There is a dearth of information and serious analyses in regard to Syria presented in the Australian mainstream media. Therefore, to develop an understanding of the crisis and to participate in efforts for peace, it is vital that people do the hard research. This website is one tool that can be used in that task.
Most of the images of Syrian people presented on this page are from Syrian TV, August and September 2012. The images chosen are mostly ones of people attempting to lead a normal life. The photos of ‘rebels’ and refugees usually presented in the media tend to distance the experience of people in Syria from that of people a world away leading peaceful suburban lives. They should be seen because it is necessary to know there is a war and suffering in order to try and stop it. However, empathy for others may depend to some extend on Mirror neurons , as described in an ABC radio program. In other words, for us to feel real empathy for Syrians today, it helps to see the people of Syria in circumstances we can relate to; the more familiar the gesture, the smile, the glance or simple shrug, the easier it may be to feel an understanding for that person and their story and to want to do all we possibly can to bring peace and stability back into their world – their world is our world, after all.
Many of the people whose images you see on this blog are speaking about anything else but war. Hope can be retained if normality is remembered … for it to be regained.
NB: there are also links to articles or reports prior to September 2012 which remain relevant and deserve attention.
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This slideshow includes images of a reciter of the Quran, people interviewed in the street, actors from a Syrian TV drama, Fairuz (the Lebanese diva and perhaps the most popular singer in Syria), and news presenters from satellite TV.
An up-to-date look at the Christian response to the crisis in Syria
A priest in Aleppo (September 6, 2012) has spoken out against the US Administration’s support of the ‘rebels’ in Syria. In his videoed speech, he refers to the words of Barak Obama’s former preacher, Rev Wright and his “God damn America” sermon.
The priest supports the views expressed by Mother Agnes Mariam on Irish radio (RTE). They both speak of the terror in Syria inflicted not just against Christians, but also against ‘moderate’ Muslims, which would include millions of Alawi and Sunni Syrians.
They criticize the western media’s reporting on Syria as it allows the terror to continue.
For example, few people in the west would realize that tens of thousands of Christians were targeted in Homs by Islamist fighters and forced to flee, often unable to take anything with them.
Also, in January 2012, Father Basil Nassar was shot and killed by armed men in Hama in January 2012. Although he was killed by armed men, a photo of Fr. Nassar was held up by a young boy at a Melbourne rally organized by people who support the armed opposition to the Syrian government; there was the clear intention to mislead the public about Father Nassar’s murder. Those at the rally could do this as the Australian media does not inform us about such events when they occur.
Beyond the internet, there is virtually no mainstream public forum for serious debate or discussion on Syria while the efforts to censor Syrian media outlets continue.
Note, the views of the Aleppo priest and Mother Agnes do not correspond with those of the Italian Jesuit priest, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio who is travelling the world meeting western politicians, religious figures and media to put the case for the ‘rebel’ fighters in Syria. He is quoted by those who support the armed fight against secular Syria; he is not quoted by those who support peace, dialogue and reconciliation.
To suggest that Christians have always supported the ‘regime’ out of fear for their fate if it is replaced by a non-secular state skews the reality. As Rev Awad and the Archbishop of Aleppo have explained, Christians have been voices of dissent for many years. Mother Agnes also makes it clear that many Christians work hard for peace and justice, and this can mean they have stood in opposition to the government.
According to the Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church in Beirut, Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III, the West’s attitude to the Syrian conflict was described as “hypocrisy” and sharply criticised: “For many governments it’s merely a matter of economic interests.”
While Lebanon’s Maronite Christian Patriarch , Patriarch Bishara Rai, draws a distinction between supporting a ‘regime’ and supporting the state.
Note, Christians in Syria have been reluctant to focus on their suffering in Syria, one reason being the fear that drawing attention to religion can only fuel sectarian violence. Also, Christians are not the only targets of Islamist extremists. As mentioned above, Moderate Alawi and Sunni Muslims are also targeted by extremist clerics who call for blood. Sheik Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood cleric based in Qatar who issued a fatwa against Syria in March 2011, has declared on Al-Jazeera that “it is ok if 1/3 of the population of Syria is killed if it leads to the toppling of the heretical Syrian regime”. Note: the majority of that government are Sunni Muslims as is the majority of Syrian people, but unlike most militia members they are not Wahhabi, Takfiri or Salafi jihadists.
What do Australians know about the views of the clerics who target secular Syria? Not just for the sake of the people of Syria, but also for our own people and peace in Australia, we should be better informed: Qaradawi on Christmas . Qaradawi on Hitler and the Jewish people. Qaradawi on the dangers of female masturbation. There are more links to Qaradawi in an Andrew McCarthy December 2011 National Review Online article which refers to the US Administration calling on Qaradawi to be the middle man in talks with the Taliban.
If people fear that condemning extremist clerics and Islamist fighters is a condemnation of Islam the religion, there would be 100s of millions of peace-loving Muslims who could assure them this is not the case. The victims of their terror in Bali, London, NY, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places would support such a condemnation. However, as John Pilger writes, there must be condemnation of the ‘liberalism’ which supports the crimes of Islamist terrorists in Syria and which censors the news and discussion of it.
The fact that mainstream media reports on Syria rarely present the point of view of people affected by the terror in Syria means that many Australians, including those from Christian and Muslim communities, accept the simple, dangerous narrative that has dominated in the media: “the president is a brutal dictator killing his own people and he is the head of an Alawi regime which oppresses the Sunni people”. Even Amnesty International is implicated in the continuing terror in Syria as it adopted the narrative at the beginning of the crisis in Syria and it sticks to it no matter what evidence presented refutes it. In Syria, people are losing their lives because they have tried to tell the truth about the terror or because they have worked for peaceful reform or their family members support peaceful reform, evolution not “revolution“. But this is not the case in Australia. People in the media or in government should have no such fears. Why is there so little truth being disseminated when the lives of millions depend on it?
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Egypt satellite company to stop Syrian state TV broadcast
Published Wednesday, September 5, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/egypt-satellite-company-stop-syrian-state-tv-broadcast
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Syria and Us (Part II)
By: Ibrahim al-Amin
Published Sunday, August 19, 2012
Of all the Arab and neighboring states, Lebanon and the Palestinian people will remain the most affected by the Syrian crisis…..
http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/11245
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Press TV
Egypt still follows some Mubarak-era policies: Analyst
5 September 2012
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/09/05/260044/morsi-continues-old-geostrategic-guidelines/
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THE INDEPENDENT:
Robert Fisk: In Maaloula, the past has relevance to Syria’s tragic present
3 September
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It has often been often alleged in Australian mainstream media that ‘rebels’ in Syria are supporting the Sunni majority against an ‘Alawi’ regime. What is ignored is the fact that the vast majority of Syrian politicians, including ministers, are not Alawi and that Syria is a secular country, so the religion of ministers would be, in theory at least, irrelevant in a country which works hard to avoid the lethal mix of politics and religion.
Al- Zoubi: Syria Facing Massive Conspiracy and Terrorist, Extremist Mentality… Solution is Purely Syrian
4 September 2012
DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Information Minister Omran al- Zoubi said that what is happening in Syria is a massive conspiracy and an aggression using barbaric tools whose elements are obvious, stressing that Syria is facing a terrorist, Wahabi and Takfiri mentality and an extremist culture in various guises and under various names…
http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/09/04/439409.htm
Syria 360
SANA HEADLINES SEPTEMBER 3, 2012
Information Ministry: Qatari, French Experts Set up Devices in North Lebanon to Jam Syrian Satellite Channels Broadcast
The Information Ministry said that a group of Qatari and French experts are setting up devices and mobile stations in Wadi Khaled and Akroum Mountain in North Lebanon to jam the broadcast of the Syrian satellite channels and wiretap communications in Lebanon and Syria.
The Ministry said that the Qatari intelligence intends to set up satellite broadcasting devices in North Lebanon to be used by the armed terrorist groups, adding that French technical experts have started execution. The Ministry said that the stations are connected to communication devices connected with communication bases north of the occupied Palestine.
http://syria360.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/sana-headlines-september-3-2012/
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INTERVIEWS WITH HASSAN NASRALLAH, HEAD OF HEZBOLLAH
The WikiLeaks Discussion Forum:
Julian Assange interviews Hassan Nasrallah, April 17 2012
http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/index.php?topic=10465.0
Syriaonline.sy
Nasrallah: They Want Syria to Change into a Country of Renunciation
4 September 2012
http://www.syriaonline.sy/?f=Details&catid=12&pageid=3510
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah calls for dialogue in Syria
4 September 2012
Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says “political settlement and dialogue” between the Syrian government and opposition is the rational solution to the Syrian crisis.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/04/259737/nasrallah-calls-for-dialogue-in-syria/
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Hassan Nasrallah was interviewed by Ghassan Bin Jeddo, former Al-Jazeera Beirut office head who resigned from Al-Jazeera in protest in April 2011 over its presentation of the ‘Arab Spring’, particularly in regard to news on Bahrain and Syria. He interviewed Nasrallah on Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV.
France 24
‘Anti-Al Jazeera’ channel Al Mayadeen goes on air 12/6/2012
…….Ali Hashem, another journalist who quit Al Jazeera to join Al Mayadeen, made headlines in Lebanon in March when he vented his anger over the one-sided coverage of Syria on Al Jazeera in several emails, which were leaked by Syrian hackers.
In his emails, Hashem criticized the Qatar-based channel for refusing to cover the anti-regime uprising in Bahrain, a Shiite majority Arab country ruled by a Sunni monarch.
“I felt in one way or another, I am losing my integrity as a journalist, being pushed to lie. It’s the owners of Al Jazeera, those who own Al Jazeera, the Qataris. They are pushing this channel toward journalistic suicide,” said Hashim in an interview with FRANCE 24…….
http://www.france24.com/en/20120612-al-mayadeen-new-anti-al-jazeera-channel-media-lebanon-syria
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THE EXTERNAL OPPOSITION TO THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT:
An analysis in The Guardian by Charlie Skelton (featured previously on this blog)
The Syrian opposition: who’s doing the talking? 12 JULY 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/12/syrian-opposition-doing-the-talking
Bloomberg News
Anti-Assad Figure Resigns Citing Syria Opposition Discord
By Flavia Krause-Jackson on August 28, 2012
Bassma Kodmani, a prominent voice of the Syrian National Council, resigned from the main political opposition body to President Bashar al-Assad, citing disappointment in the group’s failure to work together more than 17 months after the uprising began.
George Sabra: A man for all seasons?
9 April 2012 by Malik Al-Abdeh, Former chief editor of Barada TV (Charlie Skelton: “According to the Washington Post’s report: “Barada TV is closely affiliated with the Movement for Justice and Development, a London-based network of Syrian exiles. Classified US diplomatic cables show that the state department has funnelled as much as $6m to the group since 2006 to operate the satellite channel and finance other activities inside Syria.””)
http://syriaintransition.com/2012/04/09/george-sabra-a-man-for-all-seasons/
See photo on a Facebook page of George Sabra meeting Adnan Arour, the notorious extremist cleric based in Saudi Arabia. If it is genuine, it raises even more very worrying questions about the external Syrian ‘opposition’.
An alternative “man for all seasons”: a Syrian elder in the Syrian Australian community:
http://pool.abc.net.au/media/who-will-have-last-laugh
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THE INDEPENDENT
Robert Fisk: Syria’s road from jihad to prison
For the first time, a Western journalist has been granted access to Assad’s military prisoners 2 September 2012
Mohamed Amin Ali al-Abdullah was a 26-year-old fourth-year medical student from the northern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour. The son of a “simple” farming family in Latakia, he sat in the governor’s brown leather chair in a neat striped blue shirt and trousers – given to him, he said, by the authorities – and told us he had encountered “psychological problems” in his second year. He twice broke down in tears while he spoke. He said he had followed medical advice as a student but also accepted psychological help from a “sheikh” who suggested he read specific texts from the Koran.
“This was a kind of entrance to my personality and from time to time the second man gave me disks about the Salafist cause, mostly of speeches by Saudi sheikhs such as Ibn Baz and Ibn Ottaimin. Later, he gave me videos that rejected all other sects in Islam, attacking the Sufis, attacking the Shia.” The “sheikh” was imprisoned for a year but later joined Mohamed as a roommate in Damascus. “Then he used to show me videos of operations by jihadi people against Nato and the Americans in Afghanistan.”
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Manufacturing Dissent
31 August 2012 A documentary about Syria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwv7JXgPxLI&feature=player_embedded
http://www.manufacturing-dissent.com
Media Conspiracy against Syria: Lizzie Phelan
Interview with one of the makers of “Manufacturing Dissent” (Both transcript and video available on page.)
Alaa Ebrahim (Syrian Presenter) — What are the main points of view that you will be raising in this documentary? (Lizzie Phelan) — The main point is to basically deconstruct the main fabrications that have been put forward by the global media, mainly the western media and channels, particularly Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. And these fabrications are that the army is on a mass systematic scale killing peaceful protesters, that there is no democracy in Syria, that there is no respect for human rights and that there is no support for President Bashar Al-Assad. So the documentary deals with all of these fabrications and in effect shows that in many of the cases they are complete and outright lies….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myxV3wPk9P4
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Syria TV News 2.9.2012: Robert Fisk visited Syrian jail, Qatari airplane smuggle telecommunications; US and Wahhabi ‘freedom fighters’; detainees released; protest in Turkey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3jcss1YeIU&feature=player_embedded
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George Galloway responds to a question from a member of an audience who supports the ‘revolution’ and fight for ‘freedom’ in Syria
(published on Youtube 1 September 2012)
Al Mayadeen TV channel with British Member of Parliament George Galloway speaks the truth about what is called Syrian Revolution and its supporters. He answered Question from Lebanese Tayyar AL mustakbal representative who supports NON Muslim Brotherhood terrorists in Syria….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in_3G_X4Gi0&sns=em
NB: Alastair Crooke’s assessment of the ‘revolution’.
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Robert Fisk: Another week in the violent, murderous and divided world of Syria
DAMASCUS SATURDAY 01 1SEPTEMBER 2012
Christians and Armenians among latest to die
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Syrian rebels give airlines ’72-hour warning’ before they plan to seize civilian airports 1 September 2012
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) gave a 72-hour advance warning to airlines to suspend flights to Syria before the rebels try to seize civilian airports in Damascus and Aleppo. They claim the Syrian Air Force is using them ‘illegally.’
The 72-hour period begins on Saturday, September 1, the FSA told Asharq Al-Awsat, the major pan-Arab daily newspaper based in London. The FSA believes that Syria’s civilian airports are being used to support pro-regime military operations…. International law prohibits attacks on civilian airports, whether during internal conflicts or wars between states. Prior to the FSA’s ultimatum, some international companies already cancelled flights to Syria over security and cost concerns.
http://rt.com/news/rebels-warning-civilian-airports-114/
RT interview with Syria Tribune Editor-in-Chief, Ali Mohammad, about the foreign rebel warning and the support for the ‘rebels’
1 Sept 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mzNmyRWz9A&feature=player_embedded
Global Research
NATO Terrorists to Target Syria’s Civilian Airports By Tony Cartalucci
Global Research, September 01, 2012
http://www.globalresearch.ca/nato-terrorists-to-target-syrias-civilian-airports/
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US, Certain Regional States Dispatching Al-Qaeda Elements from Yemen to Syria 2 September 2012
TEHRAN (FNA)- One of al-Qaeda ringleaders in Yemen disclosed that the US and certain regional states plan to dispatch al-Qaeda terrorists from Yemen to Syria to help their counterparts intensify attacks against the Syrian people.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9106061476
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Although these reports are from August, the concerns are on-going and demand attention.
French & US Intelligence Chemical Weapons False Flag in Syria Exposed uploaded 28 August 2012
A meeting between Al Arabiya news channel manager with a US diplomat then with French & US intelligence plan to use chemical weapons on Syrians and accuse the Syrian Army for it, the long anticipated, exposed, consumed False Flag.. A Saudi company has already arranged for 1,400 ambulance cars equipped with chemical & poisonous gas filtering system for swift military intervention when needed..! A public spontaneous revolution or a NATO covert & overt military intervention with NATO mainstream media coverage?! You decide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxKIyk5dgqk
Chemical Weapons False Flag against Syria
Uploaded 3 August 2012 by SyriaGirlpartisan
A new recent shipments of Gas masks has turned up in syria for use by the Syrian foreign funded insurgency affiliated with AlCIAda. Perhaps in preparation for the planned false flag chemical weapons attack that will be used by NATo as a tool to get sanctions and interventions approved by the UN. And in the last 24 hours the Israeli ambassador to the UN repeated the accusations that the syrian govt would use chemical weapons against its own people, laying the ground work for the false flag event to take place. This video is a summary of recent and past events
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbMdll58lis&feature=related
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Protest in Turkey against Erdogan’s support for the US foreign policy and its support for aggression and instability in Syria 1/9/12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPRT_qbYvmo&feature=player_embedded
Al-Jazeera report on Turkish people marching for peace in Syria; note the editorial comments.
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/video-report-turkey-protesters-march-support-assad
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PRESS TV interviews American analysts (from August 2012):
US analyst from Executive Intelligence Report interviewed by Press TV, August 2012
He refers to the fear that a 30-year war will be created in the region if the conflict continues. Iran is being targeted, but the ultimate targets are Russia and China. It is not the US military or the most of the intelligence community who want the conflict in Syria, but the Obama administration and their British allies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2dR2F_hgis&feature=player_embedded
US, allies using Turkey to start war in Syria: Analyst
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/257857.html
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Press TV
NAM can put brakes on wars in Middle East: Analyst
31 August 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/259147.html
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NATO’s Secret Armies Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe
(Sourced from “Friends of Syria” blog)
Uploaded 1 September 2012
Interview with Daniele Ganser, author of »NATO’s Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe«
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Editor’s note: The aim of the reference lists on these posts is to offer alternatives to the generally accepted mainstream narrative on Syria. Excerpts from articles of interest are presented. NB: not all articles would be fully supported by members of Australians for Syria. However, the range of reports, analyses, and views should help readers build a picture of what is happening in Syria which is much more complex and accurate than that provided in the local mainstream media.
There may be some articles from previous months on this post as they have not been presented before and they are of some interest.
Images: People in Australia who support a political solution to the crisis in Syria and images from Syrian television. The audio interviews of members of Australians for Syria and Hands Off Syria can be found at
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This August page highlights three courageous women: Yara Saleh, Mother Agnes Mariam, and Oksana Boyko.
For the most recent August updates, please see below the information about these three women.
YARA SALEH, Syrian journalist, cameraman, and driver abducted by ‘rebels’. 16 August NEWS UPDATE: YARA, AND HER TWO COLLEAGUES HAVE BEEN RESCUED.
A report by Yara before her abduction:
Syrian Army
A live report from Damascus city about the Syrian Army and how Syrians see their army and what they want to say to the army on the 67th national day of the Syrian Arab Army.
August 1, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0Ndc_yhmc&feature=player_embedded
Yara is embedded Syrian soldiers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMWTald6_-E
This video shows the three held captive by Islamist rebels:
http://documents.sy/videos.php?id=1756&lang=en
Video: TV journalist Yara Saleh and colleagues from Syrian TV station are rescued
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwDbBvuZBto&feature=player_embedded
Note: Another Syrian journalist was assassinated in or near his home on Saturday 11 August.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/14/256146/iran-slams-killing-of-syrian-journalist/
NB: Report of 3 Hungarians kidnapped
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MOTHER AGNES MARIAM
Highly Recommended:
RTÉ.Video: Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross, from Homs province, speaks about the Syrian conflict 10 August 2012
http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2012/0810/media-3363784.html
If the above link fails to open, the interview with Mother Agnes can be accessed on link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is_JJ9R9dAQ
IrishTimes.com
Media coverage of Syrian violence partial and untrue, says nun
13 August 2012
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
A NUN who has been superior at a Syrian monastery for the past 18 years has warned that media coverage of ongoing violence in that country has been “partial and untrue”. It is “a fake”, Mother Agnes Mariam said, which “hides atrocities committed in the name of liberty and democracy”…
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0813/1224322099930.html
This is a link to a report written by Mother Agnes in 2011.
In the Flood of Disinformation, the Situation in Syria
Note: Another Catholic travelling the world to talk about Syria is Father Paolo, an Italian Jesuit priest, who lived in Syria for 3 decades and presents a very different perspective to that of Mother Agnes. He was expelled from Syria (there were requests for him to leave before the beginning of the ‘Arab Spring’, apparently). He supports the FSA and romanticizes their fight for ‘freedom’. He has been ‘disowned’ by the church in Syria. (see document below) He is now based in a monastery in Kurdistan (Iraq).
Interview with Father Paolo in Canada after he met with the Canadian PM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyILiqbE10o
NB: This Des Spiegel article from July 2012 about Christians forced to flee their homes in Syria refers to the terror faced by some Christian communities, airbrushed over by Father Paolo, but of great concern to Mother Agnes.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/christians-flee-from-radical-rebels-in-syria-a-846180.html
The Irish reporter Mary Fitzgerald responds to the views of Mother Agnes Mariam, the Palestinian Lebanese nun who has been based in Syria for the past 18 years.
IRISH TIMES.COM
Nun on Irish visit accused of peddling ‘regime lies’ about crisis in Syria
MARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent 18 August 2012
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0818/1224322385595.html
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Oksana Boyko, Russia Today reporter based in Syria
The title of this report doesn’t point to the main subject which is NO ONE IS SAFE IN SYRIA AS CIVIL SERVANTS ARE TARGETED BY THE ‘REBELS’ . The report includes an interview with the brother of a Syria Air pilot, ambushed and assassinated on his way home from the airport.
SYRIA CIVIL WAR: Turks and Saudi caught in OPERATION ALEPPO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZUWK0wLM7M&feature=player_embedded
Oksana interviews a member of the internal unarmed opposition.
‘Syria rebels just hostages in hands of allies’
Published on Aug 13, 2012 by RussiaToday
A former Syrian politician persecuted and forced underground for more than ten years tells RT what he thinks is going wrong with his country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWiFSUY8gY
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31 AUGUST 2012 UPDATES
Note: Most of the images are of Syrian people taken from Syrian satellite TV, August 2012. Many of the people are ‘ordinary’ Syrians stopped in the streets of Damascus to be interviewed by reporters about different subjects, often unrelated to the crisis in Syria. However, most of the links to articles and videos below relate to the war and present other images.
Images of Syrians who are not ‘rebels’ determined to destroy the country can be found on other blogs linked to Australians for Syria: SocratesandSyria.com and also here. To ponder what peace and war might mean for Syrians or, for that matter, any other people facing terror and war, please go here.
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Syrian envoy to UN censures Saudi Arabia, Qatar
31 August 2012
Bashar Ja’afari said in an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria on Thursday that Riyadh and Doha should answer to the world for the turmoil in Syria.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/259091.html
Bashar Ja’afari (Syria) on Syria – Security Council Media Stakeout (30 August, 2012)
NOTE:
Qatar builds up anti-Syria Wahhabi army
28 December 2012
Qatar has built up a strong army of hundreds of Wahhabi forces to help overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a new report has revealed…. The Qatari and Saudi rulers approved the program for the Qatari chief of staff Major General Hamas Ali al-Attiya to join the anti-Assad army for rapid deployment on the Turkish-Syrian border
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/218149.html
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Russia Today
No-fly zone over Syria ‘not ruled out’ by France, UK
31 August 2012
“UN is being used to promote war instead of peace.”
Britain and France say they’re not ruling out any options in Syria, including a military-enforced no-fly zone. The deadlocked UN Security Council has again held a meeting on the crisis, with Turkey also pushing for the creation of a buffer zone. Professor Paul Sheldon Foote of California State University, who specializes in Middle Eastern affairs believes the US and its allies are using the humanitarian situation in Syria to pursue their agenda in the region.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=fCUwZrxHTUM
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Russian Today
‘Morsi slams Assad at NAM summit at US bidding’
31 August 2012
Interview with UK journalist and blogger, Neil Clark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXLOBy_Y1bs&feature=relmfu
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‘I saw rebels beheading men for religion’ – Syrian cleric
Published on Aug 30, 2012 by RussiaToday
RT talks to Mother Agnes Mariam, founder of monastery in Qara in Syria and witnessed what the people went through when the first sparks of trouble ignited the war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iogH78kXccU&feature=relmfu
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NAM Summit Closes with 680 Point Statement but Results Pertaining to Syria Doubtful
By Christof Lehmann 31 August 2012
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Bashar al-Ja’afari in UN General Assembly: “Turkish govt. allows terrorists to set up training camps on their soil”
August 30 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMW1Zo1iC_k&feature=youtube_gdata
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President Bashar Al-Assad’s interview with Addounia Tv Channel, Damascus 29/08/2012- 2nd,3rd part
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxZpTmQ7-X0
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The Real News: Pt.3 Who Supports Assad in Syria?
Published on Aug 6, 2012 by TheRealNews
Sami Ramadani: The Syrian Civil War and Big Power Rivalry: Assad has a social base of support, but if opposition had not militarized, he would have been pushed out by now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTlWDkrWtI&feature=related
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Humanitarian aid to Syria must be neutral – Russia’s UN ambassador
August 31 2012
http://rt.com/news/un-syria-humanitarian-situation-996/
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INTERVIEW
The remapping of the Middle East
By Claudio Gallo 31 August 2012
La Stampa interview with Dr Jeremy Salt, an Australian academic working at a university in Turkey.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NH31Ak01.html
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BBC’s HARDTALK interviewer demands answers to difficult questions from a supporter of war against Syria.
BBC’s HARD Talk interview with US paid lobbyist Brian Sayers for Syrian Support Group, which helps fund FSA
NATO employee Brian Sayers to act as a full-time Washington DC lobbyist, on behalf of intervening in Syria and arming the rebels. In April, one of the organization’s leaders, Maher Nana of Florida, registered the organization as a non-profit corporation based in Washington DC. On May 24th, the SSG’s lawyer, Mazen Asbahi, applied for a license to fund the Free Syrian Army. [1] Media attention was given to the group starting in June of 2012. By June 25th, the then-little-known organization had received donations from 59 people. On the 23rd of the following July, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control granted the organization it’s license to fund the Free Syrian Army; a fact which became public knowledge on Friday, July 27th[2] . The story was in turn reported by many other news organizations. On Wednesday, August 1st, a Treasury Department official confirmed that they had given Syrian Support Group this license. The license requires that the organization make monthly reports of their expenditures to the U.S. Department of State
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_cC2kUd4x4&feature=player_embedded
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Amnesty International has supported the US Administration narrative on Syria since the beginning of the crisis there. Ref: http://socratesandsyria.com/uncle-of-syrian-australian-killed-by-terrorists-in-april-2011-amnesty-international-silence/
WASHINGTON POST
Amnesty International Web site hacked by supporters of Syrian government
28 August 2012
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The Corbett Report
From the Houla Hoax to Chemical Weapons – Deceptions in Syria
30 August 2012
http://www.corbettreport.com/from-the-houla-hoax-to-chemical-weapons-in-syria/
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German blogger who has visited Syria several times recently explains that the German media is very one-sided and does not represent the reality on the ground. He explains Germany is under pressure from the US to follow its line on Syria.
RT – M. Klostermayr – German hypocrisy towards Syria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOi_aqqw9V8&feature=player_embedded
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Tunisian Al Qaeda Jihadists in Syria
25 August 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWQKXrZbhbU&feature=player_embedded
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THE INDEPENDENT
Robert Fisk: How a failed Syrian prisoner swap turned into a massacre in devastated Daraya …
Wednesday 29 August 2012
….Another man said that, although he had not seen the dead in the graveyard, he believed that most were related to the government army and included several off-duty conscripts. “One of the dead was a postman – they included him because he was a government worker,” the man said. If these stories are true, then the armed men – wearing hoods, according to another woman who described how they broke into her home and how she kissed them in a fearful attempt to prevent them shooting her own family – were armed insurgents rather than Syrian troops.
The home of Amer Sheikh Rajab, a forklift truck driver, had been taken over, he said, by gunmen as a base for “Free Army” forces, the phrase the civilians used for the rebels. They had smashed the family crockery and burned carpets and beds – the family showed this destruction to us – but had also torn out the internal computer chip parts of laptops and television sets in the house. To use as working parts for bombs, perhaps?..
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SANA REPORT ON THE KILLING OF PEOPLE IN ZAMALKA TO INCITE WORLD OPINION AGAINST SYRIA 29 August 2012
http://sana.sy/eng/337/2012/08/29/438556.htm
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Press TV
Western media distorts truth in Syria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epqycRFR2L8&feature=player_embedded
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Note: The Czech Ambassador was quoted on Syrian TV, 29 August 2012, “What is going on in Syria is not a civil war, but a fight between the government and armed men. Many of the European ambassadors had left Syria with pain in their hearts.”
Czech diplomats continue working in Syria despite hostilities
ČTK | 29 AUGUST 2012
http://praguemonitor.com/2012/08/29/czech-diplomats-continue-working-syria-despite-hostilities
AXIS OF LOGIC
Analysis of the differences which apparently existed between former French ambassador to Syria and Sarkozi’s foreign minister, Alain Juppe:
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_64405.shtml
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Press TV
Ban Ki-moon in Iran for NAM summit
28 August 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVqyfEwWzxw&feature=youtube_gdata
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Blog “Wrong Kind of Green”
SPEAKING TRUTH: A PROFOUND MESSAGE TO AVAAZ FROM POET GABRIEL IMPAGLIONE OF ARGENTINA
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Syria – A car bomb killed 12 citizens in Jaramana during a funeral procession 28-08-2012
From Addounia TV 28 August 2012 (parents weep for their children). Warning: Graphic 18+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXF5J5DHxQM&feature=player_embedded
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THE INDEPENDENT
Robert Fisk interviews Walid Muallim, the Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister
Tuesday 29 August 2012
Evidence of Media Complicity With Terrorists Slitting Throats in Syria Uploaded 27 August 2012
Syrian TV station Addounia examines the claims of Al-Jazeera in regard to the slaying of men on the outskirts of Damascus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CecJuIQ0T4o&feature=player_embedded
For an examination of Al-Jazeera’s reporting of events in Syria and its links with those involved in the killings of soldiers and civilians, go to interview with Ali Hashem, former reporter as well as that with the mother of Sari Saoud, a young boy killed in Homs last year. What also relates to this story is one reported by Dr Fiona Hill about her Syrian ‘nephew’, a young army conscript, being abducted by ‘rebels’ and told he had four choices: join them and be prepared to kill, destroy utilities etc, get his family to pay a ransom, or be killed.
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Alakhbar English
Syrian archbishop flees to Lebanon
Published Monday, August 27, 2012
The Melkite Greek Catholic archbishop of Aleppo has fled to Lebanon and his offices in the war-ravaged city have been looted, Vatican media said on Monday, amid fears over the fate of Christian minorities.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-archbishop-flees-lebanon
An interview with the Archbishop on France 24 in January 2012
Reuters reports the story of the Archbishop’s fleeing, but qualifies it and muddies the water by claiming the following:
Christians make up around 10 percent of the population and many have remained loyal to President Bashar al-Assad – a member of the minority Alawite faith, an off-shoot of Shi’ite Islam – fearing that the majority Sunni Muslims would trample on religious rights if they took power.
However some senior members of the opposition are also Christians.
Many questions are raised by these claims, not least the following:
1. If it were just the Christians and Alawis who remained loyal to the president, how could he stay in power? Note: The Minister of Defense is from the Sunni majority and the majority of Syrian soldiers would be Sunni.
2. Why would Christians fear the Sunni majority when they have been living alongside them peacefully for many centuries? Is it the extremists they fear, Wahhabis and Salafis in particular who are incited to violence by extremist clerics against anyone who doesn’t support their cause?
3. What are the differences in religious and political views between the Wahhabis, the Salafis, and the majority of Sunnis in Syria?
4. There are senior members in the unarmed opposition who are Christians, some of them stood against the Baath Party in the recent elections and at least one is an MP. Are they the Christians the reporter is referring to?
5. If not, is he referring to Christians fighting alongside jihadists, mercenaries, Al-Qaeda, Salafis, ‘rebels’ who believe in the violent overthrow of their government? Can the reporter name them?
6. If he is referring to Christians in the Syrian diaspora who support the armed opposition, can he tell their story? Why do they support Islamist fighters that have forced over 80,000 Christians to flee Homs?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/us-syria-crisis-christians-idUSBRE87Q10L20120827
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Charlie Skelton’s article published in The Guardian in July should be referenced whenever claims by anonymous ‘opposition activists’ about massacres resurface.
The Syrian opposition: who’s doing the talking?
The media have been too passive when it comes to Syrian opposition sources, without scrutinising their backgrounds and their political connections. Time for a closer look …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/12/syrian-opposition-doing-the-talking
Something to ponder: John Howard and Stephen Harper read from the same script to justify war against Iraq, 2003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8YwJC_nBgw&feature=player_embedded#!
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BLOG: FRIENDS OF SYRIA
Darayya Massacre: Innocent people killed by FUKUS backed FSA
Includes report by Addounia TV in Syria
Warning: Graphic images of victims in Darayya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiYKAoMcTHI&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=/watch%3Fv%3DwPzKIkNepyo%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded
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Russia Today report on the Darayya massacre
‘Hundreds of bodies’ found in Damascus suburb after govt assault – opposition watchdog
26 August 2012 Interview with U.S. radio show host Dr Kevin Barrett.
http://rt.com/news/daraya-massacre-reports-syria-590/
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Los Angeles Times report of the Darayya Massacre
Dozens more bodies found at Syria massacre site
By Patrick J. McDonnell 27 August
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Interview on Skype with a young engineer who lives in Damascus, 17 August 2012, speaks from a suburb on the outskirts of Damascus.
People maintain “hope” for peace. They place their hope in the army. There is reference in the interview to young men being kidnapped from street by ‘rebels’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMLnzboSrt0&feature=player_embedded
An interview with a Syrian Australian activist who refers to the killing of people who have been kidnapped in order to create a massacre:
http://socratesandsyria.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/hanadi.mp3
FRIENDS OF SYRIA
Innocent people massacred on a daily basis…
25 August 2012
Includes graphic footage of kidnapped men later killed by ‘rebels’.
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FRIENDS OF SYRIA
Questions raised by the shooting down of a Syrian helicopter, 27 August 2012
http://friendsofsyria.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/helicopter-shot-down-by-a-us-missile/
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Analyst: Alastair Crooke, former British diplomat and intelligence officer, and Middle East expert.
Video interview with Alastair Crooke from May 2012, following the Houla massacre:
Style of Killings in Houla very unlike Syrian Islam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLN3NvaMp5I
NB: Transcript of an Al-Jazeera interview with Alastair Crooke in August 2005 in regard to the radicalization of young Muslims.
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Tunisian Al Qaeda Jihadists in Syria
August 2012
Video from Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen channel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Mayadeen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWQKXrZbhbU&feature=player_embedded
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THE INDEPENDENT
Robert Fisk: ‘Rebel army? They’re a gang of foreigners’
23 August 2012
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MEDIAWERKGROEP SYRIE
LiveWire Amnesty calls on UN to stop the US, Qatar and Turkey funding and arming Syria rebels
28 August
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Aleppo Residents Celebrating Cleansing Their Neighborhoods From Turkey’s FSA Terrorists
August 23 2012
Video from Syrian TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-ydyIQU6vo&feature=player_embedded
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FRANCE and SYRIA
This discussion on France 24 about the French response to Syria draws a connection between French politics and a tough stand on Syria:
France 24
‘Copé’s concerns about Syria’ 10 August 2012
President Hollande has responded with very tough talk, reminiscent of the France before Syria gained independence in 1946.
Reuters
France warns Syria over chemical weapons use
27 August
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/us-syria-crisis-france-idUSBRE87Q0UH20120827
France Urges Syrian Opposition to Form New Government
By STEVEN ERLANGER Published: August 27, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/world/middleeast/rebels-claim-to-shoot-down-syrian-helicopter.html
World War 2 and Independence
….France was adamant in its demand that its cultural, economic, and strategic interests be protected by treaty before agreeing to withdraw the Troupes Speciales du Levant. In May 1945, demonstrations occurred in Damascus and Aleppo and, for the third time in 20 years, the French bombed and machine-gunned the ancient capital….
.
http://countrystudies.us/syria/10.htm
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Talk of FALSE FLAG operations against Syria
Analyst on Syria writes about the ‘false flag’ needed to start wars
Syrian False Flag Planned? By Stephen Lendman August 23, 2012 “Information Clearing House”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32273.htm#.UDaZQb_1XH0.email
US conservative commentator
Tilling the Ground for the Seeds of Terrorism By Rep. Dennis Kucinich
22 August 2012
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32261.htm#.UDXFSavxSHk.email
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The Los Angeles Times
U.S. has plans in place to secure Syria chemical arms
22 August
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-syria-20120823,0,6157005.story
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The Telegraph
NHS doctor ‘led extremist cell in Syria’ 27 August 2012
An NHS doctor led a group of Islamic extremists who took a British photographer hostage as he covered the conflict in Syria, the former captive has claimed.
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GLOBAL RESEARCH – THE NAM SUMMIT, IRAN AND SYRIA; A COUP AGAINST THE WEST?
by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya 26 August 2012
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32501
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RT interview with analyst, James Corbett, editor of the Corbett Report http://www.corbettreport.com (James Corbett refers to the ‘rebel’ bombing in Damascus which seemed directed at UN observers. )
‘Don’t expect West to condemn Syria terror attacks’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pISbxp8F2xM&feature=player_embedded
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TURKEY AND SYRIA
Press TV News Analysis looks at Turkey’s role in the crisis in Syria
‘Turkey’s anti-Syria alliance with US, lethal embrace’
24 August 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/24/257876/turkeyus-alliance-lethal-embrace/
An analysis by a Turkish commentator
The National Interest
Turkey’s Syria Conundrum
Sinan Ulgan, August 24 2012
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/turkeys-syria-conundrum-7385
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Syrian media sources include the following:
SANA
Libyan Terrorist Relates Details of How Terrorists are Trained in Libya with Funding from Arab Gulf Countries and Sent to Syria
Aug 26, 2012
http://sana.sy/eng/21/2012/08/26/438111.htm
Syrian satellite TV
Chilling Crimes By Terrorist Jaber Mustapha Shihabi in Aleppo
22 August 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUrhlmZzQY&feature=player_embedded
SYRIAN RADIO AND TV
Friends of Syria report: US Continues to Wage War on Syria’s Media
… misleading sides have created a spoof email address named (sana@sana.sy)….
http://friendsofsyria.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/us-continues-to-wage-war-on-syrias-media/
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NEW YORK TIMES
Concerns About Al Qaeda in Syria Underscore Questions About Rebels
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK 21 August 2012
What is Al Qaeda doing in Syria?
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On THE MEDIA
Sultan Al Qassemi generally supports the mainstream narrative on the Syrian government but says the bias of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya is clear and sinister.
Audio Interview:
In Foreign Policy, political commentator Sultan Al Qassemi made the case that Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are, for political reasons, misrepresenting the reality on the ground in Syria. Bob speaks with Qassemi, who outlines what he sees as the problems with the coverage of the region’s most important news sources.
GUESTS: Sultan Al-Qassemi
HOSTED BY: Bob Garfield
http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/aug/24/arabic_language_tv_and_covering_syria/
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Matt Carr is a British blogger and writer to follow:
Damages
http://www.infernalmachine.co.uk/?p=1996
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Neil Clark, British blogger and journalist. 12 August 2012 interview on his blog page.
RT interview: Rebel atrocities turn Syrians away from the opposition
http://neilclark66.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/rt-interviewrebel-atrocities-turn.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQHr_ngLZgg
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SKY NEWS reporter Tim Marshall is currently based in Damascus
On twitter:
http://twitter.com/@Skytwitius
Assad’s Forces ‘Kill Over 200 In Syrian Town’
The Syrian army is accused by activists of killing hundreds of people in Daraya, including many during house-to-house raids.
http://news.sky.com/story/977153/assads-forces-kill-over-200-in-syrian-town
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2012-08-22
ASIA/SYRIA – Over 12 thousand Christian faithful “starving” in the village of Rableh: humanitarian law is invoked
…For more than ten days the village of Rableh is subject to a strict blockade by armed opposition groups, which surround it on all sides. One of the leaders of a local parish, B.K., who requested anonymity for security reasons, told Fides that a few days ago three young men of the village were killed by snipers…
http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=32078&lan=eng
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21 Century Imperialism:
Britain and US plan a Syrian revolution from an innocuous office block in Istanbul
An underground network of Syrian opposition activists is receiving training and supplies of vital equipment from a combined American and British effort to forge an effective alternative to the Damascus regime.
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An interview by Tim Marshall from Sky News with a Christian leader in Damascus
Patriarch Laham Exposes Terrorists Tactics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsScmtVDSv8&feature=player_embedded
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The UN and Syria
A UN representative responds to questions about Christians in Syria (word ‘terror’ not used; there appear to be gaps in her knowledge about what is happening on the ground)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF8B0CXbyR8
UN report on Houla
Houla massacre: UN blames Syria and militia, 15 August 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2012/aug/15/un-inquiry-syrian-arab-republic
UN News Centre: Syrian Government and opposition forces responsible for war crimes – UN panel
15 August 2012
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42687&Cr=syria&Cr1=
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Press TV in NY
USA-West and Gulf dictators are arming the terrorists gangs with no mercy for the Syrian people 23 August 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8YDTpBqbMY&feature=player_embedded
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Indigenous Christians in Syria, Iraq and Egypt targeted by Islamists. Original peoples
Yvonne Haddad 29 July 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7EyBmQHzYw
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A Channel 4 documentary which sympathizes with the ‘FSA’ fighters in Homs, March 2012 (no reference to the 80,000 or so Christians forced to flee Homs by Islamist fighters).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=2CRArDjblGU
Orthodox Church says 90 per cent of Christians have been expelled from Homs
By JOHN PONTIFEX on Monday, 26 March 2012
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DAILY STAR 26 AUGUST 2012
NEARLY 200 elite SAS and SBS troops are in or around Syria hunting for Assad’s weapons of mass destruction, we can reveal… Men of the special forces units plus 1 Para are on the ground working alongside MI6 and the CIA plus American and French troops…
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/268989/SAS-hunt-bio-arms/
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BBC News HD – Syrian rebels try to use prisoner for suicide bombing 2012
SyrianGirlpartisan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbxz6THXsf4
The New York Times
Life With Syria’s Rebels – The Lions of Tawhid
August 22 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgsI21x3ab0
NYT’s Article
Life With Syria’s Rebels in a Cold and Cunning War
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American journalist missing in Syria
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/american-journalist-missing-in-syria/
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Robert Fisk has spent some time in Syria embedded with the Syrian army in Aleppo. He has therefore added another perspective to his usual reports on Syria.
Robert Fisk:
‘No power can bring down the Syrian regime’
After gaining exclusive access to Bashar al-Assad’s army officers, our writer reports from the Aleppo front line
The bloody truth about Syria’s uncivil war
….Bashar al-Assad’s government faces a resourceful, well-armed and ruthless enemy whose Islamist supporters are receiving help from the West – just as the Islamist mujahedin fighters were funded and armed by the West when they fought the Russians in Afghanistan during the 1980s. With up to 50,000 men under arms and perhaps 4,000 battle tanks, the Syrian army, per se, cannot lose. But can they win?
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Chechen Fighters Join Syrian Extremist Rebels
22 August 2012
http://counterpsyops.com/2012/08/22/chechen-fighters-join-syrian-extremist-rebels/
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Wahhabism and Wahhabi Islam: How Wahhabi Islam Differs from Sunni, Shia Islam
Critics of Islam & Islamic Extremism Must Understand Wahhabi Extremist Beliefs
By Austin Clin
http://atheism.about.com/od/islamicsects/a/wahhabi.htm
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The Telegraph
Security services ‘failing’ to stop British jihadis heading to Syria
Fears are growing that a new generation of British jihadis may be cutting their teeth in Syria, reports Andrew Gilligan 25 August 2012
ABC report on the death of a Sydney Sheik in Syria, evidence of locals going to Syria for a jihad against the secular government.
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Preparing The Public For The Attack On Hezbollah
By Dan Lieberman August 23, 2012 “Information Clearing House”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32269.htm
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Sydney sheik killed in Syria rocket attack
Updated Wed Aug 22,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-21/sydney-sheik-killed-in-syria-rocket-attack/4213460
Meeting in a Sydney bookshop of supporters of Sheik Majzoud
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TWDgTYI7eA
Reference to the death of Sheik Majzoud on an Indonesian web page with the flag of Al-Qaeda in its mast-head
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LAND DESTROYER REPORT
TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2012
Amnesty International is US State Department Propaganda
Amnesty run by US State Department representatives, funded by convicted financial criminals, and threatens real human rights advocacy worldwide.
by Tony Cartalucci
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/amnesty-international-is-us-state.html
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From the U.S., a view which challenges the mainstream narrative on Syria:
What if the Empire Project Fails in Syria?
By Michael Collins
http://www.themoneyparty.org/main/2012/08/what-if-the-empire-project-fails-in-syria/#more-4817
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Syria is Only a Pretext
Re-engineering of the global balance of power. By Thierry Meyssan 14 AUGUST 2012
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32174.htm#.UCs69jzk7Zc.emailF
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Paul Craig-Roberts
Is Washington Deaf As Well as Criminal?
16 December 2012
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/08/16/is-washington-deaf-as-well-criminal/
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World Socialist Web Site
US proxy war in Syria spreads to Lebanon and Iraq
By Eric London 18 August 2012
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/leba-a18.shtml
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COUNTER PUNCH 17-19 AUGUST 2012
Regime Change is About Establishing Sunni Dominance Not Democratic Freedoms
Syrian Australians Demand an End to Foreign Intervention
by CHRIS RAY
Sydney.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/17/syrian-australians-demand-an-end-to-foreign-intervention/
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ANTI-WAR.COM
Libya Fighters Head to Syria’s Front-Line
Fighters Hope to ‘Export the Revolution’ to Damascus
by Jason Ditz, August 14, 2012
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/14/libya-fighters-head-to-syrias-front-line/
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NEWS.COM.AU
Syrian minister hints that Bashar al-Assad could step down
22 August 2012
….Mr Jamil rejected the idea of making Assad’s resignation the condition for any future negotiations – a demand made not only by the armed opposition but also Washington and several big European states.
But he said the president’s departure could be a topic of discussion….
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GLOBAL RESEARCH
WHO IS REALLY WAGING WAR ON SYRIA?
by Boris Volkhonsky 21 AUGUST 2012
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32430
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LAND DESTROYER REPORT
MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2012
US Desperation Surfaces in Syria
Obama’s bizarre threats indicative of losing strategy and increasing desperation.
by Tony Cartalucci
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/us-desperation-surfaces-in-syria.html
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Editor: Does it matter whether the president of Syria is an Alawi Muslim? To whom? Why?
This opinion piece makes no reference to the president of Syria, but it does raise a similar question.
Opinion Phillip Jensen.com
Does It Matter Whether Catherine Is Protestant?
http://phillipjensen.com/articles/does-it-matter-whether-catherine-is-protestant/#
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CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
Hillary Clinton floats a Syria no-fly zone. How real an option for US?
13 August 2012
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Interview on RT with British ME analyst
Historical amnesia taking place among Western leaders; they’d rather support anyone; Assad has become a bogey man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHUi9wPeaw8&feature=player_embedded
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Rebel Dark Side: Syrian ‘charities’ mute on atrocity claims
Published on Aug 13, 2012 by RussiaToday
The embattled Syrian opposition has made a fresh plea for foreign action, as activists claim people’s support for the insurgency is dwindling amid new allegations of rebel atrocities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX46rux2Hyo&feature=player_embedded#!
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What if the Empire Project Fails in Syria? By Michael Collins
August 14, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — — Al Jazeera’s weekend coverage of the critical battle for Aleppo, Syria reveals a major obstacle for the United States-NATO Empire Project. Hardly anyone in Aleppo is signing up to fight with rebels….
….McNaught followed up: “Why now, when the Free Syrian Army was so quickly consolidating its hold, were its ranks not being swelled by volunteers from the city?”One of the rebels (gesturing in image) responded: “They are afraid of the situation now. It’s new to them. It’s not like the countryside all around here which has had time to get used to the fighting.” Trauma requires practice.
Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar. Qatar partnered with NATO in Libya by providing troops on the ground and cash to the Libya rebels. The built in bias gives credibility to the claim of tepid local support. Like the people of Damascus who also kept their distance from rebels, Syrians in Aleppo are not consumed by anti-regime passion. That may have something to do with public polling showing that “most Syrians are in favour of Bashar al-Assad remaining as president.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32179.htm#.UCtCZiZ5k4A.email
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Syria and Middle East: The Fallacy of Missing the Forest for the Trees
Keeping the tragic transformation of ‘Arab Spring’ in historical perspective
by Jiwan Kshetry
August 15, 2012
…..Perkins gives the stark summary of those developments that the Saudi Royals literally bartered the national interests, the regional interests and the interests of the oil-producing countries for one thing: the U.S. support for the autocratic regime in the pretext of transforming the Arabian deserts into plush western-style cities. In chapters that follow, Perkins insinuates into the Saudi behavior in the aftermath of the win-win arrangement with the U.S. when it tried to compensate for the loss of moral and religious values in the kingdom brought about by the western commercialism by exporting the Wahabbi ideological fundamentalism to other countries…..
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SYRIA/ “Blessed are the peacemakers”
August Sun 12, 2012
A letter by Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch, on the Church’s attitude to the widespread talk of arming Christians, and on the role of the Church and of her bodies in supporting mediation and reconciliation in the country.
Damascus, 3 August, 2012
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2012
Massacres in Aleppo, Syria
“Responsibility to Protect” crumbles as Western-armed terror front slaughters civilians while foreign sponsors attempt to tie hands of Syrian security forces.
by Tony Cartalucci
August 4, 2012 – For the people of Aleppo, their only hope is Syria’s security forces restoring order. In the pockets of Syria’s largest city the so-called “Free Syrian Army” (FSA) has dug into, a campaign of systematic detention, torture, and mass murder has been carried out against “enemies of the revolution.” Demonized as either “Shabiha” or “government supporters,” men have been rounded up, lined up against walls, and gunned down en mass. Others await barbaric “drumhead trials” where FSA warlords deal out arbitrary justice under the guise of “Sharia law.”
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/massacres-in-aleppo-syria.html
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After Aleppo: A Return to the Status Quo
By: Nicolas Nassif
Published Monday, August 13, 2012
The battle for Aleppo is not completely over, but it is almost there as far as the Assad regime is concerned. Ending the presence of the military opposition there may require a few more days. Reclaiming the strategic part of the city, the Salaheddine neighborhood, made up for the morale blow that the regime and President Bashar al-Assad received from the defection of prime minister Riad Hijab…..
….this majority-Sunni army managed to fight the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist militants, who are also Sunni, without disintegrating or collapsing…
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/after-aleppo-return-status-quo
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The NATION
Obama’s Regime-Change Policy in Syria
Robert Dreyfuss 13 August
http://www.thenation.com/blog/169367/obamas-regime-change-policy-syria
Regime Change in Syria: Part II
Robert Dreyfusson August 14, 2012 – 11:53 AM ET
…..Back in 2009, Obama was right not to intervene in Iran or to egg on the Iranian Greens. Why did that change in Syria in 2011-2012? Politics, maybe? Does the United States have the right to decide to force out of office anyone it doesn’t like? Or only the ones that the Israel Lobby wants to get rid of, in an election year?
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/robert-dreyfuss
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Asia Times online
Covering Syria: The information war
By Aisling Byrne July 12 2012
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NG12Ak01.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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Editor: It appears the US,UK and France now want to blame the Gulf states for the presence of extremists fighting in Syria despite the warnings about the terror from the beginning of the crisis and despite the calls from extremist clerics in those Gulf nations since March 2011. The west imagines it (like a benevolent god) can engineer a ‘clean’ war against a people who want neither an armed revolution nor a war?
The Guardian
Syria crisis: west loses faith in SNC to unite opposition groups
US, UK and France seek to build more direct links with disparate rebels amid fears that Islamists are getting Gulf donations
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
The Guardian, Tuesday 14 August 2012
The US, Britain and France are scrambling to retain their influence with Syrian opposition groups amid fears that most support from the Gulf states has been diverted towards extremist Islamic groups.
Rising concern that an increasingly sectarian civil war could spread across the region, combined with reports of brutality by some opposition groups, and evidence that the best-organised and best-funded rebel groups are disproportionately Salafist (militant Sunni fundamentalists), has triggered an urgent policy change in western capitals.
Washington, London and Paris now agree that efforts to encourage a unified opposition around the exile-led Syrian National Council (SNC) have failed, and are now seeking to cultivate more direct links with internal Syrian groups.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/syria-opposition-groups-national-council
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Foreign Policy Journal
The U.S. and Its Comrade in Arms, Al Qaeda
And other tales of an empire gone mad
by William Blum
11 August 2012
…So, if you want to understand this thing called United States foreign policy … forget about the War on Terrorism, forget about September 11, forget about democracy, forget about freedom, forget about human rights, forget about religion, forget about the people of Libya and Syria … keep your eyes on the prize … Whatever advances American global domination. Whatever suits their goals at the moment. There is no moral factor built into the DNA of US foreign policy.
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/08/11/the-u-s-and-its-comrade-in-arms-al-qaeda/
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US is helping Israel and others to talk up a “horrible event” which might precipitate action from West and Turkey which the ‘international community’ can find acceptable in the circumstances.
Preparing For A ‘Horrible Event’; The U.S. And Turkey Plan For Syria’s Collapse August 11 2012
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The Guardian newspaper has generally come out on the side of NATO, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in regard to Syria. In a recent article, a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood was given a chance to put an argument for regime change in Syria. It is very unlikely the leader of secular Syria will be given a chance to respond. Comments in response to the article suggest Guardian readers have a more sophisticated understanding of the ME than the editors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/06/syria-middleeast
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This report refers to efforts by the US and UK to destabilize Syria in 1957.
Anglo-American Secret Plan to Assassinate the Syrian President. Déjà Vu? By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky August 13, 2012 “Information Clearing House” –
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32164.htm#.UCnuoYA8crQ.email
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Macmillan backed Syria assassination plot
Documents show White House and No 10 conspired over oil-fuelled invasion plan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/sep/27/uk.syria1
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PRESS TV
Israeli-US script: Divide Syria, divide the rest
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
What is happening in Syria is a sign of things to come for the region. Regime change is not the sole goal of the US and its allies in Syria. Dividing the Syrian Arab Republic is the end goal of Washington in Syria.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/14/256166/us-harbors-divisive-plots-on-global-scale/
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American Stingers’ First Casualty is Diplomacy: Syria’s Parallels with Afghanistan
By Deepak Tripathi August 13, 2012 “Information Clearing House” —
The revelation about President Barack Obama’s decision to provide secret American aid to Syria’s rebel forces is a game changer. The presidential order, known as an “intelligence finding” in the world of espionage, authorizes the CIA to support armed groups fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s government. But it threatens far more than the regime in Damascus.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32168.htm#.UCntEBnkYWo.email
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RT
US and Turkey to consider no-fly zones for Syria
11 August 2012
…..According to Middle Eastern history and politics Professor Jeremy Salt, the opposition has little hope of winning the conflict without the help of its Western allies.
“As of now, Damascus has mostly been cleared of rebels. Aleppo on its way to being cleared. We can see that the army has a strategy here. It cleared out the Salah al-Din district within two days, and now it’s working its way through other suburbs. So unless the rebels get more support in terms of heavy weaponry, they are very much fighting on the back foot. So that’s why Hillary Clinton is in Istanbul. To ask the basic question, ‘What’s next?’” Salt told RT.
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Foreign-backed armed groups targeting Syrian history
Published on Aug 11, 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews
Castle of Aleppo, is a large medieval fortified palace in the centre of the old city of Aleppo. It is considered to be one of the oldest and largest castles in the world. Usage of the Citadel hill dates back at least to the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xStmV_ai_jY
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Qatar offered Syrian ambassador $5.8mn for defection – report
11 August 2012
Qatar’s ambassador in Mauritania allegedly offered his Syrian counterpart an advance payment of US$1 million and a monthly salary of $20,000 over 20 years, trying to convince the diplomat to defect and voice support for the opposition…
http://www.rt.com/news/syria-ambassador-qatar-defection-421/
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Secret Protocols of Putin’s Talks in Israel
Israel’s Plan for Syria: Somalisation
By Israel Shamir
http://www.israelshamir.net/English/PutNet.htm
Israel supports regime change in Syria: Israeli spy chief
8 August 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/255109.html
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GLOBAL RESEARCH
TERRORISM AS AN INSTRUMENT OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY: UN-BACKED ROGUE STATES PLAN SYRIA’S SLAUGHTER
By Felicity Arbuthnot
11 August 2012
Veteran Russian politician Yevgeny Primakov …
“Mercenaries and volunteers from other states are fighting (Assad) jointly with” violent internal forces. Most Syria opponents are nonviolent. They want peaceful conflict resolution. Washington has other ideas.
“President Obama has given a direct order to the CIA to support the Syrian opposition.”
“That is flagrant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, which does not endanger the United States or anyone else.”
“Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding militants. Turkey is giving them active support.” So are other regional countries (iv.)….
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=32301
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Press TV
‘West plan to destroy Syria, decades-old
11 August 2012
Interview with Dr Randy Short (http://www.linkedin.com/in/drrandyshort )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ28ho-CxeM&feature=player_embedded
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Editor: Much of the propaganda war against Syria has been based on video ‘evidence’ which is very difficult to verify. Therefore, in order to understand the crisis in Syria it is important to go beyond that. Lives have been lost, no doubt, to create such footage in the PR war against Syria.
However, in order to understand what Syrians mean when they talk about ‘terror’ in Syria, some footage perhaps needs to be presented. This is a very disturbing video and is definitely not recommended for anyone under 18 or for the faint-hearted. (To understand the terror to some extent at least without viewing such shocking videos, it would help to see the interview with Sari Saoud’s mother. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUF72f0w2s )
Very disturbing video: FSA kills Syrian citizen
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151150681002667
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PRESS TV
Iranian pilgrims are abducted soon after they arrive in Damascus
UNSC met on Syria kidnapping 9 August 2012
It was Monday that Press TV first asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office for a condemnation of the kidnapping. On Tuesday — it was made official — as Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Akbar Salehi formally requested Ban’s help in resolving the crisis.
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Los Angles Times
Professed Syrian rebel says Iranian hostages are militiamen
As Iran works with allies of the Syrian opposition to secure the release of nearly 50 Iranians, the rebel commander appears in an ominous video.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
August 6, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-iranians-20120806,0,1990364.story
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Editor: Reports on Syria in Los Angles Times appear to be more measured than the mainstream reporting seen in Australian news outlets since the beginning of the crisis.
Syria: Some in opposition fear rebels miscalculated in Aleppo
13 August 2012
The Syria activists fear that the Aleppo offensive may lead to a humanitarian crisis and undermine the revolution by turning the city against them.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-aleppo-20120814,0,4861280.story
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US REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN RON PAUL – STRAIGHT TALK
Ron Paul: Interventionist Policies Make Us Less Secure
“… by promoting civil war in Syria, we end up supporting Al-Qaeda….This raises the question as to whether the US is supporting the same people we are fighting in Afghanistan…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxNnYrVgUpg
Another American with similar views to Ron Paul of the US foreign policy is Laurence M. Vance. He presents what he views is a Christian perspective and describes the U.S. foreign policy as ‘evil’.
War, Foreign Policy, and the Church
by Laurence M. Vance by
“The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy.” (Former US Attorney General, Ramsey Clark.)Laurence M. Vance
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance114.html
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PRESS TV
WG Tarpley “US downplaying Iran´s crucial role resolving Syrian Crisis”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ioCq1qlixg
Press TV
Uprising against Saudi monarchy to ruin NATO’s Syria plans: Tarpley
8 August 2012
“You’ve got again this whole archipelago of revolutions that could break out in the [Persian] Gulf. This would I think shift many elements of power, not even in the region but in the world,” American author and historian Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley said in a Press TV interview on Tuesday.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/255142.html
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Editor: This is an analysis which challenges and raises disturbing questions.
Perfecting The Method of “Color Revolutions” Western leaders slip back into childhood
By Thierry Meyssan 7 August 2012
………A strange anomaly can be detected with regard to Syria. The CIA did not locate groups of young Syrians willing to chant this slogan in the streets of Damascus and Aleppo. So it is Barack Obama, François Hollande, David Cameron and Angela Merkel themselves who repeat the slogan in chorus from their respective foreign offices. Washington and its allies are trying out the methods of Gene Sharp on the “international community”. It is a risky bet to imagine that foreign ministries can be as easy to manipulate as youth groups! At the moment, the result is simply ridiculous: the leaders of the colonial powers have been stomping their feet like angry, frustrated children over a desired object that the Russian and Chinese adults won’t let them have while ceaselessly wailing “Bashar must go!“.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32110.htm#.UCH7IIbUtDM.email
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Jandar Resort Massacre in Homs
16 workers in a resort area killed by ‘rebels’; members of one Christian family killed
7 August 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRI7Qs61IZs&feature=player_embedded
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FOR QATAR, IS IT ALL ABOUT GETTING ITS GAS CHEAPLY TO EUROPE
Analysis of the crisis in Syria on the blog of Italian journalist and writer Silvia Cattori
Dismembering the Arab World
3 AUGUST 2012
by Dr Makram Khoury-Machool is a Palestinian scholar, based in Cambridge, UK
…..Through its orchestrated media campaigns transmitted over the decades to its own public,Israel has constructed a concept of Syria as the major threat to its existence in the Arab world. Arguably, the governmental vacuum that might be created in Syria could be filled by al-Qaeda-like groups giving sufficient justification for Israel’s actions (against Syria and/or Iran) and would also promote the idea of a conflict between ‘civilized-democratic’ Israel and ‘savage’ Islamists…..
….In terms of gas reserves, Russia is number one, with Iran and Qatar in fourth place and Saudi Arabia in sixth. With neighbouring Saudi Arabia as one of the ten leading producers of gas in the world, it is clear why the export interests of Qatar and Saudi Arabia are particularly important and this ranking should give us a clear idea of the alliances that have formed in light of the Syrian conflict.
….Qatar’s aim is to export its gas to Europe, compete with the Russians and gain important political bargaining chips. In order for the export of Qatari gas to Europe to be feasible and competitive, a gas pipe must be laid through Syria. As Russia’s long-standing ally and with the precedents of numerous joint deals dating back to the USSR era, Syria is unlikely to allow anything to threaten the destabilization of Russia’s interests in their last strategic stronghold in the Arab world. This is the main reason why Qatar and Saudi Arabia are supporting the opposition’s struggle to topple the Syrian government……
http://www.silviacattori.net/article3487.html
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Al-Qaeda’s Specter in Syria
Author: Ed Husain, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies August 6, 2012
http://www.cfr.org/syria/al-qaedas-specter-syria/p28782
Note: Ed Husain was an Islamist in his student days in Britain. He is the author of “Why I joined radical Islam in Britain, what I saw inside and why I left: the ISLAMIST” Penguin Books.
Ed Husain and his wife spent some time working at the British Council in Damascus. He writes this in his book: “My time in Damascus changed my perception of the Christian faith forever. Arab Christians of all denominations freely and with no qualms used the word Allah for God. At first this was extremely difficult for me to digest. Allah, I thought, was the preserve of the Muslims. Granted, I knew it was a translation of God, but did not realize that “Allah” was an intimate part of lives of millions of Arab Christians. Everywhere in Damascus, Muslims and Christians used phrases that I thought only Muslims used: inshallah (God willing), mashallah (as God willed it), alhamdulillah (praise be to God). There was no sense of religious zealotry or grandstanding in the name of God…..” page 224.
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Editor: The article below about Sunni Islam and Wahhabism indicates the complexity of Islam (of any faith). This editor includes the article for consideration only – I know too little about Islam to confirm the statements of the author or deny them.
Sunnis are oppressed in Saudi Arabia, not in Syria
http://alazerius.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/sunnis-are-oppressed-in-saudi-arabia-not-in-syria/
For a deeper understanding of Islam, William Dalrymple could be consulted. Dalrymple revisited (?) Syria recently to write this article (published in The Australian 9 August 2012)
Editor: While searching for information about Islam, I came across the following views:
From Ibrahim’s point of view, “the Salafists believe God is separate from creation, but we believe we can see God’s face everywhere”. He adds, “The split within Islam is worse than that between the West and Islam”.
This is more or less exactly the phrase the writer William Dalrymple used in the excellent Channel 4 TV film Sufi Soul (worth seeing, and available from World Music Network) directed by Songlines editor Simon Broughton which has some atmospheric footage of Fes music and the medina). When I met the Pakistani Ambassador, she firmly disagreed. “The West exacerbated the split between the Sunnis and the Shias, in Iraq they got on perfectly well until the war.” I decided not to mention the Iran-Iraq war. But what about the Islamists who destroy Sufi shrines? “They are not Muslims” she said, with some finality.
http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/theartsdesk-fes-bjork-among-gnawas
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This article relates to Iran and sanctions, but could apply to Syria.
ANTI-WAR.COM
Sanctions Will Kill Tens of Thousands of Iranians
by Muhammad Sahimi, August 09, 2012
http://original.antiwar.com/sahimi/2012/08/08/sanctions-will-kill-tens-of-thousands-of-iranians/
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Monday, 13 August 2012
How defence spending ‘contributes to American prosperity’
by Bernard Keane
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Editor: Australia’s foreign minister, Bob Carr, refuses to meet people from community groups which support a peaceful political solution to the war in Syria, yet he meets Tony Blair….
THOUGHTLINES WITH BOB CARR
Talks with Tony Blair on Middle East peace
AUGUST 8, 2012
http://bobcarrblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/talks-with-tony-blair-on-middle-east-peace/
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Terror in Syria: family killed, child hanged.
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COUNTER PUNCH AUGUST 06, 2012
Persecution Complex
Syria’s “Liberated” Future
by SHAMUS COOKE
A fascinating shift has happened in the U.S. mainstream media: After a year of anti-Syria war propaganda and lies, glimmers of truth are making their way into the public’s view. This may be too little too late: the country is being torn at the seams into the nightmare of ethnic-religious cleansing and massacres.
After non-stop war mongering, The New York Times took a second to wipe the blood off its hands to report the true state of things in Syria. Apparently, the previous, ongoing reports about the Syrian army indiscriminately massacring citizens in the city of Homs was simply a lie, repeated over and over…..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/06/syrias-liberated-future/
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NEW YORK TIMES
Writer Defends His Handling of Interview With Assad
By RICK GLADSTONE
Published: August 5, 2012
Even when his country was not convulsed by war, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria rarely gave televised interviews to foreigners. His session with Barbara Walters in December was a public relations disaster. So it seemed surprising a few weeks ago when Mr. Assad granted another Westerner a face-to-face chat on camera……..
Mr. Todenhöfer’s preoccupation with Syria reflects what he called his hatred of war and a long fascination with the Middle East and Islamic cultures that began when he traveled to Algeria at age 18. During the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, Mr. Todenhöfer said, he visited Afghanistan three times, entering on foot from Pakistan via the Hindu Kush frontier area….
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YOUTUBE
Syria; Protest in Support of Bashar Al Assad – Sydney 5/08/2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG_d05A0jkY&feature=player_embedded
SYDNEY RALLY – 5 August 6, 2012
7 NEWS
SYDNEY, Aug 5, 2012 (AFP) – – Hundreds of people rallied in Australia on Sunday in support of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, urging no intervention by foreign powers in the conflict.
Organised by a group calling itself “Hands off Syria”, the demonstration began with a short rally of several hundred people at Sydney’s town hall but numbers swelled as the group, many of them families, marched through the city.
“I am here to show my support for the president and the people of Syria,” one young woman draped in the Syrian flag told AFP.
“We have to expose the lies that have been (made) through the media.”
Protesters waving Syrian flags and carrying banners which read “Thank you Russia and China 4 vetoes” and “Let the whole world hear: Syria is our nation, Bashar is our leader”, the group marched to government offices in central Sydney.
Hanadi Assoud, one of the organisers of the event, said the protesters were against the United States or NATO intervening in Syria, where the conflict has reportedly claimed more than 21,000 lives since the uprising against Assad’s regime erupted in March 2011.
She also accused the media of misrepresenting the conflict, saying that opposition forces had been responsible for any killings that had taken place.
“Why would the government kill its own people?” she said.
She said those marching wanted to have their voices heard in Australia after comments by Foreign Minister Bob Carr, who has condemned the Assad regime.
“We know that Bob Carr has got an agenda. He was saying that the Assad regime must go. How can he be so biased?” Assoud told AFP.
Syria closed its embassy in Australia in late July, two months after Canberra expelled the Syrian charge d’affaires along with one other diplomat over the killings of more than 100 people in Houla.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/14466010/hundreds-rally-in-australia-for-syrian-regime/
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SBS Radio Interview with Marlene, an organizer of the rally to support Syria on 5 August 2012
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/radio/episode/226888/Sydney-rally-supports-Syrian-government
Interview on ABC Triple J: Sophie McNeill interviewsa representative of the Syria Australia Association which supports the armed opposition to the Syrian government and Tim Anderson from Sydney University and a member of “Hands Off Syria” which organized the Sydney rally on 5 August.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=6aa6b4fd16&view=audio&msgs=139010a2f2ae58fc&attid=0.1&zw
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SYRIA 360
MASS RALLY HELD IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA IN SOLIDARITY WITH SYRIA
Posted on August 5, 2012 by Alexandra Valiente
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Grandfather Attacked by Terrorist Supporters in Sydney
Posted on August 5, 2012
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PRESS TV
West attempts to destabilize the Syrian government: Analyst
Syrian security forces have clashed with foreign-sponsored insurgents in several areas of the northwestern city of Aleppo.
Meanwhile, the Syrian state TV said the army has arrested a group of Turkish and Saudi officers in Aleppo.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Turkish Cumhuriyet daily in an interview in early July that Turkey “has supplied all logistic support to the terrorists who have killed our people.”
Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil in Syria that began in March 2011.
On August 5, US senators John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham said Washington should “directly and openly” provide assistance, including weapons, intelligence and training, to the insurgents in Syria.
On June 21, the New York Times reported that a group of CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey and that the agents are helping the anti-Syria governments decide which gangs inside the Arab country will receive arms to fight the Syrian government.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Professor Michael Chossudovsky, Director of the Center for Research on Globalization, to further discuss the issue.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/06/254815/west-attempts-to-destabilize-syria/
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Cham Press: Explosive device blast inside Radio and TV Center causing minor injuries 6th August
DAMASCUS- An explosive device on Monday exploded inside the building of the General Organization of the Radio and Television in Damascus.
SANA reporter was informed that the explosion took place on the third floor of the building and caused a number of injuries.
Information Minister: All Workers Are Safe
Minister of Information, Omran al-Zoubi, stressed to the Syrian TV by phone that the explosion at the building was the result of an explosive device blast that caused minor injuries and material damage only, assuring that all the workers are safe.
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/5480
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SYRIAN SATELLITE TV NEWS 6th August 2012 (in English)
http://friendsofsyria.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/real-syrian-news-for-today/
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The Telegraph
Muslim Brotherhood establishes militia inside Syria
The Muslim Brotherhood has established its own militia inside Syria as the country’s rebels fracture between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have told The Daily Telegraph.
By Ruth Sherlock, Richard Spencer in Beirut
6:48PM BST 03 Aug 2012
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ANTI-WAR.COM
Syria Rebels Face Growing List of Crimes
Despite extra-judicial executions and torture, support from the US and its allies continues
by John Glaser, August 04, 2012
The rebel militias fighting to topple the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad face a growing list of accusations of executions, murder, and war crimes, but aid and support from the US and its allies continues to flow.
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/08/04/syria-rebels-face-growing-list-of-crimes/
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Editor: This article points to the involvement of Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in Syria. However, the writer does not condemn the support of countries to violently overthrow a government which has the support of the majority of its people; he assumes ‘Assad will fall’ and suggests Washington should be supporting ‘the right rebels’. Does that mean he believes international law must be ignored? That it is acceptable in the 21 century for the whole world to be deemed as the Wild West to be tamed by the US?
Increasing Evidence of Jihadists in Syria
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/312679/increasing-evidence-jihadists-syria-patrick-brennan
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Editor: Two articles from The Los Angeles Times report the abduction of Iranian pilgrims on the outskirts of Damascus. There seems to be a serious attempt at balance in the articles. It is interesting to compare the reporting of the kidnapping with that of the ABC (Australia).
Iranian pilgrims kidnapped on trip to Syria
Dozens are seized by gunmen in the Damascus area, prompting Iran’s foreign minister to ask Turkey to intervene. Meanwhile, fighting continues in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
August 5, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-kidnap-20120805,0,7290703.story
Professed Syrian rebel says Iranian hostages are militiamen
As Iran works with allies of the Syrian opposition to secure the release of nearly 50 Iranians, the rebel commander appears in an ominous video.
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
August 6, 2012
BEIRUT — Iran said Sunday that it was seeking the aid of Turkey and Qatar, nations with close ties to the Syrian opposition, in securing the release of dozens of Iranian citizens kidnapped the day before in Syria.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-iranians-20120806,0,1990364.story
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Australia’s ABC generally relies heavily on sources which support the fight against the Syrian government (and people).
ABC Radio:The World Today
Regime intensifies bombardment of Aleppo
Barney Porter reported this story on Monday, August 6, 2012 12:30:00
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3561326.htm
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However, this report from ABC’s Matt Brown who is in Aleppo embedded with the rebels is an attempt at a more nuanced view of the rebels
Syrian rebels accused of public executions
By Norman Hermant and Matt Brown
Updated August 02, 2012 09:19:59
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-02/syrian-rebels-accused-of-rights-violations-in-aleppo/4171274
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MATT CARR
Imperial Chaos: the Road to Domination
….Out of the broken shells of Syria, the US and its allies hope to create a new kind of order that they can manipulate to their advantage, as they attempted to do in Iraq, and more recently in Libya.
And behind the mask of humanitarianism and the sanctimonious concern for the welfare of ‘the Syrian people’, you can bet that there are foreign policy bureaucrats who, like the US envoy in Gaza ‘like this violence’ and are doing everything they can to ensure that it gets a lot worse before – if – it gets better.
http://www.infernalmachine.co.uk/?p=1961
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‘Russia sends military warning to US on Syria’
Published on Aug 4, 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews
Russia is sending three military ships with hundreds of marines aboard to a Moscow-leased naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus. According to the Russian military, the landing ships, each with up to 120 armed navy personnel on board, will visit the Syrian port in coming days and spend a few days there. Press TV has conducted an interview with Vyacheslav Maluzov, Middle East expert, to further discuss the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm6HbsBRTu8&feature=player_embedded
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Editor:
TOO CLEVER BY HALF
“A stupid person can make only certain, limited types of errors; the mistakes open to a clever fellow are far broader. But to the one who knows how smart he is compared to everyone else, the possibilities for true idiocy are boundless.”
— Vlad Taltos, Iorich
Robert Fisk continues his “too clever by half” approach to Syria. In the article linked below, he presents information which is not highlighted in Al-Jazeera or the western mainstream media, but which is very familiar to people in the ME, as well as to those who have done their own research on the internet. (But note, he exposes the tip of a tip of an iceberg only.) And he presents ‘left-wing’ views that many readers would warm to.
However, in the end, after taking the reader on a very circuitous route, adopting the same basic assumptions of the #MSM about the Syrian government, using the same rhetoric (eg ‘rebels’ vs ‘Assad’s brutal regime’) after avoiding reference to other facts which would challenge stands he takes on Syria (eg what is happening to Christians in Homs; who is being assassinated and killed; how the lives of Syrians are affected by the ‘terror’ of ‘rebels’; what the Salafi jihadists from Lebanon are doing in Syria; what Fisk’s Lebanese patron Walid Jumblatt – a fairly safe assumption – and Jumblatt’s political allies, Samir Geagea and Saad Hariri are doing to support the ‘rebels’ and why they support them; what extremist clerics continue to say to foment violence in Syria; who the majority of Syrians believe are responsible for massacres in Syria; etc …….) , Fisk does not inform; he manipulates.
Fisk does not present anything more controversial or challenging than the mainstream media line. He does not present views respectful of 22 Syrian people. He does not present views and information that would lead to people marching in the streets for peace. His articles are written for readers who want to be informed but who are also comfortable with the thought that the “Arabs are at it again” and that Fisk knows, so we know. Perhaps he is MI6’s man in the Levant, (as one reader suggested in a comment recently) or is he just Walid Jumblatt’s?
A critical eye, not Robert Fisk’s nor any one person’s but your own, is needed always.
Robert Fisk: SYRIAN WAR OF LIES AND HYPOCRISY
The West’s real target here is not Assad’s brutal regime but his ally, Iran, and its chemical weapons
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While Australian reporters and others enter Syria via Turkey illegally in order to join the ‘rebel’ fighters (= terrorists/Salafi jihadists/Al-Qaeda/mercenaries/terrorised youth forced to kill or be killed etc), the people of Aleppo are ignored. We rarely see their images unless they support the ‘rebels’. Over many months the people of Aleppo were very vocal in their support of the president and of peaceful reform the Syrian way, not the Saudi Qatari US Turkish Israeli way.
VIDEO: Pro-government rally in Aleppo 19-10-201
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3f9QB_z-_Q&feature=youtu.be
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VIDEO: Syrian Reporter is shot by ‘rebels’; later interviewed in hospital (in Arabic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DKmXbikJzQ&feature=share
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VIDEO: GRAPHIC – Executing Berri Tribal Elders In Aleppo, Syria
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ON TWITTER:
RUSSIAN REPORTER IN DAMASCUS
Oksana Boyko
https://twitter.com/OksanaBoyko_RT
Oksana Boyko @OksanaBoyko_RT
Al-Nusra Front that carried out killing of Syrian TV presenter calls for Sunni improvement in #Syria – all part of democratic uprising
Oksana Boyko @OksanaBoyko_RT
Syrian TV host Muhammed al-Saeed kidnapped by militants mid July found dead. His killers said he was “shabih” so no need for trial #Syria
Oksana Boyko @OksanaBoyko_RT
3 Syrian Airways pilots ambushed by rebels on airport highway in #Damascusystrd. 2 Sunnis let go, Alawi pilot killed #Syria
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Kidnapped Syrian TV host executed
SYRIAN television presenter Mohammed al-Saeed, kidnapped from his Damascus home in mid-July, has been executed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
“The television presenter, a well-known figure on state TV, has been executed, and the Al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for the killing,” the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
(NB: Rami Abdel Rahman who fronts the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is quoted as if he is a reliable source. He is quoted rather than a legitimate Syrian sources. And there are no images of the reporter: that would be humanizing him! )
http://www.news.com.au/national/kidnapped-syrian-tv-host-executed/story-fndo4eg9-1226442901484
Islamist rebels execute Syrian journalist
Published Saturday, August 4, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/islamist-rebels-execute-syrian-journalist
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REUTERS
Obama authorizes secret support for Syrian rebels
WASHINGTON | Wed Aug 1, 2012 9:04pm EDT
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama’s order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence “finding,” broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.
This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad’s armed opponents – a shift that intensified following last month’s failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.
The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that….
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/02/us-usa-syria-obama-order-idUSBRE8701OK20120802
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Obama Admits Funding Fake Revolutionaries to Attack Assad
By Susanne Posel
August 03, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Obama has signed a secret order authorizing US support of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The CIA and other agencies were empowered by Obama earlier this year to provide intelligence and training. As the FSA’s efforts have intensified in the last few months, the Obama administration is now admitting to arming them….
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32083.htm#.UBxZoG8C5PQ.email
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Obama Does Syriana
By Pepe Escobar
August 03, 2012 “Asia Times” –It took Reuters quite a while to be allowed to report that US President Barack Obama had approved an intelligence finding [1] letting the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) loose in its support for the weaponized “rebels” fighting for regime change in Syria.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32070.htm#.UBxaEdm9r0c.email
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HUFF POST POLITICS UNITED KINGDOM
The West Should Not Support Syrian Rebels
Posted: 31/07/2012 12:12
Security analyst, and former army and intelligence officer
Follow most mainstream media, and you’ll know even from its terminology the situation in Syria is pretty straightforward – on one side a brutal dictatorship killing its own people, on the other a popular rebel army fighting for justice and freedom.
Given this portrayal, and that Bashar al-Assad actually is a dictator, and that the armed insurrection grew from the violent suppression of initially peaceful protest, it’s unsurprising that well-meaning, intelligent people have sympathy for the rebels. But in doing so, many have assumed that those who oppose a dictator also therefore support democracy.
Evidence to justify this presumptive mainstream narrative is hard to find. Whilst the opposition includes democrats, many of the West’s preferred leaders are of limited relevance inside Syria, having for years lived comfortably abroad. Syria’s regional importance and sectarian complexity also render unreliable superficially attractive comparisons to potential democratic outcomes elsewhere.
To some extent, we can use our own senses to assess who those with power on the ground in Syria are. Watch rebel videos, broadcast daily by our media, and consider how often you’ve heard ‘Allahu Akbar’ shouting Sunni protesters or fighters make any mention of democracy, tolerance, human or women’s rights – or indeed women playing any role at all. The rebels’ agenda is to overthrow Assad.
Objective observations on the ground corroborate this assessment. Repeatedly, the UN and others have documentedrebel abductions, torture and sectarian murder. Unreported in the UK for example, AFP recently reported how Iraqi soldiers witnessed FSA rebels dismember and murder disarmed Syrian border guards…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/charles-shoebridge/post_3720_b_1722772.html
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RT QUESTION MORE
UN adopts tough resolution on Syria
Published: 03 August, 2012, 21:01
The UN General Assembly has voted in favor of a non-binding resolution on Syria pushed by several Arab states. Before the vote, Russia announced that it would not support the resolution, calling it unbalanced.
The bill was passed with 133 votes in favor, 12 against, and 31 abstentions.
The resolution, authored by Saudi Arabia and actively supported by Egypt and Bahrain, demands that President Bashar al-Assad transfer power to a transitional government and that the Syrian Army ceases tank and helicopter attacks against rebel forces.
It also demands that Syria refrain from using chemical and biological weapons. This clause comes after a recent announcement from Damascus alleging that Syria possessed chemical weapons, and would not hesitate to use them against an invading army.
The General Assembly denounced the Syrian crackdown on rebel forces while criticizing the Security Council’s inaction.
http://www.rt.com/news/syrian-resolution-un-assembly-711/
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CHAM PRESS 4 August 2012
Al-Jaafari: Draft resolution on Syria hysteric and misleading, violates international legitimacy principles
NEW YORK- Syria’s Permanent Representative in the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari, on Friday said that the draft resolution on Syria submitted by Saudi Arabia to the UN General Assembly is hysteric and misleading, violating all international legitimacy principles, primarily the principle of respecting national sovereignty and non-interference in countries’ internal affairs.
In a speech before the UN General Assembly, al-Jaafari stressed that the Qatari-Saudi-western draft resolution serves only the interests of Israel.
Al-Jaafari said that adopting the draft resolution sends a wrong message to extremists and terrorists in Syria and elsewhere, since the terrorist acts these people carry out as an alternative to dialogue and peaceful settlements are encouraged and supported by UN member countries, which will only exacerbate the situation, increase violence and strengthen terrorism in Syria and the entire region, which will eventually cause terrorism to reach the very areas that spawned it, including some of the countries that adopted the draft resolution……
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/5323
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AL-MANAR
Bashar Jaafari Receives Death Threats, Personal Attacks by Media 4 August 2012
As he stressed he was proud to defend his nation, UN envoy to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari said he had death threats and personal attacks by media in the Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The envoy told the UN General Assembly he was “proud to defend the interests of my nation against all conspiracies.” But in countering a resolution condemning his government, Jaafari hit out at the death threats and at personal attacks he said had been made by the media in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
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ALAKHBAR – ENGLISH ONLINE
Syria: Shameful Performance of Western Media
By As’ad AbuKhalil – Mon, 2012-07-30 19:11- Angry Corner
The performance of the Western media (American, British, French and others) regarding the Syrian conflict has been quite shameful. One does not expect much from American media. Ill-informed foreign editors and correspondents and political cowardice turn American media into tools of US foreign policy.
This is especially true when it comes to coverage of the Middle East, where extra political courage and uncharacteristic level of knowledge and expertise are rather rare, even though they are essential to challenging US foreign policy. But when it comes to Syria, British media – including the liberal Guardian which has often been brave in challenging Western foreign policies and wars – have been indistinguishable from American media.
These media have failed their readers on many levels. Their shortcomings can be summarized as follows:
1. Resorting to methods of documentations that are never accepted when covering the Arab-Israeli conflict; like the reliance on accounts of people through Skype and email whose names are not obtained through a random process, and the reliance on Saudi or Qatari press media offices.
2. Hiding behind the cliché that “the Syrian government does not allow journalists in” to justify the various anthologies of errors contained in media reports. Many journalists have either been allowed in or have managed to sneak in, so the general disclaimer used daily in the New York Times is inaccurate and misleads readers. Such a disclaimer is never used against Israel, which imposes rigid forms of censorship on reports emanating from Israel, especially when Israel is perpetrating its regular war crimes and massacres.
3. The reliance on exile Syrian opposition reports without any scrutiny or healthy skepticism….
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/syria-shameful-performance-western-media
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Reuters removed two or three stories from its pages.
REUTERS AND TRUE NEWS OR NOT?
Screen shots of the chemical weapons story that reuters took down.#Syria pic.twitter.com/qEHsOvd3
https://twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/231671613039472640/photo/1
4 August 2012
Western Media Jump To Rescue Reuters Credibility
New York Times ‘Blogs’ have taken on their shoulders the mission to try to rescue whatever is left of Reuters credibility compromised by the incident yesterday, when the western News Agency, which is the source of all NATO aligned media, have posted at least 2 reports on its blog site, one of them an interview with the head of the Turkish (NATO members state) sponsored terrorist group the FSA, Free Syrian Army, or to justify their terrorism call them ‘Freedom Fighters’, this so called leader cries in the interview of being a victim to a ploy by the Qataris and Saudis, the FSA’s main financiers and weapon suppliers, that they’re leading his troops to their slaughter by the Syrian Army, and his declaration of withdrawing from the city of Aleppo after sustaining heavy losses, 1,000 FSA terrorists killed, over 1,500 arrested by the Syrian authorities, and his intention to further withdraw from all other cities
…..And like this hit order where they place a picture of a target and all they need to do is label him ‘an informant’ or a ‘Shabeeh’, and all his crime would be a ‘Public Employee’ refusing to join their ‘peaceful revolution’:..
http://democratic-syria.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/western-media-jump-to-rescue-reuters.html
The link to one missing page:
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FOREIGN POLICY
Egypt made al Jazeera — and Syria’s destroying it.
BY SULTAN AL QASSEMI | AUGUST 2, 2012
While civil war rages on the Syrian battlefield between regime loyalists and myriad rebel factions, another battle is taking place in the media world. Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, the two Gulf-based channels that dominate the Arabic news business, have moved to counter Syrian regime propaganda, but have ended up distorting the news almost as badly as their opponents. In their bid to support the Syrian rebels’ cause, these media giants have lowered their journalistic standards, abandoned rudimentary fact-checks, and relied on anonymous callers and unverified videos in place of solid reporting.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/02/breaking_the_arab_news
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Flipping The Script: The Western Media’s Syria Propaganda Is Falling Apart
What is written in the press is lies. What is hidden in plain view is the truth. By Saman Mohammadi July 31, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Do you remember this guy, Jason Russell? He was the frontman for the short-lived and over-hyped “Kony 2012” propaganda campaign that exploited young people’s emotions to popularize a U.S. military invasion of Uganda. After his lies were exposed on the Internet he had a shocking meltdown in public. He ran around naked near traffic lights, smashed his fists on the pavement, and screamed bizarrely. The heavy spirit of Madness conquered his weak will.
The day before his freakish breakdown Russell was idolized in the mainstream press as a saint on a mission to save the children of Africa. His war propaganda documentary about the deceased CIA contractor Joseph Kony became hugely popular on Facebook and other social media outlets. But as soon as his mask came down and his craziness was captured by cameras, the media vultures forgot about his crusade and quickly moved on to the next hot story.
The new story that captured the corrupt Western media’s attention was Syria. The conflict was heating up, and the “international community” was being pressed to take action against the country. “Assad is killing his own people,” they said, without offering any evidence. “This is the next domino to fall in the Arab Spring, the rebels must be supported and Assad has to step down,” so went the propaganda. And yadda yadda. The media’s insane lies were repeated for months. Major media channels were engaged in non-stop propaganda warfare to destroy the independent Syrian state and reduce Syrians to slavery….
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32031.htm#.UBjKQq2x4cw.email
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Syria Picture Faked, Say Bloggers
By Austrian Times August 03, 2012 “Austrian Times” — Newspaper bosses in Austria have been accused of faking a dramatic photograph of a family fleeing Syria’s civil war-torn city Aleppo. ….
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32073.htm#.UBxWxn9QDRI.email
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Letters to the Guardian on Syria
Time to end sabre-rattling and covert support in the Middle East
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 August 2012 20.59 BST
Your editorial calling for urgent diplomatic action on Syria (28 July) overlooks the fact that the Syrian armed “opposition”, not the government, sabotaged attempts at meaningful negotiation under Kofi Annan‘s UN peace plan. Taking their cue from the US’s bellicose stance, shamefully parroted by our own foreign secretary, these fragmented forces made clear their intransigence to anything but the removal of President Assad from power. As they try to undermine the regime, propped up by arms from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and colossal Nato logistical support, we are subjected to inflammatory media hysteria over the Syrian government’s alleged brutality – notably unsubstantiated accusations of massacres. When the geopolitical agenda of the US and its allies in trying to overthrow the Assad regime by force is so transparent, can one blame Syria, a sovereign country, for doing all possible to defend itself?
Peter Godfrey Isle of Harris, Western Isles
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Syria’s Crumbling Pluralism
Civil Disintegration and Ethnic Cleansing.
By KAPIL KOMIREDDI August 03, 2012
“NY Times” — DAMASCUS — The day begins here with the call to prayer and ends with the roar of gunfire. Syria’s pluralistic society, which once rose above sectarian identity in a region often characterized by a homicidal assertion of religious belief, is now faced with civil disintegration and ethnic cleansing….
Syria’s 2.3 million Christians, constituting about 10 percent of the country’s population, have generally known a more privileged existence under the Assad dynasty than even the Shiite Alawi sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs. Yet their allegiance to Assad was never absolute. Some Christians openly clamored for political change in the early months of the anti-government uprising. But as the rebellion became suffused with Sunni militants sympathetic to or affiliated with Al Qaeda, Christians recoiled.
A churchgoing Syrian told me that he used to see himself primarily as “Syrian” and that religious identity, in political terms, was an idea that never occurred to him — until an opposition gang attacked his family earlier this year in Homs. “It’s a label they pinned on us,” he said. “If their revolution is for everyone, as they keep insisting it is, why are Christians being targeted? It is because what they are waging is not a struggle for freedom, and it’s certainly not for everyone.”
As Saudi Arabian arms and money bolster the opposition, the 80,000 Christians who’ve been “cleansed” from their homes in Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan in Homs Province in March by the Free Syrian Army have gradually given up the prospect of ever returning home.
The rebels’ conduct has prompted at least some Sunnis who had supported the rebels and once-wavering Syrians to pledge renewed loyalty to Assad. Many who once regarded the regime as a kleptocracy now view it as the best guarantor of Syria’s endangered pluralism…
Washington is aware of the scale of the problem. As early as June 2011, Robert Stephen Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, briefed his counterparts in Damascus about Al Qaeda’s penetration of the opposition forces. By still ploughing ahead with its support for Saudi Arabia’s effort to destabilize Syria, Washington, far from assisting Israel or weakening Iran, is helping to fuel a humanitarian crisis that will come back to haunt the United States.
Kapil Komireddi, an Indian journalist, has written from South Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32080.htm#.UBxYRsvO-oc.email
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SAUDI ARABIA, CONSERVATISM, WOMEN, AND THE OLYMPICS
Mixed reaction after Saudi Arabia’s 1st female in Olympics displays her fight to the kingdom
By Associated Press, Saturday, August 4, 5:43 AM
CAIRO — There was no way Alaa al-Mizyen, a 22-year-old Saudi investment consultant, was missing this Olympic match. While her family slept in late Friday morning, she alone was awake nd glued to the TV…
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THE US, CONSERVATISM AND A LYNCH MOB MENTALITY
‘Assad better get the hell out’ – Panetta
Published: 31 July, 2012, 12:29
US Defense Sec. Leon Panetta has advice for Syria’s President Assad: “If you want to be able to protect yourself and your family, you’d better get the hell out now.” Panetta also warned that the US would not repeat the mistakes it made in Iraq.
“The United States and the international community has made very clear that this is intolerable, and have brought their diplomatic and economic pressure on Syria to stop this kind of violence, to have Assad step down and to transition to a democratic form of government,” he said in an interview with CNN during a visit to Tunisia.
The international community has yet to reach consensus on the ongoing strife in Syria. Russia and China oppose removing Assad, saying his government is supported by a majority of Syrians.
http://www.rt.com/news/panetta-syrian-military-intact-458/
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AL-ARABIYA (SAUDI MEDIA OUTLET)
Christian Syrian famlies seek asylum in Lebanon
Friday, 03 August 2012
As cities of Damascus and Aleppo entered into the confrontation where the Christians demographic weight is at its most, the number of Syrian Christian families displaced to Lebanon is increasing significantly. Refugees have been distributed along the extended length of the coastline between Antelias and Byblos area where residents are predominantly Christian. George fled with his family from Homs to Lebanon four days ago after the Syrian army destroyed their home as a result of a violent artillery bombardment, causing the death of his wife and his mother-in-law. “We were displaced because the government forces have fired artillery at our home, as a result my wife and my mother were killed. I managed to save the rest of my family and we succeeded to flee Homs for Damascus in a six-day journey until we reached Lebanon,” George said. ….
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/03/230209.html
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
The West and the Glorification of Terrorism
By Thierry Meyssan
August 03, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — The U.N. Security Council met shortly after the July 18 attack that decapitated the command of the Syrian security forces. The two sessions that followed addressed the Resolution proposals submitted by the Western powers and Russia. It was incumbent upon the Council to condemn terrorist action on principle, as it does in all similar circumstances. The practice is to unanimously adopt a declaration and have it read by the sitting president of the Council, in this case the Columbian, Nestor Osorio. Protocol dictates that he present his condolences to the member state under attack.
However, the Council remained silent. The Western members refused to apply to the attack in Syria one of the most basic principles of international relations: the condemnation of terrorism. Even worse, in their respective declarations German, British, American and French leaders instead condemned the victims, making them responsible for the violence they had been the targets of and reaffirming support for the forces that perpetrated the attack. Immediately, the Western media set about defiling the memory of the victims as if their deaths were still insufficient to quench their thirst for Syrian blood.
No one doubts that terrorism in Syria is being sponsored by NATO and the GCC but until now it was being carried out behind a veil of hypocrisy. Unable to bombard and raze the country because of the Russian and Chinese double veto, the Western powers and their Arab partners decided to bleed the country while setting it up for an attack by mercenaries. Then on February 12 came the call to jihad issued by Ayman al-Zawahiri. Suddenly, NATO, the GCC and al-Qaeda found themselves pursuing the same objective. Notwithstanding, Brussels took the view that the Egyptian sheik’s declarations were his alone and were therefore unworthy of comment as if to underline that NATO doesn’t revise its positions in response to such fatwas. This rationale remained unconvincing because it ignored the issue of the common objectives shared by the self-proclaimed advocates of democracy, on the one hand, and Islamism, on the other. It did allow appearances to be preserved. The masks are now off. The Western powers have acknowledged their links with terrorists.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32069.htm#.UBxXfnEQIs0.email
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Inside Syria: Aleppo’s Christians Arm Against Islamists
(NB: Such reports have been disputed by Christian leaders in Syria)
As foreign and local radicals rise amid the chaos of Syria’s civil war, Christians are taking arms from the Assad regime. By Hugh Macleod, Annasofie Flamand and a reporter inside Syria August 01. 2012 “Global Post” — ALEPPO, Syria and BEIRUT, Lebanon — As evidence mounts that foreign Islamists are fighting alongside Syria’s increasingly radicalized rebels, Christians in Aleppo and elsewhere are taking up arms, often supplied by the regime…. INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32050.htm#.UBoat0REtZk.email
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Only a Ceasefire will End the Nightmare in Syria
Unending violence, sectarian concerns and the geopolitics over Iran threaten to destroy Syria’s territorial integrity and plunge the region into a bloody conflict
By Patrick Seale August 01, 2012 “Gulf News” — Once one of the most solid states in the Middle East and a key pivot of the regional power structure, Syria is now facing wholesale destruction. The consequences of the unfolding drama are likely to be disastrous for Syria’s territorial integrity, for the well-being of its population, for regional peace, and for the interests of external powers deeply involved in the crisis. ..
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32052.htm#.UBobpoXCeB0.email
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The Role of CIA-pampered Saudi Spymaster in Syria
By Ismail Salami August 01, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — An enigmatic personality who has periodically vanished from the scene of politics in different junctures in time, Prince Bandar bin Sultan was appointed as the Director General of Saudi Arabia’s main intelligence agency on July 19, an appointment which took place at a critical time, namely when the unrest in Syria was growing gravely worrisome thanks to the influx of the Saudi-funded rebels infiltrating the Syrian soil…..
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32051.htm#.UBoYg6CeDfc.email
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Editor: Al-JAZEERA REPORTS ON TERROR OF THE MILITIAS/MERCENARIES/FSA/JIHADISTS/TERRORISTS, but …why? Al-Jazeera has taken a very active role in the Syrian crisis since the beginning, supporting and fomenting anti-government sentiments and activities. The militias may have uploaded evidence of their terror to strike fear in the hearts of millions of people in Aleppo who support the government.
Video – Syrian MP Executed Publicly by “Free Syrian Army” Firing Squad: On Tuesday, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) executed a member of parliament from Aleppo named Zeino al-Barri. By Al Jazeera, New York Times
August 01, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Video posted by antigovernment activists showed more than a dozen men, some with bloodied faces and torn clothing, who are said to be members or associates of the clan. Held in what appeared to be the room of a school, they were made to give their names and accused of being pro-government militiamen known as shabiha. The man sitting in the center and said to be a leader of the group said his name was Ali Zein El Abidin Barri, also known by the nickname Zeino.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32055.htm#.UBoaPA9mx_A.email
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All images on this blog were taken by Susan D., unless otherwise stated. Most of the photos were taken on trips to Damascus in 2009 and 2010. They present pictures of people whom the photographer believes would not support the armed opposition to the secular Syrian government. There is good reason to assume that, along with the vast majority of people in Damascus, they would support peaceful political reform in Syria.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, images presented in the mainstream western media have been mostly of anti-government ‘activists’, or of ‘refugees’ in Turkey fleeing the government and army, or of members of anti-government militias. Editors choose not to present the everyday ‘face’ of Syria; they seem to want Syria to be defined by the ‘opposition’ not by the millions of vibrant warm-hearted secular Syrians you encounter in Syria. It would appear that the west wants to present Syrians as either ‘victims’ or as ‘rebels’. They are objectified; they are not like us. This means there is minimal empathy felt for them; there is limited questioning of what the ‘west’ and its Arab allies have planned for them.
Images in the mainstream: http://www.theage.com.au/world/syria-is-stronger-troops-fight-to-regain-ground-in-aleppo-20120730-237nu.html
UPDATED July 30, 2012
The JULY REFERENCE LIST includes links to articles or press conferences from other months, some may be on other posts on this blog, but the overwhelming number of references on this page will be from July.
Editorial:
Every individual has a story and a reason for doing what they do or don’t do. Their actions are not solely motivated by abstract high ideals or principles; their path in life also takes them to where they stand today. That life story is sometimes worth investigating especially if their actions can have serious repercussions on the lives of many innocent people.
We are all cogs in one wheel or other. We should choose our wheels with care and perhaps work harder to oil them and determine their path.
The references on this page are to offer some assistance in putting the puzzle of Syria together. There are so many other pieces to the puzzle to search for, and you may wish to discard some of the pieces presented here – for one reason or another. Some of the key pieces to the puzzle may be elsewhere on this blog. They all should be turned over and examined. For the world, the puzzle must be worked at.
Interviews with members of Australians for Syria can be found on this link:
http://socratesandsyria.com/australian-voices-on-syria/
Note: there are excerpts only from articles on this page. For the complete article, please follow link.
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“…..I find the whole treatment of the Syrian situation abominable. Especially disturbing is the implicit support for the rebels and the refusal to understand that the government, just like any other government, has a legitimate reason for opposing them. In the case of the situation in Aleppo and its possible ‘blood bath’ I would expect that the international community, instead of condemning the government for its actions, would argue that the rebels should lay down their arms and submit themselves to the protection of the Red Crescent or Red Cross (and the international community). Instead he international community seems, by its actions, to be to advocating the very thing that they condemn the government for instigating.”
Comment by a concerned Australian 29 July 2012
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Syria: Washington’s Latest War Crime
By Paul Craig Roberts
July 28, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — One wonders what Syrians are thinking as “rebels” vowing to “free Syria” take the country down the same road to destruction as “rebels” in Libya. Libya, under Gaddafi a well run country whose oil revenues were shared with the Libyan people instead of monopolized by a princely class as in Saudi Arabia, now has no government and is in disarray with contending factions vying for power.
Just as no one knew who the Libyan “rebels” were, with elements of al Qaeda reportedly among them, no one knows who the Syrian “rebels” are, or indeed if they are even rebels (Antiwar.com). Some “rebels” appear to be bandit groups who seize the opportunity to loot and to rape and set themselves up as the governments of villages and towns. Others appear to be al Qaeda. (Antiwar.com)
The fact that the “rebels” are armed is an indication of interference from outside. There have been reports that Washington has ordered its Saudi and Bahrain puppet governments to supply the “rebels” with military weaponry. Some suspect that the explosion that killed the Syrian Defense Minister and the head of the government’s crisis operations was not the work of a suicide bomber but the work of a US drone or missile reminiscent of Washington’s failed attempts to murder Saddam Hussein. Regardless, Washington regarded the terror attack as a success, declaring that it showed the rebels were gaining “real momentum” and called on the Syrian government to respond to the attack by resigning. (reuters.com)
The following is from a leaked intelligence document describing a previous Western terrorist intervention in Syria just in case any reader is so naive as to think that “our government would never do that.”
“In order to facilitate the action of liberative (sic) forces, …a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals. …[to] be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention, …
Once a political decision has been reached to proceed with internal disturbances in Syria, CIA is prepared, and SIS (MI6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main (sic) incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals. …Incidents should not be concentrated in Damascus …
Further: a “necessary degree of fear .. frontier incidents and (staged) border clashes”, would “provide a pretext for intervention… the CIA and SIS [MI6] should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.” (Joint US-UK leaked Intelligence Document, London and Washington, 1957) (globalreasearch.ca)
Obama has not said why his government is so desperate to overthrow the Syrian government. The current president was an eye doctor in London who was brought back to Syria to replace his father, who had passed away, as president of the country. Washington is reticent about its real motives, which it masks with high-sounding humanitarian rhetoric, but Washington’s motives are transparent.
One motive is to get rid of the Russian naval base in Syria, thus depriving Russia of its only Mediterranean base.
A second motive is to eliminate Syria as a source of arms and support to Hizbullah in order that Israel can succeed in its attempts to occupy southern Lebanon and acquire its water resources. Hizbullah’s fighters have twice defeated the Israeli military’s attempts to invade and to occupy southern Lebanon.
A third motive is to destroy the unity of Syria with sectarian conflict, as Washington destroyed Libya and Iraq, and leave Syria to waring factions to dismember the country, thus removing another obstacle to Washington’s hegemony…..
……..Far from bringing “freedom and democracy,” Washington brought endless mayhem and death. And this is precisely what Washington is in the process of bringing to Syria.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32003.htm#.UBR6Bx82p4o.email
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The Telegraph
Amnesty International’s latest arms trade campaign is colonialism with a kindly face
By Brendan O’Neill Politics Last updated: July 25th, 2012
If you needed any further proof that Amnesty International is to the 21st century what rum-swigging bearers of the White Man’s Burden were to the 19th, look no further than its current campaign for a global arms trade treaty. Amnesty is basically agitating for the West, which it considers civilised and responsible, to prevent the rest, or what Amnesty euphemistically refers to as the “wrong” people, from getting their hands on guns and bombs. It is a call for a colonial-style carve-up of the world, between those judged decent and grown-up enough not only to own guns but also to determine who else may own them (us), and those judged too infantile and brutal to be let anywhere near a gun lest they unleash “the worst kind of atrocities” (them).
Given that America has used its vast armoury to cause more destruction around the world than any other nation over the past 10 years, it is bizarre that Amnesty should be pleading with it to lead the way on restricting the flow of guns to the “wrong” countries. Amnesty wants Washington to give its blessing to a treaty that would restrict the global sale of weapons if there is a “substantial risk” that those weapons will be “used to commit serious human rights violations”. (I’m not being funny, but what else would the weapons be use for? To tickle people?) Amnesty says Washington should “demonstrate true leadership” on the issue of arms trading and “send a clear message to other world leaders” that it will not tolerate weapons falling into “the hands of human rights violators”.
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US position on Syria directly endorses terrorism – Lavrov
RT 25th July 2012
Washington’s reaction to blasts in Damascus is a downright justification of terrorism, slams Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. US State Department announced that terror acts in Syria are not surprising in light of the Assad regime’s actions.
“This is direct endorsement of terrorism. How are we supposed to understand that?” Sergey Lavrov shared his astonishment at a press conference in Moscow. “This is a sinister position, I cannot find words to express our attitude towards that.”
Lavrov also expressed his surprise that the UN Security Council refused to condemn acts of terror in Syria. The US permanent representative to the UN Susan Rice has stated that terror acts in Damascus contribute to speeding up the adoption of a resolution on Syria according to the Chapter 7 of the UN Statute, which implies harsh sanctions, including resorting to force.
“In other words this means ‘We are going to support such acts of terrorism until the UNSC does what we want’,”Lavrov commented on the US representative’s actions.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said recently that there should be closer work with opposition in Syria as it captures more and more territories to prepare new actions of resistance to the government in Damascus……
http://www.rt.com/news/us-position-syria-terror-lavrov-006/
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Syria News 28 July 2012. Armed Forces Clear al-Hajar al-Aswad Liberate Two Italian from Terrorists
This news report includes an interview with the two Italian engineers who were abducted and held for two weeks by an armed group.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfwtc8lgg4Q&sns=tw
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Syria: British Journalist John Cantlie Kidnapped With Jeroen Oerlemans Is Released By Free Syrian Army
Huffington Post UK | By Felicity Morse
29 July 2012
A Dutch and British photojournalist who were kidnapped in Syria by Islamist militants have been freed by members of the Free Syrian Army after a harrowing ordeal.
John Cantlie, a British photojournalist who has worked for The Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph, as well as the BBC, was held hostage alongside Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans. The two men are recovering in Turkey after suffering gunshot wounds during their ordeal.
Oerlemans has been the first to describe their experience.
Speaking to Dutch media on Friday, Oerlemans said their captors were not Syrians, but from Britain, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Estimating that between 30 to 100 held them captive, Oerlemans said some of the gang that held them had “Birmingham accents”, he told Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblat.
At least one had a “heavy south London accent” reported the Sunday Telegraph, quoting a source close to the incident.
Oerlemans described the men as “foreign jihadists,” who captured the men “almost immediately” after they crossed the border from Turkey at Bab al-Hawa, on 19 July.
“In no time we had a circle of men around us with Kalashnikovs,” Oerlemans told Business News Radio, according to Associated Press.
The journalists were accused of working for the CIA, before their captors decided to hold them for ransom. Oerlemans’ account supports reports that Islamist extremists are infiltrating the uprising in Syria.
“All day we were spoken to about the Koran and how they would bring Shariah law to Syria. I don’t think they were Al Qaeda; they seemed too amateurish for that,” Oerlemnas told The New York Times….
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US Authorizes Financial Support to Free Syrian Army
By Laura Rozen July 28, 2012 “Al-Monitor” — A US group that supports the Free Syrian Army has received a waiver from the US Treasury Department authorizing it to provide logistical and financial support to the armed Syrian resistance.
The waiver was received from the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) last week, Brian Sayers, of the Syrian Support Group, told Al- Monitor in an interview Friday.
“The OFAC decision is huge,” Sayers said. “It gets us the leeway to support the Free Syrian Army in broad terms.”
The Syrian Support Group hired Sayers, who previously spent six years working in NATO operations in Brussels and Kosovo, four months ago to be the Washington agent for the group.
With backers from the Syrian exile community in the United States and Canada, the Syrian Support Group’s goal “has always been to support the Free Syrian Army in different ways,” Sayers said.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32011.htm#.UBR3jH1glWA.email
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‘World being readied for aggression against Syria’
RT 25 July 2012
World opinion is being orchestrated towards a military operation against the Syrian regime, researcher and author F. William Engdahl told RT. Still, any decisive action against Assad will be postponed until after the US presidential election.
http://www.rt.com/news/syria-aggression-opinion-engdahl-989/
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CENSORSHIP OF NEWS OUT OF SYRIA
Champress, a Syrian news agency, provides updates on events in Syria. Champress and other Syrian media outlets can help people outside Syria and dependent on mainstream reports to make an intelligent, independent assessment of the crisis there, as it is experienced by Syrians.
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en
There are serious efforts afoot to close the outside world’s access to Syrian news media. This editor is having difficulty accessing the webpage of SANA, the Syrian Arab News Agency.
Syrian SANA News Agency website is under fierce attack 07-14-2012
The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) website on Saturday was attacked by foreign sides which try to prevent the Syrian national media from conveying the truth of events and unmasking the conspiracy hatched against Syria. After the failure of several attempts to hack the website and publish fabricated news on it, foreign sides targeted the website with a distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i0ATn0byF8
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Youtube
Syria – Dr. Bashar Al Jaafari speech 19 July 2012- Russia and China veto resolution on Syria at UN
Published on Jul 19, 2012 by MrGeourg
Dr. Bashar Al Jaafari speech 19 July 2012- Russia and China veto resolution on Syria at UN President Assad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hndl2IVgBu4
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Editor’s note: Spiegel Online generally presents the single narrative of virtually all western mainstream media outlets, “the Syrian president is a brutal dictator who is killing his own people and the west must do something to save them”. As well as repeating this narrative, this article does present the real fears and suffering of millions of people in Syria.
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL
07/25/2012
‘We’re Too Frightened to Talk’
Christians Flee from Radical Rebels in Syria
By Ulrike Putz in Qa, Lebanon
Thousands of Syrians are fleeing into neighboring Lebanon — not entirely due to fear of the Assad regime. The country’s minority Christian population is suffering under attacks waged by rebel troops. In the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, Christian families are finding temporary refuge, but they are still terrified…
…As a border town, Qa is a magnet for two types of refugees, says Mansour Saad. “On the one hand, you have the Christians who are fleeing from the rebels,” he says. “And then you have the refugee families of men who are fighting within the ranks of the FSA.” The two enemy groups sometimes clash in Lebanese exile. “There is a lot of tension between them,” says Saad. “We do our best to keep the two groups apart.”
Like many Lebanese and Syrian Christians, Saad is also a supporter of the Assad regime. As a religious minority in the Middle East, Christians don’t have much choice other than to align themselves with a strong leader who can protect them, Saad says. “The rebels haven’t managed to convince me they are fighting for more democracy,” the mayor says.
And while there may be a number of open questions about the Assad regime, like the fact that “there is certainly no freedom of expression in Syria,” he says the rebels aren’t one bit better. There may have been respectable aims at the start of the uprising, but the insurgency has since been hijacked by Islamists, the mayor argues. “And we know the types of Muslims who have emerged at the head of the rebellion: The ones who would like to lead the people back into the Stone Age.”
* The names in this story have been changed in order to protect the identity of the interview subjects.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/christians-flee-from-radical-rebels-in-syria-a-846180.html
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Editor: On the same page, there is reference to a Spiegel article on the Houla massacre. It is from a Spiegel reporter who claims to have interviewed witnesses to the massacre who accuse the government and its supporters of carrying it out.
Questions to be asked when considering who was responsible for the massacre in Houla:
1. Was the FSA in control of the towns in the Houla area? If so, how could any pro-regime militias have entered the area without a serious battle between two militias? If there was such a battle, was there evidence of it?
2. Who were the victims of the massacre? Were they supporters of the government or not? If one family was related to a Syrian MP does that suggest that they were killed because of this family connection with a member of parliament?
3. If the FSA or other militia groups were responsible for the massacre, were they the people who welcomed the UN observers and western reporters into the area after the massacre? If so, what was the story they told? Who were the ‘witnesses’ they presented to the world?
4. When listening to the stories of ‘witnesses’ with conflicting statements, which ‘witnesses’ sound most convincing?
5. How much would fear be a factor in determining the stories ‘witnesses’ tell… or the stories we don’t hear as ‘witnesses’ fear to tell them?
6. What would lead hundreds of men to kill women and children in such brutal ways? It is necessary to consider both possibilities: What are the beliefs of the ‘rebels’? What could motivate them to kill innocent people who support the secular government? What motivates groups who support the government? What ‘ideology’ could lead them to kill women and children?
7. Who has benefitted from the killings in Houla, the Syrian government or the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, NATO countries which want to take tough action against the Syrian government?
8. How many witnesses have to present the story of Houla before we can understand what really happened there?
9. What do the majority of Syrians believe is the truth behind the massacre in Syria? Would they support the government if they believed it was covering up the truth of Houla and that in fact pro-government militias committed this heinous crime? Would it be possible to keep such information from a population?
07/23/2012
A Syrian Bloodbath Revisited
Searching for the Truth Behind the Houla Massacre
By Christoph Reuter and Abd al-Kadher Adhun
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-look-back-at-the-houla-massacre-in-syria-a-845854.html
This article should be read in conjunction with other reports on the massacre, some of which can be found on the following link:
One alternative voice to the mainstream narrative since the beginning of the crisis in Syria has been Michel Chossudovsky, a professor at the Center for Research of Globalization, Montreal. He is interviewed with other analysts in this Real TV report.
Washington funded Houla-style massacres: Analyst
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/14/246228/washington-behind-houla-massacre/
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WASHINGTON POST
Turkey a hub for Syria revolution as illegal border crossing points abound
By Liz Sly, Published: July 26
….Turkey’s role in the revolt goes far deeper than helping refugees, though to what extent it is actively aiding a war that has spun beyond the reach of world diplomacy is unclear. Turkey seems to be groping for a strategy to address the unfolding chaos on its doorstep, said Hugh Pope of the International Crisis Group in Istanbul.
“Turkey wants to have a say in what happens in Syria,” he said. “But I’m not sure it’s got any easy answers to what is going on. This is all new and unexpected for Turkey.”
What is clear is that the Syrian conflict has already reached deep into Turkey. The quaint and ancient city of Antakya, the preferred destination for most Syrians crossing the border, pulses with the intrigue and gossip of the war next door.
Free Syrian Army fighters stride through its narrow streets, sunburned and sweaty from the battlefield, hoping to meet benefactors to provide them with money and arms.
Salafi Muslims, who have come to offer help from the countries of the Persian Gulf region, huddle over kebabs, their long beards and robes conspicuous in secularist Turkey.
Men who identify themselves as representatives of rebel battalions rent cheap hotel rooms and apartments, swelling the population of a city, once part of Syria, where many still speak Arabic as their native tongue…
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Turkey ‘would abandon’ EU for Shanghai Five
ANKARA – Hürriyet
Turkey may discard its European Union bid if it is accepted by the Shangai Five, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said jokingly, speaking of his recent visit to Moscow, daily Hürriyet reported yesterday.
“I said to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ‘You tease us, saying “What [is Turkey] doing in the EU?” Now I tease you: include us in the Shanghai Five, and we will forget about the EU,’” Erdoğan said.
The Shanghai Five group was created April 26, 1996, in Shanghai by the heads of state of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. Turkey’s EUaccession talks are stalled, as the rotating EU presidency is held by Greek Cyprus as of July 2012.
July/27/2012
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Al-Qaeda Infiltrating Syrian Opposition, With US Support
Russia slammed the US for ‘justifying terrorism’ in Syria
by John Glaser, July 25, 2012
Al-Qaeda militants and other Sunni extremists are becoming a greater and greater part of the conflict in Syria, just as the US officially announced it was abandoning any pretense of a diplomatic approach in favor of toppling the regime through proxy rebel groups.
“The evidence is mounting that Syria has become a magnet for Sunni extremists, including those operating under the banner of Al Qaeda,” reports the New York Times. “The presence of jihadists in Syria has accelerated in recent days in part because of a convergence with the sectarian tensions across the country’s long border in Iraq.”
According to one US intelligence estimate, as many as a quarter of the 300 rebel groups in Syria may be fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda, says Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Strangely, the fact that Washington, in cooperation with its allies, is now sending communication gear, military intelligence, and weapons to militias in Syria with considerable – and growing – ties to al-Qaeda has not made the Obama administration blink.
Russia on Wednesday criticized the US for not condemning the July 18 bombing in Damascus, which they called an act of terrorism. ”This is directly justifying terrorism. How can this be understood?” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“In other words, to say it in plain Russian, this means ‘we (the United States) will continue to support such terrorist acts for as long as the UN Security Council has not done what we want’,” Lavrov added. The CIA is supposedly employing a “vetting process” to avoid having the aid get into the hands of Islamic extremists, but the process is made up of untrustworthy, third-party sources and intelligence officials have recently told the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times that the truth is that the US doesn’t know who is getting the money and weapons.
Apparently, even arming and strengthening al-Qaeda isn’t enough to disrupt Washington’s plan to change the regime in Syria, in order to eliminate Iran’s main ally in the Middle East and to gain an even stronger foothold in the region.
But extremist infiltration of the Syrian opposition carries other problems. The Obama administration runs the risk of helping to bring these extremists to power if and when the Assad regime finally does collapse. Moreover, as happened in Afghanistan after the US proxy war there with the mujihadeens, the potential for deadly blowback is very real.
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/25/al-qaeda-infiltrating-syrian-opposition-with-us-support/
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Reuters
Exclusive: Secret Turkish nerve center leads aid to Syria rebels
27 July 2012
By Regan Doherty and Amena Bakr
(Reuters) – Turkey has set up a secret base with allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar to direct vital military and communications aid to Syria’s rebels from a city near the border, Gulf sources have told Reuters.
News of the clandestine Middle East-run “nerve centre” working to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad underlines the extent to which Western powers – who played a key role in unseating Muammar Gaddafi in Libya – have avoided military involvement so far in Syria.
“It’s the Turks who are militarily controlling it. Turkey is the main co-ordinator/facilitator. Think of a triangle, with Turkey at the top and Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the bottom,” said a Doha-based source.
“The Americans are very hands-off on this. U.S. intel(ligence) are working through middlemen. Middlemen are controlling access to weapons and routes.”
The centre in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 100 km (60 miles) from the Syrian border, was set up after Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud visited Turkey and requested it, a source in the Gulf said. The Turks liked the idea of having the base in Adana so that they could supervise its operations, he added.
A Saudi foreign ministry official was not immediately available to comment on the operation.
Adana is home to Incirlik, a large Turkish/U.S. air force base which Washington has used in the past for reconnaissance and military logistics operations. It was not clear from the sources whether the anti-Syrian “nerve centre” was located inside Incirlik base or in the city of Adana.
Qatar, the tiny gas-rich Gulf state which played a leading part in supplying weapons to Libyan rebels, has a key role in directing operations at the Adana base, the sources said. Qatari military intelligence and state security officials are involved.
“Three governments are supplying weapons: Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” said a Doha-based source…..
….Reuters has established that Obama’s aides have drafted a resolution which would authorize greater covert assistance to the rebels but still stop short of arming them….
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US Proxy Al Qaeda Death Squads in Syria
By Stephen Lendman
July 28, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Washington’s agenda involves death squad diplomacy. Evidence mounts proving it. It’s standard practice in all US direct and proxy wars. It’s how America treats its enemies.
Massacres and unspeakable atrocities are committed. Women are raped. Civilians are treated like combatants. They’re indiscriminately killed.
Others are targeted for opposing US aggression. Children are harmed like adults. Prisoners are tortured. No crime’s too gruesome to commit.
Lies, duplicity, and coverup follow. Media scoundrels bear direct responsibility. Their hands are bloodstained like US officials, forces and proxy killers.
Vietnam’s Operation Phoenix became a prototype for today’s wars. It included intimidation, kidnappings torture, and mass murder. At issue was eliminating opposition elements. Terrorizing people into submission was policy.
Southeast Asia tactics are replicated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Barbarism defines US policy.
On July 11, German writer Jurgen Todenhofer confirmed the presence of Al Qaeda insurgents in Syria. He met with them, he said. He holds them and others like them responsible for mass terror attacks…
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32004.htm#.UBR5RlvN9Oo.email
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Replacing government 101: Syrian rebels learn democracy in Germany
RT 28 July 2012
A group of top Syrian opposition figures took courses in governing a country in Berlin. The training, partially sponsored by the US State Department, is meant to come in handy after the Bashar al-Assad regime falls.
The group consisted of over 40 individuals, including Syrian defector generals and members of the Muslim Brotherhood. They learned economics, law, security practices and other areas of governance, which would be needed in the transition period.
“We created a framework that basically made it possible for Syrian participants to focus on the kinds of challenges that would emerge in the course of a transition in each of those issue areas,” Senior adviser at the US Institute of Peace, Steven Heydemann told ABC explaining the program….
http://www.rt.com/news/government-rebels-training-us-301/
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TIME Exclusive: Meet the Islamist Militants Fighting Alongside Syria’s Rebels
By Rania Abouzeid / Idlib Province | @raniaab | July 26, 2012
As foreign jihadists rally around the cause of Syria’s rebels, TIME meets two factions of Islamist fighters seeking to overthrow the Assad regime and set up a political state in their image
…… There has been much speculation about whether Islamic radicals have gained a foothold in the chaotic battlefield that is Syria today. They have, albeit a small one. While there are jihadists, both foreign and local, inside Syria, their presence should not be overstated. At this stage, they remain a minor player in the conflict. But as Karl Vick’s story in the Aug. 6 issue of TIME (subscription required) relates, should the conflict spiral out of hand, their role may grow exponentially……
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Press TV
US, Israel taking revenge for 22-, 33-day war defeats on Syria: Jalili, 29 July 2012
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili says Washington and Tel Aviv are targeting the Syrian nation in revenge for the 22- and 33-day war defeats.
“Today, they (US and Israel), with the help of terrorists and regional dictators, want to take revenge on the Syrian nation for the 22- and 33-day war failures,” Jalili said in a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Tehran on Monday.
The US and Israel have long-standing enmity toward the Syrians, Jalili added.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/29/253386/us-israel-avenging-defeats-on-syrians/
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Press TV 29 July 2012
Israel ex-minister of military affairs says Iran strike ‘catastrophic’
Israel’s former minister for military affairs Shaul Mofaz has warned of the “catastrophic” consequences of a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We need to ask ourselves… two questions,” he Mofaz said in an interveiw with Israel’s Channel 2 on Saturday.
“Will an early attack by Israel change Iran’s strategic situation regarding the nuclear program. My answer is no. And the second question is, will an early strike by Israel, in the current circumstances, in the existing situation in the Middle East…will an early attack lead to war?” Mofaz questioned.
“My answer is that the probability for this is very high,” he stated….
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/29/253273/iran-attack-catastrophic-shaul-mofaz/
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THE NEWYORKER
July 27, 2012
SYRIA: GUESTS OF THE WARLORD
Posted by Jon Lee Anderson
…. The source of Abu Ibrahim’s power is a curious matter. In our first encounter, several days ago, in the former Syrian customs office on the border that he also controls, I asked him whether he had received weapons from foreign countries. He said he had not, and that his men’s arms had been acquired either on the black market or as war booty, in battle. But he said that he had received some foreign financial assistance; thus far, a total of 1.3 million euros in cash from the government of Qatar, which, along with Saudi Arabia and, to a more ambiguous extent, Turkey, has openly backed the anti-Assad rebel forces…
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“My god, we need everything. We are dying. We don’t have bread to eat. There is nothing. No communications. No weapons. No medicine.”
(Not to mention NO Support from Syrians for foreign serial killing mercenaries–JCProletariat)
The Newsweek/Wall Street Journal based rag “The Daily Beast” laments the failure of NATO’s FSA Death Squads. Will Amy Goodman, al-Jazeera, Pacifica, FSTV, & Link_TV follow?
JCProletariat
THE DAILY BEAST
Syrian Rebel Leader Mustafa al-Sheikh Says Victory Against Assad Not in Sight
by Mike Giglio Jul 26, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
The general who heads the Free Syrian Army says his forces are dangerously divided and underfunded, al Qaeda is gaining a foothold in the conflict, and a major win that could topple the regime, like seizing Aleppo, is still out of reach….
…“Into this mess come more conservative Islamist groups who are able to get greater access to weapons from places like the Gulf,” he says. “Then there’s this difficult problem: They’re not al Qaeda, but they are radicals. That’s hard for the West to parse out. Where do we put these guys on a spectrum?”
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The article below has been featured on this blog already, but attention is drawn to it again because it may help to better understand the complexity of the current situation in Syria and the local vs the international response to it.
OPINION MAKER
U.S. Ambassador to Syria in charge of recruiting Arab/Muslim death squads
12 September 2012 by Wayne Madsen
WMR has been informed by reliable sources that the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert S. Ford, is the key State Department official who has been responsible for recruiting Arab “death squads” from Al Qaeda-affiliated units in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Chechnya to fight against Syrian military and police forces in embattled Syria. Ford served as the Political Officer at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad from 2004 to 2006 under Ambassador John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985. Negroponte was a key figure in the covert U.S. program to arm the Nicaraguan contras and his support for vicious paramilitary units in El Salvador and Honduras earned him the nickname of “Mr. Death Squad.”
Negroponte tasked Ford with implementing the “El Salvador option” in Iraq, the use of Iraqi Shi’a irregulars and Kurdish Pesh Merga paramilitary forces to target for assassination and kidnapping/torture Iraqi insurgency leaders in Iraq and across the border in Syria. The operation was named for Negroponte’s death squad operation in Central America in the 1980s.
Ford has become the point man in the recruitment of Arabs and Muslims from the Middle East and beyond to battle against the security forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U.S.-backed terrorists have not only carried out attacks on Syrian security forces but have also massacred civilians in “false flag” operations later blamed on Syrian government forces. WMR has been informed that Ford’s operations in Syria are being carried out with the assistance of Israel’s Mossad.
The “El Salvador” option has also been used in Libya, where Al Qaeda irregulars, drawn from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, have been carrying out murders of Libyan civilians, especially black Libyans and African guest workers, on behalf of the Libyan rebel government. Some of the murders of civilians have been blamed on pro-Muammar Qaddafi forces but they have, in fact, been carried out by Al Qaeda units fighting with the rebels and which are being directed by CIA and MI-6 advisers. Ford has been providing advice to the Libyan rebels on how to carry out their death squad attacks…..
About the authorWikipedia: Wayne Madsen (born April 25, 1954) is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author and columnist specializing in intelligence and international affairs.[ He is the author of the blog Wayne Madsen Report.
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German intelligence: al-Qaeda all over Syria
By John Rosenthal
German intelligence estimates that “around 90” terror attacks that “can be attributed to organizations that are close to al-Qaeda or jihadist groups” were carried out in Syria between the end of December and the beginning of July, as reported by the German daily Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). This was revealed
Media Lens
The Right Kind Of Terror
23 July 2012 By David Cromwell and David Edwards
When is an act of terrorism not terrorism? When the victims are officially sanctioned state enemies. This was clear from the political and media response to the assassinations of senior ministers of the Syrian ‘regime’.
On 18 July, a bomb attack on the national security headquarters in Damascus killed three top Syrian ministers: Defence Minister Daoud Rajiha, President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and General Hassan Turkomani. Two days later, Syria’s national security chief, Hisham Ikhtiari, died from injuries he received in the attack.
Reuters reported U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta saying that the situation in Syria was ‘spinning out of control’. For good measure, he added that President Bashar al-Assad’s government would be held responsible if it failed to safeguard its alleged chemical weapons sites. The brazen echoes of the propaganda campaign against Iraq a decade ago could be heard reverberating around the world’s news media.
UK defence minister Philip Hammond, standing alongside Panetta at a Pentagon news conference, said that the bomb attack demonstrated Syria’s growing instability:
‘I think what we’re seeing is an opposition which is emboldened, clearly an opposition which has access increasingly to weaponry, probably some fragmentation around the edges of the regime as well.’
Neither men described the bombing as a terrorist attack…..
In Syria conflict, U.S. struggles to fill intelligence gaps
By Greg Miller and Joby Warrick, Tuesday, July 24, 9:07 AM
Sixteen months into the uprising in Syria, the United States is struggling to develop a clear understanding of opposition forces inside the country, according to U.S. officials who said that intelligence gaps have impeded efforts to support the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
U.S. spy agencies have expanded their efforts to gather intelligence on rebel forces and Assad’s regime in recent months, but they are still largely confined to monitoring intercepted communications and observing the conflict from a distance, officials said
Interviews with U.S. and foreign intelligence officials revealed that the CIA has been unable to establish a presence in Syria, in contrast with the agency’s prominent role gathering intelligence from inside Egypt and Libya during revolts in those countries.
With no CIA operatives on the ground in Syria and only a handful stationed at key border posts, the agency has been heavily dependent on its counterparts in Jordan and Turkey and on other regional allies.
The lack of intelligence has complicated the Obama administration’s ability to navigate a crisis that presents an opportunity to remove a longtime U.S. adversary but carries the risk of bolstering insurgents sympathetic to al-Qaeda or militant Islam.
The administration is exploring ways to expand non-lethal support, officials said.
“But we’ve got to figure out who is over there first, and we don’t really know that,” said a U.S. official who expressed concern over persistent gaps and who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing intelligence matters. “It’s not like this is a new war. It’s been going on for 16 months.”…..
Germany reveals Al-Qaeda activity in Syria
Stymied at U.N., U.S. Refines Plan to Remove Assad
By ERIC SCHMITT and HELENE COOPER 21 JULY 2012
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has for now abandoned efforts for a diplomatic settlement to the conflict in Syria, and instead it is increasing aid to the rebels and redoubling efforts to rally a coalition of like-minded countries to forcibly bring down the government of President Bashar al-Assad, American officials say.
The White House is now holding daily high-level meetings to discuss a broad range of contingency plans — including safeguarding Syria’s vast chemical weapons arsenal and sending explicit warnings to both warring sides to avert mass atrocities — in a sign of the escalating seriousness of the Syrian crisis following a week of intensified fighting in Damascus, the capital, and the killing of Mr. Assad’s key security aides in a bombing attack.
The administration has had regular talks with the Israelis about how Israel might move to destroy Syrian weapons facilities, administration officials said. The administration is not advocating such an attack, the officials said, because of the risk that it would give Mr. Assad an opportunity to rally support against Israeli interference.
Administration officials insist they will not provide arms to the rebel forces. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are already financing those efforts. But American officials said that the United States would provide more communications training and equipment to help improve the combat effectiveness of disparate opposition forces in their widening, sustained fight against Syrian Army troops. It’s also possible the rebels would receive some intelligence support, the officials said…….
Barak: Israel may seize advanced weapons in Syria
Defense Minister says military prepared for operation should Syrian gov’t hands missiles, chemical weapons to Hezbollah.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak made clear over the weekend that Israel would take military action if needed to ensure that Syria’s advanced weapon systems and chemical weapons do not fall into Hezbollah’s hands.
“Syria has advanced antiaircraft missiles, surface-tosurface missiles and elements of chemical weapons,” Barak said on Friday in a Channel 2 interview. “I directed the IDF to prepare for a situation where we will need to consider the possibility of an attack.”
Islamic fighters flocking to Syria
PATRICK MARTIN
The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jul. 20 2012,
In the 1980s, it was Afghanistan to which international Islamic fighters came, helping the mujahedeen successfully take on the Soviet army and its puppet regime in Kabul. Then came Bosnia in the 1990s and Iraq in the 2000s, in both of which veteran jihadists fought a sectarian war on behalf of outgunned Sunni minorities.In 2012, they’re flocking to Syria.
With funding from private organizations in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, they are making their way across the frontiers from Iraq and Jordan, hooking up with opposition elements in Syria and taking the battle to Damascus and the heart of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Money from Qatar is helping finance the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the fledgling Free Syrian Army (FSA). And United States CIA operatives are reportedly helping distribute weapons andmatériel to the mainstream opposition forces. However, the international jihadists, many of them so-called Salafists linked to al-Qaeda, have agendas of their own that don’t stop at forcing Mr. al-Assad from office. To them, the real target is Shiism, the religion of Iran, and the crescent of Shia forces that Tehran has promoted that stretch from Iran to the Mediterranean.
Many Sunni Muslims, and certainly Salafi jihadists, view Shia Muslims as heretical and the Alawite sect of Shiism, (the sect to which the al-Assads and many other powerful Syrians belong) as positively diabolical. As such, it is not out of the question that ethnic massacres of Alawites would take place in the aftermath of an Islamist victory in Syria. To escape such a fate, many Alawites would take refuge in the sect’s heartland in the northwest of the country where the al-Assads have built up defences……
Syrian Army Evacuating Citizens – Damascus
Published on Jul 22, 2012 by SyriansWorldwide
The Syrian Army entered al-Midan district in Damascus and helped evacuate citizens after armed terrorist groups had infiltrated.
These are the citizens giving their accounts.
Progressive-left media persist in acting as propaganda outlets for the US-NATO destabilization of Syria, thus placating a politically conscious audience that might otherwise be mobilized against acts of imperialism and violence. The historical record suggests how this is not the first time “Progressive publicists” were used to sell a war.
A recent report in the UK Guardian by Charlie Skelton explains that Western news outlets remain willing victims (or accomplices) in a propaganda campaign for US -NATO led Syrian intervention being carried out by skilled and well-financed public relations practitioners. According to Skelton, “the spokespeople, the ‘experts on Syria’, the ‘democracy activists’ … The people who ‘urge’ and ‘warn’ and ‘call for action’” against the Assad regime are themselves part of a sophisticated and well-heeled public relations effort to allow NATO forces to give Syria the same medicine administered to Libya in 2011. “They’re selling the idea of military intervention and regime change,” Skelton reports,
“and the mainstream news is hungry to buy. Many of the “activists” and spokespeople representing the Syrian opposition are closely (and in many cases financially) interlinked with the US and London – the very people who would be doing the intervening. Which means information and statistics from these sources isn’t necessarily pure news – it’s a sales pitch, a PR campaign.”[1]
If one thinks that a revelation of this magnitude would be cause for other major Western news media to reassess their reportage of the Syrian situation they would be greatly mistaken. Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now is a case in point. Since the beginning of the “Arab Spring” color revolutions the foremost broadcast venue of “independent” progressive-Left journalism in the United States has used its reportage to obfuscate and thereby advance the campaign for regime change in Egypt, Libya, and now Syria. The tactics of disinformation and death squads employed in Libya and Syria should be easily recognizable since they were refined against popular Central American moves toward popular enfranchisement by the Reagan administration during the 1980s.
As Finian Cunningham recently observed [2] Democracy Now’s adherents look to Goodman on a regular basis because of her perceived credibility; she is the self-avowed “ exception to the rulers”—a tireless crusader against the restrictive corporate media where there remains a “deafening silence … around the issues—and people—that matter most.”[3] Today Goodman’s vaunted program is contributing to the very violence being committed by Western-backed mercenaries against the Syrian people.
DEMOCRACY NOW
Syrian Activist in Hiding: “We’re Not Looking for Intervention, We’re Looking for Support”
Syria’s 16-month uprising has entered uncharted territory after Wednesday’s bombing that killed three members of President Bashar al-Assad’s inner circle, including his defense secretary, interior minister and brother-in-law. Fighting between government troops and opposition rebels has been reported across Damascus, including locations within sight of the presidential palace. We’re joined from Syria by an activist who requested anonymity to protect her safety. “They’re losing control,” she says of the regime. “A lot of people were glad about [the bombing] yesterday, but it just makes us, deep inside, scared. What is the regime going to do next?”
The list of questions below are ones Amy Goodman from “Democracy Now” could have asked an anonymous female Syrian ‘activist’ interviewed by DM. …..
- If the FSA and other armed fighters kill more leaders and soldiers it could seriously undermine Syria’s defense capabilities. Does it concern you that it could make it very difficult for Syria to successfully defend itself from, for example, an attack from Israel?
- There are signs that the Syrian army is still strong and united. To topple the government it would be necessary to kill tens of thousands of loyal soldiers. What belief or ideology can justify such large scale killing? If the army is destroyed, Syria could become a terrorist stronghold; bloody fighting could continue for decades. Is this a concern for you? ……..
BY STEPHEN STARR | JULY 23, 2012
In the midst of recent fighting in Damascus, activists asked for God to elevate the city to the status given to Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. I wonder what Syria’s Druzes and Christians think of this. I also wonder what Sunnis think of the Christians who quietly root for the regime to wipe out the protesters.
But there is an even deeper division opening up in Syria that has been overlooked because of the difficulties of reporting the conflict. It is the division between the activists and rebels who are hammering away at the Assad regime and those who simply want a quiet life — regardless of who is in government. The complexity of the situation was perhaps best summed up by a 28-year-old dentist I spoke to in Damascus last January: “We hate the regime, but we want peace,” he said more than once. “The regime is better than civil war.” …..
‘Time to end Syrian regime,’ say rebels near Damascus
The BBC’s Paul Wood accompanied rebel fighters as they slipped into Syria from neighbouring Lebanon, to a rebel-held town close to the capital, Damascus.
A line of smugglers and fighters move up the side of a mountain in the dark.
It is steep – our legs are aching, our lungs screaming – and there’s three more days of this.
But it’s the only illicit route into Syria from Lebanon at the moment. The Syrian regime, fighting for its life, has managed to close all the others…..
The men showing us around are with the Free Syrian Army (FSA). There is another, rival armed group here: the Salafis – hardline Islamists. They are the biggest group in this town, because they are getting guns and money from outside while the FSA is relatively poor…..
Express.co.uk
20,000 RUSSIANS ‘WON’T BE RESCUED IN SYRIA
More than 300 have passed through a base just inside the Iraq border, while a command course is run in Saudi Arabia.
Groups of 50 rebels at a time are being trained by two private security firms employing former Special Forces personnel. “Our role is purely instructional teaching tactics, techniques and procedures,” said a former SAS member.
“Some of these guys are shopkeepers and schoolteachers who have lost everything.
“If we can teach them how to take cover, to shoot and avoid being spotted by snipers it will hopefully help.”
In Britain, military commanders have drawn up contingency plans to evacuate UK passport holders from Lebanon and Jordan if violence spills over from Syria.
A joint naval exercise with France, codenamed Exercise Cougar 12, would be headed by a Royal Naval assault ship, HMS Bulwark, and carry 650 Royal Marines from 45 Commando.
Margaret Hassan was an Irish aid worker who had worked in Iraq for many years until she was abducted and murdered by unidentified kidnappers in Iraq in 2004, at the age of 59. A look at her murder case and the mystery behind solving her abduction and murder case.
By Patrick Seale
The Death of the West
| Nikolai MALISHEVSKI | 19.07.2012 | 00:00 |
Over 700 Wahhabi groups functioned freely in West Europe by the spring of 1999. Internationally, they were given a key role in funding and supplying Albanian extremists, who were known to be deeply involved with the drug mafia and were instrumental in unleashing the war against Yugoslavia.
As for London, it gradually evolved into a global terrorist hub. These days, the city is home to a cohort of “Muslim dissenters” like the notorious Akhmed Zakayev, a Chechen terrorist envoy charged in Russia with kidnapings and the murders of over 300 people in October, 1995 – December, 2000……
Robert Fisk: If Alawites are turning against Assad then his fate is sealed
The Long View: There seems to be a Baathist pattern of destroying Sunni villages on the edge of the Alawite heartland
ROBERT FISK 23 JULY 2012
……………Take the faint outline of the old French mini-state of the Hauran where Syria’s Druze communities now live in growing disharmony with the Assad regime. This month, there was a dangerous outbreak of kidnapping in the region – resolved only after Walid Jumblatt, the Lebanese Druze leader, made a series of phone calls to prominent Druze in Syria. Jumblatt himself has had a friendly-hostile-friendly-hostile-relationship with the Assad family – I may have left out a couple of ‘friendlys’ and ‘hostiles’ there – but there is no doubt where he now stands.
Last week, he urged the Druze as well as the Alawites in Syria to join the revolt against the Assad regime. He has even attacked his allies in Moscow, calling Russia’s support for Assad “no longer acceptable, morally or politically.”
And not without reason does he speak thus. Three Syrian Druze have died in the revolution this month. Majd Zein, a Druze Free Syrian Army member, was killed during an attack on Rastan. Shafiq Shuqayr and Yasser Awwad were executed by the Syrian army when they were discovered to be helping government soldiers to defect in the area of Lajat. Now Jumblatt is calling upon all Alawites to join the rebellion instead of allowing themselves to remain a minority dependent on Assad for their survival. “I say to them that they must say they are Syrians before they are Alawites.”
And a final statistic to explain the revolution outside Damascus. Latest figures show that 58 per cent of Syrian’s population under 24 years old are unemployed (higher, even, than Egypt), while 48 per cent of the 18-29 year-old age range – a statistic only beaten by Yemen – have no jobs. They do now, of course. Most have joined the Syrian revolt.
Robert Fisk: Sectarianism bites into Syria’s rebels
The deathwish of fighters in Damascus terrifies many who oppose Assad
……Now, of course, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where al-Jazeera is based, make no secret of the funds and weapons they are running into Turkey and Lebanon for the resistance – without apparently caring very much who the “resisters” are. The Lebanese army managed to stop one out of five shiploads of guns, but the others, carried on Sierra Leone-registered vessels, were able to unload.
One of the two organisations that claimed responsibility for last week’s Damascus bombing, Liwa Islam – the Islam Brigade – raises again the Salafist element in Syria’s armed opposition. One newly arrived refugee from Syria told me last week that they have forbidden alcohol and openly say they intend to die fighting in Damascus. Given the savage response of the Syrian regime, they may get their last wish.
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‘Don’t be duped by Western humanitarian rhetoric on Syria’ – Russia’s UN ambassador
By RT
July 20, 2012 “RT”
Mr. Monajed founded the centre in 2010 and continues to develop it. He is widely quoted in and interviewed by prestigious international media outlets. He previously worked as a communication consultant in Europe and in the U.S. and formerly served as the director of Barada Television, a Syrian broadcast station, as well as served as an economist and projects manager with the European Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP. Mr. Monajed holds a postgraduate degree in politics and communications from the UK and an undergraduate degree in economics and management from Syria.
Iran and Syria are not a threat to the United States
Wag the Dog Arrives at Last
By Philip Giraldi
The Passionate Attachment
July 18, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Few commentators have taken note of the truly significant shift in the Israel-United States relationship. To be sure, Israel has for many years been able to control many aspects of Washington’s policy in the Middle East while simultaneously drawing on the US taxpayer to sustain its military predominance. But even as recently as 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq in part because Israeli interests called for such action, Tel Aviv was not able to bring about a war without marshaling additional arguments. Tel Aviv arguably enabled the Iraq war in that the Israeli Lobby had the power to stop it, but there were also other elements to include George W. Bush’s seeking revenge for the alleged assassination plot against his father, the fact that Iraq is a major oil producing country and the war would “pay for itself,” and the totally false claim that Iraq had somehow been involved in 9/11. Israel alone, acting in its own interests, could not force America to go to war. George W. Bush, for all his faults, would not have gone to war solely for Israel and it has even been reported that he was strong enough to block a subsequent Israeli bid to attack Iran.
USA and Al Qaeda: Holy Alliance
| Igor IGNATCHENKO | 17.07.2012 | 00:24 |
Syria is flooded by terrorists of all kinds. Al Qaeda has committed a number of terrorist acts. According to former Commander of Turkish Naval Academy Admiral Turker Erturk it gets support from the USA. He says that the West and its Arab allies have decided to repeat the “Salvadorian scenario” counting on terrorist groups stepping in instead of the opposition. The suicide bomber raids in Damascus corroborate the fact. Let me remember the operation aimed at destabilization of Salvador with the help of suicide bombers was headed by John Negroponte, who later became US ambassador to Iraq, and would be US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford.
Peter Oborne, a Daily Telegraph commentator, confirmed that the USA and Great Britain have intensified clandestine cooperation with Al Qaeda recently joining efforts in fight against the Syrian government. In its article Syria’s Crisis is Leading Us to Unlikely Bedfellows he points out that the terror acts committed in Damascus before the New Year had all earmarks of the ones committed by the terrorist organization in Iraq. According to the British journalist the Al Qaeda militants had come to Syria from Libya across the “Turkish corridor”. Peter Oborne sees “the triple Washington-London-Al Qaeda alliance” as a great menace for the UK.
Omar Al-Bakri, a religious extremist residing in Lebanon, confessed in an interview to the Daily Telegraph that Al Qaeda militants supported by Al Mustaqbal headed by Saad al-Hariri have already infiltrated into Syria from Lebanon. At a press-conference held in Baghdad Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari confirmed the fact that Al Qaeda does infiltrate into Syria across the Iraqi border in order to commit terror acts and bring in weapons.
The Guardian has recently published an article called Military Interventionin Syria Would Be Disastrous for Its People. The author Sami Ramadani points out the fact an alliance between the USA and Al Qaeda has taken shape. The USA and Turkey intensively destabilize Syria using the oil funds provided by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. While Hillary Clinton is trying to persuade the world community an intervention in Syria is a necessary step, the CIA is actively involved in providing support and training to the militants. As is known the USA and NATO allies have recruited heads of terrorist organizations and common criminals from different countries of the world as mercenaries to make them go through special drilling course in the training camps located in Turkey and Lebanon. For instance, while in Homs a member of the League of Arab states observer mission working for Iraqi special services was very much surprised to see Pakistani, Iraqi and Afghan mercenaries. Especially striking was the fact that some of them had been his kidnappers in Iraq. It’s important to note that over a hundred of hirelings from Arab and other countries, including a significant number of French legionaries, were captured by Syrian authorities after freeing Homs.
Hala Jaber, a Sunday Times correspondent, is sure religious extremists and foreign mercenaries infiltrating Syria from the territories of adjacent countries contributed to the exacerbation of violence to make international observers terminate their mission. Hala Jaber emphasized the calls of Saudi sheikhs to cross the Syrian border were followed by dozens of people coming from Lebanon, Tunisia, Algiers, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait full of fanatic aspiration to create an Arab caliphate in Syria and the region. …….
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2012/07/17/usa-and-al-qaeda-holy-alliance.html
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Tremseh killings targeted rebels – UN monitors
The attack on the Syrian city of Tremseh, widely condemned by the West as civilian murder, actually targeted rebels and army defectors, says a UN investigation. The findings contradict opposition claims of civilian killings by Assad forces.
A team of monitors visited the site of the killings on Saturday. After a preliminary examination they concluded that “the attack on Tremseh appeared targeted at specific groups and houses, mainly of army defectors and activists.”
“A variety of weapons were used in an attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh, where more than 150 people were killed this week, with the homes of rebels and activists bearing the brunt,” the UN mission said.
However, the mission said the death toll was still unclear. Damascus says 37 fighters and two civilians were killed in their “military operation,” while the activists are talking of around 220 civilians dead after “clashes with opposition protesters.”
The UN monitors plan to return to the area and continue the investigation, many conclusions of which so far appear to coincide with Damascus’s claims that the attack on Tremseh was part of a counter-terrorist operation in the area.
“Armed forces units on Thursday morning carried out a ‘special operation’ in Tremseh … that targeted the gatherings of terrorist group members,” said Syrian state news outlet SANA, quoting a military source.
The Syrian government said the operation was launched in response to civilian pleas for help in the area, claiming that they had been victims of “criminal acts at the hands of armed terrorist groups.”
At the same time, the Syrian Foreign Ministry rejects Kofi Annan’s claims that helicopters and tanks were involved in the Tremseh “clashes”.
“Government forces did not use planes, or helicopters, or tanks or artillery. The heaviest weapon used was an RPG (rocket propelled grenade),” the ministry’s spokesman Jihad Makdissi told reporters in Damascus.
Earlier, both the UN observers and opposition activists said they saw attack helicopters firing at targets in Tremseh. Having entered the town in the Hama province, the UN mission concluded artillery, mortars and small arms had been fired, but did not make any further comments on the use of helicopters or tanks.
Following reports of the killings, the international community was quick to condemn the Assad government for the “massacre”, with Washington branding Syrian leaders as murderers.
UN leader Ban Ki-moon said that the reports cast doubt over President Bashar al-Assad’s commitment to UN envoy, Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
Meanwhile, the International Committee for the Red Cross has changed the status of the Syrian crisis to “non-international armed conflict” which amounts to a civil war. The new status can lay grounds to prosecute war crimes, such as murder, torture, rape, or use disproportionate force against civilian areas.
Media war rages on
Author and historian Gerald Horne said that anti-Assad rhetoric immediately triggered by the Tremseh killings was indicative of a media “blame game.”
“First of all it’s very curious that just before important UN meetings we hear reports about massacres.” He added that speculation over the number of victims and whether or not women and children were involved undermined the credibility of media reports on the killings.
Horne went on to stress that there were many interests at play in the Syrian conflict and that “regime change is the name of the game with Syria.”
He told RT that some parties involved “would like to see a replay of the Libyan misadventure when cries for humanitarian aid were really just a mask for regime change.”
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Details of a Battle Challenge Reports of a Syrian Massacre
Published: July 14, 2012
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
BEIRUT, Lebanon — New details emerging Saturday about what local Syrian activists called a massacre of civilians near the central city of Hama indicated that it was more likely an uneven clash between the heavily armed Syrian military and local fighters bearing light weapons….
The picture emerging is that there was a large group of fighters from the town and the local area bivouacked in Tremseh. The Syrian Army moved in early Thursday, blocking all exits and blasting away with machine guns, tank shells and rockets fired from helicopters, laying waste to the town.
“Whenever the Syrian Army knows there are fighters concentrated in an area, they attack,” said the leader of the Observatory, who goes by the pseudonym Rami Abdul-Rahman for safety reasons. “The majority of people killed in Tremseh were either rebel fighters from the village or from surrounding villages.”…….
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Addendum to “Whenever UN meeting on Syria starts…” –
RT’s full interview with Sharmine Narwani
Published on Jul 14, 2012 by forestgamertube
BREAKING UPDATE: Syria ‘massacre’ dead mostly rebels: activist,
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/new-syrian-massacre-hama-province
Addendum to “Whenever UN meeting on Syria starts, there’s a massacre” – RT’s full interview with Sharmine Narwani. (Read main article onhttp://youtu.be/v-wMr_7xUEg)
Sharmine Narwani, a political analyst and specialist in the Middle East affairs from St. Antony’s College at Oxford University, agrees with his point. “These so-called massacres have taken place before critical [UN] Security Council meetings,” she said in an interview with RT.
Narwani points out two important events that accompany the Tremseh Massacre. The first one is the return of the UN special Syria envoy Kofi Annan from his visits to Syria and Iran.
“The Western GCC [Gulf Corporation Council of the Arab States] do not want Iran involved in any collaborative efforts on the resolution. So [it] comes out of Syria with the new energy about continuing the mission and agreeing with Assad how this could be done to reduce violence,” she explained.
The second important factor that completes the picture is that the current UN observer mission will have its mandate expired on July 20. The possible extension is already being discussed in the United Nations, and any “perception-building activities on the ground that [those interested] can use for propaganda purposes” will affect the final decision.
“There are people who will want to spoil this mission from going forward… This mission is a very important venture. It is collaborative, it works with all parties — regional, external and internal, it is fact-finding, and its mission is to reduce violence. There is no other option right now,” Narwani said.
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Twitter by William Hague, 16 July 2012
I’m urging Libya’s new leaders to support tough sanctions on #Syria. Syrian people are enduring what they endured, on a greater scale
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Editor: Unless you refuse to open a newspaper or turn on the TV, it is difficult to avoid the mainstream narrative on Syria. It is a very seductive one; it requires little to no thinking…. if you accept it.
Syrian opposition to Obama: Waiting for election day to act is ‘unacceptable’
Let’s learn from Blair’s crimes, so we don’t repeat them in Syria
BY JOHN PILGERPUBLISHED 16 FEBRUARY 2012The warmongering and human rights abuses of the New Labour years seem forgotten by all but ….
……..a media salivating for “intervention” in Syria that the civil war in that country requires skilled and patient negotiation, not the provocations of the British SAS and the familiar bought-and-paid-for exiles who ride in Anglo-America’s Trojan horse.
http://www.newstatesman.com/global-issues/2012/02/pilger-blair-syria-iraq
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In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members…
It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well, effects American security.
This is a very difficult vote, this is probably the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. Any vote that might lead to war should be hard, but I cast it with conviction.”
Senator Hillary Clinton (Democrat, New York)
Addressing the US Senate
October 10, 2002
Hillary Clinton: Every Nation Must Be With Us Or Against Us
Uploaded by BoogieWithStew on Oct 24, 2007
Remarks from Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on September 13, 2001, during an interview on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
“Every nation has to either be with us, or against us. Those who harbor terrorists, or who finance them, are going to pay a price.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DbYGYiGjpUs
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Land Destroyer
JULY 15, 2012
Hillary Clinton Must Resign (Op-ed)
July 14, 2012 – The unhinged state of US foreign policy is exemplified best by this week’s Tremseh, Syria “massacre.” Before any confirmations could be made, and based solely on “activist” accounts, Hillary Clinton penned a US State Department statement that read:
I was deeply saddened and outraged to learn of reports of yet another massacre committed by the Syrian regime that has claimed the lives of over 200 men, women, and children in the village of Traymseh. Credible reports indicate that this unconscionable act was carried out by artillery, tanks, and helicopters – indisputable evidence that the regime deliberately murdered innocent civilians. Syria cannot be peaceful, stable, or democratic until Assad goes and a political transition begins. We call for an immediate ceasefire in and around Hama to allow the UN observer mission to enter Traymseh. Those who committed these atrocities will be identified and held accountable.
As long as the Assad regime continues to wage war against the Syrian people, the international community must keep increasing the pressure on the regime to halt the violence and allow for a political solution to go forward. The Security Council should put its full weight behind the Annan plan for an immediate ceasefire and a political transition and make clear to the Syrian regime that there will be consequences for non-compliance. History will judge this Council. Its members must ask themselves whether continuing to allow the Assad regime to commit unspeakable violence against its own people is the legacy they want to leave.
The Security Council of course would be putting its “full weight” behind Kofi Annan’s “peace plan” with Chapter 7 provisions in place – meaning that sanctions and military intervention, as it was in Libya, would be subsequently implemented.
What US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to do, was propose a UN Security Council resolution authorizing military intervention (and by consequence, long sought after regime change), then used fabricated reports to sell the resolution in the court of global public and diplomatic opinion. It constitutes an overt crime against peace, and conspiracy to wage aggressive war -both Nuremberg offenses.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2012/07/hillary-clinton-must-resign-op-ed.html
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Lavrov: We oppose any tendencies aimed at downfalling the Syrian state, refuse extortion and paving the way for military intervention in Syria
MOSCOW_ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday said that the Russian suggestions towards solving the crisis in Syria are right ones and they should be listed in the draft resolution at the UN Security Council.
In a press conference in Moscow, Lavrov said that violence should be stopped by all the Syrian sides, adding that “We oppose any tendencies aimed at downfalling the Syrian state and refuse extortion and paving the way for military intervention in Syria.”
He stressed that Moscow’s foreign policy is “firm and based on the international legitimacy and laws,” adding that the participants in Geneva meeting started to distort the results of this meeting.
Minister Lavrov said that some international sides are asking Syria’s leadership to stop violence and at the same time, they are not practicing any influence on the Syrian opposition that is seeking power.
He stressed that Moscow agrees on any decision made by the Syrian people regarding their future, adding that “After Syria agreed on Annan’s plan, we started to hear strange words on its failure and an escalation of violence on the ground and we have documented that in Geneva statement.
After the final approval of President al-Assad on the appointment of an envoy for negotiation, our partners began to put conditions, demanding the use of Chapter VII at the UN Security Council.
“We should implement Annan’s plan. Our international partners should practice influence on the armed groups to take constructive procedures. Moscow will not allow a UN Security Council’s resolution under Chapter VII,” Lavrov said.
He warned against great risks in destabilizing the whole region, including the Gulf states, adding that “We don’t want the Gulf states to be destabilized. It is legal for us to express concern over the human rights issue in Saudi Arabia,”
Lavrov stressed that there are no attempts to ask the armed groups to cease fire, adding that all pressures are being exerted on the Syrian government only.
He pointed out that the needed resolution from the UN Security Council is extending the authorities of the UN observer mission, adding that there is no need to terminate the work of the mission in Syria.
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/4188
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Makdissi : What happened in al-Treimseh a military operation between the army and gunmen who terrorised civilians
DAMASCUS_ Foreign and Expatriates Ministry spokeman, Dr. Jihad Makdissi, stressed what happened in al-Treimseh village in the countryside of Hama province was not a massacre but a military operation and armed clashes between the army forces and armed groups that do not believe in dialogue or the political solution.
In a press conference held on Sunday, Makdissi said the army forces did not use any heavy weapons upon entering the village in response to the resident’s pleads, adding that damage due to the clash was caused to only five buildings in which the terrorists were positioned along with their weapons.
Makdissi: Annan’s Letter Is Hasty and Not Based on Reality
He referred to a letter received by Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem form the UN envoy Kofi Annan regarding the events in al-Treimseh, which Makdissi described as “hasty to the furthest extent” and not based on the reality of what happened in the village.
The Telegraph
Al-Qaeda tries to carve out a war for itself in Syria
Al-Qaeda has infiltrated into Syria and is working to establish footholds in the war-torn northern provinces.
By Ruth Sherlock, Idlib Province
7:52PM BST 12 Jul 2012
Whilst the militant Islamic organisation’s influence remains small, home-grown jihadist groups that are linked with, or sympathetic to the ideals of movement are growing.
The Daily Telegraph has seen al-Qaeda’s flag flying openly in some areas of Idlib and Aleppo provinces that straddle the borders with Turkey and Iraq and fighters in the rebel Free Syrian Army have told how representatives of the militant group have tried in past months to win control of towns and villages.
“An al Qaeda group led by a man who called himself Abu Saddiq took control in Der Tezzeh,” said one FSA rebel speaking on condition of anonymity.
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All Roads Lead To… Iran? ‘War At Core of MidEast Turmoil’
Saudi Arabia is sending additional troops to its Eastern region of Qatif – with the government fearing riots. Public anger is rising in the area – with reports of more marches planned in support of two local activists, killed at a rally on Sunday. The demonstration was in response to the violent arrest of a prominent Shia cleric. The deaths brought tens of thousands onto the streets of the city of Qatif – for marches that have continued throughout the week. Discontent is fueled by a lack of political and civil freedoms and ongoing detentions of dissidents. The clampdown has been ignored by the west which unconditionally supports the regime. For more RT talks to Dan Glazebrook, a political analyst from UK.
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Israel Invents Syrian WMD Threat, IDF Commanders Threaten Intervention
by RICHARD SILVERSTEIN on JULY 13, 2012 · 13 COMMENTS
The Most Successful Terrorist Of The 20th CenturyBy Uri AvneryJuly 14, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — TWO FORMER Prime Ministers of Israel are in the news these days. They represent two of the many faces of Israel.They also raise a universal question: which is preferable – an honest fanatic or a corrupt pragmatist?YITZHAK SHAMIR died two weeks ago and was buried in the cemetery of the “Great of the Nation” in Jerusalem. He was 97 years old and had been vegetating for years in a state of dementia. Most Israelis did not know that he was still alive.When I described him on TV as “the most successful terrorist of the 20th century”, the interviewer raised his eyebrows. But it was an accurate description.Shamir was not a great thinker. In his teens he joined the right-wing Zionist youth organization of Vladimir Jabotinsky in Poland, and since then he did not change his world-view one iota. In this respect he was absolutely immovable. He wanted a Jewish state in all of the historical country. Period. No nonsense about Arabs and such.We both joined the Irgun underground at the same time. I was too young to take part in actual terrorist actions, he, eight years my senior, carried them out. At the time, the Irgun killed scores of Arab men, women and children in attacks on Arab markets, in retaliation for Arab attacks on Jewish civilians. We defied the policy of “self-restraint” ordered by the Zionist leadership.
……..SHAMIR, THE dead honest fanatic, has many followers. Olmert, the living corrupt pragmatist, has very few. Netanyahu, their current successor, has the vices of both and the virtues of neither.
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81
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Syria – The True Story
Published on Jul 11, 2012 by docolovers
What are the forces at play in the world today? A question that remains unanswered by those entrusted to communicate to us, the truth.
Yet we ourselves fall short from attaining it, not for lack of access, but because of an unbroken fear that has obscured our vision.
This documentary is the true story behind Syria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrtNd5h2L_Q&sns=em
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RUSSIA TODAY
‘WMD’ + ‘ethnic cleansings’ = case to bomb Syria?
Published: 13 July, 2012, 14:08
US officials say Damascus is moving parts of its chemical weapons arsenal, an allegation denied by Syrian authorities. Some in Washington imply that the weapons may be used for “ethnic cleansing”.
Syria is believed to have a large arsenal of chemical weapons, including sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide, which is undeclared due to the country not being a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed US officials as saying that parts of the arsenal are being relocated from their storage facilities.
The Syrian government denied the alleged move when asked for comments.
“This is absolutely ridiculous and untrue,” said Syria’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi. “If the US is so well-informed, why can’t they help [UN envoy] Kofi Annan in stopping the flow of illegal weapons to Syria in order to end the violence and move towards the political solution?”
The White House, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon declined to comment.
But WSJ sources insist that it is happening, although they differ on the reasons for the claimed relocation. Some believe Damascus is doing it to secure from being taken over by the armed opposition. Others say it is a veiled threat against potential supporters of the rebels – both inside the country and abroad.
The most pessimistic say the Syrian military are preparing to use the chemical weapons against the rebels and civilians.
“The regime has a plan for ethnic cleansing, and we must come to terms with this,” one US official said. “There is no diplomatic solution.”
“This could set the precedent of WMD [weapons of mass destruction] being used under our watch,” another one said.“This is incredibly dangerous to our national security.”
The source did not specify which of the many ethnic groups mixed in Syria the government may wish to attack with the highly indiscriminate weapons in a move which would doubtlessly provoke international condemnation.
HTTP://WWW.RT.COM/NEWS/SYRIA-CHEMICAL-WEAPONS-MOVED-110/
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Syria Crisis: Where Syrian Fighters Get Their Weapons From
Reuters | Posted: 07/13/2012 8:43 am
By Jonathan Saul and Mariam Karouny
LONDON/BEIRUT, July 13 (Reuters) – Syrian rebels are smuggling small arms into Syria through a network of land and sea routes involving cargo ships and trucks moving through Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, maritime intelligence and Free Syrian Army (FSA) officers say.
HTTP://WWW.HUFFINGTONPOST.COM/2012/07/13/SYRIA-CRISIS-REBELS-WEAPONS_N_1670780.HTML?UTM_HP_REF=WORLD
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LAND DESTROYER
SATURDAY, JULY 14, 2012
Latest Syria “Massacre” – Goebbelsesque Propaganda
by Tony CartalucciJuly 14, 2012 – Surely if nothing “activists” have so far said about latest so-called “massacre,” in Tremseh, Syria can be verified, it is impossible to “blame” anyone for the alleged deaths that are said to have occurred. Nevertheless, the Associated Press, Reuters, AFP, and many other mainstays of the West’s corporate-run media machine ran with titles such as, “UN blames regime forces for Syria massacre” (AP), “Syrian regime condemned for Tremseh massacre” (Reuters), “Syria crisis: Tremseh ‘massacre’” (Guardian), and “Syria unrest: Kofi Annan shocked at Tremseh ‘atrocities’” (BBC)
HTTP://LANDDESTROYER.BLOGSPOT.COM.AU/2012/07/US-BRITISH-CAUGHT-PEDDLING.HTML
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LAND DESTROYER
SATURDAY, JULY 14, 2012
BOMBSHELL: Defected Syrian Ambassador Admits Role in Killing US Troops
by Tony CartalucciJuly 14, 2012 – Nawaf Fares, former Syrian Ambassador to Iraq who just recently defected and is now harbored in Qatar, admitted in an interview with the London Telegraph that he personally organized “Jihadi units” to fight US troops in Iraq. Fares maintains that he did so under orders by the Syrian government, and that a recent string of bombings in Syria were carried out by “Al Qaeda” in coordination with Syrian security forces.
Unfortunately for Nawaf Fares, who has just admitted to being an international terrorist, not only does he fail to provide any actual evidence to suggest the Syrian government had ordered or condoned his terrorist activities during the US occupation of Iraq (as even the Telegraph notes), nor provide any evidence at all that “Al Qaeda” had coordinated its bombing campaigns with Syrian security forces, but a myriad of confirmed reports and evidence already exist contradicting entirely Fares’ statements.
That President Bashar al-Assad is a “collaborator” with Al Qaeda is farcical at face value. The following headlines help illustrate the absurdity of Fares’ claims: “Al Qaeda head calls for fall of Assad” (AP), “Top US official: Al Qaeda in Iraq joining fight against Syria’s Assad” (McClatchy), “Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri calls for war to oust Syria’s Assad” (AP), just to name a few. Additionally it was reported by Seymour Hersh in a 2007 New Yorker article titled, “The Redirection,” that not only was Al Qaeda being arrayed against the Syrian government since as early as 2007, but it was in fact the United States, Israel, and the Gulf States that were organizing, funding, and arming them. ….
Deadly Descent: New massacre blame game in Syria
Published on Jul 13, 2012 by RussiaToday
France is leading calls for more UN Security Council action to stop the carnage in Syria – where over 200 people have reportedly been killed in a massacre in the central province of Hama. Both government and rebel forces are blaming each other for the slaughter – while the world body remains paralyzed on whether to extend its observer mission, or impose sanctions. Maria Finoshina reports.
And, Jeff Steinberg from the Executive Intelligence Review, believes it’s the foreign backing of the rebels that’s the main obstacle to peace in Syria.
RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0YhNtUs7Ns&feature=player_embedded
By Aisling Byrne
But it is a narrative based on distortion, manipulation, lies and videotape….
After U.S. Uproar, Another Syrian “Civilian Massacre” Story Falls Apart
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/12079-after-us-uproar-another-syrian-“civilian-massacre”-story-falls-apart
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‘Syrian rebels create mayhem to blame it on Assad regime’
13 July RT Interview with Tariq AliMoscow says those behind the latest massacre in Syria want to unleash sectarian violence and ignite full civil war. Over two hundred people are believed to have been killed in the central province of Hama. Both government and rebel forces blame each other for the slaughter – while the UN remains paralysed on whether to extend its observer mission, or impose sanctions. RT talks to author and Middle East expert Tariq Ali who joins me now from London.
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Western Media Report New Syrian Massacre as US Pushes For Military Intervention
by Finian Cunningham
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13 JULY 2012
Here we go again. More high-flown Western mainstream media reports of “another massacre” in Syria – once again blamed on the government forces of President Bashar Al Assad.
The latest alleged atrocity occurred Thursday morning in the village of Tremseh, in Hama Province. CNN, BBC, Financial Times, Guardian, Daily Mail, among a clatter of Western media outlets, claim that over 200 civilians were massacred by the Syrian army and pro-Assad militia in what is said to be the single-biggest atrocity in the 16-month conflict.
The reports bear the same formula of previous massacres in Syria, such as in the villages of Houla and Qubair on 24 May and 6 June, when 108 and 78 people were reportedly slaughtered.
Strident headlines rush to accuse the Syrian army of the killings; but the text of the articles contains scant details that can be verified on who carried out the attacks.
A recurring feature is that all the reports rely on ubiquitous, unnamed “opposition activists” for their claims. A closer look at the individual media outlets’ sources shows a preponderant use of one or two news agencies, Reuters or Associated Press.
In its reporting of the latest massacre, Britain’s Guardian claims that there are many narratives coming out of Tremseh all saying the same thing, that it was the result of regime forces, and therefore this must be credible. The fact is that the “many narratives” that the Guardian is referring to are actually coming from the same source of unnamed opposition activists whose allegations are being relayed by one or two news agencies, which are then picked up and amplified by a plethora of outlets, such as the Guardian. This is not independent corroboration; it is simply repetition of unverified claims.
CNN, a multi-billion-dollar corporation, in its account of the Tremseh killings takes the standard of news reporting to a new low.
It reports: “Activists in the city of Hama told CNN that witnesses inside Tremseh told them by telephone that Syrian military forces had launched a full-scale attack against the opposition Free Syrian Army inside the town, which was surrounded by government tanks and artillery.”
In other words, CNN, a supposedly world-class news service, is getting its information third hand from faceless, unnamed voices down a remote phone line.
Typically, in the Western media reportage, buried beneath several paragraphs, comes the usual disclaimer: “We are not able to independently verify these claims”. But, by then, the damage of biased reporting has been done. The reader is liable to be inculcated with the headlined assertion that the Syrian armed forces have committed another atrocity.
Admittedly, these reports do give a line or two to the government version of events that the killings are the work of foreign-backed armed terrorists. But the government’s line is always put in quotation marks that imply “this is unreliable hogwash”. It is also telling that, despite the consistency of such government claims, there is no follow-up investigation by the Western mainstream media into what are alarming implications, that is that Western governments and their allies are supporting terrorist subversion in a sovereign country. That is a war crime on multiple counts.
All the Western mainstream media outlets claim that the village of Tremseh was subjected to hours of artillery shelling and fire from helicopter gunships. Then the unknown pro-government militia, referred to as Shabiha, are said to have allegedly moved into the village to kill civilians “execution style”.
This same scenario was reported for the earlier massacres at Houla and Qubair. Yet careful follow-up reports published by the German newspaper, Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung and Russia Today, among others, have found that the perpetrators of such atrocities were in fact Western and Arab-backed mercenaries. This has been corroborated independently by Catholic Church sources and other civilian sources in Syria.
Another significant factor is the timing of these atrocities. The massacre at Qubair happened just as the UN/Arab League Special Envoy Kofi Annan was about to submit a report to the Security Council on violations of the 12 April ceasefire. The ceasefire was dismissed from the outset by Washington and London as being “flouted by Assad” even though the Syrian government had signed up to it and the violations being reported at the time were by the Western-backed armed groups. The West’s Qatari ally – and arms supplier of the opposition – Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said that the proposed Annan truce “had only a three per cent chance of succeeding”. Why was such pessimism expressed so confidently? Conveniently for the Western powers, a massacre allegedly committed by Assad’s forces should occur at that sensitive moment.
This latest outrage comes hours before another sensitive meeting of the Security Council members in which the US, Britain and France are pressurizing Russia and China to vote on a resolution that would pave the way for a NATO-style military intervention in Syria.
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The armed forces carry out “qualitative operation” in al-Treismeh and causes heavy losses among terrorists
HAMA COUNTRYSIDE- A military source on Friday stated that some of the armed forces units on Thursday morning carried out a “qualitative operation” in al-Treimseh town in the countryside of Hama province that targeted the gatherings of terrorist groups’ members as well as a number of their leadership’s whereabouts and dens which they used as a springboard for their criminal acts and a base for torturing kidnapped citizens.
The operation, the source said, came in response to the pleads of the inhabitants of al-Treimseh town who had been exposed to various forms of criminal acts at the hands of armed terrorist groups including acts of killing and terrorizing in addition to exploding a number of houses……
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/3991
Russia, China vehemently condemn al-Treimseh massacre against civilians in Hama countryside
MOSCOW/BEIJING_ Russia on Friday vehemently condemned the bloody crime committed against civilians in al-Treimseh town in Hama countryside, stressing that this crime serves the forces that don’t seek peace.
“Without anticipating the results of the investigation of the crime, on which we insist, we would like to stress that we have no doubt that this atrocity benefits the forces that do not seek peace but obstinately keep trying to sow the seeds of sectarian strife and civil conflict in Syria, and those for whom the grief and suffering of the Syrian people mean nothing, ” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
He added that Moscow, with great pain, had received the news of this new massacre against the Syrian citizens who were shot point blank by unidentified monsters….
Annan to Syrians: Cease fire or face consequences
The UN special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, has urged the Security Council to warn Assad and the opposition of “consequences” if they do not comply with the ceasefire plan. Meanwhile, the Western members and Russia came up with two rival resolutions.
UN news centre
Secretary-General, UN-Arab League envoy condemn latest attacks on Syrian civilians
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
After reading the statement on Syria by UN SG Ban Ki-Moon, the notion arises that far from being impartial, the United Nations Organization is in fact two organisms – one, a humanitarian institution to pull the wool over our eyes and the other, to pander to the geo-political caprices of its master, in whose house it is a guest and a hostage.
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Published: July 12, 2012
PARIS – Nearly one week after the commander of one of Syria’s elite Republican Guard units defected, he has not been seen in public or tried to contact the opposition, raising questions about his motives and intentions, senior officials and opposition members said.
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the commander, Gen. Manaf Tlass, has dampened some of the enthusiasm that first greeted news of his decision to abandon President Bashar al-Assad. The United States and other governments critical of Mr. Assad pointed to the general’s departure as a promising sign that the Syrian government was cracking under the pressure of an unrelenting uprising.
At the time, the French Foreign Ministry described his defection as a “hard blow” to the Syrian government and said he was on his way to France. On Wednesday the Foreign Ministry had to concede it did not know his whereabouts. Senior Turkish officials said they, too, were unaware of his location, or even if he was in Turkey.
Friends who have been in recent contact with his family in Paris said that General Tlass planned to make a public announcement next week.
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This link is to a critique of Democracy Now’s coverage of the Syrian crisis. It should be noted that Democracy Now did present some of the recent interview with President Assad juxtaposed with an interview with an ‘opposition’ spokesperson.
The major Western mainstream media outlets have been running a “shock and awe” propaganda offensive against the Syrian government of President Bashar Al Assad for nearly 16 months. The misinformation has been unrelenting, monolithic, unverified, one-sided and, frankly, increasingly preposterous.
With the suppression of mounting facts that Western governments are waging a covert war of aggression in Syria, the Western public is right to treat the conventional media sources with skepticism and outright contempt. Such media are seen as “politicized” and “unreliable”, serving a naked imperialist agenda for Western regime change. In a word, they are damaged goods.
This is where a segment of the so-called alternative media can play a valuable propaganda function for Western powers. Because such media are supposed to be independent, critical, non-corporate, the public tends to consider their reports as objective and unbiased. One such “alternative” news service is “Democracy Now” hosted by Amy Goodman. Goodman is seen as something of a campaigning critical journalist shedding the light of truth on the depredations of the US government, corporations and the Pentagon. But a closer look at what Goodman’s “Democracy Now” is reporting on Syria shows that the purported critical broadcaster has become a purveyor of Western government propaganda. While the mainstream media’s propaganda function is obvious to the informed public, Goodman’s Democracy plays a more subtle role. Camouflaged with the trappings of critical, independent journalism, “Democracy Now” serves to sow powerful seeds of misinformation in a way that the “compromised” mainstream media cannot.
This misinformation from “Democracy Now” is valuable to the ruling elite because to many of its readers it is not seen as misinformation.
Rather, the “news” on “Democracy Now” is viewed as reliable and representing the views of the anti-war, anti-imperialist constituency. In this way, Goodman is a valuable asset to Washington and Wall Street because her broadcasts can serve to disorient and undermine a constituency that is normally opposed to Western warmongering and imperialism. Many of the subscribers to “Democracy Now” may see through the misinformation. Many, though, may not, and therefore will become embedded with the imperialist agenda. The fact that Democracy Now ratings appear to be holding up would indicate that a lot of its followers are oblivious to the insidious effect of such misinformation. As such, Democracy Now is more valuable to the powers-that-be than, say, the New York Times or the Financial Times. “Democracy Now” ensures that the agenda of the powerful becomes infiltrated in a constituency that would otherwise be opposed to that agenda…..
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DANGEROUS PARTNERSHIP: Private Military and Security Companies and the UN
The United Nations is increasingly hiring Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) for a wide array of security services. The UN’s leadership says these services are needed to protect the organization’s staff and worldwide operations from growing threats and unprecedented dangers. But many reports from governments, NGOs and the media have shown how PMSCs have committed serious human rights abuses, killed or injured innocent civilians, engaged in financial malfeasance and committed many other breaches of the law. Given the track record of these companies, serious questions arise as to whether PMSCs are appropriate UN partners for the complex task of creating a secure, just and lawful world.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/GPF_Dangerous_Partnership__Executive_Summary.pdf
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SYRIAN BLOGGER AND REPORTER MAYA NASER
Sanctions hurt ordinary Syrians
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/13/250643/sanctions-hurt-ordinary-syrians/
4 July 13, 2012 HOMS, THE UNDERWORLD CITY
http://syriapolitics.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/part-i-homs-underworld-city.html
8 JULY
Damascus, Syria
Maya Naser wrote:
To begin my article, I’d like to ask my readers to examine the following paragraph quoted from the National newspaper.
“CAIRO // An Egyptian university student was fatally stabbed as his girlfriend looked on after three suspected Islamic militants confronted the couple in a park and said they should not be together if they were not married, security officials said yesterday.”
Syria; the Cradle of Contradictions
In Syria we are the result of a Maroni marriage of a Mediterranean cultures, our society can be described as anything except being one color community, or even two… we have the Muslims of all cults and factions (Sunni with at least 4 factions, Shiia, Alawites with at least 3 factions, Ismaili, Murchidis, Druze…), Christians are no exception when it comes to Syria, (Maronites, Jacobins, Nestorians, Protestant. Catholics, Romans…)
In my country, you can’t kill two people for walking in the street under Shria law, unless of course you divided the state into cantons and separated communities the same as the west did in Lebanon, or displace all the Christians and other Muslim minorities into other states, similar to the Iraqi case.
In my country; most of us still enjoy dancing, singing, gatherings, and discussing life matters of all kinds without killing each other or expiation each other.
So far; all attempts to transform Syria to another Iraq, or Libya or even Saudi Arabia have failed, and no matter how much the west sends Al Qaeda fighter to my country, apparently we will continue enjoying our life and I will keep holding my girlfriend’s hands in the streets, I will not be anyone but this Syrian Man who shares his life with Syrians no matter what gender or religion they are.
http://syriapolitics.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/syria-cradle-of-contradictions.html
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A report by the German writer who interviewed President Assad. In this piece, he refers to visits to hotspots in Syria and interviews with ‘rebels’.
Report by Jurgen Todenhofer, a German journalist in Syria.
Syria: The rebels of the Syrian city Homs
Syria in April. Omar is a rebel of the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA). My son Frederic and I have met him in a dark back room in Damascus. On 27 February, he fled with his comrades from Baba Amr, the district of Homs, which was their stronghold for months. He wants to return to Homs. In order to avenge his younger brother, who has died in his arms.
Omar had joined the rebels early. He has seen how the army had fired on peaceful demonstrators. Even children were killed. Not specifically, but that doesn´t matter. He estimates the number of his comrades in Baba Amr to about 2000. Ten percent were deserters. Also Frenchmen, British, Americans and Iraqis were there. As consultants and trainer.
I have asked him about the open letter of “Human Rights Watch” (HRW), which accuses the rebels of torture, taking hostages and killing of Syrian civilians. Omar replied that the FSA only kidnaps people, to have a tool for pressure to demand the release of prisoners.
They normally do not kill civilians, but only traitors. You will not be tortured, but “hard interrogated”. Once they are convicted, they are executed. In his presence, 20 Alawite collaborators were “executed”. By headshot or by the cutting through the throat.
Although he had heard from relatives that Assad still has 50 to 60 percent behind him in the rest of the country. But he does not care about the majority. Assad is a man of Israel. He will always fight him.
http://www.juergentodenhoefer.de/presse/english-articles-interviews/
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INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT ASSAD 8/7/2012 (transcript and video)
Das Gespräch mit Baschar al Assad (englisch)
Jürgen Todenhöfer: Mr. President, members of the opposition and western politicians say, that you are the main obstacle for peace in Syria. Would you be ready to step down as president if this could bring peace to your country and stop the bloodshed?
Baschar al Assad: The president shouldn’t run away from challenge and we have a national challenge now in Syria. The president shouldn’t escape the situation, but from the other side you can stay as president, stay in this position only when you have the public support. So, answering this question should be answered by the Syrian people, by the election not by the president. I can nominate myself, I can run for the election or not run, but to leave or not to leave, this is about the Syrian people.
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/gespraech-assad-englisch100.html
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A very interesting article, which presents some of the arguments of those who believe that it is necessary to fight ‘the brutal dictator’ at home first even if this means an alliance with the “evil empire”.
FIGHTING THE BIGGER OPPRESSOR FIRST
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/fighting-bigger-oppressor-first
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This is an article to pay particular attention to:
THE GUARDIAN
The Syrian opposition: who’s doing the talking?
The media have been too passive when it comes to Syrian opposition sources, without scrutinising their backgrounds and their political connections. Time for a closer look …
THE GUARDIAN article by Charlie Skelton 12 July 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/12/syrian-opposition-doing-the-talking
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This is old news, but news which is remains relevant.
WASHINGTON POST
U.S. secretly backed Syrian opposition groups, cables released by WikiLeaks show
By Craig Whitlock, Published: April 18, 2011
The State Department has secretly financed Syrian political opposition groups and related projects, including a satellite TV channel that beams anti-government programming into the country, according to previously undisclosed diplomatic cables.
The London-based satellite channel, Barada TV, began broadcasting in April 2009 but has ramped up operations to cover the mass protests in Syria as part of a long-standing campaign to overthrow the country’s autocratic leader, Bashar al-Assad. Human rights groups say scores of people have been killed by Assad’s security forces since thedemonstrations began March 18; Syria has blamed the violence on “armed gangs.”
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Syrian National Council in Moscow for first-ever talks
RT 11 July 2012
In an effort to pave the way for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the head of a major Syrian opposition group in the Russian capital.
It was the first time Russia has engaged directly with the major opposition movement, the Syrian National Council (SNC).
In the course of the two-hour meeting, Lavrov forwarded Russia’s position that the most effective way for the Syrian government and opposition groups to resolve their longstanding conflict is to follow the Annan Plan.
“By having backed the (Annan) peace plan, we confirmed a commitment (by both sides in the conflict) to immediately cease violence and enter into a dialogue,” the Russian minister said following talks in Moscow. “This will allow the Syrians themselves to decide on their fate.”
Seyda described his talks with Lavrov as “constructive.”
“Moscow has put forth the draft that we will discuss,” he said. “We agreed to continue the contacts.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition remains adamant about not wanting to start a national dialogue until President Bashar al-Assad resigns, a position that seems to have helped perpetuate the violence in the Arab country.
http://rt.com/politics/syria-russia-lavrov-moscow-talks-912/
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THE AUSTRALIAN report below suggests mainstream media outlets are as irresponsible as ever in regard to reporting on Syria. The Australian via AFP presents the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” as a reliable source while eschewing serious analyses.
Reports say new Syria massacre has left more than 100 people dead.
From:AFP July 13, 2012 8:33AM
SYRIAN troops using tanks and helicopters have killed more than 100 people in the central province of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
“Government troops bombarded the village using tanks and helicopters,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, putting the death toll in the village of Treimsa at more than 100.
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A blog to recommend for those keen to research the media war against Syria:
SYRIA – THE MEDIA WAR
http://syriathemediawar.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/syria-opposition-and-us-puppets-who.html
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Journalists and Family of Martyr al-Buni escort his body to final Resting place
DAMASCUS- Syrian journalists and the family, friends of martyr, professional cameramen in al-Thawra Daily, Ihsan al-Buni on Thursday escorted his body to his final resting place in Damascus.
Al-Buni was martyred on Wednesday by an armed terrorist group in Daraya, Damascus countryside while he was returning from his work to his house.
Al-Buni in his fifth decade, was a field cameramen in al-Thawra Daily.
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/3967
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Is Israel Inciting Genocide Against Alawites as Prelude to Creation of Kosovo-style Enclave in Syria? By Maidhc Ó Cathail
July 12, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Within the past week, fellows at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies have used rather unfortunate analogies to describe the plight of Syria’s besieged Alawite minority. The comparison of the Alawites to two of the region’s least popular interlopers in Arab and Muslim memory was hardly calculated to endear them to an already resentful Sunni majority.
Writing in the neoconservative flagship Weekly Standard on July 6, Tony Badran claimed:
Bashar al-Assad’s campaign against his Sunni adversaries recalls the strategy employed by the Crusaders, as invading European armies fortified themselves against various Muslim coalitions in the Levant, from the 12th to the 13th century. Indeed, the Crusader castles dotting the Western part of Syria may give us some sort of insight into the regime’s military thinking, and perhaps a preview of its future.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31838.htm#.T_6lplsWQWo.email
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Alain Juppé accused by his own Administration of having falsified reports on Syria
VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 22 MARCH 2012
http://www.voltairenet.org/Alain-Juppe-accused-by-his-own
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ASG’S COUNTER-HEGEMONY UNIT
RETHINKING THE WIKILEAKS’ SYRIA FILE
Disclaimer: I stand corrected; My comrades were right, the Wikileaks Syria File is very suspicious. This is what happens when you are pressed for time and you end up reading excerpts of a statement in the media rather than reading it in the original source…
First of all, I wasn’t aware mainstream media also had publishing rights to the files,I thought Akhbar had exclusive rights as was often the case in the past. So even if Al-Akhbar’s reports balance out the coverage, they will be drowned out by the information warlords who will play up the mails which “embarrass” the regime and downplay the others . Second, I didn’t see this: “WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison told journalists that the emails reveal interactions between the Syrian government and Western companies”. This better not be the only Western hypocrisy they are referring to. In fact this charge of “hypocrisy” derives from Empire’s hegemonic view that nobody should do business with the demonic Syrian regime. Surely there are hundreds of thousands of documents out there which, if obtained and released, would expose the mega-conspiracy against Syria. If Wikileaks is pursuing genuine balance or neutrality in coverage, they should have focused their efforts on obtaining such documents and used them as a counterbalance to mails which expose the Syrian regime. This would constitute true balance between two parties to a conflict, not the publication of material which amounts to little more than an indictment of the West for not being more consistent in its isolation and sanctions policies.
And most importantly, how on earth did Wikileaks manage to amass over 2.4 million POLITICALLY RELEVANT mails from 680 different domain names and 678,000 individual email addresses over 6 years? How is that even possible? The State Department cables covered the entire world and only amounted to a quarter of a million….This isn’t looking good at all, though I am still hopeful some of the documents will incriminate US/NATO/GCC’s involvement in Syria.
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Syria, the United States and The El Salvador Option By Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince
July 12, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Every day the news from Syria is more and more somber as the country and the region continue their journey to unknown and more dangerous realms. Syria appears headed for “beyond explosion”, for implosion and NATO foreign military intervention that could result in unpredictable dangerous consequences.
The most recent news reports are alarming. A curious person asking about the situation would get the following predictable reply: Syria is on the verge of civil war; it is run by a ruthless leader that violates human rights on a biblical scale and needs to be removed so that the `peace loving’ Syrian people can live in harmony and tranquility and it appears the only way to achieve this goal is through yet another NATO-led military `humanitarian’ intervention under the auspices of the United States.
Stepping back from the official (and Fox’s) version of the Syrian analysis, and remembering a few historical facts, changes the picture considerably.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31826.htm#.T_0heFqUOoM.email
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INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE
Anonymous Group Says It Gave Syrian E-mails to WikiLeaks By Kim Zetter
July 11, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Days after WikiLeaks began releasing a trove of more than 2 million e-mails stolen from Syrian officials, ministries and companies, members of an Anonymous group have claimed responsibility for the hacks and document dump to Wikileaks.
In a press release published Saturday, a group calling itself Anonymous Op Syria disclosed that its members hacked into multiple domains and dozens of servers inside Syria on Feb. 5 to obtain the e-mails, which it then gave to WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks began publishing the e-mails on July 5, working with several media partners outside the United States, but didn’t disclose its partnership with Anonymous.
In its intro to the e-mail cache, WikiLeaks indicated that they came from 678,000 individual e-mail addresses and 680 domains, including ones belonging to Syria’s Ministries of Presidential Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information, Transport and Culture. At least 400,000 of the e-mails are in Arabic and 68,000 are in Russian.
The documents range from “the intimate correspondence of the most senior Baath party figures to records of financial transfers sent from Syrian ministries to other nations,” according to WikiLeaks.
The Anonymous team, composed of members of three groups known as Anonymous Syria, AntiSec, and the Peoples Liberation Front, says it had been assisting activists in Syria since protests began against the Syrian regime more than a year ago, and that the team worked round-the-clock shifts to hack the servers.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31815.htm#.T_0j5OGYDPw.email
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This CNN report shows CNN is not interested in good journalism, just in pressing a point.
CNN
U.N. report- Syrian children tortured, used as human shields
JUNE 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watcåh?v=Jd5Sni09HWM&feature=related
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alakhbar English
Assad and Annan: Back to Square One
By: Jean Aziz
Published Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Special envoy Kofi Annan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met on Monday and agreed to initiate another ceasefire plan between the government and the opposition. The following is an account of what was said at the meeting.
The meeting between Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the international envoy to Syria Kofi Annan on Monday began with the usual pleasantries. They were joined by the [Head of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria] General Robert Mood and Annan’s political advisor Martin Griffith.
The international envoy began by indicating that he had followed the recent media appearances by the Syrian president, from the German television to the Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper.
“It seems, Mr. President, that you are intensifying your media appearances in this period,” he remarked…..
….
Getting ready to leave, Annan asked his host, “How long do you think this crisis will continue?”
“As long as the […] regime funds it,” Assad replied. But Annan was not surprised by the answer. “Do you think they are behind all the funding?” he inquired.
“They are behind many things that happen in our region. They believe they will be able to lead the whole Arab world today and in the future,” Assad said.
The international envoy concluded by remarking, “But it seems to me that they lack the population needed for such an ambition.” This made everyone laugh.
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RT
In search of peace: Annan arrives in Iran from Damascus
http://www.rt.com/news/annan-damascus-talks-iran-740/
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Syrian opposition & Co – Freedom fighters or unrestrained criminals?
Prominent western politicians have been advocating the interests of the Syrian opposition since the onset of the conflict, brushing aside the arguments of the Syrian government.
US intelligence operatives and diplomats have reportedly established contacts with Syrian rebels to help organize their ramped up military operations against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
The CIA and the State Department have both been helping the Free Syrian Army develop logistical routes for moving supplies into Syria from Turkey and providing communication equipment, senior US officials have revealed.
Meanwhile, Turkey has reportedly been hosting units of the Free Syrian Army, providing material and technical support.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar for their part have admitted to paying salaries to the Syrian rebels for several months now.
And the desecration of Christian churches in Syria some two weeks ago was also linked to Western-backed rebels….
Syrian Opposition Spokesperson: Any Transition Deal Should Entail Assad’s Prosecution for War Crimes
Rafif Jouejati, the English-language spokesperson for the Syrian Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists throughout the country. She’s based in the Washington, D.C., area.
Editor: Note Rafif Jouejati’s response to the following question:
Amy Goodman, “Where do you see President Assad going and his family?” Jouejati, “I would like to think that we will proceed with full prosecution at the International Criminal Court. I think the longer this issue goes on and the more violence he commits, the more likely he will wish to have a fate such as Gaddafi’s”.
What can she mean? Is it the ethos of the American Wild West which is determining the discourse on Syria in the U.S.?
The Wild West and the American Psyche, by Clarence Henderson
Moral simplicity: On the frontier you don’t waste time in existential debates about right and wrong.
Alakhbar English
Syrian General Manaf Tlass: Neither Here Nor There
BBC NEWS MIDDLE EAST 9 JULY 2012
Annan holds ‘constructive’ talks with Syria’s Assad
UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, has said he has held “very candid and constructive” talks with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
He told reporters they had “agreed an approach” to end the violence, and he would share this with rebel groups.
The former UN secretary-general later arrived in Iran to discuss the crisis with leaders there.
On Saturday, Mr Annan admitted his plan to find a political solution to the escalating violence had not succeeded.
A ceasefire was supposed to begin in mid-April as part of his six-point peace initiative.
‘Bloody bandits and Western lies: What’s really going on in Syria’
Everything you’ve heard about Syria is a lie says Ankhar Kochneva, a Russian journalist who has seen first hand the realities of the Syrian civil war. Kochneva told RT she has proof a Western invasion of Syria will be launched by summer’s end.
We can’t win media war with West but it’s not battle that counts – Assad
The media war with the West was lost the day the Syrian uprising began, President Assad told a Russian broadcaster. The authorities appear ready to start another round by showing to the world the foreign mercenaries captured in Syria.
A number of key questions have arisen since Assad gave his last interview over half a year ago. Assad answered them all in a new interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel.
Russia and Iran must participate in Syria solution – Annan
Published: 08 July, 2012
Annan emphasized that western criticism of Russia and China was senseless “competition”, impeding a process which cannot move forward without international consensus. Annan clearly implied that there was “no alternative” to proceeding without Russia.
“The Russians, like many other countries implicated in this matter, have interests in Syria and the region. Once we agree in principle that there are also common interests, medium and long term, the question becomes: how can we protect these interests?” Annan stated.
Annan also alluded to governments around the world holding olive branches with one hand at the diplomacy table, but handing out aid and weapons to various sides in the Syrian conflict with the other.
“Little is known about other countries sending arms, money being spent, and the situation on the ground,” Annan said.“All these countries claim to want a peaceful solution, but they take individual and collective initiatives that undermine the resolutions of the Security Council.”
Washington has criticized Russia for selling arms to Assad, taking particular issue with a shipment of refurbished assault helicopters that was set to be delivered to Syria in June. The US, on the other hand, has continued to provide monetary “non-lethal aid” to rebels, which critics say is being used to buy weapons and arm the insurgency.
“Shouldn’t the countries [involved] find ways to work together to ensure that Syria does not rip itself apart, not spread problems to its neighbors, and to avoid a situation that creates instability in the region and for the world? Or will these countries continue on the path on which they have embarked, leading to a destructive competition in which everyone will eventually lose?” Annan asked.
“More than anything, we must think of the suffering of the Syrians and people of the region. I hope that reason will prevail, at least in regards to the defense of the interests of the concerned states. In this case, it is in the interest of Russia as well as other countries find a way to work together.”
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Military intervention in Syria would be disastrous for its people
Syrians opposed to intervention are ignored by a de facto alliance against the ‘Shia crescent’ between the US, Saudi Arabia, Israel and al-Qaida
by Sami Ramadani
Sami Ramadani is a senior lecturer in sociology at London Metropolitan University and was a political refugee from Saddam’s regime
The Guardian 3 July 2012
……..But what goes unreported in relation to Syria is that democratic opposition organisations, at the receiving end of decades of regime repression and probably representing the will of majority of Syrians, strongly opposed the militarisation of the protests. They argued that militarisation weakened the growing mass movement for radical democratic change, left the door wide open for foreign intervention, threatened the social fabric of Syrian society and helped Israeli forces occupying the Syrian Golan Heights, where Israeli tanks are an hour’s drive away from Damascus. They also draw lessons from the destruction of Iraq and the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who fled Iraq’s fires to Syria after the US-led invasion.
However, the media here and in the Arab world, especially the influential al-Jazeera TV, owned by the Qatari ruling family, act as the cheerleaders for the pro-intervention factions of the SNC and the FSA, founded in and logistically backed by Nato member Turkey.
All this sadly reminds me of the drums of the Iraq war and the media circulation of made-up stories peddled by Blair, Bush and pro-intervention Iraqi factions, while the anti-Saddam but anti-war Iraqiswere marginalised.
There was the WMD big lie of course. But also the lies that Iraqi soldiers tossed away babies from their incubators, and that Saddam usedpeople-shredding machines. Murdoch’s Sun newspaper editor boasted: “Public opinion swung behind Tony Blair as voters learned how Saddam fed dissidents feet first into industrial shredders”.
Those who want Nato to “humanely” intervene say that Syria is not Iraq. They are right, Syria will be much worse. They need to tell us what will happen to Syria’s 25 minority ethnic and religious groups, including the 10% Christians and 10% Alawites, if some of the Saudi-Qatari-backed bloodcurdling clerics come to power? Or to millions of Syrian women, who have immeasurably more rights than in absolutist Saudi Arabia? Or to the Iraqi refugees still in Syria?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/03/military-intervention-syria-disastrous-people
Another highly recommended piece by Sami Ramadani is one from 2007 about media complicity in the Iraq war. It informs about the current situation in Syria and Iraq, as well.
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Everything They’re Telling Us About Syria….is False?
Friday, we read in the New York Times and elsewhere about one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s most important supporters and allies having defected. The impression one gets is that Assad’s government is in a state of collapse— and this gives credibility to those pushing for Assad to turn over power.
But what the media are not mentioning is that Brigadier General Manaf Tlass did not defect directly from the Assad inner circle. He had already fallen into disfavor early in the uprising and lost his command in May 2011—14 months ago. If you had that additional piece of information, you would interpret the news reports in a totally different way.
When a piece of evidence that contradicts the overall impression is absent from the reportage, the reportage itself is almost worthless……
Read more: http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/07/08/everything-theyre-telling-us-about-syria-is-false/#ixzz208DgeGn2
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…in the interview, the 46-year-old Assad who has ruled Syria since taking over from his father in 2000, accused the U.S. of fueling the uprising, saying that Washington ultimately bears responsibility for the deaths of innocent civilians in the Middle Eastern nation.
The U.S. is partnering with those “terrorists … with weapons, money or public and political support at the United Nations,” Mr Assad said.
“They offer the umbrella and political support to those gangs to … destabilize Syria.”
Mr Assad rejected responsibility of his security forces for the violence, claiming that “supporters of the government, the victims from the security and the army” far outnumber those among civilians.
Instead, he told ARD that an opposition made up of terrorists, gangs, “a mixture, an amalgam of Al Qaida (and) other extremists” is responsible for the violence….
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Kofi Annan attacks Russia and west’s ‘destructive competition’ over Syria
UN envoy calls for end to mutual recriminations and answers critics of his cautious approach in exclusive Guardian interview
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/06/kofi-annan-syria-destructive-competition
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2012-07-10
ASIA/SYRIA – Towards Reconciliation: more than 300 fighters ready to surrender in Homs
Homs (Agenzia Fides) – More than 300 fighters in the various armed factions of the Syrian opposition in Homs have agreed to surrender, to come under the protection of the interfaith People’s Committee “Mussalaha” and continue an “unarmed political opposition.” This is the result of a historic agreement promoted by the movement “Mussalaha” (“Reconciliation”), born spontaneously from Syrian civil society, which is gaining the confidence of all the warring parties, families, clans, communities, sectors of the government and armed opposition. The more than 300 armed are mostly young people who are barricaded in several streets in the old town of Homs such as Khalidiye, Jouret al shiyah, Qarabis, Hamidiyah, Bustan Diwan and surrounding areas, still besieged by the forces of the Syrian army. Overall, it is estimated that the armed fighters in that area of the old city are more than 1,000.
The Committee of “Mussalaha” in Homs, which includes the Syrian Catholic priest Fr. Michel Naaman, and other Muslim religious leaders and several civil society leaders and community representatives, after a lengthy mediation effort, managed to achieve something unthinkable until yesterday. “The 300 young people ready to lay down arms are young teenagers who had decided to fight, due to the spirit and ideals of the revolution. Among them are relatives, children, friends, people that are part of Mussalaha and this has greatly facilitated dialogue and agreement. They are the children of the Syrian people,” the priest of Homs told Fides. ….
http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=31895&lan=eng
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President al-Assad to Cumhuriyet Newspaper: Base of Syrian-Turkish Relations is the Relation between the two Peoples
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Syria should not be isolated from the rest of the world and from history. Occasionally it is important for there to be reminders of events elsewhere in the world to put what is happening in Syria into a broader context.
For example…..
U.S. Helicopter Strike Blasts an Afghan Man to Pieces… As The Pilot Sings ‘Bye, Bye Miss American Pie’ By Daniel Bates
July 06, 2012 —- It is the horrific moment an Afghan man is blown apart by a US missile.
But in a moment of twisted inspiration an American helicopter pilot decided to give it a impromptu soundtrack – by singing ‘Bye, bye Miss American pie.’
He belted out the most famous line of the Don McLean classic at the moment of impact when a fireball consumed at least one man.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31780.htm#.T_joPcJ7ep0.email
“The [Israeli army] is preparing seriously and professionally for another Lebanon war. The response will need to be sharper, harder, and in some ways very violent,” said Brigadier-General Hertzi Halevy in comments published Thursday by Haaretz newspaper.
Should another war erupt, Israel will “strike with full force,” Halevy was quoted as saying by YNet, adding that attacking civilian bases would be necessary because that was where Hezbollah placed its bases.
“We will have to go inside [Lebanon] and wreak havoc – not as punishment, but because that is where the enemy is,” he was quoted as saying……..
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jul-07/179679-israel-plans-to-be-brutal-in-next-lebanon-war.ashx#ixzz20C2Ew2du
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
‘Thugs, Islamists & chaos’ – welcome to New Libya?
Published on Jul 9, 2012 by RussiaToday
After a national election marred by violence and boycotts, vote counting is now underway in Libya. The election marks the beginning of a new, weak Libya, political analyst Richard Spencer told RT. Official results for the historic parliamentary election are not expected to be released for about a week, but the country’s liberal Islamic coalition has already claimed an overall lead, contradicting predictions that hardline Islamist parties would sweep the poll.
Bombing Cambodia – Nixon, Kissinger, and the Khmer Rouge
“The intent of U.S. [Unconventional Warfare] UW efforts is to exploit a hostile power’s political, military, economic, and psychological vulnerabilities by developing and sustaining resistance forces to accomplish U.S. strategic objectives…For the foreseeable future, U.S. forces will predominantly engage in irregular warfare (IW) operations.”
So begins the 2010 Unconventional Warfare (UW) Manual of the US Military’s Special Forces. The manual attached here (TC 18-01) is an interim publication, developed to address the definition of Unconventional Warfare and some other inconsistencies in UW Doctrine. The new UW document (ATP 3-05.1) is in the initial draft and not yet available, though sources tell me it is unlikely to differ much from TC 18-01.
But most of us have not had the pleasure of leafing through this truly revelatory blueprint that shows how America wages its dirty wars. These are the secret wars that have neither been approved by Congress, nor by the inhabitants of nations whose lives – if not bodies – are mauled by the directives on these pages.
A quote from President John F. Kennedy in 1962 opens the document. These few lines illustrate a core Washington belief that US forces have the right to destabilize, infiltrate, assassinate, subvert – all in service of questionable foreign policy objectives, with no evident consideration of a sovereign state’s preparedness or desire for change:
There is another type of warfare—new in its intensity, ancient in its origin—war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins; war by ambush instead of by combat, by infiltration instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him. It preys on unrest.
Target: Middle East
The Bush Doctrine paved the way for the mainstreaming of unconventional warfare by establishing the principle of pre-emptive actions against a state that may one day pose a threat to American interests. It didn’t offer any specific criteria to gauge those threats, nor did it attempt to explain why anyone outside the United States should be held accountable for US “interests” – be they commercial, security or political.
The doctrine went largely unchallenged, and has been played out with disastrous results throughout the Middle East in the past decade. The prime targets of UW have traditionally been nations and groups that oppose US primacy in the region – mainly the Resistance Axis consisting of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas – but UW has been carried out to some degree in virtually any nation where this Axis carries some influence.
Wikileaks Syria Emails – NATO’s Final Media Card
Wikileaks Syria Files have been introduced on this page below. However, more responses and relevations will appear over coming weeks and months, so some of those will be presented as they are brought to the editor’s attention.
The link below is to a response from “Syria Girl”.
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IF THE US LOSES SYRIA, THE US LOSES ITS EMPIRE
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31781.htm#.T_djIC8XU5Q.email
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6 July 2012 A protest letter to Amnesty regarding its double standards and an official response from Amnesty International
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/emersberger060712.html
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Syria Debate: “Should there be military intervention in Syria” Melbourne June 14 2012. Participants include Arthur Dent (formerly Albert Langer), two members of Australians for Syria, a member of the Syrian opposition in Australia, and a Melbourne University philosophy teacher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0CknF9II1U&feature=youtu.be
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On 6 July, the UN issued another report on the crisis in Syria. It is interesting for what it fails to mention. For example, the arming of fighters in Syria by Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the use of Turkey as a base; the training of fighters by the CIA; the recent massacres – investigative reports point to anti-government fighters being responsible; the expulsion of over 50,000 Christian Syrians from Homs by Islamist militia; the use of children as human shields by the anti-government fighters (ref: BBC report of Navi Pillay’s press conference)
http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-syria UN Syria Report
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=42409&Cr=Syria&Cr1=
There was a link given on this page earlier to the press conference with Navi Pillay on 2 July. That link no longer seems to take you to the press conference. This is unfortunate as Pillay presented some contradictions in regard to Syria. There is the BBC report of one or two comments she made only:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18684351
A short excerpt of Pillay’s presentation to press on 2 July. (It doesn’t capture the point she made about children being used as human shields by anti-government rebels).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A6J6pMkyjQ&feature=youtu.be
There is a suggestion by a UN reporter in NY that Navi Pillay gets most of her information from the newspaper.
http://www.innercitypress.com/pillay1syrsudpal062812.html
For more on Navi Pillay and Syria, see link below to a March 2012 Al-Jazeera interview with her.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2012/03/201232144352254346.html
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CHILDREN
A link to a video of a child brigade formed to defend ‘freedom’ in Syria. (Not clear if they are holding real or toy guns.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXuI00fzizU&feature=related
A reference to a young boy led away to join the Syrian Free Army.
http://syria-tribune.com/e/index.php/eye-on-the-media/18-daily-mail-child-soldier
Public Relations companies have been hired to promote war before today. Could this be the work of one? It is a fairly slick but simple video of a “Syrian Boy” calling for “Freedom” . The boy presents the story of the killing of his brother and the returning of the body in a bag to the family. Many Syrian Australians have been telling these stories for a year or more, but they point the finger to Islamist militias or ‘terrorists’ for such killings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOM3VTc4_sY
The above video clip may have been inspired by the one below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkNn3Ei-Lg Jonah Mowry “Whats going on…” (nearly 10 mill hits)
An interview with the mother of Sari Saoud, the young boy killed by armed men in Homs in November 2011, has already featured on this blog. It points to the targeting of children in Syria for propaganda purposes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDUF72f0w2s
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Kofi Annan was interviewed by Le Monde on Saturday 7 July about Syria. It is one week since the meeting in Geneva and just a few days since the ‘Friends of Syria’ meeting in Paris, which Kofi Annan did not attend. It is interesting to read in reports from different sources how much of the interview is quoted directly, what is quoted and what other material is chosen to pad the quotes and determine the line of the article.
The Sydney Morning Herald presented an article from The Guardian.
INTERNATIONAL divisions over Syria have been laid bare as Kofi Annan issued a blunt warning that world powers must end their ”destructive competition” over the future of the Assad regime even as Hillary Clinton demanded that Russia and China support the Syrian people.
Mrs Clinton, the US Secretary of State, used a conference of the Friends of Syria group in Paris to demand that Russia and China join the three Western members of the UN Security Council to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over a conflict that has left 15,000 dead and is inflaming the wider region.
But Mr Annan, the UN envoy to Syria who conspicuously stayed at his Geneva headquarters and sent two deputies to Paris, said the bickering had to stop.
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST (editing on this section to be completed soon):
http://www.infowars.com/shocking-videos-reveal-truth-behind-syrian-freedom-fighters/ Info Wars: Shocking videos reveal truth behind Syrian Freedom fighters
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/sandbox/homs-opposition-al-farouq-battalion-killing-us Homs Al-Farouq Battalion
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all NYT CIA steering arms into Syria via Turkey.
http://counterpsyops.com/2012/07/07/wikileaks-syrian-files-obtained-by-flame-to-set-up-assad/ Critique of Wikileaks release of the Syria Files, with the press conference of their release.
http://www.rt.com/news/fsa-boycott-opposition-talks-syria-204/ FSA boycotts Cairo
http://www.rt.com/news/clinton-russia-china-syria-569/ Clinton says in Paris that Russia and China must pay a price
http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/majority-of-people-in-turkey.html Majority of people in Turkey oppose government’s stand on Syria.
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A critical examination of the media response in the UK to the Houla massacre as well as to the UN Report released on Friday 29 June 2012.
MEDIA LENS 5 JULY 2012
Houla Massacre Update – The UN Report
By: David Edwards
In two alerts on May 31 and June 13, we noted how the UK corporate media system instantly found, not just the Syrian government, but its leader Bashar Assad, responsible for the May 25 massacre of 108 people, including 49 children, in Houla, Syria.
Numerous cartoons depicted Assad smeared with blood or bathing in blood. Just two days after the massacre, the Independent on Sunday’s front cover wanted to know what its readers were going to do about it:
‘There is, of course, supposed to be a ceasefire, which the brutal Assad regime simply ignores. And the international community? It just averts its gaze. Will you do the same? Or will the sickening fate of these innocent children make you very, very angry?’ (Independent on Sunday, May 27, 2012)
Quite what readers were supposed to do, other than gaze, was unclear. After all, one of the great triumphs of modern politics is the near-complete insulation of US-UK foreign policy against democratic pressures.
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Navi Pillay’s July 2 press conference at the UN is significant and should be examined together with other resources, particularly claims which have come from her office over many months. Are they consistent? Can they be trusted? Where is the support for them? Who contradicts them and what support do they have for their counter claims? Navi Pillay makes reference to the UN Report on Houla when questioned.
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Syria (2 July 2012) – Security Council Media Stakeout
2 Jul 2012 – Informal comments to the media by Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation in Syria.
BBC report on Navi Pillay’s 2 July press conference
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18683208
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Australian academic and writer, Dr Jeremy Salt’s 4 July article from EURASIA REVIEW; it first appeared in PALESTINE CHRONICLE
Straight Talking: The Syrian Cauldron –
4 July 2012, by Dr Jeremy Salt
Tension between Turkey and Syria along their border is edging closer to flashpoint. Last week a Turkish air force jet was shot down after violating Syrian air space. The Syrian government said the plane was hit while inside Syrian air space. Turkey says it had already left Syrian air space and was hit in international air space.
What the plane was doing inside Syrian air space is another matter. Turkey’s President, Abdullah Gul, said it had ‘strayed’ off course. Other accounts suggest that it was there to ‘light up’ Syria’s radar system or test its missile defences. Turkey immediately sent troops and armor to the border and invoked Article 4 of the NATO Charter, calling for consultation with its partners in the alliance. They immediately endorsed the Turkish version. Hillary Clinton called the shooting down of the plane ‘brazen’ while William Hague thought it was ‘outrageous’, words, one cannot help noting, that they have never used to describe the missile attacks by their armed forces that have killed civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya. Another ‘incident’ might lead to Turkey invoking Article 5, the common defence article of the NATO Charter, which regards an attack on one member as an attack on all. War between Syria and Turkey would be then become war between Syria and all NATO members, leading in turn to confrontation between the NATO/Gulf state bloc on one hand and Russia, China, Iran and their allies on the other…..
http://www.eurasiareview.com/04072012-straight-talking-the-syrian-cauldron-oped/
Report: Senior Assad general defects
Published Thursday, July 5, 2012
A friend of President Bashar al-Assad and a brigadier in his Republican Guard, was reported on Wednesday to have fled to Turkey.
If Manaf Tlas, whose father Mustapha was defense minister under Assad’s father for 30 years, were confirmed to have defected it would be the most high-profile defection from the inner circle of the Syrian leadership.
Several sources among the Syrian rebels told Reuters he had quit Damascus and a news website close to Assad’s security services quoted a Syrian official saying Tlas was now in Turkey.
The Syriasteps website, which quoted a “high-level security source” confirming his flight, also quoted a security official playing it down: “His desertion means nothing,” he said. “If Syrian intelligence had wanted to arrest him it would have.”
But a source in the exiled opposition to Assad, who said a relative of Tlas had confirmed his defection to him, said: “It’s a very important defection. His brigade is very attached to their general, so we can say the true defection has started.”
That source said Tlas had fled Damascus on Tuesday and was in Turkey en route for Paris, where Western and Middle Eastern sponsors of the rebel cause are meeting as the “Friends of Syria” on Friday. The French capital is also the home of Tlas’s sister, widow of a billionaire Saudi arms dealer.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/report-senior-assad-general-defects
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WikiLeaks publishing Syria emails as Ecuador says Assange charges ‘hilarious’
- AAP
- From: AAP
- July 06, 2012 7:39AM
- UPDATE: WIKILEAKS has begun publishing more than two million emails from Syrian political figures as Ecuador declares charges against founder Julian Assange to be “hilarious”.
WikiLeaks says it is publishing emails from Syrian political figures dating back to 2006 but also covering the period of the crackdown on dissent by Syria’s regime.
“Just now … WikiLeaks began publishing the Syria files, more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies dating from August 2006 to March 2012,” said spokeswoman Sarah Harrison.
The latest disclosures could illuminate the workings of the Syrian regime and its interactions with allies in the run-up to and during the 16-month conflict, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says has claimed more than 16,500 lives.
The first wave of emails released claimed Italian defence giant Finmeccanica continued to supply support for communications equipment to the Syrian regime after the unrest began in March last year…
…WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a written statement: “The material is embarrassing to Syria but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s external opponents.
“It helps us not merely to criticise one group or another but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it.”
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WikiLeaks begins releasing millions of documents, emails linked to Syria regime
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says in statement that the released data ‘is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s opponents.’
By Haaretz
July 05, 2012 “Haaretz” — The WikiLeaks website began publishing what it said was millions of documents linked to the inner workings of the Syria regime on Thursday, amid continued sectarian violence that has torn the country apart for over a year.
According to a statement released by WikiLeaks, the more than 2.4 million files are derived “from 680 Syria-related entities or domain names, including those of the Ministries of Presidential Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information, Transport and Culture.”
WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange said in the statement that the released “is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria’s opponents.”
“It helps us not merely to criticize one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it,” Assange added.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31761.htm#.T_ZyfnVS0JI.email
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LAND DESTROYER
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011
Wikileaks’ Assange: Defying Common Sense
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2011/02/wikileaks-assange-defying-commonsense.html
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JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS, SYRIA PAPERS, AND GEOFFREY ROBERTSON
Editor: Over many months, high-profile Australian UK based lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson has supported Julian Assange in his court appearances as well as in the media. The political views of Geoffrey Robertson in regard to Syria and Iran are well-known as he is not shy to write and speak on both subjects. Do they influence Julian Assange?
The GUARDIAN
War crimes: Charles Taylor now, Bashar al-Assad next 30 May 2012
Geoffrey Robertson
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Justice has a momentum, and as Liberia’s ex-leader is jailed, he’s certain to be followed by other despots
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/30/war-crimes-taylor-now-assad-next
Britain must end its sordid treatment of the Chagossian people now
by Geoffrey Robertson 8 June 2012
That the US could use the Chagos Islands to bomb Iran is another good reason why the UK must restore them to Mauritius
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jun/08/britain-end-sordid-treatment-chagossian-people
On Australian television, George Negus interviewed Geoffrey Robertson about Syria on 27 April 2011. NB: Geoffrey Robertson claims that pictures posted on Youtube by ‘activists’ are sufficient evidence….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZdy-kYOIQ0
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A critical response to Wikileaks’ release of the Syria Papers.
nsnbc – no spin news English
When “Wiki Leaks”. Assange Syria Papers: Cover-Up of the Continued Illegal War on Syria
Dr Christop Lehmann questions Julian Assange’s motives for publishing the Syrian Papers and wonders if there is a link between Julian Assange and George Soros.
…. A young US American soldier, Private Bradley Manning is getting a hold on the video and sends it to WikiLeaks. Wikileaks published the video, and if WikiLeaks was what it is claiming to be, there would have been two things that would have been very much different from how the related events transpired.
For one, private Bradley manning would most probably not have been arrested. For the other, if rather than directing all media attention on WikiLeaks, on the discussion whether private Manning is a hero or a traitor, attention would have been directed where it should have been, it is most likely that journalists world wide would have focused on having the shooter as well as the commanding officer sentenced for war crimes. But that is not so, and it is not so because WikiLeaks either has been established as a Western Intelligence Hang-Out-Function, or it has been co-opted and is being used as such….
For more articles by Dr Lehmann, go to http://nsnbc.wordpress.com or http://www.4thmedia.org/category/christof-lehmann/
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THE MEDIA WAR
Who killed Father Bassil Nassar?
Comment by Alan Lonegan on ABC Late Night Live page which refers to the killing of Father Nassar:
Ever since the killing on January 25th last of Fr. Basil Nassar I have been concerned at the way in which the crises in Syria has been reported. Gunned down in the street while helping a dying parishioner. CNN said he was the victim of the Government’s armed forces but his own Church confirmed that he died at the hands of armed terrorists. Following this I encountered the tragic story (as so many stories are on all sides) of the young Christian boy Sari Saoud, filmed by the “Free” Syrian Army as he lay dying in his mother’s arms and quickly uploaded to the Al Jazeera and Al Arabia the child death was reported as a victim of the regime. In interviews after the event the mother, aunt and uncle of the boy confirm he was killed by a rebel sniper and that if the army had been present her child would still be alive. I have long wondered how many more misreported deaths have occurred. Video of Sari’s story as told by his mother is here with subtitles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuWsV79Uok
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/mother-agnes-mariam/4105266#comments
A report on the killing of Father Nassar on a blog:
http://saintjamesprayforme.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/new-martyr-basil-nassar/
One report of Father Nassar’s death.
Syrian TV news of Father Bassel’s funeral (in Arabic) with interviews of people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9JSTA7_ATo
Young boys at a rally in Melbourne organised by people opposed to the Syrian government wear the head-dress of rebel fighters and carry the photo of Father Basil Nassar. Presumably they want passers-by to assume anti-government ‘rebels’ killed him. (Picture from Facebook page of local Melbourne opposition activist)
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WEEKEND EDITION JUN 29-JUL 01, 2012
“A Cowardly Escape From the Problems of Peace”
Syria Through the Looking Glass
by RON JACOBS
When wading into the ever muddied waters of the West’s never ending war against the people and states of the Middle East, it is useful to have some kind of mechanism if one is trying to find a bit of clarity. The mechanism I prefer is that of history. While not infallible, the fact of its existence tends to create a template of events that ultimately provides a sequence of events that, while often different, provide a context that makes sense out of what might otherwise seem to be random occurrences without connection. When examining the history of imperial relations, the context is most often the ongoing attempts of the powerful nations to subjugate others.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/29/syria-through-the-looking-glass/
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Syria: President Assad is ready for the change
BY
– JUNE 30, 2012 – POSTED IN: SIDEVIEWS
Interview with the German Middle East expert Günter Meyer about the situation in Syria.
Question: Do you think that an internal political solution is possible under the prevailing circumstances?
Mr. Meyer: After all, parliamentary elections, in which the people had for the first time the choice between several parties, have taken place in May. Although this information can not verify with certainty, they document, however, that there is still a relatively strong support for Assad’s reforms, especially in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo.
Question: The elections and the new government, that was set up by Assad on Tuesday are more than just pro forma reforms?
Mr. Meyer: In the election, various opposition groups were chosen, which have criticized the regime for years, and whose exponents were also in prison. Some of them have now received ministerial posts. I see this as a sign that Assad is ready to some political change. The fact that the radical opposition does not accept this, and that the Western media barely reports about this, is significant.
http://www.syrianews.cc/syria-president-assad-is-ready-for-the-change/
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‘Saudi Arabia fueling unrest in Syria’
Press TV Tues 3 July 2012
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay says the flow of arms into Syria is “fueling the violence” in the Arab country, calling for an end to the militarization of the ongoing conflict.
Pillay did not specify where the arms are coming from, but UN diplomats believe that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been supplying weapons to the armed Syrian rebels.
The UN official claimed that the situation in Syria is “a non-international internal armed conflict,” the legal term for a civil war, saying “there is a risk of escalation.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/03/249203/saudi-arabia-fueling-unrest-syria-abroad/
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Paul-Craig Roberts, like US Congressman Ron Paul, is very critical of the US policy on Syria. (view his blog)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Craig_Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts (born April 3, 1939) is an American economist and a columnist for Creators Syndicate. He served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration earning fame as a co-founder of Reaganomics.[1] He is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Scripps Howard News Service who has testified before congressional committees on 30 occasions on issues of economic policy.
Roberts is a critic of Israel, calling Gaza “the world’s largest concentration camp” populated by people who were “driven out of Palestine so that Israel could steal their land.” Roberts has been a critic of both Democratic and Republican administrations. Although Roberts praised Ronald Reagan, he has compared supporters of George W. Bush to “brownshirts with the same low intelligence and morals as Hitler’s enthusiastic supporters.” He has opposed the War on Drugs and the War on Terror stating it has “made widows and orphans of millions of Muslims”. He believes the official explanation for the events on 9/11 is a “scientific impossibility”.
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Wall Street Journal
Doubts Cast on Turkey’s Story of Jet
U.S. Intelligence, Contradicting Ankara, Indicates Aircraft Was Shot Down by Syria in Its Own Airspace, Officials Say
By JULIAN E. BARNES, ADAM ENTOUS and JOE PARKINSON
U.S. intelligence indicates that a Turkish warplane shot down by Syrian forces was most likely hit by shore-based antiaircraft guns while it was inside Syrian airspace, American officials said, a finding in tune with Syria’s account and at odds with Turkey.
The Turkish government, which moved tanks to the Syrian border after the June 22 incident, says the debris fell in Syrian waters, but maintains its fighter was shot down without warning in international airspace. Ankara also has said the jet was hit too far from Syrian territory to have been engaged by an antiaircraft gun.
Damascus has said it shot down the plane with an antiaircraft battery with an effective range of about 1.5 miles.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304830704577497081567553846.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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How the Corporate Media is Snookering You on Syria
By Russ Baker
July 01, 2012 “WhoWhatWhy” — For those versed in the black arts of propaganda, the hijacking of Arab Spring must be a beauteous thing to behold.
First came evidently spontaneous uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Then some up-and-comer in Washington or London or Paris had a brainstorm, a new twist on a very old idea: if you can’t beat em, join em. Or even better, co-opt them, and use them for your own purposes.
The old way of getting rid of “inconvenient” leaders was so 20th-century—in the case of Saddam Hussein, a monstrous lie followed by a massive bloodletting on both sides. Tahrir Square suggested how to bring down a regime in a manner far less costly and far more palatable to the public: lots of medium-sized and little lies, war through Twitter, war through expendable proxies. Provide financial incentives to key figures to publicly renounce the old leadership, create a steady stream of heart-rending moments and photos and allegations, generate endless “human rights violations” by baiting the government into a military response, then very publicly petition international bodies for redress of humanitarian concerns.
Muammar Qaddafi, a fiercely independent, quasi-socialistic African transnationalist, was the guinea pig. A brilliant disinformation campaign isolated him, authentic domestic grievances were encouraged, and a whole war was conducted on behalf of the West with nary a Western soldier putting boots to ground…….
Russ Baker. For more than two decades I have been an investigative journalist, doing what I believe journalists are supposed to do – provide information crucial to a well-informed citizenry in democracy. Over the years, however, I have noted a growing gap between what I have uncovered and what I see reported elsewhere. I have become exasperated with what I do not hear, the questions never asked and the stories never told. whowhatwhy.com
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31745.htm#.T_KPZ_FWRU0.email
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Does Israel Really Fear Jihad Terrorism from a Post-Assad Syria?
By Maidhc Ó Cathail
June 29, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — According to an article yesterday in Ynet, the Israeli military fears that “global Jihad terrorists will launch attacks from Syria” if President Bashar Assad’s regime falls. The Israeli newspaper reported:
Army officials are not ruling [sic] a situation whereby terrorists will take advantage of the chaos that may follow a regime change in Damascus to seize control of the border region, as was the case in the Sinai Peninsula after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown.
Over the past few months the 36th Armored Division (Ga’ash), which is in charge of security along the border, has been gearing for a number of possible scenarios, including a cross-border attack by global jihad, which is operating in Syria against Assad’s regime.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31727.htm#.T_KC178WWUg.email
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NATO Proxies Turkey and Saudi Arabia Move to War Footing on Eve of Syrian ‘Peace Summit’
By Finian Cunningham
June 29, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — The NATO-backed covert aggression against Syria could be reaching a tipping point for all-out war involving state forces. That should be no surprise. For the past 16 months, NATO and its regional proxies have been steadily increasing the violence and turmoil inside and outside Syria, while the Western corporate-controlled media maintain the ridiculous fiction that the bloody chaos is largely due to the government forces of President Bashar Al Assad cracking down on “peaceful protesters”.
Ironically, the crisis is culminating at the same time that the United Nations convenes an emergency summit on Syria in Geneva this weekend. The meeting, which is ostensibly aimed at “reviving the Kofi Annan peace plan”, will be attended by the five permanent members of the UN security council and other “invited” regional states. The irony is that leading NATO members, the US, Britain and France, as well as their Turkish and Arab allies who will also be attending the crisis conference, are the very parties that have deliberately created the precipice for all-out war in the Middle East.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31729.htm#.T_KB09sGVJc.email
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‘Israel: master of puppets in Syria unrest’
Published on Jul 2, 2012 by ravenise00
Israel is the “ultimate outside power” that is behind the Syrian crisis and foreign countries’ pushes to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, says an analyst.
The assertion comes as the foreign ministers of Russia, China, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq, as well as the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, the Arab League Secretary-General, Nabil El-Araby, and the secretary of state of the United States attended a meeting on the situation in Syria at the United Nations office in Geneva on Saturday.
Press TV has conducted an interview with political commentator Mark Dankof to further discuss the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPjdwhdEQt8
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45 minutes President Bashar Al-Assad interview with Barbara Walters from ABC News on 07-12-2011
The complete 45 minutes without Editing President Bashar Al-Assad interview with Barbara Walters from ABC News on 07-12-2011
The full interview, which was obfuscated to hide the reality of what the President Bashar
al-Assad talked with Barbara Walters ABC Channel broadcaster
NOW we present the FULL interview of President Bashar Al-Assad with Barbara Walters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8P6860vIiA
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PRESS TV
‘Assad trying hard to bring about peace’
Published on Jun 28, 2012 by FullNewsTV
Three staff members of the Al-Ikhbariya satellite television channel in Syria and four guards have been killed in a “terrorist attack” on the headquarters of the television in the capital Damascus. The official Syrian news agency, SANA, said the assailants also ransacked the offices of the television station in the attack that was carried out during the early hours of Wednesday.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Haitham Alsibahie, with the Syrian Social Club, to further discuss the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBtfWkMJ-ZU
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Crisis talks produce little hope for peace in Syria
http://www.smh.com.au/world/crisis-talks-produce-little-hope-for-peace-in-syria-20120701-21as7.html
WORLD powers have failed to reach a consensus on calling for the removal of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power, agreeing instead on a plan for a political transition with little chance of implementation.
The weekend meeting of nine nations in Geneva to try to end the bloodshed in Syria ended in a now-familiar division, with Russia and China blocking the rest from calling for Dr Assad’s ouster.
Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League mediator who convened the action group, tried to put the best possible spin on the agreement, which calls for the formation of a national unity government that would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections. The agreement, he said, provided ”a perspective for the future that can be shared by all in Syria, a genuinely democratic and pluralistic state”.
But the plan appeared to lack support from either side in the conflict.
”The action group on Syria just gave Assad licence to kill for another year,” said Rafif Jouejati, a spokesman for the Local Co-ordination Committees, a Syrian opposition group.
A pro-government Baath Party analyst in Damascus, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Assad government had its own plan for political transition: the previously scheduled presidential elections in 2014. ”This is the only way to solve the country’s crisis,” he said. Syria is a one-party state and its elections are widely viewed as neither free nor fair.
The diplomatic developments were marked by another particularly bloody day in Syria, as by one estimate more than 100 people were killed, most of them civilians caught in shelling, and opposition activists posted videos of mass deaths online.
The worst took place at a funeral on Saturday for an opposition activist, Abdul Hadi al-Halabi, in the Damascus suburb of Zamalka. A car bomb exploded, killing 20 to 50 people, according to activists.
The plan agreed to in Geneva essentially repeated Dr Annan’s earlier six-point peace plan, which had collapsed after both sides ignored it, leading to the suspension of a UN monitoring mission on June 16.
The new plan demanded that all parties prepare for a democratic transition that could include opposition figures as well as current government officials chosen by ”mutual agreement”. It is unclear what the new agreement can offer any of the parties to persuade them to stop fighting, and it included no enforcement measures.
The action group, which included the five permanent Security Council members and four Middle Eastern countries, had considered excluding from the proposed unity government those ”whose participation would jeopardise stability and reconciliation,” understood to be a reference to Dr Assad. That language was dropped from the final agreement after Russia, Dr Assad’s strongest ally, objected.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the omission would make no difference in practice. ”Assad will still have to go,” she said.
”He will never pass the mutual-consent test given the blood on his hands.”
In return for these semantic concessions, she said, the US and its allies had ”made clear to Russia and China that it is absolutely incumbent on them to make clear to Assad that the writing is on the wall”.
”What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power.”
Russia, however, did not seem to see it that way. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was no requirement that Dr Assad step down.
”There is no attempt to impose any kind of a transition process,” he said.
NEW YORK TIMES
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30 Jun 2012 –
Final declaration read by Kofi Annan, the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on the Syrian Crisis following the meeting of the Action Group for Syria
William Hague UK Foreign Minister on behalf of the P5 member
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30 June 2012 UN Webcast in Geneva: Kofi Annan answers questions after meeting of Special Group on Syria
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30 June 2012 UN Webcast press conference; Sergey Lavrov reports on meeting of Special Group and answers questions. Draws attention to refusal of FSA to respect Annan Peace Plan.
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30 June 2012 UN Webcast press conference: Hillary Clinton reports on meeting of Special Group and answers questions.
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22 June 2012: UN Webcast press conference:
Briefing by the Joint Special Envoy for Syria and the head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria
22 Jun 2012 – Mr. Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League for Syria
Major-General Robert Mood, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria and Chief Military Observer
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Not all the articles or videos referenced on this post are from June 2012; however, they are all considered essential reading for an in-depth understanding of the current crisis in Syria. It is possible that some links which were on the May Reference List are repeated here. That may encourage readers to refer to the May page for more information.
The images on this page will include pictures of Syrians taken before the crisis so they may be acknowledged as a people with dignity, deserving as anyone of peace and the freedom to choose the destiny for their country themselves. Syrians will not be the victims of others.
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http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31712.htm#.T-q4ISyb67Y.email
By Jonathan Cook
Few can doubt that Syria is next on the West’s hit list. And this time, the script-writers in Washington seem to believe that the task of turning a functioning, if highly repressive, state into a basket case can be achieved without the West’s hand being visible at all. This time the white hat has been assigned to our allies, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, who, according to the latest reports, are stoking an incipient civil war not only by arming some among the rebels but also by preparing to pay them salaries too, in petro-dollars.
The importance to Western governments of developing more “complex” narratives about intervention has been driven by the need to weaken domestic opposition to continuing Middle East wars. The impression that these wars are being inspired and directed exclusively from “inside”, even if by a heterogeneous opposition whose composition remains murky to outsiders, adds a degree of extra legitimacy; and additionally, it suggests to Western publics that that the cost in treasure and casualties will not be born by us.
JUNE 27 2012
Syria and the Phantom
What was that Turkish F-4 Phantom II up to when the Syrians shot it down?
Ankara said the plane strayed into Syrian airspace, but quickly left and was over international waters when it was attacked, a simple case of carelessness on the part of the Turkish pilot that Syrian paranoia turned deadly.
But the Phantom—eyewitnesses told Turkish television that there were two aircraft, but there is no official confirmation of that observation—was hardly on a Sunday outing. According to the Financial Times, Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, told the newspaper “the jet was on a test and training mission focused on Turkey’s radar defense, rather than Syria.”
Translation: the F-4 was “lighting up” a radar net. It is a common—if dangerous and illegal—tactic that allows one to probe an opponent’s radar system. Most combat radar is kept in a passive mode to prevent a potential enemy from mapping out weaknesses or blind spots that can be useful in the advent of an attack. The probes also give you valuable information on how to neutralize anti-aircraft guns and ground to air missiles.
“Lighting up” radar was what the US Navy EP-3E Aries II was doing near China’s Hainan Island when it collided with a Chinese interceptor in 2001. Nations normally take a very dim view of warplanes entering their air space, particularly if there is tension between the countries involved….
Even if Syria identified the plane as a Phantom, they could have taken it for an Israeli craft. Israel was the number one foreign user of F-4s, although they retired them in 2004. Indeed, the Turkish Phantom might even have begun life as an Israeli warplane.
If the Syrians are on hair-trigger alert, one can hardly blame them. The US, the European Union (EU), and NATO openly admit they are gunning to bring down the Assad regime. Turkey is actively aiding the Free Syrian Army organize cross-border raids into Syria, and it is helping Saudi Arabia and Qatar….
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THE DAILY BEAST
SYRIA’S PROPAGANDA CLOUD: HOW THE WEST IS FALLING FOR MISINFORMATION
by Riad al-Khouri 22 JUNE 2012
Having just returned from Syria a few days ago, I can confirm that the situation on the ground there is very disturbing, though perhaps not in the way that many might assume. As it stands, the government remains in control over most of the country—including the economy—despite the best efforts of propagandists to say otherwise. Yet if the Syrian economy worsens, and if the crisis there comes to involve more and more groups—both inside and outside the country—there is a growing possibility that what started as a conflict between the Syrian government and a ragtag group of rebels will become a powder keg that could escalate into a regional war and possibly even an international confrontation………These days, unfortunately, this oversimplification is all that seems to make it into the newspapers or on the airwaves. The fatuity of 21st-century media and the blinkered ignorance of audiences, especially Western viewers and readers who are under the illusion that they are well-informed, mean that this circus of disinformation will likely continue. My message in this tawdry mess is for people in the West to be wary of propaganda (especially that coming out of their own countries), which is helping to escalate the Syrian crisis into this season’s geo-strategic summer blockbuster.
Riad al Khouri, a Jordanian political economist who lives and works in the Middle East, is a strategic adviser to the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
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Ammar Waqqaf is an independent Syrian political analyst based in England.
Q: Why do you think the western powers are so keen to see regime change in Syria?
A: Western powers would be fools not to exploit such an opportunity to turn a key regional player from an opposing side into an allied one. Achieving such a target would seriously upset the current balance in the Middle East and lead to the total isolation and subsequent fall of Iran. This would mean a long-term total grip on the region for these countries.
Such dominance is not only vital in securing long-term stability in the energy resources markets, but it is also important in beating competitor powers to such resources.
Q: Do you think that Syria needs political changes, and do you feel that such changes can occur under Ba’athist leadership?
A: I do believe that Syria needs significant political changes, or reforms so to speak. As for whether they can be achieved under the Ba’ath rule, I can assure you that many would prefer this happening under a progressive secular party than under an Islamic or ethnic one.
The Ba’ath party needs much reform itself, as well, and it is its ability to carry out such reform in a meaningful way that would determine whether people would eventually entrust it with the much-needed overhaul of the political system in Syria.
*********************************************************************************************************************************************http://www.rt.com/news/cia-officers-turkey-syria-378/“Revealed: CIA secretly operates on Syrian border, supplies arms to rebels” 21 June 2012American secret service operatives are distributing illegal assault rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers and other ammunition to Syrian opposition, the New York Times reports. But due to some rebels’ links to Al Qaeda, the CIA’s task is precarious.The paper reports that for weeks now, officers based in southeast Turkey have supervised the flow of illegal arms to numerous opposition factions ready to fight the regime of President Bashar Assad. The only problem is some of the rebel groups have links with terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, so the CIA mission must be careful not to arm proven terrorists by mistake.
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http://www.rt.com/news/syria-rebels-us-arms-028/
“Not ‘if’ but ‘when”: US intervention in Syria on countdown” 17 June 2012
“A delegation from Syrian opposition is reportedly in talks with US officials over the targets they want to attack to weaken the Syrian government and the arms they want America to provide to do it. A “Libya lite” operation in Syria may be imminent.
The unnamed US official reportedly said that “the intervention will happen. It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.”
The delegation from the Syrian Free Army is meeting with US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford and the State Department’s expert on Syria, Fred Hof, according to a report by debkafile, an Israeli news website, which is considered to have strong ties with the intelligence community.
The Syrian rebels have brought with them two lists for American approval. One is that of targets in Syria they want to attack to hurt President Assad’s government. The second is a list of heavy weapons they need to carry out the attacks, which they want to get from the US, the report says.”
Any seizure would have been carried out by members of the Special Boat Service, SBS, the only military unit authorised to performing opposed embarkations at sea. The helicopters are believed to be the same ones that prompted US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recently to berate Russia for sending military hardware to Syria.”
Nossel was hired by AI in January 2012. In her early career, Nossel worked for Ambassador Richard Holbrooke under the Clinton Administration at the United Nations. Most recently, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Organizations at the U.S. Department of State, where she was responsible for multilateral human rights, humanitarian affairs, women’s issues, public diplomacy, press and congressional relations.
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“The Next Revolution: Islamists in Tunisia take their Jihad to Syria” by
DOMENICO QUIRICO 18 June 2012 ”
Yusef is set to leave for Syria to fight Bashir al-Assad’s unholy regime. Other young Tunisians have already joined the jihad, recruited in the city’s most radical mosques, and given a ticket to Turkey, along with directions on how to reach the army of rebels. “There are many other brothers: Egyptian, Libyan, Algerian,” says Yusef. Similar international Muslim brigades fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia.
Yusef doesn’t look at us as he lays out his life story: poverty, the school, petty crimes to survive — and finally the revolution.
He is one among many other “ street thugs” from the slums who have kept the revolution alive in the streets, under the blows and tear gas. When asked if he is scared of a war which, at the end of the day is not his own, the boy suddenly comes to life: “ You don’t know anything,” he says. “Fear, courage… My strength is not in weapons. It is inside. I am an instrument. Muslims had become dependent on the things that you gave and taught us. This is our rebirth. How can we be afraid of a tyrant’s army? Don’t you see that God is helping us? God moved the Americans’ minds. The Americans are helping, arming and funding us. They are an instrument of the holy cause.”
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http://wrongkindofgreen.org/2012/03/12/argentinian-journalist-stella-calloni-denounces-avaaz-latin-american-unions-follow-her-lead/“ARGENTINE JOURNALIST STELLA COLLONI DENOUNCES AVAAZ; LATIN AMERICAN UNIONS FOLLOW HER LEAD” March 12, 2012 “You lie. You know that hundreds of mercenaries have entered Syria, and special operations troops (the worst and dirtiest within the armies of United States, United Kingdom, France, Israel), and what they have in mind with this story about repression is to do the same as they did in Libya, first sending in these groups and mercenaries to create ‘focus’, so as to later say, when the government under attack defends itself, this it is attacking a rebellious people. You lie, as did Goebbles, who now looks small next to you. …..”
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http://carnegie-mec.org/publications/?fa=48503 “Saudi Arabia Reins in its Clerics on Syria”, Frederic Wehrey, 13 June 2012. “A column in the daily newspaper al-Jazirah obliquely condemns senior clerics who use their prestige and reputation to extract money from their constituents for uncertain purposes. It goes on to warn that “history will repeat itself,” citing parallels between the Syrian crisis and the Saudi experience in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Iraq. There, ostensibly charitable donations proved a slippery slope for the recruitment of Saudi youth to fight in these conflicts and also ended up in the hands of al-Qaeda militants who later attacked the Kingdom.” …On June 7, (the regime) followed up on its ban on donations with an edict from the Senior Ulema Council that expressly prohibited calls for jihad in Syria outside of official channels. A clerical member of the Supreme Judicial Council asserted that support to the Syrian people had to be “consistent with state policy” and that unauthorized calls for jihad were an “embarrassment to the state.”
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The Sykes-Picot agreement set new boundaries for many countries in the region, and began a period of direct control of the Middle East that the West has sought to perpetuate to the present.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US and Iraq’s former colonial master, the UK, NATO has been transparent in its desire to once again exercise direct control over the countries in the region. The few regimes that are opposed to NATO hegemony are being faced with a concerted effort by NATO and its regional backers to overthrow them.”
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This link is to a blog of Aussie ‘revolutionaries’
http://strangetimes.lastsuperpower.net/?page_id=2 Local Aussie ‘left’ blog includes contributions by Arthur Dent (formerly Albert Langer) and supports US intervention in the ME: “the war in Iraq: the left has always fought against fascism. We therefore supported the overthrow of the fascist Baath Party in Iraq. The United States currently has no choice but to drain the swamps and support the democratisation of the Middle East. We are glad about that!”
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West Desperately Attempts to Spin Syrian Crisis
SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2012
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/west-desperately-attempts-to-spin.html
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The Houla Hoaxsters
Another “Benghazi moment” – This Time in Syria
By Justin Raimondo June 4, 2012
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31502.htm#.T822VPqVjWI.email
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http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2012/salt140112.html Who Is Killing Whom in Syria? Interview with Jeremy Salt
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By MACKENZIE WEINGER 29 May
“Saudi Arabia is financially and politically backing the civilian opposition [in Syria], and Qatar has been widely reported to be funding and arming the jihad rebels who were leading this insurrection,” he said. “We can be absolutely sure that this is nothing to do with human rights when it comes to the West’s concern, and even more sure when it comes to the concern of Saudi Arabia. This is how preposterous the Western media coverage is, of this uprising.”
Bashar Ja’afari (Syria) on Syria – Security Council Media Stakeout
May 31 UN officials acknowledge armed gangs’ role in Syria unrest
UN Webcast 30 May Bashar Jaafari Jaafari presents some of the results of the preliminary investigation into the Houla massacre.
” In Syria, there is no Plan for Peace” Patrick Seale, ME expert and author
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/27/syria-no-plans-peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ha94Xz59dg&feature=player_embedded
Israeli views on Syriahttp://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/israels-perspective-on-syria/4045926
Earlier this year Israeli academic and journalist Jonathan Spyer was smuggled across the Turkish border into Syria. On horseback, with local help, he made his way to Idlib and spent a week with rebels from the Free Syrian Army. Two weeks after he returned home, the Syrian Army took the town. He speaks on the regional implications of the conflict in Syria.
Vitaly I. Churkin (Russian Federation) on Syria – Security Council Media Stakeout
Alexander A. Pankin (Russian Federation) on Syria – Security Council Media Stakeout
Note: ME experts you rarely hear in the Australian media include: Jeremy Salt, Alastair Crooke, Sharmine Narwani, and John R. Bradley. Fiona Hill has written several articles for The Drum, New Matilda, and The Conversation. There are references to their articles on these posts, but they can be accessed with a quick google.
Syrian rebels, getting top treatment in Turkey, eye quick homecoming (PHOTOS)
By Alastair Crooke
The UN Secretary General was reported on March 3 saying that he had received “grisly reports” that Syrian government forces were arbitrarily executing, imprisoning and torturing people in Homs after retaking control of the Baba Amr district from insurgents. Did he really believe this; or was he just “saying it”?
“One of the defining bifurcations of the future will be the conflict between information masters and information victims” the US officer assigned to the Deputy Chief of Staff (Intelligence), charged with defining the future of warfare, wrote in the US Army War College Quarterly in 1997.
Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group unknown before the Syrian revolt, released a video on Saturday claiming responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Damascus that killed 55 people.
The video said the bombings on Thursday, the deadliest since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime erupted in March 2011, were “in response to regime bombing of residential areas in Damascus, Idlib, Hama, Daraa provinces and others.”
Al-Nusra Front, which does not give a precise date for the attacks, says it has launched a “military operation in Damascus against the regime strongholds, targeting the Palestine branch of the security services.”
BBC Profile: Syria’s Al-Nusra Front
The al-Nusra Front has said it was behind Thursday’s bomb attacks in the Syrian capital, Damascus, the latest and deadliest since the uprising in the country began in March 2011. The BBC News website here profiles the shadowy jihadist group.
Intelligence Chief Concerned About Al Qaeda in Syria Conflict
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before Congress today that al Qaeda and Sunni extremists were seeking to gain influence in Syria, possibly infiltrating some of the fragmented opposition groups engaged in fighting there.
“Another disturbing phenomenon that we’ve seen recently, apparently, is the presence of extremists who have infiltrated the opposition groups,” Clapper told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“The two bombings in Damascus in December … and then the two additional bombings in Aleppo, both of which were targeted against security and intelligence buildings … had all the earmarks of an al Qaeda-like attack. So we believe that al Qaeda in Iraq is extending its reach into Syria.” Clapper said.
“The state of the opposition, which is quite fragmented, it’s very localized — the Syrian National Council really doesn’t … command and control these oppositionist groups,” Clapper said.
| DAILY STAR: Militants claim deadly Syria bombings in video12 May 2012 |
BEIRUT: A video posted online in the name of a shadowy militant group late Friday claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings in the Syrian capital this week that killed 55 people.
In the video, a group calling itself the Al-Nusra Front says the bombing was in response to attacks on residential areas by the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Crunch Time in Syria: The UN Protocol’s Jihadist Loophole
We have arrived at a determining moment in the Syrian crisis. The choices are startlingly simple:
1) Cautious, incremental movement toward political reconciliation and reform spearheaded by the Syrian government and closely monitored by Kofi Annan’s UN mission, Moscow, Tehran and Beijing.
2) Dangerous escalation of violence and militarization that will increasingly include foreign jihadists and is likely spill to over into the broader Middle East.
After only one week of observing events in Syria first-hand, United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) commander Major-General Robert Mood spelled out the dwindling options……….
The 600-pound gorilla in the room is the growing presence of Al-Qaeda and other jihadists operating inside the Syrian theatre.
Homs Opposition: Al Farouq Battalion is Killing Us
It is extremely rare to have a direct peephole into events on the ground in Syria. The hard-fought battle over narratives often leaves truth in the dust. But among the cache of recently leaked emails (exclusive to Al Akhbar) from Syrian National Council (SNC) President Burhan Ghalioun’s inbox, comes this gem – important information that further highlights the glaring loophole in UN Envoy Kofi Annan’s demilitarization plans for Syria: rogue fighters.
CONFIRMED: Opposition Extremists Behind Damascus Bombings
by Tony Cartalucci
Editor’s Note: The term “Sunni extremist” refers specifically to terrorists who have been approached by, manipulated, and used to carry out violence across the Arab World, as specified in Seymour Hersh’s 2007 article, “The Redirection.” It by no means indicates that Sunni Muslims as a sect are behind the violence – as many Sunnis have been targeted by the West’s terrorist proxy forces as well.
May 12, 2012 – Regarding the recent, devastating bombings in Damascus, Syria, an Associated Press report, “Syria opposition: Assad trying to destroy UN peace,” featured the “chief of Syria’s major opposition political group Syrian National Council,” Burhan Ghalioun, baselessly claiming “the relationship between the Syrian regime and al Qaeda is very strong.” Also included was the comments of a “Free Syrian Army” commander who claimed, “the Syrian regime wanted through these terrorist explosions to support its silly story of the presence of armed and terrorist gangs.”
….On 5/2/12, Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel-Karim, following a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, accused Gulf countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, of being behind the Syria-bound arms shipments.
“The ship was bound for the Syrian opposition; this is sure given that the political and security leaderships in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other countries are behind these acts, which undermine the security of Syria, Lebanon and the region.”
Many questions remain in need of answers. Any serious first year law student would ask the questions that presumably Lebanese investigating judges and the media will ask. A few of the more obvious ones would include:…..
Updates: April 30
This page presents links to videos and articles mostly published or noted in April 2012. However, for an understanding of what is occurring in Syria, there is excellent analyses on other pages of the blog which date back to almost the beginning of the crisis. Hard work is needed to understand the Middle East, especially now when there is a ‘propaganda and humanitarian war’ being waged against Syria and there is the ‘fog of war’.
Excerpts from articles will be presented. It is hoped that visitors to the blog will have the time to check out the complete article.
Note it may be necessary to copy and paste the link in order to access it.
On this page, there are more images of Syrians taken from Syrian satellite TV. Much discussion and debate is taking place in Syria in regard to how to move the country forward peacefully. It can be assumed the overwhelming majority of Syrians want a peaceful transition to democracy without the interference of outsiders. (Which is what any population would want, isn’t it?) Many of the people in the images are involved in the efforts to take the country forward.
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For an indication of the effects of terror on ordinary people in Syria, it is really necessary to see the faces and hear the voices of the people themselves. This can be done by going to Syrian TV. But below are links which indicate what Syrians are confronting.
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/116913
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOq-0ZGk1qk
Revolution Racketeers: Industrial terrorism in Syria
Russia – which is a major backer of Kofi Annan’s peace plan – has again criticized Syria’s government and its rebels for breaking the ceasefire. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow also accused some opposition fighters, who refuse to lay down arms, of resorting to outright terrorism. And, as Oksana Boyko discovered, those still at large have little patience for neutrality.
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ABC RADIO NATIONAL COUNTERPOINT 30 April 2012
Interview with John Bradley, ME expert, fluent Arabic speaker, author and correspondent. In this interview, Bradley talks at length about the ‘revolution’ in Tunisia and ‘democracy’ in Egypt.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/counterpoint/arab-spring/3976176
The Arab Spring put the Arab world firmly on the path to democracy and a better future, didn’t it? Well, maybe not. It was certainly led by liberals and they rallied the Arab masses but then they were drowned out by the slogans of the better organised and more popular radical Islamists.
Interviews with John Bradley have been noted on this blog previously:
The World Today – How Islamists hijacked the Arab Spring 20/02/2012
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3434650.htm
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/26/us-syria-russia-idUSBRE83P14S20120426
Russia accuses Syrian rebels of using “tactics of terror”
By Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman MOSCOW | Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:51pm EDT
bel attacks and accused foreign states of arming the rebels. “Many Western governments, and not just Western … are helping the Syrian opposition with weapon
(Reuters) – Russia accused Syrian rebels on Thursday of using terror tactics and suggested they were more to blame for ceasefire violations than President Bashar al-Assad’s troops.
The remarks by the foreign ministry differed from assessments by Western states which have been calling on government forces to end attacks and withdraw from cities and towns under a U.N.-backed truce.
“We call upon the Syrian side to carry out in full its obligations…” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a weekly briefing. “Nonetheless … there is another side in Syria, opposition groups, which have in essence shifted to tactics of terror on a regional scale.”……
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Law-enforcement martyrs of al-Midan terrorist blast laid to rest…16 army and law-enforcement members escorted to final resting place
Armed groups assassinate physician, Lieutenant Colonel in Daraa, a Colonel and Warrant Officer in Hama
DARAA, HAMA- In the framework of targeting the national and scientific expertise and intellectuals, an armed terrorist group on Monday assassinated Doctor Adnan Tawfik al-Samitt in Daraa.SANA reporter quoted a source at Daraa Province as saying that the armed terrorist group shoot dead Dr. al-Samitt with their machineguns near his house at al-Qusour Neighborhood in Daraa city.In the same context, the source added that another armed terrorist group randomly opened fire in al-Na’emeh village in Daraa countryside with the aim of intimidating the citizens and preventing them from going to their jobs.
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How the information warlords define the concept of terrorism in the case of Syria
by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb
So after today’s suicide bombing by opposition forces (most likely the same al-Qaeda linked/inspired groups that have claimed responsibility for previous terrorist attacks), here’s how the news wires covered the attack:
Associated Press: “The regime blamed Friday’s attack on unspecified “terrorists” – the term it uses to describe opposition forces that it says are carrying out a foreign conspiracy.”
AFP: “The report blamed “terrorists,” the term used by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to refer to the armed opposition…Assad’s regime has repeatedly blamed “armed terrorist groups” for the violence, and for failing to abide by a putative ceasefire that went into force on April 12.”
First of all, there is the ever-present, and borderline sarcastic, reference to how the regime perceives the armed opposition as carrying out a “foreign conspiracy”. So Turkey’s hosting and arming of the opposition and FSA, and the US and other “Friends of Syria’s” declared intent [if not after-the-fact acknowledgement] to arm these groups, should not be interpreted by the regime as a foreign conspiracy to overthrow it, nor should Israeli officials’ admissions of meeting with elements in the Syrian opposition, or France’s saber-rattling for military intervention. By extension, groups receiving this aid are not involved in this conspiracy and the regime’s depiction of them as such is surely delusional. Well, to some extent it is injudicious of the Assad regime to continue to refer to what is an openly belligerent US-western-Turkish-Arab-Israeli-al-Qaeda war against it as a hidden conspiracy. It is anopenly declared foreign war on Syria, and not an ill-concealed foreign conspiracy………
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A very feisty Malalai Joya, a former member of the Afghan parliament, was interviewed by ABC’s Lateline program. The interviewer seems nonplussed as Joya condemns NATO, the US, and even Australia for occupying her country.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1335605330.html
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Al-Akhbar English
Damascus: The Protocols of Annan’s Plan By: Nicolas Nassif
Published Tuesday, April 24, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/damascus-protocols-annan%E2%80%99s-plan
According to close observers, Damascus’ response to the peace plan proposed by the UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan is proving to be positive. When asked, government officials express a willingness to provide the necessary support for the plan, as long as there is a commitment to work with the Syrian state.
Damascus’ cooperation is based on several factors:……
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Editor’s note: It took a brave Julian Assange to interview Hassan Nasrallah. Yet, it seems extraordinary that others haven’t sought his opinions before today. People across the Middle East have been well aware of Nasrallah’s views for many years. Why are they virtually ‘censored’ in the West? Do we need protection from them? Are we as infantilized as any population, just more cheerily so? Does everything have to be interpreted and filtered for us? (Robert Fisk has used the term ‘infantalized‘ in regard to the ME and also US politics. In 2008, he spoke about the media in the US not being willing to challenge power: http://current.com/groups/politics/89376159_the-deadly-infantilization-of-american-politics-robert-fisk-and-patricia-degennaro-on-grittv.htm NB: Robert Fisk, himself, seems reliant on the swinging views of his friend Walid Jumblatt for his public opinions on Syria, but for many he continues to get enough credit for his criticism of the US, Israel etc, for him to be considered a trusted source on any issue. )
Julian Assange’s The World Tomorrow: Hassan Nasrallah (E1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GDLXPpooA18
Published on Apr 17, 2012 by RussiaToday
Hezbollah urged the Syrian opposition to engage in dialogue with Assad’s regime, but they refused. Hezbollah leader Sayyid Nasrallah confirmed this in his first interview in 6 years, the world premiere of Julian Assange’s ‘The World Tomorrow’ on RT.
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Editor: Another interview you are unlikely to see on Australian TV. Would it be treason to present the views of “Syrian Girl” on Australian TV?
James Corbett – Love Bombs for Syria – Syrian Girl on Intervention and Hypocrisy, April 15 2012
http://information-machine.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/james-corbett-love-bombs-for-syria.html
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Editor: Stephen Lendman doesn’t mince words in this article below. It may seem partisan and unacceptable to many, but for Syrians who confront the fear of bombs, abduction and death on a daily basis while the world is silent, or at best ignorant, Lendman’s expression is tame. We should all be shouting “Stop this madness” from roof tops.
Media Scoundrels Promote War on Syria By Stephen Lendman
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31166.htm#.T5dcrR6DYvI.email
April 23, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — Syria’s a battle zone. Western generated violence is to blame, not Assad. America’s media scoundrels claim otherwise. They want him ousted by any means, including war.
An April 9 Wall Street Journal commentary said “Syrian government forces (keep) bombing and killing….” Assad “reneged on (his) promises to end the bloodshed.”
Washington “and its allies (are) doing little or nothing to depose (his) regime. (The) illusion of diplomatic progress serves as cover for the Assads of the world to do more killing. Your move, President Obama.”
Like all scoundrel media commentators, Journal contributors blame victims, not villains. Their readers are betrayed, not informed.
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Editor: In the Australian media, there is rarely serious reference to SANA or other official news from Syria, while there is increasing reliance on refugees in Turkey for their assessment of what is occurring in Syria. But there are news reports coming out of Syria which demand attention. As there were one year ago. 22 million people still live in Syria. Their stories demand telling.
Armed Criminal Groups Shot and Mutilated Army Officer and His Family Apr 19, 2011
Syrian Inventor Issa Abboud Martyred by Criminal Armed Gangs
http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/04/19/342253.htm
And today:
Armed groups assassinate physician, Lieutenant Colonel in Daraa, a Colonel and Warrant Officer in Hama April 25 2012
http://www.champress.net/index.php?q=en/Article/view/117578
DARAA, HAMA- In the framework of targeting the national and scientific expertise and intellectuals, an armed terrorist group on Monday assassinated Doctor Adnan Tawfik al-Samitt in Daraa.
SANA reporter quoted a source at Daraa Province as saying that the armed terrorist group shoot dead Dr. al-Samitt with their machineguns near his house at al-Qusour Neighborhood in Daraa city.
In the same context, the source added that another armed terrorist group randomly opened fire in al-Na’emeh village in Daraa countryside with the aim of intimidating the citizens and preventing them from going to their jobs.
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Monitoring or spying mission to Syria 25 April 2012
They were in the closed Council chambers for hours first taking in Annan’s briefing and then working on the situation in Sudan. When the UN Security Council emerged acting President for April Susan Rice offered pure statistics from UN Peacekeeping boss Herve Ladsous.
The 300 monitors to be sent to Syria were mandated by Security Council resolution last Saturday. The ink was hardly dry when Rice threatened Syria with “further measures” if the Assad government doesn’t comply with Annan’s six-point plan.
Syrian ambassador Bashar Ja’Afari has spoken repeatedly of states working for the failure of that plan and on Tuesday Rice again indicated she was ready for Syria to fail.
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Editor: You would expect it to be headlines in Australia: “50,000 Syrians forced from their homes by extremists”. Imagine if it were 50,000 Sydneysiders, or Londoners? Note, everyone is a potential victim of extremist violence. The clerics who incite it encourage their followers to kill anyone who gets in the way of destroying the ‘heretical’ Syrian government. So victims include people taking part in council elections, doctors, professors, imams; if they can be described as being ‘pro-regime’ their sect is irrelevant. (Where is the West’s support for ‘moderate’ Muslims?)
Israel Today Magazine
Syrian Christians: The Revolution’s Unsung Victims April 5th 2012
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/tabid/178/nid/23182/language/en-US/Default.aspx
The international community and global media are focusing a lot of attention of late on the brutal tactics being employed by the forces of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad as he battles a year-long insurgency that has recently blossomed into full-scale civil war. In the process, the Syrian opposition forces, collectively known as the Free Syrian Army, have been primarily portrayed in a positive light.
But a trickle of reports from sources in embattled Syrian towns reveal that the Sunni-led revolutionaries are guilty of at least as many war crimes as Assad, especially against the country’s Christian minority.
In the latest issue of Israel Today, we wrote about how Syria’s minority communities actually prefer Assad, who is himself from the small Alawite Muslim minority. They fear the alternative, which is rule by a Sunni majority that will likely align itself with the Muslim Brotherhood and other regional radicals.
Their fears appear increasingly justified.….
Islamists force 50,000 Christians to flee from Syrian city of Homs by OCP on April 17, 2012
….. Christians in Homs were reportedly told that if they did not leave immediately, they would be shot. Then, pictures of their bodies would be sent to the pro-Syrian-regime-change Al Jazeera — a media broadcaster controlled by the dictatorship ruling Qatar — with a message claiming that forces loyal to Assad had murdered them.….
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Editor: Sharmine Narwani deserves attention in the Australian media. But gets none. We live in a village; we don’t want anyone to point out the village may be wrong in its assumptions about the world outside.
Al-Akhbar English
Western Journalist: Visa Denied By Sharmine Narwani – Sat, 2012-04-21
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/sandbox/western-journalist-visa-denied
……right now, I honestly cannot think of a group of people less capable of verifying things in Syria than western journalists. And it is not because they aren’t physically there or can’t string together more than two words in Arabic. It is largely because they feast at the trough of their own governments’ narratives on All Things. Western journalists are heady with a sense of righteousness leached from the oxymoronic “western values” shoved down our collective throats. Those same western values that demand “accountability” and “transparency” from all nations – while offering cover for western governments to hack their way through Muslim and Arab bodies in endless “national security” wars.
…..With the exception of a few proud holdouts, western media has made a beeline for the sexy story in Syria – which is essentially the fairytale of the “Arab Spring” with a little twist: Bad regime, good activists – but kick out this dictator and it’s a three-for-one, with Iran and Hezbollah tossed in as a bonus.
There are only three guiding rules for most western journalists inside or outside of Syria: 1) only quote anti-regime populations, 2) do not seek out independent domestic opposition figures, 3) evidence is unimportant, as long as you loosely “source” it:
They head straight for the Syrian activist, the anti-regime demonstration, the man with the gun in a “hot spot.” These are one side of the Syrian story, for sure. But you will not find mainstream western journalism broadcasting a pro-regime rally of tens of thousands, the national flag painted on the faces of Assad supporters – young and old – waving posters of their president. Pro-regime Syrians, a majority of whom voted in a national referendum in February to adopt constitutional reforms, are never interviewed by these reporters.
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STOP THE WAR COALITION
Will sheep fly in Syria if imperial princess Hilary Clinton gets her way? By Saul Landau
20 April 2012
The Syrian conflict continued to boil — or boil over — when Syrian troops fired across the Turkish border on April 9, apparently killing either fleeing refugees or armed combatants.
Then the UN team entered and began monitoring a shaky ceasefire – shaky because the Syrian National Council in exile and their backers in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Washington and western capitals don’t want the fighting to stop. They want to overthrow the Assad government by force and violence.
However, despite continued words of caution from the Pentagon and White House about getting into another messy Middle East war, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton pressed for more intervention.
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Know secular Syria through seeing and hearing the voices of Syrians
This video is in Arabic, but that should not prevent an understanding of the ‘life pulse’ of it. It a video of a Maronite church service in Damascus attended by imams. There are interviews with an imam, priest, and members of the congregation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNCw11nQSwE&feature=youtu.be
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Sharmine Narwani has been referenced regularly on this blog. She is making a courageous and committed effort to analyze the crisis in Syria from many perspectives and (this editor believes) with integrity. She was in Damascus in January and reported on conversations she had with members of opposition groups within Syria.
This interview is relatively short but an excellent summary of some of the key issues around Syria today.
Information and misinformation on Syria
12 April 2012
http://www.english.rfi.fr/middle-east/20120412-events-syria-and-medias
By Rosslyn Hyams
Sharmine Narwani, a senior associate at Saint Anthony’s College, Oxford, and contributor to the English edition of Al-Akhbar, an online arabic newspaper questions the way that information has been circulating about what’s been going on in Syria for the past 13 months. And the effect that it has had on the situation.
One article by Sharmine Narwani referred to previously on this blog is Questioning the Syrian “Casualty List” Feb 28 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/questioning-syrian-%E2%80%9Ccasualty-list%E2%80%9D
It may help to read that in conjunction with this short report from Dr Bashar Ja’afara.
30 March 2012 A Letter from Syrian Ambassador to the UN presenting figures of those killed by ‘armed terrorist groups’ in Syria.
http://www.syrianyouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bashar-Al-Jaafari-Letter-to-UN.pdf
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Unfortunately, Australian investigative reporting in regard to Syria is almost non-existent. There is reporting, but it is generally not balanced or seriously investigative. Therefore, reporting of any substance often needs to be sourced from outside Australia.
Syria: Saving or Sinking-News Analysis-04-12-2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvuGdgiYb8&sns=tw
600 A.M. Syrian time: All appeared quiet in Syria: UN Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan’s ceasefire deal seemed to have worked. Hours later: 2 incidents of violence: One officer dead, 24 others, injured, with a number of law enforcement officers injured in another incident, blamed on an armed terrorist groups with explosive devices. The Assad government has time and again blamed these groups for being part of the problem: Groups armed by some Arab countries, like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with financial support from both Arab and Western countries, like the US and France.
This edition of News Analysis discusses the situation in Syria
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War photographer Paul Conroy refers to a video clip presented by ‘activists’ in Syria which was of a Mexican drug cartel.
Reporters ‘have to go in’ to Syria – injured photographer
BBC HardTalk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9712785.stm
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John Bradley, an expert on the Arab Spring, appears to have only been interviewed once on ABC Australia. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3434650.htm Is this because his expert opinion differs from the single narrative of many established commentators? (Two of these interviews are from January, but were not published on this blog at till now.)
This first interview is just over 5 minutes long. Another must-listen to interview.
John R. Bradley / Russia Today — Syria and the Wahhabi Counterrevolution
JOHN R. BRADLEY / Fox News – After the Arab Spring
26 January
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9HFxTrt-VI
Interview with John R. Bradley on Fox & Friends about his new book After the Arab Spring: How Islamists Hijacked the Middle East Revolts (Palgrave Macmilan, 2012). More info: http://johnrbradley.wordpress.com/
‘Syria on its knees – prelude to NATO invading Iran’
21 January 2012
http://rt.com/news/syria-nato-iran-russia-149/
The idea of the Syrian opposition dancing to a foreign tune has been floated by John R. Bradley, author of the book, After the Arab Spring. He says NATO members are committed to toppling the regime and will make Iran their next target.
“[Syrian opposition is] under huge pressure from outside powers who want these talks [between the Assad regime and the opposition] to fail even before they begin – most obviously NATO,” he told RT. “NATO is determined to bring the Assad regime to its knees as a prelude to invading Iran.”
Bradley points out that two Arab states play a particularly important role in NATO’s plans for Syria. These are Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“Saudi Arabia is financially and politically backing the civilian opposition [in Syria], and Qatar has been widely reported to be funding and arming the jihad rebels who were lea