benefit-from-the-war-in-Syria-Israel-is-the-first-among-these-countries-Lebanese-politician/
January 23rd, 2013, 3:43 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo said the transitional goverment cost 40 million dollar a day, an extremely exagerated number. it is a lie.
Kookoo Ghufran gave us names of the supposed to be transitional goverment, he is certainly the master lier.
Ann is angry, that made me laugh.
January 23rd, 2013, 7:04 am
zoo said:
@154
“The main stream FSA are still the product of corrupt regime and corrupt school, :
Two weeks ago Majie repeatedly called them “angels!”
Down with the FSA!, Long live AlNusra!
” Syrian fighters must first prove themselves that they are not just a disparate collecton of militias”
In a decade or two…
January 23rd, 2013, 8:43 am
Visitor said:
#160,
If you are looking for proof such as a mainstream article, you wouldn’t find one even when and if such support is ongoing. The Saudi foreign policy is shrouded in thick layers of secrecey. You can only make inferences from statements made by key officials. Sometimes, as appened last summer, news break out despite the secrecy such as the news about the presence of conduit run by Qataris, Qataris and Turks through Turkey to supply the revolutionaries.
The Nusra tactics since they began to be heard of have been to hit the criminal regime at points where the regime may suffer strategic losses. For example, they were the first to use attacks on supply lines. They were also instrumental in the capture of key bases and the defeat of several regiments. The tactic is effective in being beneficial to more than one city. The fall of the Taftanaz airbase, for example, benefits most of the northern cities. I do not think that any of the fighting groups is right now capable of stretching itself to cover every major city and town in Syria. But the time will come where you will see operations in 7Homs and even in the coastal cities.
January 23rd, 2013, 8:48 am
zoo said:
Russia slams Syria opposition ‘obsession’ with toppling Assad
MOSCOW – Agence France-Presse
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/russia-slams-syria-opposition-obsession-with-toppling-assad.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39675&NewsCatID=359
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today lashed out at the Syrian opposition for its “obsession” with toppling President Bashar al-Assad which he said was holding up peace efforts in the country.
“For now, everything is running up against the opposition’s obsession with toppling Bashar Assad’s regime,” Lavrov told reporters at his traditional start-of-year news conference. “As long as this irreconcilable position remains in place, nothing good can happen. Armed actions will continue and people will die.”
He said that the opposition’s insistence on ousting Assad was styming efforts to find a diplomatic solution backed by the former international peace envoy Kofi Annan and his successor Lakhdar Brahimi.
Lavrov took particular aim at the Syria National Coalition — a broad-based group backed by the West founded in Doha last year — for seeking the toppling of Assad as one of its fundamental aims
January 23rd, 2013, 8:54 am
zoo said:
In gestures to “build trust”, the rebels groups are destroying minority religious sites: HRW
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syria-rebels-must-protect-religious-sites-hrw-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39680&NewsCatID=352
Rebel groups in Syria appeared to have deliberately destroyed or allowed the looting of minority religious sites in the north in November and December 2012, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
“The destruction of religious sites is furthering sectarian fears and compounding the tragedies of the country, with tens of thousands killed,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at the New York-based HRW.
“Syria will lose its rich cultural and religious diversity if armed groups do not respect places of worship. Leaders on both sides should send a message that those who attack these sites will be held accountable,” she said.
January 23rd, 2013, 8:57 am
zoo said:
Democratic elections in Jordan?
The Independent Election Commission announced a turnout of 19.69 percent.
Jordanians vote in election “boycotted” by Islamists
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/jordanians-vote-in-election-snubbed-by-islamists-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=39692&NewsCatID=352
“The coming parliament will be short-lived because it will not have any political weight,” Zaki Bani Rsheid, deputy leader of the Brotherhood, told AFP soon after polling began.
“Our boycott was the right decision because a parliament or government that is imposed on people is illegitimate,” he said.
January 23rd, 2013, 9:00 am
majedkhaldoun said:
What is holding up peace effort is Russia obsession that Assad must stay. Assad told Ibrahimi he will win if he destroy Damascus, Zoozoo said he will never change his mind,by that he worships Assad,
This will go to history as the worse and most evil ruler of Syria he ( Assad) destroyed Syria and killed Syrians, and the more he kills and destroys the more Zoozoo likes him, what an idiot. but he knows that he and the thugs who are helping him will be annihilated
January 23rd, 2013, 9:20 am
Tara said:
Syrian rebels pin hopes on airbase’s downfall
Mannagh, Syria (CNN) – Here in the north, rebels call it “the final battle.” For more than a month, lightly armed fighters have hurled themselves against a well-fortified helicopter base located less than a 15-minute drive from the border with Turkey.
The rebels say the last piece of government-controlled territory between Turkey and Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, is Mannagh airbase. The battle for it is a modern-day siege.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/world/meast/syria-civil-war/?hpt=hp_t3
January 23rd, 2013, 9:20 am
zoo said:
Davutoglu warns Syrian Kurdish group
23 January 2013 16:02 (Last updated 23 January 2013 16:04)
Foreign Minister said all groups should keep their distance from the Syrian regime
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/rss/125223–davutoglu-warns-syrian-kurdish-group
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that all groups should keep their distance from the Syrian regime and especially PYD (a Kurdish armed group in Syria which had links with terrorist organization PKK) must do it.
“We will monitor the attitude to be assumed by PYD,” said Davutoglu, who is visiting Davos for the World Economic Forum, when replying to questions on NTV channel..
Answering a question on Patriot defense system in Turkey, he said Patriot batteries had also been brought to Turkey earlier.
Patriot system was only a defensive measure, he said, adding that if there was no attack, the system would not be activated.
January 23rd, 2013, 9:21 am
zoo said:
“Hidden tragedies of Syrian marriages in Egypt”.
Rights council condemns marriage to Syrian refugees
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 4:05 PM
http://en.aswatmasriya.com/news/view.aspx?id=cb1d68cc-af56-43fc-a3e8-9d3611c38cca
The Egyptian National Council for Women Rights (NCWR) condemned on Wednesday the phenomenon of Egyptian men marrying Syrian refugees.
Many Syrians have been recently displaced to Egypt due to the civil unrest in their home country, the number of registered Syrian refugees has reached 8, 858 according to the most recent updated data at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The council said in a statement that these marriages are “crimes committed against women under the guise of religion, as some of the Islamic preachers encourage young Egyptian men to marry Syrian refugees.”
They justify these marriages as an altruistic gesture to save Syrian girls from their refugee status though in fact they are using their need for money, the dowry for these marriages usually does not exceed 500 Egyptian pounds.
A local newspaper published a story on Tuesday under the title “Hidden tragedies of Syrian marriages in Egypt” which reported that the phenomenon produced “brokers” for such marriages.
According to Syria’s personal status law the minimum age of marriage for girls is 16, whereas the law does not regulate this matter under Egypt’s new charter.
In counteract to these marriages, online campaigns were launched on social networking sites. Activists have created a Facebook page under the name ‘Refugees not captives’ and a hashtag on Twitter under the same name denounced this phenomenon as well.
The council demanded an investigation into the figures mentioned in the media with the involved people who ‘broker’ these marriages in order to take the necessary actions.
The council stressed that this behavior represents human trafficking, adding that “it conflicts with international conventions and human rights.”
January 23rd, 2013, 9:25 am
zoo said:
Russia denies evacuation of 77 citizens from Syria is beginning of the end
By Arthur Bright, Staff writer / January 23, 2013
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2013/0123/Russia-denies-evacuation-of-77-citizens-from-Syria-is-beginning-of-the-end?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fworld+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+World%29
…
At his annual press conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov officially confirmed that 77 Russian citizens had fled Syria on Tuesday and some 1,000 in total had requested Russia’s help in leaving the country, reports the Associated Press. But Mr. Lavrov denied that the move was the start of a larger evacuation effort, and said Russia’s embassy in Syria would continue to operate normally.
….
Alfred Omar, 57, a resident of Syria married to a Russian woman and dressed in an jacket from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, said Moscow’s policies had begun to threaten its own citizens inside the country. His lower lip trembled as he spoke.
“It’s dangerous there for Russians. If the Free Syrian Army understands that a person is Russian, they’ll immediately cut off their head, because they (are seen to) support Assad’s regime,” he said.
The evacuees described the rebels as advancing on Damascus, the Syrian capital, as part of the reason for their flight.
“The Free Syrian Army is getting closer. We’ve been left without money, without light, without water,” Natasha Yunis, who ran a beauty salon in her adopted home of Damascus after meeting her Syrian husband, said of rebel advances on the capital.
“A bomb exploded near our house … The children hid. Of course it was horrible,” said Yunis, giving her age as about 60.
January 23rd, 2013, 9:31 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Syrians consider Iran as an enemy, but Russia is more enemy,so Russian are targets.
January 23rd, 2013, 10:05 am
Tara said:
We were told that rebels have missiles. Why have they not attacked Tartus’ Russiab base. It seems like a legit target.
January 23rd, 2013, 10:54 am
zoo said:
I can’t wait to see the Al Nusra’s women fighting with their niqab..
Women join ranks of Assad forces in Syria’s Homs
AFP By Sammy Ketz | AFP – 25 minutes ago
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/women-join-ranks-assad-forces-syrias-homs-152608741.html
At 40 years of age, Abir Ramadan joined the all-female unit of Syria’s new paramilitary force, pledging loyalty to Bashar al-Assad in the armed struggle against those seeking to topple the president.
Dressed in camouflage, she marches at a stadium in the central city of Homs, raising her fist and chanting “Allah, Suriya, Bashar wa bas” (God, Syria, Bashar — that’s it), the rallying cry of the embattled leader’s supporters.
The stadium’s entrances are guarded by women armed with Kalashnikovs, while others search cars at a checkpoint. They present themselves as “fedayat”, which in Arabic literally means those who sacrifice themselves for a cause.
“My husband encouraged me to get involved and I liked the idea. I introduced myself to the recruitment centre and was easily accepted,” explains the “fedaya” Abir, who has kept her day job as a technician in a radiology laboratory.
“Before I did not know how to handle a gun and I did not dare stay at home alone for fear of being attacked. I wanted to learn and to help. I volunteered because my country is suffering,” she says.
The first women’s unit of the National Defence Forces in Syria, founded in the central city of Homs, has 450 fighters from 18 to 50 years of age.
Nada Jahjah, a retired commander who oversees the training, says Homs was chosen “due to the tragic circumstances experienced by the city”.
“This is not a normal war, it looks nothing like the October (1973 war against Israel). It is not the enemy we knew. This time the enemy is from our family, our neighbours and neighbouring countries supplying arms and spreading fundamentalist thinking. They kill and slay Syrians. This is a savage war,” she says.
January 23rd, 2013, 10:57 am
zoo said:
#181 Tara
They can hardly keep up with the 70% of Syria they are controlling. I don’t think they want more.
January 23rd, 2013, 10:59 am
zoo said:
Syrian conflict diminishes agri sector
January 23, 2013 – 4:08pm | By Stanislava Gaydazhieva
ttp://www.neurope.eu/article/syrian-conflict-diminishes-agri-sector
A visit of a United Nations mission to Syria, taking place between 18 – 22 January, uncovered a destructive link between the on-going conflict in the country and the agricultural production drop in its economy.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), 22 months of conflict has left Syria’s agricultural sector in tatters with cereal, fruit and vegetable production dropping for some by half. Massive destruction of irrigation and other infrastructure was also noted by the UN agency.
During its visit, coordinated with both the government and the opposition, to Damascus, Homs and Dara’a, the mission found that wheat and barley production dropped to less than two million tonnes last year- from four to 4.5 million tonnes in normal years.
In addition, the representatives of seven UN humanitarian agencies uncovered that only 45% of the farmers were able to fully harvest their cereal crops, while 14% reported they could not harvest due to insecurity and lack of fuel.
Moreover, the production of poultry, a traditional source of cheap animal protein, has also been severely hit with major farms destroyed in Homs, Hama and Idleb, while vegetable, fruit and olive production declined significantly, at times reaching even 60% of drop.
The situation in the country, but also the one in its agriculture sector, was characterised as ‘urgent’, with the mission concluding that Syria’s rural areas needed primary attention and assistance.
The 22-month conflict has been destructive for the country in many ways. However, it has also turned into a ‘burden’ for the 10 million Syrians who live in rural areas and for 80% deriving their livelihoods from agriculture.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:01 am
zoo said:
Saudi prince: Assad will not flee Syria
Last updated Tue 22 Jan 2013
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-01-22/who-are-these-insurgents-saudi-prince-outline-syria-concerns/
Speaking to ITV News, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal has predicted that Syrian president Bashar Assad will not flee Syria, and that the conflict with drag on for years.
He explained why Western powers are steering clear:
“Who are the insurgents, are they united? Are they extremists? Are they Al Qaeda based? Are they fanatics? Really, we don’t know who they are.
“They have groups there all over the place. That’s why the West, even Saudi Arabia, has not been very aggressive in supporting the insurgents over there.”
more…
=============================
The globe’s richest Arab – and the man who runs a big slice of the world
http://www.itv.com/news/2013-01-22/prince-al-waleed-bin-talal-the-worlds-richest-arab-the-man-who-runs-a-big-slice-of-the-world/
January 23rd, 2013, 11:07 am
zoo said:
Russia offers Syria refugee conference
January 23 2013 at 04:45pm
By Reuters
http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/russia-offers-syria-refugee-conference-1.1457441
Novo-Ogaryovo – Russian President Vladimir Putin offered on Wednesday to host a conference on helping Lebanon and other countries cope with a flood of refugees from Syria.
Putin also said Russia was ready to provide temporary homes, tents, medication and other humanitarian aid during talks with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman outside Moscow.
“We will do our utmost to … sponsor the organisation of an international conference on the refugee problem,” Putin said. “We are ready to offer Moscow as a platform for such a meeting.”
Suleiman said more than 200,000 refugees had fled to Lebanon since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began nearly two years ago, straining Beirut’s budget.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:08 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
Is Assaa AlAkhras in this paramilitary force? or she prefer to stay Akhras may be without the s at the end.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:12 am
sf94123 said:
181- You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:13 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
So Batta is not satisfied enslaving Alawi males to worship his toes, he is now enslaving Alawi females to kill for him? What a pity! While his wife enjoys Loboutin’s spiky shoes at home, he is making Alawi females into monsters. Why doesn’t he get her to wear camouflage and kill for him? Or that role only inclusive to his slaves.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:15 am
zoo said:
Majie
Who is lying? Qatar or I ?
“Estimated US$40m a day is the budget needed by the transitional government to operate, according to a source quoted by Doha News.”
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/qatar-hands-syrian-opposition-20m-486878.html
January 23rd, 2013, 11:15 am
zoo said:
Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/is-qatar-fuelling-the-crisis-in-north-mali.aspx?pageID=238&nid=39591&NewsCatID=357
France 24
Since Islamist groups exploited a military coup in the Malian capital of Bamako in early 2012 to take control of the entire north of the country, accusations of Qatari involvement in a crisis that has seen France deploy troops have been growing.
Last week two French politicians explicitly accused Qatar of giving material support to separatists and Islamists in north Mali, adding fuel to speculation that the Emirate is playing a behind-the-scenes role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism in Africa.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Communist Party Senator Michelle Demessine both said that that Qatar had questions to answer.
“If Qatar is objecting to France’s engagement in Mali it’s because intervention risks destroying Doha’s most fundamentalist allies,” Le Pen said in a statement on her party website, in response to a call by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani for dialogue with the Islamists.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:17 am
zoo said:
#189 tara
The FSA and Al Nusra Sunni slave women fighters (I doubt there’ll be any) won’t certainly need a camouflage, their niqab is much more then enough. They also need their brother or father to accompany them.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:20 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
40 million a day is 14.6 billion a year, for a transitional goverment, are you dumb to believe that?,then again you are.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:24 am
zoo said:
#187 Majie
The FSA “angels” are in serious trouble. Even your twin despises them.
Soon an army of FSA black widows will defect and join Al Nusra.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:27 am
zoo said:
#193 Majie
You think a Qatari newspaper would lie?
January 23rd, 2013, 11:30 am
zoo said:
Egyptian Sunni clerics travel only in first class!
Egypt’s top cleric cancels Saudi trip over economy class seats: official
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/egypts-top-cleric-cancels-saudi-trip-over-economy-class-seats-official
Associated Press
Jan 23, 2013
CAIRO // Cairo airport officials say Egypt’s top Muslim cleric cancelled a visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of its monarch when he discovered that senior delegates travelling with him were assigned economy class seats by their Saudi hosts.
The officials said Sheik Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar – Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning – angrily disembarked from a Saudi-bound airliner shortly before takeoff today and instructed his delegation to follow suit.
Al Tayeb was assigned a first class seat.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/egypts-top-cleric-cancels-saudi-trip-over-economy-class-seats-official#ixzz2IoiWUmlw
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook
January 23rd, 2013, 11:33 am
Visitor said:
“#187 Majie
The FSA “angels” are in serious trouble. Even your twin despises them.
Soon an army of FSA black widows will defect and join Al Nusra.”
How dare this desperate idiot speak on behalf of someone else? Or in fact even put words in someone else’s mouth?
No one despises the FSA. Despise and contempt are directed exclusively towards the criminal regime and those who support it.
But anyway, who are the twins on this forum?
Z Idiot is not only a pathetic idiot. He is a despicable, pathetic, pitiful and silly liar.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:36 am
zoo said:
Series of attacks against Tunisia shrines continues: Sufis accuse Wahhabis
Sufis say another one of their shrines in Tunisia has been torched, pinning blame on foreign-backed Salafists.
Middle East Online http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=56615
35 attacks in seven months
TUNIS – Sufis said on Wednesday that another one of their shrines in Tunisia has been torched, pinning the blame on foreign-backed Salafist ultra-conservative Muslims.
In the 35th such attack in seven months, unidentified assailants on Tuesday night hurled Molotov cocktails at the Sidi Ahmed Uwerfelli shrine in Akuda, 140 kilometres (85 miles) south of Tunis.
“The people behind all the attacks are Wahhabis,” a Salafist branch of Islam rooted in Saudi Arabia, Mazen Sherif, the deputy head of a Sufi union set up to counter the attacks, told a press conference in Tunis.
“This is just the beginning. They will go on to destroy the (Roman) sites in Carthage, El Jem and Duga. Then they will force men to grow beards and women to wear the hijab (full veil),” he said.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:41 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
Nope. Sorry. No one can enslave us. We prefer to wear Loboutin’s shoes and Channel’ handbags and just look pretty. We are not born for this.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:41 am
zoo said:
Visitor
Your own words @154
“The main stream FSA are still the product of corrupt regime and corrupt school, and as we all know they come from the branches of the army that every one ridicules.”
You don’t know who is your twin?
Short memory span or advanced dementia?
January 23rd, 2013, 11:45 am
zoo said:
#199 Tara
“We prefer to wear Loboutin’s shoes and Channel’ handbags and just look pretty”…and shout : Death to Bashar! Freedom for the peasants!
January 23rd, 2013, 11:47 am
habib said:
Will breakdancing be allowed in the “future Syria”?
http://youtu.be/at0iou9XiPM
In fact, will anything other than reciting quranic verses be allowed?
January 23rd, 2013, 11:51 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
Bashar will die ??? ??? ??? would you care to join him?
January 23rd, 2013, 11:52 am
habib said:
72. AIG
Principles? Any Zionist would know that “principles” can be bent for pragmatic purposes.
As for Israel’s future, are you seriously counting on the Gulf states to remain your allies forever? If they turn on you before their oil wealth dries up, you’ll be mince meat.
The by then economically emaciated West will abandon you in a minute, if it means increased investment from the Gulf.
Just see what happened to Syria.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:56 am
Tara said:
Zoo,
Good to know.
I did not know Asma wants Her Batta dead too.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:57 am
Syrian said:
???? ???????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????????? ???? ??????? ????? ???????
?? ????? ?????? ????
????? ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ??? ????????? ???????? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ???????? ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ????… ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ??????? ???????? ?? ?? ???? ????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?? ??????? ??????? ???? ???????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ???.
?????? ????????
???????? ??????
????? ?? ????????? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ???????? ??? ?????? ?????????? [email protected]
Syrian national Coalition statement regarding Salamiyah bomb attacks
23 January 2013
It is with deep grief and sorrow; the Coalition received the news of another explosion that killed dozens of people in the city of Salamiyah. This is another heinous crime that has the fingerprints of the Syrian regime, which continues to try to create a rift between the people of one homeland.
The National Coalition condemns any indiscriminate bombings targeting civilians, wherever they are, and causing loss of life and destruction in our cities and towns. This is a dirty game that has been mastered by the regime and displayed by its crime-tainted history, both inside and outside Syria, which has created an endless list of victims and martyrs everywhere.
We extend our sincere condolences to the mourning families in Salamiyah and all across Syria. Every precious drop of Syrian blood is a huge loss to us and to the homeland and its people. It is the price paid for freedom and the result of a strategy by a criminal regime that is trying to push the homeland into dark tunnels to hold on power in any form.
Media Office
National Coalition
January 23rd, 2013, 12:01 pm
Visitor said:
@200 the pathetic liar in the Zoo,
I cannot identify more stupid comment than this one of yours which stands at the 200 position.
You see, the term ??? ??? ????? applies only to that part of the so-called army which has not defected. Once, the soldier defects he becomes an FSA soldier, PRODUCT of the corrupt, despicable and contemptuous regime, but he will be in the process of rehabilitation to becoming a good soldier and servant of the Syrian people. But that is not the case for every defector because most of them, according to what I said, are good soldiers and only few suffer from this deficiency inherited as explained.
But as everyone already observed your idiocy and stupidity knows no limits.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:21 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BUP3tMckXQY
the rats to Qurdaha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f8q5ocsksuY
Futuwwa girls
January 23rd, 2013, 12:39 pm
zoo said:
Visitor
I am sure you too suffer from “this deficiency inherited”
Your posts full of insults and absurdities show a level of education and intelligence rarely attained by monkeys.
January 23rd, 2013, 12:42 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Assad rats from Qurdaha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BUP3tMckXQY
female rats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f8q5ocsksuY
Futuwwa girls
January 23rd, 2013, 12:47 pm
zoo said:
Tara
Sorry, I forgot you are a simple country girl who love “peasants”
January 23rd, 2013, 12:52 pm
zoo said:
In Davos, Davutoglu threats and whines.. The usual Turkish lukum..
http://www.timesofisrael.com/turkey-syrian-bombardment-of-citizens-a-war-crime/
“There should be a clear signal to the Syrian regime that what they have been doing, bombarding cities by airplanes, is a war crime,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in Davos, adding that he expected the UN Security Council to step in “to stop this bloodshed.”
“People are dying in Syria … How long will we wait? … The silence of the international community is killing people,” he added.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Ann Amos joined Davutoglu in projecting a sense of urgency.
“The humanitarian situation in Syria is already catastrophic and it’s clearly getting worse,” said Amos. “What we are seeing now are the consequences of the failure of the international community to unite to resolve the crisis.”
January 23rd, 2013, 12:56 pm
Visitor said:
The desperate Zoo dweller @207,
I didn’t know that I am here to present any credentials or impress others until you told me!!
And who am I going to present all that to?
I am dealing with the likes of you, and there is only one way to talk to such dimwits which is the language they understand. Do you not realize how frustrating it is to explain to you and the few robots just simple basic English? It is foolishness to assume that you can handle any higher level than that. Besides, I cannot spend my time on this forum 24/7, like some, just to walk idiots through intricate and pathetic forms of polemical discourse when they cannot even handle the basics.
———————————————–
Good videos MajedK @209
January 23rd, 2013, 1:08 pm
Tara said:
In regard to Majed’s linking #209
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=f8q5ocsksuY
How about weight loss camp first?
Also, shouldn’t their trainer shave her mustache first before appearing on TV? Or Mustaches for female Shabeehat al Assad are encouraged? I would definitely be intimated by women with mustache. Any age criteria? Or is it limited to middle–age overweight women?
January 23rd, 2013, 1:17 pm
zoo said:
Scolded by Russia, the pathetic, penniless and powerless Syrian coca-lition urges the rebels to stop the fights in Ras Al Ain.
“In Ras al-Ain in the Kurdish northeast, battles raged between Kurdish militia and Islamist rebels, the Observatory said, adding that more than 58 people have been killed in a week of fierce fighting there.
The main opposition Syrian National Coalition, which has been recognised by dozens of states and organisations as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, said it has contacted rebel leaders in the area, urging them to stop the fighting.”
January 23rd, 2013, 1:19 pm
zoo said:
????? ????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??????? – ???? 102 ?? ?????? “??????” ?? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??????
January 23rd, 2013, 1:28 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Tara
they are ex convicts
January 23rd, 2013, 1:42 pm
sami said:
Zoo Said:
“The attack on the University by the rebels appear to be one more desperate and cynical attempt to divert the attention from the serious beating the rebels are getting in the suburbs.”
Hmmmmm, I wonder how our favourite spinster will spin this one?
http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2013/1/23/syria-exclusive-proving-the-assad-jet-fighters-attack-on-ale.html
Oh btw how is Darayya doing after the “cleanup and disinfection”? Or did your Assadi army fail to clean it up for the umpteenth time…
And just for you a new article by your (and Jad’s) favourite journalist:
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/the_civil_war_within_the_civil_war
January 23rd, 2013, 1:50 pm
Observer said:
I wonder whether any one read the post before commenting.
I actually liked the exchange between AIG and Habib illustrating how the later has refused to answer any of the points made by AIG on the basis of his Zionist credentials
I have found similar complete blind refusal to see the point of the other in my own circle of friends. Some for example demonize the Persians and Iranians and Shia in one swoop and the others are also demonizing the MB FSA NC and the GCC.
There is no way out without dismantling the security house of cards and the regime mafia structure. I do not care what comes next and it may be chaos but as long as the present regime remains intact there is no way there will be any progress. The stumbling block has to be removed.
Russia is slowly bailing out of the situation. The Iranians are going to hemorrhage slowly as well.
ZOO quotes Wolfwoitz in today’s WSJ article stating that the lack of an effective US policy in Syria is leaving the door open for a radical resistance movement that will come back to bite the US in the future. So let us have the West intervene on behalf of the Athad regime or so I believe he is insinuating.
But oh wait I thought that the FSA is finished and the NC is history and the Salafists are going to be bombed and gased and destroyed by his glorious SAA with its superior ideological struggle against the Imperial Designs of the West spearheaded by the twin Evils of Israel and the US.
I mean can’t these people realize how ridiculous they are?
I think they need a phone book to confer with each other first before posting; and an iPad to play along; and an Opera house to play third rate plays; and a tax free shopping mall; and pictures of the retard to adorn their sleezy offices.
Cheers and Justice for Hamza
January 23rd, 2013, 1:53 pm
Sami said:
Something else for the callous to try to spin as false or put quotation marks above it as if it never happened…
Syrian government has pattern of attacking bakeries, bread lines
By Roy Gutman and Paul Raymond | McClatchy Newspapers
ISTANBUL — After a week without bread, people in the small central Syrian town of Halfaya got word two days before Christmas that a shipment of flour had arrived at the main bakery, prompting several hundred to queue up for the staple of life in the war-ravaged land.
For the Syrian air force, it was a moment of lethal opportunity. Soon, a Sukhoi-22 ground attack plane flew over the bakery and dropped eight bombs, each filled with cluster bomblets. The first struck 150 feet from the bakery, but the second was a direct hit on the bread line, killing at least 68 people, witnesses said.
“More than one bomb went off, and lots of smaller explosions. I couldn’t count the number, there were so many,” said Samer al Hamwi, a local activist. “I saw body parts from 200 meters. When I got closer, I saw people in front of the bakery all piled on top of each other. Blood and body parts were everywhere.”
The Halfaya massacre was only one of scores of artillery or air attacks on bread lines and bakeries last year, according to data McClatchy has compiled from multiple Syrian sources.
Two Syrian opposition groups say government forces have attacked bread lines and bakeries at least 100 times, causing hundreds of casualties and in most cases destroying the bakeries. A McClatchy investigation found another source for 80 of those attacks, either from videos posted on YouTube at the time of each attack or from subsequent interviews with eyewitnesses, activists and municipal council officials.
The attacks couldn’t have been inadvertent: At least 14 bakeries were targeted more than once, in some instances four or five times over months.
A spokesman for the U.N.’s high commissioner for human rights said the findings suggested a government strategy, and he called for an end to such attacks.
“The number of reported attacks on bakeries and bread lines is extraordinarily high and, if verified on anything like this scale, it would suggest that this cannot be accidental,” Rupert Colville told McClatchy. “If such attacks are indeed proved to be systematic or widespread targeting of civilian populations, then they may amount to both crimes against humanity and war crimes. All parties must halt all such attacks.”
[…]
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/01/21/180376/syrian-government-has-pattern.html#storylink=cpy
January 23rd, 2013, 1:53 pm
Syrian said:
From Ziad Alsoufi FB , the #1 teller of Latakia Shabiha stories
.??? ????? ?? ??????..
???? ????? ? ????…
??? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ?????? ? ?????? ?????? ? ???? ?????..
?? ?????? ? ???? ??????.. ? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ????????? ?????? ??? ??????..
??? ????? ?? ??????..
????? ? ????? ? ????…
http://www.facebook.com/ziad.alsoufi
January 23rd, 2013, 2:03 pm
zoo said:
#277 Sami
No need for Scotland Yard or UN investigator, welcome to the new war investigator: Mr Twitter
January 23rd, 2013, 2:06 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
LOL, Scolded by Russia, as if the FSA gives a hamster’s ass for Russia.
Retard#2 has no clue as to the major backlash from within the revolutionary forces against the misguided, inappropriate, and foolish fight in Aljazira area. But of course, Batta’s retards can not even fathom an organization being criticized by its own stakeholders and incubator same as their grand-retard can not fathom not having a god-leader for his majesty to confer with and does not believe that the revolution has intellectuals.
As for the female forces of the grand-retard… wonderful, now he is going exactly in the foot step of Qaddafi… I always wondered what was missing.
That said, there is very good reason for these fighters to joing batta’s forces. They get paid for two jobs while standing and chattering about their adorable grand-retard.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:08 pm
zoo said:
Sami @219
If… then it may be a war crime ….
We heard that song very often. It’s getting boring
January 23rd, 2013, 2:10 pm
zoo said:
#217 Sami
Voice of despair in Daraya
January 23rd, 2013, 2:19 pm
zoo said:
#219 Sami
War crimes:
The chemicals, the clusters bombs, the gas, now the bakeries, what’s next?
January 23rd, 2013, 2:21 pm
revenire said:
SAMI rat bakeries should be bombed. I can’t see any good reason why the FSA vermin should eat. Starve them, bomb them, gas them – as long as they die.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:24 pm
zoo said:
Qatar Leaks: The Business of Foreign Affairs
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/qatar-leaks-business-foreign-affairs
…
As for the third document, it also contains minutes of a meeting, this time between the Qatari Crown Prince Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and foreign minister Davuto?lu.
In it, the foreign minister stresses the importance of not allowing Assad to complete his term in office, which ends in 2014, because he will use it to defeat the opposition.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:28 pm
Sami said:
“No need for Scotland Yard or UN investigator, welcome to the new war investigator: Mr Twitter”
And the wheels keep on spinning, one can say the master spinner has risen to the occasion and tried to spin this away, except he did not succeed:
http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2013/1/23/syria-exclusive-proving-the-assad-jet-fighters-attack-on-ale.html
It would help if you got past the first paragraph…
Speaking of the UN investigators what do you have to say regarding their investigation of the Houla massacre?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/aug/15/un-inquiry-syrian-arab-republic
A link just in case you need a reminder…
January 23rd, 2013, 2:28 pm
Tara said:
Relishing on YouTube link documenting the bombardment of Daryya by air?
What is next?
January 23rd, 2013, 2:28 pm
Visitor said:
Bashar in the foot steps of zanga zanga no-where-to-go-the-sewer-is-waiting,
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/929ea490-b534-4674-9898-c5457e452866?GoogleStatID=1
No more men to trust for protection, Qadhafi also replaced all his guards by imported women.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:29 pm
Sami said:
“#217 Sami
Voice of despair in Daraya”
And what you celebrate that voice of despair?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnaSXiBaIhE&feature=player_embedded
And for the record unlike you I don’t celebrate seeing that tank in ruins, nothing can be more shameful than seeing the tanks and men that swore to protect my country turn their barrels at my country. All for Assad, ya khasarah…
January 23rd, 2013, 2:33 pm
zoo said:
#228 SAmi
These are journalist investigations. There has been no official and impartial investigation on this massacre and many others. Journalists are not impartial and there has been many conflicting versions. We may never know the truth of this and many other massacres.
In Lebanon, 20 years later, the perpetrators of many massacres during the civil war have not been identified.
Until there is a impartial and professional investigation, these kind of accusations, like the accusations on Syria in the murder of Hariri that filled the media headlines for months, are spectacular but there are just suspicions and are legally worthless.
So please don’t use the media as is they were prosecutors and their articles infallible proofs.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:41 pm
Sami said:
Speaking of Chemical weapons….
Secret Syria chemical weapons cable revealed
Posted By Josh Rogin
Last week, The Cable reported on the contents of a secret State Department cable that conveyed evidence of the Syrian government’s use of an unknown chemical agent against its own people last month.
The Cable has since obtained the text of the original cable, which includes new details about the consulate’s investigation into the incident that killed seven civilians in the besieged city of Homs on Dec. 23. The cable confirms several aspects of our original report, but also shows that the cable was less conclusive than our previous item suggested.
“A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month,” The Cable wrote. A U.S. official further told The Cable that the document made a “compelling case” that lethal poison gas was used.
The State Department and the White House disputed that contention, and the cable itself, signed by the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, Scott Frederic Kilner, notes that the consulate staff could not say definitively if chemical weapons were used in Homs last month.
It does, however, say that after their own investigation, State Department officers were able to confirm the basic facts of the deadly attack in Homs.
“On December 23, [Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO)] implementing partner ARK reported through their media project BASMA on a possible chemical weapons attack in Homs, Syria,” the secret cable stated. “This is the first time fighters from Homs, who are fighting to break a three month long siege of the city, had come across such a possible attack. The suspected attack was originally reported by doctors receiving patients exhibiting symptoms of chemical exposure.”
“CSO officers spoke with three contacts, including a former Chief of Staff of the Syrian Arab Republic Government (SARG) chemical weapons arsenal, and confirmed the events and the symptoms and the number of casualties. CSO is not able to definitely say whether chemical weapons were in fact used in the December 23 attack.”
The cable says that BASMA reported an odorless and colorless gas was dispersed in three areas in Homs: the Old City, Al Bayda, and Al Khalidiya. BASMA couldn’t confirm the delivery method because the gas was dispersed at night and caused mass confusion. Initial reports said a regime ground vehicle was the delivery method, but later reports said a number of short range missiles were fired into rebel-controlled civilian areas, the cable states.
[…]
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/01/22/secret_syria_chemical_weapons_cable_revealed?wp_login_redirect=0
I am not sure if the regime actually used what can be classified as WMDs in Homs, however I cannot deny the possibility if the regime is pressed enough it would not hesitate to do so.
Is the cable proof beyond a shadow of the doubt, no. Especially with the contradictory medication administered to the victims, however in the fog of war these different accounts give credence to the argument that the regime did actually use it.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:42 pm
zoo said:
#231
I am not celebrating anything. You were asking about the situation in Daraya.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:43 pm
Sami said:
Zoo that is the ACTUAL REPORT by the UN in the guardian link, NOT a journalists take of it…
January 23rd, 2013, 2:43 pm
zoo said:
#233 Sami
Again … a media scoop? The US and France officially denied any chemical was used.
You are the gullible type obviously..
January 23rd, 2013, 2:46 pm
Sami said:
Some people need reading glasses…
This time in bold so they wont miss it this time around:
I am not sure if the regime actually used what can be classified as WMDs in Homs, however I cannot deny the possibility if the regime is pressed enough it would not hesitate to do so.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:48 pm
zoo said:
Sami
Give me a break.. I am wasting my time. Have you read the text or you relied on the Guardian scoopy headline?
Read page 10 B
It says that the commission was unable to determine who came to the homes and killed the Houla citizens at point blank….
( I can’t copy the full paragraph)
It also says that the rebels committed war crimes too..
So please stop these futile accusations.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:54 pm
revenire said:
@228 SAMI James Miller and the rest of the nuts at “Enduring America” are worse than useless. Miller called for NATO to bomb Syria a year ago and also wrongly said a No-Fly Zone would be imposed. He hates Syria (and Iran). It’s garbage. He said he consulted “weapons experts” and he means Brown Moses and other like-minded fools. Please spare us this trash.
@229 If there are still rats alive in Daryya they should be bombed into oblivion. To Hell.
January 23rd, 2013, 2:57 pm
zoo said:
@237
“the regime is pressed enough it would not hesitate to do so.”
Pressed by who? you?
January 23rd, 2013, 3:04 pm
revenire said:
SAMI if they used WMDs in Homs so what? A bullet can be a WMD. A can of petrol can be a WMD.
My peace plan involves giving 24 hour notice for all civilians to leave areas where the rats use them as human shields. Our army checkpoints will search those leaving and arrest those who are suspicious i.e. having an ape-like rodent appearance. Then our glorious air force will start the bombing. I mean the big stuff too (which has not been used so far): Scuds, Iranian missiles, gas, Massive Ordnance Penetrators – “the mother of all bombs,” the kitchen sink, barrel bombs, cluster bombs, etc. After 2-3 weeks of round-the-clock bombardment the war will be over and we can rebuild.
My plan is called the “Save Syrian Lives Campaign” named in honor of the feckless United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. I don’t want a Nobel Peace Prize for proposing this plan and will refuse one if I am awarded. The eradication of tens of thousands of terrorists is reward enough.
Mr. President give the order. Your soldiers await your command.
January 23rd, 2013, 3:21 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
SAMI, you may find useful this (reposted) snippet from George Dvorsky, via Syria Comment highlighted new round-up source, Jacob Wolinsky**.
As ANN might say, the implications are “amuzing.”
I have been using the 12 (and studying the full list at Wikipedia) in an attempt to understand and analyze my own cognitive errors due to bias. The two I highlight below are the number one and number two for a reason.
[and, yes, REVENIRE, I am drunk again, smashed out of my mind, unable to type or do anything but mumble my way into traffic. And I am also Marie of Roumania …]*
12 Cognitive Biases That Prevent People From Being Rational
___________________
** I gave a headsup to Wolinsky on Twitter, asked him if he ever copy-edits his finance-wonk blog, and received a ‘block’ in return.
* Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,
And I am Marie of Roumania.
January 23rd, 2013, 3:22 pm
Sami said:
yes I have read the report, here is a short summary by the UNHRC:
The 102-page report, mandated by the Human Rights Council, underlines that such violations were committed pursuant to State policy pointing to the involvement at the highest levels of the armed and security forces and the Government.
The report also updates the CoI findings on its special inquiry into the events in Al-Houla on 25 May 2012 concluding that Government forces and Shabbiha fighters were responsible for the killings of over 100 civilians, nearly half of whom were children.
The Commission further reports that war crimes, including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, were perpetrated by anti-Government armed groups. However these violations and abuses were not of the same gravity, frequency and scale as those committed by Government forces and the Shabbiha.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/PRCoISyria15082012_en.pdf
And the wheels keep on spinning…
And yes Zoo, the regime is sooo scared of evuuul Sami in Montreal…
January 23rd, 2013, 3:23 pm
sami said:
WSS,
There is no rational in the blinders put on by folks (from both sides of the divide).
What sense is there in bringing someones father in a personal attack on a commentator, or the wife of another?
Is hate going to be the only lasting legacy Syrians will be left with?
January 23rd, 2013, 3:37 pm
Tara said:
Dear William,
“. A cognitive bias, on the other hand, is a genuine deficiency or limitation in our thinking — a flaw in judgment that arises from…. social attribution,…”
Outstanding. That explains it all. Any cure or is it hopeless?
January 23rd, 2013, 3:49 pm
Tara said:
Sami,
I am glad you are not gracing the troll with a response. That is the way to do it. I wish MarigoldRan does the same. He should not be allowed to always hijack the thread.
January 23rd, 2013, 3:53 pm
MarigoldRan said:
It’s a matter of psychology.
As long as the regime stands, the war continues. The regime is politically dead. Iran can keep it on life support with billions of dollars of aid, but it can’t end the war.
EDIT:
@ Sami
Yes.
January 23rd, 2013, 3:55 pm
MarigoldRan said:
This will be a long war, but the outcome is pretty much determined already. Iran and the Alawites in Syria (and a minority of Sunni supporters) are fighting an eternal war against the majority Sunnis.
Remember, this is only the end of the first year of fighting. There are many more years of fighting to come and both Syria and Iran will be bled white. The rebels aren’t going to negotiate. When the children in the refugee camps grow up, their families are going to send them into what was formerly known as Syria to fight too.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:04 pm
revenire said:
“When the children in the refugee camps grow up, their families are going to send them into what was formerly known as Syria to fight too.”
Decades long? LOL
Marigoldran rather than your newspaper delivery job I feel you should volunteer for the FSA. You seem like you have the right stuff.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:07 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The generally established position on this blog is that the side a person chooses to support is heavily determined by psychology.
Well-adjusted productive people are on average vehemently against the regime. Their counterparts, however, cannot be said to be the same.
Poking a despicable person with a verbal stick is an amusing pastime, especially if the person deserves it. But in the end even that is a cruel pastime. We should take pity on the less fortunate minds in our society.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:11 pm
habib said:
If Afghanistan, Libya, Mali and Algeria haven’t taught the West a lesson by now, I give Europe max 50 years before it becomes absorbed by the Caliphate.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:35 pm
revenire said:
Monkeys were screaming that Russia was packing their bags but we find once again it was all a dream.
“Evacuation plans have been made for all countries, but there’s no need to carry them out, because the current situation in Syria doesn’t require this,” Mr. Lavrov said.
http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_23/Moscow-not-scaling-down-Russian-embassy-staff-in-Damascus-Lavrov/
January 23rd, 2013, 4:42 pm
Citizen said:
Russia warns Israel, West against attack on Iran
http://news.yahoo.com/russia-warns-israel-west-against-attack-iran-101926101.html
Russia warned Israel and the West on Wednesday against any military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities but suggested Tehran should be quicker to cooperate over inspections of its nuclear sites.
Speaking at his annual news conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov mixed words of caution over isolating Iran or attacking it with a gentle nudge to Tehran over the inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran, Russia sign security agreement
http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2110781.html
Iran and Russia have signed a joint security agreement today in Tehran, Mehr news agency reported.
The agreement was signed by Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
Kolokoltsev arrived in Tehran on Sunday, leading the Russian delegation of official diplomats.
The sides discussed the issues of fighting the terrorism, drug dealing, and other problems of mutual interest.
Najjar highly assessed Russia’s stance against the Western sanctions imposed on Iran for its nuclear program.
The United States, Israel and some of their allies suspect Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.
‘Don’t buy our oil? To hell with you,’ Ahmadinejad says in remarks aimed at West; oil embargo won’t stop nuclear program, he adds
January 23rd, 2013, 4:44 pm
zoo said:
Revenire
I agree. He fits the profile perfectly. But we will miss his interesting comments.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:45 pm
revenire said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9LAAQPTL588
????? – ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????????
🙂
January 23rd, 2013, 4:45 pm
revenire said:
Even USATODAY reported the Saudis sending criminals to kill Syrians.
Report: Saudis sent death-row inmates to fight Syria
Secret memo says more than 1,200 prisoners fought Assad regime to avoid beheading.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/21/saudi-inmates-fight-syria-commute-death-sentences/1852629/
Saudi Arabia has sent death-row inmates from several nations to fight against the Syrian government in exchange for commuting their sentences, the Assyrian International News Agency reports.
Citing what it calls a “top secret memo” in April from the Ministry of Interior, AINA says the Saudi offered 1,239 inmates a pardon and a monthly stipend for their families, which were were allowed to stay in the Sunni Arab kingdom. Syrian President Bashar Assad is an Alawite, a minority Shiite sect.
According to an English translation of the memo, besides Saudis, the prisoners included Afghans, Egyptians, Iraqis, Jordanians, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, Palestinians, Somalis, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis. All faced “execution by sword” for murder, rape or drug smuggling.
Russia, which has backed Assad, objected to the bargain and allegedly threatened to bring the issue to the United Nations, said an unidentified former Iraqi member of Parliament who confirmed the memo’s authenticity, says AINA, an independent outlet.
“Initially Saudi Arabia denied the existence of this program. But the testimony of the released prisoners forced the Saudi government to admit, in private circles, its existence,” AINA writes. “The Saudis agreed to stop their clandestine activities and work towards finding a political solution on condition that knowledge of this program would not be made public.”
AINA also published the original Arabic memo.
The report mentions that most of the 23 Iraqi prisoners returned home, as did an unspecified number of Yemenis. But AINA does not indicate the fates of the remaining inmates or how many may have been killed, wounded or captured.
Assyrians, the builders of Mesopotamian civilizations, are a semitic people indigenous to northern Iraq. They are ethnically distinct from Arabs and Jews, and are generally Christians. Assyria dominated the Middle East in the first millennium BCE.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:47 pm
revenire said:
LOL WOW THIS IS A THING OF BEAUTY!
?????? ???????? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ????
This is what I am talking about. Start this every place the rats are and don’t let up. 2-3 weeks later it will be all over.
We have plenty of ammunition from Iran and Russia.
Give the order Mr. President!
January 23rd, 2013, 4:48 pm
revenire said:
http://leaks.syrian-es.org/en/site/index
The new SEA leaks site. Looks nice. Good work boys.
January 23rd, 2013, 4:50 pm
Richard said:
Armed opposition groups appeared to have deliberately destroyed religious sites in mixed areas of Northern Syria, in November and December 2012, Human Rights Watch said following investigations in Latakia and Idlib governorates. An armed opposition group destroyed a Shia place of worship in Idlib governorate, and two Christian churches in Latakia governorate were looted. In all three cases evidence examined by Human Rights Watch suggests, and witnesses stated, that the attacks took place after the area fell to opposition control and government forces had left the area.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/01/23/syria-attacks-religious-sites-raise-tensions
January 23rd, 2013, 4:55 pm
revenire said:
Al-Akhbar has started to publish the hacked documents. Read about the foreign conspiracy against Syria.
Qatar Leaks: The Business of Foreign Affairs
Al-Akhbar publishes leaked minutes from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs that have Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu and Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi discussing regional affairs – from Russia’s involvement in Syria to Gaddafi’s fall – with Qatari officials.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/qatar-leaks-business-foreign-affairs
Looks like Assad has been right all along. Such a shame for enemies of Syria this information has come out.
January 23rd, 2013, 5:19 pm
Hanzala said:
Very heavy losses for Assad regime last few days all over Syria, I don’t know how long the regime will be able to take this assault. The regime and its supporters have claimed to have taken Dariya for the hundredth time now. It’s getting silly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpS5zPa4_j0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s6kTg9oPUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsXWn_zPYvc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df0PPiEH7QY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGEFUmC0hNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfFgXWhHea4
January 23rd, 2013, 5:36 pm
revenire said:
Hanzala I heard the war is over and Assad fled.
January 23rd, 2013, 5:52 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Thank you Hanzala, that made feel good, wow I wish the same fate for Bashar and Assad thugs in Syria and everywhere
January 23rd, 2013, 5:53 pm
Visitor said:
260 Hanzala,
Great work!!
Especially the first video.
January 23rd, 2013, 5:55 pm
revenire said:
Clinton: A ‘Pandora’s Box’ of weapons in North Africa
Here’s a good question from Democratic Benjamin Cardin: How does the US make sure that weapons it pours into conflicts like the Libyan revolution don’t spread to places like Algeria and beyond?
“We had a concerted effort to try to track down and find and recover ManPads” and other weapons in Libya, Clinton says.
“The vast majority of weapons came out of Ghadafi warehouses,” she says. Some weapons spread throughout the region, including to Syria.
“This Pandora’s box of weapons coming out of these countries in MENA” is a threat, she says.
“There’s no doubt that the Algerian terrorists had weapons from Libya. There’s no doubts that the Malian remnants of AQIM had weapons from Libya.”
January 23rd, 2013, 6:06 pm
Baran said:
The troll has been isolated. Good work! He thrives for attention. He will fade away in no time and troll somewhere else.
January 23rd, 2013, 6:16 pm
Syrian said:
One of the women who wore brides cloth and carried signs in Medhat Basha and got arrested then got out with Iranian prisoners exchange,tell thier story
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?? ???? ?????
????? ??????? ???????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ????? ????
??????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? …??? ????? ???
??? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ??????? ??????? ???????
???? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ???????
???????? …. ???? ?? ?????? ???????
???? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????
???? ????? ???? ?? ?????? ??? 50 ???? ????? ??? ??????…!!!!
( ??? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ?????? ??? (?? ?????? )
????
January 23rd, 2013, 6:21 pm
omen said:
171. Visitor said: I do not think that any of the fighting groups is right now capable of stretching itself to cover every major city and town in Syria. But the time will come where you will see operations in 7Homs and even in the coastal cities.
i’m not talking about every city. homs has been under seige for over 200 days and nusra has ignored its plight. why focus on the coastal cities? isn’t capture of damascus the main goal? why is nusra expending energy battling kurds when homs is suffering daily massacres?
via michael weiss:
yet, in interviews with nusra, members pledge minorities had nothing to fear, citing the prophet had jewish neighbors. is this true? which is the case? nothing to fear? or takfiri politics? why the hunger to go after the coastal regions? there are homegrown rebels already there, who know the region, who know the people. why not leave the area up to them to handle?
January 23rd, 2013, 6:28 pm
revenire said:
Michael Weiss of the Jackson Society has advocated overthrowing the government of Syria for nearly a decade. He also wants to overthrow the governments of Iran and Russia.
He is not a credible source of information.
January 23rd, 2013, 6:42 pm
Visitor said:
# 267,
Why do you keep referring to parts and pieces of comments and take them out of context?
The question you ask as to why this or that city is not defended by Nusra or any other group is irrelevant at this point in time. This is a war of attrition and there will be many ups and downs until the war is finally won, the criminals evicted from Damascus and brought to justice.
The main point in my reply to you was not what you quoted. I wanted to highlight the strategy used by Nusra, in particular, in order to achieve the ultimate goal. That strategy is the best strategy to follow, in my opinion, and it is clearly bearing fruits by exhausting the regime and isolating its main bases and military units for eventual take over.
7Homs and other cities will have their turns in due time and they will be liberated.
Weiss’s article is a piece of crap. He is simply rehashing what has been circulating in the media as misinformation and propaganda promoted mainly by the US as a result of its misguided policy of labelling the most effective fighting force in Syria as so-called terrorist. I can quote you at least three or four such articles that are presenting the same themes and sometimes copying verbatim from each other, but I have no time now to search for the links. Believe me they are out there. We should not fall into such schemes which the regime would love us to all into. Basically, they are saying Syria is Iraq in 2006. This is complete bull. In fact even Iraq is now following in the footsteps of the Syrian revolution.
Excuse me, I have lots to do and may not be able to follow. But I’ll check from time to time.
January 23rd, 2013, 6:46 pm
Juergen said:
Is this Assads “Volkssturm”?
Assad recruits women now, as male recruiting dries up
When will he give weapons to 70 year olds and to teenagers?
The euphemism of the newly named: National Defence Forces suggest such.
This is the best sign this regime has exeeded their means.
January 23rd, 2013, 7:04 pm
revenire said:
Juergen yes, it’s all over. Again. You’ve only said the same thing 1000 times.
If women want guns to shoot dogs why not? What can it hurt?
January 23rd, 2013, 7:07 pm
omen said:
269. visitor, all i asked for is clarification. if you had faith in nusra, you wouldn’t hesitate to say minority civilians have nothing to fear.
you think i rely on one source? freehalab has pointed out three
shia mosques have been destroyed already. is he western propaganda?
January 23rd, 2013, 7:10 pm
Juergen said:
Dylan Thomas official video for his new song
“Syria The Healer”
January 23rd, 2013, 7:19 pm
Juergen said:
Reve
I always have this question in my head when I meet loyalists of Assad living outside of happy Assadistan, most of them in the “evil” Anti Assad empire. Ever thought of joining the shrinking masses to protect Assad? Assad needs you there!
January 23rd, 2013, 7:24 pm
zoo said:
Is Turkey getting worried to become the target of the same Jihadists they have allowed to cross to Syria?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/jihadists-in-syria-and-western-targets-in-turkey.aspx?pageID=449&nID=39713&NewsCatID=419
As the civil war in Syria continues, many Jihadist candidates – not only from Turkey but around the world – sign up for fighting. It is possible to observe the speed of this enlistment process and the basic motivation of the candidates on the internet.
Certainly they are not going to Syria for democracy-building. It seems that the Western discourse built around the image of the dictator Assad is very different from the Jihadists’ stories on the battlefield.
In the near future, the West and Turkey will have to face a serious Jihadist challenge, regardless of the outcome of the Syrian civil war.
Reasons for this are as follows: First, the Turkey-Syria, Syria-Lebanon and Syria-Jordan borders are not being controlled. Arms and armed militants can come and go easily. Secondly, the state authority in Syria is weakening. Thirdly, jihadists are becoming more local. Local network-building continues unfettered and they are more capable of enlisting Turkish citizens. Fourthly, Turkey is full of Western targets of the kind that whets the Jihadist appetite.
Remember the 2003 bombings of the HSBC Bank, two synagogues and the British consulate. Finally, the Turkish government’s hatred of Assad causes it to tolerate the radical opposition in Syria.
January 23rd, 2013, 7:25 pm
Visitor said:
272,
Well, I gave you the clarification. But you cannot make such assumptions. I have been pointing this flaw in your way of discussing for the last week or so, but you keep doing it. How can you tell what is in my mind if I didn’t say it? That is bad in a discussion!!
But if it makes feel better, then I would say it: Minorities have nothing to feel from Nusra.
Freehalab used to post here but it’s been a while. He has his opinion. But for him, the issue is not simply minorities. It is something else.
There is no time for that and certainly not here.
January 23rd, 2013, 7:26 pm
Juergen said:
comedy has hit Assads “Volkssturm”
new video of Aleppo University bombing shows second explosion quite clearly, experts should examine those pictures, but I assume it doesnt need rocket scientists to figure out what happend
January 23rd, 2013, 7:31 pm
zoo said:
When is Sayda the Kurd from the Cocalition going to Syria to stop the civil war Kurds-Arab? Or maybe he was sent to Bakkourland?
Syrian opposition warns of Kurdish-Arab civil war in northern region
(Xinhua) http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/8104951.html
07:05, January 24, 2013
DAMASCUS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) — A Syrian opposition group at home has warned of a Kurdish-Arab civil war due to the raging battles between Syrian Kurds and armed rebels in northern Syria, at a time when the Human Rights Watch blamed the rebels of infringing upon minorities’ properties.
The National Coordination Committees, the main opposition group inside Syria, said in a statement Wednesday that the northeastern region of Syria has been witnessing “painful incidents” and “dire consequences” that could eventually lead to a Kurdish-Arab civil war due to the ongoing fights to control posts and areas in that slice of Syria.
The statement came against the backdrop of the simmering violence that has engulfed the border town of Ras al-Ein in Syria’ s northeastern province of Hasaka. The rebels, streaming from neighboring Turkey, have been pushing to control that strategic Kurdish-dominated town, but fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have so far kept them from storming the town.
Scores of people have been killed due to the fights there, amid reports that the rebels are using great firepower in the area in order to push in.
January 23rd, 2013, 7:35 pm
Tara said:
War crime charge call against Syria
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Syria’s bombardment of its citizens should be declared a war crime, Turkey’s foreign minister told the World Economic Forum.
“There should be a clear signal to the Syrian regime that what they have been doing, bombarding cities by airplanes, is a war crime,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, adding that he expected the UN Security Council to step in “to stop this bloodshed”.
“People are dying in Syria … How long will we wait? … The silence of the international community is killing people,” he added.
“What’s happening in Syria goes beyond tragedy,” said Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal, a former intelligence chief and ambassador to the United States. “It is truly a shameful situation where the world sits by and people are being killed every day, and nobody is ready to put a stop to it.”
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/war-crime-charge-call-against-syria-16265170.html
January 23rd, 2013, 7:47 pm
omen said:
276. visitor: But if it makes feel better, then I would say it: Minorities have nothing to feel from Nusra.
yay!
?
January 23rd, 2013, 7:47 pm
Tara said:
The truth finally came out and the regime exposed again.The regime bombarded the University of Aleppo to kill as many students as possible. And this is from the Guadian.
– Aleppo University attack
A new video has emerged that seems to show a large missile hitting the University of Aleppo in the devastating attack that killed an estimated 87 people last week.
The video casts serious doubt on the Syrian government’s claims – backed up by Russia – that the attack on the university was the work of opposition rebels.
I just spoke to my colleague Martin Chulov, who was reporting from Aleppo at the time. He said of the rebel groups: “They simply don’t have a missile of that type.”
James Miller on the Enduring America blog, in a piece analysing the video in detail, says it has consulted “a group of arms specialists and military experts” who agree that “the insurgents do not have any weapons this advanced”:
No RPG or shoulder-fired missile has this destructive power. It is unlikely that a vehicle-mounted SAM could do this level of damage, and it is even less likely that such a weapon was in range. The insurgents have also not been seen with GRAD rockets or any other long-range surface-to-surface or surface-to-air missile that is capable of this kind of damage.
This series of images from the video seems to show the missile coming in from the top-right at an extremely high angle.
Enduring America’s Miller writes:
Here’s what the evidence suggests. A regime jet fighter lined up on the main street that leads south to north through the centre of Aleppo and fired a missile. The plane then circled, lined up on the boulevard again, and fired a second missile three minutes later.
While the evidence clearly supports this conclusion, it also raises a disturbing question. The precision of the two strikes suggests that this was a deliberate target – a clearly non-military target – with explosions designed to have maximum impact. Did at least some of the command structure of the Syrian military, and not just the individual pilot, have knowledge of this mission? If so, was the goal was to kill as many students as possible and then – using the quick reaction of the Syrian media – blame this attack on the insurgents?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/jan/23/netanyahu-wins-israeli-general-election-live-updates#block-50ffb71295cb78836619ab95
January 23rd, 2013, 7:56 pm
Sami said:
Tara,
I was extremely angry in the past, until the unfortunate circumstances that added people I love to the list of the fallen. Killed for either trying to help their fellow Syrians that are getting killed and bombarded by the Assads or the other trying to see what had become of her house only to be killed and her poor mangled corpse used as a prop by Addunia.
As much as I want to be angry I can’t. When a friend lost her father whom was killed by the shabiha she thanked them. Thanked them for making her father a hero who died helping his fellow Syrians, and most importantly made him achieve a dream he never had and that is becoming a shaheed for our beautiful Syria.
You can’t imagine the feelings that run through a man seeing a corpse of a loved one paraded like a prop. To see their name added to the list of people massacred in Darayya that day. She was no terrorist, she was a lady trying to protect what was her own.
Pain and sorrow is what I feel, but nonetheless I keep clinching to hope.
Also I have no room for trolls, and genocide enthusiasts. I mourn all and every soul lost because of Assad no matter which side they are on. Assad should not be a reason for Syrian killing Syrian, but alas there are those that keep clinching to him, instead of their county’s future. Ya 7eef!
January 23rd, 2013, 8:18 pm
revenire said:
Yes, the air force bombed its own university. The arms specialist Brown Moses and James Miller have verified it.
Of course they did.
January 23rd, 2013, 8:19 pm
Ghufran said:
?? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ” ????? ?????”.
? ??? ????? ???? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ” ????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ????? ??? “.
? ???? ??? ?? ” ????? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ? ? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? “.
???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ? ??? ??? ??? ???? ????? ? ??????? ???? .
? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ??????? .
??? ?????
January 23rd, 2013, 8:22 pm
gul said:
It is shocking that someone could pick out one tragedy (the loss of a daughter), exploit its gruesomeness (the headless body), and then point all the blame to one ethnic group (the Christians) as if every group, every family, every person in Syria hasn’t been a victim of this awful war.
What kind of sick person has this narrow outlook on a massive tragedy? The kind of person who is dragging the Syrian people into hell, that’s who. “Tara” should be ashamed.
January 23rd, 2013, 8:39 pm
Ghufran said:
I do not know many people who trust security forces, there is a need for an outside credible force to protect Syrians,that force does not exist yet, you can not expect a wolf to protect the sheep:
???? ??? «?????» ??? ?????? (??? ???? ???) ?????? ????? «???????? ?????????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???????».
??? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ?? ???? «?????????» ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ??«????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ??????».
January 23rd, 2013, 8:53 pm
zoo said:
“The opposition failed in protecting religious minorities”
One wonders where they succeeded..
Rights group: Attacks on Syria worship sites hike sectarian fears
By Emily Alpert
January 23, 2013,
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-worship-fears-20130123,0,1578646.story
Whitson said the opposition had failed to back up its claims that it would protect the rights of religious minorities. The group called on rebels to address such attacks and protect religious sites under their control. It also reiterated its call for the Syrian government to halt indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
The reports add to long-standing fears that the Syrian uprising against President Bashar Assad could inflame religious antagonisms as Islamic extremists join the rebels. Assad and many other government leaders are Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam; the rebels are largely Sunni. Last month, the U.N. bemoaned that the conflict had become “overtly sectarian.”
January 23rd, 2013, 9:10 pm
Ghufran said:
Baraa ????? was found alive in a basement after army jets bombed her house in Darayya:
( video and full article at CNN )
Bombs thundered down nearby. Then all went black.
“The plane threw a barrel bomb on us,” she said. “The last thing I saw was a red flash like
fire. After that, it was complete darkness.”
She lay in the basement, buried alive in the building’s rubble.
“How were you breathing?” someone asked.
“I was hardly breathing,” Baraa answered after a medic thoroughly scrubbed debris and blood from her mouth and nose.
“How many (people) were in the basement with you?”
“30.”
Children?
“About 14,” Baraa said. “The oldest was 11.”
“Did you have any siblings among them?”
“Yes, three siblings: one 11 years old, the second was 9, and the third was 2½ years old.”
All three died in that basement, she said. Twenty-eight people perished in all, according to Baraa.
But Baraa is luckily not alone. Her mother survived, too.
January 23rd, 2013, 9:43 pm
apple_mini said:
#206
The NC just keeps driving its supporters away and helping Assad’s regime gain more sympathy and legitimacy on its ruling.
It is quite an insult to victims of Al-Salamiyah and all citizens of the city by blaming the regime.
This civil war is determined on the battle ground. This kind of propaganda warfare targeting the international audience will definitely backfire on the local level.
The regime will win in the end if it can regain more support from broader base outside of those large cities, reaching out to more Sunnis after accelerated radicalization of this revolution.
Apparently NC has failed strategy: they solely depend on foreign players. This does give them legitimacy among majority of Syrians; They have no control over the fighting elements on the ground, so whatever the established transitional government will be a phantom figure.
I actually feel sorry for the NC. They could have been a formidable opposition by showing their moral high ground and integrity.
January 23rd, 2013, 10:01 pm
Syrian said:
287 said
“( video and full article at CNN )”
You can also see the genocide enthusiast cheering for the airplane in his comment down below
224. ZOO said:
#217 Sami
Voice of despair in Daraya
January 23rd, 2013, 10:08 pm
Syrian said:
215. APPLE_MINI said:
“#202 Please do NOT insult our intelligence. The damage clearly shows from either IED or shelling. There is no way it is caused by aerial bombing if you just have a little common sense about physics.
Besides, why the regime would attack the university which is fully under the regime’s control? Would that cause more troubles for the regime itself plus adding panic in its turf?
Moderate opposition members should at least have some decency to condemn those terrorist attacks. That way the silent majority of Syrian people can still see some hope on the opposition side. That will also win some hearts from those university students and faculty members who have suffered greatly in this horrific attack.”
https://joshualandis.com/blog/?p=17394#comment-343671
January 23rd, 2013, 10:35 pm
MarigoldRan said:
The first year of fighting has ended.
There’s nine more years and at least several hundred thousand more casualties before it ends. At a minimum. Everyone should save their energy. We will be talking about Syria for many years to come.
By the end of this war there will be no more Syria or the regime left. Syria is an example of the perils of dictatorship and Baathism.
Arab Baathism + Arab Strongman = disaster. Just look at Syria and Iraq.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:13 pm
MarigoldRan said:
At this stage, minor tactical victories by the regime doesn’t even matter.
The regime and its backers can’t end this war. Iran can support the regime with billions of dollars, and with that money the regime should be able to hold Damascus.
But can they do it for 2 years? 5 years? 10 years? How much money will Iran bleed into Syria?
With each passing year, the children in the refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey will grow up. They will hear of the horrors of the Assad regime. And when they are of age, they will pick up their weapons and fight like their fathers have. So it doesn’t even matter if the regime kills another 100000 or even 200000 people. Someone else will take their place. The regime cannot touch the refugee camps or control the countryside, and so it cannot end the war.
Iran and the regime are fighting an eternal war against a motivated and majority enemy that will not negotiate. The regime is politically dead.
January 23rd, 2013, 11:30 pm
omen said:
January 23rd, 2013, 11:59 pm
omen said:
January 24th, 2013, 12:12 am
revenire said:
Omen if you think posting Tweets from terrorist supporters proves something you’re right: it proves you support terrorism.
January 24th, 2013, 12:35 am
MarigoldRan said:
Stop spamming your intellectual superiors.
January 24th, 2013, 12:37 am
Ghufran said:
This is according to the NC:
??? ???????? ?????? ???? ?????? ????????? ??????? ???? 8 ????? ????? ???????? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ?????? ??????:
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ????: 700 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ????? ?????: 800 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ??????: 700 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ???: 800 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ???????: ????? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ??? ???: 600 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ?????: 600 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ??????: 200 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????? ??????? ????? ???? ??? ????: 200 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????? ???????? ?????? ???? ??????: 100 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ???? ?????: 200 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ????: 200 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????: 600 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????: 700 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ????? ???? ????: 200 ??? ?????
???? ??????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ???? ??????: 200 ??? ?????
?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? (?? ???? ???): 200 ??? ?????
January 24th, 2013, 12:40 am
revenire said:
That’s a lot of cash.
January 24th, 2013, 12:45 am
revenire said:
Omen one of your news “sources” for Syria is in Canada LOL. Guess he has terrorist relatives in Syria huh? Maybe he should leave for Syria to help his rat brothers.
January 24th, 2013, 12:49 am
Juergen said:
https://twitter.com/SooriyaMan/status/294318961762390016
January 24th, 2013, 12:52 am
MarigoldRan said:
Revenire, as a troll, the only person you manage to look bad is yourself.
Heck, the only person you can pick a fight with is the person who wants to troll you.
That’s inept, Revenire. Inept. You can’t even troll properly.
What a dumb piece of shi-. Stop trying to have an argument with people who are smarter than you. Even if they choose to respond, you’ll just lose.
January 24th, 2013, 12:53 am
Juergen said:
Arwa Damon meets up with an activist from Damascus
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2013/01/23/pkg-damon-syria-armed-struggle.cnn
a poem for Syria
January 24th, 2013, 1:01 am
Sandro loewe said:
Assad must be killed. West and sionist agents like IRAN, HA and Assads have no future.
January 24th, 2013, 1:54 am
revenire said:
Arwa Damon? Did she meet “Syrian Danny”? No one believes CNN.
January 24th, 2013, 3:14 am
Badr said:
“It [The regime] lashes out indiscriminately at the guerillas. But with each artillery shell, . . . its enemies grow stronger . . . Having come from a country that experienced this, I would know.”
“By the end of this war there will be no more Syria or the regime left.”
MarigoldRan,
Just curious to know if the country which you hail from, ended up with a similar fate that you’re predicting for Syria.
January 24th, 2013, 3:15 am
MarigoldRan said:
@ Badr
The revolutionaries won decisively. Took almost 30 years of fighting, though. But the old government had to go. Deaths numbered in the millions.
It was a generation ago.
My prediction for Syria is to suffer a similar fate. These wars take a long time. Once you look at things from the long perspective, the small-scale tactical fights and the low-scale atrocities are almost meaningless.
Regardless, the old Syrian has to be destroyed. Otherwise it will be a blight on Syria’s future. Even if the country is destroyed, it can always be rebuilt, as long as the regime is completely finished. But if the regime is not finished, Syria can never be rebuilt.
January 24th, 2013, 5:37 am
MarigoldRan said:
The regime and Iran is losing because of three basic reasons:
1. It doesn’t have the manpower to control most of the country.
2. It cannot touch the refugee camps in Turkey and Jordan.
3. No one will negotiate with it.
They can delay the inevitable by bunkering inside their cities. But if they cannot end the war, the regime will slowly die over 5, 10, 20 years. Iran cannot support it forever. And Alawite manpower and willpower is not inexhaustible. The regime has jets and helicopters and tanks. But in an extended war, technology breaks down.
The Sunni rebels on the other hand can constantly replenish their ranks and their funds from the refugee camps and the GCC. As long as they don’t negotiate, ever, the regime will lose in the long run.
And this was the regime’s big mistake: by launching bombing and artillery strikes across the country, it has shown that it cannot be negotiated with. It can bomb and shell and commit atrocities, but it cannot get its enemies to stop the war.
By destroying most of the country, the regime has given their enemies a reason to fight on forever (after all, what else do the rebels have to lose?). Having been forced out of their homes, and with nothing better to do, the FSA and Al Nusra will fight on. And on. And on.
This is what I mean when I say the regime has been stupid. Every shell it uses, every home it destroys, every jet it launches, is another nail in the coffin of the regime. The fact that the regime has to rely entirely on brute military force shows that it is morally and politically bankrupt.
January 24th, 2013, 6:17 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
???? ???? ? ???? ????? ???? ????
January 24th, 2013, 7:50 am
zoo said:
Syria: the danger of false dichotomies
Issa Khalaf 24 January 2013
http://www.opendemocracy.net/issa-khalaf/syria-danger-of-false-dichotomies
How one defines Syria’s troubles determines one’s prescriptions. Evidence that a silent majority did not want violent conflict and preferred a political solution leading to reform is not easily dismissible. And Syrian politics, unlike Libya under Gaddafi’s ‘personal rule’, is not about Assad.
….
How one defines Syria’s troubles determines their prescriptions. If it’s a civil war, suggesting a violent struggle for power between a majority and minority, or over competing visions of state and society, then a negotiated settlement representing both or more sides is inescapable. If one defines the conflict as an illegitimate dictatorial regime violently repressing its people, then, rejection of negotiations, as the opposition has consistently done, follows. Truly, the struggle for freedom and dignity from brutal authoritarian states does not require justification, and in this fundamental sense, Syria is no exception.
However, this intrinsically and morally true prima facie argument may be practically unworkable and does not in any case automatically confer legitimacy on a new or contending authority. There is no valid evidence that a vast majority opposes the regime; or that a new regime can achieve a Syrian consensus. Evidence that a silent majority did not want violent conflict and preferred a political solution leading to reform is not easily dismissible. There are major sectors of society, especially the vast majority of Alawites in the many towns and villages and those hundreds of thousands in the security services but including Christians and Druze who fear or reject political Islamist rule. (The Kurds’ calculative constant is secession.) Most importantly, the essentially Sunni-sustained, Islamist-inspired and led armed rebellion does not represent a socio-political vision that all Syrians support. Many Syrians, as in Egypt, are rightly suspicious of the smooth acceptance by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) of a democratic, pluralistic state guaranteeing individual political and civil rights while also advocating the group (Sunni Muslim) majority right to shape the state. Furthermore, the Ba’athist state based its legitimacy on its nationalism, ‘socialism’, and secularism, and many leftists and nationalists, Alawites, Christians, Druze, and other minorities, for obvious reasons demand a secular state.
….
Allies need the Coalition as much as it needs them. Rather than using its sponsors to overthrow Assad, the Coalition must energetically lead them towards the goal of symmetrical negotiations and genuine reform. Therefore there must be a true international political and diplomatic consensus, supported by the Coalition, that includes the US and Russia in the context of the UN; that forcefully advances mediation and neutrality, based on the June 2012 Geneva Accord, a transition that restructures, reforms and leads to interim government, elections, etc. This includes maintaining the armed forces, security services, and civil service to stabilize a transition. The powers must also exert great pressure on regional states responsible for Syria’s militarization to broker a political settlement. Such an international effort affords teeth and tangibility to what is essentially an enormously elusive and unclear transitional process.
Fourth, the Sunni Muslims, the uprising’s core constituency represented by the SMB, must, with all other opposition constituencies, lead the internal opposition and the National Coalition towards a clearly articulated and developed political programme for Syria, one that unequivocally accepts a legitimate social contract rooted in democratic pluralism, freedom, the rule of law, and citizenship and individual equality. The make-or-break issue in Syria is the unsettled question of legitimacy. It can’t be attained by violent or even popular change of regime, or by a presumed SMB majority in elections. There has to be a societal consensus, including opposition and loyalists.
January 24th, 2013, 7:59 am
zoo said:
War crime in Mali? Malian soldiers executed civilians accused of Islamist ties: witness
Jan 24, 2013
DJENNE, Mali // Malian soldiers killed people accused of ties to radical Islamists at a bus stop around the time the French-led military intervention began, a witness told The Associated Press yesterday, detailing how the soldiers shot the victims and then threw their bodies into nearby wells.
The account from the witness, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals, came the same day that a French human rights group accused Malian forces of dozens of “summary executions” and other abuses as they confront Islamic extremists.
Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/africa/malian-soldiers-executed-civilians-accused-of-islamist-ties-witness#ixzz2Itj0nlMQ
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January 24th, 2013, 8:07 am
zoo said:
Can Qatar save Egypt from bankruptcy?
KSA and UAE’s antagonism toward the MB does not make them alternative willing funds providers.
http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/01/16/qatar-set-to-pump-2-5bn-into-egypt-over-the-next-three-months/
The government is currently discussing the details of a $2.5bn aid package from Qatar, by way of special IPO agreements made in dollars.
This comes a week after Qatar’s announcement that it would provide Egypt with an additional $2bn in addition to an already agreed upon $500m package.
Unfortunately, Egypt’s debt and the need to pay it off in foreign currency means that despite these deposits, Egypt’s foreign currency reserves have been unable to rise.
January 24th, 2013, 8:15 am
zoo said:
90% of the FSA are civilians turned militias, armed and paid by foreign countries, so what’s the objection?
Recruiting civilians
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/1153/19/Recruiting-civilians.aspx
In a step that could lead to open civil war, the Syrian regime is setting up pro-regime militias in parallel with the country’s regular army, writes Bassel Oudat in Damascus
Syrian government officials said this week that the regime led by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad intended to form a new military entity called the National Defence Army (NDA) that would operate in parallel to the country’s regular forces.
The new military entity will reportedly include 20,000 members carrying light and medium weapons. These will be paid and will wear non-military uniforms. They will be deployed throughout Syria in towns and cities under the control of the armed opposition, and each group will receive local assistance from regime supporters.
The new entity will be divided into small units, each of which will be able to make its own decisions. Like other security and military forces in Syria, the units will not be accountable for any abuses they commit because there are legally protected from prosecution.
The opposition has said that in taking this step the regime is attempting to disguise the poor reputation of pro-regime militias that have committed massacres across the country, including at Al-Zaytoun, Al-Hasweya, Al-Howla, Al-Tremsa and Darya.
At the same time, it warns that the move will open the door to undisguised civil war in the country.
January 24th, 2013, 8:22 am
Visitor said:
Does this remind you of something deja vu?
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/24/262284.html
January 24th, 2013, 8:27 am
zoo said:
The truth about the North Syria “liberated areas” and the elusive dream of the “final battle” : “We have tried everything to take it, believe me”
The Fortress must fall for rebels to get to Damascus
Thursday 24 January 2013
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-fortress-must-fall-for-rebels-to-get-to-damascus-8465325.html
Scattered throughout the rebel-held north are military installations that government forces have managed to defend, and from which they can launch attacks
…..
The rebels hold a large swathe of territory reaching to the north and west of Aleppo, as far as the Turkish border, but they have been unable to capture a number of these bases in their heartland. These islands of military power, surrounded by rebel forces, are vital to the government. It is from the Menagh base that fighter jets take off to bomb rebel fighters on the ground in Aleppo and attack civilians queuing in bread lines in northern towns.
That the government has been able to retain control of these bases has been a cause of frustration to those fighting to oust Bashar al-Assad.
….
That fight is continuing today. According to the rebels, a “final battle” is currently underway to take Menagh.
“Once it has been captured, the north will be liberated,” Abu Marwan, the young commander of the rebel Northern Storm brigade, told CNN this week.
Some analysts (and many rebel fighters) claim that Assad is on his last legs, and that the war will soon be at an end. But the rebels’ inability to force the Syrian army out of these bases in “liberated” areas suggests that there are limits to their strength.
If they do win this “final battle,” Assad’s ability to strike at will in the north will be severely weakened. But if they cannot take The Fortress at Menagh, how can they expect to take Damascus, the biggest fortress of all?
“We have tried everything to take it, believe me,” our guide said of the Menagh base. “If any fighter from any brigade has a good idea of how to take the base, they get to try it out, no matter how crazy.”
The base is a sprawling walled compound with a clear view of the main road leading into Aleppo. To the untrained eye it is a nondescript compound, but the rebels talk of it with foreboding.
January 24th, 2013, 8:28 am
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
So you believe Mennegh will not fall to the rebels, is this another of your predictions? like the other they all failed.
January 24th, 2013, 8:56 am
ghufran said:
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad shown at ceremony for Prophet Mohammed’s birthday :
Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad was shown on state television attending prayers at a mosque in a northern district of Damascus to mark the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.
The leader was shown in a live broadcast kneeling in Al-Afram mosque flanked by Syria’s Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, the highest Sunni religious authority in the country, and the religious endowments minister.
After the brief ceremony in Al-Afram mosque attended by dozens of religious clerics and laymen, the president smiled and seemed at ease as a crowd gathered around him to offer greetings.
Assad was shown being escorted to a waiting car in the street and stepping into the driver’s seat, after which the cameras panned upwards to show the mosque and surrounding area.
(Source: The telegraph)
January 24th, 2013, 11:55 am
revenire said:
@311 “The revolutionaries won decisively. Took almost 30 years of fighting, though. But the old government had to go. Deaths numbered in the millions.”
Where did this take place? A country that had a thirty year civil war with millions dead?
January 24th, 2013, 11:58 am
Syria no kandahar said:
About the new government (from opposition site)
????? ???? ???????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ??? ??????? ????. ???? ???????? ????????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ??????????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ???????? ???? ????? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ???????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ???????? ???? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????? ???????? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????
January 24th, 2013, 12:12 pm
omen said:
i saw somebody do this earlier. they repurposed the thumbs up/thumbs down system that judges individual comments and turned it into a poll to measure the board’s support for an issue.
anybody have an question they want polled?
January 24th, 2013, 1:14 pm
Citizen said:
Battle For Syria: View from the Frontline! (English subtitles)
http://youtu.be/2iAnhGCaG6s?t=7m6s
January 24th, 2013, 1:26 pm
revenire said:
Omen ask about the US-based “revolutionaries” and why they won’t go fight when they see their brothers and sisters being attacked by the terrible, terrible regime.
January 24th, 2013, 1:26 pm
Citizen said:
Syria: brave nation of survivors
It is very interesting to see how different the SANA news is from those that we are bombarded with on a daily basis by the western mainstream media. “Army inflicts heavy losses upon terrorists in several areas,” was the top headline of the English edition on Tuesday, the 22nd of January 2013.
The interested reader will find a lot of details, either pleasant or unpleasant to read, depending on the side he stands on. According to SANA, the Syrian Armed Forces inflicted heavy losses upon diverse terrorist groups in Syria.
Terrorists were chased and killed in Darya, Damascus countryside. Several of their leaders were shot: Omran Moaddamani, Sameer abo Mohammed, Ahmed with the nickname of abo Muhajed and Ghiath aka abo Kazem.
Furthermore, the Syrian Armed Forces foiled terrorists’ attempts to detonate two explosive devices weighing 40 kilos, which were planted near the Syrian Television facility. The Syrian Army also destroyed five vehicles in Palmyra, killing all of the terrorists inside. More terrorists were pursued and killed in the Homs countryside, especially in the area of Ebl, al-Haidariyeh, al-Howeida, al-Gharbiyeh and Um al-Sakher.
Some of the terrorists had the glorious idea of dressing up, maybe because carnival time is approaching in the west. They looted houses, disguised as Syrian Army soldiers, but the Syrian Security Forces outsmarted and arrested them. All the stolen gold, money and weapons were seized.
The Syrian Defence Minister, General Fahd Jassem al-Frej, stressed that the Syrian Arab Army will continue to pursue and kill armed terrorists in order to foil the western conspiracy against the Arab Socialist Republic of Syria and its President, Dr. Bashar Al-Assad. On an inspection tour of Syrian combat formations, the General praised the high morale of the Syrian soldiers, who are bravely confronting the rag-tag terrorist hordes .
Meanwhile, the civilians in Syria are doing their best to carry on with their daily lives. Temporary shelter centres have been set up for displaced children. To entertain them, an event called “Holiday of Joy and Creation” took place from the 20th to 24th of January, with artistic and musical workshops. The Syrian actress, Huda al-Sha’arawi, narrated popular damascene stories. The youngsters also enjoyed watching magic box and theatrical shows.
According to Syria’s Minister of Culture, Lubana Mshaweh, the Directorate of Child Culture is making great efforts to offer a wide variety of entertainment for the children in temporary shelter centres.
They also receive psychological support to cope with the trauma of having lost their homes and families. The needs for the temporary shelter centres are provided by charities, the civil community and humanitarian organizations.
The Syrian Minister of Culture furthermore inaugurated a new museum in Damascus. A prominent family donated their house, which was transformed into the Museum of Heritage Revival. The family of the scholar Said al-Arfi wanted to immortalize his memory with this project…………….
http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/24-01-2013/123568-syria_brave_nation-0/
January 24th, 2013, 1:30 pm
omen said:
from earlier blog posting:
who thinks this war will last over a decade?
thumbs up for yes.
thumbs down for no.
January 24th, 2013, 1:36 pm
revenire said:
Citizen that is a good article. Thanks.
Terrorist clowns like Bill Scherk, and others (Scherk is by no means alone), rag on SANA but leave out that – in the case of Scherk – his Canadian media covered up – AND COVERS UP – war crimes committed by the Canadian government in Iraq in 1991 and 2003.
Canadian Air Force pilots flew combat missions with the US. Surely they bombed civilians and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians were murdered (mainly Sunnis).
The Canadian press covered it all up.
SANA comes out smelling like a rose compared to most, if not ALL, Western press. I can’t think of too many news agencies in the West that didn’t cover up war crimes with regard to Iraq. They also took part in making the war(s) possible by lying about Iraqi WMD.
January 24th, 2013, 1:38 pm
revenire said:
Omen I don’t use the thumbs up/thumbs down feature but knock yourself out.
Mom says your bath is ready – after lunch it is nap time.
January 24th, 2013, 1:41 pm
Visitor said:
Did Zoo get a real job?
It’s been over four hours.
January 24th, 2013, 2:13 pm
Citizen said:
The Islamist threat emanating from Libya will only get worse and worse. A Pandora’s box has been opened there ??? ????? ?? ???????
??? ??? ?? ?? ? ?????? ? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ???????
?????? ??????? ? ??????? ????? ????? ?????!
329. REVENIRE
Those states will disintegrate from inside! Do you have statistics how many secret intelligence services in North America? and how many concentration camps for those idiots like Scherk Wili?
January 24th, 2013, 2:24 pm
Citizen said:
?????? ??????
http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20130122/esmaeeli20130122162501653.jpg
January 24th, 2013, 2:29 pm
ghufran said:
Kerry will be easily confirmed as the next SOS as we speak, he said that Russia’s help is needed to end the Syrian crisis, that will not be good for advocates of a regime change by force, but words are not enough, Kerry is not a war monger but he is also indecisive and so is Obama, that means they are less likely to go to war but it also means they are less likely to pressure Turkey and Qatar. What will affect the direction this crisis takes is fighters on the ground not bloggers and analysts, I regret the fact that the voice of reason was long killed by militants on both sides but there is not much any of us can do beside sending aid to the needy and lobbying our congressmen and senators to push for an end to this madness.
January 24th, 2013, 2:42 pm
Citizen said:
Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood Propped Up by US Since 2007 Under Bush
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/01/syrias-muslim-brotherhood-propped-up-by.html
In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers.” And even then, it was noted that the Brotherhood held close links with groups the US recognizes and lists as terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Al Qaeda.
The report gives a disturbing foreshadowing of US support that would eventually see the Muslim Brotherhood rise as both a political and terroristic power across the Arab World, after decades of hard-fought attempts to crush the sectarian extremist organization everywhere from Tunisia to Syria, from Egypt to Libya, to Jordan, and beyond. In fact, the 2007 Wall Street Journal article specifically noted that the US partnership could “destabilize governments in Jordan and Egypt, two US allies where the Brotherhood is a growing opposition force.”
Egypt is now run by a sectarian-extremist Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship, after the US incited unrest there in 2011, while Jordan is seeing increasing unrest led by the Jordanian arm of the Brotherhood.
What is also disturbing about the 2007 report, is that it shows how allegedly “Bush-era” policies transcended the 2000-2008 administration and continued in earnest under President Obama.
The report, written by Jay Solomon, echoes similar foreshadowing of the coming violent sectarian bloodbath now engulfing Syria, found in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s New Yorker piece titled, “The Redireciton: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?”
Solomon begins by stating:
On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered outside Damascus’s embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised banners proclaiming: “Change the Regime Now.”
Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing the rally:
In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy, and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria’s lack of democracy and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and political contacts. State Department officials stress they provided no financial or technical support to the protestors.
Just like the Arab Spring, what was in fact foreign-backed sedition, was peddled publicly by professional PR firms with the help of a bought-off, complicit corporate media, as a “pro-democracy” uprising.
And while the Wall Street Journal then, just as the US State Department and the Western media houses are now portraying the Syrian opposition as representing a wide range of interests across Syrian society, it was admitted then, just as it is plainly obvious now, that the sectarian extremist Muslim Brotherhood was in fact at the very center of the “uprising:”
One of the NSF’s most influential members is the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — the decades-old political movement active across the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle in favor of democratic reform.
The article would describe a fractured, disorganized opposition, must like the 2011 “National Syrian Council” (NSC) and its more recent US-Qatari contrived reincarnation, the “National Coalition,” whose only common denominator and prevailing ideology was and still is the sectarian extremism practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood. Similarly, the current “National Coalition” is headed by Moaz al-Khatib who, on Qatari state-owned Al Jazeera, openly admitted his aspirations of establishing an “Islamic State” in place of Syria’s current secular society. Al-Khatib also vigorously protested the US’ listing of Al Qaeda terrorist franchisee, Al Nusra, who is openly fighting as part of Al-Khatib’s “National Coalition.”
These are the “freedom fighters” then and now, that the US has been supporting, funding, and in fact arming. The most recent accusation of the US arming known-terrorists came from retired US Army General and former Special Forces Commander, William G. Boykin, who claimed the US is not only arming terrorists in Syria, but they are doing so by running guns through the terror emirate of Benghazi, Libya.
From the pan-Arab logistical networks NATO is using to flood Syria with weapons and terrorists, to the current leadership of the so-called opposition, and with documented evidence from 2007 of a US conspiracy to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood and other known, violent extremist groups in Syria to overthrow the government, it is clear that every aspect of the US’, UK’s, NATO’s, and even the UN’s narrative regarding the conflict in Syria is an intentional fabrication. Furthermore, it indicates a much wider deception – one involving the misconception that presidential elections bring in both new leadership, and new policies. The wars engineered under Bush, are being carried out under Obama, by the same policy makers from the very same corporate-funded think-tanks that handed Bush his agenda years ago.With French, British, and now US troops becoming increasingly involved in Mali, allegedly fighting terrorists with direct connections to the fighters armed, funded, and given diplomatic recognition by the West in Libya, and with the conflict already spilling over the borders with Algeria, one must recognize that an agenda is being carried out contra to both the will of the people and their best interests. Identifying the corporate-financier interests involved in this agenda, and both boycotting and replacing them with local alternatives is our only recourse. Clearly – as illustrated in the case with the non-transition, continuity of agenda between “right-wing” Republican Bush and “left-wing” Democrat Obama – elections don’t count. As proven with the “Arab Spring” and the US underwritten protests of the NSF – protests don’t either.
January 24th, 2013, 2:42 pm
Citizen said:
MOSCOW, January 24 (Itar-Tass) — Russia’s expert said there is a real threat to escalating the conflict in Syria.
Speaking at a press conference at the Itar-Tass news agency on Thursday, director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Vasilyev said, “The conflict can turn into the neighbouring countries – Lebanon, which is closely linked with Syria, and partially into Jordan.”
“I believe that there is a real threat to escalating the conflict.” The expert said he is convinced that Russia “will continue providing humanitarian assistance to Syria”.
Commenting on the situation in Syria, Vasilyev said, “Firstly, it is necessary to put an end to the bloodshed. Secondly, it is necessary to prevent foreign interference: the conflict should be resolved by the Syrians themselves.”
“I’m sure that our Western partners come against the tough position of Russia and China that demand the conflict should be resolved by the Syrians themselves,” Vasilyev said. “They don’t interfere into the Syrian affairs by military means,” he added.
The expert said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad enjoyed real support from the population. “Otherwise, he could not be in power so long,” Vasilyev said.
Focusing on Turkey’s position on the situation in Syria, he described it as “rash”. “In order to play a reconciliation role Ankara took the anti-regime position. There are feelings that Turks don’t know what to do,” the Russian expert stressed.
January 24th, 2013, 2:47 pm
Uzair8 said:
Why would Assad bomb the University?
__________________
“The callousness and vindictiveness of the military is legendary.”
[…]
“Does it not send a message to an already frightened people that the wrath of God will descend upon them should anyone dare to cause trouble?”
http://angryarab.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/who-bombed-aleppo-university-debate.html
January 24th, 2013, 2:52 pm
Citizen said:
Turkey Patriots about to be activated
Later this week, NATO will start activating its Patriot air defence missile batteries deployed in southeastern Turkey.
All six – two, from the US, two from the Netherlands and two from Germany – should be ready for operation by the end of this month.
In December, Turkey said it badly needed them to protect itself against possible aerial incursions from Syria.
—————
when they will be in action soon be destroyed by Syrian missiles Iskander 100% it is guaranteed!
January 24th, 2013, 3:01 pm
revenire said:
Uzair8 the Syrian government would never bomb its own people or a university. It is ridiculous to suggest it.
The eyes of the entire world are on Syria and they attacked their own university students via a MIG? That is an obscene suggestion that only a pig could make.
January 24th, 2013, 3:06 pm
Syrialover said:
#339 REVENIRE
Your childish attempt at humor fell flat.
January 24th, 2013, 3:15 pm
Citizen said:
Middle East To Far East: Pentagon And NATO Divide Up The World
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/middle-east-to-far-east-pentagon-and-nato-divide-up-the-world/
January 24th, 2013, 3:16 pm
revenire said:
“340. SYRIALOVER said:
#339 REVENIRE
Your childish attempt at humor fell flat.”
Nothing was humorous about my post at all. I am dead serious.
Only fools would imagine Syria would attack its own uni. Fools and terrorist supporters.
Which one are you?
January 24th, 2013, 3:21 pm
Syialover said:
Terrific article by Robin Yassin-Kassab in Foreign Policy magazine.
It’s about funding Syria’s moderates.
It’s a powerful rebuttal to some recent claims and various red herrings in the media.
You can read it on his Qunfuz blog here: http://qunfuz.com/2013/01/23/the-revolution-armed-itself/
January 24th, 2013, 3:25 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Fail, Revenire, fail.
You’re a failure in life and on the Internet. Accept it.
January 24th, 2013, 3:26 pm
Syrialover said:
#342 REVENIRE
You are having a giggling fit sending up Bashar Assad’s infamous line to Barbara Walters about only a crazy person would attack Syrian citizens.
Weak.
January 24th, 2013, 3:30 pm
revenire said:
“345. SYRIALOVER said:
#342 REVENIRE
You are having a giggling fit sending up Bashar Assad’s infamous line to Barbara Walters about only a crazy person would attack Syrian citizens.
Weak.”
No. The Syrian government would NEVER attack its own people. The army IS the people.
Weak, strong, or whatever else you like this is a fact.
@344 where was this 30 year war with millions dead you spoke of? It never happened.
January 24th, 2013, 3:37 pm
Syrialover said:
VISITOR #331
ZOO relies on a rotation system with CITIZEN and REVENIRE to keep flooding pro-Assad garbage here to disrupt and dominate this forum.
January 24th, 2013, 3:37 pm
Syrialover said:
#346. REVENIRE
Your attempts to extend the joke are falling flat.
January 24th, 2013, 3:39 pm
revenire said:
What is funny about Aleppo is the presence of cameras to document the “regime attack” on its own people.
There has not been one documented attack – in two years – where the Syrian army attacked unarmed Syrians. Not one.
January 24th, 2013, 3:41 pm
revenire said:
To Hell
“Syria – Head of Al Qaeda in Syria has been terminated today by Syrian Soldiers, 24/1/2013”
January 24th, 2013, 3:51 pm
Uzair8 said:
Spring Cleaning
Cometh the hour, cometh the man
Exercise your power Hon. PM Erdogan
Cost is no matter
For by your side is Qatar
Missing from Brahimi’s solution list
Syria requires an exorcist
Such evil cannot go unpunished
Assad’s monstrous cult is finished
The future needn’t be murky
All eyes are on Turkey
Patriots in place and jets on standby
The stage is set, it’s time to fly…
January 24th, 2013, 3:51 pm
revenire said:
HA HA HA FRANCE
France sees no sign Syria’s Assad will be toppled soon
http://my.news.yahoo.com/france-sees-no-sign-syrias-assad-toppled-soon-162339400.html
PARIS/BEIRUT (Reuters) – France said on Thursday there were no signs that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is about to be overthrown, something Paris has been saying for months was just over the horizon.
The uprising against Assad’s rule is now almost two years old. 60,000 Syrians have been killed and another 650,000 are now refugees abroad, according to the United Nations.
France, a former colonial ruler of Syria, has been one of the most vocal backers of the rebels trying to topple Assad and was the first to recognise the opposition coalition.
“Things are not moving. The solution that we had hoped for, and by that I mean the fall of Bashar and the arrival of the (opposition) coalition to power, has not happened,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in his annual New Year’s address to the press.
Fabius told RFI radio in December “the end is nearing” for Assad. But on Thursday, he said international mediation and discussions about the crisis that began in March 2011 were not getting anywhere. “There are no recent positive signs,” he said.
…
January 24th, 2013, 3:55 pm
revenire said:
Who bombed Aleppo University? A retired captain of the Turkish armed forces weighs in
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2013/01/who-bombed-aleppo-university-retired.html
From Ali, Angry Arab’s chief correspondent in Turkey:
“Dear Assad,
I asked the opinions of a retired captain of Turkish Armed Forces (Prefers not to be named) about the latest video claimed to be showing the moment of hitting of Aleppo University and the speculations of the opposition.
The video:
– To decide what hits the university without a comprehensive investigation and expose the responsibles of the attack can be illusory but “after watching just two videos” I may say that the sounds of the “undefined object” (UO) is probably a surface-to-surface missile (STSM) Its destructive capability and the roars are my evidences. The roars stopping at moment of the blast show that the UO passes very close to the cameraman.
– The second thing that supports my theory is that neither people around the university, nor the cameraman do not pay attention to the sky. If there was a raid then they would have been watching or glancing the sky or probably cameraman would have tried to capture it.
– We cannot see an aircraft nor hear its sounds. If the UO was an air-to-surface missile (ATSM) probably the pilot would have maneuvered or drawn a circle/circles around the university so we would have heard its sound but instead, we hear the sound of UO for a few seconds before the university was hit.
– The claims of the opposition about eyewitness saw aircraft “dropping” the bomb is pointless. UO is almost definitely a missile whether its STSM or ATSM. So, they would have seen “firing” not “dropping”. If their claims were accurate (dropping bombs), then we would have precisely seen or heard the aircraft. No aircraft in the world achieve to “drop bomb” on its target without passing directly above it. I know the video was captured by a mobile phone but it catched the sounds of UO, so probably it is able to record the sound of an aircraft.
– STSM does not directly highlights a “terrorist attack”, Syrian army should conduct an investigation and share its conclusion rapidly. They may publish the radar records. STSM and ATSM do not melts into air after the blast. There should be solid fuel residuals and shrapnel. They also publish the reports about the conflicts in Aleppo at that they (where are the combat zones, rebels stronghold and the position of the army, its operations etc) ( All armies record daily all the conflicts and manuveurs in a front). So if their scenario has a consistency then we would be close to expose the responsibles. (Also opposition should try to do it, they have ex-officers in their ranks, also they may talk with the local people to write a consistent story) But their first assumption is totally wrong for me, at least Syrian Army has a consistent one for the first step.
– If this my observations are true, and if the FSA is responsible, for me it indicates that the allies of the FSA gave them short range STSM and the university was targeted intentionally because the possibility of two missiles hitting same target accidentally is weak scenario… As because, hand made missiles are not so sensitive in targeting, and it seems to me difficult to determine whether its is hand made or not from the AFP photo. (This photo:) http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/violence-continues-in-syria/2013/01/14/6c002e72-5e97-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_gallery.html#photo=5 ”
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil at 9:32 AM
January 24th, 2013, 4:06 pm
Uzair8 said:
Having failed to brutally crush peaceful demands for reform, Assad wants to lead them [reforms].
January 24th, 2013, 4:12 pm
Citizen said:
Syria has allowed the exiled opposition leaders to return home to participate in the national dialogue – China Internet Information Center
347. SYRIALOVER:
Your comments contain the garbage, which you are talking about! Can you distinguish people who are against your thinking from those who are for the president? F***ing up on zombie -Democracy and zombie-revolution! Hypocritical SYRIALOVER!
January 24th, 2013, 4:28 pm
zoo said:
@352 revenire
“France sees no sign Syria’s Assad will be toppled soon
King Abdullah was the first to regret his prediction, then France, who is next?
On the 28th of January, the pathetic Al Khatib and his cronies are meeting with France.
Will Fabius tell them that if they want to have a role before 2014, they will have to stop the ‘obsession’ of toppling Bashar al Assad and accept the Geneva plan?
Would he tell them that since they failed in electing a government, they failed to prevent the FSA to be taken over by Al Qaeda terrorists, therefore their survival depends on their decision to accept without conditions the dialog?
January 24th, 2013, 4:34 pm
Citizen said:
351. UZAIR8
Are you sane? Russia and China said no means no !Do you think that the game of football can be composed of one team? You seem to want to daydream.
January 24th, 2013, 4:36 pm
Observer said:
It is quite amazing to read that the regime has allowed the exiled opposition to return and the prime minister in his weekly meeting discussed the ways to insure their return and guarantees their safety.
It is amazing to me to read these news from the pro regime people as if they do not realize that in a modern secular progressive state with a rule of law and checks and balances on the power structure the very idea of having an exiled opposition is anathema; the very idea of “permitting” and “guaranteeing” their return is anathema; the very idea of ” not having any opposition in the first place or admitting that there is opposition” is anathema to any pretence at being reformist or modern or secular or constitutional.
This is a mafia and Corleone has just concluded that he cannot kill all the people is allowing them to come back home for discussions.
Don’t you have any sense of decency?
January 24th, 2013, 4:37 pm
zoo said:
#320 Majie
I never make predictions on battles that Al Nusra is conducting.
I only make prediction on the war result.
January 24th, 2013, 4:39 pm
revenire said:
Remember when all the terrorists said Russia was fleeing Syria? 77 out of 10s of 1000s?
January 24th, 2013, 4:46 pm
zoo said:
#347 Syrialover
I enjoy a lot disrupting and dominating this forum with press and media information.
If you don’t like it, act a man: Complain to Joshua, or just leave.
Your stupid and frustrated personal attacks won’t be missed.
January 24th, 2013, 4:46 pm
Visitor said:
Who killed the Aleppo University students?
Damascene students are certain it is the criminal regime, and they are making that certainty evident in red all over the streets of Damascus,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/24/262357.html
The criminal regime is obviously seeking to paint the good and heroic Nusra Front and other fighters who are defending the Syrian people as ‘criminals’. But the whole world now knows who the real criminals are when it looks at the streets of Damascus colored in red.
January 24th, 2013, 5:01 pm
AIG said:
Zoo,
You are a spammer and you take for yourself rights that you would never imagine giving to anyone else. After all, there was no freedom of speech in Syria and there still is no freedom of speech and you are fine with that. But you have no problem abusing your right here. Just another example of what an hypocritical ignoramus you are.
January 24th, 2013, 5:13 pm
revenire said:
Of course Syria has free speech. How ridiculous.
January 24th, 2013, 5:16 pm
majedkhaldoun said:
Zoozoo
You predicted that Taftanaz airbase will not be taken by the rebels and you failed,
you predicted FSA will go away, and you failed, it is getting stronger.
You predicted NSC will go away you failed, it is still going on and it is the major part of the Coalition,.
You predicted NC will go away, it is getting more support.You predicted trouble will get to Turkey and Erdogan will lose, you failed Erdogan is more popular than ever.
Zoozoo, all your predictions failed,now you denied all those predictions, you have the audacity to come here on SC and lie, you have no credibilty anymore.
Now you are quoting articles telling us Mennagh airbase will not fall to the rebels, and you will fail again,you are a miserable frustrated person,you are a loser.
January 24th, 2013, 5:19 pm
Syria no Kandahar said:
??? ???
Abo Jahal with his sword…..most of this site has become Abo Jahals:
January 24th, 2013, 5:41 pm
zoo said:
#366 Majie
Oh yeah! Keep dreaming.
January 24th, 2013, 6:13 pm
Syria no Kandahar said:
Democracy and Wahhabism (MB)
It is ok to kill the one who does not pray ,grilling him and then
Eating him.Is their any better way to ensur that all Moslem Arabs
Will be worse than animals for the next thousand years except
Wahabism and MB:
January 24th, 2013, 6:17 pm
zoo said:
Is France getting desperate with Al Khatib’s gang of dummies?
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/24/syrian-jets-bomb-rebel-areas-near-damascus-as-assads-troops-battle-opposition-fighters-for-control-of-key-road/
As the fighting continued, France’s foreign minister suggested that Assad’s fall was not imminent – a stark admission by a country that has been one of the most ardent supporters of the Syrian rebels.
Speaking in Paris, Laurent Fabius told reporters: “The solution that we hoped for – that is to say, Bashar’s fall, the rise of the opposition to power – there are no recent signs that are as positive as that.”
January 24th, 2013, 6:20 pm
Hanzala said:
Liwa Tawheed helicopter shot down
January 24th, 2013, 6:24 pm
zoo said:
Erdogan wants to be elected president in 2014.
The major hurdle is the Kurdish problem and the PKK. He must solve it in 2013 at any cost. Will Iran and Syria allow that to happen?
Is Turkey finally ready to make peace with the Kurds?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/is-turkey-finally-ready-to-make-peace-with-the-kurds.aspx?pageID=238&nid=39788&NewsCatID=424
The Turkish prime minister has almost all the pieces in place to be elected as the country’s next president. He has defanged the once staunchly secularist Turkish military, eliminated many elements of Turkey’s secular state, and neutralized the formerly anti-AKP business community and media. Still, Erdo?an is not guaranteed to surpass 50 percent of the popular vote in the presidential race, and more PKK attacks will only pull him further from this mark. Hence, Erdo?an needs the PKK to stay quiet during the run-up to the country’s election in 2014.
January 24th, 2013, 6:29 pm
Syria no Kandahar said:
This was the beautiful Syria befor the Abo Jahals destroyed it.It will never be beautiful
Again,It is now a body with no spirit….It is now ugly,dark and cold.A knife after knife
After knife Syria has been killed slowly.See this and see for yourself,Syria was not
Perfect but it was not that bad.Likes of Dr Majed like to kill the patient before trying
To revive him:
January 24th, 2013, 6:30 pm
revenire said:
Look at the terrorists using footage from Libya to make their propaganda video:
“Bjørn H Jespersen ?@bjoernen_dk
@SyrianSmurf …yes talented work, so I don’t see why they need to use footage from Libya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DulN2vFkyLQ …”
“Abdullah ?@SyrianSmurf
@bjoernen_dk the video wasn’t made by Ahrar Alsham…it was made by an independent designer…”
“Bjørn H Jespersen ?@bjoernen_dk
@SyrianSmurf ok (and I can actually easily imagine why someone thinks doing this could help…but usually just lowers credibility).”
Bjorn is another terrorist-lover. Wish he would take a trip to Syria. Maybe he could meet up with Austin Tice?
January 24th, 2013, 6:30 pm
zoo said:
Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?
http://www.france24.com/en/20130121-qatar-mali-france-ansar-dine-mnla-al-qaeda-sunni-islam-doha
Oil-rich gulf state Qatar has a vested interest in the outcome of the north Mali crisis, according to various reports that have been picked up by French MPs, amid suspicion that Doha may be siding with the rebels to extend its regional influence.
Since Islamist groups exploited a military coup in the Malian capital of Bamako in early 2012 to take control of the entire north of the country, accusations of Qatari involvement in a crisis that has seen France deploy troops have been growing.
Last week two French politicians explicitly accused Qatar of giving material support to separatists and Islamists in north Mali, adding fuel to speculation that the Emirate is playing a behind-the-scenes role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism in Africa.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Communist Party Senator Michelle Demessine both said that that Qatar had questions to answer.
“If Qatar is objecting to France’s engagement in Mali it’s because intervention risks destroying Doha’s most fundamentalist allies,” Le Pen said in a statement on her party website, in response to a call by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani for dialogue with the Islamists.
‘Cash from Doha’
The first accusations of Qatari involvement with Tuareg separatists and Islamist groups came in a June 2012 article in respected French weekly the Canard Enchainé.
In a piece title “Our friend Qatar is financing Mali’s Islamists”, the newspaper alleged that the oil-rich Gulf state was financing the separatists.
January 24th, 2013, 6:32 pm
zoo said:
Trying to correct his Jews bashing in 2010, Morsy gets deeper in the s…. with the US senators visiting him
Exclusive: Morsy implies Jews control the American media
Posted By Josh Rogin Wednesday, January 23, 2013 – 1:20 P
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/01/23/exclusive_morsy_implies_jews_control_the_american_media
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) led a delegation last week to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and Afghanistan that included Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Kirsten Gilibrand (D-NY).
Their stop in Cairo included a 90-minute meeting with Morsy that devolved into an uncomfortable set of exchanges as the senators pressed the Egyptian president to explain his 2010 comments describing Jews as “bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians” as well as “the descendants of apes and pigs.
….
Morsy told the senators that the values of Islam teach respect for Christianity and Judaism, and he asserted repeatedly that he had no negative views about Judaism or the Jewish people, but then followed with a diatribe about Israel and Zionist actions against Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
Then Morsy crossed a line and made a comment that made the senators physically recoil in their chairs in shock, Coons said.
“He was attempting to explain himself … then he said, ‘Well, I think we all know that the media in the United States has made a big deal of this and we know the media of the United States is controlled by certain forces and they don’t view me favorably,'” Coons said.
The Cable asked Coons if Morsy specifically named the Jews as the forces that control the American media. Coons said all the senators believed the implication was obvious.
“He did not say [the Jews], but I watched as the other senators physically recoiled, as did I,” he said. “I thought it was impossible to draw any other conclusion.”
“The meeting then took a very sharply negative turn for some time. It really threatened to cause the entire meeting to come apart so that we could not continue,” Coons said.
Multiple senators impressed upon Morsy that if he was saying the criticisms of his comments were due to the Jews in the media, that statement was potentially even more offensive than his original comments from 2010.
January 24th, 2013, 6:40 pm
Ghufran said:
A very troubling report by The Telegraph about abuse of Syrian women in refugee camps in Jordan in the name of marriage and ” Sitrah” , here is a piece:
“In Jordan, hundreds of Syrian females have been affected by an informal trade that has sprung up since the start of the war in Syria, where men use “agents” to source Syrian refugees to use for sex.
Often this is done under the guise of “marriage”: The ‘dowry’, which in Muslim society is traditionally paid by the groom as a guarantee of the bride’s security has become a payment for sex. And the “marriage”, is an affair that lasts only a few days or even hours.
“We realised these were Mut’ah or ‘pleasure marriages’,” said Ziyad Hamad, whose charity, Kitab al-Sunna, is one of the largest organisations working with Syrian refugees in Jordan. “It is a fake marriage; they use handwritten documents that are not registered by a Shiekh [religious leader].
Men travelled from Saudi Arabia and other countries to marry girls in the camps. They would pay rent for a home outside the camp and tell the women they would support them. Then they would have sex with them and divorce them one week later.”
January 24th, 2013, 6:51 pm
Tara said:
Barak sounds more compassionates to the Syrian plot than many world leaders? Sincerity or talk is cheap?
Israel’s Barak: Syria serves as warning that countries can’t always count on outside help
Published January 24, 2013Associated Press
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that global inaction on the bloodbath in Syria is a warning to many countries that they cannot count on outsiders’ help — no matter how dire the circumstances.
He suggested, in an ironic twist, that this applied to Israel itself, discouraging its people from backing risks for peace, such as the return of strategic Palestinian territories in exchange for various assurances.
“Many of our best friends are telling us … ‘Don’t worry, if worst comes to worst the world will inevitably (help),'” Barak said at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos. “It cannot be taken for granted.”
..
“It’s on the screens all around the world,” Barak said, tens of thousands of people “slaughtered by their own leader and the world doesn’t move.”
His conclusion: Even “unspeakable atrocities … taking place in front of the eyes of the whole world” cannot guarantee “that there will be enough sense of purpose, sense of direction, unity of political will, readiness to translate it into action … in a way that will put an end to it.”
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/24/israel-barak-syria-serves-as-warning-that-countries-cant-always-count-on/
January 24th, 2013, 7:01 pm
revenire said:
He sounds as if he is lamenting NATO not bombing Syria.
January 24th, 2013, 7:10 pm
Syrian said:
Aleppo university students blameing Bashar and his regime for the massacre last week of thier friends, have established the Battalion of the Martyrs of Aleppo University
http://youtu.be/bgZBZyoIA_4
January 24th, 2013, 7:25 pm
Tara said:
Syrian President Assad must step down
By Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu
January 24, 2013
It is time for President Bashar Assad to step down from power and for peace to come again to Syria.
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-74140164/
In many years of private meetings with Assad, I consistently advised him to trust and embrace the patriotic forces of the country and insisted that reforms were necessary. He opted to not initiate any meaningful political reform. When pro-democracy protests started in March 2011, he treated his own people as enemies of the state and sent his tanks to crush protesters instead of taking advantage of the popular demonstrations to initiate real political reform.
In May 2011, I sent one of my senior advisers to Damascus to deliver a written message to him that expressed my profound concern at the escalation of his administration’s violent practices and stressed the need to protect civilians, respect human rights and implement reforms promised by the Syrian government. After a number of OIC communiques calling for de-escalation and a negotiated settlement and a United Nations-OIC joint humanitarian mission that garnered little to no action by the Syrian government, the OIC made the decision last August to suspend Syria’s membership.
Read more.
January 24th, 2013, 7:30 pm
revenire said:
“379. SYRIAN said:
Aleppo university students blameing Bashar and his regime for the massacre last week of thier friends, have established the Battalion of the Martyrs of Aleppo University
http://youtu.be/bgZBZyoIA_4”
Sure they have, sure they have.
🙂
January 24th, 2013, 8:18 pm
zoo said:
Syrian
I don’t understand, I thought a martyr is an already dead person. Can you be a living martyr?
A Battalion of Dead People.. sounds odd to me
January 24th, 2013, 8:25 pm
Tara said:
Christian pastor held in Iran missing from jail, says family
By Lisa DaftariPublished January 24, 2013FoxNews.com
…
After being held for four months without any formal charges, for the first time, the prosecutor notified Abedini and his attorney that the Pastor would be charged with endangering national security with the expansion of the home church community network and with brainwashing the youth by converting them from Islam to Christianity.
Abedini, who was arrested for evangelizing in his homeland more than a decade ago, claims he was freed and told by authorities he could return as long as he refrained from spreading his faith. His supporters believe the charges he’s facing, which could carry the death penalty, relate to his actions long ago.
Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/24/christian-pastor-held-in-iran-missing-from-jail-says-family/
January 24th, 2013, 8:41 pm
revenire said:
Madrigoldran and Tara not only hate Syria – they hate Iran too.
January 24th, 2013, 8:44 pm
Syrian said:
That is your story in a nut shell,the norms are odds to you
To you voting a mortal Hafez for ever is the norm, while naming a battalion after the immoretal martyrs is an odd thing.
January 24th, 2013, 9:01 pm
Syrian said:
Nedal Malouf the editor of Syria news website
???????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ???????? ..
??? ???? ??? ???? ???? ? ?????? “???????” ???? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ..
?? 95% ?? ????????? ??????? ?????? ???? ????? ? ??? ????? “????? ?????” ??? ????? ???? ????????? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ? ? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ???? “?????” ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ????? .. ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??????
??? ?? ??????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ??????? “???????” ????? ?? “???????” ???? .. ??????? ???? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?????? .. ????? ????? ??????? ????????? ( ????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??? ) ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ..
??????? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ..
???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ????? .. ?? ????? ??? ??? ????? .. ?? ?????? ????? ???? ?
January 24th, 2013, 9:19 pm
omen said:
this makes no sense to me when besiged homs is crying out for help.
January 24th, 2013, 10:07 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Revenire, you’re in no position to lecture anyone else about hate. At least we don’t call for the carpet-bombing of the country and the gassing of Sunni villagers.
January 24th, 2013, 10:20 pm
omen said:
re Abdalaziz al-Khair, what was laid out in sanctioned opposition’s conference in china. this is all it took to get ncb arrested?
January 24th, 2013, 10:22 pm
mjabali said:
Omen:
Jabhat al-Nusra reached Lattakia province a long time ago: the question here is why your friend Visitor is not with them?
Wait: i forgot he is busy playing with the thumbs up and down of this blog….
January 24th, 2013, 10:22 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Another helicopter bites the dust.
So if through attrition the regime loses 1 plane and 1 helicopter per week, how long will it take before the regime runs out of planes?
Speaking of which:
Regime supporters are against NATO bombing the country. But they’re in support of the regime bombing the country. What’s the difference? Aren’t the results effectively the same?
January 24th, 2013, 10:24 pm
GEORGES said:
??? ???????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ??????
January 24th, 2013, 10:45 pm
revenire said:
Marigoldran where was it again that had a 30-year civil war with millions dead? No history book in the world has such an event.
January 24th, 2013, 10:58 pm
MarigoldRan said:
That’s because you never paid any attention in history class or read any history books on wars of liberation. Furthermore, anything you do know (which isn’t much) is heavily slanted from the West’s perspective.
As I said, you’re an idiot and a failure of a troll. You try to troll on a history/current-events blog when you don’t know shi-.
Go and look it up and maybe you’ll learn something for once. Not everything in the world is from the West’s perspective.
EDIT: The fact that you just said something as retarded as what you just said shows that you got your education in America. Like most Americans, you don’t know shi- about world history.
As I said, you’re so stupid that you don’t even realize how stupid you are.
January 24th, 2013, 10:59 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
The Wicked Old Witch is gone! The Wicked Old Witch is gone!
From the EU/Jew/CIA/al Qaeda/Salafi Press:
Anisa Makhlouf, the president’s mother, has reportedly gone to the United Arab Emirates amid signs that her son’s grip on power is weakening while his sister, Bushra, fled to Dubai.
“Members of the regime, little by little, are flaking off,” Robert Ford, America’s envoy to Damascus until the breakdown of diplomatic relations, told CNN. “They themselves know they are losing.”
As Robert Ford would put it, “Flake off, you old hag!”
A New Bashar Cartoon:
http://africartoons.com/sites/default/files/images/20120228w_Zapiro_TheTimes.preview.jpg
January 24th, 2013, 11:03 pm
zoo said:
384. revenire
…and Lebanese Hezbollah and Seyyed Nasrallah.
In other word, they hate all the enemies of the country they secretly love.
January 24th, 2013, 11:13 pm
revenire said:
Marigoldran there was no thirty year war that ended recently where millions died. You’re high.
January 24th, 2013, 11:13 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
393. MOSSIE:
“where was it again that had a 30-year civil war with millions dead? No history book in the world has such an event.”
You’re an ignorant man, Mossie. Uneducated and unlettered. but a self-proclaimed expert on everything. Without straining my brain, I can think of two:
1. The Thirty Years War in the Germanies from 1618-1648
2. The Civil Wars in the USSR from 1917 up to the end of the Great Patriotic War (1945)
A bit of advice, Mossie. Do what you’re good at which is flaming the posters you don’t like. But stay out of history. History is for those who have a reflective mind. You couldn’t reflect with a gun to your head…
January 24th, 2013, 11:14 pm
MarigoldRan said:
There has been no 30 year war from the West’s perspective.
But the West considers the time spent in a war to begin when their first troops enter the nation to when their last troops leave. Which by the way may not be an accurate depiction of the war’s length.
Once again, you’re a retard Revenire. You don’t know shi-.
January 24th, 2013, 11:17 pm
revenire said:
Johann you weren’t following what Madrigoldran said. He claimed a recent war.
January 24th, 2013, 11:18 pm
MarigoldRan said:
I said very clearly it was a generation ago.
You were the one who wasn’t reading properly. Go and get your eyes checked before you kill someone with a hit-and-run.
January 24th, 2013, 11:20 pm
revenire said:
Madrigoldran no, you – as usual – can’t back up the simplest of claims. There was no civil war lasting 30 years where millions died in the 20th century. None.
January 24th, 2013, 11:20 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Revenire, you’re a retard. Go and look it up. Go to google or wikipedia and type it in. “Wars of Liberation 20th century.” And look at the timelines.
You’re a total retard, Revenire. You say shi-. And then you FAIL.
January 24th, 2013, 11:21 pm
zoo said:
#syrian
Immortal martyrs? If they are immortal, they can’t be dead, so they can’t be martyrs.
You must have mistranslated the name of the Batallion.
January 24th, 2013, 11:22 pm
revenire said:
No need. You’re wrong. What else is new?
You said you were from a country where there was a 30-year civil war where millions died. Didn’t happen.
January 24th, 2013, 11:24 pm
zoo said:
MARI
zzzz zzzz…
January 24th, 2013, 11:26 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Revenire, you’re an idiot. You say shi- that you can’t back up, and then you try to troll others on it.
Don’t know if you’re honestly this dumb or just acting dumb. Either way, you’re still dumb.
Google it. “Wars of Liberation 20th century.” Do it and see if you have an argument left.
January 24th, 2013, 11:27 pm
revenire said:
Marigoldran come on, show us your knowledge. The other clown said the Thirty Years War but he came late to the party so didn’t know what you had said.
You said you came from a country that had millions of deaths, a civil war, and that the revolutionaries won.
There is no way you’re talking about Vietnam.
No need for Google. We both know I am right.
January 24th, 2013, 11:30 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Really? I’m curious. When would you say the Vietnamese Civil War began?
EDIT: You’re an idiot, Revenire. You’re so dumb that you don’t even realize just how dumb you are.
January 24th, 2013, 11:31 pm
revenire said:
You’re not from Vietnam.
January 24th, 2013, 11:33 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Oh? Really? Are you sure? Who knows, you might even be right.
Regardless, you’re an idiot.
The Vietnamese Civil War lasted from 1940s – 1970s. It led to the deaths of millions. From the American perspective, the war started in the 1960s. I’m not saying I’m from Vietnam, but I am saying that Revenire is an idiot who trolls when he doesn’t know shi-.
You’re a failure, Revenire. A failure. You pretend to be dumb because you ARE dumb.
January 24th, 2013, 11:35 pm
zoo said:
I guess that for many refugees living in miserable conditions in Jordanian camps or in make shift homes in Lebanon, returning to Syria may be an less painful alternative.
Turkey will probably keeps its refugees forever.
BEIRUT, January 25 (RIA Novosti) – The Syrian Interior Ministry called on all citizens, who fled the country amid the ongoing bloody conflict, to come back and pledged to help with formalizing documents.
“All Syrian citizens, who either fled the country legally or illegally due to the developing events, will receive an all-embracing assistance upon their return,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that all Syrians, including representatives of political opposition parties, can return to their country via border checkpoints at airports as well as via using checkpoints on the borders with Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
January 24th, 2013, 11:35 pm
revenire said:
You’re comparing Vietnam to Syria? LOLOL
January 24th, 2013, 11:35 pm
revenire said:
Who are the Vietcong? The al-Nusra boys? 🙂 Who is their Ho Chi Minh? 🙂
You’re out of your mind Madrigoldran. I’ve seen it all now. A Vietnamese terrorist supporter who spends hours trolling a forum on Syria.
Now I understand all your analogies with the bombings. You think new terrorists are springing up to replace dead ones. Ha ha. A Vietnamese Salafist.
Everything is filtered through the experience of Vietnam except they are not even remotely comparable. Didn’t take me long to smoke you out did it?
LOL
January 24th, 2013, 11:37 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Changing the subject from how big of a FAIL you are, Revenire?
You obviously live in America because you obviously know shi- about the world. And yet you support the regime even though you can’t even understand Arabic and have never been to Syria before?
By the way, I don’t come from Vietnam.
January 24th, 2013, 11:38 pm
revenire said:
SURVEILLANCE DRONES NOW AQUIRED BY SYRIAN MILITARY FOR BORDER AND SKY CONTROL !!! ..
A number of Surveillance Drones have now been received by the Syrian Military equipped with vision via remote control, to send photos and information of surveyed sites instantaneously back to Military Command, including being loaded with enough directed missiles to deal with gatherings of Terrorists for an entire day.
Some of the Drones will be sent for permanent Patrol Missions along the borders of Turkey and Lebanon, with any attempts at breaching the Borders, being met with a deadly response.
NOTE: This is a replica of the American Drone that was captured by the Iranian Military recently
HNN
M.D
January 24th, 2013, 11:42 pm
revenire said:
Marigoldran you have to watch what you say on forums. People learn things by watching. You said you were from Vietnam. Read above. Your words, not mine.
January 24th, 2013, 11:43 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Point proven. You’re a retard, Revenire. And you’re showing it again.
EDIT: I said, “You MIGHT even be right.” I’m trolling you, remember? I’m not going to reveal where I’m from. I’m not dumb like you. Read it again. You can’t read shi-.
And once again, you’re avoiding the question. Let me put it in caps for you:
WHEN WOULD YOU SAY THE VIETNAMESE CIVIL WAR BEGAN?
January 24th, 2013, 11:43 pm
revenire said:
Sorry I find the idea of a Vietnamese jihadist allied with Al-Qaeda hilarious. You have to be kidding.
January 24th, 2013, 11:51 pm
MarigoldRan said:
Revenire,
You’re a dumb, white American. You can’t speak Arabic, and you’ve never been to Syria. And you support the regime. What does that make you?
And by the way, I’m not from Vietnam.
January 24th, 2013, 11:52 pm
revenire said:
LOL keep denying it.
January 24th, 2013, 11:53 pm
MarigoldRan said:
And I will, for it is not true. You don’t understand just how badly I’ve trolled you here, do you? Or perhaps you do, which is why you’re arguing so much.
Either way, you’re an idiot. You’re a dumb white college student failing his classes, or an unemployed bastard with no life, trolling continuously on the comments section of a blog for a cause that you don’t believe in.
And you can’t even do that right! What a loser. I’m done for now. Beating you up anymore would be cruel.
January 24th, 2013, 11:55 pm
revenire said:
You gave yourself away or were you “trolling” Badr too? 🙂
310. BADR said:
“It [The regime] lashes out indiscriminately at the guerillas. But with each artillery shell, . . . its enemies grow stronger . . . Having come from a country that experienced this, I would know.”
“By the end of this war there will be no more Syria or the regime left.”
MarigoldRan,
Just curious to know if the country which you hail from, ended up with a similar fate that you’re predicting for Syria.
311. MARIGOLDRAN said:
@ Badr
The revolutionaries won decisively. Took almost 30 years of fighting, though. But the old government had to go. Deaths numbered in the millions.
It was a generation ago.
January 25th, 2013, 12:03 am
MarigoldRan said:
Ok, this is too fun. One last comment.
No, Revenire, I was trolling you. I have nothing against Badr.
It was a test of knowledge. I wanted to see who was stupid enough to think the Vietnamese Civil War was ONLY TEN YEARS LONG (the length that America was involved).
That person is you, Revenire. Point proven. You’re an idiot.
January 25th, 2013, 12:13 am
revenire said:
Comparing Vietnam to Syria is way off the mark.
And, I never said anything about Vietnam or the length of its war. Go back and look – find me the quote. It won’t be very hard, even for you. 🙂
I never said one word about the length. I just asked what planet you were on to tell people you were from a country with a 30 year long civil war with millions dead.
Please find me where I said Vietnam was a decade long. I will wait here for your to find me the quote.
I will have a long wait so let me get some coffee.
January 25th, 2013, 12:19 am
sahara sand said:
From nowhere a group of people began protesting against legitimate, elekted government of syria, and soon the protester, financed, trained, guided by the west did a quick metamorphosis to armed activist and rebels. Unfortunately NATO is not able to give air support to rebels because Syrian government got support from Russia, China and IRAN. THIS SYRIAN GUERRILIA DIRTY WAR! SET UP BY FOREIGNERS IS GOING TO COST DEARLY EVERYBODY WHOM MES UP WITH A LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT.
January 25th, 2013, 9:17 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Please never forget. This is how the Syrian Dictatorship dealt with peacefull demonstrators at the beginning by April 2011.
January 26th, 2013, 6:22 am
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