Thread: Syria News and Editorials

I could have told the twat that last year.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I could have told the twat that last year.

He probably could have told us twats, too. No kidding, the first time I read ". . .members of al-Qaida’s terrorist network have gone to Syria,’’ he said, without elaborating" I processed "elaborating" as "celebrating." The mess in Syria does make things a bit awkward for the government of Iraq.

Not really, they are Shi'a and they support Assad.

This bloke doesn't though:

Paris (CNN) -- Manaf Tlas, a Sunni general in Syria's elite Republican Guards, has defected, a Western diplomat said Friday, a stunning blow to the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Tlas, the son of a former Syrian defense minister and cousin of a first lieutenant in al-Assad's army, is possibly the most senior Sunni in a power structure dominated by the Alawiteminority.
"He's an inside confidant of Assad. So it counts that even an insider thinks it's time to go," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official was not authorized to speak to the media.
Syria has been engulfed in nearly 16 months of unrest. Thousands have died as Syrian government assaults against protesters led to a nationwide uprising.
War of words out of Syria
Rights group: Thousands killed in Syria
Syrian rebels split amid new deaths


Tlas is estranged from the regime over the killing of Sunnis, the official said. His father, former Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas, and the rest of his family are in Paris, the official said.
Reports of Tlas' defection first surfaced Thursday. It was not immediately clear whether he was making his way to Paris to join his family.
"If he has indeed fled the country, the regime will be thrown back on its heels," Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma, said Thursday in a post on his blog Syria Comment.
Tlas "supported a policy of negotiation, flexibility and compromise" but "was overruled by the military leadership and has since looked for a way out."
For example, Tlas had been ordered to solve problems in the restive Damascus suburban towns of Harasta and Douma, Landis said.
"He did a good job by negotiating with the opposition leaders in both suburbs, agreeing that both government forces and opposition would pull back," Landis said.
But, Landis said, the "Alawi leadership said 'no, that is not how we are going to do this.' They pushed him aside and came down like a ton of bricks on the opposition in both neighborhoods, in an effort to assert state authority and crush the uprising through military means."
Tlas is "perhaps the most senior Sunni in the regime because he was a close friend of Bashar," Landis wrote.
"For 16 months the opposition has been complaining that elite Sunnis have not defected. That complaint can now, officially, be put to rest if the stories of Manaf's flight prove to be true. In March it was rumored that he had led with his father and brother, but those stories were false," he wrote.
Tlas exudes charisma, and Landis describes him as "smart, dashing and cunning."
"Manaf is as handsome as a movie star and carried a lot of authority. He was a true military guy and had spent his entire life in the military, unlike Bashar. People close to him say that when he walked into a room, all eyes turned to him. Not only did women find him attractive, but men did as well. He carried himself with an air of self-confidence and authority," Landis said.
The Tlas family has been part of the Syrian power structure during the tenure of Bashar and his father, Hafez Assad.
"When foreign statesmen or Syrians thought of a Sunni who could possibly take power, Manaf had to be at the top of the list or very close to the top," he said. "Manaf is respected by Bashar's generation and a military leader."

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Not really, they are Shi'a and they support Assad.

No shit. It's awkward because there is another power they have at least nominally been trying not to displease too much. By "celebrate" I mean they are happy the al-Q fighters are no longer in their country. Sorry I had to explain that.

What can the US give Russia and China to persuade them they are backing the wrong side?

OhOh do you believe they are backing the wrong side?

I was listening to The World Debate: Syria on BBC World Service radio just now, might interest you if you can find a Podcast or if it's rebroadcast where you are.

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Saturday, July 7, 2012, 14:37Syria conflict spills into Lebanon

Vehicles damaged during clashes between Syrian rebel fighters and government forces are seen on a street in the Al Qusour neighbourhood in Homs.

Syria's conflict spilled further into Lebanon today when mortar fire from government forces crashed into villages in the north, killing two women and a man after rebels crossed the border for refuge.
In contrast with Turkey, which openly harbours rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon was not expected to respond militarily and has played down the effect of regular clashes along the frontier.

But rebels have used north Lebanon as a base and Assad's forces have at times bombed villages and even crossed the border in pursuit of militants, threatening to inflame tensions in Lebanon given a long history of Syrian domination there.

Residents of Lebanon's Wadi Khaled region said several mortar bombs hit farm buildings five to 20 km from the border at around 2 am. At midday villagers reported more explosions and said they heard gunfire close to the border.

In the village of al-Mahatta, a house was destroyed, killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding a two-year old and a four-year old. A 25-year-old woman and a man were killed in nearby villages, residents said.

The Lebanese army issued a brief statement about the incident. There was no immediate response from the prime minister or the foreign ministry, both of whom have expressed fears that Lebanon could be dragged into the conflict.

Turkey reinforced its border and scrambled fighter aircraft on several occasions last week after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane on June 22nd.

In Syria, the army bombarded towns across northern Aleppo province today in a concerted effort to root out insurgents who have taken control of some areas, the anti-government Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The bombing is the heaviest since the start of military operations in rural Aleppo in an attempt to control the region after regular Syrian army forces suffered heavy losses over the past few months," the British-based activist group reported. It said three people had died, including two rebels.

Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and commercial hub, has been largely spared of the violence. But the outskirts of the city and the wider province have seen rebels gaining territory since the uprising began 16 months ago.

Opposition activists say at least 15,000 people have been killed over that time. Assad says the rebels are foreign-backed terrorists who have killed thousands of army and police troops in hit-and-run attacks and roadside bombings.

Assad's attempts at suppressing news reports of his murderous activities know now bounds:

Thirty-three professional and citizen journalists killed since March 2011

Published on Saturday 7 July 2012. Print Send français Partager
ٍRead in Arabic / بالعربية
A total of 33 professional and citizen journalists have been killed since the start of the uprising in Syria in March 2001, Reporters Without Borders said today, after attending yesterday’s meeting of the “Friends of Syria” in Paris as an observer.
The past few weeks have been particularly deadly, with around 10 citizen journalists killed since late May. Reporters Without Borders is also very disturbed to learn that freelance journalist Mohamed Sami Al-Kayyal was arrested in the coastal city of Tartus on 27 June.
“’We firmly condemn the remorseless crackdown and accelerating cycle of violence in what is now a civil war,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Freely and independently reported news and information are now an absolute necessity but they are unfortunately getting rarer and rarer. June saw the death of an unprecedented number of citizen journalists who have been sacrificing their lives to provide video footage of the uprising, the crackdown and now the military operations by armed groups fighting the ruthless Assad regime.
“We would also like to stress the difficulty of verifying any information coming out of Syria. The regime has managed to impose a media blackout by posing many obstacles to visits by foreign journalists – who are exposed to great danger if they come – and by jailing Syrian professional journalists who refuse to relay government propaganda. As for the activists who try to report and document the regime’s atrocities, they are hunted down relentlessly by the security services, which kill them or sometimes torture them to death.”
Following the war

The latest victim is Wael Omar Bard, a citizen journalist who was killed in Jarjanaz, 40 km south of Idlib, on 26 June. Bard used to live in Saudi Arabia and it was there that he started supporting the Syrian uprising by posting information about it on social networks. Then he returned to his native Syria armed with just a video camera and started filming demonstrations and the regime’s atrocities.
According to the Doha Centre for Media Freedom, he was filming a clash between the regular army and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) when he was killed by a shot to the heart. Activists said that on the eve of his death he went back to the village where he was born, Teftanazz, 10 km northeast of Idlib. He went there to bury his brother, a doctor specializing in emergency cases who was murdered by intelligence officers.
The citizen journalist Hamza Mahmoud Othman was fatally shot by a sniper in Homs on 21 June while filming the regular army’s shelling of two of its districts, Jobar and Al-Sultaniyeh. He often posted videos online showing events in Homs, which has been the scene of violent fighting for many months.
He was the brother of Ali “Al-Jedd” Othman, the citizen journalist who ran the Baba Amr press centre in Homs until it was destroyed in February and who was then captured by intelligence officers on 28 March.
Bassim Darwish died on 15 June from the injuries he received two days earlier in an explosion while covering the bombing of Rastan, a town 30 km north of Homs, by two military aircraft. He was one of the founders of the Rastan press centre and had covered many demonstrations in the region as well as the regular army’s operations.
Ayham Youssef Al-Hariri, an anti-government activist since March 2011, was fatally injured by the blast from a shell in Deraa on 13 June. Another local activist told the Doha Centre for Media Freedom that Hariri had been filming the army’s shelling of the Deraa district of Al-Sadd when he was hit by the explosion.
Aged 35, married and the father of five children, Hariri had been imprisoned and tortured twice by intelligence officers. As well as gathering and distributing news, he organized demonstrations, delivered aid to the families of victims and helped smuggle government opponents across the nearby border into Jordan.
Abdelhamid Idriss Matar, a 22-year-old student of agro-food engineering at Baath University in Homs, was fatally injured by a shot fired from a tank as he was filming an assault on Al-Qussair, a town 25 km south of Homs, on 31 May. He often filmed demonstrations and army operations, posting his videos on YouTube.
Reporters Without Borders already reported the deaths of two other citizen journalists last month – Ahmed Hamada in Homs on 16 June and Khaled Al-Bakir in Al-Qussair on 10 June.
The Coordinating Committee in Tel Rifaat, a town 20 km north of Aleppo, said Mohamed Hamdo Hallaq was killed by a shell while filming the army’s bombardment of the nearby town of Azaz on 2 July. The Doha Centre for Media Freedom said a citizen journalist identified as Samer Khalil Al-Sataleh was killed during the shelling of Douma, a town on the western outskirts of Damascus, on 28 June. And the Syrian Journalists League said Ghias Khaled Al-Hmouria was killed while filming an FSA operation in Douma on 25 June.
Nonetheless, due to the difficulty of obtaining information from Syria, Reporters Without Borders has not yet managed to independently confirm the deaths of the three people named in the previous paragraph or the fact that they were citizen journalists.
Reporters Without Borders has confirmed that, as of yesterday, a total of 33 Syrian citizens and professional journalists have been killed in connection with their journalistic activities since the start of the uprising in March 2011.
Death in detention

Reporters Without Borders also condemns the deaths of two citizen journalists in detention, Hassan Mohamed Al-Azhari and Rami Ismael Iqbal.
Arrested in the northeastern coastal city of Latakia on 13 April, Azhari was transferred to an intelligence agency prison in Damascus. His family was told that he died in detention – probably under torture – on 17 May. Aged 24, he was one of the founders of the Coordinating Committee in Latakia, where he filmed demonstrations and the government’s crackdown.
Iqbal, 28, died in detention following his arrest on 21 December 2011, but it is not known exactly where and when he died. A citizen journalist since the start of the uprising, he filmed local developments and provided information to foreign media. He was first arrested on 20 March 2011 after giving an interview to the BBC and went underground after his release.
The security forces raided his family home several times and even arrested his father and brothers. He sustained a gunshot injury and was captured, along with many other activists during a major army operation on 21 December in Dael, the town where he was born, located near Deraa. His fate had been unknown until one of his cellmates was released and reported that he died of the gunshot injury in prison.
Another arrest

Aged 26 and a native of Hama, Mohamed Sami Al-Kayyal is a Damascus University history graduate who writes for regional newspapers and periodicals and who was already arrested in July 2011 in Damascus. He was arrested again in his hotel room in Tartus (60 km west of Homs) on 27 June, a day after arriving in this coastal city to see an acquaintance who had been the target of a murder attempt by pro-government militiamen.
Reporters Without Borders is extremely worried about what may happen to this journalist, especially as we have been told he has been transferred to an intelligence agency prison in Damascus. Everything indicates that he could be tortured while in detention. Reporters Without Borders calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

NATO, EUROPE and America are not interested with Syrian people choosing another dictator

they are going to choose one for them that will keep the region under control,

BEIRUT, July 8 (Reuters) - Syria's navy fired live missiles from ships and helicopters over the weekend, state media said on Sunday, in an exercise aiming at showcasing its ability to "defend Syria's shores against any possible aggression".
Syrian television aired video of a variety of missiles being fired from launchers on land and from ships and showed the Syrian Defence Minister Dawud Abdallah Rahijia in attendance.
"Naval Forces conducted an operational live fire exercise on Saturday, using missiles launched from the sea and coast, helicopters and missile boats, simulating a scenario of repelling a sudden attack from the sea," Syrian news agency SANA said, adding manoeuvres would continue for several days.
Opposition figures have been calling for a no-fly zone and NATO strikes against Syrian forces, similar to those carried out in Libya last year which enabled rebel ground forces to end the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
But while President Bashar al-Assad has faced sanctions and international condemnation over his crackdown on dissent which has left thousands dead, major Western and Arab powers have shied away from the idea of direct military action.
Turkey has reinforced its border and scrambled fighter aircraft several times since Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet on June 22 over what Damascus said were Syrian territorial waters in the Mediterranean. Ankara said the incident occurred in international air space.
More than 30 people were killed on Sunday during a government bombardment and clashes between Syrian forces and Free Syrian Army rebels fighting to oust Assad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Activists reported heavy shelling in residential areas of Deir al-Zor city and in Deraa province, the birthplace of the revolt near the Jordanian border.
Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory, said that residents of al-Sharifa in the wider Deir al-Zor province said rebels had taken control of a tank looted in combat for the first time and were using it to attack army positions.
In recent weeks, rebels have become more and more brazen in their attacks, holding small areas of territory across the country and clashing with troops only a few miles from the presidential palace in Damascus. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Tokyo; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Sounds as if Assad is at last upping his game, lets hope it is a short mission.

I don't even think Assad knows what he's doing any more.

Asia Times Online :: There will be hell to pay for NATO's Holy War

There will be hell to pay for NATO's Holy War
By Pepe Escobar

"US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running out of rhetorical ammunition in the US's Holy War against Syria. Perhaps it's the strain of launching a NATO war bypassing the UN Security Council. Perhaps it's the strain of being eaten for breakfast routinely by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Hillary has just called on "Western powers" and their Arab stooges - the NATOGCC compound [1] that passes for the "international community" - to "make it clear that Russia and China will pay a price because they are holding up progress" regarding weaponized regime change in Syria. In non-newspeak, this means, "If you block our new war, there will be payback". Howls of laughter in the corridors of the Kremlin and the Zhongnanhai notwithstanding, this shows how desperate the NATOGCC compound is to force regime change in Syria as a stopover in cutting off Iran's privileged connection with the Arab world. And this while Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - leading NATO's eastern flank - itches to attack Syria but can't find a way to sell it to Turkish public opinion.

Into this incandescent context plunges WikiLeaks - releasing a batch of very embarrassing emails against the Assad system and the NATO rebels as well. A possible side effect will be to inspire waves of so-called progressives all across the West to start supporting the Holy War on Syria. A realistic effect will be to show how unsavory both sides - the police state Assad system and the armed opposition - really are.

Car bombing tourism, anyone?

It's useful to examine what price Washington itself, not to mention its NATO subjects, could be paying for this Holy War branch-out fought with - who else - the same bunch of "terrorists" who until yesterday were about to destroy Western civilization and turn it into a giant Caliphate. Washington, London and Paris have tried - twice - to twist the UN Security Council into yet another war. They were blocked by Russia and China. So plan B was to bypass the UN and launch a NATO war. Problem is NATO has no stomach - and no funds - for a very risky war with a country that can actually defend itself. Thus plan C is to bet on a prolonged civil war, using the Far-from-Free Syrian Army (FSA), crammed with mercenaries and jihadists, and the band of opportunistic exiles known as the Syrian National Council (SNC).

The SNC has actually called for a Libya-style no-fly zone over Syria - shorthand for a NATO war. Turkey also formally asked NATO for a no-fly zone. NATO commanders may be inept - but they have a certain amount of experience with major embarrassment (see Afghanistan). They flatly refused it. The SNC - and the FSA - could not be more un-representative. The "Friends of Syria" - as in Hillary and the Arab stooges - barely acknowledge the existence of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB), the main indigenous opposition movement in Syria, composed of 13 political parties, mostly from the Left, Arab nationalists and including one Kurdish party. The NCB firmly denounces any form of militarization and totally dismisses the FSA.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari - a Kurd - has warned that Salafi-jihadists of the al-Qaeda mould are moving into Syria in droves. Apparently this bunch still listens very closely to "invisible" al-Qaeda ideologue Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri; five months ago he issued these marching orders to jihadis in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. It also helps that many of them are being weaponized - via different networks - by the House of Saud and Qatar. For months everybody knows that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) of al-Qaeda-linked Abdul Hakim Belhaj has been active in Syria - as well as remnants of al-Qaeda in Iraq now responsible for car bombings even in Damascus.

In the event of a post-Assad Syria dominated by hardcore Sunnis infiltrated by Wahhabis and Salafi-jihadists, guaranteed blowback will leave Afghanistan after the 1980s anti-Soviet jihad looking like a ride on Disneyland Hong Kong.

We accept yuan and rubles

As for China, it's laughing about Hillary's desperation all the way to the bank. As the House of Saud becomes ever more paranoid with what it sees as the Obama administration flirting with democracy in the Arab world, Beijing jacked up trade ties by delivering a bunch of new missiles to Riyadh. And while the "West" flirts with Holy War, Beijing's state-sponsored corporations have been buying commodities like crazy all across the Middle East, North Africa and South America - as well as stockpiling rare earths for strategic reserves. China produces no less than 97% of the world's rare earths - used on everything from iPads to those shiny new missiles now frying in the Arabian desert.

Other side effects as in "the price to pay" for the bypassing of the UN and the obsession on NATO as global Robocop will be inevitable. It shouldn't be forgotten that the Holy War on Syria is a stopover on the way to Tehran. For instance, a new system of maritime insurance, as well as a new international exchange mechanism - bypassing Western diktats - may be about to be born. Yet the most important element may be a concerted move by Russia, Iran and China to reorganize the global energy market by transacting outside of the petrodollar. So Washington cuts Iran off from SWIFT - the international bank clearing system? Iran's central bank counterpunches; if you want to do business with us, you can pay in any currency apart from the US dollar, or you can pay with gold.

This is the Holy Grail of the Holy War - not Syria; one thing is for Tehran to accept euros as payment for its oil and gas; another thing is to accept gold. On top of it with full support from both Russia and China. In a nutshell; the whole Holy War syndrome is accelerating the end of the US dollar as global reserve currency. And when it happens, will there be an American Spring? Or will US elites - like the Mob - have the guts, and the muscle, to force Russia and China to pay the price? "

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I don't even think Assad knows what he's doing any more.

I am pretty certain that Assad is getting plenty of "non leathal assitance" from Russia, Iran and China

^^ You're still quoting that lunatic's flannel?

I think Annan needs his head examined. Does he not realise Assad will agree *anything* with him if it gets him out of the country and he can carry on murdering the opposition?

International envoy Annan says agreement reached with Assad

• By ALBERT AJI and ZEINA KARAM
  Associated Press
• Posted: Monday, July 9, 2012 8:23 a.m.

DAMASCUS, Syria — International envoy Kofi Annan raised hopes of a revived peace effort in Syria, saying he has reached a framework with President Bashar Assad and would hold talks with rebel leaders. Annan was traveling to Damascus’ key ally Iran later Monday for talks with leaders there.


Annan is the architect of an international plan to end Syria’s 16-month-old crisis, which started with largely peaceful protests calling for reforms but has since transformed into a bloody insurgency to topple Assad. With violence growing increasingly intense and diplomatic efforts faltering, Annan has said Iran must be a part of a solution to a conflict that activists say has killed at least 14,000 people.



“We agreed on an approach which I will share with the armed opposition,” Annan told reporters following a two-hour meeting with Assad which he described as “candid and constructive.”


“I also stressed the importance of moving ahead with a political dialogue which the president accepts,” he said. Annan did not disclose details of the framework he reached with Assad.


Iranian state TV said Annan will be traveling to Tehran for meetings later Monday.
In an interview with the French daily Le Monde on Saturday, Annan acknowledged that the international community’s efforts to find a political solution to the escalating violence in Syria have failed. He added that more attention needed to be paid to the role of longtime Syrian ally Iran, saying Tehran “should be part of the solution.”


It is unclear what role Annan envisions for Iran, a staunch Syrian ally that has stood by Assad throughout the uprising. Tehran’s close ties could make it an interlocutor with the regime, though the U.S. has often refused to let the Islamic Republic attend conferences about the Syria crisis.


Annan’s six-point peace plan was to begin with a cease-fire in mid-April between government forces and rebels seeking to topple Assad, to be followed by political dialogue. But the truce never took hold, and almost 300 U.N. observers sent to monitor the cease-fire are now confined to their hotels because of the escalating violence.


“President Assad reassured me of the government’s commitment to the six-point plan which, of course, we should move ahead to implement in a much better fashion than has been the situation so far,” Annan told reporters Monday.


Despite agreeing to a series of peace proposals in the past 16 months, the Syrian regime has repeatedly ignored its commitments and instead continued to wage a brutal crackdown on dissent. The rebels have also stepped up their attacks against government troops, dealing heavy losses among their ranks.


Annan said his team in Syria will follow up on the agreement reached with Assad.
“I also encourage governments and other entities with influence to have a similar effort,” he added.


Assad insisted in an interview aired Sunday that he would continue fighting the “terrorists” in his country, a term Syrian officials use to refer to rebels.


“As long as you have terrorism and as long as the dialogue didn’t work, you have to fight the terrorism. You cannot keep just making dialogue while they are killing your people and your army,” he said in the interview with German broadcaster ARD.


The 46-year-old Assad who has ruled Syria since taking over from his father in 2000 also, accused the U.S. of fueling the uprising.


The U.S. is partnering with those “terrorists ... with weapons, money or public and political support at the United Nations,” Assad said. “They offer the umbrella and political support to those gangs to ... destabilize Syria.”

Translation: "If they haven't got enough already, we'll ship them to Iran and they'll forward them on".

No Russian Arms Supplies to Syria ‘Until Stabilization’

16:25 09/07/2012
FARNBOROUGH (UK), July 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will not deliver any new types of weapons or sign any military contracts with Syria until the situation there stabilizes, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said on Monday.
“Russia, as well as other countries, is concerned by the situation in Syria,” he said. “We are not talking about new arms supplies to that country.”
“Until the situation stabilizes we will not deliver any new weapons [to Syria].”
He said in particular that Russia will not supply Yak-130 combat training aircraft to Syria until the situation there settles down.
Russia has signed a $550-million contract with Syria for the delivery of 36 Yak-130s.
He said Libya has requested delivery of Russian spare parts for the arms and military equipment supplied previously.
“We are in contact with Libya’s new structures,” he said. “We are currently in consultation.”
The UN estimated in May that some 10,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based organization with a network of activists in Syria, revised the death toll to 16,500 on Monday. Of those, some 5,000 were government troops and army defectors, the group said. June had been the bloodiest month of the conflict so far, with around 100 deaths every day, it said.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

we'll ship them to Iran and they'll forward them on".

With a few falling of the back of the lorry, no doubt, on their journey through Iran and Iraq

Yes.

It's bollocks.

But I can see why you like it:

"the Holy War on Syria".

Purlease, the Syrian people deserve better for the sacrifices they have made and are making.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

the Syrian people

The Syrian people are being slaughtered by the perfidious Albany and GCC. They are being left swinging their dicks in the wind whilst the "Syrian opposition", that's a laugh, lord it up in the flesh pots of Washington, Paris and London.