The Syrian Crisis

[W.G.Ewald]

Irony unfolding in Iraq | iraq, saddam, bush - Opinion - The Orange County Register

 

[pmaitra]

Syria dispatch: Rebels forced to share guns as Assad's tanks roll in to Aleppo

The countryside around Aleppo is a fragile haven for Syria's rebels. Makeshift battalions of local fighters have filled the vacuum left by the withdrawal of most of the regime's forces, but their gains are uncertain.
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But on the outskirts of the town, an army garrison steadfastly refuses to capitulate. "We have them surrounded and we are trying to talk them into surrender," said Suleiman Nadoom, a rebel fighter. "We think they are still in touch with the army and are being promised reinforcements. The other night they shelled us. There were 40 martyrs."
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The rebels who captured al-Bab are short of supplies. Individual fighters are forced to share assault rifles and often possess only a few dozen rounds of ammunition.
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Outside Aleppo, even apparently straightforward mopping-up operations have exposed the rebels' weakness. When they attacked a police station near al-Bab, one fighter was killed and the rest declared failure and withdrew.
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A promised flood of weapons from Saudi Arabia and Qatar has yet to reach the rebels in this area. Here, their best chance of equipping themselves is to seize an armoury from the security forces.
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For the moment, the rebels admit they could do nothing to stop an armoured column from reinforcing the military base outside al-Bab. Now that state officials have fled, rival factions dominate the politics of the town. Rumours spread that the hated pro-regime Shabiha militia is trying to fuel local disputes. Suspicious crowds stop unknown cars and question the occupants.

Source: Syria dispatch: Rebels forced to share guns as Assad's tanks roll in to Aleppo - Telegraph

 

[pmaitra]

Ian Pannell
BBC News, outside Aleppo
It is almost inconceivable that President Assad could allow his government to lose control of the city, so it is reasonable to expect that they are going to throw everything they possibly can at the city.

And that is what they are preparing for here. One of the neighbourhoods is appealing for more blood supplies. We are hearing reports of hundreds, possibly thousands of families leaving some districts. Everybody is bracing themselves for an intensive campaign.

The way it has worked in other cities is that there is an intensive bombardment by artillery and mortars, and then when it starts to go calm, tanks begin to roll in. This is a very congested heavily populated area, so it will be bloody.

BBC News - Syria conflict: US fears Aleppo 'massacre'

 

[pmaitra]

Syria Pounds Rebel-Held Areas as U.S. Warns of 'Massacre'

Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad used helicopter gunships and artillery to pound rebel-held areas in Aleppo as the U.S. warned of an impending "massacre."

About 80 tanks are stationed outside the southern entrance to Aleppo in a sign that Assad's forces may be preparing to storm Syria's biggest city, Ahmed Zaidan, a member of the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, said yesterday in a phone interview from Bab al-Hawa, a rebel-held border post.
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"The vast majority of Syrians continue not to want foreign military intervention, more weapons flowing into their country," she said. "Instead, they want an end to this violence, they want Assad to leave, they want the violence to end, and they want the political transition to begin. So further militarizing the conflict is not something that the vast majority of Syrians are seeking."

Source: Syria Pounds Rebel-Held Areas as U.S. Warns of 'Massacre' - Businessweek

 

[pmaitra]

Russia slams Syria opposition support

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhuanet) --Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused some countries of fuelling the violence in Syria by supporting the opposition and attempting to oust the country's leader. He said that while the fighting continues, there could be no talk of humanitarian corridors and security zones in the beleaguered country.
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Sergey Lavrov said, "We are proposing things that would allow an immediate end to the violence. But the other party says. "No. Either the regime capitulates, or we continue to support the armed struggle of the opposition through various - including material - means. They justify the terrorists' attacks. While such support continues, what sort of humanitarian actions can we discuss?"

Source: Russia slams Syria opposition support - Xinhua | English.news.cn

 

[Armand2REP]

Captured officers, soldiers and security forces in Aleppo

 

[pmaitra]

Syria: Aleppo rebels plead for help as army threatens onslaught

Syrian rebels facing an imminent onslaught by regime troops in Aleppo last night appealed to the outside world to come to their aid, saying they had little more than willpower with which to defend themselves.
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The rebels in Aleppo oscillate between pride and despair. Some held a demonstration with banners proclaiming the success of a revolution that is yet to face its most critical test. "The victory is coming for the revolution," said one.

But Abu Hassan, who was looking on, had a different view. "If the army comes back they will destroy us," he said.

Source: Syria: Aleppo rebels plead for help as army threatens onslaught - Telegraph

 

[Daredevil]

Explosion Rocks S. Arabia's Intelligence Headquarters

TEHRAN (FNA)- Reports from Saudi Arabia said an explosion rocked the Arab country's intelligence headquarters and killed the Saudi deputy intelligence chief.

Need some verification of news as it is missing from mainstream news media.

 

[pmaitra]

Explosion Rocks S. Arabia's Intelligence Headquarters



Need some verification of news as it is missing from mainstream news media.

Could be linked to this: http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/west-asia-africa/39660-saudi-forces-open-fire-protesters.html

 

[Razor]

Turkey sets up secret anti-Assad rebel base with Saudi Arabia and Qatar - reports

Turkey is directing the rebel fight against Bashar Assad, after setting up a secret base on its border with Syria, with help from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It devises tactics and supplies weapons for the uprising, according to Reuters sources.

It is unclear how long the base, described as the "nerve center" of the anti-Assad campaign has existed, and its location is given only as Adana, a city 60 miles from the border. Adana is home to Incirlik, a huge air base run jointly by Turkey and the United States, though it is not clear whether it was used for this operation.

"Three governments are supplying weapons: Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia," said the source, reportedly based in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The source claims the base was set up at the request of Saudi deputy foreign minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud during his visit to Turkey, which was open to the idea. Turkey then took control of operations once the base was established.

"It's the Turks who are militarily controlling it. Turkey is the main coordinator/facilitator. Think of a triangle, with Turkey at the top and Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the bottom."

Disunited and badly trained when the uprising against President Assad began 18 months ago, recently Syrian rebels have had a string of successes against the supposedly better-trained and better-equipped regular soldiers. They have held down large parts of the country and advanced on the capital Damascus earlier in July. An audacious suicide attack last week took out four of the most senior security officials in the Assad circle.

These successes may have been made possible by the steady flow of arms from the Adana location, most of which appear to have been purchased illegally to cover the sponsors' trails.

"All weaponry is Russian. The obvious reason is that the Syrian rebels are trained to use Russian weapons, also because the Americans don't want their hands on it. All weapons are from the black market," claims the source, which says arms are also obtained by looting loyalist weapons stores.

More @ Source: RT

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Tank and infantry patrol in Damascus:

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Syrian army T-72s rolling, Soldiers killing there time..

 

[Kunal Biswas]

The Syrian military's targeted attacks on major cities may create an opportunity for rebel forces.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

More tanks on the move:

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Syrian army patrol finds IED

 

[pmaitra]

Interesting comment here: Syria: Aleppo rebels plead for help as army threatens onslaught - Telegraph

Sam Alexander
18 minutes ago
Idiot, show me a government execution video? There are hundreds showing the rebels executing people and I haven't seen one sghowing the government doing the same thing.

Rebels murder an Alawite civilian -

Sectarian Murder by Syrian Rebels (26/07/12) - YouTube

Christian woman hanged by rebels in Homs -

Woman Hanged by 'Free Syrian Army' in Homs (April 2012) - YouTube

Terrorists in Deir Ezzor kill a prisoner -

Rebels kill a prisoner in Deir Ez Zour, Syria (18/07/12) - YouTube

Rebels execute an old man -

'Free Syrian Army' Execute a Civilian (05/07/12) - YouTube

Terrorists shoot dead an unarmed civilian -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gQCNQrYu8o

 

[Armand2REP]

More tanks on the move:

Not moving so much now...

 

[pmaitra]

^^

Tank destroyed on July-27-2012 and uploaded on YouTube on July-27-2012?

Syria must be quite ahead with internet facilities in the middle of a Civil War.

 

[pmaitra]

More comments here: Syria: Aleppo rebels plead for help as army threatens onslaught - Telegraph

Zhanglan v.37 Olympics Edition
4 minutes ago
Last week I posted a Comment about the relevance of Iraqi Kurdistan to all of this. Of course, the post was deleted by the Moderators who think you are not grown up enough to understand such things, but I will post it again below.

One of the Land Destroyer blog posts http://www.landdestroyer.blogs... analyses in great detail a March report produced by the US foreign-policy
think-tank, Brookings Institution, bearing the title ""Assessing Options for Regime Change", available online here: http://www.blogger.com/www.bro...

What I find interesting is that the two major recent oil investments in Kurdistan have been from Chevron and ExxonMobil - look at the Brookings Institute logo and spot which two corporate names feature most prominently in the centre of it - http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mdvy4X0Y8...ABSo/6VOx9RFdGfg/s400/BrookingsSponsors_2.jpg
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Zhanglan v.37 Olympics Edition
2 minutes ago
Here is what they are not telling you, and what the Moderators have been trying to suppress all week

I very much doubt that you have ever heard of the Iraqi Kurdish leader, Massoud Barzani, who Obama received in the White House recently, and who has become the "lynchpin" in the US policy on Syria after ExxonMobil signed up in October to develop oil fields located in the Kurdistan region controlled by him (ignoring protests from Baghdad that such a deal with a provincial authority bypassing the central government would violate Iraq's sovereignty)

Last week, the US oil giant Chevron announced that it too has acquired an 80% controlling share in a company operating in the region covering a combined area of 1,124 square kilometers that is under Barzani's control. http://www.thenational.ae/busi... and analysts at Baker Mackenzie say that the Americans will make $5 per barrel on the deal compared to only $1 in Iraq http://oilprice.com/Latest-Ene...

The entry of ExxonMobile and Chevron is a game-changer in the regional politics relating to Syria and the geopolitics of the Middle East and Caucasus. Since the Iraqi government clised the only pipelune out of the region http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07... the only transportation route to the world market for the massive oil and gas deposits in Kurdistan will be via the Syrian port city of Latakia on the eastern Mediterranean coast (neatly bypassing the Straits of Hormuz)

An altogether new dimension to the US game plan on Syria now comes into view.Secretary of State Clinton calls this "smart power": In a magnificent essay titled "The Art of Smart Power" penned by her last week http://www.newstatesman.com/po... , as she surveyed the curious twist to the tale of the Arab Spring, Clinton wrote that the US is nowadays "leading in new ways", pointing out that

"The US is expanding its "foreign-policy toolbox [to] integrate every asset and partner, and fundamentally change the way we [US] do business ... [the] common thread running through all our efforts is a commitment to adapt America's global leadership for the needs of a changing world. The United States is leading in new ways that fit a new time – a time of complex challenges and scarce resources. Of course the day-to-day work of foreign policy has to contend with the crises of the moment, but we are also working to prioritise our long-term investments in the areas of greatest opportunity and consequence, as well as the areas of greatest threat."

THIS IS ALL ABOUT OIL, JUST LIKE IRAQ, JUST LIKE LIBYA, JUST LIKE IRAN.

It has nothing at all to do with Assad, Syria, Human Rights or Democracy

Zhanglan v.37 Olympics Edition
13 minutes ago
Al Jazeera yesterday reported that Turkey is threatening to invade Syria in order to suppress an uprising by the Kurdish minority in the North, who have just struck a deal with Assad, brokered by the leader of the Iraqi Kurds (Massoud Barzani) , who I wrote about earlier this week in connection with his oil deals with ExxonMobil and Chevron

Turkey provides logistics and support to tens of thousands of Syria's NATO "rebels" - which include plenty of hardcore Sunni Arab "insurgents" formerly known as terrorists; but as long as Syrian Kurds - which are part of the Syrian opposition - demonstrate some independence, they immediately revert to being considered "terrorists".

Turkey appears to be itching to kill "terrorists" living in Syria and Iraq - even though its NATO allies may view them as "freedom fighters". Meanwhile Ankara actively supports Salafi-jihadis - "insurgents" formerly known as terrorists - moving back and forth across the Syrian border.

Go figure that one out

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/M...

 

[Armand2REP]

^^

Tank destroyed on July-27-2012 and uploaded on YouTube on July-27-2012?

Syria must be quite ahead with internet facilities in the middle of a Civil War.

Mobile access from Turkey is available.