The Syrian Crisis

[SajeevJino]

330 mm rocket and 140 mm rocket. Made in the Soviet Union or Russia, or any other Eastern European country that uses the Cyrillic script. Could be Bulgaria, Belarus, or Ukraine. It could also be Kazakhstan.

There is no proof that Assad used chemical weapons. Sarin gas does not linger in the container. Even if those rockets were fired by Assad's troops, nothing can be proven.

Pls Check Pages 21 to 26 ..In that report They Clearly showing the Rocket engine Space and the Chemical warhead Space

Does Rebels have 330 and 140 mm Rockets

 

[pmaitra]

Pls Check Pages 21 to 26 ..In that report They Clearly showing the Rocket engine Space and the Chemical warhead Space

I have read the report. I also looked up Gryazev-Shipunov, which would translate into ГиШ (Грязев и Шипунов/Gryazev and Shipunov), designer of various artillery systems, and did not find any mention of 140 mm or 330 mm artillery rockets. Perhaps I might find something if I search more. Even if I did, would it shed any light as to who used chemical weapons?

Does Rebels have 330 and 140 mm Rockets

I can say that with as much certainty as I can say that Assad used chemical weapons.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Interesting ..

Here is the screenshot of Recovered Projectile

 

[pmaitra]

Russia to provide evidence 'implicating Syrian rebels in chemical attacks'

Sergei Lavrov says he will give evidence to United Nations security council, and describes UN report as biased

The Russian foreign minister has said he will give the United Nations security council evidence that implicates Syrian rebels in a chemical attack.

Sergei Lavrov described a UN report that concluded that the nerve agent sarin was used on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August as one-sided and biased.

He said he will give the security council the evidence, which is being supplied by Syrian officials but which he has not seen as yet.

The UN report on the chemical attack did not specifically blame either side in the country's bitter civil war but led to conclusions from the international community that forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad were responsible.

Following the criticism from Russia, the UN said the findings of the report are "indisputable".

Lavrov said there was plenty of evidence that pointed to rebel involvement in chemical attacks.

"We will discuss all this in the security council, together with the report which was submitted by UN experts and which confirms that chemical weapons were used. We will have to find out who did it," he said.

Earlier, Lavrov's deputy Sergei Ryabkov said an initial UN security council resolution supporting a deal for Syria to scrap its chemical arms should be limited to that purpose, suggesting Moscow would oppose any threat of force.

Speaking in Damascus after meeting Assad, Ryabkov also criticised the UN's report.

He accused the investigators of all but ignoring evidence presented by the Syrian government that he said supported rebel culpability.

"We are disappointed that there is no due attention paid to this evidence in the report which the [UN] group presented in New York earlier this week," he told reporters in Damascus in televised remarks.

"One cannot be as one-sided and as flawed as we have seen, laying the full [blame for the] incident in Ghouta upon the Syrian government," he said.

He said the report was limited in scope and reiterated Russian calls for further investigation that would include accounts from sources including the internet and government evidence of alleged chemical arms use in the days after 12 August.

The US-Russia deal, reached on Saturday, calls for Syria to account fully for its chemical weapons within a week and for the removal and destruction of the entire arsenal by mid-2014.

Diplomats from the permanent UN security council members – Russia, the United States, Britain, France and China – began talks on Tuesday on a resolution intended to support the deal.

Diplomats have said initial western drafts called for giving Syria an ultimatum to give up its chemical weapons or face "necessary measures".

Ryabkov said the resolution should support an expected decision by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons' executive council setting out procedures for dealing with the chemical weapons "and nothing more than that" beyond providing an element of security for OPCW activity in Syria.

Source: Russia to provide evidence 'implicating Syrian rebels in chemical attacks' | World news | theguardian.com

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Sergei Lavrov says he will give evidence to United Nations security council, and describes UN report as biased

The Russian foreign minister has said he will give the United Nations security council evidence that implicates Syrian rebels in a chemical attack.

Why is this a major news story before the evidence is even presented?

Oh, I see. The Guardian. Britain's furthest left newspaper.

 

[amoy]

Why is this a major news story before the evidence is even presented?

Oh, I see. The Guardian. Britain's furthest left newspaper.

how does "left" or "right" thing impact Guardian's stance over this chem. thing?

how is Hollande, who's a steadfast supporter for strikes on Assad, positioned in French internal political spectrum?

Sent from my 5910 using Tapatalk 2

 

[W.G.Ewald]

how does "left" or "right" thing impact Guardian's stance over this chem. thing?

how is Hollande, who's a steadfast supporter for strikes on Assad, positioned in French internal political spectrum?

Sent from my 5910 using Tapatalk 2

There is nothing about socialism or socialist countries that The Guardian does not like. Or ex-KGB guys for that matter.

I can't explain the French. Nobody can.

 

[SajeevJino]

Germany gives $2.7M to help destroy Syria weapons​

Germany says it's giving 2 million euros ($2.7 million) to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to help it oversee the destruction of Syria's arms stocks

An agreement last Saturday between Russia and the US called for an inventory of Syria's chemical weapons within a week, and for all components of the program to be out of the country or destroyed by mid-2014. The Hague, Netherlands-based OPCW will have to oversee that process.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle had offered technical or financial support to help destroy the weapons. On Thursday, he said Berlin has decided to contribute extra funding so that the chemical weapons watchdog can "deal with the Herculean task."


Germany gives $2.7M to help destroy Syria weapons | The Times of Israel

Destroying entire Chemical Warhead costs Upto $1 billion

 

[pmaitra]

Syria and the Saudi-Israeli Connection: The Chemical Weapons Attack. Who was Behind It?

The long anticipated UN inspectors report confirmed the use of chemical weapons on August 21, 2013 in the Ghouta area of Damascus. The investigators report provided "clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent Sarin were used." Warmongers were quick to pounce on the use of rockets as evidence that the Assad government was responsible. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergie Lavrov was quick to point to the "post hoc ergo propter hoc" argument — correlation does not equal causation. So whodunit?

Foremost, given that the report emphasis the use of rockets, the Saudis should be asking themselves why it is that the accusatory finger has been pointed to them. There is no doubt that Saudi Arabia is involved in the Syria conflict. Their involvement is not restricted to providing arms to the rebels but as USA Today reported in January, they have been sending death-row inmates to fight in Syria. That said, the UN report clearly repudiates dubious reports which surfaced on the internet citing a rebel's father who had claimed that the Saudis supplied the chemical weapons without instructions, or without telling the rebels what they were which is why "they" (chemical weapons) went off in the tunnel.

While it is not a secret that the Saudis aim to spread their influence in the region by assisting neocons remove Assad from power, what should be of note to the Saudis and of interest to media watchers is the fact that in spite of the Saudi 's full cooperation with America and Israel in funding and supporting wars against fellow Arabs and Moslems, and even providing them with terrorists, the neoconservatives such as the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies are now claiming that Saudi Arabia is responsible for pushing for war. This should give Saudis reason to pause and reflect. But to the report"¦.

According to the UN report two types of rockets had been used, including an M14 artillery rocket bearing Cyrillic markings and a 330-millimeter rocket of unidentified origin – though perhaps not so unidentified. Shortly after the August incident, Foreign Policy published and made mention of these mysterious rockets which according to former UN inspectors bore a strong resemblance to a 1970's American weapon—the SLUFAE. Although SLUFAE had been shelved, the concept was built upon by several countries—namely Israel. According to the former UN inspector, "a very similar munition was found 3-5 years ago, during one of the Israeli excursions," into Southern Lebanon. Further, there is the strong possibility that the rockets with Cyrillic markings (attributed to the Soviets) can be traced back to the "Bear Spares" program.

According to the 1995 Teicher Affidavit, the United States had a "Bear Spares" program with the objective to provide ammunition for Soviet or Soviet-style weaponry and deliver them third countries without direct involvement. Israel which had a large stockpile of Soviet weaponry and ammunition captured during its wars was active in this program and, according to Teicher, transferred the spare parts and weapons to third countries or insurgents (such as to Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war, to the Afghans, and the Contras).

Of note is the fact that Israel possess Sarin gas and it is not party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). It is worthwhile repeating here that it was Israeli "intelligence" which alerted the United States of the use of Sarin on August 21, and of its delivery method long before the UN report was published. It was the Israeli 'intelligence' which prompted John Kerry to point the finger at Assad with confidence.

Often left unmentioned is the fact that it was John Kerry's public suggestion to rid Syria of its chemical weapons which became the basis for the Russian initiative to avert war. Undoubtedly, Israel stands to gain from this initiative given its territorial ambitions (see HERE for example) given that it is thought that Syria's entire defense against Israel may rest on chemical weapons and warheads. Not surprisingly, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu regards the initiative as a precedent for dealing with Iran's civilian nuclear program.

While Israel has the most to gain by the chemical attack incident, it is not unique in its access to Soviet weaponry - and to Sarin gas. Egypt also served as a supplier for the Bear Spares program where it manufactured weapons and spare parts from Soviet designs and provided these weapons and ammunition to the Iraqis (during the Iran-Iraq war) and other countries. The United States approved, assisted and encouraged Egypt's manufacturing capabilities. It is not without relevance to mention here that the Syrian opposition group had headquarters in Egypt for some time. The leader of Egyptian military coup, General al-Sisi was hailed as a "national hero for all Jews" by the Israeli ambassador in Cairo. The military continues to be in charge with the full support of and funding from the United States (and Saudis).

Contrary to the Western media pundits who attempt to pain this as a straightforward case against Assad, without evidence or without thought, one can point the finger to other more likely culprits who stand to gain a great deal from this heinous crime. The only way to narrow down the field is to consider 'cui bono.' Clearly, Assad is the biggest loser.

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the role of lobby groups in influencing US foreign policy.

Note

Terrill, W. Andrew, "The Chemical Warfare Legacy of the Yemen War." Comparative Strategy, 10 (1991), 109-119.

Source: Syria and the Saudi-Israeli Connection: The Chemical Weapons Attack. Who was Behind It? | Global Research

 

[happy]

Al-Qaeda-linked fighters seize Syrian town of Azaz from more moderate rebels

BEIRUT — Al-Qaeda-linked militants seized a key northern Syrian town from rebels on Wednesday, as mounting friction between anti--government extremists and more moderate, Western-backed opposition factions erupted into all-out conflict.

The town of Azaz, two miles from the Turkish border, was overrun by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after clashes broke out at the main hospital there. The fighting began when the al-Qaeda-linked group attempted to detain a German doctor, according to medics and activists.

The fall of the town, which lies on the road between the border crossing of Bab Salameh and the northern city of Aleppo, has the potential to disrupt rebel supply lines. The crossing itself, one of the few between Syria and Turkey that are still functional, remained in the hands of the more moderate Free Syrian Army on Wednesday night, despite reports that Islamic State was mounting an offensive to take it.

Although both mainstream opposition forces and al-Qaeda-linked fighters are battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad, the extremists have focused their energies lately on attacking their fellow rebels. Tensions between Islamic State and other rebel factions have been building since the group emerged on the ground earlier this year. It declared war on two mainstream rebel groups last week in what it labeled operation "cleansing evil."

"There is a huge expansion of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant," said Col. Malik al-Kurdi, a senior commander in the Free Syrian Army, who said the extremists had also recently seized the town of Kafarnaje. With Islamic State well-financed and armed, "the FSA power is in reversal," he said.

The escalation of conflict between mainstream rebel groups and Islamic State is likely to further bolster Assad's position as his government steps up its operations.

"Now the conflict is internal, and it's the regime that is benefiting," Kurdi said.

Wednesday's fighting broke out at Azaz's al Ahli hospital when Islamic State fighters attempted to detain a doctor, medical staff and activists said. The Northern Storm Brigade, a more moderate rebel group that controlled the hospital, refused.

"They claimed they wanted to take him for interrogation, but Northern Storm wouldn't allow it. This is when the clashes started," said Abel Hamid al-Hussain, a doctor who works in a hospital about five miles away and who treated four of the wounded.

Hussain said that the Syrian-German doctor was working with a German charity and that his fate was unknown. A nurse was also detained, Hussain said.

As the clashes expanded, Northern Storm retreated from the town. Activists said that dozens were arrested and that at least five people were killed, including the head of the opposition media center in the town, who was caught in sniper fire.

There were fears of further conflagration as the night wore on, as another rebel group amassed its forces to try to retake the town, activists said.

Islamic State's ascendancy has been accompanied by a sharp decline in security in the country's north, with medics and journalists becoming the target of attacks and kidnappings.

Islamic State's offensive comes after a lull in activity for the group as it lay low, fearing that it could be targeted in U.S. airstrikes. Any possible U.S. airstrikes on targets in Syria have been put on hold as world powers negotiate over the fate of the country's chemical weapons program.
@http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/al-qaeda-linked-fighters-seize-syrian-town-of-azaz-from-more-moderate-rebels/2013/09/18/113e0954-20ad-11e3-966c-9c4293c47ebe_story.html

 

[happy]

@West does not know what to do if extremist comes to power in Syria | Russia & India Report
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Western countries did not know what to do if extremist came to power in Syria as a result of their interference.
"Are they going to wave them away with a newspaper?" he asked at the Valdai International Discussion Club on Thursday, September 19.
Putin urged the West to say honestly that it had started providing external support as soon as the conflict broke out in Syria. "How did the terrorist group Al-Nusra come into existence there? Even the [U.S.] Department of State has admitted that Al-Qaeda units are fighting there," he said.
"We can't watch mass killings calmly, but if we try to interfere on either side, there will be no balance. We must find points of contact and equilibrium that would hold for some time," Putin said.
He mentioned Libya as an example. "Has it become better there now? What is the result?" he asked, adding that the way proposed to solve the problem in that country had proved wrong. "This is why we want to forge constructive dialogue with the United States," the president said.
The use of force against Syria would be a blow to the world order not to that country, Vladimir Putin said emphasized.
Syria Hot topic: Syria
"This would be a blow to the world order, not to Syria. This is what I mean," he said at the Valdai International Discussion Club on Thursday, September 19.
"There are no exclusive interests in Syria we would be pursuing by trying to keep the present government there. We are trying to preserve the principles of international law," he said.
The head of state recalled that the U.N. Charter had been amended, at the U.S. insistence, to include a provision, according to which matters of peace and war could be solved only unanimously. "There is a deep meaning in this, no matter how hard it could be," Putin said.
He stressed that if any country that feels vulnerable starts delivering strikes wherever it wants, the world order and the importance of the United Nations and its Security Council would be reduced to zero.
Putin also agreed with former German Defence Minister Volker Ruhe that war crimes against people by the ruling regimes were abominable.
"In the modern world, no one country should be allowed to attack another country as some did in the 1920s, but states must be compelled to protect their people," Ruhe said, adding that the president of a country is responsible for protecting his people.
"I fully agree with this," Putin said.
First published by Itar-Tass.

 

[pmaitra]

'Sexual jihad': Tunisian women go to Syria to 'relieve' holy warriors, return pregnant

A number of Tunisian girls who had travelled to Syria for "sexual jihad" have returned home pregnant, the government says. (Photo from فبراير : الحقيقة كما هي)

Tunisian women have traveled to Syria to wage 'sexual jihad', performing intercourse with dozens of Islamist fighters and returning home pregnant, Tunisia's Interior Minister Lotfi ben Jeddou told MPs.

The Tunisian girls "are [sexually] swapped between 20, 30, and 100 rebels and they come back bearing the fruit of sexual contacts in the name of sexual jihad and we are silent doing nothing and standing idle," the minister said during an address to the National Constituent Assembly on Thursday.

"After the sexual liaisons they have there in the name of 'jihad al-nikah' [sexual holy war] they come home pregnant," ben Jeddou continued.

Ben Jeddo did not elaborate on how many Tunisian women had returned to the country pregnant with the children of jihadist fighters.

Former Mufti of Tunisia Sheikh Othman Battikh in April said that 13 Tunisian girls "were fooled" into traveling to Syria to offer their sexual services to rebels fighters.

The mufti, who was subsequently dismissed from his post, described the so-called "sexual Jihad" as a form of "prostitution."

"For jihad in Syria, they are now pushing girls to go there. Thirteen young girls have been sent for sexual jihad. What is this? This is called prostitution. It is moral educational corruption," Al Arabiya cites the mufti as saying.

Some Sunni Muslim Salafists, however, consider sexual jihad as a legitimate form of holy war.

The sexual Jihad Fatwa made its first appearance in Syria several months back. It allows for fighters to enter sexual relations with a woman after agreeing upon a temporary contract that loses effect after a few hours, Fars News reported in August.

The temporary nature of the contract allows the woman to have sex with multiple partners a day.

In August, general director of public security service in Tunisia Mostafa Bin Omar said that a "sexual jihad cell" had been broken up in an area west of the country known for its concentration of Al-Qaeda fighters.

Bin Omar told Al Arabiya that Al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar Shariah was offering minor girls with their faces covered as sexual offerings for jihadist fighters.

Meanwhile, Bin Jeddo said the Interior Ministry has banned 6,000 Tunisians from traveling to Syria since March 2013. Eighty-six more individuals had been arrested on suspicion of forming 'networks' that send Tunisian youth for 'jihad' to Syria.

He also hit back at human rights groups who criticized the government's decision to ban suspected militants from leaving the country. Many of those facing travel bans are under 35 years of age, he said.

"Our youths are positioned in the frontlines and are taught how to steal and raid [Syrian] villages," Bin Jeddo said.

Hundreds of Tunisian men have set off for Syria to wage jihad against the government of President Bashar Assad, while thousands more have joined the ranks of militant Islamists in states like Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 15 years.

Source: http://rt.com/news/sexual-jihad-tunisia-syria-133/

 

[W.G.Ewald]

^^
The term "sexual jihad" is blasphemy as well as the act being a public health threat. But the Obama foreign policy should at least provide condoms, or abortions, or both.

 

[pmaitra]

^^
The term "sexual jihad" is blasphemy as well as the act being a public health threat. But the Obama foreign policy should at least provide condoms, or abortions, or both.

Condoms would be blasphemous too, wouldn't they? I guess these mullahs will bend their rules and interpretations on their whims. I hope you recall the fatwa legitimizing rape of non-Sunni women.

 

[happy]

It appears Syria and moreover Russia scored a major victory against America

@http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0

 

[happy]

'Sexual jihad': Tunisian women go to Syria to 'relieve' holy warriors, return pregnant

Tunisian women have traveled to Syria to wage 'sexual jihad', performing intercourse with dozens of Islamist fighters and returning home pregnant, Tunisia's Interior Minister Lotfi ben Jeddou told MPs.

The Tunisian girls "are [sexually] swapped between 20, 30, and 100 rebels and they come back bearing the fruit of sexual contacts in the name of sexual jihad and we are silent doing nothing and standing idle," the minister said during an address to the National Constituent Assembly on Thursday.

"After the sexual liaisons they have there in the name of 'jihad al-nikah' [sexual holy war] they come home pregnant," ben Jeddou continued.

Ben Jeddo did not elaborate on how many Tunisian women had returned to the country pregnant with the children of jihadist fighters.

Former Mufti of Tunisia Sheikh Othman Battikh in April said that 13 Tunisian girls "were fooled" into traveling to Syria to offer their sexual services to rebels fighters.

The mufti, who was subsequently dismissed from his post, described the so-called "sexual Jihad" as a form of "prostitution."

"For jihad in Syria, they are now pushing girls to go there. Thirteen young girls have been sent for sexual jihad. What is this? This is called prostitution. It is moral educational corruption," Al Arabiya cites the mufti as saying.

Source: 'Sexual jihad': Tunisian women go to Syria to 'relieve' holy warriors, return pregnant — RT News

Why was the mufti dismissed?? Was it because he brought this prostitution into light??? More than Tunisia, America has to answer for this as this may most likely constitute a war crime.

 

[pmaitra]

If a woman wished to be a neighbourhood bicycle, why would that be a war crime? These women were going, as it appears, willingly, albeit they were brainwashed.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

It appears Syria and moreover Russia scored a major victory against America

@http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/world/middleeast/syria.html?_r=0

A senior Obama administration official said Friday that the United States was encouraged by the initial inventory that the Syrian government had submitted of its chemical weapons arsenal.

"We were pleasantly surprised by the completeness of their declaration," said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

"It was better than expected," he added.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the watchdog group known as the O.P.C.W. that oversees the international agreement banning poison gas, said on Friday that Syria had provided "an initial declaration" of its chemical weapons program.

The submission met the first deadline for Syrian compliance that was set down by the framework agreement that the United States and Russia concluded in Geneva last weekend.

It cannot be known how realistic the chemical weapons inventory is, but the Obama administration is compelled to agree with whatever Syria tells it to make the matter subside.

 

[happy]

It cannot be known how realistic the chemical weapons inventory is, but the Obama administration is compelled to agree with whatever Syria tells it to make the matter subside.

If the matter subsides, it will mean outright victory for Putin.

The submission met the first deadline for Syrian compliance that was set down by the framework agreement that the United States and Russia concluded in Geneva last weekend.

American, British, Chinese, French and Russian diplomats are debating the terms of a United Nations Security Council resolution that would enforce the agreement. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that it was essential for the Council to adopt the resolution next week.

"It started coming in yesterday," Michael Luhan, a spokesman for the O.P.C.W., said of the Syrian declaration. Mr. Luhan, who spoke in a telephone interview from The Hague, said that the organization's technical experts were studying the declaration but would not give additional details.

The declaration's completeness is an early test of President Bashar al-Assad's commitment to relinquish Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

The United States and Russia agreed in Geneva that Syria has about 1,000 tons of precursor chemicals and chemical agents, including sulfur mustard and sarin gas.

The fact that Russia, which has been one of the principal supporters of the Assad government, reached a consensus with the United States on the size of the arsenal after receiving an intelligence briefing by American experts suggested that the Syrian government would eventually declare a similar figure.

Still, American officials had been waiting to see if the Syrian declaration would be submitted within a week of the framework agreement, as the accord requires, and whether it would be comprehensive.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

If the matter subsides, it will mean outright victory for Putin.

It might be the best outcome for Obama as well.

"If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."