"The Free Syrian Army Does Exist" by Koert Debeuf & Response by Aron Lund

“The Free Syrian Army Does Exist” by Koert Debeuf & Response by Aron Lund

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

The Free Syrian Army Does Exist and is Growing Stronger by the Day
by *Koert Debeuf
for Syria Comment, March 19, 2013

When I read the piece of Aron Lund, ‘the FSA doesn’t exist’, I was utterly surprised. Of course the FSA does exist. And it is changing rapidly.Over the last few months, the FSA has transformed itself from a loose structure into a functioning organization. In fact, what Lund describes is an era of the FSA that no longer exists. It ignores the developments of the last several months and the present reality on the ground.

Last month, I visited Northern Syria three times with the Free Syrian  Army (FSA). I spoke to many generals who had defected from the Syrian Army, to commanders on  the ground,to people in the headquarters of the FSA and  to military-civilian organizers of humanitarian aid of all parts of  Syria. I also spent many hours with Dr. Brigadier General Salim  Idriss, Chief of Staff of the FSA; I was in the middle of a battle  at Quweris airport, then one of the main front lines.

Many points Lund is making, were correct three months ago. But not now. Col. Riaad Assad for example is completely out of the picture, whatever he himself might say. Another example is Qasem Saadeddin. He did indeed try to create some unity in Homs and had difficulties in doing so. But that too is history. Today he is a Commander of one of the five fronts under the umbrella of the FSA and he is working very closely with Chief of Staff Salim Idriss. It is also not true that Idriss would not use the ‘brand’ FSA. One example is the fact that he recently started his own twitter and Facebook account as well as one for the headquarters, using @FSAHQ.

Nevertheless, I must admit that at first sight, the structure of the FSA is utterly confusing. Whomever  you talk to on the ground will pretend he is the most important  commander in Syria. He will denounce formal structures and glorify his  own past as a freedom fighter. I learned that the  best strategy is smiling. And waiting. After an hour of ranting, the real story comes out. Every time. Then it appears that the FSA does have a structure, that these commanders do operate within this structure, but that it is not fully established.  The FSA is not just a brand. It does exist. The FSA building has been framed in, but remains under construction.

The French Resistance

Aron Lund compares the FSA to the French Resistance in the Second World War. Spot on, I would say. But again while his piece fits with the beginning of the French Resistance, the reality is that the FSA can be compared with the Free French Forces in a later, more organized stage.

The Free French Forces, established by Charles De Gaulle in London in 1940, was nothing more  than a name and a few officers. In 1941, one year later, little groups  started to unite. However, it was still impossible to talk about a  “Free French Army”. There was not only a fragmentation in structure  and command, but also in ideology. Call it the Riad Al-Assad era of the Free French Army.

It was only in May 1943 that (thanks to the work of Jean Moulin) the resistance forces were  unified, militarily and politically in the Conseil National de la  Résistance (CNR) under the leadership of Charles De Gaulle. It took the Free French Forces three years to unite. After the unification not all difficulties were gone. After the unification it took again some time to become fully operative on the ground. Call it the Salim Idriss era.

The FSA Aron Lund is describing is the FSA of the Riad Al Assad era, not the current one of the Salim Idriss era. At best one could say his description lies somewhere in between the two, but it is certainly not describing today’s reality.

The Riad Al Assad era or the former structure of the FSA

Up until a year ago, there was no structure at all in the Syrian armed rebellion.  Every little group was called a battalion, whether it consisted of 20  or 200 fighters. The creation of the FSA by Col. Riad Al Assad in July  2011 was just as symbolic (but also as important) as the creation of the Free French Forces  by De Gaulle in 1940. On 23 October, the FSA merged with the Free Officers Movement, becoming the main organization for military  defectors. Pure branding or not, it deserved the credit of at least  trying to do something about the fragmentation. It gave the signal to  the many battalion commanders that co-operation is the only way to go.

That is exactly what happened the next year. From July 2011 until  September 2012, there were many initiatives in order to create larger  entities.  We saw the birth of brigades like Liwa Al Tawheed and Farouk. We saw  the creation of military councils, administrative councils,  revolutionary councils and civilian councils. Some initiatives were  pushed by the Friends of Syria or by individual countries. Aid, money  or weapons were promised if the resistance would only get organized.

Unfortunately, these international actions lacked co-ordination as  well. The result was that the Syrian opposition on the ground created  several parallel structures.   Another problem was the split between defected soldiers on the one  hand, and civilians who took up arms on the other. Defected officers  from the Syrian army organized themselves in military councils, while  the civilians created revolutionary councils. In some places, like in  Homs, there were even two military councils. Although these councils  often co-operated in battles on the ground, the lack of unity created  a clear disadvantage when it came drawing up a military strategy.

This lack of unity and strategy not only meant a disadvantage in the  field, it also helped Assad’s propaganda. Even as the FSA had no communication strategy at all, the Assad machine knew very well what  to do: discredit the FSA.  There are three lines of attack:

The FSA is chaos. So it’s Assad or chaos in Syria and the region;
The FSA is a danger to minorities. Assad is the only guarantee for  the security of minorities in Syria;
The FSA is extremist. Assad is the only one who can keep out Al Qaeda.

I have been surprised to see how well-organized the Assad  communication machine is.

In every country in the West, media groups are working on spreading  these three messages. Meanwhile, the FSA, which has too many  self-appointed spokespersons (as Aron Lund correctly spells out) and lacks a clear message on what it  wants and who it is, is slowly loosing the communication war.  One could say the FSA was in this position from July 2011 until  December 2012. It is the same situation in which the Free French Army  found itself from 1940 to 1942.

The Salim Idriss era or the new structure of the FSA

On 7 December 2012, 260 officers of the FSA gathered in Antalya in  Turkey. They elected a Higher Council of Revolutionary and Military  Forces and a Chief of Staff, Dr. Brigadier General Salim Idriss.  General Idriss defected in June 2012. The main reason why he was  elected is his talent for persuading people in a softly-spoken way. He  is more a Montgomery than a Patton. Col. Riad Al Assad wasn’t present  at the meeting. They decided he would keep the title of General  Commander of the FSA, but this would be a symbolic, rather than an  operational title.   His era is over now.

In Antalya, the revolutionary and military components were merged. So  instead of military councils and revolutionary councils, there are now  civilian-military councils. They also organized the FSA into five  fronts: the Northern Front (Aleppo and Idlib), the Eastern Front  (Raqqa-Deir Ezzor and Al Hassakah), the Western Front  (Hama-Latakia-Tartus), the Central Front (Homs-Rastan) and the  Southern Front (Damascus-Dar’a-Suwayda).

Each front has its  civilian-military council and its commander. Each region/city within  the front has its deputy commander, with, again, its own  civilian-military council.   I met with two front commanders: Qasem Saad Eddin, commander of the  Central Front and Abdelbasset Tawil, commander of the Northern Front,  and with his deputy commanders.   They showed me detailed, strategic military plans. They also showed me  lists of who received which weapons. It was clear that they were in  close contact with Salim Idriss. Because of the strategic importance  of Homs, Qasem Saad Eddin has an office next to the one of Salim  Idriss in the headquarters of the FSA.  So Saadeddin is not a loose canon (anymore) as Lund is writing.

The Higher Council of Revolutionary and Military Forces consists of 30  people. Every front has six representatives in the Council, three  military and three civilian ones. They are mainly responsible for the  search for and the distribution of ammunition. Contrary to what has been promised, very few weapons are coming in. I have seen how the FSA had to fight cluster bombs in Quweris with self-made arms.

Just like the Free French Forces in 1943, Salim Idriss has now also started creating a political line for the FSA.  Until recently, we only knew what they were fighting against: Assad.  Now they are trying to formulate what they are fighting for and get their spokesmen on the same line. This  message in English and Arabic of Salim Idriss on the second  anniversary of the Syrian revolution is an example of how they are  moving forward on this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBHVCjxYQ0

FSA is a bottom-up unification, still in construction

No-one will deny that, while the FSA has made big steps forward, there  is still a long way to go in order to become a well-functioning,  united force like the French resistance in 1943. Idriss has to unify battalions that are used to work independently. It takes a huge effort to convince them to walk in the same direction. What are the main  problems?

1. There is hardly any communication infrastructure. Today commanders  have to communicate through Skype. In many places there is no Internet  connection. That is why many officers have to travel to the  headquarters in order to exchange information. It is very difficult to  organize and unify an army in these conditions. That is why we should  not be surprised if at a certain moment one of the battalions is  acting on its own or is making a strategic mistake.

2. There are hardly any arms coming in. I was present during two days  at the headquarters of the FSA. I saw officers coming from Homs, Deir  Ezzor and many other places who wanted to meet with Chief of Staff,  Salim Idriss, in order to get weapons. They were all pretty desperate.  I heard many times: “How can we win the war, if we don’t have arms against these planes or tanks?” A Chief of Staff only gets recognition and authority if he can arm his own soldiers. This is basic.  De Gaulle didn’t unify because of his charisma either.

3. Getting totally fragmented forces onto the same page takes a lot of  time. Quite some battalions, certainly the revolutionary ones, have no  experience in fighting in a hierarchy. So, although they might  recognize the authority of the Higher Military Council, they still  don’t always understand what that exactly means in the day-to-day battle. Give them some time.

4. The growing importance of extremist battalions like Jabhat Al  Nusra is a problem for the image and the organization of the FSA.  Lund writes they do not use the brand of the FSA. Of course they don’t and they will never do. They are no part of the FSA and will never be. The fact that the other groups do use the name of the FSA means they distance themselves from Nusra and its Jihadist ideology.

The FSA deserves our support

It is fair to say that the FSA is not the well-oiled force some are  dreaming of.   But it is unfair and incorrect to say that the FSA does not exist and  that it is not more than a brand. The reality is that the piece of Lund describes an era of FSA that doesn’t exist anymore.

Just like in France during the Second World War we can’t expect a  bottom-up resistance to become a unified front in a few months.  Becoming cynical now or even giving up on the FSA would be one of the  biggest strategic mistakes the West could make.

Last month’s work is done and a lot  of progress has been made. If the international community decides to  support the FSA, it will help them even more to unify, strategize and avoid  mistakes.   There is a structure of command. The headquarters will only provide arms to those battalions that follow their instructions. But they are still waiting for those arms. What is coming in is peanuts compared with what they need in order to win this war against one of the most brutal dictators of the world. What are we waiting for?

* Koert Debeuf lives in Cairo where he represents the Liberals and Democrats of the European Parliament in the Arab world.

Aron Lund Responds

Koert Debeuf seems to have read my post a little carelessly. I did not deny the existence of (many) factions using the FSA name. Rather, I discussed the media’s use of the FSA term, and stated that “the FSA” does not exist, if understood as a single organization. The wording might have been a little provocative, but the fact itself should be uncontroversial, for anyone who is following events in Syria.

There are undoubtedly many groups calling themselves FSA in Syria today, and indeed outside of Syria. They include both purported leaders and spokespersons, and fighting units on the ground. Some are closely linked to each other, and some work on their own. This reflects the way that the term is used as a synonym for “the resistance” by many Syrians, and not necessarily to refer to a cohesive organization.

The problem I tried to address in my post is that different media organizations have been relying on several different “FSA” spokespersons and leaders, few of whom represent any significant segment of fighters on the ground. They are routinely allowed to speak on behalf the FSA (generally understood to make up most of the armed insurgency) without reporters making any attempt to define their real (and most often marginal) role within the insurgency. This has created an extreme lack of clarity in reporting, and it continues to confuse both regular newspaper readers and top officials.

When Debeuf complains that I haven’t understood that Col. Riad el-Asaad “is completely out of the picture, whatever he himself might say” – then to the contrary, that was exactly my point. Despite his complete lack of control over the armed insurgency, Col. Asaad is still routinely being interviewed by major news organizations as a commander of the FSA, misleading the general public into believing that his statements represent some significant portion of the armed movement in Syria. They do not.

Mea culpa

I will gladly admit that Debeuf makes some interesting arguments, and that he corrects a couple of faults of mine. His travels in northern Syria have put him in contact with a few of the most well-known rebel representatives and commanders. As an outside observer of events in Syria, I can’t claim to have this kind of experience – I work with what I’ve got, and I’m always eager to hear from people who bring new facts to the table.

For example, I wasn’t aware that Col. Qasem Saadeddine collaborates so closely with Salem Idriss, and I humbly stand corrected on that count.

Debeuf is also right that Salim Idriss and his General Staff now use the FSA term – despite the fact that the organization did not emerge under that name, and many of its member units have previously renounced the FSA label. In my defense, the Twitter Account and other statements that Debeuf refers to had just been made when I wrote my post, and I wasn’t aware of them at the time. But bottom line, he’s right, and I was wrong.

Tua culpa

Even so, I believe Debeuf is far too optimistic in his view of the Salim Idriss network as a functioning nation-wide leadership, and that he has accepted too uncritically the explanations provided by his contacts in Syria. I’ve read Debeuf’s original reports from Syria for the ALDE political group in the European Parliament. I note that he then presented the FSA as a neatly two-pronged structure of defected military and civilian revolutionary commanders. This seems wildly implausible, and contradicts most reporting from reporters and opposition members on the ground in Syria.

In his reports, Debeuf also claimed, on the subject of FSA organization, that one “Ahmed Abeit” has been “elected the general commander of all revolutionary structures for the whole of Syria”. That was certainly news to me, and I imagine that it will be news to most Syrian revolutionaries as well. While I can’t know for sure, it seems to be a reference to Ahmed Abeid, a rebel leader in Azaz. He might be a big guy around those parts, and among the rebels Debeuf traveled with, but he is certainly not the main internal commander of the Syrian insurgency.

What the Homsi said

Returning to Col. Qasem Saadeddine, Debeuf also notes that he is the General Staff’s commander of the “Central Sector”. That’s certainly the official line, but how can such a claim be taken at face value?

The General Staff’s Central Sector sector mainly includes Homs, formerly the main front of the uprising, which has been devastated by Assad’s bombardment. The insurgency in this area is notoriously divided, not only due to the crippling government siege of Homs City, but also because of internal disagreements among the rebels.

Below is a list I recently compiled of factions currently active in Homs City and the surrounding countryside. It is far from exhaustive, and runs in no particular order. Note also that many if not most of these groups are themselves composed of semi-independent subfactions:

Liwa Talbisa, Liwa Rijal Allah, Liwa Fajr al-Islam, Kataeb Ahl al-Athar (part of the Jabhat al-Asala wal-Tanmiya, a salafi alliance), Katibat Shuhada Tal-Kalakh, Katibat Mouawiya lil-Maham al-Khassa, Liwa al-Quseir, several subunits of Kataeb al-Farouq, several other small Syria Liberation Front factions which are allied to Kataeb al-Farouq, al-Murabitoun (the armed wing of the Homs Revolutionaries’ Union), Firqat al-Farouq al-Mustaqilla, Liwa al-Nasr, Katibat Thuwwar Baba Amr, Harakat al-Tahrir al-Wataniya, Jund al-Sham (Lebanese jihadis), armed groups affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood (like Liwa Dar’ Ahrar Homs, Liwa Dar’ al-Haqq, and Liwa Dar’ al-Hudoud), Jabhat al-Nosra, the Syrian Islamic Front (including the five Ahrar al-Sham factions Katibat Junoud al-Rahman, Katibat al-Hamra, Katibat Ansar al-Sunna wal-Sharia, Katibat Adnan Oqla, and Katibat Ibad Allah; and Liwa al-Haqq and its subfactions, such as Katibat al-Ansar, Katibat al-Furati, etc) … and many others.

How does the FSA come into the picture? Sure, some of these groups use the FSA label to refer to themselves and their allies, but most do not. Some clearly receive arms through the Salim Idriss network, and some clearly do not. Some of the commanders in the Homs region have publicly declared their support for Salim Idriss, or allowed their representatives to be appointed to the General Staff’s on-paper hierarchy – but others consider him a foreign-based usurper of revolutionary legitimacy.

We can quibble about how to classify these Homs factions, and what percentage could legitimately be subsumed under the “FSA” label. But to imagine that Col. Qasem Saadeddine – or anyone else – exerts any real control over this sprawling mass of rebel factions is, frankly, delusional.

What this means for policy-makers

The fact of the matter is that the Syrian insurgency was always and remains deeply disorganized, despite persistent (and commendable) attempts by many Syrian opposition politicians and rebel commanders to form a joint leadership.

This is a tragedy, both for the opposition, and for Syria as a nation, but to recognize this fact is not, as Debeuf implies, a way to support the Syrian government. In fact, one can draw very different policy conclusions from the divided nature of the rebel movement.

One could argue that the lack of opposition unity speaks against arming the revolutionary movement, since there’s no guarantee that weapons will be used effectively or stay in “approved” rebel hands. But one could also legitimately argue that the only way to help midwife a central rebel leadership is by sponsoring a core network from abroad – to turn it into a “magnetic pole” which will attract other factions. (This is what’s now being done with Salim Idriss and the General Staff.) Both these positions are valid, in their own way, and merit careful consideration.

At the end of the day, however, I do believe that whatever side you’re on in the Syrian conflict, and whatever political strategy you prefer to see implemented, good policy must be based on a careful examination of the available facts – not on political spin, rumors, or emotional arguments. Clearing up the extreme confusion surrounding the FSA term is only one of many steps to take, if a sensible Syria policy is ever to emerge.

– Aron Lund

Comments (251)

Uzair8 said:

LOL. I didn’t expect so quick a reversal.
Expecting the rejoicing at the A.Lund piece to be short lived was an understatement.

March 19th, 2013, 5:35 pm

revenire said:

Koert Debeuf wants NATO to attack Syria.

Alexander Page (Rami Jarrah) took Debeuf to Azaz and lied about what happened there. They made a propaganda video but left out the fact that Azaz had been the scene of a huge battle.

When Rami Jarrah was queried by reporters about this he punted and at first denied Debeuf was calling for NATO to attack Syria but later Debeuf himself admitted it to reporters.

Debuef is covering for terrorism and a comparison to Charles DeGaulle and the Free French is absurd and insulting. Debuef is a man that European police agencies should be investigating for links to Al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.

March 19th, 2013, 5:44 pm

AIG said:

The Israeli press is reporting that indeed there was a chemical weapons attack. I didn’t believe it at first. Every time I think Assad could not be dumber he outdoes himself.

March 19th, 2013, 5:51 pm

ghufran said:

This is what SOHR said:
محافظة حلب :: سمع عبر اجهزة الاتصال اللاسلكية عن مقتل مالايقل عن 26 شخصا بينهم ما لايقل عن 16 من القوات النظامية ومعلومات عن استشهاد 10 مدنيين واصابة عدد اخر بجراح إثر سقوط صاروخ على مكان تواجدهم في بلدة خان العسل بريف حلب
according to some of you, the army gassed its own troops

March 19th, 2013, 5:55 pm

zoo said:

Majed

I am not predicting that Erdogan will not be elected, I am just hoping and praying God that he won’t.

I am not predicting that the opposition will split, but I am hoping and praying God it will. I also hope that Al Khatib will enough courage to lead the new “opposition” party.

You said that Hitto had charisma, now you say he read his speeches from a paper.. It sounds contradictory to me.

To win, the opposition needs a military government not a technocrats and reconstruction businessmen government, but both Erdogan and HBJ don’t trust militaries.
I doubt Hitto would last long.

March 19th, 2013, 6:01 pm

This is how wrong Debeuf was and is: “The part of the army actually fighting consist of only twenty thousand soldiers…

“There is only one way to stop this terror and that is an international intervention. The creation of one or two safe zones where people can find refuge and from where humanitarian aid can be sent to the right places. Sooner or later this intervention will take place, just like in Bosnia,. With the UN if possible, with NATO if necessary, just like in Kosovo in 1999.” Koert Debeuf

http://blogs.euobserver.com/debeuf/2012/05/29/syria-is-a-second-bosnia-assad-is-milosevic/

March 19th, 2013, 6:09 pm

Brigadier General Sheikh does not seem to agree with Koert Deboeuf’s optimism. Deboeuf did not meet him as he is obviously fascinated By Selim Idriss personality.
Selim Idriss is a pure product of Bahar al Assad army.

“For the government to succeed, it should unite Syrian guns under a professional army,” Brigadier-General Mustapha al- Sheikh, one of the first senior officers to defect from the Syrian army, said in an interview from close to the Turkish border.

“The civilian rebels do not have the experience or the discipline to act like professional troops.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/syrian-opposition-meets-on-government-for-rebel-areas.html

March 19th, 2013, 6:11 pm

Majed knows Hitto is a Western puppet and was a failure before he started. He is a “believer” and will tell any lie to push his terrorist agenda.

March 19th, 2013, 6:12 pm

This sectarian thug may be joining al-Nusra:
ذكرت مصادر معارضة أن عبد الجبار عكيدي قائد المجلس العسكري الثوري في محافظة حلب و ريفها ، تقدم باستقالته إلى المجلس العسكري الأعلى.
وفيما لم يعرف اذا كان المجلس وافق على طلب عكيدي أم لا، فإن أسباب الاستقالة لم تعرف بعد.
يذكر أن عكيدي من مواليد 6 أيار 1965 ريف حلب الجنوبي
this comes after another militia leader, Husam Al-Awwak, launched a brutal attack on Riad Al-As’aad effectively accusing him of being a thief and confirming what we have known for months that he is no longer part of any military command structure.

March 19th, 2013, 6:15 pm

Tara said:

Mr. Debeuf should be investigated for al Qaeda link, said Retard.

This is the story of Syrian revolution. Any opinion that does not fit The regim’s narrative makes its holder a Qaeda operative.

Retard, we just can’t find anyone better than you to advance our cause. You are a God-sent.

March 19th, 2013, 6:16 pm

Dominique said:

Lund is spot on! The US mission in the region (news to anyone?) is to destabilize Syria, and if it takes hired guns from multiple ‘factions’ to achieve chaos, so be it. Then, the fairy tale is crafted about the ‘good-guy’ and ‘bad-guy’. Next step: the good guys commit some atrocity, then the US uses its propaganda machine to blame the incident on the bad guy. News of the contrary is blocked, or, is allowed and ridiculed. The story is tired!

Watch for a charge of a threat of an imminent use of chemical weapons to give a reason for the US to make its next move. Israel will come out with some nonsense any day, now.

Maybe the CIA can hatch another ‘bayoneted incubator baby’ story. The women will love that one. At some point, too many false-flag attacks should become too obvious to anyone who’s paying attention.

Remember the story about Hussein gassing Kurds? Well, after an exhaustive investigation by UN investigators, there is no clear evidence that Hussein gasses anyone or bayoneted babies in incubators. And we laugh as the Chinese for supporting Mao Zedong, or Germans heiling a guy who burned down the Reichstag? Sociopaths have never had it so good. Look in your own backyard. Oh, and excuse the suits and ties, smiles, and sob stories of a world struggling for a safe and democratic world; Washington may think you’re dumb, but not that dumb.

Good work, Lund. There is no FSA; that’s a story for the bourgeoisie to talk about as a means of showing other bourgeoisie that they read the papers. As you smile while telling your 3-year old a fairy tale, an adult fairy tale swirls in your own head.

Sounds like rough talk? Try following US foreign policy for approximately 30 years and see how you turn out.

March 19th, 2013, 6:18 pm

There is no Syrian revolution. There never was.

Debeuf is a Cairo-based jackal that supports international terrorism.

March 19th, 2013, 6:21 pm

Koert Deboeuf uses SC to throw a propaganda piece.

“The FSA deserves our support”

I am glad that Aaron Lund replied harshly and point out his flaws and lack of honesty.

Imagine if someone send an article saying:

“The Syrian government deserves our support”

We expect serious analysis not propaganda pieces on the main Post.

March 19th, 2013, 6:26 pm

testimonies from victims of what may have been a missile that carried chemical weapons (France-24):

“The Free Syrian Army hit us with a rocket, we smelled something and then everyone got dizzy and fell down. People were falling to the ground, “ said a sobbing woman in a flowered veil, lying on a stretcher with a drip in her arm.
A young girl on a stretcher wept as she said: “My chest closed up. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t breathe … We saw people falling dead to the floor. My father fell, he fell and now we don’t know where he is. God curse them, I hope they die.”
A man in a green surgical mask, who said he had been helping to evacuate the casualties, said: “It was like a powder, and anyone who breathed it in fell to the ground.”

March 19th, 2013, 6:27 pm

Dominuqe said:

Forgot one thing to my earlier response. Read Matt Barber’s piece, where he mentions anomalies during the takeover of one of the Syrian communities that has been loyal to Assad. I wish he took his article in another direction and stuck his neck out a bit, but the piece sparked my interest in this blog. There are some good minds on this subject floating around this blog.

March 19th, 2013, 6:31 pm

Assad’s possible downfall worries Israel

http://arabnews.com/news/445439

Wednesday 20 March 2013

But Israel stands to lose the most if President Assad and his regime collapse. Israeli leaders are worried about Assad’s replacement, especially as the role of Jihadists becomes prominent in the two-year armed rebellion.
The Syrian president had warned before of chaos breaking out in the region if he was to be removed. He claims to be fighting terrorists who want to destabilize his country.
Recently there has been concern that President Assad might transfer strategic missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. A month ago Syria accused Israel of attacking a military installation not far from the borders with Lebanon.
Israeli sources talked about hitting a military convoy that was heading toward Lebanon carrying SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles and their launchers.
Israel will ask President Barack Obama during his visit this week that the US carry out airstrikes on Syria in the event that Syrian missiles are transferred to Hezbollah, the Guardian reported on Sunday. The paper added that Israel will ask for US support for Israeli strikes on Syria to prevent
such weapons transfer if the US was not willing to do so itself.

March 19th, 2013, 6:34 pm

I also suspect the regime hit his own supporters and not the rebels with chemical weapons ON PURPOSE and not by mistake as part of test the water strategy just to confuse the culpability and to lessen the international impact.

March 19th, 2013, 6:37 pm

This is a statement by Hitto:

“There is always a possibility that this regime might fall suddenly,” he said, in a video posted on YouTube to announce his candidacy. “And we can’t avoid a political vacuum in the country and the ensuing chaos unless there is a transitional government.”
He called for “a government of institutions and law” that would be accountable and transparent.
(can anybody explain this statement to me and how could an expat who has not lived in Syria for more than 30 years be able to head a new government of a country is a state of war? )

March 19th, 2013, 6:41 pm

annie said:

relaying Maysaloon always spot on
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
On the Syrian Interim Government

The Syrian opposition has managed to elect an interim prime minister for a Syrian government in exile. This is a positive move albeit one which will be controversial in opposition circles, already accusations of Islamism are being levelled against Mr Ghassan Hitto who is relatively unknown in Syrian political circles. I’ll say a word on that later. Here is a clip of him at a demonstration last year (English) in support of the children of Syria.

http://youtu.be/oI341amm5fA

In terms of credentials I’ve heard that he’s worked in IT and has been an executive manager of some sort in Texas for the past eleven years. He has also worked his way up through grass roots efforts in aid of the revolution and appears to be an eloquent and confident speaker. Like Muaz al Khatib, he appears to be a good candidate that is acceptable to all currents in the opposition but this will not make the challenge ahead of him any easier.

Some might wonder whether Muaz al Khatib, the charismatic head of the Syrian National Coalition, would not have made a better interim prime minister. I think that the emergence of more credible political figures is crucial for a democratic and pluralist Syria. What we as Syrians need to move beyond is the idea of a “saviour” figure or leader. A future Syria must have empowered and competent political figures from all political spectrums, Islamist as well as secular, who can differ and compete politically so long as there is a commitment to Syrian law and democratic principles. It might have taken years for such figures to emerge, but it is better in the long term that more figures like Hitto are empowered and included into the body politic of Syria. For far too long politics has been seen as inaccessible and abstract by Syrians, and when average people start to become stakeholders in the running of the country, it becomes less likely that totalitarianism will take hold.

Immediate Challenges

His immediate concern as head of an interim government is to create a credible body that can sustain itself and take over where the National Coalition has left off. It will be trying to assume the Syria seat at the Arab League and drawing up a list of priorities for the coming year, as well as a suitable post-Assad transition plan. Crucially, Mr Hitto will have to develop ties with whatever is left of the Free Syrian Army and start working on turning it into a credible national army. To do that he will also have to address human rights abuses by some of its members properly and effectively. It all rests on who he appoints as an interim defence minister for this government.

Hitto will also have to work extra hard to prove that he is not just a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, as some people are already claiming him to be, and this will mean he has to take a less harder line with former regime members who wish to negotiate or be rehabilitated.

Perhaps his biggest challenge will be in setting up a Syrian administration in the growing liberated areas of the country. To do this he will have to move his government to the ground, and this means becoming an instant target for the regime. This is something he might seriously be considering, especially as his own son is on the ground assisting aid efforts and he has already left his job to help with the revolution. Should he manage to get an actually existing Syrian government on Syrian soil then he will be performing the crucial job of delivering a measure of stability to the beleaguered Syrians, and helping with eliminating the growing lawlessness and Islamic extremism that has appeared in the vacuum.

Crucial to all of this, again, is how effective and committed the Free Syrian Army will be in protecting this government. And crucial to the Free Syrian Army is how well armed it is. The influx of Croatian weapons and the renewed willingness by France and Britain to arm Syria’s rebels could be in conjunction with this latest move, and the success or failure of this next step now lies with them. Western foreign policy towards the Syrian revolution has been timid to lukewarm, and Hitto will have to demonstrate very early on that his government can deliver results before a fickle foreign office adviser in Paris or London starts to pull the plug on the arms.

Securing Western Aid and the Importance of Human Rights

Two things can help the interim government gain international credibility. Transparency of government and a clamp on corruption will be the first and dominating principle, and secondly a commitment to human rights and democratic principles. Hitto can publish the monthly budget of his government, showing the world, and more importantly Syrians, what money is going in and what is going out of this government. He can also reach out to the Local Coordination committees and build legitimacy on the ground for his government, and allow towns and villages to govern themselves through their own elections and committees and have a say in how his government makes decisions that affect them.

Secondly, the issue of human rights abuses. Not only are field executions and torture illegal and morally undermine the revolution, they make fighting the Assad regime even more difficult. If soldiers that are fighting for Assad know that they will not be tortured or executed, then they will be much more eager to surrender at the earliest opportunity. During the second world war German soldiers fighting for the dying Third Reich did everything in their power to surrender to Western armies than to the Soviets. On the Eastern front the soldiers fought to the death when they realized they were fighting a losing war. By enforcing a commitment to international law and human rights Hitto will be helping shorten the conflict and saving lives, as well as laying the groundwork for what a post-Assad Syria will look like. Making flimsy counter-accusations whenever there is evidence of rebel human rights abuses, or justifying such behaviour on the grounds that the country is at war, will make his government look weak and increase the likelihood that his government will not gain the international support, and more importantly arms, that he desperately needs. This point cannot be emphasized enough.

The Carrot and Stick Approach

But an interim Syrian government cannot do this alone. Assistance and advice, as well as a firm commitment to see it succeed, must be provided by the international community. Much can be done to bolster this interim government by giving it the resources to help Syrians in refugee camps abroad, and providing desperately needed services and security to those still in Syria. For all its divisions and controversy, the Syrian opposition has proven itself to be somewhat responsive to criticism. In this way they are no different to any other government in the democratic world, and this carrot and stick approach can be used not only today, to ensure their commitment to human rights and democracy, but also in future by the Syrian people themselves, to ensure accountability and a lack of corruption. Unlike Assad’s regime, the Syrian oppositions can, albeit kicking and screaming, be forced to deliver and organize for the good of the country, and this fact should be capitalized on.

The outlook for Syria is already very bleak so Hitto has a big job ahead of him. Still, and in spite of all these challenges, an interim government can make a very real difference if Hitto focuses on what he can control as opposed to what he can’t. Undoubtedly the regime and its supporters will do everything possible to eliminate this alternative, but he doesn’t need to make their jobs easier by falling into the same pitfalls as his predecessors. Committing Syria’s interim government to democracy and an unwavering adherence to human rights will, however difficult to implement, strengthen and not undermine the new Syria we all want. If he realizes this fact, then we are already half way there.

Posted by Maysaloon at 11:30 am @ http://www.maysaloon.org/2013/03/on-syrian-interim-government.html

March 19th, 2013, 6:51 pm

#17 Ghufran

Hitto seems to forget that the government that he is leading as a PM is NOT as transitional government, it is an interim government to manage the ‘liberated areas’ only.
The SNC has rejected the idea of a transitional government with the participation of members of the syrian governement.

Either the guy is totally confused or he is reading a paper Davutoglu and HBJ wrote for him as Majed naively pointed out.

Until now, we see Hitto only as a puppet moved by two strings: Qatar and Turkey

March 19th, 2013, 6:52 pm

Zoo,

It annoys me reading supporters’ implicitly begging Israel to do something to keep Bashar glued to the seat for the safety of Israel. This kind of articles are too detasteful to Arab audience. I wish you stop citing them.

March 19th, 2013, 6:55 pm

Annie

I think it would be a miracle if this unknown businessman away from Syria for 25 years, with a US citizenship can achieve the tenth of what Maysaloon considers ‘crucial’.
That may take lots of months and lot of prayers. I wonder if Maysaloon has started already to pray.

March 19th, 2013, 6:59 pm

Annie that is a disgusting puff piece on Hitto, a US puppet.

March 19th, 2013, 7:00 pm

majedkhaldoun said:

Ghufran you are back to your fabrications and misinformations, your only purpose with all your lies is to discredit the revolution.you should work for Dounia channel.may be you already are.

There is no question the FSA is made of divided groups,what unite them is the fact that all generals who carry the same level,AQeed were togather during training for two years and they are friends for life,each has a brother who is a year or two younger and they are friends too.for example Ryad Al Asaad and Qasse Saad alDean both has brothers who are friends,both Aqeeds too.

Zoo I never met Mr. Hito

March 19th, 2013, 7:06 pm

US’ New “Syrian PM” Yet Another Muslim Brotherhood Extremist

March 19, 2013 (LD) – The Western media eagerly announced that long time US resident Ghassan Hitto was chosen as the new “interim prime minister” of NATO’s proxy forces fighting in Syria. While most headlines attempted to focus solely on Hitto’s long stay in the US and his role in a tech firm based in Texas, The Globe and Mail reported in their article, “Canadian loses bid to lead Syria’s rebels; Ottawa’s stance assailed,” that:

Ghassan Hitto, a Kurd with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected in the early hours of Tuesday at a meeting of leading opposition figures of the Syrian National Coalition.

Some reports indicate that Hitto was in fact pushed forward specifically by the Muslim Brotherhood. The AFP reported in their article, “Ghassan Hitto voted premier of Syria’s rebel territory,” that:

Some Coalition members described Hitto as a consensus candidate pleasing both the opposition’s Islamist and liberal factions.

But some of the 70-odd Coalition members withdrew from the consultations before the vote could take place, accusing opposition heavyweight Muslim Brotherhood of imposing Hitto as a candidate.

The article would also say:

“We don’t want what happened in Egypt to happen in Syria. They hijacked the revolution,” Coalition member Kamal Labwani, who walked out of the vote, told AFP.

Associated Press would report in their article, “Syrian opposition elects Ghassan Hitto as interim PM,” that:
Mr Hitto, 50, who is believed to have Islamist leanings, received 35 of 49 votes in a meeting of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in Istanbul in the early hours yesterday. He was supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a powerful bloc within the opposition.

This latest round of political “musical chairs” is meant to once again clear the board for the West in hopes of confusing the public, while NATO’s proxies remain firmly led and comprised primarily of hardcore terrorists and sectarian extremist intent on the ruination of Syria, just as was done in the now decimated North African nation of Libya. Hitto takes the reins of this Western-contrived front from fellow sectarian extremist, Moaz al-Khatib, also an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood and an unabashed defender of Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra front, who frequently takes credit for the indiscriminate bombings, murder and maiming of civilians across Syria.

Since long before the 2011 violence began, the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia had conspired to use sectarian extremists, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist groups linked directly to Al Qaeda as the main force with which to overthrow the Syrian government, not for “spreading democracy,” but specifically to undermine and destroy neighboring Iran and reassert Western hegemony across the Middle East.

West Planned Overthrow of Syria Via the Brotherhood Since 2007

Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, in his 9-page 2007 New Yorker report titled, “The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” stated explicitly that:

“To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.”

Hersh’s report would also include:

“the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations.”

Hersh also reported that a supporter of the Lebanese pro-US-Saudi Hariri faction had met Dick Cheney in Washington and relayed personally the importance of using the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria in any move against the ruling government:

“[Walid] Jumblatt then told me that he had met with Vice-President Cheney in Washington last fall to discuss, among other issues, the possibility of undermining Assad. He and his colleagues advised Cheney that, if the United States does try to move against Syria, members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood would be “the ones to talk to,” Jumblatt said.”

The article would continue by explaining how already in 2007 US and Saudi backing had begun benefiting the Brotherhood:

“There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents.”

At one point in Hersh’s report, it is even admitted that officials from US ally Saudi Arabia admitted to “controlling” the “religious fundamentalists.” The report states specifically:

“…[Saudi Arabia’s] Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s who they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.”

Also in 2007, the Wall Street Journal would publish a report titled, “To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers.” In this report, it was revealed that even in 2007, Syrian opposition groups were being created from whole-cloth by the US State Department and paraded around in front of Syria’s embassies in the West. The article begins with one such protest, stating:

On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered outside Damascus’s embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised banners proclaiming: “Change the Regime Now.”

Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing the rally:

In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy, and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria’s lack of democracy and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and political contacts. State
Department officials stress they provided no financial or technical support to the protestors.

And while the Wall Street Journal then, just as the US State Department and the Western media houses are now portraying the Syrian opposition as representing a wide range of interests across Syrian society, it was admitted then, just as it is plainly obvious now, that the sectarian extremist Muslim Brotherhood was in fact at the very center of the “uprising:”

One of the NSF’s most influential members is the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — the decades-old political movement active across the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle in favor of democratic reform.

The continuous necessity of the West to rebrand its proxy front stems from the fact that it, along with the Western agenda that created it, lacks any dimension of legitimacy. Combined with the increasingly tenuous reputation of the West’s media monopolies and a better informed public, the lifespan of each new proxy is decreasing exponentially.

Hitto has yet to form a “government,” and already his ties to extremists are being exposed – even by other members of his own contrived front – perhaps realizing the difficulties that lie ahead with disasters like Libya and Egypt smoldering behind. Any aid or political support the US, UK, France, and its partners in the Middle East including Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar attempt to lend Hitto’s foreign-contrived government will be done so with the public’s full understanding that such support is being willfully given to sectarian extremists who not only fail to represent the West’s ideals of “democracy” or “freedom,” but fail to represent even the majority of people living in Syria.

Yet despite these apparently insurmountable difficulties, should the West pick a leader not affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and its terrorist spin-offs, the opposition in Syria would splinter and collapse – because the “secular moderates” the White House keeps telling the world about, simply do not exist. Its otherwise irrational insistence on propping up one discredited Muslim Brotherhood dictator after another is clearly indicative of this.

March 19th, 2013, 7:08 pm

Tara

You are mistaken.
It is the armed rebels who has been desperately trying to provoke Israel with the hopes that it would intervene to topple their long term Nemesis.

You, yourself said that you would work with the devil if he is ready to unseat Bashar Al Assad. That’s what the rebels were ready to do. But Israel said no, we don’t intervene.

Bashar al Assad has been the enemy of Israel for decades, he has nothing to prove. The Opposition has a lot to prove by openly declaring that Syria is still the enemy of Israel. See if they’ll dare, the West will dump them on the spot.
They have no dignity anymore crawling at the feet of the USA and the colonial powers that destroyed the Middle East like pathetic worms.
What a shame…

March 19th, 2013, 7:10 pm

I am not going to exchange accusations, not with you.. but give me one reason why you linked the article. If I was a pro regime, I would be embarrassed to acknowledge it let alone linking it.

March 19th, 2013, 7:18 pm

Of course you are right. The rebels are angels of mercy, full of hopes for a happy end in the arms of their love. While the Syrian Army soldiers are merciless monsters who don’t hesitate to burn the face of their own comrades.

That’s a nice fairy tale for your daughter, but not for me

March 19th, 2013, 7:21 pm

EHSANI2 said:

Dear Aaron and Koert,

Thank you both for the civil and interesting discussion.

March 19th, 2013, 7:25 pm

#26 Tara

Do I question you when you put link to articles in support of the terrorists?
I guess it’s a open Blog.

March 19th, 2013, 7:26 pm

Request has been sent successfully

March 19th, 2013, 7:27 pm

Double bomb attack hits AKP HQ, ministry building in Ankara
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/double-bomb-attack-hits-akp-hq-ministry-building-in-ankara.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43292&NewsCatID=338

March 19th, 2013, 7:28 pm

Come on now..

Sure you can if you want to. It is an open blog.

That was my first lesson from you. I am free to post (question) whatever I want whenever I want. It is an open blog.

March 19th, 2013, 7:35 pm

#29 Reve

Turkey has made a lot of enemies in the last two years. It won’t be left quiet anymore.

The Free Syrian Army does exist and is growing stronger by the day — War in Context said:

[…] Koert Debeuf writes: When I read the piece of Aron Lund, ‘the FSA doesn’t exist’, I was utterly surprised. Of course the FSA does exist. And it is changing rapidly.Over the last few months, the FSA has transformed itself from a loose structure into a functioning organization. In fact, what Lund describes is an era of the FSA that no longer exists. It ignores the developments of the last several months and the present reality on the ground. […]

March 19th, 2013, 7:51 pm

Now politics aside, I am in awe of how seemingly secular Syrian professional of Kurdish origin married to an American women has raised children born and raised in America and found in themselves the dignity and the motivation to fight along the downtrodden in Syria against a brutal regime.

I dream to have children like that. I really do. Hat off to Hitto.

March 19th, 2013, 8:01 pm

Tara do you know what a Quisling is? I would not wish that label on anyone.

March 19th, 2013, 8:22 pm

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html
“I have a high probability to believe that chemical weapons were used,” Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “We need that final verification, but given everything we know over the last year and a half, I would come to the conclusion that they are either positioned for use, and ready to do that, or in fact have been used.”

We All know that if Assad made a mistake of using chemical weapons, he is doomed very quickly,he was warned,he is crazy not to listen.

March 19th, 2013, 8:35 pm

Ghufran said:

More info on how a man who spent most of his life in Texas became a PM:
قالت مصادر في الائتلاف انه تم انتخاب هيتو بتأييد من الأمين العام للائتلاف مصطفى صباغ وهو رجل أعمال له صلات قوية في الخليج وكذلك من جماعة الإخوان المسلمين التي تحظى بتأثير قوي على كتلة كبيرة في الائتلاف.
وانسحب بعض كبار اعضاء الائتلاف ومنهم الزعيم القبلي أحمد جربا ونشطاء المعارضة وليد البني وكمال اللبواني من الجلسة قبل التصويت احتجاجا على ما قالوا إنه مسعى متسرع مدعوم من الخارج لاختيار هيتو.
As a US citizen, mr Hitto will be liable if he breaks any US law, that includes traffic violations, tax evasion and support for terrorist groups like Nusra

March 19th, 2013, 8:46 pm

Adnan Abdul Razzaq:
تعالوا نستذكر بعض المفاصل التي كان لها أن تقصي بلداً عن نيران الأحقاد، وتُبعد شعباً عن مخاطر العيش بعدائية وربما بحرب أهلية وطائفية، لن يُخمد أوارها، ربما لأجيال.
بداية القول: تشدق مسؤولو النظام- ولا يزالون – أن ثمة مؤامرة مرسومة لسوريا، حتى قبل أن تطلق كوندليزا رايس مصطلح \”الفوضى الخلاقة\”، ما يعطي المشروعية لطرح أول سؤال أو أمنية، فيما لو.
فيما لو عمل النظام السوري على إجهاض المؤامرة، لطالما يعلمها من ذي قبل يقيناً، بدل أن ينفذها عبر استفزاز وغباء، فبماذا كان سيحتفل السوريون اليوم؟!.
فيما لو لم يخضع الرئيس الأسد-كما قيل– لضغط أبناء أخواله وآله وصحبه أجمعين، ولم يغيّر خطابه المتفق عليه مع القيادة القطرية قبل سويعات، فبدل أن يقول\”سوريا تتعرض لمؤامرة كبيرة\” يعترف بخطأ من سفك دم السوريين في درعا وهدد بهتك الأعراض، فيحاسب المجرمين ويزور درعا للتعزية وبلسمة الجراح كما توقع كثيرون، فكيف لمسيرة سوريا أن تكون؟! .
فيما لو سارع الرئيس لخطاب عام في مكان عام ليُسمِعنا ولو لمرة واحدة، أيها الشعب السوري العظيم، ويعلن طوعاً عما أعلنه لاحقاً مكرهاً، من إلغاء حالة الطوارئ ومحاكم أمن الدولة والمادة الثامنة من دستور البلاد وإطلاق قانون أحزاب وسراح المعتقلين وزيادة الرواتب والأجور وإلغاء أحكام منع السفر والعودة ومنح الأكراد حقوقهم الوطنية، فأي طريق كانت ستدخل منه المؤامرة؟! .
فيما لو حل الرئيس حكومة ناجي العطري المترنحة منذ 2003 وكلف الحكومة الجديدة بإصدار إطار زمني للإصلاح الاقتصادي والإداري الموعودين، وتابع بعدها في التحضير لدستور جديد وإلغاء كافة مظاهر الدولة الأمنية والعسكرتاريا، فكيف سينظر السوريون والعرب لسوريا وللرئيس نفسه؟! .
لن أتمادى في خيال \”فيما لو\” لأقول أن الرئيس أعلن خلال خطابه العام تنحيه عن السلطة في العام المقبل فور تلمسه نتائج الخطط والإصلاح والتغيير السياسي والاقتصادي والاجتماعي، فهل سيجلس السوريون مكتوفي الأيدي، أم سيعيدون ثنيه كما فعل الفراعنة مع جمال عبد الناصر.
فيما لو حدثت هذه الحلول المتوقع حدوثها من أي نظام وطني شاهد نتائج الاستكبار ومواجهة الشعب والشارع، ألن يكون بشار الأسد الآن أهم زعيم عربي وبطل قومي أفشل خطط الغرب ومنع تقوية إسرائيل، بدل أن يهدم سوريا ويقتل أهليها ويقدم لمحاكم الجنايات الدولية، فيما لو خرج حياً من سوريا.
Assad failed on multiple levels, many people were willing to forget how he became president but what the regime he leads did is unforgettable and unforgivable.

March 19th, 2013, 9:05 pm

Amir in Tel Aviv said:

Tara #20,

Spot on! exactly so!

The comment section of SC became ugly and nasty. It depresses me to read the comments of (what became) the majority here. Real shame. So I avoid.
But from time to time I come here to read what you, and a very few sane commentators have to say.

I don’t know even one Israeli who will shed a teardrop over the Assad gang’s graves. Not one.
.

March 19th, 2013, 9:23 pm

Moaz:
قال رئيس الائتلاف الوطني السوري المعارض معاذ الخطيب انه “هناك معركة كسر عظم اقليمية ودولية في سورية, داعيا الدول التي تدعم الارهابيين بمئات الملايين من الدولارات الى سحب مجموعاتهم من البلاد.
وقال الخطيب, في كلمة له اثر اعلان غسان هيتو رئيساً لحكومة موقتة في سورية من اسطنبول, بحسب صحيفة الحياة اللندنية في عددها الصادر الثلاثاء, انه “عار على المجتمع الدولي والدول الكبرى أن تسمح بذبح الشعب السوري لسنتين”، مؤكداً أن “هناك معركة كسر عظم اقليمية ودولية في بلادنا”.
ودعا الخطيب الدول التي تدعم الارهابيين بمئات الملايين من الدولارات الى “سحب مجموعاتكم فليس بين السوريين ارهابيين”، متهماً بعض الدول بأنها “تدفع بشبابها وهم أنقياء وأتوا لنصرة شعبنا المذبوح، لكن هذه الدول ترسل شبابها للتخلص منهم لا حبا بسورية وشعبها”.
I do not think Moaz will be able to keep him membership in the Qatar NC club

March 19th, 2013, 9:36 pm

March 19th, 2013, 9:37 pm

some reactions to Hitto’s appointment:
تساءلت تنسيقة داريّا على صفحتها في الفيسبوك هل يصح أن يحمل رئيس الحكومة جنسية غير الجنسية السورية؟
وبينما أجاب الناشط الذي يطلق على نفسه لقب “ربيع العرب” إجابة مشبوهة بقوله: ” لو يحمل جنسية (إسرائيلية) بس يكون مخلص لهالوطن وشعبه يا ليت يجينا واحد يتعلم من ( نتنياهو و شارون ) خدمة بلده و بس و ليس خدمة عصاباته و أزلامه !!!” وتذكرنا هذه الإجابة بنداءات الاستغاثة الكثيرة التي كان يطلقها مسلحو المعارضة باتجاه الكيان الصهيوني طالبين منه الدعم، ولا ننسى اللقاء الذي أجراه أحد الصحفيين الاسرائيليين مع مقاتل في صفوف الجيش الحر والذي قال للصحفي أنه على استعداد للتحالف مع شارون.
لكن بعض الإجابات قالت أنه لا يجوز أن يحمل جنسية غير سورية، ومن هؤلاء صالح درويش الذي قال غاضباً: ” ما فشر هو واللي انتخبو طبعا غير موافق بتاتا بدي حدا من الداخل السوري حصرا شخص داق معاناتنا” ويضيف: “يا جماعة شو بتتوقعوا من اي شخص متلو ولك هاد ما بعمروا تنفس نفس بسوريا ولا شرب مياتها ولا تعذب عذاب اهلها ولك كيف بدو يحس بمتطلباتنا ولك وين راحت جبهة النصرة واحرار الشام وانصار الشام”.
وقد كان لافتاً أن يخرج أبو بصير الطرطوسي المنظر الجهادي الشهير لينتقد تشكيل الحكومة بالقول: ” إن هذه الحكومة قد تشكلت بعيداً عن الداخل السوري، وعن مشورة الثوار المجاهدين على الأرض” ورأى أن البديل عنها هو تشكيل هيئات شرعية لإدارة شؤون المواطنين في المناطق “المحررة” بحسب قوله.
وكذلك رفضت الجبهة الاسلامية السورية من خلال الناطق الرسمي باسمها تشكيل الحكومة المؤقتة وقال أن تشكيل الحكومة ينبغي أن يكون من ثوار الداخل.
وهذه الردود تشير إلى أن الجبهات الاسلامية المختلفة سوف ترفض تشكيل الحكومة ليبقى السؤال هل سيسبب تشكيل الحكومة مواجهات على الأرض في حال رفضت الجبهات الاسلامية ذات الثقل والنفوذ أن تتعاون مع الحكومة المؤقتة أو منعتها من دخول المناطق الواقعة تحت سيطرتها. وهذا يقود إلى تساؤل آخر هل يمكن للحكومة المؤقتة برئاسة هيتو أن تمارس مهامها في حال رفضت الجبهات الاسلامية من جبهة النصرة والجبهة الاسلامية وجبهة تحرير سورية وجبهة الأصالة والتنمية التعاون معها والاعتراف بها؟.

March 19th, 2013, 10:10 pm

Amir I feel SC should ban Zionists. I am not hopeful it will happen. Perhaps Nasrallah will send you a gift for your birthday this year instead.

March 19th, 2013, 10:17 pm

apple_mini said:

Whether FSA does exist or not has no importance for this war. Who cares? Except those supporters who got so panic and offended. SAA knows better on the battle ground what they are fighting against.

An interim government by opposition does not bother the regime. The regime has shifted its position so have we. We were hoping Khatib did manage to gather strength and supports to join a dialogue with the regime and hoping he would gain backing form those foreign players which could lead the alignment with some of the moderate rebel fighters. It did not happen. So the regime has gone back and focused more on battles. They no longer mention incentive for dialogue. What is the use at this moment?

I still have a little conviction that US administration liked the idea but Turkey and Qatar were biggest obstacles to peace talk.

In any case, US administration has achieved its objective to weaken the regime so badly even it survives it will not be meaningful ally of Iran and HB. Syria has never been a key interest to US. Israel is not much concerned either since a war with Syria does not seem to be realistic no matter who is controlling Syria.

The biggest problem has been rising Jihadists. For that reason, US, the west and Israel might share common interest with the regime.

As for the regime, if it had more army, it would not be merciful to eradicate all those rebel fighters. The reality makes them to choose to settle it politically. After all, what government can keep it going if there is a significant armed insurgents in the country.

Escalation of this war is on its way now. Russia and Iran are pumping more support to counter the intensified flows of foreign fighters and weapons.

The gloomy reality: a ceasefire won’t happen this year.

March 19th, 2013, 10:21 pm

Jurgen Der Spiegel has a nice piece. I thought of you when I read it (in German). Enjoy and be sure to spread it around Twitter etc. for me. Cheers.

Opinion: ‘Assad Must Go’ Is the Wrong Solution
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/opinion-western-demands-for-assad-resignation-prolong-war-in-syria-a-889773.html#ref=rss

Visitor said:

A must read for Kilo,

http://www.alarabiya.net/ar/politics/2013/03/20/مقارنة-تفرض-نفسها-.html

If I have the time I would translate it for the non-Arab speakers. But I am sorry I have none.

ALI said:

Amir, AIG, AP

Just shut up you filthy Zionists,just keep chewing on the pork pen!s you inbreed creatures

March 19th, 2013, 10:30 pm

43. Visitor

“If I have the time I would translate it for the non-Arab speakers. But I am sorry I have none.”

What busy counting the killed Jihadi rats by our almighty SAA

March 19th, 2013, 10:32 pm

32. Tara:

“I dream to have children like that. I really do”

I’ll happily help in that or maybe leave to Rev if he’s closer

March 19th, 2013, 10:33 pm

Jad:

Where are you brother?

come back please SC is a sweet place for us and our alliance now.

We’re shutting down those Jihadi terrorists and we need all the Alawi voice to join efforts.

Come back Jad

March 19th, 2013, 10:36 pm

Rashad Abu Shawar:
مخيم اليرموك الملاصق لدمشق من جهة الجنوب، تطورت أحواله في كل العهود السورية، ولم يحدث أن تعرّض (لاحتلال)، أو اقتحام، حتى في أحلك الأوقات، أي في زمن الانفصال القصير، الذي قاومه الفلسطينيون، مع أهلهم في سورية، المؤمنون بأن الوحدة العربية طريق تحرير فلسطين، والذين بنوا أحلاما وآمالاً على وحدة مصر وسورية!
كثير من عائلات اليرموك حاولت النجاة باللجوء إلى مخيم (خان الشيح)،على اعتبار أنه ناء عن دمشق، ومعركة دمشق الاستراتيجية كما وصفها الجنرال (صبرا) تمر باليرموك، وهذا ما جعل فلسطينيين مخيم اليرموك، ومخيم خان الشيح، يطمئنون إلى أن نيران المسلحين لن تستهدفهم.
يبلغ عدد سكان مخيم خان الشيح حوالي 22 ألفا، ويبعد عن دمشق 28 كم على طريق القنيطرة، وهو محاط بمزارع وفيلات.
اتسع مخيم خان الشيح، رغم ضيقه، للأهل الفارين من الاحتلال الاستراتيجي لمخيم اليرموك، حتى بلغ عدد سكانه مع النازحين إليه قرابة ال80 ألفا..وبيت الضيق، كما يُقال، يتسع لمائة صديق، فما بالك والصديق هو أخ منكوب!
المخيم ناء عن أن يكون موقعا استراتيجيا لمعركة دمشق الحاسمة!..ومع ذلك تم اقتحامه، ولم يشفق (الثوّار)، أو (المجاهدون) على أهله، ومشرديه، مما دفع ناسه إلى المقاومة السلمية بالتظاهر، فدفعوا المسلحين خارجه، لكن المسلحين عادوا وحاصروا المخيم، وقتلوا وجرحوا كثيرين في اشتباكات هدفت لبسط السيطرة عليه، وإخضاع أهله، لجر الجيش السوري للاشتباك معهم، وجعل الفلسطينيين هناك متاريس، لأهداف غير خافية!
حتى اللحظة المخيم محاصر، وأطرافه محتلة، والمسلحون يتعمدون الاشتباك مع وحدات الجيش السوري القريبة لاستدراجها لقصف مواقعهم المتداخلة مع المخيم!
الاشتباكات اليومية تدفع أسرا كثيرة للرحيل دون وجهة محددة، فلا المخيم النائي يصون حياتهم، ولا البساتين المهجورة تمنحهم الأمان، ولا إعلان فلسطينيي سورية جميعا المتكرر، وفي كل مخيماتهم، أنهم يرفضون جرّهم لمعركة ليست معركتهم، يصون دمهم، ويحفظ كرامتهم، ويحرك المشاعر الإنسانية في نفوس وضمائر وعقول من يطاردونهم، فيكفون عن التسبب لهم بمعاناة لا مبرر لها!
مخيم السبينة جنوب مدينة دمشق محتل بالمسلحين الذين يشتبكون مع الجيش السوري من داخل المخيم، بنفس (خطة) استدراج الجيش لقصفهم، أي لقصف المخيم، وقتل الفلسطينيين، بحيث يتحوّل الدم الفلسطيني إلى سلعة للاتجار بها، بتوظيف هذا الدم، والضحايا الذين يتساقطون يوميا، لعملية تشهير إعلامي!
هنا ينطبق المثل على هؤلاء المسلحين: يقتل القتيل ويمشي في جنازته!
واضح أن هناك من يخطط لهم، ومن لا يأبه بتحويل الفلسطينيين إلى ضحايا، وكأننا أمام مخططات نفس (المُعلّم) الذي اقترف جرائم قتل الفلسطينيين في بغداد بعد الاحتلال الأمريكي، وشردهم حتى وصلوا البرازيل، وتمزقت أسرهم، و(نُظّف) العراق من الفلسطينيين..خدمة لمن؟!
on behalf of every palestinian: Toz feekom wa bihalthawra

March 19th, 2013, 10:42 pm

Tara I will be in New York for business next week and can spare a few hours “for the revolution” heh. If you look anything like Asma (or can fix yourself up to look like her) we can get together for some laughs.

March 19th, 2013, 10:48 pm

Ghufran:

“on behalf of every palestinian: Toz feekom wa bihalthawra”

On behalf of every pro-regime supporter and Bashar himself we apologize to our Palestinian brothers in Syria for not protecting them as we should.

Those Jihadi rats are serving a Zionist agenda of stressing the Palestinian freedom fighters to forget the right of return, but No we shall not leave them alone.

March 19th, 2013, 10:55 pm

Observer said:

Let us assume for one minute that the rebels did use a missile with chemical weapons; and as I have read the Russians are claiming that this is true;
what is Russia to do? Is it going to call for a meeting of the UNSC? If it does what kind of resolution will it ask for? Will it ask for UN intervention? Will it ask to force both sides to sit and talk the Geneva accords? Will it send troops to crush the rebels? Will it risk a triple US UK France veto or worse all 13 of 15 members voting against its resolution?

If we assume the attack did happen, will it rob the new PM of its legitimacy? If so how? Will the US and UK distance themselves? Withdraw support? or will it actually let them decide to help the new government in exile to consolidate control and build it up as an alternative to the regime?

If the regime did it, it certainly was and is a most stupid decision. Even if no one can prove for sure without sampling on the ground and autopsies of dead people, there will be a chorus of experts that will put the blame on the regime and there will be satellite photographs of the missile launch sites and of intercepted communications and if the Israelis detected it or claim to have done so, this is sufficient to bring the world opinion into demanding action to get rid of the regime.

It does not matter who killed Hariri what matters is who to assign the blame to. Likewise, it does not matter whether the chemicals were used, it matters to pin it on your opponent and go after him.

I would love to see the Russians and the regime wiggle out of this one.

Ali and Reverse I love your posts.

Reverse is now lamenting the old days like an old person who laments his youth and vigor and yes his recklessness.

Ali I love to read your worships to the incompetent Duck that could not fire accurately a Scud.

Dmeir was bombed today and mortar rounds landed in Malki district and Homs front is advancing and the Duck still could not fire accurately a Scud.

Hitto mitto Moaz Ghalioun Man’a Idriss are not match for the Duck that could not accurately fire a Scud even on his own people.

March 19th, 2013, 10:56 pm

50. revenire:

“Tara I will be in New York for business next week …. we can get together”

Brother Rev you’re such a big heart and always there to fulfill others dreams.

March 19th, 2013, 10:57 pm

52. Observer:

“Ali I love to read your worships to the incompetent Duck that could not fire accurately a Scud. ”

Comrade Observer Suds are landing exactly where they’re suppose to hit, you know it’s a high stake and people are ready to sacrifice their lives to serve the cause.

March 19th, 2013, 11:02 pm

I feel like I need to name everybody on this forum with a nickname just like Philip did with his tribe on Survivor tv show this season. By the way last episode was crazy by all means, I always knew Brandon needs medication

March 19th, 2013, 11:04 pm

Ziad said:

الخطوة الأولى نحو التقسيم؟
CIA & AIPAC man to lead the government of Northern Syria

رئيس حكومة”سوريا الشمالية” عضو في مجلس أنشأه المحافظون الجدد، ومهمة “الحكومة” الجديدة فصل شمال سوريا عن جنوبها وتوقيع عقود مستقبلية باسم الشعب السوري!؟

http://www.syriatruth.org/news/tabid/93/Article/9434/Default.aspx

March 19th, 2013, 11:11 pm

“Comrade Observer Suds are landing exactly where they’re suppose to hit, you know it’s a high stake and people are ready to sacrifice their lives to serve the cause.”

Very quiet here in Israel. Golan is really beautiful and peaceful. I guess you are not willing to risk your life for the cause of liberating it, impotent cowards. How about asking your coward Hezbollah friends to fire ONE missile? They haven’t fired a shot at Israel in the last 6 years. Too scared also? Rather have them kill your fellow citizens? Keep shooting SCUDs at your own people and cities. Assad is Zionist of the Year hands down.

Nobody in Israel can understand how you can be so stupid. How can you be murdering your own people, bombing your own cities and destroying your own economy while you make Israel stronger. How dumb can you be? Tell me, are you crypto-Zionists? I think in your heart of hearts you love Israel and adore our accomplishments. That is why you wreck your own country instead of attacking us. What other explanation is there for the stupid actions of the regime supporters?

March 19th, 2013, 11:24 pm

Ziad,

Who needs AIPAC or the CIA when Assad is destroying Syria? Who is firing SCUDS at Aleppo and Homs? The CIA or AIPAC? Assad is the Zionist superman. We have him, we do not need anybody else. No one was able to do to Syria what Assad has and without ONE Israeli being harmed. He wrecked Aleppo, Homs, the Syrian economy etc. etc. Really, Assad is the bomb.

March 19th, 2013, 11:27 pm

When I have free time, I like to read pro-Opposition articles and blogs. They like to threaten me and call me an Alawi. I am not Alawi, contrary to their statements. They attack me for pointing out facts and for correcting their grammar (in English and Arabic). They call this revolution in Syria an intellectual movement. Intellectual? This movement is far from intellectual.

I made a comment about the illegitimacy of their democracy claim. I vividly remember watching an Arabic news broadcast with my mother and the network was playing footage from Dara’a. The people were chanting “Alawi al thaboot wu Messehiyee al Beirut.” Translation: send the Alawis to the grave and Christians to Beirut; it sounds better in Arabic. Anyways, after that broadcast, I became very skeptical of this so called “democratic revolution.”

I remember looking up literacy rates in the Middle East and I remember how astonished I was to see a country like Egypt with 40 percent of their population illiterate. When I read about Lebanon, I was thoroughly impressed with their 95 percent literacy rate. Moreover, the amount of college graduates they have per capita. When I arrived at Syria, I was expecting to see similar numbers; I was let down. It didn’t make any sense. Almost all of my cousins have went to college, including the women. I talked to my professor about this. I told him “this is wrong.” He pointed something out to me, in densely populated areas, the literacy rates are over 90 percent. Latakia, Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus boasted high percentages. Then came the disappointment. Rural areas displayed relatively low numbers and the least amount of graduates of the baccalaureate programs, which are a prelude to college.

When the protests started, they did not begin in areas where literacy rates were high. I am not trying to offend anyone from cities like Dara’a, but the numbers were relatively low in southern and eastern Syria (not including the province of Homs). So, the point of this post is to point out the fallacies that are depicted by the news and analysts. Ask an academic or do your own research; it is worth your time.

-Leith

March 19th, 2013, 11:32 pm

Unbelievable, more tourists coming to Israel because of Assad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSciqpsNVoQ

I am starting to think that we need to move one or two of his statues to Israel. Shukran Zionist friend!

March 19th, 2013, 11:34 pm

MarigoldRan said:

With each passing week, the regime loses more ground. First Idlib, then Aleppo. Recently Raqqa and Deir El Ezzor. Now most of the fighting is in Daraa. Soon Damascus, Homs, and Hamas.

Let the war continue.

March 19th, 2013, 11:38 pm

Just wanted to thank Assads again not only for giving Israel the Golan but also for making sure that it is peaceful and quiet. It really is a beautiful place and the wine is world class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzf6tU4T5JY

Don’t forget to vote for Assad as Zionist of the Year!

March 19th, 2013, 11:46 pm

Lavrov was just hired by Dounia channel,his nose is getting long.
Rebels do not have chemical weapons,and if they got them they would use them on Qurdaha
Nato revealed they have plan, in case there is an order, to interfere.

March 19th, 2013, 11:47 pm

The new weapons supplied to the rebels in the south has definitely made an impact. The rebels are achieving victories in Daraa similar to the victories achieved in Aleppo and Idlib.

The regime can hold onto Damascus for a 6 months, maybe a year. But can they hold on for 2 years, five years, ten years?

March 19th, 2013, 11:49 pm

Beside the obvious holes in Hitto’s Bio, one should not ignore critical factors highlighted by this choice:
This appointment means the death of any secular opposition (three prominent NC members refused to attend the final vote)inside the NC body and the virtual assassination of Moaz attempts to present the NC as a moderate body that welcomes non Islamists.
Hitto is an Islamist whose salary is paid by Qatar, along with few others, who sent his son to fight in Syria,in the name of reporting, and his Kurdish origin can not hide his extreme vision of Syria’s future and how this war should end. In a real and substantial way, Hitto’s choice is a free service to the regime who always insisted that there is no real moderate or secular opposition that has any effect on rebels in Syria.
Turkey, Qatar and the MB decided to fight this war to the bitter end the same as Assad and his hardcore loyalists, and most people today do not see the Syrian crisis as a revolution, but rather as a war, and in a war those who choose violence should not complain if violence turns against them.

March 20th, 2013, 12:01 am

Thank you again to Assad for making the Druze of the Golan want to be Israeli instead of Syrian:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/with-syria-ablaze-dozens-of-golan-heights-druze-seek-israeli-citizenship/

Thank you for showing them that Zionism is the answer. Thank you for consolidating Israel’s hold on the Golan forever, making the locals want to be part of Israel. Assad for Zionist of the decade!

March 20th, 2013, 12:02 am

“and in a war those who choose violence should not complain if violence turns against them”

Absolutely true. The whining of the regime supporters is disingenuous. They think they have monopoly on violence. No war is much better than war. Thank you again Assad for keeping Israel so peaceful.

March 20th, 2013, 12:06 am

Ed Husain-CNN:

It is the ghost of Iraq that prevents the U.S. from leading attempts to topple the brutal Assad regime in Damascus. Regime change has consequences, as we learned in Iraq. There will be no new commitments to “nation build” again, or re-train police and security forces in a far off Arab land.
The sectarianism, tribalism, Jihadism, border skirmishes and threat of chemical weapons use in Syria reminds U.S. policymakers of the American and Arab blood and treasure sacrificed in Iraq. And to what avail?
The ongoing loss of life in Syria is a direct result of U.S. foreign policy blunders in Iraq. Syrians are the victims of America’s Iraq adventure. So as we ponder the last decade and current Arab uprisings, let us not gloat about the “success” of Iraq. Iraq is not a success. It is now an ally of Iran, home to a prime minister who persecutes his own political opposition, and unashamedly supports the Assad regime in Syria. Egyptians, Yemenis, Libyans, and Tunisians were not inspired by America in Iraq.
(Obama may want Europe to take the lead on Syria and prefer not to directly intervene unless things start to go in the wrong direction (that what he did in Libya), but Syria will prove him wrong, the latest rehearsal of a chemical attack,probably more than just a hype, is likely to be followed by more serious acts of violence that will cross Obama’s famous “red line” ,a US role will be essential to end the war in one way or the other)

March 20th, 2013, 12:34 am

Honestly, I have no idea why those Israeli on SC are so active. Would it just serve as evidence that the opposition and Zionists are teaming together?

Is Israeli government so sure about the outcome if Assad falls? If that means better environment for Israel, then by all means play all your cards and dirty tricks. But is it wise to ask yourself whether you can really handle the mess?

Worldwide, Israel has pretty ugly reputation. With its backing from US, Israel stays strong in ME. But do not underestimate your enemy.

You see, Iran is getting closer to its powerful ”tool” to counter Israeli aggression. And let us face the reality. It is happening not matter how Israel and its puppet master are trying to prevent it.

The recent bomb test by N. Korea pretty much guarantees it.

We are not expecting mutual destruction here. But if aggression is the only language those Israeli can understand, then they will have to learn to swallow the same medicine.

Last thing, Golan Heights will be back to homeland no matter how long the struggle will take.

March 20th, 2013, 12:53 am

Actually, the most active commentator on this blog is Zoo, who is hardly a fan of Israel. Regime supporters on average don’t have jobs or a life, and spend 12-16 hours per day typing mindlessly on a blog.

So once again the facts prove you wrong.

You can say what you want about Israel, but most people consider the regime to be worse. And when it comes to aggression, the regime uses more violence on Syrian people than Israel. The regime has killed 70000 Syrians in the last two years. How many has Israel killed?

So shut it. As usual, you’re an idiot and a moron totally oblivious to facts.

March 20th, 2013, 1:05 am

69. apple_mini:

“Honestly, I have no idea why those Israeli on SC are so active. Would it just serve as evidence that the opposition and Zionists are teaming together?”

Oh yeah that’s the truth

On the other hand they keep coming back looking for the pork pen!s sent by USA as an aid to FSA to chew on it. Zionists as disgusting as liquid fart. and they inbreed sick people

March 20th, 2013, 1:42 am

Talking about the real AID

The loyal Arab Algerian government has sent hundreds of military-intelligence advisors and troops to help Syria in Gorilla warfare. Russia, Iran, Iraq, HA and now Algeria oh yeah that’s how we rock and roll.

March 20th, 2013, 1:47 am

viva l’algerie

March 20th, 2013, 1:49 am

Juergen said:

March 20th, 2013, 2:22 am

Hanzala said:

I am skeptical of this Hitto guy, why should he lead any government in exile and what right does he have to do this? If any of these guys want to be taken seriously than they should get on the ground and start WORKING to get rebel allegiances, not expect it from 7 star hotels. Saying he has connections to Muslim Brotherhood means nothing really..is that some free pass for us to take him seriously?

I bet the rebels are having a good laugh looking at these guys come and go. My apologies to supporters of the revolution but these are my views.

March 20th, 2013, 2:47 am

Badr said:

Iran crisis: Would Israel launch an attack?

By Raffi Berg
BBC News, Jerusalem

The single most important factor though in influencing any decision to attack Iran will be Israeli intelligence reports. While the intelligence establishment has not yet countenanced an attack, its position could change at any time – if, for instance, it believes Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has decided to actually go for a nuclear bomb.

March 20th, 2013, 5:05 am

Akbar Palace said:

The regime has killed 70000 Syrians in the last two years. How many has Israel killed?

MarigoldRan,

I’m not sure who you are, and what your background is, but your statement provides hope.

It provide hope to those who believe that Israel isn’t the only “enemy” of the arab and mulsim people. It provides hope that one day, arabs and muslims can come to terms with Israel like any other nation. The time for recognizing Israel is today, not tomorrow. The time for total freedom and democracy in the ME is today, not tomorrow.

Thanks.

Guhfran stated:

Syrians are the victims of America’s Iraq adventure. So as we ponder the last decade and current Arab uprisings, let us not gloat about the “success” of Iraq. Iraq is not a success. It is now an ally of Iran, home to a prime minister who persecutes his own political opposition, and unashamedly supports the Assad regime in Syria. Egyptians, Yemenis, Libyans, and Tunisians were not inspired by America in Iraq.

Guhfran,

When do arab governments ever get blamed in your estimation? Why is everything the Americans fault?

I was for the war in Iraq, and although the war didn’t work out as planned, because of the US, the US threw our a murderous dictator that almost no one was sorry about. Certainly not the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who Saddam committed to mass graves.

The US, IMHO, gave the Iraqis the ability to set up a free and democractic state. We spent years training their police and army. To me, the Iraqis squandered a rare opportunity.

The Syrians are victims not of Iraq, they’re victims are a brutal region and the Assad clan. There are still large parts of arab society who don’t want freedom. They prefer a police state where you aren’t even free to speak your mind or elect a half-decent president.

March 20th, 2013, 6:49 am

“I’m not sure who you are, and what your background is, but your statement provides hope.”

He is a teenage Vietnamese boy who hobbies include eating dog, playing video games. and cheering on terrorism. His mother and I had hopes for him too.

“There are still large parts of arab society who don’t want freedom.”

We are glad that the Americans and the Zionists are there to provide freedom with guns and death.

How can we ever thank you.

March 20th, 2013, 7:51 am

What is the regime response to having a new PM? Any official statement from regime officials?

March 20th, 2013, 8:43 am

The stupidity is amazing; not even able to detect my sarcasm!!!!!!

Cham Press hot off the press:

The dollar to the pound at 100 is “excellent” according to officials of the Commercial Bank. That is they think that the pound losing at least 50% of its value is “excellent”

The price of gold has gone “mad” also noted in the economic section of Cham Press another indication that the people are rushing to buy gold as there are no dollars left to buy.

Please post me a video of Sunny Corleone on his horse to remember the good old days of control!!!! I need that to go to sleep now for I cannot without the reassurance of that dashing figure in Ray Bans on his horse.

The Duck that could not fire a Scud

March 20th, 2013, 8:57 am

The evidence that Assad is a Zionist is clear. He shoots SCUDs at his own people and cities and not at Israel. I have been saying on this blog for years that Assad is bad news for Syria while the regime supporters kept saying he is a genius. Of course I was right, the facts speak for themselves. Assad has wrecked Syria while making Israel stronger. What is happening now is a direct consequence of the 11 years of Assad rule. He and his regime are responsible for 90% of what is happening in Syria. In a way, it is sad to still see Syrians supporting him. It reminds me of “battered spouse syndrome”.

March 20th, 2013, 9:24 am

Syria militants, Israel join forces to destroy Mideast: Lebanese politician

Leader of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun says foreign-backed militants in Syria have formed an alliance with the Israeli regime to change the region’s geopolitical map, Press TV reports.

“I think this is an alliance in reality. We don’t know what happens in secret, but from what we can see, they are allies,” Aoun told Press TV on Tuesday.

The Lebanese politician also stressed that the alliance intends to destroy not only Syria, but the entire Middle East and “its social, political fabric.”

Aoun also warned against the presence of anti-Syria militants in Lebanon and the possible damages they might inflict on the integrity and security of the country.

“There are many goals. Lebanon is a resting place for them. And it might also be a prelude for them to start intervening in Lebanon,” he said.

Aoun made the remarks after at least 25 people were killed and many others injured when militants fired missiles containing “poisonous gases” into Khan al-Assal village in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, according to a report by the official Syrian news agency SANA.

Following the deadly incident, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi condemned the attack, describing militants’ use of chemical weapons as the “first act” by the so-called opposition interim government formed by Syria’s opposition National Coalition on the same day.

Zoubi further said Turkey and Qatar, which support militants fighting against Damascus, bore “legal, moral and political responsibility” for the chemical attack in the northern city.

Russia also said it has information proving that militants used chemical weapons in Aleppo, expressing serious concern over their acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.

March 20th, 2013, 9:49 am

The myth of the Syrian opposition—the latest in US psycho-ops

Both the designation of the US citizen, Ghassan Hitto as “interim Prime Minister” by the SNC, and Aron Lund’s myth-shattering report “The Free Syrian Army Doesn’t Exist”, make it increasingly clear that the Syrian opposition (and by Syrian opposition I mean the FSA and the Syrian National Coalition) today is little more than a PR stunt engineered by the US & allies and sustained by corporate media and a slick social media campaign. As detailed by Lund’s study, the FSA is nothing but a branding operation which refers to the uprising in general, or more specifically, to the non-Islamist rebel groups. Elsewhere, Lund asserts that “virtually all of the major armed groups have by now declared that they want an Islamic state,” suggesting that most of the rebels belong to Salafi and Salafi jihadi groups. In other words, the notion of a secular armed opposition is a media creation.

Add to the myth of the FSA , Hitto’s appointment as PM of Nothing Really, and one begins to understand just how much more of a psycho-ops than a pysch- ops campaign we are dealing with, which aims to remold reality in the crudest attempt at wish fulfillment and mass-delusion. Not even language has escaped the new psycho-ops, as concepts like legitimacy have now been re-conceptualized to mean whatever- the- US-recognizes, such as when it arbitrarily decides that the SNC is “the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people”. So over and above the concepts of “popular legitimacy” and “constitutional legitimacy”, we now have the oxymoronic notion of “external legitimacy” which can seemingly exist without either of the other two types.

Just to put things in perspective: The Syrian government is not up against some fantasy Syrian “opposition” but against foreign- backed Salafis, Jihadis and al-Qaeda inspired groups who are not merely Islamists but vehemently sectarian Islamists whose modus operandi includes terrorist bombings and executions. And there is no actual Syrian executive other than President Bashar al-Assad. And no amount of psych-ops or psycho-ops will change either of these facts.

March 20th, 2013, 9:52 am

What a low life. Now his plagiarizing other blogs and pasting here without giving a reference.
See for yourself if this is not exactly the post above;
http://syria360.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/the-myth-of-the-syrian-opposition-the-latest-in-us-psycho-ops/

March 20th, 2013, 10:01 am

#75 Hanzala

You are wrong. It has been agreed in Istanbul that this government will be set in Syria’s ground and not in Turkey.

Hitto and his family are moving to Azaaz. They are looking for a villa there, preferably with swimming pool.
But maybe Suzanne Hitto would prefer Al Raqqah or maybe Jisr al Shorough. There are so many exotic places on North Syria and so handy for shopping as they are close to Turkey .
The city of Edlib and Aleppo are out of reach, it is still in control of the legal government, but it is a matter of time until Suzanne can visit the ruins there.

I wish Hitto and his family a happy stay in Northern Syria. They will be welcomed a heroes.

March 20th, 2013, 10:07 am

There won’t be any place in Syria that any “government” will be allowed to be set up in. The SAA will fire so many rockets at any such place nothing, and no one, will be left of there.

Hitto is nothing. He is less than nothing.

March 20th, 2013, 10:13 am

The “vehemently sectarian” is the Alawi junta that their feet you are licking.

Also, whenever I hear an Arab leader speaking about Israel, I know the dude is having problems; domestic. Who made the hatred towards Israel? The Arab tyrants did. Why? To hide the 1400 y/o inner divisions. Now we see that this 1400 y/o genuine hate is much stronger than the 100 y/o invented and opportunistic hate.
.

March 20th, 2013, 10:18 am

Haaretz article shows only a 5% success rate for Iron Dome.

March 20th, 2013, 10:22 am

“There won’t be any place in Syria that any “government” will be allowed to be set up in. The SAA will fire so many rockets at any such place nothing, and no one, will be left of there.”

What about if they set the government in the Golan? You are finally admitting the Golan isn’t Syrian because you certainly would not fire any rockets there therefore per what you write it won’t be “any place in Syria”.

Thank you again Assad and regime supporters for giving us the Golan and cementing our rule there.

March 20th, 2013, 10:25 am

Turkey: Jordan king criticizes Erdogan for idea of democracy
“Democracy is just a bus ride”, Erdogan once said

19 March, 17:53

(ANSAmed) – ANKARA, MARCH 19 – Jordanian King Abdullah II unexpectedly criticized Islamic nationalist Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an Atlantic magazine interview just days after his official visit to Ankara with his wife Rania, Hurriyet daily online reported Tuesday.

Erdogan, whom the opposition accuses of secretly planning to Islamize Turkey and who has been ruling Turkey since 2002, is ”merely promoting a softer-edged version of Islamism”, the king told the monthly magazine.

”Erdogan once said that democracy for him is a bus ride,” Abdullah told the Atlantic. ”’Once I get to my stop, I’m getting off.”’ He is even more wary of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood leader who is a less restrained version of Erdogan, according to the reformist king. ”Instead of the Turkish model, taking six or seven years – being an Erdogan – Morsi wanted to do it overnight,” the king said.

March 20th, 2013, 10:29 am

Israel will make billions from exporting the very successful Iron Dome to other countries. In Israel, we make lemonade from lemons. Assad shoots SCUDs at his own people and cities while keeping the Golan peaceful and quiet. Thank you again Assad, Zionist of the Year!

March 20th, 2013, 10:30 am

We will make billions from selling the very successful Iron Dome to other countries. In Israel, when we get lemons, we make lemonade. Assad shoots SCUDs at his own people and cities while keeping the Golan peaceful and quiet. Thank you again Assad, Zionist of the Year!

March 20th, 2013, 10:32 am

Moslem Brotherhood infiltration continues…

Egypt Fears ‘Ikhwanization’ of Military

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—
Fears of the “Ikhwanization” of the Egyptian army have been raised after Egyptian Military Academy Director Major General Esmat Murad revealed that students with links to the Muslim Brotherhood or Salafist political factions have been accepted into the academy, including President Mohamed Mursi’s own nephew. An Egyptian soldier, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, revealed that “for the first time, students whose families or relative…

Ah..

Like Jordan is the beacon of democracy.

March 20th, 2013, 10:35 am

Erdogan can improve but he is about 10 times more democratic than Assad.

Here is the difference between Erdogan rule and Assad rule:
http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=ny_gdp_pcap_kd&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=country&idim=country:SYR:TUR&ifdim=country&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&ind=false

The numbers are not subject to propaganda and your lies. Only feeble minded regime lackeys cannot see the truth of how awful Assad was in every dimension.

March 20th, 2013, 10:36 am

“الهجوم الكيمائي” في حلب:من أوكار مخابرات الأردن إلى “خان العسل” مرورا بالعراق ومعمل الكلور

المخابرات الأردنية زودت “دولة العراق الإسلامية” بتقنية استخدام غاز الكلور، وهؤلاء نقلوها إلى “جبهة النصرة” التي استخدمت مخزون معمل الكلور الذي تحتله

http://www.syriatruth.org/news/tabid/93/Article/9437/Default.aspx

March 20th, 2013, 10:40 am

How do you explain the dismal economic “achievements” of Assad relative to Erdogan? If Erdogan is so bad, how come Assad is so much worse yet you adore him? And remember, it is not the sanctions as Assad has been saying for years that they have no influence whatsoever. It is all Assad policies.

March 20th, 2013, 10:42 am

About Hitto, the Syria press just repeated what everyone knows as an evidence.

Hitto has been nominated thanks to Qatar and Turkey. He is a US citizen, therefore has pleaded his allegeance to the USA. He left Syria at the age of 17 to avoid going to the army and knows little about common Syrians. He is close to the Moslem Brotherhood.
He’s been used by the USA to plot against Syria.
Qatar is paying for all expenses and Turkey is providing the logistic.

Overall, his expat credentials are a real bonus to the Syrian government

March 20th, 2013, 10:44 am

Hanzala @75,

I share your skepticism about the so-called ‘government’. It is my opinion that the Syrian diaspora should not have a leading role in this revolution, because it can be subject to pressures from foreign governments such as the US or the west which have completely different agendas from the Syrian people. The diaspora must only be involved in a supportive role, while the Syrians inside Syria must lead the revolution and the government.

I endorse the legal councils that are being formed in the liberated areas and they should become a model for the rest of Syria when it gets liberated.

We should not however cast doubts towards the sincerity of the expats. Most of them are genuine in their support. But they must recognize that they cannot be leaders of government(s) for Syria. Perhaps if and when they go back and settle in Syria they could be considered for such roles.

America’s policy regarding Syria is manipulative and dishonest and has only served the criminal regime, and so are the policies of the Europeans. The Syrian revolution must not solicit or accept any aid or help from such parties. The revolution is doing just great relying on its own resources.

March 20th, 2013, 10:45 am

“Qatar is paying for all expenses and Turkey is providing the logistic.”

Even if that were true, what is the problem? Iran and Russia are doing the same for Assad and you have no problem with that. So why are you whining about other countries helping the opposition? I never so such hypocrisy in my life. You even suck at propaganda after so many years of practice. But what can you expect from people who support shooting SCUDs and bombing their own cities and people?

March 20th, 2013, 10:56 am

“A” is for “A-hole”

Thank you again Assad, Zionist of the Year!

AIG,

I understand your points about Assad, how horrible he is, and how stupid and brutal his supporters are. It makes no sense.

However, Assad is no “Zionist of the Year”. He caused enough trouble to Israel supporting and arming terrorists. So while he’s getting a (much worse) taste of his own medicine, he is not fit for Zionists or anyone else.

March 20th, 2013, 10:58 am

This chemical attack is likely an event to open up Western military intervention. This is a ripe opportunity falling directly into the West’s narrative condemning the Syrian Government for not protecting it’s own citizens or outright violence against them. The rhetoric being displayed is “humanitarian crisis”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDEg3ISQHOk

Video above shows the intervention process at work, starting with the media.

This may be the event which sets off direct foreign intervention. We already know that British special forces have been taken out of Afghanistan to be redeployed on the border of Syria.

It doesn’t seem that the West will go quietly into the night and are wholesale committed to the fall of the Syrian government.

Either Syria is sacrificed to the West by Eastern bloc partners or there will be global scale confrontation with Syria as the chessboard. One wrong move, misadventure mistake could send the region over the precipice, unleashing a global war.

We are witnessing the surreal unfold.

March 20th, 2013, 11:09 am

I call upon all Syrian commentators on this blog, and on all Syrians for that matter to refuse to converse with any Israeli commenter. Any discourse with Israelis even the ones who honestly or fakely support Palestinian rights is a form of normalization with the enemy.
If a member of the British Parliament refuses to discuss with Israelis, it is more befitting for Arabs to do the same.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/21/george-galloway-debate-israeli-oxford

No matter where you stand in this Syrian conflict, totally with the revolution, totally against it, or on the fence, Israelis are the enemy. They are elated by the destruction of Syria no matter who does the destruction, and full of Schadenfreude. Naturally this has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.
Finally I call upon you to actively support the movement of international solidarity and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

http://www.bdsmovement.net/

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/activism-and-bds-beat

March 20th, 2013, 11:27 am

In regard to Jordan’s king, it amazes me how Arabs’ leaders are so much disconnected from reality. It appears that it is in their gene. Bashar proudly proclaimed that Arab spring would never touch Syria a month before its launch and Jordan’s king critiquing Turkey’s Erdo when he does not match to his little toe. Now seriously, how pathetic Arab affairs are!

March 20th, 2013, 11:32 am

Le’s see if the members of the AL have still some signs of life or they have become comatose in front of Qatar?

“An Arab League summit, due to be held in Qatar on March 26-27, is expected to give Damascus’ seat to the opposition.”

http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/2131591.html

March 20th, 2013, 11:38 am

When was the last time an Israeli leader bombed Aleppo? It never happened. But a Syrian leader, Assad, is doing it all the time. And you call Israel the enemy? Assad kills per day more Syrians than Israel killed since 1982.

If Israel is an enemy of Assad, why has the Golan been so quiet and peaceful during the 11 years Assad was firmly in control? It is time you opened your eyes. All the Israel excuses are not washing. No Syrian needs to like Israel, but to all Syrians who are not delusional it is clear that Assad is much worse for Syria than Israel.

And as for advocating for BDS, you do understand that if the Druze in the Golan followed your advice they would all leave for Syria. But in fact, more and more are becoming Israeli citizens by choice! And they all trade with Israeli citizens and are happy to accept the services provided by the Israeli government, even those that have so far decided not to be citizens. And you know why? Because they opened their eyes and saw what Assad really is. It is time you did so also.

March 20th, 2013, 11:51 am

#104 Tara

That’s the sequel of the fall of the Ottoman empire that was supposed to be one of your ‘happy endings’.
Colonial powers, UK and France, artificially created the Arab countries based on their interest and their firm intention to keep them instable and dependant so they could continue controlling and exploiting them.
One hundred years later, these countries are still lost in a midst of illusions, indecision, confusions and frustration.
Some that were religiously/ethnically coherent and rich, managed to collude with the colonial powers and started to manipulate the others less rich countries. In fact, they became the proxy of the colonial powers. These less rich countries are still struggling to find a proper modus vivendi for their complex religious and ethnical population.

That’s why I think each Arab country has to fight first to get its own identity built and its independence from the influence and manipulation of the old colonial powers as well as the new one, the USA.
Then it should fight for democracy. Not the other way around.
No Arab country, except Algeria and Syria to a certain degree, is self-reliant or has a foreign policy independent from the colonial powers. Until they do, democracy is a empty and potentially manipulative word.

I doubt that the Moslem Brotherhood’s wave in the region will be able to create any stability, quite the contrary. It is based on the illusion that unity of religion will makes the regions stronger.
The European countries only united after they fought against each others, found the specific identity, became self-reliant and reached the independence from religion.

That’ why I think Syria was on the right track, despite its excesses and flaws. Now, who knows?

March 20th, 2013, 12:14 pm

Assad in surprise visit to Damascus education centre ( near Jubar district)
March 20, 2013 6:52 PM

DAMASCUS — Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad paid an unexpected visit to an educational centre in the capital Damascus on Wednesday, the presidency said on its official Facebook page.

“President Assad made a surprise visit to the Educational Centre for Fine Arts where the education ministry was honoring the families of students who were martyred as a result of terrorist acts, to honour the parents himself,” the presidency wrote, alongside photos of Assad at the centre.
..
The education centre specialises in training teachers of the fine arts, and is in the Tijara neighbourhood of eastern Damascus, near Jubar district, where fighting has raged for months between regime and rebel forces.

March 20th, 2013, 12:15 pm

Suhair is out:

أعلنت نائبة رئيس الائتلاف الوطني المعارض سهير أتاسي تجميد عضويتها في الائتلاف، مبررة ذلك بالقول انها “مواطنة سورية، ولا أقبل أن أكون رعية ولا زينة”.
وأضافت: فالحون بتكسير بعضنا البعض.. ليست الدول فقط من تخذلنا… نحن سبّاقون إلى خذلان بعضنا.. بارعون بتوجيه التهم والتجريح والمزايدة… ألا ليت روحيّة وأخلاق الثورة تحيا فينا من جديد…

March 20th, 2013, 12:24 pm

Ziad

I agree fully. The Israelis here keep trying to bring us in interaction with them by asking questions or writing provocative statements.

I am just skipping their posts and ignoring them. That’s my contribution to the boycott.

Both parties ask the UN for an investigation on the use of chemical weapons

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syrian-adversaries-demand-inquiry-chemical-attack-152426790.html#LH4tJdW

The opposition Syrian National Coalition said it wanted an international investigation into alleged chemical attacks on Tuesday in both Khan al-Assal and Otaiba, a town near the capital Damascus.

“The Coalition would like all parties and individuals involved in this reprehensible crime to be brought to justice,” it said in a statement.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry has asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to set up an independent, neutral specialist technical team “to investigate the use of chemical weapons by the terrorists in Khan al-Assal”, state television reported.

Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad had said on Tuesday that officials would test soil and rocket debris in Khan al-Assal and report their findings to the “relevant bodies”.
…

March 20th, 2013, 12:28 pm

What utter and complete nonsense you write.
This is a gem:
“That’s why I think each Arab country has to fight first to get its own identity built and its independence from the influence and manipulation of the old colonial powers as well as the new one, the USA. Then it should fight for democracy. Not the other way around.”

You really don’t get it? You cannot determine the identity of a country without freedom of speech and a frank dialog between all its citizens. The only way to get people to buy into a collective identity is to make sure everyone feels they are part of the process to create it through free speech and free elections. Without democracy you can never have identity in a country that has diverse sects, ethnicities and communities.

You cannot force an identity on people because it raises the basic question: Who gave the right to the people doing the forcing to decide for everybody else?
That is why you need democracy.

March 20th, 2013, 12:32 pm

#109 Ghufran

If this true, it is quite understandable.
Suhair Attasi, like most Syrians who still have some dignity, cannot accept to be ruled by an American nominated by Qatar and Turkey, even if speaks arabic and he is a Moslem.
It is a insult to Syrians.

March 20th, 2013, 12:35 pm

You mean you don’t answer me because you have no good answers. You are defending the indefensible. You demand freedom of speech while denying it to fellow Syrians. You criticize other countries for not being democratic enough while admitting you are against democracy in Syria at this point! The masks are falling and the true nature of the regime and its supporters is becoming clear.

March 20th, 2013, 12:36 pm

“like most Syrians who still have some dignity”

People like you who advocate shooting SCUDS at their own cities and people have lost any shred of dignity a long time ago. If you had a shred of dignity you would attack Israel and not your own cities. I am amazed you even use that word.

March 20th, 2013, 12:38 pm

We all know the Zionists here are drooling over Syrian blood and the prospect of their enemy being overthrown by NATO. It is obvious.

I believe Galloway was correct not to debate them.

March 20th, 2013, 12:41 pm

More on the NC which I think is falling apart:
اسطنبول ـ (ا ف ب) – اعلنت 12 شخصية بارزة على الاقل من الائتلاف السوري المعارض الاربعاء تعليق عضويتها في الائتلاف بعد يوم من انتخاب اول رئيس وزراء للمعارضة.
ومن تلك الشخصيات سهير الاتاسي النائب الثاني لرئيس الائتلاف ووليد البني المتحدث باسم الائتلاف
ومن بين الشخصيات الاخرى التي اعلنت “تجميد” عضويتها في الائتلاف كمال اللبواني ومروان حاج رفاعي ويحيى الكردي واحمد العاصي الجربا، فيما توقعت مصادر انشقاق عدد اخر من اعضاء الائتلاف.
ورغم ان تلك الشخصيات اوردت اسبابا مختلفة لقرارها الانشقاق، الا ان بعضهم اعرب عن معارضته لانتخاب هيتو والطريقة التي انتخب بها.
وصرح اللبواني لفرانس برس ان “الائتلاف هو هيئة غير منتخبة، ولذلك فليس لها الحق في اختيار رئيس وزراء على اساس حصوله على تصويت الاغلبية. كان يجب ان يتم ذلك بالتوافق”.
وقال اللبواني “نحن اعضاء الائتلاف لم ننتخب لتمثيل السوريين. ولذلك فان هيتو لا يمثل سوى ال35 عضوا الذين صوتوا له. هذه الحكومة هي بمثابة هدية لنظام (الرئيس) بشار الاسد”.
وقال البني ان “القضية الاساسية هي توقيت التصويت والطريقة التي جرى بها. لقد دفع الائتلاف من اجل الحصول على الاغلبية في مجموعة لم يتم انتخابها”.
وكانت الاتاسي، الناشطة العلمانية، قد حصلت على الاشادة لدورها الرئيسي في الائتلاف عند تشكيله في الدوحة في تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر وسط مخاوف من هيمنة الرجال والاسلاميين عليه.
وقال سالم المسلط، عضو الائتلاف الذي كان مرشحا لمنصب رئيس الوزراء، انه قلق بشان ما يمكن ان تعنيه هذه الخلافات لمستقبل المعارضة الرسمية
وقال “تمارس العديد من الضغوط على الائتلاف. ولدي امل في ان نتقدم الى الامام”. لكن بعد انتخاب رئيس الوزراء “فانه من المؤسف ان نرى ذلك يحدث”، على حد قوله.
this illustrates the failure of seculars in Syria and the stupidity of the regime who should have accommodated Syrians who want a peaceful political change, instead we have the MB and a bunch of terrorists dominating the opposition mostly through the use of violence and the support of backward khaliji emirates.

Assad Syria proudly presents Shabiha Airlines….

From the PR team, a first draft:

For your convenience we have cleared the autoroute towards the airport,and we offer you an 100% Garantee on a available parking space, plus our courteous offer of twenty security officers per passenger will enable you to board within minutes…

March 20th, 2013, 12:56 pm

Who Stuck that paper on your back that says, “Hit Me”?

We are not drooling over a nation’s misfortune. We consider this an opportunity for Syria to rebuild into a democracy which would be a WIN-WIN for everyone. We are equally “dumb-struck”, that there is a large portion of the Syrian community that wants continued hardship.

We can’t force you to stop beating yourself up…

I believe in the Tooth Fairy

March 20th, 2013, 1:21 pm

SYRIAN HAMSTER said:

SPOT ON

‎الثورة الصينية ضد طاغية الصين the Chinese revolution‎

قال شو ردّك ع زيارة سيادتو لمركز تربوي اليوم؟
شو ردّي؟ ردّي إنو عادي .. واحد قليل ترباية .. طبيعي يزور مركز تربوي ما بس اليوم .. كل يوم .. بس مانو زلمي .. أو أنت زلمي بشار؟

وانغ 14

March 20th, 2013, 1:28 pm

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/03/us-new-syrian-pm-yet-another-muslim.html?spref=tw

March 20th, 2013, 1:44 pm

The same site that claimed Akidi has resigned is saying this now:
نفى المجلس العسكري الثوري في محافظة حلب في بيان له صدر الثلاثاء، تقديم العقيد عبد الجبار عكيدي استقالته .
و كانت مصادر اعلامية تحدثت عن تقديم عكيدي استقالته، دون الكشف عن مزيد من المعلومات.
و اكد المجلس على اصراره في “مواجهة و مقارعة المجرمين القتلة، حتى تحرير كامل تراب الوطن الغالي”.
This is how a reader responded:
الاسم : ابو حلب
العنوان : اكيد
حدا بيقطع رزقو بأيدو، الجيش الحر و الجيش النظامي حرامية
This is my take on this story:
hired guns may change employers but they can not change careers, expect a lot of shifting and realligning in the new Syria.
Toz Bihalnizaam alzift wa bi halthawra lizbaleh (sorry Ridwan, Mr Squeaky)

March 20th, 2013, 1:49 pm

Akbar Palace,

Do you know if Obama is on an official visit to Israel, or is he there as a tourist?

In case you’re wondering why I am asking, it is because of this,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israelis-lukewarm-on-obama/2013/03/20/060103a2-9183-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html?hpid=z3

March 20th, 2013, 1:59 pm

Jasmine said:

What difference does this make,wether FSA exist or not,these stuffed suits of the Gulf are trying to force a distorted version of Islam down the throat of Syrians,they may succeed temporally ,but for the long term the political life in Syria is taking a new dimension,and the mosaic structure of the society will never allow them to achieve an Islamist country.

IMHO,external hands have created the chemical weapons episode now,to force NATO to get involved military,the frustration of GCC is taking a dynamic of its own,they are trying to be creative with a new face for the opposition,but they haven’t learned their lessons yet from Tunisia and Egypt.
Oil will dry out in the gulf in 50 years,till then the next few generations will have to put up with these fat pigs.

March 20th, 2013, 2:05 pm

تبنت صفحة تنسيقية ضاحية حرستا الهجوم الكيماوي على خان العسل، وتوعدت باستهداف ما أسمته “مستوطنات النصيرية والنصارى” رداً على وقوع شهداء مدنيين بالخطأ خلال الهجوم الكيماوي على حاجز تفتيش للجيش
وبدأ البيان بآية قرآنية من سورة النساء: (وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلَّا خَطَأ)، وأضاف (بعد أن استطاع مجاهدينا في كتيبة الريح صرصر من تحضير المواد الكيماوية اللازمة لرؤوس الصواريخ.
علمنا من مصدر في لواء الإسلام في دوما والذي يجاهد أيضا في ريف حلب عن قيام مجاهدينا الأبطال من الجبهة الإسلامية وبمشاركة جبهة النصرة بقصف حاجز لكتائب الأسد في منطقة خان العسل بريف حلب بصاروخ أرض- أرض يحمل رأس ممتلئا بالمواد السامة ردا على قيام النظام باحتلال خان العسل الأسبوع الفائت
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNYSD6wNz3k
I think western intelligence agencies are engaged in a cover up operation since they will be forced to act against those who use chemical weapons.

March 20th, 2013, 2:09 pm

Real Syrians: Dr. Haytham Manna and Dr. Rim Turkmani in New-York

Syrian Delegates Push for Peaceful Resolution of Conflict

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/syrian-delegates-push-for-peaceful-resolution-of-conflict/

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 2013 (IPS) – Amidst ongoing violence between the Syrian regime and opposition forces, and serious international discourse on arming the opposition, some Syrian civil society leaders are insisting upon a non-violent approach toward conflict resolution.

Dr. Haytham Manna and Dr. Rim Turkmani traveled to New York and Washington over the last week, speaking with members of the U.N. Security Council, Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. Human Rights Council and members of the U.S. Congress to garner support for an end to armed strategies in Syria and the coordination of inclusive negotiations toward a political solution.

Whether or not the opposition’s militarisation was a realistic option or an inevitable reaction a year and a half ago, with an estimated 70,000 casualties, over one million refugees, and around three million internally displaced persons, Manna and Turkmani argue that it is time for a change of strategy.

On Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also restated the urgent need for an end to violence and a peaceful political solution.

Manna is the spokesperson abroad for the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), an opposition coalition formed in September 2011 that has predominantly promoted non-violent political transition in Syria; he is also a career human rights activist and a practicing physician.

Turkmani is a member of the Syria-based political group called Building the Syrian State, also established in September 2011, which takes a similar non-violent stance as the NCC. She is an astrophysicist and also living abroad.

Both of these leaders and their groups have been criticised for not taking a hard enough stance against the dictatorship or calling for its immediate overthrow, and have been accused of allegiance to the regime.

#117 Gufran

“More on the NC which I think is falling apart:”

Like the SNC infected at birth by the qatari and turkish viruses, the NC collapse is inevitable. It is expected that its fall will disband what remains of the ‘good’ FSA.

March 20th, 2013, 2:17 pm

I’m reassured when I see that those who call for boycott and BDS, are the same out of date, archaic regime supporters. When the Assad junta is decapitated (NOT if), there is a real chance for a fresher start between the peoples. When the Syrians revise recent events, they will without doubt be able to notice the difference between those who were drooling on their blood, and those who rejected this ugly Alawi junta from the very beginning. I’m not deluding myself to think that some elements in the opposition do like Israel. But when the dust settles on this so called ‘Arab Spring’, I believe that most Syrians will be open to look at the situation and on Israel, differently.
.

March 20th, 2013, 2:20 pm

Visitor,

Anywhere a current US President visits, it is considered a “State Visit”. If he held an official title (Senator, Congressman, etc) is would also be considered an official visit unless he specifically states it is a personal vacation/visit. His visit is official government ‘biness.

He visits Israel, Palestine, Jordan and, I think, a few other countries. So far, his language (both verbally and body-wise) is positive. I consider him one of the worst presidents in US history on par with Jimmy Carter. He has a chance to change my POV.

Regards,

March 20th, 2013, 2:22 pm

This development proves that Hanzala @75 and I @99 are on the right track,

http://aljazeera.net/news/pages/5f9affba-10e4-4d5e-83b9-6f32c3b72e13?GoogleStatID=9

I said the same when Moaz was elected. The basic principle here is very simple: legitimacy can ONLY be granted by the Syrian people and it CAN NOT be awarded to some group(s) or person(s) by foreign governments.

—————————-

Thanks Akbar Palace @129

March 20th, 2013, 2:29 pm

Edward Dark interview with The Globe and Mail (15 Mar):

Aleppo activist Edward Dark: ‘People here don’t like the regime, but they hate the rebels even more’

SC users will be more interested in this from his chief tormentor in the comment section.

March 20th, 2013, 2:34 pm

Socialist Worker article.

Cameron threatens to send arms to Syria

Tue 19 Mar 2013

David Cameron threatened to break the European arms embargo on sending military aid to Syria on Friday of last week.

He said if the embargo wasn’t lifted “then it’s not out of the question we might have to do things in our own way”.

Cameron and French president Francois Hollande want to arm sections of the opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in the name of humanitarianism.

But their real concern is that opposition groups hostile to the West may gain control.

They want to arm those elements they can politically control.

March 20th, 2013, 2:45 pm

Why is the USA is so adamant to deny there has been a chemical weapon attack?
Maybe they have information from their intelligence operating closely among the rebels that the rebels are responsible for the attack and the USA prefers to cover it up.
Naively, the expat opposition who has no clue of what is going on among the armed rebels is calling for an investigation.

The Syria government seems confident of the relevance of its accusations as it also calling officially for an independent UN investigation.

Syria asks U.N. chief to appoint independent mission to investigate alleged chemical attack

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/article10003965.ece

March 20th, 2013, 2:48 pm

5 dancing shlomos said:

koert debeuf is … ?

who cares what this nobody thinks, says.

a rat visits cousin rats and propagandizes for the loser rats and the rat masters.

chemical weapons used in syria?

liars of the jewish west are out and about.

the air is filled with western lies like pollen in the spring.

re iraq:

ten yrs on, carnage and chaos and misery make for happy jews.

with their massive thievery as the dessert.

now

if only

iran ends up same as iraq, pak, afgan, syria.

one clunker in the jew’s fantasies – syria.

syria is defeating the synagogues of satan.

and

the synagogue of satan occupying palestine is scared like a little girlie-boy of the big bad nusrallah.

obama, the loser-puppet, has been summoned to fight for girlie-boy.

bandar,

what you got to say?

March 20th, 2013, 2:51 pm

The second anniversary of the Syrian uprising

Rita from Syria
20 March 2013
___________________________________________________________________________________
We can conclude from this that the regime priority is to keep control on its supportive cantons rather than keeping Syria whole. We are seeing the partitioning of Syria
___________________________________________________________________________________

About the author

Rita is a Syrian opposition activist, she lives in Damascus and studies at Damascus University.

March 20th, 2013, 2:56 pm

Zeefin said:

#59.

https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=18157&cp=2#comment-355806

Revenire, keep on showing your illiteracy in arabic. You said “Alawi al thaboot wu Messehiyee al Beirut”

Its actually, “al alawiyya ala Taaboot wa al-maseeheeyya ala bayroot” (“العلوية على التابوت والمسيحية على بيروت”)

You were saying about correcting other people’s arabic? What is a “thaboot”?

March 20th, 2013, 2:57 pm

Citizen said:

NATO forces ( TZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ) are ready to intervene in a civil war in Syria, and repeat the operation to overthrow the government, which has already been implemented in Libya. This statement was made commander of NATO forces in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, his words are March 19 at the site of the Ministry of Defence SShA.Stavridis stressed that the action plan is drawn up in Syria, and the troops are ready for battle. The admiral noted that the intervention would help to resolve the current “deadlock” situation and to overthrow the current regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
http://www.stripes.comNATO forces are ready to intervene in a civil war in Syria, and repeat the operation to overthrow the government, which has already been implemented in Libya. This statement was made commander of NATO forces in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, his words are March 19 at the site of the Ministry of Defence of USA.Stavridis stressed that the action plan is drawn up in Syria, and the troops are ready for battle. The admiral noted that the intervention would help to resolve the current “deadlock” situation and to overthrow the current regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
http://www.stripes.com

March 20th, 2013, 2:58 pm

Mass hysteria under Islamic banners

Islamic law comes to rebel-held Syria

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-law-comes-to-rebel-held-syria/2013/03/19/b310532e-90af-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html

ALEPPO, Syria — The evidence was incontrovertible, captured on video and posted on YouTube for all the world to see. During a demonstration against the Syrian regime, Wael Ibrahim, a veteran activist, had tossed aside a banner inscribed with the Muslim declaration of faith.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=j7nL_EVpP1c

And that, decreed the officers of the newly established Sharia Authority set up to administer rebel-held Aleppo, constitutes a crime under Islamic law, punishable in this instance by 10 strokes of a metal pipe.

The beating administered last month offered a vivid illustration of the extent to which the Syrian revolution has strayed from its roots as a largely spontaneous uprising against four decades of Assad family rule. After mutating last year into a full-scale war, it is moving toward what appears to be an organized effort to institute Islamic law in areas that have fallen under rebel control.

Building on the reputation they have earned in recent months as the rebellion’s most accomplished fighters, Islamist units are seeking to assert their authority over civilian life, imposing Islamic codes and punishments and administering day-to-day matters such as divorce, marriage and vehicle licensing.

March 20th, 2013, 3:00 pm

The news in regard to the resignation of 12 members of the NC is disappointing. What is this nonsense? Had there candidate being elected, they would be ok ? Do they know that democracy means that one must concede and rally after the one who is elected? They met to elect someone and some one is elected. What is their freaking problem?

Attasi in Paris is chilling out while Syrians are killed.

March 20th, 2013, 3:04 pm

I feel more comfortable blaming the JewZ NewZ

When you’re brain-dead, you blame others for your own actions.

From all the YouTube videoes I’ve seen, arabs are shooting arabs. Arabs are pulling the trigger. Those who blame others for their own actions are cowards.

And now back to that “special” coward we’ve all come to know and cherish, 5 Dancing Ahmads:

13872. 5 Dancing Ahmads said:

Jews….

Synagogues….

Satan…

Jews again…

Neocons…

Jews and Neocons…

Puppet…

Puppeteer…

March 20th, 2013, 3:06 pm

#139 Tara

This election is a fraud.
Honest members who can’t fight the influence of Qatar and Turkey have no other choice than to resign.

I had emitted hopes that the NC will split and that a new group of Syrians free from the two regional viruses will emerge as an ‘opposition’ party to this fraud government.

Maybe I was right.

My next hope is that they merge with the NCC and the local Syrian opposition and enter into negotiations with the regime to save what is left of Syria

March 20th, 2013, 3:14 pm

Johannes de Silentio said:

103. ZIAD

I call upon all Syrian commentators on this blog to refuse to converse with any Israeli commentators.”

There are no Zionists commenting here, dumbass. Just a bunch of dumb Arabs who think (and I use the word loosely) anyone who disagrees with them is (must be!) a Jew.

March 20th, 2013, 3:16 pm

Those 12 members walked in the meeting VOLUNTARILY to elect a PM. They were not drugged, blindfolded and taken there against their will. There was a list of 12 candidates . The list was made public way in advance. There was an election. Guy X got elected with 70% of the votes. So where is their freaking problem?

The Syrian genes of Takhween is again at work… Either their candidate get chosen or every one else become a traitor. Well too bad. Resign and good riddance! People are dying and you are still bickering. It is beyond disgusting.

March 20th, 2013, 3:22 pm

#143 Tara

Who has assigned these 72 voters to vote for a PM in the name of all the Syrians? Are they elected deputes? No, they have been designated by Qatar, Turkey, and the USA. They only represent these countries, they don’t represent the Syrian people.

My guess is that most of them have been brainwashed or paid by Qatar, the Moslem Brotherhood and Turkey.
The proof is that the elected PM has the exact profile that Qatar and Turkey wanted, as I really doubt that Syrians, if the had to choose their PM, would choose an American.
This whole election appeared like a rushed parody. Its only purpose was to satisfy the AL, France, UK and the USA who have express the need of a ‘government’ so they can to provide weapons and the Syria’s seat at the AL.

Let’s see if any of these will happen any time soon.

March 20th, 2013, 3:38 pm

More American than Syrian, you mean, Mr Ford?

Syria rebel PM ‘more Texan than Muslim Brotherhood’

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syria-rebel-pm-more-texan-than-muslim-brotherhood.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43363&NewsCatID=352

The new Syrian opposition prime minister Ghassan al-Hitto “is more Texan than Muslim Brotherhood,” Washington’s envoy to Syria Robert Ford told US lawmakers March 20.

Dismissing concerns at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ford insisted that Hitto, narrowly elected this week by the Syrian National Coalition as interim premier, was “not a religious extremist — far from it.” “I’ve met him twice… and he struck me as more Texan than Muslim Brotherhood, frankly,” Ford said of Hitto, a former IT executive who has lived in the southwestern US state of Texas for decades.

“I don’t know what his political affiliations are. But I do know that he also has a tolerant vision of Syrian society,” Ford stressed.

March 20th, 2013, 3:44 pm

Who gave them the the right to vote is rather another topic. I am trying to make a completely different point. They are NC AT WILL members. They accepted the designation of being the members of the NC at will. They convened at will to vote. They voted at will. Then when they did not get their way through votes, they resigned and all others became traitors and puppets of foreign powers.

Those expats are disgusting. Once they taste even relative power, they become as disgusting as the regime they are fighting. The regime kills people actively and they kill Syrians passively.

March 20th, 2013, 3:52 pm

…

what say you?

Reve,

So you are coming to NYC and you want to see me? That is so sweet. I am so flattered…

Sorry, I am taking the kids to Montreal next wk for few days in preparation for French immersion next summer. May be some other time.

March 20th, 2013, 4:00 pm

Most, if not all, of the anti-government Syrians that post here if they went to Syria would be arrested and put in front of a firing squad.

Tara sure honey, let me know when you get a free night. I will show you a good time.

March 20th, 2013, 4:01 pm

Thanks but no thanks. No interest.

It is a pity that you can’t sense sarcasm.

March 20th, 2013, 4:04 pm

This is how safe Damascus is, or how brave the president is:

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/580744_502898163079304_1934858867_n.jpg

He’s walking alone into a school – taken today.

#145 Tara

Most of the 12 who resigned had boycotted the election. They probably knew it was fraudulent.

Few names were published about who boycotted and who voted. It has been a very opaque election process. The reason they invoke for not giving names is ‘security’. An easy way out, no?

March 20th, 2013, 4:12 pm

Syria’s First Interim Prime Minister

By Salman Shaikh – March 20, 2013

…
Many Syrians, though, will regard the appointment of Hitto with suspicion. Since the announcement, I have heard both Syrian nationalist figures and those from some minority communities – inside and outside the country – talk dismissively about the move.
For them, Hitto is a pawn of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which has undoubtedly gained a key role in the internationally-recognised SOC. They point to the instrumental part played by the Brotherhood leadership within the SOC in securing Hitto’s election, saying that he would reached the position without their backing. .
There is a sense that Hitto’s appointment has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood, assisted by key regional actors, to walk in through the front door and assume control of Syria’s opposition movement. (One interlocutor remarked acidly “who would have thought that one hundred years later, a Syrian Prime Minister would be announced in Istanbul.”)
For them the move signifies the complete revival of the Brotherhood, a movement which suffered terribly under the brutal assault of the Baathist regime in the 1980s.

March 20th, 2013, 4:17 pm

Ok. If it is opaque and there was foul playing, why can’t those who “defected” expose it all?

The bickering is not stopping and all what we, the public, get is Takhween. If they have specific info about fraud and external power interference, what stopping them from exposing it all

Look, I never heard of Hitto name before. I am not pro Hotto or pro anybody but the bickering has to stop. It is happening at the expense of the dead.

March 20th, 2013, 4:21 pm

The puppets of the West look pathetic, and are pathetic.

This is your revolution? Please.

Have you no shame rats?

Democracy is messy, democracy means respecting the other ideas , I don’t always win,the majority win,50% plus one win,,70% is more than two thirds this is absolute majority, not a simple majority,
Those who withdrew prove lack of understanding what democracy is about,the election of Mr. Hito was tranparent free and fair election in this coalition .
Election in Egypt that produced Mr. Mursi was free election,the other losing candidate did not accept it and resorted to demonstrations.
In the Arabic countries they seem not to understand what democracy is about,this is what the problem with democracy, this problem comes in the fact that only ONE person is elected,there is no way that one person will satisfy all the electing people.when you participate in democracy you must be ready to accept the results and wait for another election and try again to convince others with your idea and may be you can win,boycoting or resignation are negative attitudes ,they are to be condemned.this is not a quality of a leader,infact it is childhood behaviour.it is the obstreperous behaviour.

March 20th, 2013, 4:38 pm

Democracy? The entire collection of puppets was appointed by the West. No Syrians voted for them and most Syrians don’t know who they are.

You’re either a rather old man losing his mental faculties or very naive Majed.

March 20th, 2013, 4:59 pm

Another Syrian Chalabi

Parts of the Syrian exile opposition installed a new leader. That must be the tenth by now. It is again a Muslim Brotherhood guy, but this time one who has not lived in Syria for over 30 years. But that will not matter. His American and Qatari handlers will certainly tell him “what the Syrians want”.

As is usual after any repetition of this act parts of the coalition immediately dissented and left:

At least 12 key members of Syria’s National Coalition said Wednesday they had suspended their membership in the main opposition body amid a row over the deeply divisive election of the first rebel prime minister.

The group of 12 included the Coalition’s deputy Soheir Atassi and spokesman Walid al-Bunni.

These futile attempts to create another Ahmed Chalabi group aren’t even funny anymore. It is obvious that the fighters on the ground are to various degrees extreme Islamists who do not and never will care what those exiles say or do.

From my realist point of view I still do not understand this. Why is the U.S. supporting these schemes? Why is the U.S. so much interested in creating a Sharia law state in Syria? Did it, like the Russians seem to believe, really went insane?

http://www.moonofalabama.org/

March 20th, 2013, 5:01 pm

كل عام و جميع أمهات سوريا و فلسطين بـخير

Happy mother’s day to all moms in Syria and Palestine

March 20th, 2013, 5:06 pm

GEORGES said:

I think the point is, SNC is a puppet coalition appointed by foreign countries to serve their interests, so choosing a PM by a voting process in which the voters are the people you’ve appointed yourself is meaningless. Which is a fairly valid point.

Not to mention the dual US citizenship of Mr.Hitto. This by itself casts a huge cloud on his legitimacy. It’s a complete joke.

All the bickering is contributing to more deaths but I blame the foreign countries whose meddling and intentions are getting clearer every day.

I’m fairly sure NCC has more support inside Syria than this puppet SNC.

Since beggars can’t be choosers, I say, to hell with the exile puppet coalition and let syrians inside syria sort it out.

If it means taliban-style ruling then so be it. Either enough people will fight it which will force them to share power, either they will tolerate it. Many thanks to the criminal regime for leading us there.

Only people can be a source of legitimacy.

March 20th, 2013, 5:08 pm

انا مسافر يا امي ودعيني
انقليلي وبحنانك زوديني
قالو بعطف الام بتترضي علي
و ازا بهجري جرحتك سامحيني يا امي

انا عرفان دمعاتك سخية
لا تبكي يا حنوني بتجرحيني
يا امي بعود وصيكي وصية
للاصحاب وديلي تحية
وعلى الجيران تبقي طمنيني
ولك يا امي عهاك المصطبة لا تنطريني
لك قبل النوم تبقي من عشيي
تصلي المسبحة وفيها ازكريني

يا امي كل ماتسالك عني صبية
ابنك وين عنوانو عطيني
قوليلها راح راح راح راح
سافر يا بنيتي
ما بعرف وين حملتو السفيني
بعد ما غاب طيفو علي
اتاني بصوت بهز السفيني
يا امي

لك ماكنت تركت ضيعتنا يا بي
ولو انك مانك مصدق يميني
بكرا بطل يا امي على حيي
و بياخد بشاهدك و تشهادني
و كرامة عينك و راية وطنا
انا انا راجع انا راجع
يا امي انطريني

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7pxaz_yyyy-yyyy-yyy-yyyyy-yy-yy-y-george_music#.UUoh-Vf5_Ow

I miss you mom and I hope you’re well, I’m sorry for not being with you. I love you mother and please be safe.

March 20th, 2013, 5:09 pm

I can’t believe that there are some sick people on this forum who would put “dislike” on congratulating our mothers.

Sick filthy Zionist, incest inbreed race, shame of humanity.

March 20th, 2013, 5:11 pm

March 20th, 2013, 5:29 pm

MajedKhaldoun @156,

The problem is not with Democracy. It is with the so-called secularists in Syria and the rest of the Arab World.

Up until now, two years into the Arab Spring, these so-called secularists have not admitted to themselves and to the rest of the people of the area that they have misled them and caused them tremendous losses over the last century. They were installed in power by the colonialists, and they are still looking to the West, and the US to come to their rescue. They consider it their ‘birthright’ to be in power. These dinosaurs simply cannot admit that they must disappear because they have no real followers among our people. This also proves the point, which I made in previous comments, that you cannot transplant some other cultures’ experience and expect it to flourish and bear fruits in a totally different culture with totally different experience. Europe found a solution for the church control of politics through secularism. We do not have a similar problem in the Muslim world. This is how dictators are grown and bred in our countries of the Arab world. And worse of all they are supported by the descendants of the colonialists. In Syria, Assad’s grandfather collusion with the French is open for all to see and needs no proof.

That is why I said in 99 the expats MUST NOT seek leadership roles in this revolution. They should only play a supportive role. The leaders must come from the people inside Syria who are fighting the criminal thugs. However, we should also be clear that some inside Syria are in an even worse situation than the expats. While most expats are well intentioned, insiders such as Mana’a are outright stooges of Russia and are eager to collude with the criminal regime and betray the people. These must be identified and declared enemies of the revolution as well as the people, and they too should not have any leadership roles.

Sometime ago, I made a comment in which I said that this revolution will sift all the enemies of the people and weed them out of the revolution into irrelevance. Only the real servants of the people will survive the upheaval and emerge as the leaders of tomorrow’s Syria. These must come from inside Syria.

I fully support the legal councils that are running the liberated areas. As expats, we must only provide supportive role to their efforts but not teach them what to do. Otherwise manipulative USA and other European governments will creep through one way or another and force their agendas on us which no one in Syria wants.

—————————–

GEORGES @167,

I just saw your comment after I posted. Much of what you and I are saying are the same.

I appreciate all your comments.

March 20th, 2013, 5:33 pm

The X-FSA leader, defector Riyad Alasad opens fire on opposition bodies

For the first time this guy speaks sense, I’m not sure that we’re able to forgive him if he repents

الكلام سليم السياسين تجار ولست ثوار

الاسعد يفتح ملفات سريه عن الجبهات والحكومه والائتلاف

March 20th, 2013, 5:34 pm

Georges,

What is the evidence that the NC is a puppet appointed by a foreign country? Do you have any? Their exile status is not by choice. it is rather by force. Had Al Khatib not left Syria, he would have been silenced by death or improsoment. And the new guy Mr. Hitto with an American born adult son who is an FSA member fighting in the front line, what evidence do you have that he is puppeteering his son’s life to serve the interest of a foreign power? Do you have any?

Takhween and more Takhwern and nothing else while Syrians being slaughtered. I am tired of suppressing the others using the same old slogan of imperialism, foreign interference, and Zionism. And in my opinion it is not “begging”. It is asking the international community to stand up to its responsibility to protect.

It is the lack of foreign weapons that will end us with Taliban style regime not the opposite. The more the slaughter protracted, the more radicalized Syrians become. I am sorry that no one can see this.

March 20th, 2013, 5:44 pm

Can you give us one reason why you live in North America and not in one of the GCCs? If you think Islam is the way, why are you living in the west? Was it because of visa and citizenship or was it your choice? If this was by choice, then your argument becomes very weak.

March 20th, 2013, 5:57 pm

hahahahhah

Son now the NC members starting a new revolution to oust the Kur Hitto (the Qatari pen!s sucker)

ردا على اختيار هيتو لمنصب رئيس الحكومة المؤقتة.. 12 من أعضاء “الائتلاف الوطني” يعلنون تعليق عضويتهم فيه

الاخبار المحلية

كمال اللبواني: أعضاء الائتلاف لم ينتخبون لتمثيل السوريين، ولذلك فإن هيتو لا يمثل سوى الـ 35 عضواً الذين صوتوا له

أعلن 12 عضوا في “الائتلاف الوطني” المعارض، يوم الأربعاء، تعليق عضويتهم بالائتلاف ردا على انتخاب المعارض غسان هيتو رئيسا لـ الحكومة المؤقتة”، مشيرين إلى أنهم سينسحبون من الائتلاف ما لم يعاد النظر في اختيار هيتو لذلك المنصب.

ونقلت وكالة (أ ف ب) الفرنسية للأنباء عن مصادر في الائتلاف قولها إن “12 عضوا في الائتلاف قرروا تعليق عضويتهم فيه عقب انتخاب هيتو رئيسا للحكومة المؤقتة”.

واشار المتحدث باسم الائتلاف وليد البني، وهو واحد ممن علقوا عضويتهم بالائتلاف، إن “المجموعة التي علقت عضويتها ستنسحب من الائتلاف إذا لم يعيد النظر في تولي هيتو لذلك المنصب”، مشيرا إلى أن “القضية الأساس هي توقيت التصويت لاختيار رئيس الحكومة والطريقة التي جرى بها”.

واجتمعت الهيئة السياسية لـ “الائتلاف الوطني” المعارض، الاثنين الماضي، في مدينة إسطنبول لاختيار رئيس لحكومة مؤقتة، تدير “المناطق المحررة”، وقررت انتخاب غسان هيتو رئيسا لهذه الحكومة، حيث حصل هيتو، بحسب بيان صادر عن الائتلاف، على35 صوتاً من أصل 3 5 عضواً شاركوا في عملية التصويت.

وتضم المجموعة الذي علق عضويتها بالائتلاف إلى جانب البني، نائب رئيس الائتلاف سهير الأتاسي، و كمال اللبواني وأحمد عاصي جربا ويحيى الكردي، ومروان حاج رفاعي، فيما توقعت مصادر من الائتلاف تعليق أعضاء آخرين عضويته بالائتلاف.

وقالت الأتاسي، في صفحتها على موقع التواصل الاجتماعي (فيسبوك)، “لأنني مواطنة سورية، ولا أقبل أن أكون رعية ولا زينة، أعلن تجميد عضويتي في الائتلاف الوطني لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السورية”.

بدوره، قال اللبواني إن “الائتلاف هو هيئة غير منتخبة، ولذلك ليس لها الحق في اختيار رئيس وزراء على أساس حصوله على تصويت الأغلبية.. كان يجب أن يتم ذلك بالتوافق”.

ولفت اللبواني إلى أنه “نحن أعضاء الائتلاف لم ننتخب لتمثيل السوريين، ولذلك فإن هيتو لا يمثل سوى الـ 35 عضواً الذين صوتوا له”، مضيفا أن “هذه الحكومة هي بمثابة هدية للنظام السوري”.

ومن المتوقع أن يشكل هيتو حكومة من التكنوقراط وان تنتقل إلى داخل سوريا لإدارة المناطق التي تسيطر عليها المعارضة، بحسب مصادر في الائتلاف.

وكان هيتو اعلن, في خطاب القاه من اسطنبول, يوم الثلاثاء, أن حكومته ستبدأ عملها اعتباراً من الثلاثاء في “المناطق المحررة”، داعيا المجتمع الدولي إلى دعم الحكومة المؤقتة.

وانتقد المنسق العام “لهيئة التنسيق الوطني للتغيير الديمقراطي” المعارضة في المهجر هيثم مناع، يوم الثلاثاء، قرار “الائتلاف الوطني لقوى المعارضة والثورة”، تسمية رئيس لحكومة موقتة، معتبراً أن القرار هو “الخطيئة الأكبر” له.

وترفض اطياف من معارضة الداخل تشكيل حكومة مؤقتة في المنفى, حيث اعتبر المنسق العام لهيئة التنسيق الوطنية المعارضة حسن عبد العظيم هذا الامر بانه قد يؤدي الى تقسيم سوريا.

March 20th, 2013, 6:05 pm

Tara @5:57PM,

Last time we spoke, eons ago, I believe I made it clear that I do not appreciate your sophistry, and I still don’t.

Nevertheless, it is none of you damn business what I do with my own life!!!

So go play your stupid games with like-minded sophists.

Next time you will not receive any response.

March 20th, 2013, 6:08 pm

Ok visitor, thank you.

March 20th, 2013, 6:09 pm

Visitor is another idiot fighting Assad on the Internet.

March 20th, 2013, 6:13 pm

So it is final,
TaziMorocco
FSA took over Brigade 16 in Dumair, #Damascus suburbs. #Syria

March 20th, 2013, 6:14 pm

Sami said:

Tara,

Perhaps I can recommend an Iranian Taxi driver when you get to Montreal to drive you around?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Dy0g5WS8g

(Montreal has a rather large Iranian constituency, I have yet to meet one in support of Bashar)

March 20th, 2013, 6:26 pm

Visitor is an online Jihadist

March 20th, 2013, 6:28 pm

Tara:

Don’t carry Visitor’s kids, they will be a big disappointment just like their biological online Jihadi daddy

March 20th, 2013, 6:31 pm

TARA

SNC is created, funded, hosted, by foreign countries. This means it is not politically independent. Hitto is a US citizen and is therefore subject to US laws. We don’t need more proof.

We are not questioning the sincerity of Al Khatib and others. The problem is merely the fact that they don’t have legitimacy to rule or enforce anything in syrian territory, even if it is only temporarily.

On which basis do they declare themselves the rightful rulers of syria (even if it’s temporary) ? And if they can’t rule then what is the goal of their government? It’s still chaos, which is why the need for such a government is there in the first place.

Whether or not you like or support the SNC is irrelevant because the syrians who don’t feel represented by it would be quite right in opposing whatever they would want to enforce on them. And if you can’t rule and enforce what is the point of being called prime minister/government?

I am not suppressing anyone, rather, I argue that enough syrians, whether they are with the regime or against, and whether I personnaly am with the SNC or not, do not recognize the authority of the SNC, which would make this self-appointed government dead on arrival. It’s that simple.

“It is the lack of foreign weapons that will end us with Taliban style regime not the opposite. The more the slaughter protracted, the more radicalized Syrians become. I am sorry that no one can see this.”

I know this, as a minority member I’d rather have SNC than taliban, but what I and you want is completely irrelevant to someone who would rather have it the other way around.

I live in Montreal. Maybe we can meet and discuss this further. HaHa.

March 20th, 2013, 6:32 pm

For the record, you asked Visitor a very good question. The same problem exists with Assad supporters. When Assad falls they will try to go to Europe the US or the Gulf. You won’t see them going to Tehran or Moscow. Just like Ali is now in the Gulf even though the Gulf states fund the rebels. What a bunch of hypocrites and low lifes.

March 20th, 2013, 6:35 pm

Ali,

Please do not cross the line. I do not appreciate your comments.

March 20th, 2013, 6:38 pm

Darryl said:

“127. VISITOR said:

In case you’re wondering why I am asking, it is because of this,”

3zeezi Al-kareem Visitor, what happened, you were playing with your game boy and suddenly there was a news flash of president Obama surrounded by the star spangled banners and stars of David and you were startled?

Perhaps president Obama was on a fishing trip to the dead sea 🙂 🙂 or he wanted to walk on water at the new tourist attraction on the sea of Galilee like the Messiah 🙂 🙂

3zeezi Visitor, I looked through the pages of a book written by Dr Ali Al-Jibawi titled “Qaba-el Al -Nawar fe Bilad Al-Sham”. Dr Al-Jibawi made sure that he used the word Nawar not Nour. But I suppose a revertee to deen Allah like you is just learning Arabic and it is easy to confuse the name Nawwar with Nawar especially having a more common name like Nour or Nouri.

March 20th, 2013, 6:39 pm

I’m with your mother AIG, she told me how she banged her brother Hizkiyahu too have you while your sister Shulamit got preg with your brother Raanan from your supposedly father Yerahmiel.

She told me how she always hanged a pork pen!s around your neck to chew on it. It seems all filthy Zionists have this habit

March 20th, 2013, 6:42 pm

Akbat Palace said:

I liked Majed’s comment about democracy. The majoity rules. Short and simple; no anger, just stating the fact that you can’t please everyone. At least your vote counts.

And when Syria has a free election, don’t use an “electoral college” system like we do..

Yes. You can’t impose on others what you do not impose on yourself otherwise you lose all credibility. And it is applicable to all. It is hypocrisy at its glory.

March 20th, 2013, 6:43 pm

185. Tara :

“Please do not cross the line. I do not appreciate your comments.”

It is none of you damn business what I say or not!!!

So go play your stupid games with like-minded online lovers.

March 20th, 2013, 6:46 pm

King abdallah of Jordan is in hot water after “speaking his mind” in an interview with a Jewish journalist who works for The Atlantic:
حذّر الصحافي الاميركي جفري غولدبيرغ، السلطات الأردنية من مواصلة التشكيك بصحة المعلومات التي وردت خلال المقابلة التي أجراها مع الملك عبدالله الثاني، مهددا بتحميل الملف الصوتي للمقابلة في حال استمر هذا التشكيك.
وكان الصحافي غولدبيرغ نشر المقابلة في صحيفة “ذي أتلانتك” الاميركية، ثم عممتها صحيفة نيويورك تايمز، وقال الديوان الملكي أنها احتوت مغالطات.
وشدد الصحافي غولدبيرغ أن “ما نقله عن الملك كان اقتباسا حرفيا لما قاله خلال ٣ مقابلات طويلة استمر تسجيلها ساعات، وأجريت بحضور كبار مسؤولي الديوان”، مشيرا إلى أنه “في كل مرة أراد الملك أن يقول شيئاً خارج التسجيل كان يطلب ذلك بوضوح، وفعلا كنت أوقف الشريط، ولم أنشر معلومة واحدة قيلت خارج ما تم توثيقه”، لافتا إلى أن “عدد المرات التي طلب فيها الملك إيقاف التسجيل كانت ١٢ مرة”.
I read the interview, the king was blunt but often wrong, I did not think the interview carried any particular political value, much of what the king said about himself and his family was simply a PR show directed at western readers, however, I think he regrets being “too honest” about arab leaders and western diplomats.

Dear Sami

2 more links like the Iranian driver one and I will change my mind and get my kids into an Iranian immersion program instead..

😉

March 20th, 2013, 6:47 pm

visitor:

Why do you discriminate based on the cover of the book? why do you hate 6ara? is it because she does not cover her head? or because she’s here online without “mo7ram” chaperone? If 6ara to wear a black coal bag with Niqab, will that change your perception of her?

In your future Syrian Islamic Imara, will your airport authorities allow in the country women with no scarf “Hijab”?

March 20th, 2013, 6:55 pm

“184. AIG said:

For the record, you asked Visitor a very good question.
…”

Hey AIG, we still haven’t resolved your ‘dishonesty’ in argumentation from sometime ago!!

Did anyone ask you to present a resume in support of an argument here or anywhere else? My life is my life. It is none of anyone’s business.

As for the others who may fled to the western cities, once they lose power, I really do not see any parallel to the question which he/she asked me and which involves none of the above, and you seem to be ready, eager and willing to shower unwarranted praises. Is this how you try to win an argument? By playing on participants’ egos? This is very cheap. And it is just as cheap as your false answer to the question, from sometime ago, that you will not do anything if someone tries to prevent you from exercising what you consider is your absolute right to free speech – not even a lawsuit. Wow! so passive and docile! Unbelievable by any measure! Come on! The guy may harm you if he attempts to silence you. Did you consider that?

Don’t try to involve me in a side argument unless you are willing to play honest and straight.

You have anything to say to what I wrote to the comment about Syria, governments and leadership? By all means, I am all ears. But, Please no ego-inflating tricks. It is a real bad recipe for sophism infection syndromes.

March 20th, 2013, 6:57 pm

O mighty Internet holy warrior Visitor I will pay you twenty American dollars if you stop using the word “sophism” – do we have a deal?

March 20th, 2013, 7:12 pm

Rev

You missed out on the fight between 6ara and the online Jihadist, and surely the Zionist was here to fuel the argument.

6ara got slapped really hard by Visitor

March 20th, 2013, 7:22 pm

Regime Assassinates Sheikh Riaz (?) – 2hrs ago

Statement from Sheikh Mohammed Abul Huda al-Yacoubi

النظام يغتال الشيخ رياض الصعب

بيان من الشيخ محمد أبو الهدى اليعقوبي

قام النظام المجرم في دمشق اليوم باغتيال أحد الشيوخ الأجلاء وهو القارئ الجامع الحافظ المتقن الشيخ رياض الضعب رحمه الله تعالى. وفي تفاصيل ما وردنا من الأخبار أن عصابات الأسد قامت باستهداف الشيخ من خلال زرع قنبلة في سيارته حيث انفجرت به عند خروجه من صلاة الفجر بعد أن صلى إماما بالناس صباح هذا اليوم.
إننا إذ نستنكر هذا العمل الشنيع والجريمة النكراء ندعو أبطال الثورة وشباب المدن إلى توفير حماية للعلماء والأئمة والخطباء لأن النظام لا يتوقف في ارتكاب جرائمه عند حد وربما يريد من خلال اغتيال الشيخ لا الانتقام فحسب وإنما ترويع بقية العلماء لكي لا يعلنوا الانضمام للثورة ولكي يسكت أصوات العلماء الذين يستنكرون تعدي النظام على الحرمات وتجاوزه للشرائع والأعراف والقوانين.

http://t.co/xJNoi8F9be

March 20th, 2013, 7:24 pm

Visitor
I think both me and you agree that the people who are fighting inside Syria are the owners of this revolution, and I hope you agree with me that the expat are not elected by those people,
But at the same time I believe that in world politics the nations of the world can not deal with the revolutionaries directly they need someone to represent them to deal with,where as financial help,medical help,social help food help and military help,all need to go through, as you see the revolution fighting members has not so far elected someone who represent them, so the nations of the world cann deal with,and now,during this time,it is impossible for them to organize election to choose a goverment, but the need for all above aid is acute, so someone has to do it, those expat, as I see, they feel the agony of the fighting people and certainly respond to their needs, and infact General Salim Idris is one of the fighting people, and he was there in the SNC meeting and he was elected by large percentage of the fighting people, so the SNC has some legitimacy,

Those snc are seeking leadership,but they understand at the same time that they have only supportive role, and they arwe only there temporary,once Syria is free they must agree that the people of Syria will choose their representative, but NOW we need help, food medicine and arms, where are the people who represent the fighting people to deal with, when they choose their representative we all should recognize their legitimacy,but they are not here ,they are not available, do we say the nations of the world don.t give us help we have no one to deal with you?

Another point My friend, George said he supports the NCC,Haytham Mannaa is the head of NCC, NCC is the enemy of FSA,and you youeself said you comsider Mannaa the enemy of this revolution,so please explain your support to what george has said.

March 20th, 2013, 7:29 pm

Shaykh Yaqoubi on twitter 22min ago:

نداء إلى الثوار في سورية لتوفير الحماية للعلماء والمشايخ فقد بدأ النظام استهداف العلماء فقام اليوم باغتيال الشيخ رياض الصعب رحمه الله.

Google trans: Appeal to the rebels in Syria to provide protection for scholars and sheikhs have begun targeting system scientists stood up today assassinating Sheikh Riaz difficult for God’s mercy.

___________

Is this Mufti Hassouns Jihad in action?

While we are distracted by garbage trolling by regime supporters can JL or someone else get a full article from Haaretz about creating a mini Alawi state with outside protection and after the Alawis are disarmed and in return for giving up on Syria they will have a mini state and be like Kosovo protected with Russia providing troops along with others.

Here is the link
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/time-to-put-an-alawite-state-on-the-map.premium-1.510822

I got only the introduction but the full article maybe worth reading.

ALI this recommends going back to the mountains what say you?

Rev this recommends disarming your SAA what say you?

ZOO this recommends breaking up the country as I advocated along with other areas what say you?

Cheers

March 20th, 2013, 7:42 pm

“174. TARA said:

Dear Tara, I am confused by your post. You believe Islam is the way also and you live in the west just like Visitor and you have a choice, Why are you singling Visitor for this “loaded gun” question?

March 20th, 2013, 7:46 pm

I appologize for the language mistakes I made in the previous comment. but I have to pray Asr and I did not have time to correct.

Tara
when we could go and fight we did , but it was not right to tell someone go there and fight there, just like the jews who told Moses, go fight with your God .when we have chance and can we will be glad to go. and Mr Hito sent his son to fight so he has some legitimacy.

George
Please tell us do you support the FSA? if you do then you should know that NCC is the enemy of FSA.

March 20th, 2013, 7:49 pm

Observer you knew the answer before you asked. The Zionists would love to divide Syria into a million tiny pieces.

I am laughing that Haaretz tries to charge money. It’s always about money for them isn’t it?

March 20th, 2013, 7:52 pm

March 20th, 2013, 7:55 pm

March 20th, 2013, 7:59 pm

Majed,

Kindly tell me what you meant. Did I ask anyone to go and fight?

March 20th, 2013, 8:16 pm

This is entertaining compared to the horror stories from Syria:

Abdullah II’s court released a statement calling Jeffrey Goldberg’s 10,000-word piece for The Atlantic “inaccurate and dishonest” after its contents caused a stir in regional media. Of particular contention were what seemed to be derisory references to the leaders of Turkey and Egypt, and tribal chieftains in Jordan’s impoverished south.

here is another reason to support claims that it was the rebels who fired a missile with chemical agents on Syrian troops in Aleppo:
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the United Nations had received Ja’afari’s written request for an investigation and it was being studied.
The Security Council discussed the issue on Wednesday, Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after the closed-door session. He complained that Britain and France wanted to focus on two alleged chemical weapons attacks rather than the one in Aleppo, which he said was a delaying tactic and unnecessary.

March 20th, 2013, 8:17 pm

Observer:

“ALI this recommends going back to the mountains what say you? ”

We own whole Syria as one piece, we will not go back to the mountains. If sh!t hits the fan as my father told me ‘Let’s wipe it off all’

March 20th, 2013, 8:18 pm

Darryl,

You are wrong. I always maintained the need to separate religion from the state.

March 20th, 2013, 8:20 pm

Israeli politician would not say whether she believes Assad regime used chemical weapons or it was the rebels:

Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni says “it is clear for us here in Israel” that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, and an international response to the crisis should be “on the table in the discussions between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama” during the president’s trip to Israel.
When pressed during an interview in her Tel Aviv home, Livni wouldn’t say whether there is evidence that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has directed the use of any chemical weapons.

March 20th, 2013, 8:28 pm

6ara is in deep sh!t today

6ara is been bullied by everybody

Tara
You are right, but Where ever you earn money you live

March 20th, 2013, 8:30 pm

208. TARA said:

“You are wrong. I always maintained the need to separate religion from the state.”

Ok Tara, I am wrong on which part?. Islam does not separate religion from state. Visitor, is acting as a Muslim following per the Sunna and Quraan. Visitor has problems with a few people who want to have it both ways. AIG calls himself a Jew yet he is atheist, he rightly copped Visitor’s wrath.

I do not see how a Muslim is a “Muslim” and not follow the Sunna and Quraan?

March 20th, 2013, 8:35 pm

212. Darryl said:

“I do not see how a Muslim is a “Muslim” and not follow the Sunna and Quraan?”

That’s well said

and maybe that’s why those Jihadists are killing every non Sunni in Syria

March 20th, 2013, 8:37 pm

Erdogan chose Hitto because he needs a Kurd to help him deal with the Syrian Kurds whot could threaten his election as Turkey president in 2014. He does not give a damn about Syrians.

Erdoğan’s negotiations with the PKK and the Syrian Kurds

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogans-negotiations-with-the-pkk-and-the-syrian-kurds.aspx?pageID=238&nid=43333&NewsCatID=419

It won’t be a surprise to see the PKK shift the focus of its military strategy toward Syria. A militarily, politically and diplomatically well-organized PYD will become an important force within the Syrian opposition. The Kurds will acquire a status in post-al-Assad Syria similar to that in Iraq, though not in the short run. In the short run Erdoğan might seem to be on the winning side due to his management of the domestic Kurdish problem. In the middle run, however, he will have to face a more complicated Kurdish problem.

March 20th, 2013, 8:46 pm

كانت روسيا قد تراجعت عن اتهامها المباشر للمعارضة السورية باستخدام الأسلحة الكيماوية.

وأقر نائب وزير الخارجية غينادي غاتيلوف في تغريدة له على حسابه على موقع التواصل “تويتر” بأن ليس هناك أي أدلة دامغة على استخدام اسلحة كيماوية من قبل المعارضة في سوريا.

Ghufran
how is the call for investigation prove that the rebels used the Chemical weapons?, you must have twisted logic, are we dealing with sane person?,there is no connection between what you say and what you state thereafter

March 20th, 2013, 8:56 pm

Majedkhaldoun

Where did I say that I support NCC?

Anyway

I like about NCC the fact that they’re not anyone’s slave, and I don’t like their blanket statements about FSA, I don’t like their disney land approach of negotiating with a regime that has shown it can’t be negotiated with.

I am against anyone self-proclaiming himself the “sole…”, whether I like the party doing it or not.

March 20th, 2013, 9:00 pm

Isn’t too late for Baby Abdullah to worry about jihadists? , He made his choice. Also he did not learn yet that it is not by repeating endlessly that the bogeyman will go, that he will go

Jordanian king fears jihadist state in Syria

AMMAN – The Associated Press

King Abdullah II said it was only a matter of time before Syrian President Al-Assad’s regime collapses. AP photo
Jordan’s king warned yesterday that a jihadist state could emerge on his northern border in Syria with Islamic extremists trying to establish a foothold in the neighboring country.

King Abdullah II told The Associated Press in an interview that in his view, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was beyond rehabilitation and it was only a matter of time before his authoritarian regime collapses.

March 20th, 2013, 9:07 pm

Darryl I am an atheist and yet I do recognize that for the new societies of the ME to come together and create a new entity it has to be anchored in a common cultural heritage.

In this I note but do not fully agree that the founders of the Baath party recognized that for the Arab nation to glue together it had to have an “eternal” message this being Islam.

I do not think making Islam an Arabic trait is right. It is a universal religion for everybody who wishes to freely espousing it and making it an Arabic phenomenon is racist to say the least.

How to define this role for Islam just as how to define the role of the emperor for the Japanese or the role of the Czar for the Russians or the role of the King in England is a dynamic process.

One outcome of the Arab revolutions is that the “democratic” process is now the established norm except amongst the Salafists who consider any rule by man as a Shirk and an association with God.

I do think that one outcome of the Arab revolutions is a reassertion of Arab identity first. Then I do think that unless stupidity overtakes the region, a religious war is not in the offing despite the Iranians fearing a loss of Syria and a cutoff of support to HA.

The mistakes of HA in supporting Syrian regime at all costs is going to weaken it
and the Iranian model of governance is not going to appeal to the peoples of the ME.

The Turkish model where the minorities will have a better protection is much more appealing.

The question remains: who are we: Muslims first or Arab first, Syrian first or Arab first, etc……

In the meantime, there is no future for autocratic regimes this is finished.

I also note that the dissent within the NC is both healthy and immature and this group will have the Islamists at the forefront.

I do wish for them to come fully into the political process and even in Egypt to be able to govern for THEIR FAILURE is the only way for them to EVOLVE.

Just as the Resistance camp was filling us with garbage slogans without liberating an inch of territory the Islamists with their slogans of Islam is the solution are going to have to deliver or they are out the door.

Pessimistic on the short term and optimistic on the long term.
Again the biggest loser of the Arab revolution will be Israel.

It also will have to deliver justice or it will be swept by a very militant and angry Arab street.

I note that Abel Barry Atwan wrote a piece about people lamenting the time of Saddam and I thought to myself what a level of depravity we have arrived at that we lament between Maliki and Saddam instead of lamenting the real glory days of Omar and yes Ali in comparison to those midgets of history like the Kinglets and Amirs and Presidents for Life that constitute the sorry state of our countries.

No wonder we have AIG taunting us when he sees the incompetent brutality and the brutal incompetence of the Corleone families of the ME>

George
#167 you said
I’m fairly sure NCC has more support inside Syria than this puppet SNC.
This is not true at all, there is nothing to support it.
Do you support NCC or you are against it,if you don’t support the NCC then why do you make such erroneous statement?

Let me say it again this revolution is for freedom and justice for modified democracy,Christians are part of this revolution and they have nothing to fear,Druze too Kurds too, The Alawi community will be protected in the post Assad era, with one exception those who have blood in their hands or stole money and rape women must be brought to justice along with Sunnis and christians who did the same, no one will be forgiven.

March 20th, 2013, 9:16 pm

218. OBSERVER

“I am an atheist”

We all have have our personal flaws, dirtbag. You don’t need to air yours in public.

A New Bashar Cartoon

http://www.raedcartoon.com/images/stories/logo/BEGGAR/doru%20axinte-romania.jpg

March 20th, 2013, 9:21 pm

Majed @215

The Syrian government knows whether it gave the order to send chemical weapons or not as such order can come only from a high level..

On the other side, the SNC has no idea what the rebels are doing as there a hundred of uncontrolled rebel groups operating in Syria. One if these groups kidnapped the UN observers. There could well be one that had access to chemical weapons and wanted to try.

Therefore if the Syrian government calls officially for an investigation, they do it because they must be certain that it did come from the Syrian Army but from one of armed rebel groups who will be found guilty.
This will reflect negatively on this already controversial ‘interim government’ as it will show the world that it has no control on what is happening in Syria.
It will also mean an immediate stop to arms shipments to the rebels and pressure on the SNC to control them.

201. MAJEDKHALDOUN

“I apologize for the language mistakes I made in the previous comment”

Never apologize, dude. Remember this: half the people on this blog are too dumb to have noticed it. And then there’s the other half (Mossie, Ali, Zoozoo and those of that ilk) who are so obsessed with their own agenda they didn’t even notice.

Also, when you apologize, the others see you as a wimp, a wuss, a doormat, a loser. Just forget it and move on…

March 20th, 2013, 9:31 pm

..it is clear that not everyone in the region is enamored by Erdoğan and his brand of “soft but creeping Islamism.”

Everyone sees such “Sunni crescent” developing in the region in rivalry with a “Shiite crescent.” Many Turkish commentators have also referred to an “Islamic Brotherhood International” that Turkey is a part of.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=449&nID=43337&NewsCatID=416&op=sent

March 20th, 2013, 9:32 pm

I think NCC has alot of support among the silent majority. From what I’ve gathered, openly pro-revolution people do not feel represented by the SNC. Hence my comment about the NCC probably having more support than SNC.

People need to separate (attempts of) objective analysis and personal opinions.

Liking or not liking the SNC has nothing to do at all with the basic legitimacy problem

I hope the SNC transitional government succeeds, it would be great (and at this point, miraculous) if it did, but that has nothing to do at all with the fact that many people and groups inside syria don’t respond to them for various reasons.

For example, there are people who feel represented by Jabhat Al-Nusra, and want nothing to do with SNC. It is their right, whether I like it or not. Jabhat Al-Nusra is a listed terrorist group, Hitto has US citizenship, etc. This is not looking good.

March 20th, 2013, 9:34 pm

March 21

Arab countries in the Middle East (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Bahrain) mark Mother’s Day on March 21. This is a remembrance day of the world mothers, when pay tribute to their work and selfless sacrifice for the good of their children.
In 1910, the governor of West Virginia was declared Mother’s Day. That same year, the holiday celebrating at the beginning in Oklahoma. By 1911, each state has had its own customs of celebrating Mother’s Day. After some time, the list of countries celebrating Mother’s Day, filled with countries: Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South America and some African countries.
Mom is homeland! Each year and you are fine Syria!

March 20th, 2013, 9:36 pm

Didn’t the Assadi militia call for an investigation into the Houla massacre, and then ended up being the MAIN CULPRIT in the massacre as attested by the UN investigators?

Your logic makes no sense Zoo.

March 20th, 2013, 9:42 pm

New nicknames for Majed the liar

a wimp,
a wuss,
a doormat,
a loser

March 20th, 2013, 9:49 pm

The fake election:
That’s the explanation given by one of the defector:

“The coalition is a body that has not been elected, and therefore its has no right to choose a prime minister on the basis of a majority vote. There ought to be a consensus, “said Kamal Labwani, an influential member of the coalition.”
Hitto was elected with 35 votes out of 49 cast while several members of the coalition have refused to participate.”

The group consist of 62 members, therefore there has been 13 abstention.
Of them 12 have now defected.

Do you accept Hitto as your PM?

March 20th, 2013, 9:53 pm

The media said that Suzanne Hitto is not Syrian, she is an American schoolteacher and most probably Christian, except if she converted to Islam..
By the way Obeida Hitto left to Syria without his parents approval in 2012. His father came to Syria’s border towns illegally through Turkey to look for him. I read Obeida was wounded and back in the USA. Not much more is written about him.
It was Ghassan Hitto first visit to Syria after 25 years.

March 20th, 2013, 10:05 pm

Once the prime minister of greece was american citizen and went back to greece and ran for PM job, also one time the president of libirya was citizen of USA.
Those of us who has dual citizenship will never feel detached from Syria love,I stated before that I don’t recognize borders.

Zoo
Assad will test chemical weapons as he is runing out of weapons to use,his airforce is getting weak and he lost many planes and pilots,if he did not use chemical weapons then he has nothing to fear from UN investigating team.
If the rebels has such weapons ,why don’t they use it at Qurdaha?

March 20th, 2013, 10:10 pm

“18. OBSERVER SAID:
Darryl I am an atheist and yet I do recognize that for the new societies of the ME to come together and create a new entity it has to be anchored in a common cultural heritage.”

Dear Observer, I think you’ll find that you and I are mostly on the same page on many things. Heritage already anchors our society in the ME but nothing is working, why? We do not have common interest, we do not have respect and dignity for individual freedom, we do not have tolerance to differ. People are raised to believe in herd mentality and taught all the wrong things about being human. People are not taught to be accountable on earth first, our moral code is based on fear and NOT on doing the right humanly thing first which is our conscious.

“In this I note but do not fully agree that the founders of the Baath party recognized that for the Arab nation to glue together it had to have an “eternal” message this being Islam.”

Dear Observer, I am not a Baathest and never will be one. However, I think the founders of Baath realized unless Islam is central to the identity; Muslims will not accept it and join.

“I do not think making Islam an Arabic trait is right. It is a universal religion for everybody who wishes to freely espousing it and making it an Arabic phenomenon is racist to say the least.”

“How to define this role for Islam just as how to define the role of the emperor for the Japanese or the role of the Czar for the Russians or the role of the King in England is a dynamic process.
One outcome of the Arab revolutions is that the “democratic” process is now the established norm except amongst the Salafists who consider any rule by man as a Shirk and an association with God.”

I agree, but dealing with this issue needs a revolution in thinking that must be lead by Muslims to assert that individual belief is sacred and personal. I say must be lead by Muslims, because other religious groups (Christians and Jews) have already crossed the line and only Muslims are lagging.

March 20th, 2013, 10:50 pm

Darryl agreed on many points.

In Islam it is infinitely more difficult for several reasons
1. The allegiance to God is paramount and can be in conflict with other allegiances
2. The founding of a city state by the Prophet and his successors of an empire based on religious identity and it is considered the yardstick by which it measures others
3. The conflict between national and religious identity; as no wonder many Christians wanted that to be the anchor as they could not identify with the nation as an Islamist one especially since minorities were ill treated under Ottoman and therefore Muslim rule.
I am just watching now and I have no answers.

The people must decide but it should never ever be a reason to exclude

In the meantime, the work at hand is to finish dictatorships. What comes after will be difficult and chaotic and some will lament the old days but there will be no turning back

March 20th, 2013, 11:04 pm

We don’t have a “dishonesty problem” we have a reading comprehension problem. Let me explain this issue again slowly to you. I will accept anyone saying whatever he wants including that he wants to abolish freedom of speech. But I will not accept anyone using force to shut up the other. There is a difference between allowing someone to say something and allowing that person to make what he said reality. I hope you understand the difference.

On second thought we may have a “dishonesty problem” because you are not willing to give a simple answer to the following question:
In your Syria will people be allowed to publish and say that Mohamed was just a regular person and not a prophet? Will they be allowed to publish articles or books showing research that Mohamed was just a regular person? Yes or no?

You see, it is quite simple. If you are confident in your beliefs and ideas, why are you afraid of someone saying the opposite? Just tell him he is wrong and move on. But somehow, many Muslims including I suspect you, grow very defensive when this is applied to Islam. Why are you so defensive if you know you are right?

March 20th, 2013, 11:28 pm

If most people in Syria are like you, Syria will be a great country one day. If they are like the regime supporters on this blog, Syria will be a hell hole.

March 20th, 2013, 11:33 pm

AIG @233,

I already answered your question clearly, sometime ago. And that’s when the other question came into the discussion.

Now, do not try to replay my own arguments which I employ quite often and use them in a convoluted and circular way. I do NOT have a comprehension problem. My English is far above average.

This is not what you answered last time. You said you would do NOTHING if someone tries to prevent you from exercising your right to free speech. So there is still an issue of ‘dishonesty’ on your part. I mean, if you cannot remember what you say, or if you give yourself the freedom to alter what you say at will, then I must let you know that this is something that needs to be looked at carefully and regulated. Unfortunately, we do not have refrerees here to trace what you or I say and make corrections. So that’s why I used the term dishonesty on purpose. Because it needs to be self-regulated in order for trust to prevail instead of doubts.

Right now I cannot believe any word you say. And honesly, I cannot spend anytime looking in the archives to identify your many contradictions and post them in a single comment for you and others to see.

March 20th, 2013, 11:45 pm

Unfortunately you do have a reading comprehension problem because that is exactly what I said before. You just didn’t understand it. You are trying to put words in my mouth to cover your mistake. That is quite dishonest.

Right now, you are evading answering the simple question that I asked you because you are defensive and not confident about your views. It is as simple as that. I asked a simple question and you cannot bring yourself to answer it.

Last time I asked you this question you asked if this was an interrogation. No, it is a simple question that you are evading and everyone can see that. Why are you afraid to answer the question clearly?

In an argument, when one side can clearly answer direct questions by the other side, while the other side evades answering, it is clear who the winner is. And you are losing this argument badly. But please, why don’t you try winning and give a simple, non-convoluted answer?

March 20th, 2013, 11:55 pm

Visitor the Zionist is toying with you. He wants to drink Syrian blood and any will do when they’re hungry. I hope you sleep with garlic and a crucifix tonight or I fear you will awaken with AIG feasting on you.

March 21st, 2013, 12:03 am

AIG @236,

You are an outright liar and a fabricator. With your likes I usually do not argue because you are full of ignorance. I have no time to waste when the pretender to an argument is of such miserable level. This is worse than sophism. But, watch out guy. I know Syrians very well. Only the idiot fools among them, and fortunately there are not many of them, do not know the ego inflating tricks you’re so fond of. You will find them mostly among the lov-u-4ever-gang. Good luck!!!

No, I do not have comprehension problems. Last time you wanted a YES or No answer. This is what I call interrogation and NOT argumentation. If you do not understand that much, then there is no use talking to you. You will be a pain in the neck. This forum can be anything but basic English comprehension tutoring forum.

So, now you need to go and build up your own comprehension skills because obviously you comprehend none. Then come back and we’ll see if you qualify.

———————-

Hey Reverse @237,

I am not an Assad idol worshiper to be fooled by such as this guy. May be you should do what you said.

March 21st, 2013, 12:19 am

Dear Visitor,

Drop the game Boy and answer AIGs’ questions instead of “I said this and you said that”. He is asking you direct questions that many on this board want to know including all the fans who are giving you sky rocketing thumps up. You are not a politician!

March 21st, 2013, 12:20 am

From the ever reliable Al Arabiya comes the news Assad has nuclear weapons:

Assad regime has nuclear weapons, possibly in mountains: former VP to Al Arabiya
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/21/Assad-regime-has-nuclear-weapons-possible-in-mountains-former-VP-to-Al-Arabiya.html

Abdel Halim Khaddam, Syria’s former vice president, said that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was storing a huge supply of chemical weapons following attempts to make nuclear bombs in the 1970s.

“It is difficult to know the location of these weapons, especially to those who are outside the [Assad] circle,” Khaddam told Al Arabiya in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

However, he added that the arms may be in mountainous regions of the country.
The former VP said that nothing connects the Syrian president to the country’s people, and that Assad feels no sense of responsibility towards his countrymen.
Khaddam told Al Arabiya that there is a department in the army that handles “chemical war” and “the production of weapons.”

He also said that there are specific research centers that work on the chemical weapons.

“Nothing prevents Bashar al-Assad from using chemical weapons, because he has failed in beating the uprising,” Khadam said. “That is why [Assad] is using Weapons of Mass Destruction, like cluster bombs and long-range missiles.”

The former VP also said that is the international community responsibility that the Assad regime still exists.

March 21st, 2013, 12:21 am

Visitor I’ve always found your English to be exemplary.

March 21st, 2013, 12:24 am

Best part of the Khaddam’s rant is the Saudi rag is this gem: “Khaddam told Al Arabiya that there is a department in the army that handles ‘chemical war’ and ‘the production of weapons.'”

Gee, imagine that – an army that handles the production of weapons and chemical warfare.

March 21st, 2013, 12:26 am

What a waste of a paragraph to say nothing your answer is. Just answer the question in a simple non-convoluted answer. It is not a trick question and the more you decline answering it, the clearer it becomes that you are defensive and not confident about your views or even worse, are ashamed to say them outright. If you cannot defend your views, should you be holding them?

March 21st, 2013, 12:27 am

Did I not tell you last time to STFU? You are just as ignorant as AIG. This has been proven time and again. So you keep poking with your ignorance?. Just look at your idle talk with OBSERVER!

What idiot would compare Islam to Christianity when it comes to politics?

What city-state did Jesus establish on this earth? The whole church was a man made failed enterprise that Jesus had no say in it whatsoever. It finally became apparent that it had no basis and had to abdicate. It is as simple as that. Your Church did not have any political authority in the faith it purports to represent to begin with. It was an impostor, got uncovered and just receded to irrelevamce.

FYI, Muslims DO NOT believe that their faith is irrelevant in their lives, and they still maintain it has a major role to play in directing their affairs. If you do not like it then, tan bien que mal, tant pis whatever you choose.

So, STFU and what I say to others is NONE of our business.

And by the way, even though I consider it my own life and feel in no way obliged to divulge anything about it to any one in argument, but I will make now something very clear for you. I live in North America and do not consider it in any way contradicting my beliefs. Whether I live here by choice or by compulsion is of no one’s business The city where I live hosts the first Mosque ever built on this continent about a century ago. The Muslim community is vibrant, well rooted and established, has several MLAs in the provicial assembly as well as several MPs in the federal Parliament. Most of its members are accomplished practicing and observing Muslims. We have Islamic schools that are the envy of the non-Muslim population. In fact, many non-Muslims prefer to send their kids to our schools, and pay extavagant fees, because they know or a fact their kids are well cared for and our schools have to accept them by law -no discrimination. Every week during the Friday prayers, which I never miss, there two or three converts to Islam which ha
Pen right after the prayers. Also, if you remember the Qura’n link which I posted to you sometime ago with the several English yranslations, which you can switch from one to another with the clock of your mouse, then you should know that one of the authors (Yusuf Ali) completed the first recognized translation in that same historic Mosque in our city. That version of the translation is the officially recognized English translation of the Qura’n by the library of the congress since it was published. So, Mr. Darryl, our faith is universal for every person on this earth, for every place and for all times. And you can be Muslim anywhere in the world you choose to live.

March 21st, 2013, 1:00 am

For the last time, I do not argue with idiots.

I answered you clearly and I do not repeat myself.

Go and learn English.

يعني بالعربي الفصيح انئلع من هون

March 21st, 2013, 1:06 am

244. VISITOR said:

Dear Visitor, I am not talking about my church or your mosque. But that failed church as you say stood the test of time in open society, open yours and get away from the flood gates. Just answer AIGs’ questions and then will see about what you say.

I bet your heart was racing and your fingers were sweating Visitor when you wrote that piece, the grammatical errors prove under that hard exterior, you cannot keep a straight face let alone face reality.

PS my dear Visitor, if you are a true Muslims, then read the Quraan at 29:46 and you owe me an apology!

March 21st, 2013, 1:37 am

I owe you nothing. I do not need to answer to anything. You’re behaving like an intruder. You imagine things that are not true. You claim to read someone’s state of mind from behind a keyboard – presumptuous, ignorant, bigot, intent on distorting Islam based on your own deficient knowledge (non-knowledge is the better word in this case) and whims.

You owe all Muslims on this forum an apology based on the above, not to mention your ugly blasphemy regarding the Al-Mighty being some kind of banker glory be to Him, in a clear desperate attempt to spew your ugly hatred of the greatest faith on this planet.

Any Muslim who conducts conversation with you before you make a sincere apology and a sincere oath that you will never revert to these ugly habits of yours will risk losing the Love of Allah.

March 21st, 2013, 2:12 am

Reve 158

Yeah sure he is alone, he brings his kids to school, he drives alone to run errands. What you dont see is the myriads of security spread out before he reaches the area. I happen to see the lionking twice and he may drove by himself but the presence of those cheap leather jacket wearing security guys was overall measureable. They even managed to get some cheerleaders bused in so he was awaited by loyal lionlovers.

Amir

I remember that I was visiting Jordan with an syrian friend and we went to the Jordan river to see the ancient site where Jesus was baptized. My friend was utterly shocked to see that this small river(not more than 2-4m wide at that time) was the border to neighboring Israel. He told me that for the first time he was so close to Israel, we could see Israeli soldiers and the flag and of course Russians who bathed in the water in jalabiyastyle Jesus outfits.For many Syrians Israel is the outspoken devil of the region, that does not come by own observations or interactions but because of what they heard and what was told them by the regime and even by the mouthpieces of the regime in their churches and mosques.

March 21st, 2013, 2:38 am

Syria – it’s complicated | Marika Sosnowski said:

[…] Syrian Army Does Exist’ by Koert Debeuf and response by Aron Lund, 19 March 2013. Available at https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=18157. Accessed on 19 March […]

April 5th, 2013, 3:51 am

Willy Van Damme said:

The man used to be a spokesperson for former right wing Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. Then when in Egypt he supported the Moslim Brotherhood and now he works in Washington for a think tank supported by the United Arab Emirates. What next?

November 21st, 2017, 8:20 am