The Syrian Crisis

[The Messiah]

Well established fact, but if you watch tripe like RT, you'd probably think like you do

fact ? i have my doubts and apparantly so do others.

to be fair bbc is tripe whether you like it or not

 

[The Messiah]

How about a nice game of Risk for you armchair warmongers?

Pogo.com� - Play Risk! Over 15 Million Players Online!

You better tighten the sleash...your lapdog seems uneasy

 

[Scalieback]

They are british citizens. Besides in a hypothetical situation they'd only be fired if your the aggressors so its upto you.

So it's anyone in the British isles you hate then? Are you a geographobe?

Where is Britain the aggressor?

you take that as a threat ? i thought we were talking in the past tense

You really are a f#ckwit aren't you? No, that's being cruel to them. At least they have a wit

 

[Scalieback]

fact ? i have my doubts and apparantly so do others.

Yes, because they watch the tripe from RT

to be fair bbc is tripe whether you like it or not

We agree on something, wohoo!

 

[Scalieback]

How about a nice game of Risk for you armchair warmongers?

Pogo.com� - Play Risk! Over 15 Million Players Online!

Love the boardgame and played it on PS when it came out.

I'm off in a mo, so it may be some time before I return. Busy in my none existent job in my improper house, paying my (high??) taxes you see

More Brit hate will undoubtedly abound

 

[The Messiah]

So it's anyone in the British isles you hate then? Are you a geographobe?

Where is Britain the aggressor?

Your slow aren't you ? tbf your getting old so its understandable.

You really are a f#ckwit aren't you? No, that's being cruel to them. At least they have a wit

lol coming from a cockney or sheep shagger ? maybe your both

 

[pmaitra]

Thread closed due to too many heated exchanges.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Current developments in Syria

If there are no objections from anyone, here is a new thread on Syria.

Annan fears imminent battle in Syria's Aleppo | Reuters

International mediator Kofi Annan said he feared an "imminent battle" for Syria's biggest city Aleppo.

Syrian opposition sources said helicopters from President Bashar al-Assad's military pounded a rebel-held part of the city on Saturday and armored units were positioned for an onslaught that could determine its fate.

"I am concerned about reports of the concentration of troops and heavy weapons around Aleppo, in anticipation of an imminent battle," Annan said in a statement.

"The escalation of the military build-up in Aleppo and the surrounding area is further evidence of the need for the international community to come together to persuade the parties that only a political transition, leading to a political settlement, will resolve this crisis."

But a Syrian opposition leader urged foreign allies to circumvent the divided U.N. Security Council and intervene.

"Our friends and allies will bear responsibility for what is happening in Aleppo if they do not move soon," said Abdelbasset Sida, the head of the Syrian National Council which is the main umbrella group for opposition to Assad.

"Any action has to be from outside the Security Council through an Arab League initiative and through a resolution passed by the General Assembly," he said early on Sunday on a visit to the United Arab Emirates for talks with officials.

French President Francois Hollande said he would keep trying to convince Russia and China, which have Security Council vetoes, to support harder sanctions against Assad that they have opposed during the 16-month-old uprising.

"I will once more address Russia and China so that they recognize there would be chaos and civil war if Bashar al-Assad isn't soon stopped," said Hollande.

He said the Syrian government knew it was doomed and would use force until the very end, adding: "The role of the member states of the U.N. Security Council is to step in as quickly as possible."

Russia played down speculation that it might offer Assad asylum, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying on Saturday Moscow had no such agreement and was not even thinking about it.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitoring group, reported helicopter attacks on Aleppo's central Salaheddine district and fighting elsewhere in the city.

"Helicopters are participating in clashes at the entrance of Salaheddine district and bombarding it," it said.

One opposition activist said he had seen tanks and armored troop carriers heading for the district.

On the approaches to Aleppo from the north many villagers were still shopping or tending their fields. But fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army were also in evidence.

One man in his 40s, carrying his family on a motorcycle, said he was fleeing the fighting in the city.

"We are living in a war zone," he told Reuters. "I and my relatives are just going back and forth, trying to stay away from the fighting. We left Aleppo when we saw smoke and helicopters firing."

CRUCIAL TEST

The battle for the city of 2.5 million people is seen as a crucial test for a government that has committed major military resources to holding control of its two main power centers, Aleppo in the north and the capital Damascus.

While neither side has managed to gain the upper hand, the uprising is being watched anxiously outside Syria amid fears sectarian conflict could spill over its borders. Minority Alawites have dominated through more than 40 years of Assad family rule in Syria, which has a Sunni Muslim majority.

Military experts believe that while Assad's more powerful forces will overcome the rebels in Aleppo and other major cities, it risks loss of control in the countryside because the loyalty of large sections of the army is in doubt.

Three rebel fighters were killed in clashes before dawn on Saturday in Aleppo, the Observatory said. It said 160 people were reported killed in Syria on Friday, adding to an overall death toll of around 18,000 since the uprising began.

Video footage provided by the Observatory showed smoke rising over apartment blocks in the city into a hazy sky on Saturday. The sound of sporadic gunfire could be clearly heard.

Fighting was reported in other towns across Syria: Deraa, the cradle of the revolution, Homs, the scene of some of the bloodiest combat, and Hama.

At least 10 people were killed on Saturday when security forces went into Maadameyat al-Sham near Damascus, the Observatory said.

Russia has said international support for Syrian rebels would lead to "more blood" and the government could not be expected to willingly give in to its opponents.

It has also said it would not allow searches of Russian-flagged ships under new European Union sanctions governing vessels suspected of carrying weapons to Syria.

The increase in fighting in Aleppo follows a bomb attack on July 18 that killed Assad's defense minister and three other top officials in Damascus, a development that led some analysts to speculate that the government's grip was slipping.

 

[The Messiah]

Re: Current developments in Syria

Dont worry ewald that thread will be reopened!

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Re: Current developments in Syria

Dont worry ewald that thread will be reopened!

Then perhaps merged.:cool2:

 

[pmaitra]

Merged and re-opened.

 

[pmaitra]

Russia has doubts about Syria president's ability to hold on

MOSCOW — Russian officials, who have strenuously resisted U.S.-led efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, are beginning to question whether the beleaguered leader can hang on, but say they have little influence over him as rebels take the fight to his country's biggest cities.

Even though Russia has been a close Syrian ally for decades, officials and analysts acknowledge that they have limited insight to Assad's true situation and mind-set. Although some fear that Russia missed a chance to help find a solution to the conflict, now in its 17th month, others say that it never had that kind of clout.

Still, Moscow appears to have at least one more card to play: an offer of asylum if Assad chooses to ask for it.

Source: Russia has doubt about Bashar Assad's ability to hold on in Syria - latimes.com

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Libya rebels move onto Syrian battlefield - CNN.com

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Their war for freedom in Libya may be over, but almost a year after they won the battle for the Libyan capital, a group of fighters have a new battlefield: Syria.

Under the command of one of Libya's most well known rebel commanders, Al-Mahdi al-Harati, more than 30 Libyan fighters have made their way into Syria to support the Free Syrian Army rebels in their war against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Al-Harati, who commanded the Tripoli Revolutionary brigade -- which was the first group of rebels to enter the Libyan capital last August -- has been in Syria for months leading some of his former men and Syrian military defectors who have joined his "Liwaa al-Umma" or "The Banner of the Nation" brigade.

Recent YouTube videos show at least two different Syrian rebel factions announcing that they are part of the Liwa al-Umma.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Russia: No asylum plans for Assad | News24

Moscow - Russia has made no agreement to grant Syrian President Bashar Assad asylum and is "not even thinking about" doing so, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

The remarks fell short of a statement that Russia would not consider taking in Assad, but were among Moscow's strongest indications yet that it is not planning to do so.

"We have said more than once publicly that we are not even thinking about this," Lavrov said when asked about media reports Russia was ready to offer Assad asylum.

"There is no agreement, no thought about this issue," Lavrov told reporters on a flight to Moscow from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where he and President Vladimir Putin met Japan's foreign minister.

"This is all a provocation by those who want to place all the blame for what is happening in Syria on us and on China."

Lavrov reiterated statements by Putin and other Russian officials that Moscow has no special relationship with the Syrian government, suggesting it might make more sense for a Western nation to take him in.

 

[Armand2REP]

 

[IBSA]

Michael Higgins Jul 28, 2012 – 3:17 AM ET | Last Updated: Jul 28, 2012 3:22 AM ET

Winners

United States

Qatar

Hamas

Turkey

.

I add in the winner's list:

Saudis, jointly the Qatarians, are one of FSA's financers, and would set one more sunni gov in the region

Kurds. Assad gave in the control of Syria's parts for the Kurds. If Assad keep in power, Kurds will pass to be a important component on regime, since they were vital importance for regime continuance maintaining the Iraqi borders opened during the war. If Assad falls, the new Syrian gov should deal with Kurds to retake the control of those areas, a thing Kurds will not return without costs. Maybe the new gov needs make war on Syria Kurds, or accept some form of autonomous kurdish regional government as in Iraq.

France, I think, wants to keep influence in her former colonies. At least, French President François Hollande backs the USA rhetoric against Assad. So, some thing France shall be gaining on this war.

 

[pmaitra]

Video of fighting in Aleppo:

BBC News - Syria crisis: Running battles on Aleppo's streets

http://www.reuters.com/article/video/idUSBRE8610SH20120728?videoId=236706854

 

[pmaitra]

This video at Reuters is being claimed to show a helicopter being 'shot down.'

Syrian helicopter shot down near Damascus | Video | Reuters.com

This is a Mil-24/35. There is no smoke billowing from the helicopter, which would if it was shot in the engines. Also, the propellers seems to be functioning. It swoops down on a target and shoots 37 mm rockets from the rocket pods, causing those intermittent flashes, till it turns horizontal again. The camera shakes, probably due to the explosion. It is very unlikely that the helicopter was shot down, and this could be just a propaganda by the rebels.

The minimum calibre needed to shoot down a Mil-24/35 has to be a constant volley of 23 mm rounds. It can take 12.7 mm Ack-Ack fire at point blank range with no significant damage.

 

[Armand2REP]

Syria rebels hold Aleppo in uprising's 'fiercest' clashes

29/07/2012

AFP - Syrian rebels held off an offensive by regime forces in Aleppo Saturday as the head of the exiled opposition called for heavy weapons and said President Bashar al-Assad should be tried for "massacres".

After massing for two days, troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships moved on southwestern Aleppo where rebels concentrated their forces when they seized much of the northern city on July 20.

At least 29 people were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, contributing to a figure of around 140 nationwide, amid growing concern about the risks of reprisals against civilians in the country's commercial capital.

The London-based watchdog said more than 20,000 people (5082 soldiers, 968 army deserters and 13978 rebels/civilians) have now died since the uprising against Assad's regime erupted in March 2011.

Civilians crowded into basements seeking refuge from the bombing, with the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman describing the clashes as the "fiercest" of the uprising.

"There are thousands of people in the streets fleeing the bombardment. They're being terrorised by helicopter gunships flying at low altitude," said an activist, adding many had taken refuge in public parks.

Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi of the rebel Free Syrian Army said his forces had repulsed troops in Salaheddin district and that the regime offensive had been stopped.

"We managed to force the army to the neighbourhood of Hamdaniyeh," he told AFP on the phone, adding that while the army had been halted on the ground, artillery and gunships continued to pound the city.

Abdel Rahman said the fact the soldiers had been stopped in Salaheddin "does not necessarily mean a withdrawal as their strategy is to bombard ... to cause an exodus then launch an assault even more fierce".

An AFP correspondent said rebels were poised to launch a final raid on a strategic police post in the city centre, where 100 men armed with Kalashnikovs have been holding out for three days.

Its capture would open a corridor between Salaheddin and the rebel-held district of Sakhur, some six kilometres (four miles) to the northeast.

Syria rebels hold Aleppo in uprising's 'fiercest' clashes - SYRIA - FRANCE 24

 

[W.G.Ewald]

This video at Reuters is being claimed to show a helicopter being 'shot down.'

Syrian helicopter shot down near Damascus | Video | Reuters.com

This is a Mil-24/35. There is no smoke billowing from the helicopter, which would if it was shot in the engines. Also, the propellers seems to be functioning. It swoops down on a target and shoots 37 mm rockets from the rocket pods, causing those intermittent flashes, till it turns horizontal again. The camera shakes, probably due to the explosion. It is very unlikely that the helicopter was shot down, and this could be just a propaganda by the rebels.

The minimum calibre needed to shoot down a Mil-24/35 has to be a constant volley of 23 mm rounds. It can take 12.7 mm Ack-Ack fire at point blank range with no significant damage.

The entire video has no continuity, either.

Ack-ack? Haven't seen that term since I stopped reading comic books about WWII