visionary Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syria-spurns-ramadan-cease-fire-idea Syria spurns Ramadan cease-fire idea Syria is rejecting the idea of a cease-fire with the rebel opposition during the holy month of Ramadan, which is due to begin Tuesday. Syria's U.N. ambassador says "We need a full end of violence, not a partial one." Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said Monday that the Syrian rebels would have to be fully engaged in the peace talks and commit to a U.S.-Russian sponsored round of talks in Geneva. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/08/196101/bashar-assads-forces-chip-away.html#.UdtAh_jD_cx Bashar Assad’s forces chip away at Syria rebels’ control of Homs Syrian government forces made significant progress Monday in recapturing Homs from the rebel forces that have held the country’s third largest city for more than a year, according to rebel commanders and military officials in neighboring Lebanon. In its ninth day, the siege began by pounding the rebel-controlled Old City and Khaldiyeh neighborhoods with airstrikes and artillery before ground units began to advance slowly into the dense urban maze where rebels have been preparing defenses for months. “The vicious campaign has been going on for nine days and the regime has entered into parts of Khaldiyeh, but the aim is to take over all of Homs,” said Abu Rami, a rebel activist with close ties to the rebel factions under siege. Attempts to contact Syrian officials about the offensive either failed or were ignored. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23232189#TWEET814966 Syria opposition government head Ghassan Hitto resigns The Syrian opposition figure tasked with forming an interim government to administer rebel-held areas has resigned, citing an inability to do so. In a statement, Ghassan Hitto said he would "continue working for the interests of the revolution". His decision follows a leadership overhaul by the National Coalition. In a separate development on Monday, Syria's ruling Baath Party announced that it had elected a new regional command, replacing its ageing leadership, including Vice-President Farouq al-Sharaa. State TV said the 16 members of the top decision-making body were chosen during a meeting of the party's central committee. "The Baath Party must develop to strengthen a culture of dialogue... and deepen interaction with citizens to overcome the negative effect of the crisis," President Assad was quoted as saying. Among the new members of the regional command are parliamentary speaker Jihad al-Laham and Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/08/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE9670WY20130708 Syria invites U.N. chemical arms chief, but access is in doubt The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday invited chief U.N. chemical weapons investigator Ake Sellstrom to Damascus to discuss allegations of banned arms use in Syria's civil war but suggested it would not compromise on access. Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters that U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane was also invited to Syria for talks about the U.N. chemical investigation. So far Sellstrom's team has not been active on Syrian territory because Assad's government is only willing to allow it access to the city of Aleppo, where both sides have accused the other of using chemical weapons. "We are sure that Ms Kane and Dr Sellstrom will have constructive negotiations with the Syrian officials in order to reach an agreement, a mutual agreement on the terms of reference, mechanism and time frame of the mission," he said. http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/guest-commentary/309175-syrian-opposition-envoy-najib-ghadbian-why-us-military-support-undermines-al-qaeda-and-supports-a-democratic-Syria Syrian opposition envoy Najib Ghadbian: Why US military support undermines al Qaeda and supports a democratic Syria The recent decision by the Obama administration to arm vetted Syrian opposition fighters has won strong bipartisan support from members of the U.S. Congress and the American public. But it has also been met with skepticism from sectors of the U.S. policymaking community, who worry that U.S. arms will get into the wrong hands. Although such concerns are understandable, this policy change is a necessary step toward supporting the moderate, pro-democracy forces in Syria, which will isolate and weaken both the despotic Assad regime on one side and extremists groups on the other side. Working together with the Syrian Coalition, the Free Syrian Army and its leadership, the Supreme Joint Military Command, Syria’s united opposition has taken a series of robust measures to ensure a clear chain of custody of U.S. weapons. Our united coalition is working not simply to ensure that U.S. arms don’t end up in extremists’ hands, but also that American assistance strengthens Syria’s moderate voices and undermines the foundation upon which extremist factions build their support. http://www.maysaloon.org/2013/07/the-afghanization-of-syria-fallacy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Maysaloon-+(Maysaloon+-+%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%88%D9%86)&m=1 The 'Afghanization' of Syria: A Fallacy In 2011 Assad gave an interview to a Western journalist in which he made the following statement: Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake … Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans? Since then there has been a growing narrative which not only blames the West for the instability that we see in Afghanistan today, but which equates Western support for Syrian rebels, especially the Free Syrian Army under General Salim Idriss, as akin to the support given to the Afghan mujahideen during the eighties. This is wrong. Those who draw comparisons between Afghanistan and Syria in order to discourage foreign intervention in the latter are either ignorant or conveniently ignore a very important fact - it was the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union in 1979 which caused the disintegration of the Afghan state today, and it is the Russian (along with Iranian) support of Assad today that is leading to the disintegration of Syria. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/08/us-usa-syria-arms-idUSBRE96713N20130708 Exclusive: Congress delaying U.S. aid to Syrian rebels - sources Congressional committees are holding up a plan to send U.S. weapons to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because of fears that such deliveries will not be decisive and the arms might end up in the hands of Islamist militants, five U.S. national security sources said. Both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees have expressed reservations behind closed doors at the effort by President Barack Obama's administration to support the insurgents by sending them military hardware. None of the military aid that the United States announced weeks ago has arrived in Syria, according to an official from an Arab country and Syrian opposition sources. https://twitter.com/markito0171 Aleppo Rebels made some progress in Salahuddin, took full control of Rashedin & cut off supply route to Military Research Center4:56 PM Aleppo Rebels took hilltop village Hoina today after weeks of battle &destroyed 17 tanks in this small area http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.221790&lon=37.059245&z=16&m=b5:32 PM Assad-forces-leader in Aleppo "General Khaddour" sacked after protest in loyal city-districts- now "General Zaher Eddine"- called "the butcher" lead the troops 5:40 PM https://twitter.com/samersniper 2 surface to surface missiles and dozens of mortar shells landed on the besieged neighborhoods of Homs over the past hour!8:39 AM It's literally raining all kinds of missiles and shells. Huge explosions everywhere! All Homs is shaking!10:50 AM in Homs, no deference between FSA, resistance fighters, &JN, they are all Syrians (Homsis) & fight same battle. And they are only a small group of fighters4:32 PM Another day passed, Khalidiyeh is still mainly under FSA control. Shelling & clashes haven't stopped, but regime's attempt 2 storm it failed5:25 PM Again, 5 mortar shells at a time or 5 missiles at a time!! Homs. the sky is bright at 01.08 am!!6:08 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=691052030921936&l=e419f4305e Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Monday LCC was able to document 60 martyrs in Syria, including 5 children and two women, 7 martyrs under torture: 21 martyrs in Damascus and its Suburbs, 13 martyrs in Aleppo, 13 martyrs in Hama, 4 martyrs in Daraa, 3 martyrs in Deir Ezzor , 3 martyrs in Idlib, 2 martyrs in Homs, and 1 martyr in Raqqa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130709/DEFREG02/307090015 Key White House Ally Wants 'Targeted' Strikes in Syria The United States should press Syria and Russia to enter into talks to end the Syrian civil war, including “targeted” strikes on Bashar al-Assad’s military forces, a White House ally said Tuesday. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, an influential Obama administration ally on Capitol Hill, is calling for America and its allies to conduct “limited, targeted strikes at Assad’s apparatus of terror, including airplanes, helicopters, missiles, tanks and artillery.” Such strikes should be “coordinated with the actions of the Syrian opposition on the ground,” the Michigan Democrat said in a joint statement with fellow SASC member Angus King, I-Maine. “Such strikes could degrade Assad’s military capabilities, bring some relief to the embattled Syrian people, show we are serious,” said Levin and King. The duo just returned from a swing through the Middle East, where they huddled with several anti-Assad leaders. Levin and King would like to see the establishment of a “broad international coalition” that would pressure Assad and his forces. They believe a coalition would “boost the morale of the Free Syrian Army, and hopefully bring the Assad regime to the negotiating table.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-syria-crisis-weapons-idUSBRE9680OP20130709?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Syrians say they have given up on U.S. weapons promises Members of the Syrian opposition said on Tuesday that they had given up hope that the United States would deliver promised military aid to rebels as war planes and artillery smashed the central city of Homs. U.S. congressional committees are holding up the plan to send weapons because of fears that such deliveries will not be decisive and that arms might end up in the hands of Islamist militants, U.S. national security sources said. Both Democrats and Republicans on the committees worry that weapons could reach factions like the Nusra Front, which is one of the most effective rebel groups but has also been labeled by the United States as a front for al Qaeda in Iraq. "The U.S. will not supply the weapons," said Mohammed Fizo, a rebel fighter. "They come up with excuses for why they are not with the Syrian revolution; because it's not unified, or that there are terrorists. But what is important is that they are not helping us." http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-usa-syria-arms-idUSBRE9680RD20130709 Senior senator questions White House secrecy on Syria The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday said the White House was harming U.S. national security interests by being too secretive about its plans to arm Syrian rebels. Responding to a Reuters story, Senator Bob Corker said President Barack Obama's administration has fully briefed only members of the Senate and House of Representatives Intelligence committees on details of its plans to aid to rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters reported on Monday that members of both intelligence panels have expressed reservations behind closed doors about the effort to arm the rebels and are holding up the delivery of the weapons. Sources said members worry that the weapons will not be enough to tip the balance in the conflict and that the arms might end up in the hands of Islamist militants. "It is unacceptable to hide such a fundamental foreign policy matter from the vast majority of Congress and the American people," Corker said in a statement. "This approach is not appropriate and it just wastes time at the expense of our national interests." http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-syria-crisis-chemical-russia-idUSBRE9680RT20130709 Russia: Syria rebels likely behind Aleppo chemical attack Russian scientific analysis indicates a deadly projectile that hit a suburb of the Syrian city of Aleppo on March 19 contained the nerve agent sarin and was most likely fired by rebels, Russia's U.N. envoy said on Tuesday. The incident at Khan al-Assal in the northern province of Aleppo killed more than two dozen people. Both the government and rebels have blamed each other for what they say was an attack involving chemical weapons. Both sides also deny using chemical weapons. Moscow's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said Russian experts visited the location where the projectile struck and took their own samples of material from the site. Those samples, he said, were then analyzed at a Russian laboratory certified by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. "The results of the analysis clearly indicate that the ordnance used in Khan al-Assal was not industrially manufactured and was filled with sarin," he said. "The projectile involved is not a standard one for chemical use," Churkin said. "Hexogen, utilized as an opening charge, is not utilized in standard ammunitions. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that it was armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal." That makes absolutely no sense. lol https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-rebels-say-foreign-forces-behind-latakia-blasts Syria rebels say foreign forces behind Latakia blasts Syrian rebels said that foreign forces, an implicit reference to Israel, were behind a strike early Friday morning at a naval barracks in Safira outside Latakia, Reuters reported. Free Syrian Army spokesperson Qassem Saadeddine told the news agency Tuesday that rebels believe Yakhont anti-ship missiles were stored at the base. “It was not the FSA that targeted this,” the spokesperson said, adding, “This attack was either by air raid or long-range missiles fired from boats in the Mediterranean.” Rebels added that huge blasts rocked the naval facility, which were “beyond the firepower available to them.” Meanwhile, an unnamed former Israeli security official told Reuters that Yakhont missiles have been stored in the area in question. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57592780/explosion-rocks-hezbollah-stronghold-in-suburban-Beirut/ Explosion rocks Hezbollah stronghold in suburban Beirut A car bomb rocked a stronghold of the Shiite militant Hezbollah group south of the Lebanese capital Tuesday, wounding at least 53 people and setting several cars ablaze in the most serious knock-on effect from Syria's civil war on its smaller neighbor since the Syrian crisis began, officials said. The powerful blast struck a bustling commercial and residential neighborhood as many Lebanese Shiite Muslims began observing the holy month of Ramadan, and is the worst explosion to hit Beirut's southern suburbs in years. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, there have been growing fears in Lebanon that Hezbollah could face retaliation for its now overt role fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's troops inside Syria, including, activists say, in the embattled city of Homs near the Lebanese border. The bombing also is likely to inflame already simmering tensions in Lebanon itself, where deadly clashes between Shiites and Sunnis have grown increasingly common as the civil war in Syria has taken on ever darker sectarian overtones. Some Sunnis in Lebanon, many of whom support Syria's rebels, have expressed growing resentment over what they see as Hezbollah's unchecked power in the country. https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky resistance fighters have liberated most of salah al-din neighborhood in Aleppo city2:35 AM resistance fighters have liberated a few places in the southern areas of khan al-asal in Aleppo2:43 AM resistance fighters liberated khader mosque street in aleppo2:01 PM https://twitter.com/markito0171 Damascus Rebels liberated the large Malek Dshma-barrier in Yarmouk refugee camp & destroyed vehicles & killed many Assad-forces5:12 AM Daraa Rebels liberated barriers around Bilal Mosque http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=32.609253&lon=36.091311&z=18&m=b …11:49 AM Daraa Rebel-field leader "Abu Nahar" killed in battle of Bilal mosque11:53 AM Rebels destroyed 10 & captured 5 Tanks/BMP, a dozen transport vehicles & killed 75+ Assad-forces from convoy last week heading from brigade93-base in Ayn Isa towards Divison17-base in RaqqaThe convoy (in 3 parts divided) was fully destroyed 12:25 PM https://twitter.com/THE_47th Homs hero Abdel baset Elsaroot, lost his bro yesterday after he ws killed by Assad forces & gt injured himself 2day pic.twitter.com/JcKVVQhkf712:17 PM https://twitter.com/LuisaZangh Situation in Homs is stable for rebels. 15 HezB militants were killed yesterday after trying to take 'kutli' (block) near KbW mosque6:05 AM There r approx. 150 JN fighters in Homs, 15 within besieged area. They joined JN whilst on the inside & are locals.12:59 PM Rebels have secured Noor Mosque near Bayada Homs after fierce clashes w Iraq Shiite militants, part of Abu Fadl Abbas Brigade (AFA)1:04 PM Just wanted to confirm something which will not go down well with a few. The explosions yesterday in Nuzha were not suicide. The guys drove right through. Parked. Walked away. And killed supporters of murderers. Quite simple really. Homs 1:23 PM https://twitter.com/minglishmuffin Writing up a storm about experience at & crossing the Turkish border into Syria. I don't think things need to be the way they are.12:46 PM Tempted to post audio of my interviews w/Syrians risking their lives to aid their families. No rendering could do their voices justice.12:48 PM Prosthetic limb center at Turkey/Syria border. I slept here, & watched dismembered Syrian refugees regain dignity. pic.twitter.com/jIx6Hd2oXO1:39 PM Zabadani City (near on the outskirts of Damascus and near the border with Lebanon) Homs Khalidiyeh neighborhood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eZyKO5Atos&feature=youtu.be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/10/syria-al-nusra-front-jihadi How Syria's mould-breaking al-Nusra Front is winning hearts and minds The al-Qaida-affiliated commander in charge of the oil company in Shadadi, eastern Syria – a lean, broad-shouldered man who is followed everywhere by a machete-wielding bodyguard – was explaining the appeal of jihadi rule to the people of the newly captured town. "Go and ask the people in the streets whether there a liberated town or city anywhere in Syria that is ruled as efficiently as this one," he boasted. "There is electricity, water and bread and security. Inshallah, this will be the nucleus of a new Syrian Islamic caliphate!" The al-Nusra Front, the principle jihadi rebel group in Syria, defies the cliche of Islamist fighters around the Middle East plotting to establish Islamic caliphates from impoverished mountain hideaways. In north-eastern Syria, al-Nusra finds itself in command of massive silos of wheat, factories, oil and gas fields, fleets of looted government cars and a huge weapons arsenal. The commander talked about the services al-Nusra is providing to Shadadi's residents. First, there is food: 225 sacks of wheat, baked into bread and delivered to the people every day through special teams in each neighbourhood. Then there is free electricity and water, which run all day throughout the town. There is also al-Nusra healthcare, provided from a small clinic that treats all comers, regardless of whether they have sworn allegiance to the emirate or not. Finally, there is order and the promise of swift justice, delivered according to sharia law by a handful of newly appointed judges. http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/american-doctors-in-syria/51d897f0fe34447d3b000010 Syria ER As war rages on in Syria, a group of American doctors travels to the country to provide desperately needed medical aid and supplies in field hospitals. http://www.interpretermag.com/examining-russias-allegation-of-syrian-rebel-sarin-gas-use/ Examining Russia’s Allegation of Syrian Rebel Sarin Gas Use http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/309995-intel-panels-blocked-obamas-syrian-aid-by-restricting-funds Intelligence panels cut off aid to Syrian rebels by restricting funds House and Senate Intelligence panel members have voted to block President Obama from arming Syrian rebels, committee insiders told The Hill. They did so by placing severe restrictions on funding. Lawmakers made their decision last month for fear that the administration plan would let weapons fall into the hands of terrorist groups, such as the many linked to al Qaeda. The exact nature of the restrictions is unknown because the committees voted privately on the basis of classified information. What is known is that the restrictions are sufficient to prevent the administration from delivering arms as planned, according to a source familiar with the actions. The committee “voted to allow them to make some movement on this, but it’s restricted,” said one Senate panel insider, who declined to elaborate on the total aid or the restrictions added by the Intelligence panels, which both met again on Tuesday. “It was a very restrictive amount.” Administration officials stopped shy of saying that the efforts had thwarted the effort to arm rebel groups, but said it certainly didn’t make it easier. “They’re raising a lot of questions without having alternative answers,” said one senior administration official. http://donate.unhcr.org/Syria UN Refugee Agency Innocent Syrian families need your help. Fleeing for their lives, thousands left their homes with nothing but the clothes on their back. After two years of conflict, the situation in Syria remains dire. Families have been torn apart, communities ruined and schools and hospitals destroyed. The crisis has driven over 1.5 million Syrian refugees into neighboring countries with thousands more pouring across Syrian borders every single day. Around 50 per cent of these refugees are children. When Syrian children and families finally arrive at a safe place, they are traumatized, scared and vulnerable. Nineteen-year-old Bushra recalls the terror inside Syria, “They were shelling from sunrise to sunset. We would listen to the sounds of the shells to see where they came from. There were times we had to sleep in the toilet out of fear.” Bushra fled with her two small children to safety in Lebanon. With your kind donation UNHCR can help refugees like Bushra and her children receive the life-saving relief and support they desperately need. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/freed-syria-activist-talks-confessions-jail-horror Freed Syria activist talks “confessions,” jail horror Activist Alaa Morelli escaped the worst in Syrian prisons, but to secure her freedom she lied during a forced "confession" on state television, saying the uprising was the work of foreigners. A student of Latakia university located on Syria's Mediterranean coastline, Morelli, 23, was arrested on June 12 last year, just after sitting one of her second-year exams. A fellow student reported her for making and distributing pamphlets calling on Latakia residents to protest against Assad's regime. "I came out of my exam and saw members of the security forces standing there with a student. He pointed me out to them and they detained me," she told AFP in interviews conducted in Istanbul and via the Internet. Morelli spent over two months in detention, and was moved from one prison to another throughout. "I saw horrible things," she says, her voice wavering, the smile vanishing from her face http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-lobbies-congress-overcome-syria-arms-deadlock-005543351.html White House lobbies Congress to overcome Syria arms deadlock Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry are lobbying members of Congress to try to break an impasse over White House plans to send arms to Syrian rebels, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers fear the weapons will end up in the hands of Islamist militants, and will not be enough to tip the balance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad anyway. Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees have advised the White House to delay sending weapons to the anti-Assad insurgents, Reuters reported on Monday. The committees signaled they wanted to put the brakes on funding for the operation after secret briefings by senior officials. No U.S. arms have reached the rebels, who are struggling to hold back an offensive by the better-equipped Syrian government. http://m.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Jul-10/223165-march-8-finished-aoun-out-in-the-cold.ashx March 8 finished, Aoun out in the cold Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced the collapse of the March 8 coalition Tuesday, putting an end to the Amal Movement’s frail alliance with the Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun. Berri’s bombshell was expected to give a major boost to efforts to form a new Cabinet, which have been mired by delays and a series of obstacles. By ending their alliance with Aoun, Berri explained that March 8’s key demand to acquire veto power within the new government “was no longer valid.” “There is no such thing as the March 8 alliance anymore,” Berri told The Daily Star. “We agree with [Gen.] Aoun on strategic issues such as the resistance and [the stance toward] Israel but not on domestic issues.” “On the domestic level, our choices differ and each will follow their own course,” he added. The alliance between the two Shiite groups and the former Army commander mainly hinged on a Memorandum of Understanding inked in February 2006 between Hezbollah and the FPM with Aoun and Berri enjoying lukewarm ties throughout. But serious rifts surfaced in recent months over the extension of Parliament’s term, which the Christian leader opposed and more recently over the extension of the mandate of Lebanese Army chief Gen. Jean Kahwagi, a problematic issue that Aoun stands against. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Jul-10/223162-children-main-victims-of-beirut-explosion.ashx#axzz2YdBmRmoC Children main victims of Beirut explosion Hezbollah officials who arrived at the hospital to meet the wounded were defiant, condemning the attack as the result of sectarian incitement in the country, saying the perpetrators were “tools” of a joint American-Zionist conspiracy, and vowing not to change the party’s stance on Syria. MP Ali Ammar said the intent was to “undermine the relationship between the people and the resistance.” When asked if the attack targeted an important figure in Hezbollah, Ammar said: “I have no information about this, and no Hezbollah figure was wounded. The only ones wounded were civilians.” Speaking to reporters outside the hospital, he struck a defiant tone, saying any strife would be defeated by “Dahiyeh and its people, its children and women who are covered in blood, and its homes that were destroyed by the Israeli enemy.” He said the attack was not a breach of Hezbollah’s traditional security perimeter in Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs, saying it did not require a lot of effort for the “cowardly criminal” to target civilians, though the party would remain vigilant. http://www.cjr.org/feature/womans_work.php?page=all Woman’s work People have this romantic image of the freelancer as a journalist who’s exchanged the certainty of a regular salary for the freedom to cover the stories she is most fascinated by. But we aren’t free at all; it’s just the opposite. The truth is that the only job opportunity I have today is staying in Syria, where nobody else wants to stay. And it’s not even Aleppo, to be precise; it’s the frontline. Because the editors back in Italy only ask us for the blood, the bang-bang. I write about the Islamists and their network of social services, the roots of their power—a piece that is definitely more complex to build than a frontline piece. I strive to explain, not just to move, to touch, and I am answered with: “What’s this? Six thousand words and nobody died?” Actually, I should have realized it that time my editor asked me for a piece on Gaza, because Gaza, as usual, was being bombed. I got this email: “You know Gaza by heart,” he wrote. “Who cares if you are in Aleppo?” Exactly. The truth is, I ended up in Syria because I saw the photographs in Time by Alessio Romenzi, who was smuggled into Homs through the water pipes when nobody was yet aware of the existence of Homs. I saw his shots while I was listening to Radiohead—those eyes, staring at me; the eyes of people being killed by Assad’s army, one by one, and nobody had even heard of a place called Homs. A vise clamped around my conscience, and I had to go to Syria immediately. http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/07/10/egypt-do-not-return-asylum-seekers-Syria Egypt: Do Not Return Asylum Seekers to Syria Egypt should allow those fleeing Syria full access to the UN refugee agency to have their asylum claims properly examined, and should also allow Syrians already registered with the UN body to reenter the country after periods abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. Without prior warning, on July 8, the Egyptian government changed its entry policy for Syrians arriving in Egypt by requiring them to obtain a visa and security clearance before arriving in the country. According to media reports, on the same day Egypt denied entry to 276 people arriving from Syria, including a plane with Syrian nationals on board, who were then flown back to the Syrian town of Latakia. The new policy has also left several Syrians stranded in Alexandria’s international airport, including at least three people already registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt, who say the authorities plan to return them to the countries from which they arrived. “Egypt may be going through tumultuous times, but it must not return anyone, including Syrians, to somewhere threatening their life or freedom,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “While the Egyptian government can require foreign nationals to obtain visas before arriving in Egypt, it must properly protect them. Egypt should continue to allow those fleeing from Syria to lodge asylum claims with UNHCR and receive protection.” http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/07/10/female-reporters-lead-coverage-of-syrian-war.html Against All Odds, Female Reporters Lead in Syria Still audible through the increasingly sectarian cacophony of Syria’s ongoing civil war, a small but influential group of Syrian and foreign women are telling the stories of the country’s destruction in unique and meaningful ways. Present in all aspects of the conflict, women are penning the history of Syria. From the very beginnings of the initial and peaceful opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime, Syrian women have played a powerful role. Samar Yazbek, a female Syrian writer and journalist—herself an Alawite, a member of a religious group traditionally associated with the regime—was among the women who initiated oppositional activism. Women, she says, were among the first who went out and protested: “They organized these protests, formed coordinations and organizational bodies.” According to Yazbek, as the peaceful protests turned to armed resistance and then into civil war, the role of women in the conflict changed. “Syrian women didn’t pick up arms, but kept helping the revolution by documenting violations, organizing, writing and in the media.” http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/syrias-communal-tensions-are-fuelled-by-politics-not-theology#full Syria's communal tensions are fuelled by politics not theology Living in Scotland, I am witness to the continuing legacy of Protestant-Catholic communal hatred, despite the theological indifference and general irreligiosity of the populace. The hatred was most commonly activated by Rangers-Celtic football matches. It was manifest too in Orange Order marches and schoolyard slurs. It intersected with the gang violence of the housing estate. Most of the time, of course, it was absent or it emerged as friendly competitiveness rather than actual conflict. But you can bet your last communion wafer that it would blossom into something much fiercer if, in the event of political crisis, a divide-and-rule tyrant were to send Catholic militias to pacify restive Protestant areas, or vice versa. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/09/exclusive-state-department-approves-then-revokes-visa-for-new-syrian-diplomat.html Exclusive: State Department Approves, Then Revokes, Visa for New Syrian Diplomat The State Department approved a visa for a new Syrian diplomat sent to Washington by the Assad regime several weeks ago and then revoked it today—but not before the diplomat had boarded his plane to Washington. He is being deported now in what lawmakers and opposition figures see as the latest debacle in the Obama administration’s handling of the Syria crisis. “I cannot comment on an individual visa case beyond confirming that Ali Daghman’s visa has been revoked,” a State Department official told The Daily Beast Tuesday, referring to the incoming Syrian diplomat. “As a matter of policy and given the Syrian regime’s continuing assault on its own people, we have taken steps to further restrict entry of even the few remaining Syrian officials staffing the Embassy in Washington.” Sources told The Daily Beast that Daghman’s visa was not revoked until after Daghman had already departed for D.C. and after Congressional offices and Syria opposition groups protested to the State Department, urging them not to let a regime loyalist diplomat into the country. The State Department was also considering approving the visas for two more diplomats being sent to Washington by the regime, but those visa applications have not been granted or denied and sit in bureaucratic limbo, these sources said. As for Daghman, he made it all the way to Dulles International Airport, where he still sits in the custody of Customs and Border Patrol, awaiting deportation back to Syria, according to two sources close to the issue. CBP spokesman Robert Hunt told The Daily Beast he could not comment on the status of any individual traveler due to privacy laws. https://twitter.com/markito0171 Rebels announce the start of a battle "Southern Storm" for southern districts of Damascus during Ramadan6:09 PM rural Homs Rebels took over power plant near town of Al-Zara http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.713766&lon=36.236129&z=16&m=b5:55 AM Idlib Battle of Basanqul continue with all kind of weapons since 5 dayshttp://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.806120&lon=36.496711&z=15&m=b6:39 AM Reports that rebels lift food-blockade to regime hold areas of Aleppo8:53 AM https://twitter.com/samersniper Huge explosions! 3 shells near Omari mosque in Waar, 10s of shells near mosques in AlDar AlKabira village, at time of Tarawih prayer Homs.3:53 PM 11 mortars on Waar by regime thugs from the pro-regime areas. 2 missiles on the pro-regime Akrama by FSA from the besieged area of Homs!7:15 PM Regime forces tried to storm Zarah village in western countryside of Homs. 40 thugs were killed, about 7 armored vehicles were destroyed!!2:23 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=692000527493753&l=ada78f01a8 Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Tuesday, the coordination a committees were able to document 64 martyrs, among them 3 women, 5 children, and 11 martyrs under torture: 25 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 18 in Aleppo; 6 in Idlib; 5 in Deir Ezzor; 3 in Homs; 3 in Daraa; 3 in Hama; and 1 in Quneitra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/07/carl-levin-military-strike-syria-us.html Levin Says US Should Consider Limited Military Strikes on Syria The influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Wednesday, July 10, that the administration of President Barack Obama should prepare to target Syrian “airfields, airplanes and massed artillery” using stand-off weapons in addition to arming and training the opposition to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Levin, who just returned from a lengthy visit to the Middle East, said only increased US support for vetted rebel groups could level the playing field with Assad and his Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah allies and lay the ground for a political settlement. These limited but “essential steps,” he said, afford “the best hope and perhaps the only hope” to end a two-year-old conflict that is threatening US national interests by destabilizing Syria’s neighbors and creating potential “safe havens” in Syria for anti-US extremists. The veteran legislator, who is not running for re-election in 2014, conceded in a major address at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that there is scant US popular support for increased involvement in the Syrian conflict and “no consensus” on the issue on Capitol Hill. Indeed, recent polls show that a majority of Americans opposes even giving weapons to Syrian rebels. After the Afghan and Iraq wars, “We know the American people are very dubious” about any new US military involvement abroad, he said. http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130710/DEFREG02/307100017 US Senator Calls for Multinational Summit To Craft Syrian Strike Options A prominent US senator on Wednesday called for a multinational summit of military and intelligence officials to draw up plans for “limited actions” in Syria. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., just returned from meetings with Turkish and Jordanian leaders. Those talks led the veteran senator to conclude that military strikes by the United States and its Middle Eastern allies are “the only way” to bring an end to the years-old Syrian civil war. “Increased military pressure on Assad is the only way to achieve a negotiated settlement in Syria, which in turn is needed to restore stability to a region that certainly doesn’t need any more instability,” Levin said during a morning speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank here. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/10/syria-arms-cia-assad-rebels-homs/2503247/ U.S. arms haven't reached Syrian rebels, analysts say A month after the White House announced it was boosting aid to the Syrian opposition, rebel leaders say they have seen little or no evidence of U.S.-supplied arms entering the country and momentum on the ground is shifting toward the regime, analysts say. It is not clear what is causing the delay. Administration officials have said they will vet rebel groups to ensure that weapons don't fall into the hands of al-Qaeda-affiliated opposition forces. Meanwhile, forces loyal to President Bashar Assad are placing pressure on rebels in Homs, a strategic city that lays astride supply lines into Damascus from the Mediterranean. If regime forces can consolidate their hold on Syria's third-largest city it "leaves the regime's supply lines uncontested," said Elizabeth O'Bagy, an analyst with the Institute of the Study of War. http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/90148 March 8 Alliance Finished but Hizbullah Seeks to Restore Berri-Aoun Ties More Free Patriotic Movement officials confirmed on Thursday their rift with the rest of the March 8 alliance's parties despite alleged efforts by Hizbullah to bridge the gap between Speaker Nabih Berri and FPM leader Michel Aoun. In remarks to As Safir daily, Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is an FPM official, reiterated that his party was no longer part of the March 8 coalition that includes Hizbullah and Berri's Amal movement. He said he informed Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam more than 45 days ago that he shouldn't consider the FPM and the other parties a single team. “Political lineups have been shattered,” he said. “Neither March 8 nor March 14 have stayed the way they are.” https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-jihadists-lose-support-as-abuses-mount Syria jihadists lose support as abuses mount In the early days of the Syrian uprising, when opponents of the regime were desperate for assistance from any quarter, jihadist fighters were welcomed but a spate of abuses is fueling a backlash. Things have changed. "Out, out, out, the [islamic] State [of Iraq and Syria] must get out," protesters shouted at a rally in the northern town of Manbij this week, referring to an Al-Qaeda front group. The video of the demonstration is one of many showing how civilians and mainstream rebel fighters alike are turning against the more hardline Islamist factions. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-syria-hunger-aleppo-idUSBRE9680O520130709 Syrian rebel blockade in Aleppo leaves thousands hungry: activists Syrian rebels have intensified their blockade of government-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, where residents now face severe food shortages, opposition activists said on Tuesday. Many activists condemn the tactic, aimed at weakening the supply routes of President Bashar al-Assad's forces, arguing that it indiscriminately punishes more than 2 million people living in the western part of the city still held by the army. Aleppo has been in a stalemate since nearly a year ago, when rebels launched an offensive and seized half of the city. "This is a crime ... Some of our rebel forces, God reform them, are participating in this blockade. Prices are soaring at an unimaginable rate. There is now horrible scarcity," said an activist speaking by Skype, who asked not to be named. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/world/middleeast/tightening-siege-by-syrian-rebels-stirs-anger.html Tightening Siege by Syrian Rebels Stirs Anger Syrian rebels have tightened their siege on government-held districts in the divided city of Aleppo, choking supply lines and depleting staple foods at the onset of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, traditionally a time of festive meals to break the daily fast. The tactic is controversial enough among supporters and opponents of the rebels that residents of the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood staged a protest on Tuesday at a rebel checkpoint. Rebels shot in the air to disperse the protests, local activists said. “This is not a revolution,” a sheik shouted at rebels in a video posted online. “This is injustice.” https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/us-studying-russia-report-of-syria-rebel-gas-use US studying Russia report of Syria rebel gas use The United States was Wednesday studying a Russian report that Syrian rebels used sarin gas in an attack on Aleppo, but believes the opposition does not have access to such weapons. "I understand we just received the report this morning. We'll of course need time to review it," said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki. Russia's envoy to the United Nations said Tuesday that experts from his country had been to the scene of an attack at Khan al-Assal near the northern city of Aleppo in March and gathered firsthand evidence. "The United States continues to have no reliable corroborated reporting to indicate that the opposition in Syria has used chemical weapons," Psaki insisted. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/10/syria-rebels-sarin-gas-claims-by-russia/2505241/ Syrian activists rebut Russian claims about sarin Syrian activists have struck back at Russian allegations that rebels made and used sarin gas in a chemical weapons attack outside of Aleppo in March, calling the claims "false and clearly fabricated." "Russia is trying to pin the crimes of the regime on the rebels," said Hozan Ibrahim, a Syrian activist based in Berlin. "The regime has the fourth-biggest chemical arsenal in the world. How would the rebels even get such gas?" Russian U.N. representative Vitaly Churkin pointed the finger at rebel fighters for an attack in the Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Assal, which he said killed 26 people and injured 86, while opposition groups have blamed Bashar Assad's government. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/10/us-weapons-syria-shiites/2503953/ U.S. arms showing up in hands of pro-Assad militias U.S. and Western weapons have been reaching Iranian-backed Shiite militias fighting to keep Bashar Assad's forces in power in Syria. Analysts say it's unclear if the weapons were captured, stolen or bought on the black market in Syria, Turkey, Iraq or Libya. Propaganda photographs from Shiite militias posted on dozens of websites and Facebook pages show the weapons were acquired in new condition, said Phillip Smyth, an analyst for Jihadology.net, a site affiliated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Many of the weapons are things the militias "shouldn't really have their hands on," Smyth said. Iranians love to show "they have weapons and systems that are very close to the Americans." http://www.cato.org/blog/value-syrian-pound-hits-all-time-low Value of the Syrian Pound Hits an All-Time Low As I have documented previously, the economic devastation and international sanctions that have accompanied Syria’s civil war have wreaked havoc on the country’s currency, the Syrian pound (SYP). In a desperate, wrong-headed attempt to save its troubled currency, the Assad regime has imposed harsh penalties for currency trading on the black-market. This strategy proved wildly unsuccessful when it was utilized by the Iran in October of 2012. Indeed, as was the case in Iran, attempts to suppress currency exchange have sparked a panic – a run on the Syrian pound. As of 10 July 2013, the value of the Syrian pound on the black market has hit an all time low, with the current black-market exchange rate now sitting at 295.00 SYP/USD. As the accompanying chart shows, this has sent the implied monthly inflation rate in Syria skyrocketing. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/opinion/global/david-miliband-syrias-human-tragedy.html Syria’s Human Tragedy With every week that goes by in the Syria crisis, hundreds more lives are lost, policy options narrow and the chances of post-conflict stability grow worse. What started as a demand for internal reform has become a regional conflagration. Foreign fighters from across the Middle East and North Africa are pouring into Syria to train and fight, while refugees are flooding by the hundreds of thousands into Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The Western political debate has focused on military options — and the arguments are complex and finely balanced. But no one believes that under any scenario the war will end quickly. Meanwhile, the gap between humanitarian need and international response grows by the day. My three days in Jordan last week do not provide a complete picture, but they do allow for stories to be combined with data to reveal a deeply alarming situation. https://twitter.com/samersniper 80 regime thugs were killed and 12 combat vehicles were destroyed by FSA in Zara near Talkalakh, after trying to storm the village! Homs4:39 PM https://twitter.com/Riya_FSA Bustan Al Qasr Aleppo today, after allowing the passage of food to non liberated areas. pic.twitter.com/WvPmv0L6Z45:44 PM https://twitter.com/sawsanoor By names : Assad Security forces executed some of the Syrian women activists http://fb.me/F2VMJOiz11:35 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=692687424091730&l=1108861f4a Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Wednesday, the coordination committees were able to document 93 martyrs, among them 13 martyrs under torture, 6 women, and 3 children: 40 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 17 in Aleppo; 12 in Idlib; 8 in Homs; 8 in Daraa; 6 in Hama; 1 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Hasakeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 http://iranian.com/posts/view/post/17134 Regime is in awfully bad position in western Aleppo. Having taken the Rashedin neighborhood, the rebels appear well on the way toward capturing Salah Al Din soon. They firmly control the western gate of Aleppo and the entrance to New Aleppo and have cut off the supply route to the Military Research Center. In the north the rebels have just finished up a weeks-long seige of a the hilltop village of Hoina which cost the regime 17 tanks earning the nickname "tank graveyard." Those losses constrain the regime's capabilities for any counteroffensive. Assad can hardly ship in more tanks by copter. The speed of rebel progress in Homs over the past month has been exceptional--much faster than regime progress in Homs. It's hard to see how the recent change in Aleppo's commanding generals can save Aleppo. If the rebels finish up first, they'll free up tens of thousands of troops and lots of heavy weapons for use elsewhere. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/10/american-al-qaeda-member-calls-syrian-jihad-video/ American al Qaeda member Gadahn calls for Syrian jihad in video American jihadist Adam Yahiye Gadahn appears in a new al Qaeda video urging Syrian rebels to reject Western help and turn their insurgency into a global jihad, like the one in Iraq against the U.S. occupation. The California-born 34-year-old speaks in Arabic, with English subtitles, in the hourlong video that was released by al Qaeda’s multimedia arm, as-Sahab, on Tuesday. “I call on all of the armed brigades, local coordination committees, revolutionary councils and noble individuals in the [syrian] political opposition to make it a sweeping revolution against the … interferences of America and its international community,” Mr. Gadahn says, according to excerpts of a transcript provided by IntelCenter, a private firm that tracks extremist messaging for U.S. agencies and other clients. Mr. Gadahn urges the Syrian opposition “to make their movement an Islamic jihad whose goal is to defend the weak and oppressed, set up the genuine Muslim state, and build the just and righteous society in which both Muslim and non-Muslim enjoys the justice of Islam.” http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2321841&language=en UN officials accept Syria''s invitation to Damascus for further chemical weapons talks Head of the UN Investigation Team to probe the alleged use of Chemical Weapons in Syria, Ake Sellstrom, and UN Chief of Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, accepted Syria's invitation to visit Damascus for further talks on the modalities for the investigation mission, the UN announced in a statement late Wednesday.The visit, the statement indicated, will be "with a view to completing the consultations on the modalities of cooperation required for the proper, safe and efficient conduct" of the UN investigation mission. The statement did not mention when the visit will take place. The announcement was made following Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's meeting late Wednesday with Kane and Sellstrom, who provided Ban with an oral update on the Mission's off-site activities, which included the analysis of information received from member states - US, UK and France - and fact-finding activities in a neighbouring country, Turkey. The invitations were extended to both officials earlier this week by Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari, who said the Syrian move proves that Damascus is cooperating with the UN and is serious about unveiling the truth about the use of the prohibited weapons. "We are sure that Mrs. Kane and Dr. Sellstrom will have constructive negotiations with the Syrian officials in order to reach a mutual agreement on the term of reference mechanism and time frame of the investigation mission," he told reporters on Monday. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2013/07/11/Why-the-U-S-Congress-is-reluctant-on-Syria.html Why the U.S. Congress is reluctant on Syria If you have been wondering where are the weapons and ammunition shipments that U.S. President Barack Obama had promised Syria’s rebels last month, the Congress has inadvertently answered this week, derailing any military aid to the opposition. The move has little to nothing to do with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and more with the nature of the fractured and infiltrated opposition, the state of minorities, and the security of Israel. Shipments and any military aid planned to be sent to by the Pentagon and the CIA to the opposition, has been blocked by the House and Senate intelligence committees after a vote behind closed doors, imposing funding restrictions on the defense department and the intelligence to halt the efforts for the time being. Sources on the Hill tell Al Arabiya that members of key committees want “clear details” from the White House on who is receiving the aid, and what is the long-term strategy, given that the weapons are unlikely to lead to the toppling of the regime. Sources pointed to lack of clarity from Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA officials in their briefings with the intelligence committee members. Rather, Kerry stuck to the talking points of the administration, mainly the need to arm to change the balance on the ground after the U.S. confirming Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Even a recent visit by the head of the House intelligence committee Mike Rogers to Jordan was not enough to provide answers on the key groups receiving the weaponry and the endgame. While Congress cannot permanently block the aid, their tacit approval is required to grant the administration some political immunity. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/10/how_libya_is_sending_weapons_arms_syrian_rebels?page=0,1 Comrades in Arms The former rebel commander, who also heads a Libyan NGO that helps Syrian refugees in Libya, says most of the weapons and aid are donated free of charge by fellow Libyans. But when the cost of transporting the weapons is high and Libyan funds run dry, he added, a Syrian member of the Muslim Brotherhood flies to Benghazi to provide an injection of cash and coordinate the flow of weapons into Syria. "What we do is this," explains the organizer. "We ask katibas [rebel units] here in Benghazi to donate weapons and humanitarian stuff for Syria.… People just show up with guns, money, hospital beds, or sugar. So the moment we have enough we rent a ship or plane and get it to Syria via our contacts in Turkey and -- less often -- in Jordan." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=201043007 Also on Thursday, the Syrian government started buying up local currency and raising penalties for black-market deals to try to stop the fall of the pound, which has tumbled to record lows against the U.S. dollar, the state-run news agency SANA said. Syria's move Wednesday came as the currency hit a record low, reaching 310 pounds to the dollar compared with 47 pounds to the dollar when the country's crisis began 28 months ago. The record drop of the pound happened on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Many Syrians are struggling with soaring prices because of the tumbling currency. SANA said the government approved a bill Wednesday that criminalizes business deals in currencies other than the pound, with penalties ranging from three to 10 years in prison. http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/UN-calls-on-Hezbollah-to-end-involvement-in-Syrian-conflict-319427 UN calls on Hezbollah to end involvement in Syria The UN Security Council called on Lebanese Hezbollah militants on Wednesday to end any involvement in the conflict in neighboring Syria, while Lebanon's UN envoy pledged that his country would keep its borders open to Syrians fleeing the violence. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to help Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces combat rebels, according to Israeli and Western estimates. Israel is now boosting its forces on the Syrian border, where it believes Hezbollah is preparing for the day when it could fight Israel. "The Security Council calls upon all Lebanese parties to recommit to Lebanon's policy of disassociation, to stand united behind President Michel Sleiman in this regard and to step back from any involvement in the Syrian crisis," the UN body said. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/11/jimmy_carter_dispatching_peace_envoys_to_syria_as_us_looks_to_arm_rebels Jimmy Carter's Making a Syria Peace Push, And the Opposition Isn't Happy About It With almost 100,000 dead in Syria and proposed peace talks at a standstill, former President Jimmy Carter plans to send officials from his foundation to work toward a last-ditch agreement between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and opposition forces, The Cable has learned. The peace initiative is raising questions with Syrian opposition leaders who feel that an American envoy sent by a former American president sends the wrong message to Assad: That the United States is open to talking with him rather than overthrowing his regime. But the Carter Center says it's operating independently of the United States -- and that's why it's advocating positions that directly contradict U.S. policy. The Carter Center wants all outside powers to stop sending arms to Syria, for example; the United States is just getting started in sending over those weapons. On July 28, Hrair Balian, director of the Carter Center's Conflict Resolution Program, and Nathan Stock, assistant director of the program, will travel to Syria to hold a series of meetings with Assad regime opponents and loyalists in a trip ending on Aug. 9. http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/09072013 Source: Syrian Regime Held Talks With Kurdish Groups in Qamishli Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad last month sent a three-man delegation to Qamishli for negotiations with Kurdish political parties “to resolve the Kurdish issue,” a knowledgeable source said. “A three-man delegation from the Syrian regime, led by Muhammad Khair Osi, a Kurd with close ties to President Bashar al-Assad, met with the Kurdish parties in Qamishli last month,” the source, a Syrian Kurdish politician, told Rudaw on condition of anonymity. “The delegation delivered a message from President Assad to the Kurdish officials regarding his desire to start negotiation and resolve the Kurdish issue,” he added. According to him, all Kurdish parties but one have welcomed the Syrian initiative. He did not name the opposing party, but said that it wants a consensus among Kurdish leaders before talking to Damascus. But Abdulsalam Ahmad, co-chair of the Kurdish National Council (KNC) -- an umbrella group of more than 10 Kurdish parties -- denied any talks having taken place with the Syrian regime. “We didn’t meet with the regime nor did the other Kurdish political parties meet as far as I know,” Ahmad said. https://twitter.com/markito0171 Syria Huge blast at barrier in n/w Ghab-plain of Hama killed ~40 #Assad-forces & destroyed several tanks http://twitpic.com/d21var9:06 AM https://twitter.com/NOW_eng Rebels have taken Al-Berjariya village in Hasakah, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says9:08 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/us-syria-crisis-commander-idUSBRE96A10620130711 Al Qaeda kills Free Syrian Army commander: FSA spokesman Militants linked to al Qaeda in Syria killed a senior figure in the Western- and Arab-backed Free Syrian army on Thursday, an FSA source said, signaling a widening rift between Islamists and more moderate elements in the armed Syrian opposition. Kamal Hamami, a member of the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council, known by his nom de guerre Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the port city of Latakia when they killed him, Qassem Saadeddine, a Free Syrian Army spokesman, told Reuters. "The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu Bassel and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council," Saadeddine said from Syria. "He met them to discuss battle plans," Saadeddine added. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/20137127710849717.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount Free Syrian Army commander killed by rivals Fighters from an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria have killed a leader of the Western- and Arab-backed Free Syrian Army after stopping him at a checkpoint, an FSA spokesman said, underlining growing rifts between Syrian opposition groups. Kamal Hamami, a member of the FSA's Supreme Military Council, known as Abu Basir, was killed in the Turkmen mountains near the northern city of Latakia, spokesman Louay Meqdad told Al Jazeera on Friday. Meqdad said the commander was killed after a heated debate with a local leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in which the leader called the FSA "infidels". Hamami's brother, who was travelling in the car with Hamami, was also killed, the spokesman said. The brothers and a third man had been on a surveillance mission ahead of an attack on government forces, Meqdad said. A third man was allowed to leave to report the killings Meqdad said the incident was very worrying. "We hope that we resort to wisdom rather than fighting as the Syrian revolution will be threatened as whole if the Syrian rebels are fighting among themselves," he said http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/12/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE96B08A20130712?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637 New front opens in Syria as rebels say al Qaeda attack means war The assassination of a top Free Syrian Army commander by militants linked to al Qaeda is tantamount to a declaration of war, FSA rebels on Friday, opening a new front between Western-backed forces and Islamists in Syria's civil war. Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a hardline Islamist group, killed Kamal Hamami of the FSA Supreme Military Council on Thursday. Also known by his nom de guerre, Abu Bassir al-Ladkani, he is one of its top 30 figures. Rebel commanders pledged to retaliate. "We are going to wipe the floor with them. We will not let them get away with it because they want to target us," a senior rebel commander said on condition of anonymity. He said the al Qaeda-linked militants had warned FSA rebels that there was "no place" for them where Hamami was killed in Latakia province, a northern rural region of Syria bordering Turkey where Islamist groups are powerful. Other opposition sources said the killing followed a dispute between Hamami's forces and the Islamic State over control of a strategic checkpoint in Latakia and would lead to fighting. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/07/12/FSA-s-council-to-meet-to-discuss-killing-of-top-Syrian-rebel.html FSA’s council to meet to discuss killing of top Syrian rebel The Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council will meet on Friday following the killing of a rebel Free Syrian Army official, Mohammed Kamal al-Hamami. An al-Qaeda-linked organization killed in Syria Hamami, highlighting the rift between Islamists and moderates in Syria’s armed opposition. Hamami – also known as Abu Bassel al-Ladkani – was a member of the FSA’s Supreme Military Council. The FSA official was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the port city of Latakia when they killed him, Qassem Saadeddine – an FSA spokesman – told Reuters. “The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu Bassel and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council,” Saadeddine said from Syria. “He met them to discuss battle plans.” FSA’s high-ranking officials will meet on Friday to discuss the killing of Hamami, said Louay Almokdad, an FSA spokesman. “We must take the necessary measures on all levels, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant brigades should hand us over those who killed Hamami… so we can hold them accountable,” Almokdad told Al Arabiya. “Chief of Staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, Brigadier General Salim Idris, mourns our hero and martyr Mohammed Kamal al-Hamami, who was assassinated by the forces of evil.” http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/10/srebrenica-warning-syria-william-hague_n_3576817.html?utm_hp_ref=tw Srebrenica Anniversary Should Remind West To Avoid Same Mistakes In Syria, Suggests William Hague William Hague has issued a thinly veiled warning to Western leaders, as well as Tory MPs, that they must consider the mistakes that led to the genocide in Srebrenica before resisting intervention in the bloody Syrian civil war. Writing for The Huffington Post UK on Thursday, the foreign secretary said the 1995 massacre, in which at least 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed, should not be allowed to happen again. "Some say that the legacy of Srebrenica can be seen in our foreign policy decisions today and that the lessons from Srebrenica apply as much to the international community as they do to the people and politicians of Bosnia and Herzegovina," he said. "The world was shaken by the events of summer 1995, and it is hard to deny that the international community was found wanting. "One day, the true legacy of Srebrenica should be that such violence is never perpetrated again, whether in Europe or anywhere else in the world." http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/us-syria-crisis-children-idUSBRE96A14G20130711?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Syria war imperils education of 2.5 million children: aid agency More than a fifth of Syria's schools have been destroyed or made unusable in more than two years of conflict, jeopardizing the education of 2.5 million young people, Save The Children aid agency reported on Friday, The civil war in Syria has contributed to a sharp increase over the past year in the number of violent incidents affecting children's education reported worldwide, the agency said. More than 70 percent of 3,600 such incidents in 2012 occurred in Syria, where school buildings were shelled, teachers attacked and children recruited into armed groups, it added. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/us-syria-un-chemical-idUSBRE96A12120130711?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Russia slams West's 'propaganda storm' on Syria chemical arms Russia's U.N. envoy on Thursday sharply criticized what he described as Western nations' "small propaganda storm in a glass of water" regarding allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on Tuesday presented U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a Russian analysis that Churkin said showed how a projectile containing sarin that hit Khan al-Assal in the northern Aleppo province on March 19, killing 26 civilians and military personnel, was fired by rebels. That report came after Syria allowed Russian experts to visit the site and take environmental samples for analysis. Russia, along with Iran, is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest ally and chief arms supplier. http://lb.boell.org/web/113-1317.html The Arab world has harbored fantasies about the supernatural power of the United States Mohammed Attar Interviews Noam Chomsky https://twitter.com/LuisaZangh Hezb now trying to split Khaldiah off as opposed to taking it. Advancing from 2 opposite points E/NE & W. A lot of firepower. Homs8:43 AM Last night HezB also advanced into BabHoud however rebels managed to retake the whole area. It was an immense battle. Homs7:32 PM Its been a very rough day day. Bad news is that HezB/Iran have advanced into Khaldiah Homs and now control almost 50% of it.7:28 PM Iran militants moved into Khaldiah from a semi Alawite area called Karm Shm Sham. They possessed unbelievable weapons. Homs7:51 PM Amo secured when rebels repelled the Iran invasion on BabHoud. Militants picked up & ran when rebels attacked in dead of night Homs8:00 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=693473697346436&l=a7bd6e50e4 Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Thursday, the coordination committees were able to document 55 martyrs, among them 8 women, 5 children: 21 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 12 in Aleppo; 7 in Daraa ; 3 in Hama; 3 in Idlib; 3 in Homs; 3 in Quneitra; 2 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Hasakeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23285245 Pakistan Taliban 'sets up a base in Syria' The Pakistani Taliban have visited Syria to set up a base and to assess "the needs of the jihad", a Taliban official has told the BBC. He said that the base was set up with the assistance of ex-Afghan fighters of Middle Eastern origin who have moved to Syria in recent years. At least 12 experts in warfare and information technology had gone to Syria in the last two months, he said. Their presence in the country is likely to have a sectarian motive. Taliban factions feel that Sunni Muslims, who constitute a majority in Syria, are being oppressed by Syria's predominantly Shia rulers. http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/12/israel-believed-behind-recent-syria-strike/ Israel believed behind recent Syria strike A series of explosions on July 5 at a critical Syrian port was the result of airstrikes by Israeli warplanes, according to multiple U.S. officials. Regional media widely reported the predawn explosions at Latakia, but no one had officially claimed responsibility. Three U.S. officials told CNN the target of the airstrikes were Russian-made Yakhont anti-ship missiles that Israel believes posed a threat to its naval forces. The officials declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the information. So far, the Israeli government has also declined to comment to CNN. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/tension-soars-as-syria-rebel-chief-shot-dead-by-jihadists Tension soars as Syria rebel chief shot dead by jihadists Simmering hostility between Syria's mainstream rebels and jihadists has erupted into naked violence, with a Free Syrian Army commander in the coastal province of Latakia being shot dead by an Al-Qaeda front group. Kamal Hamami -- better known by his nom-de-guerre Abu Bassir al-Jeblawi -- was killed on Thursday by fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), one of the main jihadist groups operating in Syria, said witnesses and a monitoring group. The killing follows months of tension between the mainstream, Arab and Western-backed rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and jihadist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda, most of whose fighters are non-Syrian. A rebel allied to Abu Bassir said via Facebook he had witnessed what he said was a cold-blooded shooting at an ISIS checkpoint when the rebel chief was on his way to visit fellow fighters at the front. "They told us we weren't allowed to cross, that they had orders from their emir, Abu Ayman," who heads ISIS in Latakia, said the witness, Abu Ahmad, who defected from the ranks of Syria's army to join the rebels. "Abu Bassir told them: 'Did you come to our country to help us or to be a burden?' Abu Ayman then arrived at the scene. He said he would kill Abu Bassir, who replied: 'You have nothing to do with Islam.' Abu Ayman then killed him," he said without elaborating. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/un-urges-egypt-to-rethink-new-entry-rule-for-Syrians UN urges Egypt to rethink new entry rule for Syrians The UN refugee agency on Friday expressed deep concern over a new Egyptian visa requirement for Syrians and reports that Syrian refugees were being returned to their war-ravaged country. "I appeal to the Egyptian authorities, as I have to all other governments in the world, to admit and protect all Syrians seeking refuge in their country," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "I fully understand the challenges faced by Egypt at the present moment. But the traditional hospitality of the Egyptian people should not be denied to Syrians trying to flee the most devastating and dangerous conflict in the world today." Guterres's comments came after Egypt earlier this week said it now requires all Syrians travelling to the country to apply for a visa at the Egyptian embassy -- a process Cairo said would take 10 to 15 days. "UNHCR understands the Egyptian Embassy in Damascus does not have the capacity to issue visas at this time," the UN agency said Friday, decrying reports that a number of flights carrying Syrians had been turned back from airports in Egypt. http://www.npr.org/2013/07/12/201107217/in-southern-syria-rebels-say-u-s-support-is-critical?sc=tw&cc=share In Southern Syria, Rebels Say U.S. Support Is Critical The battle for the city of Dera'a in southern Syria has become a test of an American pledge to give military support to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad. After a string of defeats, the rebels have scored rare victories around Dera'a. But in interviews,rebel commanders passing through neighboring Jordan say those gains could be lost without a dependable arms pipeline and promised U.S. support. Yasser Aboud, a thin, intense former colonel in the Syrian army, commands the joint operations center for southern Syria. "We have made excellent gains on the ground," he says, "liberating entire villages." Aboud explains that the rebels now control a significant area just north of the Jordanian border all the way to Al-Balad, a neighborhood in the historic district of Dera'a. But the Syrian army has mounted a counteroffensive, he says. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=201043007 Opposition Condemns Syrian Rebel Blockade Syria's main opposition coalition Thursday condemned a rebel blockade of government-held districts in the contested northern city of Aleppo, issuing a rare statement of criticism against fighters who reportedly caused severe food shortages at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Residents of the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood staged protests against the blockade by Islamic militant rebels, according to activists and a video posted to YouTube on Tuesday. The demonstration was one of three reported in Aleppo province in recent days against alleged abuses by al-Qaida-affiliated fighters, suggesting growing discontent in rebel areas toward the hard-line factions that are among the most organized of the rebel groups fighting President Bashar Assad. "The people want to break the siege!" the residents shouted angrily during a demonstration at a checkpoint. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other Associated Press reporting on Aleppo. http://beta.syriadeeply.org/2013/07/one-rania-abouzeid-journalist/#.UeB71PjD_cy One on One: Rania Abouzeid, Journalist As part of our series of interviews with journalists covering the Syria crisis, we reached out to Rania Abouzeid, whose extensive reporting from Syria has appeared in TIME, The New Yorker, Foreign Policy and on television with the CBC documentary “Syria: Behind Rebel Lines.” Here, the Beirut-based Abouzeid discusses traveling in and out of Syria without a fixer or translator, and the increasing dangers of covering the war. Rania Abouzeid: I don’t keep count of how many times I’ve been in and out. I knew Syria before the uprising, I know Syria from 2000 when I used to go in and out. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/the-waiting-game The waiting game President Barack Obama’s plan to provide arms to the Syrian opposition has hit another roadblock this week, as the U.S. House and Senate intelligence committees placed a temporary hold on the provision of lethal aid. The block, which was actually put in place last month, publicly emerged this week in another indication of the obscure nature of the administration’s arming policy. According to reports by Congress’ news website, The Hill, both the Senate and House intelligence committees requested additional information from the administration on its plan to provide arms to the Supreme Military Council. Specifically, U.S. representatives were seeking details about how the administration would prevent the weapons from falling into the hands of al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as how a policy of arming the Syrian rebels would produce tangible results on the ground. Until they receive the requested information, both intelligence committees have imposed significant restrictions on funding for the policy. Since the administration may have been looking to finance the program through the U.S. intelligence budget, the congressional hold effectively blocks the policy. http://www.voanews.com/content/white-house-working-to-address-lawmakers-worries-on-syria-aid/1700862.html White House Working to Address Lawmakers' Worries on Syria Aid The White House says it continues to work to address concerns U.S. lawmakers have about President Barack Obama's decision announced in June to send lethal aid to Syrian rebel forces. Worries in Congress about Obama's plan to send lethal aid, reportedly small arms and ammunition, to the Free Syrian Army emerged in reports by The Washington Post and other media. The White House announced the aid decision after the U.S. determined the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on a small scale against the opposition on several occasions last year. Publicly, officials avoid speaking in detail about congressional concerns. Comments are limited to observations about the importance of supporting rebels who are facing the Assad regime and its allies, Hezbollah and Iran. https://twitter.com/LuisaZangh Plenty of new fighters in besieged Homs. They broke through one of the regime barricades & came in with plenty of amo & supplies3:17 PM Totally impressed by rebel organization on the front in besieged #Homs. Last time I was cooped up indoors;this time I got to see other parts3:24 PM Still hearing that Homs is 90% finished & the rest will fall in a week. I will go out on a limb & say that it wont fall in 1 week.3:29 PM The HezB commander killed in besieged #Homs today was Firas Hasan Al Kafli5:10 PM https://twitter.com/NuffSilence Another protest in Manbij demanding expulsion of ISIS (Al Qaeda) from the town5:08 PM Huge number of people waiting to cross from liberated Aleppo to areas under regime control (with supplies)3:46 PM Syria is the first world wide trending topic right now. Thanks to Taliban. never mind Assad SCUDs, chemical weapons, sectarian cleansing, mass summary executions, torture to death.5:42 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=694234270603712&l=0464f1a65e Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Friday, the coordination committees were able to document 56 martyrs, among them 3 women, 4 children, and 4 martyrs under torture: 27 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 8 in Idlib; 6 in Aleppo; 5 in Daraa; 4 in Homs; 4 in Deir Ezzor; and 2 in Hama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade7 Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 That sounds like a good thing if Al Qaeda has turned on the rebels. It will allow a separation of the two so Western governments can worry less about them fighting on the same side. Still, what's the goal on our end now? Are we helping the rebels to push Assad to the point he actually leaves (which he probably won't do for fear of being killed on the way out)? Are we just helping them because we feel its the right thing to do? We're wasting time, money, and lives being nice just for the sake of being nice. I still feel we're scared of going all in because that'd mean we'd have to put guys on the ground to find all the chemical weapons before they fall in the wrong hands. We're damned if we do, damned if we don't, have been from jump street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 I don't see any large deployment of US forces into Syria under any realistic scenario. We have some intelligence and spec ops people in the area and possibly intelligence agents on the ground already, but I doubt it will ever be more than that. Although I could see some sort of international non-US force used for safe zones if that sort of thing is ever done, most likely along the borders. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/12/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE96B08A20130712 New front opens in Syria as rebels say al Qaeda attack means war Syrian rebels said on Friday the assassination of one of their top commanders by al Qaeda-linked militants was tantamount to a declaration of war, opening a new front for the Western-backed fighters struggling against President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Rivalries have been growing between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Islamists, whose smaller but more effective forces control most of the rebel-held parts of northern Syria more than two years after pro-democracy protests became an uprising. "We will not let them get away with it because they want to target us," a senior FSA commander said on condition of anonymity after members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant killed Kamal Hamami on Thursday. "We are going to wipe the floor with them," he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/13/world/middleeast/syrian-rebel-infighting-undermines-anti-assad-effort.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesworld&_r=0 Syrian Rebel Infighting Undermines Anti-Assad Effort Competing rebel factions in Syria are increasingly attacking each other in a series of killings, kidnappings and beheadings, undermining the already struggling effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The open hostilities could no longer be contained Friday, when a Western-aligned group, the Free Syrian Army, demanded that a Qaeda-linked rebel faction, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham, turn over the suspected killers of a prominent commander who was shot dead on Thursday. Commanders with the Free Syrian Army warned that the broader movement against Mr. Assad was being threatened by the conflict between itself and the Islamic State. The infighting is a new low for an opposition that was never able to unite its military or civilian operations. Across the expanse of the battlefield in Syria, in places like the northeastern province of Raqqa and the divided city of Aleppo, rebels are attacking each other and their supporters with regularity and ferocity. Competition for recruits and weapons — and the right to define the character of the future state — has fueled the interrebel battles. “The Islamic State wants to eliminate the Free Syrian Army higher command,” Ahmed Farzat, a Free Syrian Army lieutenant, said in an interview on Skype from the central city of Homs, where rebels are struggling against a fierce government assault. “In other words, to marginalize it and replace it.” https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/un-fears-for-homs-civilians-as-siege-worsens UN fears for Homs civilians as siege worsens The UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said they were ready to rush in aid if they could secure a halt to the fighting. Long-range weapons and tank attacks are being used in the worsening siege of the Syrian city of Homs, the United Nations said Friday. UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos and human rights chief Navi Pillay renewed appeals for access to the city but said President Bashar al-Assad's forces and opposition rebels were refusing to give firm safety guarantees. The UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said they were ready to rush in aid if they could secure a halt to the fighting. Rebel-held areas of Homs have been under assault from Assad's forces since June 28, and the two UN officials said in a joint statement they are "extremely alarmed by the escalating violence" in Homs and Aleppo. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/gulfnews/obama-calls-saudi-king-Abdullah Obama calls Saudi King Abdullah US President Barack Obama on Friday spoke by phone with Saudi King Adbullah to discuss aid to Syrian opposition forces and to discuss the coup in Egypt, the White House said. "The President and the King shared their perspectives on the situation in Syria and expressed their strong concerns about the impact of the conflict on the region," a White House statement said. "The President emphasized the United States' continued commitment to provide support to the Syrian Opposition Coalition and the Supreme Military Council to strengthen the opposition. http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/11072013 Kurdish Group Ready to Back Main Syria Opposition in Return for Rights Recognition The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (KDPS) claims it will back the Free Syrian Army, the main fighting force in the Syrian uprising, on condition that the FSA recognizes Kurdish rights in the northeastern part of the country. “If they acknowledge our rights we will support everything,” said KDPS member Mohammad Salih Khalil. He added that some parties within the Kurdistan National Council (KNC), an umbrella group of more than a dozen Kurdish parties, have suggested that the KDPS join the main Western-backed Syrian opposition, the Syrian National Council (SNC). The KNC was formed in October 2011 in Erbil and is striving for the constitutional recognition of Kurdish rights in a new democratic Syria. Khalil’s statement comes at a time when the KDPS has openly expressed its desire to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad removed from power; it also fears the influence of Islamist forces fighting in the conflict. “Syrian-Kurds are a part of this revolution and we want Assad to leave, but we also don’t want the influences of Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda to leak into the Kurdish area,” Khalil explained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 http://www.aljazeera.com/video/20137137549806597.html Free Syrian Army demands justice over killing The Free Syrian Army is demanding an al-Qaeda-linked group hand over the man it blames for killing one of its top commanders. Kamal Hamami, known as Abu Basir, was killed at a checkpoint in Latakia province on Thursday. The incident has increased tensions between fighters who are supposed to be working together to take on the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr spoke to an FSA commander in the area who witnessed the killing. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/syria-the-latest-updates-on-uk-aid Syria crisis: Latest updates on UK aid How the UK is responding to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and neighbouring countries, and how you can help The crisis in Syria is gravely concerning. Hundreds of people are being killed or wounded every day and millions have been forced to flee. The UK has committed £348 milion to provide support including food, medical care and relief items for over a million people including those affected by the fighting in Syria and to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. How you can help: Disasters Emergency Committee Syria Crisis Appeal Responding to the launch of the DEC Syria Crisis Appeal, International Development Secretary, Justine Greening said: “We welcome the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal to do more for people in desperate need. This conflict continues to cause appalling suffering. Over four million people in Syria are in urgent need of assistance and a million refugees need humanitarian support. “The British Government has led the international response with medical help, food, shelter and clean water but more needs to be done. Other donors must honour their funding promises and it is time that all parties to the conflict allow humanitarian access to all areas of Syria.” http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syrias-famed-crusader-fort-hit-air-raid Syria's famed Crusader fort hit in air raid. An air raid on Syria's famed Krak des Chevaliers castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has damaged one of the fortress's towers, footage shot by activists showed Saturday. The footage shows a huge blast as a tower of the Crusader castle, which is built on a hill, appears to take a direct hit, throwing up large clouds of smoke and scattering debris in the air. A separate video filmed inside the fortress purports to show some of the damage caused by the air strike, including a gaping hole in the ceiling and a pile of rubble below. http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2013/07-12-syria-homs-humanitarian-assistance.htm Syria: Humanitarian assistance urgently needed in old city of Homs The lives of thousands of people in the old city of Homs are at serious risk as a result of the intense fighting in progress there for over ten days now. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is alarmed by the situation.. The ICRC, which has been in contact with all sides, has received reports from within the old city of extremely difficult conditions exacerbated by the scarcity of food and medical supplies. ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent teams in Homs have been unable to respond to needs in the old city despite intense efforts to do so. “We want to bring in humanitarian assistance and enable the evacuation of civilians,” said Magne Barth, the head of the ICRC’s delegation in Syria, who is now in Homs. ”But an operation of this kind requires the consent of all sides. And that does not yet exist.” “We call on the Syrian authorities to permit delivery, in the old city, of food and medical supplies, including surgical items, so that the sick and the wounded can be treated,” said Mr Barth. “We also call on all the armed groups that are in control of the old city to ensure that civilians who want to leave can do so safely.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/12/us-syria-crisis-sectarianism-insight-idUSBRE96B0EG20130712 In rural Syria, a rare peace threatened by sectarian war For months, the western rural region of Homs was an unusual model of coexistence in Syria's brutal two-year-old civil war. Now, it risks becoming a dark episode in the country's deepening sectarian conflict. Syria's uprising-turned-war has forced most Syrians to take sides in a struggle that has killed more than 100,000. But in this strategic stretch of territory, home to a potentially combustible mix of religious groups with conflicting political loyalties, they had avoided that stark choice. Wary of opening a new front, warring parties allowed villages to cooperate quietly with both Assad's Alawite-led forces and the majority Sunni rebels struggling to topple him. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syrian-rebels-al-qaida-fighters-battle-Aleppo Syrian rebels, al-Qaida fighters battle in Aleppo Activists say Syrian rebels and fighters from an al-Qaida-linked group have turned their guns on each other and are fighting for control of a key checkpoint in the northern city of Aleppo. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Saturday's clashes are focused on the strategic checkpoint in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr district. The checkpoint is the only gateway between rebel-held eastern districts and the city's western areas, controlled by President Bashar Assad's troops. Residents angry over the blockade have staged protests against the anti-Assad forces as food prices soar in Aleppo at the start of the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/meet-umm-hamza-the-slaughterer Meet Umm Hamza, The Slaughterer Umm Hamza came to Raqqa after it was liberated. She was wearing Pakistani religious garment and her face was covered with the black niqab with only eyeglasses to be seen under a tight dark mask. A Russian rifle is strapped across her shoulder with a knife, and shackles hang around her waist while she holds an electric cable. This is how many witnesses described her, including 26 year-old Rimal Nawfal who was destined to live through several rounds with this woman after her story became a public opinion case. Umm Hamza, aka “The Slaughterer,” is “a nightmare woman,” says Rimal. She does not roam the streets much, as she spends most of her day guarding female prisoners at the Raqqa religious prison. Religious Committee Judge Abu Ibrahim refers to her as “a Muslim woman guarding women in prison and basically taking care of them.” Between a “slaughterer wardress” and a “female guard,” the liberated city provides ample room for rumors, which are fuelled by covert and overt conflict between two feuding parties that agree only on mutually loathing the Assad regime while disagreeing over everything else. Different agendas, tremendous media polarization, and the hunger for – sometimes cheap – scoops make it difficult to abide by reasonable objectivity. https://twitter.com/LuisaZangh URGENT: 25 regime thugs of mixed origins have been surrounded in besieged Homs and rebels are currently negotiating their release8:01 PM Homs is seeing Christians split on the revo. Locals are pro rebel whilst from villages nearby against. Splitting families!8:12 AM Situation in besieged Homs is stable & relatively quiet. HezBo Iran under orders not to escalate situation until negotiations end.8:16 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-rebels-fear-side-war-as-infighting-spirals/2013/07/13/d765def2-ebf8-11e2-818e-aa29e855f3ab_story.html Syrian rebels fear ‘side war’ as infighting spirals Syrian rebels said Saturday they fear being sucked into a “side war” with jihadists as claims about an overnight attack on a weapons depot at their Idlib headquarters threatened to push the opposition deeper into a spiral of infighting. The friction between Western-backed Free Syrian Army factions and the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has reached a critical pitch since the assassination Thursday of an FSA rebel commander. FSA leaders have said they fear that hard-line jihadists are trying to hijack their revolution and are working to wrest control from moderate factions in rebel-held areas. An altercation at the FSA’s headquarters in the northwestern province of Idlib early Saturday — reported by both activists and rebels — spurred fears that hostilities would escalate. Claims that Islamic State fighters were responsible for the attack, which took place while the FSA chief of staff, Gen. Salim Idriss, was traveling, could not be independently verified. One rebel battalion attributed it to “unidentified armed groups,” and activists said air raids took place in the area about the same time, casting some doubt on the claims that a rebel group had carried it out. Mokdad declined to discuss the attack on the FSA headquarters, but a senior official in the rebel organization, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because a decision had not been made to publicize the news, confirmed that it had taken place and blamed the Islamic State. “The situation is going to get worse and worse,” the official said. Col. Abdul-Jabbar Akidi, the FSA’s commander in Aleppo, denied reports that rebels and Islamic State fighters had engaged in clashes Saturday near the Bustan al-Qasr checkpoint, the main crossing between government- and rebel-held areas of the town. The opposition’s Aleppo Media Centre also released a statement denying the report. http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/90523 Report: Hizbullah Requested that Berri Suspend his Initiative on Ending Govt. Deadlock Efforts to form a new government are seeming more complicated with Speaker Nabih Berri halting his initiative aimed at ending the deadlock, said the daily An Nahar Sunday. Sources monitoring the formation process revealed that Hizbullah had urged the speaker to halt the initiative without explaining the reasons for it. Berri had suggested that a list of government candidates be presented by Hizbullah and his AMAL movement without the Free Patriotic Movement. Premier-designate Tammam Salam would have been charged with choosing five of the candidates, who will provide the Shiite representation at the cabinet. Amid this development, Salam's circles told the daily that he has not given up hope to form a new government, stressing that he is still seeking to form a 24-minister cabinet. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/world/middleeast/government-in-syria-searches-for-answers-as-economy-crumbles.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&_r=0 Syria Weighs Its Tactics as Pillars of Its Economy Continue to Crumble Even as the Syrian government makes some gains against the rebels on the battlefield, it is taking a rout on an equally important front: the economy. Two years of war have quintupled unemployment, reduced the Syrian currency to one-sixth of its prewar value, cost the public sector $15 billion in losses and damage to public buildings, slashed personal savings, and shrunk the economy 35 percent, according to government and United Nations officials. The pillars of Syria’s economy have crumbled as the war has destroyed factories, disrupted agriculture, vaporized tourism and slashed oil revenues, with America and Europe imposing sanctions and rebels taking over oil fields. Increasingly isolated in the face of a growing economic crisis that has reduced foreign currency reserves to about $2 billion to $5 billion from $18 billion, a government that long prided itself on its low national debt and relative self-sufficiency has now been forced to rely on new credit lines from its main remaining allies — Iran, Russia and China — to buy food and fuel. http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq-iran-arms-syria-homs/25045094.html Iraq 'Can't Stop' Iran Arms Transfer To Syria Iraq's foreign minister has told a pan-Arab newspaper that his country is unable to stop neighboring Iran from sending weapons to Syria through its airspace. The London-based "Asharq al-Awsat" daily quoted Hoshyar Zebari as saying: "We reject and condemn the transfer of weapons through our airspace and we will inform the Iranian side of that formally. But we do not have the ability to stop it." Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is locked in a bloody conflict with opposition rebels. The United States, which has called on Assad to step down, has urged Baghdad to stop Iranian flights over its airspace to Syria. Zebari said random checks by Iraq on Iranian aircraft bound for Syria since September had only found medicines and food onboard. https://twitter.com/BigAlBrand I just saw unbelievably horrible photos of decapitated people by Assad's thugs. Including kids. I won't retweet. I wish I didn't look.12:00 PM Now I have a horrible headache after seeing those photos. Assad's thugs holding heads and posing with headless bodies.I feel so sick.12:04 PM I will leave twitter for a while once again.The historic Khaled Bin Walid mosque was burnt in Ramadan.Shame on us all.Shame on humanity.1:32 PM https://twitter.com/GotFreedomSY This is it. Masjid Khalid Ibn Alwalid is gone. In flames. Not a single Friday Khutbah I know of even mentioned it:1:28 PM https://www.youtube.com/embed/G9ag_HF-fps https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=694902977203508&l=94998187f3 Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Saturday in Syria, the coordination committees were able to document 44 martyrs, among them 5 women, 3 children, and 2 martyrs under torture: 24 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 6 in Daraa; 5 in Aleppo; 5 in Idlib; 1 in Homs; 1 in Hama; 1 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Hasakeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrabR Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 I think our best interests are served if Assad stays in power. The jihadist have hijacked the revolution. It is also turning into a Shia vs Sunni fight. Iran backing the Shias and Saudi Arabia backing the Sunnis. Who ever gains power will extract revenge on the other side. This is a 1300 year old feud. Not to mention the tribal affiliations, people are loyal to their tribe not county We need to get out of the middle east. we need to develop a new energy source instead of oil. Hydrogen,methane etc. Every president since Nixon has said it and none have done anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 I think our best interests are served if Assad stays in power. The jihadist have hijacked the revolution. It is also turning into a Shia vs Sunni fight. Iran backing the Shias and Saudi Arabia backing the Sunnis. Who ever gains power will extract revenge on the other side. This is a 1300 year old feud. Not to mention the tribal affiliations, people are loyal to their tribe not county We need to get out of the middle east. we need to develop a new energy source instead of oil. Hydrogen,methane etc. Every president since Nixon has said it and none have done anything If Assad stays in power (not sure that's really possible in any sense other than figuratively at this point anyway) the crisis will go on forever. Which is fine, if you don't mind increasing sectarian war throughout the region and in other places with Shias and Sunnis like maybe Britain, US...etc, increasing jihadi movement and radicalization from all around the world including the US, an expanding refugee crisis and the US eventually having to take in a few million refugees, hundreds of thousands if not millions more dying. This isn't something that's going to go away if we ignore it. Nor can we escape it forever. Plenty of people in the US are already effected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i3zJL3dtKrfCKJZhOYlR2RVz3oRw?docId=CNG.019754b778134f8f84efbc7f5424d121.631 Deadly fighting traps hundreds of families in Damascus: NGO Shelling killed at least 13 people on Sunday in the Damascus district of Qaboon, where fierce fighting between the army and rebels has trapped hundreds of families, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported a car bomb detonated outside a police station in Damascus province, killing at least three people and wounding dozens of others. "The toll from shelling on Qaboon rose to 13 people," the Observatory said, adding three civilians and seven rebels were among the dead, and that three bodies had not yet been identified. The deaths came after the Observatory warned that hundreds of families were trapped in the northeastern district by fierce fighting between troops and rebel fighters. "There is a siege because regime snipers are posted on the outskirts of Qaboon and this makes any attempt to leave difficult," said the group. "The area has also been bombed by the army." http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-militants-leave-pakistan-fight-syria-191939498.html Islamic militants leave Pakistan to fight in Syria Suleman spent years targeting minority Shiite Muslims in his home country of Pakistan as a member of one of the country's most feared militant groups. Now he is on his way to a new sectarian battleground, Syria, where he plans to join Sunni rebels battling President Bashar Assad's regime. It is a fight he believes will boost his reward in heaven. The short and stocky Pakistani, who identified himself using only his first name for fear of being targeted by authorities, is one of an increasing number of militants who have left Pakistan for Syria in recent months. The fighters have contributed to a growing presence of Islamic extremists and complicated U.S. efforts to help the rebels. Many fighters like Suleman believe they must help Syria's Sunni majority defeat Assad's Alawite regime — an offshoot of the Shiite sect. Radical Sunnis view Shiites as heretics. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/07/obama-us-policy-on-syria.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Obama Administration Should Clarify Syria Policy http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/where-does-jabhat-al-nusra-end-and-the-islamic-state-of-iraq-ash-sham-begin/ Where Does Jabhat al-Nusra End, and the Islamic State of Iraq & ash-Sham Begin? https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf Sorry for not sharing news during the past few days I was in Aleppo..i 'm back to the world of internet :-)8:03 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=695500833810389&l=758430629b Damascus: Qaboun: 20 martyrs and hundreds of wounded have fallen today in a new massacre in the revolting Damascene neighborhood, as a result of shelling with surface-to-surface missiles, artillery and mortar shells, following a daily siege and shelling for several months. As regime forces attempt to storm the neighborhood from different sites amid committing consecutive crimes, such as destroying Sheikh Jaber Mosque in the center of the neighborhood as well as the indiscriminate shelling that claimed dozens of lives. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=695479640479175&l=b50e11aa30 Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Sunday, the coordination committees were able to document 126 martyrs, among them 16 children, 7 women, and 3 martyrs under torture: 37 martyrs were reported in Idlib; 35 in Damascus and its suburbs; 21 martyrs in Homs; 10 in Aleppo; 9 in Daraa; 5 in Hama; 4 in Raqqa; and 4 in Deir Ezzor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323848804578606100558048708.html Legal Fears Slowed Aid to Syrian Rebels http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/world/middleeast/no-quick-impact-in-us-arms-plan-for-syria-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 No Quick Impact in U.S. Arms Plan for Syria Rebels A month ago Obama administration officials promised to deliver arms and ammunition to the Syrian rebels in the hope of reversing the tide of a war that had turned against an embattled opposition. But interviews with American, Western and Middle Eastern officials show that the administration’s plans are far more limited than it has indicated in public and private. In fact, the officials said, the administration’s plans to use the C.I.A. to covertly train and arm the rebels could take months to have any impact on a chaotic battlefield. Many officials believe the assistance is unlikely to bolster the rebellion enough to push President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to the negotiating table. The plans call for the C.I.A. to supply only small arms, and to only a limited segment of the opposition — the actual numbers are unclear. In addition, much of the training, which is to take place over months in Jordan and Turkey, has not yet started, partly because of Congressional objections. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/17999275/generals-plea-for-help-a-fitting-epitaph/ General's plea for help a fitting epitaph About an hour before he died, Maj-Gen. Anmar Hmoud held my arm and said: "We need to help these people." He emphasised each word as we stood in a tent in a Jordanian army base on the country's remote triangular border with Syria and Iraq. It was pitch black and army officers were giving food and water to 300 Syrian refugees who had just made one of the world's most dangerous journeys. "They walked for a long distance. There are women and children. It is absolutely shocking," he said, as he looked around. "They need food, they need shelter - better shelter than this - and they need vehicles so that they are moved as soon as possible." http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/17969883/newborn-joy-small-hope-in-city-of-despair/ Newborn joy small hope in city of despair One of the happiest - and saddest - places in Jordan right now has to be a small demountable building perched on desert sand, 10km from the Syrian border. Three beds are pushed up against the wall. Next to each is a plastic crib with three infants born just moments earlier. In an adjoining room, two more women are in labour. The newborns will be here only a few hours before they are taken by their mothers to one of the hundreds of tents and caravans that litter the grim desert landscape, making way for the next round of births. This time last year, Zaatari didn't exist. But already this refugee camp is the second biggest in the world and - astonishingly - the fifth biggest population centre in Jordan. The Syrian babies being born in exile here - an average 12 births a day - are destined to spend the first years of their childhood in this dusty, dangerous limbo. And in all likelihood, much longer. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/march-8-withdrew-demand-for-veto-power-in-cabinet-berri-says March 8 withdrew demand for veto power in cabinet, Berri says Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri said that the March 8 coalition withdrew its demand for a veto power inside the cabinet, Al-Joumhouria newspaper reported. “The cabinet must be formed fast. We have presented several suggestions and withdrew our demand for a blocking third [veto power], but the [opponents] still did not accept [our proposals],” Berri’s visitors quoted him as saying. “The party from which designate-PM [Tamma Salam] came is the source of obstruction, [having altered] my statement regarding the facilitation of the cabinet formation,” he added. Berri also said that he would not present any names for the cabinet seats in the meantime. “Right now I will not present anything, and I told the designate premier to finish with all other parties and then I will be ready,” Berri said, according to his visitors. http://www.sacouncil.com/news/sac-news/cds-urges-obama-to-save-homs-implement-ceasefire-during-ramadan/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter CDS Urges Obama to Save Homs, Implement Ceasefire During Ramadan The Coalition for a Democratic Syria (CDS) sent a letter on Wednesday to President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to urge the Obama administration to do the following: •Work with its allies to coordinate and implement a ceasefire for the month of Ramadan; •facilitate efforts of international and Syrian aid organizations to evacuate civilians, IDPs, and the wounded from Homs;•expedite the delivery of humanitarian and military support to the Syrian Opposition Coalition, by and through its humanitarian and military mechanisms, the Assistance Coordination Unit, and the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Command under General Salim Idris, respectively;•pressure the Lebanese government to do all it can to remove Hezbollah forces from Syria and block further entry. http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/07/syria-s-new-opposition-leader?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/betterthantheonebefore Better than the one before? SYRIANS can be forgiven for paying scant attention to the inauguration on July 6th of a new president of the Syrian National Coalition, the political opposition’s umbrella group in exile. The new man, Ahmad Jarba, is a leader of the powerful Shammar tribe which has branches in eastern Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. A former political prisoner, he hails from the north-eastern Syrian town of Hasaka. He is a respected figure. Yet there is little reason to believe he will wield more influence than his predecessor, Moaz al-Khatib, a prominent Damascus cleric. The rivalry of the coalition’s two main Arab backers, Saudi Arabia, which is close to Mr Jarba, and Qatar, whose preferred candidate narrowly lost the election, has long hamstrung the opposition. Two days after Mr Jarba’s election, Ghassan Hitto, a technocratic protégé of Qatar who had been appointed as an interim prime minister in March, resigned, citing his failure to form a government in exile. Mr Jarba may persuade Saudi Arabia to provide more humanitarian aid but, amid Western anxiety over the increasing number of extremists in rebel-held parts of Syria, he is unlikely soon to secure advanced weapons to take on President Bashar Assad’s forces. The rebels fear they may lose the districts they still hold in Homs, Syria’s third city, partly because fighters from Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia party-cum-militia, have been boosting Mr Assad. His increasing grip over the most populous cities along a north-south axis in the west of the country has dimmed the prospects, always faint, of peace talks that were said to be in the offing in Geneva. https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf just helped out with an aid mission there [Aleppo]...10s of thousands of pounds of food delivered.8:08 PM During my absence there was a massacre after a ground to ground missile landed leaving 36 martyrs from Jabal Alzawiyah and Kafranbel Idlib3:23 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/15/us-usa-syria-arms-idUSBRE96E0MI20130715 U.S. in daily contact with Syria opposition on its needs: White House The U.S. administration is in daily contact with the Syrian opposition on how the United States can support its needs, the White House said on Monday. "We are in regular consultation with Congress on matters related to Syria assistance," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. President Barack Obama believes that "our updated assistance to Syria is essential to helping buttress the opposition," he said. http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/tourism/from-hotel-dream-to-syria-death-tower-reality-for-abu-dhabi-based-investors From hotel dream to Syria Death Tower reality for Abu Dhabi-based investors It was intended to be one of the most luxurious hotels in Homs - now it is known as the Death Tower by residents of the besieged old Syrian city that it overlooks. Perched high on a hill 500 metres above sea level, the commanding views made it a natural location for its Abu Dhabi-based Syrian developer. But today those same views are used to deadly effect by snipers affiliated to Bashar Al Assad's government who rain terror on to the streets below. "The area around the building is quite classy. People in our neighbourhood walk around it, they don't care," says Maher, a university student studying engineering in Homs. "But they are aiming and shooting at the old city of Homs, an area that has poor to middle-class families that has become a stronghold for the Free Syrian Army." "We call it the Death Tower," says a Homs resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There are streets we can't cross because of the sniper. Shooting from the tower could erupt any time but at night it's likely to be more vicious." http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/refugee-aid-office-lebanese-clinic-forcibly-tossed-out-30-syrian-patients-hospital-over Refugee aid office: Lebanese clinic "forcibly" tossed out 30 Syrian patients from hospital over unpaid bills The AFP reports: A Lebanese hospital has "forcibly" ejected 30 Syrians patients wounded in violence in their country, an activist said on Monday, while the hospital said they were discharged over unpaid bills. "The Alameddin hospital in Minieh threw out 30 wounded Syrians from Qusayr" on Sunday, Khaled Mustafa, director of an office helping refugees in northern Lebanon, told AFP. http://www.timesofisrael.com/?p=597068 ‘EU set to add Hezbollah to list of terror groups’ The European Union’s foreign ministers are likely to designate Hezbollah’s military wing a terror group at their next meeting on July 22, according to a report Monday in Haaretz. “There’s a good chance that an agreement will be reached to add Hezbollah to the list of terrorist groups as early as next Monday’s meeting,” a high-ranking Foreign Ministry source told the paper. The 27-member group of foreign ministers will hold its EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting just a few days after a special team of experts assigned by the group will have held its meeting on the matter. According to reports, the Council is expected to reach a decision on the designation even if the experts fail to reach consensus. Britain, backed by France, Germany and the Netherlands, has been the driving force behind the push to convince several reluctant governments, like Malta and the Czech Republic, to back the move. These governments fear the step could fuel more instability in the Middle East. For the designation to be made, a unanimous vote of all 27 member states is required. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/syria-rebels-want-al-qaeda-suspect-face-trial-153512710.html Syria rebels want al Qaeda suspect to face trial Syria's main rebel group said on Monday that it wanted an Islamic court to investigate the killing of one of its top commanders at the hands of foreign Islamist fighters last week. The call is the first official reaction by the Western-backed Supreme Military Council to the killing of Kamal Hamami, also known as Abu Bassir al-Ladkani, which has set liberal rebels and Islamists at each other's throats. Rebel sources said Abu Ayman al-Baghdadi, the main suspect, is in hiding and there is no sign that he will be handed over to the court in the northern city of Aleppo by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked group in Syria to which he belongs. "The Sharia court will look into the case ... all sides have been informed about this, the military council wants the killer to be handed over to the Sharia court," Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman of the Supreme Military Council, said after a meeting of the body. "The Council also took a decision to ban checkpoints on main roads and also to ban masked gunmen from being present or manning checkpoints." http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/syria-bashar-al-assad-s-forces-advance-on-rebel-held-qaboun-1.1209470#.UeQeV2Bm8yA.twitter Syria: Bashar Al Assad’s forces advance on rebel-held Qaboun Amman: Syrian troops backed by tanks and artillery moved into a rebel-held district of Damascus on Monday, stepping up efforts to drive opposition fighters from the capital and build on battlefield gains elsewhere in the country, a rebel commander said. Opposition sources said troops loyal to President Bashar Al Assad advanced into the neighbourhood of Qaboun after subjecting the district to heavy shelling. Two adjacent rebel-held neighbourhoods have been under sustained fire in recent weeks to cut off the movement of rebel fighters. Diplomats and security sources said Al Assad appeared intent on securing the capital from rebels that pose a threat to his troops, who are dug into positions in the centre of the city. Backed by fighters from the Hezbollah, Al Assad has recaptured important regions in central Syria in the past two months, linking Damascus to his Alawite heartland on the coast. His troops now appear focused on eliminating the rebel threat to the capital. http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/14/meet-the-28-year-old-pushing-the-u-s-toward-greater-intervention-in-syria/ Meet the 28-year-old pushing the US toward greater intervention in Syria In two windowless offices just one block away from the White House, Mouaz Moustafa is working to persuade Congress and the executive branch to put the weight of American power behind the Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. The 28-year-old leads the Syrian Emergency Task Force, the group that famously snuck Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain into Syria in May to meet with leaders of the Syrian opposition. McCain calls Moustafa a “patriot” and says he is “a tireless champion for the cause of freedom for Syria.” Robert Zarate of the Foreign Policy Initiative, a think tank that supports greater American intervention in Syria, says that Moustafa’s group has been “indispensable” in fight to get American power more involved in the Syrian conflict. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23316113 Samantha Cameron 'not shaping' Syria policy, says No 10 The prime minister's wife met some of those caught up in the two-year conflict during a visit to a refugee camp in neighbouring Lebanon in March. Citing senior government sources, The Times reported she had since pushed for a bolder humanitarian response. But Downing Street said British policy towards Syria was decided by the National Security Council. The UK has given £348m in humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies, to those affected by the fighting in Syria as well as the thousands made homeless by the conflict and living in camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. Citing senior government sources, The Times reported she had since pushed for a bolder humanitarian response. But Downing Street said British policy towards Syria was decided by the National Security Council. The UK has given £348m in humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies, to those affected by the fighting in Syria as well as the thousands made homeless by the conflict and living in camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. David Cameron led calls for the EU arms embargo on the Syrian opposition to be lifted although The Times claimed that the prospect of the UK providing weapons - a move opposed by many Conservative MPs - was receding. https://twitter.com/hhassan140 Jabhat al-Nusra distances itself from Islamic State in Iraq, says it hasn't killed any fighter from FSA since it was formed. V @zaidbenjamin12:08 PM Jabhat al-Nusra says the Islamic State in Iraq has abandoned fighting in Iraq, criticises its presence in Syria & performance in Iraq.12:10 PM https://twitter.com/MouriKawji The longer this revolution lasts, the more difficult it becomes for the FSA to liberate cities from both Assad and extremist groups.1:07 PM FSA have to deal with two problems now; freeing Syria from Assad and preventing an extremist agenda.1:08 PM Mutliple FSA fighters have already started fighting extremist groups when they really should be after1:10 PM Im not saying that extremist groups are not the problem, but if the FSA choose to fight both at the same time, we will never see Syria free1:11 PM https://twitter.com/HannahAllam State Dept: No specific update on US aid for Syria but we're trying to get as much out as soon as possible. Refer you to Congress2:09 PM State Dept: We've been briefing Congress on all types of aid, can't say more on the scale and scope of that.2:09 PM State Dept: We're still deeply concerned about Syrian civilians trapped in Damascus suburbs, Homs & Aleppo. We continue to consider options2:10 PM State Dept: Certainly we're concerned about actions on ground in Syria, inc the continued influx of foreign fighters (meaning Hezbollah)2:11 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-rebels-idlib-20130715,0,2267404.story Syria: Government intensifies assault on rebel stronghold The Syrian military intensified its assault Monday on rebel strongholds in Idlib province, pounding opposition-controlled areas from the air and land, according to antigovernment activists. The opposition reported more than two dozen killed in recent days in government attacks on rebel strongholds in the strategically situated zone, which is close to the Turkish border, long a conduit for smuggled arms destined for the opposition and for gunmen seeking to join the rebellion. Much of the northwestern province has been an insurgent bastion for more than a year, though its capital, Idlib city, has remained in government hands. Government airstrikes were continuing Monday in the southern countryside of Idlib, opposition activists said. "The helicopter bombing has increased in the last few days,” said an opposition-affiliated journalist from Idlib who goes by the nickname Zakwaan Hadid, speaking via Skype. “I’ve just received the names of five martyrs,” he said, using the term commonly employed by both sides for those killed in the conflict. http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/90728 Nine Syrians 'Executed' at CheckpointAt least nine Syrians, including a child, were executed by regime forces at a checkpoint in Damascus province, a watchdog said on Tuesday."Nine citizens, including a child, were shot dead by regime forces near the town of Qara, in the Qalamun area of Damascus province, yesterday (Monday) evening," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The nine were "executed" at a military checkpoint in the area, the group said, citing local activists.Video footage shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed bodies lain out on the white floor of a room, some of them partially covered with a piece of white plastic sheeting.Several appeared to have been shot in the head, and others in the chest.In Homs province in the center, members of a pro-regime militia killed seven members of a reconciliation committee in the village of Hajar Abyad, the Observatory said.It distributed a video showing black body bags tagged with pieces of paper bearing each man's name. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/west-demands-tougher-action-against-iran-arms-to-Syria West demands tougher action against Iran arms to Syria The United States on Monday led western calls for tougher UN action on Iran's arms supplies to Syria and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.The calls came as Russia blocked a UN panel's unanimous ruling that a ballistic missile launch by Iran was a breach of international sanctions, diplomats said.The US government called on the UN Security Council and its sanctions committee to tackle Iran's alleged breach of UN measures with "increased vigor.""The committee should also address the steady of flow of Iranian arms, military support, advisors and training to groups in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Iraq and beyond," said US acting ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo.Iran has long supplied weapons to President Bashar al-Assad's government "knowing they would be used to massacre the Syrian people," DiCarlo told a Security Council meeting.The seizure of Iranian arms off the Yemen coast in January "was more than just a sanctions violation, it was an aggressive act to undermine Yemen's transition," said the US envoy. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/07/15/the_sarin_sweepstakes_pentagon_destroy_chemical_weapons_syria_contest?page=0,0 The Sarin Sweepstakes On May 24, an anonymous party posted a curious challenge online, offering $50,000 to anyone who can destroy or neutralize large amounts of chemical munitions. The proposal, made on the crowdsourcing website InnoCentive, was odd in a number of ways. First, Innocentive usually asks for ideas on how to solve technical problems, not military ones. Second, the wording of the offer strongly suggests that it was made by someone in the U.S. government who is looking for ways to deal with the Syrian chemical weapons program. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/rebel-infighting-syria-undermining-revolt Rebel infighting in Syria undermining revolt On Syria's front lines, al-Qaida fighters and more mainstream Syrian rebels have turned against each other in a power struggle that has undermined the effort to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad. After violent clashes and the assassination of two rival commanders, one of whom was beheaded, more moderate factions are publicly accusing the extremists of trying to seize control of the rebellion. The rivalries — along with the efforts by extremist foreign fighters to impose their strict interpretation of Islam in areas they control — are chipping away at the movement's popularity in Syria at a time when the regime is making significant advances on the ground. "The rebels' focus has shifted from toppling the regime to governing and power struggles," said a 29-year-old woman from the contested city of Homs. "I feel that the lack of true leadership is and has always been their biggest problem." She spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from the fighters and the regime. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/UN-envoy-in-Syria-talks-as-child-toll-mounts/articleshow/21087947.cms UN envoy in Syria talks as child toll mounts The UN's special envoy on children in war was in Syria for talks on Monday as concern mounts over the rising child death toll in the bloody two-year conflict. Six children were among 29 people killed in a devastating army bombardment of five villages in the northwest as residents prepared to break the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramzan, a watchdog reported on Monday. As US- and Russian-backed efforts to convene a Syria peace conference have faltered, regime forces have launched counter-attacks against the rebels in the northwest, in the centre and around the capital. Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary general's special representative on children and armed conflict, will spend three days in Syria, the United Nations said. She is to meet with government officials, UN representatives and non-governmental organisations, as part of a tour that will also take her to neighbouring Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, which are hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Jul-15/223804-divided-eu-in-fresh-talks-on-blacklisting-hezbollah.ashx?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#axzz2ZByWidL0 Divided EU in fresh talks on blacklisting Hezbollah European Union nations are divided going into fresh talks this week on whether to add the military wing of Hezbollah to its list of terrorist groups, diplomatic sources said Monday. EU ambassadors are set to discuss the issue on Thursday after counter-terrorist experts from the bloc's 28 member states twice failed last month to reach a unanimous decision to blacklist the powerful Lebanese Shiite group. Unanimity is required to add the party to the dozen people and score of groups currently on the EU international terrorist list and subject to an asset freeze -- including Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Colombia's FARC guerrillas. EU diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Malta and Slovakia had not signed on so far to a push led by Britain, France and the Netherlands to blacklist the group. A diplomat from a country supporting the move said a "consensus is clearly building" given that "the evidence that it committed terrorism on EU soil is strong". http://pietervanostaeyen.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-a-short-biography-of-the-isis-sheikh/ Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – a Short Biography of the ISIS Sheikh This text was just released by some Jihadi accounts. It is supposed to be a biography of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and as-Sham (ISIS). https://twitter.com/NMSyria JAN bulldoze Prophet Abraham's historic mausoleum in Al-Raqqa. Syria's regime bombard the mausoleum & mosque of Khaled Ibn Al-Walid in Homs5:49 PM https://twitter.com/Fsa_Media_Hub Damascus Suburbs:Regime forces launch a raid and arrest campaign in most of the city’s neighborhoods and arrest 100s young men9:41 PM Aleppo: The FSA kills a number of regime forces’ members in clashes in Hatab Square Maher9:44 PM Idlib: The FSA destroys 4 tanks in clashes with regime forces nearby Qermid Camp9:45 PM https://twitter.com/HindKabawat 5 million Syrians will face starvation no clean water, or basic medicine in less than 1year. All for One Dictator to stay in power.12:14 AM https://twitter.com/NOW_eng Syrian rebels and regime forces are clashing in Daraa’s Nawa, activists say2:03 AM https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister Harakat Ahrar al-Sham have announced start of new operation in #Idlib to seize the “brick camp” in Qarmeed: pic.twitter.com/Ar7gRGGVJU8:44 AM PT: Operation also includes Suqor al-Sham, Liwa al-Huriya al-Islami, Jabhat al-Nusra, Kataib Ahrar al-Shamal, Liwa al-Tawhid, Liwa al-Haq, Liwa Dawud, Liwa Deraa al-Thowra & Liwa Deraa al-Jebel – a total of 10 organisations.8:47 AM Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya have claimed seizing of Al-Jouni checkpoint near the brick factory in Idlib3:17 AM A key few days ahead for Damascus districts of Jobar & Qaboun – critical areas for maintaining rebel supplies into East Ghouta3:30 AM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=696295460397593&l=3845c25fe6 Today in Syria, 27 martyrs were killed under torture by regime forces in Assad's prisons https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=696260083734464&l=80649f382f Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Monday, the coordination committees were able to document 98 martyrs, among them 27 martyrs under torture, 10 children, and 7 women: 29 martyrs were reported in Idlib; 27 in Damascus and its suburbs; 12 in Aleppo; 12 in Homs; 9 in Hama; 5 in Daraa; 2 in Deir Ezzor; 1 in Quneitra; and 1 in Banias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/un-5000-a-month-dying-in-worsening-syria-war UN: 5,000 a month dying in worsening Syria war Five thousand people a month are dying in the Syria war which has now thrown up the worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, UN officials said Tuesday. A host of top officials called on the divided UN Security Council to take stronger action to deal with the fallout from the 26 month old civil war in which the United Nations says up to 100,000 people have died. "The extremely high rate of killings nowadays -- approximately 5,000 a month -- demonstrates the drastic deterioration of the conflict," UN assistant secretary general for human rights Ivan Simonovic told a council meeting on Syria. Nearly 1.8 million people are now registered with the United Nations in countries around Syria and an average of 6,000 people a day are now fleeing, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres added. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/16/us-palestinians-israel-kerry-idUSBRE96F0RQ20130716?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Kerry to meet Abbas, may visit camp for Syrian refugees U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began a round of discussions in Jordan on Tuesday in his push to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and address the crisis in Syria. Meeting Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Kerry raised the possibility of visiting a refugee camp housing some of the 400,000 refugees who have fled to Jordan to escape Syria's civil war. http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/bullets-and-empty-promises-push-syrians-to-the-brink Bullets and empty promises push Syrians to the brink A young Syrian activist walked out of an Istanbul hotel conference room last week, exhausted after listening to politicians bicker for hours. He was asked by an elderly man sitting outside: "So who won? Qatar or Saudi?" He responded: "We don't know yet, there's a vote between them tomorrow morning." The man asked: "What about Homs? Or didn't they get to it today?" The discouraged activist didn't respond. The expanded coalition under Mr Jarba's leadership now faces its biggest challenge: staying relevant. On the first day after the elections, Mr Jarba made a surprise visit to northern Syria emphasising the coalition's strong relationship with the military opposition. When he returned to Istanbul, he led an emergency meeting with activists from Homs, promising a personal donation of $250,000 (Dh918,000) in addition to a $1.5 million pledge from the coalition to aid the besieged city. In the coalition's impotent attempts to gain international legitimacy, it lost the most important legitimacy it ever had: the Syrian people's support. During a recent visit to the Syrian town of Kafranbel, I asked about why artists didn't feature these politicians in their influential banners. Activist Raed Faris responded: "These people's names are not worth our ink. No one inside knows who these figures are or what the coalition even is." Syrians have been patient with the political opposition for over two years now. But their patience has ended. The voices inside the country have been drowned out between a trickle of oil money and empty promises of arms on one hand, and the bombs and bullets of the Syrian army on the other. And people wonder why billions of dollars are pledged to Egypt after the overthrow of a government while Syrians fighting a ruthless tyrant are left to beg for crumbs of aid? http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/16/us-syria-crisis-britain-idUSBRE96F0CL20130716 Britain giving Syrian rebels protection against chemical weapons Britain is to give Syrian rebels equipment to protect themselves against chemical and biological weapons as "a matter of special urgency", saying it would allow them to potentially survive a sarin gas attack. In a written statement to parliament on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain would deliver 5,000 escape hoods, nerve-agent pre-treatment tablets and chemical weapons detector paper to the Syrian National Coalition on or after August 3. "There is evidence of attacks using chemical weapons in Syria - including sarin," he said. "We believe that the use of chemical weapons is sanctioned and ordered by the Assad regime." Britain has repeatedly said it believes forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have made limited use of chemical weapons, something the Syrian government denies. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/irans-president-elect-sends-messages-in-support-of-syrias-assad-hezbollahs-leader/2013/07/16/b69a495e-ee1b-11e2-bb32-725c8351a69e_story.html Iran’s president-elect sends messages in support of Syria’s Assad, Hezbollah’s leader Iran’s president-elect has sent messages to Syria’s Bashar Assad and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, reaffirming support for the two allies. The official IRNA news agency on Tuesday cited Hasan Rouhani as saying close Iranian-Syrian ties will be able to confront “enemies in the region, especially the Zionist regime,” or Israel. Rouhani says Syria will “overcome its current crisis.” The note was in response to Assad’s congratulatory message on Rouhani’s June election. Tehran has sided with Assad’s regime in Syria’s civil war. Rouhani also wrote to Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, saying Iran backs the “steadfast nation” of Lebanon and the Palestinians, a reference to the militant Hamas group. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/16/us-syria-crisis-hague-idUSBRE96F0RS20130716?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Britain: Iran can join Syria peace talks only if it changes tack British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Tuesday that Iran would have to accept proposals to bring about peace in Syria agreed at an international conference in Geneva last year before it could take part in any new peace talks. "A good starting point would be acceptance of 'Geneva One' ... and that is something we haven't heard from Iran as yet," Hague told lawmakers. The conference agreed that Syria needed a transitional government with executive powers to attain peace, he said. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/future-hezbollahs-involvement-in-syria-great-crime Future: Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria a “great crime” The Future bloc said in a statement that Hezbollah had committed “great crimes against the nation” by taking part in the fighting in Syria. “Hezbollah decided after [the 2006 war with Israel] to turn its weapons against the Lebanese instead of the Israeli enemy… and has recently committed great crimes against the nation by fighting in Syria alongside the regime and against the people,” the statement read by MP Khaled Zahraman following the bloc’s weekly meeting on Tuesday said. The statement also accused Hezbollah of taking part in the troubles that rocked the southern city of Sidon in June when the Lebanese Armed Forces clashed with supporters of the Sunni cleric Ahmad al-Assir resulting in the death of more than 18 soldiers and dozens of Assir supporters. “Hezbollah committed violations against the residents of the area and against Sidon youths.” “The national life in Lebanon will not be put back on the right track as long as Hezbollah is hijacking the Lebanese state, carrying weapons, encouraging the emergence of armed militias, and by taking part in the fighting in Syria.” http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/16/uk-syria-crisis-idUKBRE96F0EJ20130716 Syria rebels reinforce key suburb in Damascus battle Syrian rebels poured reinforcements into a key Damascus suburb on Tuesday in an attempt to push back government troops who have renewed their campaign to secure the capital and build on battlefield gains elsewhere in the country. Fighting centred on Qaboun, a rebel-held district where Syrian troops backed by tanks and artillery had made inroads on Monday as part of efforts to consolidate control over Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad's power base. The increasingly fragmented and brutal nature of the war was illustrated by an incident in Homs province, where gunmen loyal to Assad shot dead at least six mediators sent to try to reconcile warring sectarian groups in an area where opposing sides had until now been able to coexist. Residents said the killings on Monday evening in the village of Hajar al-Abyad highlighted the growing challenge of mediating between towns held by rebel groups and those controlled by pro-Assad militias known as "shabbiha". In a separate incident near the Turkish border in the north, Islamist rebel fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front clashed with Kurdish armed men, who generally support the creation of an autonomous region within Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said the fighting broke out after Nusra fighters attacked a Kurdish patrol and took a gunman hostage. The Kurds said they had killed eight Nusra Front militants in what they said was a territorial dispute. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/15/196755/lebanese-officials-say-cia-warned.html#.UeWLpvjD_cz Lebanese officials say CIA warned them of imminent al Qaida attack on Hezbollah The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency warned Lebanese officials last week that al Qaida-linked groups are planning a campaign of bombings that will target Beirut’s Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs as well as other political targets associated with the group or its allies in Syria, Lebanese officials said Monday. The unusual warning – U.S. government officials are barred from directly contacting Hezbollah, which the U.S. has designated an international terrorist organization – was passed from the CIA’s Beirut station chief to several Lebanese security and intelligence officials in a meeting late last week with the understanding that it would be passed to Hezbollah, Lebanese officials said. Hezbollah officials acknowledged the warning and took steps to tighten security in the southern suburbs that are known locally as Dahiya. “Yes, a warning came from the CIA,” said a Hezbollah internal security commander who spoke on the condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. “They passed us this information through the mukhabarat (military intelligence), but we had our own information about the bombs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/world/middleeast/ruins-in-a-center-of-syrias-uprising.html?smid=tw-nytimesglobal&seid=auto Ruins in a Center of Syria’s Uprising Little by little, the central Syrian city of Homs is losing its infrastructure and its landmarks. The national hospital lies in ruins. Rebel-held neighborhoods stretch for blocks without an intact building. Many government offices are closed. The silver-domed mosque of Khalid bin al-Waleed — named for an early Islamic warrior particularly revered by Sunnis — stands pockmarked and perforated. Abandoned cars rust beneath piles of rubble and downed wires. Homs was an early bellwether of what Syria would become. One of the first cities to rise up in rebellion, it was home to mass demonstrations. As protests turned to armed revolt, the city began to split, largely along sectarian lines, with much of the Sunni majority supporting the uprising and members of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect joining pro-government militias. Now, after more than a year of siege, bombardment and clashes, which have intensified recently as the government has renewed its assault on rebel strongholds, Homs may well be the site of the most concentrated destruction in the country. “For two years, the regime couldn’t retake Homs,” said a man who identified himself as Abu Nizar, 55, a resident of the Ensha’at district. “Now they want to retake it, but after changing its demographic and sectarian fabric.” http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/world/middleeast/syria.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0 Britain Said to Step Back From Push to Arm Syrian Rebels After leading a determined push with France to remove legal hindrances to arming Syria’s rebels, Britain is apparently signaling a more cautious approach, even as British newspaper reports say Prime Minister David Cameron has retreated from the idea altogether. The reluctance reflects a similar attitude in Washington toward the idea of sending small weaponry to the splintered Syrian insurgents, raising broader questions about the destiny of the rebels as the flow of battle turns against them. From the moment in late May when Britain and France persuaded their reluctant partners in the European Union to lift an embargo on arms supplies to Syria, British officials have hedged on when arms shipments might begin. “While we have no immediate plans to send arms to Syria,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said at the time, “it gives us the flexibility to respond in the future if the situation continues to deteriorate and worsen.” http://blog.amnestyusa.org/africa/i-wish-i-could-invite-you-into-the-beautiful-house-we-had-back-home-a-visit-to-the-zaatri-syrian-refugee-camp-in-Jordan/ ‘I Wish I Could Invite You Into The Beautiful House We Had Back Home’: A Visit to the Za’atri Syrian Refugee Camp In Jordan Seven-and-a-half miles south of the border with Syria lies the Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan. Over 130,000 refugees, who have fled the conflict in Syria, live here in a 4.3 mile-wide stretch on this otherwise lifeless desert plain, in a mix of makeshift emergency tents and mobile homes or “caravans.” In the blinding sunlight, a young woman wearing a black abaya squeezes herself and a baby into a half-meter strip of shade beside a white wall. Dust clouds, kicked up by the wind or passing lorries, sweep across the barren landscape. Most of the refugees have brought little more than what they could carry and the memories of the oppression and armed conflict in Syria. Some show us the battered and broken shoes and sandals in which they made the arduous trek to Jordan. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/reconciliation-committee-members-killed-Syria Blast hits Hezbollah convoy near Syrian border A roadside bomb struck an SUV carrying Hezbollah members near Lebanon's border with Syria on Tuesday, wounding at least two people in the second attack targeting the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group in a week. A police official said the vehicle appeared to have been part of a two-car Hezbollah convoy heading to Syria and that the two casualties were transported in ambulances affiliated with the group to a hospital in Beirut. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists, said it was not immediately clear whether the bombing was an assassination attempt. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23338968 Syria: Crossing Aleppo's 'no man's land' Two years on from the start of the conflict in Syria, many cities across the troubled nation are divided into two areas - those that are controlled by rebels; and those under the control of government forces. Aleppo, the country's second city, is one such place. Rafid Jaboori reports on how local people cross the "no man's land" between the two areas. http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/kuwaits-hidden-hand-syria-8729 Kuwait's Hidden Hand in Syria Private donors in Kuwait are proving to be a lifeline for Syria’s rebels. It is often assumed that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been the most adamant about arming Syria’s fractious rebel movement. But there is growing evidence that clerics and opposition politicians in Kuwait have also been stepping up their own efforts in an attempt to collect as much cash for Bashar al-Assad’s opponents as possible. Millions of dollars in Kuwaiti dinars have reportedly been flown from Kuwait to Turkey and Jordan, where the cash is then distributed to the various branches of the Syrian resistance movement. “There is a great amount of sympathy on the part of the Kuwaiti people to provide any kind of assistance to the Syrian people whether inside or outside Syria,” Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah told Reuters. Along with tens of millions of people in the Arab world, the conflict, which has crossed the threshold of one hundred thousand dead, including women and the smallest of children, has torn at the heartstrings of ordinary citizens in the small Gulf Arab sheikhdom. The only difference, it seems, is that the Kuwaiti government is perfectly content with going its own way instead of following the lead of its Saudi and Qatari neighbors. Why rely on other states, they reason, when one can contribute independently and with no strings attached? http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/16/196844/syrian-rebel-leader-feels-betrayed.html#.UeXrN_jD_cy Syrian rebel leader feels betrayed by West’s failure to deliver arms Three weeks after the United States and other powers promised “urgent, practical steps” to help Syrian rebel forces tilt the balance on the ground against the government of President Bashar Assad, the top rebel commander says there hasn’t been any progress and his fighters are in “a critical and dangerous” situation. “We are really in a very critical situation, and we don’t understand why our friends delay and delay and delay and hesitate to support us,” Gen. Salim Idriss, the commander of the Western-backed Supreme Military Council, told McClatchy. He said rebel forces were receiving between one-tenth and one-twentieth of the arms and ammunition they needed to take on forces loyal to Assad. “Our friends are not acting, just thinking,” he said. “At the end of the day we are not getting any kind of military support. We told them repeatedly what we need. But it is just hopeless.” https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/al-qaeda-planning-to-declare-islamic-state-in-syria-fsa-official-says Al-Qaeda planning to declare Islamic state in Syria, FSA official says A high ranking Free Syrian Army official revealed in remarks published Tuesday that the Al-Qaeda organization was planning on declaring an Islamic state in North Syria. “The FSA has documented information that Al-Qaeda will soon declare an Islamic state in North Syria, after defeating the FSA and controlling the border crossings with Turkey,” the unnamed official told As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. The official also said that the Islamic organization “set the zero hour on the first day of Eid al-Fitr [the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan].” He added that the Islamists planned to target the Bab al-Hawa and Harem border crossings “in order to acquire weapons as well as finances through the smuggling of crude oil.” https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=696787787015027&l=2d35c11a97 Local Coordination Committees in Syria Today, Monday, ended in Syria with the documented number of 77 martyrs, including 8 women, 5 children, and 4 detainees killed under torture: 24 martyrs in Damascus and its suburbs, 14 martyrs in Dara'a, 10 martyrs in Aleppo, 8 martyrs in Homs, 7 martyrs in Raqqah, and 4 martyrs in each of Idlib and Hama, 3 martyrs in Deir Ezzor, and 1 martyr in each of Hasakeh, Qunteira, and Lattakia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 http://world.time.com/2013/07/16/gday-damascus-australians-are-joining-syrias-rebels-in-surprising-numbers/#ixzz2ZH2CZE8m G’Day Damascus: Australians Are Joining Syria’s Rebels in Surprising Numbers As many as 6,000 foreign fighters from nearly 50 nations have now joined the brutal 2½-year civil war to unseat President Bashar Assad of Syria. The vast majority are veterans from the the Arab Springs of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. Islamist volunteers from Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and a few former Soviet republics bolster their ranks. And then there are the Aussies. Surprising estimates suggest that Australians now make up the largest contingent from any developed nation in the Syrian rebel forces. There are around 120 French fighters in Syria, about 100 Britons and a handful of Americans — but there are at least 200 Australians, according to a public statement made by David Irvine, director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The total may appear small, but it is growing rapidly, having doubled since the end of last year — and when looked at as a proportion of the Muslim population of Australia, the figure is startling. The French, British and American rebel fighters are drawn from communities that number 4.7 million, 2.7 million and 2.6 million respectively. The Australian contingent is drawn from a Muslim population of just 500,000, and is causing concern to a government that fears the homecoming of a battle-hardened group of radicalized Islamists when the conflict ends. In February, Norwegian terrorism expert Thomas Hegghammer released a paper showing that 1 in 9 Westerners who fight in foreign jihadist insurgencies ends up becoming involved in terrorist plots back home. With evidence that more than 100 Australian rebels in Syria are billeted with Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda-linked militia, it isn’t surprising that Canberra is becoming alarmed. http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/90879 Kurds Expel Jihadists from Flashpoint Syrian Town Kurdish fighters have expelled jihadists from the Syrian flashpoint frontier town of Ras al-Ain and the nearby border crossing with Turkey, a watchdog said on Wednesday. Elsewhere, a car bomb attack killed at least seven people, among them a child, southwest of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Kurdish fighters took total control of Ras al-Ain "after 24 hours of fighting. The (jihadist) groups were expelled from the whole of Ras al-Ain, including the border post" with Turkey, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. Earlier, the Britain-based group had reported clashes between Kurds and Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other groups. Ras al-Ain has a majority Kurdish population and is of strategic importance because of its location close to Turkey. Kurdish fighters are trying to ensure that neither the regime of President Bashar Assad nor the opposition takes control of the area. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=697396073620865&l=dd63ffc363 Hasakeh: Swedieh: The FSA takes control over Swedieh Oil Station in the area http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/16/the-perils-of-non-intervention-in-Syria/ The perils of non-intervention in Syria Editor’s note: Will Marshall is the president of the Progressive Policy Institute. The views expressed are his own. After two years of escalating violence, the Syrian rebellion looks more and more like a Middle East version of the Spanish Civil War. It has turned into a vicious proxy war that is cleaving the region along sectarian lines and inspiring atrocities on all sides – ironically, the very dangers opponents of U.S. intervention have warned against. President Barack Obama’s original decision to stand aloof from the Syrian uprising reflected his broader strategy of extricating America from Middle East conflicts. It also mirrored the anti-intervention consensus that has come to dominate U.S. foreign policy debates in the wake of our long and costly engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as the death toll rises — and as Iran and Hezbollah go all in for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, provoking a counter-mobilization of Sunni jihadists from across the region — Washington’s hands-off stance has become strategically and morally untenable. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/is-syria-finished#.UebBEqCVLVg.twitter Is Syria Finished? What was supposed to be the Syrian phase of the so-called "Arab Spring" has evolved into one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st century. The once-peaceful opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's deeply entrenched and powerful Ba'ath Party regime has escalated into armed resistance and, finally, a brutal civil war -- one that has now claimed close to 100,000 lives. This escalation poses a serious threat, not just to Syria's neighbors, but -- given the existence of chemical weapons in Syria -- to the international community as well. The United States, like other nations supportive of the Syrian opposition, has chosen to act, but to do so primarily through diplomatic and economic means. Its hesitancy to take more direct action is understandable given the fractious nature of the opposition, but the cost of failing to influence the balance of power between the opposition and the Syrian regime could be high. I say this not only because of the horrific humanitarian toll that is being exacted, but also because the conflict is almost certain to spread to all of Syria's neighbors. Meanwhile, Assad, confident of his military strength and with support from Iran and Hezbollah, continues to wage war on his own people in what has now become an overtly sectarian conflict. At this stage, it might appear almost too late for the United States to have an influence on the Syrian crisis. To be sure, providing small amounts of lethal assistance will not have much impact on the situation. Iran and Hezbollah are determined to keep Assad in power, even to the point of using their own forces. As such, the U.S. will need to do more to make sure that the provision of lethal assistance can affect the balance of power. This will require actually assuming responsibility for managing the whole assistance effort to the opposition. This will not be easy. It will require coordinating all the disparate sources of support on the outside -- from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, and France -- and ensuring that all money, training, weapons, and non-lethal and humanitarian assistance are channeled in a complementary and cooperative fashion. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/17/us-syria-crisis-turkey-aid-idUSBRE96G0UV20130717?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Turkish agency warns of donor fatigue as Syria aid drops sharply International aid for Syria has tailed off sharply in recent months with the conflict apparently slipping from people's minds even as the humanitarian crisis deepens, Turkey's IHH relief agency warned on Wednesday. IHH, whose trucks ferry aid gathered in Turkey and abroad to Syria every day, said it was now delivering as little as a tenth of the aid it had been sending earlier in the year. "The daily number of aid trucks delivered into Syria has dropped to just 5-10 from a previous 50-60," IHH head Bulent Yildirim told a news conference in Istanbul. "Why? Because we have been going on summer vacations while blood continues to be shed," he said, complaining of falling donor interest in a conflict that has lasted 28 months, with no end in sight. http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2013/07/2013717143014174716.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount Syria rebels seize parts of Deraa's Nawa city Opposition fighters in Syria say they have captured most parts of Nawa city in Deraa province. Meanwhile, there has been more fighting in Aleppo city, where rebels say they have made gains. Al Jazeera's Mohammad Vall reports. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/07/israel-loses-allies.html US Outs Israel on Syria Attack? Blame Edward Snowden This has become almost a routine occurrence in the region: A Syrian target is bombed in the wee hours of the night. Fighter jets stealthily make their way there and fire missiles from a distance. The target — be it an ammunition depot on the outskirts of an airport, a missile stockpile in a coastal city, a weaponry convoy bound for Beirut from Damascus or a nuclear reactor built in a desert area — is smoothly destroyed. No one claims responsibility. The usual rumors point at Israel, which, of course, keeps mum. Then the United States comes along, spilling the beans. This is done either officially (in his memoirs, former US President George W. Bush explicitly said that Israel had bombed the Syrian reactor at Deir ez-Zor in 2007), less officially or implicitly. But invariably, Israel is sacrificed to the international media by its greatest ally. The latest incident took place when at least three well-placed American sources told CNN that it was Israel that had destroyed the Yakhont shore-to-sea missile depot in Latakia. The only remaining controversy pertains to the modus operandi: Israeli fighter aircraft that took off from a base in Turkey (which sounds outlandish), a Dolphin-class submarine that fired a cruise missile from the Mediterranean (which makes no sense) or just a simple, surgical and typical operation of the Israeli air force based on excellent real-time intelligence. The bottom line is always the same: Israel allegedly bombs and is then sacrificed by the United States. What on earth is going on here? https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syria-gunmen-infiltrate-disused-israel-army-post-on-Golan Syria gunmen infiltrate disused Israel army post on Golan Gunmen from Syria infiltrated a disused army outpost in the Israeli-occupied area of the Golan Heights just beyond the ceasefire line, a military spokesperson said on Wednesday. The incident, which occurred overnight, saw an unspecified number of Syrian gunmen entering the position and firing towards an Israeli army patrol, which returned fire. "Yesterday evening, suspicious movement was spotted in an unmanned IDF position east of the fence in the southern Golan Heights," the army spokesperson said, indicating the post was in Israeli territory. "Then shots were fired at the IDF patrol in the area and they returned fire at the souce," she said, adding that there were no injuries or damage on the Israeli side. It was not immediately clear whether any of the Syrian gunmen had been hurt in the exchange. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/irish-troops-to-be-sent-to-syria-as-part-of-un-force-1.1465815#.Uear3fmchYs.twitter Irish troops to be sent to Syria as part of UN force More than 100 Irish troops are to be be sent to war-torn Syria as part of a United Nations observer force later this summer. The Government yesterday approved the deployment of a 114-strong mechanised infantry unit to the Golan Heights at the request of the UN. A Government spokesman said the Irish troops would not be acting as peacekeepers or peace enforcers but in an observer capacity. “They will be in a position to respond quickly to situations as they develop,” he added. The addition of Irish troops will bring the UN force up to a strength of 1,250. Last month, the Austrian government announced it was withdrawing its 380-strong force from the Golan Heights because the area had become too dangerous. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/07/17/power-confirmation-hearing/2525261/ Obama nominee: U.N. lack of action on Syria 'a disgrace' President Obama's nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday that the lack of action by the U.N. Security Council to stem the bloodshed in a long-running conflict in Syria was a "disgrace. Samantha Power, a former foreign policy adviser to Obama who was among those that persuaded the president to back NATO-led intervention in 2011, has until this point stayed publicly quiet about her views on the conflict Syria. But in her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Power-- who during a long career as a journalist, human rights advocate and administration official has advocated acting aggressively to defend human rights — blasted the international body for failing to act more forcefully to try to stem the two-year-old civil war that has left more than 90,00 dead. https://twitter.com/Fsa_Media_Hub The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has targeted regime forces stationed at the Armed Forces Officers Club in Alqusoor district with rockets.9:22 PM Regime warplanes are striking Hayan and Hraitan townships in rural Aleppo with large caliber machine gunfire.9:41 PM https://twitter.com/omarsyria Michel Kilo: The best way to rid of racism, sectarianism is by empowering civil society and councils such as the LCC, etc.9:47 PM Michel Kilo: If the rule is true Islam, not with what they claim it is, I am with them. We were ruled by Islam for many decades & did well.9:48 PM Michel Kilo: Kerry and Lavrov can't meet and decide to cook up Geneva and expect us to run. Its goal is to lengthen the regime's life.9:54 PM https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin BREAKING: Jabhat al-Nusra sends renforcement from Deir ez-Zor to Ras al-Ein and other Kurdish cities north of Syria - Source PYD11:01 PM BREAKING: Islamists brigades started the provocations in Ras al-Ein and the other Kurdish areas - PYD Spokesman11:05 PM BREAKING: Its our chance to root out the Islamists from the Kurdish areas - PYD Spokesman11:06 PM https://twitter.com/MiddleEast_BRK Syrian rebels seized Jawma barrier on the entrance to Ariha yesterday.http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.827113&lon=36.628150&z=19&m=b … Move blocks regime forces from Brick Factory3:36 AM Situation Map for Brick Factory battle. Highway cut off, attack from south, only escape route to the north (Idlib). pic.twitter.com/6spymOTocc3:56 AM Breaking The Syrian air force started a massive bombing campaign in rural Idlib today, trying to halt rebels from overrunning regime forces.4:52 AM https://twitter.com/MiddleEast_BRK Here is one video, showing big explosions near suspected rebel mountain positions in rural Idlib province.4:53 AM Rebel infantry waits for the heavy weapons to cause enough damage before the planned storm on Brick Factory base.4:55 AM Syrian rebels liberated a regime housing complex in Damascus' Daraya.4:56 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-syrian-rebels-get-the-jilt-from-washington/2013/07/17/e6a2d2f2-ee74-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html Syrian rebels get ‘the jilt’ from Washington One of the worst recurring features of U.S. foreign policy is a process that might bluntly be described as “seduction and abandonment.” Now it’s happening in Syria. The seduction part begins with an overeager rhetorical embrace. Nearly two years ago, on Aug. 18, 2011, President Obama first proclaimed, “The time has come for President Assad to step aside.” He didn’t back up his call for regime change with any specific plan, but this hasn’t stopped him from repeating the “Assad must go” theme regularly ever since. And then? Well, this is a story of unhappy romance, so you know what comes next. It’s what 19th-century English novelists called “the jilt.” To quote a New York Times story published last weekend, it turns out “that the administration’s plans are far more limited than it has indicated in public and private.” Imagine for the moment that you are a Syrian rebel fighter who has been risking his life for two years in the hope that Obama was sincere about helping a moderate opposition prevail not just against Assad but against the jihadists who want to run the country. Now you learn that Washington is having second thoughts. What would you think about America’s behavior? Let me quote from a message sent by one opposition member: “I am about to quit, as long as there is no light in the end of the tunnel from the U.S. government. At least if I quit, I will feel that I am not part of this silly act we are in.” A second opposition leader wrote simply to a senior U.S. official: “I can’t find the right words to describe this situation other than very sad.” An angry statement came this week from Gen. Salim Idriss, the head of the moderate Free Syrian Army. After Britain, like the United States, backed away from supplying weapons, he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: “The West promises and promises. This is a joke now. . . . What are our friends in the West waiting for? For Iran and Hezbollah to kill all the Syrian people?” https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/syrians-use-ramadan-humor-to-ease-the-pain-of-war Syrians use Ramadan humor to ease the pain of war As Syria's Muslims observe the fasting month of Ramadan at a time of war for a third year running, many people are turning to black humor to help them cope. Jokes are a way to weather the difficulties of food shortages, violence and death that mar the sense of community and celebration supposed to accompany the religious month. One popular joke plays off the traditional cannon fire that marks the end of the fasting day and the beginning of the iftar evening meal. "Watch out! Just because you hear the sound of cannon fire doesn't mean it's time to break your fast," the joke goes, a sad testament to the frequent sound of warfare across the country. http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syria-no-fly-zone-requires-ground-control-outgoing-army-chief-says Syria no-fly zone requires ground control, outgoing army chief says Britain's outgoing army chief has warned that attempts to impose a no-fly zone over Syria would be unsuccessful without establishing ground control, in an interview published in Thursday's Daily Telegraph. Britain is at the forefront of international efforts to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and has promised to supply rebels with equipment to protect them against chemical weapons attacks. But in his interview with the Telegraph, general David Richards said: "If you wanted to have the material impact on the Syrian regime's calculations that some people seek, a no-fly zone per se is insufficient. "You have to be able, as we did successfully in Libya, to hit ground targets. You have to take out their air defences." Richards stressed that a "ground control zone" would need to be established and that tanks and armoured personnel carriers would have to be "taken out". http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/90955 FSA Official Dubs as Crime Jammo's Punishment without Fair Trial An official of the rebel Free Syrian Army, Louay al-Meqdad, has rejected the assassination of a pro-government Syrian journalist, saying he should have faced court instead of elimination. In remarks to An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday, al-Meqdad said that the punishment of Mohammed Darrar Jammo “without a fair trial is a crime.” Gunmen burst into the first floor apartment of Jammo at dawn Wednesday, killing him in a hail of nearly 30 bullets in the town of Sarafand, which is a Hizbullah stronghold in southern Lebanon. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/18/world/middleeast/momentum-shifts-in-syria-bolstering-assads-position.html?ref=world Momentum Shifts in Syria, Bolstering Assad’s Position Not long ago, rebels on the outskirts of Damascus were peppering the city with mortar rounds, government soldiers were defecting in droves and reports circulated of new territory pried from the grip of President Bashar al-Assad. As his losses grew, Mr. Assad unleashed fighter jets and SCUD missiles, intensifying fears that mounting desperation would push him to lash out with chemical weapons. That momentum has now been reversed. In recent weeks, rebel groups have been killing one another with increasing ferocity, losing ground on the battlefield and alienating the very citizens they say they want to liberate. At the same time, the United States and other Western powers that have called for Mr. Assad to step down have shown new reluctance to provide the rebels with badly needed weapons. Although few expect that Mr. Assad can reassert his authority over the whole of Syria, even some of his staunchest enemies acknowledge that his position is stronger than it has been in months. His resilience suggests that he has carved out what amounts to a rump state in central Syria that is firmly backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah and that Mr. Assad and his supporters will probably continue to chip away at the splintered rebel movement. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Obama+failed+Middle+East/8662709/story.html Op-Ed: Obama has failed in the Middle East In June 2009, President Barack Obama spoke at Cairo University addressing a broad range of Mideast problems and leaving the impression he would get to work on fixing them. It was not to be. In the view of Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution, “nowhere in Obama’s foreign policy has the gap been greater between promise and delivery than in the (peace process).” The polls tell the story of how Arabs and Muslims reacted once their hopes for U.S. support of the Arab Spring were dashed. In the Arab world, Washington today has an approval rating of only about 20 per cent. In Egypt, Gallup reports approval dropped from 78 per cent in 2009 to 17 per cent in 2012. It has probably fallen still further with Egyptians accusing Washington of embracing the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi, removed by the military on July 3. In fact, the “Obama doctrine” never contemplated active U.S. involvement in the Arab world, or any other region. On the contrary, Washington fears involvement and is determined to avoid the U.S. becoming embroiled in conflicts which might require sending troops abroad. The last thing the Obamians want is “another war.” The Obama doctrine has no interest in looking beyond current crises, let alone in leading change. It is more interested in “stability” than in advancing the cause of reform and democratic development. “Stability” is code for supporting the status quo whatever it is, for caution in accepting change, and for “getting on the right side of history” once change seems inevitable. As Vali Nasr, a leading expert on Muslim affairs, has written, “The administration’s enthusiasm for democracy remained largely a matter of rhetoric.” http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2013/07/10-syria-lebanon-jordan-ferris?utm_content=buffer48b41&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer From Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley: Trip Report on Syrian Refugees I recently spent 10 days in June traveling through Jordan and Lebanon with representatives of UNHCR and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom to witness firsthand the situation of Syrian refugees and to learn whatever I could from the refugees themselves about internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Syria. During the course of our trip, we talked with some 80 UN, NGO, government and civil society representatives and met with nearly 20 refugee families in the two countries. We visited refugees living in rented apartments (including a six-story walk-up), in a focus group at Za’atari refugee camp, and in the dusty fields around informal settlements. Everywhere children swarmed around us, reminding us that half of the Syrian refugee population is made up of kids. We traveled in SUVs with UNHCR drivers; while we didn’t feel that we were in danger, particularly in Lebanon (and especially in Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley) we were conscious of security restrictions. These are some of my impressions from the trip. https://plus.google.com/u/0/118358993174479176125/posts/XJf3Yy3tudZ James MillerYesterday 8:44 AM The brick factory is a infamous. It's used as a major artillery base that can hit anything approaching Idlib city from the south. It also effectively closes off the road that runs from Jisr al Shughour to Saraqib. In other words, Idlib city hasn't fallen yet because the brick factory hasn't fallen. The area is very flat and open, making attacking the factory hard. In the past, Syrian airstrikes also played a role in disrupting the rebel attack on the position. Not how close Abu ad Dhuhor is to the east, a key airbase. There was another massive offensive in May to take this position and the "Youth camp" to the east. My understanding of that offensive, however, is that the attack on the brick factory just allowed the rebels to focus on the youth camp which was a softer target and closer to Saraqib. Now it seems that the brick factory is in the crosshairs. It's worth noting that without air support, Assad's would be unable to keep these bases supplied and the rebel heavy equipment would be more effective. All of this would have fallen to the Syrian rebels long ago, and all the firepower the rebels are bringing to bare on this fight would be in Aleppo and/or Abu ad Dhuhor. Joe GalvinYesterday 9:11 AM The ten brigades quoted as involved are: 1 - Ahrar Brigades north2 - Armor Brigade Revolution3 - Right Brigade4 - Unification Brigade5 - Sham Freedom Movement6 - Armor Brigade of the mountain7 - David Brigade8 - Islamic Freedom Brigade9 - Hawks Sham10 - Front victory James MillerYesterday 9:28 AM So, most of these groups are either affiliated or closely working with the FSA. Note that #6 is specifically an armored brigade from Jabal al Zawiyeh. Also interesting to see the Unification Brigade (based in Aleppo city) here. There are far more units working here, it seems, than in the May offensive. Clearly, this is a planned and coordinated offensive at the highest level. Jabhat al Nusra in Aleppo works very closely with the Unification brigade, and the Unification Brigade works closely with the FSA - that's usually, but not always, how the power dynamic goes. It's also worth noting that JAN in Aleppo have very little coordination with JAN in Deir Ez Zor/Al Raqqah. Local commanders are in charge. https://twitter.com/LuisaZangh Contrary to popular regime lies, Khaldiah is in rebels hands as they have reclaimed more of it. Homs1:49 PM Another regime lie is that rebels surrendered in BabHoud. Nothing of the sort. The area has been quiet and stable. Homs1:50 PM The humanitarian situation in besieged Homs is very bad. Food is extremely low and people are becoming hungry.1:50 PM Everyone wants to hear about AlQaeda and Nusra so that they feel good about not helping starving people. Iran is killing people of Homs2:00 PM One of the fronts is in BabDreib so its sort of split but mostly in rebel hands. I love that part of old city; magical aura!2:14 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=697617756932030&l=663610662e Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Wednesday, the coordination committees have documented 91 martyrs, among them 6 children, 4 women, and 3 martyrs under torture: 37 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 26 in Aleppo; 8 in Idlib; 7 in Homs; 2 in Raqqa; 1 in Quneitra; and 1 in Deir Ezzor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 http://www.albawaba.com//news/west-arming-syrian-rebels-kerry-507676 West is arming Syrian rebels - Kerry Western and Arab states have been providing arms to Syrian rebels, US officials said on Wednesday, pledging Washington’s ongoing support for opposition forces. During a joint press conference with Jordianian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, US Secretary of State John Kerry revealed that members of the so-called “Friends of Syria” 11-country group have been fulfilling pledges made earlier this month to up arms to opposition forces by providing weapons and munitions to rebel forces. “[Free Syrian Army General Salem] Idris has felt at times that they needed more weaponry and ammunition… There are partners in the so-called Friends of Syria who have been providing a lot of that,” Kerry told reporters. “There is a great deal of weaponry that I know has been reaching the Syrian opposition over the course of the last week or so.” Not yet they haven't. Though Qatar and Saudi and independent sources in Kuwait and other places have. (Independent sources often give to more extreme groups though) According to rebel officials, several FSA commanders walked out on a recent gathering of the Higher Military Council in Amman earlier this month upon learning that opposition forces have yet to receive military aid pledged by the Friends of Syria group, Kerry and most recently US President Barack Obama. “Officials talk and talk about providing military aid to the opposition, but we have yet to see a single bullet cross into Syria,” says rebel leader Abu George Al Jolani, who claims that half of his 800-strong FSA battalion have been left without rifles as they face growing Hezbollah forces in the Damascene countryside. “We cannot defend our land and our people with broken promises.” http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2013/07/18/Obama-in-no-rush-on-Syria.html Obama in no rush on Syria As al-Qaeda affiliated groups try to gain foothold in Northern Syria, and as Iran and Hezbollah continue to shed resources in support of the Assad regime, the Obama administration finds itself in no rush to increase its involvement in the conflict. The U.S. administration is gradually slowing down the Syria-policy pace, in what it sees now a protracted war that will most likely go for years to come. Washington is instead embracing a risk-averse strategy for the long haul, which - with help from regional actors - will aim at containing the conflict, without forcing it to an end. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/18/us-syria-crisis-britain-idUSBRE96H0TP20130718 Syria's Assad may cling on, Britain will not arm rebels: sources Britain has abandoned plans to arm Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and believes he might survive in office for years, sources familiar with government thinking say. The sources also told Reuters that a peace conference to try to end the conflict - now in its third year - might not happen until next year if at all. "Britain is clearly not going to arm the rebels in any way, shape or form," said one source, pointing to a parliamentary motion passed last week urging prior consultation of lawmakers. The reason for the shift was the largely hostile public opinion and fears that any weapons it supplied could fall into the hands of Islamist fighters. "It will train them, give them tactical advice and intelligence, teach them command and control. But public opinion, like it or not, is against intervention." http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/17/196938/syrias-nusra-front-tries-to-show.html?storylink=addthis#.UegZFfjD_cx Syria’s Nusra Front tries to show it’s a different kind of al Qaida Two al Qaida-linked rebel groups in Syria appear to be distancing themselves from each other in what may be an effort by the Nusra Front, which the United States has branded as an international terrorist organization, to remain relevant amid signs that major portions of the Syrian population are chafing under harsh rule by conservative religious fighters. A series of incidents in which residents and fighters in rebel-held areas have protested what they say is a heavy-handed approach to a raft of issues have put Nusra and the other group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, on the political defensive even as the umbrella group of rebels that the West recognizes, the Free Syrian Army, comes under pressure by the United States to reduce the groups’ influence. “The jihadists are rightly worried that the U.S. will demand action against jihadists as a vetting bottom line. They talk a lot about the FSA being recruited by the CIA to fight them,” said Joshua Landis, an associate professor at University of Oklahoma who’s an expert on Syria. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/the-battle-for-aleppo-never-began The Battle for Aleppo never began With the Obama administration’s Syria policy still a mystery, and as the world became preoccupied with Egypt, Syria quietly fell from the headlines following the battle of al-Qusayr in June. When Syrian regime forces, spearheaded by Hezbollah units, retook that small town a little over a month ago, the expectation was that the regime and its allies would turn to Aleppo next. Syrian officials even announced an impending “Operation Northern Storm” in early June. Consequently, rebel commanders, as well as some Western officials, sounded the alarm, fearful that the potential fall of Syria’s biggest city would deal a crushing blow to the revolution. But the offensive never came. In fact, the Aleppo operation may have been a feint all along, used by both sides to shape perceptions of the war’s trajectory. A major operation in northern Syria was never the logical move after Qusayr. The real, strategically coherent next step always was in Homs and Damascus and their countryside along the border with Lebanon. That’s precisely where the regime and Hezbollah have been operating most heavily since June. Understanding the purpose of these operations helps us identify where the regime and Hezbollah are most likely to concentrate their efforts in the months ahead. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/syria-air-raid-hits-arsal Syria air raid hits Arsal A Syrian military helicopter fired rockets at a pro-rebel region of Arsal in eastern Lebanon in the early hours of Thursday, a security source told AFP. "A military helicopter violated Lebanese airspace and fired four rockets at 01:30 a.m. in the Arsal area, two of which exploded, causing damage," the source said on condition of anonymity. The attack did not cause any injuries. Arsal is a Sunni neighborhood in eastern Lebanon that is broadly sympathetic to the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, and has become a transit point for Syrian refugees, as well as rebels and their weapons. http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/311991-mccain-slams-gen-dempsey-over-Syria McCain rebukes Gen. Dempsey for policy 'pirouettes' on Syria Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped into Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey on Thursday over the Obama administration’s resistance to military intervention in Syria. In a rare public rebuke of the top U.S. military official, McCain accused him of making “pirouettes” with his position on arming the Syrian opposition, and criticized him for not publicly stating his personal opinion on military action in Syria. “The situation is much more dire than two years ago when you and [Vice Chairman] Adm. [James] Winnefeld came into office,” McCain said to Dempsey at his confirmation hearing Thursday. Dempsey pushed back against McCain’s accusations, warning there were risks entailed with increased military action. He said it was inappropriate for him to give his views on intervention while it was under deliberation. “Senator, somehow you’ve got me portrayed as the one who’s holding back for our use of military force,” Dempsey said. “The decision on whether to use force is the decision of our elected officials.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10187333/Aid-workers-targetted-by-jihadists-in-Syria.html Aid workers 'targetted by jihadists in Syria' The large number of humanitarian aid convoys going into the war torn country are becoming exposed to hardline groups in areas controlled by those opposing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, according to The Independent. Security sources told the newspaper that there are “cadres” who come back from Syria after going on well-meaning aid missions with new training and links to extremist groups. A Whitehall source told The Independent: “Aid groups’ work inevitably takes you to places where some serious groups could be operating. “Some will go out there sympathetic to the general cause, but there will be a cadre that come back with new training and links to groups.” http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/kerry-visits-syrian-refugees-camp-Jordan Kerry visits Syrian refugees camp in Jordan US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday visited the sprawling Zaatari camp home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to see at first-hand the tragedy of theconflict. Kerry first overflew the vast camp by helicopter, surveying hundreds of tents and trailers lined up on the desert sand about 20 kilometres from the Syrian border. Kerry said his visit had "put a real human face" on the situation, describing his conversations with refugees and officials at the camp as "searing and unforgettable". https://twitter.com/MiddleEast_BRK BreakingNews?! US Army highest general (#Dempsey) tells Senate committee, the Obama govt.is weighing "kinetic strikes" in Syria right now.11:16 AM Dempsey also says "the decision on whether to engage militarily is one for US elected officials to make" - So the army stands by on Syria.11:19 AM https://twitter.com/samersniper 4 airstrikes, and very intense artillery, missiles, and mortars bombardment on the besieged neighborhoods of Homs. Campaign restarted!!7:29 AM Jet Fighter hit a school full of displaced families, killing a whole family of 5 members and injuring dozens. Homs. pic.twitter.com/aKcylfJc777:35 AM The school is not in the besieged area! it's in a supposedly safe area (Dablan neighborhood), and regime said it's an accident!! Homs7:39 AM The fight is raging in Khalidiyeh frontlines. At least 16 regime and Hezb thugs were killed, and more than 30 were wounded!! FSA. Homs.11:11 AM https://twitter.com/LuisaZangh The influx of Shiite & Alawite civilians into Homs is extremely alarming. Buildings in Bab Sbaa, Tawzi3 and Inshaat are targets11:30 AM Ive said this before. The demographics of Homs are slowly changing. Empty homes are not being populated just by refugees.11:31 AM It will be a monumental task to reclaim homes unless residents still have their original ownership papers. Homs11:44 AM https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa I was in Atmeh camp for internally displaced Syrians today. 20000 live here in open fields. Very miserable conditions.7:06 AM Internally displaced Syrians in Atmeh will eat beans 4 Iftar 2nite. If some1 wants 2 donate meat 4 upcoming Iftars, let me know. Ramadan7:09 AM Meet Iftikar, a Syrian mom with 9 kids. Her husband detained. Nothing left from her home in hama except house keys. pic.twitter.com/y8w8OWYKFH10:49 AM I met a Syria(n) woman today in Atmeh camp whose tent was burned down. Her 2 kids were in the tent so they burned to death :-(11:19 AM Scary about Syria Atmeh camp is that barbers, butchers, coffee places, clothing shops... All opening inside. Camp becoming semi permanent.12:10 PM https://twitter.com/Nora0315 Overhead image of the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Over 150,000 Syrian refugees live in these terrible conditions. pic.twitter.com/PEmDB6J9XX11:36 AM https://twitter.com/lrozen Syria rebel ldr Salim Idriss may be coming to US before Congress Aug recess, but details still not 100% confirmed, per @soccermouaz11:39 AM https://twitter.com/AymanM US General Dempsey says that in current state of Syrian war President Assad will likely still be in power 1 year from now12:37 PM https://twitter.com/SoccerMouaz I meet him [Dempsey] next week to discuss syria very excited to hear his frank opinion on the revolution12:39 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=203202978&sc=tw&cc=share Kerry Gets An Earful From Angry Syrian Refugees Angry Syrian refugees confronted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday with demands for the United States and the international community to do more to help opponents of President Bashar Assad's regime, venting frustration at perceived inaction on their behalf. Visiting the sprawling Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan near the Syrian border, Kerry met six representatives of its 115,000-strong population, all of whom appealed to him for the U.S. and its allies to create no-fly zones and set up safe zones inside Syria to prevent the Assad regime from inflicting additional destruction. The United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 93,000 people and become the world's worst humanitarian crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. "Mr. Secretary, if the situation remains unchanged until the end of Ramadan this camp will become empty," said one of the women from Daara, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal against her or her family. "We will return to Syria and we will fight with knives." "The stories that I've just heard and the people that I've just met put a real face on the level of the humanitarian crisis," Kerry told reporters after meeting the refugees. "Coming here today puts a very real, human face and a searing, unforgettable passion and urgency to our needs to try to address it on an international scope." "I think they are frustrated and angry at the world for not stepping up," he said. "If I was in their shoes I would be looking for help wherever I could find it. I share their passion and frustration for the plight that they face on a day-to-day basis." http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Jul-18/224071-is-iran-altering-syrias-sectarian-map.ashx#axzz2ZRmy3bFr Is Iran altering Syria’s sectarian map? Rumors have circulated recently that Iran is sponsoring a plan to redraw Syria’s demographic map, including the granting of Syrian nationality to 750,000 Shiites from throughout the Middle East. Allegedly, the Iranians have paid $2 billion into the Real Estate Bank of Syria to buy up land in southern Homs province. The Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has declared that the land registry office in Homs has been burned down to remove evidence of property ownership and facilitate the dispossession of Sunnis in the province, in that way changing its sectarian makeup. “In addition to shelling and systemic killing in Homs, the Syrian regime is also destroying property records ... in a plan to transform the minority into a majority through several steps, including the killing and the displacement of the population,” Jumblatt recently wrote in his party’s Al-Anbaa newspaper. This came as Syrian opposition sources indicated that Iran was also seeking to extend its influence in the Jabal al-Druze, through local agents. This included settling Lebanese Shiites and Syrian Shiites displaced by the fighting in the area of Swaida. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/07/19/Saudi-Crown-Prince-Salman-calls-for-end-to-genocide-in-Syria.html Saudi Crown Prince Salman calls for end to ‘genocide’ in Syria Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz called on Thursday for an end to “genocide” against the Syrian people, during a meeting in Jeddah with the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition. Ahmed Aowainan Al-Jarba briefed the crown prince on the sufferings of the Syrian people under ongoing Syrian regime crackdown, the state news agency SPA reported. The Saudi crown prince “stressed the Kingdom’s firm stance of the need to put an end to all kinds of genocide and starvation suffered by the Syrian people,” according to SPA. http://www.irinnews.org/report/98435/syrian-refugees-caught-up-in-egypt-s-turmoil Syrian refugees caught up in Egypt's turmoil A thin wall was all that separated Syrian refugee Ahmed Al Hemsi from his 62-year-old father at Cairo International Airport when immigration officers told his father he would not be allowed into Egypt. “He was crying when he talked to me on the phone,” Al Hemsi, 26, told IRIN. “This was the first time in my life I heard my father crying.” Al Hemsi's father, who had just arrived from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, is one of thousands of Syrians affected by a new set of security measures enacted by Egyptian authorities following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi and bloody clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents. Government supporters accuse Syrian refugees of participating in the clashes and taking part in attacks against anti-Morsi demonstrators in several Egyptian cities. The new security measures include the requirement that Syrian refugees and asylum seekers get entry visas to Egypt from an Egyptian embassy, as well as security approval. http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/18/graphic_novel_urges_western_muslim_youth_to_join_jabhat_al_nusra#.UehqjxAvMGI.twitter Graphic Novel Urges Western Muslim Youth to Join Jabhat al-Nusra In the annals of jihadi groups, the story is an old one: A disaffected Muslim youth returns to Islam, reconnects with his faith, finds himself outraged at the injustices done to his brothers abroad, and travels to a conflict zone to wage jihad. Think Afghanistan in the 1980s and early 2000s, Iraq under American occupation, and Syria today. But when it comes to the propaganda campaigns that have drawn Muslim youths to these conflicts, here's something we haven't seen before: a graphic novel encouraging young Muslims in the West to take up jihad. A video released by the online jihadi "Mustafa Hamdi" depicting one young man's journey to Syria does just that, serving up a mix of aspirational thinking and sense of belonging to entice Muslims to join with Jabhat al-Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate fighting in Syria against the Syrian regime. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/laf-no-political-motives-behind-jamos-killing LAF: No political motives behind Jamo’s killing The Lebanese Armed Forces command said that the preliminary investigations showed that there were no political motives behind the killing of pro-regime Syrian official Mohammad Darrar Jamo. The LAF also said that it has identified the perpetrators and arrested them and seized the weapon used to kill Jamo. The army command added that the investigations are ongoing to reveal the crime’s circumstances. Meanwhile, LBC television reported that Badih Younes, Jamo’s brother in-law, and Ali, his nephew are the victim’s murderers and that his wife was the one who incited them to kill him. http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21582037-one-islamist-rebel-group-seems-have-overtaken-all-others-competition-among?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/competition_among_islamists Competition among Islamists One Islamist rebel group seems to have overtaken all the others UNTIL last month the leader of Ahrar al-Sham (the Free Men of Syria), a large Salafist rebel group, went by a nom de guerre. Then on June 8th Hassan Aboud revealed his real name in an interview with Al Jazeera, the Qatari satellite television channel. Days later he attended a Salafist shindig in Cairo. Slowly but surely his group, which may number 10,000-20,000 fighters and leads the Syrian Islamic Front, a coalition of like-minded rebel groups, has become the most powerful outfit battling against President Bashar Assad. Ahrar al-Sham’s success is partly due to its fighters’ discipline and ability, qualities that have enabled Syria’s Islamist rebels to outgrow the fractious secular ones. Since late 2011, when the group first emerged in Idleb, a north-western province, it has made a big impact on the battlefield. It was one of the first groups to use improvised explosive devices and to target the regime’s military bases in order to capture weapons. Soon other groups were clamouring to join it. By January this year Ahrar al-Sham had 83 units spanning the whole country, including Damascus and Aleppo, its second city. In March it led the attack on the north-eastern town of Raqqa, the largest one now under rebel control. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/07/201371784449311867.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount No country for Syria's IDPs Grim existence for 4.5 million internally displaced people struggling to survive in the war-torn country. http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria--war-children-20130718,0,7428549.story Syria's ravaged children: War misery told by the statistics In the third year of fighting that has claimed close to 100,000 lives, the children of Syria are suffering unspeakable horrors and growing up illiterate and angry. That was the warning delivered Thursday by the United Nations’ special representative for children and armed conflict. Leila Zerrougui, in Beirut after a three-day visit to Syria's grim refugee camps and shattered communities, told U.N. colleagues and journalists that the normal pursuits of childhood – school, play and family life – have become casualties of the fighting between rebels and the forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. Once the war is over, Zerrougui forecast, the world will be confronted with “a generation of children who lost their childhood, have a lot of hate and are illiterate.” https://twitter.com/samersniper A family members were eating Iftar in Waar neighborhood. A shell landed on the house injuring them all.. two injuries are critical! Homs.1:36 PM More than 10 mortar shells on the heavily populated neighborhood of Waar and counting!! Homs1:48 PM Confirmed: 16 regime thugs were killed trying to storm Khalidiyeh today. Regime didn't move an inch into the area controlled by FSA. Homs.2:08 PM One martyr (Nawaf Mohammed Ali) and many injuries as a resul of mortar and missile shelling on Waar neighborhood! Shelling is still ongoing2:11 PM https://twitter.com/samersniper A young man was sniped by regime thugs near Omari mosque in Waar!! Homs. few skirmishes r taking place on the outskirt of the neighborhood4:14 PM A tank near Tripoli road is pounding Waar neighborhood that is inhabited by 100s of 1000s of civilians! Huge explosions. Homs.4:44 PM 13 regime thugs were killed in clashes that took place on the outskirt of Waar, as they shelled the neighborhood & tried to storm it Homs.6:32 PM FSA in Waar repelled regime forces attack on the neighborhood and liberated the Blood Bank (occupied by thugs) seized weapons! Homs.7:18 PM https://twitter.com/zaidbenjamin BREAKING: John McCain holds up Martin Dempsey’s reconfirmation over Syria "he didn't answer my questions" @politico6:09 PM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=698237630203376&l=1296540427 Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Thursday, the coordination committees were able to document 112 martyrs, among them 10 women, 6 children, and 2 martyrs under torture: 43 martyrs were reported in Daraa; 27 in Damascus and its suburbs; 13 in Aleppo; 10 in Idlib; 8 in Homs; 3 in Hasakeh; 3 in Raqqa; 2 in Deir Ezzor; 2 in Quneitra; and 1 in Hama Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/19/john-mccain-on-his-meeting-with-obama-middle-east-tour-and-syria.html John McCain on His Meeting With Obama, Middle East Tour, and Syria McCain sat down with The Daily Beast on Friday for a long interview about his White House meeting and his multi-country tour around the Middle East earlier this month, which included stops in Israel, Turkey, Qatar, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Obama meeting lasted two hours, and attendees included Vice President Joe Biden and new National Security Adviser Susan Rice, although Obama did most of the talking on the administration side. “The president’s invitation indicates that the president realizes that there is a very serious implosion of events ranging from across northern Africa and well into the Middle East,” McCain said. “He gave us many of his views and we exchanged thoughts on these various situations.” The administration also has resolved its dispute with members of the House and Senate intelligence committees over Obama’s plan to provide limited military assistance to vetted groups within the Syrian opposition. Committee members in both parties and both chambers had balked at allowing the funds for the administration’s plan to provide small arms, but after the administration provided more information, the plan was finally approved, said McCain. “That’s been resolved. They got the votes for it,” he said. “But the fact that it was held up is a symptom of two things: one, there is a reluctance in Congress and among the American people because of Iraq and Afghanistan, and two, they had no plan, so there was a suspicion that if everything failed, they would say, ‘Well, we had the agreement of Congress to do this.’” http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/07/tunisian_jihadist_ca.php Tunisian jihadist calls for clerics, youth to fight in Syria In a newly released jihadist video, a Tunisian fighter from the Muhajireen Army, a terrorist group composed primarily of foreign fighters and Syrians who are closely tied to al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, urged clerics and Muslim men to travel to the country to wage jihad against the government of President Bashir al Assad. The video highlights the close relationship between the Muhajireen Army and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al Qaeda affiliate. The video, which was released on July 18 on Twitter and Facebook accounts run by the Muhajireen Army, was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. "The video's title gives the name of the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), suggesting a relationship between the groups," SITE noted in a statement accompanying the translation of the video. The Muhajireen, or Emigrants' Army, fights alongside both the newly formed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant. Both groups are official al Qaeda affiliates. Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the emir of the ISIL, is vying for control of al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria. Ayman al Zawahiri rejected Baghdadi's announcement of the formation of the ISIL and said that the Al Nusrah Front is its official affiliate. But Baghdadi rejected Zawahiri's ruling [see LWJ report, Islamic State of Iraq leader defies Zawahiri in alleged audio message]. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2013/07/can_the_united_states_help_syria_barack_obama_has_no_good_options.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_toolbar Is It Too Late to Help Syria? Is it too late for us to do something about Syria? It depends, in part, on how you define “something.” In Foreign Policy last month, Marc Lynch, one of the smartest analysts of Middle Eastern politics, drew a crucial distinction in assessing U.S. policy toward the conflict. “Should Syria be viewed,” he asked, “as a front in a broad regional cold war against Iran and its allies or as a humanitarian catastrophe that must be resolved?” Alas, “both” is an untenable answer. Steps that bleed Iran are likely to prolong the bloodshed; steps that abate the suffering might require dealing with Iran—Syrian President Bashar Assad’s chief backer—and thus solidifying its position as a regional power. In other words, the prelude to either making or assessing America’s policy toward the Syrian conflict requires answering Lynch’s question, and it’s not clear that the Obama administration—or its critics—have done so. This may be one reason the debate has been so muddled. http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/19/why_russia_s_guns_won_t_save_assad Why Russia’s guns won’t save Assad Russia's decision to furnish Syria with its advanced S-300 missile defense system has sparked a wave of commentary on how the transfer will affect the Syrian government's military posture and staying power. Israel seems to be doing everything it can to convince Moscow not to go through with the promised delivery. But Russian leaders seem adamant, describing the goal of the transfer unambiguously: to deter foreign intervention, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments illustrated on June 20. Many analysts seem to have bought Russia's logic, with recent assessments highlighting the "game-changing" nature of the strategic weapons' transfer. Some contended that S-300 batteries would "alter the balance of power" in the region and make intervention "extremely difficult." Others noted that the system's ability to hit targets in Israel and in other countries allied to the United States in the region increases the likelihood that "regional war" might erupt. Despite these prognostications, there are four reasons why the potential transfer of the S-300 is unlikely to significantly challenge U.S. capabilities to decisively intervene by air in Syria. Furthermore, the argument that the system's deployment by itself automatically contributes to greater regional instability, when weighed against evidence of the possession by other Middle Eastern countries of similar weapons systems and more destabilizing weapons of mass destruction, holds no water whatsoever. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2013/Jul-16/223820-aoun-to-meet-nasrallah-visit-saudi-arabia-fpm-source.ashx#axzz2ZZQBvU76 Aoun to meet Nasrallah, visit Saudi Arabia: FPM source Free Patriotic Movement head MP Michel Aoun is set to meet in the coming days with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah to discuss domestic disagreements, a FPM source said Monday, adding that the Change and Reform bloc leader would also later visit Saudi Arabia. “There is a meeting soon between Gen. Aoun and Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah: It shouldn’t be more than 10 days before the two meet,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star, adding that the talks would be before Aoun departs on a trip to Paris. The expected visit comes amid reports of tension and disputes between the two allied parties over domestic issues, mainly the extension of Parliament’s mandate in May and the controversial issue of extending the term of Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi. Aoun’s party has boycotted Parliament over a draft law that calls for raising the retirement age of senior security and military officials, which would include Kahwagi. Hezbollah, according to the source, has been hinting to the FPM of a possible compromise over the extension of the military chief’s term. http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_306481/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Se3u6Iuz Shells hit major Shiite shrine near Damascus Mortar shells struck near a major Shiite shrine outside Damascus on Friday, killing its caretaker in an attack that threatens to further escalate sectarian tensions in Syria's civil war, the government and activists said. State-run news agency SANA said shells fired be rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad landed "in the vicinity" of the revered Sayida Zeinab shrine, killing Anas Roumani, the shrine's administrative director. Several people were wounded in the explosion, SANA said. Protection of the ornate, golden-domed mosque has become a rallying cry for Shiite fighters backing Assad, raising the stakes in a conflict that is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines. Lebanese fighters from the militant Shiite Hezbollah group as well as Shiite Iraqi fighters have joined Syrian forces in battling rebels in the suburb that is home to the shrine of Sayida Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter. The area, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Damascus, has been engulfed in an offensive by Assad's forces to recapture suburbs held by rebels and areas in the country's strategic heartland. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/eu-ministers-ready-to-blacklist-Hezbollah EU ministers ready to blacklist Hezbollah EU foreign ministers are likely to put the military wing of Lebanon's Hezbollah group on their blacklist of terror groups, EU diplomatic sources said Friday as the Lebanese government warned against such a step. "There are still some reservations... but we are moving towards a decision on listing Hezbollah's military wing," a senior EU official said ahead of a meeting of all 28 EU foreign ministers on Monday. The move was justified by Hezbollah's involvement in an attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year and its activities in Cyprus, the official said, but would "not impact current EU policy and engagement with Lebanon." The official, who asked not to be named, also stressed that the military wing alone would be targeted and not Hezbollah's political organization which is a major force in the country and was part of the outgoing Lebanese government. So, EU countries can trade with Hezbollah, but not their military wing...which is obviously an independent group led by uh wait...oh ****.... Good thing the main Hezbollah organization is completely incapable of giving anything the EU gives them to their military wing. https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya have claimed seizing Al-Bajariya checkpt near Qamishli after a 2-day assault with 4 other groups.8:24 AM PT: Other 4 grps were Jaish al-Tawhid, Tajamu Kataib al-Haq, Suqor al-Sina & Ansar al-Khilafa. Ahrar lost 5 fighters & seized arms & ammo.8:26 AM https://twitter.com/BigAlBrand Explosion near Om Al Baneen school caused by either mortar shell or helicopter attack. That area is highly populated. Homs10:03 AM Second shell fell near Ghouta Street. On a side street from it. Absolutely no FSA there. Only civilians. It's under Assad's control. Homs10:06 AM In the past two days, at least two schools were hit. Those schools are filled with displaces families. Homs10:52 AM Trying to call the people in the building that was hit. No answer. A balcony fell off it.10:57 AM The shell that hit near Mutafawikeen school left great damage in houses nearby and one martyr and several injured.11:07 AM https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa I'm sitting in Atmeh camp w/ 7yrs old Ahmed. He needs a wheelchair. His 2 brothers, 2 sisters are handicapped too. They need 5 wheelchairs.12:46 PM I asked Ahmed for a pic but he refuses. He is scared regime forces see it and arrest him somehow. He is gripped with fear.12:48 PM If anyone wants to donate 5 wheelchairs to Ahmed and his 4 siblings, pls get in touch.12:53 PM I just had a Syrian man offering on camera 2 sell his kidney/ eyes/ hands to any1 who would pay him money to feed his kids. He's serious.1:47 PM I need to stop taking things in my life 4 granted. Some Syrians have nothing, nothing at all. I don't know how to describe their nothingness.3:06 PM https://twitter.com/OmarJaabari LCC: FSA fighters storm Khan al-Asal town in Aleppo Suburbs amid heavy clashes with Assad militiamen5:58 PM Activists: FSA fighters seize control of the regime's general command building in Khan al-Asal in Aleppo Suburbs7:38 PM https://twitter.com/omarsyria Homs offensive is being carried out by National Defense Forces (organized shabbiha militias) who lack experience and are making mistakes.12:06 AM After an organized and large offensive on Khalidye Homs, shabbiha were knocked back and are now regrouping, giving FSA time to rearm etc.12:07 AM The shabbiha's lack of experience and coordination w the SAA in Homs has caused them to accidentally attack each other at times.12:07 AM Today large numbers of the National Defense Forces were killed after air raids from the SAA and mortar shelling unknowingly on other units.12:09 AM The previous tweets are via a conversation with Homsi activist @samersniper.12:09 AM https://twitter.com/SoccerMouaz It is looking increasingly unlikely that Idriss will come to States in the next week.12:52 AM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=546254775422302&set=a.176433502404433.39432.175386715842445&type=1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Breaking News | Aleppo | July 20, 2013 The Free Syrian Army has targeted Air Force Intelligence Building and soap laboratory with mortar shells resulting in direct hits. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=546289822085464&set=a.176433502404433.39432.175386715842445&type=1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter http://mapcarta.com/12682414 Breaking News | Aleppo | Khan Alasal | July 20, 2013 The Free Syrian Army has liberated the northern part of the village. Information indicates the Free Syrian Army has shot down a regime warplane. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=698802520146887&l=7744d71533 Local Coordination Committees in Syria The Local Coordination Committees in Syria were able to document 72 martyrs, among them 5 women, 4 martyrs under torture including a woman, and 4 children: 19 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 18 in Daraa; 13 in Aleppo; 11 in Homs; 4 in Lattakia; 4 in Idlib; and 1 in Hasakeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visionary Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/battle-for-aleppo-rages-a-year-after-rebel-advance Battle for Aleppo rages a year after rebel advance Fighting raged on Sunday near Aleppo international airport and nearby air bases as the battle for Syria's second city entered its second year, a monitoring group said. "Fierce clashes broke out at dawn near Aleppo international airport and Nairab air base," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also reporting fighting in the Suleiman Halabi district of the city, once Syria's commercial hub. The Britain-based watchdog also reported overnight clashes at Kwayris military airport. http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2013/07/mattis-skittish-on-syria-168829.html#.Uesr-kvt9ho.twitter Mattis skittish on Syria Recently retired CENTCOM commander James Mattis warned Saturday that a limited U.S. intervention in Syria will be costly and ineffective, while he also suggested that the U.S. public is not invested enough in resolving the fight there to support broader U.S. involvement. "We all want to do something to stop this but...we have no moral obligation to do the impossible and hawk our children's future just because we have the desire to do something," Mattis said at the Aspen Security Forum. "When you go to war, it cant be a half step." "If Americans take ownership of this, this is going to be a full-throated, very, very serious war. Anyone who says this is going to be easy or a no-fly zone is going to be cheap, I would discount that at the outset," the retired four-star Marine general said. Mattis said the U.S. also needs to define what "end state" it is seeking in Syria, if further action is to be taken. "Otherwise, you invade a country and pull down a statue and then say: 'Now, what do we do?'….Know what I mean?" he said, in an obvious reference to the chaotic aftermath of the U.S. toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Despite all his warnings and reservations, Mattis said allowing the conflict to drag on could be disastrous. "This war needs to be ended as rapidly as possible. That's the bottom line," he said. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/aoun-confirms-meeting-with-nasrallah Aoun confirms meeting with Nasrallah The FPM leader voices cautious readiness to attend new rounds of dialogue, while warning of a grave deterioration of the security situation in Lebanon. Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun confirmed that he met with Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to discuss contentious internal political issues. “Yes I met with him. We spoke and we widely overviewed general and specific matter, but I am not saying more than that,” Aoun said in remarks published by An-Nahar newspaper on Sunday. “No, we had no disagreements. There were a few contentious issues related to internal political matters.” He also said that the Shiite group’s intervention in Syria’s Al-Qusayr was “necessary” to prevent a civil war in Lebanon. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/21/us-syria-crisis-pentagon-idUSBRE96K01320130721?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews Islamist rebels would gain sway in long Syrian war: U.S. official Radical Islamist rebels will gain sway over the many disparate factions opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad unless they are checked, and the country's civil war could last years, a top Pentagon intelligence official said on Saturday. David Shedd, the deputy director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, did not advocate any form of intervention by the United States or its allies, saying that was up to policymakers. But his bleak assessment of the dangers posed by the Islamist al-Nusra Front and al Qaeda's Iraq-based wing, as well as the prospects for a prolonged conflict, could bolster advocates of greater involvement by the United States and its allies. Shedd acknowledged identifying "good" versus "bad" rebels was very difficult. "But I think (it is) a challenge that is well worth pursuing," he said. Asked how the United States could avoid getting sucked into the conflict, Shedd said: "I believe relying on allies in the region is our best solution." "We know that a number of the Gulf states have great concerns with the Bashar al-Assad regime. And I think that there are a number, and a sizeable number, of allies that would be prepared to work even more closely with us," he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/world/middleeast/us-intelligence-official-says-syrian-war-could-last-for-years.html?_r=0 U.S. Intelligence Official Says Syrian War Could Last for Years A senior American intelligence official on Saturday warned that the Syrian conflict could last “many, many months to multiple years,” and described a situation that would most likely worsen regardless of whether the Syrian leader, President Bashar al-Assad, fell. The comments by David R. Shedd, the deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, were one of the strongest public warnings about how the civil war in Syria has deteriorated, and he seemed to imply that the response from the United States and its allies had so far been lacking. Mr. Shedd suggested that in addition to strengthening the more secular groups of the fractious Syrian opposition — which the Obama administration has promised to arm with weapons and ammunition — the West would have to directly confront more radical Islamist elements. But he did not say how that could be accomplished. “The reality is that, left unchecked, they will become bigger,” Mr. Shedd told the Aspen Security Forum, an annual meeting on security issues. “Over the last two years they’ve grown in size, they’ve grown in capability, and ruthlessly have grown in effectiveness.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/20/us-iraq-politics-syria-idUSBRE96J04120130720 Syria war widens rift between Shi'ite clergy in Iraq, Iran The civil war in Syria is widening a rift between top Shi'ite Muslim clergy in Iraq and Iran who have taken opposing stands on whether or not to send followers into combat on President Bashar al-Assad's side. Competition for leadership of the Shi'ite community has intensified since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein, empowering majority Shi'ites through the ballot box and restoring the Iraqi holy city of Najaf to prominence. In Iran's holy city of Qom, senior Shi'ite clerics, or Marjiiya, have issued fatwas (edicts) enjoining their followers to fight in Syria, where mainly Sunni rebels are fighting to overthrow Assad, whose Alawite sect derives from Shi'ite Islam. In Najaf, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who commands unswerving loyalty from most Iraqi Shi'ites and many more worldwide, has refused to sanction fighting in a war he views as political rather than religious. Despite Sistani's stance, some of Iraq's most influential Shi'ite political parties and militia, who swear allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have answered his call to arms and sent their disciples into battle in Syria. "Those who went to fight in Syria are disobedient," said a senior Shi'ite cleric who runs the office of one of the top four Marjiya in Najaf. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/nowsyrialatestnews/new-syria-opposition-chief-sets-arms-priority New Syria opposition chief sets arms priority The new leader of Syria's main opposition National Coalition has set his priority on securing arms for rebels fighting regime troops since 2011, in remarks published on Saturday. Ahmad Assi Jarba spoke in Saudi Arabia after a meeting with Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz on Thursday ahead of a tour of Western capitals next week during which he will meet French President Francois Hollande. "My first and foremost priority is securing arms for the Free Syrian Army fighters as soon as possible," Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat quoted him as saying. "We are facing gangs that are launching an war of extinction against the Syrian people and arms are the only means of facing them and ending their massacres," Jarba said. "I also plan to work on securing aid to our people," added the new opposition leader who was elected on July 6. http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/19/arms_shipments_stalled_us_is_now_paying_syrias_cops U.S. Is Now Paying Syria's Cops The American effort to arm Syria's opposition may be stalled in Congress. But the Hill just gave the State Department the green light to pay police in rebel-controlled territory a monthly stipend of $150. It's a start - and it's part of a wider U.S. effort to build law enforcement organizations in conflict-ridden nations. "We'd rather have a trained policeman who is trusted by the community than have to bring in a new crowd or bring in an international group that doesn't know the place," Rick Barton, assistant secretary of state for conflict and stabilization operations, said during a talk at the Aspen Security Forum today. "There are literally thousands of defected police inside of Syria, they are credible in their communities because they've defected," said Barton. "They have been playing the role of police without any pay because there's no revenue stream in the opposition controlled areas." https://twitter.com/NOW_eng MTV: Syrian army infiltrates Lebanese border at Mashari al-Qaa, erects earth mounds3:20 AM https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=699320053428467&l=3c371921d1 Local Coordination Committees in Syria By the end of Saturday in Syria, the local coordination committees were able to document 80 martyrs, among them 5 women, 5 children, and a martyr under torture: 21 martyrs were reported in Aleppo; 17 in Idlib; 16 in Damascus and its suburbs; 9 in Daraa; 7 in Hama; 3 in Homs; 2 in Deir Ezzor; 2 in Quneitra; 2 in Raqqa; and 1 in Lattakia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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