The situation in Syria is deteriorating rapidly as the fighting has intensified in urban areas, which are key to the regime’s survival and to the opposition’s progress. The death rate has spiraled upward as has the flow of refugees out of Syria. Neighboring states are beginning to become overwhelmed by the torrent of human misery that is coming their way. There is no end in sight and the outside world is providing little humanitarian aid. The Assad regime is determined and lethal. It seems ready to pursue a scorched earth policy. Its foreign supporters – Iran and Russia – seem prepared to stick by its side.
Syrian Refugees Flood Into Jordan and Turkey in a Sharp Rise. 5,000 a day into Turkey. 10,000 last week into Jordan.
Moral among the Syrian opposition remains high despite the pounding it’s fighters have taken in the face of offensives in both Aleppo and Damascus. It has met with renewed support in the international community. France’s President is talking about recognizing a government in exile. Turkey is insisting on a no-fly zone over Syria. And the US has moved an aircraft carrier to the coast, opened a center in Istanbul to help coordinate opposition activities, and allowed a Syrian opposition lobby group to operate in Washington DC. But none of this can make up for the continuing fragmentation and bickering of the opposition. The Economist quoted one Syrian activist to say that perhaps more than 2,000 armed groups were operating on Syrian soil. From the viewpoint of foreign governments that hope to support the opposition, this is an impossible situation. It is also an impossible situation for the Assad military. Although the fragmentation of the opposition troops may make it impossible to destroy the Syrian Army, it also makes it impossible for the Syrian Army to destroy the opposition, which is constantly multiplying.
Foreign powers continue to resist getting directly involved in taking on Assad’s forces, but they are being faced with a much larger humanitarian crises than earlier. Both Turkey and Jordan have been making noises about shutting their borders to every greater waves of refugees. This is a warning to the international community that it must begin planning for greater help and that its inaction may have profound effects on the stability of the region.
Turkey is calling for the establishment of humanitarian “safe zones” as refugee flows from Syria escalate, and the United Nations has warned about increased refugee movement into Jordan and Turkey. About 80,000 people from Syria have settled in Turkey since the start of the uprising in 2011, and the United Nations said it could reach 200,000. As fighting has recently increased, Turkey has started to see larger flows, with an estimated 5,000 refugees a day, a drastic jump from the average 500 per day earlier in the month. Turkey warned it only has space for around 100,000 people, however has built new camps which could bring the number up to 120,000. Western diplomats have expressed interest in establishing a safe zone in Syria, however said it would need to backed by a “no-fly zone,” concerning those who hesitate to participate in a military intervention. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a rare appearance on a television interview on the pro-government Dunya TV. He denounced the premise of establishing humanitarian safe zones in Syria, calling it an “unrealistic idea by hostile countries and the enemies of Syria.” He maintained his soldiers are “doing a heroic job” but said they need more time to end the conflict. Fierce fighting has been reported in Damascus, Aleppo, and in Idlib province.
LATAKIA, Syria—Flag-draped coffins depart from the drab military hospital here each morning these days, carrying the dead soldiers of the Syrian regime along winding rural roads to ancestral villages in the surrounding hill country.
All along the way, women come out to the roadside to throw rice and rose petals at the passing caravan. Cheering men shoot machine guns in the air. Children shout, “God! Bashar! Syria!” in homage of President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian nation. They believe their native sons have sacrificed their lives to become “martyrs.”
These are Syria’s Alawites, one of the more peculiar and least-known sects in the Middle East. Here in a country ravaged by civil war, they make up only about 12% of the country’s population of 22.5 million. And yet, as that war intensifies, they are taking on a potentially critical—and controversial—role defending the Assad regime.
Many Alawites characterize themselves as the first and last line of defense for their nation. And they may be right, now that other sectarian groups, including many Sunnis and Kurds, have turned into opposition or pulled from the government orbit.
“The Syrian army is being transformed into an Alawite militia,” said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. “As the Sunnis defect, more and more Alawites are being brought in, which is bringing in more of these villagers.”…
“They’re afraid,” said an Alawite activist and government opponent as he looked on. “They don’t know what will happen.”
Bassma Kodmani, spokesperson for the Sryian National Council has resigned. In the resignation letter I received, she wrote: … “The project did not achieve its objectives and did not earn the required credibility and did not maintain the confidence of the people…”
Bloomberg writes: Bassma Kodmani, a prominent voice of the Syrian National Council, resigned from the main political opposition body to President Bashar al-Assad, citing disappointment in the group’s failure to work together more than 17 months after the uprising began.
“I decided to leave the council because of a difference of views over how to move forward and because thought I could be more productive working on the outside,” Kodmani, a Paris-based academic turned revolutionary, said today in a telephone interview.
Without going into details, the former chief spokeswoman for the SNC said that in “general terms, I’ve been disappointed with how the council has worked on several levels.” She said she will work with other groups, mainly in humanitarian relief.
Kodmani said her resignation was unrelated to France’s signal yesterday that it was prepared to confer legitimacy on the SNC, a political umbrella for anti-government factions that includes the Muslim Brotherhood.
Syria’s Mutating Conflict – International Crisis Group
[I have been meaning to push Peter Harling’s latest report because his analysis is the best, most in-depth, most balanced, and best written on Syria. He is worth his weight in Gold.]
As fighting rages in Aleppo, the combination of a regime morphing into a formidable militia and an Alawite…
Syria looks for big wheat purchase
By Michael Hogan, HAMBURG | Wed Aug 29, 2012
(Reuters) – Syria has issued a large tender for wheat, a commodity not subject to sanctions, as feeding its people becomes harder in the chaos of civil war.
The United Nations has said Syria faces food shortages as tens of thousands of families leave their homes due to heavy fighting and with the harvest neglected during the conflict.
Syria’s state grains agency issued a new international tender to purchase and import 100,000 metric tons of soft milling wheat, European traders said on Wednesday.
Trade sources said a reluctance among foreign banks, shipowners and grain traders to sell and transport grain to Syria – even though food is not itself subject to sanctions – had forced Damascus into an array of unusually small wheat purchase deals in past months, many arranged by dealers around the Middle East and Asia.
Traders also said Syria was entering the market at a time of high prices, so a purchase will be more expensive than usual….
Syrian army being aided by Iranian forces
Iran confirms Quds force’s presence in Syria with Revolutionary Guards commander saying troops ‘helped prevent more massacres’
Saeed Kamali Dehghan – guardian
Ismail Gha’ani, the deputy head of Iran’s Quds force, the arm of the Revolutionary Guards tasked with overseas operations, said in an interview with the semi-official Isna news agency: “If the Islamic republic was not present in Syria, the massacre of people would have happened on a much larger scale.”
Sattam Sheikhmous still farms wheat on what’s left of his grandfather’s land, shrunk from more than 32,000 acres to less than 5,000 by the Syrian government in 1966. “They said it was a socialist policy, but we believe it was political,” said Sheikhmous, now in his 60s, referring to the government confiscation […]
The land confiscation took place across the country. But in the predominantly Kurdish province of Hasaka, in Syria’s northeast corner, the resettlement of Arabs from another part of the country in the 1970s created ethnic tensions that could manifest themselves violently when the Syrian government fully relinquishes control of the area, now seen by many as only a matter of time.
“We have to ask them to give us our land back. If they don’t, we have to do whatever we need to do,” said Sheikhmous. “It’s not just our land, it’s Kurdish land. If they don’t leave peacefully, we will use weapons.”
With Syria convulsed by a civil war that shows no signs of ending soon, the country’s Kurdish region, fast against Turkey and Iraq, is surprisingly peaceful, thanks to a maneuver by the government of President Bashar Assad, who first granted the Kurds greater rights last year, then surrendered security to a Kurdish militia this summer. While anti-Assad demonstrations still take place here, there is none of the kind of fighting that has convulsed other parts of Syria….
In an isolated stretch of Jordanian desert, a heavily guarded, secret compound houses 1,200 senior police and army officers who defected from nearby Syria.
The men live in trailers with fans but no air conditioning, surrounded by barbed wire, and they pass their days browsing the Internet and watching TV for news of Syria’s civil war, longing to join the fight — but they are largely unable to leave.
The Jordanian military runs the camp near a site formerly used by the U.S. to train some its forces for the war in Iraq, and the defectors are debriefed by intelligence agents. Access to them is tightly restricted for their own protection. They are even separated from their families, who live outside the camp near the northern border city of Mafraq but can get special police permits to visit….
The Syrian Support Group (SSG) called on the United States for the first time since the 18-month-old uprising to immediately establish a no-fly zone over Syria.
The group, which represents the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Washington, claims that Syria’s ruling authorities intensified use of air strikes to attack cities held by rebels.
The Cable quoted Louay Sakka, co-founder of the SSG, as saying that, “This is right now the time for a no-fly zone to take place.” “We need to stop the fixed-wing and helicopters from attacking. The regime cannot hold ground without air power or heavy artillery,” he added. […]
Among the challenges confronted by the Syrian opposition since the start of the Syrian revolution in March 2011 has been the lack of a unified vision for Syria’s future and concrete and detailed planning to respond to the significant challenges that will accompany a post-Assad transition. The absence of a clear vision and detailed plans has reinforced fears among some segments of Syrian society about what the future might hold should the Assad regime collapse. It has also constrained efforts by the international community to support the opposition in its efforts to overthrow the Assad regime. To address this gap, The Day After project provided a framework within which some 45 prominent opposition representatives of varied backgrounds participated in a facilitated process of transition planning. The project has now published a document that provides a comprehensive vision for a post-Assad order, agrees on principles and goals, identifies challenges and risks, and puts forward concrete recommendations in six policy fields crucial for a successful transition. The document also offers recommendations for measures to be taken immediately to put in place the foundations for a successful transition.
Iran Said to Send Troops to Bolster Syria
WSJ
BEIRUT—Iran is sending commanders from its elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and hundreds of foot soldiers to Syria, according to current and former members of the corps.
The personnel moves come on top of what these people say are Tehran’s stepped-up efforts to aid the military of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with cash and arms. That would indicate that regional capitals are being drawn deeper into Syria’s conflict—and undergird a growing perception among Mr. Assad’s opponents that the regime’s military is increasingly strained.
A commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, appeared to offer Iran’s first open acknowledgment …
BEIJING, Aug. 28 (Xinhuanet) — French President Francois Hollande has called on the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government and says France will recognize it once it is formed.
The announcement by Hollande – believed to be the first of its kind – appears to be an attempt to jolt Syria’s deeply fragmented opposition into unity. It has increased diplomatic pressure on the already isolated government of President Bashar-al-Assad.
ANTAKYA, Turkey — A surge in the number of Syrians seeking sanctuary from their country’s soaring violence prompted the Turkish government to halt the flow of refugees at two key border crossings Sunday amid an escalating humanitarian crisis that is swamping Syria’s neighbors and intensifying pressure for international intervention.
The closure left more than 7,000 refugees stranded in olive groves just inside Syria at the two places where most of the Syrians cross, while Turkish officials look for a way to accommodate them at camps that can’t keep pace with the influx.
But with more than 80,000 refugees in Turkey, nearly double the number a month ago, officials warned that the country is rapidly approaching the point at which it will no longer be able to cope. That could trigger a request for support at the United Nations for the creation of some form of internationally protected haven that would enable refugees to remain in Syria.
Turkey has not decided how to address the accelerating refugee flow but is considering asking the United Nations to find a way “to keep those Syrian nationals safe on the Syrian side of the border,” said a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. “It is becoming a big burden. This could become a big issue, and we have to think about any kind of eventuality.”
The Obama administration remains reluctant to become embroiled in what could prove to be a costly and unstoppable war that would risk engulfing the region, U.S. officials say.
President Obama last week identified the use of chemical weapons by the regime against its opponents as a “red line” that would trigger American intervention. U.S. officials say they are monitoring the evolving situation and are discussing various options, including the imposition of a no-fly zone in northern Syria that would alleviate the burden on Turkey of accommodating the refugees.
But although Turkish officials have been pressuring the United States to move toward some form of intervention because “they don’t want more refugees,” the United States is not convinced that the creation of any form of buffer zone would work to protect refugees or accelerate the demise of the regime, according to a senior U.S. administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Discussions by U.S. contingency planners have focused on a variety of options. They range from what is being called “no-fly lite,” which would provide a haven for refugees but not require outright attacks on military facilities, to a full-scale no-fly zone similar to the one imposed over Libya last year, according to U.S. officials.
The number of refugees being accommodated by Syria’s neighbors has already outstripped the United Nations’ projection of 185,000 by the end of the year, with more than 200,000 registered in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon as of Friday. The number in Turkey has climbed by 10,000 since Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, warned a week ago that Turkey would press for international action if the figure passed 100,000. The latest arrivals suggest that threshold could be reached within weeks, if not days.
The Melkite Greek Catholic archbishop of Aleppo has fled to Lebanon and his offices in the war-ravaged city have been looted, Vatican media said on Monday, amid fears over the fate of Christian minorities.
Vatican radio and the missionary news agency Fides said Jean-Clement Jeanbart initially sought refuge with some Franciscan friars in the city on Thursday last week as fighting intensified in Christian quarters of Aleppo.
Within a few hours the archdiocese had been ransacked by “unidentified groups who want to start a religious war and drag the Syrian people into a sectarian conflict,” a source in the local Christian community told Fides.
The doors of the archdiocese had been forced open and several objects like computers stolen, the reports said. Jeanbart has since fled to Lebanon.
The Melkites are an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Vatican.
The reports also said the Maronite archdiocese in Aleppo and the Byzantine Christian museum of Maarrat Nahman in the city had also been damaged.
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces last week regained control of some Christian areas in the city center that had been seized by rebels.
Jeanbart told Vatican radio that he was concerned about the presence of foreign fighters in the country and “organizations to find jihadists.”
“That is why there are fundamentalists coming from Libya, Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkey and many other countries,” he said.
Many members of Syria’s Christian clergy have been supportive of Assad, a member of the minority Alawite community, because of concerns that Islamists could take power in the multi-faith country.
Around 7.5 percent of Syria’s 20 million inhabitants are Christian.
A Christian Syrian from Aleppo, who now lives in Chicago, writes
… During the Lebanese civil war and after, I thought about ways to arm the Christians in Aleppo. The Christian areas in Aleppo are mostly connected. Only about 20% live outside said areas.
Christians in the Suleimaniah district used to be wary of their Moslem neighbors in the Baghdad Station district. I remember my mother telling us kids in 1963-64 not to stay too long on the balcony, afraid of Moslem snipers. We did not believe her and nothing happened. Christians later moved into the Baghdad Station district and became the majority there.
The Christians of Aleppo do not fear the Moslems of Aleppo. Armed Moslems from the Aleppo countryside are different and thus are not welcomed by Christians, and by Moslems.
“Of course, all armies want to stay clean. All that gold braid, all those battle honours, all that parade-ground semper fi. Thank God for Our Boys. Trouble is that when they go to war, armies ally themselves to the most unsavoury militias, gunmen, reservists, killers and mass murderers, often local vigilante groups who invariably contaminate the men in smart uniforms and high falutin’ traditions, until the generals and colonels have to re-invent themselves and their history.”
Bitter Lemons, the Israeli-Palestinian webzine, shuts down after 11 years. Editors say reflects lack of hope for peace, fatigue of conflict.
America’s current policy focuses on providing the opposition with non-lethal humanitarian assistance. As a result, an increasingly bloody and protracted civil war is likely…. America’s failure to support the opposition more actively already is provoking resentment among Syria’s population, which will undermine US efforts to influence the post-Assad transition. As one opposition spokesman warned, “America will pay a price for this. America will lose the friendship of the Syrians, and no one will trust them anymore.”….
“Despite their activity, the anti-regime organizers in the Golan Heights have not attracted mainstream local support for their movement.”
Three evenings a week, Syrian dissidents gather in a borrowed office in the bustling town of Majdal Shams. The diverse attendees – Facebook organizers, graffiti artists, former political prisoners, artists and writers – come together to coordinate a local contribution to the ongoing uprising against Bashar al-Assad. Some nights, they spend hours debating the news, brainstorming protest slogans, and strategizing for weekly demonstrations in a nearby plaza….
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I agree with the conclusion about Syria refugees, but what actions can be taken when a cease fire is unattainable ?
Are you not ashamed Mr. Landis? Shouldn’t this new post be a correction for the Darayya hollow cost you published based on unworthy and unreliable sources that are known to fabricate history from having kings and kingdoms, to 19 Moslem hijackers and all in between? You ran for the cover talking about refugees!!! Why not correction or mention of the evidence stated by SNP in the last post, that foreign hired mercenaries committed the atrocity, you are not interested in discussing that?
It is obvious after the Darya massacre which left around 300 Syrians dead during the army’s insurgence in the city and success in reclaiming control over it that the regime doesn’t want a political solution where it would have to compromise many of its authorities to the opposition. After making progress in Aleppo and the Damascus countryside, the regime is now bent on following the Russian style in Grozny, the Chechnya capital, by ferociously destroying the neighbourhoods controlled by the Free Syrian Army whatever the huge human losses.
NATO secretly authorizes Syrian attack – Wed Aug 29, 2012
Yesterday afternoon, Monday, August 28, 2012, in a meeting in Brussels, NATO military leaders in consultation with “telephonic liaison” with officers of military forces in several former Soviet Republics, major African states, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states came to a combined decision to act against Syria.
1. How climate change in Greenland will effect geopolitics, immigration and military affairs for the EU
2. Syria and the potential for Russian and Chinese intervention.
3. Iran was not an official agenda item but it is an unspoken conclusion that, if China and/or Russia stand aside for interference by NATO in Syria’s internal affairs, this will be seen as an authorization for incursions into Iran, a systematic “Balkanization” based on a prescribed formula of “manufactured and simulated internal political and social strife.”
No announcement was made, no plans or timetable published, simply a vote on authorization of force which passed unanimously by member and included non-member states unanimously.
News stories throughout North America and Europe earlier in the day were filled with reports of mass killings by the Syrian Army and the presence of Iranian troops in Syria. True or not, these stories represent a pre-staging for the NATO conference.
The critical reporting issue involves rhetoric. We moved, yesterday, from discussions of “fighting” to “systematic execution of hundreds of civilians.”
No video nor photos were included to verify neither claims nor sources given other than reports from “rebel forces.”
Recent consultation with friends in the Pentagon as to Syria’s air defense system indicated that the US has, in place, a play to destroy the command and control capability of Syria’s system.
The problems are twofold:
1. Russian technicians man the Syrian system
2. The S300P2 system Syria uses is extremely “robust”
An additional political consideration is a simple one, there is no UN authorization. Both Russia and China have vetoed even sanctions against Syria much less authorized an attack.
Thus, there is no existing authority capable of justifying an attack.
Is Turkey ready to do “something heroically and therefore cleanse their image” ?
Turkish military is key factor in Syria planning
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jec0V8KoIlzkDIXpoVvEVRNwvWzQ?docId=9adc91de4d2248e994d89a4d2910e2ea
….
Turkey and its allies are averse to intervening in Syria because of fears it could ignite a wider conflict, though Turkish government rhetoric against Syria has been among the harshest, notably after the deaths of two Turkish pilots whose jet was shot down when Syria claimed the plane was violating its airspace. Turkey disputes Syria’s claims, and the Turkish military continues its investigation.
In the wake of that incident, Cagaptay said, Turkey may have “slowed down its rhetorical response” at the urging of the U.S., “realizing that it could be left alone in a conflict situation against the Assad regime.”
..
Henri Barkey, a Turkey analyst at Lehigh University in the United States, said the Turkish military “would not mind doing something heroically and therefore cleanse their image,” but he noted that it is already burdened by a low-level war with Kurdish rebels who seek self-rule.
…
Additionally, there is no public clamor in Turkey for intervention in Syria, and a general aversion to casualties, particularly when it comes to the idea of Turkish soldiers dying to protect Syrian civilians. Turkey, Barkey said, has yet to find a strong enough justification to go into Syria without the participation of a multilateral or U.N.-sanctioned force, and its military, stripped of political clout, is on board with that cautious perspective.
“They are now subservient to the civilians and there’s a very funny way in which Erdogan is now emerging as a protector of the military,” he said. In this new scenario, according to Barkey, the prime minister views the military “no longer as a potential opponent but rather a child in his ward.”
This briefing analyses the growing significance of the foreign and home-grown jihadists in Syria. There may be over 1,000 foreign fighters in Syria now as the war becomes more violent and may continue for some time. Even if the regime falls soon, the jihadist element will have influence in a post-Assad era. If, however, the regime endures, and the longer it goes on, the more likely the jihadist element will gain in influence. Against all expectations, the al-Qaida idea could increase in significance. This could have disastrous consequences beyond Syria and makes the need to seek a negotiated solution a top foreign policy priority.
…
Conclusion
In these circumstances, there is an urgent need to encourage any initiative that seeks to bring the conflict to a negotiated settlement as soon as possible. However difficult, every effort has to be made to encourage this. In particular, it would be wise to offer support to the new UN representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, in what will prove to be a very difficult post but one for which he is certainly well-suited, given his experience. In addition, intelligence and policing efforts directed towards cutting finances to violent Islamist groups in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere should also take account of these developments in Syria at an early date. The lesson from over a decade of counter-terrorism activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere is that sending in overwhelming force later is counterproductive.
There is one final element that may be significant. Russia provides the most important major diplomatic support for the Assad regime, but Russia is itself experiencing an increase in Islamist violence in areas that have previously been considered peaceful and stable. … If Russian support for the Assad regime in Syria helps provide a motivation for radical jihadists to be more active within Russia, it is possible that Russia may be more willing to consider more active diplomatic cooperation towards regime transition in Syria.
The briefing was originally published by the Oxford Research Group
The truth is lost in Syria, most stories are riddled with lies and bias, the only undeniable fact is that scores of Syrians are dying every day in what looks more like a civil war than a revolution. Killing and counter killing is the reason for the high number of casualties, this new situation is the result of the militarization of the uprising, the regime killed civilians before armed rebels multiplied like rabbits but the daily loss of lives went up by ten folds since this uprising became an armed rebellion. The rebels failed in crushing the Syrian army due to the obvious imparity between the two sides but succeeded in bringing the country to the brink of total collapse. I agree with the argument that the regime reaction to the uprising is the main reason why we are here,but if sparing lives is the main goal of the armed rebels,they certainly failed,I am afraid that they will also fail in toppling the regime by force. Fisk my have his own beliefs about Syria and the rebels but his conclusion that Darayya massacre was not as simple as stated in opposition media is believable, that does not exonerate the regime but invites some to dig deeper to find answers.
Ten helicopters were destroyed this morning in the largest helicopter base near Idlib by the Phalanges of A7hrar al-Cham and the Ummah Brigade of the FSA. The thugs retaliated by sending Migs to bomb residential areas in the nearby town.
We applaud those heroes of the FSA who achieved this success in degrading the thugs arsenal of killing machines leaving the people of Syria safer as a result. Less helicopters with the thugs means less opportunities to continue with scorched earth policy and the killing of more civilians.
All the doors to help the opposition are closing after opening briefly.
Hollande and Turkey ‘partial no fly zone’ have been met with strong rejection from the USA and may be abandoned for the nth time.
The USA face saving gimmick of opening an office in the USA actually plays against the opposition as the USA repeatedly said they will not intervene militarily neither now nor after November.
Turkey is singing the refugees song but continues building camps.
As most of the armed rebels are Islamists, their faith that God in on their side is probably the main incentive to fight, because frankly everything is going against them.
The increased number of jihadists among them, certainly more motivated by divine ideals, are given the others a boost by planting bombs here and there, shooting a plane to claim heroically that the army is weakening.
The reality is that the armed militias of the opposition are been gradually overtaken by ruthless Islamists extremists.
This is worrying the international community as it does not augure well in the much talked ‘ after Bashar’ numerous meetings.
The article of the Oxford Research is making it very clear that the only solution is political.
Al-Moallem: We Believe that the USA is the Major Player against Syria and the Rest are Its Instruments
Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem affirmed that We belive the USA is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments under its control.
In an interview with the British newspaper the Independent conducted by journalist Robert Fisk, al-Moallem said that America is behind Syria’s violence, and that he doesn’t understand its slogan of fighting international terrorism when it’s supporting terrorism in Syria.
He pointed out that over 60% of the country’s violence comes from abroad, specifically from Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others, adding “When the Americans say, ‘We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications’, isn’t this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with USD 25 million?”
Al-Moallem pointed out that the goal of what is happening in Syria is to pressure it regarding its relations with Iran and resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, saying “We were told by some Western envoy at the beginning of this crisis that relations between Syria and Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas are the major elements behind this crisis. If we settle this issue, they will help end the crisis.”
He went on to say that the Americans succeeded in frightening the Gulf countries about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, persuading them to buy arms from the US and fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 dream of maintaining bases for oil transportation.
Regarding the European positions towards the Syrian crisis, al-Moallem said “I tell the Europeans: I don’t understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people.”
As for Qatari-Syrian relations, al-Moallem noted that Qatar was the one who reneged on these relations, saying that he met Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in Doha in November 2011 when the Arab League launched its initiative which led to sending observers to Syria, pointing out that during this meeting, Hamad told him “If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al Jazeera and I will tell Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria.”
He added that he asked Hamad about having had very close relations with Muammar Gaddafi and why he sent his aircrafts to attack Libya and be part of NATO, with Hamad responding by saying simply “Because we don’t want to lose our momentum in Tunis and Egypt.”
Al-Moallem stressed that the crisis started with legitimate demands subsequently addressed by legislation and reforms and even a new constitution, but then came foreign elements who used these legitimate demands to hijack the peaceful agenda of the people.
“I don’t accept as a citizen to return back centuries to a regime which can bring Syria backwards. In principle …no government in the world can accept an armed terrorist group, some of them coming from abroad, controlling streets and villages in the name of jihad,” he said, adding that as a Syrian citizen, he is sad to see what’s happening in Syria, compared with how it was two years ago.
“There are many Syrians like me – eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security,” he concluded.
Assad says talks of buffer zone in Syria “unrealistic” – 2012-08-29
DAMASCUS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says that talks about imposing buffer zones in Syria is ” unrealistic” and “doesn’t exist virtually,” the pro-government Addounia TV reported Wednesday.
Assad’s remarks have come during an interview with the pro- government Addounia TV, and the entire interview will be aired at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday.
“I think the talks about buffer zones are firstly non-existent virtually and secondly unrealistic even for the countries that are playing the role of the hostile or the adversary,” he said.
Assad’s remarks also came after France and the U.S. were mulling imposing a partial no-fly zone on Syria, while Turkey was urging the United Nations to create buffer zones in Syria to protect the refugees.
French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has recently cautioned that closing Syria’s airspace entirely would be tantamount to “going to war” but he urged the international community to consider backing a no-fly zone over parts of Arab nation’s state.
Meanwhile, Assad said the situation on Syria is “practically better” and the military settlement “needs time”, adding the military and security forces are carrying on “heroic acts in every sense of the word.”
Interview: Foreign intervention to aggravate violence in Syria: Algerian FM – 2012-08-29
TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — The Syrian crisis should be dealt with by Syrians themselves, as foreign military intervention would only aggravate violence in the unrest-torn country, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci told Xinhua in an interview Tuesday.
On the sidelines of the two-day ministerial level meeting of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, Medelci told Xinhua if foreign forces intervene in Syria, it would not help solve the problem but lead to more violence and bloodshed in that country.
“The Syrian crisis should be addressed through dialogue within the country,” the Algerian minister said. “Foreign forces should not interfere in Syria’s domestic affairs.”
Algerian government has already conveyed the message to both the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition, urging both sides to stop fighting, show restraint, and find solutions to the crisis through constructive dialogue, added Medelci.
To put an end to the Syrian crisis is critical to restore regional stability and security, he said, calling on the Arab League (AL) and other regional organizations to play a positive role over this issue and to promote negotiation and dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition.
Iranian officials said days ago Tehran would put forward a peace plan on the Syria crisis on the sidelines of the 16th NAM summit.
“As a regional big power, Iran has close relationships with the Syrian government, and should be able to exert positive influence over the Syrian crisis,” said Medelci.
French president’s Syria suggestion is absurd: general – 29 August 2012
TEHRAN – Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Wednesday that the suggestion put forward by French President Francois Hollande on Syria is absurd and will be ridiculed by the international community.
Foreign [terrorists] fighters join the battle of Aleppo
“The city [Aleppo] did not rise up”
“No Aleppo man and youth are fighting”
“All of muslims come from all over the world to fight”
“They’re using a mosque as a forward operating base”
“We saw arabs from saudi arabia and egypt”
“they come from many arab and islamic countries”
“some of them say they come from alkaeda some of them say they come from very islamic groups”
Iran plans to propose the formation of a three-member nonaligned team, plus two neighbors of Syria, to help resolve the crisis there, Iran’s state media quoted prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi as saying.
The proposed troika will include Egypt, Iran and Venezuela plus Iraq and Lebanon. Boroujerdi, who met Assad during a visit to Syria last week, said the Syrian president said he would welcome the Iranian plan.
A senior Iranian official gave details of the plan.
“Iran’s proposal … is a cease-fire and the implementation of a three-month mechanism for national reconciliation talks in this country,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying Wednesday.
Anti-regime fighters have dismissed any role for Iran in such a plan. The rebels and some others say it has little hope of succeeding. Also, the United States has rejected Iranian participation in international meetings on the Syrian crisis.
Wasif Syed & F. Stephen Larrabee quote one Syrian opposition spokesman as saying, “America will pay a price. America will lose the friendship of the Syrians, and no one will trust them anymore.”
Excuse me, but the USA never had the friendship of Syrians to begin with. A long time ago, Syria’s leaders chose to be America’s enemy. Now, Syria is paying the price for her protracted and bone-headed hostility.
This looks just like Afghanistan in 1979. Both there and now in Syria the US is encouraging medieval hillbillies to fight against their government. Just as there it is doing this in a proxy war against another country (Russia resp. Iran) and just as there it is helped by some of the most medieval countries in the world – Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states.
And no matter what happens we know one thing for sure: in the end there will be thousands of freshly trained Muslim extremists – no longer fitting in civil society and ready to go wherever they see a cause to fight for.
???? ???? ??????? ??????? ???? ???????? ?? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??????.
???? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???????? ????? ???????? ????????? ???? ??? ????? ????? ????.
News about the attack on Taftanaz air base have surfaced on a number of sites and cinfirmed by the government,success of that attack is not verified, the story posted by the rebels that they managed to sneak tanks and artillery at night then destroy 10 helicopters in 40 minutes them leaving unscathed is hard to believe, I think the theory that more attacks on the army will somehow reduce assaults on Syrian towns is flawd and has been repeatedly proven wrong, the opposite is happening, those rebels are not in the business of protecting Syrians or building a new free Syria, only fools buy this garbage, the objective is a violent regime change even if there are no Syrians left for the new regime to rule over.
BEIRUT — Syrian rebels said they destroyed five helicopters in a raid on a military airport between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib on Wednesday, while state television said the attack was repelled.
And no matter what happens we know one thing for sure: in the end there will be thousands of freshly trained Muslim extremists – no longer fitting in civil society and ready to go wherever they see a cause to fight for.
_________________________________________________________________
What do ya mean, I am stocked about these Emirs that need a cause and home soon, a patch of land with a lot of harem to rule as an Islamic Emir all over it. There will be 3600 patches available in Arabia that needs an Emir to rule under Muawya Islamic Khalifa, and no army on earth will be able to prevent them of having this awesome victory, not after they are properly equipped by SNP. I will soon be circulating the emirates map to the greats one that we will choose based on loyalty to Khalifa Muawya.
Just wait until Assad takes his last breath, when Baathist regime goes under water.
The fact that there are 113 thumbs up in your last comment reminds me of the 97,7 % victories in Assad’s presidential elections. It smells as if you were some kind of fascist dictatorial party. Good you are far away from power and from Syria.
The syrian people has a retaliatory policy towards those who try to cheat the Syrian Revolution.
The fact that there are 113 thumbs up in your last comment reminds me of the 97,7 % victories in Assad’s presidential elections.
__________________________________________________________________
HELL, I thought it was fake too. But it is believable now, one can see that is the percentage point of Syrians sided with Assad against the so called Revolutionaries/terrorists.
Would not you wish if 8% of Syrians sided with your bloody cause and escaped to the Jews. Keep on dreaming of that 2% of Syrians mental case that will believe you and go live in refugee camps eternally like the Palestinians, while the revolutionary saves enough cash to live in European Luxury until Assad makes a deal and you go to the Haig for trials, crime against humanity.
I know of several western institutions that are now compiling all the evidence for the trials.
Homsuptodate
#BreakingNews ||#Idleb || FSA heroes shelled Abo Al-Dhour military airport and reportedly destroyed 10 MEG JETs.
This is the largest operation ever.
BigAlBrand
FSA announced destroying 10 jets or helicopters in a second military airport in Idled. That makes the total number today 20. I Can’t confirm
??? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????????? ?? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?? “?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????” ??? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? “??? ?? ??? ?? ??????”.
launching attacks in a number of spots at the same time is a challenge for both sides, the rebels try to cope by using foreign islamist rebels and common thugs the army had to rely on air power more than before and elnist their own thugs, if you are Syrian and you are not sick of this you probably have your heart in the wrong place.
I genuinely feel sorry for those who are unable to see that their country is being destroyed and the only thing they can do is cheer news,confirmed or not, of more death and destruction.
22. Ghufran said:
“the objective is a violent regime change even if there are no Syrians left for the new regime to rule over.”
Assuming that your understanding of what is happening is true, your statement also goes both ways, it also means that the current regime will fight till there are no Syrian left to rule.
But this goes against your own simple math theory from the last post when you said that “Syria is a killing field today, your chance of being killed if you are an alawi,using simple math, is at least 3 times higher than if you were Sunni”
so by using your own cold math formula .by the time the war is over there will be 2/3 of the country still around
so in the long run using your math,who do you think is the real “fool”
Syrian rebels organised despite latest onslaught
Tue 28 Aug 2012
by Judith Orr
The town of Darayya has become the latest scene of a massacre of civilians at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad’s military forces.
It is a working class town of around 200,000 people in the province of Damascus and is seen as the birthplace of the revolution.
Reports describe over 300 bodies being found in the basements of buildings where people had gone to shelter from the air attacks and bombing. Troops laid siege to the town for several days, then went through the city backed by tanks and helicopter gunships.
The Local Coordinating Committees (LCC) reported the wounds of the dead indicate many had been executed. “The shabiha (pro-regime) militias… have been transformed into a killing machine that threatens the Syrian people and our future,” the LCC said.
‘We believe that the USA is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments’
Robert Fisk – The Independent August 28, 2012
The battle for Damascus could be heard inside the Foreign Minister’s office yesterday, a vibration of mortars and tank fire from the suburbs of the capital that penetrated Walid Muallem’s inner sanctum, a dangerous heartbeat to match the man’s words.
America was behind Syria’s violence, he said, which will not end even after the battle for Aleppo is over. “I tell the Europeans: ‘I don’t understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people’. And I tell the Americans: ‘You must read well what you did in Afghanistan and Somalia. I don’t understand your slogan of fighting international terrorism when you are supporting this terrorism in Syria’.”
Walid Muallem spoke in English and very slowly, either because of the disconcerting uproar outside or because this was his first interview with a Western journalist since the Syrian crisis began. At one point, the conflict between rebels and government troops in the suburbs of Douma, Jobar, Arbeen and Qaboun – where a helicopter was shot down – became so loud that even the most phlegmatic of Foreign Ministers in a region plagued by rhetoric glanced towards the window. How did he feel when he heard this, I asked him?
“Before I am a minister, I am a Syrian citizen, and I feel sad at seeing what’s happening in Syria, compared with two years ago,” he said. “There are many Syrians like me – eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security.”
I have my doubts about how many Syrians want a return to “the old days” but Muallem claims that perhaps 60 per cent of the country’s violence comes from abroad, from Turkey, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others.
“When the Americans say, ‘We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications’, isn’t this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with $25m – and much more from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia?”
A year ago, I told Muallem, I lunched with the Emir of Qatar, and he was enraged at what he called Bashar al-Assad’s lies, claiming that the Syrian President had reneged on a deal to allow Muslim Brotherhood members to return home.
Muallem nodded. “If you met the same Emir two years ago, he was praising Assad, and considered him a dear friend. They used to have family relations, spending family holidays in Damascus and sometimes in Doha. There is an important question: what happened? I met the Emir in Doha in, I think, November 2011, when the Arab League started their initiative [resulting in the sending of League observers to Syria] and we reached agreement … The Emir told me: ‘If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al Jazeera and I will tell [Sheikh] Qaradawi [a popular prelate with a regular slot on the television chain] to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria…’ .
“At the same time, when I was waiting to enter a meeting, there was the head of the Tunisian party Ennahda and the Emir issued orders to pay Ennahda $150m to help his party in the elections. Anyway, this was their business. But I asked the Emir: ‘You were having very close relations with Muammar Gaddafi and you were the only leader in his palace when Gaddafi hosted you during the summit – so why are you sending your aircraft to attack Libya and be part of Nato?’ The Emir said simply: ‘Because we don’t want to lose our momentum in Tunis and Egypt – and Gaddafi was responsible for dividing Sudan’.”
Of America’s power, Walid Muallem had no doubt. The Americans, he says, succeeded in frightening the Gulf countries about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, persuaded them to buy arms from the US, fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 dream of maintaining bases for oil transportation.
“We believe that the US is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments.” But wasn’t this all really about Iran? I asked, a dodgy question since it suggested a secondary role for Syria in its own tragedy. And when Muallem referred to the Brookings Institution, I groaned.
“You are laughing, but sometimes when you are Foreign Minister, you are obliged to read these things – and there was a study by the Brookings Institute [sic] called The Road to Tehran, and the result of this study was: if you want to contain Iran, you must start with Damascus…… http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=55339
CAIRO – Egypt’s Islamist president is using former jihadists to mediate with radical Islamists in Sinai, trying to ensure a halt in militant attacks in return for a stop in a military offensive in the lawless peninsula, participants in the talks say.
…
Ahmed el-Jehaini, a leading Sinai Salafi who met with the mediators, praised Morsi for “reaching out to the sons of Sinai to build confidence.”
Khalil Anani, an analyst of Islamic movements, said that a security crackdown in Sinai is not a solution, but that the dialogue strategy is also risky.
“On one hand, Morsi’s reaching out to the jihadists can create divisions within their circles and weaken them, but on the other hand it is dangerous that you recognize the Jihadi groups,” he said. “It is also very risky game that could fire back as Morsi could be using them but later on they can turn against him.”
Any Moslem that visit Zionist Israel will brng shame to Islam and Moslems. He is not a Moslem, he is Kaffer under infidel control. He should face the same end as that ugly SADAT.
No Moslem should ever shake a hand of a Jew, any kind not just Israeli ones until the Jews return the Golan to Syrians, Al Quds to Moslems, and give full independence to Palestinians, take back all refugees under equal law of return.
????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????????
???????? ??? ???? ?????? ? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???? ???????? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ??????? 15 ???? ???????? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ????????? ???? ??”???? ??????
? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????? ???? ????????? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ???????? ???????? ??? “?? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ???”.
It is hard to verify the accuracy of this story, I have no reason to suspect that it is false but I am not sure why Zawaaj Almut’aa was infused here except to insinuate that Shia are taking part in exploitation of Syrian girls using religious and cultural covers, the merit of the story is that this war is destroying Syria and humiliating its people, the focus in any solution should be to alleviate the suffering of Syrians instead of fighting about who should be Ameer and who should not.
And no Christian should ever do so. The blood of Christ is on these people stained hand. Not only that, the blood of million Iraqis and now Syrians as well.
You are a fascist, a psychopathic, a kind of human garbage full of hatred. FAKE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
This SC is out of control. Thumbs up are faked by SNP (164 up).
I give up and if Assad is kept in power by the disgrace upper classes in Damascus and Aleppo I will leave to Israel, to Switzerland or wherever I want to go. You should shut up your moouth about what a christian should or should not do. Any christian will do whatever he or she finds suitable. No one will hear from your crazy speech. Go to hell. Or better go to Qardaha.
Shafik wanted in Egypt over alleged corruption case:
Ex-PM who lost presidential race to Mohamed Morsi then went abroad faces questions over land allocated to Mubarak’s sons.
only in the Middle East, a man with corruption charges almost became president,then few weeks later he is wanted like any criminal, losers have no friends
FSA ‘destroys 10 helicopters’
The Free Syrian Army claims to have destroyed 10 Syrian Air Force helicopters at Taftanaz military airport, located between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib, al-Jazeera reported today. Video uploaded onto YouTube purported to show clashes at the airport in the distance. The video below purports to show the destroyed helicopters.
It quotes the British-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights as saying 14 government troops were killed in the fighting at Taftanaz.
Syrian opposition group not up to job, says ex-member
Basma Kodmani, who resigned from the Syrian National Council this week, said the group was not doing enough to back the increasingly violent 17-month-old revolt against the government in Damascus and needed to be replaced by a new political authority.
“My sense was that the SNC was not up to facing the increasing challenges on the ground and was not up to the performance I would have liked it to be,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview from Paris on Wednesday.
Kodmani, one of the few women in the SNC, headed its foreign affairs bureau. The SNC was formed in Istanbul last year to guide a democratic transition if Assad fell but has been accused by some of being dominated by Islamists.
“The groups inside the council did not all behave as one in promoting one national project,” Kodmani said. “Some have given too much attention to their own partisan agendas, some to their personal agendas sometimes. That resulted in a major weakness in connecting closely with the groups on the ground and providing the needed support in all forms.”
Ten less MIGs are now available to the thugs to use in the killing of Syrians after the FSA destroyed them along with several armored vehicles in the Abu Al-Douhour Airport near Idlib.
Once again we applaud the heroism of the FSA, our true National Army.
And yet, the events of the past 18 months have shattered one of the abiding guidelines to life under totalitarian rule – that absolute power is uncontestable. If anything has so far been achieved through the bedlam now rumbling through Syria and indeed other parts of the Arab world, it is a new reality: the power of the street has exposed the fragility of authority.
“I had always said they would fall over when we were no longer scared of them,” Moustafa Abu Khalil, a retired electricity worker from the northern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour, told me in June. “It took a long time to get to the point where people were prepared to risk everything, their families, their futures, just to bring about change. “The truth be told, [the people] probably wouldn’t have got here if the regime did not continue to escalate the violence every month. That just fed the flames. And now we have a true revolution, civil war, call it what you will. It is a point of no return.”
Some background on the Taftanaz (or Tiftanaz) military base where rebel fighters say they have destroyed a number of helicopters.
Last month our colleague Luke Harding interviewed two army generals (Mohammad al-Zobi and Saed Shawamra) who had defected from the base – travelling at first to Turkey but then returning to Syria to support the opposition.
Morale in the base was said to be low when the generals defected. Harding wrote:
The two generals had been in charge of helicopters at the Tiftanaz base, outside Idlib. Because of rebel attacks on supply routes, the garrison was now forced to fly in food and ammunition by plane from Aleppo, they said. It was a similar picture in other army bases, increasingly vulnerable and cut off, Zobi suggested.
Assad’s greatest advantage over his lightly armed opponents comes from the sky. Syria has 150 Soviet-built helicopters, including M8 and M17 troop transporters, capable of transporting 24 soldiers each. Russia had also delivered “five or six new helicopters” over the past month, the generals said.
But the president’s most lethal weapon is his notorious M25 helicopter gunship. Syria has 22 of them, stationed in pairs at every airbase across the country, according to Zobi. They are remorseless killing machines able to fire 64 rockets on each mission and 2,000 machine gun rounds of varying calibres. They can stay in the air for four and a half hours.
“You can’t shoot them down. It’s impossible. They fly at an altitude of 4.5kms, above the range of a Kalashnikov,” Zobi said. The gunships have a crew of four: two pilots, a gunner and an engineer.
The general added: “We defected after our superior gave us an unambiguous order to shoot everything on the ground.”
“We didn’t want to kill our own civilians,” Shawamra explained.
Syria always been a refugee home for every F****G tribes and species in the region, from ancient times to the Iraq war in Modern times. Finally the Semite basta***ds made a refugee out of Syrians. EXTERMI*NATE THEM, SPRAY THEM you dim witted FAGGOT BATTA.
I suggest better place for you, GO TO HELL and leave the poor Syrians out of your Genocidal Zionist hell please. You think my voice is bad, wait until Faggot Batta gives SNP what asked of him. F*****G took 2 god damm years and drove Syria to a heap of trash and the dumb ass still wants more time. What a F*****R this Baathist front is.
Members of the police and the Supreme Security Committee, an amalgamation of militias that is the country’s military, stood guard and watched as armed Salafists, followers of a fundamentalist strain of Islam, razed Tripoli’s Sidi Shaab Mosque and the Abdel Salam al Asmar shrine in Zlitan, 100 miles east of Tripoli, over the weekend. Some of the attackers were reported to be serving members of the Supreme Security Committee.
“If we deal with this using security we will be forced to use weapons, and these groups have huge amounts of weapons,” Abdel Al said. “They are large in power and number in Libya. I can’t enter a losing battle to kill people over a grave.”
Sorry to burst your balloon, but Rachel, rest in peace, was an American free to choose her path in life (and in death). She chose to lay her life on the line for the Palestinian cause.
Syrians, by contrast, are not free in the sense that Rachel was. They have all kinds of ethnic, tribal, clan and sectarian constraints blocking them at every juncture. They will be free to choose, as Rachel was, in maybe 500 years, after the last Imam is strangled by the entrails of the last Baathist.
Answer to Visitor. Why am I interested in Syrian matters? I wasn’t aware I needed your okay to participate.
This must have been the work of the “Holy Trinity” brigade as no loss of life has been recorded. I did not think the FSA will listen to you so quickly Tara, good job.
Why is the FSA trying to dissociate itself from “terrorists” referred to by Bashar Al Assad? Is it preparing to present itself as a ‘clean’ partner in an eventual dialog with the government, now that the SNC is dead.
The Hatay Governor’s Office, however, told the Hürriyet Daily News that they were unaware of the situation
…
The group states that it has never been part of any militia or other military force that has battled or risen up against the al-Assad regime for the sake of any gain, material or otherwise. Although the embattled president has consistently said his forces are battling “terrorists,” he does not explicitly refer to the Free Syrian Army.
62 zoo
How is Bassama news any more important than the long awaited interview of Bashar ,it is been almost 10 hours since his appearance and not a peep out of you, it is as if he is not relevant to you anymore, so far you talked about Egypt president and Bassama and nothing at all about him ,as if he doesn’t exist or we could say he is already in the dustbin of history
I am honored to know you are a fan of my posts and surely one of my regular thumbs upper.
The SNC must be the most vicious and pathetic opposition organization in the history of uprisings. It bears a heavy responsibility in the escalation of violence and the bloodshed.
Its fall was long overdue.
By the way I have posted Bashar Al Assad’s speech report as he gave it. In your excitment you may have missed it.
FSA rebels – accused of war crimes – shape Syria’s future
Amal Hanano
Aug 29, 2012
Syria, the crossroads of civilisation, has become a land of crossings. Refugees cross borders to overcrowded camps; displaced families travel from destroyed towns and cities to others still being destroyed; officials and diplomats defect from the Assad regime to form alliances with the loosely defined “opposition”. And thousands of people have crossed from life to death.
[…]
They huddled together in the back of a lorry en route to Atareb, a nearby town. It was dark, but their faces glowed with relief as they lit cigarettes. When they alighted, opposition fighters showered them with welcomes, their voices rough yet comforting. “Thank God for your safety,” they said, the common greeting to those returning from a trip. Crossing over was like coming home.
Another video, emerging around the same time, told another story, one of vengeance. In Aleppo on July 31, the FSA-affiliated Tawheed Brigade captured members of the Barri clan. Seated in a line on a dirty floor, they faced the cameraman, one by one. Most of their faces were bloodied. Ringleader Zeyno Barri, stripped to his underwear, looked forlorn and humiliated – and like a man who knew the end was near.
The Barri tribe has been known for years for criminal behaviour – a dirty clan with dirty ties to the regime. Since early 2011, their thuggery and intimidation have aimed at suppressing the uprising in Aleppo. Asked why the city took so long to join the revolution, many Allepians answer simply: the Barris. In Aleppo, the Barris are the definition of shabbiha, the “ghost” militia that supports the regime.
Supposedly after a field trial, of which no video has been released, the men were marched outside and executed in a hail of bullets. When the dust cleared, only bodies remained. The fighters scattered. Even the cameraman hid behind a wall as he continued filming.
[…]
Afterwards, the video’s details were dissected in social media. Some activists were surprised that the Barris had not been tortured first. They said that the punishment could have been much worse, and emphasised that after the first fatal shots the men could not have felt the other bullets, fired only for show to warn the rest of the shabbiha. But some believe the brutal scene killed more than men; it killed the great expectations of an idealised revolution, and it set a disturbing precedent.
The executions opened new rifts among supporters of the revolution. Accusations divided those who think the FSA is faultless, those who argue that this is not the time to talk about a “mistake”, and those who separate the revolution from the FSA. Aleppian activists were unfairly reminded of their silence (meaning acceptance) when other cities were being bombed. Those who did not unconditionally accept the FSA’s actions were labelled hypocrites, at best, and traitors, at worst.
And so the “Rambos” who justified the violence as necessary separated from the “Gandhis” who denounced some of the FSA’s tactics. Both sides were right and both were wrong, and all of us knew it.
There are regime supporters who call for reform and dialogue without acknowledging that they would dare not utter those words but for the courage of the revolutionaries. In the same way, diehard FSA supporters refuse to acknowledge that the FSA finally signed and implemented a code of conduct, after the Barri executions, only because of the voices of the critics.
The British Daily Star has reported in their article, “SAS HUNT BIO ARMS,” that, “nearly 200 elite SAS and SBS troops are in or around Syria hunting for Assad’s weapons of mass destruction.” The Star also claims that the SAS are accompanied by British MI6, US CIA, and both French and American soldiers. This after US’ Barack Obama made comments claiming the US would military intervene if Syria so much as “moves them [unconfirmed WMDs] in a threatening fashion.”
Like Iraq, the West has provided no evidence that such weapons even exist, let alone prove that the weapons have or even would be used against terrorists operating across Syria. And like in Iraq, another false pretext is being developed through leaks, and limited hangouts in an attempt to prime the public for a desperate intervention designed to bolster the West’s collapsing terrorist front.
The West also categorically lacks any semblance of an international mandate to act militarily within Syria – meaning that if SAS soldiers are in Syria, they are in egregious violation of international law.
Should chemical weapons “move” or be “used” in Syria, it will be in the form of a false flag attack, with weapons brought in by Libyan terrorists now confirmed to be leading the so-called “Free Syrian Army” with US, UK, European, and Gulf State weapons, cash, and logistical support.
US, British, French, and Gulf State-backed Al Qaeda militants have been attempting to infiltrate and violently overthrow the government of Syria, as well as terrorize the population into submission in a brutal, year and half long terror campaign.
Western policy makers admit that NATO’s operations in Libya have played the primary role in emboldening Al Qaeda’s AQIM faction (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). The Fortune 500-funded Brookings Institution’s Bruce Riedel in his article, “The New Al Qaeda Menace,” admits that AQIM is now heavily armed thanks to NATO’s intervention in Libya, and that AQIM’s base in Mali, North Africa, serves as a staging ground for terrorist activities across the region.
Image: NATO’s intervention in Libya has resurrected listed-terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate, LIFG. It had previously fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now has fighters, cash and weapons, all courtesy of NATO, spreading as far west as Mali, and as far east as Syria. The feared “global Caliphate” Neo-Cons have been scaring Western children with for a decade is now taking shape via US-Saudi, Israeli, and Qatari machinations, not “Islam.” In fact, real Muslims have paid the highest price in fighting this real “war against Western-funded terrorism.”
….
AQIM, like their Libyan counterparts, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) are both listed by the US State Department as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” Likewise, both the UK Home Office (.pdf, listed as GSPC) and the UN recognize both organizations as terrorists.
Despite this, military intervention in Libya was pursued by the West and condoned by the UN with full knowledge that the militants leading so-called “pro-democracy uprisings” were in fact merely the continuation of decades of violent terrorism carried out by Al Qaeda affiliates. The West had full knowledge of this, primarily because it was Western intelligence agencies arming and supporting these militants for the last 30 years, in Libya’s case, while coddling their leaders in Washington and London.
Additionally, the US Army itself meticulously documented foreign terrorists fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that the highest percentage per capita emanated from Libya’s cities of Benghazi and Darnah, the so-called “cradle” of 2011?s “pro-democracy uprisings” in Libya.
LIFG terrorists promptly turned both east to Syria and west to Mali beyond their borders – a logistical matter they had perfected during their operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade. LIFG commander Abdul Hakim Belhaj, as early as November 2011, arrived on the Turkish-Syrian border to provide cash, weapons, and LIFG terrorist fighters, overseen by Western intelligence along with US funding and arms laundered through Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) members such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Since then Libyan militants have been confirmed to be leading entire brigades of foreign fighters inside Syria.
And as Bruce Riedel of Brookings concedes, these weapons went west to Mali as well. Algeria had feared just such a scenario unfolding with NATO’s intervention in Libya – a fear now fully realized. Ironically, Riedel, in August 2011, had tried to make a case for Algeria being “next to fall” in an article titled literally, “Algeria Will Be Next to Fall.”
A year ago, Riedel attempted to argue that it would be the so-called “Arab Spring” that would spread into Algeria after having taken root in neighboring Libya. He had eluded to, and it has now become abundantly clear, that by “Arab Spring,” Riedel meant, US-backed subversion, and more specifically NATO-armed Al Qaeda-brand militancy and terrorism.
With the US now openly arming, supporting, and literally “cheering” Al Qaeda in Syria, it is clear thatthe “War on Terror” is an unprecedented geopolitical fraud perpetuated at the cost of millions of lives destroyed and an incalculable social and economic toll. NATO, with full knowledge of the consequences is literally carving out of North Africa and the Middle East, the so-called “Caliphate” Western leaders had held over their impressionable people’s heads as the impetus to perpetually wage global war. Torn from the pages of Orwell’s 1984, an artificial war has been created to carry forward corporate-financier machinations both abroad and domestically. The so-called threat to Western civilization is in fact a foreign legion of Western corporate-financier interests, executing Wall Street and London’s foreign policy on a global scale where and in a manner traditional Western forces cannot.
NATO’s terrorist blitzkrieg across the Arab World will not end in Syria. It will continue, if allowed, into Iran, through the Caucasus Mountains and into Russia, across China’s western borders, and even across Southeast Asia. The price for ignorance, apathy, and complicity in supporting the West’s so-called “War on Terror” will ironically reap all the horrors and then some in reality, that were promised to us if we didn’t fight this “Long War.”
#66 ZOO
Of course I’m a fan,so much so that I know when you have an important comment you move it to the new post if it got buried at the end of old post , witch some how would prove my earlier point of Bashar not being relevant any more.
On the subject of the SNC, I’ll agree with you, they are a punch of losers that were not up to the task and made all Syrain looks bad with their infighting.
Not that I think any of them would have got anything when it is all over
Salvation for Syria: The only salvation for Syria at its current crisis is foregin mandate that will impose law and order. Syria is traveling from a dark tunnel into the abyss. There is not humanity or human beings you can count on these days. It is slaughters vs. slaughters. Blood vs. Blood. Butchery vs. butchery. Mass murders vs. mass murders. A foregin mandate under the auspices of the UN that will last a generation or two is the only way for the salvation of Syria.
I thought Bashar’s terrible interview would be my garbage diet for the day, but the primo garbage here definitely surpasses his lies and delusions. I almost went back to analyzing his twisted logic – why didn’t you use the army in Golan? Because resistance is a state of mind – but then Son of Damascus came in with some quality from Amal Hanano, which helps remind me of the greatness of the Syrian people.
The amount of hate exhibited by Assad supporters and opponents of the revolution toward a movement that will inevitably win and has the potential of building a better country is a historical miscalculation that has led to horrific violence in a country that many of us love. There is no peace with Assad, and definitely no freedom and democracy.
Even with the meager resources available to the rebels, the revolution has become stronger every day. This is because most Syrians want this regime to go and see the revolution’s success as the only way out. This is reality. Who wants to be the last person to die for an evil dictator?
I found no evidence that a single helicopter was destroyed at Taftanaz airport and no independent source has even confirmed the death of any soldiers in that attack which was more of a PR stunt than a serious military assault .
The claim that ten more helicopters (or MIGs in some reports ) were destroyed in another attack is laughable, I certainly do not want to see Syrian jets bomb populated areas in any part of Syria, and I condemn any attack on civilian sites regardless of the justification used, but the right response to this deadly dance is a cease fire not an escalation of violence. Reports with poor or no proof end up hurting the reporter’s credibility,the two videos shown on aljazeera do not prove anything,I could not find any backer to the rebels claims anywhere outside the GCC media.
If you need one more reason to throw up,see how our tax money in the US may be used to buy weapons that kill Syrians, one of the founders of this new criminal enterprise is a medical doctor who is supposed to treat children: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/world/middleeast/syrian-group-in-united-states-seeks-to-arm-rebels-against-assad.html?pagewanted=all
Obama administration is pretending that it has no control on how the money is used,do not ask / do not tell. This is how sick and confused some expats have become.
I will make sure that this scandal receives enough attention in the press and the congress,each one of you who is against violence must contact their representative and tell them that our tax money and our name should not be used to promote violence and killings.
Naser Danan strikes me as a fine man, Ghufran. I don’t see what your problem is with getting guns for the FSA to kill members of the Assad Mafia.
Unless…oh wait…unless you support the Assads. In that case, yes, I see that you might be all up in a tizzy about a doctor in Ohio who is working out ways to kill the people who murdered Rafic Hariri.
A friendly note to new comers,old ones know this by now, I do not engage in conversations with people who advocate violence, seem ignorant or use foul language, there has to be a level of equality or parity in any productive conversation.
As their humanitarian plight grows more acute, the Syrian people deserve better from the Democratic Party and its elected leadership.
If Senator Edward M. Kennedy — the conscience of the Democratic Party — were alive today, he would be bellowing to the rafters on the floor of the U.S. Senate that America is acting embarrassingly indifferent to the humanitarian plight of the Syrian people.
I have experience enough to predict how Ted Kennedy would have reacted to the growing Syrian civilian humanitarian crisis. I served on his Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Refugees staff for 7 years and know Ted Kennedy cared about the Democratic Party and its foreign policy principles.
I don’t remember such coverage in the media covering the refugee crisis which resulted from the USA’s invasion of Iraq, although it was at least trebly severe.
I keep thinking about the quote attributed to J. Edgar Hoover: “The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.”….
We are talking about the son of a man who built the toughest and strongest Arab Army, a veritable superman and a miracle story, who carried out live miracles for Syria. He did these miracles within a space of 30 years.
This Party, this family, and this Army we are talking about,
1. Increased Syria literacy rate from 15 % in 1963 to 80 % in 2011,
2. Built the Tabaqa Dam and thousands of irrigation and hydroelectric projects for the benefit of the country.
3. Made Syria self-sufficient in food by a strategic agricultural policy.
4. Launched the largest Missile programme and WMD programme in the Arab world.
5. Created the largest special forces in the Arab World and the toughest and largest Airborne forces and elite forces.
6. Made Syria the most solid economy in the Arab world, an economy in which the CITIZENS come first before foreign interests.
7. Was able to correct the historic mistake of the creation of Lebanon and able to bring Lebanon firmly under the Syrian State as it should be, ruled Lebanon like “Agha” for most of 30 years.
8. Dealt suavely and smartly with one crisis after another, starting from 1967 naksa, Black September crisis, Corrective revolution, 1973 war, Muslim Brotherhood insurgency, all the ups and downs of Lebanon Civil War including 2 full-scale Israeli invasions (1978 and 1982), plus backstabbing from other Arab leaders, 1990 Gulf War, 2000 Liberation of South Lebanon, 2003 Iraq crisis, 2005 Lebanon crisis, 2006 Lebanon victory.
Now, think about it, for a Party, Family, and Army which has dealt with all these crises before and came out victorious, whose help does Assad need to crush this silly rebellion ? NOBODY.
Assad can EASILY end this by himself. Who is this “Agha” you are talking about and what are his credentials ?
I am very sorry for Syria and the syrians but at the end everybody will get what he deserves. And Syria with many syrians inside the country defending the regime atrocities and crimes will receive a very hard punishment from its recent “achievements” and political history. It’s written already, I do not think we can do much more to avoid it. The chaos, destruction and genocide of Assad supporters and Rebels is on the way and Syria could be desintegrated too.
Hafez Al Assad will pass through history as the father of modern Syria (1970-2010). A modern Syria that was unsustainable and consequently Assad Junior will pass to history as the Destroyer of Modern Syria.
You are being satirical! I am laughing at your wit.
Imagine if any of those “achievements” has been done properly and not wastefully, inadequately and corruptly.
Imagine if the place had been under a legitimate government where things were ALLOWED to happen. Hafez Assad choked Syrian development into a stunted soviet model.
And those crisis that you list are result of the misrule and mismanagement of Syrian affairs.
You are clearly joking and laughing to yourself while you wrote that comment.
Postscript. The appalling Robert Fisk (I know he used to be good but since 2005 he has been an awful journalist, self-obsessed, ignorant, fawning over warlords or their wives, pretending to speak Arabic when he obviously doesn’t) has done his own version of the al-Dunya propaganda in Darayya. Admittedly, his report isn’t quite as obscene as al-Dunya’s, or rather it exists within a tradition which is slightly less obscene than al-Dunya’s. But it’s still obscene. Here it is.(http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-inside-daraya–how-a-failed-prisoner-swap-turned-into-a-massacre-8084727.html?afid=af) It will make the intelligent, informed or humane reader vomit. (A few days before, Fisk fawningly interviewed the criminal Walid Muallem. Muallem whined about anti-Syrian conspiracy, and Fisk, instead of using his access to say “But surely the revolution is motivated and mobilised by regime repression?” he said, “But isn’t it all about Iran?” In other words he believes the regime propaganda, and the balnket thinkers, and is entirely ignorant about what happens on the ground in Syria, just as he’s been ignorant about Lebanon for many years. What else can we expect from an area ‘expert’ who thinks the arabic word umma (nation or community) means ‘mother’?
Anyway, the Local Coordination Committees, who understand the requirements of ethical journalism better than the Independent, have responded, very politely, to this shambles of a journalist. Here is the response:
Daraya Coordination Committee
Press Release
Robert Fisk’s report about the massacre of Saturday 25/08/2012
On Wednesday 29 August 2012, Mr. Robert Fisk of The Independent wrote a report on the Daraya Massacre that was perpetrated only 4 days earlier. Mr. Fisk is a world-famous journalist known for his balanced opinion pieces and ground-breaking reports especially from the Middle East. The people of Syria especially remember Fisk for being the first foreign reporter to enter the city of Hama after the 1982 massacre and relate to the world the horrors he saw there. Thus, we were absolutely astonished by the above-mentioned report and would like to make sure that certain points in it are not left uncorrected. We do this out of respect to the fallen heroes and to make sure the voice of the victims is heard.
Anyone who watched the infamous and insolent report made by the state-favored Addounia TV, would notice the obvious similarities between the two reports.
One major concern that would invalidate any statement taken from the victims is the presence of army personnel as admitted by Mr. Fisk himself. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Syrian regime would know the degree of intimidation this would incur in the hearts and minds of witnesses. The army does not need to spoon-feed the statements to the witnesses as fear is more than enough to make them repeat the narrative propagated by the government about armed militias and radical Islamists.
Moreover, the article is headlined and predicated on the government’s unbelievable prisoner-swap story. The question that begs to be asked is the following: Even if there was a prisoner exchange and it failed, does the Assad regime have any grounds at all for this level of retaliation? Were there similar failed rounds of negotiation before the massacres of Muaddamiya, Saqba etc. In fact, what has been happening in the towns of the Damascus Countryside Governorate, and indeed all of Syria, follows a similar scenario that begins with shelling and ends with massacres of civilians.
A seemingly strong point in Mr. Fisk’s report is his mentioning of real names of people telling their real stories. However, the Coordination Committee of Daraya has been in touch with some of these people and the following corrections need to be made.
1- The story of Hamdi Khreitem’s parents. The witness must have been too intimidated to identify his parents’ killers. Our reliable sources from the field hospital of Daraya confirm that both of them were targeted by a sniper (from the Assad army of course).
2- The story of Khaled Yahya Zukari. The witness was actually in a car with his brother and their wives and children. They were shot at by government forces and his wife and daughter (Leen) were hit. The baby girl’s head was almost split in half and a bullet penetrated the mother’s chest. The mother became hysterical as a result of the shock. Later she died as the field hospital had to be evacuated prior to an army raid. The Assad army told the people that the FSA raped and killed the woman.
The fear and intimidation of witnesses is reflected sometimes in their refusal to name a guilty side. Moreover, Mr. Fisk should know better than reporting conjecture such as this: ‘Another man said that, although he had not seen the dead in the graveyard, he believed that most were related to the government’s army and included several off-duty conscripts.’ The implicit accusation is of course directed against the FSA and this method of reporting resembles Syrian state propaganda par excellence, something that we wish Mr. Fisk had not done.
The revolution committee would finally like to stress also that Mr. Fisk did not meet any member of the opposition in Daraya and that he merely depended on the narrative of his ‘tour guides’ in reporting on such a horrific massacre, the ugliest Syria has seen in the 17 months of the revolution
You have been described by others here as talking out of both sides of your mouth. I am afraid I am seeing this too and it makes me a bit dizzy trying to follow. Your messages are not consistent -but maybe this reflects your thinking and emotions.
My advice: if you care about Syria, focus on solutions, not keep looking for and identifying things which in your opinion are problems.
British paper?
The Daily Star? This paper is as tabloidy as they get. The type that love printing these type of gung-ho ‘boys own’ stories. Doesn’t make it true.
If you are keen to ask people here why they are interested in Syrian affairs, I suggest you switch from quizzing Johannes de Silentio (an obvious anti-Assadist) to super-diligent poster ZOO.
Zoo’s recent move from just posting articles to commenting, has revealed a startling lack of respect, empathy and interest in the PEOPLE of Syria. It has been interesting and depressing to witness.
And mystifying as to what dog he has in this fight.
I enjoyed your far fetched arguments when you realized that you accused me wrongly.
I have posted the article on Bashar’s interview when it was published. It is unfortunate that Joshua Landis decided to publish a new compendium apologetic of the pro-chaos elements in Syria just at that time, thus making my own post part of the “old” post.
In any case I find it a compliment that you attribute to me such manipulation of information. I wish I was as capable of that, as you and some on this blog are..
Thirteen people suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda were arrested in northwest Turkey following the discovery of explosives, the local governor said Thursday.
“The revolution in Egypt is the cornerstone for the Arab Spring, which started days after Tunisia and then it was followed by Libya and Yemen and now the revolution in Syria against its oppressive regime,” Mr Morsi said.
“The Palestinian and Syrian people are actively seeking freedom, dignity and human justice,” he said, adding that “Egypt is ready to work with all to stop the bloodshed.”
Mr Morsi’s description of the conflict in Syria as a “revolution” against oppressive masters jarred with the narrative given by Tehran and Damascus that the uprising is separate from the Arab Spring, and consists largely of foreign-backed “terrorists” acting on behalf of the United States and regional countries.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — Syria has lost up to 30 billions U.S. dollars over the past 18 months due to the damage to infrastructure, costs of stemming protests as well as economic slowdown, the cabinet said in a newsletter Wednesday.
The Syrian cabinet’s assessment of the economic situation in the unrest-torn country during the first quarter of 2012 was released at the time the Syrian government is still showing unwavering resolution to go on with its crackdown on rebels.
Economists noted the heavy losses exclude the costs of external blockade, underlining that these losses are equivalent to Syria’s investment budget for at least seven years.
According to the newsletter, the months-long crisis has casted a dim shadow on all service sectors, mainly the tourism and transportation sectors.
The number of tourists declined by about 76.4 percent during the first three months of 2012 compared to the corresponding period of 2011 while tourism revenues diminished from 52 billion Syrian pounds in the first quarter of 2011 to 12.8 billion in the same period of 2012, down by 75.4 percent.
The newsletter revealed that Syria’s inflation rate has increased from 6.7 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 to 22. 54 percent during the first quarter of 2012, an increase of approximately 236.4 percent.
It attributed the high inflation to a rise in the price index of 12 out of 13 commodity groups, mainly the food stuff and non- alcoholic beverages.
The cabinet newsletter also showed that the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar declined to about 58.56 Syrian pounds from 51.28 pounds during the first quarter of 2011.
…
More than 8,000 members of the security forces have been killed since Syria’s anti-regime uprising broke out in March 2011, the director of the capital’s Tishrin military hospital said on Thursday.
“I estimate that at least 8,000 soldiers and members of the security forces have been killed since the beginning of the crisis,” the director, a doctor who also holds the rank of general, said on condition of not being named.
“Every day, we receive an average of 15 to 20 bodies of soldiers and members of security forces, with the numbers increasing since the beginning of the year,” he told an AFP reporter.
Tishrin received 47 bodies on Wednesday, but in late July — when fighting raged in the capital as the rebels trying to seize control — “we received more than 100 people daily for three days,” the doctor said. “Approximately 70 percent of military casualties are transported to our hospital and the rest are sent to hospitals in other provinces,” he added.
Around 60 percent of the victims were killed by gunfire, while 35 percent died in explosions, including anti-tank rockets, and five percent were “slaughtered or beheaded,” according to the general.
Tehran: Strongly pitching for coordinated global actions against international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asked the Non-Aligned Movement to take a lead in this and also take a stand based on “universally accepted principles” on Syria.
Voicing India’s opposition to “external intervention” in Syria, Singh, while addressing the leaders and other representatives from over 50 NAM countries who are here for a two-day Summit, made a pointed reference to the situation in the West Asian region, particularly Syria, currently afflicted by a civil war between troops loyal to President Bashar Al- Assad and the rebels.
“The West Asian and North African region is undergoing profound change. As the world’s largest democracy, India supports popular aspirations for a democratic and pluralistic order. Nevertheless, such transformations cannot be prompted by external intervention, which exacerbate the suffering of ordinary citizens.
“The deteriorating situation in Syria is a matter of particular concern. Our Movement should take a stand on the issue in keeping with universally accepted principles,” he said while urging all parties to recommit themselves to resolving the crisis peacefully through a Syrian-led inclusive political process that can meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrian citizens.
Ghufran said:
“I agree with the argument that the regime reaction to the uprising is the main reason why we are here,but if sparing lives is the main goal of the armed rebels,they certainly failed,I am afraid that they will also fail in toppling the regime by force.”
Are you truly afraid the rebels will fail? You have dubiously called for a stalemate as a desirable outcome, and you oppose any actions that will lead to the rebels succeeding.
I fear that Assad will be in power for years if he has fighter jets and helicopters, plus support from Iran and Russia to keep those killing machines operational. In a war of attrition, he has strong cards.
Lives will only be spared by one side winning as soon as possible. That’s the grim truth. There’s nothing more bloody than a stalemate.
Al-Jazeera Arabic claims that 10 MiG’s were destroyed, I only can definitely see one MiG (and a pilot that parachuted) destroyed, can’t make out what is going in the base but explosions can clearly be seen.
It saddens me to see the Syrian Army used as a personal militia by the Assadi clan, by acting like that they have turned Syrian weaponry into legitimate targets.
Why are they a legitimate target because this is what they are doing to Syrians:
I am fearful of the MB. But then again, if the middle east is going to become democratic, the MB will have influence and power. I just hope it can work out like Turkey, even though their democracy has problems.
France’s recently elected socialist president and Bilderberg stooge François Hollande has told Syria’s CIA and MI6 run opposition to form a provisional government. Hollande said France would then officially recognize it as Syria’s legitimate government.
In February, the Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, told the Senate Armed Services committee that al-Qaeda has “infiltrated” the Syrian opposition groups France boasts it will recognize.
“Strangely, the fact that Washington, in cooperation with its allies, is now sending communication gear, military intelligence, and weapons to militias in Syria with considerable – and growing – ties to al-Qaeda has not made the Obama administration blink,” John Glaser wrote in July.
Glaser mentioned a supposed “vetting process” that avoid arms ending up in the hands of al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists, “but the process is made up of untrustworthy, third-party sources and intelligence officials have recently told the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times that the truth is that the US doesn’t know who is getting the money and weapons.”
In fact, there is plenty of evidence that the CIA trained, armed, funded – to the tune of $3 billion – and supported Osama bin Laden and what would ultimately become al-Qaeda.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently admitted that the United States created al-Qaeda, although her admission was at best lightly covered by the establishment media.
The U.S. also supported al-Qaeda in Libya prior to the murder of al-Gaddafi. Following the destruction of the north Africa country, Libya’s transitional ruling authority agreed to send weapons and fighters to Syria to assist the Free Syrian Army.
Thanks for the link. The great Mullah got shy and avoided the subject completely. Stage fear?
“In contrast to Mr. Morsi’s remarks, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is a staunch ally of Mr. Assad, avoided the topic entirely as he addressed the emirs, presidents and prime ministers who had gathered in Tehran for the summit meeting of the Nonaligned Movement.
The Iranian organizers of the meeting had largely ignored Syria during preparations, not putting forward a proposal for a solution but instead calling for a troika of Egypt, Venezuela and Iran to become more involved.
Iran stands isolated in the Islamic world in its support for Mr. Assad, a status that became abundantly clear when it was the only nation to oppose the expelling of Syria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries on Aug. 14.
Local Iranian news media did not report Mr. Morsi’s comments, which strongly conflict with Iran’s official line; a top military commander recently declared Mr. Assad’s government the “winner” over the “U.S.- and Israel-backed terrorists.”
Morsi was right in calling the regime oppressive and siding with the people in Syria but his speech may have killed his potential role as a mediator and that is a problem.
I do not want the opposition crushed because I believe the regime will only respond to pressure but not the type of pressure applied by armed rebels, those rebels are helping in destroying Syria and deepening hatred among Syrians, that puts the rebels in a situation similar to the regime, this is why some of you think that my arguments are ambiguous and
Dizzying, Richard echoes a common belief that one party has to win to end the stalemate, I stated that before but do you really think that the rebels with their current composition and reliance on the GCC and Turkey can be trusted ? I think not.
A victory by the rebels in the absence of a political deal and international guarantees will be a disaster for Syria, it can lead to a prolonged civil war and a defacto partition of Syria, the mentality of ” the winner takes all” never worked in the Middle East.
We will see lots of flip flops in the US press about Morsi.
Morsi is an ideological ally to Turkey and a client of Qatar and Saudi Arabia who are sustaining his ailing economy together with the US subsidies if he keeps the Israel peace agreement.
In addition he seeks to restore the glory of an Islamic Egypt as a leader and example in the Arab world.
Therefore it would have been inimaginable that would say anything that would displease his providers present in the assembly. He succeeded in making the western media jump from suspicion to a wave of hopes about Morsi, especially that he totally avoided mentioning Bahrain in the Arab Spring tsunami..
Overall it seems that Morsi is using Erdogan as a model for his path in is dealing with Israel and the Palestinians.
He is also following Erdogan in his empty calls for ‘outseating’ Bashar without having any serious strategy outside lots of empty declarations.
Morsi has far too many internal problems to intervene effectively in Syria. His whole team is on a steep learning curves and under pressure to deliver a new Constitution and defining their role in regional policies.
To show that Egypt has initiatives, he called for a work group with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran to find a peaceful solution to Syria. The probability of such a group especially after his speech at the NAM is close to zero.
Iran is as stubborn as the Western countries and it won’t change its mind about Syria because a zealous and provocative newcomer who may not last more than a year in power tells them to. It would probably radicalize them even more.
Morsi will ride the waves and who knows where he will end up, on the top or under?
There are two embedded videos in this report. One video shows the FSA in complete control of an Aleppo district which the thugs falsely claim to control.
If Mursi is going to become the Egyptian Erdogan, then good for Egypt. And I would look forward to have a Syrian Erdogan…He cried in public when his mother died and I like that.
There is a dedicated FB page to worship Bashar’ s toes. Can I interest you In contributing there? You will definitely be a star. Some here may be also fighting an urge to join..
Actually I am not keen at all on asking anyone about his/her interests in Syria affairs. But I was stunned by Johannes comment at 20 and that is why I asked him. I am aware of his other anti-regime comments and that was another reason why I asked.
As for Zoo, I would be giving him much more credit than he deserves were I to ask him such a question.
I made an assumption that Zoo is a Syrian “visitor” and this seems to have been taken by all for granted. He may be a Syrian. It is wrong to make assumptions.. I just want to clear that. Plus, this is irrelevant to the discussion.
Corrupt banks find their match in the GCC Sheikhdoms:
The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into payments made after Barclays tapped Middle Eastern investors for emergency funds in 2008.
The inquiry – which relates to the disclosure of fees paid to the sovereign investor Qatar Holding – represents the latest blow to the bank, which has just lost its chief executive Bob Diamond and chairman Marcus Agius after being fined £290m by US and UK regulators for its role in the Libor fixing scandal.
Iran,on the other hand,is a regional power that is ready to sacrify Bashar if they find an acceptable alternative,that alternative does not exist yet.
Tara ???????? in post 107
She/he is an MB down to the bone.
She/he called for the destruction of Syria and the death of Christian and Alawi since March 2011. – She/he is a product of misery, hate and revenge, period.
I too was and still is anti-MB. But I do not think there is any thing wrong in being an MB.
Actually I too am beginning to change my mind about being anti-MB.
As for Mr. Morsi’s visit, I still think he made an error of judgement in visiting a rogue State such as mullah Iran. Any low level government functionary could have handed the chair over. I am saying this despite the good speech that Morsi made.
Egypt has a much honorable and respected position in this world than allowing itself to be cheaply manipulated by the media of an illegitimate and rogue regime such as the mullah’s.
??? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ???????.
This means creating another channel to sell goods and get paid in hard currency providing Syrian government with another route to avoid sanctions. Targetting Russian banks for doing business with SCB will be a much harder task. There is no doubt that the Syrian economy is in critical care but all predictions of a fast collapse have proven premature, there are reasons why the Lira kept its value against the dollar for over a year now.
Fat cats in Syria bought billion of dollars ,paid in dollars and purchased Liras, those cats made 25-30% profit while Syrians were standing in lines to buy bread and natural gas.
The USA and the Western countries have supported and helped decades of corruption, social injustices and neglect in Egypt in the name of protecting Israel. This is easily forgotten…
It is clear that whatever happens in Egypt now, oppression or liberalism, is of no consequences on the USA and the Western countries : The red line is still Israel’s security, for the rest, they’ll adapt as easily as they did for Mobarak and as they still do with other dictators in the Middle East.
Morsi must make sure that the long lasting hatred Egyptians have for Israel will be contained and eventually re-directed to another danger, the easiest one is Shias and Iran. That would have the advantage of ensuring the flow of money from Qatar, KSA and the USA. He may face some resistance from the Palestinians, but it’s an obvious path and I think Morsi will soon take it.
If this happen, Iranians will need to revise their hope of an early rapprochement with Egypt. Their hope may become that a year from now, Morsi is no more Egypt’s president.
Naser Danan, a pediatrician in Ohio, is a board member of the Syrian Support Group, which is serving as a conduit between the United States and the rebel forces in Syria.
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: August 29, 2012 63
WASHINGTON — From a one-room office in an unfinished glass tower three blocks from the White House, an amorphous network of activists is doing what the Obama administration will not: attempting to arm the rebels trying to overthrow Syria’s government.
The Syrian Support Group, incorporated here in April as a nonprofit, has few resources and, so far, few donations, and whether it succeeds in its larger goal remains to be seen. But it is already serving as a conduit between the United States and the armed forces seeking to topple Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and having an effect on American policy.
The group has surprisingly extensive contacts among rebel commanders of the Free Syrian Army, a rare license from the Department of Treasury allowing it to sidestep sanctions and a conviction that the assistance the administration has so far offered Syrians — mainly communications equipment — is simply not enough to defeat Mr. Assad.
…
Ay Mr Morsi, that feels so good !
“”Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty as it is a political and strategic necessity,” Morsi said.
“We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom.”
His comments sparked a walkout by the Syrian delegation.
Alarm is rising in Turkish border towns like Antakya among residents and politicians who fear the onslaught of refugees—now estimated at 80,000—will overwhelm them and bring sectarian unrest across the border.
“The language some people are using now is that Hatay is occupied by a foreign army.”
Some well-known Syrian activists in Antakya say they were summoned to a meeting with local government officials to address the refugee issue Monday night. According to the activists, the officials suggested that all Syrians should leave Antakya and Hatay—either for the refugee camps, or to head deeper into Turkey, away from the border. The officials, they say, painted this as a move for the Syrians’ own good—in the camps they could receive more Turkish support. But the Syrians reacted with defiance. “We understood the message,” says Amin Ahmed Abid, a schoolteacher and activist from the Syrian city of Latakia. “They want to move all Syrian people away from Hatay.”
Diversifying with Russian and Chinese banks is a very reasonable step towards less dependence on the Big Brother who is controlling the Western financial market and who is now using it to serve it political aims.
President Mursi is showing the new face of the Arab World. Many people in Syria and Lebanon are reluctant to the new age we are going to. If Mursi’s declaration was just a political will declaration based on one sided interests it could be easily ignored but his words are words os wisdom based on popular demands, based on basic human feelings shared by tens of millions or arab people who have decided to change, to develop, to improve.
Forces of the past like those in the Assad Regime have nothing to do but keep on killing until the dimension of the crimes are so huge that more and more people will ask change and dignity.
During Irak invasion I thought Syria was taking the place of Egypt in leading the Arab World, but once again Egypt has proved to be the centre of the Arab World and Cairo is the mother of all arab cities. Assad’s Syria just resulted a fake panarabist regime who cheated all the arabs, specially palestinians, for some decades.
Assad regime’s opponents will meet in Cairo to discuss transition plan with or without Syrian National Council, says EU diplomat
guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 August 2012 19.35 BST
The Arab League is to host a meeting of the Syrian opposition in Cairo on Saturday in an effort to produce a common programme to unite opponents of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but the effort has been marred by disunity and a threatened boycott by the Syrian National Council (SNC).
Amman. Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh said on Wednesday Jordan would send home Syrian refugees who attacked police during clashes over living conditions in a desert border camp, AFP informs.
Stone-throwing refugees wounded more than 20 police on Tuesday in a protest over conditions at the Zaatari camp in northern Jordan that has seen a massive influx of people in recent days, officials said.
“We will be firm in the face of those who break the law and will send home people arrested for attacking police officers,” Tarawneh told state television after visiting injured police in hospital in the capital.
He did not specify how many people would be expelled but said Jordan would do everything possible to improve conditions at Zaatari, 85 kilometres (53 miles) north of Amman in a desert area on the border with Syria.
…
Tarawneh did not say how many refugees will be expelled. But a security official said there are 150 Syrian refugees in police custody, including an unspecified number of rioters as well as others who want to return home.
About 200 refugees went on a rampage late Tuesday at Zaatari Camp, a desert tent city that houses 21,000 refugees, to protest conditions there. Police said 28 officers were wounded in the riot, one of them with a fractured skull.
Many of the refugees have said they find the harsh environment in the camp — set on a parched, treeless stretch of land — a struggle, citing the constant dust storms, snakes and scorpions.
Syrian group with close ties to FSA terrorists openly arms rebels with help of U.S. http://www.activistpost.com/2012/08/syrian-group-with-close-ties-to-fsa.html
The recently established Syrian Support Group (SSG), a United States-based pro-Free Syrian Army (FSA) group housed just three blocks away from the White House, is openly showing their support for the terrorist FSA like never before.
The SSG was just established this April as a non-profit and thanks to a special license from the Treasury Department, they can now openly provide the Syrian opposition with funding to purchase heavy weaponry which, according to The New York Times, includes “antiaircraft and antitank missiles.”
Saved to Struggle: ‘Slow death’ for Syria refugees in Jordan camp
Jordanian security forces at a massive refugee camp on the border with Syria are on high alert after 200 refugees turned on the guards over the camp’s conditions.
And as Paula Slier reports dealing with the immense influx of refugees is far beyond what Jordan can handle.
” I was stunned by Johannes comment at 20 and that is why I asked him.”
What I said in 20 was that we Syrians shouldn’t be surprised at the USA’s turning its back on us in our time of crisis. Why? As long as the Assads have been in power, Syria has been the USA’s enemy. First Syria allied itself with the USSR against the USA and her friends. And since the fall of the USSR, Syria has gone out of her way to be a thorn in America’s side.
So why should anyone be shocked, dismayed or surprised if America does nothing? I’m not taking the USA’s side. I’m just walking a kilometer in America’s shoes and trying to understand her feelings.
My problem with you is you think the people and the regime are separate entities. My guess is slightly more than half the Syrian people support the regime. If it were otherwise, the Assads would have been swept away with the first army defections.
The fight to wipe out the Assad mafia is going to take years, perhaps a decade, and lots of bloody work, lots of killing of men, women and small children. Why? Because a lot of people, including people right here on SC, think the Assads are right. And they will have to be killed or driven into exile before the new Syria can rise from the ashes.
Syrians are normal human beings. They have survival instincts, well-founded fear, and no faith in a wide, welcoming, safe universe out there. Their focus is on keeping their homes, livelihood and lives.
Assad can do what he is doing with the support of a few thousand people. That’s a police state. It ensures people do not say or do anything to question it. It ensures there is no alternative system or path people can choose.
Assad has now terrorized and demonstrated to all Syrians the consequences of being identified as “not supporting” him.
Would you have asserted the same thing about Gaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali if they had clung to power doing what Assad has done?
I didn’t mean you specifically. It was for the generic us …I essentially was just reviewing how pro regime fail to see us except through a distorted lense. A lense that is either shaped by primitive fear or a dogma..
“My problem with you is you think the people and the regime are separate entities. My guess is slightly more than half the Syrian people support the regime. If it were otherwise, the Assads would have been swept away with the first army defections.
The fight to wipe out the Assad mafia is going to take years, perhaps a decade, and lots of bloody work, lots of killing of men, women and small children. Why? Because a lot of people, including people right here on SC, think the Assads are right. And they will have to be killed or driven into exile before the new Syria can rise from the ashes.”
First you say the regime has majority support among Syrians, then you go on and say the only way for the opposition to prevail is to kill or deport as many of them as possible over a decade?
Some smart posts lately, often by the same people supporting one faction in a civil war, or bullshit cause like recreating the caliphate yet posing as democrats. You’re a bit too transparent here “Johannes”, however. Needless to say death threats from “democrats” against other SC posters don’t help their case either.
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? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ??? ????? 40 % ???? ?????? ? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ? ???????? ????? ? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ? ? ????? ??????? ???????.
there is no wink here,sorry
The bloodshed continues, occasional victories here and there for one side or the other have been temporary and they come at the expense of Syrian lives, thugs and foreign jihadists only understand the language of force,but most Syrians are not in these two categories,their lives must be spared, killing will only lead to more killing.
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Waddah Khanfar
(I am not a fan,but the piece is not totally worthless):
Egypt today appears well qualified to take a balanced position between all the parties: it does not carry any constraining baggage; and given that it represents the spirit of the Arab spring, it has moral authority. All this has pushed the regional parties to respond positively.
We should also not ignore the position of the Syrian people, who will have the final word on their future. They – like Turkey, the Arab League and the Egyptian president – will not accept any solution that does not guarantee the departure of the Assad regime. However, Morsi made clear that he is against any military intervention in Syria, which resonates well in Tehran.
And above all, it is imperative that Iran recognises this is the last opportunity to correct its strategic error of supporting a regime that is about to fall.
SAATLIKOY, TURKEY // In his house along the Turkish-Syrian border, Hasan Cakmak sometimes hears the crack of gunfire and the boom of exploding shells echoing from the south.
Like many other people who live along the frontier, those sounds of war often give him cause to pause and wonder about the fate of relatives living in Syria as the civil war there grinds on.
But for Mr Cakmak, an ethnic Kurd and leader of a Kurdish village, the din resounding across the landscape is worrying for yet another reason.
Separatist Kurdish rebels, some allegedly from Iraq, have taken control of pockets of territory in northern Syria in the vacuum left by the collapse of central government authority. That means Mr Cakmak and other Kurds who live in the shadow of Syria’s widening conflict could become embroiled in clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkey’s armed forces.
Really? He must satisfy his funds providers as without them he ‘ll be wiped out by the poverty and misery rampant everywhere after the glorious years of US supported Mobarak.
This implies cajoling Israel, renouncing to the MB ideas of a country ruled by Sharia and allowing alcohol to flow to keep tourists coming. He also has to produce a new Constitution by September.
You don’t call that a constraining bagage?
It is obvious that the most-lecturing foreign minister and his gang of merry men needed some time to hide all elements of the crime at the Apayd?n refugee camp and elsewhere before a parliamentary team might be allowed to visit and inspect them.
All the discussions we have been through for the past few days demonstrated once again that Turkey has been playing not as clean as it has been claiming in this Syrian quagmire. Put aside frequent interviews with the “rebel commanders” confessing to have received military training in Turkey, there are claims that the Apayd?n camp has become a “command control center” for the rebels. How could Turkey allow a camp on its territory where Syrian rebel commanders are planning and commanding the attacks in Syrian towns and cities? If you have doubts just visit the website of the rebels and check where their headquarters is…
As this piece was being written, the U.N. Security Council had not yet heard Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu’s appeal in New York yesterday for a U.N. sanctioned safe zone to be established in Syria to protect refugees. Those close to the matter, however, felt his appeal would get nowhere, since Russia and China oppose the idea, which they consider a violation of Syrian sovereignty.
“War-torn Syria’s frustrated neighbor Turkey demanded on Thursday that world powers set up refugee camps within the country to stem the massive outflow of refugees fleeing the fighting.”
Manaf brings up an important point regarding the alawite officers and leaders who may be willing to jump ships but are not offered any ships to jump to.
I spoke about the subject before, the lack of any work on this front speaks volume about the intentions of the GCC and the west .
Some 4,000 of the 7,000 trucks that had been operating to Middle Eastern markets via Syria have stopped running because of the turmoil in the country, and professionals warn the situation worsen in September. Traders in Hatay, Turkey’s gate to the region in fruit and vegetable exports, are waiting for urgent government support on the eve of large lay-offs. A joint venture, meanwhile, is beginning new ro-ro line to Syria’s Tartus
..
Most of these are lying around now. Economically, this has wounded the city. Exports to the region were $2.8 billion and now it’s close to zilch,” said Özmen, adding that they have been calling on the government for support to delay insurance premiums and tax debts.
I repeat here a comment I made under the Turkey’s Syria Problem post. This is what solves Turkey’s problem and not the creation of safe havens. The creation of safe havens simply manages the problem of refugees and will not address the other Turkish concerns arising from the expected Syrian implosion. Turkey needs to implement the plan with or without UN approval as an issue of its own National Security. The plan solves all of Turkey’s concerns including the refugee problem.
Here it is again….
“Turkey will soon have to come up with its own security policy that is not dependent on the dictates of a distant and sometimes uninterested US administration. The AKP is the most popular political party in Turkey and it can easily win another mandate. Most of the Turkish people support Erdogan’s policy regarding the Syrian Revolution and they would be happy to go to war if their government made the decision to do so. The Turkish people feel they have a lot in common, ethnically, culturally and religously with the Syrian people and they would like to see them rid of this abominal regime of murderers. The handful of noisy Turkish leftist radicals who often voice criticism of the Erdogan’s government have no real popular following and their criticism does not take into consideration Turkey’s higher interests. It is mere politicking in a desperate attempt to erode the popular support of the AKP.
Those who criticize the Turkish government based on the ill-perceived notion that the AKP government is seeking to impose a neo-Ottoman order do not understand the transformations that have been taking place in the area since the onset of the retrogression unleashed by the ill-conceived Khomeinist designs by his so-called revolution that are still carried out by his pupils in Qom. Khomeini made it clear he wants to rule the Muslim world and his Qom henchmen are actively seeking that goal, even though it is obvious to the novice that it is not realizable.
Hence, the zero problem policies of mr. Davutuglo were I’ll-conceived to begin with. Any cursory reading of the last 700-800 years of Turkish/Iranian history would immediately recognize the conflicting nature of their relationship. The arena where this conflict expressed itself was in the fertile crescent. Up till the present time the Iraqis always identify themselves as either of Persian or Turkic belonging depending on the area of jurisdiction they belonged to. Syria, Lebanon and Palestine were always under exclusive Turkish jurisdiction. But the evil Designs of the Khomeinists is seeking to encroach upon that and extend their reach to the Mediterranean shores. No Turkish government, secular or otherwise can sit idle and allow that to happen. In fact the Secularists are the least equipped to deal with this threat coming from the east since a secularists do not usually have the ideological resolve to deal with an ideologically motivated regime as the that of the mullahs.
What Erdogan needs to do is to roll out a Turkish division and take over the Syrian coast all the way to the Lebanese border. This will cut off any retreat lines that the thugs are planning for their eventual defeat and hole them up in Damascus, dispelling any dreams of establishing a midget statelet. That will allow the Damascenes to deal with them and route them up completely. Erdogan can then secure the central cities and the Eastern region by rolling out two or three more Turkish divisions.
Once the coast is secured the Kurds and the thugs occupying Damascus will cower down like chicken as they know then that their days are numbered.
Iranian mullahs can then go to hell and lick their wounds and realize once and for all that their Khomeini dreams are not realizable.”
NATO’s intervention in Libya has resurrected listed-terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate, LIFG. It had previously fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now has fighters, cash and weapons, all courtesy of NATO, spreading as far west as Mali, and as far east as Syria. The feared “global Caliphate” Neo-Cons have been scaring Western children with for a decade is now taking shape via US-Saudi, Israeli, and Qatari machinations, not “Islam.” In fact, real Muslims have paid the highest price in fighting this real “war against Western-funded terrorism.” http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wevwk4IViL4/UD2jz-mE22I/AAAAAAAADMo/Ir8nimTKi-8/s640/LIFGSpringBoarding_1.jpg
Western policy makers admit that NATO’s operations in Libya have played the primary role in emboldening Al Qaeda’s AQIM faction (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). The Fortune 500-funded Brookings Institution’s Bruce Riedel in his article, “The New Al Qaeda Menace,” admits that AQIM is now heavily armed thanks to NATO’s intervention in Libya, and that AQIM’s base in Mali, North Africa, serves as a staging ground for terrorist activities across the region………….
“only 11 percent in favor of any kind of military intervention.
Only 15.9 percent approved of the government’s diplomatic and political initiatives in Syria.
Fewer than eight percent supported arming the FSA.”
I don’t know what American policy really is or if we have one. But of one thing I’m sure: The overwhelming majority of Turks don’t want a conflict with Syria. Before the downing of the jet, the Turkish think tank EDAM polled Turkish citizens and found only 11 percent in favor of any kind of military intervention. What’s more, 40 percent didn’t even think Turkey should be involved diplomatically. Only 15.9 percent approved of the government’s diplomatic and political initiatives in Syria. This conforms completely to my anecdotal observations. The war-weariness of the Turkish population, I’ve noticed, is generally underestimated by foreign observers. The Kurdish conflict has claimed 40,000 lives. Turks are exhausted with war.
It is difficult to see a clear winner emerging from the ever-bloodier civil war in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad admitted yesterday that his government needs more time “to win the battle” against the rebel militias. He did so as the crash of artillery fire resounded across Damascus and Aleppo and large parts of the country have fallen under rebel control. For all their superiority in firepower, government forces are under continuous attack.
Mr Assad may not be winning, but there is no sign of his regime imploding, despite the defection of the Prime Minister and the assassination of key security leaders. The situation is very different from Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi’s support suddenly collapsed a year ago under the weight of Nato air attacks and its own isolation rather than pressure from the insurgents.
The Syrian rebels have shown that they can take over whole districts of Damascus and Aleppo, but they have been unable to hold them. They may win in the long term, but that could be far in the future after tens of thousands more Syrians have been killed. The latest news of the massacre in the town of Daraya suggests both sides now feel free to slaughter the lowliest supporters of their enemies. There is every chance the butchery will get worse.
One of the reasons why the Syrian war is so bloody, and may continue for a long time, is that it is really three conflicts wrapped into one. There is the struggle of the Syrian people against the government, but also the long-running confrontation in the region between Shia and Sunni, and between allies of Iran and its opponents. Saudi Arabia and the absolute monarchies of the Gulf are not helping the Syrian rebels out of any desire to bring democracy to the Syrian people.
Mr Assad yesterday ruled out “safe havens” for refugees on Syrian territory, and it is true that the establishment and defence of these would probably mean armed conflict between Syria and Turkey. At this stage, both government and rebels believe they have a chance of winning a clear victory, unlikely though this may be. The rest of the world cannot stop the war, but they should do their utmost to try to prevent it from spreading to Lebanon and destabilising the rest of the region.
Syria’s ‘Day After’ threatened by sectarian agendas?
“If Syrians ever get a chance to build a democracy, they should have an advantage over their Arab Spring brethren,” one observer notes.
“Forty-five Syrian intellectuals have just finished a 122-page, post-Assad plan for how to take the country to an open, more pluralistic future, writes the NYT’s Carol Giacomo:
After 17 months, Mr. Assad has escalated the conflict in Syria, sending fighter planes as well as helicopters to pummel the insurgency. The end is nowhere in sight. But, then again, as recent history has proven, dictatorships can crumble with unexpected speed, leaving the opposition unprepared for the aftermath.
But today’s resignation of Basma Kodmani (right), a prominent member of the Syrian National Council, is raising further questions about the opposition’s capacity to unify and prepare for government. http://www.demdigest.net/blog/?s=Qatar
The “Day After” Project Releases Report on Syrian Transition
Report examines rule of law, transitional justice, security sector reform, electoral processes, constitutional design, economic restructuring and social policy
For Immediate Release, August 28, 2012
Contact: David Early, 202-429-7817, or Steven Ruder, 202-429-3825
(Washington and Berlin) – “The Day After” project, a Syrian-led effort to plan for a post-Assad Syria, today released a comprehensive, inclusive plan for a transition in the event the opposition succeeds in bringing about the fall of the current regime. The report is the culmination of six months of intensive discussions among a diverse group of approximately 45 Syrians. It represents a shared vision of Syria’s democratic future, defined goals and principles for a transition, and a detailed yet flexible transition planning document.
Participants in The Day After project identified the following as goals that should guide the efforts of transitional authorities. Progress toward the achievement of these goals will increase prospects for a successful post-Assad transition:
Britain and France are “not ruling out” the possibility of enforcing a no-fly zone over Syria. However, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says such a move would require military intervention, and is unlikely to get past the UN Security Council.
“We are not ruling out any options for the future,” Hague said, speaking at a press conference with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
The head of the Syrian National Council – the country’s largest opposition group – is also on board for the Turkish-proposed no-fly zone.
Abdelbaset Sieda said such a move by the international community would show President Bashar al-Assad’s regime that his opponents around the world are serious, according to AP.
Hague’s statement came ahead of a UN meeting between foreign ministers on the Syrian crisis.
Top American, Russian and Chinese diplomats were absent from the talks, highlighting the fact that the body is deadlocked over how to end the 17-month-long conflict.
Currently, the 15-member Security Council is prevented from taking action in Syria after Russia and China blocked three Western-backed resolutions that criticized Assad, but not the rebel opposition.
Hague and Fabius had plenty to say at Thursday’s conference, encouraging other countries to jump on board with support for the Syrian opposition.
“Those who continue to support Assad and his regime should think carefully about their position. Now is the time to step away from this regime and deny it moral and financial support. We call on Assad supporters to distance themselves from the regime or face the increasing possibility of being held to account for the regime’s actions in the future,” Hague said.
Hague’s views reiterated by Fabius, who made his anti-Assad views clear. “This meeting is to attest to the crimes in Syria, to hold each one accountable, to reiterate solidarity with the Syrian people, and increase our assistance,” he said.
Along with such statements came pledges of financial support for the 200,000 refugees who have fled from Syria to neighboring Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.
But as Western governments continue to support the rebels, they do so by trying to influence others – mainly China and Russia – to hold the same position.
Russia and China agree that the violence and killing of innocent civilians must end – but disagree with Western powers on how to reach a solution.
Are Islamic terrorists still relying on sleeper cells and encrypted correspondence to communicate calls for jihad among other violent extremists? Maybe, but they’re making a splash on Twitter, too.
“On Twitter, they get more reach to expand their propaganda,” London-based researcher Murad Batal al Shishani tells McClatchy this week. Shishani says that while the Internet has allowed terrorists an ever expanding way of communicating with like-minded individuals since the digital age reached its peak, extremists have recently taken an especially fond liking to Twitter, where sending out a short, 140-character message can mobilize masses internationally and at a moment’s notice.
In theory, at least.
Shishani says in his research that while Twitter is indeed thought to be an emerging mode of communication among Islamic extremists and foreign terrorist groups, the outlet is acting more like a recruiting tool or newswire than an actual conduit for calls to action.
“They’re focusing on current events – Syria, or supporting a revolution here or there – but they are not using it for operational activity or to communicate among themselves,” the researcher adds. Instead, he insists, a growing number of Internet-inclined terrorists are taking to Twitter so that they can aim for new recruits using one of the fastest growing modes of communication.
“They can reach the ‘swing people,’ and try to attract more sympathizers,” he explains.
In an article published by the New York Times late last year, reporter Jeffrey Gettleman drew attention to a trend of terrorists favoring Twitter as a way of communicating over the Web, claiming, “terrorism experts say that Twitter terrorism is part of an emerging trend.”
Twitter, wrote Gettleman, was usurping previously popular social networking sites among audiences of all sorts, and that was evident within al-Qaeda and other organizations as well. In that instance, though, Gettleman wrote that one particular microblog account — one tied to the press office of Somalia’s Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahedeen — might be shut down by US authorities.
“American officials say they may have the legal authority to demand that Twitter close the Shabab’s account, @HSMPress, which had more than 4,600 followers as of Monday night,” they Times wrote last year. At the time, Trevor Timm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation mocked Congress’ likely call for a removal of the account in question, saying on his own Twitter account, “How fast does Joe Lieberman release a statement today saying we should censor the Net in the name of national security? I bet before noon.”
RT: Syria’s foreign minister has said that Morsi’s comments amount to inciting further violence in the country. What do you think?
Neil Clark: The problem I have with the speech is that it was so imbalanced. He didn’t criticize the rebels at all. The rebels have been responsible for much of the violence in Syria. The government too – that’s fair enough. But there were bombs going off this week at funerals, with 12 people killed, and he didn’t make any mention of that. So I can understand the Syrians feeling very aggrieved by what he said.
RT: Morsi would have foreseen that his statement, however accurate or inaccurate, would have angered Syrians and the hosts of the summit. What do you think his motivation was here?
NC: We’ve got to bear in mind the fact that Egypt receives about $1.56 billion US in aid. On top of that, back in August, they received $2 billion from Qatar. And of course, the US and Qatar are two of the leading hawks on Syria. So when you’re receiving that much money from the US and Qatar, it’s hardly surprising for Egypt to turn up at the summit and criticize Syria.
RT: The new Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi is perhaps already signaling his friendship with the West, or possibly with Capitol Hill. Do you think the 120 member-states attending the summit can come up with a way to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria?
NC: The key player in this is the US. Unless we get a change of position from the US and its allies, I don’t see what the NAM movement can actually do. I think the ball is in America’s court, and all we’re getting from Washington is more right-wing rhetoric about arming rebels. So unless we get a major shift, it’s not going to help. And I’m afraid Egypt’s position isn’t helping at all.
RT: Mohammed Morsi appears to be on friendly terms with Iran, China, Israel and the US. There had been a talk of a possible geo-political shift in the Middle East. But do you think we can really take this new Egyptian leader at face value?
NC: I don’t think we can. I think people who are expecting a shift will be disappointed because of the financial hold that the US has over him. He’s trying to be all things to all people. He’s trying to be friendly with Israel and Iran. It doesn’t work. You have to make a choice and make a stand. If he wants to support the Palestinian people, then he can’t be friends with the current Israeli regime.
RT: Do you think Morsi was trying to undermine the summit with his comment? Even Ban Ki-moon, who attended the summit against the US and Israel’s wishes, hasn’t said anything as harsh as what Morsi said.
NC: Absolutely. I think it’s all part of the plan to go there and sabotage the summit. A lot of people were very naïve about Egypt. They thought there was going to be a meaningful change in Egypt’s foreign policy after what happened last year, but it’s continuing. It’s more of the same. I think that’s part of the game. The US will be very pleased with what Morsi said.
RT: Some possible plans have been put on the table to resolve the crisis in Syria – both Egypt and Iran have put forward plans to form mediator groups. Morsi suggests involving Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Ahmadinejiad suggests Egypt, Iran and Venezuela. Which one do you fancy the most?
NC: Well, if you look at the first choice, you’ve got three countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey – who actually want regime change in Syria, so they don’t want a peaceful, compromise solution. So I don’t think anything involving Saudi Arabia or Turkey is in the cards. The second option is better, but it doesn’t matter what mediator groups we set up. The key player in all this is the US. The US has to change its policies and allow Syrians to sort out their own futures and back out of Syria. Then we can get some peace and dialogue.
RT: Washington has said the Non-Aligned Movement Summit isn’t worthy of any high-level attendance. Do you think such criticism is justified?
NC: It’s two-thirds of the world and the US has the arrogance to say it doesn’t count. The US wants us to believe that only it and its allies represent the international community. The international community is meeting now in Tehran and the US doesn’t like it. The fact is that the US is getting more isolated on a series of issues. South America, African countries, China, Russia: That is the world and I think we’re going to see more of a shift in years to come. And the US power is in decline – that’s the reality. And that’s what they don’t like.
Iran’s supreme leader opened the fifth day of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran by blasting the UN as an “overt dictatorship.” The remarks were made in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
NAM’s tri-annual gathering is attended by leaders of 120 developing nations – including India, Pakistan, and Lebanon – and represents the largest single voting bloc in the UN General Assembly.
The summit, which concludes on Friday, is viewed as a chance for Iran to assert a degree of authority it is never granted by Western countries. But Thursday’s events saw Tehran embroiled in controversies with both the UN and Egypt.
“The UN Security Council has an irrational, unjust and utterly undemocratic structure, and this is an overt dictatorship,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
Ban refused to ignore the blunt statement and shot back at Iran in his own address, saying that Iran should build confidence in its controversial nuclear program by “fully complying with the relevant (UN) Security Council resolutions and thoroughly cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
The remarks came just one day after the UN chief told Iranian leaders to take steps to prove the country’s nuclear program is peaceful.
Ban attended the summit despite calls from the US and Israel to boycott the event, and his attendance is widely viewed as a blow to Western efforts to isolate Tehran.
In his speech, Khamenei insisted that Iran is “never seeking nuclear weapons,” and that his country considers them “a big and unforgivable sin.” He also accused the UN of submitting to pressure from the Security Council’s permanent Western members – the US, UK and France – in its stance on Tehran’s nuclear program.
On Syria, Hot Air at UN, No Talk of UK Spying from Cyprus or France’s Libya Weapons
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — It is late August and at the UN there is hot air on Syria, kicked off Thursday by a joint press conference by the foreign ministers of France and the UK.
Laurent Fabius spoke of being in refugee camps in Jordan. He said, this afternoon we will hear from Assad’s representative but it doesn’t matter, our mind is fixed. What is the purpose of the debate?
He said that having nine ministers present speaks volume; he argued that while Hillary Clinton has not come, Ambassador Susan Rice is at the ministerial level. She gets listed as a member of the Obama cabinet, thus higher than mere Permanent Representatives like France’s Gerard Araud, who stood against the wall of the briefing room while Fabius was speaking.
The position of the US was one mystery at the press conference. It was said that France and the UK will be calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be ready to inspect Syria for chemical weapons. Not to list the US as part of that call seemed strange, after Obama’s pre-RNC announcement of chemical weapons as his “red line.”
In an interview before coming, Fabius had acknowledged that weapons put into Libya have ended up with “extremists,” including in northern Mali. Was he referring to the weapons that France air dropped in Libya’s Nafusa Mountains? No such question was asked.
There is an inordinate sensitivity at the UN to media critique, so we will for now only say that all of the five questions selected went in the same direction.
One does not have to be a supporter of Bashar al Assad to ask William Hague, for example, about reports of the UK spying on Syria from Cyprus. Click here for Inner City Press story on that.
DAMASCUS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — Syrian Prime Minister Wael al- Halki said Thursday that his country is subjected to “organized terrorism” backed by the United States, European Union, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Arabic-language Iranian al-Alam TV reported.
Al-Halki made the remarks during an interview with al-Alam TV in Iran on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit currently underway in the capital Tehran.
The summit is tackling a number of issues, including the Syrian crisis. Iranian officials have said their country would propose a new initiative to solve the 18-month tumult in Syria, claiming that their proposal “is going to be hard to be opposed.”
The Syrian prime minister said the situation in Syria is an important issue discussed at the NAM summit, to which “we look with much optimism.”
He noted that solving the Syrian issue relies on the call for a national dialogue with the participation of all the national and political parties in Syria.
Commenting on the speech delivered earlier Thursday by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the opening of the summit, al-Halki said the speech is an intervention in the Syrian affairs and runs counter to the fundamentals on which the NAM was created, which is respecting other countries’ sovereignty.
This can not be good:
????? ??? ??????? ??????????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????.
Btw,every Egyptian I talked to,and I know a few,agreed that the man has a good reputation in Egypt and was not known to be a puppet for Mubarak, many of his top executives were Muslims. I hope the rumors about him leaving egypt are not true.
MOSCOW, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Russia on Wednesday strongly condemned the violence in Syria, and insisted the recent “crimes” in the Middle East country, including a reported massacre and terrorist bombings, be investigated by representatives from the UN and the Arab League.
Western media reported on Sunday about mass burials in a town close to Damascus, said to be the results of a deadly assault as the bloody conflict between the Syrian military and the armed opposition continued.
On Tuesday, at least 12 people were killed and 48 others injured when a car bomb ripped through a funeral procession for two people who were killed a day earlier by separate blasts in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana.
“All those guilty of these crimes should go on trial and be punished severely,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that certain forces “are not giving up attempts to further fan tensions in Syria and foil any steps towards a political settlement.”
Meanwhile, the ministry reiterated its stance that there was no alternative to Kofi Annan’s peace plan and the Geneva agreements.
“We insist that all the parties in the conflict without exception cease fire immediately and put the conflict on a political track on the current consensual basis for a Syrian settlement — the plan of Kofi Annan and the Geneva agreements. There is no alternative to that,” the ministry said.
Iran rolled the red carpet for him and he symbolically slapped the mullahs on the face loud and hard. I do not like the article spinning it to Sunni -Shiaa conflict. It is not that for Morsi and me… It is the divine right of a nation to live against a local Satan that will go down in history as the Batta that burned Damascus. Can someone give the Mullahs some Xanax tonight?
Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi has said that the “oppressive” Syrian regime had lost all legitimacy, in a blistering speech in Tehran that provoked the Syrian delegation to storm out and amounted to a stunning rebuke to his Iranian hosts.
….
Morsi’s comments to a meeting of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran amounted to a verbal handgrenade tossed at Iran’s shocked leadership.
The remarks are also a bold assertion of post-revolutionary Egypt’s renewed regional leadership ambitions. With the Middle East now dividing sharply along sectarian lines, Morsi has thrown his weight behind a powerful group of Sunni states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey that support Syria’s rebels – with only Shia Iran, evermore isolated, backing Assad and his Shia Alawite-led regime.
..
..his own speech, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, failed to mention the 17-month Syrian conflict, while Iran’s state-run media blanked out Morsi’s criticism of Assad.
..
Analysts said the week-long summit had not been the smooth diplomatic triumph Iran might have hoped for.
…
“The Iranians rolled out the red carpet for Morsi. But he didn’t follow the Iranian script. It was embarrassing for the Iranians,” said David Hartwell, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Jane’s, adding: “The non-aligned movement tries to be fairly anodyne and focused on anti-imperialism. But Syria has made it problematic. Egypt also views Iranian influence in Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories as particularly unhelpful. It sees it as an Iranian/Shia attempt to spread influence in the region.”
Of Morsi, he said: “We are learning about him. We don’t know what his foreign policy is going to be.”
Would the west should shun Russia and act outside the UNSC to protect civilians. If Qatar and KSA finance it may be…
France, Britain say Syria military intervention on table
By John Irish and Michelle Nichols | Reuters – 6 hrs ago
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – France and Britain warned Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday that military action to secure safe zones for civilians inside the country was being considered despite the paralysis of the U.N. Security Council over how to end the 17-month conflict.
While the Security Council impasse between western nations and Russia and China means a resolution to approve such a move appears impossible, countries could act outside the authority of the world body and intervene, as happened in Kosovo in 1999.
“We’re ruling nothing out and we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told a news conference at the United Nations ahead of a meeting of Security Council foreign ministers later on Thursday to discuss how to ease Syria’s humanitarian crisis.
“We also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully,” Hague said.
…..
It is not the first time Russia has posed difficulties for the United States and its allies on the Security Council. In the 1990s, Moscow strongly supported Serbia in the Balkan Wars and acted as Belgrade’s protector on the council.
After an ineffectual U.N. presence failed to stop genocide in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, the United States and its European allies infuriated Russia by bypassing the deadlocked Security Council and turning to NATO to halt the Serbian onslaught in Kosovo with a bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999.
..
“Assad is a criminal and a criminal must be judged and punished,” Fabius said.
“Obviously, you have lots to learn about Syria and its people.”
Wrong again, expert-boy. It’s the Syrians who have to start learning about each other.
There’s a myth that Syrians of all tribes, clans, religions and ethnicities live mostly side-by-side in peace and tranquility. Yes, every once in a while, all hell breaks loose and there’s rape, pillage and genocide (like the Druze uprising in 1860) but mostly it’s been sweetness and light all around.
That is a fairy story. The fact is, Syrians have lived side-by-side in total ignorance and suspicion of one another. And whenever all hell breaks loose, they get their machetes and go after each other with a right good will. Look at the SNP. Even opposition to Assad can’t bring Syrians together.
The current crisis will end like that in Yugoslavia. Syria will be broken up into tiny little, mutually-antagonistic statelets. And we only have each other to blame. We hate each other too much.
And oh, by the way, I am a third-generation Syrian-American. I do not speak Arabic. Never needed to. My grandparents fled to America after your grandparents burnt their houses and shops and raped their women. But that was a long time ago. Things are better in Syria now, right?
It is too little too late to shed crocodile tears over the victims of the terrorist bombing in Jirmanah after thawrajieh media and posters either ignored the crime or referred to it as the bombing of a shabeeha funeral. People who are just waking up and condemning the crime have the right to speak and we also have the right to throw their last minute invention in the nearest trash can. Innocent victims in both Darayyah and Jirmanah did not deserve to die, their murder is a sign of a bigger disease: terrorism, pointing fingers is a waste of time, if tear shedders were sincere they would do something to stop the violence instead of taking videos of dead bodies and celebrating the death of “other” Syrians, that goes for everybody,and that means everybody,we are sick of this bloody dance,it is time to live and let live.
“Wrong again, expert-boy. It’s the Syrians who have to start learning about each other…….
And oh, by the way, I am a third-generation Syrian-American. I do not speak Arabic. Never needed to. My grandparents fled to America after your grandparents burnt their houses and shops and raped their women. But that was a long time ago. Things are better in Syria now, right?”
186 Johannes,
I thought you’re worthy of respect. Clearly you’re not. Now, that you’ve uncovered your mask and showed the real idiot you are, you may want to look for someone else to converse with on this blog.
————————————————-
I feel vindicated in front of Syria Lover for at least uncovering another one of TARA’s Syrian Products.
Misunderstanding the nature and structure of the Assad regime has been a chronic problem that has long affected Western analysis and policymaking. Misinterpretation became even more acute after Bashar inherited power after his father died in 2000. The most infamous example was the “old guard” thesis: that is, the notion that a “reform-minded” Bashar was constrained by entrenched remnants from his father’s time. Similarly, several analysts posited the existence of a “hardline” faction within the regime, and spoke of autonomous security chiefs who were able to pursue certain policies without Bashar’s knowledge, and, presumably, against his wishes. Bashar, in other words, was presented as merely a “figurehead”—the president who, in the words of Paul Salem, “does not command.”
??? ???????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? “????? ?? ??????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ????? (?????? ??????) ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???? 3 ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ????????”.
???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? “????????” ?? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ????????? ????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ?????????? ????? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ???????.
Alittihad from UAE announced that it will stop all of its flight to Damascus.
This is another mistake by the rebels, if they manage to follow through on this threat, they will leave little doubt that they are no different from any other terrorist group or the very regime they fight against.
Arak at the Hafez urinal Qurdaha – sounds like a plan. A menhebak recently visited the mausoleum, truly pathetic video below. I’ve seen the Na3seh shrine, but Hafez’s space is pretty impressive. It would be shame to destroy it but I will leave that decision to the good people of Baba Amr, Atarib, Azzaz and Darayya.
The conference in Teheran showed how little that country has to draw on. Very amusing.
There was this, of coure:
“BEIRUT—Two of Iran’s honored guests at the official opening of an international conference intended by Tehran to showcase its global stature slammed the Islamic Republic’s policies on Syria, Iran’s top ally in the region, and Israel, its No. 1 foe.”
But there was also this:
“Many Iranians complained about the government’s spending on the conference.
“I pray to God that this conference isn’t just about meeting and greeting and something useful comes out of it. It would be a big gain for the country and people if the result is easing or removing the sanctions,” said Mahin, 32, a Tehran resident who didn’t give her last name.
“That appears unlikely, analysts say. “When the dust settles and the last NAM diplomat has left Tehran, what has changed? Iran remains under a harsh international sanctions regime, foreign investment remains paltry, and its only reliable allies remain the dream team of Venezuela, Syria, and North Korea,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an expert of Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.”
Muslim Brotherhood cannot rule the people. This 2005 Brzezinski plan will backfire on the United States. And the plan is for all the Middle East not just Syria.
Backing Fundamentalists and Extremists will not work.
Central Damascus Resident Phone Conversation
McClatchy contributor Austin Tice may be held by Syrians
WASHINGTON — Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist covering the civil war in Syria who was last heard from in mid-August, remains unaccounted for and is likely being held by the Syrian government.
Statements in recent days by Czech diplomats, information from Syrian rebel supporters and reports from people inside Syria indicate that the 31-year-old Houston native, who contributed to McClatchy, The Washington Post and CBS News, was detained by Syrian government forces near the Damascus suburb of Daraya, his last known location.
The U.S. State Department says the Syrian government has not responded to inquiries about Tice that were made through official channels and that U.S. diplomats were “working through our Czech protecting power in Syria to get more information on his welfare and whereabouts.” A Syrian official in the United States declined to comment Thursday.
Tice entered Syria in May without a visa – a common practice for journalists attempting to cover the rebel side of the conflict there – and traveled throughout the country with rebel forces, reaching the Damascus area in late July. He remained in that area, basing himself in Daraya, a city of 200,000 southwest of Damascus proper, but had planned to leave Syria to meet friends in Lebanon on Aug. 19 or 20. He last communicated with colleagues on Aug. 13 but did not reveal precisely how he intended to exit Syria.
On Monday, the Czech ambassador to Syria, Eva Filipi, told a Czech television interviewer in Prague that sources had informed her mission that Tice was in detention, though further information had been hard to come by because of an Islamic holiday at the time. The Czechs, who oversee U.S. interests in Damascus because the U.S. closed its embassy there in February, sent a formal diplomatic note about Tice to Syrian counterparts, she said.
“Our sources report that he is alive and that he was detained by government forces on the outskirts of Damascus, where the rebels were fighting government troops,” Filipi said in response to a question about Tice. “Our additional steps were halted by the fact that the report came at the beginning of the final holidays of Ramadan and therefore we had a week off in Syria and some of our contacts were not in Damascus.”
The remarks followed a Czech radio report over the weekend that also said Tice had been detained by the government.
Iranian official says Morsi lacks ‘maturity’
The Iranian government’s preference for ignoring President Morsi’s remarks about Syria means that it is rather restricted in what it can say about the speech by way of criticism.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper notes that Hossein Sheikholeslam, the Iranian parliament’s Middle East adviser (and a former deputy foreign minister) “was not only the first Iranian official to criticise Morsi but also the first who acknowledged that he made those remarks”.
However, even Sheikholeslam seems to have avoided repeating what Morsi said. Instead, he accused the Egyptian president of lacking “the necessary political maturity”.
,,,
Residents of Aleppo celebrating their liberation by the SAA
With the help of the residents of Aleppo the SAA liberate the city and outskirts bit by bit from FSA terrorists. The residents among other things exposed FSA terrorists, hideouts and ammunition dumps.
Ankara has decided to boycott this week’s Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, which has been much maligned in the Western media despite the summit’s potential to contribute to mediation efforts on the conflict in Syria. By all indications, this decision reflects a low point in Turkish foreign policy.
Despite a personal invitation by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Turkish President Abdullah Gul has cited personal health and scheduling conflict. Even the resourceful Foreign
minister Ahmet Davutoglu has baulked at the idea of attending the summit, which brings dozens of leaders from the South to discuss their issues, including regional conflicts such as Syria. [1]
Egypt and Iran this week took a giant step toward overcoming their diplomatic estrangement, brought together by the exigencies of a global movement and, even more so, a complex regional calculus that has a long history of being shaped by foreign powers.
…..
Yet, the next move on Syria will not be a no-fly zone but rather a concerted regional effort at conflict-mediation, in order to complement the current effort of UN special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. Only by joining hands can Tehran and Cairo make a tangible difference in bringing the warring parties to a meaningful dialogue, together with input by other important regional and extra-regional players, such as Saudi Arabia
…..
Consequently, it is hardly surprising that Cairo and Tehran may discover certain side-effects pushing them away from each other precisely at a time when they are pulled together, simply because of their constant balancing act and the Egyptian coordination of their Iran policy with their Washington or Saudi policies, requiring a “near distancing,” For now, however, as a result of the landmark summit that has “blown” a new life to NAM, to paraphrase ayatollah Khamenei, the breath of fresh Iran-Egypt diplomacy is inescapable, much as it should not be mistaken for a complete harmony.
Russia has called on the United States and the European Union to immediately lift all unilateral sanctions their imposed in regard to Syria, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said.
On July 23 the EU passed the 17th set of sanctions against Syria, including a tougher arms embargo, in response to escalating violence in the Arab country. Russia said the new sanctions amount to an actual blockade of Syria, which contradicts the decisions of UN Security Council and the Geneva Agreements.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Syria on Thursday, Churkin said that Russia calls on “the countries, which imposed anti-Syrian sanctions, to lift them off immediately.”
“These sanctions, imposed bypassing the UN Security Council, have nothing in common with real efforts to settle the Syrian crisis and only complicate lives of ordinary citizens and deprive them of the possibility to satisfy their own elementary needs and comprehensively employ human rights,” Churkin said.
It appears that the NAM meeting in Tehran has if anything made Iran more isolated. Iran is paying very high price for supporting the oppressive Syrian regime. The mullahs need to stop their emotional connection with Assad Alawi regime and be pragmatic about it. Their continuous unwavering support is working to their disadvantage. Same applied to HA. It is shame that sect and religion blinds. HA and Iran has lost any ground in the ME. I personally once was a big fan,,
Davutoglu continues his big fuss about 80,000 refugees.
Maybe he can’t remember that Syria received with less pomp and visits of tabloid celebrities, a million Iraqis for years that were victims of the USA war on Iraq.
If the Turkish law does not recognize Arabs fleeing to Turkey as “refugees” fully entitled to support from the UN, then it’s Turkey responsibility to deal with these ‘temporary guests’ on its own, or change their law.
If Turkey, without asking the UN approval, took the decisions to keep and protect armed rebels and establish a military headquarter on its land to attack a country part of the UN, then it should bear the consequences, take corrective actions and stop begging the UN to correct their mistakes.
In Syria, Turkey Opposes Any De Facto Sovereignty in Kurdish Zones
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — When the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, came to take questions after Thursday’s Security Council meeting on Syria, he spoke of refugees and his invitation to the Council members to come and visit camps.
Inner City Press asked Davutoglu a more pointed question: what is Turkey’s position on the reported autonomy of the Kurdish areas in northern Syria?
Davutoglu is a skilled diplomat — he had just likened Turkey’s position on Syria to Srbrenica in Bosnia and Halabja in Iraq — but he made himself clear: his country opposes any declaration of sovereignty by these areas. Video here, from Minute 7:05.
He said that “Assad regime may try to use all instruments against political unity of Syrian people. For us, we see all Syrians… as one unity.”
He emphasized, “We will be against any de facto declaration of sovereignty inside Syria” unless decided by an “elected parliament of New Syria.” That seems a long way off.
Footnote: Turkey arrived, as it did during last September’s UN General Debate, with a large delegation. Then, it resulted in a dust-up with UN Security, some of whose members are asking just how many extra passes Turkey gets.
As France Offers to Recognize Syria Opposition, Russia Cites Geneva Deal
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — France has grandly announced that it stands ready to recognize the Syrian opposition as the government. After Thursday’s Security Council session, Inner City Press asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin what he thought of the idea.
Churkin was diplomatic, beginning that “off course people look for various ideas to think of… We need to apply one criteria, how those ideas are correlated with a consensus basis which is reflected in the Geneva communiqué.”
This has been Russia’s mantra, the text that was agreed on June 30 in Geneva by the so-called Action Group on Syria. But when Churkin this month invited the members of the Action Group to meet at New York, despite French Ambassador Gerard Araud saying he accepts such invitations, the meeting did not take place.
The United States, whose Susan Rice was back in the Security Council for Thursday’s meetin, and the United Kingdom were said to “boycott” the meeting convened by Russia.
Inner City Press was told by sources that Germany, too, rebelled. It is not a member of the Action Group, but demanded that if the Action Group met, it immediately report back to the Council. The meeting never happened.
And Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov did not come to the Council on Thursday; neither did Hillary Clinton or Germany’s minister Westerwelle. Prior to the meeting, a Syrian diplomat mocked the French meeting to Inner City Press, saying “they got ministers of Togo & Morocco, old French, no Hillary, not even Germany.”
Churkin continued with his answer, that “the Geneva communique does speak about this traditional body composed of, by the representatives of the government and various opposition groups. I’m not sure this idea of a government which will be recognized even before we know what kind of a government this is, that is entirely in line with the ideas reflected in the Geneva document. This is a question I have in my mind as I hear these ideas expressed.”
Several times, Churkin said he didn’t want to engage in “polemics” with other Security Council members’ foreign ministers. And so he left this one was a question, to which we will continue to seek an answer.
Of those who came to speak at the stakeout after Thursday’s meeting, Inner City Press got in questions not only to Churkin and Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, but also to UNHCR’s Gutterez and even to the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu — but not to France’s Laurent Fabius.
There are people who haven’t followed the situation closely and are genuinely and sincerely concerned about the possible repeat of shrine destruction in Syria.
I want to share a response to such a question. Thanks to the brother for the effort. I hope he doesn’t mind me bringing it peoples’ attention. It really is worth sharing:
Plight of Refugees in Za’atari Camp in Jordan Obscured Amid UN’s Syria Superbowl
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — Syria’s neighbors were given center stage in the UN Security Council on Thursday, to talk up what they do for refugees.
Inner City Press asked the UN’s top official for refugees, UNHRC’s Antonio Gutteres, about the Za’atari camp in Jordan, and about a protest of UNHCR in Annan. (At this last, new Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson raised his eyebrows, seeming surprised that the UN would be protested.) Video here, from Minute 2:50.
Gutteres said Jordan decided to establish that camp in “a very difficult situation from the point of view of the environmental conditions.” You might say: the tents are blown down by sandy winds and there are scorpions. Residents protested (or rioted) and now up to 150 of them face refoulement, in UNHCR-speak, to Syria.
Inner City Press asked Gutteres about this; he replied with a hope that it was a one time incident, “quickly solved.”
But what about these 150 people?
Inner City Press asked Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja’afari about the camp. His answer was that government should let people return, that they only left because the rebels used them as human shields. He riffed about countries with the “dirty habit” of making money off other people’s suffering, calling it a “stock market.”
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius bragged in his statement in the Council about providing doctors in Za’atari, without addressing if the camp is in a livable location much less those about to be sent back to Syria. He took only two questions afterward, none on this.
Unlike the Permanent Representatives not only of Syria but also Russia, and the ministers of Lebanon and France (though only for two questions), Jordan’s Nasser Judeh did not come to take any questions at the stakeout. But he is active on Twitter, where he has his supporters; his Permanent Representative at the UN is omnipresent.
Lebanese Shiite scholar voices support for Syrian revolution
August 31, 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon – A prominent Lebanese Shiite scholar has said that all Shiites should unite against “oppressors” including the Syrian regime which he said directed its weapons on his own people.
“Taking the oppressors’ side undermines the founding principles of Shia Islam. Shiites must stand against oppression. And the Syrian revolution will bring about a new Syria which is fair and controlled by popular will,” Sayyed Muhammad Hasan Al-Amin told the Anadolu Agency in an interview in Beirut.
Al-Amin said Shiites had “no one single opinion” over the ongoing crisis in Syria, adding that many Shiite groups supported the Syrian uprising.
France had the UNSC chairmanship in August. Results: More hot air and ridiculous promises and “predictions”
16 August: “French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told AFP Thursday he had information that the regime of embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad would be rocked by more “spectacular” defections soon.”
Qatar’s tear jerking generosity to save Al Zaatari Camp in Jordan.
Wouldn’t Jordan prefer that these refugees go back home when Qatar will stop financing the killing?
RAF to spend QR27mn to aid 20,000 Syrian refugees
Aug 27, 2012 in NGO | 0 comments
Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) is planning to spend QR27 million to provide shelter and medical aid for 20,000 Syrian refugees in Al Zaatari Camp on Syria-Jordan borders.
General Manager and Chairman of RAF Board of Trustees Ayed bin Dabsan al Qahtani has called on philanthropists to donate to the cause in order to alleviate the sufferings of thousands of Syrians who flee to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan on a daily basis.
RAF also aims to establish field hospitals, provide ambulances and other medical equipment to cater to the healthcare needs of the refugees.
Qahtani said the charity organisation was also looking at the possibility of providing the Al Zaatari Camp with one thousand mobile (caravans) homes with necessary furniture, including mattresses, blankets, pillows and other items, adding that some of the caravans would be used as mosques, sanitary facilities, schools for boys and girls as well as mobile clinics for the refugees.
220
“Davutoglu continues his big fuss about 80,000 refugees.
Maybe he can’t remember that Syria received with less pomp and visits of tabloid celebrities, a million Iraqis for years that were victims of the USA war on Iraq.”
Unlike the Syrian refugees to Turkey who came with their cloth and what ever they can carry on their back, the early Iraqis came with their millions witch they brought from Iraq and fueled the Syrian economy for the next few years, when the poor started coming, Syria started asking for visas to enter.
plus Syria were eligible to get money from the UN,unlike Turkey because they can not call them refugees but guests due to some law they have,
and i see you chose to forget that Angelina and Brat came and checked on them and they were received by the royal couple later
“Iran is sending commanders from its elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and hundreds of foot soldiers to Syria, according to current and former members of the corps.”
I wonder what the reaction will be in Iran when the body bags start coming back.
‘The guys from Syrian delegation should instead of walking away from the hall take the metal cane and beat this Zionist clown Mursi just like Preston Brooks did in 1856 senate meeting when he beat to death senator Charles Sumner.’
Mursi is not a “Zionist,” whatever that means. He went to Teheran to declare Egypt’s solidarity with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which goes back to the 50’s when it was started as an alternative to the Cold War by Nehru, Tito and Haile Selassie. Mursi had no intention of being an Iranian puppet. He did the right thing. He denounced the Assads.
So, Uzair8, if your definition of Zionism is denouncing the Assads, then so be it. By the way, Brooks did not kill Sumner. You need to read some history and stop making up stories…
Iranian newspapers don’t publish on Fridays, but there is a lively response to Mr Mursi’s speech from Iranian opposition bloggers and internet users.
One opposition blogger says: “Praise be to Mursi’s honesty for voicing what millions of Iranians and Syrians could not say.”
Mojtaba Vahedi, the former adviser to Iran’s opposition leader, Mehdi Karrubi, describes Mursi’s speech as a “slap in the face” for Iran’s leader, “who had just yesterday defended Assad’s government.”
SSNPS made a historic move to join the Alciada-Mossad revolution in Syria by launching 2 new brainless armed units that will be joining the throat slitting and car bombing noble mission in Syria.
“Katibet Oded Golan” will target Christian churches and heathen non-Sunni artifacts, and “Katibet Suleiman the Great fiction” will target fictional weapon depots of fictional anti Jewish forces of Assad and Ayatollah and Morsi, the fictional resistance front.
238 Visitor
While I know where you coming from,I can not agree with you,
1- you con not speak for ???? ?? ????
2- it is not up to???? ?? ???? to who will get thrown in that place
In realty the US and Nato attempts, after the fall of the Soviet union, to be the sole politacal player in the Arab world and middle east faced fiece resistance in Afhganistan Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
Therefore, it is more presicise to say:
A combination of the cowboy Wars defeats led by the US and NATO (since the Bush administration), and the failure of the Arab stooges and the financial crisis (since 2007) alongside the economic rise of China and India has, however, given a boost to the aspiration of the NAM.
Moreover the Author clamied that “The Arab Spring of 2011 offered further proof of the new confidence of the people of the ‘South’. Regimes that had given themselves over to pro-Western economic policies and opened their prisons to become the “black sites” of the War on Terror fell like ninepins. If the US had lost Latin America, it was now feared that it would lose the Arab world as well.”
Again, it is more precise to say:
“The Arab Spring of 2011 Resistance Axis offered further proof of the new confidence of the people of the ‘South’ and Arab word, threatning the regimes that had given themselves over to pro-Western economic policies and opened their prisons to become the “black sites” of the War on Terror……………..
• President Morsi’s speech in Tehran yesterday has “all but completed Iran’s isolation”, Simon Tisdall writes in the Guardian.
Morsi’s fierce condemnation of the Syrian regime, Iran’s close ally, was as eloquent as it was piercing, and it came like a bolt from the blue. He didn’t just rain on the Iranians’ parade. It was as if Hurricane Isaac had taken a sharp turn north across the Caspian and unleashed its wrathful furies on an unsuspecting Tehran.
Scott Peterson, in the Christian Science Monitor, shares that view:
Iran’s charm offensive and attempts to seize the high ground were dampened by the words of the UN chief and by Mohamed Morsi
…,
The Guardian
Visitor 246
See , now you are speaking for me
If any of the prophets was associated with peace, Profit Essa would be the most,in one verse he said “peace upon me when I was born when I die and when I resurrect again”,I think he will ask forgiveness for them, the amount of brain washing they received in their lives is unimaginable,I personally would catch my self repeating the songs of the regime years after I was not expose to them any more, even I was never in my life a supporter. they can not help it, some are not as lucky to see the truth,
You have not got it right. The verse you mention is not relevant here. I’ll explain.
First I’ll show you how you can speak for him and in particular in the case we’re discussing. Since it is Friday, go read ??? ???? ???? ?????… till the end. You will see that you have spoken his words exactly in the case we’re discussing.
You will see that charges of ??? are brought by Allah against those who call him son of god which is ???. We also know without any doubt ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???. Therefore, we know forgiveness is out of the question particularly because we know Muhammad (pbuh) came and warned them about it. So, there is no excuse of brainwashing either. You only need to read the following to understand the seriousness of the charge:
?????? ???? ???? ????
??? ???? ???? ???
???? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???
?? ???? ??????? ????
??? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ????
?? ?? ?? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? ??????? ????
??? ?????? ????? ???
????? ???? ??? ??????? ????
So, there is only one outcome. They will be thrown to the lowest depth of Jahannam.
Aug 31 (Reuters) – France plans to channel aid to rebel-held parts of Syria so that these “liberated zones” can administer themselves and staunch an outflow of refugees, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
He said France and Turkey had identified areas in the north and south that had escaped President Bashar al-Assad’s control, creating a chance for local communities to govern themselves without feeling they had to flee to neighbouring countries.
“Maybe in these liberated zones Syrians who want to flee the regime will find refuge which in turn makes it less necessary to cross the border whether in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan or Iraq,” Fabius said after a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday.
However, civilians in rebel-held parts of Syria have suffered frequent deadly air strikes from Assad’s forces.
It was not clear how Fabius’s promise to allocate much of its future 5 million euros ($6.25 million) aid for Syria to these areas would protect civilians and deter them from fleeing.
Turkey’s non-starter call for a humanitarian safe zone inside Syria offers the clearest sign yet that diplomacy to end the bloodshed in the most violent uprising of the Arab Spring is at a dead end.
But the Turkish proposal sank like a stone. The council meeting ended without even a non-binding statement of support, much less a binding resolution.
A frustrated Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the council that he’d come to New York in hopes the members would take “long overdue steps” to alleviate the suffering and establish camps inside Syria for those forced to flee their homes.
“Apparently, I was wrong about my expectations,” Davutoglu said.
Like so many other proposals to end the fighting, the Turkish appeal was all but dead on arrival, given the risks of creating such a zone and the hostility of veto-wielding Russia and China to any proposal that is not accepted by Syrian President Bashar Assad
…
France has promised to recognize a Syrian provisional government if the opposition can set aside its internal differences — which it has been unable to accomplish.
…
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and veteran U.N. mediator, will likely explore possibilities of reviving a transitional plan drawn up by Annan and agreed to by both the United States and Russia after a conference in Geneva in June.
The document aimed at establishing an interim government of people chosen by both the Assad regime and the opposition. Each would be able to veto candidates.
The arrangement was rejected immediately by many in the Syrian opposition.
Come on… Wasn’t there a Hadeeth saying that people are born in Fitrah then they adapt the religion of their parents whatever that religion is. I am sure if you were born Christian, the likelihood you remain as such is 99.99999 %. There is no way that god would condemn people to hell because they are born into certain religion. This would not be the Allah of the Quraan.
254 Visitor
I thought we were talking about those supporting and not supporting, I don’t want to go into endless discussion about religion, other for my self and the very few I’m responsible for I could not care less who is going where
Will Turkey and France join in the fait accompli of an ‘unprotected’ buffer zone?
After the UN rebuffed its plea for a buffer zone in Syria to accommodate the increasingly destabilizing Syrians ‘guests’, Turkey is approached by France to take an unofficial position: Share the the responsibility in setting an ‘unprotected’ buffer zone so Turkey can get rid of its Syrian refugees from its land.
As it is clear that these areas will immediately be bombed by the Syrian Army, maybe the hopes are that when it will be bombed and many civilians will be killed, France and Turkey will be able to make a case at the UN for no-fly zone on these ‘unprotected’ areas
All violent scenarios are being considered whatever civilians casualties would be rather than calling for a humiliating ceasefire.
I see SNP has lost a lot of popularity, it has come down from 200 votes to 8. I would not share in next elections in alliance with Baath Party, you could make Assad lose elections.
Austin Tice: ‘It’s nice and all, but please quit telling me to be safe.’
Journalist Austin Tice, who contributed articles to The Washington Post, is currently missing in Syria.
The following was posted by Austin Tice on his Facebook page on July 25. It is republished here with the permission of his parents.
“Against my better judgment, I’m posting this on Facebook. Flame away.
People keep telling me to be safe (as if that’s an option), keep asking me why I’m doing this crazy thing, keep asking what’s wrong with me for coming here. So listen.
Our granddads stormed Normandy and Iwo Jima and defeated global fascism. Neil Armstrong flew to the Moon in a glorified trashcan, doing math on a clipboard as he went. Before there were roads, the Pioneers put one foot in front of the other until they walked across the entire continent. Then a bunch of them went down to fight and die in Texas ‘cause they thought it was the right thing to do….
Coming here to Syria is the greatest thing I’ve ever done, and it’s the greatest feeling of my life.”
A popular explosion in the streets of Teheran would be the drop of water we need to collapse the persian theocracy. Unfortunately they did it before the arabs and got a huge repression.
lovely,I would like more of those videos to be posted online # 265.
more and more people inside and outside Syria are discovering what the armed rebels have become: a collection of thugs, terrorists, Takfiri militants, paid agents or a combination of two or more cats.This is a free service to everybody who believes that this revolution is hijacked by Islamist terrorists.
Result of a meeting supposedly organized to deal with the humanitarians crisis:
Not a single dollar given by the country who called for the meeting to help the refugees, yet they give millions of dollars to smuggle weapons, train and harbor the terrorists.
Instead on focusing on the humanitarian problems, they speakers insulted the Syrian president.
These countries are responsible in the bloodshedin Syria because they don’t care about the civilians casualties, they only care about their agenda of destabilizing Syria.
Syria do have an humanitarian crisis and need assistance but not in the form of undermining Syria’s sovereignty and political independance.
Why do you expect less?
The opposition is loosing on all the grounds. The latest UNSC meeting deadend showed that its supporters are in total disarray and confusion. Each one setting a different and often opposed strategy.
The SNC is crumbling, its members are defecting, the Arab League has not even been able to organize the nth meeting to ‘unite’ the opposition. The FSA is overtaken by Islamists extremists benefiting from free CIA and MI16 training in Turkey military camps.
In the UN meeting, KSA and Qatar instead of shedding tears of compassion for the refugees, shed tears of rage for their impotence after having spend so much money on weapons and rebels salaries.
Turkey and Jordan are suffocated by the refugees from the violence they instigated with the money that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are pouring to prevent the collapse of the rebels. This would mean the end of the game they thought they’ll easily win and that ultimately they’ll be the humiliated looser.
Unless Iran changes its mind and prefers to please Morsi by sacrificing Syria, Bashar Al Assad still stands stronger that he has ever be in the last 18 months with an army solid and coherent, a political unity and most of all the growing support of Syrians, many of them bitter at the opposition you brought such a disaster on the country without being able even to unite and speak with one voice. The only voices they are hearing are the voices of violence and destruction.
Mikdad is right to claim high and loud that there will be no pre- conditions to an eventual dialog. The opposition should finally learn that beggars can’t be choosers.
what does the new testament say, holy are those who believe?
Robert Fisk: Minister for information who wants to go straight
Truth will no longer be a casualty of Syria’s civil war, says President Assad’s media supremo
When Syrian gunmen stormed Damascus last month, an angry, middle-aged and bespectacled man appeared on state television with a harsh message for Syria’s “enemies”.
“They are calling this the last battle,” he roared. “Yes, I agree it is the last battle – and they will lose!” Syrian viewers were not used to straight-talking of this kind from the voice of the regime, to be sure, but also the voice of a tough new broom at the top of the government’s media operations, Omran Zoubi. The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, appointed him the information Minister to turn Syrian state television into a credible source of information.
Regime mouthpieces: Defending the indefensible
* During the invasion of Iraq the Information Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf earned the moniker “Comical Ali” for his dogged insistence that there were no “American infidels in Baghdad”, even as tanks massed nearby. He also came out with ludicrous sound bites such as: “Our initial assessment is that they will all die”.
* Colonel Gaddafi’s information minister, Moussa Ibrahim, would take to the podium at Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel, smooth his impressive comb-over, and harangue foreign journalists about the Libyan leader’s omnipotence.
* The propagandist most renowned for using fine words to justify heinous atrocities was Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief who took his own life in Hitler’s bunker.
“The uprising in Syria is, simply put, a riot of economically marginalized conservative Sunni rural population. There, the Koran is the only constant, unfaltering hope of justice. The relatively secular Assad’s government has been associated with corruption, exploitation, and since the start of the uprising by shooting at unarmed demonstrators and seemingly indiscriminate aerial attacks on civilians in the compound. It is therefore hardly surprising that the opposition is fighting under the banner of Islam and Allahu Akbar, God is great, become their battle cry.”
here is an other article, written by an member of the Day after movemnet, a member of the syrian muslim brotherhood, Molham al-Droubi
Two paths lead to a free Syria
Either the Alawite elite removed the Assad regime – or a military intervention from outside. M. al-Droubi, a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood
Civil War Two paths lead to a free Syria
Either the Alawite elite removed the Assad regime – or a military intervention from outside. M. al-Droubi, a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood
Syria is unique, popular due to its significant geopolitical location. Many international forces pursue their own interests in Syria. A revolution in this country as important? It was a surprise to everyone, because it was believed that Bashar al-Assad and his father had built an insurmountable security state. Few would have expected that the uprising in Syria would last longer than a few weeks. But the Syrian people has she taught better.
Iranian TV and news agencies lie to their viewers and alter Morsi’s speech, and this isn’t just innocent mistakes involving the intricacies of the Arabic language. These liars changed Syria into Bahrain.
It makes me wonder about the Sharaa video that only Al Alam had last week. While Syrian shabi7a “journalists” are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to delaying aid to wounded women for interviews or adding to the trauma of children (along with salivating at the mangled bodies of dead Syrians), Iranians are lending a hand for lies that are less crass.
Can the mullahs get any stupider? Don’t they think that they will get caught? They are paraded all over. This was from the Guardian.
Iran mistranslates Morsi
Two Iranian TV channels found an interesting way to deal with President Morsi’s embarrassing critique of the Syrian regime during his speech in Tehran yesterday, Le Monde reports (in French).
It says the translation of his speech into Persian simply replaced the word “Syria” with “Bahrain”.
First, as for my own life, you would be surprised. But of course this is not the place to discuss it.
Secondly, are you questioning fate?
In this case Allah will bring Ibrahim (pbuh) as His argument against all those who failed to recognize His Oneness no matter who their parents were. I assume you’re familiar with the story of Ibrahim. Surely, you don’t expect a ???? to be rewarded the same as Ibrahim. Would you?
And speaking of Hadeeth and fate, we were also told about Allah in a Hadeeth the following:
???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ?????.
in the above the pronouns refer to Allah (I.e. Allah is speaking)
There are rules and criterions and you cannot have a Religion based on wishes. God wants you to recognize Him during the 60, 70 or 80 years given to you, and no one else. He has no need for any of your deeds, good or bad. Those who recognize Him however, are quicker into doing the good deeds and avoid bad ones and those who are oblivious to Him are more inclined to do the bad and even if they do good deeds they will be immediately rewarded. But the final reward is reserved for those of the likeness of Ibrahim.
Now, if we were to do it your way and say this is not the Allah of Quraan, we will be committing a major sin. The Message must be told as it is. Otherwise you will be asked about what you did with it in order to convey it to those who were less fortunate than you and were brought up in error. So I suggest, either you take it seriously or leave it for others.
This is how the early Muslims understood the Message which allowed them to conquer East and West and not as your friend falsely suggested a while ago by having Christian and Jewish employees running the government under Amir almuumineen, which by all measures is a false claim and cannot be supported. The early Muslims understood the gravity of the responsibility and fulfilled their duties to the best of their abilities. At no time did they seek to dilute its essence just to gain favor with an audience.
—————-
Syrian,
Continue to do that. But refrain from citing verses that may not serve your purpose. Otherwise, you would be inviting responses such as mine or even more profound ones.
I would sincerely like to explore this thinking more vigorously but again this is not the time. I will again suggest to table the religion discussion until after the revolution succeeds. There is an “allure” to discuss religious taboos ( if you will) with a stranger. You feel at ease and you express opinions bluntly. I am very much interested in taking it a step further but not right now..by the way, thanks for your politeness. “so I suggest you take it seriously or leave it for others”. This appeals to me.
Lying on his bed in the Tishrin military hospital in Damascus, the 22-year-old originally from the central province of Hama recounts the events of a day he is unlikely to forget.
“I was on patrol with 40 other soldiers in the camp when we were shot at. We managed to get to cover but two of my friends were wounded,” he tells AFP.
“I was able to help get them out, but then when I tried to recover their weapons I was hit in the leg. It must have been some kind of poisoned bullet, because doctors at the hospital had to amputate my leg.”
Aswad’s mother listens sadly as she offers sweets to visitors.
The continuous crump of exploding artillery rounds outside rattles the windows of the hospital which is near Qaboon, a rebel neighbourhood in the north of the capital.
Asked when he thinks the conflict might end, the soldier replies wearily with a question of his own: “Do you not hear that artillery piece firing away without a break?”
…
In the same room as Aswad is Ghalib Mohammed, 23, a member of the security forces who had been shot eight times in the back and left leg.
“We were called in to lend a hand at a police station in Assad al-Ward,” he says, referring to a town 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Damascus near the border with Lebanon.
— ‘I kept on firing’ —
“From the hill in Lebanon, they attacked us with weapons of all calibres. The other members of my group left the fields because they had no more ammunition. I kept on firing and was hit in the back and legs.”
“When this war will end I don’t know, but it will be us or them,” adds Mohammed’s brother who was part of the same group but emerged unscathed.
In another room, Abdullah al-Ali is in a coma.
He cannot tell his own story.
Shrapnel lanced a seven-centimetre (nearly three-inch) hole in his skull when he was stationed at Al-Bab in Aleppo province in the north.
For two months his mother has been looking after him, 550 kilometres (340 miles) away from the family home in Raqa in northeastern Syria.
“Many of these young people will suffer from after-effects and 20 percent will be paralysed for life,” says a Paris-educated neurosurgeon who specialises in head and spinal surgeries.
“NATO mercenary killers will soon meet Allah in paradise”
More bad English from Spammie Annie. The above sentence says the NATO mercenary killers will join God in heaven. Now that is not what Spammie Annie meant to say. But her English is not that good and when she veers off her customary cut-and-paste course, she embarrasses herself.
Ann is proof positive that a little education is worse than none at all.
…
His speech also points to new images he is cultivating: The tough, fearless leader who speaks with the voice of a people who chose him. For Islamists, he was a Sunni hero against the Shiites.
“He bows in respect for his people, so world leaders bow to him,” proclaimed a photo-montage posted on a Brotherhood-affiliated Facebook page.
In one frame, it shows Morsi bowing his head amid crowds of supporters in Tahrir Square. In the other, it shows Morsi sitting at the Nonaligned Movement summit in Tehran on Thursday, with several dignitaries stooped over him to listen as if bowing and hanging on his every word.
For critics, the gushing support is reminiscent of the unquestioning praise given in state media to his predecessor, ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Moreover, they point out that behind the dramatic gestures, Morsi is so far doing little to bring actual dramatic change in Egypt’s foreign policy. Morsi is being cautious, reluctant to turn sharply against Egypt’s main Mubarak-era allies, Saudi Arabia, the United States and even Israel. That is in part because he is constrained by the realities of the region and by his need for allies as he tries to address Egypt’s domestic woes.
….
Egypt underlines Iran’s isolation at Non-Aligned Movement summit
Iran’s leaders clearly hoped this week’s gala summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran would serve as an antidote to the diplomatic isolation imposed on them by the US and Britain. But Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s wonderfully unpredictable new president, making the first visit at this level since the 1979 Iranian revolution, had other ideas.
Morsi’s fierce condemnation of the Syrian regime, Iran’s close ally, was as eloquent as it was piercing, and it came like a bolt from the blue. He didn’t just rain on the Iranians’ parade. It was as if Hurricane Isaac had taken a sharp turn north across the Caspian and unleashed its wrathful furies on an unsuspecting Tehran.
The Syrian delegation walked out. The Iranians did not have that option – they could hardly boycott their own meeting. Instead they were forced to listen as Morsi, a Muslim Brother, an Arab, and lifelong critic of western policy in the Middle East, thumped out an uncompromising speech that could have come straight from Hillary Clinton’s playbook.
“We should all express our full support to the struggle of those who are demanding freedom and justice in Syria and translate our sympathies into a clear political vision that supports peaceful transfer (of power) to a democratic system,” Morsi told the 120-country summit.
..
Morsi’s stand was typically courageous. For many Egyptians their president’s autonomy of thought and deed may be a matter of growing pride. This is the same man, after all, who boldly asserted civilian control over the military after his election victory, summarily dismissing the country’s post-Mubarak leader, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the military’s chief of staff, and the heads of Egypt’s army, navy and air force.
And even as he bearded the Iranian leadership on their own patch, Morsi has made clear that Egypt’s fawning subservience to Washington, evident during the long Mubarak years, is also a thing of the past.
His decision to travel to Iran at all was a signal of his independence. So, too, is his apparent determination to restore Egypt to its historic role as the Middle East’s leading nation, a position coveted by Iran.
Egypt would seek to expand its ties with all fellow Muslim nations, Morsi’s spokesman, Yasser Ali, said. “We need to establish relations with all countries worldwide… We will turn more agile, more active.
“Egypt is a pivotal country, and we want to play the role Egypt deserves to play.”
While the Obama administration will undoubtedly welcome Morsi’s comments on Syria and the implicit rebuke to Tehran, the Egyptian president’s confident assertion of national interests is already causing ripples of unease. Dennis Ross, a Bush-era Middle East envoy, complained that Morsi was trying to gag the press by replacing 50 leading editors and journalists and was ignoring other key democratic “principles” (as defined by Ross).
Ross said: “None of this means that Egypt’s path of change is foreordained. It does mean that the president, who has largely surrounded himself with members of the Muslim Brotherhood or sympathisers, dominates all of Egypt’s institutions of power.” If Morsi stepped too far out of line, the US should consider suspending direct financial assistance and blocking IMF loans, Ross suggested.
Morsi’s intervention will encourage Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states in their active support for the Syrian uprising. It may, in time, foster an increasingly interventionist, united Arab front against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as happened in Libya after the Arab League turned against Muammar Gaddafi. Given the myriad pre-existing tensions between the Sunni Muslim Gulf states and predominantly Shia Muslim Iran, the development of such a front would logically serve to further restrain Tehran’s ambitions.
But regarding an end to the Syrian slaughter and a peaceful transfer of power, Morsi’s contribution in Tehran must be kept in perspective.
In terms of changing facts on the ground, or substantively altering the egregiously negative Syrian dynamic, it may have scant impact.
Morsi’s plan for a contact group comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran was already opposed by the US and others. After his uncompromising Tehran performance, it will go precisely nowhere.
(…)
A thorough acknowledgment from the Turkish media about the Syrian rebels chaotic disorganization and the presence of wannabe martyrs among the fighters.
It’s Hillary, Hollande and Davutoglu worst nightmare
The opposition militants battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are a fragmented rabble that refuses to follow orders, according to activists
There are more than 30 different rebel groups, including the most prominent rebel group, the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA), fighting in Syria, according to officials from the most prominent Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC).
The Jihadists, Islamists, pro-al-Qaida and secular groups that are not under the control of the FSA and which are fighting in different areas of Syria against the Syrian regime forces prove how fragmented and disorganized the Syrian rebel groups were in Syria.
According to the SNC media officer, Ahmad al-Halabi, there are more than 30 opposition groups fighting in Syria – of whom only 15 could be identified by Hürriyet Daily News research. “Fifty armed men come together and they form a rebel group. They generally give their groups names from the Quran or the names the towns and areas they are coming from,” Ahmad al-Halabi told the Daily News.
According to SNC officials, there were between 70,000 and 100,000 rebels fighting against the Syrian regime in Syria. The most prominent rebel group, the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) – who listed its main base as in the southern Turkish city of Hatay on its website – is the best connected with the SNC.
Click here to view a map showing different rebel groups in Syria (PDF).
“Some groups such as the al-Tawhid and al-Fatah brigades consider themselves part of the FSA, however mostly they don’t listen to the orders of the regional leaders of the FSA,” he added.
The Turkey representative of the SNC, Khaled Khoja, also said the rebel groups aside from the FSA in Aleppo generally don’t listen to the orders of the regional FSA leader, Abdulcabbar Agadi.
“We cannot talk about a chain of command amongst these groups,” he added.
SNC Executive Committee member Semir Nashar has just met three different leaders from three different rebel groups fighting in Aleppo where heavy clashes have been going on between the rebels and regime forces for one month.
“Nashar has met one rebel from Jabhat al-Nusra which is al-Qaida in Syria, another one from the al-Fatah Brigade and another one from the al-Tavhid Brigade in an effort to unite them,” another member of the SNC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Daily News.
The SNC member said mainly Chechens, Libyans and a few Afghans were fighting on the fronts in Syria. “Most of them fight in Syria to be martyrs,” he added.
Turkish doubts security council will act
Turkey sees little hope of the UN security council agreeing to a safe haven in Syria, the Press Association reports:
“How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?” foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “Let’s not forget that if we do not act against such a crime against humanity happening in front of our eyes, we become accomplices to the crime.”
Mr Davutoglu proposed that the security council establish camps for refugees forced to flee their homes and take “long overdue steps” to help the suffering people. “Apparently, I was wrong about my expectations,” he told the council. “This meeting will not even end with a presidential or press statement, let alone a robust resolution.”
…
Mr Hague said safe zones should remain an option, although he did not say when they might be seriously considered. “We do not know how this crisis will develop … over the coming months. It is steadily getting worse,” he said. “We are ruling nothing out, and we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios.”
….
Syria has been turned into a domestic policy debate. There are such low comments as: “K?l?çdaro?lu is supporting Bashar al-Assad because he is also an Alevi.” There are caricatures drawn, like: “A tiny Alevi minority is exerting genocide on Sunnis.” These inappropriate comments are fed by myths created on Syria. These myths are the following:
1 – Alevis are oppressing the Sunnis: It is true that the Nusayris are powerful political elite in Syria, even though they are a minority. However, the majority of Syria’s political and economic elite are Sunni. Most of the bourgeoisie and the upper middle class are made up of Sunnis supporting the regime. There is also Sunni domination among the middle class. Just to make it clear, it is the product of some people’s imagination to say: “Alevis are oppressing the poor, victimized Sunnis.”
2 – Bashar al-Assad is like Slobodan Milosevic: He is not. This opinion, which is based on an intellectual laziness similar to the leftist tendency to regard every authoritarianism as “fascism,” confuses firing against armed opponents and people with genocide. Bashar al-Assad is a dictator, but he is not a genocide-maker. He is not any worse than Mubarak or George Bush. Actually, Bush caused more deaths.
3 – The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is the only option: It is also a myth that the FSA will bring democracy. You may decide for yourself whether or not to believe that an army with the financial and military support of Saudi Arabia (the biggest enemy of the human rights struggle in the region and in the Middle Eastern revolutions, and which like Israel is an authoritarian theocratic regime), and also with all kinds of acrobatics from the CIA, is going to bring democracy.
4 – Military opposition is the only chance: It is not. It has not been from the beginning. The FSA, which was hastily organized outside Syria, which smeared the revolution with violence intentionally and willfully, and which disregards the unarmed opposition, is actually not even the last chance. It is a problem created at the beginning, whereas it should have been a symptom that emerged as a result. There is a civilian opposition in Syria. There are dozens of groups and opposition organizations who do not distinguish between the outrage of al-Assad and the atrocities of the FSA, maintaining a distance to both. These groups have true democratic reflexes, and believe in civilian will, administration and opposition, and who are afraid that their country will become like Iraq. Three days ago, 20 of these organizations gathered in Damascus and explicitly told the FSA to stop clashes. Take a note of the emphasis.
5 – A buffer zone is a must: Those who shouted: “Our door is open. Run away from al-Assad and come to us,” those who did not let national deputies inside those camps, are now saying: “We cannot manage this crisis anymore; the United Nations should take over.” Before even having tended the wounds of Van, we are flirting with giant mirrors in pursuit of becoming a little United States. We miss that declaring new zones, be it a buffer zone or a no-fly zone, is a similar construction activity that happened to Iraq 10 years ago. Why are people running away from al-Assad? Because that militia named “free” is attacking the al-Assad army. Al-Assad then attacks them, and also, indeed, the people caught in between. The civilians then run away, and so you step in to protect the civilians. Does that sound familiar?
6 – It will not affect the Kurdish issue: After the capture of Öcalan, the most serious shift in the issue, of course, came with the Syrian crisis. Actually, Turkey became Syria’s domestic problem. Young Kurds are now distancing themselves from the logical solution that could be summarized thus: “We want education in our mother tongue and we should be able to call Diyarbakýr ‘Amed.’” Time is running out. The state is losing the Osman Baydemir generation with each passing day. On the one hand, it says it is against the independence of Kurds, while on the other hand it serves the de facto formation of a Kurdish state with every step it takes. Then it hopes that “Barzani will manage our Kurdish issue.”
7 – Our Syrian policy is good: I wonder if there is need for an explanation of this. Some things are definitely not going right. If we cannot do anything at a time when the country we have the longest border with, Syria, is being dragged into chaos with an undetermined end, like Iraq, we at least need to revise our 2023 dreams.
” if tear shedders were sincere they would do something to stop the violence instead of taking videos of dead bodies and celebrating the death of “other” Syrians, that goes for everybody,and that means everybody,we are sick of this bloody dance,it is time to live and let live.”
Live and let live. These are truly Orwellian words, they imply a sort of liberal and tolerant society. Will that be the outcome for if Assad retains power? Was Syria a “live and let live” society before the peaceful protests erupted?
For some people, being able to live is not always the top propriety. A life of oppression is not worth living. The purpose of a revolution is to sacrifice dearly so that the next generation might live with freedom and dignity.
118. Ghufran said:
“Dizzying, Richard echoes a common belief that one party has to win to end the stalemate, I stated that before but do you really think that the rebels with their current composition and reliance on the GCC and Turkey can be trusted ? I think not.
A victory by the rebels in the absence of a political deal and international guarantees will be a disaster for Syria, it can lead to a prolonged civil war and a defacto partition of Syria, the mentality of ” the winner takes all” never worked in the Middle East.”
I agree with your latter guarantees statement. But Assad will not accept a transition deal until he realizes he cannot hang-on to power using force. BTW, a resolution that favors the rebellion need not be “winner take all.”
I think everyone is fearful of an outcome with mass retribution killings.
Nearly all civil wars end with one party holding upper hand. Lebanon was important exception, but that 12-year bloody stalemate has nothing to recommend it. 2005-2006 Iraq Civil War ended only after the Shitte largely ethnically cleansed Baghdad, and the Sunni realized they were beat. Civil wars are indeed the worst.
FSA is growing stronger day by day. After overruning Al-Boukamal and eliminating the commander of air defense phalange, FSA captures Kobra missile batteries,
FSA also attacked the Koubrees airbase in Aleppo and destroyed three warplanes that otherwise would have been used by thugs in killing Syrians. Another applause for the FSA in its success once more in protecting the Syrian people from thugs.
Thugs also continued their rampage of crime. This time however, their criminal shells landed in Jordanian towns.
Overall it was a very good Friday for FSA and the Syrian people which brought them one step closer to eliminating the criminal thugs occupying Damascus.
A reality check, this time is from top US soldier:
Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff General Martin Dempsey stressed while on a trip to London that direct military action in Syria, even simply no-fly zones, might be beyond the US and NATO’s capabilities and counter to their interests.
Dempsey explained it wouldn’t be that easy. He said frequent comparison of the Syrian situation with that in Libya, where a “no-fly zone” was imposed following a United Nations resolution, is at best a source of “amusement.”
General Dempsey warned that possible safe zones for refugees were not being considered for inside Syria, cautioning that imposing them could open the path to a breakout of war.
As far as forcibly ousting the Assad regime, Dempsey said, such a move would be far too destabilizing. He said a failed state in Syria would be the worst-case scenario and warned against allowing armed extreme jihadists and rebels with ties to al-Qaeda to increase their influence and expand control in a post-Assad Syria.
Comment: Atwan of Al-Quds alarabi said,and I agree, that the current situation is ideal for Israel and the anti Iran camp: no winners but a gradual and steady destruction of Syria’s army,people and infrastructure.the Neocons used direct military intervention in Iraq and that led to the strengthening of Iran and the loss of more than $ 2 trillions in treasury, more than 4,000 dead US soldiers. Instead,the Israeli lobby prefers a cheaper strategy: let Syrians kill each other and let Qatar and KSA finance the war ,not US tax payers.
Those of you who can not see this are dumb,and no doctor can fix stupid.
As Syrian Conflict Rages, France Examines Potential Terror Risks
French security officials reveal to TIME evidence of aspiring militants leaving France for Syria to join Islamists battling the Assad regime — and warn this conflict risks joining Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen as a training ground for future terrorists.
By BRUCE CRUMLEY | August 31, 2012 |
292. Ghufran said:
“Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff General Martin Dempsey stressed while on a trip to London that direct military action in Syria, even simply no-fly zones, might be beyond the US and NATO’s capabilities and counter to their interests.”
Possibly so, the interest being stability of Jordan, Iraq, etc.
Assad has cards to play.
“Comment: Atwan of Al-Quds alarabi said,and I agree, that the current situation is ideal for Israel and the anti Iran camp: no winners but a gradual and steady destruction of Syria’s army,people and infrastructure.”
It is overblown to call the situation “ideal” for the anti-Iran camp, but it is acceptable.
This war is about Syria, and fought mostly by Syrians. The regime and your position that the struggle is about foreign adventurers is made by EVERY oppressive dictatorship threatend by popular revolt. It was made to justify Tiananmen Square massacre, Ghadaffi’s crackdown, and the Mullah’s of Iran’s brutal supression of the Green Revolution.
I defy you to show me a brutal crackdown anywhere, anytime that wasn’t justified with the “outside agitator” canard.
The video posted in # 290 is very painful, I hope those who are responsible for kiiling civilians are brought to justice, armed rebels are serving as magnets for those ruthless attacks, the destruction in Syrian cities and the loss of civilians lives can not be discussed without explaining why the rebels chose to occupy towns and hide in civilian areas when their leaders and financiers knew very well that regime fighters will return fires regardless of how gets killed, those who sent the rebels to Aleppo also knew that the rebels can only attack the army but will not be able to protect the civilians.
The original slogan of the FSA ” protecting civilians” is for the birds, some of you believed it, others are still believing it, no doc can fix stupid.
Syrian lives today are not worth much for the regime or the rebels, time for Syrians to wake up and stop this insanity.
Richard,
You do not have to defy me, your sentiment reminds me of many of mybsyrian friends.
Oppressive regimes used,and continue to use, conspiracy theories to justify oppression, in Syria’s case, foreign intervention is alive and well,it is not a theory, the regime is directly responsible for this mess,but the rescue will not come from the Goats Emirates.
Sure it is. Your fathers and grandfathers lived under Assad oppression and got along fine. A lot of them even helped the Assads oppress other not-so-lucky Syrians.
In fact, there are billions of people living under oppressive governments. Only in Tibet are they killing themselves. Everywhere else, even in Iran, they hunker down and live lives of quiet desperation.
This, too, will pass. After Bashar and Asma and the little brats are dead, we’ll all have a drink and laugh about it and then go about our lives as before.
For many years, Lebanese demanded a Syrian ambassador in Beirut. Now that they have one, they have second thoughts about him and they don’t want him anymore,
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Syria’s main opposition body will expand to include more groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad, part of a reorganization aimed at making it more representative and effective, its leader said on Friday.
Abdulbaset Sieda, leader of the Syrian National Council, said changes would include elections for his successor, to be held among a wider group of activists.
He was responding to criticism from prominent member Basma Kodmani, who quit on Tuesday saying the SNC was divided internally and not up to the challenge of uniting opposition to Assad.
“Sometimes things don’t work as one wants, but we are trying via a restructuring of the SNC to improve the situation,” Sieda told Reuters in an interview during a meeting of the leadership of the SNC in Stockholm.
“It will be bigger and the number of groups will rise … It will be more representative,” he said.
Western and Arab countries that have called for Assad’s removal are keen to improve cooperation among those trying to dislodge him, including the Istanbul-based SNC.
The mainly-exiled political groups within the SNC have sometimes been at odds with each other, and have not always agreed with rebel fighters operating within Syria, such as the Free Syrian Army, led by defected military officers.
Sieda, who will soon travel to Madrid for talks with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and then to Berlin for a conference, said the SNC would select its next leader through a vote of its full general assembly, rather than appointment by the members of its smaller general secretariat.
“We are not passive, we work all the time. The problem is that you cannot manage to do everything,” said Sieda, a mild-mannered professor of Kurdish-Syrian origin who has lived in Sweden for the last 18 years.
“We have dialogue with various groups on the ground, with the military, with youth groups, with other groups in the opposition,” added Sieda, who has led the SNC for three months and will not be seek to extend his mandate.
Sieda said the SNC favors a secular, democratic Syria which respects minority rights and where power is given to local authorities, away from the centre in Damascus.
That goal would be achieved by setting up a transitional government in which the SNC would play a role, he added.
Sieda predicted Assad would fall within a few months and said the Syrian leader should eventually face prosecution for crimes against humanity, either in Syria or The Hague.
297. Johannes de Silentio said:
” ‘A life of oppression is not worth living.’
Sure it is. Your fathers and grandfathers lived under Assad oppression and got along fine. A lot of them even helped the Assads oppress other not-so-lucky Syrians.”
You make a very fair point. I’m sure there are a lot of people in Syria who are happy with status quo.
I am a liberal American. In our celebrated American Revolution, about a third of the population were loyal to Britian, a third wanted independence, a third were neutral. The winners of wars get to write history.
301. Tara said:
“I like Sieda. He sounds a very reasonable guy.”
I hope this a wise man. What matters is who he is able to co-opt, not what he says. They all talk a good game.
In my opinion, the least bloody path to a resolution starts with the rebellion forming a credible provisional government. I don’t know if a negotiated solution is possible, but it certainly won’t happen with a fragmented rebellion.
Gofran 292 said:
“Those of you who can not see this are dumb,and no doctor can fix stupid.”
It is obvious that the whole world want Syria weaker, but not because they are or were ever afraid of Bashar, but because they are afraid of the Syrian people, who are the real threat to them, who have shown them a heroic stand against this tyrant that will go in history books as an example of heroism and bravery,
the west don’t have to look ahead very far and they always do,to see the real threat to them, It is not Rami Makhlof but a lone young guy with an RPG destroying a tank like it was nothing on his own,
Now after the rebels have come so far, they will not go back. they don’t have to look very far back to see what a lost will cost them
This time around most likely their punishment will go all the way to their relatives of the 10 degree, as oppose to the 4Th degree last time, A country in total ruin and no income, and isolated we all know how the government will make them pay
At any case I don’t think both sides can stop now even if they want to , there is no trust from either side
It was Bashar who unleashed the dogs of war , all we can do is watch and help the best we can, and let the chips fall where they may
If Bashar al Assad is criticized to have done ‘no reforms’ in 11 years, one wonders what has Obama done in 4 years? It does not look like he will do more if he is given 8 years and the USA is not at war and is a ‘democracy’.
With growing unemployment, bankruptcies and unfulfilled promises, it is time Obama moves aside or be toppled.
Maybe Hollande should move out too.
Socialist French President Francois Hollande, elected in May, became the country’s most unpopular leader at just over 100 days into the job, a poll showed.
307. zoo said:
“‘A life of oppression is not worth living.’
A lot of people in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are not about commit suicide to my knowledge…”
A lot of Bahrainis have died fighting for their freedom. I expect there will be more revolts there.
Violence is not inevitable. Morocco seems to be evolving without violence. Little violence in Tunisia. Egypt dodged a civil war, even if that process is early and tenuous. Maybe Jordan can reform peacefully.
Morocco has not started yet. Tunisia just renewed the emergency law for the 7th time and Libya is struggling with its demons. Violence is not totally excluded.
Are you intentionally skipping the most repressive of all: Saudi Arabia?
A Syria Task Force of the Socialist International countries?
XXIV Congress of the Socialist International, Cape Town
For a new internationalism and a new culture of solidarity
30 August-01 September 2012
The Socialist International is the worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties. It currently brings together 161 political parties and organisations from all continents. (List of members in full)
The second day of the Socialist International 24th congress was opened by the South African president, whose party hosts the event.
…
CHP’s deputy chair Umut Oran revealed the CHP’s proposal for a Syria task force on the second day of the SI congress. Admitting that people in the Middle East demanded more rights and democracy in their country, Oran said that a transition process should go in the direction of the will of the people.
“We can not be a part of a transition process which changes one dictator for another, an oppressive regime for another regime of oppression,” Oran said.
Oran stressed that Syrian conflict is getting worse. “We can form a ‘Syria Task Force of the SI,’ which will go to Washington, Brussels, Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to affect and learn their sensitivities about the future of Syria,” Oran said, adding that the commission would visit Syria and contact all the sides of the conflict while empowering peace efforts in coordination with the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League.
“With this task force we can understand the situation from the field and empower the efforts that will lead to a peaceful resolution to the problem. As the main social democratic force in the world, I think it is our duty to help the people of Syria gain a brighter future with all the power that we have. […] Now in this historic time, we have to fulfill our duty and be side by side with the Syrian people, protect their lives and support their dreams,” he said.
Our solidarity with the plight of the Syrian people against a repressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is not only a moral duty but one of political and strategic necessity. It emanates from our conviction that Syria will one day be free and strong. We should declare our full support for the struggle of those brave men and women seeking freedom and justice in Syria. We should turn our sentiments into a clear political vision that ensures Syria’s peaceful transformation into a democratic state that respects its peoples’ yearning for freedom, justice and equality. Such a vision must also safeguard Syria from drifting to a civil war or fall victim to sectarian strife. On this note, I wish to emphasize the need to unify the Syrian opposition in a way that guarantees the interests of all factions of the Syrian society, and in a manner that preserves the unity and stability of this great nation.
On its part, Egypt stands ready to cooperate with all relevant parties to stop the bloodshed in Syria and articulate a vision on what a future and free Syrian state would look like. Egypt has proposed an initiative during the recent Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Mecca that seeks to coordinate the efforts of the relevant regional parties to end this bloodshed as soon as possible.
I find these remarks a fair basis for moving forward in Syria.
Who is Morsi to decide that the regime has lost his legitimacy?
Does he know how many countries have broken diplomatic relation with Syria?
Who are the “relevant parties” that would represent the Syrians?
It is generally admitted that a large portion of the Syrians continue to consider the Syrian government and Bashar Al Assad as legitimate.
Who will represent these Syrians?
Unfortunately for his first foreign speech, Morsi has just parroted Erdogan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and the UK declarations. As he badly needs to please them to get some legitimacy and money, it is pathetic but understandable.
Yet he made one serious mistake that reveals that he is dishonest when he calls for the rights of the Syrians: He ignored the rights of the Bahrainis.
That’s the clear proof that his whole speech was a display of his submission to his masters : Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the USA that he did not want to displease.
By avoiding Bahrain, he has uncovered his cheap game and has lost any credibility as an impartial player.
Calling for a contact group of foreign countries after dismissing the Syrian government shows that he is not serious at all in intervening in this conflict.
That contact group is already dead and Morsi is in the process of becoming the new US-GCC puppet.
The 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has unanimously endorsed Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program, saying Iran has not only the right to produce energy through nuclear fission, but has a right to enrich their own uranium to do so.
This statement, part of the “Tehran Declaration,” stands in sharp contrast to Western positions on the matter, which have regularly claimed Iran was violating international norms by enriching their own uranium for civilian purposes.
Notably even Egypt signed on to the declaration, despite a very public row yesterday at the summit during which President Mursi condemned Syria and sparked a walkout. The declaration did not mention Syria.
The NAM endorsement is particularly important as its membership amounts of about 2/3 of the nations on the planet, a strong voting majority in the UN General Assembly. This would make it extremely difficult for the Obama Administration to push to punish Iran for its program through the general assembly.
Here goes Iran ‘isolation’… 2/3 of the world countries express their opinion in favor of Iran.
Finally the NAM was a real success for Iran despite the hickup speech of Mr Morsi.
There is no such a thing as valuable, important, clean / honest pilars of Assad Baathist regime. If someone is a pilar, he is an Alawi, corrupt to the bone, Riffat like. By nature, a Baathist is a dishonest and corrupt person.
The UN Security Council remains deeply divided over Syria, and in particular the proposal yesterday from Turkish officials to create a “safe zone” for refugees inside Syria to escape the civil war without fleeing the nation outright.
The meeting for the UN Security Council to discuss the proposal itself was sparsely attended, with only 5 of 15 members even sending ministers to the meeting and two, France and Britain, using the meeting to push for war.
Russia and China are both extremely skeptical of any plan for UN action inside Syria, fearing that as with the Libya “no-fly zone” resolution NATO will use it as an excuse for a full-scale war of regime change.
And indeed, even the idea of a “humanitarian zone” is deeply politicized, as the US has openly talked about using such a zone inside Syria as a base of operation for the rebel factions,
Last month, as the Free Syrian Army took over areas of the Syrian-Turkish border, a power vacuum emerged in northeastern Syria. It was not the Free Syrian Army that filled the vacuum, but instead the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the most heavily armed Kurdish faction in Syria. In early August, the Wall Street Journal reported that “Kurdish political parties and paramilitary groups have almost completely usurped the Syrian state apparatus,” taking over municipal buildings and vital infrastructure, providing security, and controlling the distribution of resources.
Although the prospects for an independent state in Syrian Kurdistan remain dim, unprecedented Kurdish autonomy will likely result from the conflict. The implications extend beyond Syria’s borders as various governments and non-state actors have strong, and often conflicting, interests in the political fate of Syria’s Kurds and the territorial integrity of the Syrian state.
Turkey, Iraq, and Iran are alarmed by the prospects for greater Kurdish autonomy in Syria, primarily due to unresolved tensions with their own Kurdish communities. On the other hand, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, the state of Israel, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey welcome a semi-autonomous Kurdish state in Syria.
FSA fighters: please gather into a clear formation in the desert somewhere and have a final showdown with Assad’s army. That will protect civilians.
Of course the people you left behind who supported you will be slaughtered, but they would have been shelled anyways.
Peaceful protesters: please stop protesting because it makes the Shabi7a unsettled and they will come and kill you, then the FSA will need to protect you and then the army has to shell your homes.
Just surrender, everything will be ok. So the prisons are filled with the innocent while the killers roam free. WOMEN CAN’T DRIVE IN SAUDI. The Assad regime will give amnesty to the terrorist Michel Kilo, what more could you want. NATO, ISRAEL, ISLAM, SUNNI, 3AR3OUR.
Assad regime: please stop killing people on the streets and do it in the dungeons as we agreed in the past. Those who support you or oppose your opponents have become indistinguishable from the murderers in your army and security forces, which makes us look bad. Our colleagues and friends in the West, where we must live because Assad’s Syria is so hellish, can’t understand why we support this regime, so we tell them that all those opposing dictatorship are Al Qaeda terrorists. But that isn’t working and we are being exposed as genocide enthusiasts.
The Arabs doing a crosswordpuzzle. A arab state in which a genocide is taking place which starts with an s- The suggestions Switzerland, Stockholm, Salvador, Sao Paulo…
Robert Fisk: Another week in the violent, murderous and divided world of Syria
Christians and Armenians among latest to die
A week is a long time in violence. It seems only yesterday – five days ago, in fact – that armed men shot Sheikh Abu Haitham al-Bortawi outside the el-Noor mosque in the Rukenadin suburb of Damascus. Went to the scene. Middle class area. Tree shaded, clean street. Ten in the morning. Turns out he was the cleric who knelt right next to Bashar al-Assad for the Eid prayers at the end of Ramadan. A dagger to the heart of the body politick.
ZOO #309, you need to do an enormous amount of catch-up reading and thinking instead of making shallow uninformed comments about American domestic affairs.
To quote you: “If Bashar al Assad is criticized to have done ‘no reforms’ in 11 years, what has Obama done in 4 years? It does not look like he will do more if he is given 8 years … it is time Obama moves aside or be toppled.”
Plus the comparison with Assad is mega-ridiculous.
You should be investing your time in more training, instead of trying to box far above your weight, staggering in circles and toppling over backwards.
More reading and less public writing. Including reading more deeply and seriously about your beloved Iran, and the Assad regime and Syria in general. Everything. And less cut-pasting too.
A Bosnian woman who fled Syria says the war in the Arab country is worse than the fighting in her homeland 20 years ago.
A group of 35 Bosnians landed at the Sarajevo airport Thursday, flying in from Istanbul after what they described as an eight-day walk across mountains from the Syrian town of Aleppo to Turkey.
Mideast Syria.JPEG
AP
Syrian women, who fled their homes in Aleppo,… View Full Caption
Mahmud Abas, his wife Dzenana, and their four children cried as they hugged relatives upon arrival.
They said they were trapped in their Aleppo home for days as Syrian planes bombed the neighborhood.
Dzenana Abas, 33, survived the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo. But she said what she endured in Aleppo was “beyond belief.”
Around 1,000 Bosnians, mostly women married to Syrians, remain trapped in Syria, where rebels are battling President Bashar Assad’s regime.
What you should be saying to the stupid argument he’s presenting is this:
Whether Obama made reforms or not is irrelevant. Obama was voted in by the people and he may be voted in or out next time.
Bashar thug was never voted in and he is not planning on being voted out.
So the real reforms begin when the thug steps down.
Now, if he comes back to you with the mantra of the promise of reform, then we all know that Bashar thug is past the point of having any good will left since he chose the killing rampage. On the other hand, we all know that he chose this path because he knows he is part of a system that is not reformable.
So there is only one solution. The fight must continue to exterminate this evil thug. Nazism was not defeated through reforms. It had to be defeated unconditionally.
312. zoo said:
“Morocco has not started yet. Tunisia just renewed the emergency law for the 7th time and Libya is struggling with its demons. Violence is not totally excluded.”
You are far too pessimistic on all three cases. I am too tired to build cases. Throw in Egypt to that list of the evolving. Do you really believe that any transition from an authoritarian regime will be quick or painless or certain? All these states are demonstrably in a better place than they were 5 years ago. They all have young populations that are wanting change. Turkey took about 40 years to get to where they are now.
“Are you intentionally skipping the most repressive of all: Saudi Arabia?”
Yes. I don’t know what to say or think about that place.
332 Richard “All these states are demonstrably in a better place than they were 5 years ago.”
Libya was the richest nation on the African continent; Egyptians had a little more drinkable water than now and far less violence; Tunisia did not have tourists attacked on a daily basis. Go and visit these three “miracles” when you have a chance: you’ll have a lot to tell us. Or maybe I should wait for the demonstration.
The woman in that video made the best case against Mursi’s visit to Tehran.
Putting good speeches aside, the question she asked is the most obvious that Mursi and everyone should have asked. Why does he allow Iranian ships through the Suez when he knows full well they are going to be used to kill and terrorize Syrians such as her?
No one brought that up yet except this woman.
Mursi would say there are international treaties. But this is bulls*t. Iran is committing an act of war against the Arab people of Syria using the Canal. Mursi can easily prohibit their passage based on that. Instead he just grazed his way to Iran just like a sheep.
“If Bashar al Assad is criticized to have done ‘no reforms’ in 11 years, one wonders what has Obama done in 4 years? ”
Yeah, because 4 years is a lot more time than 11 years
And 2+2=5
Now that the Iranian press is proven utterly unreliable after blatantly mistranslated Morsi’s speech, would the regime supporters continue to link articles from Iranian sources? I bet they would…Do integrity matter to them? I certain hope that it matters to some… We’ll wait and see.
This was not quoting an activist or a source that is impossible to verify. This was an active distortion of the truth.
Toronto film festival concerned over arrest of Syria film-maker
Friday 31 August 2012 11.59 EDT
“We are extremely concerned by his arrest – film-makers must be allowed to express themselves without fear of reprisal,” the statement read. “Nyrabia belongs to the emerging generation of Syrian film-makers passionate about world cinema and passionate about freedom.”
The director, who trained in film production at Paris’s Sorbonne, has produced a number of documentaries in Syria, notably for the Franco-German television channel Arte, and served on the juries of several other documentary film festivals.
He and his wife formed the first independent production company in Syria, a country where films are mostly produced with backing from the authorities. Earlier this year they received a prize from the European Documentary Network for their huge contribution to the development of the form. It came with financial support to help DoxBox maintain its independence.
,,,
Lebanon’s civil war is 26 years old and Lebanon is far from having recovered, it is even worse. Other countries in the Balkans are also unstable. It took decades for the US to recover from the civil war.
Countries that go through a civil war do not heal easily, while a gradual change from an oppressive military regime like Turkey to a democratic system has better chance to succeed.
This is why a civil war should be avoided at any cost, even if the statu quo must be restored until the next attempt offer better chances of success.
Obviously Syria was not ripe for a revolution like Tunisia and Egypt were. Despite the demonization campaign it is clear that the Syrian regime was not corrupted and repressive enough to trigger massive support for a regime change. The proof is that the regime is holding well and still has a large number of supporters.
Therefore it seems that the Syrian uprising was forced onto the Syrians. The rebellion tried to follow Tunis and Cairo’s pattern but, because Syria is geographically and politically a more strategic place, it was influenced by foreign agendas and failed to keep the revolution’s peaceful momentum. When the protesters took arms to react to the repression and became rebels, the uprising transformed itself into a full scale civil war with 30+ armed militias, disunity, refugees. destruction of public properties etc…
Syrians are now in the middle of a full scale civil war that would leave long terms wounds and that is exploited by its numerous enemies for Syria’s long stand against the Western regional agendas favoring Israel.
Saudi Arabia is not ripe for a revolution, despite its heavy repression on freedom of religions and on women. The economics are too good to create enough resentment toward the corruption and the abuses of the royal family to trigger an uprising. A tight police regime, well paid, will not turn easily against its provider.
While Egypt had a long overdue revolution against a dictator pampered and supported by the Western countries, the newcomers are facing overwhelming economical problems and I have serious doubt that the Egyptians are better off now than 5 years ago economically speaking.
They will desperately need to pump money from the GCC, the EU and US and become even more dependent on that. Copts are emigrating and funds are daily moving out of Egypt.
Official figure put “unemployment for youth between the ages of 15 and 29 reached 24.8 percent”, but it is probably higher than that.
It is true that Egypt would not have to suffer from the wounds of a civil war but its history shows that what started as a hopeful revolution always turns out into another corrupted regime, because of the challenges to tackle poverty and population growth.
For the first time in Egypt’s modern history, it is not a military regime, but a religious one, inclined to become even more authoritarian under the unchallengeable “rule of God” that will control the country.
“Libya was the richest nation on the African continent; Egyptians had a little more drinkable water than now and far less violence; Tunisia did not have tourists attacked on a daily basis. Go and visit these three ‘miracles'”
I see. You believe the burgeoning youthful population of Arab world would be better served by leadership form Saif Gaddafi, Uday & Qusay, Maher Assad, Gamal Mubarak … I suppose you think the Libyan people miss the secret service?
BTW, since you brought wealth up, Libya & Iraq are already producing more oil than they were before upheavals.
Plenty of anecdotal evidence of problems in Egypt (nervous coptic Christians), Tunisia, Libya but you miss big trends towards building democratic institutions. Democracy works over long run.
Latin America looked like violent hell in 1970’s and 1980’s. It took 30 years, but now region is largely democratic, peaceful and prosperous. Are you going to point out the drug violence in country X and say that proves they should go back to old dictatorships?
There is nothing different about human nature in middle east than in any other part of the world. The inexorable global march towards human rights and democracy is coming to your neighborhood too.
As prominently displayed in this forum, middle east is infected with pessimism, fear and fatalism. The cure for that problem is the death of older people, the youngsters are unwilling to accept survile existence.
Turkey ordered the FSA to change their ‘internet’ headquarter location from Hatay to Damascus, while Hatay hosts the ‘real’ FSA headquarter. Who are they fooling?.
The Free Syrian Army has removed “Hatay, Turkey” as the location of its main base as listed on its website, replacing it with “Damascus, Syria.”
The previous version had caused an outcry against Turkey’s involvement in the crisis in Syria, with several reports claiming the rebels were being trained and heavily supported by the Turkish authorities.
After being ruled for over forty years by one strongman, every Syrian, from the southern plains of Deraa to the eastern expanses of Deir Ezzor, has his own idea of what the country should look like; each man determined to have a task that he can call his own. But as each stakes out his own claim to his own plot of land and, with it, his own plot of power, it becomes harder to imagine Syrians being able to (or in some cases, wanting to) re-invest that power in a central authority.
…
Rather than build the united country once imagined by protesters, rebel warlords are each taking their own bit of land and implementing their own vision—though militarily coordination continues. Maarouf is creating a police force and referring to Syrian national laws. Abu Issa is constructing his fiefdom based on religious principles. Ali Bakran, perhaps the most representative of the protesters’ original aims, is, for now at least, losing out.
Across Syria, there will no doubt be many more changes in leadership yet as fighters shift to the strongest battalion, groups come together or splinter, and men die in battle. Meanwhile, in the mountains, the test is beginning. As the rebels’ battle to wrest power from the regime grinds on and militias on both sides proliferate, they must decide whether to stick with a common aim or allow the situation to evolve into a struggle among its multiplying parts. These choices, in no small part, will determine the fate of the Syrian revolution. It is a cause for which over 20,000 have died and many more yet will perish; in which leaders will fall and others will be made. “Abu Issa was not really known by anyone outside the village before,” points out Ahmed, his media man. “But the revolution changes things.”
Syria is already in midst of civil war, lamenting and philosophizing is pointless. I suggest you support actions that make it a short war rather than replicate the 26-year Lebanon bloody stalement.
In answer to your (understandable and reasonable) fears about an oppressive theocracy, I offer three words of hope: “God Bless Iran!”
Iran has offered the entire middle east an object lesson in the consequences of life under the Mullahs. See how religous extremism was resisted in Iraq. I acknowledge a small, worrying chance of rigid form of Sharia coming to Egypt. Change will never be entirely risk free.
As long as we have thanked Iran, lets not slight that other great blessing to the cause of human rights in the Sunni world: Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaaeda et. al. have grossly overreached. They are unpopular and discredited. How’d they do in Iraq?
You have WILDLY exaggerated the influence and acceptance of the Islamic radicals in Syria. Do you think the diverse population of Syria would ever accept their rule? Absurd.
If you are deeply concerned about Islamic extremists, there is exactly one practical, painful psychological gulf you must cross: support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments.
“If you are deeply concerned about Islamic extremists, there is exactly one practical, painful psychological gulf you must cross: support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments.”
Exactly! Thank you! I wish Obama and the whole world read your post.
Zoo, you failed to mention the big difference between the Tun/Egy and Syrian uprisings. The armies in the former refused to defend the tyrant against the people.
Syrian rebels ‘seize air defence base’
Fighters take anti-aircraft rockets and 16 captives in attack on air defence facility in east, says UK-based group
Saturday 1 September 2012 09.36 EDT
Syrian rebels have seized an air defence facility and attacked a military airport in the east of the country, according to a UK-based monitoring group.
Saturday’s attacks in the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zor follow rebel strikes against military airports in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, close to the border with Turkey.
Rebels in Deir al-Zor overran an air defence building early on Saturday, taking at least 16 captives and seizing an unknown number of anti-aircraft rockets, said Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Video posted on the internet by activists showed the officers and soldiers captured by the rebel fighters, and al-Arabiya television broadcast footage of what it said were rockets and ammunition seized in the raid.
Syrian TV also claimed that government forces had repelled an attack on the Rasm al-Abboud air base near Aleppo and showed footage of captured guns and vehicles.
“Do you think the diverse population of Syria would ever accept their rule? Absurd. ”
That’s exactly the point. In Syria the SNC and FSA are openly Islamists and are supported financially by the Wahhabis of Qatar and KSA. What do you expect an opposition government will be? Secular? Absurd.
Despite decades of ‘secularism’, many Sunnis of Syria are been convinced to accept a so called ‘moderate’ religious ruling if it would bring down Bashar Al Assad. They yet don’t see what it implies on long term. Many Sunnis, the Shias, the Alawis and all the non moslem minorities are not ready to take that chance.
Do you really believe that the exhausted Syrians can resist the wave of Islamism coming with billions of dollars of aid once the country is brought to its knees and destroyed. Just like Egypt, it will beg for reconstruction money, it will obey its providers, and the money will come from Qatar and KSA, unsurprisingly, with many strings attached. None of these two countries are democracies and both are ruled by the Sharia, why would empoverished Syria be different ?
Syria will easily fall into that trap. We have seen this happening in Egypt and Tunisia. Voices of secularism are gradually and insidiously silenced. Who can stand up and oppose that after two years of war and destructions ?.
On your suggestion ” Support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments” the question is” Who are these moderate governments that have the money to do it and are willing?
That seems to be in another planet…
UN Security Council has no authority to support revolution in Syria – Lavrov
The UN Security Council has no right to support a revolution or foreign intervention in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned. Any plan to withdraw government troops while fighting continues is untenable, and naïve at best, he added.
The demand for President Bashar al-Assad to resign as a precondition to resolving the Syrian crisis is a completely unrealistic approach, Lavrov said during a public appearance at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs…….. http://rt.com/news/syrian-crisis-intervention-lavrov-109/
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Al Qaeda Blitzkrieg: West’s Terror Battalions Eye Russia Next
Groundwork for Western support of Al Qaeda terrorists in Russia’s Caucasus region.With the US openly supporting, arming, and literally “cheering” for Al Qaedain Syria, it should be no surprise that their support for Al Qaeda’s other operations is now slowly revealing itself. For decades, brutal terrorist campaigns have been carried out in Russia by Al Qaeda’s Caucasus Mountains faction, constituting the backbone of the so-called “Chechen rebels.” http://www.globalresearch.ca/al-qaeda-blitzkrieg-wests-terror-battalions-eye-russia-next
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Did America Say NO to Israel? Gilad Atzmon
In the last few hours we have learned that the US had made massive reductions to joint military exercise with Israel.
As much as the Jewish Lobby in America, together with Barak and Netanyahu are pushing for a new global conflict, America may still be saved by just a few brains who are beginning to realize that Israel is the biggest threat to world peace. http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012/09/01/did-america-say-no-to-israel
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NATO secretly authorizes Syrian attack http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/29/258834/nato-secretly-authorizes-syrian-attack/
All hell is about to uncork.
Russia and China are not going to passively stand aside. Add to that the reality that Syria and Iran have a mutual defense pact, which means that if Syria is invaded overtly, Iran is treaty-bound to come to its aid militarily, and that will become the “causus belli” for an attack against Iran.
please, be careful what you wish for: the unintended consequences of such a war can be both horrific, and irrevocable.
to caution NATO leadership that what they have developing here is a the potential for a global, thermonuclear conflict over an alleged Iranian weapons program which cannot, to date, be proven to exist.
That’s one more reason to accept the fact that Bashar Al Assad has much more support from the citizens than Mobarak and Ben Ali had.
The Syrian army composed of conscripts and professionals represent the various ethnicities, classes and religious groups of Syria.
The FSA composition does not.
The Obama administration has backed itself into a corner in Syria, a crisis with few good options. But the endgame is clear, at least, and the time to get involved has come.
…
The United States has a profound interest not only in bringing the slaughter in Syria to an end, but in having a meaningful presence on the ground when that happens — as it did in Libya thanks to the NATO air campaign. It will not be easy, under any circumstances, to prevent Syria from collapsing into religious and ethnic enclaves, or into a war of all against all. But if Washington remains on the sidelines, as it has until now, it will have little influence with those who will ultimately prevail, and thus little ability to help shape the post-Assad landscape.
Obama might decide to postpone the decision until after the election, but that would be an act of consummate cynicism. He should act now, before it’s too late.
President Assad does not care to stay in power, what he wants is a peaceful way for the election of the next president so his supporters will not feel abandoned and will be safe, the question is does the opposition want a free election or a takeover, so far they seem to want a takeover. and does the president want to relinquish power, we can only know if the opposition accept a free election that he will not run in, that is in 2014, i doubt that they will.
Even after the historic election, this marginalised minority risk daily persecution and victimisation because of their beliefs.
…
The Fatimid dynasty, who ruled Egypt from AD 969 – 1171 and founded the city of Cairo, were exclusively Shia. It wasn’t until after the fall of the Fatimids that Egyptians began to convert to the Sunna, and the cultural legacy of Ahl al-Beit (descendants of the Prophet Muhammed, literally ‘people of the house’) remains strong even today. No further testament needs to be made to the strength of Egyptians reverence for the Ahl al-Beit than the abundance of shrines and mosques dedicated to Hussein, Hasan, Zainab, Ali, and other Shia imams.
But there are concerns among the Shias I spoke to that the rise of Islamist movements in Egypt since the fall of Mubarak, especially the omnipresence of the Muslim Brotherhood, will result in even fewer rights for their community.
Shias might not face the same extent of persecution as the more visible Coptic minority, but it was evident from the people I spoke to that they are equally not tolerated by the more extreme factions in Egyptian society.
“We cannot have Shias in our mosque because of their extremist views,” said the head of Alexandria’s Al-Fattah mosque, a stronghold for fundamentalist Salafis.
When asked if he would support the construction of a Shia mosque to allow Shias to pray in their own space, he looks at me wide-eyed, as if surprised by the question.
“No.”
It is a little word, but it says so much about the current state of Egypt, and about the country’s forgotten minority.
…
Unfortunately the overreaction of the Islamists in Egypt after the speech whether online and offline stunned many revolutionary Egyptians with its sectarian nature including me. The MB and Al Nour Party ordered their members to receive Morsi in the airport and then head to his house in order to salute him. Now Morsi is being hailed as the New Saladin of modern time because the radical sectarian Islamists believe that he slammed the Shiite in their own land thanks to the few words he said in his speech.
In the beginning of his speech Morsi saluted the four caliphs by name
Peace upon Prophet Mohamed “PBUH”’s companions Abu Bakr, Omar , Othman and Ali
Radical Shiites do not recognize Abu Bakr , Omar and Othman as the rightful to rule after Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” and some of them hate and insult them in some of their rituals.
Thanks to very trusted diplomatic sources I knew that the ministry of foreign affairs is not responsible for this speech so this speech is made and written in presidency. Some say that that Morsi that Caliphs’ phrase to his speech while reading in order to slam Ali Khamenei as the later ignored the first 3 Caliphs and spoke about chosen caliph Ali.
I can not describe how the radical Salafist and Sunni in the Gulf received that sentence in why you can not imagine it , here is a collection of what I saw last night and depressed me.
What Morsi did in Tehran to Omar was important than what 1000 TV series like Omar can do for him !?
…
We got similiar tweets like that all day long :
Morsi slammed the Zoroastrians
Morsi avenged for Omar from the Zoroastrians !!!
I do not think that a great man like Omar needs a man like Morsi to restore back his right. Already the radical Shiite will not stop their hate or insult to him or lady Aisha or Abu Bakr after what Morsi said.
…
Anyhow It did not stop at tweets, statements and Facebook status , we got the blessings of the radical Sheikhs in the Gulf who crowned Morsi who is struggling to control Egypt and to solve its problems in the first 100 days as the leader of the Nation.
we got even fake quotes for celebs that celebrate the huge victory in most of the Muslim brotherhood pages.
…
Now we got leaks to the media that we are going to re-open our embassy in Tehran and that we are going to welcome Iranian Shiite pilgrims to visit the Holy Shrines of Ahl Al-Bayt !!!! As you can the scene is contradictory if you pay attention for news for real.
….
Other users will be better able to answer and may be better placed to answer, however, I’ll say a few things.
If I’m correct conscripts are avoiding call ups.
The regular army is said to be confined to the barracks, with their loyalty in question and the risk of defection if used.
The core of the military, the hardcore loyalists are the ones who call the shots so it would be difficult for a Tunisian/Egyptian scenario.
Any Syrian soldier refusing to follow orders would be executed and have been executed. Would Egyptian or Tunisian soldiers face execution if they refused to fire on their own people?
Come on.. Do you really believe these unfounded rumors spread on desperation?
How can such an army stand 18 months of fights if it is so rotten from inside as these rumors want you to believe.
All foreign analysts confirm that the Syrian Army is strong and cohesive.
The divisions and internal fights are happening within the armed rebels… not in the Syrian Army. The media abounds about it.
I think Mursi made a mistake by invoking the caliphs. For God sake…Time has come for people to get over what happened many hundreds years ago..I still think he is the best leader so far Arabs have produced. I hope his support of the Syrian revolution is based on principals not based on the Sunni-Shiite quarrel.
However, as usual the senator lists the long mantra of conditions for his call, among which of course is the prevention of the so-called jihadists infiltration of the revolution.
It is time for the Free people of Syria to tell all those who call for the support of their revolution based on conditions that we no longer need their support. The revolution has been ongoing for 19 months and growing stronger by the day. Arms are being procured by various means.
So if anyone wants to support us, our condition for accepting any support is that such support must be unconditional. Syrians only will decide what is best for them and for the success of the revolution.
It is too late Mr. Obama. You just dragged your feet way too long. Syrians already paid the price and have become sensitized to the sacrifices that they are willing more than ever to offer in order to achieve their objectives. We would rather achieve these objectives without anyone’s favors or conditions.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Opposition fighters in Syria said early Saturday that they had captured an air defense base in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, taking at least 16 soldiers captive and seizing weapons and ammunition in what appeared to be part of a broader rebel offensive against Syrian military installations across the country.
Rebel fighters in the province also attacked a military air base, according to activist groups, the third attack on an air force site in the past few days. Last week, rebel commanders claimed to have destroyed several helicopters during attacks on two separate military airports in Idlib Province.
..
Grainy videos that activists said were taken in the aftermath of the assault on the air defense base showed rebels strolling in a darkened building, with the bodies of government soldiers lying on the ground and crates of ammunition strewn about.
Should Morsi sue the Iranian media who mistranslated his speech?
The idea being to use such an action to bring as wide as possible publicity to the issue and embarrass Iran. By highlighting such behaviour it would expose Iran as maintaining an indefensible position on the situation thus attempting to hide the reality.
The 100 days president challenge to clean Cairo piling garbage.
A test looms for Egypt’s new leader: Garbage
By SARAH EL DEEB | Associated Press – 1 hr 34 mins
http://news.yahoo.com/test-looms-egypts-leader-garbage-163914933.html
CAIRO (AP) — The pile of trash overwhelmed the median divider on Ahmed Zaki Street and spilled into oncoming traffic — egg shells, rotten eggplants, soiled diapers, bottles, broken furniture, junked TV sets. Flies swarmed and the summer sun baked up a powerful stench.
…
He already faces a host of challenges: from secular Egyptians worried about his Islamist doctrines; from militants trying to stoke conflict with Israel, and from the poverty and joblessness that fed the Arab Spring and brought down the three-decade dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.
To all those, add the rising tide of garbage in Cairo, the world’s largest Arab city. Morsi declared it one of his top five priorities, promising to clean up the streets within 100 days. In so doing, he gave the electorate a powerful way of measuring his abilities, and it looks increasingly certain that 100 days will be nowhere near enough.
360. zoo
“On your suggestion ‘Support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments” the question is’ Who are these moderate governments that have the money to do it and are willing?
That seems to be in another planet…”
True enough. But France pointed the way out this week – form a more inclusive provisional government. Planet Obama might be more receptive after election.
You say you fear the Islamic nature of rebellion. I believe your fears are overblown, but it is certainly a reasonable perspective. I have no crystal ball.
The formation of a more inclusive provisional government addresses your concerns.
Why are you disinterested? Because trying to build a coalition is damn hard work, somewhat unimaginable, and risks failure. You’ve chosen the easy path: just condemn the revolution for its shortcomings, hope the regime hangs on. That path is easy, but it leads to nowhere but stalemated, endless civil war.
ZOO wote: “Obviously Syria was not ripe for a revolution like Tunisia and Egypt were. Despite the demonization campaign it is clear that the Syrian regime was not corrupted and repressive enough to trigger massive support for a regime change. The proof is that the regime is holding well and still has a large number of supporters.”
Please! Less writing and more reading. You can’t expect anyone to take seriously such lazy, shallow propaganda.
That bit about “not repressive enough” as the reason why Syrians are allegedly supporting your hero Bashar earns you an extra 200 hours homework. Probably 200 times more than you have done in total before commenting here.
PS You are so far behind on knowledge and understanding on Syria I don’t think you will ever find time to catch up on Egypt, Tunisia and all those other places you are making out-of-touch remarks about.
“President Assad does not care to stay in power, what he wants is a peaceful way for the election of the next president so his supporters will not feel abandoned and will be safe”
Well said. I think Bashar should really get the Nobel Peace Prize this year… Delusional is too mild a term for this kind of thinking. How can anyone link the safety of Assad supporters with the need to slaughter women and children in Darayya?
Bashar al-Assad Lost The Support of Aleppo’s Wealthy When the Shelling Started
Mike Giglio , The Daily Beast, September 1, 2012
Issam Jouma used to be a supporter of the Syrian regime. He lived in Aleppo, the country’s commercial capital, and the center of much of its wealth. A dentist going about a nice life with his wife and five kids, like many Aleppo residents he thought things were okay under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“I was very comfortable in general. There were small things we were uncomfortable about, but those things were out of our control. My financial situation was not bad. I had bread; I had gas. Everything was available. When I would go to government buildings, they actually helped me, because I’m a doctor,” Jouma says. “People were proud that Bashar was the president. He had a lot of support.”
Support for Assad was far from unanimous under one of the Middle East’s most repressive regimes—talk of dissent tended to be hushed, often with warnings that “the walls have ears.” But Assad was promising slow and measured change, and for people like Jouma that was enough. “Compared with the Arab leaders around us, we thought Bashar was honest,” he says.
““We cannot have Shias in our mosque because of their extremist views,” said the head of Alexandria’s Al-Fattah mosque, a stronghold for fundamentalist Salafis.
When asked if he would support the construction of a Shia mosque to allow Shias to pray in their own space, he looks at me wide-eyed, as if surprised by the question.
“No.”
Of course.
Not only one NO but one thousand NO. Thank you head of Alexanderia al-Fattah mosque.
Who wants to introduce such heretic ism into Egypt after it has been vanquished over one thousand years ago?
Besides, who wants a fourth column in Egypt the like of which has proven time and again has no loyalty to any homeland except the their mullah-gods in Qom?
You guys have been exposed not only as heretics but as a fifth column serving fireign agenda, and the only thing left for you is to throw in the towel and pack and leave to your country-god.
Furthermore, all-albayt of Egypt are known authentic descendants of the Prophet who follow the Sunnah unlike the fake Iranian mullahs whose claim is only based on the color of a turban. What a joke?
I repeat to you what I said before. Have sweet fatimid dreams. Continue with your ???????? ??????. And See you in another thousand years.
Since ZOO has succeeded in his prime mission of dominating and trashing this previously quality forum, at the rate of up to 10 posts an hour daily for months, let’s vote he gives himself and everyone else a break by taking a holiday.
A holiday in Syria to share in celebrating the “victory” and triumph of his heroes in the Assad camp.
Look SL, my preferences are always for courteous exchanges and I made that clea often enoug.
But when someone brings some negative response upon himself because of ignorance you’re quite aware of, the least politeness I could offer him/her is to politely ask him/her to stay away, and which I did already. As you are well aware the cause for my negative reaction was an attack on me personally as well as an ignorant generalization for to say the least his own heritage. I am not inclined to go back and dig those comments. But to me, a person who is capable of stooping down to that level as to deny his past no matter the cause is not worthy of any respect, not to mention debate
“Because trying to build a coalition is damn hard work, somewhat unimaginable, and risks failure.”
In Libya in less than 2 weeks after the uprising started, the NTC uniting all the opposition forces, was formed.
After 17 months, France, Turkey Qatar and the USA are still trying to get the Syrian opposition united.
France has been pushing desperately the SNC on the forefront to end up in a debacle. Weak Hollande has no leverage whatsoever on the situation, neither Erdogan, caught in his own trap.
Obama is about to loose the election and his priority is not to get involved in another military disaster like in Afghanistan.
The Arab League was supposed to call for a meeting in Cairo to unite the opposition. It was so boycotted that it was cancelled.
The conclusion is that the opposition and the armed rebels are so deeply divided that their unity may never happen in a near future and therefore they may never be a “provisional government”.
The only standing united entity is the Syrian government and its army that the opposition and its allies have not been able to divide, despite the massive pressure through media attacks and sanctions.
In the meantime Syrians are dying daily, the country infrastructure is being destroyed and soon there will no Syrians to rule, either they will be dead or refugees.
There is a moment in a war when it becomes obvious that no result can be achieved without massive deaths and destruction. Then someone must have the courage to say: Let’s stop and talk… without any pre-conditions.
Until the opposition, pumped out by the “Friends of Syria” unfulfilled promises, realize that no one will help them, the winner will be the one who succeed in dominating the other in the middle of desolation: The law of the jungle.
“In the meantime Syrians are dying daily, the country infrastructure is being destroyed and soon there will no Syrians to rule, either they will be dead or refugees.”
Some reading for ZOO:
“The main reason Syria is beset by war is not western or Gulf adventurism, but the Assad regime’s policy of killing protesters in the early days of the revolt last year and then graduating into large-scale shelling of civilian areas. Add in the preceding 40 years of repression, torture and murder overseen by the Assad family, and it ought to be little surprise that some regime opponents took up arms to defend themselves – and thus spawned the militarised conflict of today.
“Tehran, in common with Moscow and Beijing, has offered no meaningful proposals for action over the past 16 months to make the Syrian regime stop its violence – the bare minimum that would have been necessary to make talks with the opposition even a possibility.
“Shia-Muslim ruled Iran has also failed to acknowledge its existential sectarian political interest in maintaining the status quo. Syria – whose politically dominant Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiism – is part of a Shia power axis stretching from Iran to Lebanon and the radical group Hizbollah.”
Should we get a million signatures, I suppose he would still not get the message because there is not much intelligence left between those ears and above all there is no heart, no love for Syria and its people.
??? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?????1/9/2012? ?? 2000 ???? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ????????.
???? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? “??????? ??? ???????????”? ?? “??? 2000 ???? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ???????? ??????? ??? ???”.
?? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? “?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ????????”.
Bashar will be remembered as the first president after independence who on his watch more than 200,000 Syrians fled Syria and more than 1.2 million left their homes, I am not naive enough to exonerate armed rebels, but security of the citizens in a country is the primary responsibility of the government, the fact that Bashar is still president and unwilling to leave tells a lot about him,his family, and his regime.
To be honest I believe there is no chance for the rebellion there to suceed.
Not because of the alleged western support or because it is “better” than other regimes.
You should not forget only a small minority there are still shia natives.
The rest are sunni “imports”, not only arabs.
Many fighters (policemen) for the regime actually seem to be Baloch, pretty hardcore tribal people from a poor region in Pakistan and Iran. I got the expression they are very “pro-Bahrain” (and often anti Shia) so they will continue to fight for the regime.
And you also have the ordinary Pakistani/Indian workers. They are pro-regime too because they are treated much better in Bahrain than in other Gulf countries and some of them even got citizenship.
Because it gave all these poor immigrants “a better life” (according to themselves), the Bahraini Kingdom will survive.
Maybe Assad in a similar way should have tried to import pro-regime Lebanese Shia . But even if he did, this would probaby not suceed since the lebanese, for many reasons, wouldn’t find Assad’s Syria more attractive than their homeland…
“I already told you that you are an idiot unworthy of respect. I know you don’t know Arabic, but you should understand English. So, buzz off and converse with your likes.”
Oh Visitor from AllahDude
You actually don’t know whether I know Arabic or not. All you know is that I said I don’t. So it remains to be seen whether I do…or don’t.
And as for English, I know a lot more than you will ever know, including the shadings, nuances, overtones and undercurrents. So don’t get me starting on a pissing contest in English, you sad little man.
As for idiots, you’re the one betting the farm on a god (small g) who has failed you time and again. You’d think he’d occasionally throw you a bone with a clearcut victory over the Jews…I’m sorry, Zionists…but no. Everytime you call on your god for a check in the win column, he spits on your sandals. You know what the definition of insanity is, Visitor? It’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
At the risk of entering where angels fear to tread:
I believe a moderator would have intervened by now. As we don’t have a moderator it is the responsibility of the users themselves to avoid the personalized comments and just avoid each other if necessary and continue their valued contribution.
Al-Qaida threatens Hezbollah over its support of the Syrian regime
Sep.02, 2012 | 1:06 AM
A new ally has joined Israel in the struggle against Hezbollah. Al-Qaida recently published a harsh attack on Hezbollah, in which it calls on Shi’ites to leave the renounce the organization “if they do not wish to be the target of Al-Qaida attacks.”
In a recording broadcasted on Al-Qaida websites, the commander of the Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade in Syria, Majd al-Majd, stated that “the claim that of the Shiite leaders that Israel and the United States are responsible for the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri and for sparking the rebellion in Syria are baseless. The ones behind the murder were the leaders of Hezbollah, the keepers of the border with Israel.”
Al-Majd, a Saudi citizen who lived until recently in the Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, and from there moved to Syria, is on Saudi Arabia’s most wanted list. Two months ago, he was “elected” to be the head of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaida. According to Jordanian intelligence, Al-Majd oversees nearly 6,000 militants that entered Syria from Iraq and Turkey.
Al-Majd tells the Lebanese Shi’ites that “sending your sons from Lebanon so that they fight on the side of the criminal regime in Syria, kill our sons and frighten our wives, is considered support for the oppressor against the oppressed, and fully participating in a crime…Hassan Nasarallah’s characterization of the members of the regime who were killed as martyrs is an insult to millions of Muslims.” Al-Qaida is a Sunni organization, and its leaders see Hezbollah’s rule in Lebanon and the minority Alawite rule in Syria as a reality that must be forever changed. Al-Majd does not hesitate to threaten all of Lebanon, should Hezbollah continue to support the Assad regime. “Hezbollah’s existence is a threat to Lebanon’s security and tourism industry,” he said, hinting that his organization would not think twice before planning an attack on tourists in Lebanon, should the state continue to strengthen Hezbollah and its leaders.
392. zoo said:
“the conclusion is that the opposition and the armed rebels are so deeply divided that their unity may never happen in a near future and therefore they may never be a “provisional government”.”
Very true. It seems you are you happy with this state of affairs. You simply wish for the brutal regime to prevail.
“The only standing united entity is the Syrian government and its army that the opposition and its allies have not been able to divide, despite the massive pressure through media attacks and sanctions.”
Hello? The Syrian government is a totalitarian clan that has ruled through fear and violence. A clan and military with massive blood on its hands has no choice but to maintain solidarity, this is hardly impressive. They have vested patrons in Iran & Russia to resupply their military machine. In this climate, your attempt to portray them as underdogs because of “media attacks and sanctions” is ludicrous.
I hope next time you avoid unwarranted mediations that often backfire.
We are not here to debate just for the sake of debate. If that is the only objective then we would be only engaged in a polemical exercises.
We have a very highly charged issue at stake. Quite many participants are just masquerading under different pretenses with obvious agendas to undermine our people. This is the prime concern that should be yours, as I am sure it is, and every other Syrian who believes has something at stake.
It seems to me that, TARA, whose intuition I trust very much, has identified him as a wandering incarnate with previous history on this blog. I did not have the opportunity to meet him in that previous ‘life’ but it seems to me it had some ‘poetic’ dimension to it. Obviously his false pretense of being a descendant of some dispossessed ancestors who were driven by my ‘ancestors’ from Syria is just a propaganda ploy meant to serve a recurring theme in all of his garbage contributions.
I call upon you, SL, to search for these themes before making an opinion about a certain commentator. I do not look for only one or two comments. I look for a pattern and then I make my decision. I do not care if someone makes one or two anti-regime comments to rush to his hug as my revolution supporter. That is way too naive.
Please, remember that we are dealing with highly charged issues and many are lurking in the background seeking ways and means to undermine our case. This is a site used mostly for disseminating propaganda that is often false
.
Thank you TARA for that hint. And as I said even though I did not get to know Dale Anderson, but I got the message.
“It seems you are you happy with this state of affairs”
I am not and I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.
You seem very contented that there are no solution at the horizon except a continuous bloodshed. You know very well that your suggestion about France and Obama are hot air.
Although I still am very mad at your last post to me that I perceived as arrogant, presumptive, and in essence telling me what I know and how I know, I find your links in general, even if I don’t agree with, interesting and informative.
Not the Arab Spring. Calls from Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham to arm Syria’s rebels and impose a no-fly zone have largely fallen on deaf ears, including Mr. Romney’s. Conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Representative Michele Bachmann have stoked fears about Islam in general, leaving it hard to tell just how much democracy they would seek to promote in countries like Egypt — where Islamists of various stripes have been winning elections, most recently for the presidency.
..
Obama and Biden could be considered as foreign policy gurus if compared to the conservative Romney-Ryan duo, but the 2012 election is mostly about the economy. Romney could be considered not “well-established” on foreign policy whereas Ryan is totally unclear about his foreign policy choices, apart from his quite close ties with the congressional pro-Armenian groups.
But Republican insiders believe Obama and Biden are “not willing to take any risks” on Syria, no matter what happens there.
On Iran, Obama and Biden will likely look to control Israeli policies, while Romney and Ryan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s obvious favorites in the Nov. 6 election, will wait until then.
This is disgusting, even if the Syrian government was a bunch of angels, being part of a massive refugee problem and doing very little to help reduce it is enough in most countries to bring own a government, Assad regime is acting like it is somebody’s else problem. Here is the official numbers according to the UN:
The total number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration as of August, 23 was 202,512. Please note that the rise in numbers reflects both increased arrivals and a change this week in the way UNHCR is counting the numbers of Syrian refugees in Jordan (previously people at the Za’atri camp still awaiting registration were not included in these figures).
Jordan
Total registered = 61,002 {including 17,040 awaiting registration}
– Some 80,000 have been identified by local organizations as in need of assistance, some of whom have been registered with UNHCR.
Lebanon
Total registered = 51,055 {including 11,861 awaiting registration}
– In addition, many thousands of refugees who have recently arrived into Lebanon did not yet come forward for registration.
Iraq
Total registered = 15,898 {including 2,042 awaiting registration}
– The total number of Iraqi returnees from Syria has reached 29,453 since July, 18.
Turkey
Total registered = 74,112 {registered and assisted as per Government statistics}
407. zoo said:
“I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.”
All your posts lead me to believe that you are a reactionary. For instance, your cynicism towards changes in Libya & elsewhere leads me to believe you must be fearful of any change. I have same impression of Ghufran.
But I have learned that it is dangerous to guess at other posters motives. So I will accept this statement as your sincere wish.
“You seem very contented that there are no solution at the horizon except a continuous bloodshed.”
No, I am filled with anxiety, in fact. Situation is eerily reminiscent of the three years of slaughter in Bosnia Civil war, 150,000 dead before any international action.
“You know very well that your suggestion about France and Obama are hot air.”
Au contraire, excuse my french. The decisive factor that keeps outside aid from flowing to opposition is the absence of a political plan, made credible by a reasonably representative provisional government.
Interesting story about the love of colonial power by the Al Wahesh family-formely known as Al Assad….
Laurent Fabius the french foreign minister stopped the endless debate with the syrian amabassador Jaafari by presenting a paper which was written by Sulaiman Al Wahesh who begged in it that the french would stay in Syria.
here is one chapter of this letter:
” The spirit of hatred and intolerance that stuck its roots in the heart of the Arab Muslims towards everything that is non-Muslim is the spirit fueled by the Islamic religion has always been. There is no hope that the changed situation. Therefore, the minority in Syria become in the case of cancellation of the Mandate is exposed to the risk of death and annihilation, regardless of the fact that this cancellation eliminates the freedom of thought and belief.
Here we see today how the citizens of Damascus Muslims forced Jews living in their midst to sign a document pledging not to send food to their fellow Jews in distress in Palestine. And the case of the Jews in Palestine is the strongest clear tangible evidence on the importance of the religious issue when Muslim Arabs both does not belong to Islam.
, Those Jews good who came to the Arab Muslim civilization and peace, and ????? over the land of Palestine gold and welfare did not sign to harm anybody did not take anything by force, however declared Muslims against holy war, and did not hesitate to sacrifice their children and their wives despite the fact that the presence of England in Palestine, France in Syria.
Thus a black fate awaits the Jews and other minorities in the case of cancellation of the Mandate and unifying Muslim Syria with Muslim Palestine. This uniformity is the top goal of the Arab Muslim.”
( Interesting thoughts, summary: all evil resides in muslims and their religion, the jews alike share the same fate as us, obviously it was his son who sealed the fate of Syrias jews!)
I would have love to see the face of Jaafari then…
Now, no one can claim that the MB are sectarian, the first ever MB President mentioned the Bahraini revolution and oppression so many times in his speech. And the funny thing was the withdrawal of the Syrian muallek in solidarity with the Bahraini regime. My Persian friends wee baffled.
I am not and I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.
Baloney, no you don’t, what you want to see is maintenance of the foolish buffoon at all costs. You hide behind rejecting the opposition. You have been posting long enough for everyone to know that and we are not stupid.
Putin bans The Simpsons, South Park and even Tom and Jerry
Somehow the new Zar has a problem with Us animated cartoons.
The Putin administrations issued a law forbidding to show extensive brutality on tv( they should worry now what to show in their evening news, without those gruesome images of beaten criminals and terrorists) and the paper explictly is stating Tom and Jerry, South Park and The Simpsons. Tv stations will have to abide otherwise they risk to pay fines. Some stations will censure, some will show their cartoons late at night.
Welcome Russia to the times of the cold war! May be Russians should only see “Nu pododi” again. ( bunny and wolf)
Putin bans The Simpsons, South Park and even Tom and Jerry
Somehow the new Zar has a problem with Us animated cartoons.
Why do you Jûrgen spread complete idiotic fiction. The Russian law demands to cut ultra violent scenes from the cartoons. Like those violent “The Itchy & Scratchy Show” parts in the Simpsons if the cartoon is showed during time children watch those cartoons. Not banning the cartoons. The laws intention is protecting children from information causing harm to their health and development (scenes encouraging children to try drugs, tobacco or alcohol or justifying violence must not be shown until 11 pm).
For example in Finland the Simpsons are allowed for children above 12 years and are show after 8 pm. Could we say that somehow the new “Finnish King” has a problem with US animated cartoons?
I find it amusing how in the minds of right-wingers everything what happens in Russia, Syria, Saddam’s Iraq etc is done and controlled by the President. Putin must be a real super being if all the hundreds of laws and actions of the state are happening because his initiative, wishes and demands.
May be I am missing out by skipping Zoo together with Ann since Tara seems to recommend his posts. I will in the future. As for exchanging incivilities don’t we have more serious business at hand ?
Iran really seems to have a problem either with free speech or with having capable translaters…
Bahrain protests in Iran against the manipulation of the speech of the Egyptian President.
Here are some more outtakes of the speech by the translator in an Iranian tv channel:
Mursi: “The UN Security Council is paralyzed in solving the Syrian crisis”
The translator: “The UN Security Council is paralyzed in resolving the crises in the world”
Mursi: “We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people against oppression”
The translator: “We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people against the conspiracy”
Mursi: “The Arab Spring began in Tunisia and now has arrived in Syria”
The Translator: (manipulated quite boldly) “The new Islamic resurrection began in Tunisia”
““I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.”
All your posts lead me to believe that you are a reactionary. For instance, your cynicism towards changes in Libya & elsewhere leads me to believe you must be fearful of any change. I have same impression of Ghufran”
Who can be called reactionary Richard? You said you’re a liberal American, so you must be familiar with enlightenment values and their authors Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot etc,.. They were all about fighting fanaticism, dogmas, superstition. So again who’s being reactionary?
Shall I remind you that one of the first measures of the French revolutionaries, people heavily influenced by the aforementioned authors, was to remove any discimination against Protestants and Jews, the persecuted French minorities? You know what kind of people the opposition listen to or tolerate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwz8i3osHww
That gives you the context for this so called “Arab spring”. Nothing liberal about it
Go on spread the myth, we heard that always, if only the ruler would know…
I think we should leave it to parents to decide what is harmful to their children. Some may consider religion to be part of that.
Well Homer-Jûrgen let the parents decide if their children are allowed to test heroin or can they take a machine gun to school.
What if public television channels in Deutschland would show hard core porn at 1pm – 5pm when children are at home from school and parents are still at work? Ajatollah Angela (=Angel) Merkel from the CHRISTIAN Democratic Union (CDU) would be forced to react by fierce demands of the Catholic and Lutheran parents. Also non-Christian and secular parents would demand rules at once. All civilized countries have rules of what can be shown in television. The Russian law is nothing special, actually it is rather mild.
If you Jûrgen believe that in the future Syria the television can show what ever the owners (including the state) of the channels want for the parents to “choose” for their children you are with high probability wrong. The men with long beards and burning eyes will choose the program chart. Will US cartoons like Simpsons be a part of that TV supply. I doubt that.
I am curious to know your opinions about the letter written by one Sleiman Wahesh of village Qurdaha, District Jableh, Lattakia Governorate, to the French Mandate Authorities.
What I want to know is does SNP and Aldendeshe agrees on the contents of the letter, regarding the nature of Arab Sunni Moslems towards non-Moslems, especially Alawites and Jews, living in the Fertile Crescent ?
What about the plan for Fertile Crescent presented by Saadeh, did Antoun Saadeh think that the 10 million plus non-Moslems of the Fertile Crescent can live together with the 30 million Moslems ? If so, then why did many people in Syria, and also in Lebanon, did not want to be a part of independent sovereign Syria in 1945 ?
Our brave men in Al-Boukamal, Deirezzor managed to capture Air Defence Base, and a huge amount of human-killing weapons and ammunitions fell into their hands, most crucially hundreds of RPG warheads and 12.7 mm and 23 mm ammunition.
Now these will be used to turn Assad Tanks into burning stoves and send hundreds of Assadists to their families in the cofins draped in the sh*tty red-white-black Flag.
Funeral of Muneer Adnan al-Halqi, a Sergeant of the Syrian Arab Army and a fellow-clansman of the Prime Minister, who defected and was martyred by Assad forces :
Funeral of Adham Noureddin al-Halqi, a conscript in the Syrian Arab Army and a fellow-clansman of Prime Minister al-Halqi, who was tortured and executed in Douma for refusing to shoot civilans :
( The above website has the most authentic and well-updated database for all the martyrs of the revolution, it has a detailed personal bio for all the 22,000 martys )
http://vdc-sy.org has the most authentic database for all the martyrs of the Revolution, it includes search engine, and detailed personal bio for all the 22,000 martyrs including place of birth, place of death, cause of death, family details, personal ohoto, and video of dead body / funeral.
VDC is also allied with LCC and depends on LCC for its information.
The Halqiyyin is a small clan in Daraa, mainly residing in Jasem village. Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi was born in Jassem and belongs to this clan.
This clan has produced 9 martyrs in the Revolution so far, all from the same village :
As for the town of Jasem (Jassem/Jassim/Jasim), where the prime Minister was born and brought up till the age of 21, this same small town in Daraa has produced 48 martyrs in the last 18 months according to the database of http://vdc-sy.org
Of course Daraa is a Governorate of clans, and there are only 7 to 8 large clans, which ensures that a very large number of martyrs are from the same clan, which also ensures continuance of the Revolution as well as a large number of defections,
For example, the al-Zoubi, Hariri, Mikdad, Mahasneh, Sayasneh, Kafarneh, Shawamreh, Jawabreh, Arsheidat, Masalmeh and Rsheidat clans alone among them accopunt for most of the 2300 martyrs in Daraa Governorate.
From the document: Traitors!!! Repulsive. Even Fabian is repulsed by these traitors. Where are the offsprings of these people? Aren’t they ashamed of their heritage. I would like them to write a statement to distance themselves from their traitor grandparents.
Things are looking bad for the regime. The opposition should ratchet up the pressure and exploit these vulnerabilities pushing home the advantage.
Syria’s Assad watches war chest dwindle
02.09.2012
As the economy contracts and sanctions make it difficult for the Syrian government to access international markets, Damascus is seeking help from its allies in a civil war that’s getting harder for Assad to pay for.
Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil’s recent trip to Moscow suggested the extent to which Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime now depends on help from abroad. Negotiations over the delivery of gas, crude and refined oil as well as financial aid in unknown quantities points to the difficult financial situation facing the government in Damascus.
Some Syrian state employees are receiving just part or none of their salaries, while benefits are being alternately provided then denied. Islam scholar and economist Anja Zorob said she believes these are signs that international sanctions are beginning to impact the country. The energy sector plays a major role in Assad’s ability to wage war.
“Before the boycott, profits from oil account for 30 to 40 percent of the state’s proceeds. But the embargo by the EU and other nations has put an end to that,” Zorob said. “Then you have to add in sinking revenues from taxes and tariffs.”
OK, so keep being anxious, shed tears on the victims and keep hoping for the ” reasonably representative provisional government” when it is obvious it won’t come anytime soon.
And you call me cynical and ‘reactionary’…
The Syrian warring factions are showing the same blinded determination we have seen in Lebanon civil war for 15 years, indifferent to civilians deaths. In Lebanon, the Syrian army was called by the Lebanese government to separate the warring factions and stop the bloodshed. Otherwise the country would have been divided on sectarian lines and Lebanon would not exist anymore.
Who will intervene militarily to stop the bloodshed in Syria and allow the parties to negotiate a political deal?
As we see no one, then one party has to win and the other loose.
It is an attrition war and will last until one party calls it off.
That’s no cynicism, that’s realism.
They came into the room one by one, heads bowed, wrists crossed in front of them as if they were used to wearing handcuffs. In one of Syria’s most feared military prisons, they told their extraordinary story of helping the armed opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One was French-Algerian, a small, stooped man in his forties with a long beard; another Turkish, with what looked like a black eye, who spoke of his training at a Taliban camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border. A Syrian prisoner described helping two suicide bombers set off a bloody explosion in central Damascus, while a mufti spoke of his vain efforts to unite the warring factions against the Syrian government.
We’re told the regime army is strong and powerful. Why haven’t they been able to subdue Aleppo? How many weeks has it been? This suggests the regime forces aren’t as strong as we are told.
The regime forces are bogged down in Aleppo. Their supply lines being attacked and picked off.
Hit-and-run attacks in Damascus. The opposition able to reach the meeting places of military figures (see todays claim – bombings)).
Bases all over the place being attacked and besieged with regime aerial assets being targeted on the ground.
The opposition can open up new fronts at will thereby further stretching and burdening an already overstretched regime military.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director David Petraeus will visit Turkey tonight to conduct talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the fight against terrorism, daily Ak?am has reported.
As The National reports today, the result is that the FSA may be losing public support, in Damascus and elsewhere. Reported thuggery has compounded Damascenes’ resentment at being dragged into a shooting war that the city’s residents had managed to avoid mainly through discreet silence.
To be sure, many of those fighting the Assad regime condemn the merchant class, and others in Syria’s big cities, for protecting families and property by sitting on the sidelines. But that argument is now moot; the war has reached the cities.
Brahimi blame primarily directed to the regime. He is sitting in NY and has no specific plan. What is the goal of appointing him? To make the West feels that they are doing something
Syria: Blast in Damascus suburb kills 15
By JAMAL HALABY | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago
Brahimi, the U.N.’s new envoy to Syria, told Assad’s regime on Saturday that change is both “urgent” and “necessary” and that it must meet the “legitimate” demands of the Syrian people, words that will not win the seasoned Algerian diplomat and international trouble shooter any friends in Damascus.
On his first day on the job, Brahimi also called on both sides to end violence in Syria, but said Assad’s government bears more responsibility than anyone else to halt the bloodshed.
The remarks, made in New York, were seemingly intended to push the Damascus government to ease off on military operations to create a better atmosphere for his peace mission.
“I call on parties inside Syria to halt the fighting. Undoubtedly, this call is primarily directed to the government. More than others, it is the duty of governments, under any circumstances and anywhere, not just in Syria, to ensure security and stability for their people,” Brahimi told al-Arabiya television in an interview.
“The need for change is urgent and necessary. The Syrian people must be satisfied and their legitimate demands are met,” he said.
If Fisk is so “Fiskie”, why would the Independent keep posting his articles?
Amal Hanano has been changing her tone recently in view of the abuses of the armed rebels and the political fiasco of the SNC.
Ibrahimi is the facade of the West’s impotence on Syria.
As no one has any control over the 30+ groups of armed on the ground that have superseded the FSA in terrorist actions, there is almost no chance Ibrahimi will be able to get any truce or ceasefire.
Like the civil war of Lebanon, it may go on for years until the weapons providers and salaries donors get tired of paying for funerals.
Unless there is a ‘disguised’ military coup.
DAMASCUS, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) — Syrian analysts and experts have been divided over finding a main reason behind the continuous faltering of the numerous international and regional endeavors that originally aimed to find peaceful solutions to Syria’s prolonged and intractable crisis.
…
Hasan Abdul-Azim, a prominent opposition leader, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the solution to the 18-months-old crisis in Syria does not rest in efforts of the UN and Arab League envoy but the achievement of a workable consensus among regional and international powers.
Also, Luai Hussain, head of the opposition current “Building Syrian State,” agreed with Abdul-Azim that any true and workable solution requires a wide-scale international effort and a consensus between the superpowers and regional ones as well.
He said the Syrian crisis is more complicated and intractable that makes the sole act of a certain organization insufficient to unravel it.
Experts believe that had the international community was sincere about solving the Syrian crisis without being biased to certain parties, the Syrian bloody crisis would have already been solved.
The Assad’s killing machine must first come to a full stop before the disorganized rebells get judged. The inability to concede on that matter is what will feed the continuation of violence.
On another subject, I want to know how the real person in you felt about the interview conducted by that woman from al Dynua TV with the wounded woman lying near the grave in Daryya or the small girls weeping near the dead mother. I urge you to please for one second forget about your and mine political posturing and give me what the human in you see.
424. Albo said:
“Who can be called reactionary Richard? ….That gives you the context for this so called “Arab spring”. Nothing liberal about it”
I do understand your pessimistic point of view.
We have two flavors of tyrany in mideast: secular and Islamic. Support of either of these camps can fairly be called reactionary. Your view is that the Arab Spring has simply changed flavors.
I look at overall trends. I don’t see a radical form of Sharia being imposed in Libya. I see a turn in public opinion in Arab world against fundamentalists. The only people still buying the Wahhabism that Saudi Arabia is selling are in Pakistan.
I see progress towards democracy in many places, even early signs in the monarchies.
The Green Revolution was crushed in Iran, but even that was a long-term success. The Iranian theocracy lost a lot of prestige in the Arab world, which I think previously had some admiration for them. Look how Iraq has not embraced a religously intolerant government.
It is not necessary for the glass to be half full for me to be optimisitic, if glass is 20% full today when it was 10% full 5 years ago, I am encouraged.
God, I hope the MB in Egypt can be at least as civil as the Turks.
“Is this the freedom you want” he says, while he sets the house on fire. “Assad or we will burn the country, Assad or we will burn the country completely” he says.
http://rt.com/news/rebels-warning-civilian-airports-114/
Syrian rebels give airlines ’72-hour warning’ before they plan to seize civilian airports
“The only reason the rebels are still fighting until today is because they enjoy logistic, weapons and financial support from many countries. What Mr. Lavrov said is very important. How can you ask a national army in any country in the world to stop fighting rebels [whose] existence you recognize…what do you expect the army to do,” he said.
“How can your protect civilians by imposing war? If you want to protect civilians you have to stop war, and stopping war starts with stopping the influx of weapons and money to the rebels,” he continued
??? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ? ???? ?? ???? ??????
???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????????? ” ?? ??????? ???????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? “.
? ????? ??????? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????.
? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ??? ” ???? ????? ??????” ???????? ?? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ??????? .
???? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?? “????? ???? ?? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??????”? ????? ??? ??? “?? ??????? ??????? ???? 3 ??????”.
I’ve heard the garbage about starting a Syrian army from scratch and uprooting the current army, those who support this plan are either lunatics or foreign agents regardless of how elegant their poison pill looks, I agree that many in the army ranks need to be removed, some may even have to face trial,but to condemn a body of 300,000 to the hall of national shame is shameful by itself,it shows how confused and limited some of you are.
One poster threw 10 comments at us within an hour,most of that was about funerals, I have a name for this: postorrhea, thanks to one of my friends who deal with matters related to the digestive system.
I do not believe the rebels will be able to topple the regime by force,but they will ,with the help of regime thugs, deliver to us a nation that is dysfunctional, divided,unsecure and as poor as dirt. Western governments have done very little in the face of Assad’s heavy bombardment of cities because they see him as doing the dirty job on their behalf, there will be a day when Assad,or whoever replaces him, will revive direct assistance against alqaida type rebels who are a threat to everybody not just the regime, the FSA has to clean its ranks from those animals,some think it is already too late,if the FSA is perceived by the west and by syria’s neighbors as being overtaken by Alqaida and similar Islamist terrorist organizations,aid to the FSA will stop and attacks against it will receive more legitimacy, this imminent threat is behind the rebels feverish attempts to look dovish and even secular,it is also the reason why the regime is busy trying to make the FSA look like a bunch of Islamist thugs.
Today 30 civilians were slaughtered by Assad’s shabiha in the town of Van (Hama). Below is a video of the families mourning and bidding farewell to them:
No need to wait, the FSA has lost his supporters, within or outside Syria. It had a chance of cleaning up its ranks months ago but it preferred to use more dirty free hands to help them. They are paying the price now.
The West is flip-flopping between the hope that the political opposition will unite, to the hope that the military opposition will put a stop to the transformation of the armed rebels into sectarian Jihadists. None of these options seem to bring any results.
The SNC is moribund despite the repeated announcement of a ‘transition government in exile’ that gullible and impotent Hollande wants to support.
Turkey and Jordan’s priority is now to get rid of the restless and demanding ‘temporary guests” that threaten to become restless permanent guests on their land.
All this in the total indifference of the big powers, who, as you said, seem to have given a greenlight to Bashar’s army to finish off the jihadists even it also mean killing armed rebels.
Overall, despite the numerous Western strategists , it is a mess.
“The only people still buying the Wahhabism that Saudi Arabia is selling are in Pakistan.”
and Afghanistan and among many Syrian rebels and even in this blog.
It is premature to say that any of the countries government issued from the Arab Spring are opposed to fundamentalism. In a year, the haze of the revolution will will gone and masks would have fallen.
Remember how Iran revolution transformed itself in less than 2 years after it was won.
I hope you are right, but in my view, there is a great chance that the poor countries, unable to get out of their poverty, will turn to Saudi Arabia and Qatar for help and will be greatly influenced by Wahhabism.
If rebels appeared in Qardaha or Tartous would these places get the same indiscriminate military treatment that other places such as Homs and Aleppo have experienced or would the regime forces take more care to save civilian lives and local property?
‘If Fisk is so “Fiskie”, why would the Independent keep posting his articles?’
If, as I believe, ‘Fiskie’ is just a nickname, then there must be some other reason, which I’m sure you will kindly share with us, why the Independant should possibly not post his articles? 😉
When the FSA lives in villages and cities, Assad supporters and sectarian opponents of the revolution blame the rebels for civilian deaths when the regime shells neighborhoods.
Who is to blame for the destruction of the environment when the regime burns the beautiful and scarce green areas in Syria in an effort to push out rebels from the woods?
I know the answer. The rebels, protesters, and anyone who opposes Assad’s regime should just leave the country, because Assad’s army and shabi7a will destroy anyone and anything that opposes them.
The UN Security Council has no right to support a revolution or foreign intervention in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned. Any plan to withdraw government troops while fighting continues is untenable, and naïve at best, he added.
The demand for President Bashar al-Assad to resign as a precondition to resolving the Syrian crisis is a completely unrealistic approach, Lavrov said during a public appearance at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs.
“There are different attitudes towards the Syrian regime. But while fighting in the streets continues, it is absolutely unrealistic to say that the only way out is for one side to unilaterally capitulate. It is not a matter of ideology, we don’t support any political figures in Syria. We just reason from what is realistic,” Lavrov said to the students of the diplomatic university.
Harking back to the summit in Geneva in June, Lavrov noted that despite differing opinions on the conflict, all the participating countries agreed to work for a “free, stable, independent and democratic” Syria. However, “our western partners and some nations in the region are almost openly pushing for outside intervention,” said Lavrov.
“Outside intervention should be positive. Every international player should push for both sides of the Syrian conflict to cease violence,” stressed Lavrov. “Saying that the government should be the first to pull out its troops from towns and then the opposition is not a viable plan.”
The Russian foreign minister added that those foreign players who insist on inciting the opposition forces “are not working in the interests of the Syrian people. They are motivated by their own geopolitical interests.”
Lavrov cited the fact the Security Council dismissed a vote on the Geneva accord as evidence that a number of countries were not working for the Syrian people.
Twin blasts have rocked the Abu Rummaneh district in central Damascus. The explosions reportedly targeted buildings in the city’s security area.
“A terrorist attack with two bombs occurred in Al-Mehdi Street in the Abu Rummaneh district,” Syrian state television reported.
AP report said that the bombs struck a building under construction near the headquarters. The building, which was empty at the time of the blast, is a base for army officers who guard the offices of the joint chiefs of staff, located about 180 meters away.
The Abu Rummaneh district is home to Syria’s Ministry of Defense, as well as a number of foreign embassies, including those of Denmark, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the Vatican.
Reports suggest that four people lightly injured in the attacks were army officers.
Sunday’s twin bombing inside the capital was the second in recent weeks to hit Abu Rummaneh. On August 15, a bomb exploded outside the Dama Rose hotel where UN observers stayed before ending their mission to Syria. Three people were wounded in the blast, which hit a military compound parking lot.
State media also reported that a car bomb had killed 15 people Saturday near a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern outskirts of Damascus. State news agency SANA blamed armed terrorist group for the attack.
Another bomb targeted an army officer’s car in Damascus on Saturday, killing the officer and injuring others. In a separate incident the same day, one person was killed and two children were injured when a suicide car bomb detonated in the city’s eastern Deir al-Zour province, local media reported.
I don’t know about that but thanks for the complement. I’ve learnt a lot from some good people on SC. Some of their good manners have also rubbed off on me, I hope.
“Please keep us updated with Sheikh al-Yaqoubi. Where is he living nowadays ?
Hamoudeh kindly keeps us updated on the statements of Syrian scholars including Sh. Yaqoubi.
And in which Mosque did he use to preach before the Revolution ?”
I rechecked on wiki and the Shaykh taught at the Ummayad Mosque and was Friday speaker at Jami’ al-Hasan Mosque
About updates. I just had a look at the Shaykh’s twitter. There was one tweet since I last checked. On the topic of the NAM summit.
Going by the Google Translate of the arabic tweet, which I adjusted (correct me if I’m wrong) it goes something like this:
29th Aug
“A summit convened for the Non-Aligned countries biased in favour of the west, and biased countries of the east. Where are the countries biased in favour of the right?”
A veiled anchorwoman read the news on Egypt’s state television for the first time on Sunday, reflecting a shift in official media since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and the subsequent rise of Islamists.
Last chance for the SNC ? End September, the expats opposition groups will join the SNC and elect a leadership, excluding the main local Syrian opposition group.
The main opposition Syrian National Council has agreed to expand to include more groups opposing President Bashar al-Assad and will reform to be more representative, a spokesman told AFP on Sunday.
…
At a meeting in Stockholm late on Saturday, the SNC agreed to expand its membership and to hold a vote later this month to elect its leadership, spokesman George Sabra said.
…
The mandate of current SNC leader Abdel Basset Sayda, which was due to expire on September 9, has been extended and he will stay on until the vote is held in late September, Sabra said.
….
There were no plans, however, for the SNC to expand to include another prominent opposition grouping, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), which favours a non-violent overthrow of the regime and opposes foreign military intervention.
A military intervention in Syria by Arab forces is not on the cards, Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations’ new envoy to the war-torn country, said on Sunday.
“A military interference in Syria means failure of diplomatic efforts,” Brahimi said in an interview to Al Arabiya television.
“For me, this option is not available, and personally, this will be neither today nor tomorrow nor after tomorrow,” Brahimi said.
Bahrain complains to Iran over name switch with Syria
Bahrain has demanded an apology from Iran after its name was substituted for Syria in a state television translation of a speech by Egypt’s president that backed the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Bahraini foreign ministry reacted furiously, summoning Iran’s charge d’affaires to lodge a formal protest and accusing Tehran of “interference in Bahrain’s domestic affairs”.
The translation also drew criticism from Egypt’s foreign ministry, which denied that Mr Morsi had mentioned Bahrain and referred reporters to the official version of his speech on its website.
Ezzatollah Zarghami, the head of IRIB, acknowledged one “shortcoming” in translation but insisted there were no other errors.
However,
….
Algeria’s former foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi officially replaced Kofi Annan as peace envoy to Syria starting this month.
Brahimi said that sending foreign military forces to Syria would mean a “failure of diplomatic efforts.”
“For me, this option is not available, and personally, this will be neither today nor tomorrow nor after tomorrow,” the agency cited Brahimi as saying.
Flooded with refugees, Turkey has asked the U.N. to set up a shelter inside Syria’s borders. Christopher Dickey on the strategy’s disappointing and dangerous record.
On Thursday, the Turks pleaded before the U.N. Security Council for support to establish a safe haven inside Syria where refugees might take shelter from the bombs and tanks of the savage Assad dictatorship.
Sounds reasonable, no? And humanitarian, for sure. But it’s not. When the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja’afari, claimed the initiative is essentially part of a strategy “promoting imminent military intervention under humanitarian pretexts,” he was just stating the obvious. And for just that reason, when it comes to safe havens, there is nothing safe about them. They generally offer poor shelter, and often give probable cause for escalating violence.
Veiled women should have exact same rights as women who wear tank tops. The Pakistani foreign minister looks very attractive with her head cover. I do not support the Niqab though that covers the whole face. I am ok if the full Niqab thing is banned.
On Syria, UNICEF Won’t Say Who Counted 1600 Dead, Wires Use
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 2 — After UNICEF’s Patrick McCormick was quoted that “at least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week” and Reuters said he was “citing a U.N. document,” Inner City Press asked McCormick, which document? And how was the data collected?
McCormick answered, “call OCHA” — the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This seemed strange, since in 2009 OCHA refused to release very specific casualty figures — 2,683 — it had collected in Sri Lanka.
At the time, the UN told Inner City Press it is not in the business of counting the dead — Inner City Press thought and thinks the UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
Later on September 2, AP ran a headline “UNICEF says 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week,” noting down in the fifth paragraph of the story that McCormick “did not immediately explain how he arrived at the figure.”
On OCHA’s ReliefWeb site is a UNICEF report which states “a record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.” So it appeared that UNICEF’s McCormick was quoting a UNICEF report. Why then pass the buck to OCHA?
And so Inner City Press has asking asked McCormick:
“on OCHA’s ReliefWeb website in the UNICEF weekly report, it’s stated that ‘A record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.’ The question: reported by whom? Does the figure cited, in the UNICEF report and by you, include military deaths? Deaths among armed groups?
“Seems important to answer this, especially since the UN system says in other contexts it does not have access and / or does not count the dead. If you’re saying that the UNICEF report you cited was based on OCHA information, please which what information, or who it is at OCHA you’re saying I should call.”
There has been no answer, even as the figure is distributed all over the world!
When Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan met last month with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin about the civil war in Syria, political biographers had a right to be confused.
After all, one is the leader of a government that has imprisoned more journalists than China and Iran combined; empowered special courts to arrest citizens on suspicion of terrorism without evidence or the right to a hearing; sentenced two students to eight years in prison for holding a sign at a rally demanding “free education”; and has seen more than 20,000 complaints filed against it in the European Court of Human Rights since 2008. The other is president of Russia.
That the leader of secular, democratic Turkey — a long-time US ally and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — has managed to out-Putin Putin when it comes to steamrolling civil liberties the past ten years is just the beginning of the way politics is changing on the Black Sea.
September 1, 2012 – Syria has over 15 military airbases, including dedicated airbases located near Aleppo and Damascus. These airbases are generally surrounded by networks of military infrastructure including storage depots, barracks, motor pools, and defensive positions. So much as even denting these facilities would require a standing enemy army, airpower, and armor – something the terrorists operating in Syria with NATO backing currently lack. Even a successful, concentrated attack on a single airbase would make little difference tilting the balance of power in favor of NATO-backed foreign terrorists operating under the banner of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA).
Puzzling then was an announcement made by NATO terrorists, warning that in 72 hours, starting September 1, 2012, they would begin operations to target Syria’s two international airports, Damascus International, and Aleppo International. The Telegraph would report that NATO’s terrorist front, “warned it would target civilian planes using the airports in Damascus and Aleppo from tomorrow.” The Telegraph would also claim, “it [the FSA] suspected government was using the flights to bring in weapons.” Like all of NATO terrorist claims, no evidence has been provided by either the militants, or the Western press.
The Telegraph has just reported that terrorists are planning to shoot at civilian planes and paralyze civilian flights across the country – a terrorist act by any definition or law.
Declaration of Terrorist Intend in Absolute Violation of International Law.
RT has also reported in their article, “Syrian rebels give airlines ’72-hour warning’ before they plan to seize civilian airports,” that terrorists, “gave a 72-hour advance warning to airlines to suspend flights to Syria before the rebels try to seize civilian airports in Damascus and Aleppo. They claim the Syrian Air Force is using them ‘illegally.’” RT also noted that, “international law prohibits attacks on civilian airports, whether during internal conflicts or wars between states.”
Indeed, even corporate-financier funded faux-NGOs like Human Rights Watch (HRW) note that attacking civilian infrastructure, such as an airport can only be done if achieving a military objective outweighs the impact on civilians. HRW says specifically:
Civil airports, roads and bridges are civilian objects that become military objectives subject to attack if they are actually used for military purposes or military objectives are located on or within them. Even then, the rule of proportionality applies, requiring the parties to the conflict to weigh the short- and long-term harm on civilians against the military advantage served; they must consider all ways of minimizing the impact on civilians; and they should not undertake attacks if the expected civilian harm outweighs the definite military advantage.
Clearly, if the Syrian Air Force has 15 bases in addition to whatever they may or may not be using its two international airports for, terrorist attacks on its two main civilian airports in no way achieve military objectives proportional to the adverse impact such attacks will have on Syria’s civilian population.
A Blatant Terroristic Threat.
Instead, the two airports have been picked to maximize terror against both the Syrian people and government forces, as well as undermine Syria politically on the international stage. In other words, they are craven acts of terrorism designed to achieve a political, not military objective – to attack, not defend Syria’s civilian population. And it will be craven terrorist attacks carried out with funding, arms, and logistical support provided by the US, UK, Israel, NATO-member Turkey, and the Gulf State despots of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The attacks will have absolutely no impact on Syrian security operations, and will instead simply paralyze civilian infrastructure and inevitably cost civilian lives. It will serve to panic the Syrian people, thus creating yet more refugees with which NATO will then claim demands foreign military intervention in the form of long sought-after “safe havens.” Essentially, NATO is purposefully encouraging an atmosphere of terror and panic, then using the resulting refugees and humanitarian crisis as political bargaining chips.
The silence of the UN in the face of this bold declaration of terroristic intent, as well as its utter indifference toward US, NATO, GCC, and Israeli sponsorship of terrorism and purposeful creation of humanitarian catastrophe, further undermines both the organization itself and the primacy of “international law” it is charged with maintaining.
What is a NATO terrorist? Does the NATO terrorist organization have any special requirements for entry-level recruits? Do you have to fill out a form to join up? Can my girl friend join up too?
Attention all drama queens, Assadists, anti-Muslims and ill-informed bores on this forum who keep squawking warnings of a Syria run by radical extremists if Assad quits.
Here’s the reality:
Islamists Struggle To Run North Mali
DAKAR, Senegal — The radical Islamists who control northern Mali appear incapable of managing basic services — including electricity, water and schools — and in some cases are asking for the return of state functionaries to run them, according to a delegation that went to the region for talks recently.
“They asked for the state to resume its functions, because it’s too complicated for them to manage,” said Daouda Maïga, who used to run a state development program in Kidal, a region of nearly 70,000 people before the Islamist takeover emptied it. “They are not used to running things.”
About 400,000 people have fled the north since the Islamist takeover, creating a vacuum of talent that the Islamists have apparently been unable to fill. “Five months after the state, its services, and NGOs were all forced out, there is a strong need for state services,” a report issued by the coalition said last week, referring to nongovernment workers. “The new masters have themselves come to realize that they cannot replace the state.”
Some of the delegates were surprised by the supplicatory tone of the Islamists, many of them religiously indoctrinated guerrilla fighters used to living lives of isolation in the desert.
“There are so many things that the state does, that they cannot do,” Mr. Maïga said. “Run the water system, the electricity, schools.” In Kidal, there is electricity one night a week at most, he said, and the same was true for water and telephone service.
Mr. Maïga said he was struck by the Islamists’ complaints about the difficulty of even applying Shariah consistently by their standards, the impracticability, for example, of amputating hands of all of the approximately 200 thieves they have captured. “They are really in a bind,” Mr. Maïga said. “They are really having trouble replacing the state.”
463. Ghufran said:
“Western governments have done very little in the face of Assad’s heavy bombardment of cities because they see him as doing the dirty job on their behalf”
Western governments are not intervening because of the costs and risks. To postulate that Italy and Canada want to see Syria’s cities & citizens destroyed is madness.
As long as Assad remains in power, the western governments are unhappy, because he remains a tool of Iranian malice. A militarily weakened Syria is OK with the west, but of no great interest.
It’s particularly ridiculous – actually pathetic – when people enjoying a safe and free life in the west, insist on telling this forum that the citizens and elected governments of those countries secretly want to see Syria and its people destroyed.
Those saying that are demonstrating their distance from reality and lack of comprehension of the world around them.
1- One may Allah have mercy on his soul
2- One may Allah cure his wounds
3- One may Allah release from prison
4- One may Allah bring back home
5- One may Allah protect from shelling
6- One may Allah rid the earlier five of.
It is all about costs and risks. Separating the combatants and dampening down the flames of civil war would require that a foreign interventionist be willing to stay in Syria for the long haul and suffer a lot of casualties. No one in the West sees any value there. Can you blame them?
This is unlike Iraq in 2003. Saddam still had the largest Arab army in the ME. And he was still a threat to his neighbors despite having been beaten by (1) Iran and (2) Old George Bush. And he had used Weapons of Mass Destruction against the Kurds in the Anfal Campaign. He had to be destroyed.
Assad does not pose a threat to anyone outside of Syria. So the West will publicly deplore the situation and look the other way.
For those of us Syrians who are looking for someone in the West to help out, just remember that the Syrian regime has gone to a lot of time and effort making enemies of Western Countries. They have built up no good will there. A lot of people in the West see Syrians as congenital troublemakers.
It’s really high time for the Syrian opposition to launch a charm campaign, the point of which should be to SHOW the Westerners that Syrians are friendly and basically nice.
To: Visitor aka Antoine aka the militant salafi Khalid Tlass
You have invoked my name in your post that I am going to hell along with innocent Norman. You should have not done that as I have told you before; you are a feather-weight when it comes to religion. Mjabali, if you are reading this post, your dog definitely knows more about things that this person.
Anyway, Visitor/Tlass, I am living in heaven. I do not need to go to your brothel with 72 virgins each one with a rump 2 miles wide, a brothel that you have no guarantee of getting there as only 1 out of 73 Islamic sects will make it and no one knows what criteria will get you there anyway.
Visitor/Tlass, your Quran in 3:55 said:
“Jesus I am will make you die, raise you up to Me and make you holy and your followers will be ahead of others”. This is what we Christians always believed and your Quran attests to that.
You, on the other hand is a slave, the Quran in 9:111 said you have been purchased to fight and be killed. You are a mercenary slave for a promise that you may get to a brothel. That is why you live a miserable life, you have been degraded. As for me, the Messiah has died for me to elevate me to a status of a god, this is the reason you live in the Christian west so that you escape the humiliation of Islam.
Now compare the Christian scripture whereby it said God made mankind in his image to your teaching whereby Allah made Adam out of clay and have him sit for thousands of years withering in the elements and the devil entering through his ass and exiting though his penis etc. etc. Have we not had enough of these alf leila wa Leila (Arabian night) stories?
Now I have a few questions for you Visitor (you come across as the knowledgeable version of the militant Tlass and not the kid-asking questions of Antoine:
In the Sura 43:1 it says Ha Meem, verse 2 said this is a clear Quran. What does Ha Meem mean?
In Sura 3 verse 1 it says Alef Lam and verse 3 said Muhammad had a book in his hands what does Alef Lam mean and what is that book beside the the Quran, Injeel and Torah?
In Sura 27 verse 1, Tah Seen and a clear book again, what does Tah Seen meen? it should be clear , no? See also 28:1/2 and 44:1/2
Now this is a question for the Tlass version:
In a previous post you indicated to Tara, young girls will be trained to wear the hijab and Tara does not like that all. Can you please tell us what you will do with Quran 65:4, marriage to girls who have not even reached puberty . Many Islamic countries have modified the Quran Sharia and changed the legal marriage age to 15 years and now Saudi Arabia studying changing the legal age to 18. Where do you stand on this? You can seek help from Visitor and Antoine if you like.
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For the 1st time,the association of Syria scholars has declared Jehad(holy war) against Bashar.
While this is not the first time a group had declared Jehad, this time it came from a branch that fellows a moderate form of Islam, that also has very high regards among Damascus Sunnis.
It is not a secret that DamascusFor the 1st time,the association of Syria scholars has declared Jehad(holy war) against Bashar.
While this is not the first time a group had declared Jehad, this time it came from a branch the fellow a moderate form of Islam, that also has very high regards among Damascus Sunnis.
It is not a secret that Damascus Sunni are not experinsed fighters as the country side nor do they have the savage toughness of the fighters of the regime , they do have money and lots of it and that is a great help to the revolution
While the victory of the revolution is not in doubt,answering the new call is the difference between moderate Islam or more radical one in the new Syria! Sunni are not experinsed fighters as the country side nor do they have the savage toughness of the fighters of the regime , they do have money and lots of it and that is a great help to the revolution
While the victory of the revolution is not in doubt,answering the new call is the difference between moderate Islam or more radical one in the new Syria! http://all4syria.info/Archive/53089
By the way, Damascus was shaken by a new wave of attacks on Sunday, as the Turkish government began to show some indications that it would fine tune of its Syria policy. That would not amount to a revision regarding the refugees in the humanitarian context, but could be a revision of the support given to rebel groups.
Upon complaints by the opposition and media reports, the government has decided to open up to parliamentary inspection a refugee camp in Hatay, by the Syrian border in which Syrian military defectors are being kept. The statement on the official website of the Free Syrian Army claiming Hatay as their headquarters, with a Turkish cellular number, has also been changed.
It is a fact that not only the international political atmosphere, but also the Turkish media and the opposition, is forcing the government to be more cautious on its Syria policy.
I know better, 491 and 492, it is hard now to mask the truth. Average citizens in the US have no interest in seeing Syrian cities getting destroyed, many citizens have actually written or spoken denouncing the killing of civilians, but most ,also, do not want to spend a penny or risk any lives in trying to stop Syrians from killing each other, they welome any effort to battle islamist terrorists even if that causes loss of civilian lives, after all,that is what their drones and armies did and continue to do in a number of countries, if the rebels are seen as an extension of Taliban and Al-Qaida they will receive a similar treatment from the west. US officials, especially those affiliated with the Neocons and the Israeli lobby, are focused on the severance of Syria’s ties with Tehran, controlling WMDs , reducing islamists threat and protecting Israel,the lives and well being of Syrians is number 5 at best, people who say otherwise either do not know or they do not want you to know. I am not particularly offended or surprised by this reality, the world today is cruel and cold especially when it comes to internal conflicts that look like a civil war, most western powers think that only Syrians can decide the course of their war, they will not directly intervene any time soon but that can change if western or Israeli interests are seriously threatened or if such an intervention becomes cheap and less risky, as of now,it is neither.
DAMASCUS // As the battle for Damascus intensifies, so do reservations about the Free Syrian Army and its tactics.
Civilians complain they are increasingly trapped between hammer and anvil as insurgents and regime forces fight for supremacy over the capital.
Lightly armed and facing a much stronger conventional military force, the FSA has adopted guerrilla tactics to survive. That involves a heavy dependence on the neighbourhoods in which it operates, with rebel fighters often drawn from local families and residents providing shelter and information, while labyrinthine urban landscapes offer some level of camouflage and protection.
exposes civilians to huge riHarbouring rebels, however, exposes civilians to huge risks.
“Many ordinary people do not support this regime any more but they are not all happy with the Free Army either,” said a resident of Saqba, a working-class district to the east of Damascus that has been heavily involved in the uprising, and repeatedly hit by regime attacks.
“The Free Army moves between our homes and the regime responds by shelling all of us,” the father of two said. “There is no political solution to this now, there will be war until one side is beaten by the other and the civilians will have to suffer the most until that time comes.”
The rebels would not have lasted this long if they did not enjoy significant grassroots support, but if the battle for Syria’s capital city is in part a battle for the hearts and minds of its population, as the war grinds on there are signs the rebels are coming up short, even in the largely working-class suburbs that make up their strongholds.
A regular pattern has emerged for the conflict in Damascus and its densely populated suburbs, one that wreaks significant destruction in the districts where the bulk of the fighting takes place.
Usually, the FSA becomes established in a neighbourhood, usually to protect anti-regime demonstrators from the security forces, who have arrested and killed thousands of protesters nationwide.
Eventually the armed rebels grow powerful enough to hold their own against local secret police units, breaking the direct hold of the central authorities over the area.
…
Second, your interests in studying the Holy Qura’n is a good first step.
It is clear that you lack the proper comprehension. But, despair not. Continue reading and perchance you will be guided. That could be your only hope from meeting an abominable end that no one desires.
But, in your present condition your are in grave danger.
So, what makes you think that I would be interested in turning this board into a Qura’n teaching venue?
There are quite few places that you can visit and get answers to your questions.
If you give me your general whereabouts, I could direct you to a nearby school(s) where you can be tutored.
Harem, a pro-Assad Sunni Muslim border town, and the Shi’ite Muslim villages of Foua and Kfrya, 25 km (15 miles) from the border with Turkey, as well as parts of Jisr Shughur, now remain as isolated pro-Syrian army territory in the predominantly Sunni-populated Idlib province that borders Turkey, rebels say.
Syria rebels besiege a Sunni town loyal to Bashar Al Assad on Turkey border
SYRIAN rebels have laid siege to Harem, on the Turkish border, confronting the army and security forces positioned in government buildings and the town’s old castle, an AFP correspondent reports.
The battle for control of the northern town lasted all day Sunday, with the rebels reporting that many of the 20,000 or so residents had taken up arms and were fighting alongside the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Perched on a mountainside only about two kilometres from the border with Turkey, Harem has been surrounded by rebels who have converged on the town by sneaking through groves of olive trees and abandoned houses.
They have been targeted by regime snipers who have holed themselves up in the castle that dominates the entire valley.
Fire from heavy weapons, including mortars, smashes periodically into the orchards and the main entrance into the town, sending up plumes of smoke.
The rebels control six of the seven roads leading into Harem, according to their commander Abu Said, of the Al-Haq brigade.
For the 1st time,the association of Syria scholars has declared Jehad(holy war) against Bashar.
While this is not the first time a group had declared Jehad, this time it came from a branch that fellows a moderate form of Islam, and has very high regards among Damascus Sunnis.
It is not a secret that Damascus Sunni are not experinsed fighters as the country side nor do they have the savage toughness of the fighters of the regime , they do have money and lots of it and that is a great help to the revolution
While the victory of the revolution is not in doubt,answering the new call is the difference between moderate Islam or more radical one in the new Syria!
On Syria, UNICEF 1600 Death Count UNexplained, OCHA Doesn’t Answer
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 2 — On Syria, UNICEF has twice offered casualty figures it refused to explain, but that have now gone out all over the world.
After UNICEF’s Patrick McCormick was quoted that “at least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week” and Reuters said he was “citing a U.N. document,” Inner City Press asked McCormick, which document? And how was the data collected?
McCormick replied, “call OCHA” — the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
But in the seven hours since, no anwers. OCHA’s lead spokesperson is away, as is one of the two referred-to replacements. The other did not respond. Nor did McCormick, to follow-ups.
Still UNICEF’s number has continued to proliferate. Later on September 2, AP ran a headline “UNICEF says 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week,” noting down in the fifth paragraph of the story that McCormick “did not immediately explain how he arrived at the figure.”
Voice of America at 2 pm on September 2 dutifully quoted McCormick on the numbers for UNICEF, headed by Anthony Lake.
On OCHA’s ReliefWeb site is a UNICEF report which states “a record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.” So it appeared that UNICEF’s McCormick was quoting a UNICEF report. Can UNICEF’s spokesman McCormick not explain UNICEF’s own numbers? Why else pass the buck to OCHA?
This seemed strange anyway: in 2009 OCHA refused to release very specific casualty figures — 2,683 — it had collected in Sri Lanka.
At the time, the UN told Inner City Press it is not in the business of counting the dead — Inner City Press thought and thinks the UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
In Syria in 2012, the UN’s mission has left after UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said that even observers in armored cars can’t get around. How would OCHA have collected figures of the type it refused to release in Sri Lanka in 2009, and why would it (well, UNICEF) release them about Syria in 2012?
Inner City Press has asked McCormick and OCHA:
“on OCHA’s ReliefWeb website in the UNICEF weekly report, it’s stated that ‘A record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.’ The question: reported by whom? Does the figure cited, in the UNICEF report and by you, include military deaths? Deaths among armed groups?
“Seems important to answer this, especially since the UN system in other contexts has said it does not have access (in Syria at least since UNSMIS left) and / or does not count the dead (I was told this regarding Sri Lanka in 2009 — I thought and think that UN should at least do this, where it can.
There has been no answer, even as the figure is distributed all over the world Click here for Washington Post; it’s since been in, among others, Canada’s big newspapers, GlobalPost, IBT, Slate, and the Huffington Post.
FSA rebels – accused of war crimes – shape Syria’s future
Amal Hanano
Aug 29, 2012
Syria, the crossroads of civilisation, has become a land of crossings. Refugees cross borders to overcrowded camps; displaced families travel from destroyed towns and cities to others still being destroyed; officials and diplomats defect from the Assad regime to form alliances with the loosely defined “opposition”. And thousands of people have crossed from life to death.
Some of these crossings are devastating and heartbreaking to watch. But a few are euphoric. As the regime began its offensive against Aleppo, a short video emerged, showing some young Syrian Army soldiers who had just defected to join the Free Syrian Army.
They huddled together in the back of a lorry en route to Atareb, a nearby town. It was dark, but their faces glowed with relief as they lit cigarettes. When they alighted, opposition fighters showered them with welcomes, their voices rough yet comforting. “Thank God for your safety,” they said, the common greeting to those returning from a trip. Crossing over was like coming home.
Another video, emerging around the same time, told another story, one of vengeance. In Aleppo on July 31, the FSA-affiliated Tawheed Brigade captured members of the Barri clan. Seated in a line on a dirty floor, they faced the cameraman, one by one. Most of their faces were bloodied. Ringleader Zeyno Barri, stripped to his underwear, looked forlorn and humiliated – and like a man who knew the end was near.
[ . . . ]
The executions opened new rifts among supporters of the revolution. Accusations divided those who think the FSA is faultless, those who argue that this is not the time to talk about a “mistake”, and those who separate the revolution from the FSA. Aleppian activists were unfairly reminded of their silence (meaning acceptance) when other cities were being bombed. Those who did not unconditionally accept the FSA’s actions were labelled hypocrites, at best, and traitors, at worst.
And so the “Rambos” who justified the violence as necessary separated from the “Gandhis” who denounced some of the FSA’s tactics. Both sides were right and both were wrong, and all of us knew it.
[ . . . ]
Last Saturday was the worst day of the revolution, in a sense: over 300 bodies were discovered in Daraya. But still regime supporters display a unified front. Routine summary executions in Artouz, the shelling of peaceful funerals in Dael, the bombing of breadlines in Aleppo, the reduction of residences to rubble in Azaz – are all accepted in the name of “security”.
Meanwhile, the opposition seems divided about justice. But the reality is different. For decades, Syrians gave the regime fear disguised as love. The revolution is about reversing that, abandoning blind support for anyone and building a new society founded on accountability and responsibility. Our actions today ripple into the Syria we will inhabit tomorrow.
Like the defectors in that lorry, we all have internal boundaries to cross. For us, as for the few men who have become brothers after being enemies, crossing over, without vengeance or betrayal, is our only option. We must reject what we have inherited from the regime and act like who we are: a complex society not always in agreement, but united as a people, united as Syrians.
“You are the same person. You should seek a shrink, having multiple personalities is a sickness that should be treated quickly.”
And you want me to take you seriously?
Based on what?”
Very funny VAT (Visitor Antoine Tlass), you want me to tell how I know you are the same person? That way you keep changing and then I would not spot you, good luck.
Answer some of the questions from the previous post VAT, defend yourself that you are not a mercenary slave as your own scripture degrades you to be. My scripture says I am a god and I am proud of that, yours says you are a slave. Out of curiosity, who took the money for buying your soul VAT?
A typical Muslim always hides behind the argument that you do not understand the Quran etc etc. The Quran in the quoted verses boast that it is clear, what else do we need to understand it VAT? Brainwashing perhaps ya VAT affendi?
505. William Scott Scherk said:
“And so the “Rambos” who justified the violence as necessary separated from the “Gandhis” who denounced some of the FSA’s tactics. Both sides were right and both were wrong, and all of us knew it.”
William, I don’t understand this part of the argument. Can you explain to me why the “Gandhis” were obviously wrong to denounce “some of the FSA’s tactics”?
I am afraid MJabali has one smart puppy, for his dog knows more about religion and politics than you do as well…
I will not go into the particulars of your veiled attack at not just Visitor but all Muslims (which you have repeatedly demonstrated on this blog in between your self imposed exile of this board) nor will I go into a theological discussion about Christianity vs. Islam. However I will challenge your misconception of the “Christian” West.
I live in Canada a nation where in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms preamble starts with:
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law
and in its National Anthem it mentions:
God keep our land glorious and free!
While the word God is invoked in both, nowhere in the Charter or elsewhere does it mention that it is a Christian God specifically or another Deity.
Also since Canada is a country that believes in Religious Pluralism which is a very important and integral part of its efforts towards Multiculturalism it would be false to say Canada is a Christian nation since not only is freedom of religion a fundamental right so is freedom of conscience:
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Now since you are an American, Canada and its laws matter very little to you I imagine, however I have a keen interest and fascination in the US constitution and those who wrote it for they changed the world with it. For those men were men of Enlightenment and not men of God, Freethinkers that relied on reason and not faith and as such when they drafted the American Constitution they made it perfectly clear that the power of the government is derived from the governed (the people) and not a deity or a king. Also nowhere in the constitution are the words “God, Jesus, Christianity, the bible” ever mentioned.
And FYI not only is the US a non-christian nation it also has nothing against Islam for in the Treaty of Tripoli John Adam’s wrote:
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion
and then goes on to say:
it (US government) has no character of enmity against the laws and tranquility against Musselmen
Imagine that not only were the founding fathers of the US not Christian by definition but they were open towards Muslims, maybe you should ask to see their long form birth certificate…
1. The Damascus Sunni are not experienced fighters like the boys from country side [but] they do have money and lots of it.
Yes! With money, you can buy guns and the people to shoot the guns. If you want the revolution to be YOUR revolution, now is the time to spend, spend, spend. And don’t be overly finicky about the men you hire. Some of them will be the type you wouldn’t let your daughters get to within 100 miles of. No matter. If they can shoot to kill, hire them. Only stay away from holy warriors and jihadists, for they will kill YOU after they kill Bashar, Asma and the little brats.
2. The victory of the revolution is not in doubt.
Absolutely. The only question is, whose revolution?
My sisters and their families, and my mother, moved to the US over a month ago. The help and support we are getting from the community is amazing: healthcare, schools, housing, etc. To say that American citizens do not care is not correct. They Do, and when they know how to help, they do help. My personal experience has been nothing but amazing so far.
As for the American government, you probably know about the “temporary protection status” they provided for Syrians who have entered the US before late March. This status allows Syrians to stay legally and work in the US for 18 months. Show me any other country in the world that has a more generous law for Syrians. Others put them in camps and make sure they cannot come and go.
Bashing the US is popular, but I think 90% of the times, it is unfair.
I am afraid MJabali has one smart puppy, for his dog knows more about religion and politics than you do as well…”
You know SOD, you had some respect toward yourself at one time as I am in no need of your respect personally as I know who I am. But you are another Islamist who hides behind a mask.
You wasted all this space to dish an insult and give me information I know, when you should have used the energy and bandwidth to answer on behalf of VAT since he proved he cannot.
If you wanted to say something useful, stick to the points, otherwise, do not stick you nose in it. VAT wrote a message that talked about me and I responded respectfully using your scripture.
Now all the hell fire talk, chase the non-Muslims and degradation that the Qur’an dishes out to others does not bother you at all, does it. When are you going to realize that Non-Muslims do not have a problem with Islam, it is Islam that has problems with Non-Muslims. Before sticking your nose in this, you should have read what was written by VAT.
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman K?l?çdaro?lu has intimated bringing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu to the Supreme Court over Syrian soldiers in Hatay camps. Ultimately, K?l?çdaro?lu plans to bring forth censure and investigation against Erdo?an and Davuto?lu. As part of the Constitution and internal regulations, the prime minister and ministers could be sent to the Supreme Court with a parliamentary vote following an investigation. Even though there are not enough members who would support such a motion, it seems the CHP wants to keep the matter on the agenda in the long term.
So Visitor is a fake and a charlatan and a sneak hiding behind multiple masks. eh?
I had my suspicions about him, the first time he appeared. He seemed so arrogant and so pompous. It turns out he’s just another greasy little snake-in-the-grass.
‘You know SOD, you had some respect toward yourself at one time as I am in no need of your respect personally as I know who I am. But you are another Islamist who hides behind a mask.”
I have plenty of self respect, and non for you. Not because of your faith (which my wife shares with you btw) but because of your bigoted blinders. I am not hiding behind anything here Darryl, you are. You are the one using Jesus to attack Muslims, which goes against his teachings especially the part about turning the other cheek. I am not the one hiding behind protection of minorities to spew hatred and bigotry, cheerleading the genocide of Syrians because they don’t happen to follow my faith.
“You wasted all this space to dish an insult and give me information I know, when you should have used the energy and bandwidth to answer on behalf of VAT since he proved he cannot.”
I don’t think Visitor needs me to speak on his/her behalf, nor do I think I am his first or last choice in doing so if it came to that. You are the one full of insults, and I used the same language addressing you did in addressing Visitor. If you are so insulted by how I addressed you why did you choose to address Visitor in the same manner?
“Now all the hell fire talk, chase the non-Muslims and degradation that the Qur’an dishes out to others does not bother you at all, does it. When are you going to realize that Non-Muslims do not have a problem with Islam, it is Islam that has problems with Non-Muslims. Before sticking your nose in this, you should have read what was written by VAT.”
As I said in my last post I will not get into a theological argument with you regarding religion. For both our God’s would be ashamed at the blood spilled in their name. Having said that I stuck my nose in the misconception that the West is “Christian” nation, and proved it is not, and I’ll keep sticking my nose in anything I choose to because it is my right.
If you have a problem with that perhaps another self imposed exile of this blog is in the books for you…
Told you before. You did not believe me. You are an Islamophobe. You said you are not but you are. Nevertheless I do not dislike you at all…even though you may dislike all my kind. And I still think there is a hope. It is shame that your life in Syria was not touched by any of us.
On a lighter note, I just came home from a party hosted by a Persian friend of mine. All Persian guests except my husband and I. A whole big bottle of Tequila was consumed for one toast to bring Assad down, salt, tequila, then lime. I think that was the order..It was completely non-solicited toast suggested by our host. A non-solicited pouring of emotion by Iranians in solidarity with the Syrian people…
And I changed my mind. I met a gorgeous older women, probably in her early 60s but really
pretty. Beauty must be more or less equally distributed between regions with some “divine” favor towards Syrians at least in my opinion …
Fisk went to Maaloula, and brought back some memories. Good he did not meet up with the abbess of St. Thekla, I never saw that women smile in peace, and the stories that she is visited by the mother of Al Wahash all the time tells an other story. The monastery of St.Sergis and Bachus is for me one of the most impressive churches in Syria.
Robert Fisk: In Maaloula, the past has relevance to Syria’s tragic present
“Sunday is a good day to drive to Maaloula. There are fig and olive trees and grapes by the road and, for a time, you can forget that Syria is enduring an epic tragedy. True, you mustn’t turn right to Tell, where the Syrian Arab Army are having a spot of bother with the Free Syrian Army and there are 35 military checkpoints on the 100-mile round trip from Damascus; but in the cool mountains east of the Lebanese border, Christians and Muslims live together as they have for 1,300 years. History, however, does not leave them alone.”
If I write original name, my post is going to go in the spam black hole, D-a-l-e.
Since when personal interaction affect you? Get over it and go back to your usual sarcastic self and anti-regime stance. Did not know you are third generation Syrian. That was quite a revelation..
Also write an email to JL to release you from jail. He announced a no moderation policy so freeing the prisoners logically follows..
I would not believe your comment until you prove to me that you’re not under tequila spell.
So go to sleep now and we’ll see what you say tomorrow when the spell is over.
And I need to know more about this Dale Anderson.
—————————————
SOD,
You made eloquent rebuttals, but, alas to an undeserved recipient(s).
From my point of view, I’m enjoying exposing all the Islamophobes infesting this blog. My methods may be a bit controversial, but I would say effective. I scored two already, and I am only here for about a month.
I am not sure why Fisk is engaging in such actions, under the Geneva law such interview degrace the imprisoned. But I assume he took his chance and followed the regimes road, he had only met terrorists captured under the laws of this bloody regime.
Robert Fisk: Syria’s road from jihad to prison
For the first time, a Western journalist has been granted access to Assad’s military prisoners
“Mohamed saw his father, a schoolteacher, his mother and a sister two months ago. Was he mistreated, we asked him. “Just one day,” he said. “It was not torture.” We asked why there were two dark marks on one of his wrists. “I slipped in the toilet,” he said.”
I would not believe your comments tonight since you could be under that tequila spell. So go to sleep and then we’ll reconsider your intuitions tomorrow.
And I would like to know who this D-A-L-E is.
————————-
SOD,
You made eloquent comments, but alas to undeserved recipient(s).
From my point of view I am enjoying exposing all the Islamophobes infesting this site. To some, my methods may look controversial, but they are effective. I exposed two already and I have only been here about a month.
d-a-l-e is a SC’s oldie. Very much anti-regime. And he said he is anti -Syrian and he hates Syria, I never believed that part despite he said it outright loud. He is fascinated by an ancient Syrian princess…right d-a-l-e?..He was banned from SC several times for a wk or so but some how he got stuck in being banned forever and was never released. If you to say his name, your post disappears…
In 520, you must have misunderstood what I wrote…I was just saying you are who you are not Tlass, and not Antoine…that is all.
——
I just saw 527… That was good.. And well deserved…
JNA, regarding the metaphorical Gandhis and Rambos, I think Amal Hanano was speaking to a larger set of reasoning and moral struggle that is still underway — not that Gandhis were wrong to utter critical and outraged reaction against rebel-affiliated atrocities.
I follow Amal on Twitter and she was active in recent vibrant debate between ‘wings’ of opinion. As with Syria Comment commentators, it is usually the extremists and hysterical who get it all wrong, on both ‘sides’ … who condemn an entire group (or imaginary group) for the sins of a few, who are heartless, vengeful, personally accusatory.
You or I could ask her to give an example of ‘both wrong’ — but I expect that she would want me and you to be familiar with and to understand the whole debate, the outriggers so to speak — and further explain (140 chars at a time) the broad strokes of the error. She always answers comments and queries — she is most open and honest.
The wrong may have been (from her perspective) those who condemned all FSA urban actions or presence because of a cause/effect presumption: that the regime will be merciless and destructive and insensate in retaliative or preventive strikes. There is much argument in the details. Some Aleppine and Damascene Twitter supporters of the revolution were shocked and horrified by the brutal regime overreaction, who expressed complete despair and disenchantment, who wildly blamed the wrong actors for the actual destruction. Gandhi faced the British, not the Syrian regime.
The wrong on the side of the Rambo might be those who thought those responsible for atrocities should not be condemned, who trotted out bullsh*t field justice excuses, or who dismissed concerns about universal human standards of decent conduct in war.
Just think of the wild and wacky and deeply disturbed rantings of those on your ‘side,’ whatever that is. You probably honestly find them wrong in some utterances while admiring their ‘side.’
For example, we can condemn that religious maniac ‘Khalid Tlass’ for his extremism, his disempathy and his authoritarianism, for his language of hate — as condemn in turn anti-Sunni, anti-Shia, anti-Jew, anti-Christian hysteria that spews here lately.
We can dislike the even-stephen, they-are-both-equally-bad despair of Ghufran, while cherishing his dream of a stable, open, non-sectarian Syria free of Assadism.
We can condemn Tara’s remarks about Armenians while deeply empathizing with her humanity.
And so on. Every ‘side’ can stumble, be wrong, be flawed in some aspect.
Remember that those who were on the same ‘side’ of Tlass (against the regime) were strong in their revulsion. It was the ‘anti-regime’ here who demanded and got his banning, and it was ‘anti-regime’ who maintained moderation of such as him until all moderation was removed.
Of course, at the present moment, under the no-moderation experiment, Tlass’s hideous rhetoric would be more than matched by the hideous rhetoric of those here who have let themselves go. Even the odious Syrian Commando would not bring down the tone and craziness any lower.
What do you think of Amal Hanano’s reporting and essays otherwise, JNA? I think that she is one of your very best writers emerging from the crisis. I look forward to her return to a normal country, where she can make her name among her people doing what she does best. There are so many gifted chroniclers. I think you should treasure her, even if you disapprove of this or that passage.
Can you image her let free to roam and report and publish freely in Syria today, rather than be subject to detention and trial, instead of the spellbound Robert Fisk?
Wrong things can be said by ‘Gandhis’ as they are not really Gandhi, just Syrians under extreme stress and horror. There is no spellbinding Gandhi in Syria, except perhaps under house arrest, in detention, or dead.
Johannes, rest assured Visitor is non-other than VAT, Tara’s testimony holds no water. I can still hear her Prada heels shaking against the floor and her fingers bouncing of the keyboard from the his stern threats that she received. I love it when I read “Explain yourself”! LOL LOL
Last, time he was caught out when he was Antoine. If you notice, yesterday he was posting as Antoine, today he is visitor but it is still VAT. I am so sure of whom he is, I can even smell him!
In 525, I was being sarcastic partly with you but mostly with them bad guys.
You’re right about D-A-L-E. I wrote a comment similar to 520 and it disappeared when I spelled the name without dashes. Then I saw your comment 523 and I did as you said and the comment appeared.
So, now your intuition is telling that this Johannes is a reincarnation of this other character?
It looks like he may not last either.
Hey, with this level of intelligence (or lack thereof) of these guys, we shouldn’t have a problem with these Dark Helmet(s). You know who Dark Helmet is?
I just hope the likes of Syria Lover give us some space to maneuver and do not jump into the fray.
Hopeful,
I have been a citizen of the US before some of you were born, I know very well how helpful and decent most Americans are, you probably need to read my post again.
The problem in US middle east policy is not American citizens, it is Israel and the Israeli lobby, that is why the US invaded Iraq without thinking too much about the interests of the little guy in the US and Iraq, that invasion only helped Israel and,unintentionally Iran, and left permanent scars in both the US and Iraq. Obama with the support of most Americans does not want another adventure but he will take steps to undermine the regime and Iran without sending US troops to Syria. A political solution is not possible without a US-Russian agreement, regional support for that agreement is secondary, turkey and the GCC will do what the US asks them to do. The wild card now is the jihadists and their likes, they only follow like-minded retarded sheikhs and they think Syria is their pathway to heaven.
It may get to the point where the FSA becomes a pimp for those Islamists ,and when they do,they will be listed as a terrorist organization,if the FSA cleans its rank and goes back to their original mission, they can,and should ,take part in any future solution, as of now, Syria is a killing field and the regime forces have no choice but to eat their enemy for lunch before they are eaten for dinner by the rebels, this is what violence brings, when I spoke against it I was called a regime supporter, it is not just regime leaders who should be put on trial,it is the rebels leaders and those behind them who were partners in this crime against ordinary Syrians,this is not a revolution any more,it is a civil war and an armed rebellion, I never imagined that I will see the day when Syrian air force drops bombs on civilian areas, I thought Hama would be the last time a sitting president could bomb Syrian cities and get away with it,but I was wrong , the country most of you say that they love is irreversibly damaged and divided,war lords and local militias will replace regime officers and government workers in much of Syria , the thugs you know may not be as bad as the new thugs you are getting, congratulations.
Some 1500 reactionary people, who happen to share the same religious affiliation as the Assad family, held a pro-Assad rally yesterday in Antakya (Hatay).
Syrians should thank Turkey for annexing Iskanderun in 1939, otherwise we would have had to deal with another Tartous or Lattakia and 1 million extra Shabbiha.
“You probably need to have your nose smashed in, then reconstructed, to correct your sense of smell.”
Oh no, that’s too violent. How can you say that?
I think he should spend sometime with mjabali’s dog. The two would fit together quite well. They would be an excellent match, one made in ‘heaven’.
Besides the sense of smell, they can learn a lot from each other, because as we have been told this dog is special and very knowledgeable. They would spend endless hours engaged in constructive debates.
Same man, who was filmed by Guardian, was also part of other, much more gruesome videos, where he was presented all bloody, cut and obviously tortured. A reminder for rebel human rights lovers doublestandarders at 1:15:
Filming prisoners, extorting speeches and torture is real problem, not interviews.
This is really cool, having an actual case of multiple personality insanity right here on SC. You see how Visitor posted as Antoine just now? I see that Antoine is unaware that Visitor exists. I wonder if Visitor is aware of Antoine? It can really get chaotic at times.
If there is a shabih it would be you. You are blood thirsty as evidenced from your violent posts. By the way do you have the courage to tell us what country are you from?
It was difficult to determine casualty figures in the ranks of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as most doctors are only willing to give details on civilians, most of them hurt during shelling.
….
Patients from the rebel ranks typically suffered severe bullet wounds to the neck and head and lighter injuries caused by shrapnel, he said, stressing that in 50 days of conflict he had “never treated a fighter hit by mortars or shelling.”
I read your religious hallucinations every day. Still can not find and shred of evidence that you are at any level to ‘expose ‘ anything. Can you answer what Darryl had asked you ? Please let us learn from your ‘knowledge ‘
French medias criticize Hollande’s call for a “transition government in exile” as unrealistic and emphasize the need to boost revolutionary councils inside Syria.
….
Between a “transitional government”, which will inevitably meet and work with a majority of technocrats and experts Syrians living outside, and “transitional revolutionary councils” from inside Syria, created to take things in their hand in the political, economic, social and military locally and regionally, there is probably no need to make a exclusive choicee.
But it is obviously that its on the latter that greater emphasis must be given, when the humanitarian situation has exceeded all alert levels and where the despair of the abandoned Syrians may be leading some of them to call for fighters from different backgrounds, who have nothing to do with the struggle of the revolutionary dignity and democracy.
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian army bulldozers razed houses in western Damascus on Monday, pursuing what activists called collective punishment of Sunni Muslim areas hostile to President Bashar al-Assad.
In northern Syria, 18 bodies were found in the rubble of a house bombed by a Syrian warplane in the rebel-held town of al-Bab and 13 more are missing, an opposition watchdog group said.
Bulldozers backed by combat troops demolished buildings in the poor Tawahin district, near the Damascus-Beirut highway, activists and residents said.
“They started three hours ago. The bulldozers are bringing down shops and houses. The inhabitants are in the streets,” said a woman who lives in a high-rise building overlooking the area.
Troops forced residents to erase anti-Assad graffiti and write slogans glorifying the president instead, activists said.
“This is an unprovoked act of collective punishment. The rebels had left, there are no longer even demonstrations in the area,” said Mouaz al-Shami, a campaigner collecting video documentation of the demolitions.
“The regime can’t stop itself from repeating the brutality of the 1980s,” he said, alluding to mass killings and wholesale destruction in the city of Hama in 1982 under Assad’s father, the late Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria for 30 years.
….,
…..
The watchdog, which has a network of activists on the ground, also reported that a car bomb ripped through the mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Jaramana on Monday killing at least five people.
Another 27 people were injured in the blast, it said, adding that the attack struck the area of Al-Wehdeh on the edges of Jaramana.
The southeastern suburb was previously hit by a car bomb on August 28, when at least 27 people attending a funeral for two supporters of the Damascus regime were killed.
“There is an increase of the use of car bombs in Syria,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
…
“We need a humanitarian intervention and we are asking for military intervention for the Syrian civilians,” SNC chairman Abdel Basset Sayda said after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.
Sorry. You are too unrefined for me to want to engage in a conversation. Truth be told, I have tried several times to no avail. There is a minimal standard that you have always failed to meet. Please find yourself a shabeeha to converse with. I have no interest. And I really hope you get it.
Working under cover in the northern city of Aleppo, which has been pounded for weeks as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces seek to overrun rebel bastions, Beres insists the death toll in the Syrian conflict is higher that what is reported.
..
“In the past two weeks, he said, he has treated a daily average of 20 to 45 wounded people, the majority of them fighters with the opposition Free Syria Army, including “quite a few jihadists.”
Fatalities in rebel ranks range between two and six each day, he said.”
But those are just the figures collected in one small hospital within a massive commercial city which is now almost evenly divided between rebel and army-controlled areas.
…
William, I am not going to discuss all of your reply to me. I think that Amal Hanano is trying to preserve the early humanistic direction of the opposition and admire her publicly engaging the topic of atrocities done by the armed opposition. However, the part of the her argument which I pointed out to you seems to me to show an equivocation on her part. My feeling is that, in part, her article is an attempt is dissipate a public relations setback the opposition suffered when the execution of prisoners was captured on video.
The day before she published that article, there was an article in the Guardian that had information on more executions in al-Qadam, Damascus…
I might have missed it but I have yet to see Amal or any in the opposition denounce this instance, not a substantial PR embarrassment, of the continuing killing of captured government supporters. And what does this say about the nature and ends of this revolution?
“The autocratic leaders are gone. Religion, however, is not going anywhere, and neither are the Islamists. Neither, however, are the secular parties, and the more mainstream religious establishment”
A new debate about religion and politics after Libyan tombs razed
….
That has changed now. Since last year, but especially in the last two weeks, radical Salafis have been desecrating graves all over Libya. Armed groups, motivated by an ideology rooted in a religious perspective, represent a direct challenge to the authority of the Libyan state.
The body of a famous 15th century scholar, Ahmad bin Zarruq, was exhumed, and his tomb destroyed. Many other burial sites have shared the same fate. Desecration, in this regard, isn’t the spraying of graffiti – it’s the bringing in of bulldozers, guarded by men with automatic weapons, facing off against state security forces.
Their argument is that the graves spread irreligious ideas among “good” Muslims in Libya. Never mind that for hundreds of years Libyan religious scholars didn’t seem to think so.
These issues are not about to go away. Egypt, Libya and Tunisia – and almost certainly Syria after the Assad regime falls – are going to see constitutions that have two core principles. The first will be a notion of sovereignty vested in the people; the second will be that Islam is the religion of the state. Neither of these principles is necessarily new. But after autocratic dictatorships in these four countries, these principles now actually mean something.
The question is what do they mean, particularly when taken together. If Islam is the religion of the state, then how is it expressed
..
There’s no Catholic papacy for Muslims. So how will Islam be represented? Through educational institutions, such as Al Azhar University in Cairo? In that case, who will pick the leadership of a publicly funded university? Should it be independent of government intervention?
Once all of that is sorted out, how does the relevant institution engage with the state? Purely on symbolic occasions, or on substantive issues of legislation?
And finally, what Islam are we talking about? This is not a rhetorical question. Islam is a single religion, according to the scholarly establishment of the ulema, but it is also one that includes different approaches and perspectives.
….
Amal Hanano is an idealist and she always had a romantic perspective on the Syrian revolution and its ‘purity’ of intentions.
Now she is shocked to realize that the opposition is acting the same way the regime she and they are opposed to.
So she writes this subtle article where she warns between the lines the opposition that they may loose the ideals of the revolution if they continue the same strategy. She is so scrambling to find some kind of interpretation that would still preserve the image she has of the heroic rebel fighters.
As most idealists, she just can’t see that what motivate this rebellion is no more a desire of change, but a blind desire of revenge and a greed to grab the power at any costs.
Like liberals Egyptians, I guess she will soon show her despair in front of the collapse of her romantic image of the Syrian revolution.
Diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria ‘nearly impossible’, says new UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi
Finding a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict is “nearly impossible”, Lakhdar Brahimi, the man given the job of trying to do it has admitted.
By Richard Spencer 03 Sep 2012
Lakhdar Brahimi, the new envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League to Syria, gave a pessimistic view of the situation in Syria, where at least 25,000 people have already died in 18 months of revolution. He also said there was not much he could do about it.
“I know how difficult it is – how nearly impossible. I can’t say impossible – nearly impossible,” Mr Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister appointed to replace Kofi Annan this month, said in an interview with the BBC.
Although few would disagree with Mr Brahimi’s assessment, his sense of hopelessness will raise new questions about the choice of peace envoy.
Kurdish militants have killed 10 police and soldiers in an assault near the Iraqi border, Turkish officials said Monday, amid concern that rebels are seeking to capitalize on regional tensions caused by Syria’s civil war with a more intense campaign of attacks in Turkey.
The attack happened late Sunday in southeastern Sirnak province, a traditional area for militants who have bases in northern Iraq. An undetermined number of Kurdish guerrillas were also killed.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has benefited from past upheaval and power vacuums in the region, notably after the 1991 Gulf War and the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Iraqi Kurds consolidated their own mini-state in northern Iraq, inspiring those Kurds in Turkey who want self-rule.
In Syria, regime forces locked in a civil war with opponents of President Bashar Assad ceded control in some areas near the Turkish border to Kurdish fighters said to be linked to Turkey’s Kurdish militants. Turkish analysts suspect the regime’s seemingly passive conduct was aimed at stirring trouble for Turkey, which opposes Assad, by providing additional space for the PKK to organize.
Dogan News Agency video Monday showed Turkish security forces patrolling the town of Beytussebap, where militants attacked police and military posts, as well as apartment buildings that house security forces’ families. An official is seen removing weapons from the rucksack of what appears to be a slain guerrilla, wearing an olive-green uniform and lying in a gutter. In another sequence, Kurdish townspeople are heard shouting slogans in support of jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan as armored vehicles roll through the streets.
Hurriyet newspaper reported Monday that police had fired into the air in the town to disperse a group of Kurds who wanted to take three rebel corpses away for burial.
It was the latest in a surge of operations blamed on the PKK, including a deadly bombing near Syria on Aug. 20 that intensified questions about the security of Turkey’s borders in an unstable region and the possible involvement of outside actors. Turkish officials have not ruled out possible Syrian or Iranian involvement in the bombing, which killed eight people.
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul on Monday condemned what he called the “separatist terrorist organization” for the attack in Sirnak province.
“The internal and external supporters of this shameful game will sooner or later understand that they have made a wrongful calculation and will be punished,” he said. “It should not be forgotten that those who believe that a timely opportunity has arisen, will soon realize their great historic mistake and will be disappointed.”
The PKK is conducting some of its most brazen operations since its 1990s heyday, though it is limited to hit-and-run tactics rather than seizing and holding population centers.
“More complications bring them more power because they are feeding from chaos,” Umit Ozdag, a terrorism expert at the 21st Century Turkey Institute, a research center, said of the PKK. The group, which has been fighting since 1984, is defined as terrorist by Turkey and the West, but still retains the backing of many in the Kurdish minority, which comprises up to 20 percent of Turkey’s 75 million people.
Syria resembles a proxy battle in which the regime, backed by Iran and Russia, is pitted against Turkey and its Western and Arab allies. Ozdag said the PKK, which used to have close ties to the Syrian regime, has “partisans” on both sides of the conflict, giving militants “an extensive maneuvering range” in which to press their political aims.
NATO FSA terrorists operating from civilians houses – 19 hours ago
another video showing how the free syrian army occupying and using civilian houses for their operations and when the syrian army respond back, they accuse him of shooting @ civilians!!!
It is time to recognize that the early phase of the Syrian Revolution with its emphasis on peaceful transition was not sustainable due to the nature of the criminal regime. The Syrian Revolution was in need of a military arm in order to confront the regime’s killing machine and in order to bring to the attention of the people of Syria and the world that a National Army’s first duty is to the people and not the dictator as we saw in Egypt and Tunisia. Unfortunately, Syria does not have a National Army. It has a band of thugs designed as a killing machine in order to protect a single failed dictator.
However, Syria is fortunate to have experienced during the last 18 months the constant stream of conscientious defections that kept the resolve of the people and the revolution alive. We would forever be grateful for these brave soldiers who put the interests of the country and its people above their wn interests and who will eventually form the nucleus of a true National Army for Syria. With a criminal Nazi regime such as the one occupying Damascus Freedom is earned and can last only through sacrifices and not by negotiations or pacifism.
I second TARA’s proposition regarding expanding the battle of the FSA to the Syrian coast in order to liberate it from the occupation of the Nazi thugs.
Oh my! The regime is really losing its rag. The stoicism and composure slipping away?
AJE blog. 22 minutes ago:
Syria has hit back at Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Monday saying that his Islamist beard is the only thing that distinguishes him from the veteran strongman he replaced after last year’s Arab Spring uprising.
Still waiting for your answer to why don’t you join the jihad in Syria?
You are from Pakistan, you have the fundamental hatted to Alawis in your blood. So why don’t you be the next suicide number and go to al Qurdaha and blow things up . You will take the express to paradise and make your sheikh proud of you .
News from the “regional miracle of stability” http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/investigations-claim-two-palestinians-participated-sinai-border-attack
” (…) In South Sinai, security authorities in Sharm el-Sheikh have evacuated all police checkpoints after the killing of two young Bedouins yesterday during an exchange of fire with police. A number of the victims’ family members burned a police car, cut off the Salam Road in front of the Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, and kidnapped a police officer before later releasing him.”
I’m not as courageous as the Syrian people
I’m not as brave as the FSA heroes
The least I can do is support them from my keyboard.
Mjabali don’t try to make this about me. This is about the horrific behaviour of the regime. I hate those criminals with unlawful blood on their hands be they Sunni, Shia, Alawi
or whatever.
558 “I second TARA’s proposal to expand the battle of the FSA to the Syrian coast to liberate it from the occupation of the Nazi thugs.”
Geez! Sounds like we’re on the floor of a political convention. Oh well, here goes.
Uh, Mister Speaker, I third the Tara proposal. And may I go further on VAT’s foppish and cloying words and heap praise upon the courage and resolve of the foreign jihadis and holy men who have come to Syria to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring that good old time religion back to Syria after forty-plus years of Baathist nightmare.
569 “The Iraq war has destabilized and polarized the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history.”
Really? More than World War II? More than Hulagu Khan’s invasion of the Muslim World in the 1200’s? More than the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 71 AD? More than the…gasp…Crusades? Or the Moorish conquest of Spain and Portugal?
Someone should take Desmond Tutu aside and hand him a pamphlet on old age and dementia. He needs to retire. He needs to go to Florida and sit in a deck chair with a shawl around his head and watch the sun set.
….
The new UN and Arab League representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said on Monday that he is standing in front of a brick wall, that he can see no cracks in it at present, and that he is frightened of the weight of responsibility placed upon him – people are being killed, and “we are not doing much”, he told the BBC. So what is the point? Can he possibly succeed where his predecessor, Kofi Annan, failed?
First, the Algerian is by far the best man for the job (except perhaps because of his age – he is 78). His experience in international affairs is extraordinary. When I first met him 30 years ago he already had 16 years as ambassador of his country, including eight in London, where he was considered an outstanding success.
Since then he has held many Algerian, Arab League and UN appointments including a key role as Arab League special envoy to Lebanon when he crafted the Taif agreement of 1989 which was the beginning of the end of the 15-year civil war. As UN representative in Iraq in 2004 following the American invasion, his proposals on the formation of an Iraqi government were ignored by the Americans with tragic results. His peacemaking and peacekeeping appointments for the UN also included South Africa, Haiti, Burundi and Afghanistan.
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In retrospect it is clear that Annan’s high international profile as former UN secretary-general raised expectations which could not be met. Brahimi raises no such expectations because he is less well-known and because of his modest personal style, as exemplified by his BBC interview. But he knows the protagonists in the Syrian crisis as well or better than Annan, and he has the advantage of being an Arab – from far-away Algeria, therefore not automatically seen as taking sides.
But what about the brick wall? What can he actually do? So long as the Syrians are determined to go on fighting, the fact – however unpalatable – is that nobody can stop them. But it is also a fact that even civil wars come to an end, either because the bloodletting goes on until one side or both can fight no longer, or because the parties realise in time that they cannot achieve a military solution and must compromise.
The Lebanese civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, is an example. Lebanon is of course Syria’s neighbour and the two countries have much in common, although the Lebanon war was a very different story. A feature of that war was countless ceasefires, broken countless times; the lesson to be drawn is not that ceasefires are useless, but that eventually the firing stopped. Peacemaking paid off.
Internally, there are some signs that both the Syrian government and the rebels may have begun to realise that military victory is not to hand.
….
Other than killing people, the Assad regime has nothing to offer the regions that are out of its control. But the menhebak blames Burhan Ghalioun and Hamad for what’s happening, because that’s an intelligent conclusion which makes sense.
Zoabi: “No dialogue with the opposition prior to the Syrian army’s imposition of security and stability”
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian regime said Monday there will be no dialogue with the opposition before the army crushes the rebels, the latest sign that President Bashar Assad is determined to solve the crisis on the battlefield even if many more of his people have to pay with their lives.
The statement comes a day after activists reported that August was the bloodiest month since the uprising began in March 2011.
“There will be no dialogue with the opposition prior to the Syrian army’s imposition of security and stability in all parts of the country,” Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told reporters at a news conference in Damascus.
The opposition has long rejected any talks with the regime until Assad is removed from power.
Muhieddine Lathkani, an opposition figure based in Britain, responded to the minister’s comments by saying “the key to any dialogue will be the departure of Assad and dismantling of the regime’s security agencies that committed all these crimes.”
Lathkani told The Associated Press by telephone that after that happens, there could be a dialogue.
Earlier in the day, the new U.N. envoy to Syria acknowledged that brokering an end to the civil war will be a “very, very difficult” task.
Activists on Sunday said some 5,000 people were killed in August, the highest toll in the 17-month-old uprising and more than three times the monthly average. At the same time, the U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, said 1,600 were killed last week alone, also the highest figure for the entire revolt.
The two major activists groups raised their total death toll for the entire revolt to at least 23,000 and as high as 26,000.
Anass Aldmishiki, an activist in Kefr Batna, a suburb south of Damascus, describes the grisly discovery of bodies in the town after a raid by the army.
Speaking to my colleague Mona Mahmood, he said:
We found 34 bodies today after the army left. There are still many missing people, we can’t find them or their bodies. Some of the bodies were decomposed and can hardly be identified. They had been left in the heat of the sun for three days. [Graphic video showed the corpses of some of those killed].
The Syrian army stormed Kefr Batna last Friday with 15 tanks, 20 armoured vehicles and more than 1,000 soldiers. They started to smash houses at random.
Many residents were executed by the government troops. They were killed by a shot to the head, or were slaughtered with knives.
Qutaiba Berhamji, one of the medical team who worked at the Al-Fateh private clinic, was killed, together with three injured patients. The clinic itself was burned.
The army stayed for three days. No one dared to move and the Free Syrian Army could do nothing to help civilians. The FSA were concerned about firing, because the regular army use civilians as human shields.
If they can’t fight the FSA directly, they turn against the civilians.
We were able to identify some of the bodies from their locations as they were killed inside their houses. All the killing was random. A man named Mahran Dhafeda, who supported the regime, was one of the victims.
All the victims were men – there were no women or children. We found five bodies in front of the hospital.
Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs, Dr. Ali Haidar, stressed that the solution to the crisis in Syria is a Syrian one and to be reached by the Syrians themselves, asserting that the contribution of the friends and allies in some points can help create the favorable circumstances to go for the political process that helps Syria get out of the crisis.
In an interview with the Syrian TV on Saturday, Haidar said the visits he recently paid among a Syrian delegation to Tehran and Moscow came in the framework of enhancing the chances of success for the political process, being the only outlet from the crisis and the only way to halt violence.
He pointed out that the external factor collaborates with the internal factor in accelerating the solution or hindering it, stressing however that “the inside is the basis as the Syrians are mostly convinced that the solution won’t be through weapons or on the base of one side winning over the other or through the mentality of exclusion.”
“There needs to be a comprehensive and honorable solution that maintains the dignity of all the Syrians and presents a vision of the new Syria,” Haidar added.
He highlighted that the internal atmosphere is positive with people “feeling fed up with the state of violence and trying to dust off the gunmen to have the areas cleared of them so as to reach a solid ground that’s suitable for the political solution through a national dialogue table involving all the Syrians.”
[ … ]
The negative point with Brahimi’s mission, Haidar said, is absconding the item about halting violence as the Western countries want to go for the political process because they do not want the violence to halt but seek a political dialogue under the military pressure.
The Minister stressed that the Ministry of National Reconciliation Affairs works on letting off the stream in the street and eliminating all the traces of the past in a way to contribute to realizing the national reconciliation.
For this purpose, Haidar said, the Ministry works on releasing all the detainees whose hands are clear of the blood of the Syrian people, noting that the sides concerned with this process are dealing positively with this file.
We’ve been debating the Arab Spring lately, so an interview with Bernard Lewis this weekend arrives just in time.
I mentioned the interview to Joshua Landis, he replied, “Bernard Lewis was a teacher of mine at Princeton and I have always admired his scholarship and intellect.”
I know Bernard Lewis is a controversial figure, and I also know he is a fascinating guy. I’ll be disappointed if there aren’t some comments about his ideas.
You insulted the whole Alawi sect in one of your erratic comments today.
To justify your casual outburst, you presented a “document” in which you claimed that Bashar al-Asad’s grandfather was one of those singing on that document asking France to keep them away from joining into what became Syria. As far as I remember 4 people signed it according to your copy.
You cursed at the whole sect for that “document.”
I would let this insult slide, but a bombastic figure like you needs a little lesson in history every now and then since you really do not know that much about Syrian history.
The french divided what became Syria to many states. At some moment they decided to put some of them together to make what became Syria, a country that included you and me.
The Alawis were for joining the states of Allepo, Damascus and Jabal al-Arab to form what became in 1946 Syria. The French opted to give Iskanadrun (current day Hatay) to the Turks, and patched pieces together to make Lebanon. This also does not mean that there wan not an element that did want to see the French leave or join into Syria.
The Alawis stated the desire of most of them in a letter that is signed but not only Alawis, but Sunnis and Christians also. In this document they stated that they want to unify with the Sunnis and the others in the interior to from Syria.
Here is a copy for this document and see how many Alawis signed it and who are they.
As for the document you posted I will come back and respond to that by another time:
MOSCOW, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Russia on Monday strongly condemned the allegedly threat by an armed Syrian opposition on attacking civilian airports in Syria, saying such actions were no different from terrorists.
Moscow was deeply concerned over the statement of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) that the international airports of Damascus and Aleppo were taken as “military targets” and civilian aircraft using them would be shot down, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
FAS reported gave civilian airliners 72 hours to cease flights to these airports starting from Sept. 1.
“We believe these threats are unacceptable. They are a flagrant violation of international law, in particular the Chicago Convention of 1944 on international civil aviation,” said the ministry.
Russia called on outside players who have influence on the ” radical opposition” to prevent such threats from being carried out. Moscow has already contacted these countries via diplomatic channels, said the statement.
Meanwhile, the ministry recommended Russian citizens not to travel to Syria and called on Russians living in the conflict-torn country to take “safe route” for leaving.
DAMASCUS, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Monday that Syria’s sovereignty is a “red line,” and that the situation in Syria in general is good and under control.
At a press conference here on Monday, al-Zoubi said that his country will make a response to any assault, and will “cut the hand of whomsoever” touches the sovereignty of Syria, stressing that “he will pay a steep price.”
The Syrian army is committed to restoring peace and stability in all the areas in Syria and this is “non-negotiable,” the minister said, adding that there will be no dialogue with the presence of weapons in the hands of the “terrorists,” since the main condition of the dialogue is the existence of security and stability.
Al-Zoubi then called on the opposition forces to make a national assessment and brace itself for a national dialogue.
“We will accept what the ballot boxes say and we say to everyone to lay down your weapons and let us embark on a national dialogue and resort to the ballot boxes,” al-Zoubi said.
He added that Syria has accepted all the initiatives that have came as a result of the Non-Aligned Movement summit held recently in Tehran.
“The solution in Syria is a Syrian one and its tools are also Syrian,” he emphasized.
Al-Zoubi lashed back at Turkey, branding as “absurd” the comments of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost legitimacy. He meanwhile said the Erdogan government is giving weapons, sending fighters, and harboring the terrorists.
“Our situation in Syria in terms of the state, the leadership, the citizens, the army and the facilities is good and there will be nothing other than that,” al-Zoubi said at the same press conference.
Commenting on the recent threats by the armed insurgents, who said they will target the civilian airports in the capital Damascus, and northern Aleppo province, al-Zoubi said “their aim is to inject fear and terror among the citizens.”
“We haven’t heard from those who call themselves rebels or the broad-based opposition any political line or speech,” the minister said.
Thank you for this. I took one of his courses at Princeton.
Here’s a great Bernard Lewis quote from the current interview:
“I don’t think foreign domination (he means British and European) is the main problem. Foreign domination was brief and ended some time ago. And that didn’t make their [the Arabs’] problems any better. It made them rather worse since there was nobody that they could conveniently blame.”
I was thinking about Egypt and foreign domination. You have to go back to the time of Homer and King Solomon to read about the last time Egypt was free and independent. Look at the history of Egypt and foreign domination. All dates are approximations:
600 BC the Assyrians
500 BC the Babylonians
400 BC The Persians
300 BC to 50 BC The Macedonians
50 BC to 700 AD the Romans
700 AD to 1300 AD The Arabs
1300 AD to 1920 AD The Turks
1920 AD to 1950 AD The British
Then finally, in the 1950’s, after over 2,500 years of foreign domination, Egypt became a free country. As you look at the numbers above, you see the so-called European “colonialist” adventure was pretty brief. I mean, compared to the Arabs and the Turks, it was a drop in the bucket.
Your comment is very very important because it leads to the preservation of the unity of the Syrian people.
Therefore, it is more important than ever that the FSA should start operations in the Syrian coast in order to exterminate the historical treachery of Syria which began with the grand grand father of the current thug occupying Damascus and is continuing up to the present day.
It is the sacred duty of the FSA to start immediately the liberation process of our people of the Syrian coast from the treachery of this family of thugs and traitors.
MOSCOW, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Russia and the United States shared common goals on solving the Syrian crisis but differed on the future of President Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
Ahead of his participation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, Lavrov told local media Moscow and Washington did not “contradict each other in principle” on Syria.
Both of the two countries wanted to see a peaceful transition via intra-Syria negotiations while “respecting the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the country,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
However, the two sides held different views on whether President Assad should go and how, said the senior Russian diplomat.
Lavrov called for the crisis to be solved at the negotiating table by the Syrian people, calling the intention to dictate the future of Syria by outsiders as “counterproductive.”
The Russian minister is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Lavrov said Saturday that the Western approach of demanding external interference and the resignation of Assad as a precondition of negotiations was rather unrealistic.
He reiterated Russia’s stance, saying Moscow “was not backing any regime or any individuals” in the Syrian crisis.
Meanwhile, those “players” who spurred the opposition to fight the Syrian authorities did not care about the interests of the Syrian people and were guided by their own “geopolitical considerations,” said Lavrov.
You are not that smart to tell people what to do, or plan strategy for the future of Syria. I will explain to you why:
First of all, there have been constant battles in Jabal al-Akrad and Jabal al-Turkman. So, there are military operations in the coastal areas. Your beloved Turkey is trying its might to help Free “Syrian” Army. So far not that much progress have happened except for the destruction of the area because of the violence that was introduced. The violence is pushing the Sunni civilians out of their homes, and killing many of them. The violence reached the Alawis and the Christians also in the coast. Many fighters were killed from both parties. The ecology was affected by the battles where many forests are still burning. The area is literally on fire.
The FSA is trying hard to keep a foothold their. So your calls are lame.
Secondly: if we follow your erratic advise: the cost will go up in flames the Alawi state is going to become a reality because of the violence. In your scheme, which you posted twice on this blog, you invited the Turks to invade the coastal areas to prevent the establishment of the Alawi state. Dude: are you Syrian? Do you invite the Turks to invade the coast AGAIN. The Turks are the ones who cut a huge part from the Syrian coast for themselves and called it Hatay. Do you know how many times the Turks invades the Syrian cost.
Hizbistan can no longer shroud its crimes against the Syrian people in secrecy except by using coercive methods against the families of the eliminated hizbis thugs by the Syrian Revolution. Bodies of dead hizbis are flooding back into the graves and their families are threatened to keep their mouths shut and burry them in the thick of the night. Names, families and towns are included in this report.
it is perfectly obvious that America failed to export enough of its TV weeklies to the Arab world. Years of viewing what was to sideline us into drooling cultural slobs might have prevented some of the current bloodletting. After all, having just watched hours of Ozzie & Harriet and The partridge Family, how could you realistically go out and reclaim your nation from usurpers of a weird religious sect?
From reading your posts one has the feeling that you are some superior entity exposing people’s leanings.
Dude, this type of argument does not sell these days.
Back your words with some knowledge instead of personal attacks.
The superior entity that you are runs in the company of Uzair8, the military planner of the Revolution, so no wonder you come up with Lord of the Rings type of solutions without really knowing what the results would be.
Don’t you see that you failed in every test about anything and everything?
Exposing your little knowledge about what is going on in Syria today was easy.
Vulgarity is not the issue here mr. Visitor. What is important is how much do you know and are you fit to talk about the future of Syria?
As for belonging here or not, it is not up to you. You are the type who likes to silence those who disagree with them, especially if they were not from the same sect or religion.
Your like do not belong in this day and age. Sorry to break this news to you. Freedom of speech is not in your menu. Your like can not argue, they want to give orders: and when you test or critique how fit they are to give orders, they want to shut you up.
You think you’re smart and that is your biggest flaw. Because you’re not.
If knowledge is what you’re looking for, then you already know by your nonexistent smartness that this knowledge is obtainable by you from your knowledgeable dog.
So, what exactly are you doing here?
Do you need more hints on why your case is incurable. In fact it is terminal. And you shot yourself in the forehead.
So no matter what you do or say it will always revolve around one and the same subject, your faithful dog, A choice you consciously made and should be made accountable for it.
From the Guardian:
The road to democracy is rarely smooth, but for Egyptian women, it has been exceptionally bumpy. Another barrier was thrown up last month when President Morsi appointed General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as minister of defence.
Sisi is most famous outside Egypt for defending the so-called “virginity tests” administered to female protesters. In March 2011 a group of 17 women were detained, beaten and forced to submit to humiliating vaginal exams. Later they were declared to not be virgins. Sisi justified the tests as a safeguard against abuse while they were being held.
He said: “The procedure was done to protect the girls from rape as well to protect the soldiers and officers from rape accusations.”
The argument was perplexing. Not only did it underline the view that only virgins could be “raped” it paraded a warning to the female population of Egypt: if you oppose the interim military government, you are clearly a loose woman. Now that power has been handed off to Egypt’s first freely elected president, it is disappointing to see how little has changed.
If this destruction was a result of an Al Qaeda terrorist or Nato air strike we wouldn’t hear the end of it from the brain-dead anti-imperialists. But it’s an Assadi bomb, one of dozens or hundreds dropped on Syrian civilians every day.
The regime will fall but the hate will remain. I will never forget those who turned a blind eye toward this destruction or those who actively supported the Assad regime. Never. And I guess they will never forgive me for opposing their criminal, incompetent, murderous, sectarian dictatorship…
Does anybody know of a good discussion forum for Middle East topics?
I really like what the comment area here offers, but the software does not easily lend itself to discussions on multiple topics. A giant comment section is not as usable as a forum with topic threads.
Also, there is virtually no discussion related to the blog articles, partly because of the giant hodge-podge of articles.
This place has *excellent* collection of knowledgeable people, that is good. A subtle problem is those damn thumbs up/down buttons. People use that as a substitute for interaction.
Maybe I will create a forum if there isn’t a good one.
Few comments about the coastal area after reading from and listening to a number of residents:
Due to the relative calm and security in Latakia and Tartous, thousands of Syrians, especially from Aleppo are heading towards these two cities , that led to a real estate mini boom and a big jump in cost of renting apartments and houses, some residents are worried that the need to make money will force many people to open their doors to the highest bidders regardless of where the money is coming from and who are the new tenants, others have even warned that Khaliji money is now being used to bring jihadists posing as refugees in parts of Latakia. As of now, most of the fighting in northern Latakia is on the country side with little or no participation of locals, reports of foreign terrorists have circulated in the net for months,rebels have not been able to make any significant gain on the ground but most people realize that Latakia and Tartous may not stay calm much longer, these areas are too important for both sides and their fall will end any hope for a political settlement of any type in Syria. Rebels were not revived well in Aleppo,and their chances of receiving help in Assahel are next to nothing, that will push the rebels to focus on areas close to Turkey and few spots that are hard hit by poverty and unemployment.
I agree that Assahel is the rebels next target but that area will be the hardest to conquer.
At the price of publicizing Mr. Morsi’s criticism over Syrian state television, Mr. Zoubi accused the new Egyptian president of being a stooge of the United States and Israel, no different than the strongman he replaced, Hosni Mubarak. “The beard is the only difference,” Mr. Zoubi
I do very the little and the little I do requires no gratitude. The video you posted struck me immediately, although I uploaded the pictures almost two months ago and have uploaded nearly 15 thousand other pictures since then I recognized Trad immediately from one of the pictures that I posted earlier.
Trad and his late brother Muheed are a testament to the will and resilience of our people, proving the genocide lovers and cynics wrong.
I too share in your feelings of unforgiving towards those vile genocide cheerleaders, it makes my skin crawl to see emoticons ignorantly pasted beside a video depicting the annihilation of our cities.
The video you posted in 603 is the result of a new Assadi bomb called a Barrel Bomb:
Filled with TNT, oil and chunks of steel, the exploding barrels kill and maim across a wider area than high explosives.
“The sound was like nothing else I’ve ever heard. It was an almighty whoosh,” said Mohammed Ibrahim, a fighter recovering from an explosion that he said was of terrifying intensity caused by such a bomb.
“I was lucky I was standing behind a corner but I was still knocked off my feet. When I came round my ears were bleeding.”
Every tyrant who invades another nation claims it is their ‘right’. Napoleon claimed that. Rome claimed that. Hitler claimed that. A Bolton is known by the company he keeps.
Bolton to Israel: Attack, It’s Your Right !!!!! http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159493#.UEWZY8HN9LE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rrRm_arTJs
Al-Aqsa Anger: ‘Judaization of Jerusalem targets Islamic relics’
Israel has a secret agenda of destroying the Arab-Islamic identity of Jerusalem, and forcing the Muslim population out of the city and their land, Dr. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine told RT.
Sabri accused Israeli authorities of the deliberate Judaization of Jerusalem, and of attempting to gradually take control of the historic Al-Aqsa Mosque.
I share your distaste at some people who devote hours a day to dumping stuff on this forum, saying insensitive, smart ass and ill-informed things about the situation in Syria.
A situation in which they demonstrate daily that they have no genuine stake, background or even interest. Lucky them.
And SHAME on them. I wish they would quit their game, get a real life and allow this forum to regenerate and return to what it once was.
A message to them from one of those brilliant posters created by the heroes in Kafranbel:
“Syria is not a Roman arena to watch and enjoy only.”
The opposition inside Syria opposes foreign intervention, while some leaders of the external opposition – who left the country decades ago and lack popular support – see intervention as a way to return, argues Agnes Mariam, a local Christian leader.
The internal, unarmed civilian opposition – which does not belong to any party – wants change, but without violence and widespread destruction, stressed Mariam, the Mother Superior of the monastery of James the Mutilated in Syria’s Qara.
RT: You’ve been in Syria for 12 years. Has there been a difference in your work these years, and in the recent months of uprisings and violence?
Agnes Mariam: Of course, we’ve been facing a reality that is becoming more and more tragic and dramatic. It is a real dissent. For us it was new because we’ve worked in Syria for restoration of the monastery since 1994.
We could really appreciate the security in Syria, which of course is imposed by a regime that is very strong and sometimes sort of totalitarian. But nevertheless, the reality is that everybody was living in security.
When the uprising began we were very happy, because we always felt that there was a need for a change. But very quickly we got bad news from local witnesses from Daraa, Homs and Damascus.
Those civilians, without any political position, they were telling us stories that were contrary to what we saw on the television. So we took position for the objective truth, the real information and also for solidarity, because slowly by slowly, you had to help opposition when there were hundreds of people detained.
RT: So you were also helping the opposition?
AM: Yes, to what we call the internal, civilian opposition, which does not belong to any party and is not armed. We used to have only peaceful demonstrations. In our village, we helped to free people. Also, if there was a need for humanitarian help. We even had opposition meetings in our monastery. And the first appeal for dialogue and reconciliation was in our monastery.
RT: You’re very well aware of the criticism that has been thrown your way. What is your relationship with the Assad regime?
AM: I have no relationship with the regime. We’re a religious entity, and our authority is religious. It is not political or even civilian. We had a mainstream reporter that came to Syria, and for a while I went with him on the scene in December [2011]. Then in January, I asked to go to the opposition camp where I could help as an eyewitness.
In the beginning, we did not even know who all those people were. They were one of the unidentified armed gangs. We didn’t know who they were, but they were spreading chaos, disorder, killings and abductions. They knew many kinds of methods to destabilize a country. and also how to implement a kind of preparation for a civil war.
For example, they would kill targeted people, Alawi for example. I have seen in Homs a flock of blood because a day before those unidentified gangs beheaded nine Alawi people – just because they were Alawi. I saw it with my own eyes.
I asked the Sunni population, “Who do you think perpetrated those crimes?” but they did not know. They said those people were dressed as soldiers. Do you think they could be [Assad’s] soldiers?
What do you want me to do? I cannot shut up. If nobody is reporting this, I feel that if I know it and do not report it, I’m helping the criminals. And after, even Human Rights Watch began to talk about things perpetrated by armed insurrectionists affiliated with the opposition. They were crimes against humanity.
RT: The Syrians in general – do they want regime change?
AM: I think yes. The regime has fallen, and there will never ever be the same regime again.
The Christians have been discriminated against not because they are Christians, but because by being Christians they couldn’t participate in Islamist demonstrations. Sometimes, this led to severe violence against them. You know, we had more than 200,000 Christians that had to flee out [of Syria] because of this ambiguous position.
We have to discern between the external [and internal] opposition. Some of the opposition leaders outside of Syria, they have never been back to Syria for 30 years. So they don’t have popular support. They want to be able to come, but with the help of foreign military intervention.
But we have an interior opposition which doesn’t want this kind of intervention. They want changes, but without violence and without destroying everything.
RT: When we talk about a solution, a third way in this conflict, how is this going to happen given that there are a lot of guns in the streets? How can this solution work, and what exactly can be done?
AM: There is a lot of violence, as you know. But it is not everywhere in Syria. The violence is happening near the borders, and is following a specific plan. But in the inner country, you have a large number of people and lands which are not under violence. Also, even in the cities, where there is violence, they have tasted so much of what could be [in Syria] if the country follows Iraq, which is now completely destroyed.
Many of the opposition are beginning to think and to say that that violence is not the way.
Over the last year, more than 1,000 have been invited to the Sahara tourist complex [in Damascus] to think about this third way. The name of this third way is the ‘Musalaha initiative.’ The Musalaha initiative does not come from the opposition or the regime, it comes from the silent majority of the Syrian people, from the leaders of families, tribes and clans. And also from religious leaders.
They met together, and they were very active discussing challenges that nobody can solve but them.
For example, in Homs you had many families completely trapped on the streets and controlled by the [external] opposition. The army was going to bomb them, so they were in great danger. They were trapped for one month, and nobody knew what to do. So Musalaha intervened. They had relatives both among the opposition and among people on the streets. They held secret negotiation and [the people trapped on the streets] could make it out.
RT: There are other Catholic Christian figures who don’t agree with you. They think Syrians need outside help and intervention, yet you both are from the same [Catholic] community. What do you think of this?
AM: I want to say that the Syrian people should define themselves what they want. My claim is: Leave the Syrian people alone! The majority of the Syrian people want change, but the change through peace, dialogue and reconciliation.
I hope that the social tissue in Syria is so strong that they will make a new social pact on a new basis, without the ideology of political parties. It will be stronger, it will be better and it is open to a new future, full of contemporaneous achievements.
UNICEF’s 1600 Death Count in Syria Came From MEDIA, Not OCHA
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 3 — On Syria, the UN announces to the media death figures which are derived, Inner City Press has learned, from the media itself.
Then these are circularly sourced to “UN documents” and given more weight than they should be.
UNICEF on August 31 and September 2 offered Syria casualty figures it refused to explain, but which went out all over the world.
After UNICEF’s Patrick McCormick was quoted that “at least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week” and Reuters said he was “citing a U.N. document,” Inner City Press early on September 2 asked McCormick, which document? And how was the data collected?
McCormick replied to Inner City Press, “call OCHA” — the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
After three separate inquiries with OCHA, and McCormick refusing to respond to follow-up questions, Inner City Press has just been informed by OCHA’s spokesman in Geneva that
“The estimated figure of 1,600 persons was arrived at from UNICEF’s own internal monitoring of different media sources. The figure does not come from OCHA.”
The key phrase here is “media sources” — UNICEF took the number from news reports, despite the adjective “different” and the reference to “internal monitoring OF media sources.” Essentially, UNICEF reads reports on the Internet.
But where do these news reports come from?
Increasingly, Western wire services take their casualty figures from “non-governmental organizations” or, more accurately, “activists.” Sometimes, at least, the sourcing is disclosed as such.
But by laundering the activists figures through the UN system, as UNICEF has done, the figures take on the veneer of objectivity.
Reuters’ report said that McCormick has “citing a UN document.”
Inner City Press repeatedly checked, and fourd on OCHA’s ReliefWeb site a UNICEF report stating that “a record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.” So it appeared even then that UNICEF’s McCormick was quoting a UNICEF report.
But, tellingly, UNICEF’s spokesman McCormick could or would not explain UNICEF’s own numbers. Why else pass the buck to OCHA?
This seemed strange anyway: in 2009 OCHA refused to release very specific casualty figures — 2,683 — it had collected in Sri Lanka.
At the time, the UN told Inner City Press it is not in the business of counting the dead — Inner City Press thought and thinks the UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
Inner City Press immediately on September 2 did try to contact OCHA. But OCHA’s lead spokesperson is away, as was one of the two referred-to replacements. The other did not initially respond. Nor did McCormick, to follow-ups.
Inner City Press asked OCHA:
Hi, I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but when I asked UNICEF for the source of its figure of 1,600 killed last week in Syria, I was told to “call OCHA.” I checked ReliefWeb and found a UNICEF report where it’s stated “A record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.”
Press question on deadline, I’m sorry to say, since this figure is going out all over the world: reported by whom? Where do the figures come from? Does the figure cited include military deaths? Deaths among armed groups?
Seems important to answer this, especially since the UN system in other contexts has said it does not have access (in Syria at least since UNSMIS left) and / or does not count the dead (I was told this regarding Sri Lanka in 2009 — I thought and think that UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
Does OCHA has casualty figures beyond the above-quoted (but unsourced) UNICEF report?
The next day, OCHA replied:
Subject: Re: I was told to “call OCHA” about UNICEF’s statement of 1,600 killed in Syria last week: reported by whom? Thanks
From: Jens Laerke [at] un.org
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Date: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 4:48 AM
Dear Matthew
At a media briefing in Geneva last Friday, a UNICEF spokesperson gave an estimated figure for the number of deaths in Syria over the previous week.
The estimated figure of 1,600 persons was arrived at from UNICEF’s own internal monitoring of different media sources.
The figure does not come from OCHA.
Hope this helps, Best regards
Jens Laerke, Spokesperson & Public Information Officer OCHA Geneva
Inner City Press’ initial questioning was picked up by the UK Guardian, as was the above-quoted OCHA response.
Still UNICEF’s number continues to proliferate. Voice of America at 2 pm on September 2 dutifully quoted McCormick on the numbers for UNICEF, headed by Anthony Lake. Click here for Washington Post; UNICEF’s one-week 1600 death count has since been in, among others, Canada’s big newspapers, GlobalPost, IBT, Slate, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast – and in the UN’s host city, New York Post and New York Daily News.
Since then, the Jamaica Observer, VOA-affiliated Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, San Francisco Chronicle, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Detroit Free Press, South China Morning Post, and more.
More doubts should have been raised: in Syria in 2012, the UN’s mission has left after UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said that even observers in armored cars can’t get around. How would OCHA have collected figures of the type it refused to release in Sri Lanka in 2009, and why would it (well, UNICEF) release them about Syria in 2012?
I was sorry to read in the NY Times how mr. Landis distorts the reason for the increase in sectarian hatred in Syria.
The real reason is that we have a fundamentalist Sunni uprising that tries broaden its base by appealing to sectarian instincts. Unfortunately mr. Landis is supporting them in that.
I advise the FSA to surrender and submit to their superiors – Assad’s Commandos.
We have won, now it is the time to go out and hunt down, and I’m thinking of re-joining the Army and enjoying myself. I haven’t picked up my AK 47 Rifle since October 1990 when I put it down after crushing the Zionists in Beirut, and now I will pick it up again to defend Syria and Assad and crush Islamists in Aleppo.
I feel very excited, just as I was feeling on the eve of my unit’s first deployment to Lebanon in 1978 to fight the Zionists, and my first gunbattle with Ikhwanist terrorists in Aleppo in 1980.
Now I am going to return to Aleppo once again after more than 30 years to kill more Ikhwani and Salafi terrorists.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FpK_BLxZcTQ/T1-GQwqDXCI/AAAAAAAACCk/2gd9Wdkqbqg/s1600/putin-bear.jpg
Romney’s pre-election rhetoric on Russia unacceptable – Putin’s spokesman http://rt.com/politics/romney-russia-us-peskov-068/
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary has blasted Mitt Romney’s anti-Russian statements and said relations between the countries must not become hostage to the politician’s election battle.
Dmitry Peskov was asked to comment on Romney saying he was not going to be as flexible in relations with Russia as his opponent President Barak Obama.
“As the head of the state [Vladimir Putin] has repeatedly stressed, Russia always has been and in future always will be interested in the further development of bilateral Russian-American relations,” Peskov told reporters.
He added that senior officials from both countries have stressed that bilateral relations shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of an election.
“We are sure that this is wrong. We know the official Washington point of view,” Putin’s spokesman added.
On Thursday, in his acceptance speech delivered at the US Republican Party convention, presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed to toughen Washington’s stance on Russia if he makes it to the White House.
“Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone,” Romney stated.
I don’t mind Hassan. Assad supporters or the sectarian opponents of the revolution will not condemn this vile speech because he is an accurate representation of how they truly think. Killing Syrians in order to dominate them because they are the promised ones who were chosen to rule the country.
RIYADH // Saudi Arabia called for aid to help Yemen which needs US$11 billion (Dh40.4bn) to weather a tough political transition triggered by Arab Spring protests.
Related
“Yemen is facing many economic problems … the kingdom hopes to see more contributions,” said Ibrahim Al Assaf, the Saudi finance minister, as he opened a Yemen donors meeting in Riyadh held at the level of experts and ambassadors.
Saudi Arabia had pledged US$3.25bn in aid at a meeting of Friends of Yemen held in Riyadh in May during which a total of $4bn were pledged.
Yemen’s Planning and International Cooperation Minister, Mohammed Al Saadi, said last week that his country needs $11bn in foreign aid.
“Our needs are $14 billion. The Yemeni government can cover some part, but there remains a gap of $11 billion,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia promised to deposit $1bn in Yemen’s central bank to support its currency.
Even France media is observing the growth of jihadism in Aleppo.
“Yet at the heart of the battle, the group of fighters don’t have just military interests. “What do you think of Osama bin Laden?” asks a fighter in English, in a tone that freezes the atmosphere. Throughout the day, there are more black flags, more cuts beard-specific trends of Salafists, more clothes reminiscent of Afghanistan rather than urban Syria among combatants. Especially on the fronts toughest in the main rebel enclave that extends around the neighborhood of Salahuddin, in the western part of Aleppo.
..
There is also a group of Libyans, members of the Islamist groups who are the next big question in the future of Syria.
One of them, Feras, smiled, explaining: “One night, in Libya, I had a dream I’d liberate Syria. Now I live that dream.” Sheikh Walid Chlech stops him as he wants that that all the fighters appear to be Syrians.
HALABI, you are the losers, you have lost this War as you have lost in 1982, God has chosen Assad and His Men to rule Syria because of our exceptional capabilities, our courage and our superior military prowess. WE WILL ALWAYS WIN.
And those that Win have the right to kill and take women, this is the rule of War, it has happened in all Wars. Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany in 1945 and killed a lot of Germans and took a lot of German women, we will do the same, STALIN IS OUR TEACHER.
By the way, those who oppose PRESIDENT ASSAD and SYRIAN ARAB ARMY are NOT SYRIANS. You are not Syrians, revolution supporters, you are illegitmate children of Saudis and Turks. Your mind is Turkish, and your heart and soul is Saudi.
Well said Hassan and thanks for articulating the regime supporter/revolution opponent position. It reminds us all what we are fighting against. On another note, I wonder what part of my body is Israeli, given the Saudi/Turkish components. I hope the answer is creative but vulgar enough to make your mother proud.
If the fighters seeking to oust Mr. Assad sometimes portray their battle as a struggle for democracy, the Sunni Muslim children of the Zaatari camp tell a much uglier story of sectarian revenge. Asked for their own views of the grown-up battle that drove them from their homes, child after child brought up their hatred of the Alawites and a thirst for revenge. Children as young as 10 or 11 vowed never to play with Syrian Alawite children or even pledged to kill them.
Parroting older relatives — some of whom openly egged them on — the youngsters offered a disturbing premonition of the road ahead for Syria.
…
“I hate the Alawites and the Shiites,” Ibtisam said as a crowd of children and adults nodded in agreement. “We are going to kill them with our knives, just like they killed us.”
….
Syrian children at a playground last week at a refugee camp in Zaatari, Jordan. Many speak of exacting revenge on the Alawites when they get back home
….
“Now the Alawites believe — possibly correctly — that the Sunnis are going to try to kill them, and that is why the Alawite Army now is killing Sunnis in this beastly way,” Professor Landis said. “The Alawites feel justified in brutality because they fear what may be in store for them if they lay down their guns.”
“I don’t see any way out of that,” he said, “except to say that we are in for a long, difficult ride, and you pray that the Syrians are going to get over this somehow.”
Jordan returns 40 Syrian families to their country – 2012-09-04
AMMONNEWS- A Jordanian source on Tuesday revealed that Syrian families residing in Za’tari tent camp in Mafraq, located in the north-east of the country, fled the camp and others returned to Syria upon their request. The source who preferred to keep his identity anonymous also told the Associated Press that about 40 Syrian families returned to their country over the last two days upon their request by two coaches.
In the same vein, a high security source has recently stated that about 2000 Syrian refugees moved to the Syrian Naseeb centre at the borders after signing the required documents.
Your `israel roots are showing. You can stop this charade now.
Ann,
Actually, I think Assad should be given the annual, “Elder Of Zion Award”, since he and his backers have done more to destroy Syria then any “hardline” Israeli could even imagine.
Yes, the Golan wines are flowing and delightful, and I see Nasrallah, Nejad, and the “Long Neck Geek” have their eyes on the ball: death, poverty, no basic rights and only despair for the people they claim to “serve”.
Labour MP Paul Goggins said young people from the UK who had travelled to Syria to fight in the conflict there would represent a threat upon their return. Responding, Foreign Secretary William Hague said that any British nationals involved in terror…
Labour MP Peter Hain asked why the Government had not promoted a negotiated settlement for Syria. It was about ending a horrific civil war, he said. He asked if was time to change course. Responding, Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Britain…
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has revealed that his government authorized and facilitated “limited contacts” between the UK agents and representatives of the so-called Free Syrian Army.
The contacts were part of a conspiracy hatched by Britain’s spying apparatus and the U.S. spying agencies to topple the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“The UK’s own Special Representative to the Syrian Opposition continues to meet oppositionist groups in the region,” Hague said in a statement to the country’s House of Commons on Monday.
Earlier in August, a senior rebel admitted that British intelligence was playing a covert role in the civil war by providing information about the movement of Syrian armed forces to terrorists fighting the Syrian government.
“British intelligence is observing things closely from Cyprus. It’s very useful because they find out a great deal,” the senior rebel said.
“The British are giving the information to the Turks and the Americans and we are getting it from the Turks”, he added.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also admitted that London has provided “an extra £5 million in non-lethal practical assistance to help protect rebel groups and so-called human rights activists in Syria.”
Hague also announced that Britain was increasing its “bilateral support for the [Lebanese] government and armed forces as they grapple with insecurity caused by Syria’s conflict.”
listen to what does this genius! when he was a player, he is a handsome. And when some one playing with him ,then he is suffering from Rabies.
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Corrupt-to-the bones Iranian mullah regime is going broke. Employees will not receive salaries, busineeses declaring bankruptcies while inflation is hitting the roof. Iranians will soon join their Syrian counterparts in their fight against the scourge of evil,
MOSCOW, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — A visiting Syrian opposition group said here Tuesday that it is against the establishment of any preconditions for starting a nationwide political dialogue in the unrest-torn country.
“We oppose any preconditions to be set for the launch of the dialogue,” said Fathi Jamous, leader of the Coalition Forces for Peaceful Change in Syria, who met with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Preconditions would “only deepen the crisis and the price for overcoming it would be much higher,” Jamous added.
He praised Russia’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, saying “unlike the West, Moscow has adopted a right position, from any point of view, both morally and legally.”
As regards the claims by some Western countries on conducting military intervention if the Syrian authorities use chemical weapons, Jamous said he does not think the Syrian government would take such risky steps.
It is just the pretext Western players need for their interference, which is “far from reality,” he said.
Bogdanov, for his part, expressed Russia’s willingness to continue “intensive contacts” with influential figures in the Syrian opposition, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
DAMASCUS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Moallem on Tuesday called for halting violence and launching comprehensive dialogue to end the domestic crisis, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
Al-Moallem made the remarks during his meeting with the visiting Philippines’ Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, during which al-Moallem stressed Syria’s stance which calls for halting violence from all sides, stopping foreign interference in its affairs and launching a comprehensive dialogue that would help active participation in building the future of Syria.
For his side, the Philippine official expressed his country’s solidarity with Syria to come out of the crisis through a political solution that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people and preserves its security and stability.
“The screensaver on his Nokia phone is a picture of his younger brother Ahmad, killed on Aug. 10 when the government shelled their hometown of Barri. It was the same day that Abboud Barri’s unit took 21 prisoners on the last day of the confrontation in Kfranbel. “Five officers and 21 soldiers. We kept three alive,” he says, “to interrogate them.””
Moscow said on Tuesday that it is willing to continue contacts with influential figures in the Syrian opposition in an effort to quell violence in the Arab Republic.
The Russian president’s special representative on the Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, met in Moscow on Tuesday with a delegation from the Coalition of Forces for Peaceful Change, a Syrian opposition group.
The two sides discussed the crisis situation in Syria and the prospects for its normalization.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, the Syrian side spoke highly of Russia’s “principle-based and consistent line” as a means for achieving “an immediate end to the violence.”
Moscow has on previous occasions held talks with both the Syrian government as well as the political opposition, a strategy at variance with that of Western governments, many of which have taken sides in the protracted showdown.
The Syrian and Russian diplomats also discussed ways to address the “acute political and socioeconomic problems…via a broad national dialogue without preconditions and external diktat,” the ministry statement added.
Moscow said it continues to support the peace plan put forward by Kofi Annan, the former UN Syria envoy who resigned after six months of attempting to broker for peace.
“Bogdanov reiterated the willingness of the Russian side to continue intensive contacts with influential figures in the Syrian opposition in the interests of consolidating its policies on the basis of the Kofi Annan plan and the provisions of the Geneva communique,” it said.
On June 30, 2012, the Action Group for Syria (which includes the Foreign Ministers of China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, and the EU High Representative) met at the UN Office at Geneva to secure an immediate cessation of violence in all its forms.
The Action Group also agreed on guidelines and principles for a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people, among other requirements.
In a separate conference on Tuesday in the Russian capital, Vyacheslav Matuzov, president of the Society of Friendship and Business Cooperation with the Arab Countries, said the only way of resolving the Syrian issue is through diplomacy.
“Attempts at the solution of problems like the one in Syria by military means have discredited themselves,” he said. “The Western policy is at a dead end. Peace talks must be conducted.”
Meanwhile, Nadim Shehadi, an expert on Syria and Lebanon from the Royal Institute of International Affairs, believes it is necessary to prevent the conflict from spreading from Syria to other areas.
“The responsibility shall be borne by those who started this war, which will cause serious harm not only to Syria, but to the whole Arab world,” he said in a video linkup between Moscow and London.
648
He knows too much not be one of your type, if what he said was true, that he 1st served in 1978, that will make him one of your Uncle Rifats men sarya aldefaa,
To all who never experienced life in Syria, all you have to do is imagine Hassan and Ann and multiply that by about half a million to see who was running the country for that last 40 years, mind you those 2 caricatures are the educated version of most of the rest
If the opposition has preconditions for a dialog, the Syrian government has too.
Good luck Ibrahimi!
Syria says no dialogue before it crushes rebels
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-says-no-dialogue-crushes-rebels-195145122.html
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian regime said Monday there will be no dialogue with the opposition before the army crushes the rebels, the latest sign that President Bashar Assad is determined to solve the crisis on the battlefield even if many more of his people have to pay with their lives.
The statement comes a day after activists reported that August was the bloodiest month since the uprising began in March 2011.
“There will be no dialogue with the opposition prior to the Syrian army’s imposition of security and stability in all parts of the country,” Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told reporters at a news conference in Damascus.
The opposition has long rejected any talks with the regime until Assad is removed from power.
Muhieddine Lathkani, an opposition figure based in Britain, responded to the minister’s comments by saying “the key to any dialogue will be the departure of Assad and dismantling of the regime’s security agencies that committed all these crimes.”
“SYRIAN rebels have laid siege to Harem, on the Turkish border, confronting the army and security forces positioned in government buildings and the town’s old castle, an AFP correspondent reports. The battle for control of the northern town lasted all day Sunday, with the rebels reporting that many of the 20,000 or so residents had taken up arms and were fighting alongside the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.”
[…] http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/syria-rebels-besiege-town-on-turkey-border/story-e6frf7k6-1226463620215
“In all the crises I have covered as a journalist over more than 25 years, I do not remember any other state being so enthusiastic to receive refugees from a neighboring country.”
Davutoglu’s strategy was to force the international community to form a safe zone in Syria by engineering the refugee crisis, and to topple the Syrian regime this way. Turkey’s demand for a safe zone has not been accepted or supported.
If this is to continue as such, Turkey will be left alone with the refugees it has vacuumed from Syria.
I have consciously selected the expression “vacuum refugees.” In all the crises I have covered as a journalist over more than 25 years, I do not remember any other state being so enthusiastic to receive refugees from a neighboring country.
In normal circumstances, states do not create promoting circumstances for refugees to come from neighboring countries. On the contrary, they would try to deter them. Ours did just the opposite. For example, in April, while there were 25,000 Syrian refugees in a total of eight camps, there was an adequate infrastructure capacity with relative comfort for another 25,000. They were waiting for more Syrians to come. Now, the number of refugees is over 80,000, but in the meantime this policy has collapsed.
King Abdullah needs to know that in light of the calls for freedom and democracy, there is no room for such harsh measures against freedom of the media in the Arab world.
Is Jordan’s King Abdullah trying to hide something from his people and the rest of the world?
Last week, the king managed to alienate journalists, bloggers and human rights and political activists by allowing his government to amend a law so it could impose severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including the blocking of websites.
The king’s move will boomerang, encouraging his opponents to step up their efforts to destabilize the kingdom.
The drive to impose restrictions on the media and on freedom of speech has been condemned by many Jordanians as an attempt to silence the opposition and calls for reform and accountability.
…The proposed amendment requires the registration and licensing of online news media, social networks, review sites, media sharing services and blogs.
It also calls for significant fines and penalties against online media owners who break the law. The owners of websites will also be held responsible for the content of comments published by readers on their sites.
…
President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday said Syria welcomes humanitarian operations carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the Syrian ground as long as it works independently and neutrally,”
The President’s words came during his meeting with Head of the ICRC Peter Maurer.
Talks during the meeting dealt with the standing cooperation between the ICRC and the Syrian government and setting the appropriate mechanisms for enhancing this cooperation.
[ . . . ]
Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad, Director of Organizations Department at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry Hussam-Eddin Ala and Head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Abdul Rahman al-Attar attended the meeting.
Last September, President al-Assad received the former head of ICRC and stressed the necessity of the committee to directly inspect the reality of the situation in Syria ,particularly in light of the media distortion of the facts.
President al-Assad welcomed the work of the Committee as long as it is independent, works objectively and away from politicization.
[ . . . ]
Mikdad stressed the Syrian government’s commitment to facilitating the mission of the International Committee and providing all means to carry out its activities in line with principles regulating its work, particularly neutrality, independence and achieving its humanitarian goals.
Incapable of setting a serious strategy to oust Bashar Al Assad, the West is encouraging mushrooming post-Assad “strategies” and ‘action plans” with pompous titles, discriminating against any country that objected to a forced regime change.
BERLIN (AP) — A Syrian opposition leader called Tuesday for a massive aid program to help rebuild his country after President Bashar Assad’s regime falls, warning that a lack of economic development could open the door to extremism.
…
Sieda also warned that any nation now helping the Assad regime could not expect to get its money back under a new government. “The Syrian people are not bound by any contract signed by the regime after the beginning of this revolution, or any sale of treasury bonds or purchase of weapons or contracts with any country,” he said.
Archbishop fears for the fate of Christians in Syria
He pointed out that Christians and other minorities will suffer now because under President Bashar al-Assad’s regime they were protected.
“Assad’s government protected these minorities and Christians and now if the extremists prevail in Syria, minorities and Christians will be the first to suffer the consequences, this worries us,” he said.
Saudi campaigner Mohammad al-Qahtani goes on trial
Prominent human rights activist Mohammad al-Qahtani has gone on trial in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Qahtani, an economics professor, faces nine charges, including setting up an unlicensed organisation and breaking allegiance to the king.
Another rights campaigner, Abdullah al-Hamid, also appeared in court.
Human rights groups say political activists are regularly jailed for their work in Saudi Arabia, some without access to lawyers.
……………………………………………………….
Isn’t Saudiya promoting democracy, freedom, equality, freedom of speech and human rights in Syria via financing and arming the FSA? I wonder what Amjad has to say about this?
Perhaps Taqiya Tara will voice her opinions as she does on everything, considering she has repeatedly praised the Saudi Kingdom?
Intolerance against religious minorities in Pakistan has been on the rise.
And some Pakistani Christians in the UK feel it is not safe for them to return home because of the risk of persecution or the misuse of controversial blasphemy laws.
Uzair the Pakistani dares to lecture Syrians on what’s good for them and incite violence in Syria. Pakistanis whether they are in their cursed homeland or abroad: have shown themselves to be bigots and terrorists. The treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Pakistan is a disgrace.
I talked to a Syrian who is outside the country on a temproray visit! She told me she has to leave because she can’t take it anymore, she is having a nervous break down!.
life in Syria is like a multiple personality disorder, somearea of Damascus living a normal life for a while, others are a war zone as reported in the news media.
The common people still in support of Assad in part or in total and many feels that this is all an outside conspiracey by the west and the Arabs.
Even many feel that Assad is not the most democractic leader but they still don’t want democracy brought by the western packed salafis, Wahabis, foreign mercenaries.
Add to this that many of the people who left Syria to the neighboring countries are returning if THEY CAN.
it is very expensive to be in Jordan, lebanon, Turkey, or even EGYPT.
obviously, the PIGS of GCC Dont and didn’t take any Syrians and Visas are not given for Syrians to go to GCC countries.
Assad is not an innocent leader but he is going to Emerge the winner accoding to this person, given all the destruction and killing done by the wahabis.
Syrian people in the last 2 decades became more open to the west and at some point living in Syria was preferred to immigrating for many of the syrians.
She still has hope that life will go back to where it was peaceful.
I informed her that as long as the West and its zionists packed wahabis are continuing to send the wahabis retarded stone age imam oriented idiots; Syria will never have peace.
There are hacks, and then there are hacks. After this morning’s apparent Apple UDID dump, Al-Jazeera’s English website has been defaced in about the most conspicuous way possible. But who’s responsible?
Clearly someone with a bone to pick with Al-Jazeera. But who is this Al-Rashedon? An opponent of Al-Jazeera’s coverage of Syrian civil war? The Syrian flag is clear in the top right. Is it just some Arabic lulz hooligan? If you read Arabic, we’d love to know more. Until then, we’ll wait for Al-Jazeera to scramble and clean this up. [Al-Jazeera]
Update: Ding ding ding, Syria! A quick translation gives the following, roughly:
“We have hacked you because your lack of support of Syrian government and militant groups backed by that government. Al Jazeera has been spreading lies. We’re compelled to do so on behalf of the Syrian people.”
Update 2: Some readers are reporting the .net variant is showing up as defaced, rather than .com, while others can’t get the site to load at all.
Maya Naser?
Demonstration now in Yabroud of #Damascus countryside against militias led by local woman named Sameera Kabbour and the slogan is “Yabroud is free free, FSA leave us” and militias shoot at them killing one civilian Sameer Kabbour https://twitter.com/nasermaya/status/243060386956460032
In the Arab world, friends of Russia on the order more than your idiots pro-Western! wake up!U.S. all the time bombed Libya twice, occupied Iraq, Sudan bombed again , also bombed Somalia, Lebanon was bombed, invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan, often killing people by drones! and you want to say that the missiles Cruise and Timahawk the seeds of love!
Al-Qaeda Leader Strikes Deal With U.S., Saudis To Send 5,000 Fighters to Syria http://www.prisonplanet.com/al-qaeda-leader-strikes-deal-with-u-s-saudis-to-send-5000-fighters-to-syria.html
Yemeni Jihadist personally trained by Bin Laden
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, September 3, 2012
A militant who fought alongside Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and is now the leader of a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda in South Yemen has struck a deal with the United States and Saudi Arabia to send 5,000 Al-Qaeda fighters into Syria according to reports out of the Middle East…..
US downgrades anti-missile drills with Israel; sends CIA’s Petraeus instead to ease tensions http://rt.com/usa/news/us-israel-petraeus-iran-368/
Only days after the United States announced that it will be scaling down its role in a joint-missile exercise with Israel scheduled for later this year, the US has sent CIA Director David Petraeus overseas to handle damage control.
Petraeus, the 59-year-old former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, arrived in Israel on Monday to deal with what the Jewish state’s Debka news agency calls the “flames of discord” that have been fanned feverishly in recent days thanks to the latest news on a missile drill slated for next month.
The United States had previously agreed to participate at the beginning of 2012 in what was expected to be the largest joint missile exercise ever between the US and Israel, only for the program to be pushed back to October. Now the US says that they are drastically scaling back on the degree to which they are taking part, not just revoking its number of troops involved by more than one-third, but also calling into question how serious the United States might be about helping out allies in Israel in the event of a war with Iran, an outcome some have suggested is all but eventually certain.
“Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you,’” one senior Israeli military official tells Time Magazine this week on condition of anonymity……….
ISTANBUL—The Turkish government, which is spearheading efforts to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, is facing public skepticism over its Syria policy as the civil war next door increasingly spills across the border.
Developments in recent weeks have magnified Turks’ unease over Syria’s 18-month uprising.
More than 82,000 Syrians have now sought refuge in Turkey, at a cost of around $300 million to the Turkish government, Ankara said Tuesday, as Turkish border towns that relied on trade with Syria have seen economic activity wither and unemployment rise. Turkish television is showing footage of the country’s nationals, which have been kidnapped in Syria and Lebanon by groups loyal to Damascus, targeting Turks seemingly due to Ankara’s anti-Assad stance.
Above all, Turkey is facing its bloodiest summer since the early 1990s. The militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which lawmakers and commentators say is emboldened by the Syria crisis, is stepping up attacks against security forces and civilians.
The result has been a blizzard of criticism from Turkey’s media and opposition parties that has appeared to feed public unease that the government’s hawkish policy—which includes hosting the opposition Syrian National Council, offering haven to the Free Syrian Army’s leadership and reinforcing the border with tanks—could draw Turkey further into the sectarian conflict.
“The public now see the Syria issue and the PKK issue as one,” said Atilla Yesilada, political analyst at Global Source Partners, an Istanbul-based research firm. “They believe the government’s failure to oust Assad after hawkish promises has strengthened the PKK and made Turkey less secure. It’s hurting the government’s popularity as Syria seems headed for a crucial moment.”
Opinion polls, which before the summer, showed solid public support for the government’s Syria policy, have reversed course. One survey from pollster Andy-Ar Center for Social Research last week showed 67% of voters disapprove of Ankara’s handling of the Syrian crisis. A separate July poll from the Institute of Strategic Thinking, an Ankara-based think tank, showed 49% of Turks oppose the government’s policy, up from 32% in March.
In recent interviews, Mr. Assad has appeared eager to heighten domestic political divisions between Ankara and Turks who are skeptical over its policy. “The Turkish people are our friends and they will understand us,” Mr. Assad told Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet in an interview in July. “It doesn’t matter if the Turkish government considers Syria an enemy. If Turkish people should start harboring animosity, that would mean there is a problem.”
Much of Turkish opposition lawmakers’ and commentators’ ire has focused on Turkey’s high-profile Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, seen as the architect of Turkey’s more expansive foreign policy. A year ago, Mr. Assad was Exhibit A in Mr. Davutoglu’s “zero-problems-with-neighbors” foreign policy, which boosted relations with Muslim regimes, while downgrading ties with former ally Israel.
On Tuesday, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party said that it would seek a vote of no-confidence against him.
Analysts stress that the there is little chance that Mr. Davutoglu would lose his job given the AKP’s popularity under Mr. Erdogan. But they also stress that growing unease at the government’s hawkish Syria policy could spark internal debates among party leaders at a crucial phase of Syria’s conflict.
“For the first time in years the AKP is coming face to face with a public challenge to its support,” said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels. “There is the perception now that their Syria policy is not in the national interest and has actually raised the security risk.”
681. Warren said:
“Archbishop fears for the fate of Christians in Syria
He pointed out that Christians and other minorities will suffer now because under President Bashar al-Assad’s regime they were protected.”
It’s human nature to prefer the devil that you know.
There are devils within the rebellion. It is not necessary that they prevail and dominate. IF the Christian community joined the rebellion, they could have a positive influence.
Assad’s clan is not going to rule over Syria in the long term. God knows what the future will be.
683. erin said:
“The common people still in support of Assad in part or in total and many feels that this is all an outside conspiracey by the west and the Arabs.”
Sounds like people there believe the state-controled media. They’ve had a steady diet all their lives.
Totalitarian regimes breed a large number of sheep who are afraid of change and the outside world. That’s how totalitarian regimes maintain control. There are still plenty of people in Libya with Ghadaffi shrines. Joe Stalin is still a hero for some older Russians.
I hope by the end of this we won’t have a single Mig, helicopter gunship or tank left in the country. Syria isn’t at any risk of being invaded, and the evidence for that is the absence of the military on many borders hasn’t invited an invasion. Of course there is the question of Golan, but only the insane would think that a military that can’t take over Aleppo in 49 days from lightly armed rebels is capable of defeating Israel.
# 698. HALABI said: ” I hope by the end of this we won’t have a single Mig, helicopter gunship or tank left in the country. Syria isn’t at any risk of being invaded, and the evidence for that is the absence of the military on many borders hasn’t invited an invasion”
FACT: The only enemy of the Syrian government and its army is the Syrian people. The reason for the current army’s existence.
That’s always been the reality. And now we see it played out and demonstrated to the maximum, all pretense abandoned.
“FACT: The only enemy of the Syrian government and its army is the Syrian people. The reason for the current army’s existence.”
CORRECTION:
The only enemies of the Syrian people are the Nazi criminal thugs occupying Damascus and the the killing machine falsely parading as National Syrian Army.
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Syria said on Tuesday that it would fully cooperate with Lakhdar Brahimi, the new joint special representative of the UN and the Arab League, to bring an end to the 18-month crisis in the country.
The statement came as Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian permanent representative to the United Nations, addressed the UN General Assembly about the crisis that has plagued his country since March 2011.
“I would like to emphasize that the resignation of Mr. Kofi Annan should not be a reason to keep away from the six-point plan adopted by the Security Council Resolution 2042,” he said.
“We call upon all the parties — Arab, regional and international — which have influence on the armed groups, particularly those states which had refused to receive Kofi Annan and refused to cooperate with him, all those states whose representatives made destructive, negative statements days after Mr. Kofi Annan took over.
RICHARD #696 said: “IF the Christian community joined the rebellion, they could have a positive influence.”
Interesting thought. I have read that many Christian communities in the west have been praying for ALL Syrian people who are suffering at the Assad regime’s hands, regardless of religion.
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint special representative of the UN and Arab League for Syria, said here Tuesday that “the future of Syria will be built by its people and none other.”
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Syria, Brahimi said, “The future of Syria will be built by its people and none other. The support of the international community is indispensable and urgent. ”
“It will only be effective if all put in the same direction,” he said.
Brahimi, the former Algerian foreign minister and a widely respected UN official, formally replaced Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, as the international mediator on the Syrian conflict on Sept. 1.
Annan announced his resignation from the post of UN-Arab League joint envoy to Syria in early August in frustration over his failure to mediate a way out of the 18-month Syrian conflict.
“As I told the secretary-general a few days ago, I will spare no effort to participate in the common endeavor to find peace for the Syrian people,” Brahimi said.
Syria has announced its readiness to cooperate fully with Brahimi in seeking a political solution to the ongoing crisis in the country.
The Syrian-led political process should result in “leading to a transition that respects the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and enables them independently and democratically to determine their own future,” he said.
Also at the General Assembly meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “I know he is counting on your collective support for his difficult mission,” Ban told the 193-member General Assembly. “I appeal to you today to provide solid and unified support to his difficult and essential mission.”
French FM to Hariri: Paris fears Syria spillover – September 05, 2012
BEIRUT: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Tuesday that France is concerned with keeping Lebanon away from the ramifications of the crisis in neighboring Syria. Fabius met Hariri at the Foreign Ministry in Paris.
“The Syrian crisis is not restricted to Syria alone. It is affecting the stability of neighboring countries, especially Lebanon, which is witnessing an influx of refugees.
Great post. It underscores my own sense that at least half the Syrians on the ground support the regime. That is the main reason no one in the West has any inclination to intervene.
You get weak (and typically Syrian) at the end when you editorialize about “zionists packed wahabis.” I think you meant to say “Zionist-backed wahabis.”
Only a Syrian who has lived under forty-some years of Baathist-fascist Assadism could entertain the notion that the Israelis, the Wahabis and al-Qaeda are somehow in league with one another. To put it bluntly, it makes no sense and for anyone who believes otherwise, I can only say: you are either stupid or you’ve been drinking too much Kool-Aid.
Sunday is a good day to drive to Maaloula. There are fig and olive trees and grapes by the road and, for a time, you can forget that Syria is enduring an epic tragedy.
True, you mustn’t turn right to Tell, where the Syrian Arab Army are having a spot of bother with the Free Syrian Army and there are 35 military checkpoints on the 100-mile round trip from Damascus; but in the cool mountains east of the Lebanese border, Christians and Muslims live together as they have for 1,300 years. History, however, does not leave them alone.
Enter the wonderful Catholic church of Saint Sarkis and you find paintings of two Roman soldiers, based at the imperial fort of Rasafa north of Palmyra, who converted to Christianity and found themselves in a rather Syrian situation. Sergius and Pixos upset the Great Leader in Rome – the empire had not yet abandoned Jupiter, Venus, Bacchus and the rest – who ordered their execution. So the two legionnaires took sanctuary in Maaloula, preaching Christianity until the long arm of Rome’s intelligence service caught up with them, and they were hauled back to Rasafa to be beheaded on the orders of the emperor. I look at the old man who is recounting this story to me and we both nod in unspoken agreement of its current relevance. Sergius and Pixos were defectors.
Over the Roman temple of Maaloula was built the church, and thence came in 1942 the twice wounded General Wladyslaw Anders, who was shepherding his 75,000 emaciated Polish soldiers from Soviet imprisonment through the Holy Land to join the Second World War allies and subsequently the battle for Monte Cassino. Anders gave a beautiful icon of Christ to the church at Maaloula; I found it inside the front porch, his name written at the base, but no hint of his mission. His brave II Polish Corps was condemned by Poland’s post-war Communist government as a legion of defectors.
But Maaloula, of course, is known for finer things. Its people, as every tourist knows, still speak Aramaic, the language of Christ – Damascus was part of the Aramaen kingdom – and when I asked a young woman to say the Lord’s prayer in her language, it sounded a bit like Hebrew. A suspicious Fisk wonders if this is the reason why, although there is a written language, the people of Maaloula do not learn it. Did Arabic and Hebrew descend from Aramaic? Scholars – I always find that an odd word – are still undecided.
So I chat to old Father Fayez who’s serving time as the local priest and he refuses to talk politics, but insists that his people, in their old, blue-painted houses, live side-by-side with their Muslim neighbours; indeed, the 20,000 Christians and Muslims living in three villages all speak Aramaic. But the sunlight and sharply-defined shade in the church courtyard reflect the darkness that has fallen across the lives of these people. There had been three kidnappings of Christians, the priest says; all had been released after ransom was paid.
Then the owner of a Christian restaurant set off last month to collect some Muslim workers from a neighbouring village, and he’d been abducted on the way. The Free Syria Army brought the kidnapped man back to Maaloula. I drive to Seydnaya where the church is built, Peter-like, on a rock, the basilica of Seyd Naya – the Holy Virgin in Syriac – with a clutch of orphans and an off-duty Syrian army conscript cleaning the floors and bringing water for the children.
And then an angry nun approaches in her black habit, flapping like a blackbird, frameless spectacles pinned to the outside of her head covering. “You journalists want to harm this country,” she chirps. “Before the war, we lived in peace. We had holidays, vacations, women and children could walk in the street at midnight.” She stalked off, only to return – as I knew she would – for a second assault. She had a story to tell, for the Holy Spirit – while it may drift through the narrow cold stone corridors of Seyd Naya – cannot prevent violence from touching the church. “A boy wanted to come here to pray for his marriage because he was marrying a local girl,” the nun said. “But then we heard today that his father has been killed in the massacre at Deraya?”
So I consulted Sister Stephanie Haddad who said that Seyd Naya was peaceful – she passed over the shells which hit the monastery seven months ago, supposedly fired by the Free Syria Army – and was now sheltering refugees from Homs and Hama and Tell and from Deraya itself. So I asked the obvious question. What would Jesus say if he turned up in Syria today? “If he came now, he would tell the people: don’t kill, burn, shoot, kidnap or steal. All these things are mentioned in the Bible.”
There are 20,000 souls in Seyd Naya, Sunni Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Catholics, 13 churches and two mosques, “at least” two Christian women married to Muslims – make of this what you will.
Confirmed reports about shelling of a village in Latakia by the rebels that killed three children, another village was shelled but only led to property damages. Opposition sources and the FSA did not mention the attack. A fierce battle erupted in Salma that pushed out Kattibet Alizz.
In Aleppo, rebels are about to withdraw from Sayf Addawlah. A rare cease fire was reached in Homs which lasted 24 hours and allowed civilians to move away or simply buy groceries. From what I hear, the next 2 weeks will witness dramatic developments in Aleppo, Homs and Latakia. Regime sources are talking about a major military assault.
I maintain that any victory by either side will be short lived, fighting parties need to accept a cease fire, foreign jihadist must leave Syria by choice or by force, others will keep their weapons but should be receptive to talks about a truce.
I do not believe rebels claims about advancing in Aleppo, the coming days will tell if the rebels are being truthful or not.
“There are 20,000 souls in Seyd Naya, Sunni Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Catholics, 13 churches and two mosques, at least two Christian women married to Muslims – make of this what you will.”
Love knows no borders. Remember the tale of Romeo & Juliet and imagine Romeo from a Wahabi family and Juliet (has the Jew sound in it, eh?) from a Haredi family. Woooo-Hoooo!
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Iran is the main reason today for the mess in Iraq, prior to that, the US invasion set the stage for a failed state and a new insurgency.
Every foreign intervention in the middle east since 1974 did nothing to help the nations of the middle east except Israel and ,due to miscalculations, Iran.
A friend who teaches in Syria told me that she was reading a war story with the children in order to talk about what is going on in Syria. She asked the students what they think of war. All said that war is terrible, except one child who responded to her stating that he likes the war. She asked him why he would think so. He replied that because of the war, people help each other.
Do not wait to see this in the GCC media, you will find it here on SC:
Rebels attacked the village of Ghassaniya in Homs killing four civilians, one is 75 year old,and taking close to 100 citizens as hostages. This attack is seen as a revenge to recent rebels losses in the area around Homs. This village is still under siege and may witness another slaughter of civilians if efforts to remedy the situation fail.
Al-Jazeera websites hacked by Assad loyalist group.
Group calling itself al-Rashedon said hacking came as ‘response to your position against the people and government of Syria’
Aljazeera.net is still not accessible as of now.
As some here hail to the new russian zar, have you read this?
The russian opposition has published this report on the wealth of Vladimir Putin
4 yachts, 58 aircraft, 20 homes, all worth millions.
Putin earns officially about 120.000 Dollar a year, how can one with such a income have a private clock collection to be worth 700.000 Dollar? By the way the russian president office has declared that he is only using the state property. There was no explanation why 20 residences are needed for the russian president, half of them just build under his reign. For a comparison, Obama has only 2 residences.
I guess his statement in 2008
“I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning till night,”
shows that he might think that he deserves all that. May be thats his motivation for the power swap with Medwedew.
FSA supreme commander confirms FSA is increasing in strength while criminal thug killing machine decreasing in strength. Estimates criminal thugs occupying Damascus and parts of Syria have 2 to 4 months before they get vanquished,
It’ll be more like two to four years. And even then, Bashar will have his supporters. As long as there is the fear of something WORSE than the Assads, the regime will have fighters on its aside.
And as long as there are people like you out there, there will always be something worse. You dig?
You seem so intent on finding despair and frightening prospects for Syria I think it is bad for your health and wellbeing to continue to focus on the place.
Unfortunately, your approach suggests you will not be capable of assisting in any way with rebuilding and recovery of the country.
It’s a big pity, because focusing on that could help you feel less obsessively negative and more constructive – much better for your health.
Was TV journalist targeted?
Four people were reportedly injured by a bomb attack on Sunday in the Abu Rommaneh district of Damascus. Many reports at the time noted that this was near a military site – the likely target.
However, our colleague Mona Mahmood has been speaking to a Syrian source who suggests the intended target was not the military site but TV journalist Michelene Azar who lives nearby.
Azar, who works for the pro-government al-Dunya TV, shocked many people last month with her reporting of the Darayya massacre (see video below).
The footage of Azar is linked by the Guardian blog.
Weren’t we promised that a provisional government will be formed by the end of Ramadan? The SNC should have rallied behind Haytham al Maleh when he declared he was asked to form a government. They proved impotent and unable to provide alternatives.
Germany calls for united opposition to Assad
Germany’s foreign minister is pressing disparate Syrian opposition groups to unite in preparation for the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime, AP reports.
Guido Westerwelle is also urging the international community to be ready to provide economic support.
Berlin hosted a gathering of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats Tuesday to address how to prevent basic services and infrastructure collapsing, and how to revive the economy, once Assad falls.
Westerwelle said a common platform is urgently needed, and that the people of Syria must see “there is a credible alternative to the regime.”
He called on the opposition “to create as fast as possible the conditions for … a transition government.”
However, he stopped short of French President Francois Hollande’s call last week for the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government now.
Ghufran, no, I don’t rejoice in acounts of fighting between Syrians. I’m normal – I hate it and I want it over.
But I’m clear on why it’s happening and what is needed to end it. And I know it’s the price to pay for Syria to get a legitimate government.
Meanwhile I, my family and friends also focus on things that will be needed to help rebuild Syria. We think of how we might play our small and humble part to do justice to the sacrifices made by so many.
I have huge respect, admiration and faith in the people of Syria to come through this and build a better country.
Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace, senior American officials tell the New York Times.
The Obama administration pressed the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq to shut down the air corridor, but as the Syrian rebels gained ground, Iran doubled down in supporting Assad. The flights started up again in July and have continued despite protests to Baghdad from American officials.
Military experts tell the Times the flights have let Iran to supply the Assad government despite the rebels’ efforts to seize several border crossings where Iranian aid has been trucked in.
“The Iranians have no problems in the air, and the Syrians still controls the airports,” said a retired Lebanese Army general, Hisham Jaber, who heads the Middle East Center for Studies and Research in Beirut.
The Syrian leader believes that a campaign of mass murder will be his path to victory. Is he right?
BY HASSAN HASSAN
What is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad thinking? Over the past several weeks, his regime has escalated military operations throughout the country — shelling neighborhoods in previously loyal cities, using airplanes to drop what rebel fighters call “TNT barrels” containing hundreds of kilograms worth of explosives, and unleashing its militias to commit gruesome massacres such as the one in the city of Daraya, where more than 400 people were slaughtered on Aug. 27. Approximately 5,000 Syrians were killed in August — making it the deadliest month of the 17-month conflict.
At the same time, the Syrian regime has embarked on a PR offensive. Damascus invited the Independent’s Robert Fisk into the country — allowing him to interview Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, embed with Syrian forces battling insurgents in Aleppo, and interview imprisoned foreign fighters and Syria jihadists. Most prominently, Assad himself granted an interview to the pro-regime Addounia TV on Aug. 29 where he insisted “Syria will return to the Syria before the crisis.”
Western and Arab media dismissed the interview as detached from reality: Assad’s comments appeared to be directed at an outside audience, and he did not offer any concessions to the opposition. But the interview merits a closer look, as it can offer insights into a recent shift in the regime’s thinking and tactics.
In the interview, Assad explained that a recent “public understanding” has allowed the regime to escalate its offensive, unlike during the early stages of the uprising. “Some wanted us to handle that stage as we handle the stage today,” he said. “This is illogical. The stage was different, their [rebels’] modus operandi was different, even the public understanding of what’s happening was different.”
There is of course no public consent as such, but some of Syria’s internal dynamics have shifted in favor of the regime. Many in Syria have made up their minds about standing with the regime until the end. Though some do not support the violence, they believe that blood is a price that has to be paid to prevent the country from lapsing into chaos. Others want a decisive end to the conflict, regardless of who delivers, and currently see the opposition as unable to tip the balance.
There was a long and very interesting series of posts last night from a Twitter user known as The 47th about organisational changes in the Free Syrian Army.
We must make clear that we have no idea who The 47th is, though he/she appears to be well informed and has a proven track record in predicting high-level defections on Twitter (including those of Manaf Tlass and prime minister Riad Hijab).
For that reason, we think it’s worth reporting The 47th’s latest series of tweets; readers are welcome to form their own opinion of them. We have compiled them into a narrative form and expanded the abbreviations:
Big meetings in Turkey next week between newly-defected generals and representatives from all FSA factions, including loose ones in Jebel Azzawiya and Deir Ezzor.
Part of Hillary Clinton’s visit to Turkey next week is to be briefed on the success of this meeting and to make sure the objectives are met.
During the meetings, chains of command will further be implemented, including factions that have earlier been fighting on their own. (Most of the FSA is somehow linked and coordinated, except in some areas of the governorate of Homs, Jabal Azzawya and Deir Ezzor.)
Objectives:
• Introducing the brigades that have been training on heat-seeking missiles, assigning them to official brigades.
• Possibly renaming the Free Syrian Army to the National Free Syrian Army – joining small brigades into big ones. This alludes to joining small brigades into bigger ones, just like the Tawheed Brigade (Unity Brigade).
• Training on Geneva human rights conventions.
• Overhaul of structure of the command.
• Intelligence meetings.
Manaf Tlass will also be present in next week’s meetings, including the defected officers and unnamed officers from the Republican Guard.
This major initiative comes after Turkey warned Syrian opposition forces that the west is growing wary of Islamist elements, incohesion and human rights.
Turkey is leading the effort in advising the FSA, training, setting up, supporting and arming the FSA.
There’s a major campaign to put these “Abdulhameed-bla-bla-Akbar” brigades into legitimate national units.
The meeting takes place next week, but implementation will take weeks.
Good news is: training FSA elements on heat-seeking missiles and other SAMs has been done and we shall see it on the ground as of next week. (Most of these SAMs are from Libya for some reason.)
After successfully limiting Assad’s ground movement (thanks to IEDs, defections and other anti-tank weapons), the battle is now heading skywards. Remember when we used to wish seeing videos of destroyed tanks? Soon it will be downed choppers and rusty MiGs and Sukhois.
708. Johannes de Silentio said:
“Great post. It underscores my own sense that at least half the Syrians on the ground support the regime. That is the main reason no one in the West has any inclination to intervene.”
It’s possible that half the population supports the regime, although probably “tolerates” better describes many of those folks.
But one has to keep in mind that the regime remains in power only because it has jet fighters, helicopters and heavy artillary. Without this overwelming advantage, the rebellion would have overthrown the regime long ago. As it is, the rebellion is holding its own fighting with grenade launchers, AK47s and bows & arrows.
It’s hard for anybody to know how much hardcore support the regime has. It is easy to get a false sense because the regime is battling a rag-tag force with a well-equiped and integrated army & air force.
A model that worked well in Indonesia.
Joshua Kurlantzick- the Atlantic:
Decentralization clearly has had many benefits. It has helped broaden and spread growth, and in some ways has helped pit local officials against each other in the race for investment, forcing them to take measures to help attract investment in infrastructure, resources, and agriculture. It clearly has helped boost participation in the political process, and has led to a broadening of political ideas in which politicians no longer have to come from Jakarta or even Java to get national prominence and to rise up the political ladder. Devolution also has, in some ways, helped mitigate local anger that natural resources were being taken out of their area and used to fund the central government, with local people getting little in return.
Brahimi on Syria at GA Says Little, Tightly Controlled, Lower Expectations
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 4 — When Lakhdar Brahimi first accepted the post of envoy to Syria, he did a round of interviews from his Paris apartment, resulting in arguments back and forth with the Syrian National Council. Then he went silent.
Brahimi’s silence continued for nearly a week at the UN in New York. In the North Lawn building, guards kept the media away from him — Inner City Press described the scene without joining it — and even his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi asked not to be quoted by name.
Then on September 1, at the beginning of a three day weekend in New York, Brahimi did another round of interviews, this time much more controlled. The message of each interview was, not surprisingly, nearly exactly the same, as were the headlines: Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible II, Brahimi Is Scared.
So when Brahimi was scheduled to speak in the General Assembly on September 4, people expected to hear something of substance, and that he would takes questions from the press corps afterward.
On September 3, after Brahimi’s appearances, Syria’s Information Minister Omran al Zoebi said there would be no dialogue with the opposition until the Syrian army imposes “security and stability on all parts of the country.”
Some thought Brahimi would want to respond to that, or to whether he would go to Syria openly representing the Arab League, or only the UN.
Inside the General Assembly, Brahimi’s speech was five paragraphs and said very little. And afterward, after Syria, Lebanon and Israel trades rights of reply, Brahimi did not come to speak at the UN TV stakeout that had been waiting for more than two hours.
“He is not comfortable,” one Ambassador told Inner City Press, shrugging. Good luck.
Outside the GA, Inner City Press asked Ambassador what they thought. Algeria’s Permanent Representative, heading the Group of 77 and China (a post that Fiji, in the Asia group, is running for) told Inner City Press that Brahimi is cautious because he does not want to “engage in polemics.”
736. Ghufran said:
“Decentralization clearly has had many benefits. It has helped broaden and spread growth, and in some ways has helped pit local officials against each other in the race for investment”
I think federalism is a great way to start a new political system, it’s worked in many places. More central power can be added later as trust is estabilished. I don’t really see it being so helpful in Syria’s crisis, since populations are so intermixed. Is Syria divided strongly by region?
I wonder if this war is going to end someday with just the opposite, with Syria and Lebanon re-uniting. I know it seems counter-intuitive, but perhaps a larger tent is a way to guarantee minority rights.
A word of wisdom from previous article in the Time:
“War is dehumanizing, and civil wars in particular can brutalize a society in ways that fundamentally alter its very nature. Neighbors become enemies; differences — social, economic, religious — become magnified as a means to confirm the otherness of the enemy. Local accents and surnames can reveal sectarian identities and, by extension, presumed political views. There is little room for nuance or civility in a civil war”
The ‘transitional government’ promised ‘soon’ by the SNC seems to in the realm of a fantasy as the SNC, besides been heavily damaged, has excluded the local Syrian party of Abdel Azim. They prefer it to be an expat-only “government”.
Once the military operations will show who comes out as the ‘winner’ then the political game with start.
Until then, we will hear empty promises and threats, repeated calls for no-fly zones, more calls for arming the rebels and smart ‘studies’ from “Think tanks” who are afflicted by the “Post-Assad” syndrome.
“From what I hear, the next 2 weeks will witness dramatic developments in Aleppo, Homs and Latakia. Regime sources are talking about a major military assault.”
This is the beginning of the major assault, but not on the FSA, never on the FSA. Women and children murdered in their sleep, the clear sign that Assad’s forces were here.
In the first two weeks of rebel control of parts of Aleppo, how many buildings were shelled, how many civilian massacres? When the rebels roamed around Christian neighborhoods, did they massacre Armenians and Christian children, destroy their churches and homes?
Those who hate the Syrian people want to see Assad’s army victorious. Those who can’t see the difference between attacking a military airport or even the execution of shabi7a and destroying entire neighborhoods full of civilians will never compromise. Those who support the murder of the innocent in order to stave off hypothetical massacres can’t be trusted to do what’s right, which is to remove this horrible regime that has caused this nightmare over four decades and try to build something better for all Syrians.
In the meantime, it’s a revolutionary war and winner takes all. We want freedom and justice, the other side wants continued oppression. There’s nothing in common between these positions and there never will be.
Richard,
Reuniting Syria and Lebanon is a dream that will not come true, minorities in Lebanon see this as a threat and the majority Sunni in Syria do not want to dilute their pool and add few million Shia,Druz and Christians to syria’s population. Such a unification will only be possible when both countries have a good dose of democracy and a system that has an acceptable level of corruption. economically and culturally ,Syria and Lebanon are natural members of the same body with few exceptions related to stronger tribal presence in Syria. I am afraid that Syria and the whole middle east are indeed going in the opposite direction: more divisive and less nationalistic.
I hope this post is happy enough for my hopeful friends.
“In more than a year of clandestine travel in Syria, TIME has seen little direct evidence of rebel attacks on civilians, although suspected shabiha (regime thugs) and loyalist troops are often treated mercilessly.”
Rania Abouzeid’s reporting is balanced and close to flawless. She has been able to meet with all these Islamists, including Al Qaeda a couple of months ago, and none have harmed her. Yet all we hear about is how the Ikhwan, terrorist rebels are going to force women to wear veils and bring in Taliban rule.
But never let facts get in the way of your hatred and hypocrisy, as Hafez Al Assad once said, according to Syria Truth.
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Field leader of the rebel al-Tawhid Brigade in Syria, Abdulkader Saleh, has claimed that they have so far secured control of 70 percent of the city of Aleppo on the ground, and that they are fighting to seize control of the remaining 30 percent.
“The battle for Aleppo will end this stalemate. We control the ground in Aleppo, but the regime has air forces and they have control in the air. They are bombing us with jets. We will solve this by destroying airports and air bases,” Saleh told journalists at a press conference in Istanbul….
Maybe I was too harsh on the genocide enthusiasts and sectarian opponents of the revolution. Here’s one they will enjoy, but probably not as much as the videos of the dead children from Halab.
Turkey’s Anti-Assad Policy Ricochets Back
ISTANBUL—The Turkish government, which is spearheading efforts to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, is facing public skepticism over its Syria policy as the civil war next door increasingly spills across the border.
Developments in recent weeks have magnified Turks’ unease over Syria’s 18-month uprising.
Thanks for preferring to inform us with interesting articles instead of using this blog, like some frustrated commenters do, to throw insults and try to silence anyone who does not share their opinions.
MOSCOW, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — A visiting Syrian opposition group said here Tuesday that it is against the establishment of any preconditions for starting a nationwide political dialogue in the unrest-torn country.
“We oppose any preconditions to be set for the launch of the dialogue,” said Fathi Jamous, leader of the Coalition Forces for Peaceful Change in Syria, who met with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Preconditions would “only deepen the crisis and the price for overcoming it would be much higher,” Jamous added.
He praised Russia’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, saying “unlike the West, Moscow has adopted a right position, from any point of view, both morally and legally.”
04 September 2012 16:55
Al-Sayyid Hani Fahs, a member of Supreme Shiite Council of Lebanese, has said that the current situation in Syria was getting worse day by day.
BEIRUT (AA) – September 4, 2012 – Al-Sayyid Hani Fahs, a member of Supreme Shiite Council of Lebanese, has said that the current situation in Syria was getting worse day by day.
“What’s happening in Syria is not a crime anymore, it has turned into tragedy. We were late to support Syrian revolution,” Fahs told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
Denying the claims that 70 percent of Shiite community in Lebanon was supporting Syrian government, Fahs stated that only small percentage of Shiite people might stand up for the regime.
Fahs also drew attention to Bahrain. He stated that Shiite’s fight against the administration in Bahrain had been ignored.
Sheikh Sayyed Hani Fahs, who is a member of the Supreme Shiite Council in Lebanon, was born in 1946 in Nebatieh town of south Lebanon. He completed his primary and secondary education in this city, later on moved to Nacaf in Iraq to study Arabic and Islamic Studies. He lived in Iran between 1982 and 1985. http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/78372–s
Assad will perish or escape. And the long-awaited victory will be even sweeter and Syria will be the beacon of freedom of all people in the world, as the Syrians themselves have defeated a regime supported by half the world.
The Syrians are giving everything they hold dear, family, home, friends, belongings. They are giving everything. Not to Syria. But for every free and righteous man. For every man who refuses to bow his head to the tyrant and accept his abuse and violence. This is the conclusion. Syria will be free, and the revolution continues ..
ZOO this “Fathi Jamous, leader of the Coalition Forces for Peaceful Change in Syria” sounds like a sell out.
Juergen
you will again be willing spend the winter in the cold ? Most of Europe’s leaders take bribes and under them wet! Stop that! Your leaders are replaced up to the ears in dirty corruption cases
Putin gives first post-inauguration interview exclusively to RT http://rt.com/politics/putin-exclusive-interview-first-373/
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at length with RT’s Kevin Owen. To find out what the president spoke about in his first interview since the inauguration, tune in on September 6th at 0800 GMT.
Perpetrators, their patrons responsible for Free Syrian Army’s threats http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/510539.html
MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) —— Responsibility for the consequences of the Free Syrian Army’s threats will rest with the perpetrators and their patrons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“Moscow was deeply alarmed by statements made by representatives of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and carried by mass media that the international civil airports in Damascus and Aleppo will from now on be regarded as military targets and that civil planes will be shot down. An ultimatum was issued to civil airlines, demanding that they stop flights to these airports within 72 hours from September 1,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday, September 3.
Moscow considers such threats “absolutely unacceptable” as they represent “a gross violation of international law, primarily the Chicago Convention of 1944 ‘On International Civil Aviation’. From the moral and legal points of view this means that the opposition has come critically close to the ‘red line’, beyond which actions will be no different from Al-Qaeda’s crimes”, the ministry said.
“As is known, civil facilities and civil population have been repeatedly subjected to attacks by the armed Syrian opposition,” the ministry said. “The latest statement by FSA basically confirms that terrorism is turning into one of the main methods of its operation. However the states that sponsor the intransigent Syrian opposition and encourage it to refuse to engage in dialogue with the authorities and to ‘fight to the victorious end’ prefer not to notice this. If the FSA’s threats are carried out, all responsibility for their consequences will rest not only with the perpetrators but also with their patrons,” the ministry said.
“It is necessary to influence the FSA leaders in the most decisive way in order to exclude such threats, let alone their implementation. Russia has already contacted via diplomatic channels the countries that have influence on the radical Syrian opposition,” the ministry said.
It reiterated its recommendation to Russian citizens to “refrain from travelling to Syria” and urged the Russians living in Syria to use safe exit routes.
Obama’s nightmare
” (…) Regarding ongoing dialogue with Sinai-based jihadist groups, launched two weeks ago as the operation’s ‘political arm,’ Nizar Ghorab, former MP for the Gamaa Al-Islamiya’s Construction and Development Party – who is currently spearheading the dialogue campaign – said that a series of meetings were taking place with jihadist and Islamist groups in the area.
Ghorab told Ahram Online that the first meeting, aimed at pre-empting an unnecessarily heavy-handed security response, took place last week. “This is why we quickly launched talks with the leaders of these movements – to prevent them from entering into a confrontation with state agencies,” he explained.
I agree that SNC should concede and join effort with NCB ( Abdul Azim’s group) if an all inclusive provisional government to be formed. If I was Lakhder Ibrahimi, I would focus on bringing them together as my first priority. The regime is hopeless and any peace effort should focus on the opposition unification ( if you will) then a proposal to negotiate AFTER Batta steps down.
I have lost any hope that the opposition will ever unite as I have lost hope that the FSA will ever regain the legitimacy it has lost with it has welcomed foreign fighters and Saudi and Qatar money to get arms.
As time passes these divisions are increasing and becoming more obvious and distressing for the international community. That is why they are in a total confusion of what to do.
In my view, unless there is a “coup”, the battle on the ground is the decisive factor, unfortunately with the death of a lot of Syrians.
The Free Syrian Army plans to reform to overcome divisions and address the growing number of militias fighting on its behalf, as well as to rename itself, a rebel general said on Wednesday.
Following discussions due to end in around 10 days, the FSA would go by the name of the Syrian National Army, General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the military council grouping rebel chiefs, told AFP.
The FSA, which has grown from a rag-tag force of military defectors into a popular guerrilla insurgent movement buoyed by civilian recruits, was also set to appoint General Mohammed Hussein Hajj Ali as its highest-ranking officer.
“After a long period, we must restructure the army because we fear the proliferation of militias in Syria and want to preserve the country’s future,” said the brigadier general, who was among the first to defect to the FSA.
Among those areas that needed restructuring was the control of funds that reach rebel fighters, in order to “prevent the creation of militias because that is very dangerous,” said Sheikh.
While rebel groups are gathered under the auspices of the FSA, the structure of the rebel army remains vague and lacks a strong and cohesive central command.
“There are many groups that claim to be the FSA but do as they please,” said the general.
He said reforms were key to winning the support of the international community which has so far been reluctant to arm the rebels “on the grounds that the (FSA) is not a real institution.”
The rebel army has thousands of fighters, among them about 3,000 officers of various ranks, including 70 generals, according to Sheikh.
Unifying the FSA ranks would prevent Sunni majority countries from “sinking into a civil and confessional war after the fall of the regime” of President Bashar Assad, who hails from the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam.
CAIRO, (Reuters) – Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Wednesday that the time had come for changing the government in Syria and that a quartet of regional states proposed by Cairo to discuss the Syrian crisis would meet.
“The quartet which Egypt has called for will meet now,” Mursi told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, without giving more details of the gathering that Cairo has said should include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt.
He also said the time had come in Syria for “change and not wasting time speaking of reform. This time has passed now. Now it is time for change”.
With fighting in Syria showing no sign of abating, the UN chief has accused both the Syrian government and the opposition of large-scale human rights violations, stressing the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon urged the world powers to unite behind a plan to end the conflict that so far has claimed more than 18,000 people, according to UN estimates.
Ban stated that “government forces and the armed opposition have clearly failed to protect civilians and respect the rules of international humanitarian law.”
“Prisoners on both sides are subject to harsh treatment and, often, torture,” he added. “There have been alarming reports of summary executions on both sides.”
The UN chief expressed concern about the “continuing militarization” of the conflict, warning against those who arm both sides. “Those who provide arms to either side are only contributing to further misery – and the risk of unintended consequences as the fighting intensifies and spreads,” he said.
..
The conflict is intensifying,” Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly. “The longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be to contain. The more difficult it will be to find a political solution. The more challenging it will be to rebuild the country and the economy.”
China backs a “political transition” in Syria to end worsening bloodshed after 18 months of unrest, Foreign Minister Yang said while repeating Beijing’s opposition to forceful foreign intervention in the crisis.
Clinton said it was “no secret” the U.S. government was disappointed by the positions of China and Russia on Syria, and she reiterated that the best course of action remained tough U.N. Security Council action.
..
Yang also said his government opposed the efforts of any country, including Iran, to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies having such ambitions.
“We believe the parties should continue to exercise calm and remain committed to diplomatic negotiations,” said Yang.
Washington has been turning up pressure on Tehran by expanding unilateral sanctions, an approach that Beijing opposes. But Clinton suggested the Chinese government had given some concessions on its energy and trade flows with Iran.
She praised efforts with China and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which she said had brought “unprecedented pressure” on Tehran.
765. zoo said:
“I have lost any hope that the opposition will ever unite as I have lost hope that the FSA will ever regain the legitimacy it has lost with it has welcomed foreign fighters and Saudi and Qatar money to get arms.”
Why is it hopeless that the opposition should unite? Difficult, yes, but hopeless? All outcomes look difficult and unlikely, other than continued violence and chaos. Yet someday, somehow one seemingly unlikey outcome will prevail. The possibility that Assad will regain control of the country seems most remote prospect of all to objective observors, yet you haven’t given up hope on this particular possibility.
You said in an earlier post that you wished for the opposition to unite in some broader form. Should I still accept your sincerity?
You criticize the rebellion for accepting money and arms from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Where do you advise that they should have turned for aid?
There can be no argument that the rebellion began peacefully, and remained that way for an impressively long time. The protestors can hardly be blamed for seeking arms to defend themselves. If you can not offer a better source of material support for them, then you simply oppose the fact of the rebellion and should state so directly.
“Where do you advise that they should have turned for aid? ”
Egypt and Tunisia did not beg for help. They had a ‘respected’ revolution. Libya and Yemen had a shameful revolution. Time will tell if they will ever recover from that bitter victory. Iran stopped short their green revolution when it turned violent, waiting for a better opportunity in the future.
It is exactly these same deep divisions we see in the opposition that make Syria’s society. An authoritarian regime for decades tried to dilute them and hide them but now they are appearing again exacerbated by regional ambitions and interventions.
With this historical background, I have serious doubt the opposition will ever unite.
The only solution is if they transform their divisions into political parties within a democratic system. Yet to reach that stage, they must accept that they can’t unite and that the transition to a multi-party democratical system is only possible through a dialog with the government. This will build a embryo of democratic structure when they can find a place to express their opinions and get the Syrians to follow them.
Unfortunately the opposition and the FSA have shown to be even more totalitarian than the regime they criticize. They put their ego and the foreign interests before the interests and the lives of the Syrians
This is why I see no chance in a united opposition and no peaceful solution, unless there is an arranged ‘military’ coup in the Syrian government.
Bashar Al Assad is still the only unifying figure, both for the ones who hate him and the ones who are loyal to him.
Your rational and well-informed response to Zoo in #772 shows you have woken up to his game and his real views.
Don’t be fooled by his “lose all hope statements”. His agenda is ill-will and contempt towards all Syrians who are not in the Assad camp.
He also supports this with all kinds of grandiose sweeping statements about the world in general and “history” that don’t add up (eg #774). I can’t imagine who he thinks will read and believe it on this forum.
You will have to bend very low and wear toy gloves to punch at Zoo’s weight.
PS Were you a reader of Syria Comment before this forum was suddenly swamped by pro-Assad cut-pasters and disinformationists?
If so, you will know how high the benchmark and quality of discussion here used to be. Many high calibre long-term contributors and genuine Syrianists have now left this forum in disgust. It’s a tragedy.
Joshua Landis’s tolerance has been exploited by the Zoos and “Anns” and several others here whose aim was trash this forum in support of the Assad regime.
I have to give Zoo credit for a thoughtful response to a hard question.
I think Zoo is easily punching at my weightclass, Syrialover, even if his support for Assad is a glass jaw. I doubt Zoo actually much supports Assad, I accept that he is fearful of an Islamic state. Irnonically, it is fear of an Islamic takeover that is making that possibility more likely!
No, I wasn’t around for this discussion forum’s glory days.
Ah, you are being most gentlemanly, modest and kind. I could easily go back and find stuff to demonstrate a case against Zoo’s sincerity and neutrality commenting here on Syria.
For a random example of what I am talking about with Zoo’s ill-concealed agenda (among the cliched formula stuff):
“Unfortunately the opposition and the FSA have shown to be even more totalitarian than the regime they criticize. They put their ego and the foreign interests before the interests and the lives of the Syrians.”
For God’s sake.
What a low insult to tens of thousands of Syrian victims of the regime.
And if you are worried about an Islamic takeover, your fears will be quietened if you ignore Zoo and other shallow propagandists and have a discussion with any Syrians who actually know their country, the people and the issues.
Erdogan the Ottoman links Gallipolli to Kashmir – a true Muslim and a true follower of the Prophet Mohammad 0 unlike the dubious Muslims which have littered South and East Asia and also parts of West Asia
Sample the Arabs who support the Hindoo worms in Kashmir and build Hindu temples in Arab lands and invite kaffirs and the Hindoo vermin PM to innaugrate the temples !
This is inspite of the Hadeeths foretelling the day when temple bells of kaffirs will ring in Arabia !
It is the Turks,Persians and Mongols who will annihilate the Hindoos,as in the past and as foretold in the Hadeeths and other Sufi Prophecies
Kashmiris need to Read the Gita !
The Gita allows the discrimination of Lower Castes ! If the Hindoos treat their own like dirt – what will they do for the Kashmiris ?
The Hindoos believe that the raped and murdered will have a better life in the next life as a human or a animal and the hndus have a right to rape and plunder – due to their good deeds in their prior life !
The above is not a “BELIEF” – it is an injunction by the Lord of the Hindoos,as stated below:
“It is far better to perform one’s svadharma (prescribed duties), even though faultily, than another’s duties perfectly. Destruction in the course of performing one’s own duty is better than engaging in another’s duties, for to follow another’s path is dangerous.” – Bhagavad-Gita 3:35.
“According to the three modes of material nature (goodness, passion, ignorance) and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society (Brahmin/KsHatriya/Vaisya/Sudra) are created by Me .
And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable.” — Bhagavad-Gita 4:13.
Note the expression ” I am the creator of this system”
And then there are the Arabs who support the Hindoo worms in Kashmir and build Hindu temples in Arab lands and invite kaffirs and the Hindoo vermin PM to innaugrate the temples !
The Kashmir Genocide – dindooohindoo
The Ruling political dispensation of India (Hindoosthan) is a front of the RSS (a quasi wanna be Nazi party).The RSS in its documented history and intellectual posits has admired and co-opted and co-owned Hitler – not merely as a Role Model – but as a Kalki Avatar – or an Avatar of Vishnoo – the Hindoo God !
The SS part of the RSS is a lift from the Nazi SS and the “R” stands for “Rats”
The RSS is infested by the vermins of the Brahmin/Bania/Kayastha triad – which represent the priestly and trading classes of Hindoosthan who never fought a war for their nation – but incited the same and also carried out the largest unknown genocide in History – that of the Buddhists
The Bhagwad Gita JUSTIFIES genocide, w/o remorse,guilt and WITH DIVINE SANCTION.The Indian Military and Para Military,is a race of criminal mercenaries called Kshatriyas – who were the offspring of rapes by the Huns,Mongols,Sakas, Scythians,Persians, Parthinians,Greeks 1500-2000 years ago.They were discarded by their races and interbred and were treated as outcastes for centuries – until the Brahmins co-opted them as criminal mass murderers (around 1000 years ago) – and who are now in Kashmir !
Nazis are on record JUSTIFYING their actions based on the thesis of the Bhagwad Gita explained in this note.
History Records that the Nazis were ALSO inspired by the Gita, per se
Why the “Nazis and Hitler and Himmler”, love the Gita
“Dindoo Hindoo Bindoo Gandoos” consider “Hitler to be a Vishnoo Avatar”
When Krishna the Bhagvat was fed up rying to explain to “Arjuna the – why he “needed to exterminate his foes” – this was the “last attempt” in the 18th Chapter of the Gita – the logic is as under :
Lumen Naturale 1 – There are “5 precedents to sense-perception and action”
18.15 For whatever action a man undertakes by his body, speech and mind, whether right or wrong,i.e., enjoined or forbidden by the Sastras, “the following five”, are its causes:
Lumen Naturale 3 – Hence,you can “kill,murder and rape” – provided it is done with “no ego and no feelings “- for it is the “Act of the Divine” ! Just like the Nazis ! “Heil Krishna,the Bhagwat “!
18.17 He who has not the “feeling of egoism”, whose intellect is not tainted, he does not kill, nor does he become bound-“even by killing these creatures” !
Comments (783)
Ghufran said:
??? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ?? “???????” ?? ????? ???????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ???180 ???? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ??????.
I agree with the conclusion about Syria refugees, but what actions can be taken when a cease fire is unattainable ?
August 29th, 2012, 11:17 am
Ghufran said:
???? ?????? “???? ???????” ??????? ????? ?????? ? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ( 6 ?????) ?????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ??????? ???????????? ???? ?????? ? ??? ??? ??????!!. ????? ????? ????? ??”???????” ?? ??????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ? ??? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? “???????
August 29th, 2012, 11:26 am
Citizen said:
Britain and US plan a Syrian revolution from an innocuous office block in Istanbul
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9500503/Britain-and-US-plan-a-Syrian-revolution-from-an-innocuous-office-block-in-Istanbul.html
An underground network of Syrian opposition activists is receiving training and supplies of vital equipment from a combined American and British effort to forge an effective alternative to the Damascus regime.
August 29th, 2012, 11:39 am
Syrian Natonalist Party said:
Are you not ashamed Mr. Landis? Shouldn’t this new post be a correction for the Darayya hollow cost you published based on unworthy and unreliable sources that are known to fabricate history from having kings and kingdoms, to 19 Moslem hijackers and all in between? You ran for the cover talking about refugees!!! Why not correction or mention of the evidence stated by SNP in the last post, that foreign hired mercenaries committed the atrocity, you are not interested in discussing that?
August 29th, 2012, 11:40 am
Uzair8 said:
When Muallem turned into a hawk
27 August 2012
[Selected quote]
It is obvious after the Darya massacre which left around 300 Syrians dead during the army’s insurgence in the city and success in reclaiming control over it that the regime doesn’t want a political solution where it would have to compromise many of its authorities to the opposition. After making progress in Aleppo and the Damascus countryside, the regime is now bent on following the Russian style in Grozny, the Chechnya capital, by ferociously destroying the neighbourhoods controlled by the Free Syrian Army whatever the huge human losses.
http://www.abdelbariatwan.com/When%20Muallem%20turned%20into%20a%20hawk.htm
August 29th, 2012, 11:43 am
ann said:
NATO secretly authorizes Syrian attack – Wed Aug 29, 2012
Yesterday afternoon, Monday, August 28, 2012, in a meeting in Brussels, NATO military leaders in consultation with “telephonic liaison” with officers of military forces in several former Soviet Republics, major African states, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states came to a combined decision to act against Syria.
http://presstv.com/detail/2012/08/29/258834/nato-secretly-authorizes-syrian-attack/
Two issues were on the agenda:
1. How climate change in Greenland will effect geopolitics, immigration and military affairs for the EU
2. Syria and the potential for Russian and Chinese intervention.
3. Iran was not an official agenda item but it is an unspoken conclusion that, if China and/or Russia stand aside for interference by NATO in Syria’s internal affairs, this will be seen as an authorization for incursions into Iran, a systematic “Balkanization” based on a prescribed formula of “manufactured and simulated internal political and social strife.”
No announcement was made, no plans or timetable published, simply a vote on authorization of force which passed unanimously by member and included non-member states unanimously.
News stories throughout North America and Europe earlier in the day were filled with reports of mass killings by the Syrian Army and the presence of Iranian troops in Syria. True or not, these stories represent a pre-staging for the NATO conference.
The critical reporting issue involves rhetoric. We moved, yesterday, from discussions of “fighting” to “systematic execution of hundreds of civilians.”
No video nor photos were included to verify neither claims nor sources given other than reports from “rebel forces.”
Recent consultation with friends in the Pentagon as to Syria’s air defense system indicated that the US has, in place, a play to destroy the command and control capability of Syria’s system.
The problems are twofold:
1. Russian technicians man the Syrian system
2. The S300P2 system Syria uses is extremely “robust”
An additional political consideration is a simple one, there is no UN authorization. Both Russia and China have vetoed even sanctions against Syria much less authorized an attack.
Thus, there is no existing authority capable of justifying an attack.
[…]
http://presstv.com/detail/2012/08/29/258834/nato-secretly-authorizes-syrian-attack/
August 29th, 2012, 11:50 am
zoo said:
From previous post
Is Turkey ready to do “something heroically and therefore cleanse their image” ?
Turkish military is key factor in Syria planning
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jec0V8KoIlzkDIXpoVvEVRNwvWzQ?docId=9adc91de4d2248e994d89a4d2910e2ea
….
Turkey and its allies are averse to intervening in Syria because of fears it could ignite a wider conflict, though Turkish government rhetoric against Syria has been among the harshest, notably after the deaths of two Turkish pilots whose jet was shot down when Syria claimed the plane was violating its airspace. Turkey disputes Syria’s claims, and the Turkish military continues its investigation.
In the wake of that incident, Cagaptay said, Turkey may have “slowed down its rhetorical response” at the urging of the U.S., “realizing that it could be left alone in a conflict situation against the Assad regime.”
..
Henri Barkey, a Turkey analyst at Lehigh University in the United States, said the Turkish military “would not mind doing something heroically and therefore cleanse their image,” but he noted that it is already burdened by a low-level war with Kurdish rebels who seek self-rule.
…
Additionally, there is no public clamor in Turkey for intervention in Syria, and a general aversion to casualties, particularly when it comes to the idea of Turkish soldiers dying to protect Syrian civilians. Turkey, Barkey said, has yet to find a strong enough justification to go into Syria without the participation of a multilateral or U.N.-sanctioned force, and its military, stripped of political clout, is on board with that cautious perspective.
“They are now subservient to the civilians and there’s a very funny way in which Erdogan is now emerging as a protector of the military,” he said. In this new scenario, according to Barkey, the prime minister views the military “no longer as a potential opponent but rather a child in his ward.”
August 29th, 2012, 11:50 am
zoo said:
Duplicated from previous post
The Jihadist Element in Syria
By Paul Rogers
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2012/08/29/the_jihadist_element_in_syria_100208.html
This briefing analyses the growing significance of the foreign and home-grown jihadists in Syria. There may be over 1,000 foreign fighters in Syria now as the war becomes more violent and may continue for some time. Even if the regime falls soon, the jihadist element will have influence in a post-Assad era. If, however, the regime endures, and the longer it goes on, the more likely the jihadist element will gain in influence. Against all expectations, the al-Qaida idea could increase in significance. This could have disastrous consequences beyond Syria and makes the need to seek a negotiated solution a top foreign policy priority.
…
Conclusion
In these circumstances, there is an urgent need to encourage any initiative that seeks to bring the conflict to a negotiated settlement as soon as possible. However difficult, every effort has to be made to encourage this. In particular, it would be wise to offer support to the new UN representative, Lakhdar Brahimi, in what will prove to be a very difficult post but one for which he is certainly well-suited, given his experience. In addition, intelligence and policing efforts directed towards cutting finances to violent Islamist groups in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere should also take account of these developments in Syria at an early date. The lesson from over a decade of counter-terrorism activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere is that sending in overwhelming force later is counterproductive.
There is one final element that may be significant. Russia provides the most important major diplomatic support for the Assad regime, but Russia is itself experiencing an increase in Islamist violence in areas that have previously been considered peaceful and stable. … If Russian support for the Assad regime in Syria helps provide a motivation for radical jihadists to be more active within Russia, it is possible that Russia may be more willing to consider more active diplomatic cooperation towards regime transition in Syria.
The briefing was originally published by the Oxford Research Group
August 29th, 2012, 11:51 am
Ghufran said:
The truth is lost in Syria, most stories are riddled with lies and bias, the only undeniable fact is that scores of Syrians are dying every day in what looks more like a civil war than a revolution. Killing and counter killing is the reason for the high number of casualties, this new situation is the result of the militarization of the uprising, the regime killed civilians before armed rebels multiplied like rabbits but the daily loss of lives went up by ten folds since this uprising became an armed rebellion. The rebels failed in crushing the Syrian army due to the obvious imparity between the two sides but succeeded in bringing the country to the brink of total collapse. I agree with the argument that the regime reaction to the uprising is the main reason why we are here,but if sparing lives is the main goal of the armed rebels,they certainly failed,I am afraid that they will also fail in toppling the regime by force. Fisk my have his own beliefs about Syria and the rebels but his conclusion that Darayya massacre was not as simple as stated in opposition media is believable, that does not exonerate the regime but invites some to dig deeper to find answers.
August 29th, 2012, 12:01 pm
Greg R. Lawson said:
If we are beyond an internal “palace coup” to depose Assad but maintain Alawite control (and relative stability), should we back an Alawitistan…?
August 29th, 2012, 12:11 pm
VISITOR said:
Ten helicopters were destroyed this morning in the largest helicopter base near Idlib by the Phalanges of A7hrar al-Cham and the Ummah Brigade of the FSA. The thugs retaliated by sending Migs to bomb residential areas in the nearby town.
We applaud those heroes of the FSA who achieved this success in degrading the thugs arsenal of killing machines leaving the people of Syria safer as a result. Less helicopters with the thugs means less opportunities to continue with scorched earth policy and the killing of more civilians.
August 29th, 2012, 12:11 pm
zoo said:
“Moral among the Syrian opposition remains high”
I would say delusion remains even higher.
All the doors to help the opposition are closing after opening briefly.
Hollande and Turkey ‘partial no fly zone’ have been met with strong rejection from the USA and may be abandoned for the nth time.
The USA face saving gimmick of opening an office in the USA actually plays against the opposition as the USA repeatedly said they will not intervene militarily neither now nor after November.
Turkey is singing the refugees song but continues building camps.
As most of the armed rebels are Islamists, their faith that God in on their side is probably the main incentive to fight, because frankly everything is going against them.
The increased number of jihadists among them, certainly more motivated by divine ideals, are given the others a boost by planting bombs here and there, shooting a plane to claim heroically that the army is weakening.
The reality is that the armed militias of the opposition are been gradually overtaken by ruthless Islamists extremists.
This is worrying the international community as it does not augure well in the much talked ‘ after Bashar’ numerous meetings.
The article of the Oxford Research is making it very clear that the only solution is political.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jec0V8KoIlzkDIXpoVvEVRNwvWzQ?docId=9adc91de4d2248e994d89a4d2910e2ea
August 29th, 2012, 12:12 pm
zoo said:
Al-Moallem: We Believe that the USA is the Major Player against Syria and the Rest are Its Instruments
Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem affirmed that We belive the USA is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments under its control.
In an interview with the British newspaper the Independent conducted by journalist Robert Fisk, al-Moallem said that America is behind Syria’s violence, and that he doesn’t understand its slogan of fighting international terrorism when it’s supporting terrorism in Syria.
He pointed out that over 60% of the country’s violence comes from abroad, specifically from Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others, adding “When the Americans say, ‘We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications’, isn’t this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with USD 25 million?”
Al-Moallem pointed out that the goal of what is happening in Syria is to pressure it regarding its relations with Iran and resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, saying “We were told by some Western envoy at the beginning of this crisis that relations between Syria and Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas are the major elements behind this crisis. If we settle this issue, they will help end the crisis.”
He went on to say that the Americans succeeded in frightening the Gulf countries about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, persuading them to buy arms from the US and fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 dream of maintaining bases for oil transportation.
Regarding the European positions towards the Syrian crisis, al-Moallem said “I tell the Europeans: I don’t understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people.”
As for Qatari-Syrian relations, al-Moallem noted that Qatar was the one who reneged on these relations, saying that he met Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in Doha in November 2011 when the Arab League launched its initiative which led to sending observers to Syria, pointing out that during this meeting, Hamad told him “If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al Jazeera and I will tell Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria.”
He added that he asked Hamad about having had very close relations with Muammar Gaddafi and why he sent his aircrafts to attack Libya and be part of NATO, with Hamad responding by saying simply “Because we don’t want to lose our momentum in Tunis and Egypt.”
Al-Moallem stressed that the crisis started with legitimate demands subsequently addressed by legislation and reforms and even a new constitution, but then came foreign elements who used these legitimate demands to hijack the peaceful agenda of the people.
“I don’t accept as a citizen to return back centuries to a regime which can bring Syria backwards. In principle …no government in the world can accept an armed terrorist group, some of them coming from abroad, controlling streets and villages in the name of jihad,” he said, adding that as a Syrian citizen, he is sad to see what’s happening in Syria, compared with how it was two years ago.
“There are many Syrians like me – eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security,” he concluded.
http://www.syriaonline.sy/?f=Details&pageid=3452&catid=24
August 29th, 2012, 12:29 pm
ann said:
Assad says talks of buffer zone in Syria “unrealistic” – 2012-08-29
DAMASCUS, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says that talks about imposing buffer zones in Syria is ” unrealistic” and “doesn’t exist virtually,” the pro-government Addounia TV reported Wednesday.
Assad’s remarks have come during an interview with the pro- government Addounia TV, and the entire interview will be aired at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday.
“I think the talks about buffer zones are firstly non-existent virtually and secondly unrealistic even for the countries that are playing the role of the hostile or the adversary,” he said.
Assad’s remarks also came after France and the U.S. were mulling imposing a partial no-fly zone on Syria, while Turkey was urging the United Nations to create buffer zones in Syria to protect the refugees.
French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has recently cautioned that closing Syria’s airspace entirely would be tantamount to “going to war” but he urged the international community to consider backing a no-fly zone over parts of Arab nation’s state.
Meanwhile, Assad said the situation on Syria is “practically better” and the military settlement “needs time”, adding the military and security forces are carrying on “heroic acts in every sense of the word.”
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/29/c_131815475.htm
August 29th, 2012, 12:42 pm
ann said:
Interview: Foreign intervention to aggravate violence in Syria: Algerian FM – 2012-08-29
TEHRAN, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — The Syrian crisis should be dealt with by Syrians themselves, as foreign military intervention would only aggravate violence in the unrest-torn country, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci told Xinhua in an interview Tuesday.
On the sidelines of the two-day ministerial level meeting of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, Medelci told Xinhua if foreign forces intervene in Syria, it would not help solve the problem but lead to more violence and bloodshed in that country.
“The Syrian crisis should be addressed through dialogue within the country,” the Algerian minister said. “Foreign forces should not interfere in Syria’s domestic affairs.”
Algerian government has already conveyed the message to both the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition, urging both sides to stop fighting, show restraint, and find solutions to the crisis through constructive dialogue, added Medelci.
To put an end to the Syrian crisis is critical to restore regional stability and security, he said, calling on the Arab League (AL) and other regional organizations to play a positive role over this issue and to promote negotiation and dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition.
Iranian officials said days ago Tehran would put forward a peace plan on the Syria crisis on the sidelines of the 16th NAM summit.
“As a regional big power, Iran has close relationships with the Syrian government, and should be able to exert positive influence over the Syrian crisis,” said Medelci.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/29/c_131815584.htm
August 29th, 2012, 12:46 pm
ann said:
French president’s Syria suggestion is absurd: general – 29 August 2012
TEHRAN – Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Wednesday that the suggestion put forward by French President Francois Hollande on Syria is absurd and will be ridiculed by the international community.
[…]
http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/101019
August 29th, 2012, 12:52 pm
ann said:
Aleppo Update 8)
Foreign [terrorists] fighters join the battle of Aleppo
“The city [Aleppo] did not rise up”
“No Aleppo man and youth are fighting”
“All of muslims come from all over the world to fight”
“They’re using a mosque as a forward operating base”
“We saw arabs from saudi arabia and egypt”
“they come from many arab and islamic countries”
“some of them say they come from alkaeda some of them say they come from very islamic groups”
August 29th, 2012, 1:10 pm
Hamameh said:
ANN
I keep losing family while you celebrate their death, can you get any lower than you are?
August 29th, 2012, 1:16 pm
zoo said:
Iran proposal at NAM
http://news.yahoo.com/un-chief-hits-host-iran-over-human-rights-152717377.html
Iran plans to propose the formation of a three-member nonaligned team, plus two neighbors of Syria, to help resolve the crisis there, Iran’s state media quoted prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi as saying.
The proposed troika will include Egypt, Iran and Venezuela plus Iraq and Lebanon. Boroujerdi, who met Assad during a visit to Syria last week, said the Syrian president said he would welcome the Iranian plan.
A senior Iranian official gave details of the plan.
“Iran’s proposal … is a cease-fire and the implementation of a three-month mechanism for national reconciliation talks in this country,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying Wednesday.
Anti-regime fighters have dismissed any role for Iran in such a plan. The rebels and some others say it has little hope of succeeding. Also, the United States has rejected Iranian participation in international meetings on the Syrian crisis.
August 29th, 2012, 1:28 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
Wasif Syed & F. Stephen Larrabee quote one Syrian opposition spokesman as saying, “America will pay a price. America will lose the friendship of the Syrians, and no one will trust them anymore.”
Excuse me, but the USA never had the friendship of Syrians to begin with. A long time ago, Syria’s leaders chose to be America’s enemy. Now, Syria is paying the price for her protracted and bone-headed hostility.
August 29th, 2012, 1:47 pm
Uzair8 said:
Is the regime still able to collect tax from now conflict hit Damascus and Aleppo?
August 29th, 2012, 1:57 pm
Uzair8 said:
Rebel successes which seemed to have dried up in recent weeks are beginning to flow (eg fuel tanker and grounded helicopter attacks).
August 29th, 2012, 2:00 pm
Wim Roffel said:
This looks just like Afghanistan in 1979. Both there and now in Syria the US is encouraging medieval hillbillies to fight against their government. Just as there it is doing this in a proxy war against another country (Russia resp. Iran) and just as there it is helped by some of the most medieval countries in the world – Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states.
And no matter what happens we know one thing for sure: in the end there will be thousands of freshly trained Muslim extremists – no longer fitting in civil society and ready to go wherever they see a cause to fight for.
August 29th, 2012, 2:29 pm
Ghufran said:
???? ???? ??????? ??????? ???? ???????? ?? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??????.
???? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???????? ????? ???????? ????????? ???? ??? ????? ????? ????.
News about the attack on Taftanaz air base have surfaced on a number of sites and cinfirmed by the government,success of that attack is not verified, the story posted by the rebels that they managed to sneak tanks and artillery at night then destroy 10 helicopters in 40 minutes them leaving unscathed is hard to believe, I think the theory that more attacks on the army will somehow reduce assaults on Syrian towns is flawd and has been repeatedly proven wrong, the opposite is happening, those rebels are not in the business of protecting Syrians or building a new free Syria, only fools buy this garbage, the objective is a violent regime change even if there are no Syrians left for the new regime to rule over.
August 29th, 2012, 2:34 pm
Visitor said:
# 18,
Why are you interested in Syrian affairs?
August 29th, 2012, 2:36 pm
zoo said:
#22 Ghufran
The rebels reporting has been so full of lies than only Al Jazeera and Al Arabya carry their stories, even when they are false.
Yet they have not reported that story.
Syria rebels ‘destroy five helicopters’ in raid
By Jad Yateem (AFP) – 7 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iMtOBQfwwlv7q0_aijBeEb6c7SUQ?docId=CNG.87a09093caa84ac6dda35a7ddd223788.4a1
BEIRUT — Syrian rebels said they destroyed five helicopters in a raid on a military airport between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib on Wednesday, while state television said the attack was repelled.
August 29th, 2012, 2:48 pm
Juergen said:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=516211975071934&set=a.209249972434804.65153.201035233256278&type=1&theater
August 29th, 2012, 3:30 pm
Citizen said:
August 29th, 2012, 3:40 pm
ghufran said:
??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ????????.
???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?? 15 ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ??? ? ????? ????????
???? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? “????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????” ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???????? ? ????? ?????????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????????.
????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ?????? ? ????? ???????? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ??????. ??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ?????? ? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ??????
a cease fire with a peace keeping force and monitored elections seem like a tall order but it is the only way out.
August 29th, 2012, 3:41 pm
Aldendeshe said:
And no matter what happens we know one thing for sure: in the end there will be thousands of freshly trained Muslim extremists – no longer fitting in civil society and ready to go wherever they see a cause to fight for.
_________________________________________________________________
What do ya mean, I am stocked about these Emirs that need a cause and home soon, a patch of land with a lot of harem to rule as an Islamic Emir all over it. There will be 3600 patches available in Arabia that needs an Emir to rule under Muawya Islamic Khalifa, and no army on earth will be able to prevent them of having this awesome victory, not after they are properly equipped by SNP. I will soon be circulating the emirates map to the greats one that we will choose based on loyalty to Khalifa Muawya.
Just wait until Assad takes his last breath, when Baathist regime goes under water.
August 29th, 2012, 3:45 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
4.SYRIAN NATIONALIST PARTY
The fact that there are 113 thumbs up in your last comment reminds me of the 97,7 % victories in Assad’s presidential elections. It smells as if you were some kind of fascist dictatorial party. Good you are far away from power and from Syria.
The syrian people has a retaliatory policy towards those who try to cheat the Syrian Revolution.
August 29th, 2012, 3:48 pm
Aldendeshe said:
???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?? 15 ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ??? ? ????? ????????
???? ?????? ???? ?????? ???? “????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????” ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???????? ? ????? ?????????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????????.
_________________________________________________________________
BULL*SH*IT
We will not stop fighting until the Emirs reach Muscat, Manila, Paris and London. We need a 200,000,000 Islamic army.
August 29th, 2012, 3:50 pm
Aldendeshe said:
GO F****K yourself Sandro Low
August 29th, 2012, 3:53 pm
ghufran said:
?? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??????????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ???????? ??? ???????? ????????? ??? ???? ??????. ???? ??? ??????? ???????? ?? ????????: ?? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ???????? ??? ???????? ????????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??????
in Aleppo, armed rebels have used a children hospital in saif Addouleh as their HQ until they were forced out yesterday.
August 29th, 2012, 4:00 pm
Aldendeshe said:
The fact that there are 113 thumbs up in your last comment reminds me of the 97,7 % victories in Assad’s presidential elections.
__________________________________________________________________
HELL, I thought it was fake too. But it is believable now, one can see that is the percentage point of Syrians sided with Assad against the so called Revolutionaries/terrorists.
Would not you wish if 8% of Syrians sided with your bloody cause and escaped to the Jews. Keep on dreaming of that 2% of Syrians mental case that will believe you and go live in refugee camps eternally like the Palestinians, while the revolutionary saves enough cash to live in European Luxury until Assad makes a deal and you go to the Haig for trials, crime against humanity.
I know of several western institutions that are now compiling all the evidence for the trials.
August 29th, 2012, 4:01 pm
Uzair8 said:
Homsuptodate
#BreakingNews ||#Idleb || FSA heroes shelled Abo Al-Dhour military airport and reportedly destroyed 10 MEG JETs.
This is the largest operation ever.
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/homsuptodate-breakingnews-idleb-fsa-heroes-shelled-abo/
From a minute earlier:
BigAlBrand
FSA announced destroying 10 jets or helicopters in a second military airport in Idled. That makes the total number today 20. I Can’t confirm
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/bigalbrand-fsa-announced-destroying-10-jets-or-helicopters/
August 29th, 2012, 4:12 pm
ghufran said:
??? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????????? ?? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?? “?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????” ??? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? “??? ?? ??? ?? ??????”.
launching attacks in a number of spots at the same time is a challenge for both sides, the rebels try to cope by using foreign islamist rebels and common thugs the army had to rely on air power more than before and elnist their own thugs, if you are Syrian and you are not sick of this you probably have your heart in the wrong place.
I genuinely feel sorry for those who are unable to see that their country is being destroyed and the only thing they can do is cheer news,confirmed or not, of more death and destruction.
August 29th, 2012, 4:12 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Now I know why they are hiding behind fake names, all fictitious persons posting bravely here while cowardly afraid of the coming Haig Trials.
August 29th, 2012, 4:13 pm
Syrian said:
22. Ghufran said:
“the objective is a violent regime change even if there are no Syrians left for the new regime to rule over.”
Assuming that your understanding of what is happening is true, your statement also goes both ways, it also means that the current regime will fight till there are no Syrian left to rule.
But this goes against your own simple math theory from the last post when you said that “Syria is a killing field today, your chance of being killed if you are an alawi,using simple math, is at least 3 times higher than if you were Sunni”
so by using your own cold math formula .by the time the war is over there will be 2/3 of the country still around
so in the long run using your math,who do you think is the real “fool”
August 29th, 2012, 4:24 pm
Uzair8 said:
Syrian rebels organised despite latest onslaught
Tue 28 Aug 2012
by Judith Orr
The town of Darayya has become the latest scene of a massacre of civilians at the hands of President Bashar al-Assad’s military forces.
It is a working class town of around 200,000 people in the province of Damascus and is seen as the birthplace of the revolution.
Reports describe over 300 bodies being found in the basements of buildings where people had gone to shelter from the air attacks and bombing. Troops laid siege to the town for several days, then went through the city backed by tanks and helicopter gunships.
The Local Coordinating Committees (LCC) reported the wounds of the dead indicate many had been executed. “The shabiha (pro-regime) militias… have been transformed into a killing machine that threatens the Syrian people and our future,” the LCC said.
Read more:
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=29442
August 29th, 2012, 4:26 pm
Citizen said:
Cross Talk
http://rt.com/programs/crosstalk/world-disorder-cold-war/
World Disorder
August 29th, 2012, 4:51 pm
Citizen said:
‘We believe that the USA is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments’
Robert Fisk – The Independent August 28, 2012
The battle for Damascus could be heard inside the Foreign Minister’s office yesterday, a vibration of mortars and tank fire from the suburbs of the capital that penetrated Walid Muallem’s inner sanctum, a dangerous heartbeat to match the man’s words.
America was behind Syria’s violence, he said, which will not end even after the battle for Aleppo is over. “I tell the Europeans: ‘I don’t understand your slogan about the welfare of the Syrian people when you are supporting 17 resolutions against the welfare of the Syrian people’. And I tell the Americans: ‘You must read well what you did in Afghanistan and Somalia. I don’t understand your slogan of fighting international terrorism when you are supporting this terrorism in Syria’.”
Walid Muallem spoke in English and very slowly, either because of the disconcerting uproar outside or because this was his first interview with a Western journalist since the Syrian crisis began. At one point, the conflict between rebels and government troops in the suburbs of Douma, Jobar, Arbeen and Qaboun – where a helicopter was shot down – became so loud that even the most phlegmatic of Foreign Ministers in a region plagued by rhetoric glanced towards the window. How did he feel when he heard this, I asked him?
“Before I am a minister, I am a Syrian citizen, and I feel sad at seeing what’s happening in Syria, compared with two years ago,” he said. “There are many Syrians like me – eager to see Syria return to the old days when we were proud of our security.”
I have my doubts about how many Syrians want a return to “the old days” but Muallem claims that perhaps 60 per cent of the country’s violence comes from abroad, from Turkey, from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with the United States exercising its influence over all others.
“When the Americans say, ‘We are supplying the opposition with sophisticated instruments of telecommunications’, isn’t this part of a military effort, when they supply the opposition with $25m – and much more from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia?”
A year ago, I told Muallem, I lunched with the Emir of Qatar, and he was enraged at what he called Bashar al-Assad’s lies, claiming that the Syrian President had reneged on a deal to allow Muslim Brotherhood members to return home.
Muallem nodded. “If you met the same Emir two years ago, he was praising Assad, and considered him a dear friend. They used to have family relations, spending family holidays in Damascus and sometimes in Doha. There is an important question: what happened? I met the Emir in Doha in, I think, November 2011, when the Arab League started their initiative [resulting in the sending of League observers to Syria] and we reached agreement … The Emir told me: ‘If you agree to this initiative, I will change the attitude of Al Jazeera and I will tell [Sheikh] Qaradawi [a popular prelate with a regular slot on the television chain] to support Syria and reconciliation, and I have put down some billions of dollars to rebuild Syria…’ .
“At the same time, when I was waiting to enter a meeting, there was the head of the Tunisian party Ennahda and the Emir issued orders to pay Ennahda $150m to help his party in the elections. Anyway, this was their business. But I asked the Emir: ‘You were having very close relations with Muammar Gaddafi and you were the only leader in his palace when Gaddafi hosted you during the summit – so why are you sending your aircraft to attack Libya and be part of Nato?’ The Emir said simply: ‘Because we don’t want to lose our momentum in Tunis and Egypt – and Gaddafi was responsible for dividing Sudan’.”
Of America’s power, Walid Muallem had no doubt. The Americans, he says, succeeded in frightening the Gulf countries about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, persuaded them to buy arms from the US, fulfilling Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 dream of maintaining bases for oil transportation.
“We believe that the US is the major player against Syria and the rest are its instruments.” But wasn’t this all really about Iran? I asked, a dodgy question since it suggested a secondary role for Syria in its own tragedy. And when Muallem referred to the Brookings Institution, I groaned.
“You are laughing, but sometimes when you are Foreign Minister, you are obliged to read these things – and there was a study by the Brookings Institute [sic] called The Road to Tehran, and the result of this study was: if you want to contain Iran, you must start with Damascus……
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=55339
August 29th, 2012, 5:30 pm
zoo said:
Morsi is taking risks in opening a dialog with Islamist terrorists
Egypt leader said to reach out to Sinai radicals
By Maggie Michael, Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-08-28/egypt-sinai-islamists/57379832/1
CAIRO – Egypt’s Islamist president is using former jihadists to mediate with radical Islamists in Sinai, trying to ensure a halt in militant attacks in return for a stop in a military offensive in the lawless peninsula, participants in the talks say.
…
Ahmed el-Jehaini, a leading Sinai Salafi who met with the mediators, praised Morsi for “reaching out to the sons of Sinai to build confidence.”
Khalil Anani, an analyst of Islamic movements, said that a security crackdown in Sinai is not a solution, but that the dialogue strategy is also risky.
“On one hand, Morsi’s reaching out to the jihadists can create divisions within their circles and weaken them, but on the other hand it is dangerous that you recognize the Jihadi groups,” he said. “It is also very risky game that could fire back as Morsi could be using them but later on they can turn against him.”
August 29th, 2012, 5:49 pm
Uzair8 said:
A tribute to Rachel Corrie.
Syria is a land of millions of Rachel Corrie’s.
August 29th, 2012, 6:02 pm
Ghufran said:
????? ???????..
??? ???? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ???????? ?????? ????????.
????? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ????.
???? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ?? ???? “???? ???????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????????? ?? ???????? ??????. ???? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???????????. ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??? ?????? (?????) ????? ?? ???????.”
???? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?????.
???? ??????? “?????? ?? ???? ??… ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ????????? ???? ????? ??????? ???????.
“???? ????? ????? ???????. ??? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ?????????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? ?????????. ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ???. ?????? ??? ????? ?????.”
August 29th, 2012, 6:14 pm
Syrian Natonalist Party said:
???? ???????? – ?? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ? ????? ??? ????????
http://islamic-intelligence.blogspot.com/2009/10/are-saudi-royal-family-jewish.html
http://muslimvilla.smfforfree.com/index.php?topic=2433.0
http://www.truedemocracy.net/hj33/08.html
???? ???? ????? ????????? ? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????????? ? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ??????? ????? ???????
August 29th, 2012, 6:23 pm
Syrian Natonalist Party said:
Any Moslem that visit Zionist Israel will brng shame to Islam and Moslems. He is not a Moslem, he is Kaffer under infidel control. He should face the same end as that ugly SADAT.
No Moslem should ever shake a hand of a Jew, any kind not just Israeli ones until the Jews return the Golan to Syrians, Al Quds to Moslems, and give full independence to Palestinians, take back all refugees under equal law of return.
August 29th, 2012, 6:26 pm
Ghufran said:
????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ????????
???????? ??? ???? ?????? ? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???? ???????? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ??????? 15 ???? ???????? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ????????? ???? ??”???? ??????
? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????? ???? ????????? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ???????? ???????? ??? “?? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ???”.
It is hard to verify the accuracy of this story, I have no reason to suspect that it is false but I am not sure why Zawaaj Almut’aa was infused here except to insinuate that Shia are taking part in exploitation of Syrian girls using religious and cultural covers, the merit of the story is that this war is destroying Syria and humiliating its people, the focus in any solution should be to alleviate the suffering of Syrians instead of fighting about who should be Ameer and who should not.
August 29th, 2012, 6:33 pm
Aldendeshe said:
And no Christian should ever do so. The blood of Christ is on these people stained hand. Not only that, the blood of million Iraqis and now Syrians as well.
August 29th, 2012, 6:36 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
ALDENDESHE
You are a fascist, a psychopathic, a kind of human garbage full of hatred. FAKE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
This SC is out of control. Thumbs up are faked by SNP (164 up).
I give up and if Assad is kept in power by the disgrace upper classes in Damascus and Aleppo I will leave to Israel, to Switzerland or wherever I want to go. You should shut up your moouth about what a christian should or should not do. Any christian will do whatever he or she finds suitable. No one will hear from your crazy speech. Go to hell. Or better go to Qardaha.
August 29th, 2012, 7:28 pm
jna said:
Ban Ki-moon and Jeffrey Feltman in Iran
http://english.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M1160.jpg
August 29th, 2012, 7:43 pm
ghufran said:
Shafik wanted in Egypt over alleged corruption case:
Ex-PM who lost presidential race to Mohamed Morsi then went abroad faces questions over land allocated to Mubarak’s sons.
only in the Middle East, a man with corruption charges almost became president,then few weeks later he is wanted like any criminal, losers have no friends
August 29th, 2012, 7:59 pm
Tara said:
FSA ‘destroys 10 helicopters’
The Free Syrian Army claims to have destroyed 10 Syrian Air Force helicopters at Taftanaz military airport, located between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib, al-Jazeera reported today. Video uploaded onto YouTube purported to show clashes at the airport in the distance. The video below purports to show the destroyed helicopters.
It quotes the British-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights as saying 14 government troops were killed in the fighting at Taftanaz.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/29/syria-crisis-live?commentpage=all#block-503df29d58f947a783ecbe08
August 29th, 2012, 8:11 pm
Tara said:
Syrian opposition group not up to job, says ex-member
Basma Kodmani, who resigned from the Syrian National Council this week, said the group was not doing enough to back the increasingly violent 17-month-old revolt against the government in Damascus and needed to be replaced by a new political authority.
“My sense was that the SNC was not up to facing the increasing challenges on the ground and was not up to the performance I would have liked it to be,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview from Paris on Wednesday.
Kodmani, one of the few women in the SNC, headed its foreign affairs bureau. The SNC was formed in Istanbul last year to guide a democratic transition if Assad fell but has been accused by some of being dominated by Islamists.
“The groups inside the council did not all behave as one in promoting one national project,” Kodmani said. “Some have given too much attention to their own partisan agendas, some to their personal agendas sometimes. That resulted in a major weakness in connecting closely with the groups on the ground and providing the needed support in all forms.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/29/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE8610SH20120829
August 29th, 2012, 8:16 pm
Visitor said:
Ten less MIGs are now available to the thugs to use in the killing of Syrians after the FSA destroyed them along with several armored vehicles in the Abu Al-Douhour Airport near Idlib.
Once again we applaud the heroism of the FSA, our true National Army.
August 29th, 2012, 8:17 pm
Tara said:
Syria: the point of no return
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/29/syria-point-of-no-return
And yet, the events of the past 18 months have shattered one of the abiding guidelines to life under totalitarian rule – that absolute power is uncontestable. If anything has so far been achieved through the bedlam now rumbling through Syria and indeed other parts of the Arab world, it is a new reality: the power of the street has exposed the fragility of authority.
“I had always said they would fall over when we were no longer scared of them,” Moustafa Abu Khalil, a retired electricity worker from the northern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour, told me in June. “It took a long time to get to the point where people were prepared to risk everything, their families, their futures, just to bring about change. “The truth be told, [the people] probably wouldn’t have got here if the regime did not continue to escalate the violence every month. That just fed the flames. And now we have a true revolution, civil war, call it what you will. It is a point of no return.”
August 29th, 2012, 8:26 pm
Tara said:
Background on Taftanaz military base
Some background on the Taftanaz (or Tiftanaz) military base where rebel fighters say they have destroyed a number of helicopters.
Last month our colleague Luke Harding interviewed two army generals (Mohammad al-Zobi and Saed Shawamra) who had defected from the base – travelling at first to Turkey but then returning to Syria to support the opposition.
Morale in the base was said to be low when the generals defected. Harding wrote:
The two generals had been in charge of helicopters at the Tiftanaz base, outside Idlib. Because of rebel attacks on supply routes, the garrison was now forced to fly in food and ammunition by plane from Aleppo, they said. It was a similar picture in other army bases, increasingly vulnerable and cut off, Zobi suggested.
Assad’s greatest advantage over his lightly armed opponents comes from the sky. Syria has 150 Soviet-built helicopters, including M8 and M17 troop transporters, capable of transporting 24 soldiers each. Russia had also delivered “five or six new helicopters” over the past month, the generals said.
But the president’s most lethal weapon is his notorious M25 helicopter gunship. Syria has 22 of them, stationed in pairs at every airbase across the country, according to Zobi. They are remorseless killing machines able to fire 64 rockets on each mission and 2,000 machine gun rounds of varying calibres. They can stay in the air for four and a half hours.
“You can’t shoot them down. It’s impossible. They fly at an altitude of 4.5kms, above the range of a Kalashnikov,” Zobi said. The gunships have a crew of four: two pilots, a gunner and an engineer.
The general added: “We defected after our superior gave us an unambiguous order to shoot everything on the ground.”
“We didn’t want to kill our own civilians,” Shawamra explained.
The Guardian
August 29th, 2012, 8:32 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Syria always been a refugee home for every F****G tribes and species in the region, from ancient times to the Iraq war in Modern times. Finally the Semite basta***ds made a refugee out of Syrians. EXTERMI*NATE THEM, SPRAY THEM you dim witted FAGGOT BATTA.
August 29th, 2012, 8:46 pm
Aldendeshe said:
@SANDRO
I suggest better place for you, GO TO HELL and leave the poor Syrians out of your Genocidal Zionist hell please. You think my voice is bad, wait until Faggot Batta gives SNP what asked of him. F*****G took 2 god damm years and drove Syria to a heap of trash and the dumb ass still wants more time. What a F*****R this Baathist front is.
August 29th, 2012, 8:52 pm
Aldendeshe said:
Once again we applaud the heroism of the FSA, our true National Army.
________________________________________________________________
I did not know FSA is now part of the Israeli army.
August 29th, 2012, 8:56 pm
jna said:
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/29/164133/islamists-attack-libyan-school.html#storylink=cpy
August 29th, 2012, 9:07 pm
Ghufran said:
??? ???? ??????? ???? “??????? ??????? ??????? ????????”? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????.
???? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ????????: “?? ???? ??????? ???? ????” ?? ????.
????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? 1956 ?????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ????.
????? ?????? ???????? ????? ??? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????. ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ???????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???????? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ??????.
August 29th, 2012, 9:17 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
42
“Syria is a land of millions of Rachel Corries.”
Sorry to burst your balloon, but Rachel, rest in peace, was an American free to choose her path in life (and in death). She chose to lay her life on the line for the Palestinian cause.
Syrians, by contrast, are not free in the sense that Rachel was. They have all kinds of ethnic, tribal, clan and sectarian constraints blocking them at every juncture. They will be free to choose, as Rachel was, in maybe 500 years, after the last Imam is strangled by the entrails of the last Baathist.
Answer to Visitor. Why am I interested in Syrian matters? I wasn’t aware I needed your okay to participate.
August 29th, 2012, 9:27 pm
zoo said:
Bye Bye Basma…
The SNC card house is crumbling and will end up in the “dustbin of history” to the shame of France, Qatar and Turkey, the failed parents.
When is the next exciting FOS meeting? or this is also dead?
August 29th, 2012, 10:35 pm
Darryl said:
“51. TARA said:
FSA ‘destroys 10 helicopters’”
This must have been the work of the “Holy Trinity” brigade as no loss of life has been recorded. I did not think the FSA will listen to you so quickly Tara, good job.
August 29th, 2012, 10:36 pm
zoo said:
Why is the FSA trying to dissociate itself from “terrorists” referred to by Bashar Al Assad? Is it preparing to present itself as a ‘clean’ partner in an eventual dialog with the government, now that the SNC is dead.
Main base in Turkey, says rebel Free Syrian Army
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/main-base-in-turkey-says-rebel-free-syrian-army.aspx?pageID=238&nID=28967&NewsCatID=338
The Hatay Governor’s Office, however, told the Hürriyet Daily News that they were unaware of the situation
…
The group states that it has never been part of any militia or other military force that has battled or risen up against the al-Assad regime for the sake of any gain, material or otherwise. Although the embattled president has consistently said his forces are battling “terrorists,” he does not explicitly refer to the Free Syrian Army.
August 29th, 2012, 10:57 pm
Antoine said:
ALDENDESHE said :
“We will not stop fighting until the Emirs reach Muscat, Manila, Paris and London.”
________________________________________________________________
Tehran, Baghdad, and Yekaterinburg as well ?
August 29th, 2012, 11:01 pm
Syrian said:
62 zoo
How is Bassama news any more important than the long awaited interview of Bashar ,it is been almost 10 hours since his appearance and not a peep out of you, it is as if he is not relevant to you anymore, so far you talked about Egypt president and Bassama and nothing at all about him ,as if he doesn’t exist or we could say he is already in the dustbin of history
August 29th, 2012, 11:06 pm
VISITOR said:
# 61,
I did not say you needed my permission to participate.
So, again, why are you interested in Syrian affairs?
August 29th, 2012, 11:14 pm
zoo said:
#66 Syria
I am honored to know you are a fan of my posts and surely one of my regular thumbs upper.
The SNC must be the most vicious and pathetic opposition organization in the history of uprisings. It bears a heavy responsibility in the escalation of violence and the bloodshed.
Its fall was long overdue.
By the way I have posted Bashar Al Assad’s speech report as he gave it. In your excitment you may have missed it.
https://joshualandis.com/blog/?p=15883#comment-326091
August 29th, 2012, 11:20 pm
Son of Damascus said:
FSA rebels – accused of war crimes – shape Syria’s future
Amal Hanano
Aug 29, 2012
Syria, the crossroads of civilisation, has become a land of crossings. Refugees cross borders to overcrowded camps; displaced families travel from destroyed towns and cities to others still being destroyed; officials and diplomats defect from the Assad regime to form alliances with the loosely defined “opposition”. And thousands of people have crossed from life to death.
[…]
They huddled together in the back of a lorry en route to Atareb, a nearby town. It was dark, but their faces glowed with relief as they lit cigarettes. When they alighted, opposition fighters showered them with welcomes, their voices rough yet comforting. “Thank God for your safety,” they said, the common greeting to those returning from a trip. Crossing over was like coming home.
Another video, emerging around the same time, told another story, one of vengeance. In Aleppo on July 31, the FSA-affiliated Tawheed Brigade captured members of the Barri clan. Seated in a line on a dirty floor, they faced the cameraman, one by one. Most of their faces were bloodied. Ringleader Zeyno Barri, stripped to his underwear, looked forlorn and humiliated – and like a man who knew the end was near.
The Barri tribe has been known for years for criminal behaviour – a dirty clan with dirty ties to the regime. Since early 2011, their thuggery and intimidation have aimed at suppressing the uprising in Aleppo. Asked why the city took so long to join the revolution, many Allepians answer simply: the Barris. In Aleppo, the Barris are the definition of shabbiha, the “ghost” militia that supports the regime.
Supposedly after a field trial, of which no video has been released, the men were marched outside and executed in a hail of bullets. When the dust cleared, only bodies remained. The fighters scattered. Even the cameraman hid behind a wall as he continued filming.
[…]
Afterwards, the video’s details were dissected in social media. Some activists were surprised that the Barris had not been tortured first. They said that the punishment could have been much worse, and emphasised that after the first fatal shots the men could not have felt the other bullets, fired only for show to warn the rest of the shabbiha. But some believe the brutal scene killed more than men; it killed the great expectations of an idealised revolution, and it set a disturbing precedent.
The executions opened new rifts among supporters of the revolution. Accusations divided those who think the FSA is faultless, those who argue that this is not the time to talk about a “mistake”, and those who separate the revolution from the FSA. Aleppian activists were unfairly reminded of their silence (meaning acceptance) when other cities were being bombed. Those who did not unconditionally accept the FSA’s actions were labelled hypocrites, at best, and traitors, at worst.
And so the “Rambos” who justified the violence as necessary separated from the “Gandhis” who denounced some of the FSA’s tactics. Both sides were right and both were wrong, and all of us knew it.
There are regime supporters who call for reform and dialogue without acknowledging that they would dare not utter those words but for the courage of the revolutionaries. In the same way, diehard FSA supporters refuse to acknowledge that the FSA finally signed and implemented a code of conduct, after the Barri executions, only because of the voices of the critics.
[…]
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/fsa-rebels-accused-of-war-crimes-shape-syrias-future#full
August 29th, 2012, 11:27 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
Zoo
“The SNC card house is crumbling and will end up in the “dustbin of history”
speaking of dustbins, you Bashar lapdog, let’s hope you have a shiny new dustbin for yourself.
August 29th, 2012, 11:37 pm
ann said:
British Paper Claims Western Troops are in Syria – August 26, 2012
http://www.infowars.com/british-paper-claims-western-troops-are-in-syria/
The British Daily Star has reported in their article, “SAS HUNT BIO ARMS,” that, “nearly 200 elite SAS and SBS troops are in or around Syria hunting for Assad’s weapons of mass destruction.” The Star also claims that the SAS are accompanied by British MI6, US CIA, and both French and American soldiers. This after US’ Barack Obama made comments claiming the US would military intervene if Syria so much as “moves them [unconfirmed WMDs] in a threatening fashion.”
Like Iraq, the West has provided no evidence that such weapons even exist, let alone prove that the weapons have or even would be used against terrorists operating across Syria. And like in Iraq, another false pretext is being developed through leaks, and limited hangouts in an attempt to prime the public for a desperate intervention designed to bolster the West’s collapsing terrorist front.
The West also categorically lacks any semblance of an international mandate to act militarily within Syria – meaning that if SAS soldiers are in Syria, they are in egregious violation of international law.
Should chemical weapons “move” or be “used” in Syria, it will be in the form of a false flag attack, with weapons brought in by Libyan terrorists now confirmed to be leading the so-called “Free Syrian Army” with US, UK, European, and Gulf State weapons, cash, and logistical support.
US, British, French, and Gulf State-backed Al Qaeda militants have been attempting to infiltrate and violently overthrow the government of Syria, as well as terrorize the population into submission in a brutal, year and half long terror campaign.
[…]
http://www.infowars.com/british-paper-claims-western-troops-are-in-syria/
August 29th, 2012, 11:41 pm
VISITOR said:
58 dendesh,
Did I not tell you already you should be working on your senile project of the anti-gravity bullsh*t?
Meet your cousin,
http://www.jewage.org/wiki/en/Encyclopedia:%D0%94%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%8C%D0%B5%D1%88%D1%8C
August 29th, 2012, 11:45 pm
ann said:
NATO Terrorists Target Syria & Algeria – Aug 29, 2012
http://www.infowars.com/nato-terrorists-target-syria-algeria/
Western policy makers admit that NATO’s operations in Libya have played the primary role in emboldening Al Qaeda’s AQIM faction (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). The Fortune 500-funded Brookings Institution’s Bruce Riedel in his article, “The New Al Qaeda Menace,” admits that AQIM is now heavily armed thanks to NATO’s intervention in Libya, and that AQIM’s base in Mali, North Africa, serves as a staging ground for terrorist activities across the region.
Image: NATO’s intervention in Libya has resurrected listed-terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate, LIFG. It had previously fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now has fighters, cash and weapons, all courtesy of NATO, spreading as far west as Mali, and as far east as Syria. The feared “global Caliphate” Neo-Cons have been scaring Western children with for a decade is now taking shape via US-Saudi, Israeli, and Qatari machinations, not “Islam.” In fact, real Muslims have paid the highest price in fighting this real “war against Western-funded terrorism.”
….
AQIM, like their Libyan counterparts, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) are both listed by the US State Department as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” Likewise, both the UK Home Office (.pdf, listed as GSPC) and the UN recognize both organizations as terrorists.
Despite this, military intervention in Libya was pursued by the West and condoned by the UN with full knowledge that the militants leading so-called “pro-democracy uprisings” were in fact merely the continuation of decades of violent terrorism carried out by Al Qaeda affiliates. The West had full knowledge of this, primarily because it was Western intelligence agencies arming and supporting these militants for the last 30 years, in Libya’s case, while coddling their leaders in Washington and London.
Additionally, the US Army itself meticulously documented foreign terrorists fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that the highest percentage per capita emanated from Libya’s cities of Benghazi and Darnah, the so-called “cradle” of 2011?s “pro-democracy uprisings” in Libya.
LIFG terrorists promptly turned both east to Syria and west to Mali beyond their borders – a logistical matter they had perfected during their operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade. LIFG commander Abdul Hakim Belhaj, as early as November 2011, arrived on the Turkish-Syrian border to provide cash, weapons, and LIFG terrorist fighters, overseen by Western intelligence along with US funding and arms laundered through Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) members such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Since then Libyan militants have been confirmed to be leading entire brigades of foreign fighters inside Syria.
And as Bruce Riedel of Brookings concedes, these weapons went west to Mali as well. Algeria had feared just such a scenario unfolding with NATO’s intervention in Libya – a fear now fully realized. Ironically, Riedel, in August 2011, had tried to make a case for Algeria being “next to fall” in an article titled literally, “Algeria Will Be Next to Fall.”
A year ago, Riedel attempted to argue that it would be the so-called “Arab Spring” that would spread into Algeria after having taken root in neighboring Libya. He had eluded to, and it has now become abundantly clear, that by “Arab Spring,” Riedel meant, US-backed subversion, and more specifically NATO-armed Al Qaeda-brand militancy and terrorism.
With the US now openly arming, supporting, and literally “cheering” Al Qaeda in Syria, it is clear thatthe “War on Terror” is an unprecedented geopolitical fraud perpetuated at the cost of millions of lives destroyed and an incalculable social and economic toll. NATO, with full knowledge of the consequences is literally carving out of North Africa and the Middle East, the so-called “Caliphate” Western leaders had held over their impressionable people’s heads as the impetus to perpetually wage global war. Torn from the pages of Orwell’s 1984, an artificial war has been created to carry forward corporate-financier machinations both abroad and domestically. The so-called threat to Western civilization is in fact a foreign legion of Western corporate-financier interests, executing Wall Street and London’s foreign policy on a global scale where and in a manner traditional Western forces cannot.
NATO’s terrorist blitzkrieg across the Arab World will not end in Syria. It will continue, if allowed, into Iran, through the Caucasus Mountains and into Russia, across China’s western borders, and even across Southeast Asia. The price for ignorance, apathy, and complicity in supporting the West’s so-called “War on Terror” will ironically reap all the horrors and then some in reality, that were promised to us if we didn’t fight this “Long War.”
[…]
http://www.infowars.com/nato-terrorists-target-syria-algeria/
August 29th, 2012, 11:52 pm
Syrian said:
#66 ZOO
Of course I’m a fan,so much so that I know when you have an important comment you move it to the new post if it got buried at the end of old post , witch some how would prove my earlier point of Bashar not being relevant any more.
On the subject of the SNC, I’ll agree with you, they are a punch of losers that were not up to the task and made all Syrain looks bad with their infighting.
Not that I think any of them would have got anything when it is all over
August 29th, 2012, 11:52 pm
edjazairi said:
Salvation for Syria: The only salvation for Syria at its current crisis is foregin mandate that will impose law and order. Syria is traveling from a dark tunnel into the abyss. There is not humanity or human beings you can count on these days. It is slaughters vs. slaughters. Blood vs. Blood. Butchery vs. butchery. Mass murders vs. mass murders. A foregin mandate under the auspices of the UN that will last a generation or two is the only way for the salvation of Syria.
August 30th, 2012, 12:43 am
Halabi said:
I thought Bashar’s terrible interview would be my garbage diet for the day, but the primo garbage here definitely surpasses his lies and delusions. I almost went back to analyzing his twisted logic – why didn’t you use the army in Golan? Because resistance is a state of mind – but then Son of Damascus came in with some quality from Amal Hanano, which helps remind me of the greatness of the Syrian people.
The amount of hate exhibited by Assad supporters and opponents of the revolution toward a movement that will inevitably win and has the potential of building a better country is a historical miscalculation that has led to horrific violence in a country that many of us love. There is no peace with Assad, and definitely no freedom and democracy.
Even with the meager resources available to the rebels, the revolution has become stronger every day. This is because most Syrians want this regime to go and see the revolution’s success as the only way out. This is reality. Who wants to be the last person to die for an evil dictator?
August 30th, 2012, 1:04 am
Ghufran said:
I found no evidence that a single helicopter was destroyed at Taftanaz airport and no independent source has even confirmed the death of any soldiers in that attack which was more of a PR stunt than a serious military assault .
The claim that ten more helicopters (or MIGs in some reports ) were destroyed in another attack is laughable, I certainly do not want to see Syrian jets bomb populated areas in any part of Syria, and I condemn any attack on civilian sites regardless of the justification used, but the right response to this deadly dance is a cease fire not an escalation of violence. Reports with poor or no proof end up hurting the reporter’s credibility,the two videos shown on aljazeera do not prove anything,I could not find any backer to the rebels claims anywhere outside the GCC media.
August 30th, 2012, 1:23 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
76
“Who wants to be the last person to die for an evil dictator?”
Rule Number 1 – if you’re the last person in the Palace after the Assads are dead, don’t forget to flush.
August 30th, 2012, 1:23 am
Juergen said:
damage to the entry of the Aleppo citadel
August 30th, 2012, 1:48 am
Ghufran said:
If you need one more reason to throw up,see how our tax money in the US may be used to buy weapons that kill Syrians, one of the founders of this new criminal enterprise is a medical doctor who is supposed to treat children:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/world/middleeast/syrian-group-in-united-states-seeks-to-arm-rebels-against-assad.html?pagewanted=all
Obama administration is pretending that it has no control on how the money is used,do not ask / do not tell. This is how sick and confused some expats have become.
I will make sure that this scandal receives enough attention in the press and the congress,each one of you who is against violence must contact their representative and tell them that our tax money and our name should not be used to promote violence and killings.
August 30th, 2012, 1:52 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
Naser Danan strikes me as a fine man, Ghufran. I don’t see what your problem is with getting guns for the FSA to kill members of the Assad Mafia.
Unless…oh wait…unless you support the Assads. In that case, yes, I see that you might be all up in a tizzy about a doctor in Ohio who is working out ways to kill the people who murdered Rafic Hariri.
August 30th, 2012, 2:02 am
Ghufran said:
A friendly note to new comers,old ones know this by now, I do not engage in conversations with people who advocate violence, seem ignorant or use foul language, there has to be a level of equality or parity in any productive conversation.
August 30th, 2012, 2:09 am
Juergen said:
Why Have Democrats Abandoned Syria?
As their humanitarian plight grows more acute, the Syrian people deserve better from the Democratic Party and its elected leadership.
If Senator Edward M. Kennedy — the conscience of the Democratic Party — were alive today, he would be bellowing to the rafters on the floor of the U.S. Senate that America is acting embarrassingly indifferent to the humanitarian plight of the Syrian people.
I have experience enough to predict how Ted Kennedy would have reacted to the growing Syrian civilian humanitarian crisis. I served on his Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Refugees staff for 7 years and know Ted Kennedy cared about the Democratic Party and its foreign policy principles.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-marc-ginsberg/why-have-democrats-abando_b_1841000.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
August 30th, 2012, 2:24 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
DENDESHE
Is a moukhabaraati agent paid by Assad Palace to spread garbage, disorder, chaos, unsense and stupidity abroad the net.
August 30th, 2012, 3:07 am
Isaac said:
I don’t remember such coverage in the media covering the refugee crisis which resulted from the USA’s invasion of Iraq, although it was at least trebly severe.
August 30th, 2012, 3:12 am
habib said:
84. SANDRO LOEWE
Then comes the question, what’s better, being a Salafi/Zionist agent, or being an Assad/Iranian agent?
81. Johannes de Silentio
What, yet another cheerleader for the Failed Salafist Army? Why am I not surprised?
August 30th, 2012, 5:03 am
Hassan said:
NASSER, SADDAM, GADDAFI, and ASSAD
The only 4 true leaders of the Arab world.
All 4 attacked for standing up to Israel and neo-imperialism.
All 4 attacked for refusing to let their country enslaved to neo-liberal neo-colonialist economic influence.
All 4 attacked for making life for their citzens better, bringing progress and education, building hospitals and dams.
All 4 attacked for supporting the Palestinian cause.
They succeeded in conquering Egypt, Iraq and Libya, but SYRIA WILL BE THEIR GRAVE.
SYRIA WILL BE ISRAEL’S WATERLOO.
August 30th, 2012, 5:08 am
Hassan said:
Hear us Bashar !!
Hear us Bashar !!
We’ll raise the Flag high !!
After cleaning the country of terrorists !!
We’ll repeat the Glory of 6 October !!
We’ll repeat the Glory of 6 October !!
Hafez lighted the way for us, and inspired us to great acheievements.
O Warriors of the Nation !!
Brave Arab Army !!
Students, Workers, and Peasants,
Are United in our Glorious Baath Party,
They pledge their souls,
To Defend Syria of Assad !!!
_____________________________________________________—
August 30th, 2012, 5:22 am
Aldendeshe said:
I keep thinking about the quote attributed to J. Edgar Hoover: “The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.”….
August 30th, 2012, 5:25 am
Aldendeshe said:
@ Hey HASSAN,
common man, Bashar cannot do it without the Agha, ??? ???
August 30th, 2012, 5:27 am
Hassan said:
89. ALDENDESHE
We are talking about the son of a man who built the toughest and strongest Arab Army, a veritable superman and a miracle story, who carried out live miracles for Syria. He did these miracles within a space of 30 years.
This Party, this family, and this Army we are talking about,
1. Increased Syria literacy rate from 15 % in 1963 to 80 % in 2011,
2. Built the Tabaqa Dam and thousands of irrigation and hydroelectric projects for the benefit of the country.
3. Made Syria self-sufficient in food by a strategic agricultural policy.
4. Launched the largest Missile programme and WMD programme in the Arab world.
5. Created the largest special forces in the Arab World and the toughest and largest Airborne forces and elite forces.
6. Made Syria the most solid economy in the Arab world, an economy in which the CITIZENS come first before foreign interests.
7. Was able to correct the historic mistake of the creation of Lebanon and able to bring Lebanon firmly under the Syrian State as it should be, ruled Lebanon like “Agha” for most of 30 years.
8. Dealt suavely and smartly with one crisis after another, starting from 1967 naksa, Black September crisis, Corrective revolution, 1973 war, Muslim Brotherhood insurgency, all the ups and downs of Lebanon Civil War including 2 full-scale Israeli invasions (1978 and 1982), plus backstabbing from other Arab leaders, 1990 Gulf War, 2000 Liberation of South Lebanon, 2003 Iraq crisis, 2005 Lebanon crisis, 2006 Lebanon victory.
Now, think about it, for a Party, Family, and Army which has dealt with all these crises before and came out victorious, whose help does Assad need to crush this silly rebellion ? NOBODY.
Assad can EASILY end this by himself. Who is this “Agha” you are talking about and what are his credentials ?
August 30th, 2012, 5:48 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
I am very sorry for Syria and the syrians but at the end everybody will get what he deserves. And Syria with many syrians inside the country defending the regime atrocities and crimes will receive a very hard punishment from its recent “achievements” and political history. It’s written already, I do not think we can do much more to avoid it. The chaos, destruction and genocide of Assad supporters and Rebels is on the way and Syria could be desintegrated too.
Hafez Al Assad will pass through history as the father of modern Syria (1970-2010). A modern Syria that was unsustainable and consequently Assad Junior will pass to history as the Destroyer of Modern Syria.
August 30th, 2012, 6:14 am
annie said:
Something left to destroy ?
http://youtu.be/IGpoxsMy6p4
???? ?????? ?? ???????? ??? ??????? ????????30-8-2012
August 30th, 2012, 6:14 am
Syrialover said:
Hassan #90,
You are being satirical! I am laughing at your wit.
Imagine if any of those “achievements” has been done properly and not wastefully, inadequately and corruptly.
Imagine if the place had been under a legitimate government where things were ALLOWED to happen. Hafez Assad choked Syrian development into a stunted soviet model.
And those crisis that you list are result of the misrule and mismanagement of Syrian affairs.
You are clearly joking and laughing to yourself while you wrote that comment.
August 30th, 2012, 6:50 am
Syrialover said:
Hassan #87
You aren’t much help to Bashar sitting comfortably outside Syria playing around on your computer.
That fighting spirit and boastfulness is all wasted. Bashar needs you INSIDE, NOW!
This is your one big chance to put your life on the line for what you claim to believe.
Talking tough in an online forum is a weak and squandered effort.
Especially SyriaComment, where we recognize your writing as silly pranks.
August 30th, 2012, 7:07 am
annie said:
http://qunfuz.com/2012/08/28/to-kill-and-to-walk-in-the-funeral-procession/
an important p.s. to this article :
Postscript. The appalling Robert Fisk (I know he used to be good but since 2005 he has been an awful journalist, self-obsessed, ignorant, fawning over warlords or their wives, pretending to speak Arabic when he obviously doesn’t) has done his own version of the al-Dunya propaganda in Darayya. Admittedly, his report isn’t quite as obscene as al-Dunya’s, or rather it exists within a tradition which is slightly less obscene than al-Dunya’s. But it’s still obscene. Here it is.(http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-inside-daraya–how-a-failed-prisoner-swap-turned-into-a-massacre-8084727.html?afid=af) It will make the intelligent, informed or humane reader vomit. (A few days before, Fisk fawningly interviewed the criminal Walid Muallem. Muallem whined about anti-Syrian conspiracy, and Fisk, instead of using his access to say “But surely the revolution is motivated and mobilised by regime repression?” he said, “But isn’t it all about Iran?” In other words he believes the regime propaganda, and the balnket thinkers, and is entirely ignorant about what happens on the ground in Syria, just as he’s been ignorant about Lebanon for many years. What else can we expect from an area ‘expert’ who thinks the arabic word umma (nation or community) means ‘mother’?
Anyway, the Local Coordination Committees, who understand the requirements of ethical journalism better than the Independent, have responded, very politely, to this shambles of a journalist. Here is the response:
Daraya Coordination Committee
Press Release
Robert Fisk’s report about the massacre of Saturday 25/08/2012
On Wednesday 29 August 2012, Mr. Robert Fisk of The Independent wrote a report on the Daraya Massacre that was perpetrated only 4 days earlier. Mr. Fisk is a world-famous journalist known for his balanced opinion pieces and ground-breaking reports especially from the Middle East. The people of Syria especially remember Fisk for being the first foreign reporter to enter the city of Hama after the 1982 massacre and relate to the world the horrors he saw there. Thus, we were absolutely astonished by the above-mentioned report and would like to make sure that certain points in it are not left uncorrected. We do this out of respect to the fallen heroes and to make sure the voice of the victims is heard.
Anyone who watched the infamous and insolent report made by the state-favored Addounia TV, would notice the obvious similarities between the two reports.
One major concern that would invalidate any statement taken from the victims is the presence of army personnel as admitted by Mr. Fisk himself. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of the Syrian regime would know the degree of intimidation this would incur in the hearts and minds of witnesses. The army does not need to spoon-feed the statements to the witnesses as fear is more than enough to make them repeat the narrative propagated by the government about armed militias and radical Islamists.
Moreover, the article is headlined and predicated on the government’s unbelievable prisoner-swap story. The question that begs to be asked is the following: Even if there was a prisoner exchange and it failed, does the Assad regime have any grounds at all for this level of retaliation? Were there similar failed rounds of negotiation before the massacres of Muaddamiya, Saqba etc. In fact, what has been happening in the towns of the Damascus Countryside Governorate, and indeed all of Syria, follows a similar scenario that begins with shelling and ends with massacres of civilians.
A seemingly strong point in Mr. Fisk’s report is his mentioning of real names of people telling their real stories. However, the Coordination Committee of Daraya has been in touch with some of these people and the following corrections need to be made.
1- The story of Hamdi Khreitem’s parents. The witness must have been too intimidated to identify his parents’ killers. Our reliable sources from the field hospital of Daraya confirm that both of them were targeted by a sniper (from the Assad army of course).
2- The story of Khaled Yahya Zukari. The witness was actually in a car with his brother and their wives and children. They were shot at by government forces and his wife and daughter (Leen) were hit. The baby girl’s head was almost split in half and a bullet penetrated the mother’s chest. The mother became hysterical as a result of the shock. Later she died as the field hospital had to be evacuated prior to an army raid. The Assad army told the people that the FSA raped and killed the woman.
The fear and intimidation of witnesses is reflected sometimes in their refusal to name a guilty side. Moreover, Mr. Fisk should know better than reporting conjecture such as this: ‘Another man said that, although he had not seen the dead in the graveyard, he believed that most were related to the government’s army and included several off-duty conscripts.’ The implicit accusation is of course directed against the FSA and this method of reporting resembles Syrian state propaganda par excellence, something that we wish Mr. Fisk had not done.
The revolution committee would finally like to stress also that Mr. Fisk did not meet any member of the opposition in Daraya and that he merely depended on the narrative of his ‘tour guides’ in reporting on such a horrific massacre, the ugliest Syria has seen in the 17 months of the revolution
August 30th, 2012, 7:11 am
Syrialover said:
Ghufran #80,
You have been described by others here as talking out of both sides of your mouth. I am afraid I am seeing this too and it makes me a bit dizzy trying to follow. Your messages are not consistent -but maybe this reflects your thinking and emotions.
My advice: if you care about Syria, focus on solutions, not keep looking for and identifying things which in your opinion are problems.
August 30th, 2012, 7:20 am
Syrialover said:
Annie #95,
Thank you very much for posting that comment.
Robert Fisk has become old and past it – and he doesn’t have the grace to quit. It’s a sad spectacle.
He remains good at turning out elegant phrases and writing vividly, but his pieces these days are empty of wisdom, analytical thinking and insights.
His writing on Syria has been a disaster. Contradictory, confused and often ill-informed.
He should shut up and stop destroying his earlier reputation.
I heard loud warning bells when I saw he was impressed by Rifaat Assad’s sleazy son Ribal.
I want to remember him when he used to be worth reading, not as a has-been in decline.
August 30th, 2012, 7:55 am
Uzair8 said:
71. Ann
British paper?
The Daily Star? This paper is as tabloidy as they get. The type that love printing these type of gung-ho ‘boys own’ stories. Doesn’t make it true.
August 30th, 2012, 8:21 am
Uzair8 said:
Some on here are posting about the Libyan shrine destruction.
Here is a Fatwa by the League of Libyan Ulema. (2 pages)
Notice the salafi links with one of Gaddafi’s sons.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/104317849/Fatwa-by-the-League-of-Libyan-Ulema-English
August 30th, 2012, 8:40 am
Syrialover said:
Visitor,
If you are keen to ask people here why they are interested in Syrian affairs, I suggest you switch from quizzing Johannes de Silentio (an obvious anti-Assadist) to super-diligent poster ZOO.
Zoo’s recent move from just posting articles to commenting, has revealed a startling lack of respect, empathy and interest in the PEOPLE of Syria. It has been interesting and depressing to witness.
And mystifying as to what dog he has in this fight.
August 30th, 2012, 8:44 am
zoo said:
74. Syrian
I enjoyed your far fetched arguments when you realized that you accused me wrongly.
I have posted the article on Bashar’s interview when it was published. It is unfortunate that Joshua Landis decided to publish a new compendium apologetic of the pro-chaos elements in Syria just at that time, thus making my own post part of the “old” post.
In any case I find it a compliment that you attribute to me such manipulation of information. I wish I was as capable of that, as you and some on this blog are..
August 30th, 2012, 9:06 am
zoo said:
After the PKK, now Al Qaeeda’s presence growing in Turkey?
Turkey arrests 13 suspected of Al-Qaeda links
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-arrests-13-suspected-of-al-qaeda-links-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=28990&NewsCatID=341
Thirteen people suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda were arrested in northwest Turkey following the discovery of explosives, the local governor said Thursday.
August 30th, 2012, 9:11 am
zoo said:
Morsi abort any regional peaceful initiative to solve Syria’s crisis.
In addition he provokes the Shia Iranian in his preamble.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/egypts-morsi-slams-oppressive-syria-regime-on-iran-visit
TEHRAN // Mohammed Morsi, the Egypt president, called the Syrian regime “oppressive” as he opened the Non-Aligned Movement summit today in a speech that was sure to embarrass host Iran.
“The revolution in Egypt is the cornerstone for the Arab Spring, which started days after Tunisia and then it was followed by Libya and Yemen and now the revolution in Syria against its oppressive regime,” Mr Morsi said.
“The Palestinian and Syrian people are actively seeking freedom, dignity and human justice,” he said, adding that “Egypt is ready to work with all to stop the bloodshed.”
Mr Morsi’s description of the conflict in Syria as a “revolution” against oppressive masters jarred with the narrative given by Tehran and Damascus that the uprising is separate from the Arab Spring, and consists largely of foreign-backed “terrorists” acting on behalf of the United States and regional countries.
August 30th, 2012, 9:15 am
Tara said:
I never liked the MB before. With Morsi, I am changing my mind. Egypt: welcome back..you sure were missed.
August 30th, 2012, 9:19 am
zoo said:
Syrian crisis causes billions of dollars in losses
2012-08-30
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/30/c_131818293.htm
DAMASCUS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — Syria has lost up to 30 billions U.S. dollars over the past 18 months due to the damage to infrastructure, costs of stemming protests as well as economic slowdown, the cabinet said in a newsletter Wednesday.
The Syrian cabinet’s assessment of the economic situation in the unrest-torn country during the first quarter of 2012 was released at the time the Syrian government is still showing unwavering resolution to go on with its crackdown on rebels.
Economists noted the heavy losses exclude the costs of external blockade, underlining that these losses are equivalent to Syria’s investment budget for at least seven years.
According to the newsletter, the months-long crisis has casted a dim shadow on all service sectors, mainly the tourism and transportation sectors.
The number of tourists declined by about 76.4 percent during the first three months of 2012 compared to the corresponding period of 2011 while tourism revenues diminished from 52 billion Syrian pounds in the first quarter of 2011 to 12.8 billion in the same period of 2012, down by 75.4 percent.
The newsletter revealed that Syria’s inflation rate has increased from 6.7 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 to 22. 54 percent during the first quarter of 2012, an increase of approximately 236.4 percent.
It attributed the high inflation to a rise in the price index of 12 out of 13 commodity groups, mainly the food stuff and non- alcoholic beverages.
The cabinet newsletter also showed that the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar declined to about 58.56 Syrian pounds from 51.28 pounds during the first quarter of 2011.
…
August 30th, 2012, 9:29 am
zoo said:
Over 8,000 regime forces killed in Syria: military hospital
DAMASCUS – Agence France-Presse
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/over-8000-regime-forces-killed-in-syria-military-hospital.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29001&NewsCatID=352
More than 8,000 members of the security forces have been killed since Syria’s anti-regime uprising broke out in March 2011, the director of the capital’s Tishrin military hospital said on Thursday.
“I estimate that at least 8,000 soldiers and members of the security forces have been killed since the beginning of the crisis,” the director, a doctor who also holds the rank of general, said on condition of not being named.
“Every day, we receive an average of 15 to 20 bodies of soldiers and members of security forces, with the numbers increasing since the beginning of the year,” he told an AFP reporter.
Tishrin received 47 bodies on Wednesday, but in late July — when fighting raged in the capital as the rebels trying to seize control — “we received more than 100 people daily for three days,” the doctor said. “Approximately 70 percent of military casualties are transported to our hospital and the rest are sent to hospitals in other provinces,” he added.
Around 60 percent of the victims were killed by gunfire, while 35 percent died in explosions, including anti-tank rockets, and five percent were “slaughtered or beheaded,” according to the general.
August 30th, 2012, 9:38 am
zoo said:
NAM: India opposes ‘external intervention’ in Syria
Last Updated: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 18:39
http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/pm-asks-nam-to-take-stand-on-syria_796691.html
Tehran: Strongly pitching for coordinated global actions against international terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asked the Non-Aligned Movement to take a lead in this and also take a stand based on “universally accepted principles” on Syria.
Voicing India’s opposition to “external intervention” in Syria, Singh, while addressing the leaders and other representatives from over 50 NAM countries who are here for a two-day Summit, made a pointed reference to the situation in the West Asian region, particularly Syria, currently afflicted by a civil war between troops loyal to President Bashar Al- Assad and the rebels.
“The West Asian and North African region is undergoing profound change. As the world’s largest democracy, India supports popular aspirations for a democratic and pluralistic order. Nevertheless, such transformations cannot be prompted by external intervention, which exacerbate the suffering of ordinary citizens.
“The deteriorating situation in Syria is a matter of particular concern. Our Movement should take a stand on the issue in keeping with universally accepted principles,” he said while urging all parties to recommit themselves to resolving the crisis peacefully through a Syrian-led inclusive political process that can meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrian citizens.
August 30th, 2012, 9:51 am
Richard said:
Ghufran said:
“I agree with the argument that the regime reaction to the uprising is the main reason why we are here,but if sparing lives is the main goal of the armed rebels,they certainly failed,I am afraid that they will also fail in toppling the regime by force.”
Are you truly afraid the rebels will fail? You have dubiously called for a stalemate as a desirable outcome, and you oppose any actions that will lead to the rebels succeeding.
I fear that Assad will be in power for years if he has fighter jets and helicopters, plus support from Iran and Russia to keep those killing machines operational. In a war of attrition, he has strong cards.
Lives will only be spared by one side winning as soon as possible. That’s the grim truth. There’s nothing more bloody than a stalemate.
August 30th, 2012, 9:53 am
Son of Damascus said:
Ghufran,
“I found no evidence that a single helicopter was destroyed at Taftanaz airport”
I am pretty sure these videos are authentic and not made in Qatarwood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNgDy9XzsWQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU0VYqQohH0&feature=player_embedded
I have read about another attack on a different Airbase in Idlib (Abu Al-Thuhour Airbase) which is a fighter jet Airbase
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8my60YJIEEo&feature=player_embedded
Al-Jazeera Arabic claims that 10 MiG’s were destroyed, I only can definitely see one MiG (and a pilot that parachuted) destroyed, can’t make out what is going in the base but explosions can clearly be seen.
It saddens me to see the Syrian Army used as a personal militia by the Assadi clan, by acting like that they have turned Syrian weaponry into legitimate targets.
Why are they a legitimate target because this is what they are doing to Syrians:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chroniclesyrianuprising/sets/72157631314581768/
(Kafranbel on August 28th)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chroniclesyrianuprising/sets/72157631314575950/
(Binnish on August 29th)
August 30th, 2012, 9:57 am
Richard said:
“104. Tara said:
I never liked the MB before. With Morsi, I am changing my mind. Egypt: welcome back..you sure were missed.”
Only yesterday, Tom Friedman of NY Times wrote a scathing editorial condeming Morsi
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/opinion/friedman-morsis-wrong-turn.html
What a difference a day makes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/31/world/middleeast/ban-ki-moon-broaches-delicate-topics-with-iranian-officials.html
I am fearful of the MB. But then again, if the middle east is going to become democratic, the MB will have influence and power. I just hope it can work out like Turkey, even though their democracy has problems.
August 30th, 2012, 10:03 am
Uzair8 said:
107. Zoo
So says the brutal occupier of Kashmir.
Oddly enough I was surprised to see a Kashmir related headline near the bottom of Prof JL’s news round up above. Didn’t check it out. May do so later.
August 30th, 2012, 10:05 am
ann said:
NATO-backed Rebels [terrorists] Bomb Funeral in Syria – Aug 29, 2012
“Why did they bomb the funeral? For what, For what god, for what?!”
http://www.infowars.com/nato-backed-rebels-bomb-funeral-in-syria/
August 30th, 2012, 10:22 am
ann said:
France Ready to Recognize al-Qaeda as Syria’s Legitimate Government – August 28, 2012
http://www.infowars.com/france-ready-to-recognize-al-qaeda-as-syrias-legitimate-government/
France’s recently elected socialist president and Bilderberg stooge François Hollande has told Syria’s CIA and MI6 run opposition to form a provisional government. Hollande said France would then officially recognize it as Syria’s legitimate government.
In February, the Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, told the Senate Armed Services committee that al-Qaeda has “infiltrated” the Syrian opposition groups France boasts it will recognize.
“Strangely, the fact that Washington, in cooperation with its allies, is now sending communication gear, military intelligence, and weapons to militias in Syria with considerable – and growing – ties to al-Qaeda has not made the Obama administration blink,” John Glaser wrote in July.
Glaser mentioned a supposed “vetting process” that avoid arms ending up in the hands of al-Qaeda and Islamic extremists, “but the process is made up of untrustworthy, third-party sources and intelligence officials have recently told the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times that the truth is that the US doesn’t know who is getting the money and weapons.”
In fact, there is plenty of evidence that the CIA trained, armed, funded – to the tune of $3 billion – and supported Osama bin Laden and what would ultimately become al-Qaeda.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently admitted that the United States created al-Qaeda, although her admission was at best lightly covered by the establishment media.
The U.S. also supported al-Qaeda in Libya prior to the murder of al-Gaddafi. Following the destruction of the north Africa country, Libya’s transitional ruling authority agreed to send weapons and fighters to Syria to assist the Free Syrian Army.
[…]
http://www.infowars.com/france-ready-to-recognize-al-qaeda-as-syrias-legitimate-government/
August 30th, 2012, 10:28 am
Tara said:
Richard
Thanks for the link. The great Mullah got shy and avoided the subject completely. Stage fear?
“In contrast to Mr. Morsi’s remarks, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is a staunch ally of Mr. Assad, avoided the topic entirely as he addressed the emirs, presidents and prime ministers who had gathered in Tehran for the summit meeting of the Nonaligned Movement.
The Iranian organizers of the meeting had largely ignored Syria during preparations, not putting forward a proposal for a solution but instead calling for a troika of Egypt, Venezuela and Iran to become more involved.
Iran stands isolated in the Islamic world in its support for Mr. Assad, a status that became abundantly clear when it was the only nation to oppose the expelling of Syria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries on Aug. 14.
Local Iranian news media did not report Mr. Morsi’s comments, which strongly conflict with Iran’s official line; a top military commander recently declared Mr. Assad’s government the “winner” over the “U.S.- and Israel-backed terrorists.”
August 30th, 2012, 10:37 am
Ghufran said:
Morsi was right in calling the regime oppressive and siding with the people in Syria but his speech may have killed his potential role as a mediator and that is a problem.
I do not want the opposition crushed because I believe the regime will only respond to pressure but not the type of pressure applied by armed rebels, those rebels are helping in destroying Syria and deepening hatred among Syrians, that puts the rebels in a situation similar to the regime, this is why some of you think that my arguments are ambiguous and
Dizzying, Richard echoes a common belief that one party has to win to end the stalemate, I stated that before but do you really think that the rebels with their current composition and reliance on the GCC and Turkey can be trusted ? I think not.
A victory by the rebels in the absence of a political deal and international guarantees will be a disaster for Syria, it can lead to a prolonged civil war and a defacto partition of Syria, the mentality of ” the winner takes all” never worked in the Middle East.
August 30th, 2012, 10:39 am
zoo said:
110. Richard
We will see lots of flip flops in the US press about Morsi.
Morsi is an ideological ally to Turkey and a client of Qatar and Saudi Arabia who are sustaining his ailing economy together with the US subsidies if he keeps the Israel peace agreement.
In addition he seeks to restore the glory of an Islamic Egypt as a leader and example in the Arab world.
Therefore it would have been inimaginable that would say anything that would displease his providers present in the assembly. He succeeded in making the western media jump from suspicion to a wave of hopes about Morsi, especially that he totally avoided mentioning Bahrain in the Arab Spring tsunami..
Overall it seems that Morsi is using Erdogan as a model for his path in is dealing with Israel and the Palestinians.
He is also following Erdogan in his empty calls for ‘outseating’ Bashar without having any serious strategy outside lots of empty declarations.
Morsi has far too many internal problems to intervene effectively in Syria. His whole team is on a steep learning curves and under pressure to deliver a new Constitution and defining their role in regional policies.
To show that Egypt has initiatives, he called for a work group with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran to find a peaceful solution to Syria. The probability of such a group especially after his speech at the NAM is close to zero.
Iran is as stubborn as the Western countries and it won’t change its mind about Syria because a zealous and provocative newcomer who may not last more than a year in power tells them to. It would probably radicalize them even more.
Morsi will ride the waves and who knows where he will end up, on the top or under?
August 30th, 2012, 10:46 am
VISITOR said:
A translation scandal.
Persian translator deliberately supplies his own words and deletes words while translating into Persian,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/30/235169.html
Nothing can be more pathetic which shows how desperate the mullahs are.
—————————–
FSA shoots down another MIG,
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/7dbc28c1-c6dc-4760-8ba2-edfcb462eb1c?GoogleStatID=1
There are two embedded videos in this report. One video shows the FSA in complete control of an Aleppo district which the thugs falsely claim to control.
August 30th, 2012, 11:06 am
Tara said:
Richard
If Mursi is going to become the Egyptian Erdogan, then good for Egypt. And I would look forward to have a Syrian Erdogan…He cried in public when his mother died and I like that.
August 30th, 2012, 11:06 am
Tara said:
Hassan
There is a dedicated FB page to worship Bashar’ s toes. Can I interest you In contributing there? You will definitely be a star. Some here may be also fighting an urge to join..
August 30th, 2012, 11:22 am
VISITOR said:
103 SL,
Actually I am not keen at all on asking anyone about his/her interests in Syria affairs. But I was stunned by Johannes comment at 20 and that is why I asked him. I am aware of his other anti-regime comments and that was another reason why I asked.
As for Zoo, I would be giving him much more credit than he deserves were I to ask him such a question.
August 30th, 2012, 11:28 am
Tara said:
Visitor
CC: Zoo
I made an assumption that Zoo is a Syrian “visitor” and this seems to have been taken by all for granted. He may be a Syrian. It is wrong to make assumptions.. I just want to clear that. Plus, this is irrelevant to the discussion.
August 30th, 2012, 11:34 am
Ghufran said:
Corrupt banks find their match in the GCC Sheikhdoms:
The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into payments made after Barclays tapped Middle Eastern investors for emergency funds in 2008.
The inquiry – which relates to the disclosure of fees paid to the sovereign investor Qatar Holding – represents the latest blow to the bank, which has just lost its chief executive Bob Diamond and chairman Marcus Agius after being fined £290m by US and UK regulators for its role in the Libor fixing scandal.
Iran,on the other hand,is a regional power that is ready to sacrify Bashar if they find an acceptable alternative,that alternative does not exist yet.
August 30th, 2012, 11:42 am
sf94123 said:
Tara ???????? in post 107
She/he is an MB down to the bone.
She/he called for the destruction of Syria and the death of Christian and Alawi since March 2011. – She/he is a product of misery, hate and revenge, period.
August 30th, 2012, 11:45 am
Ghufran said:
Five Reasons Why the Assad Regime Survives
Syria’s conflict has morphed into a civil war whose fault lines and consequences are quite different from other Arab rebellions
By TONY KARON | @tonykaron | August 30, 2012 |
Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/08/30/five-reasons-why-the-assad-regime-survives/#ixzz252qqlw9E
August 30th, 2012, 11:49 am
VISITOR said:
124 TARA,
I think my comment speaks for itself.
——————–
126. sf94123
I too was and still is anti-MB. But I do not think there is any thing wrong in being an MB.
Actually I too am beginning to change my mind about being anti-MB.
As for Mr. Morsi’s visit, I still think he made an error of judgement in visiting a rogue State such as mullah Iran. Any low level government functionary could have handed the chair over. I am saying this despite the good speech that Morsi made.
Egypt has a much honorable and respected position in this world than allowing itself to be cheaply manipulated by the media of an illegitimate and rogue regime such as the mullah’s.
August 30th, 2012, 11:53 am
Ghufran said:
??? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ???????.
This means creating another channel to sell goods and get paid in hard currency providing Syrian government with another route to avoid sanctions. Targetting Russian banks for doing business with SCB will be a much harder task. There is no doubt that the Syrian economy is in critical care but all predictions of a fast collapse have proven premature, there are reasons why the Lira kept its value against the dollar for over a year now.
Fat cats in Syria bought billion of dollars ,paid in dollars and purchased Liras, those cats made 25-30% profit while Syrians were standing in lines to buy bread and natural gas.
August 30th, 2012, 12:00 pm
zoo said:
The USA and the Western countries have supported and helped decades of corruption, social injustices and neglect in Egypt in the name of protecting Israel. This is easily forgotten…
It is clear that whatever happens in Egypt now, oppression or liberalism, is of no consequences on the USA and the Western countries : The red line is still Israel’s security, for the rest, they’ll adapt as easily as they did for Mobarak and as they still do with other dictators in the Middle East.
Morsi must make sure that the long lasting hatred Egyptians have for Israel will be contained and eventually re-directed to another danger, the easiest one is Shias and Iran. That would have the advantage of ensuring the flow of money from Qatar, KSA and the USA. He may face some resistance from the Palestinians, but it’s an obvious path and I think Morsi will soon take it.
If this happen, Iranians will need to revise their hope of an early rapprochement with Egypt. Their hope may become that a year from now, Morsi is no more Egypt’s president.
August 30th, 2012, 12:31 pm
zoo said:
Syrian Émigrés Seek Aid in U.S. to Arm Rebels
Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/world/middleeast/syrian-group-in-united-states-seeks-to-arm-rebels-against-assad.html?
Naser Danan, a pediatrician in Ohio, is a board member of the Syrian Support Group, which is serving as a conduit between the United States and the rebel forces in Syria.
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: August 29, 2012 63
WASHINGTON — From a one-room office in an unfinished glass tower three blocks from the White House, an amorphous network of activists is doing what the Obama administration will not: attempting to arm the rebels trying to overthrow Syria’s government.
The Syrian Support Group, incorporated here in April as a nonprofit, has few resources and, so far, few donations, and whether it succeeds in its larger goal remains to be seen. But it is already serving as a conduit between the United States and the armed forces seeking to topple Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, and having an effect on American policy.
The group has surprisingly extensive contacts among rebel commanders of the Free Syrian Army, a rare license from the Department of Treasury allowing it to sidestep sanctions and a conviction that the assistance the administration has so far offered Syrians — mainly communications equipment — is simply not enough to defeat Mr. Assad.
…
August 30th, 2012, 12:42 pm
annie said:
Ay Mr Morsi, that feels so good !
“”Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty as it is a political and strategic necessity,” Morsi said.
“We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of rule that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom.”
His comments sparked a walkout by the Syrian delegation.
Thank you Mr Morsi
August 30th, 2012, 12:49 pm
zoo said:
Hostility to Syrian Refugees Rising Along Turkey’s Border
by Mike Giglio Aug 30, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/30/hostility-to-syrian-refugees-rising-along-turkey-s-border.html
Alarm is rising in Turkish border towns like Antakya among residents and politicians who fear the onslaught of refugees—now estimated at 80,000—will overwhelm them and bring sectarian unrest across the border.
“The language some people are using now is that Hatay is occupied by a foreign army.”
Some well-known Syrian activists in Antakya say they were summoned to a meeting with local government officials to address the refugee issue Monday night. According to the activists, the officials suggested that all Syrians should leave Antakya and Hatay—either for the refugee camps, or to head deeper into Turkey, away from the border. The officials, they say, painted this as a move for the Syrians’ own good—in the camps they could receive more Turkish support. But the Syrians reacted with defiance. “We understood the message,” says Amin Ahmed Abid, a schoolteacher and activist from the Syrian city of Latakia. “They want to move all Syrian people away from Hatay.”
August 30th, 2012, 12:49 pm
Visitor said:
????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? – ??? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ????
?????
?????? ???? ?????? ???????? ??????? .????? ?????? ??? ??????? ???????? ????? ???? ??? ?????????? ???????? ??????? ? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ???????.???? –???? ????????- ??? ????? ?? ??? ???????? ????????? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ????? ? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ??????. ??? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ??? ??? ?????
??? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??? ????? ?? ??????? ???????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??????. ??? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????(???? ??????) ??? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????. ???? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?????????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ???????? ?????????
??????? ??????? ???? ???????? ??. ???? ??? ??? ????? ?????????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ?????????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?????????????? ?????? ????? ????? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????????? ??? ??????? ??????? ???????. ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? ????. ??????? ?????? ???? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ?????. ??? ????? 2003 ???? ??????? ???? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???
??? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ???? –???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ???? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????. ??? ??????? ??? ???? ???????? ????????? ???? ??? ???????? ????? ???????? ?????? ????? ???? ????????? ????????? –????? ????- ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????? 20/1/2006? –???? ??? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ???????.
????? ??? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?? 160 ????? ???? ??????? ???????? ?? ?????? . ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ???????? ????? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ???????? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ????????? ????????? ???.
??? ??????? ?????? ?? ??????? (?????) ?? ???? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ???????? ????? ????????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ???????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ?????? ???????? ??? ??????? ????????!. ?? ??????? ?? ?????? (????????) ???????? ???????? ???? ???? ????? ???????? ??????? ?????????? –???? ???? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ??????. ??????? ?? ???? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ??????
???? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ?????????? ?????????? ??????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ?? . ????? ????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ????????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ??????? ????? ?????
??? ??????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????????? ????????? ???????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???. ??? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ? ???????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ?????? – ?? ??????? ? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??????? . ????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?????? (??? ??????) ? ??? ????? ????? ? ????? ????????? ?????? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ?? ????
?????? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ???????. ??? ??? ??????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ????????? ???????? (????? ??????)…! ?? ????? ????????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ???????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ? ???????? ????? ????????? ????? ?????? ????????. ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ????????
August 30th, 2012, 1:12 pm
Visitor said:
????? ? ???
??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ???????? ???? ?????? ??? ????????? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???????? ??? ??? ?? ????? (????? ??????). ????? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????????? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ??????????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???????????? ????? ????? ???????
August 30th, 2012, 1:17 pm
Visitor said:
Embedded video clearly shows downed aircraft and pilot bailing out,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/30/235102.html
August 30th, 2012, 1:20 pm
zoo said:
#129 Ghufran
Diversifying with Russian and Chinese banks is a very reasonable step towards less dependence on the Big Brother who is controlling the Western financial market and who is now using it to serve it political aims.
August 30th, 2012, 1:23 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
President Mursi is showing the new face of the Arab World. Many people in Syria and Lebanon are reluctant to the new age we are going to. If Mursi’s declaration was just a political will declaration based on one sided interests it could be easily ignored but his words are words os wisdom based on popular demands, based on basic human feelings shared by tens of millions or arab people who have decided to change, to develop, to improve.
Forces of the past like those in the Assad Regime have nothing to do but keep on killing until the dimension of the crimes are so huge that more and more people will ask change and dignity.
During Irak invasion I thought Syria was taking the place of Egypt in leading the Arab World, but once again Egypt has proved to be the centre of the Arab World and Cairo is the mother of all arab cities. Assad’s Syria just resulted a fake panarabist regime who cheated all the arabs, specially palestinians, for some decades.
August 30th, 2012, 1:28 pm
zoo said:
Was the opposition meeting in Cairo hosted by the AL held or cancelled again?
Syrian opposition unity talks marred by boycott threat
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/24/syria-opposition-unity-talks-cairo
Assad regime’s opponents will meet in Cairo to discuss transition plan with or without Syrian National Council, says EU diplomat
guardian.co.uk, Friday 24 August 2012 19.35 BST
The Arab League is to host a meeting of the Syrian opposition in Cairo on Saturday in an effort to produce a common programme to unite opponents of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but the effort has been marred by disunity and a threatened boycott by the Syrian National Council (SNC).
August 30th, 2012, 1:35 pm
zoo said:
Jordan to expel Syrian refugee camp rioters
29 August 2012 | 23:03 | FOCUS News Agency
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n286135
Amman. Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh said on Wednesday Jordan would send home Syrian refugees who attacked police during clashes over living conditions in a desert border camp, AFP informs.
Stone-throwing refugees wounded more than 20 police on Tuesday in a protest over conditions at the Zaatari camp in northern Jordan that has seen a massive influx of people in recent days, officials said.
“We will be firm in the face of those who break the law and will send home people arrested for attacking police officers,” Tarawneh told state television after visiting injured police in hospital in the capital.
He did not specify how many people would be expelled but said Jordan would do everything possible to improve conditions at Zaatari, 85 kilometres (53 miles) north of Amman in a desert area on the border with Syria.
…
Tarawneh did not say how many refugees will be expelled. But a security official said there are 150 Syrian refugees in police custody, including an unspecified number of rioters as well as others who want to return home.
About 200 refugees went on a rampage late Tuesday at Zaatari Camp, a desert tent city that houses 21,000 refugees, to protest conditions there. Police said 28 officers were wounded in the riot, one of them with a fractured skull.
Many of the refugees have said they find the harsh environment in the camp — set on a parched, treeless stretch of land — a struggle, citing the constant dust storms, snakes and scorpions.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1248700–syrian-refugees-riot-in-jordanian-camp-leaving-26-injured
August 30th, 2012, 1:43 pm
Citizen said:
Syrian group with close ties to FSA terrorists openly arms rebels with help of U.S.
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/08/syrian-group-with-close-ties-to-fsa.html
The recently established Syrian Support Group (SSG), a United States-based pro-Free Syrian Army (FSA) group housed just three blocks away from the White House, is openly showing their support for the terrorist FSA like never before.
The SSG was just established this April as a non-profit and thanks to a special license from the Treasury Department, they can now openly provide the Syrian opposition with funding to purchase heavy weaponry which, according to The New York Times, includes “antiaircraft and antitank missiles.”
August 30th, 2012, 2:08 pm
Citizen said:
US becoming increasingly isolated’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8sNnOA9RAM
Saved to Struggle: ‘Slow death’ for Syria refugees in Jordan camp
Jordanian security forces at a massive refugee camp on the border with Syria are on high alert after 200 refugees turned on the guards over the camp’s conditions.
And as Paula Slier reports dealing with the immense influx of refugees is far beyond what Jordan can handle.
August 30th, 2012, 2:12 pm
Visitor said:
What does the US mean when it warns Iran that the window of diplomacy will not be kept open forever?
It looks like it has been for ever since we hear such talk.
Is Obama trying to just buy more votes?
The effect of issuing hollow threats eventually becomes the same as the effect of crying wolf. No body will believe you after some time.
Best thing for the US is put up or shut up. You’re consuming your own credibility credentials in front of the whole world.
August 30th, 2012, 2:33 pm
Citizen said:
Russia demands probe into ‘barbaric’ violence near Damascus
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Aug-29/186062-russia-demands-probe-into-barbaric-violence-near-damascus.ashx#axzz252UE5Dsc
August 30th, 2012, 2:40 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
Visitor
” I was stunned by Johannes comment at 20 and that is why I asked him.”
What I said in 20 was that we Syrians shouldn’t be surprised at the USA’s turning its back on us in our time of crisis. Why? As long as the Assads have been in power, Syria has been the USA’s enemy. First Syria allied itself with the USSR against the USA and her friends. And since the fall of the USSR, Syria has gone out of her way to be a thorn in America’s side.
So why should anyone be shocked, dismayed or surprised if America does nothing? I’m not taking the USA’s side. I’m just walking a kilometer in America’s shoes and trying to understand her feelings.
Tit for tat, as they say.
August 30th, 2012, 2:43 pm
VISITOR said:
145 Johannes,
My problem with your comment is that you are conflating the regime with the people.
I am sure the US government knows better.
August 30th, 2012, 2:46 pm
Ghufran said:
Manaf speaks with David Ignatius:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-syrian-defector-manaf-tlass-has-a-new-mission/2012/08/29/3ca0415c-f1f6-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html
August 30th, 2012, 2:48 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
Visitor.
My problem with you is you think the people and the regime are separate entities. My guess is slightly more than half the Syrian people support the regime. If it were otherwise, the Assads would have been swept away with the first army defections.
The fight to wipe out the Assad mafia is going to take years, perhaps a decade, and lots of bloody work, lots of killing of men, women and small children. Why? Because a lot of people, including people right here on SC, think the Assads are right. And they will have to be killed or driven into exile before the new Syria can rise from the ashes.
August 30th, 2012, 2:58 pm
Syrialover said:
148. Johannes de Silentio
Hey, man. You are ruining your credibility here.
Syrians are normal human beings. They have survival instincts, well-founded fear, and no faith in a wide, welcoming, safe universe out there. Their focus is on keeping their homes, livelihood and lives.
Assad can do what he is doing with the support of a few thousand people. That’s a police state. It ensures people do not say or do anything to question it. It ensures there is no alternative system or path people can choose.
Assad has now terrorized and demonstrated to all Syrians the consequences of being identified as “not supporting” him.
Would you have asserted the same thing about Gaddafi, Mubarak and Ben Ali if they had clung to power doing what Assad has done?
August 30th, 2012, 3:28 pm
Ghufran said:
A very good program on NPR talk of the nation, swallow your pride, pro or anti, and listen to it.
August 30th, 2012, 3:30 pm
Uzair8 said:
Notice how the freedom fighters are going after military targets while the regime targets the civilian population as punishment.
August 30th, 2012, 3:47 pm
ghufran said:
???? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ???????? ???????
August 30th, 2012, 3:49 pm
Uzair8 said:
All day RT has replayed an interview with a syrian nun.
August 30th, 2012, 3:51 pm
Tara said:
Visitor,
You said you’re not a fan of the MB either? Then you must be a little monstrous burgoise with a fake facade of liberalism!
Choose one or the other.
August 30th, 2012, 4:03 pm
VISITOR said:
154 TARA,
Explain yourself.
————————–
148 Johannes,
Obviously, you have lots to learn about Syria and its people. So, I am glad now that I asked the question to draw your attention to this simple fact.
August 30th, 2012, 4:12 pm
Tara said:
Visitor,
I didn’t mean you specifically. It was for the generic us …I essentially was just reviewing how pro regime fail to see us except through a distorted lense. A lense that is either shaped by primitive fear or a dogma..
August 30th, 2012, 4:21 pm
Uzair8 said:
I’m sure His Excellency Minister Muallem heard the President Morsi speech.
The speech will have likey been over by the time Mr Muallem had completely left the hall.
August 30th, 2012, 4:29 pm
Visitor said:
154 TARA,
So, you’re being sarcastic, I assume?
Well, You should make some kind of hint in order to avoid confusion.
An exclamation mark or wink wink would do for me unless the wording can be rephrased.
August 30th, 2012, 4:35 pm
Albo said:
148
“My problem with you is you think the people and the regime are separate entities. My guess is slightly more than half the Syrian people support the regime. If it were otherwise, the Assads would have been swept away with the first army defections.
The fight to wipe out the Assad mafia is going to take years, perhaps a decade, and lots of bloody work, lots of killing of men, women and small children. Why? Because a lot of people, including people right here on SC, think the Assads are right. And they will have to be killed or driven into exile before the new Syria can rise from the ashes.”
First you say the regime has majority support among Syrians, then you go on and say the only way for the opposition to prevail is to kill or deport as many of them as possible over a decade?
Some smart posts lately, often by the same people supporting one faction in a civil war, or bullshit cause like recreating the caliphate yet posing as democrats. You’re a bit too transparent here “Johannes”, however. Needless to say death threats from “democrats” against other SC posters don’t help their case either.
August 30th, 2012, 4:40 pm
Ghufran said:
??? ????? ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ???????? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ?? ?????? ? ? ?????????? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ? ??????.
? ???? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??? ??? ????? 40 % ???? ?????? ? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ? ???????? ????? ? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ? ? ????? ??????? ???????.
there is no wink here,sorry
The bloodshed continues, occasional victories here and there for one side or the other have been temporary and they come at the expense of Syrian lives, thugs and foreign jihadists only understand the language of force,but most Syrians are not in these two categories,their lives must be spared, killing will only lead to more killing.
August 30th, 2012, 4:41 pm
Ghufran said:
???? ????
Waddah Khanfar
(I am not a fan,but the piece is not totally worthless):
Egypt today appears well qualified to take a balanced position between all the parties: it does not carry any constraining baggage; and given that it represents the spirit of the Arab spring, it has moral authority. All this has pushed the regional parties to respond positively.
We should also not ignore the position of the Syrian people, who will have the final word on their future. They – like Turkey, the Arab League and the Egyptian president – will not accept any solution that does not guarantee the departure of the Assad regime. However, Morsi made clear that he is against any military intervention in Syria, which resonates well in Tehran.
And above all, it is imperative that Iran recognises this is the last opportunity to correct its strategic error of supporting a regime that is about to fall.
August 30th, 2012, 4:57 pm
zoo said:
Kurd-Turkish clashes feared along Syrian border
Thomas Seibert
Aug 31, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/kurd-turkish-clashes-feared-along-syrian-border
SAATLIKOY, TURKEY // In his house along the Turkish-Syrian border, Hasan Cakmak sometimes hears the crack of gunfire and the boom of exploding shells echoing from the south.
Like many other people who live along the frontier, those sounds of war often give him cause to pause and wonder about the fate of relatives living in Syria as the civil war there grinds on.
But for Mr Cakmak, an ethnic Kurd and leader of a Kurdish village, the din resounding across the landscape is worrying for yet another reason.
Separatist Kurdish rebels, some allegedly from Iraq, have taken control of pockets of territory in northern Syria in the vacuum left by the collapse of central government authority. That means Mr Cakmak and other Kurds who live in the shadow of Syria’s widening conflict could become embroiled in clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkey’s armed forces.
August 30th, 2012, 5:01 pm
zoo said:
#60 Ghufran
“it does not carry any constraining baggage”
Really? He must satisfy his funds providers as without them he ‘ll be wiped out by the poverty and misery rampant everywhere after the glorious years of US supported Mobarak.
This implies cajoling Israel, renouncing to the MB ideas of a country ruled by Sharia and allowing alcohol to flow to keep tourists coming. He also has to produce a new Constitution by September.
You don’t call that a constraining bagage?
August 30th, 2012, 5:08 pm
zoo said:
No more fooling the Turks, Mr Foreign Minister
Refugee camp or rebel command center?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/refugee-camp-of-rebel-command-center.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29056&NewsCatID=425
It is obvious that the most-lecturing foreign minister and his gang of merry men needed some time to hide all elements of the crime at the Apayd?n refugee camp and elsewhere before a parliamentary team might be allowed to visit and inspect them.
All the discussions we have been through for the past few days demonstrated once again that Turkey has been playing not as clean as it has been claiming in this Syrian quagmire. Put aside frequent interviews with the “rebel commanders” confessing to have received military training in Turkey, there are claims that the Apayd?n camp has become a “command control center” for the rebels. How could Turkey allow a camp on its territory where Syrian rebel commanders are planning and commanding the attacks in Syrian towns and cities? If you have doubts just visit the website of the rebels and check where their headquarters is…
Turkey’s Syrian debacle
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-syrian-debacle.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29043&NewsCatID=416
As this piece was being written, the U.N. Security Council had not yet heard Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu’s appeal in New York yesterday for a U.N. sanctioned safe zone to be established in Syria to protect refugees. Those close to the matter, however, felt his appeal would get nowhere, since Russia and China oppose the idea, which they consider a violation of Syrian sovereignty.
August 30th, 2012, 5:21 pm
zoo said:
Turkey demands Syria safe havens as UN meets
By Tim Witcher | AFP – 1 hr 2 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-revolt-against-oppressive-regime-morsi-iran-084827214.html
“War-torn Syria’s frustrated neighbor Turkey demanded on Thursday that world powers set up refugee camps within the country to stem the massive outflow of refugees fleeing the fighting.”
Reply is NON, NO, NIET…
August 30th, 2012, 5:30 pm
Ghufran said:
Manaf brings up an important point regarding the alawite officers and leaders who may be willing to jump ships but are not offered any ships to jump to.
I spoke about the subject before, the lack of any work on this front speaks volume about the intentions of the GCC and the west .
August 30th, 2012, 5:31 pm
zoo said:
President Bashar al-Assad’s full interview with Addounia TV
http://www.dp-news.com/en/detail.aspx?articleid=129761
August 30th, 2012, 5:39 pm
VISITOR said:
We say in Arabic: The worst of all calamities is the one that stimulates laughter.
Of all the countries in the world, Iraq now wants to propose a solution for Syria in the NAM farcical parade.
?? ?????? ?? ????
August 30th, 2012, 5:44 pm
zoo said:
Bypass Hatay, go ro-ro line to Tartus…
Thousands of truckers waiting at Syria gate
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/thousands-of-truckers-waiting-at-syria-gate.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29049&NewsCatID=345
Some 4,000 of the 7,000 trucks that had been operating to Middle Eastern markets via Syria have stopped running because of the turmoil in the country, and professionals warn the situation worsen in September. Traders in Hatay, Turkey’s gate to the region in fruit and vegetable exports, are waiting for urgent government support on the eve of large lay-offs. A joint venture, meanwhile, is beginning new ro-ro line to Syria’s Tartus
..
Most of these are lying around now. Economically, this has wounded the city. Exports to the region were $2.8 billion and now it’s close to zilch,” said Özmen, adding that they have been calling on the government for support to delay insurance premiums and tax debts.
August 30th, 2012, 5:50 pm
VISITOR said:
I repeat here a comment I made under the Turkey’s Syria Problem post. This is what solves Turkey’s problem and not the creation of safe havens. The creation of safe havens simply manages the problem of refugees and will not address the other Turkish concerns arising from the expected Syrian implosion. Turkey needs to implement the plan with or without UN approval as an issue of its own National Security. The plan solves all of Turkey’s concerns including the refugee problem.
Here it is again….
“Turkey will soon have to come up with its own security policy that is not dependent on the dictates of a distant and sometimes uninterested US administration. The AKP is the most popular political party in Turkey and it can easily win another mandate. Most of the Turkish people support Erdogan’s policy regarding the Syrian Revolution and they would be happy to go to war if their government made the decision to do so. The Turkish people feel they have a lot in common, ethnically, culturally and religously with the Syrian people and they would like to see them rid of this abominal regime of murderers. The handful of noisy Turkish leftist radicals who often voice criticism of the Erdogan’s government have no real popular following and their criticism does not take into consideration Turkey’s higher interests. It is mere politicking in a desperate attempt to erode the popular support of the AKP.
Those who criticize the Turkish government based on the ill-perceived notion that the AKP government is seeking to impose a neo-Ottoman order do not understand the transformations that have been taking place in the area since the onset of the retrogression unleashed by the ill-conceived Khomeinist designs by his so-called revolution that are still carried out by his pupils in Qom. Khomeini made it clear he wants to rule the Muslim world and his Qom henchmen are actively seeking that goal, even though it is obvious to the novice that it is not realizable.
Hence, the zero problem policies of mr. Davutuglo were I’ll-conceived to begin with. Any cursory reading of the last 700-800 years of Turkish/Iranian history would immediately recognize the conflicting nature of their relationship. The arena where this conflict expressed itself was in the fertile crescent. Up till the present time the Iraqis always identify themselves as either of Persian or Turkic belonging depending on the area of jurisdiction they belonged to. Syria, Lebanon and Palestine were always under exclusive Turkish jurisdiction. But the evil Designs of the Khomeinists is seeking to encroach upon that and extend their reach to the Mediterranean shores. No Turkish government, secular or otherwise can sit idle and allow that to happen. In fact the Secularists are the least equipped to deal with this threat coming from the east since a secularists do not usually have the ideological resolve to deal with an ideologically motivated regime as the that of the mullahs.
What Erdogan needs to do is to roll out a Turkish division and take over the Syrian coast all the way to the Lebanese border. This will cut off any retreat lines that the thugs are planning for their eventual defeat and hole them up in Damascus, dispelling any dreams of establishing a midget statelet. That will allow the Damascenes to deal with them and route them up completely. Erdogan can then secure the central cities and the Eastern region by rolling out two or three more Turkish divisions.
Once the coast is secured the Kurds and the thugs occupying Damascus will cower down like chicken as they know then that their days are numbered.
Iranian mullahs can then go to hell and lick their wounds and realize once and for all that their Khomeini dreams are not realizable.”
August 30th, 2012, 5:52 pm
Citizen said:
NATO’s intervention in Libya has resurrected listed-terrorist organization and Al Qaeda affiliate, LIFG. It had previously fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now has fighters, cash and weapons, all courtesy of NATO, spreading as far west as Mali, and as far east as Syria. The feared “global Caliphate” Neo-Cons have been scaring Western children with for a decade is now taking shape via US-Saudi, Israeli, and Qatari machinations, not “Islam.” In fact, real Muslims have paid the highest price in fighting this real “war against Western-funded terrorism.”
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wevwk4IViL4/UD2jz-mE22I/AAAAAAAADMo/Ir8nimTKi-8/s640/LIFGSpringBoarding_1.jpg
NATO Terrorists Target Syria & Algeria
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2012/08/nato-terrorists-target-syria-algeria.html
Western policy makers are now admitting that NATO’s operations in Libya have played the primary role in arming and emboldening Al Qaeda factions operating in Syria.
Western policy makers admit that NATO’s operations in Libya have played the primary role in emboldening Al Qaeda’s AQIM faction (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb). The Fortune 500-funded Brookings Institution’s Bruce Riedel in his article, “The New Al Qaeda Menace,” admits that AQIM is now heavily armed thanks to NATO’s intervention in Libya, and that AQIM’s base in Mali, North Africa, serves as a staging ground for terrorist activities across the region………….
August 30th, 2012, 5:56 pm
Citizen said:
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/08/30/brookings-admits-nato-responsible-al-qaeda-operations-syria-177551/
August 30th, 2012, 6:43 pm
zoo said:
Turks and war
“only 11 percent in favor of any kind of military intervention.
Only 15.9 percent approved of the government’s diplomatic and political initiatives in Syria.
Fewer than eight percent supported arming the FSA.”
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3271/a-phantom-wrapped-in-an-enigma-wrapped-in-a-riddle
by Claire Berlinski
August 11, 2012 at 5:42 am
I don’t know what American policy really is or if we have one. But of one thing I’m sure: The overwhelming majority of Turks don’t want a conflict with Syria. Before the downing of the jet, the Turkish think tank EDAM polled Turkish citizens and found only 11 percent in favor of any kind of military intervention. What’s more, 40 percent didn’t even think Turkey should be involved diplomatically. Only 15.9 percent approved of the government’s diplomatic and political initiatives in Syria. This conforms completely to my anecdotal observations. The war-weariness of the Turkish population, I’ve noticed, is generally underestimated by foreign observers. The Kurdish conflict has claimed 40,000 lives. Turks are exhausted with war.
August 30th, 2012, 6:57 pm
zoo said:
Leading article: First, stop Syria’s war spreading
Thursday 30 August 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-first-stop-syrias-war-spreading-8092587.html
It is difficult to see a clear winner emerging from the ever-bloodier civil war in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad admitted yesterday that his government needs more time “to win the battle” against the rebel militias. He did so as the crash of artillery fire resounded across Damascus and Aleppo and large parts of the country have fallen under rebel control. For all their superiority in firepower, government forces are under continuous attack.
Mr Assad may not be winning, but there is no sign of his regime imploding, despite the defection of the Prime Minister and the assassination of key security leaders. The situation is very different from Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi’s support suddenly collapsed a year ago under the weight of Nato air attacks and its own isolation rather than pressure from the insurgents.
The Syrian rebels have shown that they can take over whole districts of Damascus and Aleppo, but they have been unable to hold them. They may win in the long term, but that could be far in the future after tens of thousands more Syrians have been killed. The latest news of the massacre in the town of Daraya suggests both sides now feel free to slaughter the lowliest supporters of their enemies. There is every chance the butchery will get worse.
One of the reasons why the Syrian war is so bloody, and may continue for a long time, is that it is really three conflicts wrapped into one. There is the struggle of the Syrian people against the government, but also the long-running confrontation in the region between Shia and Sunni, and between allies of Iran and its opponents. Saudi Arabia and the absolute monarchies of the Gulf are not helping the Syrian rebels out of any desire to bring democracy to the Syrian people.
Mr Assad yesterday ruled out “safe havens” for refugees on Syrian territory, and it is true that the establishment and defence of these would probably mean armed conflict between Syria and Turkey. At this stage, both government and rebels believe they have a chance of winning a clear victory, unlikely though this may be. The rest of the world cannot stop the war, but they should do their utmost to try to prevent it from spreading to Lebanon and destabilising the rest of the region.
August 30th, 2012, 7:08 pm
zoo said:
Syria’s ‘Day After’ threatened by sectarian agendas?
“If Syrians ever get a chance to build a democracy, they should have an advantage over their Arab Spring brethren,” one observer notes.
“Forty-five Syrian intellectuals have just finished a 122-page, post-Assad plan for how to take the country to an open, more pluralistic future, writes the NYT’s Carol Giacomo:
After 17 months, Mr. Assad has escalated the conflict in Syria, sending fighter planes as well as helicopters to pummel the insurgency. The end is nowhere in sight. But, then again, as recent history has proven, dictatorships can crumble with unexpected speed, leaving the opposition unprepared for the aftermath.
But today’s resignation of Basma Kodmani (right), a prominent member of the Syrian National Council, is raising further questions about the opposition’s capacity to unify and prepare for government.
http://www.demdigest.net/blog/?s=Qatar
The “Day After” Project Releases Report on Syrian Transition
Report examines rule of law, transitional justice, security sector reform, electoral processes, constitutional design, economic restructuring and social policy
For Immediate Release, August 28, 2012
Contact: David Early, 202-429-7817, or Steven Ruder, 202-429-3825
http://www.usip.org/newsroom/news/the-day-after-project-releases-report-syrian-transition
(Washington and Berlin) – “The Day After” project, a Syrian-led effort to plan for a post-Assad Syria, today released a comprehensive, inclusive plan for a transition in the event the opposition succeeds in bringing about the fall of the current regime. The report is the culmination of six months of intensive discussions among a diverse group of approximately 45 Syrians. It represents a shared vision of Syria’s democratic future, defined goals and principles for a transition, and a detailed yet flexible transition planning document.
Participants in The Day After project identified the following as goals that should guide the efforts of transitional authorities. Progress toward the achievement of these goals will increase prospects for a successful post-Assad transition:
August 30th, 2012, 7:29 pm
ann said:
France and UK ‘not ruling out’ Syrian no-fly zone – 31 August, 2012
http://rt.com/news/syria-no-fly-zone-humanitarian-995/
Britain and France are “not ruling out” the possibility of enforcing a no-fly zone over Syria. However, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says such a move would require military intervention, and is unlikely to get past the UN Security Council.
“We are not ruling out any options for the future,” Hague said, speaking at a press conference with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
The head of the Syrian National Council – the country’s largest opposition group – is also on board for the Turkish-proposed no-fly zone.
Abdelbaset Sieda said such a move by the international community would show President Bashar al-Assad’s regime that his opponents around the world are serious, according to AP.
Hague’s statement came ahead of a UN meeting between foreign ministers on the Syrian crisis.
Top American, Russian and Chinese diplomats were absent from the talks, highlighting the fact that the body is deadlocked over how to end the 17-month-long conflict.
Currently, the 15-member Security Council is prevented from taking action in Syria after Russia and China blocked three Western-backed resolutions that criticized Assad, but not the rebel opposition.
Hague and Fabius had plenty to say at Thursday’s conference, encouraging other countries to jump on board with support for the Syrian opposition.
“Those who continue to support Assad and his regime should think carefully about their position. Now is the time to step away from this regime and deny it moral and financial support. We call on Assad supporters to distance themselves from the regime or face the increasing possibility of being held to account for the regime’s actions in the future,” Hague said.
Hague’s views reiterated by Fabius, who made his anti-Assad views clear. “This meeting is to attest to the crimes in Syria, to hold each one accountable, to reiterate solidarity with the Syrian people, and increase our assistance,” he said.
Along with such statements came pledges of financial support for the 200,000 refugees who have fled from Syria to neighboring Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq.
But as Western governments continue to support the rebels, they do so by trying to influence others – mainly China and Russia – to hold the same position.
Russia and China agree that the violence and killing of innocent civilians must end – but disagree with Western powers on how to reach a solution.
[…]
http://rt.com/news/syria-no-fly-zone-humanitarian-995/
August 30th, 2012, 7:31 pm
zoo said:
Five reasons for Assad’s regime resilience
http://www.demdigest.net/blog/2012/08/five-reasons-for-assads-regime-resilience/
There are five reasons why Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime survives, says a prominent observer.
August 30th, 2012, 7:36 pm
ann said:
Twitter: the terrorists’ new favorite social network? – 31 August, 2012
http://rt.com/usa/news/twitter-terrorist-jihad-extremists-989/
Are Islamic terrorists still relying on sleeper cells and encrypted correspondence to communicate calls for jihad among other violent extremists? Maybe, but they’re making a splash on Twitter, too.
“On Twitter, they get more reach to expand their propaganda,” London-based researcher Murad Batal al Shishani tells McClatchy this week. Shishani says that while the Internet has allowed terrorists an ever expanding way of communicating with like-minded individuals since the digital age reached its peak, extremists have recently taken an especially fond liking to Twitter, where sending out a short, 140-character message can mobilize masses internationally and at a moment’s notice.
In theory, at least.
Shishani says in his research that while Twitter is indeed thought to be an emerging mode of communication among Islamic extremists and foreign terrorist groups, the outlet is acting more like a recruiting tool or newswire than an actual conduit for calls to action.
“They’re focusing on current events – Syria, or supporting a revolution here or there – but they are not using it for operational activity or to communicate among themselves,” the researcher adds. Instead, he insists, a growing number of Internet-inclined terrorists are taking to Twitter so that they can aim for new recruits using one of the fastest growing modes of communication.
“They can reach the ‘swing people,’ and try to attract more sympathizers,” he explains.
In an article published by the New York Times late last year, reporter Jeffrey Gettleman drew attention to a trend of terrorists favoring Twitter as a way of communicating over the Web, claiming, “terrorism experts say that Twitter terrorism is part of an emerging trend.”
Twitter, wrote Gettleman, was usurping previously popular social networking sites among audiences of all sorts, and that was evident within al-Qaeda and other organizations as well. In that instance, though, Gettleman wrote that one particular microblog account — one tied to the press office of Somalia’s Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahedeen — might be shut down by US authorities.
“American officials say they may have the legal authority to demand that Twitter close the Shabab’s account, @HSMPress, which had more than 4,600 followers as of Monday night,” they Times wrote last year. At the time, Trevor Timm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation mocked Congress’ likely call for a removal of the account in question, saying on his own Twitter account, “How fast does Joe Lieberman release a statement today saying we should censor the Net in the name of national security? I bet before noon.”
[…]
http://rt.com/usa/news/twitter-terrorist-jihad-extremists-989/
August 30th, 2012, 7:38 pm
ann said:
‘We can’t take Morsi at face value’ – 30 August, 2012
http://rt.com/news/iran-summit-nuclear-syria-969/
[…]
RT: Syria’s foreign minister has said that Morsi’s comments amount to inciting further violence in the country. What do you think?
Neil Clark: The problem I have with the speech is that it was so imbalanced. He didn’t criticize the rebels at all. The rebels have been responsible for much of the violence in Syria. The government too – that’s fair enough. But there were bombs going off this week at funerals, with 12 people killed, and he didn’t make any mention of that. So I can understand the Syrians feeling very aggrieved by what he said.
RT: Morsi would have foreseen that his statement, however accurate or inaccurate, would have angered Syrians and the hosts of the summit. What do you think his motivation was here?
NC: We’ve got to bear in mind the fact that Egypt receives about $1.56 billion US in aid. On top of that, back in August, they received $2 billion from Qatar. And of course, the US and Qatar are two of the leading hawks on Syria. So when you’re receiving that much money from the US and Qatar, it’s hardly surprising for Egypt to turn up at the summit and criticize Syria.
RT: The new Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi is perhaps already signaling his friendship with the West, or possibly with Capitol Hill. Do you think the 120 member-states attending the summit can come up with a way to resolve the ongoing crisis in Syria?
NC: The key player in this is the US. Unless we get a change of position from the US and its allies, I don’t see what the NAM movement can actually do. I think the ball is in America’s court, and all we’re getting from Washington is more right-wing rhetoric about arming rebels. So unless we get a major shift, it’s not going to help. And I’m afraid Egypt’s position isn’t helping at all.
RT: Mohammed Morsi appears to be on friendly terms with Iran, China, Israel and the US. There had been a talk of a possible geo-political shift in the Middle East. But do you think we can really take this new Egyptian leader at face value?
NC: I don’t think we can. I think people who are expecting a shift will be disappointed because of the financial hold that the US has over him. He’s trying to be all things to all people. He’s trying to be friendly with Israel and Iran. It doesn’t work. You have to make a choice and make a stand. If he wants to support the Palestinian people, then he can’t be friends with the current Israeli regime.
RT: Do you think Morsi was trying to undermine the summit with his comment? Even Ban Ki-moon, who attended the summit against the US and Israel’s wishes, hasn’t said anything as harsh as what Morsi said.
NC: Absolutely. I think it’s all part of the plan to go there and sabotage the summit. A lot of people were very naïve about Egypt. They thought there was going to be a meaningful change in Egypt’s foreign policy after what happened last year, but it’s continuing. It’s more of the same. I think that’s part of the game. The US will be very pleased with what Morsi said.
RT: Some possible plans have been put on the table to resolve the crisis in Syria – both Egypt and Iran have put forward plans to form mediator groups. Morsi suggests involving Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Ahmadinejiad suggests Egypt, Iran and Venezuela. Which one do you fancy the most?
NC: Well, if you look at the first choice, you’ve got three countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey – who actually want regime change in Syria, so they don’t want a peaceful, compromise solution. So I don’t think anything involving Saudi Arabia or Turkey is in the cards. The second option is better, but it doesn’t matter what mediator groups we set up. The key player in all this is the US. The US has to change its policies and allow Syrians to sort out their own futures and back out of Syria. Then we can get some peace and dialogue.
RT: Washington has said the Non-Aligned Movement Summit isn’t worthy of any high-level attendance. Do you think such criticism is justified?
NC: It’s two-thirds of the world and the US has the arrogance to say it doesn’t count. The US wants us to believe that only it and its allies represent the international community. The international community is meeting now in Tehran and the US doesn’t like it. The fact is that the US is getting more isolated on a series of issues. South America, African countries, China, Russia: That is the world and I think we’re going to see more of a shift in years to come. And the US power is in decline – that’s the reality. And that’s what they don’t like.
http://rt.com/news/iran-summit-nuclear-syria-969/
August 30th, 2012, 7:46 pm
ann said:
Iran slams UN for ‘overt dictatorship’ – 30 August, 2012
http://rt.com/news/iran-un-summit-nuclear-946/
Iran’s supreme leader opened the fifth day of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran by blasting the UN as an “overt dictatorship.” The remarks were made in the presence of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
NAM’s tri-annual gathering is attended by leaders of 120 developing nations – including India, Pakistan, and Lebanon – and represents the largest single voting bloc in the UN General Assembly.
The summit, which concludes on Friday, is viewed as a chance for Iran to assert a degree of authority it is never granted by Western countries. But Thursday’s events saw Tehran embroiled in controversies with both the UN and Egypt.
“The UN Security Council has an irrational, unjust and utterly undemocratic structure, and this is an overt dictatorship,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
Ban refused to ignore the blunt statement and shot back at Iran in his own address, saying that Iran should build confidence in its controversial nuclear program by “fully complying with the relevant (UN) Security Council resolutions and thoroughly cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”
The remarks came just one day after the UN chief told Iranian leaders to take steps to prove the country’s nuclear program is peaceful.
Ban attended the summit despite calls from the US and Israel to boycott the event, and his attendance is widely viewed as a blow to Western efforts to isolate Tehran.
In his speech, Khamenei insisted that Iran is “never seeking nuclear weapons,” and that his country considers them “a big and unforgivable sin.” He also accused the UN of submitting to pressure from the Security Council’s permanent Western members – the US, UK and France – in its stance on Tehran’s nuclear program.
[…]
http://rt.com/news/iran-un-summit-nuclear-946/
August 30th, 2012, 7:59 pm
ann said:
On Syria, Hot Air at UN, No Talk of UK Spying from Cyprus or France’s Libya Weapons
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — It is late August and at the UN there is hot air on Syria, kicked off Thursday by a joint press conference by the foreign ministers of France and the UK.
Laurent Fabius spoke of being in refugee camps in Jordan. He said, this afternoon we will hear from Assad’s representative but it doesn’t matter, our mind is fixed. What is the purpose of the debate?
He said that having nine ministers present speaks volume; he argued that while Hillary Clinton has not come, Ambassador Susan Rice is at the ministerial level. She gets listed as a member of the Obama cabinet, thus higher than mere Permanent Representatives like France’s Gerard Araud, who stood against the wall of the briefing room while Fabius was speaking.
The position of the US was one mystery at the press conference. It was said that France and the UK will be calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to be ready to inspect Syria for chemical weapons. Not to list the US as part of that call seemed strange, after Obama’s pre-RNC announcement of chemical weapons as his “red line.”
In an interview before coming, Fabius had acknowledged that weapons put into Libya have ended up with “extremists,” including in northern Mali. Was he referring to the weapons that France air dropped in Libya’s Nafusa Mountains? No such question was asked.
There is an inordinate sensitivity at the UN to media critique, so we will for now only say that all of the five questions selected went in the same direction.
One does not have to be a supporter of Bashar al Assad to ask William Hague, for example, about reports of the UK spying on Syria from Cyprus. Click here for Inner City Press story on that.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1hotair083012.html
August 30th, 2012, 8:05 pm
ann said:
Syrian PM says Syria subjected to “organized terrorism” – 2012-08-31
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/31/c_123653218.htm
DAMASCUS, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) — Syrian Prime Minister Wael al- Halki said Thursday that his country is subjected to “organized terrorism” backed by the United States, European Union, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Arabic-language Iranian al-Alam TV reported.
Al-Halki made the remarks during an interview with al-Alam TV in Iran on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit currently underway in the capital Tehran.
The summit is tackling a number of issues, including the Syrian crisis. Iranian officials have said their country would propose a new initiative to solve the 18-month tumult in Syria, claiming that their proposal “is going to be hard to be opposed.”
The Syrian prime minister said the situation in Syria is an important issue discussed at the NAM summit, to which “we look with much optimism.”
He noted that solving the Syrian issue relies on the call for a national dialogue with the participation of all the national and political parties in Syria.
Commenting on the speech delivered earlier Thursday by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi at the opening of the summit, al-Halki said the speech is an intervention in the Syrian affairs and runs counter to the fundamentals on which the NAM was created, which is respecting other countries’ sovereignty.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/31/c_123653218.htm
August 30th, 2012, 8:23 pm
Ghufran said:
This can not be good:
????? ??? ??????? ??????????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???????.
Btw,every Egyptian I talked to,and I know a few,agreed that the man has a good reputation in Egypt and was not known to be a puppet for Mubarak, many of his top executives were Muslims. I hope the rumors about him leaving egypt are not true.
August 30th, 2012, 8:39 pm
ann said:
Russia calls for investigation into violent “crimes” in Syria – 2012-08-30
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/30/c_123647455.htm
MOSCOW, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Russia on Wednesday strongly condemned the violence in Syria, and insisted the recent “crimes” in the Middle East country, including a reported massacre and terrorist bombings, be investigated by representatives from the UN and the Arab League.
Western media reported on Sunday about mass burials in a town close to Damascus, said to be the results of a deadly assault as the bloody conflict between the Syrian military and the armed opposition continued.
On Tuesday, at least 12 people were killed and 48 others injured when a car bomb ripped through a funeral procession for two people who were killed a day earlier by separate blasts in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana.
“All those guilty of these crimes should go on trial and be punished severely,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that certain forces “are not giving up attempts to further fan tensions in Syria and foil any steps towards a political settlement.”
Meanwhile, the ministry reiterated its stance that there was no alternative to Kofi Annan’s peace plan and the Geneva agreements.
“We insist that all the parties in the conflict without exception cease fire immediately and put the conflict on a political track on the current consensual basis for a Syrian settlement — the plan of Kofi Annan and the Geneva agreements. There is no alternative to that,” the ministry said.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/30/c_123647455.htm
August 30th, 2012, 8:41 pm
Tara said:
Iran rolled the red carpet for him and he symbolically slapped the mullahs on the face loud and hard. I do not like the article spinning it to Sunni -Shiaa conflict. It is not that for Morsi and me… It is the divine right of a nation to live against a local Satan that will go down in history as the Batta that burned Damascus. Can someone give the Mullahs some Xanax tonight?
Egyptian leader stuns Iran with plea to back Syrian rebels
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/30/egyptian-leader-iran-syrian-rebels
Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi has said that the “oppressive” Syrian regime had lost all legitimacy, in a blistering speech in Tehran that provoked the Syrian delegation to storm out and amounted to a stunning rebuke to his Iranian hosts.
….
Morsi’s comments to a meeting of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran amounted to a verbal handgrenade tossed at Iran’s shocked leadership.
The remarks are also a bold assertion of post-revolutionary Egypt’s renewed regional leadership ambitions. With the Middle East now dividing sharply along sectarian lines, Morsi has thrown his weight behind a powerful group of Sunni states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey that support Syria’s rebels – with only Shia Iran, evermore isolated, backing Assad and his Shia Alawite-led regime.
..
..his own speech, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, failed to mention the 17-month Syrian conflict, while Iran’s state-run media blanked out Morsi’s criticism of Assad.
..
Analysts said the week-long summit had not been the smooth diplomatic triumph Iran might have hoped for.
…
“The Iranians rolled out the red carpet for Morsi. But he didn’t follow the Iranian script. It was embarrassing for the Iranians,” said David Hartwell, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Jane’s, adding: “The non-aligned movement tries to be fairly anodyne and focused on anti-imperialism. But Syria has made it problematic. Egypt also views Iranian influence in Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories as particularly unhelpful. It sees it as an Iranian/Shia attempt to spread influence in the region.”
Of Morsi, he said: “We are learning about him. We don’t know what his foreign policy is going to be.”
August 30th, 2012, 8:54 pm
Tara said:
Would the west should shun Russia and act outside the UNSC to protect civilians. If Qatar and KSA finance it may be…
France, Britain say Syria military intervention on table
By John Irish and Michelle Nichols | Reuters – 6 hrs ago
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – France and Britain warned Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday that military action to secure safe zones for civilians inside the country was being considered despite the paralysis of the U.N. Security Council over how to end the 17-month conflict.
While the Security Council impasse between western nations and Russia and China means a resolution to approve such a move appears impossible, countries could act outside the authority of the world body and intervene, as happened in Kosovo in 1999.
“We’re ruling nothing out and we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told a news conference at the United Nations ahead of a meeting of Security Council foreign ministers later on Thursday to discuss how to ease Syria’s humanitarian crisis.
“We also have to be clear that anything like a safe zone requires military intervention and that of course is something that has to be weighed very carefully,” Hague said.
…..
It is not the first time Russia has posed difficulties for the United States and its allies on the Security Council. In the 1990s, Moscow strongly supported Serbia in the Balkan Wars and acted as Belgrade’s protector on the council.
After an ineffectual U.N. presence failed to stop genocide in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, the United States and its European allies infuriated Russia by bypassing the deadlocked Security Council and turning to NATO to halt the Serbian onslaught in Kosovo with a bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999.
..
“Assad is a criminal and a criminal must be judged and punished,” Fabius said.
http://news.yahoo.com/france-britain-syria-military-intervention-table-182207415.html
August 30th, 2012, 9:11 pm
VISITOR said:
The thug regime was behind the Jirmana killings.
????? ????? ???? ?? “?????? ????????” ?????? ????????-??????
?? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ?????? “?????” ??? ?????? ??? ?????. ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ?????? ?????? ????? 27 ?????? ???? ??????? ????????.
??????? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ???????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ???????? ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????.
??? ????????? ???????? ?? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ????? 14 ???? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???? ????????? ???? ?????? ????.
????? ??????? ???? ??? ????? ?? ????????? ???? ???? “???? ?????? ????? ???????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????, ????? ?? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ?????????”.
????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ???????? ????????????? ??????? ??? ???????? ????: “?????? ?? ????? ???? ???????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???????. ??? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ???????? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?? ???????? ??????? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ?????? ???????! ?????? ??????? ????? ?????? ??? ???????? ???????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ?? ???????”
?????: “??? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ??????, ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ????????. ???? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ????? 80 ????? ???? ??????? ????????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ?????. ???? ??? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ????? “.
???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????, ??? ??? “???? ????????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????. ??? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ??? ???????? ????? ??????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?????. ?????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?????????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????. ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ?? “???????? ?????????”.
??? ???? ??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? “???? ??????? ??????????? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ?? “?????? ????????” ?????? ????????-?????? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ??????? ?? ??????! ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ??????? ??????. ?? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????. ?? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ??? ?????? ???????? ?? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ??????”.
??? ???? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ???? “??? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ????. ?? ??? ???? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ????. ???? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ?????! ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ???????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ??????? ?????? ????????? ????????? ?? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?? ?? ???????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ?? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?????????!”.
?????? ??? ?????: “?? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ???? (??? ??????? ???? ?? ???????) ??? ??? ????? “??????”? ? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? “?????” ???????? ???????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ??”?????? ??????”? ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ???? “?????? ??????” ??? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ?????. ?????? ??? ????? ?????? – ?? ??? ??? ???? – ?????? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ?? ??? “??????” ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????”.
August 30th, 2012, 9:24 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
155 Visitor
“Obviously, you have lots to learn about Syria and its people.”
Wrong again, expert-boy. It’s the Syrians who have to start learning about each other.
There’s a myth that Syrians of all tribes, clans, religions and ethnicities live mostly side-by-side in peace and tranquility. Yes, every once in a while, all hell breaks loose and there’s rape, pillage and genocide (like the Druze uprising in 1860) but mostly it’s been sweetness and light all around.
That is a fairy story. The fact is, Syrians have lived side-by-side in total ignorance and suspicion of one another. And whenever all hell breaks loose, they get their machetes and go after each other with a right good will. Look at the SNP. Even opposition to Assad can’t bring Syrians together.
The current crisis will end like that in Yugoslavia. Syria will be broken up into tiny little, mutually-antagonistic statelets. And we only have each other to blame. We hate each other too much.
And oh, by the way, I am a third-generation Syrian-American. I do not speak Arabic. Never needed to. My grandparents fled to America after your grandparents burnt their houses and shops and raped their women. But that was a long time ago. Things are better in Syria now, right?
August 30th, 2012, 9:36 pm
Tara said:
“ ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ???? “?????? ??????” ??? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ?????. ?????? ??? ????? ?????? – ?? ??? ??? ???? – ?????? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ?? ??? “??????” ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????”.
I love it. I would like to celebrate in Qurdaha too.
August 30th, 2012, 9:45 pm
Ghufran said:
It is too little too late to shed crocodile tears over the victims of the terrorist bombing in Jirmanah after thawrajieh media and posters either ignored the crime or referred to it as the bombing of a shabeeha funeral. People who are just waking up and condemning the crime have the right to speak and we also have the right to throw their last minute invention in the nearest trash can. Innocent victims in both Darayyah and Jirmanah did not deserve to die, their murder is a sign of a bigger disease: terrorism, pointing fingers is a waste of time, if tear shedders were sincere they would do something to stop the violence instead of taking videos of dead bodies and celebrating the death of “other” Syrians, that goes for everybody,and that means everybody,we are sick of this bloody dance,it is time to live and let live.
August 30th, 2012, 9:49 pm
Tara said:
Johannes
“And we only have each other to blame. We hate each other too much.”
Sorry for interrupting the conversation..You called yourself “we”. And you said you don’t speak Arabic. Did you really mean we?
Would my daughter and her children call themselves “we”?
August 30th, 2012, 9:50 pm
VISITOR said:
“Wrong again, expert-boy. It’s the Syrians who have to start learning about each other…….
And oh, by the way, I am a third-generation Syrian-American. I do not speak Arabic. Never needed to. My grandparents fled to America after your grandparents burnt their houses and shops and raped their women. But that was a long time ago. Things are better in Syria now, right?”
186 Johannes,
I thought you’re worthy of respect. Clearly you’re not. Now, that you’ve uncovered your mask and showed the real idiot you are, you may want to look for someone else to converse with on this blog.
————————————————-
I feel vindicated in front of Syria Lover for at least uncovering another one of TARA’s Syrian Products.
August 30th, 2012, 9:57 pm
VISITOR said:
Misunderstanding the nature and structure of the Assad regime has been a chronic problem that has long affected Western analysis and policymaking. Misinterpretation became even more acute after Bashar inherited power after his father died in 2000. The most infamous example was the “old guard” thesis: that is, the notion that a “reform-minded” Bashar was constrained by entrenched remnants from his father’s time. Similarly, several analysts posited the existence of a “hardline” faction within the regime, and spoke of autonomous security chiefs who were able to pursue certain policies without Bashar’s knowledge, and, presumably, against his wishes. Bashar, in other words, was presented as merely a “figurehead”—the president who, in the words of Paul Salem, “does not command.”
To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=431825#ixzz255KaXLRX
Only 25% of a given NOW Lebanon article can be republished. For information on republishing rights from NOW Lebanon: http://www.nowlebanon.com/Sub.aspx?ID=125478
August 30th, 2012, 9:59 pm
Ghufran said:
Atwaan hit it on the head, what Israel friends hate the most is seeing nations in the Middle East shaking hands instead of firing bullets at each other:
??????? ???? ???? ????????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ???????????? ????????? ?? ???????? ???????????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ?????????
??????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ????????? ??? ???? ??? ?????????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????????? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ????????? ?????????. ??? ?????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ????????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ???????.
August 30th, 2012, 10:05 pm
Ghufran said:
??? ???????? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? “????? ?? ??????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ????? (?????? ??????) ???? ????? ??? ?????? ???? 3 ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ????????”.
???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? “????????” ?? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ????????? ????? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ?????????? ????? ??? ?? ????? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???????? ???????.
Alittihad from UAE announced that it will stop all of its flight to Damascus.
This is another mistake by the rebels, if they manage to follow through on this threat, they will leave little doubt that they are no different from any other terrorist group or the very regime they fight against.
August 30th, 2012, 10:14 pm
Ales said:
Planes said to be shoot down by rebels are not shoot down. Latest discovery of video forgery:
From Rebels: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d09_1345940465
From some aviation competition, at 3 minutes and 20 sec: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=487_1346361463
Same plane on both videos.
August 30th, 2012, 10:19 pm
Halabi said:
Arak at the Hafez urinal Qurdaha – sounds like a plan. A menhebak recently visited the mausoleum, truly pathetic video below. I’ve seen the Na3seh shrine, but Hafez’s space is pretty impressive. It would be shame to destroy it but I will leave that decision to the good people of Baba Amr, Atarib, Azzaz and Darayya.
http://tinyurl.com/8cf8oz4
August 30th, 2012, 10:59 pm
Visitor said:
France and Britain warn criminal thug Assad that military intervention is coming despite UNSC failures,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/31/235214.html
August 30th, 2012, 11:20 pm
Richard said:
when I post comments they often do not appear.
August 31st, 2012, 1:15 am
Syrialover said:
The conference in Teheran showed how little that country has to draw on. Very amusing.
There was this, of coure:
“BEIRUT—Two of Iran’s honored guests at the official opening of an international conference intended by Tehran to showcase its global stature slammed the Islamic Republic’s policies on Syria, Iran’s top ally in the region, and Israel, its No. 1 foe.”
But there was also this:
“Many Iranians complained about the government’s spending on the conference.
“I pray to God that this conference isn’t just about meeting and greeting and something useful comes out of it. It would be a big gain for the country and people if the result is easing or removing the sanctions,” said Mahin, 32, a Tehran resident who didn’t give her last name.
“That appears unlikely, analysts say. “When the dust settles and the last NAM diplomat has left Tehran, what has changed? Iran remains under a harsh international sanctions regime, foreign investment remains paltry, and its only reliable allies remain the dream team of Venezuela, Syria, and North Korea,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an expert of Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444914904577620531297888956.html
August 31st, 2012, 2:22 am
Juergen said:
cartoon
And how is the situation? Nothing goes on, all is fine!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=435431423175310&set=a.304338422951278.86731.304319136286540&type=1&theater
August 31st, 2012, 2:26 am
Syrialover said:
# 186. Johannes de Silentio
I’m concerned that your view of Syria appears frozen in time and space back to your grandparents experience a long time ago in a specific situation.
A time when the overwhelming majority of the current Syrian population were not even born.
A shame. You are missing out on appreciating your heritage and connections with a wonderful place.
August 31st, 2012, 2:26 am
Juergen said:
Answer of the local committee to Fisks accuation:
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-local-coordination-committees-in-daraya-respond-to/
August 31st, 2012, 2:56 am
Citizen said:
Muslim Brotherhood cannot rule the people. This 2005 Brzezinski plan will backfire on the United States. And the plan is for all the Middle East not just Syria.
Backing Fundamentalists and Extremists will not work.
Central Damascus Resident Phone Conversation
August 31st, 2012, 4:26 am
Citizen said:
Humanitarian aid to Syria must be neutral – Russia’s UN ambassador
http://rt.com/news/un-syria-humanitarian-situation-996/
August 31st, 2012, 5:00 am
Citizen said:
Human Rights Or Civil Rights?
http://www.moonofalabama.org/
August 31st, 2012, 5:44 am
Citizen said:
British and French schizophrenics ‘not ruling out’ Syrian no-fly zone
http://rt.com/news/syria-no-fly-zone-humanitarian-995/
August 31st, 2012, 6:00 am
Son of Damascus said:
McClatchy contributor Austin Tice may be held by Syrians
WASHINGTON — Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist covering the civil war in Syria who was last heard from in mid-August, remains unaccounted for and is likely being held by the Syrian government.
Statements in recent days by Czech diplomats, information from Syrian rebel supporters and reports from people inside Syria indicate that the 31-year-old Houston native, who contributed to McClatchy, The Washington Post and CBS News, was detained by Syrian government forces near the Damascus suburb of Daraya, his last known location.
The U.S. State Department says the Syrian government has not responded to inquiries about Tice that were made through official channels and that U.S. diplomats were “working through our Czech protecting power in Syria to get more information on his welfare and whereabouts.” A Syrian official in the United States declined to comment Thursday.
Tice entered Syria in May without a visa – a common practice for journalists attempting to cover the rebel side of the conflict there – and traveled throughout the country with rebel forces, reaching the Damascus area in late July. He remained in that area, basing himself in Daraya, a city of 200,000 southwest of Damascus proper, but had planned to leave Syria to meet friends in Lebanon on Aug. 19 or 20. He last communicated with colleagues on Aug. 13 but did not reveal precisely how he intended to exit Syria.
On Monday, the Czech ambassador to Syria, Eva Filipi, told a Czech television interviewer in Prague that sources had informed her mission that Tice was in detention, though further information had been hard to come by because of an Islamic holiday at the time. The Czechs, who oversee U.S. interests in Damascus because the U.S. closed its embassy there in February, sent a formal diplomatic note about Tice to Syrian counterparts, she said.
“Our sources report that he is alive and that he was detained by government forces on the outskirts of Damascus, where the rebels were fighting government troops,” Filipi said in response to a question about Tice. “Our additional steps were halted by the fact that the report came at the beginning of the final holidays of Ramadan and therefore we had a week off in Syria and some of our contacts were not in Damascus.”
The remarks followed a Czech radio report over the weekend that also said Tice had been detained by the government.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/30/164362/mcclatchy-contributor-austin-tice.html#storylink=cpy
Here are just under 50 photographs that Austin took while in Syria:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abtice/sets/72157629896151764/
August 31st, 2012, 6:22 am
Tara said:
Iranian official says Morsi lacks ‘maturity’
The Iranian government’s preference for ignoring President Morsi’s remarks about Syria means that it is rather restricted in what it can say about the speech by way of criticism.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper notes that Hossein Sheikholeslam, the Iranian parliament’s Middle East adviser (and a former deputy foreign minister) “was not only the first Iranian official to criticise Morsi but also the first who acknowledged that he made those remarks”.
However, even Sheikholeslam seems to have avoided repeating what Morsi said. Instead, he accused the Egyptian president of lacking “the necessary political maturity”.
,,,
August 31st, 2012, 7:51 am
ann said:
Aleppo Update 8)
Residents of Aleppo celebrating their liberation by the SAA
With the help of the residents of Aleppo the SAA liberate the city and outskirts bit by bit from FSA terrorists. The residents among other things exposed FSA terrorists, hideouts and ammunition dumps.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=094_1346355004
August 31st, 2012, 8:03 am
ann said:
Pounding “free Syrian” Terrorists “allahu akbar” 8)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a1b_1346366060
August 31st, 2012, 8:09 am
Ghufran said:
???????? ???????
??? ???? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? “??????? ????????” ???? ????? “?????? ?? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ????????? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ????”.
????? ????? ???? ????? ???? “???????” ?? ?????? ??? “???? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ?????”? ????? ?? “?????? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ????? ???????”? ??????? “?? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?? ???? ????”.
???? ????? “??? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??????”.
August 31st, 2012, 8:11 am
Tara said:
The Assadisn phalanges still fighting the FSA in Sallahaddin district in Aleppo. Didn’t SANA tell us it was Khalset there?
August 31st, 2012, 8:12 am
Hassan said:
Hear us Bashar !!
Hear us Bashar !!
We’ll raise the Flag high !!
We’ll raise the Flag high !!
We’ll repeat the Glory of 6th October !!
We’ll repeat the Glory of 6th October !!
Hafez lighted the way for us, and inspired us to great acheievements.
O Warriors of the Nation !!
Brave Arab Army !!
Students, Workers, Soldiers and Peasants,
United in our Glorious Baath Party,
They pledge their souls,
To Defend Assad and Syria !!!
August 31st, 2012, 9:10 am
ann said:
212. Hassan
Your `israel roots are showing. You can stop this charade now.
you’ve been outed 😉
August 31st, 2012, 9:18 am
Hamoudeh al-Halabi said:
HRW: The Bread Line Massacres
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/hrw-the-bread-line-massacres/
Shaykh Rateb al-Nabulsi at the Heart of the Revolution
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/shaykh-rateb-al-nabulsi-at-the-heart-of-the-revolution/
Imam Khalid Latif: A Prayer for Syria
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/imam-khalid-latif-a-prayer-for-syria/
August 31st, 2012, 9:53 am
zoo said:
Turkey peculiarly absent from Tehran
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH28Ak01.html
Ankara has decided to boycott this week’s Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, which has been much maligned in the Western media despite the summit’s potential to contribute to mediation efforts on the conflict in Syria. By all indications, this decision reflects a low point in Turkish foreign policy.
Despite a personal invitation by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Turkish President Abdullah Gul has cited personal health and scheduling conflict. Even the resourceful Foreign
minister Ahmet Davutoglu has baulked at the idea of attending the summit, which brings dozens of leaders from the South to discuss their issues, including regional conflicts such as Syria. [1]
August 31st, 2012, 10:16 am
zoo said:
Egypt and Iran, new twin pillars
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NI01Ak03.html
Egypt and Iran this week took a giant step toward overcoming their diplomatic estrangement, brought together by the exigencies of a global movement and, even more so, a complex regional calculus that has a long history of being shaped by foreign powers.
…..
Yet, the next move on Syria will not be a no-fly zone but rather a concerted regional effort at conflict-mediation, in order to complement the current effort of UN special envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. Only by joining hands can Tehran and Cairo make a tangible difference in bringing the warring parties to a meaningful dialogue, together with input by other important regional and extra-regional players, such as Saudi Arabia
…..
Consequently, it is hardly surprising that Cairo and Tehran may discover certain side-effects pushing them away from each other precisely at a time when they are pulled together, simply because of their constant balancing act and the Egyptian coordination of their Iran policy with their Washington or Saudi policies, requiring a “near distancing,” For now, however, as a result of the landmark summit that has “blown” a new life to NAM, to paraphrase ayatollah Khamenei, the breath of fresh Iran-Egypt diplomacy is inescapable, much as it should not be mistaken for a complete harmony.
August 31st, 2012, 10:18 am
ann said:
Moscow Calls on U.S., EU to Lift Sanctions against Syria – 31/08/2012
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120831/175532608.html
Russia has called on the United States and the European Union to immediately lift all unilateral sanctions their imposed in regard to Syria, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said.
On July 23 the EU passed the 17th set of sanctions against Syria, including a tougher arms embargo, in response to escalating violence in the Arab country. Russia said the new sanctions amount to an actual blockade of Syria, which contradicts the decisions of UN Security Council and the Geneva Agreements.
Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting on Syria on Thursday, Churkin said that Russia calls on “the countries, which imposed anti-Syrian sanctions, to lift them off immediately.”
“These sanctions, imposed bypassing the UN Security Council, have nothing in common with real efforts to settle the Syrian crisis and only complicate lives of ordinary citizens and deprive them of the possibility to satisfy their own elementary needs and comprehensively employ human rights,” Churkin said.
[…]
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120831/175532608.html
August 31st, 2012, 10:41 am
Tara said:
It appears that the NAM meeting in Tehran has if anything made Iran more isolated. Iran is paying very high price for supporting the oppressive Syrian regime. The mullahs need to stop their emotional connection with Assad Alawi regime and be pragmatic about it. Their continuous unwavering support is working to their disadvantage. Same applied to HA. It is shame that sect and religion blinds. HA and Iran has lost any ground in the ME. I personally once was a big fan,,
August 31st, 2012, 10:59 am
syrian said:
To Norman
????? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ???????
August 31st, 2012, 11:01 am
zoo said:
Davutoglu continues his big fuss about 80,000 refugees.
Maybe he can’t remember that Syria received with less pomp and visits of tabloid celebrities, a million Iraqis for years that were victims of the USA war on Iraq.
If the Turkish law does not recognize Arabs fleeing to Turkey as “refugees” fully entitled to support from the UN, then it’s Turkey responsibility to deal with these ‘temporary guests’ on its own, or change their law.
If Turkey, without asking the UN approval, took the decisions to keep and protect armed rebels and establish a military headquarter on its land to attack a country part of the UN, then it should bear the consequences, take corrective actions and stop begging the UN to correct their mistakes.
Turkey to keep appealing for safe zones in Syria: diplomat
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-keep-appealing-for-safe-zones-in-syria-diplomat-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29080&NewsCatID=338
August 31st, 2012, 11:04 am
syrian said:
????? ???? ????? ???? “??? ?? ????? ???? ????????? ???????” ???? ??? ??????? ???????
http://www.aksalsir.com/?page=view_news&id=b6940c9fcc1580a2d2f928b05f0c42c6&ar=605468675
August 31st, 2012, 11:07 am
Tara said:
Darryl
Read above. ????? ???? ?? ???? !
Someone is reading. Do you feel included now?
I certainly hope that you do.. It is OUR revolution, not mine alone. You would be liberated just as I would
August 31st, 2012, 11:07 am
syrian said:
?????? ????? ?? ???? ????? ???? :
???????? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ????????.
http://youtu.be/dRMujl_3If4
August 31st, 2012, 11:12 am
ann said:
In Syria, Turkey Opposes Any De Facto Sovereignty in Kurdish Zones
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — When the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, came to take questions after Thursday’s Security Council meeting on Syria, he spoke of refugees and his invitation to the Council members to come and visit camps.
Inner City Press asked Davutoglu a more pointed question: what is Turkey’s position on the reported autonomy of the Kurdish areas in northern Syria?
Davutoglu is a skilled diplomat — he had just likened Turkey’s position on Syria to Srbrenica in Bosnia and Halabja in Iraq — but he made himself clear: his country opposes any declaration of sovereignty by these areas. Video here, from Minute 7:05.
He said that “Assad regime may try to use all instruments against political unity of Syrian people. For us, we see all Syrians… as one unity.”
He emphasized, “We will be against any de facto declaration of sovereignty inside Syria” unless decided by an “elected parliament of New Syria.” That seems a long way off.
Footnote: Turkey arrived, as it did during last September’s UN General Debate, with a large delegation. Then, it resulted in a dust-up with UN Security, some of whose members are asking just how many extra passes Turkey gets.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/turkey1syria083012.html
August 31st, 2012, 11:15 am
ann said:
As France Offers to Recognize Syria Opposition, Russia Cites Geneva Deal
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — France has grandly announced that it stands ready to recognize the Syrian opposition as the government. After Thursday’s Security Council session, Inner City Press asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin what he thought of the idea.
Churkin was diplomatic, beginning that “off course people look for various ideas to think of… We need to apply one criteria, how those ideas are correlated with a consensus basis which is reflected in the Geneva communiqué.”
This has been Russia’s mantra, the text that was agreed on June 30 in Geneva by the so-called Action Group on Syria. But when Churkin this month invited the members of the Action Group to meet at New York, despite French Ambassador Gerard Araud saying he accepts such invitations, the meeting did not take place.
The United States, whose Susan Rice was back in the Security Council for Thursday’s meetin, and the United Kingdom were said to “boycott” the meeting convened by Russia.
Inner City Press was told by sources that Germany, too, rebelled. It is not a member of the Action Group, but demanded that if the Action Group met, it immediately report back to the Council. The meeting never happened.
And Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov did not come to the Council on Thursday; neither did Hillary Clinton or Germany’s minister Westerwelle. Prior to the meeting, a Syrian diplomat mocked the French meeting to Inner City Press, saying “they got ministers of Togo & Morocco, old French, no Hillary, not even Germany.”
Churkin continued with his answer, that “the Geneva communique does speak about this traditional body composed of, by the representatives of the government and various opposition groups. I’m not sure this idea of a government which will be recognized even before we know what kind of a government this is, that is entirely in line with the ideas reflected in the Geneva document. This is a question I have in my mind as I hear these ideas expressed.”
Several times, Churkin said he didn’t want to engage in “polemics” with other Security Council members’ foreign ministers. And so he left this one was a question, to which we will continue to seek an answer.
Of those who came to speak at the stakeout after Thursday’s meeting, Inner City Press got in questions not only to Churkin and Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, but also to UNHCR’s Gutterez and even to the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu — but not to France’s Laurent Fabius.
[…]
August 31st, 2012, 11:19 am
ann said:
Link: http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1rusgen083012.html
August 31st, 2012, 11:23 am
Uzair8 said:
There are people who haven’t followed the situation closely and are genuinely and sincerely concerned about the possible repeat of shrine destruction in Syria.
I want to share a response to such a question. Thanks to the brother for the effort. I hope he doesn’t mind me bringing it peoples’ attention. It really is worth sharing:
http://www.yanabi.com/index.php?/topic/426314-free-halab/page__view__findpost__p__454736
August 31st, 2012, 11:25 am
ann said:
Plight of Refugees in Za’atari Camp in Jordan Obscured Amid UN’s Syria Superbowl
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 — Syria’s neighbors were given center stage in the UN Security Council on Thursday, to talk up what they do for refugees.
Inner City Press asked the UN’s top official for refugees, UNHRC’s Antonio Gutteres, about the Za’atari camp in Jordan, and about a protest of UNHCR in Annan. (At this last, new Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson raised his eyebrows, seeming surprised that the UN would be protested.) Video here, from Minute 2:50.
Gutteres said Jordan decided to establish that camp in “a very difficult situation from the point of view of the environmental conditions.” You might say: the tents are blown down by sandy winds and there are scorpions. Residents protested (or rioted) and now up to 150 of them face refoulement, in UNHCR-speak, to Syria.
Inner City Press asked Gutteres about this; he replied with a hope that it was a one time incident, “quickly solved.”
But what about these 150 people?
Inner City Press asked Syrian Permanent Representative Bashar Ja’afari about the camp. His answer was that government should let people return, that they only left because the rebels used them as human shields. He riffed about countries with the “dirty habit” of making money off other people’s suffering, calling it a “stock market.”
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius bragged in his statement in the Council about providing doctors in Za’atari, without addressing if the camp is in a livable location much less those about to be sent back to Syria. He took only two questions afterward, none on this.
Unlike the Permanent Representatives not only of Syria but also Russia, and the ministers of Lebanon and France (though only for two questions), Jordan’s Nasser Judeh did not come to take any questions at the stakeout. But he is active on Twitter, where he has his supporters; his Permanent Representative at the UN is omnipresent.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1refugees083012.html
August 31st, 2012, 11:27 am
SANDRO LOEWE said:
212. Hassansaid:
Hear us FSa !!
Hear us FSA !!
We’ll raise the Flag high !!
We’ll raise the Flag high !!
We’ll not repeat the Disaster of 6th October !!
We’ll not repeat the Disaster of 6th October !!
Salaheddin lighted the way for us, and inspired us to great acheievements.
O Warriors of the Nation !!
Brave Syrian Free Army !!
Students, Workers, Soldiers and Peasants,
United in our Glorious Revoution,
They pledge their souls,
To Defend Syrians and Syria !!!
August 31st, 2012, 11:28 am
Uzair8 said:
Lebanese Shiite scholar voices support for Syrian revolution
August 31, 2012
BEIRUT, Lebanon – A prominent Lebanese Shiite scholar has said that all Shiites should unite against “oppressors” including the Syrian regime which he said directed its weapons on his own people.
“Taking the oppressors’ side undermines the founding principles of Shia Islam. Shiites must stand against oppression. And the Syrian revolution will bring about a new Syria which is fair and controlled by popular will,” Sayyed Muhammad Hasan Al-Amin told the Anadolu Agency in an interview in Beirut.
Al-Amin said Shiites had “no one single opinion” over the ongoing crisis in Syria, adding that many Shiite groups supported the Syrian uprising.
Read more:
http://mar15.info/2012/08/lebanese-shiite-scholar-voices-support-for-syrian-revolution/
August 31st, 2012, 11:36 am
zoo said:
Ann
France had the UNSC chairmanship in August. Results: More hot air and ridiculous promises and “predictions”
16 August: “French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told AFP Thursday he had information that the regime of embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad would be rocked by more “spectacular” defections soon.”
http://news.yahoo.com/more-spectacular-defections-syria-soon-france-215320586.html
August 31st, 2012, 11:37 am
zoo said:
Qatar’s tear jerking generosity to save Al Zaatari Camp in Jordan.
Wouldn’t Jordan prefer that these refugees go back home when Qatar will stop financing the killing?
http://www.qatarisbooming.com/2012/08/27/raf-to-spend-qr27mn-to-aid-20000-syrian-refugees/
RAF to spend QR27mn to aid 20,000 Syrian refugees
Aug 27, 2012 in NGO | 0 comments
Sheikh Thani bin Abdullah Foundation for Humanitarian Services (RAF) is planning to spend QR27 million to provide shelter and medical aid for 20,000 Syrian refugees in Al Zaatari Camp on Syria-Jordan borders.
General Manager and Chairman of RAF Board of Trustees Ayed bin Dabsan al Qahtani has called on philanthropists to donate to the cause in order to alleviate the sufferings of thousands of Syrians who flee to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan on a daily basis.
RAF also aims to establish field hospitals, provide ambulances and other medical equipment to cater to the healthcare needs of the refugees.
Qahtani said the charity organisation was also looking at the possibility of providing the Al Zaatari Camp with one thousand mobile (caravans) homes with necessary furniture, including mattresses, blankets, pillows and other items, adding that some of the caravans would be used as mosques, sanitary facilities, schools for boys and girls as well as mobile clinics for the refugees.
August 31st, 2012, 11:46 am
syrian said:
220
“Davutoglu continues his big fuss about 80,000 refugees.
Maybe he can’t remember that Syria received with less pomp and visits of tabloid celebrities, a million Iraqis for years that were victims of the USA war on Iraq.”
Unlike the Syrian refugees to Turkey who came with their cloth and what ever they can carry on their back, the early Iraqis came with their millions witch they brought from Iraq and fueled the Syrian economy for the next few years, when the poor started coming, Syria started asking for visas to enter.
plus Syria were eligible to get money from the UN,unlike Turkey because they can not call them refugees but guests due to some law they have,
and i see you chose to forget that Angelina and Brat came and checked on them and they were received by the royal couple later
August 31st, 2012, 11:54 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
“Iran is sending commanders from its elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and hundreds of foot soldiers to Syria, according to current and former members of the corps.”
I wonder what the reaction will be in Iran when the body bags start coming back.
August 31st, 2012, 12:35 pm
Uzair8 said:
‘The guys from Syrian delegation should instead of walking away from the hall take the metal cane and beat this Zionist clown Mursi just like Preston Brooks did in 1856 senate meeting when he beat to death senator Charles Sumner.’
http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/current-events/nam-summit-in-iran-likely-to-reveal-wests-true-allies-and-foes/msg132182/#msg132182
August 31st, 2012, 12:44 pm
Visitor said:
French FM, Fabius, tells Jaafari of Syria to shut up because the grandfather of his president was in fact a traitor proven by his own signature,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/31/235337.html
The facts of the treason are well known but this is the first time it happens at the UNSC coming from the French themselves.
August 31st, 2012, 12:54 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
235
Mursi is not a “Zionist,” whatever that means. He went to Teheran to declare Egypt’s solidarity with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which goes back to the 50’s when it was started as an alternative to the Cold War by Nehru, Tito and Haile Selassie. Mursi had no intention of being an Iranian puppet. He did the right thing. He denounced the Assads.
So, Uzair8, if your definition of Zionism is denouncing the Assads, then so be it. By the way, Brooks did not kill Sumner. You need to read some history and stop making up stories…
August 31st, 2012, 1:01 pm
Visitor said:
Syrian/Tara,
???? ?? ???? will not recognize Norman nor Daryll.
Instead he’ll throw both of them to Jahannam – the lowest part thereof.
August 31st, 2012, 1:10 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
A slap in the face —– SLAPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!
Iranian newspapers don’t publish on Fridays, but there is a lively response to Mr Mursi’s speech from Iranian opposition bloggers and internet users.
One opposition blogger says: “Praise be to Mursi’s honesty for voicing what millions of Iranians and Syrians could not say.”
Mojtaba Vahedi, the former adviser to Iran’s opposition leader, Mehdi Karrubi, describes Mursi’s speech as a “slap in the face” for Iran’s leader, “who had just yesterday defended Assad’s government.”
It was better than throwing shoes!
August 31st, 2012, 1:22 pm
Antoine said:
“I wonder what the reaction will be in Iran when the body bags start coming back.”
_______________________________________________________________
What the hell, they got close to 1 million body bags between 1980 and 1988. What will the reaction be ?
More graves, more memorials, more roses and tulips, and more “keys to heaven”.
Theye even had 10 yr old kids at the frontline to defuse the landmines with their own bodies.
August 31st, 2012, 1:24 pm
Syrian Natonalist Party said:
SSNPS made a historic move to join the Alciada-Mossad revolution in Syria by launching 2 new brainless armed units that will be joining the throat slitting and car bombing noble mission in Syria.
“Katibet Oded Golan” will target Christian churches and heathen non-Sunni artifacts, and “Katibet Suleiman the Great fiction” will target fictional weapon depots of fictional anti Jewish forces of Assad and Ayatollah and Morsi, the fictional resistance front.
August 31st, 2012, 1:25 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
1988 was a long time ago, Antoine. Ancient history. Almost as old as you.
August 31st, 2012, 1:31 pm
Aldendeshe said:
LOL and LOLRF, SNP That deserve 500+ thumb up. Too bad you are not here at the meeting making us laugh.
August 31st, 2012, 1:33 pm
Syrian said:
238 Visitor
While I know where you coming from,I can not agree with you,
1- you con not speak for ???? ?? ????
2- it is not up to???? ?? ???? to who will get thrown in that place
August 31st, 2012, 1:41 pm
Citizen said:
http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2012/08/can-nam-solve-syrian-crisis.html
Can NAM Solve the Syrian Crisis?
The author claimes that “NATO’s war in Libya and the Syrian crisis has afforded the US an opportunity to re-enter the Arab world as a major political player. ”
In realty the US and Nato attempts, after the fall of the Soviet union, to be the sole politacal player in the Arab world and middle east faced fiece resistance in Afhganistan Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.
Therefore, it is more presicise to say:
A combination of the cowboy Wars defeats led by the US and NATO (since the Bush administration), and the failure of the Arab stooges and the financial crisis (since 2007) alongside the economic rise of China and India has, however, given a boost to the aspiration of the NAM.
Moreover the Author clamied that “The Arab Spring of 2011 offered further proof of the new confidence of the people of the ‘South’. Regimes that had given themselves over to pro-Western economic policies and opened their prisons to become the “black sites” of the War on Terror fell like ninepins. If the US had lost Latin America, it was now feared that it would lose the Arab world as well.”
Again, it is more precise to say:
“The Arab Spring of 2011 Resistance Axis offered further proof of the new confidence of the people of the ‘South’ and Arab word, threatning the regimes that had given themselves over to pro-Western economic policies and opened their prisons to become the “black sites” of the War on Terror……………..
August 31st, 2012, 1:47 pm
Visitor said:
244 Syrian
Answers to your points.
1 Yes I can. And you too can.
2 He will not throw them with his own hands. But he will cause them to be thrown. It is easy for him.
August 31st, 2012, 1:52 pm
Citizen said:
NEARLY 200 elite SAS and SBS troops are in or around Syria hunting for Assad’s weapons of mass destruction, we can reveal.
The crack teams are deep in the war-torn country preparing to capture the deadly chemical arsenal when the president decides to use it or move it.
Men of the special forces units plus 1 Para are on the ground working alongside MI6 and the CIA plus American and French troops.
“This is like something out of a Frederick Forsyth thriller but it’s true and a lot of people could get killed,” said a senior British defence expert.
“We can’t have biological weapons knocking about the Middle East.”
Men of the special forces units plus 1 Para are on the ground working alongside MI6 and the CIA plus American and French troops
http://cdn.images.dailystar-uk.co.uk/img/sunday/sunday.gif
August 31st, 2012, 2:16 pm
Tara said:
• President Morsi’s speech in Tehran yesterday has “all but completed Iran’s isolation”, Simon Tisdall writes in the Guardian.
Morsi’s fierce condemnation of the Syrian regime, Iran’s close ally, was as eloquent as it was piercing, and it came like a bolt from the blue. He didn’t just rain on the Iranians’ parade. It was as if Hurricane Isaac had taken a sharp turn north across the Caspian and unleashed its wrathful furies on an unsuspecting Tehran.
Scott Peterson, in the Christian Science Monitor, shares that view:
Iran’s charm offensive and attempts to seize the high ground were dampened by the words of the UN chief and by Mohamed Morsi
…,
The Guardian
August 31st, 2012, 2:20 pm
jna said:
Cartoon…military intervention in Syria
https://p.twimg.com/Avn2pb8CAAAkEys.jpg
August 31st, 2012, 2:24 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
246
You seem to know an awful lot about “him.” Are you two related?
August 31st, 2012, 2:25 pm
Visitor said:
Another thug helicopter shot down by the heroes of the FSA over Abu alDhohour airbase.
August 31st, 2012, 2:30 pm
Mina said:
They sound as if two opinions could be expressed!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/americas-most-senior-general-warns-against-rash-actionon-syria-and-iran-8096881.html
August 31st, 2012, 2:36 pm
syrian said:
Visitor 246
See , now you are speaking for me
If any of the prophets was associated with peace, Profit Essa would be the most,in one verse he said “peace upon me when I was born when I die and when I resurrect again”,I think he will ask forgiveness for them, the amount of brain washing they received in their lives is unimaginable,I personally would catch my self repeating the songs of the regime years after I was not expose to them any more, even I was never in my life a supporter. they can not help it, some are not as lucky to see the truth,
August 31st, 2012, 2:53 pm
Visitor said:
Nope #253 Syrian.
You have not got it right. The verse you mention is not relevant here. I’ll explain.
First I’ll show you how you can speak for him and in particular in the case we’re discussing. Since it is Friday, go read ??? ???? ???? ?????… till the end. You will see that you have spoken his words exactly in the case we’re discussing.
You will see that charges of ??? are brought by Allah against those who call him son of god which is ???. We also know without any doubt ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???. Therefore, we know forgiveness is out of the question particularly because we know Muhammad (pbuh) came and warned them about it. So, there is no excuse of brainwashing either. You only need to read the following to understand the seriousness of the charge:
?????? ???? ???? ????
??? ???? ???? ???
???? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???
?? ???? ??????? ????
??? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ????
?? ?? ?? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? ??????? ????
??? ?????? ????? ???
????? ???? ??? ??????? ????
So, there is only one outcome. They will be thrown to the lowest depth of Jahannam.
August 31st, 2012, 3:23 pm
zoo said:
France to help Syria’s “liberated zones”
By John Irish
NEW YORK | Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:54pm IST
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/syria-crisis-zones-idINL6E8JV4SS20120831
Aug 31 (Reuters) – France plans to channel aid to rebel-held parts of Syria so that these “liberated zones” can administer themselves and staunch an outflow of refugees, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
He said France and Turkey had identified areas in the north and south that had escaped President Bashar al-Assad’s control, creating a chance for local communities to govern themselves without feeling they had to flee to neighbouring countries.
“Maybe in these liberated zones Syrians who want to flee the regime will find refuge which in turn makes it less necessary to cross the border whether in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan or Iraq,” Fabius said after a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday.
However, civilians in rebel-held parts of Syria have suffered frequent deadly air strikes from Assad’s forces.
It was not clear how Fabius’s promise to allocate much of its future 5 million euros ($6.25 million) aid for Syria to these areas would protect civilians and deter them from fleeing.
August 31st, 2012, 3:26 pm
zoo said:
Buffer zone at the UN: “The Turkish proposal sank like a stone”
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-analysis-syria-diplomacy-stalls-over-safe-zone-183851326.html
Turkey’s non-starter call for a humanitarian safe zone inside Syria offers the clearest sign yet that diplomacy to end the bloodshed in the most violent uprising of the Arab Spring is at a dead end.
But the Turkish proposal sank like a stone. The council meeting ended without even a non-binding statement of support, much less a binding resolution.
A frustrated Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the council that he’d come to New York in hopes the members would take “long overdue steps” to alleviate the suffering and establish camps inside Syria for those forced to flee their homes.
“Apparently, I was wrong about my expectations,” Davutoglu said.
Like so many other proposals to end the fighting, the Turkish appeal was all but dead on arrival, given the risks of creating such a zone and the hostility of veto-wielding Russia and China to any proposal that is not accepted by Syrian President Bashar Assad
…
France has promised to recognize a Syrian provisional government if the opposition can set aside its internal differences — which it has been unable to accomplish.
…
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and veteran U.N. mediator, will likely explore possibilities of reviving a transitional plan drawn up by Annan and agreed to by both the United States and Russia after a conference in Geneva in June.
The document aimed at establishing an interim government of people chosen by both the Assad regime and the opposition. Each would be able to veto candidates.
The arrangement was rejected immediately by many in the Syrian opposition.
August 31st, 2012, 3:33 pm
Tara said:
Visitor,
Come on… Wasn’t there a Hadeeth saying that people are born in Fitrah then they adapt the religion of their parents whatever that religion is. I am sure if you were born Christian, the likelihood you remain as such is 99.99999 %. There is no way that god would condemn people to hell because they are born into certain religion. This would not be the Allah of the Quraan.
August 31st, 2012, 3:39 pm
syrian said:
254 Visitor
I thought we were talking about those supporting and not supporting, I don’t want to go into endless discussion about religion, other for my self and the very few I’m responsible for I could not care less who is going where
August 31st, 2012, 3:45 pm
zoo said:
Will Turkey and France join in the fait accompli of an ‘unprotected’ buffer zone?
After the UN rebuffed its plea for a buffer zone in Syria to accommodate the increasingly destabilizing Syrians ‘guests’, Turkey is approached by France to take an unofficial position: Share the the responsibility in setting an ‘unprotected’ buffer zone so Turkey can get rid of its Syrian refugees from its land.
As it is clear that these areas will immediately be bombed by the Syrian Army, maybe the hopes are that when it will be bombed and many civilians will be killed, France and Turkey will be able to make a case at the UN for no-fly zone on these ‘unprotected’ areas
All violent scenarios are being considered whatever civilians casualties would be rather than calling for a humiliating ceasefire.
August 31st, 2012, 3:50 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Army Security Services Chief killed in AlEPPO, with wife and all bodyguards
?????? ???? ????????? ???????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?????
?????? ?? ?? ?????????
August 31st, 2012, 3:56 pm
Juergen said:
I would not mind at all if Iran will gets its share of the arab spring, we can make concessions by calling it the persian spring…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=219679894827599&set=a.172373649558224.35483.172364466225809&type=1&theater
this women by the way got arrested and sentenced to prison for this truly unislamic behaviour…
August 31st, 2012, 3:57 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
I see SNP has lost a lot of popularity, it has come down from 200 votes to 8. I would not share in next elections in alliance with Baath Party, you could make Assad lose elections.
August 31st, 2012, 4:02 pm
Juergen said:
Austin Tice: ‘It’s nice and all, but please quit telling me to be safe.’
Journalist Austin Tice, who contributed articles to The Washington Post, is currently missing in Syria.
The following was posted by Austin Tice on his Facebook page on July 25. It is republished here with the permission of his parents.
“Against my better judgment, I’m posting this on Facebook. Flame away.
People keep telling me to be safe (as if that’s an option), keep asking me why I’m doing this crazy thing, keep asking what’s wrong with me for coming here. So listen.
Our granddads stormed Normandy and Iwo Jima and defeated global fascism. Neil Armstrong flew to the Moon in a glorified trashcan, doing math on a clipboard as he went. Before there were roads, the Pioneers put one foot in front of the other until they walked across the entire continent. Then a bunch of them went down to fight and die in Texas ‘cause they thought it was the right thing to do….
Coming here to Syria is the greatest thing I’ve ever done, and it’s the greatest feeling of my life.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/austin-tice-its-nice-and-all-but-please-quit-telling-me-to-be-safe/2012/08/23/984488ba-ed4b-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_story.html
August 31st, 2012, 4:02 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
A popular explosion in the streets of Teheran would be the drop of water we need to collapse the persian theocracy. Unfortunately they did it before the arabs and got a huge repression.
August 31st, 2012, 4:04 pm
Juergen said:
very graphic!
excecution of policemen by members of the FSA.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=70a_1346428226
August 31st, 2012, 4:15 pm
ghufran said:
some fiery statements from Al-Miqdad
??? ??????? ???? ??????? ???? ???? ???????? ?????????? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ????? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ?? ???? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????.
???? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????. ?????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? ??????.
???? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ????? ?? ?? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ???????? ?????? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ?? ????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ????????.
??? ??? ???? ???? ???????? ?????????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ?????? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ???????.
???? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ?? ????? ?????? ” ????? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ???????”.
????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?????????? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ??? ?? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????????? ?? ????? ??????.
translation: a political solution is not likely any time soon
August 31st, 2012, 4:16 pm
annie said:
Morsi: Solidarity with Syrian Uprising an “Ethical Duty”
http://bit.ly/RwL0WT @democracynow
August 31st, 2012, 4:16 pm
ghufran said:
lovely,I would like more of those videos to be posted online # 265.
more and more people inside and outside Syria are discovering what the armed rebels have become: a collection of thugs, terrorists, Takfiri militants, paid agents or a combination of two or more cats.This is a free service to everybody who believes that this revolution is hijacked by Islamist terrorists.
August 31st, 2012, 4:25 pm
zoo said:
Bashar al Jaafari at the UN
http://webtv.un.org/media/watch/bashar-jaafari-syria-on-syria-security-council-media-stakeout-30-august-2012/1815258209001?page=4
Result of a meeting supposedly organized to deal with the humanitarians crisis:
Not a single dollar given by the country who called for the meeting to help the refugees, yet they give millions of dollars to smuggle weapons, train and harbor the terrorists.
Instead on focusing on the humanitarian problems, they speakers insulted the Syrian president.
These countries are responsible in the bloodshedin Syria because they don’t care about the civilians casualties, they only care about their agenda of destabilizing Syria.
Syria do have an humanitarian crisis and need assistance but not in the form of undermining Syria’s sovereignty and political independance.
August 31st, 2012, 4:30 pm
zoo said:
#266 Ghufran
Why do you expect less?
The opposition is loosing on all the grounds. The latest UNSC meeting deadend showed that its supporters are in total disarray and confusion. Each one setting a different and often opposed strategy.
The SNC is crumbling, its members are defecting, the Arab League has not even been able to organize the nth meeting to ‘unite’ the opposition. The FSA is overtaken by Islamists extremists benefiting from free CIA and MI16 training in Turkey military camps.
In the UN meeting, KSA and Qatar instead of shedding tears of compassion for the refugees, shed tears of rage for their impotence after having spend so much money on weapons and rebels salaries.
Turkey and Jordan are suffocated by the refugees from the violence they instigated with the money that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are pouring to prevent the collapse of the rebels. This would mean the end of the game they thought they’ll easily win and that ultimately they’ll be the humiliated looser.
Unless Iran changes its mind and prefers to please Morsi by sacrificing Syria, Bashar Al Assad still stands stronger that he has ever be in the last 18 months with an army solid and coherent, a political unity and most of all the growing support of Syrians, many of them bitter at the opposition you brought such a disaster on the country without being able even to unite and speak with one voice. The only voices they are hearing are the voices of violence and destruction.
Mikdad is right to claim high and loud that there will be no pre- conditions to an eventual dialog. The opposition should finally learn that beggars can’t be choosers.
August 31st, 2012, 4:49 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
268. GHUFRAN
Are you afraid of FSA killing traitors ? War is war and it is Assad who have chosen it.
When Assad bombs bakeries, whole cities and so on don’t be surprised about what is coming next.
August 31st, 2012, 4:52 pm
Juergen said:
what does the new testament say, holy are those who believe?
Robert Fisk: Minister for information who wants to go straight
Truth will no longer be a casualty of Syria’s civil war, says President Assad’s media supremo
When Syrian gunmen stormed Damascus last month, an angry, middle-aged and bespectacled man appeared on state television with a harsh message for Syria’s “enemies”.
“They are calling this the last battle,” he roared. “Yes, I agree it is the last battle – and they will lose!” Syrian viewers were not used to straight-talking of this kind from the voice of the regime, to be sure, but also the voice of a tough new broom at the top of the government’s media operations, Omran Zoubi. The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, appointed him the information Minister to turn Syrian state television into a credible source of information.
Regime mouthpieces: Defending the indefensible
* During the invasion of Iraq the Information Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf earned the moniker “Comical Ali” for his dogged insistence that there were no “American infidels in Baghdad”, even as tanks massed nearby. He also came out with ludicrous sound bites such as: “Our initial assessment is that they will all die”.
* Colonel Gaddafi’s information minister, Moussa Ibrahim, would take to the podium at Tripoli’s Rixos Hotel, smooth his impressive comb-over, and harangue foreign journalists about the Libyan leader’s omnipotence.
* The propagandist most renowned for using fine words to justify heinous atrocities was Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief who took his own life in Hitler’s bunker.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-minister-for-information-who-wants-to-go-straight-8096841.html
August 31st, 2012, 4:58 pm
SANDRO LOEWE said:
Assad an all the thugs in the army and the moukhabaraati system, FAKE YOU ALL, STUPID GARBAGE.
August 31st, 2012, 4:59 pm
Juergen said:
The syrian war for dummies….
Die Zeit has published this yesterday.
a very good analysis
“The uprising in Syria is, simply put, a riot of economically marginalized conservative Sunni rural population. There, the Koran is the only constant, unfaltering hope of justice. The relatively secular Assad’s government has been associated with corruption, exploitation, and since the start of the uprising by shooting at unarmed demonstrators and seemingly indiscriminate aerial attacks on civilians in the compound. It is therefore hardly surprising that the opposition is fighting under the banner of Islam and Allahu Akbar, God is great, become their battle cry.”
http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Fpolitik%2Fausland%2F2012-08%2Fsyrien-propaganda-medien-krieg%2Fkomplettansicht
here is an other article, written by an member of the Day after movemnet, a member of the syrian muslim brotherhood, Molham al-Droubi
Two paths lead to a free Syria
Either the Alawite elite removed the Assad regime – or a military intervention from outside. M. al-Droubi, a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood
Civil War Two paths lead to a free Syria
Either the Alawite elite removed the Assad regime – or a military intervention from outside. M. al-Droubi, a leading member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood
Syria is unique, popular due to its significant geopolitical location. Many international forces pursue their own interests in Syria. A revolution in this country as important? It was a surprise to everyone, because it was believed that Bashar al-Assad and his father had built an insurmountable security state. Few would have expected that the uprising in Syria would last longer than a few weeks. But the Syrian people has she taught better.
http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2Fpolitik%2Fausland%2F2012-08%2Fsyrien-ende-regime
August 31st, 2012, 5:07 pm
ann said:
268. ghufran said:
lovely,I would like more of those videos to be posted online # 265.
Read the comments posted under that video.
Those NATO mercenary killers will soon meet Allah in paradise 😉
August 31st, 2012, 5:42 pm
Halabi said:
Iranian TV and news agencies lie to their viewers and alter Morsi’s speech, and this isn’t just innocent mistakes involving the intricacies of the Arabic language. These liars changed Syria into Bahrain.
http://youtu.be/t0n7vkn59mE
It makes me wonder about the Sharaa video that only Al Alam had last week. While Syrian shabi7a “journalists” are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to delaying aid to wounded women for interviews or adding to the trauma of children (along with salivating at the mangled bodies of dead Syrians), Iranians are lending a hand for lies that are less crass.
August 31st, 2012, 5:47 pm
Tara said:
Halabi
Can the mullahs get any stupider? Don’t they think that they will get caught? They are paraded all over. This was from the Guardian.
Iran mistranslates Morsi
Two Iranian TV channels found an interesting way to deal with President Morsi’s embarrassing critique of the Syrian regime during his speech in Tehran yesterday, Le Monde reports (in French).
It says the translation of his speech into Persian simply replaced the word “Syria” with “Bahrain”.
http://keyhani.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/08/30/a-teheran-morsi-defend-la-revolution-syrienne-et-les-traducteurs-font-semblant-de-ne-pas-entendre/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#xtor=RSS-3208001
August 31st, 2012, 5:53 pm
Visitor said:
259 Tara,
What am I going to say to you Tara?
First, as for my own life, you would be surprised. But of course this is not the place to discuss it.
Secondly, are you questioning fate?
In this case Allah will bring Ibrahim (pbuh) as His argument against all those who failed to recognize His Oneness no matter who their parents were. I assume you’re familiar with the story of Ibrahim. Surely, you don’t expect a ???? to be rewarded the same as Ibrahim. Would you?
And speaking of Hadeeth and fate, we were also told about Allah in a Hadeeth the following:
???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ?????.
in the above the pronouns refer to Allah (I.e. Allah is speaking)
There are rules and criterions and you cannot have a Religion based on wishes. God wants you to recognize Him during the 60, 70 or 80 years given to you, and no one else. He has no need for any of your deeds, good or bad. Those who recognize Him however, are quicker into doing the good deeds and avoid bad ones and those who are oblivious to Him are more inclined to do the bad and even if they do good deeds they will be immediately rewarded. But the final reward is reserved for those of the likeness of Ibrahim.
Now, if we were to do it your way and say this is not the Allah of Quraan, we will be committing a major sin. The Message must be told as it is. Otherwise you will be asked about what you did with it in order to convey it to those who were less fortunate than you and were brought up in error. So I suggest, either you take it seriously or leave it for others.
This is how the early Muslims understood the Message which allowed them to conquer East and West and not as your friend falsely suggested a while ago by having Christian and Jewish employees running the government under Amir almuumineen, which by all measures is a false claim and cannot be supported. The early Muslims understood the gravity of the responsibility and fulfilled their duties to the best of their abilities. At no time did they seek to dilute its essence just to gain favor with an audience.
—————-
Syrian,
Continue to do that. But refrain from citing verses that may not serve your purpose. Otherwise, you would be inviting responses such as mine or even more profound ones.
August 31st, 2012, 6:10 pm
Tara said:
Ya Dear Visitor,
I would sincerely like to explore this thinking more vigorously but again this is not the time. I will again suggest to table the religion discussion until after the revolution succeeds. There is an “allure” to discuss religious taboos ( if you will) with a stranger. You feel at ease and you express opinions bluntly. I am very much interested in taking it a step further but not right now..by the way, thanks for your politeness. “so I suggest you take it seriously or leave it for others”. This appeals to me.
August 31st, 2012, 6:31 pm
zoo said:
The voice of the silent fighting to defend their country
Wounded Syrian soldiers tell their stories
By Sammy Ketz | AFP – 1 hr 40 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/wounded-syrian-soldiers-tell-stories-205405930.html?_esi=1
Conscript Mussa al-Aswad was on a routine army patrol in the Palestinian camp near Daraa, the cradle of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, when he lost his right leg in an ambush.
Lying on his bed in the Tishrin military hospital in Damascus, the 22-year-old originally from the central province of Hama recounts the events of a day he is unlikely to forget.
“I was on patrol with 40 other soldiers in the camp when we were shot at. We managed to get to cover but two of my friends were wounded,” he tells AFP.
“I was able to help get them out, but then when I tried to recover their weapons I was hit in the leg. It must have been some kind of poisoned bullet, because doctors at the hospital had to amputate my leg.”
Aswad’s mother listens sadly as she offers sweets to visitors.
The continuous crump of exploding artillery rounds outside rattles the windows of the hospital which is near Qaboon, a rebel neighbourhood in the north of the capital.
Asked when he thinks the conflict might end, the soldier replies wearily with a question of his own: “Do you not hear that artillery piece firing away without a break?”
…
In the same room as Aswad is Ghalib Mohammed, 23, a member of the security forces who had been shot eight times in the back and left leg.
“We were called in to lend a hand at a police station in Assad al-Ward,” he says, referring to a town 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Damascus near the border with Lebanon.
— ‘I kept on firing’ —
“From the hill in Lebanon, they attacked us with weapons of all calibres. The other members of my group left the fields because they had no more ammunition. I kept on firing and was hit in the back and legs.”
“When this war will end I don’t know, but it will be us or them,” adds Mohammed’s brother who was part of the same group but emerged unscathed.
In another room, Abdullah al-Ali is in a coma.
He cannot tell his own story.
Shrapnel lanced a seven-centimetre (nearly three-inch) hole in his skull when he was stationed at Al-Bab in Aleppo province in the north.
For two months his mother has been looking after him, 550 kilometres (340 miles) away from the family home in Raqa in northeastern Syria.
“Many of these young people will suffer from after-effects and 20 percent will be paralysed for life,” says a Paris-educated neurosurgeon who specialises in head and spinal surgeries.
August 31st, 2012, 6:38 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
277
“NATO mercenary killers will soon meet Allah in paradise”
More bad English from Spammie Annie. The above sentence says the NATO mercenary killers will join God in heaven. Now that is not what Spammie Annie meant to say. But her English is not that good and when she veers off her customary cut-and-paste course, she embarrasses herself.
Ann is proof positive that a little education is worse than none at all.
August 31st, 2012, 6:50 pm
zoo said:
After his dramatic speech in Iran, Morsi appears as the long-waited Arab “Sunni hero against the Shiites”.
For how long?
http://news.yahoo.com/drama-iran-wins-egypt-president-bold-image-200425108.html?_esi=1
…
His speech also points to new images he is cultivating: The tough, fearless leader who speaks with the voice of a people who chose him. For Islamists, he was a Sunni hero against the Shiites.
“He bows in respect for his people, so world leaders bow to him,” proclaimed a photo-montage posted on a Brotherhood-affiliated Facebook page.
In one frame, it shows Morsi bowing his head amid crowds of supporters in Tahrir Square. In the other, it shows Morsi sitting at the Nonaligned Movement summit in Tehran on Thursday, with several dignitaries stooped over him to listen as if bowing and hanging on his every word.
For critics, the gushing support is reminiscent of the unquestioning praise given in state media to his predecessor, ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Moreover, they point out that behind the dramatic gestures, Morsi is so far doing little to bring actual dramatic change in Egypt’s foreign policy. Morsi is being cautious, reluctant to turn sharply against Egypt’s main Mubarak-era allies, Saudi Arabia, the United States and even Israel. That is in part because he is constrained by the realities of the region and by his need for allies as he tries to address Egypt’s domestic woes.
….
August 31st, 2012, 6:52 pm
Tara said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/30/egypt-iran-non-aligned-movement-summit
Egypt underlines Iran’s isolation at Non-Aligned Movement summit
Iran’s leaders clearly hoped this week’s gala summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran would serve as an antidote to the diplomatic isolation imposed on them by the US and Britain. But Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s wonderfully unpredictable new president, making the first visit at this level since the 1979 Iranian revolution, had other ideas.
Morsi’s fierce condemnation of the Syrian regime, Iran’s close ally, was as eloquent as it was piercing, and it came like a bolt from the blue. He didn’t just rain on the Iranians’ parade. It was as if Hurricane Isaac had taken a sharp turn north across the Caspian and unleashed its wrathful furies on an unsuspecting Tehran.
The Syrian delegation walked out. The Iranians did not have that option – they could hardly boycott their own meeting. Instead they were forced to listen as Morsi, a Muslim Brother, an Arab, and lifelong critic of western policy in the Middle East, thumped out an uncompromising speech that could have come straight from Hillary Clinton’s playbook.
“We should all express our full support to the struggle of those who are demanding freedom and justice in Syria and translate our sympathies into a clear political vision that supports peaceful transfer (of power) to a democratic system,” Morsi told the 120-country summit.
..
Morsi’s stand was typically courageous. For many Egyptians their president’s autonomy of thought and deed may be a matter of growing pride. This is the same man, after all, who boldly asserted civilian control over the military after his election victory, summarily dismissing the country’s post-Mubarak leader, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the military’s chief of staff, and the heads of Egypt’s army, navy and air force.
And even as he bearded the Iranian leadership on their own patch, Morsi has made clear that Egypt’s fawning subservience to Washington, evident during the long Mubarak years, is also a thing of the past.
His decision to travel to Iran at all was a signal of his independence. So, too, is his apparent determination to restore Egypt to its historic role as the Middle East’s leading nation, a position coveted by Iran.
Egypt would seek to expand its ties with all fellow Muslim nations, Morsi’s spokesman, Yasser Ali, said. “We need to establish relations with all countries worldwide… We will turn more agile, more active.
“Egypt is a pivotal country, and we want to play the role Egypt deserves to play.”
While the Obama administration will undoubtedly welcome Morsi’s comments on Syria and the implicit rebuke to Tehran, the Egyptian president’s confident assertion of national interests is already causing ripples of unease. Dennis Ross, a Bush-era Middle East envoy, complained that Morsi was trying to gag the press by replacing 50 leading editors and journalists and was ignoring other key democratic “principles” (as defined by Ross).
Ross said: “None of this means that Egypt’s path of change is foreordained. It does mean that the president, who has largely surrounded himself with members of the Muslim Brotherhood or sympathisers, dominates all of Egypt’s institutions of power.” If Morsi stepped too far out of line, the US should consider suspending direct financial assistance and blocking IMF loans, Ross suggested.
Morsi’s intervention will encourage Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states in their active support for the Syrian uprising. It may, in time, foster an increasingly interventionist, united Arab front against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as happened in Libya after the Arab League turned against Muammar Gaddafi. Given the myriad pre-existing tensions between the Sunni Muslim Gulf states and predominantly Shia Muslim Iran, the development of such a front would logically serve to further restrain Tehran’s ambitions.
But regarding an end to the Syrian slaughter and a peaceful transfer of power, Morsi’s contribution in Tehran must be kept in perspective.
In terms of changing facts on the ground, or substantively altering the egregiously negative Syrian dynamic, it may have scant impact.
Morsi’s plan for a contact group comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran was already opposed by the US and others. After his uncompromising Tehran performance, it will go precisely nowhere.
(…)
August 31st, 2012, 6:53 pm
zoo said:
A thorough acknowledgment from the Turkish media about the Syrian rebels chaotic disorganization and the presence of wannabe martyrs among the fighters.
It’s Hillary, Hollande and Davutoglu worst nightmare
Syrian rebels: Too fragmented, unruly
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syrian-rebels-too-fragmented-unruly.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29158&NewsCatID=352
The opposition militants battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are a fragmented rabble that refuses to follow orders, according to activists
There are more than 30 different rebel groups, including the most prominent rebel group, the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA), fighting in Syria, according to officials from the most prominent Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC).
The Jihadists, Islamists, pro-al-Qaida and secular groups that are not under the control of the FSA and which are fighting in different areas of Syria against the Syrian regime forces prove how fragmented and disorganized the Syrian rebel groups were in Syria.
According to the SNC media officer, Ahmad al-Halabi, there are more than 30 opposition groups fighting in Syria – of whom only 15 could be identified by Hürriyet Daily News research. “Fifty armed men come together and they form a rebel group. They generally give their groups names from the Quran or the names the towns and areas they are coming from,” Ahmad al-Halabi told the Daily News.
According to SNC officials, there were between 70,000 and 100,000 rebels fighting against the Syrian regime in Syria. The most prominent rebel group, the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) – who listed its main base as in the southern Turkish city of Hatay on its website – is the best connected with the SNC.
Click here to view a map showing different rebel groups in Syria (PDF).
“Some groups such as the al-Tawhid and al-Fatah brigades consider themselves part of the FSA, however mostly they don’t listen to the orders of the regional leaders of the FSA,” he added.
The Turkey representative of the SNC, Khaled Khoja, also said the rebel groups aside from the FSA in Aleppo generally don’t listen to the orders of the regional FSA leader, Abdulcabbar Agadi.
“We cannot talk about a chain of command amongst these groups,” he added.
SNC Executive Committee member Semir Nashar has just met three different leaders from three different rebel groups fighting in Aleppo where heavy clashes have been going on between the rebels and regime forces for one month.
“Nashar has met one rebel from Jabhat al-Nusra which is al-Qaida in Syria, another one from the al-Fatah Brigade and another one from the al-Tavhid Brigade in an effort to unite them,” another member of the SNC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Daily News.
The SNC member said mainly Chechens, Libyans and a few Afghans were fighting on the fronts in Syria. “Most of them fight in Syria to be martyrs,” he added.
August 31st, 2012, 7:04 pm
zoo said:
An exhaustive map of who and where are the rebels in Syria
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/Documents/F199BC38846F4E72B083A4222B568E7F.pdf
August 31st, 2012, 7:09 pm
Tara said:
Turkish doubts security council will act
Turkey sees little hope of the UN security council agreeing to a safe haven in Syria, the Press Association reports:
“How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?” foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “Let’s not forget that if we do not act against such a crime against humanity happening in front of our eyes, we become accomplices to the crime.”
Mr Davutoglu proposed that the security council establish camps for refugees forced to flee their homes and take “long overdue steps” to help the suffering people. “Apparently, I was wrong about my expectations,” he told the council. “This meeting will not even end with a presidential or press statement, let alone a robust resolution.”
…
Mr Hague said safe zones should remain an option, although he did not say when they might be seriously considered. “We do not know how this crisis will develop … over the coming months. It is steadily getting worse,” he said. “We are ruling nothing out, and we have contingency planning for a wide range of scenarios.”
….
August 31st, 2012, 7:10 pm
zoo said:
Turkish Media: Seven Syrian myths
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/seven-syrian-myths.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29131&NewsCatID=396
KORAY ÇALI?KAN
Syria has been turned into a domestic policy debate. There are such low comments as: “K?l?çdaro?lu is supporting Bashar al-Assad because he is also an Alevi.” There are caricatures drawn, like: “A tiny Alevi minority is exerting genocide on Sunnis.” These inappropriate comments are fed by myths created on Syria. These myths are the following:
1 – Alevis are oppressing the Sunnis: It is true that the Nusayris are powerful political elite in Syria, even though they are a minority. However, the majority of Syria’s political and economic elite are Sunni. Most of the bourgeoisie and the upper middle class are made up of Sunnis supporting the regime. There is also Sunni domination among the middle class. Just to make it clear, it is the product of some people’s imagination to say: “Alevis are oppressing the poor, victimized Sunnis.”
2 – Bashar al-Assad is like Slobodan Milosevic: He is not. This opinion, which is based on an intellectual laziness similar to the leftist tendency to regard every authoritarianism as “fascism,” confuses firing against armed opponents and people with genocide. Bashar al-Assad is a dictator, but he is not a genocide-maker. He is not any worse than Mubarak or George Bush. Actually, Bush caused more deaths.
3 – The Free Syrian Army (FSA) is the only option: It is also a myth that the FSA will bring democracy. You may decide for yourself whether or not to believe that an army with the financial and military support of Saudi Arabia (the biggest enemy of the human rights struggle in the region and in the Middle Eastern revolutions, and which like Israel is an authoritarian theocratic regime), and also with all kinds of acrobatics from the CIA, is going to bring democracy.
4 – Military opposition is the only chance: It is not. It has not been from the beginning. The FSA, which was hastily organized outside Syria, which smeared the revolution with violence intentionally and willfully, and which disregards the unarmed opposition, is actually not even the last chance. It is a problem created at the beginning, whereas it should have been a symptom that emerged as a result. There is a civilian opposition in Syria. There are dozens of groups and opposition organizations who do not distinguish between the outrage of al-Assad and the atrocities of the FSA, maintaining a distance to both. These groups have true democratic reflexes, and believe in civilian will, administration and opposition, and who are afraid that their country will become like Iraq. Three days ago, 20 of these organizations gathered in Damascus and explicitly told the FSA to stop clashes. Take a note of the emphasis.
5 – A buffer zone is a must: Those who shouted: “Our door is open. Run away from al-Assad and come to us,” those who did not let national deputies inside those camps, are now saying: “We cannot manage this crisis anymore; the United Nations should take over.” Before even having tended the wounds of Van, we are flirting with giant mirrors in pursuit of becoming a little United States. We miss that declaring new zones, be it a buffer zone or a no-fly zone, is a similar construction activity that happened to Iraq 10 years ago. Why are people running away from al-Assad? Because that militia named “free” is attacking the al-Assad army. Al-Assad then attacks them, and also, indeed, the people caught in between. The civilians then run away, and so you step in to protect the civilians. Does that sound familiar?
6 – It will not affect the Kurdish issue: After the capture of Öcalan, the most serious shift in the issue, of course, came with the Syrian crisis. Actually, Turkey became Syria’s domestic problem. Young Kurds are now distancing themselves from the logical solution that could be summarized thus: “We want education in our mother tongue and we should be able to call Diyarbakýr ‘Amed.’” Time is running out. The state is losing the Osman Baydemir generation with each passing day. On the one hand, it says it is against the independence of Kurds, while on the other hand it serves the de facto formation of a Kurdish state with every step it takes. Then it hopes that “Barzani will manage our Kurdish issue.”
7 – Our Syrian policy is good: I wonder if there is need for an explanation of this. Some things are definitely not going right. If we cannot do anything at a time when the country we have the longest border with, Syria, is being dragged into chaos with an undetermined end, like Iraq, we at least need to revise our 2023 dreams.
August 31st, 2012, 7:27 pm
Richard said:
190. Ghufran said:
” if tear shedders were sincere they would do something to stop the violence instead of taking videos of dead bodies and celebrating the death of “other” Syrians, that goes for everybody,and that means everybody,we are sick of this bloody dance,it is time to live and let live.”
Live and let live. These are truly Orwellian words, they imply a sort of liberal and tolerant society. Will that be the outcome for if Assad retains power? Was Syria a “live and let live” society before the peaceful protests erupted?
For some people, being able to live is not always the top propriety. A life of oppression is not worth living. The purpose of a revolution is to sacrifice dearly so that the next generation might live with freedom and dignity.
August 31st, 2012, 7:50 pm
Richard said:
118. Ghufran said:
“Dizzying, Richard echoes a common belief that one party has to win to end the stalemate, I stated that before but do you really think that the rebels with their current composition and reliance on the GCC and Turkey can be trusted ? I think not.
A victory by the rebels in the absence of a political deal and international guarantees will be a disaster for Syria, it can lead to a prolonged civil war and a defacto partition of Syria, the mentality of ” the winner takes all” never worked in the Middle East.”
I agree with your latter guarantees statement. But Assad will not accept a transition deal until he realizes he cannot hang-on to power using force. BTW, a resolution that favors the rebellion need not be “winner take all.”
I think everyone is fearful of an outcome with mass retribution killings.
This article from JL blog lays-out why international pressure is not going to do the job:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/middle-east-north-africa/egypt-syria-lebanon/syria/128-syrias-mutating-conflict.aspx
Nearly all civil wars end with one party holding upper hand. Lebanon was important exception, but that 12-year bloody stalemate has nothing to recommend it. 2005-2006 Iraq Civil War ended only after the Shitte largely ethnically cleansed Baghdad, and the Sunni realized they were beat. Civil wars are indeed the worst.
August 31st, 2012, 7:53 pm
Syrian said:
????? “????” ? “????” ??? ??????? ?? ???
http://www.aksalser.com/?page=view_articles&id=345274b86e07df9eddaf9c2c904e279d&ar=758779429
??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??????
?? ??? ?????? 20/8/2012.
August 31st, 2012, 8:01 pm
Visitor said:
FSA is growing stronger day by day. After overruning Al-Boukamal and eliminating the commander of air defense phalange, FSA captures Kobra missile batteries,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K112_Kobra
FSA also attacked the Koubrees airbase in Aleppo and destroyed three warplanes that otherwise would have been used by thugs in killing Syrians. Another applause for the FSA in its success once more in protecting the Syrian people from thugs.
Thugs also continued their rampage of crime. This time however, their criminal shells landed in Jordanian towns.
Overall it was a very good Friday for FSA and the Syrian people which brought them one step closer to eliminating the criminal thugs occupying Damascus.
August 31st, 2012, 8:02 pm
Ghufran said:
A reality check, this time is from top US soldier:
Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff General Martin Dempsey stressed while on a trip to London that direct military action in Syria, even simply no-fly zones, might be beyond the US and NATO’s capabilities and counter to their interests.
Dempsey explained it wouldn’t be that easy. He said frequent comparison of the Syrian situation with that in Libya, where a “no-fly zone” was imposed following a United Nations resolution, is at best a source of “amusement.”
General Dempsey warned that possible safe zones for refugees were not being considered for inside Syria, cautioning that imposing them could open the path to a breakout of war.
As far as forcibly ousting the Assad regime, Dempsey said, such a move would be far too destabilizing. He said a failed state in Syria would be the worst-case scenario and warned against allowing armed extreme jihadists and rebels with ties to al-Qaeda to increase their influence and expand control in a post-Assad Syria.
Comment: Atwan of Al-Quds alarabi said,and I agree, that the current situation is ideal for Israel and the anti Iran camp: no winners but a gradual and steady destruction of Syria’s army,people and infrastructure.the Neocons used direct military intervention in Iraq and that led to the strengthening of Iran and the loss of more than $ 2 trillions in treasury, more than 4,000 dead US soldiers. Instead,the Israeli lobby prefers a cheaper strategy: let Syrians kill each other and let Qatar and KSA finance the war ,not US tax payers.
Those of you who can not see this are dumb,and no doctor can fix stupid.
August 31st, 2012, 8:06 pm
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
18. Hamameh said:
ANN
I keep losing family while you celebrate their death, can you get any lower than you are?
No telling, with this character, it is a bottomless pit.
August 31st, 2012, 8:10 pm
Ghufran said:
I love it when the French act surprised:
As Syrian Conflict Rages, France Examines Potential Terror Risks
French security officials reveal to TIME evidence of aspiring militants leaving France for Syria to join Islamists battling the Assad regime — and warn this conflict risks joining Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen as a training ground for future terrorists.
By BRUCE CRUMLEY | August 31, 2012 |
Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/08/31/as-syrian-conflict-rages-france-examines-potential-terror-risks/#ixzz25AkUTF00
August 31st, 2012, 8:16 pm
Richard said:
292. Ghufran said:
“Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff General Martin Dempsey stressed while on a trip to London that direct military action in Syria, even simply no-fly zones, might be beyond the US and NATO’s capabilities and counter to their interests.”
Possibly so, the interest being stability of Jordan, Iraq, etc.
Assad has cards to play.
“Comment: Atwan of Al-Quds alarabi said,and I agree, that the current situation is ideal for Israel and the anti Iran camp: no winners but a gradual and steady destruction of Syria’s army,people and infrastructure.”
It is overblown to call the situation “ideal” for the anti-Iran camp, but it is acceptable.
This war is about Syria, and fought mostly by Syrians. The regime and your position that the struggle is about foreign adventurers is made by EVERY oppressive dictatorship threatend by popular revolt. It was made to justify Tiananmen Square massacre, Ghadaffi’s crackdown, and the Mullah’s of Iran’s brutal supression of the Green Revolution.
I defy you to show me a brutal crackdown anywhere, anytime that wasn’t justified with the “outside agitator” canard.
August 31st, 2012, 8:27 pm
Ghufran said:
The video posted in # 290 is very painful, I hope those who are responsible for kiiling civilians are brought to justice, armed rebels are serving as magnets for those ruthless attacks, the destruction in Syrian cities and the loss of civilians lives can not be discussed without explaining why the rebels chose to occupy towns and hide in civilian areas when their leaders and financiers knew very well that regime fighters will return fires regardless of how gets killed, those who sent the rebels to Aleppo also knew that the rebels can only attack the army but will not be able to protect the civilians.
The original slogan of the FSA ” protecting civilians” is for the birds, some of you believed it, others are still believing it, no doc can fix stupid.
Syrian lives today are not worth much for the regime or the rebels, time for Syrians to wake up and stop this insanity.
August 31st, 2012, 8:33 pm
Ghufran said:
Richard,
You do not have to defy me, your sentiment reminds me of many of mybsyrian friends.
Oppressive regimes used,and continue to use, conspiracy theories to justify oppression, in Syria’s case, foreign intervention is alive and well,it is not a theory, the regime is directly responsible for this mess,but the rescue will not come from the Goats Emirates.
August 31st, 2012, 8:37 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
289
“A life of oppression is not worth living.”
Sure it is. Your fathers and grandfathers lived under Assad oppression and got along fine. A lot of them even helped the Assads oppress other not-so-lucky Syrians.
In fact, there are billions of people living under oppressive governments. Only in Tibet are they killing themselves. Everywhere else, even in Iran, they hunker down and live lives of quiet desperation.
This, too, will pass. After Bashar and Asma and the little brats are dead, we’ll all have a drink and laugh about it and then go about our lives as before.
August 31st, 2012, 8:42 pm
Visitor said:
For many years, Lebanese demanded a Syrian ambassador in Beirut. Now that they have one, they have second thoughts about him and they don’t want him anymore,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Sep-01/186325-psp-joins-campaign-to-expel-syrian-envoy.ashx#axzz25Aqx5v1i
August 31st, 2012, 8:43 pm
Visitor said:
This one is for our SNP rep. here on this blog. His comrades are facing tough times in Beirut. Misery loves company, it seems,
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/51873-ssnp-hands-over-2-suspects-in-assault-on-policeman
What do you think? Just like the old days when the Zaim was executed on a moonless night?
Anti-gravity gizmos are the solution. Go for it man!!
August 31st, 2012, 8:51 pm
Visitor said:
Yesterday it was the Druze. Today, it is the Syriacs.
The Syrian people are uniting against tyranny, thuggocracy and nazism.
????? ???? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ?? ?????
???? ??? “??????? ???????? ???????” ??”NOW”: ?????? ?????? ???? ?????
????? ????? ?????? 31 ?? 20
??? ???? ??? “??????? ???????? ???????” ??????? ???? ?? ???????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ????????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ??? ????????? ??????.
???? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? “?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ???????” ???? ????? ????? ???????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? (??????) ?? ???????.
????? ??? ???? ??? ???? “NOW”? ??? ?? “??? ????? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????????? ?? ????? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ??????? ??????”. ???? ??? ?? “?????? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???????? ??? ???????? ??????? ????????? ????? ???????? ???????”.
????? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????. ?????? ?? “???? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ??? ??????? ???????? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ????????”. ????? ??? ?? “??????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ???? ????????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???????”.
“?????? ??????? ???? “??????? ???????? ??????”
??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ????? “NOW” ?? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ????? ?? “?????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ??????”? ?????? ??? ?? “????????? ???????? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ????????? ??? ?????? ????? ???”.
???? ???? ?? ?????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ??????? ???? ????????? ???????? ???? ???? ??????? ??????”.
?????? ????????? ????????
??? ????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ??? ????: “???? ?????? ?????? ??????????? ?? ?? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ????? ?????????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????”. ?????: “???? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ?? ??? ???????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ??????? ???? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????”.
August 31st, 2012, 8:58 pm
Tara said:
I like Sieda. He sounds a very reasonable guy.
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-opposition-expand-improve-organization-leader-says-164114801.html
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Syria’s main opposition body will expand to include more groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad, part of a reorganization aimed at making it more representative and effective, its leader said on Friday.
Abdulbaset Sieda, leader of the Syrian National Council, said changes would include elections for his successor, to be held among a wider group of activists.
He was responding to criticism from prominent member Basma Kodmani, who quit on Tuesday saying the SNC was divided internally and not up to the challenge of uniting opposition to Assad.
“Sometimes things don’t work as one wants, but we are trying via a restructuring of the SNC to improve the situation,” Sieda told Reuters in an interview during a meeting of the leadership of the SNC in Stockholm.
“It will be bigger and the number of groups will rise … It will be more representative,” he said.
Western and Arab countries that have called for Assad’s removal are keen to improve cooperation among those trying to dislodge him, including the Istanbul-based SNC.
The mainly-exiled political groups within the SNC have sometimes been at odds with each other, and have not always agreed with rebel fighters operating within Syria, such as the Free Syrian Army, led by defected military officers.
Sieda, who will soon travel to Madrid for talks with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo and then to Berlin for a conference, said the SNC would select its next leader through a vote of its full general assembly, rather than appointment by the members of its smaller general secretariat.
“We are not passive, we work all the time. The problem is that you cannot manage to do everything,” said Sieda, a mild-mannered professor of Kurdish-Syrian origin who has lived in Sweden for the last 18 years.
“We have dialogue with various groups on the ground, with the military, with youth groups, with other groups in the opposition,” added Sieda, who has led the SNC for three months and will not be seek to extend his mandate.
Sieda said the SNC favors a secular, democratic Syria which respects minority rights and where power is given to local authorities, away from the centre in Damascus.
That goal would be achieved by setting up a transitional government in which the SNC would play a role, he added.
Sieda predicted Assad would fall within a few months and said the Syrian leader should eventually face prosecution for crimes against humanity, either in Syria or The Hague.
August 31st, 2012, 9:04 pm
Richard said:
297. Johannes de Silentio said:
” ‘A life of oppression is not worth living.’
Sure it is. Your fathers and grandfathers lived under Assad oppression and got along fine. A lot of them even helped the Assads oppress other not-so-lucky Syrians.”
You make a very fair point. I’m sure there are a lot of people in Syria who are happy with status quo.
I am a liberal American. In our celebrated American Revolution, about a third of the population were loyal to Britian, a third wanted independence, a third were neutral. The winners of wars get to write history.
August 31st, 2012, 9:21 pm
zoo said:
The complete post has been held on the spam queue. I think I know why.
Now I am just posting the title and the link
Seven Syrian myths
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/seven-syrian-myths.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29131&NewsCatID=396
August 31st, 2012, 9:29 pm
Ghufran said:
????? ????? ????? ????? ??????? ??????? 4 ?? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ? ????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ??? ????????.
? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ??????? ????????? (??? ???) ????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ??????? ) ? ???? ???? ???????? ? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ? ??? ???? ???? ???????
? ??? ???? ” ???????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ????? ????????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ,?? ??????? ??? ????? ???????”.
August 31st, 2012, 9:29 pm
Richard said:
301. Tara said:
“I like Sieda. He sounds a very reasonable guy.”
I hope this a wise man. What matters is who he is able to co-opt, not what he says. They all talk a good game.
In my opinion, the least bloody path to a resolution starts with the rebellion forming a credible provisional government. I don’t know if a negotiated solution is possible, but it certainly won’t happen with a fragmented rebellion.
August 31st, 2012, 9:34 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
302
“The winners of wars get to write history.”
Not true. Example – Syria has lost at least three wars with Israel…er…forgive me…the Zionist State…and we know every detail of the Syrian losses.
August 31st, 2012, 9:35 pm
zoo said:
‘A life of oppression is not worth living.’
A lot of people in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are not about commit suicide to my knowledge…
August 31st, 2012, 9:41 pm
syrian said:
Gofran 292 said:
“Those of you who can not see this are dumb,and no doctor can fix stupid.”
It is obvious that the whole world want Syria weaker, but not because they are or were ever afraid of Bashar, but because they are afraid of the Syrian people, who are the real threat to them, who have shown them a heroic stand against this tyrant that will go in history books as an example of heroism and bravery,
the west don’t have to look ahead very far and they always do,to see the real threat to them, It is not Rami Makhlof but a lone young guy with an RPG destroying a tank like it was nothing on his own,
Now after the rebels have come so far, they will not go back. they don’t have to look very far back to see what a lost will cost them
This time around most likely their punishment will go all the way to their relatives of the 10 degree, as oppose to the 4Th degree last time, A country in total ruin and no income, and isolated we all know how the government will make them pay
At any case I don’t think both sides can stop now even if they want to , there is no trust from either side
It was Bashar who unleashed the dogs of war , all we can do is watch and help the best we can, and let the chips fall where they may
August 31st, 2012, 9:45 pm
zoo said:
If Bashar al Assad is criticized to have done ‘no reforms’ in 11 years, one wonders what has Obama done in 4 years? It does not look like he will do more if he is given 8 years and the USA is not at war and is a ‘democracy’.
With growing unemployment, bankruptcies and unfulfilled promises, it is time Obama moves aside or be toppled.
Maybe Hollande should move out too.
Hollande’s 100-Day Popularity Is Lowest for a French President
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-29/hollande-s-100-day-popularity-is-lowest-for-a-french-president
Socialist French President Francois Hollande, elected in May, became the country’s most unpopular leader at just over 100 days into the job, a poll showed.
August 31st, 2012, 9:51 pm
Richard said:
307. zoo said:
“‘A life of oppression is not worth living.’
A lot of people in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are not about commit suicide to my knowledge…”
A lot of Bahrainis have died fighting for their freedom. I expect there will be more revolts there.
Violence is not inevitable. Morocco seems to be evolving without violence. Little violence in Tunisia. Egypt dodged a civil war, even if that process is early and tenuous. Maybe Jordan can reform peacefully.
August 31st, 2012, 9:54 pm
Richard said:
306. Johannes de Silentio
You are a funny guy. I am sometimes puzzled by your posts, not sure when you are being sarcastic.
August 31st, 2012, 10:01 pm
zoo said:
#310 Richard
Morocco has not started yet. Tunisia just renewed the emergency law for the 7th time and Libya is struggling with its demons. Violence is not totally excluded.
Are you intentionally skipping the most repressive of all: Saudi Arabia?
August 31st, 2012, 10:03 pm
zoo said:
A Syria Task Force of the Socialist International countries?
XXIV Congress of the Socialist International, Cape Town
For a new internationalism and a new culture of solidarity
30 August-01 September 2012
The Socialist International is the worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties. It currently brings together 161 political parties and organisations from all continents. (List of members in full)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/main-opposition-chp-eyes-greater-intl-role.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29128&NewsCatID=338
The second day of the Socialist International 24th congress was opened by the South African president, whose party hosts the event.
…
CHP’s deputy chair Umut Oran revealed the CHP’s proposal for a Syria task force on the second day of the SI congress. Admitting that people in the Middle East demanded more rights and democracy in their country, Oran said that a transition process should go in the direction of the will of the people.
“We can not be a part of a transition process which changes one dictator for another, an oppressive regime for another regime of oppression,” Oran said.
Oran stressed that Syrian conflict is getting worse. “We can form a ‘Syria Task Force of the SI,’ which will go to Washington, Brussels, Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to affect and learn their sensitivities about the future of Syria,” Oran said, adding that the commission would visit Syria and contact all the sides of the conflict while empowering peace efforts in coordination with the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League.
“With this task force we can understand the situation from the field and empower the efforts that will lead to a peaceful resolution to the problem. As the main social democratic force in the world, I think it is our duty to help the people of Syria gain a brighter future with all the power that we have. […] Now in this historic time, we have to fulfill our duty and be side by side with the Syrian people, protect their lives and support their dreams,” he said.
August 31st, 2012, 10:15 pm
jna said:
Morsi’s remarks regarding Syria at NAM summit in Iran:
http://www.mfa.gov.eg/English/Minister/Statements/Pages/StatementDetails.aspx?Source=6781921f-3993-444a-859e-ee26ce851de8&newsID=c87a3a5d-41c8-4148-80a0-8af5809b0454
I find these remarks a fair basis for moving forward in Syria.
August 31st, 2012, 10:54 pm
Ghufran said:
?????..
???? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ???????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ???? ???? ????????.
????? ?????? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ??????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ??? .. ?? ????????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??? ??? ??????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ???????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ????? ??? ???????? ???? ???????? ??? ?????? ?? ?????.
?? ???????? ???????? ??? ?????? ???????
???? ???????? ???????? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ????? ?? “???? ??????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ????? ???????? ??? ???? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ???? ???????”? ????? ?? “???????? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ???????? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ??????”.
??? ???? ???????? ??? “??? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ??????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????”? ???? ??????.
????? ???????? “???? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ???????”.
????? ???????? ????? “???? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????????? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ?????”? ??? ???? ???? ??? “???? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??????????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??????”.
????? ??????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ??????.
?????? ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ???? “????? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ???????? ??????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ?? ?????”.
?????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????????? ????? ?? “????? ???? ?? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ???????? ???????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ????????? ???? ?????? ?????”.
There is no shortage of plans, but there is no will to give diplomacy a chance. Mistrust, bloodshed,hatred and on top of that foreign fighters and dishonest players.
August 31st, 2012, 11:35 pm
Ghufran said:
This is what the rebels ” think tanks” had to say in response to criticism about their use of civilian areas, if I did not know better I could have guessed that they were responding to materials posted here on SC:
?? ?????? ????? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ????????? ??? ????? ????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ????. ??? ????? ????? ????????? ???????? ??????? ?????????? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ????? ????????? ????????? ?? ????? ?????? ????????? ???????? ????????? ?? ??????. ??? ????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ???????? ????? ???????? ???? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ????????? ????????? ??????????? ?????????? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ??????? ??????????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ????????: ????? ?????? ??? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ???????
??? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ?????????? ?? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ???? ??????? ??? ???????. ?? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ??????. ?? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ???? ????????: ????? ????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?????????? ???? ????? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ????????? ????????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ???????. ???? ?????? ?????? -??? ????- ???? ?? ???????? ??? ???? ????????? ?? ????? ???????
So, our dear people of Syria, the rebels have good news for you,you will die anyway , either from shelling by the regime or from executions if the rebels leave, the concerned rebels want you to die from shelling !!
September 1st, 2012, 12:02 am
zoo said:
#JNA
Fair basis?
Who is Morsi to decide that the regime has lost his legitimacy?
Does he know how many countries have broken diplomatic relation with Syria?
Who are the “relevant parties” that would represent the Syrians?
It is generally admitted that a large portion of the Syrians continue to consider the Syrian government and Bashar Al Assad as legitimate.
Who will represent these Syrians?
Unfortunately for his first foreign speech, Morsi has just parroted Erdogan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and the UK declarations. As he badly needs to please them to get some legitimacy and money, it is pathetic but understandable.
Yet he made one serious mistake that reveals that he is dishonest when he calls for the rights of the Syrians: He ignored the rights of the Bahrainis.
That’s the clear proof that his whole speech was a display of his submission to his masters : Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the USA that he did not want to displease.
By avoiding Bahrain, he has uncovered his cheap game and has lost any credibility as an impartial player.
Calling for a contact group of foreign countries after dismissing the Syrian government shows that he is not serious at all in intervening in this conflict.
That contact group is already dead and Morsi is in the process of becoming the new US-GCC puppet.
September 1st, 2012, 12:02 am
ann said:
Non-Aligned Movement Unanimously Backs Iran’s Civilian Nuclear Program – by Jason Ditz, August 31, 2012
Despite Disputes Over Syria Egypt Also Endorses Nuclear Energy
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/31/non-aligned-movement-unanimously-backs-irans-civilian-nuclear-program/
The 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has unanimously endorsed Iran’s civilian nuclear energy program, saying Iran has not only the right to produce energy through nuclear fission, but has a right to enrich their own uranium to do so.
This statement, part of the “Tehran Declaration,” stands in sharp contrast to Western positions on the matter, which have regularly claimed Iran was violating international norms by enriching their own uranium for civilian purposes.
Notably even Egypt signed on to the declaration, despite a very public row yesterday at the summit during which President Mursi condemned Syria and sparked a walkout. The declaration did not mention Syria.
The NAM endorsement is particularly important as its membership amounts of about 2/3 of the nations on the planet, a strong voting majority in the UN General Assembly. This would make it extremely difficult for the Obama Administration to push to punish Iran for its program through the general assembly.
[…]
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/31/non-aligned-movement-unanimously-backs-irans-civilian-nuclear-program/
September 1st, 2012, 12:13 am
zoo said:
#318 Ann
Here goes Iran ‘isolation’… 2/3 of the world countries express their opinion in favor of Iran.
Finally the NAM was a real success for Iran despite the hickup speech of Mr Morsi.
September 1st, 2012, 12:20 am
Ghufran said:
??? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? : ?? “??????? ?? ???????? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????” ?????? ????? ??????? “????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ???????”
September 1st, 2012, 12:26 am
Syria said:
Fouad Ajami
Obama has only now chosen to speak out on Syria and to draw a line that the dictator in Damascus never intended to cross.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/obamas-cruel-reaction-to-the-massacres-in-syria-651243/
September 1st, 2012, 12:26 am
Syrian Natonalist Party said:
??? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? : ?? “??????? ?? ???????? ?????? ???????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ?????” ?????? ????? ??????? “????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ???????
________________________________________________________________
There is no such a thing as valuable, important, clean / honest pilars of Assad Baathist regime. If someone is a pilar, he is an Alawi, corrupt to the bone, Riffat like. By nature, a Baathist is a dishonest and corrupt person.
September 1st, 2012, 12:37 am
ann said:
UN Security Council Seen Split on Syria ‘Safe Zones’ – by Jason Ditz, August 31, 2012
Most Nations Didn’t Even Attend Discussion
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/31/un-security-council-seen-split-on-syria-safe-zones/
The UN Security Council remains deeply divided over Syria, and in particular the proposal yesterday from Turkish officials to create a “safe zone” for refugees inside Syria to escape the civil war without fleeing the nation outright.
The meeting for the UN Security Council to discuss the proposal itself was sparsely attended, with only 5 of 15 members even sending ministers to the meeting and two, France and Britain, using the meeting to push for war.
Russia and China are both extremely skeptical of any plan for UN action inside Syria, fearing that as with the Libya “no-fly zone” resolution NATO will use it as an excuse for a full-scale war of regime change.
And indeed, even the idea of a “humanitarian zone” is deeply politicized, as the US has openly talked about using such a zone inside Syria as a base of operation for the rebel factions,
[…]
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/31/un-security-council-seen-split-on-syria-safe-zones/
September 1st, 2012, 12:41 am
ann said:
NATO’s Allahu akbar terrorist brigades learning how to shoot 😀
Syria – FSA rebel blows himself up while trying to fire an anti tank gun – Aug-31-2012
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fce_1346448180
September 1st, 2012, 1:00 am
ann said:
Who Will Govern Syrian Kurdistan? – Analysis – September 1, 2012
http://www.eurasiareview.com/01092012-who-will-govern-syrian-kurdistan-analysis/
Last month, as the Free Syrian Army took over areas of the Syrian-Turkish border, a power vacuum emerged in northeastern Syria. It was not the Free Syrian Army that filled the vacuum, but instead the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the most heavily armed Kurdish faction in Syria. In early August, the Wall Street Journal reported that “Kurdish political parties and paramilitary groups have almost completely usurped the Syrian state apparatus,” taking over municipal buildings and vital infrastructure, providing security, and controlling the distribution of resources.
Although the prospects for an independent state in Syrian Kurdistan remain dim, unprecedented Kurdish autonomy will likely result from the conflict. The implications extend beyond Syria’s borders as various governments and non-state actors have strong, and often conflicting, interests in the political fate of Syria’s Kurds and the territorial integrity of the Syrian state.
Turkey, Iraq, and Iran are alarmed by the prospects for greater Kurdish autonomy in Syria, primarily due to unresolved tensions with their own Kurdish communities. On the other hand, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, the state of Israel, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey welcome a semi-autonomous Kurdish state in Syria.
[…]
http://www.eurasiareview.com/01092012-who-will-govern-syrian-kurdistan-analysis/
September 1st, 2012, 1:18 am
Halabi said:
FSA fighters: please gather into a clear formation in the desert somewhere and have a final showdown with Assad’s army. That will protect civilians.
Of course the people you left behind who supported you will be slaughtered, but they would have been shelled anyways.
Peaceful protesters: please stop protesting because it makes the Shabi7a unsettled and they will come and kill you, then the FSA will need to protect you and then the army has to shell your homes.
Just surrender, everything will be ok. So the prisons are filled with the innocent while the killers roam free. WOMEN CAN’T DRIVE IN SAUDI. The Assad regime will give amnesty to the terrorist Michel Kilo, what more could you want. NATO, ISRAEL, ISLAM, SUNNI, 3AR3OUR.
Assad regime: please stop killing people on the streets and do it in the dungeons as we agreed in the past. Those who support you or oppose your opponents have become indistinguishable from the murderers in your army and security forces, which makes us look bad. Our colleagues and friends in the West, where we must live because Assad’s Syria is so hellish, can’t understand why we support this regime, so we tell them that all those opposing dictatorship are Al Qaeda terrorists. But that isn’t working and we are being exposed as genocide enthusiasts.
September 1st, 2012, 1:20 am
Juergen said:
The suffering grasses,
a great movie about the syrian revolution
http://www.culturesofresistance.org/suffering-grasses
September 1st, 2012, 1:31 am
Juergen said:
The Arabs doing a crosswordpuzzle. A arab state in which a genocide is taking place which starts with an s- The suggestions Switzerland, Stockholm, Salvador, Sao Paulo…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=424370030933518&set=a.318593564844499.68340.197781713592352&type=1&theater
September 1st, 2012, 1:52 am
Juergen said:
Robert Fisk: Another week in the violent, murderous and divided world of Syria
Christians and Armenians among latest to die
A week is a long time in violence. It seems only yesterday – five days ago, in fact – that armed men shot Sheikh Abu Haitham al-Bortawi outside the el-Noor mosque in the Rukenadin suburb of Damascus. Went to the scene. Middle class area. Tree shaded, clean street. Ten in the morning. Turns out he was the cleric who knelt right next to Bashar al-Assad for the Eid prayers at the end of Ramadan. A dagger to the heart of the body politick.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-another-week-in-the-violent-murderous-and-divided-world-of-syria-8099884.html
September 1st, 2012, 2:19 am
Syrialover said:
ZOO #309, you need to do an enormous amount of catch-up reading and thinking instead of making shallow uninformed comments about American domestic affairs.
To quote you: “If Bashar al Assad is criticized to have done ‘no reforms’ in 11 years, what has Obama done in 4 years? It does not look like he will do more if he is given 8 years … it is time Obama moves aside or be toppled.”
Plus the comparison with Assad is mega-ridiculous.
You should be investing your time in more training, instead of trying to box far above your weight, staggering in circles and toppling over backwards.
More reading and less public writing. Including reading more deeply and seriously about your beloved Iran, and the Assad regime and Syria in general. Everything. And less cut-pasting too.
September 1st, 2012, 2:40 am
Juergen said:
Bosnians Who Fled Syria Describe a Hellish War
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina August 30, 2012 (AP)
A Bosnian woman who fled Syria says the war in the Arab country is worse than the fighting in her homeland 20 years ago.
A group of 35 Bosnians landed at the Sarajevo airport Thursday, flying in from Istanbul after what they described as an eight-day walk across mountains from the Syrian town of Aleppo to Turkey.
Mideast Syria.JPEG
AP
Syrian women, who fled their homes in Aleppo,… View Full Caption
Mahmud Abas, his wife Dzenana, and their four children cried as they hugged relatives upon arrival.
They said they were trapped in their Aleppo home for days as Syrian planes bombed the neighborhood.
Dzenana Abas, 33, survived the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo. But she said what she endured in Aleppo was “beyond belief.”
Around 1,000 Bosnians, mostly women married to Syrians, remain trapped in Syria, where rebels are battling President Bashar Assad’s regime.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bosnians-fled-syria-describe-hellish-war-17114776#.UEGwOCLjo0-
September 1st, 2012, 2:53 am
Visitor said:
329 SyriaLover,
What you should be saying to the stupid argument he’s presenting is this:
Whether Obama made reforms or not is irrelevant. Obama was voted in by the people and he may be voted in or out next time.
Bashar thug was never voted in and he is not planning on being voted out.
So the real reforms begin when the thug steps down.
Now, if he comes back to you with the mantra of the promise of reform, then we all know that Bashar thug is past the point of having any good will left since he chose the killing rampage. On the other hand, we all know that he chose this path because he knows he is part of a system that is not reformable.
So there is only one solution. The fight must continue to exterminate this evil thug. Nazism was not defeated through reforms. It had to be defeated unconditionally.
September 1st, 2012, 3:06 am
Richard said:
312. zoo said:
“Morocco has not started yet. Tunisia just renewed the emergency law for the 7th time and Libya is struggling with its demons. Violence is not totally excluded.”
You are far too pessimistic on all three cases. I am too tired to build cases. Throw in Egypt to that list of the evolving. Do you really believe that any transition from an authoritarian regime will be quick or painless or certain? All these states are demonstrably in a better place than they were 5 years ago. They all have young populations that are wanting change. Turkey took about 40 years to get to where they are now.
“Are you intentionally skipping the most repressive of all: Saudi Arabia?”
Yes. I don’t know what to say or think about that place.
September 1st, 2012, 3:21 am
annie said:
Respect to these defiant, heroic women, more powerful than Bashar’s bombs and thugs. They will defeat them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdRe3aROx48&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Please 283. Johannes de Silentio
There is Ann and there is Annie, I am not Ann.
September 1st, 2012, 3:41 am
Mina said:
332 Richard “All these states are demonstrably in a better place than they were 5 years ago.”
Libya was the richest nation on the African continent; Egyptians had a little more drinkable water than now and far less violence; Tunisia did not have tourists attacked on a daily basis. Go and visit these three “miracles” when you have a chance: you’ll have a lot to tell us. Or maybe I should wait for the demonstration.
September 1st, 2012, 3:54 am
Visitor said:
333 Annie,
The woman in that video made the best case against Mursi’s visit to Tehran.
Putting good speeches aside, the question she asked is the most obvious that Mursi and everyone should have asked. Why does he allow Iranian ships through the Suez when he knows full well they are going to be used to kill and terrorize Syrians such as her?
No one brought that up yet except this woman.
Mursi would say there are international treaties. But this is bulls*t. Iran is committing an act of war against the Arab people of Syria using the Canal. Mursi can easily prohibit their passage based on that. Instead he just grazed his way to Iran just like a sheep.
September 1st, 2012, 4:00 am
Juergen said:
here we see how much truth and quality journalism is at home in Iran.
When Mursi spoke they changed his words in the farsi translation
Mursi: „The Palestininans and the Syrians fight for their freedom.“
The translator of the iranian tv: „ the palestinians and the people of Bahrain are fighting for their freedom.“
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=488168034545683&set=a.201716413190848.57037.201686009860555&type=1&theater
September 1st, 2012, 4:00 am
Uzair8 said:
239. Johannes de Silentio
‘Morsi..zionist…Brooks…Sumner..’
You’ve got it wrong. LOL.
Just pointing out the ridiculous response to the Morsi speech.
Who’d have thought the Shabeeha get their inspiration from way back?
283. Johannes de Silentio said:
“NATO mercenary killers will soon meet Allah in paradise”
What do you expect from the Persian* (mis)translation service?
* Or equivalent.
September 1st, 2012, 5:04 am
Syrian said:
309. ZOO said:
“If Bashar al Assad is criticized to have done ‘no reforms’ in 11 years, one wonders what has Obama done in 4 years? ”
Yeah, because 4 years is a lot more time than 11 years
And 2+2=5
September 1st, 2012, 5:45 am
Mina said:
How the media format Richard and others:
an exemple from today’s Le Monde, reporting on the lynching of a Palestinian youth… two weeks ago.
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2012/08/31/israel-secoue-par-le-lynchage-d-un-palestinien-a-jerusalem_1752696_3218.html
Notice the title “Israel is shaken up by the case of the lynching”… but the guy who died was not shaken up?
September 1st, 2012, 5:55 am
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
Mina 339,
No one died in this “lynching”. The Arab guy that got beaten, was released from hospital 5 days after the incident took place.
.
September 1st, 2012, 8:33 am
Tara said:
Now that the Iranian press is proven utterly unreliable after blatantly mistranslated Morsi’s speech, would the regime supporters continue to link articles from Iranian sources? I bet they would…Do integrity matter to them? I certain hope that it matters to some… We’ll wait and see.
This was not quoting an activist or a source that is impossible to verify. This was an active distortion of the truth.
September 1st, 2012, 9:15 am
Tara said:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/31/toronto-film-festival-syrian-film-maker
Toronto film festival concerned over arrest of Syria film-maker
Friday 31 August 2012 11.59 EDT
“We are extremely concerned by his arrest – film-makers must be allowed to express themselves without fear of reprisal,” the statement read. “Nyrabia belongs to the emerging generation of Syrian film-makers passionate about world cinema and passionate about freedom.”
The director, who trained in film production at Paris’s Sorbonne, has produced a number of documentaries in Syria, notably for the Franco-German television channel Arte, and served on the juries of several other documentary film festivals.
He and his wife formed the first independent production company in Syria, a country where films are mostly produced with backing from the authorities. Earlier this year they received a prize from the European Documentary Network for their huge contribution to the development of the form. It came with financial support to help DoxBox maintain its independence.
,,,
September 1st, 2012, 9:35 am
Ghufrsn said:
???? ??????? ?????? ?? ????? “???????” ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? “????? ???????” ???????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ??????.
???? ???? “??? ????” ?? ?????? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ????? ????? “????? ?? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ??????”.
???? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ????? ???? ???????? ?????? ?? ??????? “??? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ??? ?? ???? ???????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ????????”.
September 1st, 2012, 9:35 am
zoo said:
#332 Richard
Lebanon’s civil war is 26 years old and Lebanon is far from having recovered, it is even worse. Other countries in the Balkans are also unstable. It took decades for the US to recover from the civil war.
Countries that go through a civil war do not heal easily, while a gradual change from an oppressive military regime like Turkey to a democratic system has better chance to succeed.
This is why a civil war should be avoided at any cost, even if the statu quo must be restored until the next attempt offer better chances of success.
Obviously Syria was not ripe for a revolution like Tunisia and Egypt were. Despite the demonization campaign it is clear that the Syrian regime was not corrupted and repressive enough to trigger massive support for a regime change. The proof is that the regime is holding well and still has a large number of supporters.
Therefore it seems that the Syrian uprising was forced onto the Syrians. The rebellion tried to follow Tunis and Cairo’s pattern but, because Syria is geographically and politically a more strategic place, it was influenced by foreign agendas and failed to keep the revolution’s peaceful momentum. When the protesters took arms to react to the repression and became rebels, the uprising transformed itself into a full scale civil war with 30+ armed militias, disunity, refugees. destruction of public properties etc…
Syrians are now in the middle of a full scale civil war that would leave long terms wounds and that is exploited by its numerous enemies for Syria’s long stand against the Western regional agendas favoring Israel.
Saudi Arabia is not ripe for a revolution, despite its heavy repression on freedom of religions and on women. The economics are too good to create enough resentment toward the corruption and the abuses of the royal family to trigger an uprising. A tight police regime, well paid, will not turn easily against its provider.
While Egypt had a long overdue revolution against a dictator pampered and supported by the Western countries, the newcomers are facing overwhelming economical problems and I have serious doubt that the Egyptians are better off now than 5 years ago economically speaking.
They will desperately need to pump money from the GCC, the EU and US and become even more dependent on that. Copts are emigrating and funds are daily moving out of Egypt.
Official figure put “unemployment for youth between the ages of 15 and 29 reached 24.8 percent”, but it is probably higher than that.
It is true that Egypt would not have to suffer from the wounds of a civil war but its history shows that what started as a hopeful revolution always turns out into another corrupted regime, because of the challenges to tackle poverty and population growth.
For the first time in Egypt’s modern history, it is not a military regime, but a religious one, inclined to become even more authoritarian under the unchallengeable “rule of God” that will control the country.
Pessimistic, yes, I am.
September 1st, 2012, 9:37 am
Richard said:
334. Mina said:
“Libya was the richest nation on the African continent; Egyptians had a little more drinkable water than now and far less violence; Tunisia did not have tourists attacked on a daily basis. Go and visit these three ‘miracles'”
I see. You believe the burgeoning youthful population of Arab world would be better served by leadership form Saif Gaddafi, Uday & Qusay, Maher Assad, Gamal Mubarak … I suppose you think the Libyan people miss the secret service?
BTW, since you brought wealth up, Libya & Iraq are already producing more oil than they were before upheavals.
Plenty of anecdotal evidence of problems in Egypt (nervous coptic Christians), Tunisia, Libya but you miss big trends towards building democratic institutions. Democracy works over long run.
Latin America looked like violent hell in 1970’s and 1980’s. It took 30 years, but now region is largely democratic, peaceful and prosperous. Are you going to point out the drug violence in country X and say that proves they should go back to old dictatorships?
There is nothing different about human nature in middle east than in any other part of the world. The inexorable global march towards human rights and democracy is coming to your neighborhood too.
As prominently displayed in this forum, middle east is infected with pessimism, fear and fatalism. The cure for that problem is the death of older people, the youngsters are unwilling to accept survile existence.
September 1st, 2012, 9:58 am
zoo said:
Turkey ordered the FSA to change their ‘internet’ headquarter location from Hatay to Damascus, while Hatay hosts the ‘real’ FSA headquarter. Who are they fooling?.
Free Syrian army changes ‘Hatay base’ info
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/free-syrian-army-changes-hatay-base-info.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29167&NewsCatID=359
The Free Syrian Army has removed “Hatay, Turkey” as the location of its main base as listed on its website, replacing it with “Damascus, Syria.”
The previous version had caused an outcry against Turkey’s involvement in the crisis in Syria, with several reports claiming the rebels were being trained and heavily supported by the Turkish authorities.
September 1st, 2012, 10:11 am
zoo said:
An Exclusive Look Inside Syria’s Fracturing Rebellion
Sarah Birke and Katie Paul August 30, 2012 | 6:00
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/106748/hed?page=0,0
After being ruled for over forty years by one strongman, every Syrian, from the southern plains of Deraa to the eastern expanses of Deir Ezzor, has his own idea of what the country should look like; each man determined to have a task that he can call his own. But as each stakes out his own claim to his own plot of land and, with it, his own plot of power, it becomes harder to imagine Syrians being able to (or in some cases, wanting to) re-invest that power in a central authority.
…
Rather than build the united country once imagined by protesters, rebel warlords are each taking their own bit of land and implementing their own vision—though militarily coordination continues. Maarouf is creating a police force and referring to Syrian national laws. Abu Issa is constructing his fiefdom based on religious principles. Ali Bakran, perhaps the most representative of the protesters’ original aims, is, for now at least, losing out.
Across Syria, there will no doubt be many more changes in leadership yet as fighters shift to the strongest battalion, groups come together or splinter, and men die in battle. Meanwhile, in the mountains, the test is beginning. As the rebels’ battle to wrest power from the regime grinds on and militias on both sides proliferate, they must decide whether to stick with a common aim or allow the situation to evolve into a struggle among its multiplying parts. These choices, in no small part, will determine the fate of the Syrian revolution. It is a cause for which over 20,000 have died and many more yet will perish; in which leaders will fall and others will be made. “Abu Issa was not really known by anyone outside the village before,” points out Ahmed, his media man. “But the revolution changes things.”
September 1st, 2012, 10:21 am
Richard said:
343. zoo
Syria is already in midst of civil war, lamenting and philosophizing is pointless. I suggest you support actions that make it a short war rather than replicate the 26-year Lebanon bloody stalement.
In answer to your (understandable and reasonable) fears about an oppressive theocracy, I offer three words of hope: “God Bless Iran!”
Iran has offered the entire middle east an object lesson in the consequences of life under the Mullahs. See how religous extremism was resisted in Iraq. I acknowledge a small, worrying chance of rigid form of Sharia coming to Egypt. Change will never be entirely risk free.
As long as we have thanked Iran, lets not slight that other great blessing to the cause of human rights in the Sunni world: Osama Bin Laden. Al-Qaaeda et. al. have grossly overreached. They are unpopular and discredited. How’d they do in Iraq?
You have WILDLY exaggerated the influence and acceptance of the Islamic radicals in Syria. Do you think the diverse population of Syria would ever accept their rule? Absurd.
If you are deeply concerned about Islamic extremists, there is exactly one practical, painful psychological gulf you must cross: support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments.
September 1st, 2012, 10:22 am
Tara said:
Richard@ 347
“If you are deeply concerned about Islamic extremists, there is exactly one practical, painful psychological gulf you must cross: support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments.”
Exactly! Thank you! I wish Obama and the whole world read your post.
September 1st, 2012, 10:39 am
Ghufran said:
???? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? “???? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ????????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ???????”? ???? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????????? ?????? “?? ?????? ???????? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ????????? ??? ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??????????”.
???? ?? ???? ???? ??? “?? ??????? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ????????? ?????? ????? ????”? ??? ????.
???? ???? ??? ?? “?????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ?? ????? ??? ???????? ?????? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? 1979 ?? ????? ???????? ?? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???????????? ???? ???? ????? ?? ???????? ?????”? ??? ?? ??????.
September 1st, 2012, 10:40 am
juergen said:
a picture tells more than 1000 words…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=424285967607516&set=a.186824541353661.34965.182806365088812&type=1&theater
September 1st, 2012, 10:47 am
Ghufran said:
??? ???? ????? ????? ?????? “???????” ?????????? ?? ???? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? “???- 23” ??????? ??????? ???????? ???????? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????????.
????? ?????? ????? ?? “????????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ????????? ?? ???? ??????”.? ????? ??? ?? “??????? ???????? ????? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ??? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ??????”.
Iraq’s air space was used at least twice to bomb armed rebels near the borders, I have not seen any reports of the Iraqi government protesting the incidents.
September 1st, 2012, 10:47 am
Uzair8 said:
#343 Zoo
Zoo, you failed to mention the big difference between the Tun/Egy and Syrian uprisings. The armies in the former refused to defend the tyrant against the people.
September 1st, 2012, 11:01 am
Mina said:
Welcome to the Egyptian miracle: unexperimented MB on the forefront, old regime behind the curtain.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/51697/Egypt/The-missing-Egypts-political-prisoners-a-pressing-.aspx
(Soon available in Syria)
September 1st, 2012, 11:02 am
Juergen said:
Thats the empathy some “Journalists” are missing…
( watch the announcers reaction 2:24 min)
September 1st, 2012, 11:02 am
Uzair8 said:
IbnOmar2005
France 24 News anchor begins to cry as he further explains the dire situation of #Syria, and the refugee camps in… http://t.co/55CFfAVn
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/ibnomar2005-france-24-news-anchor-begins-to-cry/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4ptEMShy4
See just after the wretched footage of the al-Douniya interview, 2min 23sec.
September 1st, 2012, 11:05 am
Uzair8 said:
Sorry. LOL
Juergen beat me to it.
September 1st, 2012, 11:08 am
Tara said:
Syrian rebels ‘seize air defence base’
Fighters take anti-aircraft rockets and 16 captives in attack on air defence facility in east, says UK-based group
Saturday 1 September 2012 09.36 EDT
Syrian rebels have seized an air defence facility and attacked a military airport in the east of the country, according to a UK-based monitoring group.
Saturday’s attacks in the oil-rich province of Deir al-Zor follow rebel strikes against military airports in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, close to the border with Turkey.
Rebels in Deir al-Zor overran an air defence building early on Saturday, taking at least 16 captives and seizing an unknown number of anti-aircraft rockets, said Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Video posted on the internet by activists showed the officers and soldiers captured by the rebel fighters, and al-Arabiya television broadcast footage of what it said were rockets and ammunition seized in the raid.
Syrian TV also claimed that government forces had repelled an attack on the Rasm al-Abboud air base near Aleppo and showed footage of captured guns and vehicles.
Abdulrahman said rebels also attacked the Hamdan military airbase at Albu Kamal, close to Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, but did not succeed in breaking into it.
(…)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/01/syrian-rebels-air-defence-base
September 1st, 2012, 11:08 am
Mina said:
Iran ready to drop Bashar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NI01Ak02.html
September 1st, 2012, 11:32 am
Shami said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laO8AARpx4k
Afrin-Aleppo ((((( ahfad Salah al Din !!!
September 1st, 2012, 12:09 pm
zoo said:
Richard
“Do you think the diverse population of Syria would ever accept their rule? Absurd. ”
That’s exactly the point. In Syria the SNC and FSA are openly Islamists and are supported financially by the Wahhabis of Qatar and KSA. What do you expect an opposition government will be? Secular? Absurd.
Despite decades of ‘secularism’, many Sunnis of Syria are been convinced to accept a so called ‘moderate’ religious ruling if it would bring down Bashar Al Assad. They yet don’t see what it implies on long term. Many Sunnis, the Shias, the Alawis and all the non moslem minorities are not ready to take that chance.
Do you really believe that the exhausted Syrians can resist the wave of Islamism coming with billions of dollars of aid once the country is brought to its knees and destroyed. Just like Egypt, it will beg for reconstruction money, it will obey its providers, and the money will come from Qatar and KSA, unsurprisingly, with many strings attached. None of these two countries are democracies and both are ruled by the Sharia, why would empoverished Syria be different ?
Syria will easily fall into that trap. We have seen this happening in Egypt and Tunisia. Voices of secularism are gradually and insidiously silenced. Who can stand up and oppose that after two years of war and destructions ?.
On your suggestion ” Support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments” the question is” Who are these moderate governments that have the money to do it and are willing?
That seems to be in another planet…
September 1st, 2012, 12:34 pm
Citizen said:
UN Security Council has no authority to support revolution in Syria – Lavrov
The UN Security Council has no right to support a revolution or foreign intervention in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned. Any plan to withdraw government troops while fighting continues is untenable, and naïve at best, he added.
The demand for President Bashar al-Assad to resign as a precondition to resolving the Syrian crisis is a completely unrealistic approach, Lavrov said during a public appearance at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs……..
http://rt.com/news/syrian-crisis-intervention-lavrov-109/
——————————————————————-
Al Qaeda Blitzkrieg: West’s Terror Battalions Eye Russia Next
Groundwork for Western support of Al Qaeda terrorists in Russia’s Caucasus region.With the US openly supporting, arming, and literally “cheering” for Al Qaedain Syria, it should be no surprise that their support for Al Qaeda’s other operations is now slowly revealing itself. For decades, brutal terrorist campaigns have been carried out in Russia by Al Qaeda’s Caucasus Mountains faction, constituting the backbone of the so-called “Chechen rebels.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/al-qaeda-blitzkrieg-wests-terror-battalions-eye-russia-next
——————————————————————
Did America Say NO to Israel? Gilad Atzmon
In the last few hours we have learned that the US had made massive reductions to joint military exercise with Israel.
As much as the Jewish Lobby in America, together with Barak and Netanyahu are pushing for a new global conflict, America may still be saved by just a few brains who are beginning to realize that Israel is the biggest threat to world peace.
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012/09/01/did-america-say-no-to-israel
——————————————————————
NATO secretly authorizes Syrian attack
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/29/258834/nato-secretly-authorizes-syrian-attack/
All hell is about to uncork.
Russia and China are not going to passively stand aside. Add to that the reality that Syria and Iran have a mutual defense pact, which means that if Syria is invaded overtly, Iran is treaty-bound to come to its aid militarily, and that will become the “causus belli” for an attack against Iran.
please, be careful what you wish for: the unintended consequences of such a war can be both horrific, and irrevocable.
to caution NATO leadership that what they have developing here is a the potential for a global, thermonuclear conflict over an alleged Iranian weapons program which cannot, to date, be proven to exist.
September 1st, 2012, 12:42 pm
zoo said:
352. Uzair8
That’s one more reason to accept the fact that Bashar Al Assad has much more support from the citizens than Mobarak and Ben Ali had.
The Syrian army composed of conscripts and professionals represent the various ethnicities, classes and religious groups of Syria.
The FSA composition does not.
September 1st, 2012, 12:51 pm
Citizen said:
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/30/dempsey-backs-away-from-obamas-threat-to-intervene-in-syria/
Dempsey Backs Away from Obama’s Threat to Intervene in Syria
Publicly refused to back the Israeli government twice in one week. I wonder if Obama (under pressure from Israel) is going to have this man sacked and removed, and replaced by someone …a little more Israel-centric.
September 1st, 2012, 12:55 pm
zoo said:
The Time for Action: Arm the rebels!
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/31/syria_the_time_for_action?page=0,2
The Obama administration has backed itself into a corner in Syria, a crisis with few good options. But the endgame is clear, at least, and the time to get involved has come.
…
The United States has a profound interest not only in bringing the slaughter in Syria to an end, but in having a meaningful presence on the ground when that happens — as it did in Libya thanks to the NATO air campaign. It will not be easy, under any circumstances, to prevent Syria from collapsing into religious and ethnic enclaves, or into a war of all against all. But if Washington remains on the sidelines, as it has until now, it will have little influence with those who will ultimately prevail, and thus little ability to help shape the post-Assad landscape.
Obama might decide to postpone the decision until after the election, but that would be an act of consummate cynicism. He should act now, before it’s too late.
September 1st, 2012, 12:56 pm
Norman said:
President Assad does not care to stay in power, what he wants is a peaceful way for the election of the next president so his supporters will not feel abandoned and will be safe, the question is does the opposition want a free election or a takeover, so far they seem to want a takeover. and does the president want to relinquish power, we can only know if the opposition accept a free election that he will not run in, that is in 2014, i doubt that they will.
September 1st, 2012, 12:59 pm
Juergen said:
Shami
Thank you for the Afrin video, I have the best memories of this town and its beautiful sourroundings.
September 1st, 2012, 12:59 pm
zoo said:
The plight of Egypt’s forgotten Shia minority
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/world-affairs/2012/07/plight-egypt%E2%80%99s-forgotten-shia-minority
Even after the historic election, this marginalised minority risk daily persecution and victimisation because of their beliefs.
…
The Fatimid dynasty, who ruled Egypt from AD 969 – 1171 and founded the city of Cairo, were exclusively Shia. It wasn’t until after the fall of the Fatimids that Egyptians began to convert to the Sunna, and the cultural legacy of Ahl al-Beit (descendants of the Prophet Muhammed, literally ‘people of the house’) remains strong even today. No further testament needs to be made to the strength of Egyptians reverence for the Ahl al-Beit than the abundance of shrines and mosques dedicated to Hussein, Hasan, Zainab, Ali, and other Shia imams.
But there are concerns among the Shias I spoke to that the rise of Islamist movements in Egypt since the fall of Mubarak, especially the omnipresence of the Muslim Brotherhood, will result in even fewer rights for their community.
Shias might not face the same extent of persecution as the more visible Coptic minority, but it was evident from the people I spoke to that they are equally not tolerated by the more extreme factions in Egyptian society.
“We cannot have Shias in our mosque because of their extremist views,” said the head of Alexandria’s Al-Fattah mosque, a stronghold for fundamentalist Salafis.
When asked if he would support the construction of a Shia mosque to allow Shias to pray in their own space, he looks at me wide-eyed, as if surprised by the question.
“No.”
It is a little word, but it says so much about the current state of Egypt, and about the country’s forgotten minority.
September 1st, 2012, 1:08 pm
zoo said:
A young Egyptian Revolutionary’s reaction to Morsi’s speech in Tehran
http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.ca/2012/09/regarding-morsi-and-conquest-of-tehran.html
…
Unfortunately the overreaction of the Islamists in Egypt after the speech whether online and offline stunned many revolutionary Egyptians with its sectarian nature including me. The MB and Al Nour Party ordered their members to receive Morsi in the airport and then head to his house in order to salute him. Now Morsi is being hailed as the New Saladin of modern time because the radical sectarian Islamists believe that he slammed the Shiite in their own land thanks to the few words he said in his speech.
In the beginning of his speech Morsi saluted the four caliphs by name
Peace upon Prophet Mohamed “PBUH”’s companions Abu Bakr, Omar , Othman and Ali
Radical Shiites do not recognize Abu Bakr , Omar and Othman as the rightful to rule after Prophet Mohamed “PBUH” and some of them hate and insult them in some of their rituals.
Thanks to very trusted diplomatic sources I knew that the ministry of foreign affairs is not responsible for this speech so this speech is made and written in presidency. Some say that that Morsi that Caliphs’ phrase to his speech while reading in order to slam Ali Khamenei as the later ignored the first 3 Caliphs and spoke about chosen caliph Ali.
I can not describe how the radical Salafist and Sunni in the Gulf received that sentence in why you can not imagine it , here is a collection of what I saw last night and depressed me.
What Morsi did in Tehran to Omar was important than what 1000 TV series like Omar can do for him !?
…
We got similiar tweets like that all day long :
Morsi slammed the Zoroastrians
Morsi avenged for Omar from the Zoroastrians !!!
I do not think that a great man like Omar needs a man like Morsi to restore back his right. Already the radical Shiite will not stop their hate or insult to him or lady Aisha or Abu Bakr after what Morsi said.
…
Anyhow It did not stop at tweets, statements and Facebook status , we got the blessings of the radical Sheikhs in the Gulf who crowned Morsi who is struggling to control Egypt and to solve its problems in the first 100 days as the leader of the Nation.
we got even fake quotes for celebs that celebrate the huge victory in most of the Muslim brotherhood pages.
…
Now we got leaks to the media that we are going to re-open our embassy in Tehran and that we are going to welcome Iranian Shiite pilgrims to visit the Holy Shrines of Ahl Al-Bayt !!!! As you can the scene is contradictory if you pay attention for news for real.
….
September 1st, 2012, 1:17 pm
Uzair8 said:
362. Zoo
Other users will be better able to answer and may be better placed to answer, however, I’ll say a few things.
If I’m correct conscripts are avoiding call ups.
The regular army is said to be confined to the barracks, with their loyalty in question and the risk of defection if used.
The core of the military, the hardcore loyalists are the ones who call the shots so it would be difficult for a Tunisian/Egyptian scenario.
Any Syrian soldier refusing to follow orders would be executed and have been executed. Would Egyptian or Tunisian soldiers face execution if they refused to fire on their own people?
September 1st, 2012, 1:25 pm
zoo said:
369. Uzair8
Come on.. Do you really believe these unfounded rumors spread on desperation?
How can such an army stand 18 months of fights if it is so rotten from inside as these rumors want you to believe.
All foreign analysts confirm that the Syrian Army is strong and cohesive.
The divisions and internal fights are happening within the armed rebels… not in the Syrian Army. The media abounds about it.
September 1st, 2012, 1:35 pm
Tara said:
I think Mursi made a mistake by invoking the caliphs. For God sake…Time has come for people to get over what happened many hundreds years ago..I still think he is the best leader so far Arabs have produced. I hope his support of the Syrian revolution is based on principals not based on the Sunni-Shiite quarrel.
September 1st, 2012, 1:36 pm
Visitor said:
Another US senator calls on Obama to immediately arm the FSA.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/story/2012-08-30/chris-coons-syria-rebels/57444282/1
However, as usual the senator lists the long mantra of conditions for his call, among which of course is the prevention of the so-called jihadists infiltration of the revolution.
It is time for the Free people of Syria to tell all those who call for the support of their revolution based on conditions that we no longer need their support. The revolution has been ongoing for 19 months and growing stronger by the day. Arms are being procured by various means.
So if anyone wants to support us, our condition for accepting any support is that such support must be unconditional. Syrians only will decide what is best for them and for the success of the revolution.
It is too late Mr. Obama. You just dragged your feet way too long. Syrians already paid the price and have become sensitized to the sacrifices that they are willing more than ever to offer in order to achieve their objectives. We would rather achieve these objectives without anyone’s favors or conditions.
September 1st, 2012, 1:41 pm
zoo said:
Air Base in Syria Has Been Captured, Opposition Says
By KAREEM FAHIM
Published: September 1, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/world/middleeast/syria.html
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Opposition fighters in Syria said early Saturday that they had captured an air defense base in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, taking at least 16 soldiers captive and seizing weapons and ammunition in what appeared to be part of a broader rebel offensive against Syrian military installations across the country.
Rebel fighters in the province also attacked a military air base, according to activist groups, the third attack on an air force site in the past few days. Last week, rebel commanders claimed to have destroyed several helicopters during attacks on two separate military airports in Idlib Province.
..
Grainy videos that activists said were taken in the aftermath of the assault on the air defense base showed rebels strolling in a darkened building, with the bodies of government soldiers lying on the ground and crates of ammunition strewn about.
September 1st, 2012, 1:55 pm
Uzair8 said:
Press Tv re-arranges Ban Ki-Moon’s words.
http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2012/8/31/iran-propaganda-101-press-tv-re-arranges-ban-ki-moons-words.html
September 1st, 2012, 2:00 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
372
“It is too late, Mr. Obama. You just dragged your feet way too long.”
He’s not dragging, Visitor. He’s purposely staying out of. Syria is a snakepit and a train wreck which no sane person wants a piece of.
September 1st, 2012, 2:15 pm
Uzair8 said:
Should Morsi sue the Iranian media who mistranslated his speech?
The idea being to use such an action to bring as wide as possible publicity to the issue and embarrass Iran. By highlighting such behaviour it would expose Iran as maintaining an indefensible position on the situation thus attempting to hide the reality.
Perhaps Ban Ki-Moon can do the same.
September 1st, 2012, 2:16 pm
zoo said:
The 100 days president challenge to clean Cairo piling garbage.
A test looms for Egypt’s new leader: Garbage
By SARAH EL DEEB | Associated Press – 1 hr 34 mins
http://news.yahoo.com/test-looms-egypts-leader-garbage-163914933.html
CAIRO (AP) — The pile of trash overwhelmed the median divider on Ahmed Zaki Street and spilled into oncoming traffic — egg shells, rotten eggplants, soiled diapers, bottles, broken furniture, junked TV sets. Flies swarmed and the summer sun baked up a powerful stench.
…
He already faces a host of challenges: from secular Egyptians worried about his Islamist doctrines; from militants trying to stoke conflict with Israel, and from the poverty and joblessness that fed the Arab Spring and brought down the three-decade dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak.
To all those, add the rising tide of garbage in Cairo, the world’s largest Arab city. Morsi declared it one of his top five priorities, promising to clean up the streets within 100 days. In so doing, he gave the electorate a powerful way of measuring his abilities, and it looks increasingly certain that 100 days will be nowhere near enough.
September 1st, 2012, 2:19 pm
Richard said:
375. Johannes de Silentio said:
“Syria is a snakepit and a train wreck which no sane person wants a piece of.”
A little like this forum.
September 1st, 2012, 2:26 pm
Citizen said:
NATO Terrorists to Target Syria’s Civilian Airports
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/09/nato-terrorists-to-target-syrias.html
there is a need to respond in the same way to attack NATO,s Civilian Airports ! is not it Mr Tony ?
September 1st, 2012, 2:26 pm
Visitor said:
# 375,
I already told you that you are an idiot unworthy of respect.
I know you don’t know Arabic, but you should understand English.
So, buzz off and converse with your likes.
September 1st, 2012, 2:29 pm
Richard said:
360. zoo
“On your suggestion ‘Support the arming of the FSA by more moderate governments” the question is’ Who are these moderate governments that have the money to do it and are willing?
That seems to be in another planet…”
True enough. But France pointed the way out this week – form a more inclusive provisional government. Planet Obama might be more receptive after election.
You say you fear the Islamic nature of rebellion. I believe your fears are overblown, but it is certainly a reasonable perspective. I have no crystal ball.
The formation of a more inclusive provisional government addresses your concerns.
Why are you disinterested? Because trying to build a coalition is damn hard work, somewhat unimaginable, and risks failure. You’ve chosen the easy path: just condemn the revolution for its shortcomings, hope the regime hangs on. That path is easy, but it leads to nowhere but stalemated, endless civil war.
September 1st, 2012, 2:45 pm
Uzair8 said:
Perhaps the Iranian media were using Google Translate?
The sanctions must be hurting for them cutback on competent translators.
September 1st, 2012, 3:06 pm
Syrialover said:
ZOO wote: “Obviously Syria was not ripe for a revolution like Tunisia and Egypt were. Despite the demonization campaign it is clear that the Syrian regime was not corrupted and repressive enough to trigger massive support for a regime change. The proof is that the regime is holding well and still has a large number of supporters.”
Please! Less writing and more reading. You can’t expect anyone to take seriously such lazy, shallow propaganda.
That bit about “not repressive enough” as the reason why Syrians are allegedly supporting your hero Bashar earns you an extra 200 hours homework. Probably 200 times more than you have done in total before commenting here.
PS You are so far behind on knowledge and understanding on Syria I don’t think you will ever find time to catch up on Egypt, Tunisia and all those other places you are making out-of-touch remarks about.
September 1st, 2012, 3:07 pm
Halabi said:
What a great military that has to destroy Baba Amr to retake it and can’t even maintain control of its tanks.
http://youtu.be/V2FOKo1Ox-k
“President Assad does not care to stay in power, what he wants is a peaceful way for the election of the next president so his supporters will not feel abandoned and will be safe”
Well said. I think Bashar should really get the Nobel Peace Prize this year… Delusional is too mild a term for this kind of thinking. How can anyone link the safety of Assad supporters with the need to slaughter women and children in Darayya?
September 1st, 2012, 3:09 pm
visitor said:
Bashar al-Assad Lost The Support of Aleppo’s Wealthy When the Shelling Started
Mike Giglio , The Daily Beast, September 1, 2012
Issam Jouma used to be a supporter of the Syrian regime. He lived in Aleppo, the country’s commercial capital, and the center of much of its wealth. A dentist going about a nice life with his wife and five kids, like many Aleppo residents he thought things were okay under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“I was very comfortable in general. There were small things we were uncomfortable about, but those things were out of our control. My financial situation was not bad. I had bread; I had gas. Everything was available. When I would go to government buildings, they actually helped me, because I’m a doctor,” Jouma says. “People were proud that Bashar was the president. He had a lot of support.”
Support for Assad was far from unanimous under one of the Middle East’s most repressive regimes—talk of dissent tended to be hushed, often with warnings that “the walls have ears.” But Assad was promising slow and measured change, and for people like Jouma that was enough. “Compared with the Arab leaders around us, we thought Bashar was honest,” he says.
To read more: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=432372#ixzz25FO1I5XO
Only 25% of a given NOW Lebanon article can be republished. For information on republishing rights from NOW Lebanon: http://www.nowlebanon.com/Sub.aspx?ID=125478
September 1st, 2012, 3:18 pm
Visitor said:
““We cannot have Shias in our mosque because of their extremist views,” said the head of Alexandria’s Al-Fattah mosque, a stronghold for fundamentalist Salafis.
When asked if he would support the construction of a Shia mosque to allow Shias to pray in their own space, he looks at me wide-eyed, as if surprised by the question.
“No.”
Of course.
Not only one NO but one thousand NO. Thank you head of Alexanderia al-Fattah mosque.
Who wants to introduce such heretic ism into Egypt after it has been vanquished over one thousand years ago?
Besides, who wants a fourth column in Egypt the like of which has proven time and again has no loyalty to any homeland except the their mullah-gods in Qom?
You guys have been exposed not only as heretics but as a fifth column serving fireign agenda, and the only thing left for you is to throw in the towel and pack and leave to your country-god.
Furthermore, all-albayt of Egypt are known authentic descendants of the Prophet who follow the Sunnah unlike the fake Iranian mullahs whose claim is only based on the color of a turban. What a joke?
I repeat to you what I said before. Have sweet fatimid dreams. Continue with your ???????? ??????. And See you in another thousand years.
?? ??? ??????? ??? ???
September 1st, 2012, 3:31 pm
Syrialover said:
Since ZOO has succeeded in his prime mission of dominating and trashing this previously quality forum, at the rate of up to 10 posts an hour daily for months, let’s vote he gives himself and everyone else a break by taking a holiday.
A holiday in Syria to share in celebrating the “victory” and triumph of his heroes in the Assad camp.
September 1st, 2012, 3:34 pm
Syrialover said:
Visitor, you being unfair and uncivil to Johannes de Silentio is detracting and turning me away from your other posts which are worth reading.
I am uncomfortable reading your comment #380. The bare minimum of rules and standards here should be what you would say in a round table debate.
September 1st, 2012, 3:46 pm
VISITOR said:
388 SyriaLover,
I am quite capable in making my own judgements. Thank you.
Please, refrain from interfering in that which does not concern you.
I have the right to choose who to debate with.
You can easily skip that which you do not like.
September 1st, 2012, 3:56 pm
Syrialover said:
Visitor, You are capable of reasonable and well-informed comment, which you have demonstrated here often enough.
Calling someone an idiot, mocking them for not speaking Arabic and telling them to buzz off is not comment. It is something else.
September 1st, 2012, 4:04 pm
Visitor said:
390 Syrialover,
Look SL, my preferences are always for courteous exchanges and I made that clea often enoug.
But when someone brings some negative response upon himself because of ignorance you’re quite aware of, the least politeness I could offer him/her is to politely ask him/her to stay away, and which I did already. As you are well aware the cause for my negative reaction was an attack on me personally as well as an ignorant generalization for to say the least his own heritage. I am not inclined to go back and dig those comments. But to me, a person who is capable of stooping down to that level as to deny his past no matter the cause is not worthy of any respect, not to mention debate
???? ??? ????? ??? ????.
September 1st, 2012, 4:16 pm
zoo said:
#381 Richard
“Because trying to build a coalition is damn hard work, somewhat unimaginable, and risks failure.”
In Libya in less than 2 weeks after the uprising started, the NTC uniting all the opposition forces, was formed.
After 17 months, France, Turkey Qatar and the USA are still trying to get the Syrian opposition united.
France has been pushing desperately the SNC on the forefront to end up in a debacle. Weak Hollande has no leverage whatsoever on the situation, neither Erdogan, caught in his own trap.
Obama is about to loose the election and his priority is not to get involved in another military disaster like in Afghanistan.
The Arab League was supposed to call for a meeting in Cairo to unite the opposition. It was so boycotted that it was cancelled.
The conclusion is that the opposition and the armed rebels are so deeply divided that their unity may never happen in a near future and therefore they may never be a “provisional government”.
The only standing united entity is the Syrian government and its army that the opposition and its allies have not been able to divide, despite the massive pressure through media attacks and sanctions.
In the meantime Syrians are dying daily, the country infrastructure is being destroyed and soon there will no Syrians to rule, either they will be dead or refugees.
There is a moment in a war when it becomes obvious that no result can be achieved without massive deaths and destruction. Then someone must have the courage to say: Let’s stop and talk… without any pre-conditions.
Until the opposition, pumped out by the “Friends of Syria” unfulfilled promises, realize that no one will help them, the winner will be the one who succeed in dominating the other in the middle of desolation: The law of the jungle.
September 1st, 2012, 4:20 pm
Syrialover said:
Some writing by ZOO (#392):
“In the meantime Syrians are dying daily, the country infrastructure is being destroyed and soon there will no Syrians to rule, either they will be dead or refugees.”
Some reading for ZOO:
“The main reason Syria is beset by war is not western or Gulf adventurism, but the Assad regime’s policy of killing protesters in the early days of the revolt last year and then graduating into large-scale shelling of civilian areas. Add in the preceding 40 years of repression, torture and murder overseen by the Assad family, and it ought to be little surprise that some regime opponents took up arms to defend themselves – and thus spawned the militarised conflict of today.
“Tehran, in common with Moscow and Beijing, has offered no meaningful proposals for action over the past 16 months to make the Syrian regime stop its violence – the bare minimum that would have been necessary to make talks with the opposition even a possibility.
“Shia-Muslim ruled Iran has also failed to acknowledge its existential sectarian political interest in maintaining the status quo. Syria – whose politically dominant Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiism – is part of a Shia power axis stretching from Iran to Lebanon and the radical group Hizbollah.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/792ce2d8-f048-11e1-b7b2-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz25FfxYjy5
September 1st, 2012, 4:32 pm
annie said:
PLEDGE: ASSAD, LEAVE NOW!!
http://www.causes.com/actions/1677926?recruiter_id=181496861&utm_campaign=invite&utm_medium=wall&utm_source=fb
Should we get a million signatures, I suppose he would still not get the message because there is not much intelligence left between those ears and above all there is no heart, no love for Syria and its people.
September 1st, 2012, 5:24 pm
Ghufran said:
??? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?????1/9/2012? ?? 2000 ???? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ????????.
???? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ???? ?????? “??????? ??? ???????????”? ?? “??? 2000 ???? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ???????? ??????? ??? ???”.
?? ??????? ??? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? “?? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ????????”.
Bashar will be remembered as the first president after independence who on his watch more than 200,000 Syrians fled Syria and more than 1.2 million left their homes, I am not naive enough to exonerate armed rebels, but security of the citizens in a country is the primary responsibility of the government, the fact that Bashar is still president and unwilling to leave tells a lot about him,his family, and his regime.
September 1st, 2012, 5:29 pm
Humanist said:
Give upp Bahrain.
To be honest I believe there is no chance for the rebellion there to suceed.
Not because of the alleged western support or because it is “better” than other regimes.
You should not forget only a small minority there are still shia natives.
The rest are sunni “imports”, not only arabs.
Many fighters (policemen) for the regime actually seem to be Baloch, pretty hardcore tribal people from a poor region in Pakistan and Iran. I got the expression they are very “pro-Bahrain” (and often anti Shia) so they will continue to fight for the regime.
And you also have the ordinary Pakistani/Indian workers. They are pro-regime too because they are treated much better in Bahrain than in other Gulf countries and some of them even got citizenship.
Because it gave all these poor immigrants “a better life” (according to themselves), the Bahraini Kingdom will survive.
Maybe Assad in a similar way should have tried to import pro-regime Lebanese Shia . But even if he did, this would probaby not suceed since the lebanese, for many reasons, wouldn’t find Assad’s Syria more attractive than their homeland…
September 1st, 2012, 6:19 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
380
“I already told you that you are an idiot unworthy of respect. I know you don’t know Arabic, but you should understand English. So, buzz off and converse with your likes.”
Oh Visitor from AllahDude
You actually don’t know whether I know Arabic or not. All you know is that I said I don’t. So it remains to be seen whether I do…or don’t.
And as for English, I know a lot more than you will ever know, including the shadings, nuances, overtones and undercurrents. So don’t get me starting on a pissing contest in English, you sad little man.
As for idiots, you’re the one betting the farm on a god (small g) who has failed you time and again. You’d think he’d occasionally throw you a bone with a clearcut victory over the Jews…I’m sorry, Zionists…but no. Everytime you call on your god for a check in the win column, he spits on your sandals. You know what the definition of insanity is, Visitor? It’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
So who’s the idiot? Hint: starts with a “v”
September 1st, 2012, 6:38 pm
Uzair8 said:
So Assad is welcoming defections now?
There you go. He has given the green light to anyone who wishes to defect. There can be no excuse now.
Why would they possibly not take him on his word?
September 1st, 2012, 6:40 pm
Uzair8 said:
FSA kittens.
A nice collection and good idea.
http://fsakittens.tumblr.com/
September 1st, 2012, 6:44 pm
Tara said:
Johannes Dale Andersen
Any new poem?
September 1st, 2012, 6:58 pm
Uzair8 said:
At the risk of entering where angels fear to tread:
I believe a moderator would have intervened by now. As we don’t have a moderator it is the responsibility of the users themselves to avoid the personalized comments and just avoid each other if necessary and continue their valued contribution.
Forgive me if it’s not my place to interfere.
September 1st, 2012, 7:03 pm
Ghufran said:
?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????? .
???? ???? ???? ?? ???????? ????????? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ????????.
September 1st, 2012, 7:06 pm
Tara said:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/al-qaida-threatens-hezbollah-over-its-support-of-the-syrian-regime-1.462076
Al-Qaida threatens Hezbollah over its support of the Syrian regime
Sep.02, 2012 | 1:06 AM
A new ally has joined Israel in the struggle against Hezbollah. Al-Qaida recently published a harsh attack on Hezbollah, in which it calls on Shi’ites to leave the renounce the organization “if they do not wish to be the target of Al-Qaida attacks.”
In a recording broadcasted on Al-Qaida websites, the commander of the Abdullah Azzam Shaheed Brigade in Syria, Majd al-Majd, stated that “the claim that of the Shiite leaders that Israel and the United States are responsible for the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri and for sparking the rebellion in Syria are baseless. The ones behind the murder were the leaders of Hezbollah, the keepers of the border with Israel.”
Al-Majd, a Saudi citizen who lived until recently in the Ein al-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon, and from there moved to Syria, is on Saudi Arabia’s most wanted list. Two months ago, he was “elected” to be the head of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaida. According to Jordanian intelligence, Al-Majd oversees nearly 6,000 militants that entered Syria from Iraq and Turkey.
Al-Majd tells the Lebanese Shi’ites that “sending your sons from Lebanon so that they fight on the side of the criminal regime in Syria, kill our sons and frighten our wives, is considered support for the oppressor against the oppressed, and fully participating in a crime…Hassan Nasarallah’s characterization of the members of the regime who were killed as martyrs is an insult to millions of Muslims.” Al-Qaida is a Sunni organization, and its leaders see Hezbollah’s rule in Lebanon and the minority Alawite rule in Syria as a reality that must be forever changed. Al-Majd does not hesitate to threaten all of Lebanon, should Hezbollah continue to support the Assad regime. “Hezbollah’s existence is a threat to Lebanon’s security and tourism industry,” he said, hinting that his organization would not think twice before planning an attack on tourists in Lebanon, should the state continue to strengthen Hezbollah and its leaders.
Read more..
September 1st, 2012, 7:12 pm
Richard said:
392. zoo said:
“the conclusion is that the opposition and the armed rebels are so deeply divided that their unity may never happen in a near future and therefore they may never be a “provisional government”.”
Very true. It seems you are you happy with this state of affairs. You simply wish for the brutal regime to prevail.
“The only standing united entity is the Syrian government and its army that the opposition and its allies have not been able to divide, despite the massive pressure through media attacks and sanctions.”
Hello? The Syrian government is a totalitarian clan that has ruled through fear and violence. A clan and military with massive blood on its hands has no choice but to maintain solidarity, this is hardly impressive. They have vested patrons in Iran & Russia to resupply their military machine. In this climate, your attempt to portray them as underdogs because of “media attacks and sanctions” is ludicrous.
September 1st, 2012, 7:26 pm
Syrialover said:
Johannes de Silentio (#397)
Oh, I see. You obviously enjoy that sort of statement and like to do it yourself.
Maturity, manners and anger management pills needed all round.
September 1st, 2012, 7:55 pm
Syrialover said:
Uzair8,
That clever and witty site on nice cats with the FSA could do a lot to bring pressure to help Syria on US politicans by their female voters.
I’m not joking – cute kittens and animal welfare are hot buttons to push in the west.
Send it around to the ladies.
http://fsakittens.tumblr.com/
September 1st, 2012, 8:03 pm
Visitor said:
405 SL
I hope next time you avoid unwarranted mediations that often backfire.
We are not here to debate just for the sake of debate. If that is the only objective then we would be only engaged in a polemical exercises.
We have a very highly charged issue at stake. Quite many participants are just masquerading under different pretenses with obvious agendas to undermine our people. This is the prime concern that should be yours, as I am sure it is, and every other Syrian who believes has something at stake.
It seems to me that, TARA, whose intuition I trust very much, has identified him as a wandering incarnate with previous history on this blog. I did not have the opportunity to meet him in that previous ‘life’ but it seems to me it had some ‘poetic’ dimension to it. Obviously his false pretense of being a descendant of some dispossessed ancestors who were driven by my ‘ancestors’ from Syria is just a propaganda ploy meant to serve a recurring theme in all of his garbage contributions.
I call upon you, SL, to search for these themes before making an opinion about a certain commentator. I do not look for only one or two comments. I look for a pattern and then I make my decision. I do not care if someone makes one or two anti-regime comments to rush to his hug as my revolution supporter. That is way too naive.
Please, remember that we are dealing with highly charged issues and many are lurking in the background seeking ways and means to undermine our case. This is a site used mostly for disseminating propaganda that is often false
.
Thank you TARA for that hint. And as I said even though I did not get to know Dale Anderson, but I got the message.
September 1st, 2012, 8:12 pm
zoo said:
Richard
“It seems you are you happy with this state of affairs”
I am not and I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.
You seem very contented that there are no solution at the horizon except a continuous bloodshed. You know very well that your suggestion about France and Obama are hot air.
September 1st, 2012, 8:32 pm
Syrialover said:
ZOO said:
“I am not and I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.”
Standing? What about actually winning? (Minus regime bullets, coercion and corruption.)
That would be exhaustingly hard to align with your revealed support of the Assad regime and Iran’s involvement.
More recommended reading: your own previous posts.
September 1st, 2012, 8:42 pm
Tara said:
Zoo
Although I still am very mad at your last post to me that I perceived as arrogant, presumptive, and in essence telling me what I know and how I know, I find your links in general, even if I don’t agree with, interesting and informative.
September 1st, 2012, 8:46 pm
Syrialover said:
ZOO said:
“…I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.”
Standing? What about actually winning? (Minus regime bullets, coercion and corruption.)
That would be exhaustingly hard to align with your revealed support of the Assad regime and Iran’s involvement.
More recommended reading: your own previous posts.
September 1st, 2012, 8:54 pm
zoo said:
Is there a single foreign policy area on which Republicans largely agree?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/opinion/romney-is-caught-between-neoconservatives-and-neo-isolationists.html?pagewanted=all
Not the Arab Spring. Calls from Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham to arm Syria’s rebels and impose a no-fly zone have largely fallen on deaf ears, including Mr. Romney’s. Conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Representative Michele Bachmann have stoked fears about Islam in general, leaving it hard to tell just how much democracy they would seek to promote in countries like Egypt — where Islamists of various stripes have been winning elections, most recently for the presidency.
..
Obama and Biden could be considered as foreign policy gurus if compared to the conservative Romney-Ryan duo, but the 2012 election is mostly about the economy. Romney could be considered not “well-established” on foreign policy whereas Ryan is totally unclear about his foreign policy choices, apart from his quite close ties with the congressional pro-Armenian groups.
But Republican insiders believe Obama and Biden are “not willing to take any risks” on Syria, no matter what happens there.
On Iran, Obama and Biden will likely look to control Israeli policies, while Romney and Ryan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s obvious favorites in the Nov. 6 election, will wait until then.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/romney-ryan-at-the-helm-of-the-republican-party-.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29137&NewsCatID=440
September 1st, 2012, 9:11 pm
zoo said:
#409 Tara
Thanks, no hard feelings, I hope. Sometimes I can be too direct, no harm intended.
As I am getting my daily bashing from some zealous commenters who seem to be avid fan of my posts, any appreciation from sane people is welcome.
September 1st, 2012, 9:19 pm
Ghufran said:
This is disgusting, even if the Syrian government was a bunch of angels, being part of a massive refugee problem and doing very little to help reduce it is enough in most countries to bring own a government, Assad regime is acting like it is somebody’s else problem. Here is the official numbers according to the UN:
The total number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration as of August, 23 was 202,512. Please note that the rise in numbers reflects both increased arrivals and a change this week in the way UNHCR is counting the numbers of Syrian refugees in Jordan (previously people at the Za’atri camp still awaiting registration were not included in these figures).
Jordan
Total registered = 61,002 {including 17,040 awaiting registration}
– Some 80,000 have been identified by local organizations as in need of assistance, some of whom have been registered with UNHCR.
Lebanon
Total registered = 51,055 {including 11,861 awaiting registration}
– In addition, many thousands of refugees who have recently arrived into Lebanon did not yet come forward for registration.
Iraq
Total registered = 15,898 {including 2,042 awaiting registration}
– The total number of Iraqi returnees from Syria has reached 29,453 since July, 18.
Turkey
Total registered = 74,112 {registered and assisted as per Government statistics}
September 1st, 2012, 9:52 pm
Richard said:
407. zoo said:
“I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.”
All your posts lead me to believe that you are a reactionary. For instance, your cynicism towards changes in Libya & elsewhere leads me to believe you must be fearful of any change. I have same impression of Ghufran.
But I have learned that it is dangerous to guess at other posters motives. So I will accept this statement as your sincere wish.
“You seem very contented that there are no solution at the horizon except a continuous bloodshed.”
No, I am filled with anxiety, in fact. Situation is eerily reminiscent of the three years of slaughter in Bosnia Civil war, 150,000 dead before any international action.
“You know very well that your suggestion about France and Obama are hot air.”
Au contraire, excuse my french. The decisive factor that keeps outside aid from flowing to opposition is the absence of a political plan, made credible by a reasonably representative provisional government.
September 2nd, 2012, 1:25 am
Juergen said:
Interesting story about the love of colonial power by the Al Wahesh family-formely known as Al Assad….
Laurent Fabius the french foreign minister stopped the endless debate with the syrian amabassador Jaafari by presenting a paper which was written by Sulaiman Al Wahesh who begged in it that the french would stay in Syria.
here is one chapter of this letter:
” The spirit of hatred and intolerance that stuck its roots in the heart of the Arab Muslims towards everything that is non-Muslim is the spirit fueled by the Islamic religion has always been. There is no hope that the changed situation. Therefore, the minority in Syria become in the case of cancellation of the Mandate is exposed to the risk of death and annihilation, regardless of the fact that this cancellation eliminates the freedom of thought and belief.
Here we see today how the citizens of Damascus Muslims forced Jews living in their midst to sign a document pledging not to send food to their fellow Jews in distress in Palestine. And the case of the Jews in Palestine is the strongest clear tangible evidence on the importance of the religious issue when Muslim Arabs both does not belong to Islam.
, Those Jews good who came to the Arab Muslim civilization and peace, and ????? over the land of Palestine gold and welfare did not sign to harm anybody did not take anything by force, however declared Muslims against holy war, and did not hesitate to sacrifice their children and their wives despite the fact that the presence of England in Palestine, France in Syria.
Thus a black fate awaits the Jews and other minorities in the case of cancellation of the Mandate and unifying Muslim Syria with Muslim Palestine. This uniformity is the top goal of the Arab Muslim.”
( Interesting thoughts, summary: all evil resides in muslims and their religion, the jews alike share the same fate as us, obviously it was his son who sealed the fate of Syrias jews!)
I would have love to see the face of Jaafari then…
in arabic:
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/31/235337.html
in english ( note monster is the translation to Al Wahesh, sympathic name for such a criminal family, and much more suitable, dont you think?
http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=ar&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alarabiya.net%2Farticles%2F2012%2F08%2F31%2F235337.html
September 2nd, 2012, 1:29 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
I miss Aleppo, the biggest city in Bahrain
Now, no one can claim that the MB are sectarian, the first ever MB President mentioned the Bahraini revolution and oppression so many times in his speech. And the funny thing was the withdrawal of the Syrian muallek in solidarity with the Bahraini regime. My Persian friends wee baffled.
September 2nd, 2012, 1:30 am
SYRIAN HAMSTER said:
I am not and I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.
Baloney, no you don’t, what you want to see is maintenance of the foolish buffoon at all costs. You hide behind rejecting the opposition. You have been posting long enough for everyone to know that and we are not stupid.
September 2nd, 2012, 1:36 am
Juergen said:
I really hope those folksmen of Kafranbel collect their art work, it would a good stock for an museum in the future.
An other masterpiece:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151068403716247&set=a.10150555196441247.389740.17702461246&type=1&theater
Its a funny fact that the smurfs are a common reminder of my generation, throughout the ME.
September 2nd, 2012, 1:46 am
Juergen said:
Putin bans The Simpsons, South Park and even Tom and Jerry
Somehow the new Zar has a problem with Us animated cartoons.
The Putin administrations issued a law forbidding to show extensive brutality on tv( they should worry now what to show in their evening news, without those gruesome images of beaten criminals and terrorists) and the paper explictly is stating Tom and Jerry, South Park and The Simpsons. Tv stations will have to abide otherwise they risk to pay fines. Some stations will censure, some will show their cartoons late at night.
Welcome Russia to the times of the cold war! May be Russians should only see “Nu pododi” again. ( bunny and wolf)
September 2nd, 2012, 2:20 am
Juergen said:
12 min short movie about the revolution in Syria
SIEGE ON SYRIA
(part of cinema for peace- berlin film festival )
September 2nd, 2012, 2:33 am
SimoHurtta said:
Putin bans The Simpsons, South Park and even Tom and Jerry
Somehow the new Zar has a problem with Us animated cartoons.
Why do you Jûrgen spread complete idiotic fiction. The Russian law demands to cut ultra violent scenes from the cartoons. Like those violent “The Itchy & Scratchy Show” parts in the Simpsons if the cartoon is showed during time children watch those cartoons. Not banning the cartoons. The laws intention is protecting children from information causing harm to their health and development (scenes encouraging children to try drugs, tobacco or alcohol or justifying violence must not be shown until 11 pm).
For example in Finland the Simpsons are allowed for children above 12 years and are show after 8 pm. Could we say that somehow the new “Finnish King” has a problem with US animated cartoons?
I find it amusing how in the minds of right-wingers everything what happens in Russia, Syria, Saddam’s Iraq etc is done and controlled by the President. Putin must be a real super being if all the hundreds of laws and actions of the state are happening because his initiative, wishes and demands.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:53 am
Juergen said:
Simurhurta
Go on spread the myth, we heard that always, if only the ruler would know…
I think we should leave it to parents to decide what is harmful to their children. Some may consider religion to be part of that.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:57 am
annie said:
419. Juergen said:
Juergen your links are always excellent.
May be I am missing out by skipping Zoo together with Ann since Tara seems to recommend his posts. I will in the future. As for exchanging incivilities don’t we have more serious business at hand ?
and a reminder
PLEDGE: ASSAD, LEAVE NOW!!
http://www.causes.com/actions/1677926?recruiter_id=181496861&utm_campaign=invite&utm_medium=wall&utm_source=fb
September 2nd, 2012, 4:10 am
Juergen said:
Iran really seems to have a problem either with free speech or with having capable translaters…
Bahrain protests in Iran against the manipulation of the speech of the Egyptian President.
Here are some more outtakes of the speech by the translator in an Iranian tv channel:
Mursi: “The UN Security Council is paralyzed in solving the Syrian crisis”
The translator: “The UN Security Council is paralyzed in resolving the crises in the world”
Mursi: “We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people against oppression”
The translator: “We stand in solidarity with the Syrian people against the conspiracy”
Mursi: “The Arab Spring began in Tunisia and now has arrived in Syria”
The Translator: (manipulated quite boldly) “The new Islamic resurrection began in Tunisia”
in arabic:
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/29e5c498-65e7-42ba-9b3b-bb4189b26675?GoogleStatID=1
September 2nd, 2012, 5:07 am
Albo said:
Richard:
““I wish I could see a decent opposition standing for all Syrians.”
All your posts lead me to believe that you are a reactionary. For instance, your cynicism towards changes in Libya & elsewhere leads me to believe you must be fearful of any change. I have same impression of Ghufran”
Who can be called reactionary Richard? You said you’re a liberal American, so you must be familiar with enlightenment values and their authors Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot etc,.. They were all about fighting fanaticism, dogmas, superstition. So again who’s being reactionary?
Shall I remind you that one of the first measures of the French revolutionaries, people heavily influenced by the aforementioned authors, was to remove any discimination against Protestants and Jews, the persecuted French minorities? You know what kind of people the opposition listen to or tolerate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwz8i3osHww
That gives you the context for this so called “Arab spring”. Nothing liberal about it
September 2nd, 2012, 5:21 am
SimoHurtta said:
Simurhurta
Go on spread the myth, we heard that always, if only the ruler would know…
I think we should leave it to parents to decide what is harmful to their children. Some may consider religion to be part of that.
Well Homer-Jûrgen let the parents decide if their children are allowed to test heroin or can they take a machine gun to school.
What if public television channels in Deutschland would show hard core porn at 1pm – 5pm when children are at home from school and parents are still at work? Ajatollah Angela (=Angel) Merkel from the CHRISTIAN Democratic Union (CDU) would be forced to react by fierce demands of the Catholic and Lutheran parents. Also non-Christian and secular parents would demand rules at once. All civilized countries have rules of what can be shown in television. The Russian law is nothing special, actually it is rather mild.
If you Jûrgen believe that in the future Syria the television can show what ever the owners (including the state) of the channels want for the parents to “choose” for their children you are with high probability wrong. The men with long beards and burning eyes will choose the program chart. Will US cartoons like Simpsons be a part of that TV supply. I doubt that.
September 2nd, 2012, 6:02 am
Antoine said:
Aldendeshe, SNP :
I am curious to know your opinions about the letter written by one Sleiman Wahesh of village Qurdaha, District Jableh, Lattakia Governorate, to the French Mandate Authorities.
What I want to know is does SNP and Aldendeshe agrees on the contents of the letter, regarding the nature of Arab Sunni Moslems towards non-Moslems, especially Alawites and Jews, living in the Fertile Crescent ?
What about the plan for Fertile Crescent presented by Saadeh, did Antoun Saadeh think that the 10 million plus non-Moslems of the Fertile Crescent can live together with the 30 million Moslems ? If so, then why did many people in Syria, and also in Lebanon, did not want to be a part of independent sovereign Syria in 1945 ?
September 2nd, 2012, 6:09 am
Antoine said:
Our brave men in Al-Boukamal, Deirezzor managed to capture Air Defence Base, and a huge amount of human-killing weapons and ammunitions fell into their hands, most crucially hundreds of RPG warheads and 12.7 mm and 23 mm ammunition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dJ_iqxNsio&feature=g-crec-lik
Now these will be used to turn Assad Tanks into burning stoves and send hundreds of Assadists to their families in the cofins draped in the sh*tty red-white-black Flag.
September 2nd, 2012, 6:26 am
Antoine said:
Uzair, you are very humble and modest.
Please keep us updated with Sheikh al-Yaqoubi. Where is he living nowadays ?
And in which Mosque did he use to preach before the Revolution ?
September 2nd, 2012, 6:42 am
Antoine said:
These are our brave men ( FSA Special Forces) –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OG7bEeCtbg&feature=g-crec-u
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2FOKo1Ox-k&feature=youtu.be
The man in the 1st video is the same schoolmaster from Deirezzor who publicly resigned last year to join FSA, Juergen do you recognize him ?
HABIB,
How are your friends in Jabal Mohsen doing ?
September 2nd, 2012, 6:51 am
Antoine said:
Funeral of Yasser Mohammed al-Halqi , fellow-clansman of Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi, in his native village Jasem in Daraa :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHlYGCCEkac
Funeral of Khaldoun Mustafa al-Halqi, fellow clansman of Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, in their home village of Jasem in Daraa :
September 2nd, 2012, 7:04 am
Antoine said:
Funeral of Muneer Adnan al-Halqi, a Sergeant of the Syrian Arab Army and a fellow-clansman of the Prime Minister, who defected and was martyred by Assad forces :
September 2nd, 2012, 7:11 am
Antoine said:
Funeral of Adham Noureddin al-Halqi, a conscript in the Syrian Arab Army and a fellow-clansman of Prime Minister al-Halqi, who was tortured and executed in Douma for refusing to shoot civilans :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URwWPUf4xOA
Million-dollar question : What sort of a reception will the Prime Minister get if and when he decides to visit his birthplace ?
September 2nd, 2012, 7:18 am
Antoine said:
Btw this is a nice photo of Martyr conscript Adham Noureddin al-Halqi, fellow clansman of Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi :
http://vdc-sy.org/index.php/en/details/martyrs/6909\
( The above website has the most authentic and well-updated database for all the martyrs of the revolution, it has a detailed personal bio for all the 22,000 martys )
September 2nd, 2012, 7:21 am
Antoine said:
http://vdc-sy.org has the most authentic database for all the martyrs of the Revolution, it includes search engine, and detailed personal bio for all the 22,000 martyrs including place of birth, place of death, cause of death, family details, personal ohoto, and video of dead body / funeral.
VDC is also allied with LCC and depends on LCC for its information.
September 2nd, 2012, 7:25 am
Antoine said:
The Halqiyyin is a small clan in Daraa, mainly residing in Jasem village. Prime Minister Wael Nader al-Halqi was born in Jassem and belongs to this clan.
This clan has produced 9 martyrs in the Revolution so far, all from the same village :
Abdulsatar Faysal al-Halqi
Othman Ahmad al-Da’as al-Halqi
Yaser Mohammad Al-Halqi
Khaldoon Ali Moustafa Al Halqi
Bassam Abdulhadi al-Halqi
Hassan Ali al-Halqi
Firas Ahmad Al-Halqi
Munir Adnan al-Halqi
Adham Ziad Noureddine Al-Halqi
http://vdc-sy.org
September 2nd, 2012, 7:34 am
alakid said:
????? ????? ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ???????
http://www.beirutobserver.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82080%3A2012-09-02-02-40-44&catid=41%3A2010-10-03-20-24-15
September 2nd, 2012, 7:38 am
Antoine said:
As for the town of Jasem (Jassem/Jassim/Jasim), where the prime Minister was born and brought up till the age of 21, this same small town in Daraa has produced 48 martyrs in the last 18 months according to the database of http://vdc-sy.org
______________________________________________________________
September 2nd, 2012, 7:44 am
Antoine said:
Of course Daraa is a Governorate of clans, and there are only 7 to 8 large clans, which ensures that a very large number of martyrs are from the same clan, which also ensures continuance of the Revolution as well as a large number of defections,
For example, the al-Zoubi, Hariri, Mikdad, Mahasneh, Sayasneh, Kafarneh, Shawamreh, Jawabreh, Arsheidat, Masalmeh and Rsheidat clans alone among them accopunt for most of the 2300 martyrs in Daraa Governorate.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:07 am
Tara said:
Juergen @414
From the document: Traitors!!! Repulsive. Even Fabian is repulsed by these traitors. Where are the offsprings of these people? Aren’t they ashamed of their heritage. I would like them to write a statement to distance themselves from their traitor grandparents.
“?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ??? ????????? ????????? ??? ??? ???????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ????????? ????? ?????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ????????? ???????????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ??? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ?????? ???????.
???? ??? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ?????? ??????.
September 2nd, 2012, 9:09 am
Uzair8 said:
Things are looking bad for the regime. The opposition should ratchet up the pressure and exploit these vulnerabilities pushing home the advantage.
Syria’s Assad watches war chest dwindle
02.09.2012
As the economy contracts and sanctions make it difficult for the Syrian government to access international markets, Damascus is seeking help from its allies in a civil war that’s getting harder for Assad to pay for.
Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil’s recent trip to Moscow suggested the extent to which Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime now depends on help from abroad. Negotiations over the delivery of gas, crude and refined oil as well as financial aid in unknown quantities points to the difficult financial situation facing the government in Damascus.
Some Syrian state employees are receiving just part or none of their salaries, while benefits are being alternately provided then denied. Islam scholar and economist Anja Zorob said she believes these are signs that international sanctions are beginning to impact the country. The energy sector plays a major role in Assad’s ability to wage war.
“Before the boycott, profits from oil account for 30 to 40 percent of the state’s proceeds. But the embargo by the EU and other nations has put an end to that,” Zorob said. “Then you have to add in sinking revenues from taxes and tariffs.”
Read more:
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16214526,00.html
September 2nd, 2012, 9:15 am
Uzair8 said:
If only the FSA (or a opposition sympathizer) can locate and reach key regime fuel dumps. Supplies from Venezuela and co. must be stored somewhere.
I sense a big and possibly critical vulnerability in this area.
September 2nd, 2012, 9:21 am
zoo said:
#413 Richard
OK, so keep being anxious, shed tears on the victims and keep hoping for the ” reasonably representative provisional government” when it is obvious it won’t come anytime soon.
And you call me cynical and ‘reactionary’…
The Syrian warring factions are showing the same blinded determination we have seen in Lebanon civil war for 15 years, indifferent to civilians deaths. In Lebanon, the Syrian army was called by the Lebanese government to separate the warring factions and stop the bloodshed. Otherwise the country would have been divided on sectarian lines and Lebanon would not exist anymore.
Who will intervene militarily to stop the bloodshed in Syria and allow the parties to negotiate a political deal?
As we see no one, then one party has to win and the other loose.
It is an attrition war and will last until one party calls it off.
That’s no cynicism, that’s realism.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:22 am
zoo said:
Was Morsi serious about a quartet to solve Syria’s problem?
Were the Iranians naive or misinformed about Morsi’s real intentions?
Mohamed Morsi’s slap in the face brings Mahmoud Ahmedinejad back to square one
After Morsi’s bombshell, agreement on a policy over Syria looked more remote than ever
Peter Popham Saturday 01 September 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mohamed-morsis-slap-in-the-face-brings-mahmoud-ahmedinejad-back-to-square-one-8099885.html
September 2nd, 2012, 10:35 am
zoo said:
Robert Fisk: Syria’s road from jihad to prison
For the first time, a Western journalist has been granted access to Assad’s military prisoners
Robert Fisk
Sunday 02 September 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-syrias-road-from-jihad-to-prison-8100749.html
They came into the room one by one, heads bowed, wrists crossed in front of them as if they were used to wearing handcuffs. In one of Syria’s most feared military prisons, they told their extraordinary story of helping the armed opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One was French-Algerian, a small, stooped man in his forties with a long beard; another Turkish, with what looked like a black eye, who spoke of his training at a Taliban camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border. A Syrian prisoner described helping two suicide bombers set off a bloody explosion in central Damascus, while a mufti spoke of his vain efforts to unite the warring factions against the Syrian government.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:42 am
Uzair8 said:
We’re told the regime army is strong and powerful. Why haven’t they been able to subdue Aleppo? How many weeks has it been? This suggests the regime forces aren’t as strong as we are told.
The regime forces are bogged down in Aleppo. Their supply lines being attacked and picked off.
Hit-and-run attacks in Damascus. The opposition able to reach the meeting places of military figures (see todays claim – bombings)).
Bases all over the place being attacked and besieged with regime aerial assets being targeted on the ground.
The opposition can open up new fronts at will thereby further stretching and burdening an already overstretched regime military.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:42 am
zoo said:
CIA chief due in Istanbul for talks on Syria and terrorism
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/cia-chief-due-in-istanbul-for-talks-on-syria-and-terrorism.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29175&NewsCatID=359
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director David Petraeus will visit Turkey tonight to conduct talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the fight against terrorism, daily Ak?am has reported.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:44 am
zoo said:
Syrian rebels losing support
National Editorial Sep 3, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/editorial/leadership-crisis-as-syrian-rebels-losing-support
Even the best-disciplined armies have been accused of looting, rape and other crimes. And the Free Syrian Army is far from well-governed; its fragmented nature means command, control and discipline are rudimentary.
As The National reports today, the result is that the FSA may be losing public support, in Damascus and elsewhere. Reported thuggery has compounded Damascenes’ resentment at being dragged into a shooting war that the city’s residents had managed to avoid mainly through discreet silence.
To be sure, many of those fighting the Assad regime condemn the merchant class, and others in Syria’s big cities, for protecting families and property by sitting on the sidelines. But that argument is now moot; the war has reached the cities.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:46 am
Uzair8 said:
As Zoo has posted the Robert Fisk piece, I might as well post a few related updates I read a short time ago:
AmalHanano
So Fisk met a prisoner in #Syria who wants to write his story about being brainwashed into jihadism, but doesn’t have a pen & paper. #Sad
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/amalhanano-so-fisk-met-a-prisoner-in-syria/
AmalHanano
Prisoners who have “repented” from jihadism get an interview with Fiskie; 1000s who protested peacefully continue to be tortured. #Syria
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/amalhanano-prisoners-who-have-repented-from-jihadism/
September 2nd, 2012, 10:48 am
Tara said:
Brahimi blame primarily directed to the regime. He is sitting in NY and has no specific plan. What is the goal of appointing him? To make the West feels that they are doing something
Syria: Blast in Damascus suburb kills 15
By JAMAL HALABY | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago
Brahimi, the U.N.’s new envoy to Syria, told Assad’s regime on Saturday that change is both “urgent” and “necessary” and that it must meet the “legitimate” demands of the Syrian people, words that will not win the seasoned Algerian diplomat and international trouble shooter any friends in Damascus.
On his first day on the job, Brahimi also called on both sides to end violence in Syria, but said Assad’s government bears more responsibility than anyone else to halt the bloodshed.
The remarks, made in New York, were seemingly intended to push the Damascus government to ease off on military operations to create a better atmosphere for his peace mission.
“I call on parties inside Syria to halt the fighting. Undoubtedly, this call is primarily directed to the government. More than others, it is the duty of governments, under any circumstances and anywhere, not just in Syria, to ensure security and stability for their people,” Brahimi told al-Arabiya television in an interview.
“The need for change is urgent and necessary. The Syrian people must be satisfied and their legitimate demands are met,” he said.
…,
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-blast-damascus-suburb-kills-15-081544184.html
September 2nd, 2012, 10:51 am
zoo said:
#448 Uzair8
If Fisk is so “Fiskie”, why would the Independent keep posting his articles?
Amal Hanano has been changing her tone recently in view of the abuses of the armed rebels and the political fiasco of the SNC.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:53 am
zoo said:
#449 Tara
Ibrahimi is the facade of the West’s impotence on Syria.
As no one has any control over the 30+ groups of armed on the ground that have superseded the FSA in terrorist actions, there is almost no chance Ibrahimi will be able to get any truce or ceasefire.
Like the civil war of Lebanon, it may go on for years until the weapons providers and salaries donors get tired of paying for funerals.
Unless there is a ‘disguised’ military coup.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:02 am
Uzair8 said:
#450 Zoo
Forgive my ignorance but what does ‘Fiskie’ mean?
I tried googling it with no luck.
In the context of Amal Hanano’s tweet it sounds like nothing more than a nickname.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:03 am
zoo said:
News Analysis: Why political endeavors to solve Syria’s crisis always fail?
English.news.cn 2012-09-02
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2012-09/02/c_131822745.htm
DAMASCUS, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) — Syrian analysts and experts have been divided over finding a main reason behind the continuous faltering of the numerous international and regional endeavors that originally aimed to find peaceful solutions to Syria’s prolonged and intractable crisis.
…
Hasan Abdul-Azim, a prominent opposition leader, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the solution to the 18-months-old crisis in Syria does not rest in efforts of the UN and Arab League envoy but the achievement of a workable consensus among regional and international powers.
Also, Luai Hussain, head of the opposition current “Building Syrian State,” agreed with Abdul-Azim that any true and workable solution requires a wide-scale international effort and a consensus between the superpowers and regional ones as well.
He said the Syrian crisis is more complicated and intractable that makes the sole act of a certain organization insufficient to unravel it.
Experts believe that had the international community was sincere about solving the Syrian crisis without being biased to certain parties, the Syrian bloody crisis would have already been solved.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:11 am
Tara said:
Zoo
The Assad’s killing machine must first come to a full stop before the disorganized rebells get judged. The inability to concede on that matter is what will feed the continuation of violence.
On another subject, I want to know how the real person in you felt about the interview conducted by that woman from al Dynua TV with the wounded woman lying near the grave in Daryya or the small girls weeping near the dead mother. I urge you to please for one second forget about your and mine political posturing and give me what the human in you see.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:13 am
zoo said:
Uzair8
You posted it..
Amal Hanano:…. “get an interview with Fiskie;”
September 2nd, 2012, 11:14 am
zoo said:
#454 Tara
I don’t watch videos showing dead, wounded or tortured people.. sorry
September 2nd, 2012, 11:18 am
Richard said:
424. Albo said:
“Who can be called reactionary Richard? ….That gives you the context for this so called “Arab spring”. Nothing liberal about it”
I do understand your pessimistic point of view.
We have two flavors of tyrany in mideast: secular and Islamic. Support of either of these camps can fairly be called reactionary. Your view is that the Arab Spring has simply changed flavors.
I look at overall trends. I don’t see a radical form of Sharia being imposed in Libya. I see a turn in public opinion in Arab world against fundamentalists. The only people still buying the Wahhabism that Saudi Arabia is selling are in Pakistan.
I see progress towards democracy in many places, even early signs in the monarchies.
The Green Revolution was crushed in Iran, but even that was a long-term success. The Iranian theocracy lost a lot of prestige in the Arab world, which I think previously had some admiration for them. Look how Iraq has not embraced a religously intolerant government.
It is not necessary for the glass to be half full for me to be optimisitic, if glass is 20% full today when it was 10% full 5 years ago, I am encouraged.
God, I hope the MB in Egypt can be at least as civil as the Turks.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:18 am
Tara said:
Zoo
I think you do sometimes…
September 2nd, 2012, 11:20 am
Hamoudeh al-Halabi said:
Shaykh Yaqoubi’s Fatwa on using land mines in urban warfare
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/shaykh-yaqoubis-fatwa-on-using-land-mines-in-urban-warfare/
Leaked: Enjoying the rampage in a bird store
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/leaked-enjoying-the-rampage-in-a-bird-store/
Leaked: Having fun inside a tank while bombing peoples’ homes
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/leaked-having-fun-inside-a-tank-while-bombing-peoples-homes/
Assad’s Barrel Bombs
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/assads-barrel-bombs/
Turkmen villages come under attack in Syria
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/turkmen-villages-come-under-attack-in-syria/
Bosnian who fled from Aleppo: worse than Sarajevo
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/bosnian-who-fled-from-aleppo-worse-than-sarajevo/
Leaked: Assad’s Soldiers Setting Houses On Fire
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/leaked-assads-soldiers-setting-houses-on-fire/
“Is this the freedom you want” he says, while he sets the house on fire. “Assad or we will burn the country, Assad or we will burn the country completely” he says.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:30 am
Citizen said:
http://rt.com/news/rebels-warning-civilian-airports-114/
Syrian rebels give airlines ’72-hour warning’ before they plan to seize civilian airports
“The only reason the rebels are still fighting until today is because they enjoy logistic, weapons and financial support from many countries. What Mr. Lavrov said is very important. How can you ask a national army in any country in the world to stop fighting rebels [whose] existence you recognize…what do you expect the army to do,” he said.
“How can your protect civilians by imposing war? If you want to protect civilians you have to stop war, and stopping war starts with stopping the influx of weapons and money to the rebels,” he continued
September 2nd, 2012, 11:47 am
Tara said:
I never thought I would say this. I miss Irritated. Go figure..
September 2nd, 2012, 12:01 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Darayya will bow down to no human.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chroniclesyrianuprising/sets/72157631359684612/
The people of Darayya clean up their own streets after Assad and is slaughterers “cleansed” the life out of their family members.
September 2nd, 2012, 12:20 pm
Ghufran said:
??? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ? ???? ?? ???? ??????
???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????????? ” ?? ??????? ???????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ????? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? “.
? ????? ??????? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????.
? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ??? ” ???? ????? ??????” ???????? ?? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ??????? .
???? ??????? ???? ???? ????? ?????? ?? “????? ???? ?? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??????”? ????? ??? ??? “?? ??????? ??????? ???? 3 ??????”.
I’ve heard the garbage about starting a Syrian army from scratch and uprooting the current army, those who support this plan are either lunatics or foreign agents regardless of how elegant their poison pill looks, I agree that many in the army ranks need to be removed, some may even have to face trial,but to condemn a body of 300,000 to the hall of national shame is shameful by itself,it shows how confused and limited some of you are.
One poster threw 10 comments at us within an hour,most of that was about funerals, I have a name for this: postorrhea, thanks to one of my friends who deal with matters related to the digestive system.
I do not believe the rebels will be able to topple the regime by force,but they will ,with the help of regime thugs, deliver to us a nation that is dysfunctional, divided,unsecure and as poor as dirt. Western governments have done very little in the face of Assad’s heavy bombardment of cities because they see him as doing the dirty job on their behalf, there will be a day when Assad,or whoever replaces him, will revive direct assistance against alqaida type rebels who are a threat to everybody not just the regime, the FSA has to clean its ranks from those animals,some think it is already too late,if the FSA is perceived by the west and by syria’s neighbors as being overtaken by Alqaida and similar Islamist terrorist organizations,aid to the FSA will stop and attacks against it will receive more legitimacy, this imminent threat is behind the rebels feverish attempts to look dovish and even secular,it is also the reason why the regime is busy trying to make the FSA look like a bunch of Islamist thugs.
September 2nd, 2012, 12:31 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Today 30 civilians were slaughtered by Assad’s shabiha in the town of Van (Hama). Below is a video of the families mourning and bidding farewell to them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZq-RX0lUcY&feature=youtu.be
Yet another Sunni town massacred. All for what exactly?
September 2nd, 2012, 12:54 pm
zoo said:
Gufran
No need to wait, the FSA has lost his supporters, within or outside Syria. It had a chance of cleaning up its ranks months ago but it preferred to use more dirty free hands to help them. They are paying the price now.
The West is flip-flopping between the hope that the political opposition will unite, to the hope that the military opposition will put a stop to the transformation of the armed rebels into sectarian Jihadists. None of these options seem to bring any results.
The SNC is moribund despite the repeated announcement of a ‘transition government in exile’ that gullible and impotent Hollande wants to support.
Turkey and Jordan’s priority is now to get rid of the restless and demanding ‘temporary guests” that threaten to become restless permanent guests on their land.
All this in the total indifference of the big powers, who, as you said, seem to have given a greenlight to Bashar’s army to finish off the jihadists even it also mean killing armed rebels.
Overall, despite the numerous Western strategists , it is a mess.
September 2nd, 2012, 1:22 pm
zoo said:
Richard
“The only people still buying the Wahhabism that Saudi Arabia is selling are in Pakistan.”
and Afghanistan and among many Syrian rebels and even in this blog.
It is premature to say that any of the countries government issued from the Arab Spring are opposed to fundamentalism. In a year, the haze of the revolution will will gone and masks would have fallen.
Remember how Iran revolution transformed itself in less than 2 years after it was won.
I hope you are right, but in my view, there is a great chance that the poor countries, unable to get out of their poverty, will turn to Saudi Arabia and Qatar for help and will be greatly influenced by Wahhabism.
September 2nd, 2012, 1:33 pm
Uzair8 said:
If rebels appeared in Qardaha or Tartous would these places get the same indiscriminate military treatment that other places such as Homs and Aleppo have experienced or would the regime forces take more care to save civilian lives and local property?
September 2nd, 2012, 1:47 pm
Uzair8 said:
#455 Zoo
Zoo, you said the following.
‘If Fisk is so “Fiskie”, why would the Independent keep posting his articles?’
If, as I believe, ‘Fiskie’ is just a nickname, then there must be some other reason, which I’m sure you will kindly share with us, why the Independant should possibly not post his articles? 😉
September 2nd, 2012, 1:51 pm
Halabi said:
When the FSA lives in villages and cities, Assad supporters and sectarian opponents of the revolution blame the rebels for civilian deaths when the regime shells neighborhoods.
Who is to blame for the destruction of the environment when the regime burns the beautiful and scarce green areas in Syria in an effort to push out rebels from the woods?
http://youtu.be/DawUIk8onxA
I know the answer. The rebels, protesters, and anyone who opposes Assad’s regime should just leave the country, because Assad’s army and shabi7a will destroy anyone and anything that opposes them.
September 2nd, 2012, 2:01 pm
Uzair8 said:
FSA claiming a successful operation:
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/fsa-statement-al-omari-batallion-in-a-joint/
Video linked to the operation statement:
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/this-video-must-be-linked-to-the-below/
September 2nd, 2012, 2:13 pm
ann said:
UN Security Council has no authority to support revolution in Syria – Lavrov – 01 September, 2012
http://rt.com/news/syrian-crisis-intervention-lavrov-109/
The UN Security Council has no right to support a revolution or foreign intervention in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned. Any plan to withdraw government troops while fighting continues is untenable, and naïve at best, he added.
The demand for President Bashar al-Assad to resign as a precondition to resolving the Syrian crisis is a completely unrealistic approach, Lavrov said during a public appearance at the Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs.
“There are different attitudes towards the Syrian regime. But while fighting in the streets continues, it is absolutely unrealistic to say that the only way out is for one side to unilaterally capitulate. It is not a matter of ideology, we don’t support any political figures in Syria. We just reason from what is realistic,” Lavrov said to the students of the diplomatic university.
Harking back to the summit in Geneva in June, Lavrov noted that despite differing opinions on the conflict, all the participating countries agreed to work for a “free, stable, independent and democratic” Syria. However, “our western partners and some nations in the region are almost openly pushing for outside intervention,” said Lavrov.
“Outside intervention should be positive. Every international player should push for both sides of the Syrian conflict to cease violence,” stressed Lavrov. “Saying that the government should be the first to pull out its troops from towns and then the opposition is not a viable plan.”
The Russian foreign minister added that those foreign players who insist on inciting the opposition forces “are not working in the interests of the Syrian people. They are motivated by their own geopolitical interests.”
Lavrov cited the fact the Security Council dismissed a vote on the Geneva accord as evidence that a number of countries were not working for the Syrian people.
[…]
http://rt.com/news/syrian-crisis-intervention-lavrov-109/
September 2nd, 2012, 2:38 pm
ann said:
Twin bombings targeting security service buildings rock central Damascus – report – 02 September, 2012
http://rt.com/news/blast-damascus-army-syria-173/
Twin blasts have rocked the Abu Rummaneh district in central Damascus. The explosions reportedly targeted buildings in the city’s security area.
“A terrorist attack with two bombs occurred in Al-Mehdi Street in the Abu Rummaneh district,” Syrian state television reported.
AP report said that the bombs struck a building under construction near the headquarters. The building, which was empty at the time of the blast, is a base for army officers who guard the offices of the joint chiefs of staff, located about 180 meters away.
The Abu Rummaneh district is home to Syria’s Ministry of Defense, as well as a number of foreign embassies, including those of Denmark, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the Vatican.
Reports suggest that four people lightly injured in the attacks were army officers.
Sunday’s twin bombing inside the capital was the second in recent weeks to hit Abu Rummaneh. On August 15, a bomb exploded outside the Dama Rose hotel where UN observers stayed before ending their mission to Syria. Three people were wounded in the blast, which hit a military compound parking lot.
State media also reported that a car bomb had killed 15 people Saturday near a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern outskirts of Damascus. State news agency SANA blamed armed terrorist group for the attack.
Another bomb targeted an army officer’s car in Damascus on Saturday, killing the officer and injuring others. In a separate incident the same day, one person was killed and two children were injured when a suicide car bomb detonated in the city’s eastern Deir al-Zour province, local media reported.
[…]
http://rt.com/news/blast-damascus-army-syria-173/
September 2nd, 2012, 2:54 pm
Hassan said:
Any Government has the right to kill 1/3 of the country’s population in order to safeguard the 2/3.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:00 pm
Uzair8 said:
428. Antoine said:
“Uzair, you are very humble and modest.”
I don’t know about that but thanks for the complement. I’ve learnt a lot from some good people on SC. Some of their good manners have also rubbed off on me, I hope.
“Please keep us updated with Sheikh al-Yaqoubi. Where is he living nowadays ?
Hamoudeh kindly keeps us updated on the statements of Syrian scholars including Sh. Yaqoubi.
And in which Mosque did he use to preach before the Revolution ?”
I rechecked on wiki and the Shaykh taught at the Ummayad Mosque and was Friday speaker at Jami’ al-Hasan Mosque
About updates. I just had a look at the Shaykh’s twitter. There was one tweet since I last checked. On the topic of the NAM summit.
Going by the Google Translate of the arabic tweet, which I adjusted (correct me if I’m wrong) it goes something like this:
29th Aug
“A summit convened for the Non-Aligned countries biased in favour of the west, and biased countries of the east. Where are the countries biased in favour of the right?”
http://twitter.com/Shaykhabulhuda/status/241055076410597376
September 2nd, 2012, 3:14 pm
zoo said:
Let’s applaude to a victory of the revolution : the right to wear a veil, until it becomes a fashion then a tacit obligation.
Egypt’s first veiled news anchor appears on state TV
AFP – 1 hr 41 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-first-veiled-news-anchor-appears-state-tv-173416287.html
A veiled anchorwoman read the news on Egypt’s state television for the first time on Sunday, reflecting a shift in official media since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and the subsequent rise of Islamists.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:18 pm
Uzair8 said:
406. Syrialover
Yes it was quite witty and had me chuckling. It could be effective if used.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:22 pm
zoo said:
Last chance for the SNC ? End September, the expats opposition groups will join the SNC and elect a leadership, excluding the main local Syrian opposition group.
Syria’s opposition SNC to expand, reform
AFP – 3 hrs ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-opposition-snc-expand-reform-154015515.html
The main opposition Syrian National Council has agreed to expand to include more groups opposing President Bashar al-Assad and will reform to be more representative, a spokesman told AFP on Sunday.
…
At a meeting in Stockholm late on Saturday, the SNC agreed to expand its membership and to hold a vote later this month to elect its leadership, spokesman George Sabra said.
…
The mandate of current SNC leader Abdel Basset Sayda, which was due to expire on September 9, has been extended and he will stay on until the vote is held in late September, Sabra said.
….
There were no plans, however, for the SNC to expand to include another prominent opposition grouping, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), which favours a non-violent overthrow of the regime and opposes foreign military intervention.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:25 pm
ann said:
Arab Invasion in Syria ‘Not an Option’ – UN Envoy – September 2, 2012
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120902/175724639.html
A military intervention in Syria by Arab forces is not on the cards, Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations’ new envoy to the war-torn country, said on Sunday.
“A military interference in Syria means failure of diplomatic efforts,” Brahimi said in an interview to Al Arabiya television.
“For me, this option is not available, and personally, this will be neither today nor tomorrow nor after tomorrow,” Brahimi said.
[…]
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120902/175724639.html
September 2nd, 2012, 3:35 pm
Hassan said:
Free Egypt !!!
Mohammed Morsi, the Ikhwanist rebel who should have been in Prison, has appointed a veiled woman to be news anchor for State TV !!!
This is a direct assault on the secular nature of the Egyptian State and an insult to our father Gamal Abdel nasser !!!
Egyptians !!! Rise up and revolt against this medieval Islamist tyranny !!
Say NO to the veil in Government institutions !!
SYRIANS, is this the freedom you want ?
September 2nd, 2012, 3:36 pm
Hassan said:
Free Egypt !!!
Mohammed Morsi, the Ikhwanist rebel who should have been in Prison, has appointed a veiled woman to be news anchor for State TV !!!
This is a direct assault on the secular nature of the Egyptian State and an insult to our father Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser !!!
Egyptians !!! Rise up and revolt against this medieval Islamist tyranny !!
Say NO to the veil in Government institutions !!
SYRIANS, is this the freedom you want ?….
September 2nd, 2012, 3:39 pm
Tara said:
Bahrain complains to Iran over name switch with Syria
Bahrain has demanded an apology from Iran after its name was substituted for Syria in a state television translation of a speech by Egypt’s president that backed the rebellion against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/9515605/Bahrain-complains-to-Iran-over-name-switch-with-Syria.html
The Bahraini foreign ministry reacted furiously, summoning Iran’s charge d’affaires to lodge a formal protest and accusing Tehran of “interference in Bahrain’s domestic affairs”.
The translation also drew criticism from Egypt’s foreign ministry, which denied that Mr Morsi had mentioned Bahrain and referred reporters to the official version of his speech on its website.
Ezzatollah Zarghami, the head of IRIB, acknowledged one “shortcoming” in translation but insisted there were no other errors.
However,
….
September 2nd, 2012, 3:39 pm
ann said:
New UN Envoy on Syria Rules Out Foreign Military Interference – September 2, 2012
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120902/175627734.html
Algeria’s former foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi officially replaced Kofi Annan as peace envoy to Syria starting this month.
Brahimi said that sending foreign military forces to Syria would mean a “failure of diplomatic efforts.”
“For me, this option is not available, and personally, this will be neither today nor tomorrow nor after tomorrow,” the agency cited Brahimi as saying.
[…]
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120902/175627734.html
September 2nd, 2012, 3:39 pm
zoo said:
A Safe Haven Inside Syria? Bad Idea
by Christopher Dickey Sep 1, 2012 3:50 PM EDT
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/01/a-safe-haven-inside-syria-bad-idea.html
Flooded with refugees, Turkey has asked the U.N. to set up a shelter inside Syria’s borders. Christopher Dickey on the strategy’s disappointing and dangerous record.
On Thursday, the Turks pleaded before the U.N. Security Council for support to establish a safe haven inside Syria where refugees might take shelter from the bombs and tanks of the savage Assad dictatorship.
Sounds reasonable, no? And humanitarian, for sure. But it’s not. When the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja’afari, claimed the initiative is essentially part of a strategy “promoting imminent military intervention under humanitarian pretexts,” he was just stating the obvious. And for just that reason, when it comes to safe havens, there is nothing safe about them. They generally offer poor shelter, and often give probable cause for escalating violence.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:47 pm
Tara said:
Bravo Mursi,
Veiled women should have exact same rights as women who wear tank tops. The Pakistani foreign minister looks very attractive with her head cover. I do not support the Niqab though that covers the whole face. I am ok if the full Niqab thing is banned.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:50 pm
ann said:
On Syria, UNICEF Won’t Say Who Counted 1600 Dead, Wires Use
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 2 — After UNICEF’s Patrick McCormick was quoted that “at least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week” and Reuters said he was “citing a U.N. document,” Inner City Press asked McCormick, which document? And how was the data collected?
McCormick answered, “call OCHA” — the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This seemed strange, since in 2009 OCHA refused to release very specific casualty figures — 2,683 — it had collected in Sri Lanka.
At the time, the UN told Inner City Press it is not in the business of counting the dead — Inner City Press thought and thinks the UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
Later on September 2, AP ran a headline “UNICEF says 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week,” noting down in the fifth paragraph of the story that McCormick “did not immediately explain how he arrived at the figure.”
On OCHA’s ReliefWeb site is a UNICEF report which states “a record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.” So it appeared that UNICEF’s McCormick was quoting a UNICEF report. Why then pass the buck to OCHA?
And so Inner City Press has asking asked McCormick:
“on OCHA’s ReliefWeb website in the UNICEF weekly report, it’s stated that ‘A record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.’ The question: reported by whom? Does the figure cited, in the UNICEF report and by you, include military deaths? Deaths among armed groups?
“Seems important to answer this, especially since the UN system says in other contexts it does not have access and / or does not count the dead. If you’re saying that the UNICEF report you cited was based on OCHA information, please which what information, or who it is at OCHA you’re saying I should call.”
There has been no answer, even as the figure is distributed all over the world!
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria2figures090212.html
September 2nd, 2012, 3:52 pm
zoo said:
What Erdogan really is
The lonely man of the Middle East
Stanley A. Weiss, Gstaad,Sweden | Opinion | Sat, September 01 2012, 2:41 PM
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/09/01/the-lonely-man-middle-east.html
When Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan met last month with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin about the civil war in Syria, political biographers had a right to be confused.
After all, one is the leader of a government that has imprisoned more journalists than China and Iran combined; empowered special courts to arrest citizens on suspicion of terrorism without evidence or the right to a hearing; sentenced two students to eight years in prison for holding a sign at a rally demanding “free education”; and has seen more than 20,000 complaints filed against it in the European Court of Human Rights since 2008. The other is president of Russia.
That the leader of secular, democratic Turkey — a long-time US ally and member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — has managed to out-Putin Putin when it comes to steamrolling civil liberties the past ten years is just the beginning of the way politics is changing on the Black Sea.
September 2nd, 2012, 3:53 pm
ann said:
NATO Terrorists to Target Syria’s Civilian Airports – September 2, 2012
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/08/hillary-clinton-dances-in-south-africa/?iref=allsearch
September 1, 2012 – Syria has over 15 military airbases, including dedicated airbases located near Aleppo and Damascus. These airbases are generally surrounded by networks of military infrastructure including storage depots, barracks, motor pools, and defensive positions. So much as even denting these facilities would require a standing enemy army, airpower, and armor – something the terrorists operating in Syria with NATO backing currently lack. Even a successful, concentrated attack on a single airbase would make little difference tilting the balance of power in favor of NATO-backed foreign terrorists operating under the banner of the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA).
Puzzling then was an announcement made by NATO terrorists, warning that in 72 hours, starting September 1, 2012, they would begin operations to target Syria’s two international airports, Damascus International, and Aleppo International. The Telegraph would report that NATO’s terrorist front, “warned it would target civilian planes using the airports in Damascus and Aleppo from tomorrow.” The Telegraph would also claim, “it [the FSA] suspected government was using the flights to bring in weapons.” Like all of NATO terrorist claims, no evidence has been provided by either the militants, or the Western press.
The Telegraph has just reported that terrorists are planning to shoot at civilian planes and paralyze civilian flights across the country – a terrorist act by any definition or law.
Declaration of Terrorist Intend in Absolute Violation of International Law.
RT has also reported in their article, “Syrian rebels give airlines ’72-hour warning’ before they plan to seize civilian airports,” that terrorists, “gave a 72-hour advance warning to airlines to suspend flights to Syria before the rebels try to seize civilian airports in Damascus and Aleppo. They claim the Syrian Air Force is using them ‘illegally.’” RT also noted that, “international law prohibits attacks on civilian airports, whether during internal conflicts or wars between states.”
Indeed, even corporate-financier funded faux-NGOs like Human Rights Watch (HRW) note that attacking civilian infrastructure, such as an airport can only be done if achieving a military objective outweighs the impact on civilians. HRW says specifically:
Civil airports, roads and bridges are civilian objects that become military objectives subject to attack if they are actually used for military purposes or military objectives are located on or within them. Even then, the rule of proportionality applies, requiring the parties to the conflict to weigh the short- and long-term harm on civilians against the military advantage served; they must consider all ways of minimizing the impact on civilians; and they should not undertake attacks if the expected civilian harm outweighs the definite military advantage.
Clearly, if the Syrian Air Force has 15 bases in addition to whatever they may or may not be using its two international airports for, terrorist attacks on its two main civilian airports in no way achieve military objectives proportional to the adverse impact such attacks will have on Syria’s civilian population.
A Blatant Terroristic Threat.
Instead, the two airports have been picked to maximize terror against both the Syrian people and government forces, as well as undermine Syria politically on the international stage. In other words, they are craven acts of terrorism designed to achieve a political, not military objective – to attack, not defend Syria’s civilian population. And it will be craven terrorist attacks carried out with funding, arms, and logistical support provided by the US, UK, Israel, NATO-member Turkey, and the Gulf State despots of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The attacks will have absolutely no impact on Syrian security operations, and will instead simply paralyze civilian infrastructure and inevitably cost civilian lives. It will serve to panic the Syrian people, thus creating yet more refugees with which NATO will then claim demands foreign military intervention in the form of long sought-after “safe havens.” Essentially, NATO is purposefully encouraging an atmosphere of terror and panic, then using the resulting refugees and humanitarian crisis as political bargaining chips.
The silence of the UN in the face of this bold declaration of terroristic intent, as well as its utter indifference toward US, NATO, GCC, and Israeli sponsorship of terrorism and purposeful creation of humanitarian catastrophe, further undermines both the organization itself and the primacy of “international law” it is charged with maintaining.
[…]
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/08/hillary-clinton-dances-in-south-africa/?iref=allsearch
September 2nd, 2012, 4:27 pm
Uzair8 said:
Forgot something in #474.
Antoine said:
“Please keep us updated with Sheikh al-Yaqoubi. Where is he living nowadays ?
The Shaykh lives in Morocco now.
September 2nd, 2012, 4:35 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
486
Question for Ann
What is a NATO terrorist? Does the NATO terrorist organization have any special requirements for entry-level recruits? Do you have to fill out a form to join up? Can my girl friend join up too?
September 2nd, 2012, 5:05 pm
Syrialover said:
Attention all drama queens, Assadists, anti-Muslims and ill-informed bores on this forum who keep squawking warnings of a Syria run by radical extremists if Assad quits.
Here’s the reality:
Islamists Struggle To Run North Mali
DAKAR, Senegal — The radical Islamists who control northern Mali appear incapable of managing basic services — including electricity, water and schools — and in some cases are asking for the return of state functionaries to run them, according to a delegation that went to the region for talks recently.
“They asked for the state to resume its functions, because it’s too complicated for them to manage,” said Daouda Maïga, who used to run a state development program in Kidal, a region of nearly 70,000 people before the Islamist takeover emptied it. “They are not used to running things.”
About 400,000 people have fled the north since the Islamist takeover, creating a vacuum of talent that the Islamists have apparently been unable to fill. “Five months after the state, its services, and NGOs were all forced out, there is a strong need for state services,” a report issued by the coalition said last week, referring to nongovernment workers. “The new masters have themselves come to realize that they cannot replace the state.”
Some of the delegates were surprised by the supplicatory tone of the Islamists, many of them religiously indoctrinated guerrilla fighters used to living lives of isolation in the desert.
“There are so many things that the state does, that they cannot do,” Mr. Maïga said. “Run the water system, the electricity, schools.” In Kidal, there is electricity one night a week at most, he said, and the same was true for water and telephone service.
Mr. Maïga said he was struck by the Islamists’ complaints about the difficulty of even applying Shariah consistently by their standards, the impracticability, for example, of amputating hands of all of the approximately 200 thieves they have captured. “They are really in a bind,” Mr. Maïga said. “They are really having trouble replacing the state.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/world/africa/holding-northern-mali-by-force-islamists-struggle-to-run-it.html?src=me&ref=world
September 2nd, 2012, 5:23 pm
annie said:
“A spring tale” : short animated movie in tribute to the syrian protesters
Great video by Mohamad Omran and interesting article (in French)
on caricatures and the revolution
http://www.rue89.com/rue89-culture/2012/09/02/caricatures-sketches-lart-syrien-suit-le-rythme-de-la-revolution-234935
September 2nd, 2012, 5:45 pm
Richard said:
463. Ghufran said:
“Western governments have done very little in the face of Assad’s heavy bombardment of cities because they see him as doing the dirty job on their behalf”
Western governments are not intervening because of the costs and risks. To postulate that Italy and Canada want to see Syria’s cities & citizens destroyed is madness.
As long as Assad remains in power, the western governments are unhappy, because he remains a tool of Iranian malice. A militarily weakened Syria is OK with the west, but of no great interest.
September 2nd, 2012, 5:57 pm
Syrialover said:
Thank you, Richard (#492)
It’s particularly ridiculous – actually pathetic – when people enjoying a safe and free life in the west, insist on telling this forum that the citizens and elected governments of those countries secretly want to see Syria and its people destroyed.
Those saying that are demonstrating their distance from reality and lack of comprehension of the world around them.
September 2nd, 2012, 6:21 pm
Uzair8 said:
Sh. Yaqoubi facebook.
18 minutes ago
Six Types of Syrians:
The Syrian people these days are one of six:
1- One may Allah have mercy on his soul
2- One may Allah cure his wounds
3- One may Allah release from prison
4- One may Allah bring back home
5- One may Allah protect from shelling
6- One may Allah rid the earlier five of.
http://www.facebook.com/shaykhabulhuda/posts/10151130592322580
Ameen.
September 2nd, 2012, 7:01 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
491
Thank you, Richard.
It is all about costs and risks. Separating the combatants and dampening down the flames of civil war would require that a foreign interventionist be willing to stay in Syria for the long haul and suffer a lot of casualties. No one in the West sees any value there. Can you blame them?
This is unlike Iraq in 2003. Saddam still had the largest Arab army in the ME. And he was still a threat to his neighbors despite having been beaten by (1) Iran and (2) Old George Bush. And he had used Weapons of Mass Destruction against the Kurds in the Anfal Campaign. He had to be destroyed.
Assad does not pose a threat to anyone outside of Syria. So the West will publicly deplore the situation and look the other way.
For those of us Syrians who are looking for someone in the West to help out, just remember that the Syrian regime has gone to a lot of time and effort making enemies of Western Countries. They have built up no good will there. A lot of people in the West see Syrians as congenital troublemakers.
It’s really high time for the Syrian opposition to launch a charm campaign, the point of which should be to SHOW the Westerners that Syrians are friendly and basically nice.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:03 pm
Darryl said:
To: Visitor aka Antoine aka the militant salafi Khalid Tlass
You have invoked my name in your post that I am going to hell along with innocent Norman. You should have not done that as I have told you before; you are a feather-weight when it comes to religion. Mjabali, if you are reading this post, your dog definitely knows more about things that this person.
Anyway, Visitor/Tlass, I am living in heaven. I do not need to go to your brothel with 72 virgins each one with a rump 2 miles wide, a brothel that you have no guarantee of getting there as only 1 out of 73 Islamic sects will make it and no one knows what criteria will get you there anyway.
Visitor/Tlass, your Quran in 3:55 said:
“Jesus I am will make you die, raise you up to Me and make you holy and your followers will be ahead of others”. This is what we Christians always believed and your Quran attests to that.
You, on the other hand is a slave, the Quran in 9:111 said you have been purchased to fight and be killed. You are a mercenary slave for a promise that you may get to a brothel. That is why you live a miserable life, you have been degraded. As for me, the Messiah has died for me to elevate me to a status of a god, this is the reason you live in the Christian west so that you escape the humiliation of Islam.
Now compare the Christian scripture whereby it said God made mankind in his image to your teaching whereby Allah made Adam out of clay and have him sit for thousands of years withering in the elements and the devil entering through his ass and exiting though his penis etc. etc. Have we not had enough of these alf leila wa Leila (Arabian night) stories?
Now I have a few questions for you Visitor (you come across as the knowledgeable version of the militant Tlass and not the kid-asking questions of Antoine:
In the Sura 43:1 it says Ha Meem, verse 2 said this is a clear Quran. What does Ha Meem mean?
In Sura 3 verse 1 it says Alef Lam and verse 3 said Muhammad had a book in his hands what does Alef Lam mean and what is that book beside the the Quran, Injeel and Torah?
In Sura 27 verse 1, Tah Seen and a clear book again, what does Tah Seen meen? it should be clear , no? See also 28:1/2 and 44:1/2
Now this is a question for the Tlass version:
In a previous post you indicated to Tara, young girls will be trained to wear the hijab and Tara does not like that all. Can you please tell us what you will do with Quran 65:4, marriage to girls who have not even reached puberty . Many Islamic countries have modified the Quran Sharia and changed the legal marriage age to 15 years and now Saudi Arabia studying changing the legal age to 18. Where do you stand on this? You can seek help from Visitor and Antoine if you like.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:04 pm
Syrain said:
????? ????? ????? ???? “???????” ?? ???? ????? ?????? ????? “??????”
For the 1st time,the association of Syria scholars has declared Jehad(holy war) against Bashar.
While this is not the first time a group had declared Jehad, this time it came from a branch that fellows a moderate form of Islam, that also has very high regards among Damascus Sunnis.
It is not a secret that DamascusFor the 1st time,the association of Syria scholars has declared Jehad(holy war) against Bashar.
While this is not the first time a group had declared Jehad, this time it came from a branch the fellow a moderate form of Islam, that also has very high regards among Damascus Sunnis.
It is not a secret that Damascus Sunni are not experinsed fighters as the country side nor do they have the savage toughness of the fighters of the regime , they do have money and lots of it and that is a great help to the revolution
While the victory of the revolution is not in doubt,answering the new call is the difference between moderate Islam or more radical one in the new Syria! Sunni are not experinsed fighters as the country side nor do they have the savage toughness of the fighters of the regime , they do have money and lots of it and that is a great help to the revolution
While the victory of the revolution is not in doubt,answering the new call is the difference between moderate Islam or more radical one in the new Syria!
http://all4syria.info/Archive/53089
September 2nd, 2012, 8:17 pm
zoo said:
Will Turkey revise its support for rebel groups?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/will-turkey-revise-its-syria-policy.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29224&NewsCatID=409
By the way, Damascus was shaken by a new wave of attacks on Sunday, as the Turkish government began to show some indications that it would fine tune of its Syria policy. That would not amount to a revision regarding the refugees in the humanitarian context, but could be a revision of the support given to rebel groups.
Upon complaints by the opposition and media reports, the government has decided to open up to parliamentary inspection a refugee camp in Hatay, by the Syrian border in which Syrian military defectors are being kept. The statement on the official website of the Free Syrian Army claiming Hatay as their headquarters, with a Turkish cellular number, has also been changed.
It is a fact that not only the international political atmosphere, but also the Turkish media and the opposition, is forcing the government to be more cautious on its Syria policy.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:27 pm
Ghufran said:
I know better, 491 and 492, it is hard now to mask the truth. Average citizens in the US have no interest in seeing Syrian cities getting destroyed, many citizens have actually written or spoken denouncing the killing of civilians, but most ,also, do not want to spend a penny or risk any lives in trying to stop Syrians from killing each other, they welome any effort to battle islamist terrorists even if that causes loss of civilian lives, after all,that is what their drones and armies did and continue to do in a number of countries, if the rebels are seen as an extension of Taliban and Al-Qaida they will receive a similar treatment from the west. US officials, especially those affiliated with the Neocons and the Israeli lobby, are focused on the severance of Syria’s ties with Tehran, controlling WMDs , reducing islamists threat and protecting Israel,the lives and well being of Syrians is number 5 at best, people who say otherwise either do not know or they do not want you to know. I am not particularly offended or surprised by this reality, the world today is cruel and cold especially when it comes to internal conflicts that look like a civil war, most western powers think that only Syrians can decide the course of their war, they will not directly intervene any time soon but that can change if western or Israeli interests are seriously threatened or if such an intervention becomes cheap and less risky, as of now,it is neither.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:28 pm
zoo said:
Civilians trapped in Syria’s crossfire
Phil Sands
Sep 3, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/civilians-trapped-in-syrias-crossfire
DAMASCUS // As the battle for Damascus intensifies, so do reservations about the Free Syrian Army and its tactics.
Civilians complain they are increasingly trapped between hammer and anvil as insurgents and regime forces fight for supremacy over the capital.
Lightly armed and facing a much stronger conventional military force, the FSA has adopted guerrilla tactics to survive. That involves a heavy dependence on the neighbourhoods in which it operates, with rebel fighters often drawn from local families and residents providing shelter and information, while labyrinthine urban landscapes offer some level of camouflage and protection.
exposes civilians to huge riHarbouring rebels, however, exposes civilians to huge risks.
“Many ordinary people do not support this regime any more but they are not all happy with the Free Army either,” said a resident of Saqba, a working-class district to the east of Damascus that has been heavily involved in the uprising, and repeatedly hit by regime attacks.
“The Free Army moves between our homes and the regime responds by shelling all of us,” the father of two said. “There is no political solution to this now, there will be war until one side is beaten by the other and the civilians will have to suffer the most until that time comes.”
The rebels would not have lasted this long if they did not enjoy significant grassroots support, but if the battle for Syria’s capital city is in part a battle for the hearts and minds of its population, as the war grinds on there are signs the rebels are coming up short, even in the largely working-class suburbs that make up their strongholds.
A regular pattern has emerged for the conflict in Damascus and its densely populated suburbs, one that wreaks significant destruction in the districts where the bulk of the fighting takes place.
Usually, the FSA becomes established in a neighbourhood, usually to protect anti-regime demonstrators from the security forces, who have arrested and killed thousands of protesters nationwide.
Eventually the armed rebels grow powerful enough to hold their own against local secret police units, breaking the direct hold of the central authorities over the area.
…
September 2nd, 2012, 8:38 pm
Visitor said:
495 Darryl,
First, I am neither Antoine nor Tlass.
Second, your interests in studying the Holy Qura’n is a good first step.
It is clear that you lack the proper comprehension. But, despair not. Continue reading and perchance you will be guided. That could be your only hope from meeting an abominable end that no one desires.
But, in your present condition your are in grave danger.
So, what makes you think that I would be interested in turning this board into a Qura’n teaching venue?
There are quite few places that you can visit and get answers to your questions.
If you give me your general whereabouts, I could direct you to a nearby school(s) where you can be tutored.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:47 pm
zoo said:
Harem, a pro-Assad Sunni Muslim border town, and the Shi’ite Muslim villages of Foua and Kfrya, 25 km (15 miles) from the border with Turkey, as well as parts of Jisr Shughur, now remain as isolated pro-Syrian army territory in the predominantly Sunni-populated Idlib province that borders Turkey, rebels say.
Syria rebels besiege a Sunni town loyal to Bashar Al Assad on Turkey border
by: Herve Bar
September 03, 2012 7:20AM
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/syria-rebels-besiege-town-on-turkey-border/story-e6freuz9-1226463620215
SYRIAN rebels have laid siege to Harem, on the Turkish border, confronting the army and security forces positioned in government buildings and the town’s old castle, an AFP correspondent reports.
The battle for control of the northern town lasted all day Sunday, with the rebels reporting that many of the 20,000 or so residents had taken up arms and were fighting alongside the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
Perched on a mountainside only about two kilometres from the border with Turkey, Harem has been surrounded by rebels who have converged on the town by sneaking through groves of olive trees and abandoned houses.
They have been targeted by regime snipers who have holed themselves up in the castle that dominates the entire valley.
Fire from heavy weapons, including mortars, smashes periodically into the orchards and the main entrance into the town, sending up plumes of smoke.
The rebels control six of the seven roads leading into Harem, according to their commander Abu Said, of the Al-Haq brigade.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:50 pm
Syrian said:
????? ????? ????? ???? “???????” ?? ???? ????? ?????? ????? “??????”
For the 1st time,the association of Syria scholars has declared Jehad(holy war) against Bashar.
While this is not the first time a group had declared Jehad, this time it came from a branch that fellows a moderate form of Islam, and has very high regards among Damascus Sunnis.
It is not a secret that Damascus Sunni are not experinsed fighters as the country side nor do they have the savage toughness of the fighters of the regime , they do have money and lots of it and that is a great help to the revolution
While the victory of the revolution is not in doubt,answering the new call is the difference between moderate Islam or more radical one in the new Syria!
http://all4syria.info/Archive/53089
September 2nd, 2012, 8:54 pm
Darryl said:
499. VISITOR said:
“First, I am neither Antoine nor Tlass.”
You are the same person. You should seek a shrink, having multiple personalities is a sickness that should be treated quickly.
September 2nd, 2012, 8:54 pm
ann said:
On Syria, UNICEF 1600 Death Count UNexplained, OCHA Doesn’t Answer
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 2 — On Syria, UNICEF has twice offered casualty figures it refused to explain, but that have now gone out all over the world.
After UNICEF’s Patrick McCormick was quoted that “at least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week” and Reuters said he was “citing a U.N. document,” Inner City Press asked McCormick, which document? And how was the data collected?
McCormick replied, “call OCHA” — the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
But in the seven hours since, no anwers. OCHA’s lead spokesperson is away, as is one of the two referred-to replacements. The other did not respond. Nor did McCormick, to follow-ups.
Still UNICEF’s number has continued to proliferate. Later on September 2, AP ran a headline “UNICEF says 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week,” noting down in the fifth paragraph of the story that McCormick “did not immediately explain how he arrived at the figure.”
Voice of America at 2 pm on September 2 dutifully quoted McCormick on the numbers for UNICEF, headed by Anthony Lake.
On OCHA’s ReliefWeb site is a UNICEF report which states “a record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.” So it appeared that UNICEF’s McCormick was quoting a UNICEF report. Can UNICEF’s spokesman McCormick not explain UNICEF’s own numbers? Why else pass the buck to OCHA?
This seemed strange anyway: in 2009 OCHA refused to release very specific casualty figures — 2,683 — it had collected in Sri Lanka.
At the time, the UN told Inner City Press it is not in the business of counting the dead — Inner City Press thought and thinks the UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
In Syria in 2012, the UN’s mission has left after UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said that even observers in armored cars can’t get around. How would OCHA have collected figures of the type it refused to release in Sri Lanka in 2009, and why would it (well, UNICEF) release them about Syria in 2012?
Inner City Press has asked McCormick and OCHA:
“on OCHA’s ReliefWeb website in the UNICEF weekly report, it’s stated that ‘A record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.’ The question: reported by whom? Does the figure cited, in the UNICEF report and by you, include military deaths? Deaths among armed groups?
“Seems important to answer this, especially since the UN system in other contexts has said it does not have access (in Syria at least since UNSMIS left) and / or does not count the dead (I was told this regarding Sri Lanka in 2009 — I thought and think that UN should at least do this, where it can.
There has been no answer, even as the figure is distributed all over the world Click here for Washington Post; it’s since been in, among others, Canada’s big newspapers, GlobalPost, IBT, Slate, and the Huffington Post.
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria3figures090212.html
September 2nd, 2012, 9:00 pm
Uzair8 said:
Morsi’s Tehran bombshell
31 August 2012
http://www.abdelbariatwan.com/MorsiTehranBombshell.htm
September 2nd, 2012, 9:02 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
FSA rebels – accused of war crimes – shape Syria’s future
Amal Hanano
Aug 29, 2012
Syria, the crossroads of civilisation, has become a land of crossings. Refugees cross borders to overcrowded camps; displaced families travel from destroyed towns and cities to others still being destroyed; officials and diplomats defect from the Assad regime to form alliances with the loosely defined “opposition”. And thousands of people have crossed from life to death.
Some of these crossings are devastating and heartbreaking to watch. But a few are euphoric. As the regime began its offensive against Aleppo, a short video emerged, showing some young Syrian Army soldiers who had just defected to join the Free Syrian Army.
They huddled together in the back of a lorry en route to Atareb, a nearby town. It was dark, but their faces glowed with relief as they lit cigarettes. When they alighted, opposition fighters showered them with welcomes, their voices rough yet comforting. “Thank God for your safety,” they said, the common greeting to those returning from a trip. Crossing over was like coming home.
Another video, emerging around the same time, told another story, one of vengeance. In Aleppo on July 31, the FSA-affiliated Tawheed Brigade captured members of the Barri clan. Seated in a line on a dirty floor, they faced the cameraman, one by one. Most of their faces were bloodied. Ringleader Zeyno Barri, stripped to his underwear, looked forlorn and humiliated – and like a man who knew the end was near.
[ . . . ]
The executions opened new rifts among supporters of the revolution. Accusations divided those who think the FSA is faultless, those who argue that this is not the time to talk about a “mistake”, and those who separate the revolution from the FSA. Aleppian activists were unfairly reminded of their silence (meaning acceptance) when other cities were being bombed. Those who did not unconditionally accept the FSA’s actions were labelled hypocrites, at best, and traitors, at worst.
And so the “Rambos” who justified the violence as necessary separated from the “Gandhis” who denounced some of the FSA’s tactics. Both sides were right and both were wrong, and all of us knew it.
[ . . . ]
Last Saturday was the worst day of the revolution, in a sense: over 300 bodies were discovered in Daraya. But still regime supporters display a unified front. Routine summary executions in Artouz, the shelling of peaceful funerals in Dael, the bombing of breadlines in Aleppo, the reduction of residences to rubble in Azaz – are all accepted in the name of “security”.
Meanwhile, the opposition seems divided about justice. But the reality is different. For decades, Syrians gave the regime fear disguised as love. The revolution is about reversing that, abandoning blind support for anyone and building a new society founded on accountability and responsibility. Our actions today ripple into the Syria we will inhabit tomorrow.
Like the defectors in that lorry, we all have internal boundaries to cross. For us, as for the few men who have become brothers after being enemies, crossing over, without vengeance or betrayal, is our only option. We must reject what we have inherited from the regime and act like who we are: a complex society not always in agreement, but united as a people, united as Syrians.
September 2nd, 2012, 9:31 pm
VISITOR said:
502 Darryl said,
“You are the same person. You should seek a shrink, having multiple personalities is a sickness that should be treated quickly.”
And you want me to take you seriously?
Based on what?
You haven’t shown any reasoning.
I would say and insist that you are Dark Helmet.
I’ll prove it to you:
‘D’ is for Darryl as ‘D’ in Dark Helmet. There you go. I just proved my point to someone with your reasoning prowess.
Prove to me you’re not Dark Helmet.
No wonder you cannot understand the Qura’n!
September 2nd, 2012, 9:34 pm
Mjabali said:
Darryl
Save your questions for someone who can answer and teach us something . Visitor is not anywhere near knowing the answer.
September 2nd, 2012, 9:55 pm
Darryl said:
506. VISITOR said:
“502 Darryl said,
“You are the same person. You should seek a shrink, having multiple personalities is a sickness that should be treated quickly.”
And you want me to take you seriously?
Based on what?”
Very funny VAT (Visitor Antoine Tlass), you want me to tell how I know you are the same person? That way you keep changing and then I would not spot you, good luck.
Answer some of the questions from the previous post VAT, defend yourself that you are not a mercenary slave as your own scripture degrades you to be. My scripture says I am a god and I am proud of that, yours says you are a slave. Out of curiosity, who took the money for buying your soul VAT?
A typical Muslim always hides behind the argument that you do not understand the Quran etc etc. The Quran in the quoted verses boast that it is clear, what else do we need to understand it VAT? Brainwashing perhaps ya VAT affendi?
September 2nd, 2012, 10:02 pm
Darryl said:
Dear Mjabali, I am done, enough time wasted.
September 2nd, 2012, 10:18 pm
jna said:
505. William Scott Scherk said:
“And so the “Rambos” who justified the violence as necessary separated from the “Gandhis” who denounced some of the FSA’s tactics. Both sides were right and both were wrong, and all of us knew it.”
William, I don’t understand this part of the argument. Can you explain to me why the “Gandhis” were obviously wrong to denounce “some of the FSA’s tactics”?
September 2nd, 2012, 10:18 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Dear Darryl,
I am afraid MJabali has one smart puppy, for his dog knows more about religion and politics than you do as well…
I will not go into the particulars of your veiled attack at not just Visitor but all Muslims (which you have repeatedly demonstrated on this blog in between your self imposed exile of this board) nor will I go into a theological discussion about Christianity vs. Islam. However I will challenge your misconception of the “Christian” West.
I live in Canada a nation where in its Charter of Rights and Freedoms preamble starts with:
and in its National Anthem it mentions:
While the word God is invoked in both, nowhere in the Charter or elsewhere does it mention that it is a Christian God specifically or another Deity.
Also since Canada is a country that believes in Religious Pluralism which is a very important and integral part of its efforts towards Multiculturalism it would be false to say Canada is a Christian nation since not only is freedom of religion a fundamental right so is freedom of conscience:
Now since you are an American, Canada and its laws matter very little to you I imagine, however I have a keen interest and fascination in the US constitution and those who wrote it for they changed the world with it. For those men were men of Enlightenment and not men of God, Freethinkers that relied on reason and not faith and as such when they drafted the American Constitution they made it perfectly clear that the power of the government is derived from the governed (the people) and not a deity or a king. Also nowhere in the constitution are the words “God, Jesus, Christianity, the bible” ever mentioned.
And FYI not only is the US a non-christian nation it also has nothing against Islam for in the Treaty of Tripoli John Adam’s wrote:
and then goes on to say:
Imagine that not only were the founding fathers of the US not Christian by definition but they were open towards Muslims, maybe you should ask to see their long form birth certificate…
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html
http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/anthem-eng.cfm
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/Article_11.GIF
September 2nd, 2012, 10:48 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
501 Syrian
TWO UNDOUBTED TRUTHS:
1. The Damascus Sunni are not experienced fighters like the boys from country side [but] they do have money and lots of it.
Yes! With money, you can buy guns and the people to shoot the guns. If you want the revolution to be YOUR revolution, now is the time to spend, spend, spend. And don’t be overly finicky about the men you hire. Some of them will be the type you wouldn’t let your daughters get to within 100 miles of. No matter. If they can shoot to kill, hire them. Only stay away from holy warriors and jihadists, for they will kill YOU after they kill Bashar, Asma and the little brats.
2. The victory of the revolution is not in doubt.
Absolutely. The only question is, whose revolution?
September 2nd, 2012, 11:31 pm
hopeful said:
Re: 497 Gufran
My sisters and their families, and my mother, moved to the US over a month ago. The help and support we are getting from the community is amazing: healthcare, schools, housing, etc. To say that American citizens do not care is not correct. They Do, and when they know how to help, they do help. My personal experience has been nothing but amazing so far.
As for the American government, you probably know about the “temporary protection status” they provided for Syrians who have entered the US before late March. This status allows Syrians to stay legally and work in the US for 18 months. Show me any other country in the world that has a more generous law for Syrians. Others put them in camps and make sure they cannot come and go.
Bashing the US is popular, but I think 90% of the times, it is unfair.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:40 pm
Darryl said:
511. SON OF DAMASCUS said:
“Dear Darryl,
I am afraid MJabali has one smart puppy, for his dog knows more about religion and politics than you do as well…”
You know SOD, you had some respect toward yourself at one time as I am in no need of your respect personally as I know who I am. But you are another Islamist who hides behind a mask.
You wasted all this space to dish an insult and give me information I know, when you should have used the energy and bandwidth to answer on behalf of VAT since he proved he cannot.
If you wanted to say something useful, stick to the points, otherwise, do not stick you nose in it. VAT wrote a message that talked about me and I responded respectfully using your scripture.
Now all the hell fire talk, chase the non-Muslims and degradation that the Qur’an dishes out to others does not bother you at all, does it. When are you going to realize that Non-Muslims do not have a problem with Islam, it is Islam that has problems with Non-Muslims. Before sticking your nose in this, you should have read what was written by VAT.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:43 pm
zoo said:
Turkey opposition CHP plans to bring censure motions against Erdogan and Davutolglu over Syrians soldiers in Hatay camps
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/the-search-for-new-faces-in-the-akp.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29233&NewsCatID=342
Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman K?l?çdaro?lu has intimated bringing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu to the Supreme Court over Syrian soldiers in Hatay camps. Ultimately, K?l?çdaro?lu plans to bring forth censure and investigation against Erdo?an and Davuto?lu. As part of the Constitution and internal regulations, the prime minister and ministers could be sent to the Supreme Court with a parliamentary vote following an investigation. Even though there are not enough members who would support such a motion, it seems the CHP wants to keep the matter on the agenda in the long term.
September 2nd, 2012, 11:51 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
508 Thank you, Darryl
So Visitor is a fake and a charlatan and a sneak hiding behind multiple masks. eh?
I had my suspicions about him, the first time he appeared. He seemed so arrogant and so pompous. It turns out he’s just another greasy little snake-in-the-grass.
VAT (Visitor Antoine Tlass). LOL!
September 2nd, 2012, 11:57 pm
Erin said:
Mr. Landis, please release me from Moderation, not sure why there is a block on my IP address
September 3rd, 2012, 12:00 am
Son of Damascus said:
Darryl,
‘You know SOD, you had some respect toward yourself at one time as I am in no need of your respect personally as I know who I am. But you are another Islamist who hides behind a mask.”
I have plenty of self respect, and non for you. Not because of your faith (which my wife shares with you btw) but because of your bigoted blinders. I am not hiding behind anything here Darryl, you are. You are the one using Jesus to attack Muslims, which goes against his teachings especially the part about turning the other cheek. I am not the one hiding behind protection of minorities to spew hatred and bigotry, cheerleading the genocide of Syrians because they don’t happen to follow my faith.
“You wasted all this space to dish an insult and give me information I know, when you should have used the energy and bandwidth to answer on behalf of VAT since he proved he cannot.”
I don’t think Visitor needs me to speak on his/her behalf, nor do I think I am his first or last choice in doing so if it came to that. You are the one full of insults, and I used the same language addressing you did in addressing Visitor. If you are so insulted by how I addressed you why did you choose to address Visitor in the same manner?
“Now all the hell fire talk, chase the non-Muslims and degradation that the Qur’an dishes out to others does not bother you at all, does it. When are you going to realize that Non-Muslims do not have a problem with Islam, it is Islam that has problems with Non-Muslims. Before sticking your nose in this, you should have read what was written by VAT.”
As I said in my last post I will not get into a theological argument with you regarding religion. For both our God’s would be ashamed at the blood spilled in their name. Having said that I stuck my nose in the misconception that the West is “Christian” nation, and proved it is not, and I’ll keep sticking my nose in anything I choose to because it is my right.
If you have a problem with that perhaps another self imposed exile of this blog is in the books for you…
September 3rd, 2012, 12:08 am
Tara said:
Darryl,
Told you before. You did not believe me. You are an Islamophobe. You said you are not but you are. Nevertheless I do not dislike you at all…even though you may dislike all my kind. And I still think there is a hope. It is shame that your life in Syria was not touched by any of us.
On a lighter note, I just came home from a party hosted by a Persian friend of mine. All Persian guests except my husband and I. A whole big bottle of Tequila was consumed for one toast to bring Assad down, salt, tequila, then lime. I think that was the order..It was completely non-solicited toast suggested by our host. A non-solicited pouring of emotion by Iranians in solidarity with the Syrian people…
And I changed my mind. I met a gorgeous older women, probably in her early 60s but really
pretty. Beauty must be more or less equally distributed between regions with some “divine” favor towards Syrians at least in my opinion …
September 3rd, 2012, 12:19 am
Juergen said:
photos of 600 Assad supporters meet to show their love for Al Wahash
Note they all have the same pictures of him, a total coincidence I suppose.
Saturday in Frankfurt
http://www.fr-online.de/fotostrecken-frankfurt,1474580,17033154,item,2.html
September 3rd, 2012, 12:22 am
Tara said:
And by the way, Visitor is visitor. He is not a reincarnation of any one from the past. Take my word for it.
September 3rd, 2012, 12:26 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
Visitor is the real thing? Bummer! I thought it was going to turn out he was a Syrian Clint Eastwood or the ghost of some long-dead Mullah.
September 3rd, 2012, 12:43 am
Juergen said:
Fisk went to Maaloula, and brought back some memories. Good he did not meet up with the abbess of St. Thekla, I never saw that women smile in peace, and the stories that she is visited by the mother of Al Wahash all the time tells an other story. The monastery of St.Sergis and Bachus is for me one of the most impressive churches in Syria.
Robert Fisk: In Maaloula, the past has relevance to Syria’s tragic present
“Sunday is a good day to drive to Maaloula. There are fig and olive trees and grapes by the road and, for a time, you can forget that Syria is enduring an epic tragedy. True, you mustn’t turn right to Tell, where the Syrian Arab Army are having a spot of bother with the Free Syrian Army and there are 35 military checkpoints on the 100-mile round trip from Damascus; but in the cool mountains east of the Lebanese border, Christians and Muslims live together as they have for 1,300 years. History, however, does not leave them alone.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-in-maaloula-the-past-has-relevance-to-syrias-tragic-present-8101501.html
September 3rd, 2012, 12:45 am
Tara said:
#521,
If I write original name, my post is going to go in the spam black hole, D-a-l-e.
Since when personal interaction affect you? Get over it and go back to your usual sarcastic self and anti-regime stance. Did not know you are third generation Syrian. That was quite a revelation..
Also write an email to JL to release you from jail. He announced a no moderation policy so freeing the prisoners logically follows..
September 3rd, 2012, 12:51 am
Visitor said:
520 TARA,
I would not believe your comment until you prove to me that you’re not under tequila spell.
So go to sleep now and we’ll see what you say tomorrow when the spell is over.
And I need to know more about this Dale Anderson.
—————————————
SOD,
You made eloquent rebuttals, but, alas to an undeserved recipient(s).
From my point of view, I’m enjoying exposing all the Islamophobes infesting this blog. My methods may be a bit controversial, but I would say effective. I scored two already, and I am only here for about a month.
O’ Canada we stand on guard for thee.
September 3rd, 2012, 12:52 am
Juergen said:
I am not sure why Fisk is engaging in such actions, under the Geneva law such interview degrace the imprisoned. But I assume he took his chance and followed the regimes road, he had only met terrorists captured under the laws of this bloody regime.
Robert Fisk: Syria’s road from jihad to prison
For the first time, a Western journalist has been granted access to Assad’s military prisoners
“Mohamed saw his father, a schoolteacher, his mother and a sister two months ago. Was he mistreated, we asked him. “Just one day,” he said. “It was not torture.” We asked why there were two dark marks on one of his wrists. “I slipped in the toilet,” he said.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-syrias-road-from-jihad-to-prison-8100749.html
September 3rd, 2012, 12:53 am
Visitor said:
520/523 TARA,
I would not believe your comments tonight since you could be under that tequila spell. So go to sleep and then we’ll reconsider your intuitions tomorrow.
And I would like to know who this D-A-L-E is.
————————-
SOD,
You made eloquent comments, but alas to undeserved recipient(s).
From my point of view I am enjoying exposing all the Islamophobes infesting this site. To some, my methods may look controversial, but they are effective. I exposed two already and I have only been here about a month.
O’Canada we stand on guard for thee.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:03 am
Tara said:
Visitor
Hey..I am not under any spell. What do you mean?
September 3rd, 2012, 1:09 am
Visitor said:
526 TARA,
OK I forgot to wink. You did that for me before, didn’t you?
So now we’re even.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:13 am
Tara said:
Visitor
Cc: D-a-l-e
d-a-l-e is a SC’s oldie. Very much anti-regime. And he said he is anti -Syrian and he hates Syria, I never believed that part despite he said it outright loud. He is fascinated by an ancient Syrian princess…right d-a-l-e?..He was banned from SC several times for a wk or so but some how he got stuck in being banned forever and was never released. If you to say his name, your post disappears…
In 520, you must have misunderstood what I wrote…I was just saying you are who you are not Tlass, and not Antoine…that is all.
——
I just saw 527… That was good.. And well deserved…
September 3rd, 2012, 1:22 am
William Scott Scherk said:
JNA, regarding the metaphorical Gandhis and Rambos, I think Amal Hanano was speaking to a larger set of reasoning and moral struggle that is still underway — not that Gandhis were wrong to utter critical and outraged reaction against rebel-affiliated atrocities.
I follow Amal on Twitter and she was active in recent vibrant debate between ‘wings’ of opinion. As with Syria Comment commentators, it is usually the extremists and hysterical who get it all wrong, on both ‘sides’ … who condemn an entire group (or imaginary group) for the sins of a few, who are heartless, vengeful, personally accusatory.
You or I could ask her to give an example of ‘both wrong’ — but I expect that she would want me and you to be familiar with and to understand the whole debate, the outriggers so to speak — and further explain (140 chars at a time) the broad strokes of the error. She always answers comments and queries — she is most open and honest.
The wrong may have been (from her perspective) those who condemned all FSA urban actions or presence because of a cause/effect presumption: that the regime will be merciless and destructive and insensate in retaliative or preventive strikes. There is much argument in the details. Some Aleppine and Damascene Twitter supporters of the revolution were shocked and horrified by the brutal regime overreaction, who expressed complete despair and disenchantment, who wildly blamed the wrong actors for the actual destruction. Gandhi faced the British, not the Syrian regime.
The wrong on the side of the Rambo might be those who thought those responsible for atrocities should not be condemned, who trotted out bullsh*t field justice excuses, or who dismissed concerns about universal human standards of decent conduct in war.
Just think of the wild and wacky and deeply disturbed rantings of those on your ‘side,’ whatever that is. You probably honestly find them wrong in some utterances while admiring their ‘side.’
For example, we can condemn that religious maniac ‘Khalid Tlass’ for his extremism, his disempathy and his authoritarianism, for his language of hate — as condemn in turn anti-Sunni, anti-Shia, anti-Jew, anti-Christian hysteria that spews here lately.
We can dislike the even-stephen, they-are-both-equally-bad despair of Ghufran, while cherishing his dream of a stable, open, non-sectarian Syria free of Assadism.
We can condemn Tara’s remarks about Armenians while deeply empathizing with her humanity.
And so on. Every ‘side’ can stumble, be wrong, be flawed in some aspect.
Remember that those who were on the same ‘side’ of Tlass (against the regime) were strong in their revulsion. It was the ‘anti-regime’ here who demanded and got his banning, and it was ‘anti-regime’ who maintained moderation of such as him until all moderation was removed.
Of course, at the present moment, under the no-moderation experiment, Tlass’s hideous rhetoric would be more than matched by the hideous rhetoric of those here who have let themselves go. Even the odious Syrian Commando would not bring down the tone and craziness any lower.
What do you think of Amal Hanano’s reporting and essays otherwise, JNA? I think that she is one of your very best writers emerging from the crisis. I look forward to her return to a normal country, where she can make her name among her people doing what she does best. There are so many gifted chroniclers. I think you should treasure her, even if you disapprove of this or that passage.
Can you image her let free to roam and report and publish freely in Syria today, rather than be subject to detention and trial, instead of the spellbound Robert Fisk?
Wrong things can be said by ‘Gandhis’ as they are not really Gandhi, just Syrians under extreme stress and horror. There is no spellbinding Gandhi in Syria, except perhaps under house arrest, in detention, or dead.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:29 am
Darryl said:
“521. JOHANNES DE SILENTIO said:
Visitor is the real thing? Bummer!”
Johannes, rest assured Visitor is non-other than VAT, Tara’s testimony holds no water. I can still hear her Prada heels shaking against the floor and her fingers bouncing of the keyboard from the his stern threats that she received. I love it when I read “Explain yourself”! LOL LOL
Last, time he was caught out when he was Antoine. If you notice, yesterday he was posting as Antoine, today he is visitor but it is still VAT. I am so sure of whom he is, I can even smell him!
September 3rd, 2012, 1:32 am
Visitor said:
528 TARA,
I understood 520 very well.
In 525, I was being sarcastic partly with you but mostly with them bad guys.
You’re right about D-A-L-E. I wrote a comment similar to 520 and it disappeared when I spelled the name without dashes. Then I saw your comment 523 and I did as you said and the comment appeared.
So, now your intuition is telling that this Johannes is a reincarnation of this other character?
It looks like he may not last either.
Hey, with this level of intelligence (or lack thereof) of these guys, we shouldn’t have a problem with these Dark Helmet(s). You know who Dark Helmet is?
I just hope the likes of Syria Lover give us some space to maneuver and do not jump into the fray.
I promise to expose them all.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:34 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
Look at this! I wrote DALE and nothing unusual happened. It posted just like always.
Tara, go back to your fog, your amphetamines and your pearls. You make no sense
September 3rd, 2012, 1:59 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
I think Tara’s found herself a new “boy toy.”
September 3rd, 2012, 2:01 am
Ghufran said:
Hopeful,
I have been a citizen of the US before some of you were born, I know very well how helpful and decent most Americans are, you probably need to read my post again.
The problem in US middle east policy is not American citizens, it is Israel and the Israeli lobby, that is why the US invaded Iraq without thinking too much about the interests of the little guy in the US and Iraq, that invasion only helped Israel and,unintentionally Iran, and left permanent scars in both the US and Iraq. Obama with the support of most Americans does not want another adventure but he will take steps to undermine the regime and Iran without sending US troops to Syria. A political solution is not possible without a US-Russian agreement, regional support for that agreement is secondary, turkey and the GCC will do what the US asks them to do. The wild card now is the jihadists and their likes, they only follow like-minded retarded sheikhs and they think Syria is their pathway to heaven.
It may get to the point where the FSA becomes a pimp for those Islamists ,and when they do,they will be listed as a terrorist organization,if the FSA cleans its rank and goes back to their original mission, they can,and should ,take part in any future solution, as of now, Syria is a killing field and the regime forces have no choice but to eat their enemy for lunch before they are eaten for dinner by the rebels, this is what violence brings, when I spoke against it I was called a regime supporter, it is not just regime leaders who should be put on trial,it is the rebels leaders and those behind them who were partners in this crime against ordinary Syrians,this is not a revolution any more,it is a civil war and an armed rebellion, I never imagined that I will see the day when Syrian air force drops bombs on civilian areas, I thought Hama would be the last time a sitting president could bomb Syrian cities and get away with it,but I was wrong , the country most of you say that they love is irreversibly damaged and divided,war lords and local militias will replace regime officers and government workers in much of Syria , the thugs you know may not be as bad as the new thugs you are getting, congratulations.
September 3rd, 2012, 2:07 am
Antoine said:
What the hell !!! Why am I being connected to Tlass and Visitor ? What proof do you have ? This is defamation !!!!!!!
“I am so sure of whom he is, I can even smell him!”
You probably need to have your nose smashed in, then reconstructed, to correct your sense of smell.
September 3rd, 2012, 4:33 am
Antoine said:
Some 1500 reactionary people, who happen to share the same religious affiliation as the Assad family, held a pro-Assad rally yesterday in Antakya (Hatay).
Syrians should thank Turkey for annexing Iskanderun in 1939, otherwise we would have had to deal with another Tartous or Lattakia and 1 million extra Shabbiha.
September 3rd, 2012, 4:39 am
annie said:
Some of the Syrian spirit in Brussels yesterday
http://youtu.be/XbqOQQ2u2GE
September 3rd, 2012, 4:48 am
Visitor said:
“You probably need to have your nose smashed in, then reconstructed, to correct your sense of smell.”
Oh no, that’s too violent. How can you say that?
I think he should spend sometime with mjabali’s dog. The two would fit together quite well. They would be an excellent match, one made in ‘heaven’.
Besides the sense of smell, they can learn a lot from each other, because as we have been told this dog is special and very knowledgeable. They would spend endless hours engaged in constructive debates.
September 3rd, 2012, 5:24 am
Ales said:
So, it’s wrong for Fisk to interview prisoners, but this was perfectly fine:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jul/28/syria-member-shabiha-militia-speaks-video
Same man, who was filmed by Guardian, was also part of other, much more gruesome videos, where he was presented all bloody, cut and obviously tortured. A reminder for rebel human rights lovers doublestandarders at 1:15:
Filming prisoners, extorting speeches and torture is real problem, not interviews.
September 3rd, 2012, 5:25 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
This is really cool, having an actual case of multiple personality insanity right here on SC. You see how Visitor posted as Antoine just now? I see that Antoine is unaware that Visitor exists. I wonder if Visitor is aware of Antoine? It can really get chaotic at times.
Thanks, Tara, for letting us know about this.
September 3rd, 2012, 5:27 am
Mjabali said:
Antoine:
If there is a shabih it would be you. You are blood thirsty as evidenced from your violent posts. By the way do you have the courage to tell us what country are you from?
September 3rd, 2012, 7:54 am
zoo said:
According to doctors in rebels held areas: In Aleppo fighters are not hit by shelling and mortars, only civilians are.
http://news.yahoo.com/air-raids-fight-aleppo-rages-222415518.html
It was difficult to determine casualty figures in the ranks of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as most doctors are only willing to give details on civilians, most of them hurt during shelling.
….
Patients from the rebel ranks typically suffered severe bullet wounds to the neck and head and lighter injuries caused by shrapnel, he said, stressing that in 50 days of conflict he had “never treated a fighter hit by mortars or shelling.”
September 3rd, 2012, 8:01 am
Mjabali said:
??? ??????? visitor:
I read your religious hallucinations every day. Still can not find and shred of evidence that you are at any level to ‘expose ‘ anything. Can you answer what Darryl had asked you ? Please let us learn from your ‘knowledge ‘
September 3rd, 2012, 8:03 am
zoo said:
French medias criticize Hollande’s call for a “transition government in exile” as unrealistic and emphasize the need to boost revolutionary councils inside Syria.
http://syrie.blog.lemonde.fr/2012/09/03/gouvernement-transitoire-a-lexterieur-etou-conseils-revolutionnaires-a-linterieur/
….
Between a “transitional government”, which will inevitably meet and work with a majority of technocrats and experts Syrians living outside, and “transitional revolutionary councils” from inside Syria, created to take things in their hand in the political, economic, social and military locally and regionally, there is probably no need to make a exclusive choicee.
But it is obviously that its on the latter that greater emphasis must be given, when the humanitarian situation has exceeded all alert levels and where the despair of the abandoned Syrians may be leading some of them to call for fighters from different backgrounds, who have nothing to do with the struggle of the revolutionary dignity and democracy.
September 3rd, 2012, 8:53 am
Tara said:
Is Assad still there or someone killed him?
I like Ayloul. It is my favorite month.
September 3rd, 2012, 10:19 am
Tara said:
Time for the rebels to take fighting to Qurdaha and the Alawieen mountains. I am sure Qurdaha’s heart is aching for the revolution…
Syria army destroys houses in “collective punishment”
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters – 1 hr 39 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-army-destroys-houses-collective-punishment-125736180.html
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian army bulldozers razed houses in western Damascus on Monday, pursuing what activists called collective punishment of Sunni Muslim areas hostile to President Bashar al-Assad.
In northern Syria, 18 bodies were found in the rubble of a house bombed by a Syrian warplane in the rebel-held town of al-Bab and 13 more are missing, an opposition watchdog group said.
Bulldozers backed by combat troops demolished buildings in the poor Tawahin district, near the Damascus-Beirut highway, activists and residents said.
“They started three hours ago. The bulldozers are bringing down shops and houses. The inhabitants are in the streets,” said a woman who lives in a high-rise building overlooking the area.
Troops forced residents to erase anti-Assad graffiti and write slogans glorifying the president instead, activists said.
“This is an unprovoked act of collective punishment. The rebels had left, there are no longer even demonstrations in the area,” said Mouaz al-Shami, a campaigner collecting video documentation of the demolitions.
“The regime can’t stop itself from repeating the brutality of the 1980s,” he said, alluding to mass killings and wholesale destruction in the city of Hama in 1982 under Assad’s father, the late Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria for 30 years.
….,
September 3rd, 2012, 10:42 am
Mjabali said:
Tara Tequilla :
Does the Iranians ‘friends’ of yours know of the hallucinatory racist claims you spew about them day in and day out?
September 3rd, 2012, 11:06 am
zoo said:
Rebels retaliate to the Syrian Army bombing their Aleppo strongholds by exploding car bombs killing civilians Druze and Christians in Damascus suburb.
Abdel Baset Sayda still hammers for ‘military intervention’
http://news.yahoo.com/gulf-states-criticise-syria-more-100-killed-043525016.html?_esi=1
…..
The watchdog, which has a network of activists on the ground, also reported that a car bomb ripped through the mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Jaramana on Monday killing at least five people.
Another 27 people were injured in the blast, it said, adding that the attack struck the area of Al-Wehdeh on the edges of Jaramana.
The southeastern suburb was previously hit by a car bomb on August 28, when at least 27 people attending a funeral for two supporters of the Damascus regime were killed.
“There is an increase of the use of car bombs in Syria,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
…
“We need a humanitarian intervention and we are asking for military intervention for the Syrian civilians,” SNC chairman Abdel Basset Sayda said after meeting Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:19 am
Tara said:
Mjabali
Sorry. You are too unrefined for me to want to engage in a conversation. Truth be told, I have tried several times to no avail. There is a minimal standard that you have always failed to meet. Please find yourself a shabeeha to converse with. I have no interest. And I really hope you get it.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:20 am
zoo said:
“It is shameful that a no-fly zone hasn’t been set up,”
http://news.yahoo.com/urgent-syria-no-fly-zone-medic-tells-afp-114327185.html
Working under cover in the northern city of Aleppo, which has been pounded for weeks as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces seek to overrun rebel bastions, Beres insists the death toll in the Syrian conflict is higher that what is reported.
..
“In the past two weeks, he said, he has treated a daily average of 20 to 45 wounded people, the majority of them fighters with the opposition Free Syria Army, including “quite a few jihadists.”
Fatalities in rebel ranks range between two and six each day, he said.”
But those are just the figures collected in one small hospital within a massive commercial city which is now almost evenly divided between rebel and army-controlled areas.
…
September 3rd, 2012, 11:26 am
VISITOR said:
542/546 MJ
Do you have a feeling that day by day you’re getting ex-communicated here on this blog?
Soon you’ll have no partners to talk to. Believe me.
This is called the canine spell.
It has no cure.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:41 am
jna said:
Re: 529. William Scott Scherk said:
William, I am not going to discuss all of your reply to me. I think that Amal Hanano is trying to preserve the early humanistic direction of the opposition and admire her publicly engaging the topic of atrocities done by the armed opposition. However, the part of the her argument which I pointed out to you seems to me to show an equivocation on her part. My feeling is that, in part, her article is an attempt is dissipate a public relations setback the opposition suffered when the execution of prisoners was captured on video.
The day before she published that article, there was an article in the Guardian that had information on more executions in al-Qadam, Damascus…
I might have missed it but I have yet to see Amal or any in the opposition denounce this instance, not a substantial PR embarrassment, of the continuing killing of captured government supporters. And what does this say about the nature and ends of this revolution?
September 3rd, 2012, 11:42 am
zoo said:
“The autocratic leaders are gone. Religion, however, is not going anywhere, and neither are the Islamists. Neither, however, are the secular parties, and the more mainstream religious establishment”
A new debate about religion and politics after Libyan tombs razed
HA Hellyer
Sep 3, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/a-new-debate-about-religion-and-politics-after-libyan-tombs-razed
….
That has changed now. Since last year, but especially in the last two weeks, radical Salafis have been desecrating graves all over Libya. Armed groups, motivated by an ideology rooted in a religious perspective, represent a direct challenge to the authority of the Libyan state.
The body of a famous 15th century scholar, Ahmad bin Zarruq, was exhumed, and his tomb destroyed. Many other burial sites have shared the same fate. Desecration, in this regard, isn’t the spraying of graffiti – it’s the bringing in of bulldozers, guarded by men with automatic weapons, facing off against state security forces.
Their argument is that the graves spread irreligious ideas among “good” Muslims in Libya. Never mind that for hundreds of years Libyan religious scholars didn’t seem to think so.
These issues are not about to go away. Egypt, Libya and Tunisia – and almost certainly Syria after the Assad regime falls – are going to see constitutions that have two core principles. The first will be a notion of sovereignty vested in the people; the second will be that Islam is the religion of the state. Neither of these principles is necessarily new. But after autocratic dictatorships in these four countries, these principles now actually mean something.
The question is what do they mean, particularly when taken together. If Islam is the religion of the state, then how is it expressed
..
There’s no Catholic papacy for Muslims. So how will Islam be represented? Through educational institutions, such as Al Azhar University in Cairo? In that case, who will pick the leadership of a publicly funded university? Should it be independent of government intervention?
Once all of that is sorted out, how does the relevant institution engage with the state? Purely on symbolic occasions, or on substantive issues of legislation?
And finally, what Islam are we talking about? This is not a rhetorical question. Islam is a single religion, according to the scholarly establishment of the ulema, but it is also one that includes different approaches and perspectives.
….
September 3rd, 2012, 12:01 pm
zoo said:
#551 JNA
Amal Hanano is an idealist and she always had a romantic perspective on the Syrian revolution and its ‘purity’ of intentions.
Now she is shocked to realize that the opposition is acting the same way the regime she and they are opposed to.
So she writes this subtle article where she warns between the lines the opposition that they may loose the ideals of the revolution if they continue the same strategy. She is so scrambling to find some kind of interpretation that would still preserve the image she has of the heroic rebel fighters.
As most idealists, she just can’t see that what motivate this rebellion is no more a desire of change, but a blind desire of revenge and a greed to grab the power at any costs.
Like liberals Egyptians, I guess she will soon show her despair in front of the collapse of her romantic image of the Syrian revolution.
September 3rd, 2012, 12:11 pm
Mjabali said:
Hujjat al-Islam visitor :
I wish you can answer Darryl’s points.
September 3rd, 2012, 12:19 pm
zoo said:
Lakdar Ibrahimi is too old, too frighten, too hesitant, too confused: He is obviously a bad choice, he should go home now and not waste anyone’s one time.
Ban Ki moon will have a hard time finding someone else to get into that snake pit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9517123/Diplomatic-solution-to-the-conflict-in-Syria-nearly-impossible-says-new-UN-envoy-Lakhdar-Brahimi.html
Diplomatic solution to the conflict in Syria ‘nearly impossible’, says new UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi
Finding a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict is “nearly impossible”, Lakhdar Brahimi, the man given the job of trying to do it has admitted.
By Richard Spencer 03 Sep 2012
Lakhdar Brahimi, the new envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League to Syria, gave a pessimistic view of the situation in Syria, where at least 25,000 people have already died in 18 months of revolution. He also said there was not much he could do about it.
“I know how difficult it is – how nearly impossible. I can’t say impossible – nearly impossible,” Mr Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister appointed to replace Kofi Annan this month, said in an interview with the BBC.
Although few would disagree with Mr Brahimi’s assessment, his sense of hopelessness will raise new questions about the choice of peace envoy.
September 3rd, 2012, 12:27 pm
ann said:
Kurdish rebels kill 10 in attack on Turkish border – 50 minutes ago – AP
http://muscatinejournal.com/news/world/europe/kurdish-rebels-kill-in-attack-on-turkish-border/article_003c2b45-2677-56fa-8f57-a243b9d4120a.html
Kurdish militants have killed 10 police and soldiers in an assault near the Iraqi border, Turkish officials said Monday, amid concern that rebels are seeking to capitalize on regional tensions caused by Syria’s civil war with a more intense campaign of attacks in Turkey.
The attack happened late Sunday in southeastern Sirnak province, a traditional area for militants who have bases in northern Iraq. An undetermined number of Kurdish guerrillas were also killed.
The rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has benefited from past upheaval and power vacuums in the region, notably after the 1991 Gulf War and the fall of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Iraqi Kurds consolidated their own mini-state in northern Iraq, inspiring those Kurds in Turkey who want self-rule.
In Syria, regime forces locked in a civil war with opponents of President Bashar Assad ceded control in some areas near the Turkish border to Kurdish fighters said to be linked to Turkey’s Kurdish militants. Turkish analysts suspect the regime’s seemingly passive conduct was aimed at stirring trouble for Turkey, which opposes Assad, by providing additional space for the PKK to organize.
Dogan News Agency video Monday showed Turkish security forces patrolling the town of Beytussebap, where militants attacked police and military posts, as well as apartment buildings that house security forces’ families. An official is seen removing weapons from the rucksack of what appears to be a slain guerrilla, wearing an olive-green uniform and lying in a gutter. In another sequence, Kurdish townspeople are heard shouting slogans in support of jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan as armored vehicles roll through the streets.
Hurriyet newspaper reported Monday that police had fired into the air in the town to disperse a group of Kurds who wanted to take three rebel corpses away for burial.
It was the latest in a surge of operations blamed on the PKK, including a deadly bombing near Syria on Aug. 20 that intensified questions about the security of Turkey’s borders in an unstable region and the possible involvement of outside actors. Turkish officials have not ruled out possible Syrian or Iranian involvement in the bombing, which killed eight people.
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul on Monday condemned what he called the “separatist terrorist organization” for the attack in Sirnak province.
“The internal and external supporters of this shameful game will sooner or later understand that they have made a wrongful calculation and will be punished,” he said. “It should not be forgotten that those who believe that a timely opportunity has arisen, will soon realize their great historic mistake and will be disappointed.”
The PKK is conducting some of its most brazen operations since its 1990s heyday, though it is limited to hit-and-run tactics rather than seizing and holding population centers.
“More complications bring them more power because they are feeding from chaos,” Umit Ozdag, a terrorism expert at the 21st Century Turkey Institute, a research center, said of the PKK. The group, which has been fighting since 1984, is defined as terrorist by Turkey and the West, but still retains the backing of many in the Kurdish minority, which comprises up to 20 percent of Turkey’s 75 million people.
Syria resembles a proxy battle in which the regime, backed by Iran and Russia, is pitted against Turkey and its Western and Arab allies. Ozdag said the PKK, which used to have close ties to the Syrian regime, has “partisans” on both sides of the conflict, giving militants “an extensive maneuvering range” in which to press their political aims.
[…]
http://muscatinejournal.com/news/world/europe/kurdish-rebels-kill-in-attack-on-turkish-border/article_003c2b45-2677-56fa-8f57-a243b9d4120a.html
September 3rd, 2012, 12:40 pm
ann said:
NATO FSA terrorists operating from civilians houses – 19 hours ago
another video showing how the free syrian army occupying and using civilian houses for their operations and when the syrian army respond back, they accuse him of shooting @ civilians!!!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d0b_1346621016
September 3rd, 2012, 12:52 pm
Mjabali said:
Tara tequila ;
You are sticking your nose in anything and everything on this blog, so be ready for more.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:02 pm
Visitor said:
FSA heroes in full control of Central Aleppo district,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/09/03/235759.html
—————————-
It is time to recognize that the early phase of the Syrian Revolution with its emphasis on peaceful transition was not sustainable due to the nature of the criminal regime. The Syrian Revolution was in need of a military arm in order to confront the regime’s killing machine and in order to bring to the attention of the people of Syria and the world that a National Army’s first duty is to the people and not the dictator as we saw in Egypt and Tunisia. Unfortunately, Syria does not have a National Army. It has a band of thugs designed as a killing machine in order to protect a single failed dictator.
However, Syria is fortunate to have experienced during the last 18 months the constant stream of conscientious defections that kept the resolve of the people and the revolution alive. We would forever be grateful for these brave soldiers who put the interests of the country and its people above their wn interests and who will eventually form the nucleus of a true National Army for Syria. With a criminal Nazi regime such as the one occupying Damascus Freedom is earned and can last only through sacrifices and not by negotiations or pacifism.
I second TARA’s proposition regarding expanding the battle of the FSA to the Syrian coast in order to liberate it from the occupation of the Nazi thugs.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:16 pm
Uzair8 said:
Regime commander of Aleppo offensive claims Army will re-capture the whole city in 10 days.
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syria-army-retake-aleppo-within-10-days-general
Meanwhile:
Abdullah Aldahhan?@SyrianSmurf
Intense clashes btwn the #FSA and regime forces in #Salqeen #Idlib. 9 soldier carriers destroyed in 3 diff locations, 155 soldiers killed.
http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/abdullah-aldahhan%e2%80%8fsyriansmurf-intense-clashes-btwn-the-fsa-and/
September 3rd, 2012, 1:17 pm
Uzair8 said:
It seems Tara has touched a nerve in #545 suggesting rebels move on Qardaha and the mountains.
September 3rd, 2012, 1:20 pm
Mjabali said:
Uzair8:
Why don’t you join the fight? Your name sounds like One of Saddam Hussein missiles ,
September 3rd, 2012, 1:45 pm
Uzair8 said:
Oh my! The regime is really losing its rag. The stoicism and composure slipping away?
AJE blog. 22 minutes ago:
Syria has hit back at Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Monday saying that his Islamist beard is the only thing that distinguishes him from the veteran strongman he replaced after last year’s Arab Spring uprising.
[…]
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syria-says-new-egyptian-president-mubarak-beard
September 3rd, 2012, 1:58 pm
Mjabali said:
Uzair7;
See one dude gave me 6 thumbs down.
Still waiting for your answer to why don’t you join the jihad in Syria?
You are from Pakistan, you have the fundamental hatted to Alawis in your blood. So why don’t you be the next suicide number and go to al Qurdaha and blow things up . You will take the express to paradise and make your sheikh proud of you .
September 3rd, 2012, 2:16 pm
Mina said:
News from the “regional miracle of stability”
http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/investigations-claim-two-palestinians-participated-sinai-border-attack
” (…) In South Sinai, security authorities in Sharm el-Sheikh have evacuated all police checkpoints after the killing of two young Bedouins yesterday during an exchange of fire with police. A number of the victims’ family members burned a police car, cut off the Salam Road in front of the Sharm el-Sheikh International Hospital, and kidnapped a police officer before later releasing him.”
September 3rd, 2012, 2:25 pm
Visitor said:
562 UZAIR8,
What is Zohbi saying?
Is he saying Bashar is planning on growing a beard?
September 3rd, 2012, 2:26 pm
Uzair8 said:
563. Mjabali
I’m not as courageous as the Syrian people
I’m not as brave as the FSA heroes
The least I can do is support them from my keyboard.
Mjabali don’t try to make this about me. This is about the horrific behaviour of the regime. I hate those criminals with unlawful blood on their hands be they Sunni, Shia, Alawi
or whatever.
September 3rd, 2012, 2:28 pm
Uzair8 said:
#565 Visitor
LOL (if you’re being sarcastic)
Sorry, it’s hard to tell whether you’re being humourous or serious.
September 3rd, 2012, 2:34 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
558 “I second TARA’s proposal to expand the battle of the FSA to the Syrian coast to liberate it from the occupation of the Nazi thugs.”
Geez! Sounds like we’re on the floor of a political convention. Oh well, here goes.
Uh, Mister Speaker, I third the Tara proposal. And may I go further on VAT’s foppish and cloying words and heap praise upon the courage and resolve of the foreign jihadis and holy men who have come to Syria to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring that good old time religion back to Syria after forty-plus years of Baathist nightmare.
September 3rd, 2012, 2:45 pm
Citizen said:
524. JUERGEN
Tutu: Bush, Blair should face trial at the Hague
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20120902/EU.Britain.Blair/
may be Angela Merkel the next due to the Dolphins and secret contracts!
September 3rd, 2012, 3:10 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
569 “The Iraq war has destabilized and polarized the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history.”
Really? More than World War II? More than Hulagu Khan’s invasion of the Muslim World in the 1200’s? More than the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 71 AD? More than the…gasp…Crusades? Or the Moorish conquest of Spain and Portugal?
Someone should take Desmond Tutu aside and hand him a pamphlet on old age and dementia. He needs to retire. He needs to go to Florida and sit in a deck chair with a shawl around his head and watch the sun set.
September 3rd, 2012, 3:43 pm
Tara said:
Lakhdar Brahimi: the patient peacemaker
http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sOmnap1Lfuoze3RtcOrYA_w/view.m?id=15&gid=commentisfree/2012/sep/03/lakhdar-brahimi-syria-un-arab-league&cat=world
….
The new UN and Arab League representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said on Monday that he is standing in front of a brick wall, that he can see no cracks in it at present, and that he is frightened of the weight of responsibility placed upon him – people are being killed, and “we are not doing much”, he told the BBC. So what is the point? Can he possibly succeed where his predecessor, Kofi Annan, failed?
First, the Algerian is by far the best man for the job (except perhaps because of his age – he is 78). His experience in international affairs is extraordinary. When I first met him 30 years ago he already had 16 years as ambassador of his country, including eight in London, where he was considered an outstanding success.
Since then he has held many Algerian, Arab League and UN appointments including a key role as Arab League special envoy to Lebanon when he crafted the Taif agreement of 1989 which was the beginning of the end of the 15-year civil war. As UN representative in Iraq in 2004 following the American invasion, his proposals on the formation of an Iraqi government were ignored by the Americans with tragic results. His peacemaking and peacekeeping appointments for the UN also included South Africa, Haiti, Burundi and Afghanistan.
..
In retrospect it is clear that Annan’s high international profile as former UN secretary-general raised expectations which could not be met. Brahimi raises no such expectations because he is less well-known and because of his modest personal style, as exemplified by his BBC interview. But he knows the protagonists in the Syrian crisis as well or better than Annan, and he has the advantage of being an Arab – from far-away Algeria, therefore not automatically seen as taking sides.
But what about the brick wall? What can he actually do? So long as the Syrians are determined to go on fighting, the fact – however unpalatable – is that nobody can stop them. But it is also a fact that even civil wars come to an end, either because the bloodletting goes on until one side or both can fight no longer, or because the parties realise in time that they cannot achieve a military solution and must compromise.
The Lebanese civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990, is an example. Lebanon is of course Syria’s neighbour and the two countries have much in common, although the Lebanon war was a very different story. A feature of that war was countless ceasefires, broken countless times; the lesson to be drawn is not that ceasefires are useless, but that eventually the firing stopped. Peacemaking paid off.
Internally, there are some signs that both the Syrian government and the rebels may have begun to realise that military victory is not to hand.
….
September 3rd, 2012, 3:48 pm
ann said:
Al Qaeda terrorists at Bab Al-Hawa announce Islamic gov in Syria – 4 hours ago
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a5d_1346687231
September 3rd, 2012, 4:16 pm
ann said:
Syria – L-39ZA Pounding Al Qaeda terrorists at Bab Al-Hawa – 03/09/2012
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=34d_1346689086
September 3rd, 2012, 4:27 pm
Halabi said:
Who is the target of these bombs?
http://youtu.be/YrYRCKeC7nc
Perhaps the terrorist Sunni children?
http://youtu.be/8YLSDci7HIE
Other than killing people, the Assad regime has nothing to offer the regions that are out of its control. But the menhebak blames Burhan Ghalioun and Hamad for what’s happening, because that’s an intelligent conclusion which makes sense.
September 3rd, 2012, 4:37 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
Syria says no dialogue before it crushes rebels
Zoabi: “No dialogue with the opposition prior to the Syrian army’s imposition of security and stability”
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian regime said Monday there will be no dialogue with the opposition before the army crushes the rebels, the latest sign that President Bashar Assad is determined to solve the crisis on the battlefield even if many more of his people have to pay with their lives.
The statement comes a day after activists reported that August was the bloodiest month since the uprising began in March 2011.
“There will be no dialogue with the opposition prior to the Syrian army’s imposition of security and stability in all parts of the country,” Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told reporters at a news conference in Damascus.
The opposition has long rejected any talks with the regime until Assad is removed from power.
Muhieddine Lathkani, an opposition figure based in Britain, responded to the minister’s comments by saying “the key to any dialogue will be the departure of Assad and dismantling of the regime’s security agencies that committed all these crimes.”
Lathkani told The Associated Press by telephone that after that happens, there could be a dialogue.
Earlier in the day, the new U.N. envoy to Syria acknowledged that brokering an end to the civil war will be a “very, very difficult” task.
Activists on Sunday said some 5,000 people were killed in August, the highest toll in the 17-month-old uprising and more than three times the monthly average. At the same time, the U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, said 1,600 were killed last week alone, also the highest figure for the entire revolt.
The two major activists groups raised their total death toll for the entire revolt to at least 23,000 and as high as 26,000.
[ … ]
September 3rd, 2012, 5:32 pm
Ghufran said:
???? ????? ???? ??? ?? ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ?????? ?????????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? 10.38 ????? ????? ?????.
?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ?? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ?????.
Relative to most European nations, Russia is doing better economically.
September 3rd, 2012, 5:37 pm
Majed97 said:
George has done it again; telling it the way it is without any illusions…
September 3rd, 2012, 5:42 pm
Halabi said:
Are these the terrorists in Qusair that the sectarian opponents of the revolution and genocide enthusiasts are afraid of?
http://edition.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/world/2012/09/02/damon-horror-of-syria.cnn
September 3rd, 2012, 5:42 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
“One of those killed had a note on his head which said: “Assad and no one else.”
[from Guardian live blog]
From SANA:
Haidar: Internal Factor Is Positive and Heading towards Solution, External Factor Is Coping
Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs, Dr. Ali Haidar, stressed that the solution to the crisis in Syria is a Syrian one and to be reached by the Syrians themselves, asserting that the contribution of the friends and allies in some points can help create the favorable circumstances to go for the political process that helps Syria get out of the crisis.
In an interview with the Syrian TV on Saturday, Haidar said the visits he recently paid among a Syrian delegation to Tehran and Moscow came in the framework of enhancing the chances of success for the political process, being the only outlet from the crisis and the only way to halt violence.
He pointed out that the external factor collaborates with the internal factor in accelerating the solution or hindering it, stressing however that “the inside is the basis as the Syrians are mostly convinced that the solution won’t be through weapons or on the base of one side winning over the other or through the mentality of exclusion.”
“There needs to be a comprehensive and honorable solution that maintains the dignity of all the Syrians and presents a vision of the new Syria,” Haidar added.
He highlighted that the internal atmosphere is positive with people “feeling fed up with the state of violence and trying to dust off the gunmen to have the areas cleared of them so as to reach a solid ground that’s suitable for the political solution through a national dialogue table involving all the Syrians.”
[ … ]
The negative point with Brahimi’s mission, Haidar said, is absconding the item about halting violence as the Western countries want to go for the political process because they do not want the violence to halt but seek a political dialogue under the military pressure.
The Minister stressed that the Ministry of National Reconciliation Affairs works on letting off the stream in the street and eliminating all the traces of the past in a way to contribute to realizing the national reconciliation.
For this purpose, Haidar said, the Ministry works on releasing all the detainees whose hands are clear of the blood of the Syrian people, noting that the sides concerned with this process are dealing positively with this file.
[ … ]
September 3rd, 2012, 6:02 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Halabi,
There is a lot more to the story about Trad and his brother the Martyr Muheed Al-Zahori from Qusair.
His brother was an artist, had an amazing gift of capturing the moment: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chroniclesyrianuprising/7171120045/in/set-72157630091548750/
Below are pictures of his funeral with his brothers carrying him to his final resting place:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chroniclesyrianuprising/7354546100/in/set-72157630087720268/
September 3rd, 2012, 6:22 pm
Tara said:
From Halabi’s CNN link: “He simply can’t stop, can’t let go, can’t give up.
And when the revolution is over, he is going to catch the camera like this..and throw it… ”
….
And when the revolution is over, that is what I am going to do to my revolution iPad. Then it would be time for SSRI.
September 3rd, 2012, 6:35 pm
Richard said:
We’ve been debating the Arab Spring lately, so an interview with Bernard Lewis this weekend arrives just in time.
I mentioned the interview to Joshua Landis, he replied, “Bernard Lewis was a teacher of mine at Princeton and I have always admired his scholarship and intellect.”
I know Bernard Lewis is a controversial figure, and I also know he is a fascinating guy. I’ll be disappointed if there aren’t some comments about his ideas.
http://208.106.218.92/BernardLewis.html
September 3rd, 2012, 6:35 pm
mjabali said:
Tara Tequila:
You insulted the whole Alawi sect in one of your erratic comments today.
To justify your casual outburst, you presented a “document” in which you claimed that Bashar al-Asad’s grandfather was one of those singing on that document asking France to keep them away from joining into what became Syria. As far as I remember 4 people signed it according to your copy.
You cursed at the whole sect for that “document.”
I would let this insult slide, but a bombastic figure like you needs a little lesson in history every now and then since you really do not know that much about Syrian history.
The french divided what became Syria to many states. At some moment they decided to put some of them together to make what became Syria, a country that included you and me.
The Alawis were for joining the states of Allepo, Damascus and Jabal al-Arab to form what became in 1946 Syria. The French opted to give Iskanadrun (current day Hatay) to the Turks, and patched pieces together to make Lebanon. This also does not mean that there wan not an element that did want to see the French leave or join into Syria.
The Alawis stated the desire of most of them in a letter that is signed but not only Alawis, but Sunnis and Christians also. In this document they stated that they want to unify with the Sunnis and the others in the interior to from Syria.
Here is a copy for this document and see how many Alawis signed it and who are they.
As for the document you posted I will come back and respond to that by another time:
?? ??????? :
????? ???? ????????- ?????
?????? ??? ??? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??? . ?? ???? ???????? ????????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ???????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ??????. ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ????? ?? ????????? ????? ?????? ????? ???????? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? . ??? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????????? ?? ??????? ,?????? ??????? ?????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??????, ????? ???? ?? ?????? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ??????:
??????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ??????? ? ??????? ??? ????? ????? ???? ????? ??? ??????,??? ????? ????? ???????? ??? ????? ??????.
??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ??????? ??????? , ??????? ???12 ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ???? ???????????, ?? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ????? ?????? ??? ???.
??? ??????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ??????? ???? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ???????? ???????.
??? ???? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?? ???????? ???????? ?? ????? ???????? .??? ??? ????? ??????? ,???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ???? ?? ?? ????????? ???????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ???????,????? ????? ???? ?????? ?????? , ???????? ?? ??????? ???????? ?????????? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???? ???? ??? ????????? ??????? ?? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ????,
?????? ??? ?? ??????? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ???? ??? ????? ???? ????? ????? ?? ???????? ???????? ?????? ????????? ?? ??? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ????????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ????,??? ?? ??? ?????? ???, ???? ????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ??? ???????? ??????? ??????.
????? ?? ??? ??? ????????? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??????? ?????.??? ??? ????????? ??? ?????? ?????
??? ??????? ????????? ???????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????.
????????? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ?????? .??? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ,??? ??? ????? ????????? ?????? ??? ?? ??????? ??????? ???????????? ???????.
????? ?? ???? ????????? ?? ??? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ???????? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ????? ????? ??????
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????? ???? ??? ??? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?? ????? ???? ??? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????, ??? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ???????? ????? -????? ?? ??????? ????-?? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ??????.
??????? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ???????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ?? ???????? .
???? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ???????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ?? ?????, ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ????? ???? ???????.
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??????? ?????? ????- ????? ????- ???? ???? – ???? ????? – ???? ?????? – ???? ???????- ???? ?????- ??????? ????- ???? ???? ???? -???? ?????? ????- ?????? ????? – ??????? ??????? -???? ???? ???- ????? ?????.
???????:
??????? ????? ???????? ????????- ?????/?????-????492-493″ ????? ????????? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ????? ????????-????? ?? ???????? ?? ?????? ?? ?????-????
September 3rd, 2012, 6:48 pm
ann said:
Russia slams Syrian opposition’s threat to attack civilian airports – 2012-09-04
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131825285.htm
MOSCOW, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Russia on Monday strongly condemned the allegedly threat by an armed Syrian opposition on attacking civilian airports in Syria, saying such actions were no different from terrorists.
Moscow was deeply concerned over the statement of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) that the international airports of Damascus and Aleppo were taken as “military targets” and civilian aircraft using them would be shot down, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
FAS reported gave civilian airliners 72 hours to cease flights to these airports starting from Sept. 1.
“We believe these threats are unacceptable. They are a flagrant violation of international law, in particular the Chicago Convention of 1944 on international civil aviation,” said the ministry.
Russia called on outside players who have influence on the ” radical opposition” to prevent such threats from being carried out. Moscow has already contacted these countries via diplomatic channels, said the statement.
Meanwhile, the ministry recommended Russian citizens not to travel to Syria and called on Russians living in the conflict-torn country to take “safe route” for leaving.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131825285.htm
September 3rd, 2012, 6:55 pm
ann said:
Syria’s sovereignty a “red line,” situation generally “good”: minister – 2012-09-03
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/03/c_131824932.htm
DAMASCUS, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Monday that Syria’s sovereignty is a “red line,” and that the situation in Syria in general is good and under control.
At a press conference here on Monday, al-Zoubi said that his country will make a response to any assault, and will “cut the hand of whomsoever” touches the sovereignty of Syria, stressing that “he will pay a steep price.”
The Syrian army is committed to restoring peace and stability in all the areas in Syria and this is “non-negotiable,” the minister said, adding that there will be no dialogue with the presence of weapons in the hands of the “terrorists,” since the main condition of the dialogue is the existence of security and stability.
Al-Zoubi then called on the opposition forces to make a national assessment and brace itself for a national dialogue.
“We will accept what the ballot boxes say and we say to everyone to lay down your weapons and let us embark on a national dialogue and resort to the ballot boxes,” al-Zoubi said.
He added that Syria has accepted all the initiatives that have came as a result of the Non-Aligned Movement summit held recently in Tehran.
“The solution in Syria is a Syrian one and its tools are also Syrian,” he emphasized.
Al-Zoubi lashed back at Turkey, branding as “absurd” the comments of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost legitimacy. He meanwhile said the Erdogan government is giving weapons, sending fighters, and harboring the terrorists.
“Our situation in Syria in terms of the state, the leadership, the citizens, the army and the facilities is good and there will be nothing other than that,” al-Zoubi said at the same press conference.
Commenting on the recent threats by the armed insurgents, who said they will target the civilian airports in the capital Damascus, and northern Aleppo province, al-Zoubi said “their aim is to inject fear and terror among the citizens.”
“We haven’t heard from those who call themselves rebels or the broad-based opposition any political line or speech,” the minister said.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/03/c_131824932.htm
September 3rd, 2012, 7:04 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
582 – Richard
Thank you for this. I took one of his courses at Princeton.
Here’s a great Bernard Lewis quote from the current interview:
“I don’t think foreign domination (he means British and European) is the main problem. Foreign domination was brief and ended some time ago. And that didn’t make their [the Arabs’] problems any better. It made them rather worse since there was nobody that they could conveniently blame.”
I was thinking about Egypt and foreign domination. You have to go back to the time of Homer and King Solomon to read about the last time Egypt was free and independent. Look at the history of Egypt and foreign domination. All dates are approximations:
600 BC the Assyrians
500 BC the Babylonians
400 BC The Persians
300 BC to 50 BC The Macedonians
50 BC to 700 AD the Romans
700 AD to 1300 AD The Arabs
1300 AD to 1920 AD The Turks
1920 AD to 1950 AD The British
Then finally, in the 1950’s, after over 2,500 years of foreign domination, Egypt became a free country. As you look at the numbers above, you see the so-called European “colonialist” adventure was pretty brief. I mean, compared to the Arabs and the Turks, it was a drop in the bucket.
September 3rd, 2012, 7:10 pm
Halabi said:
Thank you Son of Damascus for all the work you do with the memory project.
September 3rd, 2012, 7:11 pm
Visitor said:
545 TARA,
Your comment is very very important because it leads to the preservation of the unity of the Syrian people.
Therefore, it is more important than ever that the FSA should start operations in the Syrian coast in order to exterminate the historical treachery of Syria which began with the grand grand father of the current thug occupying Damascus and is continuing up to the present day.
It is the sacred duty of the FSA to start immediately the liberation process of our people of the Syrian coast from the treachery of this family of thugs and traitors.
September 3rd, 2012, 7:17 pm
ann said:
Russia, U.S. differ on Assad’s future: Russian FM – 2012-09-03
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/03/c_131824787.htm
MOSCOW, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Russia and the United States shared common goals on solving the Syrian crisis but differed on the future of President Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
Ahead of his participation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, Lavrov told local media Moscow and Washington did not “contradict each other in principle” on Syria.
Both of the two countries wanted to see a peaceful transition via intra-Syria negotiations while “respecting the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the country,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
However, the two sides held different views on whether President Assad should go and how, said the senior Russian diplomat.
Lavrov called for the crisis to be solved at the negotiating table by the Syrian people, calling the intention to dictate the future of Syria by outsiders as “counterproductive.”
The Russian minister is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Lavrov said Saturday that the Western approach of demanding external interference and the resignation of Assad as a precondition of negotiations was rather unrealistic.
He reiterated Russia’s stance, saying Moscow “was not backing any regime or any individuals” in the Syrian crisis.
Meanwhile, those “players” who spurred the opposition to fight the Syrian authorities did not care about the interests of the Syrian people and were guided by their own “geopolitical considerations,” said Lavrov.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/03/c_131824787.htm
September 3rd, 2012, 7:33 pm
ann said:
comment 589 is awaiting moderation
September 3rd, 2012, 7:36 pm
Amir in Tel Aviv said:
577. Majed97 said
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HOlRcmfUnAE
George is a person who hates Israel more than he loves the Arabs.
I believe he will convert to Islam one day soon. To Shi’i Islam, that is.
.
September 3rd, 2012, 7:42 pm
ann said:
Reminds you of Jaramana the last few days
Syria : Aftermath of an airstrike on Idlib – 03/09/2012
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=52f_1346708698
September 3rd, 2012, 8:00 pm
mjabali said:
visitor:
You are not that smart to tell people what to do, or plan strategy for the future of Syria. I will explain to you why:
First of all, there have been constant battles in Jabal al-Akrad and Jabal al-Turkman. So, there are military operations in the coastal areas. Your beloved Turkey is trying its might to help Free “Syrian” Army. So far not that much progress have happened except for the destruction of the area because of the violence that was introduced. The violence is pushing the Sunni civilians out of their homes, and killing many of them. The violence reached the Alawis and the Christians also in the coast. Many fighters were killed from both parties. The ecology was affected by the battles where many forests are still burning. The area is literally on fire.
The FSA is trying hard to keep a foothold their. So your calls are lame.
Secondly: if we follow your erratic advise: the cost will go up in flames the Alawi state is going to become a reality because of the violence. In your scheme, which you posted twice on this blog, you invited the Turks to invade the coastal areas to prevent the establishment of the Alawi state. Dude: are you Syrian? Do you invite the Turks to invade the coast AGAIN. The Turks are the ones who cut a huge part from the Syrian coast for themselves and called it Hatay. Do you know how many times the Turks invades the Syrian cost.
September 3rd, 2012, 8:48 pm
Visitor said:
Hizbistan can no longer shroud its crimes against the Syrian people in secrecy except by using coercive methods against the families of the eliminated hizbis thugs by the Syrian Revolution. Bodies of dead hizbis are flooding back into the graves and their families are threatened to keep their mouths shut and burry them in the thick of the night. Names, families and towns are included in this report.
“?????? ?? ??????? ????? ?????…????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????” ???? 10 ????? ??????? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ????????? ?? ???? ????????. ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ??????? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ??? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ?? ??????. ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ???????? ???? ???????? ?????? ????????.
?? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ?? ????? ????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ????? ???? ?? ???? ?? ????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ???????.
???????? ???? ??????? ?????? ?? “??? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????? ?? ?????” ??? ??? ?????????? ?? ?????? ???? ??? ??? “??? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??? ??????? ????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?????”.
??????? ??? ????????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ????????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ??????. ?? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ?????? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? 8 ?????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ???????.
??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ???????? ?? ??? ????? ????????? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ????. ??????? ???? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? “?????? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ?????? ????????? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ???????” ?????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ??????.
????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????????? ??? ??????? ???? ????? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ?????. ?? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ???????? ???? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ??? ?? ??????????? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ??????.
?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? “?????? ?? ????? ??????? ???????” ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ???????.
??? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ???? “????????” ???? ???? ?? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???????? ????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ??????? ??? ????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????? ????? ???????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????. ????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ????.
??? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ????????? ?????????? ?????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ????????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ????? ????????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????????.
?????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????????? ???? ???????? ?? ????? ????????? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ??????? ??????? ??? ??????? ?????????? ??????? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ????? ???????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ??????”??? ????????”.
?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????????? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ???????? ??????? ???? ?? ???? ?? “??????” ????? ??? ??????? ????????? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ??? ???? ?????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????? ?????….???? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ?? ????? ????? ???? ???? ???????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ???…???? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ???????!?
September 3rd, 2012, 8:53 pm
Visitor said:
560 UZAIR8,
You’re right about the weak nerve.
Congratulations, you just uncovered a ‘devout’ sectarian masquerading as a so-called liberal.
Keep up your good work. We need to defeat the ongoing deceit of these dissimulators.
September 3rd, 2012, 9:17 pm
francois said:
it is perfectly obvious that America failed to export enough of its TV weeklies to the Arab world. Years of viewing what was to sideline us into drooling cultural slobs might have prevented some of the current bloodletting. After all, having just watched hours of Ozzie & Harriet and The partridge Family, how could you realistically go out and reclaim your nation from usurpers of a weird religious sect?
September 3rd, 2012, 9:51 pm
mjabali said:
Visitor:
From reading your posts one has the feeling that you are some superior entity exposing people’s leanings.
Dude, this type of argument does not sell these days.
Back your words with some knowledge instead of personal attacks.
The superior entity that you are runs in the company of Uzair8, the military planner of the Revolution, so no wonder you come up with Lord of the Rings type of solutions without really knowing what the results would be.
Don’t you see that you failed in every test about anything and everything?
Exposing your little knowledge about what is going on in Syria today was easy.
September 3rd, 2012, 9:57 pm
Visitor said:
MJ,
If I were you, I would stop trying.
You would never succeed in enticing any answers from me, no matter what you do or say.
You shut yourself out the moment you brought your dog into this forum, not to mention your other childish name-calling slurs. You’re way too vulgar.
You do not belong here.
Do you know now why your canine spell is incurable?
You should be thankful that I am explaining your fatal shortcomings. And even this wouldn’t last long.
September 3rd, 2012, 10:07 pm
Syrian said:
591:
It also gives us a pre screen show of the future Qurdaha
September 3rd, 2012, 10:18 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
588
Awww! Isn’t it touching and cute the way VAT chats up Tara? Like two teenagers in love.
September 3rd, 2012, 10:39 pm
mjabali said:
Visitor:
Vulgarity is not the issue here mr. Visitor. What is important is how much do you know and are you fit to talk about the future of Syria?
As for belonging here or not, it is not up to you. You are the type who likes to silence those who disagree with them, especially if they were not from the same sect or religion.
Your like do not belong in this day and age. Sorry to break this news to you. Freedom of speech is not in your menu. Your like can not argue, they want to give orders: and when you test or critique how fit they are to give orders, they want to shut you up.
September 3rd, 2012, 10:46 pm
Visitor said:
MJ 599,
You think you’re smart and that is your biggest flaw. Because you’re not.
If knowledge is what you’re looking for, then you already know by your nonexistent smartness that this knowledge is obtainable by you from your knowledgeable dog.
So, what exactly are you doing here?
Do you need more hints on why your case is incurable. In fact it is terminal. And you shot yourself in the forehead.
So no matter what you do or say it will always revolve around one and the same subject, your faithful dog, A choice you consciously made and should be made accountable for it.
Time for you to grow up kiddo.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:04 pm
Ghufran said:
??????? ???? ?? ?? ???????? ????? ???? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ????????? ?? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????.
??? ?????? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ???????.
??? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? 20 ???? ??? ??? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ??????.
? ???? :” ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ??????? ??????? ? ?? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ????? ????? ????? ? ? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ? ??????? ????”.
? ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ???? 2011? ? ?? ?? ????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??”?????? ??????”.
???? ???? ?? ????? ??? ????? ????? ? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ??????.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:05 pm
Ghufran said:
From the Guardian:
The road to democracy is rarely smooth, but for Egyptian women, it has been exceptionally bumpy. Another barrier was thrown up last month when President Morsi appointed General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as minister of defence.
Sisi is most famous outside Egypt for defending the so-called “virginity tests” administered to female protesters. In March 2011 a group of 17 women were detained, beaten and forced to submit to humiliating vaginal exams. Later they were declared to not be virgins. Sisi justified the tests as a safeguard against abuse while they were being held.
He said: “The procedure was done to protect the girls from rape as well to protect the soldiers and officers from rape accusations.”
The argument was perplexing. Not only did it underline the view that only virgins could be “raped” it paraded a warning to the female population of Egypt: if you oppose the interim military government, you are clearly a loose woman. Now that power has been handed off to Egypt’s first freely elected president, it is disappointing to see how little has changed.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:10 pm
Halabi said:
If this destruction was a result of an Al Qaeda terrorist or Nato air strike we wouldn’t hear the end of it from the brain-dead anti-imperialists. But it’s an Assadi bomb, one of dozens or hundreds dropped on Syrian civilians every day.
http://youtu.be/fVdQvkJA9jY
The regime will fall but the hate will remain. I will never forget those who turned a blind eye toward this destruction or those who actively supported the Assad regime. Never. And I guess they will never forgive me for opposing their criminal, incompetent, murderous, sectarian dictatorship…
September 3rd, 2012, 11:27 pm
Richard said:
Does anybody know of a good discussion forum for Middle East topics?
I really like what the comment area here offers, but the software does not easily lend itself to discussions on multiple topics. A giant comment section is not as usable as a forum with topic threads.
Also, there is virtually no discussion related to the blog articles, partly because of the giant hodge-podge of articles.
This place has *excellent* collection of knowledgeable people, that is good. A subtle problem is those damn thumbs up/down buttons. People use that as a substitute for interaction.
Maybe I will create a forum if there isn’t a good one.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:32 pm
Ghufran said:
Few comments about the coastal area after reading from and listening to a number of residents:
Due to the relative calm and security in Latakia and Tartous, thousands of Syrians, especially from Aleppo are heading towards these two cities , that led to a real estate mini boom and a big jump in cost of renting apartments and houses, some residents are worried that the need to make money will force many people to open their doors to the highest bidders regardless of where the money is coming from and who are the new tenants, others have even warned that Khaliji money is now being used to bring jihadists posing as refugees in parts of Latakia. As of now, most of the fighting in northern Latakia is on the country side with little or no participation of locals, reports of foreign terrorists have circulated in the net for months,rebels have not been able to make any significant gain on the ground but most people realize that Latakia and Tartous may not stay calm much longer, these areas are too important for both sides and their fall will end any hope for a political settlement of any type in Syria. Rebels were not revived well in Aleppo,and their chances of receiving help in Assahel are next to nothing, that will push the rebels to focus on areas close to Turkey and few spots that are hard hit by poverty and unemployment.
I agree that Assahel is the rebels next target but that area will be the hardest to conquer.
September 3rd, 2012, 11:36 pm
zoo said:
Reward to Morsi from the US after his Teheran fiery speech. More to come if he continues to obey his masters.
To Back Democracy, U.S. Prepares to Cut $1 Billion From Egypt’s Debt
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
Published: September 3, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/middleeast/us-prepares-economic-aid-to-bolster-democracy-in-egypt.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
WASHINGTON — Nearly 16 months after first pledging to help Egypt’s failing economy, the Obama administration is nearing an agreement with the country’s new government to relieve $1 billion of its debt as part of an American and international assistance package intended to bolster its transition to democracy, administration officials said.
————-
” Morsi is a stooge, the beard is the only difference”
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: September 3, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/middleeast/syrian-minister-assails-egyptian-and-turkish-leaders.html?ref=global-home
At the price of publicizing Mr. Morsi’s criticism over Syrian state television, Mr. Zoubi accused the new Egyptian president of being a stooge of the United States and Israel, no different than the strongman he replaced, Hosni Mubarak. “The beard is the only difference,” Mr. Zoubi
September 3rd, 2012, 11:48 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Halabi,
I do very the little and the little I do requires no gratitude. The video you posted struck me immediately, although I uploaded the pictures almost two months ago and have uploaded nearly 15 thousand other pictures since then I recognized Trad immediately from one of the pictures that I posted earlier.
Trad and his late brother Muheed are a testament to the will and resilience of our people, proving the genocide lovers and cynics wrong.
I too share in your feelings of unforgiving towards those vile genocide cheerleaders, it makes my skin crawl to see emoticons ignorantly pasted beside a video depicting the annihilation of our cities.
The video you posted in 603 is the result of a new Assadi bomb called a Barrel Bomb:
Brown Moses has compiled and examined a few videos and news reports regarding this crude yet extremely deadly (Like this regime and its henchmen) weapon.
http://brown-moses.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-mystery-of-syrian-barrel-bombs.html
September 4th, 2012, 12:22 am
William Scott Scherk said:
These two articles from the All4Syria site are disturbing if true. It is hard to trace the reports back to credible sources.
?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ???? ?????
????:?????
?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ????? ???????? ??? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ????? ????????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ?????????? ???????? ???????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ????????? ???? ???? ???? “??? ?????” ?? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ???????? ????? ???????? ??? ??????? ???????? ???? ???? ????????? ?? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ?????? ??????.
???? ???? ?? ????? ??????? ?? “????????? ???? ??? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ?????? ??? ??? ???????”. ??? ??? ??? ?????? ???????? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??????.
?????? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ?????????? ???? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ??????? ???????? ??? ???????? ??????? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ???. ????? ????? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ?? ????? ?????.
???? ????? ????? ??? ??????? ????????? ?? ?????? ???????? ????? ???? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ????? ??????? ????? ??? ??????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ?????? ????????? ?? ????? ??????.
???? ?? ??? ????? ????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????.
?????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ???????? ?? ???????? ???
????? ???????? : ???? ????? 2/9/2012
???? “???? ?????” ?? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ???????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ???????? “??????? ???? ????????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ” ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ????? ???????? ?????? ???? ? ???? ???? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? . ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ???????.
??? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ????????? ?????? ?? ???? ???????? ?????? ??? ????????? ??????? ???????????? ???????? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ???? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ???????? ???????. ??? ???? ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ???????? ??????. ??? ???? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ?? ??????? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????? ???????.
September 4th, 2012, 1:11 am
Citizen said:
Every tyrant who invades another nation claims it is their ‘right’. Napoleon claimed that. Rome claimed that. Hitler claimed that. A Bolton is known by the company he keeps.
Bolton to Israel: Attack, It’s Your Right !!!!!
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159493#.UEWZY8HN9LE
September 4th, 2012, 2:04 am
Citizen said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rrRm_arTJs
Al-Aqsa Anger: ‘Judaization of Jerusalem targets Islamic relics’
Israel has a secret agenda of destroying the Arab-Islamic identity of Jerusalem, and forcing the Muslim population out of the city and their land, Dr. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine told RT.
Sabri accused Israeli authorities of the deliberate Judaization of Jerusalem, and of attempting to gradually take control of the historic Al-Aqsa Mosque.
September 4th, 2012, 2:16 am
Syrialover said:
Halabi and Son of Damascus,
The voice of sanity and decency and normal human beings. Thanks for the reminder.
I have endless gratitude and respect for all those working on the Memory Project, documenting and commemorating the tens of thousands of victims.
It tells us the value of every one of those precious Syrians and those left to mourn them.
This project is a vital source of healing, a building block for a new Syria. It gives proof of the price paid.
Without it, a hollow hell swallows the future. Lies and inhumanity would continue to fester.
http://vdc-sy.org/index.php/en/details/martyrs/6909
September 4th, 2012, 2:56 am
Syrialover said:
Son of Damascus,
I share your distaste at some people who devote hours a day to dumping stuff on this forum, saying insensitive, smart ass and ill-informed things about the situation in Syria.
A situation in which they demonstrate daily that they have no genuine stake, background or even interest. Lucky them.
And SHAME on them. I wish they would quit their game, get a real life and allow this forum to regenerate and return to what it once was.
A message to them from one of those brilliant posters created by the heroes in Kafranbel:
“Syria is not a Roman arena to watch and enjoy only.”
September 4th, 2012, 3:22 am
Mina said:
Le Monde’s correspondant starts to have difficulties sticking to his big boss’ narrative
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2012/09/03/alep-on-n-oubliera-jamais-qu-on-ne-nous-a-pas-aides_1754890_3218.html
September 4th, 2012, 4:17 am
ann said:
The Big Lie & Dirty War on Syria: How the “FSA” Massacred Citizens of Darraya – September 3, 2012
http://www.infowars.com/the-big-lie-dirty-war-on-syria-how-the-fsa-massacred-citizens-of-daraya/
September 4th, 2012, 4:58 am
ann said:
‘External Syrian opposition wants military intervention due to lack of popular support’ – 04 September, 2012
http://rt.com/news/syria-internal-opposition-intervention-174/
The opposition inside Syria opposes foreign intervention, while some leaders of the external opposition – who left the country decades ago and lack popular support – see intervention as a way to return, argues Agnes Mariam, a local Christian leader.
The internal, unarmed civilian opposition – which does not belong to any party – wants change, but without violence and widespread destruction, stressed Mariam, the Mother Superior of the monastery of James the Mutilated in Syria’s Qara.
RT: You’ve been in Syria for 12 years. Has there been a difference in your work these years, and in the recent months of uprisings and violence?
Agnes Mariam: Of course, we’ve been facing a reality that is becoming more and more tragic and dramatic. It is a real dissent. For us it was new because we’ve worked in Syria for restoration of the monastery since 1994.
We could really appreciate the security in Syria, which of course is imposed by a regime that is very strong and sometimes sort of totalitarian. But nevertheless, the reality is that everybody was living in security.
When the uprising began we were very happy, because we always felt that there was a need for a change. But very quickly we got bad news from local witnesses from Daraa, Homs and Damascus.
Those civilians, without any political position, they were telling us stories that were contrary to what we saw on the television. So we took position for the objective truth, the real information and also for solidarity, because slowly by slowly, you had to help opposition when there were hundreds of people detained.
RT: So you were also helping the opposition?
AM: Yes, to what we call the internal, civilian opposition, which does not belong to any party and is not armed. We used to have only peaceful demonstrations. In our village, we helped to free people. Also, if there was a need for humanitarian help. We even had opposition meetings in our monastery. And the first appeal for dialogue and reconciliation was in our monastery.
RT: You’re very well aware of the criticism that has been thrown your way. What is your relationship with the Assad regime?
AM: I have no relationship with the regime. We’re a religious entity, and our authority is religious. It is not political or even civilian. We had a mainstream reporter that came to Syria, and for a while I went with him on the scene in December [2011]. Then in January, I asked to go to the opposition camp where I could help as an eyewitness.
In the beginning, we did not even know who all those people were. They were one of the unidentified armed gangs. We didn’t know who they were, but they were spreading chaos, disorder, killings and abductions. They knew many kinds of methods to destabilize a country. and also how to implement a kind of preparation for a civil war.
For example, they would kill targeted people, Alawi for example. I have seen in Homs a flock of blood because a day before those unidentified gangs beheaded nine Alawi people – just because they were Alawi. I saw it with my own eyes.
I asked the Sunni population, “Who do you think perpetrated those crimes?” but they did not know. They said those people were dressed as soldiers. Do you think they could be [Assad’s] soldiers?
What do you want me to do? I cannot shut up. If nobody is reporting this, I feel that if I know it and do not report it, I’m helping the criminals. And after, even Human Rights Watch began to talk about things perpetrated by armed insurrectionists affiliated with the opposition. They were crimes against humanity.
RT: The Syrians in general – do they want regime change?
AM: I think yes. The regime has fallen, and there will never ever be the same regime again.
The Christians have been discriminated against not because they are Christians, but because by being Christians they couldn’t participate in Islamist demonstrations. Sometimes, this led to severe violence against them. You know, we had more than 200,000 Christians that had to flee out [of Syria] because of this ambiguous position.
We have to discern between the external [and internal] opposition. Some of the opposition leaders outside of Syria, they have never been back to Syria for 30 years. So they don’t have popular support. They want to be able to come, but with the help of foreign military intervention.
But we have an interior opposition which doesn’t want this kind of intervention. They want changes, but without violence and without destroying everything.
RT: When we talk about a solution, a third way in this conflict, how is this going to happen given that there are a lot of guns in the streets? How can this solution work, and what exactly can be done?
AM: There is a lot of violence, as you know. But it is not everywhere in Syria. The violence is happening near the borders, and is following a specific plan. But in the inner country, you have a large number of people and lands which are not under violence. Also, even in the cities, where there is violence, they have tasted so much of what could be [in Syria] if the country follows Iraq, which is now completely destroyed.
Many of the opposition are beginning to think and to say that that violence is not the way.
Over the last year, more than 1,000 have been invited to the Sahara tourist complex [in Damascus] to think about this third way. The name of this third way is the ‘Musalaha initiative.’ The Musalaha initiative does not come from the opposition or the regime, it comes from the silent majority of the Syrian people, from the leaders of families, tribes and clans. And also from religious leaders.
They met together, and they were very active discussing challenges that nobody can solve but them.
For example, in Homs you had many families completely trapped on the streets and controlled by the [external] opposition. The army was going to bomb them, so they were in great danger. They were trapped for one month, and nobody knew what to do. So Musalaha intervened. They had relatives both among the opposition and among people on the streets. They held secret negotiation and [the people trapped on the streets] could make it out.
RT: There are other Catholic Christian figures who don’t agree with you. They think Syrians need outside help and intervention, yet you both are from the same [Catholic] community. What do you think of this?
AM: I want to say that the Syrian people should define themselves what they want. My claim is: Leave the Syrian people alone! The majority of the Syrian people want change, but the change through peace, dialogue and reconciliation.
I hope that the social tissue in Syria is so strong that they will make a new social pact on a new basis, without the ideology of political parties. It will be stronger, it will be better and it is open to a new future, full of contemporaneous achievements.
[…]
http://rt.com/news/syria-internal-opposition-intervention-174/
September 4th, 2012, 5:20 am
ann said:
UNICEF’s 1600 Death Count in Syria Came From MEDIA, Not OCHA
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 3 — On Syria, the UN announces to the media death figures which are derived, Inner City Press has learned, from the media itself.
Then these are circularly sourced to “UN documents” and given more weight than they should be.
UNICEF on August 31 and September 2 offered Syria casualty figures it refused to explain, but which went out all over the world.
After UNICEF’s Patrick McCormick was quoted that “at least 1,600 people were killed in Syria last week” and Reuters said he was “citing a U.N. document,” Inner City Press early on September 2 asked McCormick, which document? And how was the data collected?
McCormick replied to Inner City Press, “call OCHA” — the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
After three separate inquiries with OCHA, and McCormick refusing to respond to follow-up questions, Inner City Press has just been informed by OCHA’s spokesman in Geneva that
“The estimated figure of 1,600 persons was arrived at from UNICEF’s own internal monitoring of different media sources. The figure does not come from OCHA.”
The key phrase here is “media sources” — UNICEF took the number from news reports, despite the adjective “different” and the reference to “internal monitoring OF media sources.” Essentially, UNICEF reads reports on the Internet.
But where do these news reports come from?
Increasingly, Western wire services take their casualty figures from “non-governmental organizations” or, more accurately, “activists.” Sometimes, at least, the sourcing is disclosed as such.
But by laundering the activists figures through the UN system, as UNICEF has done, the figures take on the veneer of objectivity.
Reuters’ report said that McCormick has “citing a UN document.”
Inner City Press repeatedly checked, and fourd on OCHA’s ReliefWeb site a UNICEF report stating that “a record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.” So it appeared even then that UNICEF’s McCormick was quoting a UNICEF report.
But, tellingly, UNICEF’s spokesman McCormick could or would not explain UNICEF’s own numbers. Why else pass the buck to OCHA?
This seemed strange anyway: in 2009 OCHA refused to release very specific casualty figures — 2,683 — it had collected in Sri Lanka.
At the time, the UN told Inner City Press it is not in the business of counting the dead — Inner City Press thought and thinks the UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
Inner City Press immediately on September 2 did try to contact OCHA. But OCHA’s lead spokesperson is away, as was one of the two referred-to replacements. The other did not initially respond. Nor did McCormick, to follow-ups.
Inner City Press asked OCHA:
Hi, I’m sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but when I asked UNICEF for the source of its figure of 1,600 killed last week in Syria, I was told to “call OCHA.” I checked ReliefWeb and found a UNICEF report where it’s stated “A record death toll of 1,600 persons was reported.”
Press question on deadline, I’m sorry to say, since this figure is going out all over the world: reported by whom? Where do the figures come from? Does the figure cited include military deaths? Deaths among armed groups?
Seems important to answer this, especially since the UN system in other contexts has said it does not have access (in Syria at least since UNSMIS left) and / or does not count the dead (I was told this regarding Sri Lanka in 2009 — I thought and think that UN should at least do this, where it can. But in a credible and transparent way.
Does OCHA has casualty figures beyond the above-quoted (but unsourced) UNICEF report?
The next day, OCHA replied:
Subject: Re: I was told to “call OCHA” about UNICEF’s statement of 1,600 killed in Syria last week: reported by whom? Thanks
From: Jens Laerke [at] un.org
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] InnerCityPress.com
Date: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 4:48 AM
Dear Matthew
At a media briefing in Geneva last Friday, a UNICEF spokesperson gave an estimated figure for the number of deaths in Syria over the previous week.
The estimated figure of 1,600 persons was arrived at from UNICEF’s own internal monitoring of different media sources.
The figure does not come from OCHA.
Hope this helps, Best regards
Jens Laerke, Spokesperson & Public Information Officer OCHA Geneva
Inner City Press’ initial questioning was picked up by the UK Guardian, as was the above-quoted OCHA response.
Still UNICEF’s number continues to proliferate. Voice of America at 2 pm on September 2 dutifully quoted McCormick on the numbers for UNICEF, headed by Anthony Lake. Click here for Washington Post; UNICEF’s one-week 1600 death count has since been in, among others, Canada’s big newspapers, GlobalPost, IBT, Slate, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast – and in the UN’s host city, New York Post and New York Daily News.
Since then, the Jamaica Observer, VOA-affiliated Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, San Francisco Chronicle, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Detroit Free Press, South China Morning Post, and more.
More doubts should have been raised: in Syria in 2012, the UN’s mission has left after UN Peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said that even observers in armored cars can’t get around. How would OCHA have collected figures of the type it refused to release in Sri Lanka in 2009, and why would it (well, UNICEF) release them about Syria in 2012?
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1unmedia090312.html
September 4th, 2012, 5:33 am
Wim Roffel said:
I was sorry to read in the NY Times how mr. Landis distorts the reason for the increase in sectarian hatred in Syria.
The real reason is that we have a fundamentalist Sunni uprising that tries broaden its base by appealing to sectarian instincts. Unfortunately mr. Landis is supporting them in that.
September 4th, 2012, 5:58 am
Syrialover said:
Son of Damascus and others,
Amazing, see above right on cue – an instant example of what I was talking about in #613!
A certain person has just dumped 33 paragraphs of cut-paste Russian-oriented propaganda on this forum (#616).
What is the motive? What’s the problem in their life? Why the need to invest so much time and effort in trashing this forum?
Syrians have enough problems without cyberpests getting a strange buzz out of the situation.
September 4th, 2012, 5:59 am
Syrialover said:
“Ann” is now going full throttle in this needy, pathetic game!
The trashdump in #616 is followed in #617 by 39 cut-paste paragraphs from a marginal “alternative” news source.
As I said, what’s the personal excitment in this for “Ann”?
We’d rather not know. It’s something that smells very unpleasant.
September 4th, 2012, 6:09 am
Syrialover said:
#618 Wim Roffel said:
“The real reason is that we have a fundamentalist Sunni uprising”
Well that’s news to every Syrian I know, including a number speaking directly from inside the country within earshot of explosions and gunfire.
September 4th, 2012, 6:18 am
Hassan said:
ASSAD’S COMMANDOS.
September 4th, 2012, 7:27 am
Hassan said:
We are invincible, we are superhumans, we have been chosen by God to rule Syria and Syria al Kubra forever.
We Are Assad’s Commandos ( Paratroopers).
September 4th, 2012, 7:38 am
Hassan said:
I advise the FSA to surrender and submit to their superiors – Assad’s Commandos.
We have won, now it is the time to go out and hunt down, and I’m thinking of re-joining the Army and enjoying myself. I haven’t picked up my AK 47 Rifle since October 1990 when I put it down after crushing the Zionists in Beirut, and now I will pick it up again to defend Syria and Assad and crush Islamists in Aleppo.
September 4th, 2012, 7:46 am
Hassan said:
I feel very excited, just as I was feeling on the eve of my unit’s first deployment to Lebanon in 1978 to fight the Zionists, and my first gunbattle with Ikhwanist terrorists in Aleppo in 1980.
Now I am going to return to Aleppo once again after more than 30 years to kill more Ikhwani and Salafi terrorists.
ASSAD’S COMMANDOS !!!
SHABBIHA FOREVER !!!
September 4th, 2012, 8:04 am
Citizen said:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FpK_BLxZcTQ/T1-GQwqDXCI/AAAAAAAACCk/2gd9Wdkqbqg/s1600/putin-bear.jpg
Romney’s pre-election rhetoric on Russia unacceptable – Putin’s spokesman
http://rt.com/politics/romney-russia-us-peskov-068/
Vladimir Putin’s press secretary has blasted Mitt Romney’s anti-Russian statements and said relations between the countries must not become hostage to the politician’s election battle.
Dmitry Peskov was asked to comment on Romney saying he was not going to be as flexible in relations with Russia as his opponent President Barak Obama.
“As the head of the state [Vladimir Putin] has repeatedly stressed, Russia always has been and in future always will be interested in the further development of bilateral Russian-American relations,” Peskov told reporters.
He added that senior officials from both countries have stressed that bilateral relations shouldn’t be sacrificed for the sake of an election.
“We are sure that this is wrong. We know the official Washington point of view,” Putin’s spokesman added.
On Thursday, in his acceptance speech delivered at the US Republican Party convention, presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed to toughen Washington’s stance on Russia if he makes it to the White House.
“Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone,” Romney stated.
September 4th, 2012, 8:05 am
Akbar Palace said:
One Man’s Nakba is another Man’s Freedom Fighter
Hassan,
Has anyone asked Nasrallah or his boss Mahmoud if they consider what is going on in Syria a “Nakba”?
I ask because as of today, about twice as many Syrians have been displaced or become refugees than Palestinians in 1948.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war
September 4th, 2012, 8:30 am
Syrialover said:
Hassan the comedian, back again.
I imagine you laughing so hard at your joke writings here you can hardly type.
September 4th, 2012, 8:31 am
Halabi said:
I don’t mind Hassan. Assad supporters or the sectarian opponents of the revolution will not condemn this vile speech because he is an accurate representation of how they truly think. Killing Syrians in order to dominate them because they are the promised ones who were chosen to rule the country.
He wants to go back to “kill more.” Disgusting.
September 4th, 2012, 9:11 am
zoo said:
Poor Yemen calling for Saudi money. Any Wahhabi string attached?
“Aid agencies say nearly half of Yemen’s 10-million population do not have enough food to eat, and one in three children is severely malnourished.”
Saudi Arabia calls for aid help for Yemen transition
Agence France-Presse Sep 4, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-calls-for-aid-help-for-yemen-transition
RIYADH // Saudi Arabia called for aid to help Yemen which needs US$11 billion (Dh40.4bn) to weather a tough political transition triggered by Arab Spring protests.
Related
“Yemen is facing many economic problems … the kingdom hopes to see more contributions,” said Ibrahim Al Assaf, the Saudi finance minister, as he opened a Yemen donors meeting in Riyadh held at the level of experts and ambassadors.
Saudi Arabia had pledged US$3.25bn in aid at a meeting of Friends of Yemen held in Riyadh in May during which a total of $4bn were pledged.
Yemen’s Planning and International Cooperation Minister, Mohammed Al Saadi, said last week that his country needs $11bn in foreign aid.
“Our needs are $14 billion. The Yemeni government can cover some part, but there remains a gap of $11 billion,” he said, adding that Saudi Arabia promised to deposit $1bn in Yemen’s central bank to support its currency.
September 4th, 2012, 9:12 am
zoo said:
Mina ref #613
Even France media is observing the growth of jihadism in Aleppo.
“Yet at the heart of the battle, the group of fighters don’t have just military interests. “What do you think of Osama bin Laden?” asks a fighter in English, in a tone that freezes the atmosphere. Throughout the day, there are more black flags, more cuts beard-specific trends of Salafists, more clothes reminiscent of Afghanistan rather than urban Syria among combatants. Especially on the fronts toughest in the main rebel enclave that extends around the neighborhood of Salahuddin, in the western part of Aleppo.
..
There is also a group of Libyans, members of the Islamist groups who are the next big question in the future of Syria.
One of them, Feras, smiled, explaining: “One night, in Libya, I had a dream I’d liberate Syria. Now I live that dream.” Sheikh Walid Chlech stops him as he wants that that all the fighters appear to be Syrians.
September 4th, 2012, 9:22 am
HASSAN said:
HALABI, you are the losers, you have lost this War as you have lost in 1982, God has chosen Assad and His Men to rule Syria because of our exceptional capabilities, our courage and our superior military prowess. WE WILL ALWAYS WIN.
And those that Win have the right to kill and take women, this is the rule of War, it has happened in all Wars. Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany in 1945 and killed a lot of Germans and took a lot of German women, we will do the same, STALIN IS OUR TEACHER.
By the way, those who oppose PRESIDENT ASSAD and SYRIAN ARAB ARMY are NOT SYRIANS. You are not Syrians, revolution supporters, you are illegitmate children of Saudis and Turks. Your mind is Turkish, and your heart and soul is Saudi.
September 4th, 2012, 9:25 am
Halabi said:
Well said Hassan and thanks for articulating the regime supporter/revolution opponent position. It reminds us all what we are fighting against. On another note, I wonder what part of my body is Israeli, given the Saudi/Turkish components. I hope the answer is creative but vulgar enough to make your mother proud.
September 4th, 2012, 9:37 am
Hassan said:
“I wonder what part of my body is Israeli, given the Saudi/Turkish components.”
YOUR SOUL.
September 4th, 2012, 9:40 am
zoo said:
A future generation of Sunnis brainwashed with hatred and desire of revenge on Alawites and Shia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/middleeast/in-syrian-conflict-children-speak-of-revenge-against-alawites.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
If the fighters seeking to oust Mr. Assad sometimes portray their battle as a struggle for democracy, the Sunni Muslim children of the Zaatari camp tell a much uglier story of sectarian revenge. Asked for their own views of the grown-up battle that drove them from their homes, child after child brought up their hatred of the Alawites and a thirst for revenge. Children as young as 10 or 11 vowed never to play with Syrian Alawite children or even pledged to kill them.
Parroting older relatives — some of whom openly egged them on — the youngsters offered a disturbing premonition of the road ahead for Syria.
…
“I hate the Alawites and the Shiites,” Ibtisam said as a crowd of children and adults nodded in agreement. “We are going to kill them with our knives, just like they killed us.”
….
Syrian children at a playground last week at a refugee camp in Zaatari, Jordan. Many speak of exacting revenge on the Alawites when they get back home
….
“Now the Alawites believe — possibly correctly — that the Sunnis are going to try to kill them, and that is why the Alawite Army now is killing Sunnis in this beastly way,” Professor Landis said. “The Alawites feel justified in brutality because they fear what may be in store for them if they lay down their guns.”
“I don’t see any way out of that,” he said, “except to say that we are in for a long, difficult ride, and you pray that the Syrians are going to get over this somehow.”
September 4th, 2012, 9:50 am
ann said:
>>> HASSAN <<<
Your `israel roots are showing. You can stop this charade now.
you’ve been outed 😉
September 4th, 2012, 10:03 am
ann said:
Jordan returns 40 Syrian families to their country – 2012-09-04
AMMONNEWS- A Jordanian source on Tuesday revealed that Syrian families residing in Za’tari tent camp in Mafraq, located in the north-east of the country, fled the camp and others returned to Syria upon their request. The source who preferred to keep his identity anonymous also told the Associated Press that about 40 Syrian families returned to their country over the last two days upon their request by two coaches.
In the same vein, a high security source has recently stated that about 2000 Syrian refugees moved to the Syrian Naseeb centre at the borders after signing the required documents.
[…]
http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=17700
September 4th, 2012, 10:11 am
Akbar Palace said:
Your `israel roots are showing. You can stop this charade now.
Ann,
Actually, I think Assad should be given the annual, “Elder Of Zion Award”, since he and his backers have done more to destroy Syria then any “hardline” Israeli could even imagine.
Yes, the Golan wines are flowing and delightful, and I see Nasrallah, Nejad, and the “Long Neck Geek” have their eyes on the ball: death, poverty, no basic rights and only despair for the people they claim to “serve”.
September 4th, 2012, 10:23 am
Tara said:
Hassan
You are very interesting and I would like to study you. Can you first prove your supremacy and lack of cowardliness by sharing with us who you are.
If you don’t, then we just can’t take you seriously. Do not say we have not tried.,,
Also did you check the “we worship Bashar ‘s toes” site? What do you think. Can you share with us your feelings?
September 4th, 2012, 10:28 am
ghufran said:
??? ???? “??????? ??????? “? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ????? “??????” ?????? ????? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ???????.
????? ?????? ??????? ?? ????? ????????? ??????? ??????????? ?? ?????? ?????????? ???? ???? ??????? ????????? ??????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? ??? ??????? ????????? ?????? ??????? ????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ??? ???? ???????
the video is still available on the net.
September 4th, 2012, 10:35 am
ann said:
Goggins – UK Nationals Returning From Syria
Labour MP Paul Goggins said young people from the UK who had travelled to Syria to fight in the conflict there would represent a threat upon their return. Responding, Foreign Secretary William Hague said that any British nationals involved in terror…
http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/VERTICALS/userlogin2.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fVERTICALS%2fMonitor%2fMoStart.aspx%3fitems%3d18464908&items=18464908
September 4th, 2012, 10:52 am
ann said:
Hain – Syria
Labour MP Peter Hain asked why the Government had not promoted a negotiated settlement for Syria. It was about ending a horrific civil war, he said. He asked if was time to change course. Responding, Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Britain…
http://www.dehavilland.co.uk/VERTICALS/userlogin2.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fVERTICALS%2fMonitor%2fMoStart.aspx%3fitems%3d18464856&items=18464856
September 4th, 2012, 11:07 am
ann said:
Hillary Clinton Admits That Al-Qaeda Was Created By USA – Sep-3-2012
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=271_1346702512
September 4th, 2012, 11:27 am
ann said:
UK contacts with Syria rebels confirmed –
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has revealed that his government authorized and facilitated “limited contacts” between the UK agents and representatives of the so-called Free Syrian Army.
The contacts were part of a conspiracy hatched by Britain’s spying apparatus and the U.S. spying agencies to topple the popular government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“The UK’s own Special Representative to the Syrian Opposition continues to meet oppositionist groups in the region,” Hague said in a statement to the country’s House of Commons on Monday.
Earlier in August, a senior rebel admitted that British intelligence was playing a covert role in the civil war by providing information about the movement of Syrian armed forces to terrorists fighting the Syrian government.
“British intelligence is observing things closely from Cyprus. It’s very useful because they find out a great deal,” the senior rebel said.
“The British are giving the information to the Turks and the Americans and we are getting it from the Turks”, he added.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also admitted that London has provided “an extra £5 million in non-lethal practical assistance to help protect rebel groups and so-called human rights activists in Syria.”
Hague also announced that Britain was increasing its “bilateral support for the [Lebanese] government and armed forces as they grapple with insecurity caused by Syria’s conflict.”
[…]
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/04/259815/rebels/
September 4th, 2012, 11:54 am
ann said:
Syrian forces block infiltration attempt from Turkey – Sep 4, 2012
Syrian security forces on the border with Turkey have foiled an infiltration attempt by foreign-sponsored insurgents.
The security forces have several times blocked such attempts over the past few months.
In addition to the Turkish border, the insurgents have also made a number of attempts to infiltrate into Syria from the Lebanese border recently.
[…]
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/04/259814/syria-blocks-infiltration-by-insurgents/
September 4th, 2012, 12:00 pm
Citizen said:
listen to what does this genius! when he was a player, he is a handsome. And when some one playing with him ,then he is suffering from Rabies.
??????? ????? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???? 10 ???? ?????
http://arabic.rt.com/news_all_news/news/593748/
??? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ??????? ????? ???? ??????? ??????? 3 ??????/????? ? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ?????? ?????????? ??????? ??? ???????? ????? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?????.
????? ????? ????? “????????” ?? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ???? 10 ?? ?????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??? “?????? ???????” ??? ???? ????.
????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ?? ?????? ????????? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ????????? ??????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ????????? ????? ????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????? ???? ???? ?????.
?????? ??? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ??????.
September 4th, 2012, 12:01 pm
Citizen said:
??? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????
1-???? ?????? ???????
2- ????? ?????? ???????
3- ?????? ??? ??????
4- ??????? ?????? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ??
?????? ??????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ????? ???? ??????????? ????????? ??? ?????
http://arabic.rt.com/news_all_news/news/593756/
???? ??????? ????? ?????? ???? ??????? ???????? ??????????? ????????? ????? ???????? 4 ??????/????? ?? ???? ?????? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ?????? ?????? ???????. ?????? ???? ????????? ?????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ????????.
???? ??? ??? ????? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ???????? ???????? ???????. ??? ?????? ???? ???? “?? ?? ??” ??? ????? ??? ???? ??????????? ?? ??? ??? ??????? ????????? ??? ????? ?????????? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ????? “?????” ?? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ????????? ??? ????? ???????.
?????? ????? ???? ????????? ????????? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ??”?????? ???????” ???????. ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ????????? ?? ?????? ????? ??? ??????? ????? ????????? ???? ??? ?? 11 ?????/?? ?????? ?? ???????? ?? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ??????? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ???????.
September 4th, 2012, 12:12 pm
VISITOR said:
Corrupt-to-the bones Iranian mullah regime is going broke. Employees will not receive salaries, busineeses declaring bankruptcies while inflation is hitting the roof. Iranians will soon join their Syrian counterparts in their fight against the scourge of evil,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/09/04/236068.html
September 4th, 2012, 12:13 pm
ann said:
Syrian opposition group rejects preconditions for dialogue – 2012-09-04
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131827584.htm
MOSCOW, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — A visiting Syrian opposition group said here Tuesday that it is against the establishment of any preconditions for starting a nationwide political dialogue in the unrest-torn country.
“We oppose any preconditions to be set for the launch of the dialogue,” said Fathi Jamous, leader of the Coalition Forces for Peaceful Change in Syria, who met with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Preconditions would “only deepen the crisis and the price for overcoming it would be much higher,” Jamous added.
He praised Russia’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, saying “unlike the West, Moscow has adopted a right position, from any point of view, both morally and legally.”
As regards the claims by some Western countries on conducting military intervention if the Syrian authorities use chemical weapons, Jamous said he does not think the Syrian government would take such risky steps.
It is just the pretext Western players need for their interference, which is “far from reality,” he said.
Bogdanov, for his part, expressed Russia’s willingness to continue “intensive contacts” with influential figures in the Syrian opposition, according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131827584.htm
September 4th, 2012, 12:16 pm
ann said:
Syrian FM calls for halting violence to end crisis – 2012-09-04
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131827569.htm
DAMASCUS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al- Moallem on Tuesday called for halting violence and launching comprehensive dialogue to end the domestic crisis, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
Al-Moallem made the remarks during his meeting with the visiting Philippines’ Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, during which al-Moallem stressed Syria’s stance which calls for halting violence from all sides, stopping foreign interference in its affairs and launching a comprehensive dialogue that would help active participation in building the future of Syria.
For his side, the Philippine official expressed his country’s solidarity with Syria to come out of the crisis through a political solution that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people and preserves its security and stability.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131827569.htm
September 4th, 2012, 12:24 pm
ann said:
Syrian Al Qaeda leader calls for ‘Marshall Plan’ – 1 hour ago
http://www.stltoday.com/business/national-and-international/syrian-rebel-leader-calls-for-marshall-plan/article_c95d427f-25bb-5fb8-a5df-769e379a5db6.html
September 4th, 2012, 12:33 pm
ann said:
Dear Prof. Landis,
Is this is what the west has in store for women rights in a future Syria?!
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/da/fdac71c5-0fa4-55f3-a312-958453945808/50462597dd5a5.preview-620.jpg
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/eb/debdc982-d5a0-5c7a-839c-a55c978e9bf6/5046259519fca.preview-620.jpg
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/0f/b0f04742-ed58-5188-86c9-fb3e7dce9d11/504625963e231.preview-620.jpg
September 4th, 2012, 12:39 pm
jna said:
The lovable witty folks with signs at Kafranbel…
“The screensaver on his Nokia phone is a picture of his younger brother Ahmad, killed on Aug. 10 when the government shelled their hometown of Barri. It was the same day that Abboud Barri’s unit took 21 prisoners on the last day of the confrontation in Kfranbel. “Five officers and 21 soldiers. We kept three alive,” he says, “to interrogate them.””
Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/09/04/the-making-of-a-syrian-rebel-the-saga-of-abboud-barri/#ixzz25WLQIwSe
September 4th, 2012, 12:53 pm
ann said:
Quest for peace: Russia continues contacts with Syrian opposition – 04 September, 2012
http://rt.com/politics/russia-syria-opposition-moscow-annan-359/
Moscow said on Tuesday that it is willing to continue contacts with influential figures in the Syrian opposition in an effort to quell violence in the Arab Republic.
The Russian president’s special representative on the Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, met in Moscow on Tuesday with a delegation from the Coalition of Forces for Peaceful Change, a Syrian opposition group.
The two sides discussed the crisis situation in Syria and the prospects for its normalization.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, the Syrian side spoke highly of Russia’s “principle-based and consistent line” as a means for achieving “an immediate end to the violence.”
Moscow has on previous occasions held talks with both the Syrian government as well as the political opposition, a strategy at variance with that of Western governments, many of which have taken sides in the protracted showdown.
The Syrian and Russian diplomats also discussed ways to address the “acute political and socioeconomic problems…via a broad national dialogue without preconditions and external diktat,” the ministry statement added.
Moscow said it continues to support the peace plan put forward by Kofi Annan, the former UN Syria envoy who resigned after six months of attempting to broker for peace.
“Bogdanov reiterated the willingness of the Russian side to continue intensive contacts with influential figures in the Syrian opposition in the interests of consolidating its policies on the basis of the Kofi Annan plan and the provisions of the Geneva communique,” it said.
On June 30, 2012, the Action Group for Syria (which includes the Foreign Ministers of China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar, and the EU High Representative) met at the UN Office at Geneva to secure an immediate cessation of violence in all its forms.
The Action Group also agreed on guidelines and principles for a political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people, among other requirements.
In a separate conference on Tuesday in the Russian capital, Vyacheslav Matuzov, president of the Society of Friendship and Business Cooperation with the Arab Countries, said the only way of resolving the Syrian issue is through diplomacy.
“Attempts at the solution of problems like the one in Syria by military means have discredited themselves,” he said. “The Western policy is at a dead end. Peace talks must be conducted.”
Meanwhile, Nadim Shehadi, an expert on Syria and Lebanon from the Royal Institute of International Affairs, believes it is necessary to prevent the conflict from spreading from Syria to other areas.
“The responsibility shall be borne by those who started this war, which will cause serious harm not only to Syria, but to the whole Arab world,” he said in a video linkup between Moscow and London.
[…]
http://rt.com/politics/russia-syria-opposition-moscow-annan-359/
September 4th, 2012, 1:02 pm
Uzair8 said:
666. ‘The quest for peace’. How appropriate.
Wasn’t that the name of a Superman movie?
September 4th, 2012, 1:05 pm
Syrian said:
648
He knows too much not be one of your type, if what he said was true, that he 1st served in 1978, that will make him one of your Uncle Rifats men sarya aldefaa,
To all who never experienced life in Syria, all you have to do is imagine Hassan and Ann and multiply that by about half a million to see who was running the country for that last 40 years, mind you those 2 caricatures are the educated version of most of the rest
September 4th, 2012, 1:06 pm
zoo said:
If the opposition has preconditions for a dialog, the Syrian government has too.
Good luck Ibrahimi!
Syria says no dialogue before it crushes rebels
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-says-no-dialogue-crushes-rebels-195145122.html
BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian regime said Monday there will be no dialogue with the opposition before the army crushes the rebels, the latest sign that President Bashar Assad is determined to solve the crisis on the battlefield even if many more of his people have to pay with their lives.
The statement comes a day after activists reported that August was the bloodiest month since the uprising began in March 2011.
“There will be no dialogue with the opposition prior to the Syrian army’s imposition of security and stability in all parts of the country,” Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi told reporters at a news conference in Damascus.
The opposition has long rejected any talks with the regime until Assad is removed from power.
Muhieddine Lathkani, an opposition figure based in Britain, responded to the minister’s comments by saying “the key to any dialogue will be the departure of Assad and dismantling of the regime’s security agencies that committed all these crimes.”
September 4th, 2012, 1:10 pm
ann said:
Proud Alahu Akbar brigades destroy a hospital in Syria using none lethal equipments provided by the west
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cfe_1346752745
September 4th, 2012, 1:15 pm
jna said:
“SYRIAN rebels have laid siege to Harem, on the Turkish border, confronting the army and security forces positioned in government buildings and the town’s old castle, an AFP correspondent reports. The battle for control of the northern town lasted all day Sunday, with the rebels reporting that many of the 20,000 or so residents had taken up arms and were fighting alongside the forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.”
[…]
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/syria-rebels-besiege-town-on-turkey-border/story-e6frf7k6-1226463620215
September 4th, 2012, 1:20 pm
zoo said:
#JNA
Harem is a sunni town, loyal to Bashar al Assad.
September 4th, 2012, 1:26 pm
zoo said:
“In all the crises I have covered as a journalist over more than 25 years, I do not remember any other state being so enthusiastic to receive refugees from a neighboring country.”
Mr. Ahmet Davuto?lu is turning into the most ambitious and, by the same ratio, the most unsuccessful foreign minister of the republican era.”
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/with-davutoglu-until-the-end-.aspx?pageID=449&nID=29301&NewsCatID=413
Davutoglu’s strategy was to force the international community to form a safe zone in Syria by engineering the refugee crisis, and to topple the Syrian regime this way. Turkey’s demand for a safe zone has not been accepted or supported.
If this is to continue as such, Turkey will be left alone with the refugees it has vacuumed from Syria.
I have consciously selected the expression “vacuum refugees.” In all the crises I have covered as a journalist over more than 25 years, I do not remember any other state being so enthusiastic to receive refugees from a neighboring country.
In normal circumstances, states do not create promoting circumstances for refugees to come from neighboring countries. On the contrary, they would try to deter them. Ours did just the opposite. For example, in April, while there were 25,000 Syrian refugees in a total of eight camps, there was an adequate infrastructure capacity with relative comfort for another 25,000. They were waiting for more Syrians to come. Now, the number of refugees is over 80,000, but in the meantime this policy has collapsed.
September 4th, 2012, 1:32 pm
zoo said:
Who’s afraid of the big bad Internet now?
Jordan’s King Abdullah Declares War on Internet
by Khaled Abu Toameh • September 4, 2012 at 5:00 am
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/
King Abdullah needs to know that in light of the calls for freedom and democracy, there is no room for such harsh measures against freedom of the media in the Arab world.
Is Jordan’s King Abdullah trying to hide something from his people and the rest of the world?
Last week, the king managed to alienate journalists, bloggers and human rights and political activists by allowing his government to amend a law so it could impose severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including the blocking of websites.
The king’s move will boomerang, encouraging his opponents to step up their efforts to destabilize the kingdom.
The drive to impose restrictions on the media and on freedom of speech has been condemned by many Jordanians as an attempt to silence the opposition and calls for reform and accountability.
…The proposed amendment requires the registration and licensing of online news media, social networks, review sites, media sharing services and blogs.
It also calls for significant fines and penalties against online media owners who break the law. The owners of websites will also be held responsible for the content of comments published by readers on their sites.
…
September 4th, 2012, 1:40 pm
VISITOR said:
Russia is part of the axis of evil.
Russia must be kicked out from all the Middle East.
All Syrians hate Russia and want it kicked out, especially from Tartus.
September 4th, 2012, 1:42 pm
William Scott Scherk said:
SANA: President al-Assad: Syria Welcomes Red Cross Humanitarian Operations in Syria as Long as it Works Independently and Neutrally
President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday said Syria welcomes humanitarian operations carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on the Syrian ground as long as it works independently and neutrally,”
The President’s words came during his meeting with Head of the ICRC Peter Maurer.
Talks during the meeting dealt with the standing cooperation between the ICRC and the Syrian government and setting the appropriate mechanisms for enhancing this cooperation.
[ . . . ]
Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad, Director of Organizations Department at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry Hussam-Eddin Ala and Head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Abdul Rahman al-Attar attended the meeting.
Last September, President al-Assad received the former head of ICRC and stressed the necessity of the committee to directly inspect the reality of the situation in Syria ,particularly in light of the media distortion of the facts.
President al-Assad welcomed the work of the Committee as long as it is independent, works objectively and away from politicization.
[ . . . ]
Mikdad stressed the Syrian government’s commitment to facilitating the mission of the International Committee and providing all means to carry out its activities in line with principles regulating its work, particularly neutrality, independence and achieving its humanitarian goals.
[ . . . ]
September 4th, 2012, 1:50 pm
zoo said:
Incapable of setting a serious strategy to oust Bashar Al Assad, the West is encouraging mushrooming post-Assad “strategies” and ‘action plans” with pompous titles, discriminating against any country that objected to a forced regime change.
Syrian rebel leader calls for ‘Marshall Plan’
http://www.mail.com/int/news/world/1537966-syrian-rebel-leader-calls-marshall-plan.html#.1258-stage-hero1-2
BERLIN (AP) — A Syrian opposition leader called Tuesday for a massive aid program to help rebuild his country after President Bashar Assad’s regime falls, warning that a lack of economic development could open the door to extremism.
…
Sieda also warned that any nation now helping the Assad regime could not expect to get its money back under a new government. “The Syrian people are not bound by any contract signed by the regime after the beginning of this revolution, or any sale of treasury bonds or purchase of weapons or contracts with any country,” he said.
September 4th, 2012, 1:50 pm
jna said:
Re: 672. zoo
Zoo, is this a sign of a developing popular counter-revolution?
September 4th, 2012, 1:59 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
664 “Is this is what the west has in store for women rights in a future Syria?!”
Ann must be referring to the blonde chick in the miniskirt with the big hooters at the back of the room.
http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/da/fdac71c5-0fa4-55f3-a312-958453945808/50462597dd5a5.preview-620.jpg
September 4th, 2012, 2:19 pm
Warren said:
Archbishop fears for the fate of Christians in Syria
He pointed out that Christians and other minorities will suffer now because under President Bashar al-Assad’s regime they were protected.
“Assad’s government protected these minorities and Christians and now if the extremists prevail in Syria, minorities and Christians will be the first to suffer the consequences, this worries us,” he said.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/archbishop-chrysostomos/archbishop-fears-fate-christians-syria/20120904
September 4th, 2012, 2:19 pm
zoo said:
#JNA
The so called “revolution” seems to be increasingly self-destructive. There is no need for a counter-revolution because it’s no more a revolution.
September 4th, 2012, 2:22 pm
Warren said:
Saudi campaigner Mohammad al-Qahtani goes on trial
Prominent human rights activist Mohammad al-Qahtani has gone on trial in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Qahtani, an economics professor, faces nine charges, including setting up an unlicensed organisation and breaking allegiance to the king.
Another rights campaigner, Abdullah al-Hamid, also appeared in court.
Human rights groups say political activists are regularly jailed for their work in Saudi Arabia, some without access to lawyers.
……………………………………………………….
Isn’t Saudiya promoting democracy, freedom, equality, freedom of speech and human rights in Syria via financing and arming the FSA? I wonder what Amjad has to say about this?
Perhaps Taqiya Tara will voice her opinions as she does on everything, considering she has repeatedly praised the Saudi Kingdom?
September 4th, 2012, 2:33 pm
Warren said:
Pakistani Christians worried about blasphemy laws
Intolerance against religious minorities in Pakistan has been on the rise.
And some Pakistani Christians in the UK feel it is not safe for them to return home because of the risk of persecution or the misuse of controversial blasphemy laws.
BBC Arabic Ahmed Maher reports.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19403785
________________________________________________________________
Uzair the Pakistani dares to lecture Syrians on what’s good for them and incite violence in Syria. Pakistanis whether they are in their cursed homeland or abroad: have shown themselves to be bigots and terrorists. The treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in Pakistan is a disgrace.
September 4th, 2012, 3:03 pm
erin said:
I talked to a Syrian who is outside the country on a temproray visit! She told me she has to leave because she can’t take it anymore, she is having a nervous break down!.
life in Syria is like a multiple personality disorder, somearea of Damascus living a normal life for a while, others are a war zone as reported in the news media.
The common people still in support of Assad in part or in total and many feels that this is all an outside conspiracey by the west and the Arabs.
Even many feel that Assad is not the most democractic leader but they still don’t want democracy brought by the western packed salafis, Wahabis, foreign mercenaries.
Add to this that many of the people who left Syria to the neighboring countries are returning if THEY CAN.
it is very expensive to be in Jordan, lebanon, Turkey, or even EGYPT.
obviously, the PIGS of GCC Dont and didn’t take any Syrians and Visas are not given for Syrians to go to GCC countries.
Assad is not an innocent leader but he is going to Emerge the winner accoding to this person, given all the destruction and killing done by the wahabis.
Syrian people in the last 2 decades became more open to the west and at some point living in Syria was preferred to immigrating for many of the syrians.
She still has hope that life will go back to where it was peaceful.
I informed her that as long as the West and its zionists packed wahabis are continuing to send the wahabis retarded stone age imam oriented idiots; Syria will never have peace.
September 4th, 2012, 3:06 pm
ann said:
Al-Jazeera Gets the Crap Hacked Out of It (Updated) – Sep 4, 2012 🙂
http://gizmodo.com/5940345/al+jazeera-gets-the-crap-hacked-out-of-it
There are hacks, and then there are hacks. After this morning’s apparent Apple UDID dump, Al-Jazeera’s English website has been defaced in about the most conspicuous way possible. But who’s responsible?
Clearly someone with a bone to pick with Al-Jazeera. But who is this Al-Rashedon? An opponent of Al-Jazeera’s coverage of Syrian civil war? The Syrian flag is clear in the top right. Is it just some Arabic lulz hooligan? If you read Arabic, we’d love to know more. Until then, we’ll wait for Al-Jazeera to scramble and clean this up. [Al-Jazeera]
Update: Ding ding ding, Syria! A quick translation gives the following, roughly:
“We have hacked you because your lack of support of Syrian government and militant groups backed by that government. Al Jazeera has been spreading lies. We’re compelled to do so on behalf of the Syrian people.”
Update 2: Some readers are reporting the .net variant is showing up as defaced, rather than .com, while others can’t get the site to load at all.
[…]
http://gizmodo.com/5940345/al+jazeera-gets-the-crap-hacked-out-of-it
September 4th, 2012, 3:29 pm
jna said:
Maya Naser?
Demonstration now in Yabroud of #Damascus countryside against militias led by local woman named Sameera Kabbour and the slogan is “Yabroud is free free, FSA leave us” and militias shoot at them killing one civilian Sameer Kabbour
https://twitter.com/nasermaya/status/243060386956460032
September 4th, 2012, 3:32 pm
Citizen said:
In the Arab world, friends of Russia on the order more than your idiots pro-Western! wake up!U.S. all the time bombed Libya twice, occupied Iraq, Sudan bombed again , also bombed Somalia, Lebanon was bombed, invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan, often killing people by drones! and you want to say that the missiles Cruise and Timahawk the seeds of love!
September 4th, 2012, 3:32 pm
Citizen said:
Al-Qaeda Leader Strikes Deal With U.S., Saudis To Send 5,000 Fighters to Syria
http://www.prisonplanet.com/al-qaeda-leader-strikes-deal-with-u-s-saudis-to-send-5000-fighters-to-syria.html
Yemeni Jihadist personally trained by Bin Laden
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, September 3, 2012
A militant who fought alongside Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and is now the leader of a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda in South Yemen has struck a deal with the United States and Saudi Arabia to send 5,000 Al-Qaeda fighters into Syria according to reports out of the Middle East…..
September 4th, 2012, 3:45 pm
Citizen said:
Sheikh Imran Hosein – 4 Possible Upcoming Zionist Wars, Pakistan, Iran, Syria & Egypt
September 4th, 2012, 3:53 pm
Citizen said:
US downgrades anti-missile drills with Israel; sends CIA’s Petraeus instead to ease tensions
http://rt.com/usa/news/us-israel-petraeus-iran-368/
Only days after the United States announced that it will be scaling down its role in a joint-missile exercise with Israel scheduled for later this year, the US has sent CIA Director David Petraeus overseas to handle damage control.
Petraeus, the 59-year-old former commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, arrived in Israel on Monday to deal with what the Jewish state’s Debka news agency calls the “flames of discord” that have been fanned feverishly in recent days thanks to the latest news on a missile drill slated for next month.
The United States had previously agreed to participate at the beginning of 2012 in what was expected to be the largest joint missile exercise ever between the US and Israel, only for the program to be pushed back to October. Now the US says that they are drastically scaling back on the degree to which they are taking part, not just revoking its number of troops involved by more than one-third, but also calling into question how serious the United States might be about helping out allies in Israel in the event of a war with Iran, an outcome some have suggested is all but eventually certain.
“Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you,’” one senior Israeli military official tells Time Magazine this week on condition of anonymity……….
September 4th, 2012, 3:55 pm
Syrialover said:
ZOO #677
Incredible!
You express anger and try to jeer at the fact: “West is encouraging mushrooming post-Assad “strategies” and ‘action plans”
Your backside is now fully bare and BLAZING with
1. contempt and ill-will towards Syrians and indifference to the fate of their country
2. gaps in awareness of basic history, economics, politics. Everything.
Those small boxing gloves on smaller arms can be seen every time you pause in cutting and pasting and express your extreme personal pro-Assadist bias.
(Recommended reading: Anything on the Marshall Plan – apparently unknown to you – and its massive impact on postwar recovery)
September 4th, 2012, 4:57 pm
Syrialover said:
ERIN #683
I can’t help it, when I read that comment I see a parrot talking to its own reflection in the mirror.
Assidist loop thinking.
Sorry.
September 4th, 2012, 5:02 pm
ghufran said:
???? ??????? ??????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ?? ????????? ??? ????? “??????? ?????????” ?? ????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ???? ???? ????.
good luck getting anybody to pay for reconstruction
September 4th, 2012, 5:03 pm
Syrialover said:
CITIZEN, #687
Hey, that’s a great scoop about America doing a secret deal to help send 5,000 al quaeda fighters to Syria.
It’s very mysterious that the rest of the world’s media has missed it.
You are obviously one of the chosen few who know all the world’s conspiracy secrets.
September 4th, 2012, 5:09 pm
Syrialover said:
GHUFRAN #692 said:
“good luck getting anybody to pay for reconstruction”
One things we know for surer than sure: there won’t be anything coming from those fantastic friends of Syria in Iran and Russia.
Not a single dollar.
Let alone the tiniest fragment of a strategy or action plan – those countries are too desperately devoid of that themselves.
September 4th, 2012, 5:18 pm
ann said:
What goes around, comes around 😉
Ottoman’s Stance on Syria Ricochets Back – September 4, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443571904577631570887903192.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
ISTANBUL—The Turkish government, which is spearheading efforts to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, is facing public skepticism over its Syria policy as the civil war next door increasingly spills across the border.
Developments in recent weeks have magnified Turks’ unease over Syria’s 18-month uprising.
More than 82,000 Syrians have now sought refuge in Turkey, at a cost of around $300 million to the Turkish government, Ankara said Tuesday, as Turkish border towns that relied on trade with Syria have seen economic activity wither and unemployment rise. Turkish television is showing footage of the country’s nationals, which have been kidnapped in Syria and Lebanon by groups loyal to Damascus, targeting Turks seemingly due to Ankara’s anti-Assad stance.
Above all, Turkey is facing its bloodiest summer since the early 1990s. The militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which lawmakers and commentators say is emboldened by the Syria crisis, is stepping up attacks against security forces and civilians.
The result has been a blizzard of criticism from Turkey’s media and opposition parties that has appeared to feed public unease that the government’s hawkish policy—which includes hosting the opposition Syrian National Council, offering haven to the Free Syrian Army’s leadership and reinforcing the border with tanks—could draw Turkey further into the sectarian conflict.
“The public now see the Syria issue and the PKK issue as one,” said Atilla Yesilada, political analyst at Global Source Partners, an Istanbul-based research firm. “They believe the government’s failure to oust Assad after hawkish promises has strengthened the PKK and made Turkey less secure. It’s hurting the government’s popularity as Syria seems headed for a crucial moment.”
Opinion polls, which before the summer, showed solid public support for the government’s Syria policy, have reversed course. One survey from pollster Andy-Ar Center for Social Research last week showed 67% of voters disapprove of Ankara’s handling of the Syrian crisis. A separate July poll from the Institute of Strategic Thinking, an Ankara-based think tank, showed 49% of Turks oppose the government’s policy, up from 32% in March.
In recent interviews, Mr. Assad has appeared eager to heighten domestic political divisions between Ankara and Turks who are skeptical over its policy. “The Turkish people are our friends and they will understand us,” Mr. Assad told Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet in an interview in July. “It doesn’t matter if the Turkish government considers Syria an enemy. If Turkish people should start harboring animosity, that would mean there is a problem.”
Much of Turkish opposition lawmakers’ and commentators’ ire has focused on Turkey’s high-profile Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, seen as the architect of Turkey’s more expansive foreign policy. A year ago, Mr. Assad was Exhibit A in Mr. Davutoglu’s “zero-problems-with-neighbors” foreign policy, which boosted relations with Muslim regimes, while downgrading ties with former ally Israel.
On Tuesday, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party said that it would seek a vote of no-confidence against him.
Analysts stress that the there is little chance that Mr. Davutoglu would lose his job given the AKP’s popularity under Mr. Erdogan. But they also stress that growing unease at the government’s hawkish Syria policy could spark internal debates among party leaders at a crucial phase of Syria’s conflict.
“For the first time in years the AKP is coming face to face with a public challenge to its support,” said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels. “There is the perception now that their Syria policy is not in the national interest and has actually raised the security risk.”
[…]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443571904577631570887903192.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
September 4th, 2012, 5:29 pm
Richard said:
681. Warren said:
“Archbishop fears for the fate of Christians in Syria
He pointed out that Christians and other minorities will suffer now because under President Bashar al-Assad’s regime they were protected.”
It’s human nature to prefer the devil that you know.
There are devils within the rebellion. It is not necessary that they prevail and dominate. IF the Christian community joined the rebellion, they could have a positive influence.
Assad’s clan is not going to rule over Syria in the long term. God knows what the future will be.
September 4th, 2012, 5:43 pm
Richard said:
683. erin said:
“The common people still in support of Assad in part or in total and many feels that this is all an outside conspiracey by the west and the Arabs.”
Sounds like people there believe the state-controled media. They’ve had a steady diet all their lives.
Totalitarian regimes breed a large number of sheep who are afraid of change and the outside world. That’s how totalitarian regimes maintain control. There are still plenty of people in Libya with Ghadaffi shrines. Joe Stalin is still a hero for some older Russians.
September 4th, 2012, 5:52 pm
Halabi said:
So this menhebak, possibly Iranian or maybe just a stupid, semi-literate Syrian as most Assad supporters are, threatens the 3ara3eer.
http://youtu.be/qLK4jnGokqY
In the meantime, true Syrians heroes speaking with local accents take down another Mig.
http://youtu.be/T-1NG267mfM
I hope by the end of this we won’t have a single Mig, helicopter gunship or tank left in the country. Syria isn’t at any risk of being invaded, and the evidence for that is the absence of the military on many borders hasn’t invited an invasion. Of course there is the question of Golan, but only the insane would think that a military that can’t take over Aleppo in 49 days from lightly armed rebels is capable of defeating Israel.
September 4th, 2012, 5:58 pm
Syrialover said:
# 698. HALABI said: ” I hope by the end of this we won’t have a single Mig, helicopter gunship or tank left in the country. Syria isn’t at any risk of being invaded, and the evidence for that is the absence of the military on many borders hasn’t invited an invasion”
FACT: The only enemy of the Syrian government and its army is the Syrian people. The reason for the current army’s existence.
That’s always been the reality. And now we see it played out and demonstrated to the maximum, all pretense abandoned.
September 4th, 2012, 6:23 pm
VISITOR said:
699 SL Said,
“FACT: The only enemy of the Syrian government and its army is the Syrian people. The reason for the current army’s existence.”
CORRECTION:
The only enemies of the Syrian people are the Nazi criminal thugs occupying Damascus and the the killing machine falsely parading as National Syrian Army.
September 4th, 2012, 6:38 pm
ann said:
Syria says to fully cooperate with new UN envoy – 2012-09-05
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/05/c_131827625.htm
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Syria said on Tuesday that it would fully cooperate with Lakhdar Brahimi, the new joint special representative of the UN and the Arab League, to bring an end to the 18-month crisis in the country.
The statement came as Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian permanent representative to the United Nations, addressed the UN General Assembly about the crisis that has plagued his country since March 2011.
“I would like to emphasize that the resignation of Mr. Kofi Annan should not be a reason to keep away from the six-point plan adopted by the Security Council Resolution 2042,” he said.
“We call upon all the parties — Arab, regional and international — which have influence on the armed groups, particularly those states which had refused to receive Kofi Annan and refused to cooperate with him, all those states whose representatives made destructive, negative statements days after Mr. Kofi Annan took over.
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/05/c_131827625.htm
September 4th, 2012, 6:43 pm
Halabi said:
Best of video of some of the truth that has appeared on the garbage media that so many here base their views.
http://youtu.be/VSttwJlnCj0
September 4th, 2012, 6:45 pm
Syrialover said:
RICHARD #696 said: “IF the Christian community joined the rebellion, they could have a positive influence.”
Interesting thought. I have read that many Christian communities in the west have been praying for ALL Syrian people who are suffering at the Assad regime’s hands, regardless of religion.
September 4th, 2012, 6:47 pm
ann said:
Syria’s future to be built only by Syrian people: UN envoy – 2012-09-05
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/05/c_131827628.htm
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint special representative of the UN and Arab League for Syria, said here Tuesday that “the future of Syria will be built by its people and none other.”
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Syria, Brahimi said, “The future of Syria will be built by its people and none other. The support of the international community is indispensable and urgent. ”
“It will only be effective if all put in the same direction,” he said.
Brahimi, the former Algerian foreign minister and a widely respected UN official, formally replaced Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, as the international mediator on the Syrian conflict on Sept. 1.
Annan announced his resignation from the post of UN-Arab League joint envoy to Syria in early August in frustration over his failure to mediate a way out of the 18-month Syrian conflict.
“As I told the secretary-general a few days ago, I will spare no effort to participate in the common endeavor to find peace for the Syrian people,” Brahimi said.
Syria has announced its readiness to cooperate fully with Brahimi in seeking a political solution to the ongoing crisis in the country.
The Syrian-led political process should result in “leading to a transition that respects the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and enables them independently and democratically to determine their own future,” he said.
Also at the General Assembly meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “I know he is counting on your collective support for his difficult mission,” Ban told the 193-member General Assembly. “I appeal to you today to provide solid and unified support to his difficult and essential mission.”
[…]
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/05/c_131827628.htm
September 4th, 2012, 6:52 pm
Syrialover said:
ZOO,
If you insist on playing for the Assad defense team why don’t you track down Jad and get some training. Lift your game.
That team here appears to have lost Jad and now Irritated, Alan and others, and has been getting weaker by the day.
It is now even being cleverly satirized by Hassan.
September 4th, 2012, 6:55 pm
ann said:
French FM to Hariri: Paris fears Syria spillover – September 05, 2012
BEIRUT: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Tuesday that France is concerned with keeping Lebanon away from the ramifications of the crisis in neighboring Syria. Fabius met Hariri at the Foreign Ministry in Paris.
“The Syrian crisis is not restricted to Syria alone. It is affecting the stability of neighboring countries, especially Lebanon, which is witnessing an influx of refugees.
[…]
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Sep-05/186784-french-fm-to-hariri-paris-fears-syria-spillover.ashx
September 4th, 2012, 7:12 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
683 Thank you, Erin.
Great post. It underscores my own sense that at least half the Syrians on the ground support the regime. That is the main reason no one in the West has any inclination to intervene.
You get weak (and typically Syrian) at the end when you editorialize about “zionists packed wahabis.” I think you meant to say “Zionist-backed wahabis.”
Only a Syrian who has lived under forty-some years of Baathist-fascist Assadism could entertain the notion that the Israelis, the Wahabis and al-Qaeda are somehow in league with one another. To put it bluntly, it makes no sense and for anyone who believes otherwise, I can only say: you are either stupid or you’ve been drinking too much Kool-Aid.
September 4th, 2012, 7:15 pm
ann said:
In Maaloula, the past has relevance to Syria’s tragic present – 5 September 2012 – By Robert Fisk
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/robert-fisk/in-maaloula-the-past-has-relevance-to-syrias-tragic-present-16206697.html
Sunday is a good day to drive to Maaloula. There are fig and olive trees and grapes by the road and, for a time, you can forget that Syria is enduring an epic tragedy.
True, you mustn’t turn right to Tell, where the Syrian Arab Army are having a spot of bother with the Free Syrian Army and there are 35 military checkpoints on the 100-mile round trip from Damascus; but in the cool mountains east of the Lebanese border, Christians and Muslims live together as they have for 1,300 years. History, however, does not leave them alone.
Enter the wonderful Catholic church of Saint Sarkis and you find paintings of two Roman soldiers, based at the imperial fort of Rasafa north of Palmyra, who converted to Christianity and found themselves in a rather Syrian situation. Sergius and Pixos upset the Great Leader in Rome – the empire had not yet abandoned Jupiter, Venus, Bacchus and the rest – who ordered their execution. So the two legionnaires took sanctuary in Maaloula, preaching Christianity until the long arm of Rome’s intelligence service caught up with them, and they were hauled back to Rasafa to be beheaded on the orders of the emperor. I look at the old man who is recounting this story to me and we both nod in unspoken agreement of its current relevance. Sergius and Pixos were defectors.
Over the Roman temple of Maaloula was built the church, and thence came in 1942 the twice wounded General Wladyslaw Anders, who was shepherding his 75,000 emaciated Polish soldiers from Soviet imprisonment through the Holy Land to join the Second World War allies and subsequently the battle for Monte Cassino. Anders gave a beautiful icon of Christ to the church at Maaloula; I found it inside the front porch, his name written at the base, but no hint of his mission. His brave II Polish Corps was condemned by Poland’s post-war Communist government as a legion of defectors.
But Maaloula, of course, is known for finer things. Its people, as every tourist knows, still speak Aramaic, the language of Christ – Damascus was part of the Aramaen kingdom – and when I asked a young woman to say the Lord’s prayer in her language, it sounded a bit like Hebrew. A suspicious Fisk wonders if this is the reason why, although there is a written language, the people of Maaloula do not learn it. Did Arabic and Hebrew descend from Aramaic? Scholars – I always find that an odd word – are still undecided.
So I chat to old Father Fayez who’s serving time as the local priest and he refuses to talk politics, but insists that his people, in their old, blue-painted houses, live side-by-side with their Muslim neighbours; indeed, the 20,000 Christians and Muslims living in three villages all speak Aramaic. But the sunlight and sharply-defined shade in the church courtyard reflect the darkness that has fallen across the lives of these people. There had been three kidnappings of Christians, the priest says; all had been released after ransom was paid.
Then the owner of a Christian restaurant set off last month to collect some Muslim workers from a neighbouring village, and he’d been abducted on the way. The Free Syria Army brought the kidnapped man back to Maaloula. I drive to Seydnaya where the church is built, Peter-like, on a rock, the basilica of Seyd Naya – the Holy Virgin in Syriac – with a clutch of orphans and an off-duty Syrian army conscript cleaning the floors and bringing water for the children.
And then an angry nun approaches in her black habit, flapping like a blackbird, frameless spectacles pinned to the outside of her head covering. “You journalists want to harm this country,” she chirps. “Before the war, we lived in peace. We had holidays, vacations, women and children could walk in the street at midnight.” She stalked off, only to return – as I knew she would – for a second assault. She had a story to tell, for the Holy Spirit – while it may drift through the narrow cold stone corridors of Seyd Naya – cannot prevent violence from touching the church. “A boy wanted to come here to pray for his marriage because he was marrying a local girl,” the nun said. “But then we heard today that his father has been killed in the massacre at Deraya?”
So I consulted Sister Stephanie Haddad who said that Seyd Naya was peaceful – she passed over the shells which hit the monastery seven months ago, supposedly fired by the Free Syria Army – and was now sheltering refugees from Homs and Hama and Tell and from Deraya itself. So I asked the obvious question. What would Jesus say if he turned up in Syria today? “If he came now, he would tell the people: don’t kill, burn, shoot, kidnap or steal. All these things are mentioned in the Bible.”
There are 20,000 souls in Seyd Naya, Sunni Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Catholics, 13 churches and two mosques, “at least” two Christian women married to Muslims – make of this what you will.
[…]
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/robert-fisk/in-maaloula-the-past-has-relevance-to-syrias-tragic-present-16206697.html
September 4th, 2012, 7:19 pm
Ghufran said:
Confirmed reports about shelling of a village in Latakia by the rebels that killed three children, another village was shelled but only led to property damages. Opposition sources and the FSA did not mention the attack. A fierce battle erupted in Salma that pushed out Kattibet Alizz.
In Aleppo, rebels are about to withdraw from Sayf Addawlah. A rare cease fire was reached in Homs which lasted 24 hours and allowed civilians to move away or simply buy groceries. From what I hear, the next 2 weeks will witness dramatic developments in Aleppo, Homs and Latakia. Regime sources are talking about a major military assault.
I maintain that any victory by either side will be short lived, fighting parties need to accept a cease fire, foreign jihadist must leave Syria by choice or by force, others will keep their weapons but should be receptive to talks about a truce.
I do not believe rebels claims about advancing in Aleppo, the coming days will tell if the rebels are being truthful or not.
September 4th, 2012, 7:39 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
708 Great post, Ann
“There are 20,000 souls in Seyd Naya, Sunni Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Catholics, 13 churches and two mosques, at least two Christian women married to Muslims – make of this what you will.”
Love knows no borders. Remember the tale of Romeo & Juliet and imagine Romeo from a Wahabi family and Juliet (has the Jew sound in it, eh?) from a Haredi family. Woooo-Hoooo!
September 4th, 2012, 7:57 pm
Juergen said:
Idleb: video of a shot down syrian mig fighter jet, shows dead pilot
September 4th, 2012, 8:07 pm
Ghufran said:
???? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? “???? ??????? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ????? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ???????? ????? ??????? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ???????”.
?????? ??????? ?????? “??????” ?????????? ?? “??????? ????? ?????? ????? ?????: “??? ???? ?? ?????”.
Iran is the main reason today for the mess in Iraq, prior to that, the US invasion set the stage for a failed state and a new insurgency.
Every foreign intervention in the middle east since 1974 did nothing to help the nations of the middle east except Israel and ,due to miscalculations, Iran.
September 4th, 2012, 8:10 pm
Juergen said:
A friend who teaches in Syria told me that she was reading a war story with the children in order to talk about what is going on in Syria. She asked the students what they think of war. All said that war is terrible, except one child who responded to her stating that he likes the war. She asked him why he would think so. He replied that because of the war, people help each other.
September 4th, 2012, 8:11 pm
Ghufran said:
Do not wait to see this in the GCC media, you will find it here on SC:
Rebels attacked the village of Ghassaniya in Homs killing four civilians, one is 75 year old,and taking close to 100 citizens as hostages. This attack is seen as a revenge to recent rebels losses in the area around Homs. This village is still under siege and may witness another slaughter of civilians if efforts to remedy the situation fail.
September 4th, 2012, 8:15 pm
Ghufran said:
Al-Jazeera websites hacked by Assad loyalist group.
Group calling itself al-Rashedon said hacking came as ‘response to your position against the people and government of Syria’
Aljazeera.net is still not accessible as of now.
September 4th, 2012, 8:20 pm
Juergen said:
As some here hail to the new russian zar, have you read this?
The russian opposition has published this report on the wealth of Vladimir Putin
4 yachts, 58 aircraft, 20 homes, all worth millions.
Putin earns officially about 120.000 Dollar a year, how can one with such a income have a private clock collection to be worth 700.000 Dollar? By the way the russian president office has declared that he is only using the state property. There was no explanation why 20 residences are needed for the russian president, half of them just build under his reign. For a comparison, Obama has only 2 residences.
I guess his statement in 2008
“I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning till night,”
shows that he might think that he deserves all that. May be thats his motivation for the power swap with Medwedew.
http://www.bornrich.com/vladimir-putins-filthy-rich-lifestyle-4-yachts-58-aircraft-20-homes-75000-toilet.html
September 4th, 2012, 8:23 pm
Juergen said:
Ghufran
AJE works fine now.
http://www.aljazeera.net/portal
September 4th, 2012, 8:24 pm
Visitor said:
FSA supreme commander confirms FSA is increasing in strength while criminal thug killing machine decreasing in strength. Estimates criminal thugs occupying Damascus and parts of Syria have 2 to 4 months before they get vanquished,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/09/04/236098.html
September 4th, 2012, 8:26 pm
Johannes de Silentio said:
718
I don’t think so, VAT.
It’ll be more like two to four years. And even then, Bashar will have his supporters. As long as there is the fear of something WORSE than the Assads, the regime will have fighters on its aside.
And as long as there are people like you out there, there will always be something worse. You dig?
September 4th, 2012, 8:36 pm
Syrialover said:
GHUFRAN,
You seem so intent on finding despair and frightening prospects for Syria I think it is bad for your health and wellbeing to continue to focus on the place.
Unfortunately, your approach suggests you will not be capable of assisting in any way with rebuilding and recovery of the country.
It’s a big pity, because focusing on that could help you feel less obsessively negative and more constructive – much better for your health.
Try it and see.
September 4th, 2012, 8:39 pm
Visitor said:
Written before his assassination in the mid 80s, this book by Michel Seraut is resurfacing as an indispensable resource for today’s events in Syria,
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2012/06/GRESH/47911
September 4th, 2012, 8:42 pm
Tara said:
Was TV journalist targeted?
Four people were reportedly injured by a bomb attack on Sunday in the Abu Rommaneh district of Damascus. Many reports at the time noted that this was near a military site – the likely target.
However, our colleague Mona Mahmood has been speaking to a Syrian source who suggests the intended target was not the military site but TV journalist Michelene Azar who lives nearby.
Azar, who works for the pro-government al-Dunya TV, shocked many people last month with her reporting of the Darayya massacre (see video below).
The footage of Azar is linked by the Guardian blog.
September 4th, 2012, 8:42 pm
Visitor said:
Some people are predicting that Lasfar will come after Lakhdar.
September 4th, 2012, 8:51 pm
Ghufran said:
A depressing report from NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/middleeast/in-syrian-conflict-children-speak-of-revenge-against-alawites.html
September 4th, 2012, 8:53 pm
Tara said:
Time will come when Bashar and his family beg for an asylum and find no country willing to take him.
Record number of people fleeing Syria, UN reports
Thousands of refugees pouring into neighbouring countries with over 100,000 seeking asylum in August
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 September 2012 13.59 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/04/syria-refugees-asylum-un
September 4th, 2012, 8:57 pm
ann said:
724. Ghufran said:
A depressing report from NY Times
NY Times specializes in depressing it’s readers Ghufran 😉
September 4th, 2012, 9:06 pm
Ghufran said:
Syrialover wants a happy report,here is one:
???? ????? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ??????. ????? ????????? ???????? ?? ??????? ??? ???????? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ???????? ????? ????? ?????? ????? ?? ??????.
??????? ??????? ??????? ??? ?????? ???????? ????? ?????? ??? ???????. ???? ???????? ?? ??? 20 ???? ?? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ???????? ??? ???? ?????? ???????? ???????.
???? ???? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ????????? ?????? ??? ????? ??? ????? ???????.
??? ?????? ??????? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ??? ???????? ????? ??????? ???????. ??????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???????? ??????? ??????? ??????.
????? ??? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ???????? ??? «???? ????»? ?? ???????? ??????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ???????. ????? «????? ?????? ??? ????? (??????) ?? ?????? ???????»? ????? ?? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ??????. ????? ?? «????? ?? ???? ????? ?????? ????? ?????».
????? ???? ???? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ???? ?????????. ???? ???? «???? ????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????. ?????? ???????».
???? ??? ?? ??????? ??? ???? ???????? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ??? ?????.
September 4th, 2012, 9:19 pm
Tara said:
Weren’t we promised that a provisional government will be formed by the end of Ramadan? The SNC should have rallied behind Haytham al Maleh when he declared he was asked to form a government. They proved impotent and unable to provide alternatives.
Germany calls for united opposition to Assad
Germany’s foreign minister is pressing disparate Syrian opposition groups to unite in preparation for the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime, AP reports.
Guido Westerwelle is also urging the international community to be ready to provide economic support.
Berlin hosted a gathering of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats Tuesday to address how to prevent basic services and infrastructure collapsing, and how to revive the economy, once Assad falls.
Westerwelle said a common platform is urgently needed, and that the people of Syria must see “there is a credible alternative to the regime.”
He called on the opposition “to create as fast as possible the conditions for … a transition government.”
However, he stopped short of French President Francois Hollande’s call last week for the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government now.
September 4th, 2012, 9:21 pm
Syrialover said:
Ghufran, no, I don’t rejoice in acounts of fighting between Syrians. I’m normal – I hate it and I want it over.
But I’m clear on why it’s happening and what is needed to end it. And I know it’s the price to pay for Syria to get a legitimate government.
Meanwhile I, my family and friends also focus on things that will be needed to help rebuild Syria. We think of how we might play our small and humble part to do justice to the sacrifices made by so many.
I have huge respect, admiration and faith in the people of Syria to come through this and build a better country.
Don’t you? (No need to answer – I think I know).
September 4th, 2012, 9:40 pm
ann said:
Iraq Defies US, Lets Iran Arm Assad: Report – September 4, 2012
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/380624/20120904/iran-iraq-syria.htm
Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace, senior American officials tell the New York Times.
The Obama administration pressed the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq to shut down the air corridor, but as the Syrian rebels gained ground, Iran doubled down in supporting Assad. The flights started up again in July and have continued despite protests to Baghdad from American officials.
Military experts tell the Times the flights have let Iran to supply the Assad government despite the rebels’ efforts to seize several border crossings where Iranian aid has been trucked in.
“The Iranians have no problems in the air, and the Syrians still controls the airports,” said a retired Lebanese Army general, Hisham Jaber, who heads the Middle East Center for Studies and Research in Beirut.
[…]
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/380624/20120904/iran-iraq-syria.htm
September 4th, 2012, 10:09 pm
Ghufran said:
????? ?? ?????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ??? ???? ???? ????? ???? ?????? ??????? ??????? ????????? ?????????? ??? ????? ???? ?? ??? ?? ??????? ??????????? ???????????. ??????? ??? ????? ???? ??? ??? (????? ??????) ???? ???? ??? ????? ????? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ???????: ????????? ??????. ?????? ?? ?????? ????????? ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?????????? ???????? ????????????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ??????? ?????? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ????????? ??????? ?????? ?????????? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ??????. ??? ??? ??????? ????? ????? ????? ????????? ??????? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ?????? ???????????? ?? ?????. ????: ?? “????? ???? ??????? ????? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ???. ???? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ???”.
September 4th, 2012, 10:28 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Assad’s Massacre Strategy
The Syrian leader believes that a campaign of mass murder will be his path to victory. Is he right?
BY HASSAN HASSAN
What is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad thinking? Over the past several weeks, his regime has escalated military operations throughout the country — shelling neighborhoods in previously loyal cities, using airplanes to drop what rebel fighters call “TNT barrels” containing hundreds of kilograms worth of explosives, and unleashing its militias to commit gruesome massacres such as the one in the city of Daraya, where more than 400 people were slaughtered on Aug. 27. Approximately 5,000 Syrians were killed in August — making it the deadliest month of the 17-month conflict.
At the same time, the Syrian regime has embarked on a PR offensive. Damascus invited the Independent’s Robert Fisk into the country — allowing him to interview Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, embed with Syrian forces battling insurgents in Aleppo, and interview imprisoned foreign fighters and Syria jihadists. Most prominently, Assad himself granted an interview to the pro-regime Addounia TV on Aug. 29 where he insisted “Syria will return to the Syria before the crisis.”
Western and Arab media dismissed the interview as detached from reality: Assad’s comments appeared to be directed at an outside audience, and he did not offer any concessions to the opposition. But the interview merits a closer look, as it can offer insights into a recent shift in the regime’s thinking and tactics.
In the interview, Assad explained that a recent “public understanding” has allowed the regime to escalate its offensive, unlike during the early stages of the uprising. “Some wanted us to handle that stage as we handle the stage today,” he said. “This is illogical. The stage was different, their [rebels’] modus operandi was different, even the public understanding of what’s happening was different.”
There is of course no public consent as such, but some of Syria’s internal dynamics have shifted in favor of the regime. Many in Syria have made up their minds about standing with the regime until the end. Though some do not support the violence, they believe that blood is a price that has to be paid to prevent the country from lapsing into chaos. Others want a decisive end to the conflict, regardless of who delivers, and currently see the opposition as unable to tip the balance.
[…]
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/04/assad_s_massacre_strategy?page=0,0
September 4th, 2012, 10:28 pm
Son of Damascus said:
Will the Syrian National Army actually live on?
Big changes ahead for Free Syrian Army?
There was a long and very interesting series of posts last night from a Twitter user known as The 47th about organisational changes in the Free Syrian Army.
We must make clear that we have no idea who The 47th is, though he/she appears to be well informed and has a proven track record in predicting high-level defections on Twitter (including those of Manaf Tlass and prime minister Riad Hijab).
For that reason, we think it’s worth reporting The 47th’s latest series of tweets; readers are welcome to form their own opinion of them. We have compiled them into a narrative form and expanded the abbreviations:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/aug/08/syria-crisis-rebels-kill-russian-general-live#block-502239bdb57975a08080f301
September 4th, 2012, 10:32 pm
Richard said:
708. Johannes de Silentio said:
“Great post. It underscores my own sense that at least half the Syrians on the ground support the regime. That is the main reason no one in the West has any inclination to intervene.”
It’s possible that half the population supports the regime, although probably “tolerates” better describes many of those folks.
But one has to keep in mind that the regime remains in power only because it has jet fighters, helicopters and heavy artillary. Without this overwelming advantage, the rebellion would have overthrown the regime long ago. As it is, the rebellion is holding its own fighting with grenade launchers, AK47s and bows & arrows.
It’s hard for anybody to know how much hardcore support the regime has. It is easy to get a false sense because the regime is battling a rag-tag force with a well-equiped and integrated army & air force.
September 4th, 2012, 10:56 pm
Ghufran said:
A model that worked well in Indonesia.
Joshua Kurlantzick- the Atlantic:
Decentralization clearly has had many benefits. It has helped broaden and spread growth, and in some ways has helped pit local officials against each other in the race for investment, forcing them to take measures to help attract investment in infrastructure, resources, and agriculture. It clearly has helped boost participation in the political process, and has led to a broadening of political ideas in which politicians no longer have to come from Jakarta or even Java to get national prominence and to rise up the political ladder. Devolution also has, in some ways, helped mitigate local anger that natural resources were being taken out of their area and used to fund the central government, with local people getting little in return.
September 4th, 2012, 11:10 pm
ann said:
Brahimi on Syria at GA Says Little, Tightly Controlled, Lower Expectations
By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 4 — When Lakhdar Brahimi first accepted the post of envoy to Syria, he did a round of interviews from his Paris apartment, resulting in arguments back and forth with the Syrian National Council. Then he went silent.
Brahimi’s silence continued for nearly a week at the UN in New York. In the North Lawn building, guards kept the media away from him — Inner City Press described the scene without joining it — and even his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi asked not to be quoted by name.
Then on September 1, at the beginning of a three day weekend in New York, Brahimi did another round of interviews, this time much more controlled. The message of each interview was, not surprisingly, nearly exactly the same, as were the headlines: Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible II, Brahimi Is Scared.
So when Brahimi was scheduled to speak in the General Assembly on September 4, people expected to hear something of substance, and that he would takes questions from the press corps afterward.
On September 3, after Brahimi’s appearances, Syria’s Information Minister Omran al Zoebi said there would be no dialogue with the opposition until the Syrian army imposes “security and stability on all parts of the country.”
Some thought Brahimi would want to respond to that, or to whether he would go to Syria openly representing the Arab League, or only the UN.
Inside the General Assembly, Brahimi’s speech was five paragraphs and said very little. And afterward, after Syria, Lebanon and Israel trades rights of reply, Brahimi did not come to speak at the UN TV stakeout that had been waiting for more than two hours.
“He is not comfortable,” one Ambassador told Inner City Press, shrugging. Good luck.
Outside the GA, Inner City Press asked Ambassador what they thought. Algeria’s Permanent Representative, heading the Group of 77 and China (a post that Fiji, in the Asia group, is running for) told Inner City Press that Brahimi is cautious because he does not want to “engage in polemics.”
[…]
http://www.innercitypress.com/syria1gabrahimi090412.html
September 4th, 2012, 11:14 pm
Ghufran said:
The Saga of Abboud Barri:
http://world.time.com/2012/09/04/the-making-of-a-syrian-rebel-the-saga-of-abboud-barri/?iid=gs-main-lede
September 4th, 2012, 11:19 pm
ann said:
735. Ghufran said:
A model that worked well in Indonesia.
Ghufran, Indonesia is blessed because it does not have `israel in it’s neighborhood
September 4th, 2012, 11:23 pm
Richard said:
736. Ghufran said:
“Decentralization clearly has had many benefits. It has helped broaden and spread growth, and in some ways has helped pit local officials against each other in the race for investment”
I think federalism is a great way to start a new political system, it’s worked in many places. More central power can be added later as trust is estabilished. I don’t really see it being so helpful in Syria’s crisis, since populations are so intermixed. Is Syria divided strongly by region?
I wonder if this war is going to end someday with just the opposite, with Syria and Lebanon re-uniting. I know it seems counter-intuitive, but perhaps a larger tent is a way to guarantee minority rights.
September 4th, 2012, 11:27 pm
Ghufran said:
A word of wisdom from previous article in the Time:
“War is dehumanizing, and civil wars in particular can brutalize a society in ways that fundamentally alter its very nature. Neighbors become enemies; differences — social, economic, religious — become magnified as a means to confirm the otherness of the enemy. Local accents and surnames can reveal sectarian identities and, by extension, presumed political views. There is little room for nuance or civility in a civil war”
September 4th, 2012, 11:28 pm
zoo said:
#Tara
The ‘transitional government’ promised ‘soon’ by the SNC seems to in the realm of a fantasy as the SNC, besides been heavily damaged, has excluded the local Syrian party of Abdel Azim. They prefer it to be an expat-only “government”.
Once the military operations will show who comes out as the ‘winner’ then the political game with start.
Until then, we will hear empty promises and threats, repeated calls for no-fly zones, more calls for arming the rebels and smart ‘studies’ from “Think tanks” who are afflicted by the “Post-Assad” syndrome.
September 4th, 2012, 11:49 pm
Syrialover said:
#738
Another dumb statement by “Ann”.
Take a break from cut-pasting and read up on Indonesia’s actions in East Timor and West Papua.
September 4th, 2012, 11:51 pm
Halabi said:
“From what I hear, the next 2 weeks will witness dramatic developments in Aleppo, Homs and Latakia. Regime sources are talking about a major military assault.”
This is the beginning of the major assault, but not on the FSA, never on the FSA. Women and children murdered in their sleep, the clear sign that Assad’s forces were here.
http://youtu.be/Q56y_5tQBlw
Graphic
http://youtu.be/GfdfU7gpaAA
http://youtu.be/8-xO0dni-hk
In the first two weeks of rebel control of parts of Aleppo, how many buildings were shelled, how many civilian massacres? When the rebels roamed around Christian neighborhoods, did they massacre Armenians and Christian children, destroy their churches and homes?
Those who hate the Syrian people want to see Assad’s army victorious. Those who can’t see the difference between attacking a military airport or even the execution of shabi7a and destroying entire neighborhoods full of civilians will never compromise. Those who support the murder of the innocent in order to stave off hypothetical massacres can’t be trusted to do what’s right, which is to remove this horrible regime that has caused this nightmare over four decades and try to build something better for all Syrians.
In the meantime, it’s a revolutionary war and winner takes all. We want freedom and justice, the other side wants continued oppression. There’s nothing in common between these positions and there never will be.
September 4th, 2012, 11:55 pm
Ghufran said:
Richard,
Reuniting Syria and Lebanon is a dream that will not come true, minorities in Lebanon see this as a threat and the majority Sunni in Syria do not want to dilute their pool and add few million Shia,Druz and Christians to syria’s population. Such a unification will only be possible when both countries have a good dose of democracy and a system that has an acceptable level of corruption. economically and culturally ,Syria and Lebanon are natural members of the same body with few exceptions related to stronger tribal presence in Syria. I am afraid that Syria and the whole middle east are indeed going in the opposite direction: more divisive and less nationalistic.
I hope this post is happy enough for my hopeful friends.
September 4th, 2012, 11:59 pm
Syrian said:
722
That low life Michelene Azar lives in Jaramana not Abu Rumanah,
http://all4syria.info/Archive/52742?wpmp_switcher=desktop
September 5th, 2012, 12:03 am
Halabi said:
From the Time article
“In more than a year of clandestine travel in Syria, TIME has seen little direct evidence of rebel attacks on civilians, although suspected shabiha (regime thugs) and loyalist troops are often treated mercilessly.”
Rania Abouzeid’s reporting is balanced and close to flawless. She has been able to meet with all these Islamists, including Al Qaeda a couple of months ago, and none have harmed her. Yet all we hear about is how the Ikhwan, terrorist rebels are going to force women to wear veils and bring in Taliban rule.
But never let facts get in the way of your hatred and hypocrisy, as Hafez Al Assad once said, according to Syria Truth.
September 5th, 2012, 12:04 am
zoo said:
70 percent of Aleppo under control: Rebels
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/70-percent-of-aleppo-under-control-rebels.aspx?pageID=238&nID=29403&NewsCatID=352
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
Field leader of the rebel al-Tawhid Brigade in Syria, Abdulkader Saleh, has claimed that they have so far secured control of 70 percent of the city of Aleppo on the ground, and that they are fighting to seize control of the remaining 30 percent.
“The battle for Aleppo will end this stalemate. We control the ground in Aleppo, but the regime has air forces and they have control in the air. They are bombing us with jets. We will solve this by destroying airports and air bases,” Saleh told journalists at a press conference in Istanbul….
September 5th, 2012, 12:05 am
Johannes de Silentio said:
734
Thank you, Richard.
In my opinion, it’s not so much the terror and the weaponry that keeps Assad in power as the concern of who and what might replace him.
As I pointed out to VAT in another post, Bashar will have his supporters as long as there is the fear of something WORSE than the Assads out there.
September 5th, 2012, 12:09 am
Halabi said:
Maybe I was too harsh on the genocide enthusiasts and sectarian opponents of the revolution. Here’s one they will enjoy, but probably not as much as the videos of the dead children from Halab.
Turkey’s Anti-Assad Policy Ricochets Back
ISTANBUL—The Turkish government, which is spearheading efforts to force Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power, is facing public skepticism over its Syria policy as the civil war next door increasingly spills across the border.
Developments in recent weeks have magnified Turks’ unease over Syria’s 18-month uprising.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443571904577631570887903192.html
September 5th, 2012, 12:16 am
zoo said:
Ann
Thanks for preferring to inform us with interesting articles instead of using this blog, like some frustrated commenters do, to throw insults and try to silence anyone who does not share their opinions.
September 5th, 2012, 12:25 am
zoo said:
A voice of wisdom or a traitor?
Syrian opposition group rejects preconditions for dialogue
2012-09-04
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-09/04/c_131827584.htm
MOSCOW, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — A visiting Syrian opposition group said here Tuesday that it is against the establishment of any preconditions for starting a nationwide political dialogue in the unrest-torn country.
“We oppose any preconditions to be set for the launch of the dialogue,” said Fathi Jamous, leader of the Coalition Forces for Peaceful Change in Syria, who met with Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Preconditions would “only deepen the crisis and the price for overcoming it would be much higher,” Jamous added.
He praised Russia’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, saying “unlike the West, Moscow has adopted a right position, from any point of view, both morally and legally.”
September 5th, 2012, 12:35 am
Juergen said:
“What’s happening in Syria turns into tragedy”
04 September 2012 16:55
Al-Sayyid Hani Fahs, a member of Supreme Shiite Council of Lebanese, has said that the current situation in Syria was getting worse day by day.
BEIRUT (AA) – September 4, 2012 – Al-Sayyid Hani Fahs, a member of Supreme Shiite Council of Lebanese, has said that the current situation in Syria was getting worse day by day.
“What’s happening in Syria is not a crime anymore, it has turned into tragedy. We were late to support Syrian revolution,” Fahs told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
Denying the claims that 70 percent of Shiite community in Lebanon was supporting Syrian government, Fahs stated that only small percentage of Shiite people might stand up for the regime.
Fahs also drew attention to Bahrain. He stated that Shiite’s fight against the administration in Bahrain had been ignored.
Sheikh Sayyed Hani Fahs, who is a member of the Supreme Shiite Council in Lebanon, was born in 1946 in Nebatieh town of south Lebanon. He completed his primary and secondary education in this city, later on moved to Nacaf in Iraq to study Arabic and Islamic Studies. He lived in Iran between 1982 and 1985.
http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/78372–s
September 5th, 2012, 12:41 am
Hamoudeh al-Halabi said:
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir at DC rally for Syria
http://freehalab.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/shaykh-hamza-yusuf-imam-zaid-shakir-at-dc-rally-for-syria/
September 5th, 2012, 12:54 am
SYR.EXPAT said:
753. HAMOUDEH AL-HALABI
Thank you for sharing the link. Great speeches by these two great Muslim American Scholars.
September 5th, 2012, 2:17 am
annie said:
Good recap of the Syrian Revolution
http://wewritewhatwelike.com/2012/09/05/understanding-the-war-and-the-syrian-opposition-interview-with-soubhi-dachan/
Assad will perish or escape. And the long-awaited victory will be even sweeter and Syria will be the beacon of freedom of all people in the world, as the Syrians themselves have defeated a regime supported by half the world.
The Syrians are giving everything they hold dear, family, home, friends, belongings. They are giving everything. Not to Syria. But for every free and righteous man. For every man who refuses to bow his head to the tyrant and accept his abuse and violence. This is the conclusion. Syria will be free, and the revolution continues ..
ZOO this “Fathi Jamous, leader of the Coalition Forces for Peaceful Change in Syria” sounds like a sell out.
September 5th, 2012, 3:22 am
Citizen said:
Juergen
you will again be willing spend the winter in the cold ? Most of Europe’s leaders take bribes and under them wet! Stop that! Your leaders are replaced up to the ears in dirty corruption cases
September 5th, 2012, 3:34 am
Citizen said:
Putin gives first post-inauguration interview exclusively to RT
http://rt.com/politics/putin-exclusive-interview-first-373/
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at length with RT’s Kevin Owen. To find out what the president spoke about in his first interview since the inauguration, tune in on September 6th at 0800 GMT.
September 5th, 2012, 3:50 am
Citizen said:
Perpetrators, their patrons responsible for Free Syrian Army’s threats
http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/510539.html
MOSCOW, September 3 (Itar-Tass) —— Responsibility for the consequences of the Free Syrian Army’s threats will rest with the perpetrators and their patrons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“Moscow was deeply alarmed by statements made by representatives of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) and carried by mass media that the international civil airports in Damascus and Aleppo will from now on be regarded as military targets and that civil planes will be shot down. An ultimatum was issued to civil airlines, demanding that they stop flights to these airports within 72 hours from September 1,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday, September 3.
Moscow considers such threats “absolutely unacceptable” as they represent “a gross violation of international law, primarily the Chicago Convention of 1944 ‘On International Civil Aviation’. From the moral and legal points of view this means that the opposition has come critically close to the ‘red line’, beyond which actions will be no different from Al-Qaeda’s crimes”, the ministry said.
“As is known, civil facilities and civil population have been repeatedly subjected to attacks by the armed Syrian opposition,” the ministry said. “The latest statement by FSA basically confirms that terrorism is turning into one of the main methods of its operation. However the states that sponsor the intransigent Syrian opposition and encourage it to refuse to engage in dialogue with the authorities and to ‘fight to the victorious end’ prefer not to notice this. If the FSA’s threats are carried out, all responsibility for their consequences will rest not only with the perpetrators but also with their patrons,” the ministry said.
“It is necessary to influence the FSA leaders in the most decisive way in order to exclude such threats, let alone their implementation. Russia has already contacted via diplomatic channels the countries that have influence on the radical Syrian opposition,” the ministry said.
It reiterated its recommendation to Russian citizens to “refrain from travelling to Syria” and urged the Russians living in Syria to use safe exit routes.
September 5th, 2012, 3:57 am
Mina said:
Obama’s nightmare
” (…) Regarding ongoing dialogue with Sinai-based jihadist groups, launched two weeks ago as the operation’s ‘political arm,’ Nizar Ghorab, former MP for the Gamaa Al-Islamiya’s Construction and Development Party – who is currently spearheading the dialogue campaign – said that a series of meetings were taking place with jihadist and Islamist groups in the area.
Ghorab told Ahram Online that the first meeting, aimed at pre-empting an unnecessarily heavy-handed security response, took place last week. “This is why we quickly launched talks with the leaders of these movements – to prevent them from entering into a confrontation with state agencies,” he explained.
Ghorab added: “We spent time in prison with these men under the former regime, and thus we appreciate each other. This allows us to maintain dialogue with them, and we reiterate that these groups – including those that have taken up arms – no longer need to do this under the new regime, which we support. (…)”
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/52021/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-Operation-Eagle-Sinai-campaign-draws-mixed-.aspx
September 5th, 2012, 5:17 am
Visitor said:
752 Jeurgen,
I would take anything said by Hani Fahs with grain of salt. These guys are the epitome of duplicitousness.
——————————-
Morsi says Assad regime must go and cannot be reformed,
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/09/05/236205.html
Bashar’s e-mail account password is 1234
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/09/05/236158.html
September 5th, 2012, 8:12 am
Tara said:
Zoo
I agree that SNC should concede and join effort with NCB ( Abdul Azim’s group) if an all inclusive provisional government to be formed. If I was Lakhder Ibrahimi, I would focus on bringing them together as my first priority. The regime is hopeless and any peace effort should focus on the opposition unification ( if you will) then a proposal to negotiate AFTER Batta steps down.
September 5th, 2012, 8:29 am
Visitor said:
Best treatment of Syrian refugees in in Saudi Arabia.
All Syrian students in KSA to be enrolled in Saudi schools by Royal decree.
September 5th, 2012, 8:57 am
irritated said:
#763
“Best treatment of Syrian refugees in in Saudi Arabia.”
I am moved to tears…. how many are they?
September 5th, 2012, 9:15 am
zoo said:
#761 Tara
I have lost any hope that the opposition will ever unite as I have lost hope that the FSA will ever regain the legitimacy it has lost with it has welcomed foreign fighters and Saudi and Qatar money to get arms.
As time passes these divisions are increasing and becoming more obvious and distressing for the international community. That is why they are in a total confusion of what to do.
In my view, unless there is a “coup”, the battle on the ground is the decisive factor, unfortunately with the death of a lot of Syrians.
September 5th, 2012, 9:20 am
VISITOR said:
TARA,
I just awakened IRRITATED for you, and even managed to move him to tears.
I would say that is an achievement. What do you say?.
Zoo’s only concern is to poke holes into the Revolution. In case you haven’t noticed.
September 5th, 2012, 9:38 am
zoo said:
Not much publicized. There are only photos.
Israel Conducts Military Exercise in Golan Heights
Updated: 2012-09-05
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/agency/2012-09-05/content_6919607_2.html
September 5th, 2012, 9:51 am
zoo said:
Syria Rebel Army Seeks Unity, to Be Renamed
by Naharnet Newsdesk 5 sept 2012
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/52498-syria-rebel-army-seeks-unity-to-be-renamed
The Free Syrian Army plans to reform to overcome divisions and address the growing number of militias fighting on its behalf, as well as to rename itself, a rebel general said on Wednesday.
Following discussions due to end in around 10 days, the FSA would go by the name of the Syrian National Army, General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the military council grouping rebel chiefs, told AFP.
The FSA, which has grown from a rag-tag force of military defectors into a popular guerrilla insurgent movement buoyed by civilian recruits, was also set to appoint General Mohammed Hussein Hajj Ali as its highest-ranking officer.
“After a long period, we must restructure the army because we fear the proliferation of militias in Syria and want to preserve the country’s future,” said the brigadier general, who was among the first to defect to the FSA.
Among those areas that needed restructuring was the control of funds that reach rebel fighters, in order to “prevent the creation of militias because that is very dangerous,” said Sheikh.
While rebel groups are gathered under the auspices of the FSA, the structure of the rebel army remains vague and lacks a strong and cohesive central command.
“There are many groups that claim to be the FSA but do as they please,” said the general.
He said reforms were key to winning the support of the international community which has so far been reluctant to arm the rebels “on the grounds that the (FSA) is not a real institution.”
The rebel army has thousands of fighters, among them about 3,000 officers of various ranks, including 70 generals, according to Sheikh.
Unifying the FSA ranks would prevent Sunni majority countries from “sinking into a civil and confessional war after the fall of the regime” of President Bashar Assad, who hails from the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam.
September 5th, 2012, 9:57 am
zoo said:
FSA new strategy: Bombing any village or town loyal to the government.(Kfaryeh in Edlib, Harem,Al Ghasania in Homs, Qasab in Latakya etc..),
A great way to win the hearts and minds…
September 5th, 2012, 10:30 am
zoo said:
Will Morsi invite Ahmadinejad to Cairo for the “quartet’ meeting?
Egypt’s president says “time for change” in Syria
05/09/2012
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=30937
CAIRO, (Reuters) – Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on Wednesday that the time had come for changing the government in Syria and that a quartet of regional states proposed by Cairo to discuss the Syrian crisis would meet.
“The quartet which Egypt has called for will meet now,” Mursi told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, without giving more details of the gathering that Cairo has said should include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt.
He also said the time had come in Syria for “change and not wasting time speaking of reform. This time has passed now. Now it is time for change”.
September 5th, 2012, 10:36 am
zoo said:
Both sides in Syrian conflict fail to protect civilians – UN chief
Published: 05 September, 2012, 04:39
http://rt.com/news/un-chief-syria-violence-385/
With fighting in Syria showing no sign of abating, the UN chief has accused both the Syrian government and the opposition of large-scale human rights violations, stressing the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon urged the world powers to unite behind a plan to end the conflict that so far has claimed more than 18,000 people, according to UN estimates.
Ban stated that “government forces and the armed opposition have clearly failed to protect civilians and respect the rules of international humanitarian law.”
“Prisoners on both sides are subject to harsh treatment and, often, torture,” he added. “There have been alarming reports of summary executions on both sides.”
The UN chief expressed concern about the “continuing militarization” of the conflict, warning against those who arm both sides. “Those who provide arms to either side are only contributing to further misery – and the risk of unintended consequences as the fighting intensifies and spreads,” he said.
..
The conflict is intensifying,” Ban Ki-moon told the General Assembly. “The longer it goes on, the more difficult it will be to contain. The more difficult it will be to find a political solution. The more challenging it will be to rebuild the country and the economy.”
September 5th, 2012, 10:38 am
zoo said:
Behind the large smiles and multiple declarations of common economic interests, China and the USA are no friends on foreign politics.
China, U.S. divided over Syria, sea dispute, but vow goodwill
By Andrew Quinn | Reuters – 50 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/china-paper-warns-clinton-ahead-talks-014339180.html
China backs a “political transition” in Syria to end worsening bloodshed after 18 months of unrest, Foreign Minister Yang said while repeating Beijing’s opposition to forceful foreign intervention in the crisis.
Clinton said it was “no secret” the U.S. government was disappointed by the positions of China and Russia on Syria, and she reiterated that the best course of action remained tough U.N. Security Council action.
..
Yang also said his government opposed the efforts of any country, including Iran, to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies having such ambitions.
“We believe the parties should continue to exercise calm and remain committed to diplomatic negotiations,” said Yang.
Washington has been turning up pressure on Tehran by expanding unilateral sanctions, an approach that Beijing opposes. But Clinton suggested the Chinese government had given some concessions on its energy and trade flows with Iran.
She praised efforts with China and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which she said had brought “unprecedented pressure” on Tehran.
September 5th, 2012, 11:06 am
Richard said:
765. zoo said:
“I have lost any hope that the opposition will ever unite as I have lost hope that the FSA will ever regain the legitimacy it has lost with it has welcomed foreign fighters and Saudi and Qatar money to get arms.”
Why is it hopeless that the opposition should unite? Difficult, yes, but hopeless? All outcomes look difficult and unlikely, other than continued violence and chaos. Yet someday, somehow one seemingly unlikey outcome will prevail. The possibility that Assad will regain control of the country seems most remote prospect of all to objective observors, yet you haven’t given up hope on this particular possibility.
You said in an earlier post that you wished for the opposition to unite in some broader form. Should I still accept your sincerity?
You criticize the rebellion for accepting money and arms from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Where do you advise that they should have turned for aid?
There can be no argument that the rebellion began peacefully, and remained that way for an impressively long time. The protestors can hardly be blamed for seeking arms to defend themselves. If you can not offer a better source of material support for them, then you simply oppose the fact of the rebellion and should state so directly.
September 5th, 2012, 11:20 am
Citizen said:
http://en.ria.ru/analysis/20120905/175785412.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD3gZJ6f3ng&feature=share&list=UUsP3Clx2qtH2mNZ6KolVoZQ
September 5th, 2012, 11:40 am
zoo said:
Richard
“Where do you advise that they should have turned for aid? ”
Egypt and Tunisia did not beg for help. They had a ‘respected’ revolution. Libya and Yemen had a shameful revolution. Time will tell if they will ever recover from that bitter victory. Iran stopped short their green revolution when it turned violent, waiting for a better opportunity in the future.
It is exactly these same deep divisions we see in the opposition that make Syria’s society. An authoritarian regime for decades tried to dilute them and hide them but now they are appearing again exacerbated by regional ambitions and interventions.
With this historical background, I have serious doubt the opposition will ever unite.
The only solution is if they transform their divisions into political parties within a democratic system. Yet to reach that stage, they must accept that they can’t unite and that the transition to a multi-party democratical system is only possible through a dialog with the government. This will build a embryo of democratic structure when they can find a place to express their opinions and get the Syrians to follow them.
Unfortunately the opposition and the FSA have shown to be even more totalitarian than the regime they criticize. They put their ego and the foreign interests before the interests and the lives of the Syrians
This is why I see no chance in a united opposition and no peaceful solution, unless there is an arranged ‘military’ coup in the Syrian government.
Bashar Al Assad is still the only unifying figure, both for the ones who hate him and the ones who are loyal to him.
September 5th, 2012, 12:07 pm
Syrialover said:
Richard,
Your rational and well-informed response to Zoo in #772 shows you have woken up to his game and his real views.
Don’t be fooled by his “lose all hope statements”. His agenda is ill-will and contempt towards all Syrians who are not in the Assad camp.
He also supports this with all kinds of grandiose sweeping statements about the world in general and “history” that don’t add up (eg #774). I can’t imagine who he thinks will read and believe it on this forum.
You will have to bend very low and wear toy gloves to punch at Zoo’s weight.
September 5th, 2012, 3:03 pm
Syrialover said:
Richard,
PS Were you a reader of Syria Comment before this forum was suddenly swamped by pro-Assad cut-pasters and disinformationists?
If so, you will know how high the benchmark and quality of discussion here used to be. Many high calibre long-term contributors and genuine Syrianists have now left this forum in disgust. It’s a tragedy.
Joshua Landis’s tolerance has been exploited by the Zoos and “Anns” and several others here whose aim was trash this forum in support of the Assad regime.
September 5th, 2012, 3:05 pm
Richard said:
I have to give Zoo credit for a thoughtful response to a hard question.
I think Zoo is easily punching at my weightclass, Syrialover, even if his support for Assad is a glass jaw. I doubt Zoo actually much supports Assad, I accept that he is fearful of an Islamic state. Irnonically, it is fear of an Islamic takeover that is making that possibility more likely!
No, I wasn’t around for this discussion forum’s glory days.
September 5th, 2012, 5:15 pm
Syrialover said:
RICHARD
Ah, you are being most gentlemanly, modest and kind. I could easily go back and find stuff to demonstrate a case against Zoo’s sincerity and neutrality commenting here on Syria.
For a random example of what I am talking about with Zoo’s ill-concealed agenda (among the cliched formula stuff):
“Unfortunately the opposition and the FSA have shown to be even more totalitarian than the regime they criticize. They put their ego and the foreign interests before the interests and the lives of the Syrians.”
For God’s sake.
What a low insult to tens of thousands of Syrian victims of the regime.
And if you are worried about an Islamic takeover, your fears will be quietened if you ignore Zoo and other shallow propagandists and have a discussion with any Syrians who actually know their country, the people and the issues.
September 6th, 2012, 12:34 am
samir sardana said:
Erdogan the Ottoman links Gallipolli to Kashmir – a true Muslim and a true follower of the Prophet Mohammad 0 unlike the dubious Muslims which have littered South and East Asia and also parts of West Asia
https://www.dawn.com/news/1534429/no-difference-between-gallipoli-and-occupied-kashmir-erdogan-stands-by-pakistan-in-parliament-speech
Sample the Arabs who support the Hindoo worms in Kashmir and build Hindu temples in Arab lands and invite kaffirs and the Hindoo vermin PM to innaugrate the temples !
This is inspite of the Hadeeths foretelling the day when temple bells of kaffirs will ring in Arabia !
It is the Turks,Persians and Mongols who will annihilate the Hindoos,as in the past and as foretold in the Hadeeths and other Sufi Prophecies
Kashmiris need to Read the Gita !
The Gita allows the discrimination of Lower Castes ! If the Hindoos treat their own like dirt – what will they do for the Kashmiris ?
The Hindoos believe that the raped and murdered will have a better life in the next life as a human or a animal and the hndus have a right to rape and plunder – due to their good deeds in their prior life !
The above is not a “BELIEF” – it is an injunction by the Lord of the Hindoos,as stated below:
https://dindooohindoo.page.tl/Caste-Justification.htm
“It is far better to perform one’s svadharma (prescribed duties), even though faultily, than another’s duties perfectly. Destruction in the course of performing one’s own duty is better than engaging in another’s duties, for to follow another’s path is dangerous.” – Bhagavad-Gita 3:35.
“According to the three modes of material nature (goodness, passion, ignorance) and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society (Brahmin/KsHatriya/Vaisya/Sudra) are created by Me .
And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable.” — Bhagavad-Gita 4:13.
Note the expression ” I am the creator of this system”
February 19th, 2020, 4:52 am
samir sardana said:
Erdogan the Ottoman links Gallipolli to Kashmir
https://www.dawn.com/news/1534429/no-difference-between-gallipoli-and-occupied-kashmir-erdogan-stands-by-pakistan-in-parliament-speech
And then there are the Arabs who support the Hindoo worms in Kashmir and build Hindu temples in Arab lands and invite kaffirs and the Hindoo vermin PM to innaugrate the temples !
The Kashmir Genocide – dindooohindoo
The Ruling political dispensation of India (Hindoosthan) is a front of the RSS (a quasi wanna be Nazi party).The RSS in its documented history and intellectual posits has admired and co-opted and co-owned Hitler – not merely as a Role Model – but as a Kalki Avatar – or an Avatar of Vishnoo – the Hindoo God !
The SS part of the RSS is a lift from the Nazi SS and the “R” stands for “Rats”
The RSS is infested by the vermins of the Brahmin/Bania/Kayastha triad – which represent the priestly and trading classes of Hindoosthan who never fought a war for their nation – but incited the same and also carried out the largest unknown genocide in History – that of the Buddhists
The Bhagwad Gita JUSTIFIES genocide, w/o remorse,guilt and WITH DIVINE SANCTION.The Indian Military and Para Military,is a race of criminal mercenaries called Kshatriyas – who were the offspring of rapes by the Huns,Mongols,Sakas, Scythians,Persians, Parthinians,Greeks 1500-2000 years ago.They were discarded by their races and interbred and were treated as outcastes for centuries – until the Brahmins co-opted them as criminal mass murderers (around 1000 years ago) – and who are now in Kashmir !
Nazis are on record JUSTIFYING their actions based on the thesis of the Bhagwad Gita explained in this note.
History Records that the Nazis were ALSO inspired by the Gita, per se
https://dindooohindoo.page.tl/Nazis-and-Gita.htm
Why the “Nazis and Hitler and Himmler”, love the Gita
“Dindoo Hindoo Bindoo Gandoos” consider “Hitler to be a Vishnoo Avatar”
When Krishna the Bhagvat was fed up rying to explain to “Arjuna the – why he “needed to exterminate his foes” – this was the “last attempt” in the 18th Chapter of the Gita – the logic is as under :
Lumen Naturale 1 – There are “5 precedents to sense-perception and action”
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???????? ?? ??????? ?? ??????? ???? ???????18.15??
18.14 The locus as also the agent, the different kinds of organs, the many and distinct activities, and, the “divine is here the fifth”.
Lumen Naturale 2 – There “5 are causes of all action” and are “independent of the mind and body dualism” of Descartes and “also the Soul “!
??? ??????
???? ???????? ???? ???????????? ? ????????
??????? ? ????????????? ????? ? ??????????18.17??
18.15 For whatever action a man undertakes by his body, speech and mind, whether right or wrong,i.e., enjoined or forbidden by the Sastras, “the following five”, are its causes:
Lumen Naturale 3 – Hence,you can “kill,murder and rape” – provided it is done with “no ego and no feelings “- for it is the “Act of the Divine” ! Just like the Nazis ! “Heil Krishna,the Bhagwat “!
??? ??????
????????? ??? ????? ???? ? ???????????
????????? ??????????? ???? ??????? ?????????18.14??
18.17 He who has not the “feeling of egoism”, whose intellect is not tainted, he does not kill, nor does he become bound-“even by killing these creatures” !
February 19th, 2020, 4:53 am
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