Alloush is a terrorist who has no agenda but to implement orders from KSA and force the will of Bandar on Syrians who are now sick of the destruction, the war, the regime thugs and the terrorists Alloush sent to kill and get killed. The man is now the face of the new phase of Islamist insurgency that can only set car bombs and perform sectarian killing.
A hired gun like Alloush who made a career of invading towns and terrorizing people does not deserve much discussion on this blog or any blog. He will disappear as quickly as he emerged. Nabil fayyad, a seculr Sunni who supports the army, believes that Alloush is behind Adra massacre and many other atrocities, if the USA chooses to talk to this terrorist it will discover that he is as reliable as the mujahideen in Afghanistan.
The mullahs in Iran were wrong about many things especially when they called the USA the “Great Satan “, it is obvious now that the saudi royal family and their Wahhabi alies are the ones who deserve this title.

There is no chance for a peaceful resolution with people like these, only their total defeat will restore Syria.

A note to Ameer who said that he did not believe the Assad regime was behind the jihadists.
Zahran Alloush was one of the many Salfies the Assad regime let out of jail in 2011 and around the same time they slid the throat of Ghyath Matter and many other peaceful leaders of the protests movements
Regime supports don’t like to talk much about Zahran because they can not answer for Assad freeing him to start the armed movement
The usual incompetent regime in everything the do,

Listening to Zahran Alloush is like listening to many on Syria Comment.

For example: Zahran Alloush is speaking like Observer. He says at 2:58 that the Alawites had cooperated with the Mongols and the Tatars. Observer said the Alawites cooperated with the Crusades and the French.

This lunatic is what Saudi Arabia wants for Syria. A man with little education as obvious. He is a man with limited knowledge of history. Of course he is violent and speaks in the language of dominating the others.

Funny how many Sunnis lie to themselves when they think that the Ummayads were good people and were interested in promoting Islam.

The Nazi Nabil Fayyad is describing a whole one of the biggest Syrian cities as a cancer that has to be treated and ask the regime to go after its civilian refugees
نبيل فياض: دوما سرطان يجب معالجته بسرعه
ديسمب15th, 2013 by editor9 editor

مراسل المحليات – كلنا شركاء:
على تلفزيون “سما” قال الطائفي نبيل فياض إن مدينة دوما حاضنة للإرهاب وسرطان يجب معالجته من قبل الدولة بأسرع ما يمكن حقناً لدماء الأبرياء.
وحمل فياض مهجري دوما الذين سكنوا مدينة عدرا العمالية المسؤولية لأنهم شكلوا حاضنة للإرهاب، وكانوا حصان طروادة الذي استخدمه الإرهابيين لدخول المدينة.
http://all4syria.info/Archive/118505

You know it would be nice if once Syria Comment highlighted someone that is not an extremists in the opposition.

One would think people like Gayath Mattar, Omar Aziz, and Razan Zeitouneh would be covered with more than a mere footnote. Or the fact that till this day Syrians protest demanding for freedoms or the many non-violent ways of opposing the regime and its various tentacles be it Deash or otherwise.

And for crying out loud there is an absolute difference between the revolution and the civil war. There is nothing whatsoever civil about civil wars, and there is everything that encompasses a civilized nation in the revolution.

If you substitute Shia/Majoos/Nusairi with Sunni/Takfiri/Wahhabi, Alloush’s rhetoric is quintessentially the same as many bigots on this blog.

Between defining in their own racist way who is a real Syrian or an Arab and who is not, and their venomous language in regards to those that do not share their faith or their revisionist history outlook one can be easily forgiven for mixing the two up…

The number of civilians who were slaughtered by Alloush et al in Adra stands at 80 according to a body count. Since only part of Adra is accessible to the army and medical personnel, the number may be much higher. We also do not know how many civilians were kidnapped.
Alloush is not serving Syria or even the Sunni, he is only serving himself and his financiers in the GCC. No Syrian should assume that Alloush represents sunni in Syria most of whom do not subscribe to his militant and criminal ideology .

A good article in Arabic by Jamal Khashegeji, although he should have more faith in the Syrian people, that no matter what happens the Syrians will never be the stooges of Iran
http://alhayat.com/OpinionsDetails/581751

Only guys who hide themselves like mice, such as Baghdadi and Golani, continue living. That is why this reckless media-whore won’t last long, he likes to see himself on film, making him easily identifiable.

This Alloush dude should be liquidated ASAP while he, the group he leads and the ideology that he promotes, are relatively small. Because if he is allowed to grow bigger, Syria will become pre-2001 Afghanistan, governed by regional and other warlords.
.

Popular Saudi cleric endorses Islamic Front, calls for cooperation with al Qaeda
Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini, a popular Saudi cleric who has relocated to Syria, has used his highly trafficked social media presence to endorse the new Islamic Front formed by some of the leading Syrian insurgent groups. He has also called for the Islamist coalition to cooperate with al Qaeda’s two official branches inside Syria.

Joshua,

Why in your opinion the regime released Zahran Aloush from its dungeons few months after the start of Syria revolution while at the same time continued to imprison Tal al Malouhi, a 17 yo female whose crime was asking Bashar al Assad for reforms on her FB?

Why in your opinion the regime never bombarded ISIS headquarter in Raqqa while bombarding the souks and breadlines?
——

Please do not ignore the above questions.

lol seriously just reading these comments especially Tara shows how simple most were and are
It was financed and planned well before 2011

Plus 2011 when SAA had no weapons at beginning I got vids of 50 year old woman smashing soldiers with sledge hammers then telling the youth to cut their heads of
Youse were so naive and to think Syria was the only Arab country resisting Israel the Palestinians lives much better then any other Arab country’s did

I. Could go on for ever but no need its 2017 and the Syrian patriots have spoken
Not to mention the patriots and SAA stayed loyal to now
Show me anywhere else that happened
You all look like imbeciles
Look what youse have all done to Syria
And let me guess Assad Syria pre 2011 was a what ?? Lol

Absolute morons if thought this was a peaceful uprising after a kid grafiddi on wall 😂😂😂
Who sells this garbage is one thing but who brought it aka Tara and co

Embarrassing
The 3 Islamic movements had to gain power and are each other as Assad didn’t fall
Then the Syrians united around him now it’s a fight to death between Sunni ideology’s
And Usa love it as Israel to

Now many opposition grovel to Damascus
? Why because they never were in control they were told it would only take months to over throw Assad and unlike the sunnis who are a mess slaves of the gulf and USA Israel

The Shia and aliwi in my opinion now look like the only Islamic sect with pride and dignity in their faith

Yet you all I am sure look for excuses far away from the problem

Which clearly is the secterian take over in Sunni movements

Clean your own backyard up before think can just dictate to a secular nation

To think even Palestinian leaders call it a duty to support your Arab Muslim brothers of Syria against dictator
😂😂😂

Yeah right and they still haven’t even tried help their Palestinian brothers In Gaza
But apparently in Syria it was your duty

So fake so secterian so dispicable and only the true sunnis to Islam today can admit that Assad is best for Syria and stability anyone else with different opinion

Well there no need to say it
You speak for yourselves

Amir,

Calling this “no longer a revolution” is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

To taint the revolt if 15 millions Syrians in their aspiration for freedom and dignity and to throw onto the dustbin their courage and sacrifices because of few terrorist elements of questionable origin ( ? Regime) and to stop calling it a just revolution is stupid and childish at best.

Mjabali

I know you are smart and highly educated. You do not seem to read carefully what I write: I think that in the face of oppression it is only NATURAL that the oppressed allies with whomever even the devil to end oppression. If and this is an if there was a collaboration it is perfectly understandable. The issue is that there is no Syrian identity there are many identities to which people harken back to in the times we are living.

So let each community harken back to its origin and let us move on.

You give me the names of the signatories of the document I accept it and stand corrected. But my point is that the grand son is not responsible for the actions of his grand father even if this document was attributed to him. That is my point. Therefore you and I are not responsible for the actions of our ancestors.

You are so fixated on the past that you are fully blind to the present let alone the future.

Again I am Not Anything in this do not pigeon hole me into anything. I do not feel Sunni or Syrian or Arab or Kurd or Turk or anything at all within the framework of this civil war. I am as a matter of fact more American than Dr. Landis for at least my spouse is not Alawi. Something that he was accused of causing his bias towards the regime without a shred of evidence.

So go forth and prosper I wish you full independence in your secure state

Assad and Al Qaeda leaders must be killed along with dirty Putin and Messengers of God ayatollahs of Iran. All of them executed right now. They are ill minded people who believe God is talking to them. There is too much garbage in their heads. A nuclear bomb in their heads please. Stop this suxxxers theatre.

MJABALI

You are sectarian. I rarely read your comments but when I do it you are always talking about Alawis, of course defending them. Why you never talk about women, children, arrested, raped, cvilians, etc I do not know.

I repeat I consider you are a sectarian. I am a Christian but I will never defend christians politically or as a sect as you do with alawis.

Sandro:

The Alawites never had anyone speak for them.

The Assads never let any Alawite express his/hers ideas freely. You should applaud me and not shoot me down with your slander.

If you do not defend your sect that is your problem not mine.

Also: If you never saw how the Sunnis talk or look at the Alawis (You personally used the same language by the way) what should I do to you…

Finding solutions needs a new language. If you have no stomach for it, go play somewhere else.

PS: The repeated sectarian language (Against the Alawites) that you exhibited in your posts on this blog is an example …

Thanks for exposing the Islamic Front’s real color, as until now their patrons, Baby Bandar and the senile Guided Kingdom have been trying to pass them for ‘accomodating’ the same way Qatar has tried to pass the Moslem Brotherhood for moderates to lamentably fail.
Hearing this guy, Morsy was an angel. Alloush appears as a cold and calculating fanatic that can only be eliminated by a “martyrdom”.
Are we watching a violent “account settling” on a foreign land? The Guided Kingdom is funding its own militias to fight against Al Qaeda militias that ironically are funded by private Saudi citizens and Wahhabi charities in the GCC.
Therefore it appears that Saudis are financing and manipulating Syrian fanatics to fight against their own “rebels” on a conveniently far battleground, Syria.

It also shows the despair that the senile Guided Kingdom has reached in its attempts to stay afloat in a changing middle east
As for the USA, just the fact that the indestructible Ford wants to deal with this group shows well that the USA has reached the end of the rope concerning Syria. This is the last chance before admitting that the revolution is dead and that they may now “imagine” that Bashar El Assad is here to stay until the last terrorist is eliminated on Syria’s soil.
If the West wants to accelerate that, then the solution is simple, join forces with the Syrian Army and stop fooling around with criminals.
Ultimately after witnessing thousands of death more, they may realize that it is the only wise thing to do.

If Iraq is a stain on Bush legacy, Syria will be on Obama.

Not become he did not intervene militarily but because he made wrong assumptions at start, got carried away and it took him 2 years and 120,000 dead to realize the mistake and gradually change the course.
While history will recognize his success in eliminating CW, it won’t be kind to him on Syria’s death toll on which he bears a great responsibility.

Observer:

Again you do not support your claims about the Alawites and speak in general reconciling terms to deflate the issue.

You mentioned FEW TIMES that the Alawites are traitors and helped the Crusades and the French. In the video above Zahran Alloush repeats the same ideas…I ask you again: what do you think about this point.

Observer

Thanks for finally admitting that you have no emotional connection with Syria.
For you it is all an academic game, but sorry to tell you , but I think you are a lousy player.

Observer said:

” I am as a matter of fact more American than Dr. Landis for at least my spouse is not Alawi. ”

Hahaaahahahahaahahahaha

hahahahahahahaaaaaaa

When will Erdogan pay for his crimes, hypocrisy and lies?

Syria: Turkey Supplied 47 Tons of Weapons to Islamist Rebels

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175207#.Uq8MRDciwo8

Despite past denials, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman admits UN report detailing military support to Syrian rebels.
…
Other Syrian opposition forces have also alleged that the AKP government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan has provided military and logistical support for Islamist brigades inside Syria, citing the free movement of Islamist fighters both to and from Turkey – sometimes even being openly bused through the border in broad daylight.

The revolutionaries encouraged by the West promised “Freedom and Dignity” to the Syrians.

“disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history”.

Syrian Refugees: Biggest Sufferers Of The Conflict

http://www.khaama.com/syrian-refugees-biggest-sufferers-of-the-conflict-9876

Nearly three years of bloody civil war in Syria have created what the United Nations, governments and international humanitarian organizations describe as the most challenging refugee crisis in a generation bigger than the one unleashed by the Rwandan genocide and laden with the sectarianism of the Balkan wars. With no end in sight in the conflict and with large parts of Syria already destroyed, governments and organizations are quietly preparing for the refugee crisis to last years. Governments and humanitarian groups are increasingly working under the assumption that the crisis will be a long-lasting one. This is the crisis that has been called the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of this century and condemned by the UN as a “disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history”.

For 3 years, people who understand the language of the videos can hear the rhetoric of the 7th century and know what catastrophe it will bring, while the politicians pretend that everything will be okay, just give them free hands.

But they failed whatever they attempted in the name of democracy or even when they bring in the pragmatic matters such as the price of oil, and now thanks to their intervention in Libya, oil is simply getting more expensive. Are they just paid to empty our pockets?

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/89241/Business/Economy/Oil-climbs-above–as-Libyan-ports-stay-shut.aspx
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-15/libya-eastern-oil-ports-to-stay-shut-rebel-leader-jedran-says.html

الإمارات تهاجم الأمير بندر بن سلطان وتتهمه بالإرهاب في مؤشر جديد على تأزم العلاقات مع السعودية

هاجم مركز دراسات إماراتي مقرب من جهاز أمن الدولة الأمير بندر بن سلطان رئيس المخابرات السعودية واتهمهة بلقاء مسؤولين إسرائليين .

وفي تغريدة وضعها مركز “المزماة ” على صفحته الرسمية على موقع “تويتر” ولم ينسبها إلى أي مصدر، قال مركز “المزماة” إن “رئيس المخابرات السعودية بندر بن سلطان التقى مسؤولين اسرائيليين في جنيف للاتفاق حول كيفية احتواء إيران والسيطرة على القوات الجهادية بسوريا”.

وكانت وسائل إعلام إسرائيلية زعمت تلك المعلومات أيضا وهو ما نفته السعودية عدة مرات.

ولم يكتف مركز”المزماة” بذلك، بل وصل الأمر إلى نشر معلومات نسبها لمسؤول أمني فرنسي عن قيام الأمير بندر بن سلطان، بتمويل جماعات جهادية في أفغانستان ولبنان وشمال إفريقيا ومصر ،وربما في تلميح خطير لما تقوم به الجماعات الإرهابية بسيناء.

وقال المركز نقلا عن الرئيس السابق للمخابرات الفرنسية برنارد سكورسيني:”الأمير بندر بن سلطان يقف وراء تمويل جماعات جهادية في أفغانستان ولبنان ومصر وشمال إفريقيا” .

يذكر أن مركز “المزماة” يتولى إدارته الدكتور سالم حميد، وهو صحفي وكاتب معروف بقربه وتعبيره عن وجهة نظر أحد شيوخ الدولة الفاعلين في جهاز أمن الدولة ، ويقوم المركز أساسا بإعداد دراسات وأخبار عن الجماعات الإسلامية والإخوان المسلمين يتم توزيعها على عدد من الصحف المصرية والعربية، وذلك في إطار جهود الإمارات لمقاومة الإسلام السياسي السني .

https://www.watanserb.com/201312158865/هدهد/الإمارات-تهاجم-الأمير-بندر-بن-سلطان-وتتهمه-بالإرهاب-في-مؤشر-جديد-على-تأزم-العلاقات-مع-السعودية.html

If the West wants to halt Syria transformation into an Afghanistan, the West must take an active decision to eliminate Bashar al Assad. Jihadists are in Syria to stay unless the people of Syria get united against them. Bashar al Assad is a divisive force. He gave jihadists a cause to come and fight in Syria to establish Imara. The people of Syria will turn a blind eye on the jihadists as long as al Assad is in power killing and displacing them with impunity.

It is in the best interest of the Syrian people and of the civilized world that Bashar al Assad is annihilated and that a transitional government is formed until free election. It is only then that the sworn enemy of the Syrian people will change from the brutal monster to the jihadists.

SAMI @ 7
That would not be consistent with the editorial policy of this site, nor with the role expected from its owner and minders.

In the next few posts, expect the return of the “let’s rehabilitate assad’s image”. and mark my words.

@ShamiWitness: After Rami Jarrah, we have more Syrian activists calling for Assad air strikes on ISIS targets. they just can’t tolerate it, that’s all.

@survajver: I dont see any substantial benefit in such strikes. Its not like Baghdadi or Shishani r chiling in such exposed locations.

@ShamiWitness: You actually expect people who believe Assad is in cahoots with ISIS, to use that much common sense.

Tara asks: “Why in your opinion the regime released Zahran Aloush from its dungeons few months after the start of Syria revolution.”

I don’t know Tara. Either the regime is very cunning and knew that Aloush et al. would make powerful militias, which the regime believed wouldbe easier to defeat than the peaceful demonstrators or they were not smart and let them go in the general amnesties that Turkey, Kofi Annan and others were demanding.

Tara @ 27

It is in the best interest of the Syrian people and of the civilized world that Bashar al Assad is annihilated

I think that one does not annihilate pests. One eradicates them.

Sami, Write a profile of one of the activists you name. Let’s publish it. You are right about the name calling and cancelling out the other. It works both ways.

An eye witness account from Adra, Dr. Mazhar Ibrahim and his wife:

“مع ساعات الصباح الأولى دوى الرصاص مقابل منزلي المقابل للفرن حيث دارت المعركه بين المقتحمين وحراس الفرن الأبطال، كانت ساعات عصيبة، هربنا أنا وزوجتي وطفلتنا كريستين التي لم تبلغ السنتين من عمرها الى ملجأ في البناء المجاور واختبأنا مع عشرات السكان القادمين من كل المحافظات”.
وأضاف ابراهيم أن “المسلحين دخلوا عليهم وبدأت فصول التنكيل والقتل والتحقيق «من مع النظام ومن يعمل لدى الدولة»؟؟”.
ويقول المواطن السوري أن عناصر الميليشيات المتشددة “عمدوا إلى قطع أيدي عدد من العاملين بالدولة منعا لمعاودة العمل اضافه الى قطع رؤوس وتمثيل بالجثث جرت أمام مرأى الأطفال”، لافتاً إلى انه بعد 3 ايام من «الأوقات المرعبة» في الملجأ استطاع مع عدة اسر الهروب الى الطريق العام حيث كان الجيش السوري موجودا فأمن للناجين الركوب بشاحنة نقلتهم الى مكان امن ثم وصل الطبيب وعائلته إلى طرطوس.
يروي مظهر ابراهيم مشاهداته المروّعة مع زوجته وابنته لجثث الضحايا مرمية بالشوارع متفسخة ومنكل بها ومقطعه الرؤوس والأوصال، فيما تقول زوجته أن لهجات المسلحين غير سورية وكذلك الأشكال والسحنة وعلى الجباه «كتابات تكفيرية» لـ”جبهة النصرة”، كانت أيام «فظيعة» خرجنا بملابسنا فقط وساعدنا الجيش الذي طوق المدينة”.
Keep in mind that the victims were civilians whose only fault was belonging to the “wrong” sect. Indeed, the limited presence of army units is what attracted terrorists to Adra in the first place. People who still believe that there is a revolution in Syria are either in denial or are genuinely stupid.

It is paradoxal that Assad who is not ethnically arabic and is not orthodox islamic has been defending the idea of an arabic race and an islamic cause against Israel. As Iran is doing.

It is pradoxal that syrians, who are not ethnically arabs are trying to defend the arab cause and always tried to appear as the last barbican of Arabism. And trying to defend the islamic cause while islam in Syria has Little to do with original Islam, eroded and perverted by centuries of heresies, crusades, christianism and judaism.

Everyday Syria has more and more similarities with Afganistan.

Ladies and gentlemen, Syria is not ethnically an arabic country although it is considered culturally arabic. and it should not be considered an islamic country. Even more, if it remained a pagan polytheist country things would be much better.

If their God exists it may be not very happy about their behaviours.

I feel sorry for some of you!
Christian! Arabic! Alawi! Culture! Hearts filled with hate! ! what the culture of this?

What’s up with Saudi Arabia’s 15,000 anti-tank missiles?

No one is expecting a tank invasion of Saudi Arabia anytime soon, but the kingdom just put in a huge order for U.S.-made anti-tank missiles that has Saudi-watchers scratching their heads and wondering whether the deal is related to Riyadh’s support for the Syrian rebels.

The proposed weapons deal, which the Pentagon notified Congress of in early December, would provide Riyadh with more than 15,000 Raytheon anti-tank missiles at a cost of over $1 billion.

While most of the rebels’ anti-tank weapons were seized from Assad’s armories, Lister also believes that several dozen 9M113 Konkurs missiles, an old Soviet weapon, were provided to Islamist rebels in northern Syria this summer. And when these missiles have found their way to the battlefield, they’ve helped the rebels break through the belts of armor Assad uses to protect strategic areas: “Neutralizing these external defenses has proven key to opening the gates for ground assaults,” Lister said.
http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/17062

Washington’s New Islamic Front: Expanded US Support to AlQaeda Rebels in Syria
http://www.globalresearch.ca/washingtons-new-islamic-front-expanded-u-s-support-to-al-qaeda-rebels-in-syria/5361660
From the outset, the Western military alliance has (covertly) supported the terrorists with a view to destabilizing Syria as a nation state.

Lest we forget, Al Qaeda is a creation of the CIA.

The US, NATO, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have channeled most of their support to the Al Qaeda brigades, which are also integrated by Western Special Forces.

British and French Special Forces have been actively training opposition rebels from a base in Turkey.

Israel has provided a safe have to Al Qaeda affiliated rebels in the occupied Golan Heights.

Western special forces have been training the rebels in the use of chemical weapons in Jordan…….

Tara,

From the bottom of my heart I wish that !all! Syrians could live in freedom and dignity. That was the aim of the peaceful phase of the revolution. I’m afraid though that the present (self proclaimed) leadership of the revolt isn’t concerned with “freedom”. (Dignity? maybe, but exclusively for the Sunnies).

From a Syrian uprising and revolution, this turned out to be Sunni Jihad against all that are not Sunni. This is not a Syrian revolution any more.

Now it is a Sunni Jihad for power, dominance and submission of non-Sunni minorities. The mirror image of Assad, but much more dangerous and grave (for the Syrians and for their neighbors).
.

Sami @7

Joshua (@32) gave you an excellent opportunity to support your claim that Shia’s rhetoric is “quintessentially” the same as Alloush’s
I am eagerly waiting to read what you’ll write.

“If you substitute Shia/Majoos/Nusairi with Sunni/Takfiri/Wahhabi, Alloush’s rhetoric is quintessentially the same as many bigots on this blog.”

@38 Amir in Tel Aviv

Thanks, I again fully agree with you.

Syrian issue

Sergei Lavrov also said his country would help Syrians foster an inclusive dialogue so that they could come to agreement on their own future.

“We are not just watching passively. Unlike the West which is working only with the opposition, we are working both with the government and the opposition. We meet with all opposition groups and want to hear what they wish for their country. We will help Syrians foster an inclusive dialogue and move to do what the international community expects them to do – come to agreement on the future of their country,” Lavrov said after a meeting with his EU colleagues on Monday, December 16.

He also commented on the Islamic Front, which has been created by the Syrian opposition and which has proclaimed radical goals. “Our Western partners are trying to build bridges with it, positioning it as the most acceptable force that has influence over someone. We know that when this Front was being created, the possibility of incorporating Jabhat al-Nusra into it was discussed,” Lavrov said, adding that it had not been incorporated into the Front to keep its reputation untainted because Jabhat al-Nusra had been designated a terrorist organisation in the United States and Europe.

Members of the opposition were repeatedly invited to Moscow and many leaders did come, he recalled. “We now have invited the National Coalition, and its leader Ahmad al-Jarba said he would come. They have to be talked to anyway. But while the National Coalition’s sponsors are trying to present it as the main force that will represent all opponents of the regime at the talks, this ‘main force’ is beginning to come apart at the seams,” Lavrov said earlier.

“There have been statements, and we want to verify them, that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is part of the National Coalition and which said it would have its own special approaches, has either seceded or distanced itself from it. There have been reports saying that the majority of combat units of the so-called Free Syrian Army are no longer subordinated to the National Coalition; if they have ever been subordinated to it. The very latest information, which has been confirmed, by the way, indicates that more than twenty such units have pooled their ranks to form the Islamic Front. This organisation does not recognise either the Syrian Free Army or the National Coalition or Al-Qaeda. But it is made up of the groups that are very close in spirit to Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – extremist and Al-Qaeda-like Jihadist groups. This Islamic Front had said its goal is to create a caliphate in Syria and the greater Levant. There are contradictory reports about who finances this structure. We will need to look into all this,” Lavrov said.

“There are also combat units subordinated to different political forces and there are those who are not subordinated to anyone, who oppose the regime but are convinced of the need to preserve the secular nature of the state. And there are extremists and terrorist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra and other of Al-Qaeda’s off-springs which openly state their intention to create a caliphate in Syria and around it. These ideas are also preached by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a group that has recently distanced itself from Al-Qaeda. So there are a variety of groups with differing ideologies and approaches to the future of the country,” Lavrov noted.
ITAR-TASS

/The mirror image of Assad, but much more dangerous/
/Thanks, I again F U L L Y agree with you./
شو متعشين الشباب اليوم؟

27. Tara said:

Lol, what you are proposing is exactly what went wrong in Afghanistan: The Russian backed secular government was overthrown completely, leaving cavemen to rule and destroy the nation.

Do not repeat history, learn from it. Cavemen are not fit to rule.

Was the criticized Sister Agnes finally right?

Russia says Aug. 21 Syria chemical weapons attack was ‘staged’ to provoke attention

AP 16, 2013 5:00 PM
http://www.canada.com/news/Russia+says+Syria+chemical+weapons+attack+staged+provoke+attention/9292759/story.html

Russia on Monday lashed out at the U.S. and its allies on the U.N. Security Council over who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria this year.

Russia’s ambassador told the council that the dramatic Aug. 21 attack that led to Syria agreeing to give up its chemical stockpile was “staged” and a “large-scale provocation.”

Vitaly Churkin compared it to the “manipulation of public opinion” that led up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He read reporters the statement he read to council members.

The current council president, French Ambassador Gerard Araud, told reporters only that members had an “acrimonious exchange.”

The spirited session came as the council received its first briefing from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the final report of a U.N. inspection team that last week said chemical weapons probably were used in Syria several times.

The Joke of the Day by neo-con Andrew J. Tabler:
“They are Salafists but not extremists”

The strongest player in the opposition now is the Islamic Front, a loose alliance of seven factions that wants Syrians to live under Sunni Muslim law.

“They’re Salafists but not extremists,” explains Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. What that means is that although members of the front want a government dominated by devout Sunnis, and they probably aren’t reliable pluralist democrats, they’re at least not al-Qaida-style terrorists.

That’s why U.S. diplomats have been trying to persuade the Islamic Front to join — or at least endorse — the peace conference that’s scheduled to begin in the Swiss city of Montreux next month.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/12/16/3162932/mcmanus-us-efforts-in-syria-may.html#storylink=cpy

Amir,

I do not doubt your intention. I know you do. But unfortunately you now believe what Assad wants you to believe. What bother me is that that you are much smarter than to allow Assad’s propaganda to get to you and therefore taint all Syrians because of the work of the jihadis and simply conclude that this is not a just revolution.

Let us first establish few facts here. I as an average Sunni Syrian do not condone the jihadis ideology or acts. Not now and not ever. I however fully understand why jihadis have come and flourished in Syria. The invasion of Syria by jihadis was inevitable. Assad released their leaders and gave them a cause. Fighting against Assad’s unprecedented brutality to save their Sunni brethren, fueled by the regime and Iran/ HA rhetorics and acts, is their cause. Whether the revolution turned armed or not, they were destined to come. I am not denying their presence and I am not condoning their acts. I am simply stating a fact that jihadis presence in Syria was inevitable given the regime brutality, the regime use of sectarian rhetorics, and Iran/HA unwavering support.

Having said that, One must not mix things together. You simply make a big mistake blaming the Syrian people for the jihadis ideology or acts. Syrians did not revolt to establish Sunni supremacy. This is not an authentic Syrian mentality. This is those foreigner mentality. This is what the regime wanted you to believe and you simply believed. Syrian revolted to establish freedom and dignity. Yes, Syrians perhaps are not as vocal and loud, to your satisfaction, against the jihadis because at this time they only want to survive. Their only sworn enemy is Batta and Batta alone. He is the one killing hundred every day.

Getting rid of jihadis would be the revolution next battle. And this next battle will only happen after Assad is eradicated,

Qatar is now clearly on a campaign trail to counter Saudi Arabia’s attempts to dictate its will to the region. Is Qatar U-turning about Syria?

Saudi Arabia destroyed Qatar’s ally, the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt and last week Baby Bandar’s militia, the Islamic Front, humiliated and kicked out the FSA, Qatar’s protege in Bab Al Hawa.
How far will the tension go and would the Syrians pay again the price of the inter GCC sour power competition?

Hezbollah’s Qassem meets Qatar diplomat

BEIRUT: Qatar’s new Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Bin Hamad al-Marri met Monday with Hezbollah’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem in a first meeting with a senior party official, signaling an improvement in ties between the two sides strained by the war in Syria.

The two discussed the situation in Lebanon and developments in the region, said a terse statement issued by Hezbollah’s media office.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Dec-17/241358-hezbollahs-qassem-meets-qatar-diplomat.ashx#ixzz2ngFxPmIP
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Tara,

I agree with you that this Jihadi campaign is mostly foreign, and I suppose that the majority of Syrians (Sunni and other) doesn’t support it.

You say that all this is Assad made. I’m not sure that this is the case. You give too much credit to the Assadists. Why did they release the Jihadies from jails? Have no idea. I believe that 2011 was chaotic, more than it was the right time to forge elaborated conspiracy plans.

I hope that a new phase is established, to bring this revolution back from it’s Jihadi path, but I’m skeptical it will happen any time soon.
.

To the regime stooges, Zoo Alan and others, thank you but no thanks. This doesn’t make me an Assad supporter.
I’m still with Tara, Observer, Hamster and other sane and patriotic people here.
.

The FSA has been vanquished by the Islamic Front in Bab Al Hawa.
Here come its replacement: The Syrian Rebel Front!

FSA alliance pushes back against Islamic Front
…
In a report on the new alliance for the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Lund said although the members of the Syria Rebel Front are “second-tier actors … real unity between them could create a significant force on the ground, especially if backed by strong foreign funding. But there’s little to indicate that the SRF’s creation is underpinned by any real ideological or political agenda. Instead, it seems very much to be a case of coming together against a common enemy – the Islamist surge in general and the Islamic Front in particular.”

“That the SRF was declared almost immediately after the warehouses were taken over is probably no coincidence,” Lund wrote. “If that was ‘a complete coup’ against the SMC, then cobbling together the SRF is a countercoup.”

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Dec-17/241361-fsa-alliance-pushes-back-against-islamic-front.ashx#ixzz2ngOCy0NS
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

@49 Amir in Tel Aviv

You are with whom you chose to be. Yet, I would prefer that you avoid starting a war of insults.

It is still very encouraging to see that you have been able to see and think beyond narrow personal and obsessive hatred.

Amir in Tel Aviv

The foreign “decision makers” that took over the revolution are even more extremists than the ones who brought the revolution to that monstrous fratricidal war we are seeing.

Do you have any suggestion on how the ‘revolution’ could go back from the Jihadi’s path it took?
Will the ‘toppling’ of Bashar al Assad simply do the trick?

“While failing to unseat Assad, the Saudi/US/UK-financed insurgency has razed much of Syria, killed more than a hundred thousand, forced seven million from their homes, fanned Shia-Sunni tensions across the Middle East and enabled al-Qaeda and its allies to carve out a sizeable enclave in northern and eastern Syria.”

Syrian shambles

http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/letters/syrian-shambles-1-3235363
….
As the West’s dream of turning yet another Middle Eastern dictatorship into a Western-style democracy collapses into a desperate calamity for Syria’s inhabitants, are we in America and Britain prepared to face up to just what a disastrous shambles of millions of people’s lives we have engineered in that area?
….
Possibly what we are watching unfold in Syria is the greatest tragedy of them all. For all of their many faults, the Assad family’s Syria was the most stable country in the region; the only country left in the Middle East where various religious minorities lived in close proximity, and we encouraged Syria’s people to rebel on a whim then turned our backs on them.

We have their blood and suffering on our hands.

Shame on us this Christmas.

Irvine Inglis

Reston

Berwickshire

The decision by the US and Britain to suspend military aid to the Free Syrian Army underscores the stupidity of the venture in the first place. Many people warned that the aid sent to the Syrian “rebels” would end up in the hands of fanatical anti-Western al-Qaeda-linked jihadis and so it has happened

While failing to unseat Assad, the Saudi/US/UK-financed insurgency has razed much of Syria, killed more than a hundred thousand, forced seven million from their homes, fanned Shia-Sunni tensions across the Middle East and enabled al-Qaeda and its allies to carve out a sizeable enclave in northern and eastern Syria.

Washington and her allies have carried out a monstrous crime in Syria, organising and arming the most reactionary forces so as to remove a regime viewed as an obstacle to un-bridled Western domination of the world’s most important oil- exporting region.

The propaganda they spout dresses up a US-Saudi-fomented Sunni Islamist insurgency as a “revolution”.

Just as 9/11 was a consequence of the stupidity of arming jihadis against the Russians, so future terrorism here and abroad will be by people the US/UK governments helped in Syria.

Amir and TARA

It surprises the heck out of a non-expert watcher like me to read Joshua’s answer to TARA’s question. Someone who studied the Assad regime that long, wrote about Syria, and made a reputation as one of the national experts on the talk show circuit, should recognize that the regime, which created many of the alqaida affiliates in Iraq, should know how its creation thinks.

To start with, the first ever ugly anthem of the Islamic State of Iraq bears canny resemblance to the Baath anthem. In fact, the melody is the identical, with lyrics only being changed. Even their emblem starts with similar declaration (One Nation) to that of the Baathist (One Arab Nation). This should point the finger to regime’s creative, yet imbecilic role in creating these organizations in the first place. This does not mean that the regime funded them, but it means that it was, as every single Syrian know, responsible for their training camps, and then their transport and set up in Iraq. An added bonus is the single hereditary genes of the calling for the revival of a long-gone empire. While each calls it differently (Arabic or Islamic), history tells us that both are after the same long-gone empire, with the same totalitarian zeal and much more in common than they would like to attest to.

Given the above and for both parental and origin reasons, assad security apparatus, incompetent and brutal as it is, knows well the behavioral pattern of the radical organizations it has either created, went to bed with, or occasionally went after. With this in mind, It clear that releasing notorious terrorists from jails, who in fact were merely kept on ice until they were needed, while at the same time torturing to death those who advocated civil uprising aimed at letting the worst out into the streets so that they can, as expected, reestablish their contacts with funding sources, and launch the holly war the regime could not force on the Syrian revolution, even after it brutally attacked its best and most patriotic, civil, and civilized icons and leaders.

Again, Joshua keeps hyping the Islamic radical forces as foes of the regime. There is not yet a single shred of evidence that shows either one of the two terrorist camps (regime and ISIS) really facing each others. The regime started with NUSRA, but that went out of hand once many Syrians joined al-Nusra. Then came ISIS, whose strength significantly increased after the mysterious escape from Iraqi jails of hard core murderers and terrorist, which allowed it to launch its most ambitious expansion from the small domain it infested in Raqqa to the country side of Aleppo and some areas within the liberated part of the city.

These are well known facts. Joshua knows that the two hypotheses he presented are not equally likely. Very much like he knew that agens the crow is a liar when he gave her a moral backing by stating “there is an element of truth to what she says”.

13. Tara

The delusions here are incredible.

If this “conspiracy” theory is true, the opposition would be incredibly stupid to welcome all these criminals, as they did, and continue to do. How do you explain that?

Bashar was responsible for Al Qaieda in Iraq?

Let’s see. Bashar, though not a friend of Saddam, did not support the U.S. pushed illegal war against Iraq.

After the war started, Bashar, tried to work with the U.S., but the neo-cons would rather U.S. troops die from the Al Qaida ratlines than work with Syria. (Bashar had to balance the Sunni population that was against the war vs. trying to run his country.) These same ratlines people insist were Bashar’s are destroying his nation.

So other than rhetoric, I’d like to see some sort of what us in the real world call ‘evidence’ that Bashar was behind any Sunni-extremist movement (other than stupidly allowing Hamas safe haven, only to have the back-stabbers run when politically inconvenient.)

What was Syria’s vote in the Security Council?

Zahran Alloush is the son of the Syrian Salafi cleric Abdullah Mohammed Alloush based in Saudi exile, who is said to be close to the ruling Saudi family. Zahran Alloush publically advocates torturing and murdering captured people he doesn’t like.Great post about Zahran Alloush`s life . Keep posting.

reading this now makes me have a good laugh. Alloush is near to his 72 or so Virgins. Poor Virgins w<ho are about to receive this piece of…

The whole thing about anti-shiite and anti-something propaganda will end up hurting the organization and its cause. However, every political organization especially the armed ones are there for their ideological agenda. This is why I do not believe in no rebels. No one is working for the Syrian people’s good. They are ALL working for their own agenda for what serves whatever they belong to and to whom they get funds from. Same thing happens in Iraq. Those movements have no credibility and no political legitimacy nor integrity.

You have never answer these question …. You have never explained Joshua Landis …. if he is evil as you have portrayed ….
-How come Assad released him from jail in June of 2011 with Abboud and Issa al-Sheikh? Soon after his release …he also released one of the founders of al-Qaeda …. Abu Khalid al-Souri? Here is a picture of them soon after their release from sydnaya prison …
– How come Assad released them from jail ….. while the teenager girl …. Tall al-Mallohi … she was and still in jail?
– how promoting leaving Assad in power isn’t more evil?
– why you think they are more evil?

For fairness sake … I assume you will make a profile for assad soon?

The article is accurate but it is half the truth dear …. Therefore it is incomplete and I call it falt out propaganda …. Especialy when you don’t carry his most recent statements and he he got out of jail and why…. Therefore I ask you to show us all you know dear …. As is …this is promoting Assad
http://www.naameshaam.org/the-tale-of-three-islamist-leaders-who-were-released-from-prison-by-the-syrian-regime/