Yahoo: Assad predicts disaster if West meddles in Syria

[visionary]

More on the heart eating incident:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/world/meast/syria-eaten-heart/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Oh yeah, I forgot I read another article where someone interviewed the crazy guy.

http://world.time.com/2013/05/14/we-will-slaughter-all-of-them-an-interview-with-the-man-behind-the-syrian-atrocity-video/

Exclusive: “We Will Slaughter All of Them.” The Rebel Behind The Syrian Atrocity Video

News sites around the world have shown Khalid al Hamad sink his teeth into what appears to be the lung of a dead Syrian government soldier. His fellow rebels have called for him to be arrested or killed for the act. Human rights groups have condemned him. But Al Hamad has no regrets.

In an interview conducted via Skype in the early hours of May 14 al Hamad explained to TIME what caused him to cut out the soldier’s organs: “We opened his cell phone and I found a clip of a woman and her two daughters fully naked and he was humiliating them, and sticking a stick here and there.”

Al Hamad, who is Sunni and harbors a sectarian hatred for Alawite Muslims, said he has another gruesome video of his killing a government soldier from the Alawite faith. (Syrian President Bashar al Assad is Alawite; the conflict in Syria is increasingly sectarian.) “Hopefully we will slaughter all of them [Alawites].

I have another video clip that I will send to them. In the clip I am sawing another Shabiha [pro-government militiaman] with a saw. The saw we use to cut trees. I sawed him in small pieces and large ones.” Al Hamad also explained that even though both sides of the conflict in Syria are using video clips of their own brutal actions to intimidate the other he believes that his clip would have particular impact on the regime’s troops. “They film as well but after what I did hopefully they will never step into the area where Abu Sakkar is,” he said, using his nom de guerre and referring to the part of Syria he currently controls.

He's a ****ing dangerous lunatic...but I do wonder how many more like him will show up if the war drags on for much longer.

[Boss_Hogg]

Oh yeah, I forgot I read another article where someone interviewed the crazy guy.

http://world.time.com/2013/05/14/we-will-slaughter-all-of-them-an-interview-with-the-man-behind-the-syrian-atrocity-video/

He's a ****ing dangerous lunatic...but I do wonder how many more like him will show up if the war drags on for much longer.

I saw the unedited video, it's quite disturbing.

[visionary]

I saw the unedited video, it's quite disturbing.

I avoided it. I generally try not to watch any of the more gruesome videos out of Syria.

I saw way too many dead kids, close ups of people being gunned down during protests, and mutilated, blown up, charred bodies during the first year or so (and from Libya before that).

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/middleeast/grisly-killings-in-syrian-towns-dim-hopes-for-peace-talks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

An Atrocity in Syria, With No Victim Too Small

After dragging 46 bodies from the streets near his hometown on the Syrian coast, Omar lost count. For four days, he said, he could not eat, remembering the burned body of a baby just a few months old; a fetus ripped from a woman’s belly; a friend lying dead, his dog still standing guard.

Omar survived what residents, antigovernment activists and human rights monitors are calling one of the darkest recent episodes in the Syrian war, a massacre in government-held Tartus Province that has inflamed sectarian divisions, revealed new depths of depravity and made the prospect of stitching the country back together appear increasingly difficult.

Nadim Houry, the director of Human Rights Watch in Beirut, said he sensed “a complete disconnect between diplomacy and events on the ground.”

“The conflict is getting more visceral,” he said. Without concrete confidence-building measures, he said, and with more people “seeing it as an existential struggle, it’s hard to imagine what the negotiations would look like.”

The recent executions, reconstructed by speaking with residents and human rights monitors, unfolded over three days in two Sunni enclaves in the largely Alawite and Christian province, first in the village of Bayda and then in the Ras al-Nabeh district of the nearby city of Baniyas.

Government troops and supporting militias went house to house, killing entire families and smashing men’s heads with concrete blocks.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/15/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94E05P20130515?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

U.N. General Assembly to vote on Syria resolution; Russia opposed

The U.N. General Assembly is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that condemns Syrian authorities and accepts the opposition Syrian National Coalition as party to a potential political transition.

Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is opposed to the resolution, which was drafted by Qatar and other Arab nations and circulated among the 193 U.N. member states. Some Western diplomats said it was unlikely to win as many votes as a resolution that passed last year with 133 in favor.

No country has a veto in the General Assembly.

"I'm convinced a lot of countries voted for this text because they believed they were voting for the winning side," a senior western U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in reference to the August, 2012 resolution. "They are not so sure anymore."

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2013/05/14/nr-wedeman-syrian-refugees-limbo.cnn

Syrian refugees stuck in limbo

Added on May 14, 2013

Ben Wedeman reports from Turkey on the growing fears of Syrian refugees.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/russia-calls-on-syria-opposition-to-back-peace-conference

Russia calls on Syria opposition to back peace conference

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called on the Syrian opposition to support Moscow and Washington in their efforts to work towards convening a peace conference to end the bloodshed in Syria.

"It is important for all participants to express articulate support for the Russian-US initiative to implement the Geneva communiqué," Lavrov was quoted as saying in the Swedish town of Kiruna by Russian news agencies.

Syria's key National Coalition opposition group is scheduled to meet in Istanbul on May 23 to discuss a Russia-US proposal for an international conference on a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/fierce-fighting-erupts-at-syrias-aleppo-prison

Fierce fighting erupts at Syria's Aleppo prison

Syrian troops backed by tanks and warplanes on Wednesday fought to repel an attack on the central prison in Aleppo after rebels blew up its walls in suicide car bombings, a watchdog said.

Around 4,000 prisoners including Islamists and common law criminals are held in the prison on the outskirts of the northern city, which is largely under rebel control, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Regime forces fired tank shells and launched air raids around the jail to repel the rebel attack, igniting fire and damaging neighboring houses, the Observatory said.

It said a child was killed and seven members of a family were wounded in the bombings, it added, citing activists on the ground.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/explosion-near-opera-house-syrian-capital-sources-tell-al-jazeera

Explosion near the Opera House in the Syrian capital, sources tell Al Jazeera.

An explosion went off near the Opera House on Ummayad Sqaure, in central Damascus, early on Wednesday, sources told Al Jazeera.

According to reports that it was an improvised explosive device attached to a car.

There are no reports of casualties or damages.

A resident in the area told Al Jazeera that security forces temporarily closed road but that it has been reopened and that traffic is able to use the road again

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters 've liberated the new building of the central jail (Aleppo). fierce fighting is taking place in the old building

2:03 AM

https://twitter.com/pdanahar

Arab Dip told me: Rebels in Syria armed on whims of international diplomacy. Nusra gets funding from Saudi individuals so supply constant

3:31 AM

Dip's involved in syrian crisis say 30-40% of rebels claim affiliation with Nusra front but few believe its ideology, they just want guns

3:43 AM

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

No good news to report on the @refugees front w another 4,228 x'ing to safety of jordan in past 2 days. 535 others returned to Syria.

4:32 AM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Statement from the Free Syrian Army General Staff condemns the crime committed by FSA soldier eating enemy's heart.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=482097828528873&set=a.458923474179642.1073741828.458106567594666&type=1&theater …

4:28 AM

The FSA has called for an investigation that will ultimately hold the soldier accountable for his crimes, and punish him accordingly.

4:34 AM

Breaking: Internet in Syria is offline once again as of 10:00AM local time. All domestic websites are offline as well. via @renesys

5:04 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=657117997648673&l=3c0e4b16ca

Local Coordination Committees

By the end of Tuesday, Local committees documented 60 martyrs including 4 women, 10 children and 8 martyrs under torture: 20 martyrs were reported in Damascus Suburbs; 11 martyrs in Homs; 10 in Idlib; 9 in Hama; 9 in Aleppo; 4 in Deir Ezzor; 2 in Daraa; 2 in Raqqa; 1 in Lattakia, and 1 in Sweida

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22536489

Syria rebels 'in assault on Aleppo prison'

The rebels apparently detonated two car bombs to blast through the walls of the prison, which holds 4,000 inmates including anti-government activists.

The opposition said government forces had counter-attacked using tank shells and air raids.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-official-hints-at-more-attacks-on-syria-warns-assad-not-to-respond-1.524151

Israel publicly warns Assad: If you attack us, we will topple your regime

"If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel…he will risk forfeiting his regime," a senior Israeli official told the New York Times on Wednesday.

The Times' White House correspondent Mark Landler wrote that the official contacted the newspaper on his own initiative.

Landler added that the official had been briefed in the last two days by other senior Israeli officials, who have intimate knowledge of the recent developments in Syria. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

The official added that Israel is considering further strikes in Syria in order to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons into Hezbollah's hands.

"The transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah will destabilize and endanger the entire region,” the official said. "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate."

“Israel has so far refrained from intervening in Syria’s civil war and will maintain this policy as long as Assad refrains from attacking Israel directly or indirectly,” the official added.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/richardspencer/100217033/cannibalism-in-syria-why-is-this-a-bigger-story-than-the-routine-slaughter-of-children/

Cannibalism in Syria: why is this a bigger story than the routine slaughter of children?

The revolution is not a dinner party, Chairman Mao famously said. Tell that to Khaled al-Hamad, the rogue rebel leader who had himself videoed biting into the heart he had just cut out of a Syrian regime soldier, now circulating wildly on the internet. We don't actually see him consume the organ, but he appears to tear off a chunk with his teeth.

Actually, Chairman Mao's dictum wasn't even honoured in China. During the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution, Red Guards in China's southern Guangxi province took rather literally the order to consume their capitalist reader enemies. According to investigative reports that leaked out in the 1990s, at least 137 people were eaten at banquets ordered by local officials. One woman was recorded by an internal inquiry as having torn the first strip from the roasted body of a school headmaster, her boyfriend's father, to prove that despite the personal connection she was as "Red" as the best of them.

There is a point to this. Mutilating your enemy's body and even eating his flesh are not, I think we can agree, good things, but they do have a long history. You can go back to the Iliad for the earliest great description of what happens when the bloodlust is up.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/15/senators_introduce_bipartisan_bill_to_arm_syrian_rebels

Senators introduce bipartisan bill to arm Syrian rebels

Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Bob Corker (R-TN) introduced a bill Wednesday to arm the Syrian rebels, the latest piece of legislation aimed at pressuring the Obama administration to intervene more aggressively in the protracted civil war. The bill provides lethal weapons to vetted members of the Syrian opposition and beefs up sanctions on weapons sales and petroleum sales to President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

In short, it has all the hallmarks of the bill Menendez introduced last week, but with a bipartisan sheen. As Andrew Tabler, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, described the Menendez bill last week, "If you want to pressure the president into acting, it's a pretty good bill ...The last time the Hill moved on Syria was sanctions on Syrian oil in the summer of 2011. That pressured the president to move, and this could too." Its new bipartisan gloss could give it that much more power.

The legislation is set to be taken up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with a markup session scheduled for Tuesday, May 21.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/15/syria-weapons-good-guys

All sides in Syria have weapons 'except the good guys', says British official

All sides in the Syrian conflict have access to weapons "except the good guys," according to the official in charge of handling Britain's response to the crisis in Syria.

The head of the Syria team at the Foreign Office, publicly revealed for the first time how important weapons had become to Britain's private bargaining with the Syrian opposition. He suggested the opposition had insisted on getting access to arms before they agree to enter talks with the Assad regime.

Speaking at a meeting in the Commons, the official said: "We are trying to get the opposition to get involved in a negotiation with people they really don't want to negotiate with. The political reality is that in order to get them to the table we need to amend the arms embargo. It is that simple. They need an incentive."

He defended Britain's attempts to lift an EU arms embargo against Syria by claiming that the current restrictions were pushing Syria towards extremism. On Tuesday a video showing a rebel commander apparently biting the heart or lung of a dead government soldier raised more doubts about western backing of the Syrian opposition.

The official suggested that arms could be delivered to groups vetted against extremism and such abuses. "Everyone is getting arms except the good guys ... It means that people are becoming more and more radicalised," he said.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syria-rebels-vow-to-punish-atrocities-after-video-outrage#ixzz2TOCNFYWH

Syria rebels vow to punish atrocities after video outrage

Syria's internet, meanwhile, was down for the second time in a week while on the ground rebels launched an attack on the central prison in Aleppo, sparking fierce fighting with regime forces, a watchdog said.

The mainstream rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) issued its statement after a gruesome video of an alleged rebel fighter cutting out and apparently eating the organs of a regime soldier emerged online.

"Any act contrary to the values that the Syrian people have paid their blood and lost their homes (for) will not be tolerated, the abuser will be punished severely even if they are associated with the Free Syrian Army," the group said.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/russia-syria-policy-lebanon-beirut-geneva-conference.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Russian Embassy in Beirut Becomes Hub for Syria Diplomacy

Since the visit of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to Beirut on April 26, the Russian Embassy in the Lebanese capital appears to be a crisis management group charged with solving the Syrian file or a working group preparing for the second Geneva conference. This is the case for several reasons.

Russia’s diplomats have moved from Damascus to Beirut, as have a majority of the diplomatic missions to Syria. In Beirut, the Russians have been able to communicate and interact with external parties on the Syrian crisis more than they could in Damascus. Beirut was chosen over other capitals in states neighboring Syria to be the base of Russian diplomatic work in view of historical, geographical and personal considerations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/middleeast/un-calls-for-political-transition-in-syria.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0

U.N. Calls for Political Transition in Syria

As the bloodletting continued unabated in Syria, the 193-member General Assembly passed a nonbinding resolution on Wednesday calling for a political transition to end the civil war there, putting the onus on the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop the killing.

But even as the vote was being tallied, members recognized that it, like every other diplomatic initiative, would probably fail to stem the violence or coax out a political solution. While the resolution passed 107 to 12, it fell far short of the 133 votes in support of a similar resolution last August. The 59 abstentions reflected the widespread sentiment that the new initiative might not help push both parties toward new peace talks in Geneva proposed by the United States and Russia.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/kerry-confident-peace-talks-will-go-ahead

Kerry confident peace talks will go ahead

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday they believed they could pull off peace talks on Syria.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed a military checkpoint in al-zallaqiyat (north-east of halfaya). +15 assad thugs were killed

1:27 PM

resistance fighters have liberated tall al-kharuf in the southern countryside of #Damascus. many assad thugs were killed

2:02 PM

resistance fighters have liberated a few places in salah al-din neighborhood in Aleppo city. some assad soldiers were killed

2:10 PM

jabhat al-nusrah blew up a military checkpoint in qizhil (west of homs city). many assad thugs were killed

2:37 PM

https://twitter.com/hhassan140

Needless to say UN GA resolution is symbolic - the world's action against the regime's atrocities blocked by Russia. Gentle reminder.

1:48 PM

Another positive thing about passing the resolution is that if it wasn't passed, it'd be a victory added to the regime's recent dip gains.

1:53 PM

(the sustainability of weapons and other support for Rebels) that's unfortunately changing - massive disruption of flow till Ruso-American conf. Weakening radicals yet no arms to moderates

1:57 PM

frustrating. Good to weaken radicals but they should support the others. For now, the US has no plan for that. Smothering only.

2:09 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=657560904271049&l=4b6007079d

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Wednesday the Local Coordination Committees were able to document 90 martyrs including 6 woman and 7 children: 28 martyrs were reported in Aleppo; 21 martyrs in Homs; 19 martyrs in Damascus and its suburbs; 7 martyrs in Hama; 5 martyrs in Idlib; 4 martyrs in Raqqa; 3 martyrs in Deir Ezzor; 2 martyrs in Daraa and one martyr in Qunaitra

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/16/us-syria-crisis-offensive-idUSBRE94F0T420130516?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

Syrian rebels launch offensive in south to reverse losses

Syrian rebels said they attacked an important military base in the south and checkpoints in the city of Deraa on Thursday, trying to regain ground lost to President Bashar al-Assad's forces near the Jordanian border.

The rebels were thrown onto the defensive last week when Assad's troops retook the town of Khirbet Ghazaleh on the main north-south highway between Damascus and Jordan.

They said hundreds of fighters with rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns were brought in on Thursday to lay siege to the fortress-like headquarters of the Syrian army's 52nd Mechanised Brigade, one of the largest bases in Deraa province.

The base, almost 80 km (50 miles) south of Damascus, lies at the heart of a heavily fortified zone which has traditionally formed a southern line of defense protecting the capital.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/16/us-syria-crisis-russia-idUSBRE94F0UJ20130516

Russia: Iran must participate in proposed Syria conference

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran must take part in a proposed international conference to end Syria's civil war, but that Western states wanted to limit the participants and possibly predetermine the outcome of the talks.

"Among some of our Western colleagues, there is a desire to narrow the circle of external participants and begin the process from a very small group of countries in a framework which, in essence, would predetermine the negotiating teams, agenda, and maybe even the outcome of talks," Lavrov said in an interview posted on the Foreign Ministry website on Thursday.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/obama-erdogan-vow-to-up-pressure-on-assad

Obama, Erdogan vow to up pressure on Assad

US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to crank up pressure on Syria's President Bashar al-Assad Thursday, but offered no concrete new measures to do so.

Obama warned there was no "magic formula" to force Assad to leave power, as both the United States and Turkey want, but said he hoped a conference that Washington is organizing with Russia next month would be successful.

He gave no sign that he was ready to satisfy Turkish calls for Washington to overcome its reservations about directly arming rebels fighting Assad's regime.

"There is no magic formula for dealing with an extraordinary violent and difficult situation like Syria's," Obama said, after meeting Erdogan at the White House.

"If there was, I think the Prime Minister and I would already have acted upon it and it would already be finished," Obama said.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidblair/100217064/obama-ignored-all-his-advisers-on-syria-and-he-isnt-going-to-change-his-mind/

Obama ignored all his advisers on Syria – and he isn't going to change his mind

There’s a remarkable piece in the New Yorker about how President Obama is grappling with his wrenching dilemma over what to do about Syria. It’s one of those examples of American journalism that gives you a genuine feel for the atmosphere behind the scenes – and of how, in the words of one former US official, “all the options are horrible”.

That set me thinking about an incident that has been widely reported, but whose true significance might not have been fully appreciated. Last year, the entire US national security team came up with a unanimous recommendation. These people very rarely agree with one another, but they all told Obama that the time had come for America to arm the Syrian rebels. The degree of consensus was remarkable: Leon Panetta, then defence secretary, Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, and General David Petraeus, then head of the CIA, all advised Obama to tip the balance of the war by sending weapons to carefully vetted units within Syria’s insurgency. And the President turned them down.

https://medium.com/syrian-uprising/f29cbccebaa5

The Wait

This is a guest post by @BigAlBrand who is an activist living in Homs, cradle of the Syrian revolution. He agreed to share some insights from his everyday life.

We each have a certain routine we live by most of our days, a routine that changes in every episode of our lives. School days have a routine different from college and work days. Life in a war zone has its own episodes of routine as well.

During the past two years, our lives changed dramatically. In cities like Homs, Daraa or Douma, that saw early clashes, it now feels a lot like living in a war zone . But in the past few months we have been in a new routine, which I can describe best in one word : Waiting.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/security-forces-detain-syrian-actress-lawyer-says

Security forces detain Syrian actress, lawyer says

A prominent Syrian actress and outspoken activist against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad was detained on Thursday, a human rights lawyer said.

"At noon today, the security forces detained the free actress May Skaf while she was on her way home in the Mashru Dummar neighborhood" of Damascus, Anwar al-Bunni reported on Facebook.

"Skaf made a mobile phone call to her son, to tell him her identity card had been taken from her by members of the security forces at a checkpoint," Bunni told AFP.

Her mobile phone has since been switched off, he added.

Skaf's "detention... confirms that the Syrian authorities... are seeking to silence the voices of cultural and political figures, to try and give credence to their narrative that the regime is fighting terrorism", Bunni said.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about an hour ago

John Brennan, the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has, arrived in Israel on a surprise visit to discuss the situation in Syria, an official Israeli source said.

The CIA chief went straight into a meeting in Tel Aviv with Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon late on Thursday, the official said.

Private television station Channel 10 said that Yaalon reaffirmed during the talks that Israel "will not permit the transfer of weapons" from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed a military convoy, including 2 trucks & a bmp, near khanasir in Aleppo. assad soldiers were killed

11:36 PM

al-farouq brigades say they have liberated a military checkpoint (al-mahd) in hama (west of qal`at al-madiq) & seized weapons

2:16 AM

a report says assad's forces have left the 4th military detachment in daraa (between al-karak & umm al-walad)

2:34 AM

resistance fighters have liberated a rest house in brigade 52 in daraa

2:38 AM

resistance fighters have seized the water tank in brigade 52 in daraa

2:39 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

conflicting reports on the central jail in Aleppo. my activist & sham's reporter say resistance fighters liberated the new building. It seems the resistance fighters are still fighting assad's thugs in the old building of the central jail in Aleppo

6:05 AM

resistance fighters have liberated the town of al-qaysa in al-ghoutah al-sharqiyah

6:33 AM

resistance fighters destroyed 4 tanks & 2 bmp vehicles near the central jail in Aleppo

resistance fighters seized a bmp-1 & a truck near the central jail in Aleppo

11:53 AM

resistance fighters have liberated a military compound (232) in brigade 52

12:23 PM

resistance fighters say they didn't destroy the central jail in Aleppo for the sake of the prisoners

12:53 PM

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

Obama "Assad need to go. He need to transfer power to the transition body"

12:54 PM

Erdogan: Syria was the number one issue we discussed. Tonight we gonna discuss Syria in more details

12:59 PM

Obama: we would've preferred Assad go 2 years ago, a year ago or 6 months ago. We have consistency saying he must go

1:23 PM

Note that PM Erdogan will have 2 hour private dinner w/pres Obama tonight, it's when, Erdogan says, will talk Syria in depth

1:25 PM

https://twitter.com/CFKlebergTT

In MFA statement Russia accuses "some of our Western colleagues" of trying to determine participants and maybe outcome of Syria conference.

1:41 PM

Meanwhile (PreviousTweet) France's Hollande says Russia must be persuaded to break it off with Syria's Assad.

1:44 PM

Obama said just now, after Erdogan meeting, that there's "evidence" of chem weapon use in Syria but "more specific information" needed.

1:46 PM

Obama "reserves the right" to resort to diplomatic and military options if there's conclusive proof Syria used chem weaps, he said just now

1:47 PM

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam

Breaking: US Treasury designates Syria Airline and Dunya TV as part of Assad support network.

3:04 PM

US Treasury designates Syria Arab Airlines,"for acting for or on behalf of Iran’s IRGC" in transporting weapons + ammunition to Assad.

3:10 PM

US sanctions target 3 entities in Syria today: Iran, Assad and Nusra.

3:15 PM

[visionary]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10062832/Syrian-rebels-call-off-Aleppo-prison-siege-after-troops-throw-inmates-out-window.html

Syrian rebels call off Aleppo prison siege after troops throw inmates out window

Forces belonging to the Free Syrian Army have managed to fight their way around the northern outskirts of the city, where the jail is situated, since seizing the nearby Rangers Academy three months ago.

They drove troops out of an unfinished extension to the prison earlier this week, and on Wednesday drove holes, including by blowing up two cars, in the wall surrounding the main compound where up to 4,000 prisoners are being held by several hundred troops.

But they failed to take the prison itself on Friday. "I saw ten bodies being thrown out today," said Anas, 30, a soldier speaking after withdrawing from the rebels' front line. "Yesterday, we attacked at about 5 o'clock, but when we began they started throwing bodies through the window.

"The bodies are still there, and we are close enough to smell them. We cannot get them because they are in the line of fire." He said the attack had stopped to prevent more prisoners being killed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-rebels-demand-weapons-before-talks/2013/05/16/f12a304a-be5d-11e2-89c9-3be8095fe767_story.html

Syrian rebels demand weapons before talks

The Syrian opposition is demanding access to arms before planned peace talks next month, amid a growing consensus that it may take a shift in the balance of power on the battlefield before any meaningful negotiations can take place.

Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian Opposition Coalition, said Thursday that his group is pushing for “serious arming” of the rebels ahead of the U.S.- and *Russian-backed negotiations. His comments come as European nations consider linking the lifting of an E.U. arms embargo to the talks.

Analysts and diplomats say that those [regime] gains may dim the chance of the regime taking part in substantive talks and that the opposition needs to be strengthened. Meanwhile, the opposition has jumped at the opportunity to leverage its long-standing demand for arms.

“We’re not going to sit at the table while Assad continues to kill, supported by Russia and Hezbollah,” Saleh said. “What we are asking for is arming the Free Syrian Army or Supreme Military Council — before the talks.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/syria-turkey-obama-differences-assad?CMP=twt_gu

Obama stays cautious on Syria after talks as Turkey presses for urgency

Barack Obama and Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan skated over major differences on how to deal with the Syrian crisis after a lengthy meeting at the White House on Thursday.

Obama, at a joint press conference in the Rose Garden, said there was "no magic formula" for resolving the conflict. He pinned hopes on an international conference proposed for Geneva next month that would bring together the Assad government and the rebels, in spite of widespread scepticism about the chances of it bringing about an end to the conflict.

Erdogan is pressing for more urgency and more positive action to bring the Syrian catastrophe to an end and is seeking the US and others in the international community to implement at the very least a no-fly zone to prevent Syrian jets and helicopters operating with impunity in rebel-held areas.

Erdogan said: "Our aim is to accelerate this process and I will be visiting other countries and my foreign minister will do the same just to see how we can speed things up to prevent the deaths of more people."

Erdogan, not wanting to embarrass Obama on his home soil, replied to press questions about the two different approaches by saying he preferred to look at the glass as "half-full rather than half-empty", focusing on what the two agreed on: that Assad needed to go.

Obama, asked by a Turkish journalist if he would still be talking about the Syrian tragedy next year, said: "We would have preferred Assad to go two years ago, last year, six months ago, two months ago. There has been consistency on the part of my administration that Assad lost legitimacy when he started firing on his own people and killing his own people who were initially protesting peacefully for a greater voice in their country's affairs. Obviously that has escalated over time. So the answer is the sooner the better.

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21578057-more-decent-rebel-groups-are-being-squeezed-between-regimes-forces-and?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/the_hard_men_on_both_sides_prevail

The hard men on both sides prevail

BLACK flag flies over the governor’s headquarters in Raqqa, a city of 250,000 people in Syria’s north-east which is the biggest so far that the rebels have captured wholesale from President Bashar Assad’s regime. It is also a base for Jabhat al-Nusra (Victory Front), an extreme armed opposition group in Syria with which al-Qaeda in Iraq recently claimed to have merged.

But the group does not dominate Raqqa. At least four other rebel outfits, mainly Salafist ones whose members say they want to emulate the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, vie with a bunch of civilian councils for power over this tribal Sunni city, plastering its walls with rival graffiti. Yet in the eastern provinces as a whole, Jabhat al-Nusra has emerged as a hugely powerful presence. Among rebel fighters across the country it is probably the most effective single group.

Raqqa offers a snapshot of what is going on among the rebels elsewhere in Syria. The more moderate ones are now a minority. On one side they have been squeezed by Salafist factions, especially in the rebel-controlled east. On the other, they have been pushed back territorially by the regime as it regains ground in the more populated west of the country.

That is partly because Mr Assad’s allies, Iran and Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia movement, have backed the regime with more dedication than the Gulf Arab and Western states have helped the opposition. As the civil war has dragged on, the rebels, hardened by war and seeing where their bread is buttered, have become more Islamist and extreme.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/hollande-russia-must-be-convinced-to-finish-with-assad

Hollande: Russia must be convinced to 'finish with Assad'

French President Francois Hollande said Thursday that more efforts were needed to convince Moscow to drop its support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

"We must have a frank discussion with Russia to convince it that it is in its interests, in the interests of the region, in the interests of peace, to finish with Bashar al-Assad," Hollande told a press conference.

Hollande said France was "involved" in efforts by Washington and Moscow to push for direct talks between the opposition and Assad's regime.

He said resolving the conflict "cannot simply be dealt with by two countries, it must be done by all of the international community."

https://twitter.com/DarthNader

Free women of Raqqa pic.twitter.com/b2kAZnN2Ig

3:33 PM

Nusra will have a hard time imposing their will on Raqqa. The people of Raqqa are known for their staunch secularism.

3:37 PM

Raqqa also counters hegemonic narrative of seculars siding with regime vs. Islamists opposing it. Seculars & Islamists alike with the rev.

3:44 PM

A revolutionary cemetery in Quseir pic.twitter.com/6gpJIAYhFz

3:51 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Mai Skaf has been released after being detained by regime forces this morning.

4:01 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have liberated alanya area in khan al-asal (Aleppo)

3:59 PM

Fierce fighting is going on in idlib city. the water supply has been cut off. Resistance fighters are attacking 5 military checkpoints in idlib city

4:03 PM

+50 troops have defected in daraa http://youtu.be/omCeRhQNak8

4:04 PM

resistance fighters destroyed the military operations compound in brigade 52 in daraa

4:12 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Intense clashes on the outskirts and inside Idlib city with reports of the liberation of the Kunsora checkpoint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPricm6GfYo&feature=youtu.be

3:03 PM

Many regime soldiers arriving to the Idlib city hospital during heavy clashes at the city's checkpoints.

4:20 PM

The main checkpoints being targeted are the Bakfalon and Kunsuwora checkpoints.

4:21 PM

the clashes are concentrated at the south and west of the city.

4:26 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have liberated the soap factory in al-qaboun neighborhood in Damascus city. the factory was a military complex

4:36 PM

reports say assad's thugs have burned & destroyed many houses in the town of khirbat ghazalah in daraa

4:40 PM

update: resistance fighters destroyed 4 tanks yesterday (Thursday) in al-ghoutah al-sharqiyah

5:08 PM

resistance fighters have liberated a military checkpoint in idlib city. details in the morning

5:09 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=658010454226094&l=b955c109f4

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Wednesday, the coordination committees have documented 110 martyrs, including 3 women, 7 children, and 1 martyr under torture: 60 martyrs were reported in Damascus and suburbs; 17 in Aleppo; 10 in Homs; 8 in Hama; 5 in Idlib; 5 in Daraa; 4 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Raqqa

[visionary]

http://racanarchy.com/2013/05/17/the-destruction-of-yabroud/

The Destruction of Yabroud

For almost a year now we have been hearing loud cries for a political solution in Syria. The goal, some would have you believe, is to end the conflict in a way that sheds the least amount of blood. It is really a simple premise, the Syrian people’s representatives will meet with the representatives of Assad’s government to come to an agreement that will end the loss of life in Syria and restore peace. While it sound’s great on paper I would like to demonstrate to you why a political solution will never truly materialize despite it’s good intentions.

Yabroud, Damascus is a small town North East of Damascus’ city center. During the last two years of revolution Yabroud has remained a bastion of non-violent resistance against the regime. Rallying against the regime and eventually succeeding in freeing themselves from Assad’s militants without shedding blood. The following video will demonstrate how beautifully Yabroud’s people have come together in order to improve their town and their country.

Yabroud remained peaceful, free, and flourishing for almost a year until the regime decided they wanted ‘their territory’ back.

This is a video from Yabroud today as Assad’s military attacks the peaceful town in order to reclaim it.

http://www.etilaf.org/en/newsroom/press-release/item/460-warning-of-imminent-hama-countryside-massacre.html

Warning of Imminent Hama Countryside Massacre

Assad forces are currently imposing a siege and communications blackout on the towns of Halfaya and Aqrab, near the Hama countryside. Civilians in those areas are now cut off from contact with the outside world, and lives are in extreme danger.

The Syrian Coalition calls on nations from around the world and international organizations to mobilize rapidly in order to rescue women, children and civilians from the military forces that have been bombarding Halfaya and Aqrab for nine days in preparation for the coming assault on the inhabitants.

The Syrian Coalition is afraid that Assad forces will take advantage of the global community's continued silence and the Arab world's inaction in order to commit another grisly massacre in Halfaya and the surrounding villages.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/world/middleeast/russia-provides-syria-with-advanced-missiles.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Russia Sends More Advanced Missiles to Aid Assad in Syria

Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said Thursday.

Unlike Scud and other longer-range surface-to-surface missiles that the Assad government has used against opposition forces, the Yakhont antiship missile system provides the Syrian military a formidable weapon to counter any effort by international forces to reinforce Syrian opposition fighters by imposing a naval embargo, establishing a no-fly zone or carrying out limited airstrikes.

“It enables the regime to deter foreign forces looking to supply the opposition from the sea, or from undertaking a more active role if a no-fly zone or shipping embargo were to be declared at some point,” said Nick Brown, editor in chief of IHS Jane’s International Defense Review. “It’s a real ship killer.”

Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior American intelligence official, said Syria’s strengthened arsenal would “tend to push Western or allied naval activity further off the coast” and was also “a signal of the Russian commitment to the Syrian government.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/18/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE94G0BB20130518?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

U.S. chides Russia over missiles as peace plans suffer

The United States chided Russia for sending missiles to the Syrian government as plans for a peace conference promoted by Washington and Moscow were hit by diplomatic rifts over its scope and purpose.

Sectarian bloodshed in neighboring Iraq during Friday prayers, a hacking attack on a Western newspaper by sympathizers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and defiant comments by a rebel commander filmed eating a slain soldier's flesh were all reminders of how the two-year-old civil war is metastising.

But the divisions among world powers that have prevented a coordinated resolution were also again on display, just 10 days after Russia and the United States agreed to bury differences and push for an urgent international conference to end the war.

The most senior U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, described Russia's recent delivery of anti-ship missiles to Assad as "ill-timed and very unfortunate" and risked prolonging a war which has already killed more than 80,000 Syrians and which the U.N. said had driven 1.5 million abroad.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/opinion/can-obama-save-turkey-from-a-syrian-quagmire.html?smid=tw-share

Can Obama Save Turkey From a Syrian Quagmire?

WHEN Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met President Obama at the White House on Thursday, the most pressing topic was the war in Syria. Turkey has not faced a threat on this scale since Stalin demanded territory from the Turks in 1945.

In 2011, the Turkish government severed all diplomatic ties with the government of Bashar al-Assad and began to support the Syrian opposition groups seeking to oust him. But, thus far, this policy has failed, and it has exposed Turkey to growing risks, most recently two deadly bomb attacks in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli that were most likely planted by pro-Assad forces in retaliation for Turkish support of the Syrian rebels.

Turkey’s blessing over the past decade has been its reputation as a stable country in an otherwise unstable region. In November 2012, the global ratings agency Fitch rated Turkish bonds investment-grade for the first time since 1994. The country’s improved international reputation has alleviated a chronic economic problem: lack of capital. A steady infusion of foreign investment for over a decade has ushered in phenomenal growth, at some points exceeding 8 percent annually, and propelled Turkey into the Group of 20 industrialized nations.

Turkey has become a majority middle-class society for the first time in its history, helping Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party win three successive elections since 2002.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/international/turkey-arrests-prime-suspect-over-car-bombings-governor-says

Turkey arrests prime suspect over car bombings, governor says

Turkey has arrested one of the prime suspects responsible for the twin car bombings that killed at least 51 people in a city near the Syrian border, said the city's governor on Friday.

"We captured one of the chief actors involved in the incident at 11:40 pm last night," said Celalettin Lekesiz, governor of southeastern Turkey's Hatay city where the bombs went off.

"There are still two other major suspects at large," he added in televised remarks.

The man, who allegedly purchased the vehicles used in the bombings, was caught trying to cross the border into Syria along with his two accomplices.

With the latest arrest, Turkey now holds four people in jail while four others have been freed pending trial.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/ban-to-meet-putin-as-pressure-on-russia-over-syria-grows

Ban to meet Putin as pressure on Russia over Syria grows

UN chief Ban Ki-moon was to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday as global pressure grows on Moscow to end arms supplies to the Syrian regime and drop its support for President Bashar al-Assad.

Ban was to have separate talks with both Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi where the Russian leader has been based for the past week.

The UN leader told Russian news agencies as he entered the first talks with Lavrov that he intended to discuss "the political settlement in Syria," in comments translated into Russian.

The meetings come after French President Francois Hollande upped the pressure on the Kremlin on Thursday by saying more efforts were needed to convince Moscow to "finish with Bashar al-Assad."

Ban's mission and a May 10 visit to Sochi by British Prime Minister David Cameron follow Putin's May 7 talks in Moscow with US Secretary of State John Kerry during which the sides agreed to set up a new round of Syria negotiations within a matter of weeks.

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/17/syria_s_lung_eating_rebel_explains_himself

Syria’s lung-eating rebel explains himself

The shocking video of a Syrian rebel eating the lung of a pro-Assad fighter spread like wildfire across the Internet earlier this week. The rebel, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, has filmed a YouTube video explaining his actions.

"I am willing to face trial for my actions if Bashar and his shabeeha [militiamen] stand trial for their atrocities," he says. "My message to the world is if the bloodshed in Syria doesn't stop, all of Syria will become like Abu Sakkar."

The Syrian rebel, whose real name is Khalid al-Hamad, goes on to explain that he did what he did because of atrocities committed by pro-Assad fighters. He said that evidence taken from their cell phones showed how they raped women, killed children, and tortured men. In an article published this week by TIME magazine, the rebel fighter explained that he had a sectarian hatred of Alawites, and that he had made another video where he cuts up a pro-Assad fighter's body with a saw.

Abu Sakkar's actions not only created controversy among observers of the conflict, but also prompted the Syrian rebel leadership to take action. The Free Syrian Army's Military Council released a statement condemning Abu Sakkar's "monstrous act," and instructed field commanders to being an investigation "in which the perpetrator will be brought to justice."

http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/16/syria-visit-reveals-torture-chambers

Syria: Visit Reveals Torture Chambers

Government security branches in Raqqa city hold documents and potential physical evidence indicating that detainees were arbitrarily detained and tortured there while the city was under government control. Human Rights Watch researchers visited the State Security and Military Intelligence facilities in Raqqa, now under the de facto control of local armed opposition groups, in late April 2013.

Local opposition leaders with the support of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and neutral international experts should safeguard potential evidence of torture and arbitrary detention in security forces centers in opposition-controlled areas, Human Rights Watch said.

“The documents, prison cells, interrogation rooms, and torture devices we saw in the government’s security facilities are consistent with the torture former detainees have described to us since the beginning of the uprising in Syria,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Those in control of Raqqa need to safeguard the materials in these facilities so the truth can be told and those responsible held accountable.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/17/net-us-britain-ft-hacked-idUSBRE94G0DE20130517?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Syria government supporters hack Financial Times

The Financial Times' website and Twitter feeds were hacked on Friday, renewing questions about whether the popular social media service has done enough to tighten security as cyber-attacks on the news media intensify.

The Syrian Electronic Army, an online group that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was behind the incident which followed a phishing attack on the company's email accounts, FT reported on its website.

The attack is the latest in which hackers commandeered the Twitter account of a prominent news organization to push their agenda. Twitter's 200 million users worldwide send out more than 400 million tweets a day, making it a potent distributor of news.

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

Turkish intelligence are now closely monitoring Syrian refugees suspected of having links with the Syrian regime after Hatay blasts.

4:35 AM

Turkey retrieved phone conversations of Syria's intel and Hatay blasts suspects in Latakia. Shows strength of Turkish intel inside Syria

4:59 AM

Syrian refugees: Jordan: 473,587. Lebanon: 470,457. Turkey: 347,157. Iraq: 147,464. Egypt: 66,922.

7:05 AM

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

The Aleppo Sharia Court clamp downs on independent media activists in an effort to silence critics are typical Baathist behavior.

8:02 AM

https://twitter.com/AymanM

This @ForeignPolicy morning brief headline says it all:Obama rules out unilateral action in Syria as Russia ships advanced missiles to Assad

8:57 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed a big convoy, including 9 vehicles, in the southern countryside of Aleppo

9:04 AM

resistance fighters have started a military operation against assad's forces in ariha

9:19 AM

resistance fighters say they have liberated al-utaybah in al-ghoutah al-sharqiyah

10:28 AM

resistance fighters say they liberated 6 towns: talisiyah, ras al-ain, al-sha`thah, al-junaynah, al-qahirah, qasr al-makhram hama

10:51 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters say they destroyed 2 tanks in brigade 52 daraa

10:05 AM

resistance fighters say 27 military officers & soldiers have defected from brigade 52 daraa

10:59 AM

resistance fighters say they have destroyed the petrol station in brigade 52 daraa

11:00 AM

resistance fighters say they have destroyed the fire brigade station in brigade 52 daraa

11:01 AM

resistance fighters say they destroyed ammunition depots in brigade 52 daraa

11:03 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

FSA liberates Tlaisieh in Hama suburbs...stand on "Assad's Syria" writing... pic.twitter.com/UmL9V9m9Mn

4:30 AM

Airstrikes on Salqeen Idlib destroy 7 homes over their inhabitants...reports of more than 10 martyrs and 10s of injured.

7:34 AM

2nd Idlib massacre today...this one in the city of Saraqeb...martyr count is unknown as of now

http://youtu.be/bj1lKBiv-xo

1:51 PM

https://twitter.com/HannahAllam

State Dept: But we still remain concerned about any help to the Syrian regime, whether by Russians or anyone else.

1:26 PM

State Dept: We are always concerned about any transfer of weapons or assistance to Syrian regime. But still working w/Russia on peace conf

1:27 PM

State Dept: Mazen Darwish to be appear before Syrian court Sun, his NGO is only 1 w/UN consultative status.

1:35 PM

State Dept: OK we'll stop being 'too cute' about this. Yes, the peace conf location is Geneva, but announcement not ours to make

1:36 PM

https://twitter.com/JMiller_EA

Watch Yabroud, N. of Damascus, bombed today. If it's not invaded, it's proof that Assad likes to kill defiant civilians

5:08 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Update on Abu Dhoor airport:

The battle was named the battle of the trench because of the trenches the FSA had dug around the airport to help with their attacks. Heavy rains however have been falling for the past 2 days and the trenches were filled with water which limited their ability to move around.

The regime took advantage of this and attacked recovering the hangars that the FSA had previously controlled and built covers to prevent attacks all amid very heavy airstrikes. The FSA re-advanced into the airport and are now preparing to reclaim the hangars and the rest of the airport.

6:49 PM

A convoy headed to Sfeera in Aleppo has been completely destroyed by JAN include 6 transport vehicles and all soldiers inside.

8:03 PM

They also captured 2 vehicles and ammunition and weapons trucks.

8:04 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=658496537510819&l=bdcdf01307

Local Coordination Committee in Syria

By the end of Friday, the local coordination committees documentated 113 martyrs between 7 women, 4 children and 1 martyr under torture: 39 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 17 martyrs in Idlib; 15 martyrs in Homs, including 3 unidentified martyred in Damascus suburbs; 14 in Deir Ezzor; 8 in Hama; 8 in Daraa; 8 in Aleppo; 2 in Raqqa; and 2 in Hassakeh

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?357480-Yahoo-Assad-predicts-disaster-if-West-meddles-in-Syria&p=9046975#post9046975

At Least 63,416 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/assad-tells-argentine-newspaper-he-wont-step-down

Assad tells Argentine newspaper he won't step down

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday he welcomed a US-Russian peace initiative to end Syria's civil war but had no plans to resign, in an interview with an Argentine newspaper.

"To resign would be to flee," he told the Clarin when asked if he would consider stepping aside as called for by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"I don't know if Kerry or anyone else has received the power of the Syrian people to talk in their name about who should go and who should stay. That will be determined by the Syrian people in the 2014 presidential elections," Assad said.

Assad spoke to Clarin and the Argentine state news agency Telam in a lengthy interview in Damascus in which he also denied that his government has used chemical weapons against the civilian population.

His comments come amid a rare joint push by the United States and Russia to convene a peace conference in Geneva that would bring together members of the regime and the rebels fighting to oust Assad.

"We have received the Russian-US approach well and we hope that there will be an international conference to help Syrians overcome the crisis," Clarin quoted Assad as saying.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE94A05S20130514

Syrian rebels unite to retake strategic town near Damascus

Syrian rebels including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front have counter-attacked east of Damascus to retake a town that served as a conduit for arms from Jordan into the capital before it was seized by government forces last month, rebel sources said.

The rebels' struggle to end four decades of Assad family rule has been complicated in part by internal divisions along ideological and political lines, as well as a shortage of heavy weaponry that could decisively turn the tide of conflict.

But in a rare move, brigades operating in Ghouta, a largely agricultural region on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, have united under one command to wrest back the town of Otaiba, two miles northeast of Damascus international airport.

"This is a huge target no brigade can deliver on its own, even al-Nusra cannot do it alone, so we all agreed to unite to retake it," said a commander whose brigade is one of the 23 taking part in the battle

Very interesting article.

http://news.yahoo.com/insight-syrias-nusra-front-eclipsed-iraq-based-al-135153068.html

Insight: Syria's Nusra Front eclipsed by Iraq-based al Qaeda

The most feared and effective rebel group battling President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamist Nusra Front, is being eclipsed by a more radical jihadi force whose aims go far beyond overthrowing the Syrian leader.

Al Qaeda's Iraq-based wing, which nurtured Nusra in the early stages of the rebellion against Assad, has moved in and sidelined the organization, Nusra sources and other rebels say.

Many Syrians turned a blind eye to the growing presence of foreign and Arab jihadi fighters in its ranks because Nusra fighters cooperated with other rebel brigades, worked to curb looting and provided help for displaced Syrians.

By contrast the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has moved into northern Syria to take tighter control over al Qaeda operations in the country, has few admirers among Syrian fighters.

They see him as a brutal figure with little time for the intricacies of Syria's struggle, focused less on toppling Assad and more on imposing a radical Islamist rule including religious courts and public executions. Many accuse him privately of hijacking their revolution.

"We reject his presence here on the ground. He should take his fighters and go back to Iraq," said a Nusra source who is close to Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani. "We are not happy with the way he operates nor with his methods."

One Nusra fighter said he believed Baghdadi held a personal grudge against Golani because of his standing in Syria.

Golani, a radical Sunni Muslim, won popularity in Syria even among some Christians, according to the Nusra fighter. "Baghdadi did not like this," the fighter said.

"Baghdadi and the (al Qaeda) leadership consider the Muslim Brotherhood, the Free Syrian Army and other factions including Christians as infidels and when they saw Golani was on good terms with them they were not happy."

"That is why he announced the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant without any consultation with Golani, and he is in charge to operate in his old failed way."

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/05/17/needs-recalibrate-syria-strategy/krcFnkccZzwbDgmvKlTLxL/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw

US needs to recalibrate Syria strategy

As the Syrian civil war escalates, the United States and its allies must adjust to the likely reality of a protracted, multiyear conflict. Even President Bashar Assad’s eventual demise should not be taken for granted. Meanwhile, the Syrian civil war is spinning out of control and beyond its borders with mounting human carnage, increased sectarian overtones, and direct interventions by Iran, Hezbollah, and Israel. These trends have encouraged a parallel process of opposition radicalization, with segments of Syrian militancy aided by inflows of foreign fighters and financial support. Regional stability and US interests are increasingly strained by the disintegration of Syria.

The United States and its allies should adopt an approach that acknowledges mitigation and containment are, while decidedly suboptimal, the best results that can be hoped for at this juncture.

There is no solution to the Syrian civil war. With the Assad regime displaying renewed resiliency, near-term regime change is unlikely, short of an assassination or coup. The key challenge will be to fashion a sustainable policy with realistic goals. While the searing lessons of the American experience in Afghanistan and Iraq loom large, policy is not limited to the divergent poles of inaction or invasion.

Some interesting ideas, although I disagree with some of his conclusions.

http://shabab.ayyam.org/en/story/rebels-liberate-6-towns-hamas-eastern-countryside

Rebels Liberate 6 Towns in Hama's Eastern Countryside

Following fierce clashes in the central province of Hama, rebels seem keen on advancing from Raqqa, which was liberated in March, towards the town of the eastern countryside. The towns liberated today, some of which are pro-Assad, are Al-Tlessiyeh, Al-Shaatheh, Al-Qahira, Ras Al-Ein, Qasser Makhram, and Al-Jneineh. The Syrian Islamic Front also claimed that following the military offensive, regular troops have fled the towns and withdrew towards the town of Al-Fan.

https://twitter.com/NuffSilence

Shelling Mennigh airport with 122 mm artillery. direct hits to what remains of the airport. Soldiers running scared

10:07 AM

https://twitter.com/shadihamid

Syrian opposition aren't just disappointed w- US. For them it's betrayal. Many feel the US is actively working to block their victory.

11:20 AM

https://twitter.com/farGar

it's not a feeling we have, that US is actively working to block a Syrian victory. it's a fact. we're not stupid.

12:32 PM

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

Breaking: Kerry changed Assad's calculus as he promised: Now Assad thinks he is winning..

12:59 PM

https://twitter.com/AcrossTheBay

Iran's objective in Syria is clear and diametrically opposed to the US. US objective should be to get Iran out of, not into, Syria.

2:14 PM

Geneva 1 lasted a year. Obama trying to buy another year with Geneva 2. Then Assad will stage elections. And Obama will give us Geneva 3.

2:33 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

:( Screams and moans still heard from beneath the rubble in Salqeen as there are 3 building that could not be searched Idlib

4:50 AM

VERY clear footage of the regime shelling the outskirts of the Aleppo prison with phosphorus bombs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSlvVwQNsik&feature=youtu.be

5:39 AM

Massacre in Waer, Homs...17 bodies were found in the fields of Waer. They were all slaughtered with knives and burned.

6:27 AM

Mohamad Albakri, a commander with Suqoor Alsham, was martyred during clashes in Hama. He was one of the good ones...a brave man. Idlib

8:43 AM

[visionary]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-chart-12?fsrc=scn/tw/te/dc/syriasbattlefield

Who's who in Syria's battlefield

http://shabab.ayyam.org/en/liveblog/another-rebel-faction-joins-battle-northern-aleppo

Another Rebel Faction Joins Battle in Northern Aleppo

Update by Mark Bei May 19, 2013 at 12:21am

Guraba'a Al-Sham Front, a rebel faction operating in Aleppo, has announced via video statement posted on social networking sites on Saturday night that it will be joining the battle on the Air Force Intelligence Branch front located in Al-Lairamoon in northern Aleppo. The announcement came shortly after Ahrar Souria Brigade declared general mobilization in Syria's largest city, ahead of what it has called "a large scale battle".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22549861

Syria conflict: BBC shown 'signs of chemical attack'

The BBC has been shown evidence apparently corroborating reports of a chemical attack in Syria last month.

A BBC correspondent who visited the northern town of Saraqeb was told by eyewitnesses that government helicopters had dropped at least two devices containing poisonous gas.

The government has vehemently denied claims it has used chemical agents.

http://www.acus.org/new_atlanticist/challenges-measuring-violent-conflict-syria-edition?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+new_atlanticist+(New+Atlanticist)

Challenges in Measuring Violent Conflict, Syria Edition

As part of a larger (but, unfortunately, gated) story on how the terrific new Global Data on Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) might help social scientists forecast violent conflicts, the New Scientist recently posted some graphics using GDELT to chart the ongoing civil war in Syria. Among those graphics was this time-series plot of violent events per day in Syria since the start of 2011:

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Regime plane drops ammunition meant for the regime..the FSA take it instead..this is at the prison clashes in Aleppo http://youtu.be/i51luiFh59M

9:01 PM

https://twitter.com/AlCazanova

If Al-Qusair falls, Homs falls. Qusair wont fall, it's just going to be a long bloody battle.

2:22 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

assad's forces & Hezbollah's thugs are intensely bombing al-qusayr city. +100 missiles hit the city in the last hour

12:40 AM

resistance fighters attacked a military convoy & seized weapons in al-hasakah (between qamishli & tal hamis)

1:10 AM

I can't stop crying. can you imagine the tragedy of those people who are in al-qusayr city? where is the Syrian opposition?

1:25 AM

an activist says 40,000 people are in al-qusayr city. Hezbollah's beasts are intensely bombing the city

2:15 AM

an activist in al-qusayr city says the medical equipments have been destroyed due to heavy bombardment

2:24 AM

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

1 syrian rebel from Homs: logic says we should have lost Quseir weeks ago, but we continue to resist, For how long? I don't know

2:26 AM

Member of Abu Sakkar's faction, syrian rebel who desecrated a corpse: Unjustifiable, but regime killed already 25 members of his family

2:22 AM

Sunday Times: Syria placed advanced Tishreen missile on alert,told army that if Israel renews attacks it will launch missiles on Tel Aviv

2:32 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=658985754128564&l=8935d77b97

The local Coordination Committees in Syria:

By the end of Saturday the Local Coordination Committees documented 116 martyrs including 11 women, 9 children and 5 under torture; 37 martyrs in Damascus and its Suburbs; 29 martyrs in Aleppo; 27 martyrs in Homs; 6 in Hama; 6 in Idlib; 6 in Daraa; 3 in Deir Ezzor; 1 in Banias and 1 in Qunaitera

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/2013519124646578835.html

Syrian army attacks rebel stronghold Qusayr

The Syrian army has pounded the rebel-held central town of Qusayr, killing at least 40 people in an apparent preparation for a ground assault, watchdog and activists said.

The attack on Sunday came a day after a rare interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was released, in which he said that his government was not using "fighters from outside of Syria, of other nationalities, and needs no support from any Arab or foreign state".

There are now conflicting reports as to whether or not government forces have entered the town centre, with state TV reporting the army is inside the walls, but the opposition fighters telling Al Jazeera that this is not the case.

Reports coming out of Qusayr, which is in Homs province, said fighters of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement assisted the military.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-troops-enter-central-al-qusayr-military-source-says

Syrian army storms rebel stronghold Al-Qusayr

Syrian troops backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday entered Al-Qusayr, a strategic rebel stronghold linking Damascus to the coast, a day after President Bashar al-Assad insisted he would not quit.

The advance came as Assad's opponents warned his regime's "barbaric and destructive" assault on Al-Qusayr could torpedo US-Russian attempts to organize a conference on ending two years of bloodshed in the country.

The Arab League called an emergency meeting for Thursday, ahead of the conference, as the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) demanded it meet and "stop the massacre in Al-Qusayr.”

Forces loyal to Assad launched Sunday's offensive by heavily bombarding Al-Qusayr with artillery and warplanes early in the morning.

Hours later, a military source told AFP that government forces entered the center of the town, with troops raising the Syrian flag over the recaptured municipality building.

"The Syrian army controls Al-Qusayr's main square in the center of the city, and the surrounding buildings, including the municipality building," said the source.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/arab-league-to-hold-emergency-syria-meeting

Arab League to hold emergency Syria meeting

An Arab League committee on Syria will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday ahead of an international peace conference on ending the country's civil war, the bloc's deputy leader said on Sunday.

The foreign ministers of Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Sudan would discuss a US-Russian push for a conference aimed at finding a political solution to the Syria conflict, Ahmed Ben-Hilli told reporters.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would also join the meeting "to follow up on developments in Syria in light of the US-Russian understanding," he said.

The conference is meant to include both rebels and members of the regime -- a difficulty considering some opposition members' refusal to recognize President Bashar al-Assad as a negotiating partner.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/20135161073885661.html?utm_content=tweets&utm_campaign=Trial3&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_term=twitter&utm_medium=ExperimentMasterAccount

Jabhat al-Nusra's rising stock in Syria

Last month, the leader of Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra - which has been steadily winning battles and gaining popular support since its inception in January 2012 - was forced to publicly clarify his group's relationship with al-Qaeda.

In a YouTube video posted on April 10, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani stated: "The sons of Al-Nusra Front pledge allegiance to Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri," the former right-hand man of Osama bin Laden and the acting head of al-Qaeda.

With this declaration, Jawlani ratcheted up suspicions in the West that significant elements of the Syrian opposition are ideologically and tactically aligned with al-Qaeda. Nusra is now officially considered a "terrorist" organisation by the US State Department.

With fierce fighters, including veterans of battles in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan apparently among its ranks, Jabhat al-Nusra is considered one of the most effective groups battling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/19/eu-syria-oil-jihadist-al-qaida

EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions boosts jihadist groups

The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country's key resources.

Jabhat al-Nusra, affiliated with al-Qaida and other extreme Islamist groups, control the majority of the oil wells in Deir Ezzor province, displacing local Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. They have also seized control of other fields from Kurdish groups further to the north-east, in al-Hasakah governorate.

As opposition groups have turned their guns on each other in the battle over oil, water and agricultural land, military pressure on Bashar al-Assad's government from the north and east has eased off. In some areas, al-Nusra has struck deals with government forces to allow the transfer of crude across the front lines to the Mediterranean coast.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed 4 tanks in al-qusayr (homs). many Hezbollah beasts were killed

9:22 AM

resistance fighters confirm that they have repulsed Hezbollah's attack on al-qusayr city

9:45 AM

resistance fighters liberated al-suwaidan market in daraa al-balad

9:57 AM

resistance fighters liberated Rashid square in daraa al-balad

10:02 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

update: 42 (known) people have been killed today in al-qusayr city (homs)

10:44 AM

resistance fighters destroyed a military checkpoint in hama (deir mahardah)

11:26 AM

resistance fighters have wiped out a military checkpoint in tall mallah in hama

11:27 AM

I want to visit the eastern countryside of Damascus before I go back to my room in the city. i'll leave Syria by the end of the month

11:33 AM

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

Dozens killed in what looks like regimen's final push to control Qusayr, fighting spread to Lebanese city of TripoliLB Lebanon

10:38 AM

TripoliLB's 2 faces: in the morning 1000s participated in a race for peace, this afternoon militias fighting again with RPGs Lebanon

11:30 AM

At least 1 killed, several wounded in clashes in TripoliLB, violence spreading, affecting several city neighborhoods Lebanon

12:06 PM

[visionary]

http://www.todayszaman.com/blogNewsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=315942

Trading Assad with moderate opposition

This doesn't seem very likely, since Assad said he has no intention of stepping down.

Not to mention that most of the opposition won't tolerate Russian, Hezbollah, or Iranian influence in the future.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10067318/Syria-Jabhat-al-Nusra-split-after-leaders-pledge-of-support-for-al-Qaeda.html

Syria: Jabhat al-Nusra split after leader's pledge of support for al-Qaeda

Some of its fighters have withdrawn from the front line against the Assad regime in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, rebel leaders there have told The Daily Telegraph, and appear to have turned their back on their Syrian leader.

Many Jabhat fighters had been recruited from other, rival militias with the promise of better-funded and better-organised units rather than for ideological reasons.

But they are said to have become disillusioned since their Syrian leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, affirmed his loyalty to al-Qaeda after an apparent takeover at the top of Jabhat by hardline jihadists from Iraq.

"The group has split," Mohammed Najib Bannan, the head of the Aleppo Judicial Committee's military arm, said. The committee is backed by the major rebel brigades and runs civil and criminal courts in Aleppo alongside the city's Sharia court.

Jabhat al-Nusra is also said to have withdrawn from the court system. Mr Bannan said this appeared to be the case, although Jabhat al-Nusra had made no statement on the subject. "Some of Jabhat al-Nusra supported al-Jolani's statement, and some disagreed," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/20/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE94I0AJ20130520?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

Hezbollah steps up Syria battle, Israel threatens more strikes

Lebanese Hezbollah militants attacked a Syrian rebel-held town alongside Syrian troops on Sunday and Israel threatened more attacks on Syria to rein the militia in, highlighting the risks of a wider regional conflict if planned peace talks fail.

Activists said it was the fiercest fighting in Syria's two year-old civil war involving Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran which they said appeared to be helping President Bashar al-Assad secure a vital corridor in case Syria fragments.

Speaking from Qusair near the border with Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, activist Hadi Abdallah said Syrian warplanes bombed the town in the morning and shells were hitting the town at a rate of up to 50 a minute. At least 52 people were killed.

"The army is hitting Qusair with tanks and artillery from the north and east while Hezbollah is firing mortar rounds and multiple rocket launchers from the south and west," he said.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/May-20/217670-christian-leaders-renew-calls-to-free-kidnapped-syria-bishops.ashx#axzz2TlIWlXw8

Christian leaders renew calls to free kidnapped Syria bishops

Christian politicians and religious figures renewed their calls Sunday to free two Greek Orthodox bishops who were kidnapped in Syria almost a month ago.Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped April 22 by armed men while en route to Aleppo from the Turkish border.

Masses and sit-ins were held across Lebanon Sunday to pray for them and call for their release.

Head of the Syriac League Habib Afram said in an interview with a local radio station that “there is no information about the situation of the two kidnapped bishops in Syria,” and called for “exerting pressures to secure their release.”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/the-spreading-consequences-of-syrias-civil-war.html?mbid=social_retweet

The Spreading Consequences of Syria’s Civil War

The first car bomb in Reyhanli exploded in the early afternoon beside a government building. The second went off in a crowded market square a few minutes later. It was a Saturday; the square was full. Fifty-one people were killed and many more injured.

After the explosions, which took place last weekend, some Turks in Reyhanli, a small city in Turkey a few miles from the country’s border with Syria, reacted angrily. They smashed cars with Syrian license plates and targeted Syrians who remained on the streets. Refugees and aid workers began to hide or leave town. When I spoke to one worker—Abdul, a Syrian from Damascus who left work in Dubai to deliver aid from Reyhanli into Syria—by phone on Sunday, the day after the bombings, he and four of his colleagues were locked inside his apartment.

He was cautious but calm; working inside of Syria had numbed him slightly to explosions, and he was sure that the Turks in Reyhanli, who had been welcoming until then, would settle down. “These people have always been nice to us,” he said. “Without the Turkish people we have nothing. There is nothing for us in Syria.” But he understood that it might take some time for life in Reyhanli to return to normal. “We cannot talk with the Turkish people right now,” Abdul said. “They are not ready to hear anything from us.”

http://news.sky.com/story/1093053/syria-kurdish-women-fighters-battle-in-aleppo

Syria: Kurdish Women Fighters Battle In Aleppo

A helicopter gunship passes overhead, soon followed by the "crump crump" noise of weapon systems firing.

On the ground nobody moves, staying in the shadows waiting for the danger to pass.

A soldier waves me forward and I enter a building. It is totally black inside apart from the bright beams of sunlight streaming through sniper holes driven into the ancient rock of this hilltop building.

The snipers take their positions overlooking their enemies' positions across a clearing 200 yards away.

http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=315902

Turkey announces tougher measures at Syrian border

The Customs and Trade Ministry is going to introduce additional security measures at the Syrian border following a bomb attack in Reyhanlı a week ago Saturday that left 50 people dead, according to an announcement from the ministry.

Customs Minister Hayati Yazıcı told Today's Zaman that the borders will be enhanced with new personnel, technology, protective and security equipment such as mobile x-ray machines and more advanced CCTV systems. The number of sniffing dogs will also increased at border gates.

Yazıcı said five new mobile X-ray machines will be purchased. Three of them will be used at Akçakale border gate while the other two will go to the Öncüpınar and Yayladağı gates.

Currently there is one bomb-sniffing dog at the Cilvegözü, Akçakale and Öncüpınar border crossings, but two new dogs currently in training will be assigned to the region in June.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/photo-syrian-soldier-patrols-village-near-qusayr

Photo: Syrian soldier patrols village near Qusayr

Syrian troops patrolled the village of Haydariyah, some seven kilometers outside the rebel-held city of Qusayr, after taking control of it, on May 13.

Syrian troops captured three villages in the strategic Qusayr area of Homs province, allowing them to cut supply lines to rebels inside Qusayr town, a military officer told AFP.

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

I personally thought Qusair wd fall b4 midnight 2day after seeing how Assad & Hizbollah prepared. FSA resistance there so far is 4 the books

4:54 PM

The only footage Syrian State TV hsnt used & pretended it was in Qusair ws D Day's Normandy, if only it had color.. They'd say it was there.

4:51 PM

Besieged/underarmed/out of ammo/surrounded..Fighting full Assad attack by land/air & full Hizbollah incursion.. still stand TILL now! WOW.

4:58 PM

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

Sources w/ connections to Jabhat AlNusra say the group is preparing to send forces (gear included) to help FSA in Qusayr.

5:30 PM

If JAN ends up saving Qusayr from Hezbollah the world should stop expecting any Syrian to dissociate from the group.

5:31 PM

Preparing to go (see prev tweet). They weren't received well in Homs before. They will be now, esp. if they bring gear.

5:33 PM

http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/from-al-qusayr-homs-general-selim-idriss-said/

From Al Qusayr Homs: General Selim Idriss said that amunitions are available in Large quantity and new supplies will reach them too from the FSA. Mood is high in AL Qusayr

7:15 pm on May 19, 2013

https://twitter.com/omarsyria

Qusayr not giving in to Assad and Hezbollah. They really have surprised everyone.

2:23 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Qusair sky last night.. Homs Syria (via @Tadmor_Harvard pic.twitter.com/BF7oAQD7oF

2:57 AM

https://twitter.com/NOW_Syria

AFP: 23 Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria's Qusayr, watchdog says

3:02 AM

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

Syrian state media says the army pushed deeper and took control of most of Qusair and fighting street battles with the rebels.

3:52 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=659540044073135&l=828b3dc090

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Sunday the Local Coordination Committees were able to document 125 martyrs includes 6 woman, 12 children and 3 martyrs under torture: 56 martyrs were reported in Homs most of them in Qusair; 26 martyrs in Damascus and its Suburbs; 14 martyrs in Aleppo; 11 martyrs in Daraa; 7 martyrs in Hama; 7 martyrs in Deir Ezzor and 5 martyrs in Idlib

[visionary]

http://world.time.com/2013/05/20/how-syrias-rebels-arent-winning-the-war-the-anatomy-of-a-battle/

How Syria’s Rebels Aren’t Winning the War: The Anatomy of a Battle

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/friends-of-syria-to-push-for-peace-conference

Friends of Syria to push for peace conference

The Friends of Syria group, which backs the Syrian uprising, meets on Wednesday in Amman for a new round of talks expected to focus on a US-Russian bid to resolve the country's brutal conflict.

The group "will hold talks paving the way for the international conference on Syria in June, in order to reach a political solution to the Syria crisis," Jordan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Eleven top diplomats from Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, will be attending the Amman meeting.

Ahead of the gathering, US Secretary of State John Kerry will hold a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.

Earlier this month the United States and Russia, which support opposite sides in the Syrian conflict, proposed a peace conference dubbed Geneva 2, which would bring together rebels and representatives of President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

For the first time in the 26-month conflict, the opposition, whose chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib resigned last month, has not been invited to the Friends of Syria meeting.

http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/evidence-of-iranian-arms-provided-to.html

Evidence Of Iranian Arms Provided To Syria In The Past 18 Months

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/2013520103332211192.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

Hezbollah plays its hand in battle for Syria

Abu Ali Haq is a fighter on a crucial battle line in Syria's ruinous civil war, and he's locked in to what he sees as an existential struggle for his village and his kin living here.

Except, Abu Ali Haq is not Syrian and neither are his fellow villagers. They are Lebanese.

With a scarred nose smashed flat, dressed in battle fatigues and chain-smoking cigarettes, Ali Haq explained: "When attacks started around a year-and-a-half ago we formed the popular committees. The men from our village have entered a number of battles. Three have been killed, but many more have been injured."

The border between northern Lebanon and Syria is nondescript at the best of times, but in many places now it has been erased by more than two years of conflict in Syria.

Lebanese villagers are now playing a key role on the Syrian battlefield with the support of both the Syrian Army and the dominant Shia political and military force in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/5/20/uk-foreign-secretary-says-no-option-off-table-over

UK Foreign Secretary says "No option off table" over Syria

Britain warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday that "no option is off the table" over the possible arming of Syrian rebels and said it would press the European Union to make further changes to its weapons embargo.

In a statement to parliament, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the EU should rethink its embargo on sending weapons to Syria, even if it holds back from making an immediate decision on whether to arm the opposition to Assad.

"We must make clear that if the regime does not negotiate seriously at the Geneva conference, no option is off the table, Hague said. "There remains a serious risk that the Assad regime will not negotiate seriously."

An entire package of European sanctions against Syria expires on June 1. Hague said the collapse of Syria was moving closer each week and that this would lead to a "regional catastrophe".

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nownews/hezbollah-death-toll-in-syria-mounts

Hezbollah death toll in Syria mounts

NOW reveals names of 36 Hezbollah militants killed in Al-Qusayr

Hezbollah’s casualty count in fighting in Syria’s Al-Qusayr continues to mount as ambulances have been busy transferring injured Hezbollah militants to hospitals in Beirut.

A NOW correspondent reported that Islamic Health Committee ambulances have begun transferring the militants from the Beqaa to Beirut almost every half hour.

The transfers began taking place after Beqaa hospitals became overcrowded with injured militants, he added.

Meanwhile, another NOW correspondent said that 36 fighters from the Shiite party had died in the recent round of clashes in the flashpoint Syrian town, listing them as follows

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/qusayr-resisting-all-out-attack

Qusayr resisting all-out attack

The streets of the western Syrian town of Al-Qusayr were enveloped in clouds of grey cement powder on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad's air and ground forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militiamen, commenced a long-awaited major assault on the lynchpin rebel-held town and its surrounding villages. Humanitarian observers including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, have warned that this may lead to massacres reminiscent of those in the coastal towns of al-Bayda and Banias earlier in the month.

At least 58 Qusayr residents were killed Sunday – many of them civilians – and over 600 wounded in continuous air and artillery strikes, according to local opposition spokesman Hadi al-Abdallah. He also claimed some 30 Hezbollah fighters had been killed by rebel forces. Syrian state TV reported 100 opposition militants dead, with no mention of regime casualties. NOW was unable to reach the Hezbollah press office for confirmation of the Party's losses.

Regime fighter jets continued to pound residential quarters of the town center Monday, according to Al-Abdallah, as contradictory reports emerged regarding the territorial gains made by Assad loyalists. While regime soldiers claimed Sunday to have conquered the central town square, raising the Syrian flag over the municipality building, numerous opposition sources asserted that no territory had been lost by the rebels whatsoever.

"It's not true what the regime is claiming," said Qusayr-based activist, Ahmad al-Qusayr. "They're saying this to raise the morale of the fighters, because the rebels are giving them a beating."

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syrias-raqa-opposition-chief-kidnapped-ngo-says

Syria's Raqa opposition chief kidnapped, NGO says

An opposition leader, rights activist and longtime dissident in Syria's rebel-held city of Raqa has been abducted, a watchdog said Monday.

"The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has learnt of the abduction by an armed group of lawyer, human rights activist and head of Raqa city's [opposition] local council Abdallah al-Khalil," the Britain-based group said.

"The Observatory condemns in the strongest terms the abduction of opposition lawyer Abdallah al-Khalil, and demands his immediate release," it said.

Khalil was abducted as he left the local council's headquarters in Raqa Sunday morning, added the watchdog, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.

https://twitter.com/hhassan140

Source says Syrian opposition named Ahmed Touma as interim PM, during Riyadh meeting. Touma lived in Saudi between 1974-79. Damascus Decln.

5:11 AM

https://twitter.com/NOW_Syria

Interfax: Two Russian landing ships join Moscow’s fleet deployment in Mediterranean

9:49 AM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Syria's Grand Mufti Hassoun, in a visit to Southern Lebanon, the day of the Qusair Operation by Hizbollah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DS6mcO5kGM

10:03 AM

It has come to this: Syria's Grand Mufti, visits families of Hizbollah fighters killed in Syria in their South Lebanon homes.

10:13 AM

Do ppl understand this? Assad sends his Grand Mufti TO LEBANON, to pay respect to families of killed Hizb fighters in Qusair.

10:16 AM

https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld

It is crucial for Syrian opposition to agree to participate in peace conference without preconditions: Russian foreign minister

11:16 AM

https://twitter.com/hhassan140

Video produced by Hizbollah fighters showing their thugs heading to Syria http://goo.gl/id9tl and chanting for Assad and Nasrallah

11:47 AM

The refrain says: May God protect Nasrallah; with our blood and souls, we sacrifice [for] you Bashar.

11:48 AM

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

Violence rages in TripoliLB, clashes erupted btwn army & gunmen, 1 soldier killed 4 seriously wounded Lebanon

11:07 AM

Locals from TripoliLB said shooting reached the port of the city, far away from Bab al Tabbaneh and Jabal al Mohsen Lebanon

11:54 AM

https://twitter.com/SaraAssaf

Picture from Bel el Tebbaneh now.. Big clashes between Lebanese Army & local fighters as well.

TripoliLB Lebanon pic.twitter.com/5ZJjcbAHbs

12:16 PM

FSA Joint Command: Mustafa Badreddine (accused by STL of killing Rafic Hariri) is heading Hezbollah's operations in Qusair.

12:34 PM

[visionary]

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/mena/kerry-pushes-dual-peace-bids-on-middle-east-return

Kerry pushes dual peace bids on Middle East return

Secretary of State John Kerry was returning to the Middle East Monday, aiming to shore up peace efforts as he seeks to help end the Syria war and coax Israel and the Palestinians back to talks.

The new top US diplomat -- making his fourth visit to Israel in a little over three months -- left Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, first headed for key Gulf ally Oman, which also maintains close ties to Iran.

The US and other Western countries have condemned Iran for helping to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his bloody fight to stay in power against a determined rebellion now in its third year.

Kerry was due to hold talks Tuesday with top Omani officials, most likely including Sultan Qaboos, and he could well be hoping to tap Oman's influence with Iran -- especially amid moves to organize a Syria peace conference.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/obama-supports-international-conference-for-syrian-refugees

Obama supports international conference for Syrian refugees

US President Barrack Obama on Monday phoned Lebanon President Michel Suleiman and expressed an openness to hosting an international conference for Syria refugees currently in Lebanon.

“[We] support the idea of holding an international conference in order to deal with the refugees issue through the UN,” the National News Agency quoted Obama as saying.

“My country supports Lebanon in every [way] that would reinforce its [national] security and stability,” he added.

Lebanon has been facing difficulties dealing with the increasingly high number of refugees fleeing Syria’s violent uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has killed more than 94,000 people since its outbreak in March 2011.

http://www.acus.org/viewpoint/syria-will-geneva-happen-should-it-happen

Syria: Will Geneva Happen? Should it Happen?

As preparations continue for an international conference aimed at jump-starting intra-Syrian negotiations to be held in Geneva in mid-June, the prospective value of the initiative is increasingly in doubt. Bashar al-Assad is making it clear to the news media that he intends to stay on and run for president in 2014, something that cannot happen if the June 2012 Geneva formula is implemented faithfully and accurately by Syrian negotiators. And the Syrian opposition seems to be using the prospective talks as an opportunity to showcase dissension and division. One must wonder if we are witnessing yet another paradox of Syria's long march to national suicide: that the prospect of negotiations aimed at peaceful transition actually brings out the worst in all concerned.

The decision of Secretary of State John Kerry to try to raise from the dead the P-5 Geneva formula for Syrian political transition had a strong element of spontaneity. Yes, it accorded with President Barack Obama's desire to avoid military involvement in Syria in favor of a negotiated settlement. And yes, it kept United Nations and Arab League Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi very much in business, even as the veteran Algerian diplomat contemplated resignation. Still, it is unclear whether this initiative a part of a broader US strategy toward Syria.

The strategic theme of the United States is clear enough: compel Assad to accept political transition talks that would replace incompetent, corrupt, arbitrary, and abusive family rule with a transitional national unity ruling mechanism. Yet is it remotely possible, at this late date, to believe that anything other than the regime's perceived certainty of military defeat will change Assad’s calculation?

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/us-condemns-syrian-assault-on-rebel-bastion

US condemns Syrian assault on rebel bastion

The United States on Monday condemned both the Syrian government's assault on the rebel stronghold of Al-Qusayr and the close involvement of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in the attack.

"The United States strongly condemns the Assad regime's intense air and artillery strikes this weekend on the Syrian town of Al-Qusayr along the Lebanese border," State Department deputy spokesperson Patrick Ventrell said.

"The Assad regime deliberately provokes sectarian tensions through its assaults," he said.

"We also condemn Hezbollah's direct intervention and assault on Al-Qusayr where its fighters are playing a significant role in the regime's offensive," Ventrell said.

"Hezbollah's occupation of villages along the Lebanese-Syrian border and its support for the regime and pro-Assad militias exacerbate and inflame regional sectarian tensions and perpetuate the regime's campaign of terror," he added.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/obama-calls-lebanons-suleiman-raises-concern-over-hezbollah

Obama calls Lebanon's Suleiman, raises concern over Hezbollah

US President Barack Obama on Monday expressed concern about the role of Hezbollah in Syria, in a telephone call with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, the White House said.

The call, which also dwelt on the danger of violence spilling over into Lebanon, took place after the Syrian government's assault on the rebel stronghold of Al-Qusayr, which involved forces from Hezbollah.

"President Obama stressed his concern about Hezbollah's active and growing role in Syria, fighting on behalf of the Assad regime, which is counter to the Lebanese government's policies," said a White House statement.

"President Obama expressed his appreciation to President Suleiman and the Lebanese people for keeping Lebanon's borders open and hosting refugees from Syria, and pledged continued US support to help Lebanon manage this challenge.

"The two leaders agreed that all parties should respect Lebanon's policy of disassociation from the conflict in Syria and avoid actions that will involve the Lebanese people in the conflict."

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/britain-says-no-decision-taken-on-arming-syrian-rebels

Britain says no decision taken on arming Syrian rebels

Britain remains committed to amending the EU arms embargo on Syria, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday, but stressed it had taken no decisions to provide weapons to the rebels.

He said it was important to demonstrate to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime that "no option is off the table" if he failed to agree a political solution to end the bloodshed.

Hague was speaking the day before flying to Jordan for a meeting of the Friends of Syria group, which backs the uprising, for talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and other top diplomats.

"The case for further amendments to the arms embargo on Syria is compelling, in order to increase the pressure on the regime, and to give us the flexibility to respond to continued radicalization and conflict," Hague said in the House of Commons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/may/20/syria-oil-refineries?CMP=twt_gu

Syria's makeshift oil refineries: 'It is like hell' – video

As a result of the rush to make quick money, open-air refineries have been set up in al-Raqqa province. Crude is stored in ditches and heated in metal tanks by wood fires, shrouding the region with plumes of black smoke, and exposing the local population to the dangers of the thick smog and the frequent explosions at the improvised plants

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130520166520

Salman’s Turkey visit crucial: Official

Ersat Hurmuzlu, Chief Adviser to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, has stressed the great importance of the visit to Turkey by Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, in light of the crises in the region that require Saudi-Turkish coordination.

Crown Prince Salman is leaving on an official two-day visit to Turkey on Tuesday for the first time since he became the Crown Prince.

In a statement to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, Hurmuzlu said the Turkish presidency welcomes Crown Prince Salman’s visit.

He said Riyadh and Ankara are striving to end the tragedy of the Syrian people and stop the massacres being carried out by Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

The visit is an opportunity to discuss the Syrian crisis and the developments in the region and the Muslim world, he added.

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

Source close to Hizbullah admit to AFP: 20 fighters dead and 30 wounded in the battle for the control of Qusayr

2:01 PM

NOWLEBANON: lebanese army withdraws all its APCs from TripoliLB front line, signal that conflict will escalate

2:16 PM

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

Hezbollah is assaulting AlQusayr from the east and the regime from the west. Seems Hezbollah is making progress but regime is not.

2:58 PM

https://twitter.com/SaraAssaf

Rally tomorrow 6 PM in Martyr Square against Hezbollah's involvement in Syria & sectarian killing in Qusair! Lebanon

3:04 PM

[visionary]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-qusair-20130521,0,3657385.story

Syria's military shows unexpected resilience

The military onslaught this week against the strategic Syrian town of Qusair has dramatized a surprising combat resilience that has already put rebel forces on the defensive on other key fronts, including near the capital, Damascus.

The military's still-robust fighting ability — apparently bolstered in Qusair by the presence of combatants from Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group — has confounded predictions from experts and foreign capitals that the Syrian government's days were numbered.

Some are recalibrating their forecasts of the regime's certain demise, even as Russia and the United States try to organize an international conference meant to jump-start peace talks and create a transitional government in Syria.

In recent weeks, forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have scored significant victories in the south and north, while pushing back rebel forces who not long ago seemed poised to storm the capital. The fractured opposition complains that weapons and ammunition are becoming scarce and money is drying up.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/israeli-troops-in-golan-return-fire-from-syria

Israeli troops in Golan return fire from Syria

Israeli soldiers patrolling the disputed Golan Heights along the border with Syria fired back after coming under fire overnight, an Israeli Defense Forces statement said Tuesday.

"Overnight, shots were fired at an IDF patrol on the border in the central Golan Heights, damaging a military vehicle," said a statement on the army's website. No one had been wounded, it added.

"In response, IDF forces returned precise fire at the source of the gunfire. They reported a direct hit," the statement added.

"The IDF views the recent incidents in the north with concern and has lodged a complaint with UNDOF," the UN Disengagement Force responsible for patrolling that area.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/world/middleeast/syria-developments.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Hezbollah’s Role in Syria War Shakes the Lebanese

At the entrance to this village in Hezbollah’s Bekaa Valley heartland, under a sign welcoming visitors to “The Citadel of Resistance,” workers on Monday hoisted a freshly printed banner honoring a young man described as one of Hezbollah’s latest martyrs — killed in battle not with Israel, the foe the group’s guerrillas train to fight, but with Syrian rebels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/world/americas/man-linked-by-us-to-hezbollah-is-arrested-in-brazil.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld

Businessman Linked by U.S. to Hezbollah Is Arrested in Brazil in a Fraud Scheme

The Brazilian police have arrested a businessman listed by the United States as a member of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group, under suspicion of operating a fraudulent scheme in the clothing industry — a far cry from the arms, drugs, explosives and counterfeit bills that American officials have suspected him of trafficking in during the past.

Officials with Brazil’s Civil Police said the suspect, Hamzi Ahmad Barakat, 50, a Lebanese citizen with ties to the Triple Frontier region of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, was arrested Thursday in the city of Curitiba in southern Brazil in connection with creating a network of front companies to defraud Lebanese immigrants who had recently arrived in Brazil.

The arrest focuses new attention on the Triple Frontier, a smugglers’ haven that has long been under the scrutiny of intelligence agencies from the United States, Israel and South American nations. In 2006, the Treasury Department designated Mr. Barakat as a member of Hezbollah and said he owned and managed a store in Paraguay that “served as a source of funding” for the group, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/syria-training-advanced-missiles-on-tel-aviv-report/

Syria training advanced missiles on Tel Aviv — report

Damascus has put a number of advanced weapons on standby to strike Israel, should Jerusalem hit targets inside Syria again, the UK’s Sunday Times reported.

According to the report, satellite images show Syria has readied its stock of Tishreen missiles for use against Tel Aviv.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

friends, i'll be leaving syria after a couple of days (for security & health reasons). my heroes are ready to take me for a long ride.

7:36 AM

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

Managed to connect with very reliable citizen journalist in Qusayr for all of ten minutes. His brother passed away in combat.

6:37 PM

The CJ told me that all the rest of his family left but stayed and intends to remain there "till the end." He said FSA and jihadi factions vowed to stay for the fight. He said there will be "no tactical withdrawals in Qusayr."

6:38 PM

He wouldn't confirm but I read between the lines that the fighters are tired though some reinforcements arrived from other cities. He also wouldn't confirm that the reinforcements came from Jabhat AlNusra and other jihadi groups but that's almost certain.

6:43 PM

Unfortunately he resisted telling me where the battle lines currently stand, insisting on a broad "they are still far out."

6:45 PM

https://twitter.com/And_Harper

# of crossings to jordan falls dramatically over past 3 days w only 4 recorded last night. Will be watching tonight's movements w concern

10:53 AM

Our night registration team in Zaatri jordan report 4th night of no new @refugees. It appears that border access routes syria are blocked

11:27 PM

https://twitter.com/SeekerSK

My female cousin and her kids fled to Lebanon, being taken care of by a Christian family God bless them syria refugee

12:12 AM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=660150860678720&l=88bbc0046c

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Monday, the Local coordination committees were able to document 115 martyrs including 6 women, 12 children and 3 martyrs under torture: 30 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 24 in Homs; 22 in Aleppo; 10 in Idlib; 10 in Raqqa; 8 in Deir Ezzor; 6 in Daraa; and 3 in Hama

[visionary]

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/iranians-joining-hezbollah-in-key-syria-battle-us-says

Iranians joining Hezbollah in key Syria battle, US says

Iranian fighters are joining Hezbollah in the ongoing battle for Al-Qusayr in Syria's Homs province.

Iranians are working alongside Hezbollah fighters to back Syrian troops battling to retake the rebel stronghold of Al-Qusayr amid fears of a civilian massacre, a US official said Tuesday.

"It is the most visible effort we have seen by Hezbollah to engage directly in the fighting in Syria as a foreign force, and we understand there are also Iranians up there," a senior State Department official told reporters.

His information was based on reports from commanders of the rebel Free Syrian Army, but he was unable to give any estimates of how many Hezbollah fighters or Iranians were involved, and what exact role the Iranians were playing.

"I don't know that they are directly involved in the fighting, but I don't think the people that I'm talking to know that themselves," the official told reporters travelling with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/1-front-top-news/120481-assad-sets-names-of-negotiating-team-for-peace-talks.html

Assad sets names of negotiating team for peace talks

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has put forward names of five officials from his administration for internationally-sponsored peace talks with the Syrian opposition, European Union diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

The list includes Prime Minister Wael al-Halki and more junior officials. According to a second EU diplomat, Syria's opposition has already rejected some of the officials on the list because of their lack of influence.

The EU sources said Assad in early March circulated a list of names for possible talks, including al Halki, Vice Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, Information Minister Omran Zoabi, National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar and Joseph Sweid, the minister charged with overseeing Red Crescent Affairs.

The source said Assad had since confirmed to Russia that these were the officials he wanted to send to negotiations which Moscow and Washington are trying to organise to end a conflict that has killed at least 80,000 people.

"The list is likely to change," the first diplomat said, adding that any official sent to the meeting had to have sufficient weight to properly negotiate.

The second diplomat said Syria's National Coalition had already deemed some of the names unacceptable, without saying which. Both diplomats are closely involved in the planning and consultations for the peace talks.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/201352115058966437.html

Syria parties 'preparing for peace talks'

Syria's opposition and government are preparing to take part in an internationally-sponsored peace conference, according to Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League mediator.

The conference was proposed by the US and Russia, which has backed the regime of Bashar al-Assad, earler this month.

"The Syrian people are building great hopes on the conference, as the opposition prepares itself to take part and likewise the Syrian regime prepares to take part in this conference," he told reporters at the Arab League in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, opposition groups at the meeting in Spain said they opposed all negotiation with Assad's government unless it aimed at his giving up of power.

About 80 opposition representatives from inside and outside Syria concluded the two-day meeting on Tuesday, saying Assad would neither form part of any transition government nor have any role in Syria's future.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/damascus-opponents-demand-guarantees-assad-will-quit

Damascus opponents demand guarantees Assad will quit

Syrian opposition representatives have demanded international guarantees that President Bashar al-Assad step down in any peace deal, former opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said on Tuesday, as Russia and the United States step up efforts to organize a peace conference.

The demand was one of eight points set out in a roadmap agreed by delegates to a two-day Syrian National Consultation meeting in Madrid, Khatib said on his Facebook page.

Delegates also stipulated that "involvement in any political process on Syria depends on the army's withdrawal to its barracks, on the release of all detainees, and on humanitarian assistance being allowed in to all areas of the country without exception".

It also said the National Coalition -- which Khatib has abandoned -- would be "the legitimate representative" of Syrian opposition forces in any political negotiations.

"Bashar al-Assad and his security regime are not a part of any transitional phase, and they have no role in Syria's future," the document said, adding that there need to be "international guarantees" for his departure.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/71990.aspx

China calls for participation of Iran at Syria peace conference

China has said that resolving the Syrian crisis is not possible without the participation of Saudi Arabia and Iran at a key peace conference slated for June.

Russian agencies reported Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei as saying on Tuesday that his country supports efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict politically.

"We believe that a settlement is not possible without the participation of influential countries in the region, particularly of those in the forefront which have a direct effect on the Syrian situation," he added.

Iran has voiced an interest in joining the conference, citing its right to participate as an influential party and a member of the international community, AFP reported.

Moscow, a longtime ally of Iran, requested that the country be included in the talks.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/suleiman-condemns-syria-shelling-of-akkar

Suleiman condemns Syria shelling of Akkar

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday condemned the Syrian shelling of Lebanese northern towns located in the district of Akkar.

During his meeting with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Suleiman called on Lebanese parties to “refrain from being sucked into the fighting in Syria in accordance with the Baabda Decalaration.”

Suleiman also chaired a meeting for the ministerial committee tasked to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon in the presence of Miqati.

Earlier in the day, several villages in Akkar were hit by Syrian shelling, which led to at least ten casualties.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-syria-crisis-lebanon-idUSBRE94K0RV20130521

Three killed during Syria-related clashes in Lebanese city

Three people were killed in further sectarian fighting in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Tuesday, security sources said, raising the death toll from four days of sporadic conflict related to Syria's civil war to nine.

Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire shook Tripoli on Tuesday afternoon. Snipers positioned in apartment blocks made walking through some streets unsafe.

Security sources said 60 people, including civilians, had been wounded over the past four days of violence in Tripoli, where an Alawite minority lives on a hill overlooking the mainly Sunni Muslim port city.

Syrian activists say the latest fighting in Tripoli was ignited by tension over an assault by Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah militia on the rebel-held Syrian border town of Qusair.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/sudden-halt-of-syrian-refugees-into-jordan-un-says

Sudden halt of Syrian refugees into Jordan, UN says

The UN said Tuesday the number of Syrian refugees flooding into Jordan had suddenly fallen from several thousand a day to close to zero, warning that fighting currently happening may be preventing people in need from arriving.

"In Jordan in the last four days, we have seen a significant drop in the number of [syrian] refugees arriving," Panos Moumtzis, who heads the UN refugee agency's response to the Syria crisis, told reporters in Geneva.

He pointed out that since February, between 1,000 and 3,000 refugees had crossed the border every day, but that "in the last four nights, this number has dropped to almost zero," with only between five and nine people crossing each day.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-oman-kerry-idUSBRE94J0YV20130521

Kerry visits Oman for arms deal, talks on Syria, Mideast

Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Oman on Tuesday for Raytheon Co's signing of an estimated $2.1 billion arms deal and to consult on Syria and Iran, U.S. officials said.

https://twitter.com/NOW_Syria

Syrian regime forces, rebels are clashing in the Damascus neighborhood of Baraza, activists say

6:02 AM

Syrian regime helicopters shell civilian houses in the Homs town of Al-Qusayr, activists say

7:19 AM

Syrian rebels and regime forces are clashing in the Damascus town of Harasta, activists say

7:20 AM

Dozens of regime officers killed while rebels target water company in Damascus’ Harasta, activists say

8:55 AM

Rebels shoot down drone over Damascus neighborhood of Al-Mliha, activists say

9:22 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

Rozalina has crossed the Jordanian border and will be in New York tomorrow night. Judith

10:43 AM

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam

Battle for lifting EU arms embargo on Syria takes off. So far: UK + France for, Austria + Germany against.

10:01 AM

Senate powerful committee votes today on legislation for arming Syria rebels: http://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/menendez-corker-introduce-syria-transition-support-act

11:09 AM

Lebanese organize a sit-in to protest Hezbollah in Quseyr, Syria. Photo from downtown Beirut, v @Umerkabboul pic.twitter.com/ak8OGcaIOu

11:18 AM

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss

Just interviewed an ex-KGB agent who said Russia's Syria policy is 100% a personal loyalty issue, whatever Putin claims to the contrary.

12:26 PM

And Russia will never, ever, ever abandon one of its "friends".

12:27 PM

EU's "military wing" proscription of Hezbollah meaningless. They can still raise money for the "political wing" and carry on as before.

12:30 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Confirmed...the FSA has begun storming the Shibeebeh base after shelling intensely for a week. its right between the Qarmeed base (brick factory) and Nayrab

11:08 AM

Idlib - Shibeebeh base:: The FSA has destroyed a tank that was near the outside walls of the base

11:09 AM

Preparing FSA BMPs to storm the regime bases in Idlib

11:29 AM

FSA units attacking the Qarmeed and Vanguards bases with shells to create cover for the FSA units attacking Shibeebeh base nearby. Idlib

11:40 AM

FSA shells the Shibeebeh base intensely with many direct hits Idlib

1:08 PM

https://twitter.com/CitizenGeo

None of the 5 members of #Assad’s team to Geneva conference is Alawite Syria

1:03 PM

BTY, two members of Assad's team to Geneva conference were preparing to participate under "opposition banner"

1:15 PM

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

LBCI: Alawite Party ordered a halt to all military operations in TripoliLB after rounds of mortars and heavy clashes Lebanon

1:50 PM

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

Many Lebanese individuals and groups signed on to the anti-Hezbollah demonstration in Martyr's Square, downtown Beirut. Let's hope they show up to the protest and not think their moral support is sufficient enough.

9:47 AM

Now chanting: We will not kneel to Hezbollah

11:33 AM

Now chanting: Leave, leave Nasrallah

11:37 AM

Anti-Hezbollah protest at Martyrs' Square now http://sdrv.ms/10iKUUm

12:10 PM

I will be tweeting a short update on AlQusayr in about an hour.

2:18 PM

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/world/middleeast/iran-and-hezbollahs-support-for-syria-complicates-us-strategy-on-peace-talks.html?pagewanted=all

Iran and Hezbollah Support for Syria Complicates Peace-Talk Strategy

 

As evidence grows of increased Iranian support for the Syrian government, the Obama administration’s strategy to bring the bitter fighting there to a close faces more challenges than ever.

 

With White House support, Secretary of State John Kerry has pushed for an international conference in Geneva in June that would bring representatives of the Syria government together with the opposition.

 

The aim would be to negotiate a transitional government that would take over if President Bashar al-Assad vacates his post and to put an end to the civil war that has killed more than 80,000.

But the stepped-up support Mr. Assad has received from Iran and Hezbollah in recent months appears to have fortified his belief that he can hang on to power and prevail militarily — or at least control a strategically significant swath of the country.

 

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/fears-for-safety-of-human-rights-lawyer-abducted-in-syria#.UZwqklx5qxY.twitter

Fears for safety of human rights lawyer abducted in Syria

 

A prominent Syrian human rights lawyer who went missing this weekend after an apparent abduction is at grave risk of abuse, Amnesty International has said. 

 

Abdullah al-Khalil, who became head of the local council for al-Raqqa Governorate after armed opposition groups took control in March 2013,  was reportedly taken away by unidentified armed individuals as he left his office in the north-eastern city of al-Raqqa late on Saturday night. 

Sources close to Abdullah al-Khalil say he and another man were taken away in two cars. Their whereabouts since is unknown. Local armed opposition groups have reportedly denied responsibility for the abduction.

 

"Whether the Syrian authorities or local armed groups are behind the incident, the two men are at grave risk of abuse,” said Ann Harrison, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-testing-time-for-syrias-rebels-ahead-of-geneva-talks/2013/05/21/48080b28-c244-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html

Testing time for Syria’s rebels

 

It’s a rule of thumb in Middle East conflicts that whenever peace talks are announced, each side steps up the fighting so it can grab as much territory as possible before the cease-fire lines are drawn.

 

This struggle for position is happening now in Syria, in the run-up to planned negotiations in Geneva next month that will be co-sponsored by the United States and Russia. But the battling on the ground is so intense, and the demand for additional weapons so vocal, that a skeptical person should ask whether the Geneva talks will take place at all. The two sides may have to fight awhile longer before they’re ready to talk.

 

It’s axiomatic that neither side wants to negotiate from weakness. For the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, that means more Russian weapons and an intense battle (backed by Hezbollah) to control the strategic city of Qusair, near the Lebanese border, which links Damascus with Assad’s Alawite homeland in the northwest. Assad is also bargaining tough about the transition, claiming he wants to stay in power until the Syrian people hold elections.

 

A good summary of the rebels’ conditions for Geneva came in a telephone interview Monday with Gen. Salim Idriss, the commander of the rebels’ Supreme Military Council. He spoke from Jordan, where his forces had just received a new shipment of 35 tons of weapons from Saudi Arabia; Idriss said these weapons will help, but they aren’t advanced enough to combat Assad’s tanks and planes in Qusair.

 

Idriss said he would not attend the Geneva talks unless the United States and its allies establish “military balance” by giving him modern anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. “It’s not valuable to go to negotiations when we are weak on the ground,” he said.

 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/May-22/217920-jordans-border-clampdown-shuts-out-refugees.ashx#axzz2TzhGwDYD

Jordan’s border clampdown shuts out refugees

 

Jordan has turned away thousands of Syrian refugees in the past week in the first such clampdown since the crisis in Syria began more than two years ago, diplomats, activists and aid workers said Tuesday.

Jordan, due to host an international conference on Syria Wednesday, has already taken in 473,587 Syrians out of a total of 1.5 million who have fled the conflict in an exodus that has accelerated in the past four months, U.N. figures show.

All four unofficial crossing points used by refugees trying to escape bombardments in the southern province of Deraa have been closed for the past six days, refugees and aid workers say, although the official frontier post at Jaber remained open.

They said Syrian families trying to pass into Jordan from the rebel-held border villages of Nasib and Tel Shehab had been turned away with no reason given by the Jordanians.

 

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/jordan-islamists-syria-civil-war.html

Islamist Threat Constrains Jordan's Syria Policy

 

King Abdullah II is no longer hiding his worries about the fate of post-Assad Syria and the danger of it falling into the hands of Islamists, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, the king’s discomfort toward whom is locally and regionally well known.

However, sources from the king’s escorts in Washington confirmed to Al-Monitor that the Americans informed him that attempts at a peaceful political solution will not last beyond the end of this year. If these efforts were to fail, Jordanian diplomatic sources told Al-Monitor that they expect the Americans will resort to powerful military intervention in Syria, either with extensive logistical support for the armed opposition or what has been dubbed the “Serbia scenario,” in which air strikes would weaken Assad and lead to a final shift in the balance of the forces.

Until today, the royal palace in Jordan prefers the political solution, seeing it as the most capable of realizing Jordanian interests. If the Geneva II conference were to fail in bridging the gap between the international regional positions, however, Jordan will consider the “Daraa scenario,” helping to create buffer zones in the south of Syria to provide a sanctuary for refugees and receive hundreds of thousands of refugees who had previously fled to Jordan. This assumes a shift in the balance of power in Syria’s south through allowing certain weapons to revolutionaries, an option that the Jordanians are seriously considering.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/ngo-40-syrian-soldiers-killed-in-idlib-province

NGO: 40 Syrian soldiers killed in Idlib province

 

Forty Syrian soldiers and pro-regime militiamen were killed in fighting with rebels who captured an army camp near the town of Nayrab in the northwestern province of Idlib on Wednesday, a watchdog reported.

Rebels took control of the army camp, which was "one of the most important bastions of the regime in the Idlib region," and several army checkpoints in the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The fighting has killed 14 from the rebel side and not less than 40 among the soldiers of the regular army and members of the Popular Committees [pro-regime militia]," said the Observatory which relies on a network of medics and activists on the ground.

The army used the camp to "bombard many localities in the region of Idlib, leaving hundreds dead and thousands wounded," it said, adding that the facility also served as a detention center where "dozens of detainees have died under torture".

 

http://beta.syriadeeply.org/2013/05/syrian-electronic-army/

We Are the Syrian Electronic Army

 

The hackers of the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) also consider themselves activists, fighting for a government to which – they believe – the fate of the country is tied. Their popularity has surged in the past few months, following a string of high-profile hackings, including cyberattacks on the Financial Times and the Associated Press.

But the Financial Times is only the most recent publication to find itself violated by the SEA, a youthful pro-regime Internet hacking team, since the revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March 2011. Past SEA targets have ranged from the Facebook pages of Syrian opposition activists to The Onion, a satirical newspaper that has poked fun at Bashar al-Assad.

For these hackers, any outlet seen as supporting the opposition is fair game.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/qatar-pm-says-assad-departure-a-must-for-syria-peace

Qatar PM says Assad departure a must for Syria peace

 

Qatar's prime minister said on Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad's must step down if a political end to Syria's civil war is to be achieved, echoing similar remarks from Britain.

"A political solution must be reached to end the conflict and meet the aspirations of the Syrian people who, as we know, demand changing the regime and changing President Bashar al-Assad, who insists on killing his people," Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told a conference in Doha.

"Any solution must be within this framework," he said, speaking hours ahead of a meeting in Amman of the Friends of Syria to discuss a US-Russian proposal for peace talks.

Earlier on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague made similar remarks.

"It is the longstanding view of the UK that Assad needs to go, and we have never been able to see any solution which involves him staying," Hague said in Amman.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/22/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE94L0EZ20130522

U.S. may boost Syria rebels if Assad won't talk peace

 

Washington threatened on Wednesday to increase support for Syria's rebels if President Bashar al-Assad refuses to discuss a political end to a civil war that is spreading across borders.

 

Rebels called for reinforcements to combat an "invasion" by Hezbollah and its Iranian backers, days after President Bashar al-Assad's forces launched an offensive against a strategic town that could prove to be a turning point in the war.

 

Rebels fighting for control of Qusair, now the main battle front, called for reinforcements to repel forces loyal to Assad and what they described as an "invasion" by Hezbollah and Iran.

"Everyone who has weapons or ammunition should send them to Qusair and Homs to strengthen its resistance. Every bullet sent to Qusair and Homs will block the invasion that is trying to drag Syria back to the era of fear," George Sabra, acting head of the opposition National Coalition, said in a statement.

[visionary]

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/france-seeks-brand-hezbollah-terrorist-group

France seeks to brand Hezbollah as 'terrorist' group

 

France is to call for the military arm of Hezbollah to be added to an EU terror blacklist due to its backing of the Syrian regime, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday.

 

"Because of the decisions that have been taken by Hezbollah and the fact that they are fighting very harshly the Syrian population, we have decided to ask that the military branch of the Hezbollah would be considered as a terrorist organisation," Fabius told reporters in English.

 

The United States has long designated the Lebanon-based militant group, which is backed by Iran, as a terrorist organisation and has been pressing its European allies to follow suit.

 

"Many of us European countries are on this line and my guess is that it will be a decision that will be taken by Europe," Fabius said, leaving a meeting of the Friends of Syria in Amman.

 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/05/lebanon-and-syria

Hizbullah may be hurting itself

 

NEW pennants hailing the “martyred” men of Hizbullah, Lebanon’s main Shia party-cum-militia, fly in abundance in its stronghold in the Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon. By some tallies more than 30 of its fighters have perished since May 19th, as the group backs the Syrian regime in a battle to retake Qusayr, a rebel stronghold close to the border with Lebanon. This is heightening fears that Lebanon itself will be engulfed in the conflict.

 

Hizbullah, which relies on Damascus as a conduit for weapons from its patron Iran, had previously stepped in to protect Shia villages along the ill-defined border and had seconded its fighters to guard the Sayda Zeinab shrine in Damascus, one of the holiest for Shia Islam. But Hizbullah has recently become more deeply involved in the Syrian civil war—and more open about it. Because Qusayr is on a supply route from Lebanon to Syria’s rebels, the battle for it brings Hizbullah face-to-face with its foes in both countries. Meanwhile, Lebanese Sunni militants are increasingly backing Syria’s rebels.

 

http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/intercepted-radio-conversation-gives.html

Intercepted Radio Conversations Gives An Insight Into The Fighting In Qusayr

 

Over the past week a major battle has been taking place in Qusayr, Homs, between Syrian opposition forces, and forces reportedly made up of the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters from nearby Lebanon.    Various claims and counter claims have been made about the progress of the battle, with channels reporting from the outskirts of the town with pro-government forces, and opposition Youtube channels posting videos from inside the town.

 

One video posted today claims to be radio communications between government forces in town, and offers some insight into the ongoing battle from the government side

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/reports-chemical-weapons-syria-19234748

UN: New Reports of Chemical Weapons Use in Syria

 

There are mounting reports of chemical weapons use as violence escalates in Syria, the U.N.'s top Mideast envoy said Wednesday.

In response to these reports, Robert Serry told the Security Council that the United Nations is again urging the Syrian government to allow chemical weapons experts into the country immediately to investigate the allegations.

 

A senior U.N. diplomat said Ban has received new information about alleged chemical weapons incidents since the beginning of April. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, refused to give any details

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/LeShaque

Things in Lebanon don't look too good. It seems the country has moved beyond the usual stress-relief skirmishes.
11:56 AM

 

The clashes in Tripoli are now in their fourth day and they are directly related to the events in AlQusayr.
11:57 AM

 

Saida is very tense and the various groups there could spark a fight for the city at any moment.
11:58 AM

 

If both Tripoli and Saida collapse in chaos the Lebanese Army would not be able to reign in the situation.
12:00 PM

 

Meanwhile, if AlQusayr is overrun by Hezbollah, Lebanese sympathizers are likely to retaliate/escalate in Lebanon.
12:01 PM

 

https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld

Friends of Syria Alliance calls for immediate withdrawal of Hezbollah, Iranian fighters from Syria -communique after meeting in Amman

5:51 PM

 

Friends of Syria Alliance: any transitional government in Syria must have authority over army and executive now in Assad's hands -communique 

5:52 PM

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=660658353961304&l=383d938e2a

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Tuesday, the coordination committees were able to document 89 martyrs, among them 6 women, 9 children, and 2 martyrs under torture: 31 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 27 in Homs; 14 in Aleppo; 6 in Daraa; 6 in Idlib; 3 in Raqqa; and 2 in Deir Ezzor

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=661129930580813&l=242651fa27

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Wednesday, the coordination committees were able to document 125 martyrs, among 11 women, 13 children, and 5 martyrs under torture: 37 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 29 martyrs in Homs; 21 martyrs in Hama; 17 martyrs in Idlib; 9 martyrs in Daraa; 7 martyrs in Aleppo; 2 martyrs in Raqqa; 2 martyrs in Lattakia; and 1 martyr in Deir Ezzor

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/world/middleeast/syrian-opposition-coalition-meets-in-turkey.html

Opposition Discusses Its Approach to Syria Talks

 

Members of Syria’s main political opposition group on Thursday began three days of talks to elect a new leader and formulate their positions before an expected international conference in Geneva next month that is meant to pave the way for negotiations on a possible transitional government in Syria.

 

“We do not have too much illusion,” said Ahmed Kamel, a member of the coalition. “We know the regime, we know Assad, and we know that he would never quit power without force.”

 

Among world powers, Russia supports Mr. Assad’s continued leadership, saying his presence would stabilize any transition. Members of the opposition group insist that he must not be a part of any future government.

 

“The international community says that they can remove Assad from power; so does the U.S.,” Mr. Kamel said on the sidelines of discussions that were expected to last until midnight on Thursday. “We just need to stop massacres until then.”

 

http://world.time.com/2013/05/23/the-battle-for-qusayr-why-victory-in-syrias-latest-front-matters/

The Battle for Qusayr: What Victory in Syria’s Latest Front Means for the War

 

Fighting continued for a fifth straight day in the strategic Syrian city of Qusayr, as opposition forces fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad sought desperately to maintain their slipping grip in a battle that could dictate the direction of the war. As government tanks, artillery and warplanes pounded rebel positions throughout the city, fighters engaged in sniper attacks and small forays against government ground troops seeking to take terrain. Rebel fighters are calling it one of the worst ground battles of the war.

 

“In some areas the fight is within three-meters diameter, and you are able to hear them yelling and crying in the battlefield,” Abu al-Baraa, a field commander from the Jabhat al-Nusra in Qusayr, tells TIME by telephone from Tripoli, where he is recovering from wounds gained earlier in the week. Al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra is fighting under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army, a loose confederation of volunteers, jihadists and opportunists aligned against the regime.

 

Al-Baraa says he is in constant contact with his men at the front. “Now the battle is centralized in the eastern side of Qusayr, and our mujahedin are teaching [the Syrian government forces] hard lessons which, God willing, they will never forget.” He says his brigade has more than 2,000 fighters willing to sacrifice their lives to prevent Qusayr from being taken back by regime forces. Assad’s supporters are equally ferocious in their desire to retake the city, which has been under rebel control for several months.

Not sure why they interviewed someone from Nusra, of all the groups involved.

I suppose they figured it would make for a more colorful interview.

They definitely don't operate under any FSA umbrella though.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/23/us-syria-crisis-opposition-idUSBRE94M17420130523?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Syrian opposition scrambles to save credibility ahead of peace talks

 

The Syrian opposition in exile met on Thursday to decide whether to attend a peace conference that the United States and Russia see as a crucial path to ending two years of civil war.

 

Under international pressure to swiftly resolve internal divisions, the Syrian National Coalition began talks in Istanbul to elect a coherent leadership and decide on the conference which could take place in Geneva in the coming weeks.

 

Coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh said the 60-member body supports "any conference that helps transition the situation into an elective government away from the dictatorship" but would not go to Geneva without indications that President Bashar al-Assad is on his way out.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/05/2013523155639566436.html

Insider sheds light on Syria's chemical arms

 

A former scientist for the Syrian chemical weapons programme said the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has enough of the nerve agent sarin to "eradicate the whole of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo".
 
Speaking to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity after he fled from Syria, the chemist added that the regime is not likely to unleash its chemical stockpiles unless it “no longer cares about the world knowing".
 
"If the regime is to fire a Scud-B with a chemical warhead filled with sarin, the missile would create a chemical cloud in the atmosphere that is 3km long and 500m wide, which could be fatal to all people under it," the chemist said.
 
He claims that the regime has only used sarin nerve gas in small quantities to halt rebel advances in four towns in the suburbs of Damascus, in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maksoud district, in Idlib's Saraqeb town and in Homs' al-Khalidiyeh district.
 
"The intention was to incapacitate rebels and force them out of strategic areas, while keeping the deaths among their ranks limited," the chemist said, who added that he was speaking out "to dispel the myths on chemical weapons in Syria".

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/world/middleeast/in-lebanon-stoking-the-fire-of-syrias-war.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

In Lebanon, Stoking the Fire of Syria’s War

 

On the outskirts of this northern Lebanese town near the Syrian border, a short, rugged dirt track leads downhill to a turquoise river regarded, in times of peace, for its white-water rafting, eco-lodges and fish restaurants. But in a small clearing at the river’s edge, there are no picnickers or vacationers escaping the summer heat to be found, just a few armed men in camouflage, some masked.

 

The men identified themselves as members of the Popular Committees, a militia made up of Lebanese nationals who say they live inside Syria. The militia is backed by Hezbollah, the powerful militant Shiite Muslim movement based in Lebanon, and is involved in fighting Syrian rebels around the city of Qusayr, a short distance across the border.

 

http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/sheikh-al-yaqoubi-elected-to-the-nc/

 

Sheikh al-Yaqoubi Elected to the NC—its first non-Brotherhood-aligned religious figure

From the beginning of the uprising, mainstream Syrian Sunni ‘ulema—the traditional scholars who have spoken for Islam for centuries and who most Syrians recognize as the quintessential voices for religious interpretation—have been marginalized in the Syrian opposition, as Islamists of Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood persuasion steamrolled their way to dominance in both the SNC and the National Coalition. But an emerging Sufi current within the Syrian resistance could soon provide an alternative to Muslim Brotherhood hegemony and change the dynamics of the political opposition.

 

Sheikh Muhammad al-Ya’qoubi has just been elected to the National Coalition, the first figure of the Sufi ‘ulema to break through the Islamist exclusivity that has kept them out until now. His appointment will be announced shortly at a National Coalition conference. Along with other Sufi sheikhs, al-Ya’qoubi is heading up efforts to solidify a Sufi bloc of political leadership and nationalist-oriented rebel groups fighting in Syria who give allegiance to the leadership of Sufi ‘ulema. He also supports efforts to train Syrian rebels in Jordan

 

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/battlefield-update-the-fight-for-isolated-government-outposts-in-northern-syria/

Battlefield Update: The Fight for Isolated Government Outposts in Northern Syria

 

In recent weeks considerable public attention has turned to questions of whether government forces in Syria have used chemical weapons. And all the while, conventional fighting with conventional weapons – the dominant form of violence and source of killing in this and most every war of our time – has continued to rage. As world leaders and commentators of every stripe have debated President Obama’s “red line,” there have been developments on the ground, which might herald tactical shifts and point to the verifiable, actual slog that is the Syrian civil war.

 

 

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomskyhttps://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky.

Rozalina is in MT Sinai Hospital. Very skinny, malnourished and exhausted. She needs a week to recover. Judith Chomsky
9:53 AM

 

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Latest from the battle for the Idlib bases. The FSA has liberated all the checkpoints in the Shibeebeh base's compound. They also liberated 90% of the shibeebeh base itself.

 

The remaining part is connected to the Qarmeed base and they are fighting to liberate that area too.

 

They destroyed all tanks inside except for one and killed all soldiers except for 3.

 

It is very important. Shibeebeh and Qarmeed together were home to nearly 100 tanks. From these 2 bases they can shell almost all of the Idlib. They must also be liberated in order to even attempt to liberate Idlib city. All soldiers and tanks that withdraw from any other point in the region (taftanaz etc) always withdraw to Shebeebeh.

 

May 22

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=661678647192608&l=a9342c101e

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Thursday, local coordination committees documented 86 martyrs, including 8 women, 10 children and 7 martyrs under torture: 27 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 18 in Aleppo; 14 in Homs; 8 in Daraa; 7 in Hama; 6 in Deir Ezzor and 6 in Idlib

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/24/us-syria-crisis-opposition-idUSBRE94M17420130524

Looming large over the Istanbul meeting, which began on Thursday, is the shadow of Saudi Arabia, which according to opposition sources will lead an Arab drive to back the new government financially, after differences with Qatar on how to deal with the coalition were largely settled.

 

Saudi Arabia is backing a proposal being debated at the three-day meeting to expand the 60-member coalition to 95 by bringing in members of a new liberal political bloc being set up by veteran opposition campaigner Michel Kilo.

 

The coalition is currently dominated by two blocs: the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies in the Syrian National Council, and a faction loyal to Mustafa al-Sabbagh, a businessman close to Qatar.

 

"The Kilo bloc, if it is admitted, will end the era of the coalition being decided by Sabbagh and the Brotherhood," a senior coalition source said.

 

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/24/is_assad_really_winning

Is Assad really winning?

 

In northern Syria, the rebels continue to make slow progress against the remaining Syrian military outposts. The "Youth Camp," one of the few remaining Syrian military strongholds in Idlib province, fell this week -- in this video, Syrian rebels can be seen storming the area. As the New York Times' C. J. Chivers noted recently, the Youth Camp and another Assad stronghold at a nearby brick factory mutually supported each other from rebel attack. With the loss of the Youth Camp, the brick factory will no doubt come under greater pressure. In Aleppo, meanwhile, Syrian rebels kept up their assault on the central prison, employing mortar shelling and car bombs.

The most active front where Assad is on the offensive is Qusayr, where rebel forces are defending the western city from a joint assault by Hezbollah and Syrian military forces. The battle has dragged on for six days, despite early regime claims of a quick victory, with Hezbollah suffering significant losses in the conflict. Given the balance of forces, Qusayr will likely eventually fall to Assad. But despite being regularly described in the press as "strategic" -- much like every other contested town in Syria has been -- it is not the only opposition hub for weapons flowing from Lebanon, and its strategic benefits went largely unremarked during the more than a year it was under the control of the opposition.

 

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/kerry-lavrov-hold-phone-call-syria-peace-conference

Kerry, Lavrov hold phone call on Syria peace conference

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone on Friday to discuss efforts to bring Syria's warring parties to a peace conference, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The situation in Syria was discussed in the context of an international conference for a political settlement in the country," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

 

Kerry and Lavrov last met on May 7 in Moscow and agreed to try to get the Syrian government and opposition to discuss an end to the more than 2-year-old civil war. The diplomats are due to again hold talks on Syria on Monday in Paris, a US official said on Friday.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/peace-efforts-leave-syrian-refugees-in-jordan-cold

Peace efforts leave Syrian refugees in Jordan cold

 

International efforts to organize a Syria peace conference are at fever pitch, but in Jordan's Zaatari camp, Syrian refugees are more concerned with the misery of their daily lives than diplomatic maneuvering.

"To be honest, we're fed up with these conferences, there have been many... without results. We want a radical solution," said Saleh, a former laborer from Syria's southern Daraa province.

The efforts by Washington and Moscow to organize a peace conference next month mean little to the 120,000 residents of the dusty camp, where daytime temperatures hover around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

"We either want to go back or to know what is going to happen to us, we've been waiting for so long," Saleh says.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-arab-league-must-apologize-before-peace-role

Syria: Arab League must 'apologize' before peace role

 

The Arab League must "apologize" and cancel its resolutions on Syria before it can consider playing any role in ending the conflict in the country, Syria's information minister said on Friday.

"The attempt by some Arab regimes to talk about finding a role for themselves in [resolving the conflict in] Syria is absurd and impossible," state news agency SANA quoted Omran al-Zohbi as saying.

"The Arab League should cancel all its resolutions on Syria and apologize to the Syrian people and their government, only then could we consider it," he said.

The comments came a day after the Arab League said it would submit a list of proposals for a mooted June peace conference on Syria to the United Nations Security Council.

 

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/84308

Hizbullah Losses in Syria Steep, but Morale High

 

Hassan is just 18 and a fighter with Hizbullah, which sent nearly 2,000 men to support the Syrian army's assault on the central town of Qusayr this week.

 

His father Ali was also among the ranks of the Hizbullah men battling rebels in the key town, many of them holed up in tunnels.

 

Hassan, a gunner, came back to his home in Bekaa's Baalbeck city on Wednesday after three days of grueling combat.  His father did not.

"On the first day, we advanced through the alleyways towards the center of Qusayr, and then suddenly the rebels attacked us from behind," he told Agence France Presse.

 

"We could not see any fighters, we thought there was no one there," he added, still wearing his combat fatigues, a Hizbullah scarf draped over his shoulders and a weapon in his hand.

 

"When we had pushed through two thirds of the city, towards the north, they came out of tunnels and opened fire on us. We had a lot of fighters killed and wounded, all of them shot in the back," he said.

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

6,000,000 Syrian Pounds (~40,000 US Dollars) raised by the ppl of MaaratAlNouman suburbs for the people of Qusayr
4:30 AM
 

The "school" checkpoint in KhanSheikhoon Idlib was completely blown to bits this morning.
5:04 AM

 

https://twitter.com/RafifJ

The regime launched two surface-to-surface missiles at Qosair, and lo & behold! Most casualties are women and children. HangAssad
11:08 AM

 

https://twitter.com/CFKlebergTT

Syria oppositn coalition says Russians saying regime will talk isn't enough.
"They have to come out themselves," spksmn Louay Safi tells me
11:07 AM

 

Syria opposition coalition expresses doubts abt regime will to peace talks. "We think they're maneuvering," spokesman Louay Safi tells me.
11:08 AM

 

Syria opposition coalition spokesman tells me talks are possible, but Assad's resignation and democratic transition must be part of talks.
11:09 AM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/25/us-syria-crisis-opposition-idUSBRE94M17420130525

Syria opposition unity talks face specter of collapse

 

Syrian opposition talks aimed at presenting a coherent front at an international peace conference to end the civil war faced the prospect of collapse after President Bashar al-Assad's foes failed to cut an internal deal, opposition sources said on Friday.

 

The failure of the Syrian National Coalition to alter its Islamist-dominated membership as demanded by its international backers and replace a leadership undermined by power struggles is playing into the hands of Assad, whose forces are attacking a key town as his ally Russia said he would send representatives to the conference, coalition insiders said.

 

After two days of meetings in Istanbul, senior coalition players were in discussions late into the night after veteran liberal opposition figure Michel Kilo rejected a deal by Syrian businessman Mustafa al-Sabbagh, who is the coalition's secretary-general, to admit some members of Kilo's bloc to the coalition, the sources said.

 

Kilo has said that his group wants significant representation in the opposition coalition before it will join.

 

"There is a last-minute attempt to revive a kitchen-room deal. The coalition risks undermining itself to the point that its backers may have to look quickly for an alternative with enough credibility on the ground to go to Geneva," a senior opposition source at the talks said.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-opposition-demands-goodwill-gestures-from-assad

Syria opposition demands "goodwill gestures" from Assad

 

Syria's opposition called Friday on President Bashar al-Assad to prove it is working for a transition of power in the war-torn country, as they gathered in Istanbul to discuss a US-Russian initiative for peace.

"We want to stop the bloodshed. It's very important for us to have goodwill gestures, and from both sides," Khaled al-Saleh, spokesperson for the Western-backed National Coalition -- the main opposition group -- told reporters in Istanbul.

"We want to make sure that when we enter those negotiations the bloodshed in Syria will stop," he added.

The call comes hours after key Assad backer Moscow said the Syrian regime is "in principle" willing to join the peace conference proposed by the United States and Russia dubbed "Geneva 2".

Saleh also renewed accusations against the regime over the alleged use of chemical weapons -- this time in the town of Adra near the capital -- "the night before" Moscow said Damascus is ready to join proposed peace talks tentatively set for June.

 

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44996&Cr=syria&Cr1=

UN agency calls on Syria’s neighbours to keep borders open for refugees

 

The United Nations refugee agency today called on countries around Syria to keep their borders open for refugees, while also stressing the need for “urgent and robust” international support for host countries and aid agencies.

 

There are already over 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). With the violence worsening inside Syria, the agency expects that more people will continue to seek safety in neighbouring countries.

 

While commending the Governments of neighbouring countries for hosting so many people, UNHCR voiced concern about reports that many Syrians trying to flee might be stuck at the border in extremely dangerous areas.

 

“We are also disturbed by accounts indicating there may be restrictions imposed on those wishing to leave Syria,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

 

“We call on all parties to protect civilians and allow safe passage for those wishing to flee.”

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/24/hezbollah-syria-new-reality-supporters?CMP=twt_gu

Hezbollah's role in Syrian conflict ushers new reality for its supporters

 

The workmen had been busy in the room where Hezbollah honours its dead. In one corner of the martyrs' cemetery in south Beirut, four women shrouded in black sat cross-legged near a new grave, reading from the Qu'ran. Metres away, the yellow flag of the militant group covered a freshly covered hole in a white marble floor. The scent of burning incense wafted across the room.

 

Another grave, its concrete seal barely dry, had been partly completed nearby. There were seven fresh holes in all; and the grave digger was never far away. More bodies were due on Friday. At this rate, the tiny room – a shrine to Hezbollah's cause as much as to the men who died fighting for it – would soon be full.

 

The flurry of activity in the martyrs' cemetery marks the busiest period for the militant movement since the 2006 war with Israel, in which an estimated 400 of its members died. All the new graves here have been dug in the past 10 days. Many others have been sealed with the familiar yellow and green standard in villages across Lebanon where the rumblings of a very different war have now boiled over into sacrifice and loss.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/row-on-arming-syria-rebels-deeply-divides-eu

Row on arming Syria rebels deeply divides EU

 

A fierce row over whether to arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's forces has left the European Union deeply divided days before the bloc needs to decide on renewing existing sanctions.

After months of bitter argument the issue comes to a head next week, with EU foreign ministers pressed for an answer at talks Monday, their last get-together before the expiry at midnight Friday of far-reaching EU sanctions against the Assad regime, including an arms embargo.

Britain and France want the arms embargo maintained against Assad but relaxed against the opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC).

 

After a flurry of negotiations, held daily at different levels over the past week as the May 31 deadline nears, Brussels diplomats and officials say the 27 EU nations have split into three groups over the question.

Should the bloc fail to agree a joint position by Friday, the whole sanctions regime including the arms embargo would lapse, allowing the delivery of weapons to both rebels and the regime.

 

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-316477-davutoglu-turkey-us-have-a-plan-b-on-syria-if-geneva-meeting-fails.html

Davutoğlu: Turkey, US have a Plan B on Syria if Geneva meeting fails 

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Let it be known: the Muslim Brothers (and the blind Qatar & Turkish backing) are hindering the last real hope of a Syrian solution as we spk
9:18 AM

Every single settlement being proposed in shaping the NC in Istanbul now is being torpedoed by the MBs (and their backers).
9:20 AM

Qatar wants Sabbagh to lead the Syrian Coalition, and is not backing down. It is also pushing hard for its formula of representation.
2:22 PM

Turkey is officially on Qatar's side, hardcore. One wonders how such a geopolitical heavyweight like Turkey has become a Qatari yes man.
2:23 PM

Mustafa Sabbagh is Sec Gen of the NC, not an MB, but an Islamist that is MB approved. A business man who knows as much about politics as 0
2:25 PM

 

https://twitter.com/columlynch

Russia advocating Iranian participation in Geneva II talks on Syria; US, Euros not. Pretty much same debate that preceded Geneva I
11:58 PM

 

https://twitter.com/AlCazanova

I would just like to thank Hezbollah for helping unite the FSA and turning them into a cohesive functioning unit in Quseir.
12:46 AM

Never before have we witnessed the FSA display this type of combined force in its battle to defend Al-Quseir. This is a major turning point.
12:47 AM

Quseir is the Maysaloon of our era, although unlike Maysaloon, this will be one of the finest moments of this great revolution.
12:48 AM

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=662218360471970&l=6c0da87eeb

Local Coordination Committees in Syria:

By the end of Friday, local coordination committees documented 102 martyrs including 10 children, 2 women and 2 martyrs under torture: 46 martyrs were reported in Damasucs and its suburbs; 18 in Aleppo; 10 in Idlib: 9 in Homs; 6 in Hama; 5 in Daraa; 4 in Deir Ezzor; and 4 in Banyas

 

[visionary]

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/activists-say-heaviest-artillery-barrage-syrian-forces-al-qusayr-battle

Activists say heaviest artillery barrage by Syrian forces in al Qusayr battle

 

Activists say forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have unleashed their heaviest artillery barrage in a week to dislodge rebels from a strategic western town.

 

Pro-Assad troops, including fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, launched an offensive against the rebel-held town of al Qusayr a week ago.

 

They have gained ground, but rebels continue to hold some positions.

Local activist Hadi Abdullah and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say the artillery barrage began early Saturday.

 

http://www.hhassan.com/2013/05/details-on-syrian-oppositions-talks-in.html

Details on Syrian opposition's talks in Turkey

 

But on Friday, Al Sabbagh came back and said that he and others refused the plan. They offered an alternative plan: 21 new seats will be added; seven for Michel Kilo and his allies, seven for representatives of “local councils”, and seven for the Muslim Brotherhood. That means the Muslim Brotherhood will effectively get two thirds of the new expansion plan. Not only does the MB want to reduce the number of new seats but it also wants to use the occasion to expand its influence further. How is that?
 

“Local councils” are already represented in the NC by Al Sabbagh, a Syrian businessman and Islamist backed by Qatar and MB. He was appointed as the Coalition’s Secretary General in November after he claimed that he and a group of men represented various areas in Syria. I wrote this before: "The appointment of Mustafa Sabbagh as the National Coalition's secretary general came after he showed up in Doha, before the formation of the coalition in November, with 16 people he falsely claimed represented provincial councils across Syria. In fact many of them were his employees in Saudi Arabia, or his relatives.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/world/middleeast/kilian-kleinschmidt-calm-boss-at-center-of-a-syrian-refugee-camps-chaos.html

Calm Boss Overseeing a Syrian Refugee Camp’s Chaos

 

KILIAN KLEINSCHMIDT had a problem. The afternoon before Kuwait’s ambassador to Jordan was scheduled to visit the overcrowded Syrian refugee camp here, children vandalized mobile homes that Kuwait had donated, stealing windows, doors and floor mats.

 

Mr. Kleinschmidt, who runs the Zaatari camp for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, called the police, but they were busy with a riot as thousands of Syrians tried to cram onto a handful of buses headed back to their embattled homeland.

 

“Naughty, naughty kids — the best stone throwers on earth,” said Mr. Kleinschmidt, 50, a ruddy-faced German whose résumé reads like a Wikipedia entry for the last few decades of international disasters. “I don’t know what I’m going to tell the ambassador of Kuwait tomorrow. He is going to be very upset. He wants to see these placed and happy families moving in there.”

 

About half the size of a small Manhattan studio apartment, the 161-square-foot and 194-square-foot trailers — called caravans and costing $2,500 to $3,500 each — are the most coveted commodity in Zaatari, separating the have-littles from the have-lesses.

 

Moving families from tents to caravans is the cornerstone of Mr. Kleinschmidt’s plan to overhaul Zaatari, where he took the reins on March 12 after a series of temporary directors. By July, he promises, all of the more than 100,000 refugees sprawled across Zaatari’s five square miles will be in caravans, more than 25,000 of them. They are less than halfway there.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323528404578453043883699474.html?mod=rss_mobile_uber_feed_europe

Assad's Not-So-Secret Weapon: Loyal Syrian Businessmen

 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/May-25/218278-miserable-residents-in-hellish-tripoli-want-their-lives-back.ashx#axzz2TlIWlXw8

‘Miserable’ residents in hellish Tripoli want their lives back

 

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The past week has been hellish for the residents of the northern city of Tripoli, with many living in fear as the clashes, which erupted Sunday, claim more lives and continue with no end in sight.

The fighting, which has coincided with the Hezbollah-backed Syrian regime offensive against the city of Qusair, has led Tripoli’s exhausted residents to question why, time and again, they must bear the financial and emotional consequences of the violence.

To occupy themselves while cooped up indoors, some residents count the numbers of explosions nightly. Most are afraid because the fighting has spread to areas outside the traditional front lines between the warring neighborhoods of Alawite Jabal Mohsen and Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh, into new ones such as Miatain, Azmi and Mina.

Residents estimate hundreds of mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades are launched every night, with endless rounds of machine-gun fire. They noted that 82 mm mortar shells and B-10 RPGs are among the common weapons used. At least 23 people have been killed since May 19, and more than 100 injured.

 

https://twitter.com/AlCazanova

The civil and democratic environment that Al-Bukamal [Deir Ezzour] has created in this power is truly phenomenal yet few know of the success of the town.
8:32 AM

 

It's a shame. Spoke to my cousins there today. They've developed a remarkable communal system. Everyone has a role
8:38 AM

 

There's slowly a sense of 'normalcy' returning back to the lives of the people. They're currently doing sme rebuilding projects
8:46 AM

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Karybdamoidhttps://twitter.com/Karybdamoid

http://img.ly/uYFO   Syria map 05/24. SAA/Hezbollah assault on Qusayr. Opp forces take Idlib Youth Camp. Improved city labeling
4:03 PM

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/world/middleeast/syrian-army-and-hezbollah-step-up-raids-on-rebels.html?_r=0

Hezbollah Leader Orders Full Fight to Save Assad

 

The leader of the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Saturday decisively committed his followers to an all-out battle in Syria to salvage the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, saying that Hezbollah was fighting abroad to “immunize” Lebanon from an Israeli invasion he said would surely follow if Syrian rebels prevailed.

 

“It is our battle, and we are up to it,” the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, declared, in his most direct embrace yet of a fight in Syria that Hezbollah can no longer hide now that dozens of its fighters have fallen recently in and around the strategic Syrian town of Qusayr. Outgunned Syrian rebels have held on for a week there against a frontal assault by Hezbollah and Syrian forces.

 

The speech was delivered via videotape on the 13th anniversary of the end of Israel’s 15-year occupation of southern Lebanon after years of battling Hezbollah’s guerrillas, which the group considers its greatest victory. Mr. Nasrallah seemed to be preparing his followers for the heavy price in lives and political capital that the organization could pay as it embarks on an unprecedented intervention in a neighboring country, a move that could deeply destabilize Lebanon.

 

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-opposition-says-kidnapped-bishops-in-good-health

Syria opposition says kidnapped bishops "in good health"

 

Two Orthodox bishops kidnapped in Syria last month are "in good health," though there is no news on their whereabouts, an opposition official told reporters Saturday in Istanbul.

"Two or three days ago, a doctor visited the two bishops. They are in good health," said Abdul Ahad Steipho, member of the main opposition's National Coalition and of its committee established to follow up on the kidnappings.

Steipho added that his committee's attempts to enter into direct telephone contact with the kidnappers or the bishops have so far failed.

"We are receiving a lot of contradictory information on the identity of the kidnappers and their demands for ransom," he said.

 

http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/France-Iran-will-not-join-in-Syria-peace-talks-314324

France rules out Iran joining in Syria peace talks

 

France's foreign minister on Saturday ruled out Iran taking part in a proposed Syria peace conference, saying Tehran was involved in the conflict and had no desire for peace.

 

Laurent Fabius will host Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry at a dinner on Monday to discuss how to nudge Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Syrian opposition into the talks in Geneva.

 

Speaking aboard a French aircraft en route to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Fabius said there was no "magic wand" to get warring parties to the negotiating table even though it appeared Assad's government had agreed to attend.

 

Russia has said Iran must be included in the peace conference, which was jointly proposed by Moscow and Washington and could convene in the next few weeks.

 

But Fabius said Iran's presence in Syria through its officers who were "directing operations" and through its Hezbollah proxy demonstrated that it had no place at the negotiating table.

 

http://www.hhassan.com/2013/05/details-on-syrian-oppositions-talks-in.html

The talks are expected to be finalised tonight  (Saturday) or probably tomorrow morning.  Still, the talks can drag on, even be shelved for now. No progress has been made. But two important developments are worth mentioning.

The first one is that 12 prominent members of the non-Brotherhood groups signed a document/ultimatum yesterday vowing to withdraw from the Coalition if the Brotherhood and its allies do not agree to the expansion plan.

The second one is that the Brotherhood presented a new idea (like amazing idea): George Sabra becomes the lead of the National Coalition, Ghassan Hitto remains the prime minister of the interim government and Mustafa Al Sabbagh as the NC's general secretary for another six months. So basically, if more members are to be added, these three must lead the coalition and the interim government.

Six months, an interesting period. The pressure from Geneva 2 organisers might be the reason for insisting on this for now. They probably think that by that time things would be clearer. Both the Qataris and the Brotherhood promised recently (first week of this month) that they would not stand against any expansion plan. It's unclear what has changed since.

 

But there is still pressure on the Brotherhood and its allies to accept the expansion plan. Although far-fetched, they might agree on some plan tonight or tomorrow. Because all sides disagree deeply on all issues, the talks may drag on. But because many members threatened to withdraw, the talks might be delayed as a way to avoid such an outcome. We will see what happens over the coming days.

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/21/opinion/sutter-syrian-cartoonist-ferzat/index.html

Cartoons that scare Syria's leader

 

The masked henchmen grabbed three fingers on each of the Syrian political cartoonist's hands and pulled them back all the way -- so far that they cracked.

 

"Break his arms so that he doesn't ever draw again," one said.

 

Ali Ferzat -- the cartoonist who described the 2011 attack to me in a recent interview -- soon found himself bleeding and left for dead near the Damascus airport. His assailants, who he believes were acting on behalf of the Syrian regime, dragged him alongside a moving car. His head and shoulder bounced on the pavement and then the men shoved him out of the vehicle, dumping him on the side of the road.

 

Ferzat wondered if he would live, let alone draw again.

 

It would be months before he would learn the second answer.

 

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Suqoor Alsham: All soldiers and officers that were inside the Shibeebeh base in #Idlib were killed except for 20 who fled to Qarmeed base.
9:36 AM

Suqoor Alsham: The officer in charge of the Shibeebeh base has been killed and we have his body. #Idlib
9:37 AM

 

Suqoor Alsham: Officer previously in charge of the Ways chkpt (liberated) and Saraqeb massacres has been killed at the shibebeh base.
9:38 AM

 

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

The actual storming of the base [Qarmeed/Brick Factory] hasn't started yet but it is surrounded still.
9:41 AM

 

Largest regime checkpoint in Adra, Damascus suburbs blown to bits by the FSA.
10:24 AM

 

Clashes at the Hamdiyeh base in MaaratAlNouman...Regime losses include 4 dead regime soldiers, several injured, and a destroyed Shilka.
4:44 PM

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/201352621316268311.html

Battle for Syria's Qusayr intensifies

 

Syria's western border town of Qusayr has come under fire for a seventh straight day as government forces backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah movement battled to drive out rebel fighters, witnesses have said.

At least 40 people were reported killed on Saturday in what residents told Al Jazeera was the worst fighting they had seen since the start of the civil war.

 

The shelling by government troops began early on Saturday, forcing residents into crammed bomb shelters in the strategic town that links Damascus, the capital, with the Meditaranean.

Rifaie Tammas, an activist inside Qusayr, told Al Jazeera that government forces were shelling the town indiscriminately.

"On average, about 40 shells per minute hit the town," Tammas said.

 

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/26/british-broadcaster-sky-news-has-all-of-its-android-apps-hacked-by-the-syrian-electronic-army/

British broadcaster Sky News has all of its Android apps hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army

 

British broadcast company Sky News has had all of its Android apps hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. A look at the app’s page in the Google Play store reveals that the description was changed to “Syrian Electronic Army Was Here”. The broadcaster sent out a Tweet instructing anyone who has downloaded the app to uninstall it.

 

First reported by ITV News via The Desk, it appears that not only are the company’s Sky+ and Sky News Android apps compromised, but also Sky Go, Sky Wifi, Sky Movies, and Sky Sports News. It’s unknown how exactly the group managed to update the programs inside the Google Play store. However, all screenshots in the app have been replaced with images by the hacking group, which has been at the forefront of some of the recent cyberattacks on services like Twitter, and with media publications.

In addition, the group has also modified the developer website link on all of Sky News’ apps so that it points to their page. If you tried to email the developer, it also points to an email address believed to belong to the organization.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/201352645843641150.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

Two rockets hit Beirut's southern suburbs

 

Two rockets have hit a district in the southern part of Lebanon's capital, wounding at least five people.

Initial reports said one of the rockets landed in the Mar Mikhael district just south of the capital on Sunday, while the second fell on a car exhibit on the street.

Lebanon's state agency said security forces were looking for a third rocket that fell but did not explode.

Marwan Sharbel, the country's interior minister, inspected the scene where the rockets fell, saying they were fired from the southeastern side of the area but that it was too early to know who fired them.

It was an act of "sabotage", he said

.

 

https://twitter.com/RawyaRageh

SNC: Nasrallah continues to gamble w lives of Lebanese youth in #Syria for sake of vicious gang that .. spread unimaginable terrorism
1:16 AM

SNC: Nasrallah's speech explicitly declares Iranian interests as superior to basic, inherent rights of ppl across the region
1:18 AM

 

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

LBCI reporting that rockets that hit Beirut were fired from the mountainous regions of Baabda Lebanon
1:55 AM

 

https://twitter.com/Basma_

Activist Hadi al-Abdallah roams Dabaa airport to discredit reports claiming its takeover by regime forces
11:50 AM

 

Syria National Coalition calls on Hezbollah fighters to defect after Nasrallah's speech which SNC described as "ideological, extremist"-AFP
2:57 AM

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=662779030415903&l=6b6a6715ec

Local Coordination Committees in Syria:

By the end of Saturday, the local coordination committees documented 111 martyrs including 7 women, 9 children and 1 matyr under torture: 40 martyrs were reported in Homs; 34 in Aleppo; 25 in Damascus and its suburbs; 3 in Qunaitra;3 in Daraa; 3 in Hama; 1 in Raqqa; and 1 in Idlib

[visionary]

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=59007

Jordan follows in Turkey’s footsteps with Patriot missiles request

 

Jordan, which shares borders with war-torn Syria, said on Sunday it is in talks with "friendly countries" to deploy Patriot missiles on its territory after a similar move by Turkey.

 

"Jordan wishes to deploy Patriot missile batteries in order to boost its defence capabilities and help protect the country," Information Minister Mohammad Momani told a news conference.

 

"We are currently at the stage of talks with friendly states," said Momani, who is also government spokesman, declining to elaborate.

 

http://shabab.ayyam.org/en/liveblog/opposition-sources-jobar-mortars-fired-regime-equipped-chemical-agents

Opposition Sources in Jobar: Mortars Fired by Regime Equipped with Chemical Agents

 

Opposition sources in the eastern Damascene neighborhood of Jobar have reported shortly after midnight that regime forces have used mortars that were previously equipped with chemical agents in its shelling of the neighborhood on Monday.

 

http://shabab.ayyam.org/en/story/carbomb-damascus-countryside-leaves-40-dead

Carbomb in Damascus Countryside Leaves 40 Dead

 

According to opposition sources, a big explosion took plce late on Sunday in Kessweh, a district in southern Damascus. The blast was caused by a carbomb that took off near the Military Intelligence Center leaving 40 soldiers dead. Regime security forces conducted a raid campaign immidiately after the attack.

The state-owned agency SANA reported that a major explosion near Kesswen Medical Clinic killed 6 civilians and left 15 injured.

 

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/20135272344312131.html

Israel probes blast near Lebanese border

 

A rocket was fired from south Lebanon towards Israel, Lebanese security sources said, and residents of a northern Israeli town reported hearing a blast.

Israeli forces and UN troops investigated the area near the Lebanese border early on Monday but did not detect any activity or damage.

"An explosion was heard. Soldiers are searching the area. The cause is still being investigated," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

A second Israeli military source said the explosion was probably caused by a mortar.

 

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/killed-as-syria-rebels-kurds-clash/story-e6frfkui-1226651019659

Syrian opposition in chaos

 

SYRIA'S leading opposition group is in disarray at the start of a fifth fractious day of talks in Istanbul, with discussions on participation in a US-Russian peace initiative now stalled.

There was squabbling over a vote early on Monday, which brought eight new members into the Syrian opposition umbrella group.

 

The voting results formalised the entry into the coalition of veteran dissident and Marxist intellectual Michel Kilo who had initially proposed a list of 22 candidates.

 

Though the secular Kilo would bring in several new women and members of Syria's religious minorities, opponents say his entry will shrink the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and force Saudi control on the coalition.

However at the same time, in the lobby of the Istanbul hotel hosting the opposition's meeting, there was chaos as violent discussions broke out.

 

Some of the arguments pitted dissidents against each other, while a discussion raged between an opposition figure and a Western diplomat present at the scene.

 

Asked whether Kilo's allies could pull out of the coalition - and cause the expansion process to fail - the secular dissident's ally Walid al-Bunni said: "It's too late now. Ask Michel (Kilo) that question tomorrow."

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/27/us-syria-crisis-opposition-idUSBRE94Q01V20130527?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

Syrian opposition shake-up falters ahead of peace conference

 

A crisis in Syrian opposition ranks deepened on Monday when a Western and Arab-backed liberal bloc was offered only token representation in the Islamist-dominated Syrian National Coalition.

 

To the dismay of envoys of Western and Arab nations who have been monitoring four days of opposition talks in Istanbul, the 60-member coalition thwarted a deal to admit a bloc headed by opposition campaigner Michel Kilo with up to 22 new seats.

Addressing the coalition, Kilo said, "We were talking about 25 names as the basis for our negotiations, then there was agreement on 22 and then the number dropped to 20, then to 18, then to 15, then to five.

 

"I do not think you have a desire to cooperate and hold our extended hand. ... We wish you all the best."

A source in the Kilo bloc said the group would hold a meeting in a few hours to decide whether to withdraw from the opposition conference.

 

Coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh described the outcome as "democratic," but said the coalition could discuss the expansion issue further.

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/SyrCoalition

The Syrian Coalition has officially expanded to include 8 new members, including Michel Kilo, Farah Atassi and Jamal Suliman.
9:36 PM

 

 

 

 

http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2013/05/27/chemical-war-in-syria_3417708_3218.html

Chemical war in Syria

 

Reporters for Le Monde spent two months clandestinely in the Damascus area alongside Syrian rebels. They describe the extent of the Syrian tragedy, the intensity of the fighting, the humanitarian drama. On the scene during chemical weapons attacks, they bear witness to the use of toxic arms by the government of Bashar al-Assad.

Jobar, Syria, by our special correspondent, Jean-Philippe Rémy

A chemical attack on the Jobar front, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, doesn't look like anything much at first. It's not spectacular. Above all, it's not detectable. And that's the aim: by the time the rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army who have penetrated furthest into Damascus understand that they've been exposed to chemical products by government forces, it's too late. No matter which type of gas is used, it has already produced its effects, only a few hundred meters from residential areas of the Syrian capital.