The Syrian Crisis

[Armand2REP]

Regime forces have been taking a beating. Ground assault stalled and losing bases ringing the city. If Assad can't encircle Aleppo he has no chance of winning.

 

[pmaitra]

More and more rebels are getting fried. The Syrian Army has been withdrawn from distant areas and brought in Aleppo. The rebels are occupying many vacated bases, and are proclaiming they captured it. Heck, even I could capture an empty base.

 

[pmaitra]

Link: Badly armed rebels face tanks as Syria's mother of all battles begins - Telegraph

Nicely summed up at the link above:

The_Spanish_Inquisition
6 hours ago
apparently

Plan A - popular "Arab Spring / Twitter" uprising : failed
Plan B - UN Resolutions (air attack and sanctions) : failed
Plan C - False Flag atrocities in Houla: failed
Plan D - Gulf of Tonkin incident with F4 Phantom to bring in NATO : failed
Plan E - WMD : failed
Plan F - assassination: failed
Plan G - "Tet Offensive" on Damascus : failed
Plan H - Human shields in residential areas of Aleppo : failed

Hey, listen! I got my top guys working on this, ok? Top Guys. Gimme a break already - I need to think

 

[The Messiah]

German Intelligence: "al-Qaeda" All Over Syria

A divide over Syria is gradually emerging between the German government on one side, its army and press on the other. While the Chancellor has been actively lining up her country behind Western schemes, German intelligence agencies and the press have slammed the anti-Assad propaganda and the impunity of the crimes committed by the opposition.

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 by the German government in a response to a parliamentary question.

In response to the same question, the German government admitted that it had received several reports from the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, on the May 25 massacre in the Syrian town of Houla. But it noted that the content of these reports was to remain classified "by reason of national interest." Like many other Western governments, Germany expelled Syria's ambassador in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, holding the Syrian government responsible for the violence.

Meanwhile, at least three major German newspapers - Die Welt, the FAZ, and the mass-market tabloid Bild - have published reports attributing responsibility for the massacre to anti-government rebel forces or treating this as the most probable scenario.

Writing in Bild, longtime German war correspondent Jurgen Todenhofer accused the rebels of "deliberately killing civilians and then presenting them as victims of the government". He described this "massacre-marketing strategy" as being "among the most disgusting things that I have ever experienced in an armed conflict". Todenhofer had recently been to Damascus, where he interviewed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for Germany's ARD public television.

Writing in Die Welt, Alfred Hackensberger noted that Taldo, the sub-district of Houla where the massacre occurred, has been under rebel control since December 2011 and is in an open plain, making it unlikely that "hundreds of soldiers and Assad supporters" could have entered the village to commit the massacre. (An abridged version of Hackenberger's report also appeared in Die Berliner Morgenpost.) Hackensberger visited Houla to conduct investigations for his report.

He also interviewed an alleged eyewitness - identified simply by the pseudonym "Jibril" - at the Saint James Monastery in Qara, Syria. In contrast to an earlier report in the FAZ, which had claimed that the victims were largely Shi'ites and Alawis, Jibril told Hackensberger that all of the victims were Sunnis "like everybody here". By his account, they were killed for refusing to support the rebellion. Jibril added that "a lot of people in Houla know what really happened" but would not say so out of fear for their lives. "Whoever says something," he explained, "can only repeat the rebels' version. Anything else is certain death."

While traveling in the region of Homs, Hackensberger heard similar stories about the conduct of the rebels. One - now former - resident of the city of Qusayr told him that not only were Christians like himself expelled from the town, but that anyone who refused to enroll their children in the Free Syrian Army had been shot. Hackensberger's source held foreign Islamists responsible for the atrocities. "I have seen them with my own eyes," he said, "Pakistanis, Libyans, Tunisians and also Lebanese. They call Osama bin Laden their sheikh."

A Sunni resident of Homs told Hackensberger that he had witnessed how an armed group stopped a bus: "The passengers were divided into two groups: on the one side, Sunnis; on the other, Alawis." According to Hackenberger's source, the insurgents then proceeded to decapitate the nine Alawi passengers.

That the German government would cite national interest in refusing to disclose its information concerning the circumstances of the Houla massacre is particularly notable in light of Germany's support for the rebellion and its political arm, the Syrian National Council (SNC).

While France, the United Kingdom, and the United States have figured as the most visible Western powers supporting the rebellion, Germany has been quietly playing a major role behind the scenes. According to a new report in the FAZ, the German foreign office is working with representatives of the Syrian opposition to develop "concrete plans" for a "political transition" in Syria following the fall of Assad.

German Intelligence: "al-Qaeda" All Over Syria [Voltaire Network]

 

[pmaitra]

^^

See the video I posted (post #813). It is proven.

The BBC reporter, however, chooses not to report that.

 

[pmaitra]

Syrian Forces and Rebels Claim Gains in Aleppo Fight

Opposition fighters said that after a pitched battle lasting several hours with the Syrian Army in Aleppo, the nation's largest city, they had seized control on Monday of a vital checkpoint a few miles northwest of the city, freeing up a route for supplies and fighters between Aleppo and the Turkish border. Opposition activists said that the fighters had seized several tanks and other military vehicles. Activists said video posted on Monday showed scenes of the nighttime battle as well as the checkpoint under rebel control.

Rebels gain outside city.

As the rebels claimed a victory, Syrian state television reported that the army had won back control of Salaheddiin, a district in the southwest part of Aleppo where rebel fighters had concentrated their attack on government troops. A military officer, speaking to the channel, said that the "mercenary gunmen" had been routed.

Syrian government forces gain inside city.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/w...s-and-rebels-claim-gains-in-aleppo-fight.html

 

[The Messiah]

^^

See the video I posted (post #813). It is proven.

The BBC reporter, however, chooses not to report that.

According to some BBC is liberal

I wonder how liberal equals to al qaeda supporter. Like i said earlier on bbc is a propaganda tool.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Syria and WMD: Iraq Redux? | The National Interest Blog

Bolton is right to worry about chemical and biological weapons in Syria falling into the wrong hands. Though he does not give specifics on his military plan to secure the WMD, U.S. ground troops would likely be needed to ensure the weapons are safeguarded. And Bolton readily admits that such an operation would be risky.

 

[Armand2REP]

 

[pmaitra]

'British-born jihadists fighting Assad in Syria' – captured photographer

Radical Islamists with "British accents" are among the coalition forces looking to topple Bashar Assad, says Jeroen Oerlemans, a photographer who was held hostage in Syria for a week. The UK Foreign Office has launched an investigation.

Oerlemans, a famous Dutch photo journalist, and John Cantlie, another photographer from the UK, were captured by a group of between 30 and 100 anti-Assad fighters when crossing the Syrian border from Turkey last week. They were then blindfolded.

"One of the black jihadists freaked out and shouted: 'These are journalists and now they will see we are preparing an international jihad in this place.'" Oerlemans told NRC Handelsblatt newspaper. He said that none of the fighters was Syrian.

"They all claimed they came from countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh and Chechnya and they said there was some vague 'emir' at the head of the group."

About 40 per cent of the militants spoke English. In fact, several apparently talked with recognizable regional British accents, from Birmingham and London.

'British-born jihadists fighting Assad in Syria' – captured photographer — RT

 

[pmaitra]

Medvedev: Libya has influenced our position on Syria

Q: You mentioned Syria. This is clearly one of the big international worries at the moment. Russia has had a number of initiatives in trying to solve the situation there. I think David Cameron has a very different point of view from your own point of view. But both sides agree that the Annan plan is perhaps the only political way forward. Do you think that plan still has a chance to succeed given the fact that things are moving so swiftly on the ground?

A: I don't want to be overly optimistic because the situation is very difficult and very complex. But I don't think that the Annan plan is no longer relevant, and the reason is because it is a political, peaceful plan. In fact, it may seem that the positions of Russia and Britain, or Russia and the US, are vastly different, but actually they are not that different. We all agree that a full-scale civil war in Syria would be the worst-case scenario. And what we have today is, if you will, the premonition of civil war. A huge number of people have been killed. As usual, both sides are to blame, because they would not listen to each other and come to the negotiating table.

I reminded David yesterday that I had told President Assad more than a year ago that he should act promptly and carry out reforms and, most importantly, build a relationship with the opposition, even though it may be difficult for him, even though he belongs to the Alawite minority, and most opposition activists belong to a different branch of Islam. Syria is a very complex state. It's much more complex than Egypt or Libya because of all the communities living there: Sunnis, Shia, Alawites, Druze and Christians. They will either find a way to get along or civil war and killings will go on indefinitely. So both sides are to blame. They should come to the negotiating table and find a solution to this very difficult problem. I don't know what the future political situation in Syria will be like, and I don't know what role Mr. Assad will have in this future arrangement. It's up to the Syrian people to decide.

The difference between Russia and Britain on this issue is that we believe talks are the only way, and our partners want to take more drastic measures. But the question is – where is the line between resolutions and a military operation? We saw that with the resolution on Libya. It basically led to international intervention. This is a bad way. Both President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron assured me this is not what they want. So I think the plan is not over, and we should cooperate and continue consultations.

By the way, I discussed the subject yesterday with the Lebanese leader and the Turkish prime minister. So as you can see, the Syrian issue remains high on the agenda even at the Olympics. And since according to the constitution it is up to the president to shape foreign policy, I think Vladimir Putin will present Russia's position on this issue.

Q: You were president at the time of the Libyan intervention and the diplomatic proceedings that went before the Libyan intervention. Is that experience actually now influencing Russia's position on Syria? Did you feel that you were somehow betrayed over the Libya scenario and that you don't want to see a similar situation in Syria?

A: Of course, this is influencing our position. In fact, when the situation with Syria started, I said from the very beginning that we would adjust our approach because of what happened with Libya. When the resolution on Libya was adopted, we thought our countries would hold consultations and talks and at the same time we would send a serious signal to the Libyan leader. But unfortunately it ended up the way it did. They kept telling us there would be no military operation, no intervention, but eventually they started a full-blown war that claimed many lives. And most importantly, I think it is a bad way to determine a country's future. We all share democratic values, but imposed democracy usually does not work. Democracy must grow from inside. Only then does it enjoy popular support. So, what happened with Libya has definitely affected my position and continues influencing Russia's position on the Syrian conflict.

I believe the past few years have been the most productive ones in Russia-US relations. And I am glad that during this period I had a chance to work with President Obama on resetting our relations. I think we have achieved a lot, even though we still have differences on a number of issues. This is how international politics works: each state is guided by its own national interests the way it understands them. The Americans understand them in their way, the British in theirs, and Russia understands its national interests in its way, too. As a whole though, those were very positive years.

I don't think that we've entered a new era or that Russia is now taking a harder line with regard to the US, as the media claim. I don't think that our priorities have changed or that the reset is over, that it hasn't produced any results. This is completely wrong. It has produced many useful results, like the New START treaty. We had no treaty in place but we have one now, and it will determine our interaction for the years to come, even though we have our differences on missile defense. We've managed to reset a number of useful mechanisms. We've had many consultations on international issues.

This is the first US administration to help Russia join the WTO, and I will always be grateful to Barack Obama for being fair. I remember how one day we were in a car together, talking without interpreters, and he told me, "You know, I'll help you join the WTO." And he did. You don't forget such things. This shows he's a man of his word.

It is not like something terrible, or extraordinary, is happening in our relations. When some people say our position has changed, they usually do so for ideological reasons. I hope President Putin also has a good working relationship with Barack Obama. In fact, this is already happening. They keep in contact and they write and call each other. This is perfectly normal. Of course, I will do my best to help develop this dialogue as much as I can within the constitution. So everything's fine.

Source: Medvedev: Libya has influenced our position on Syria — RT

 

[pmaitra]

Al-Qaida turns tide for rebels in battle for eastern Syria

In his latest exclusive dispatch from Deir el-Zour province, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad meets fighters who have left the Free Syrian Army for the discipline and ideology of global jihad
[hr][/hr]
"The FSA lacks the ability to plan and lacks military experience. That is what [al-Qaida] can bring. They have an organisation that all countries have acknowledged.

"In the beginning there were very few. Now, mashallah, there are immigrants joining us and bringing their experience," he told the gathered people. "Men from Yemen, Saudi, Iraq and Jordan. Yemenis are the best in their religion and discipline and the Iraqis are the worst in everything – even in religion."

At this, one man in the room – an activist in his mid-30s who did not want to be named – said: "So what are you trying to do, Abu Khuder? Are you going to start cutting off hands and make us like Saudi? Is this why we are fighting a revolution?"

"[Al-Qaida's] goal is establishing an Islamic state and not a Syrian state," he replied. "Those who fear the organisation fear the implementation of Allah's jurisdiction. If you don't commit sins there is nothing to fear."

Source: Al-Qaida turns tide for rebels in battle for eastern Syria | World news | The Guardian

 

[pmaitra]

Car used by Free Syrian Army with Shahada from the Al-Qaida Flag.

 

[Armand2REP]

40 Syrian Policemen Killed as Rebels Overrun Two Aleppo Posts

40 Syrian Policemen Killed as Rebels Overrun Aleppo Posts — Naharnet

 

[pmaitra]

Syrian opposition to form government in exile

Haytham al-Maleh, a Syrian opposition figure, claims he has been tasked with forming a government in exile based in Cairo.

Source: Syrian opposition to form government in exile - Telegraph

 

[pmaitra]

Syria: Assad helicopter gunships open fire on rebels fighters in Daraa

The Syrian military intensifies its campaign to drive rebel fighters out of Daraa, where the uprising began.

A counter-offensive by the government is gaining momentum and troops have so far been able to recapture neighbourhoods in the capital Damascus that rebels overran earlier this month.

The government also launched an offensive in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, where rebels have taken over several areas.

Outgunned rebel fighters, patrolling in flatbed trucks flying green-white-and-black independence flags, said they were holding in the town of Attarib, 30 kilometres north of Aleppo.

Source: Video: Syria: Assad helicopter gunships open fire on rebels fighters in Daraa - Telegraph

 

[pmaitra]

Clashes continue in Syria's Aleppo
English.news.cn 2012-07-31 18:43:36

DAMASCUS, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Syrian forces clashed Tuesday with armed groups, riding nine SUVs outfitted with PKC machine guns in the northern province of Aleppo, state media says, as activists reporting heavy clashes in the same conflict-torn province.

The clashes in Aleppo has been raging on since last week. On Tuesday the state run SANA news agency said Syrian troops clashed with armed insurgents in Darat Izza area of Aleppo, destroying their PKC-outfitted SUVs.

Meanwhile, pro-government media said clashes are currently ongoing in Bab al-Nairab district in Aleppo.

Earlier in the day, the pro-government al-Watan daily said the army has continued its operation in Aleppo backed by helicopter gunships, which are carrying out reconnaissance mission in the rebellious areas to locate them.

It said the ragtag armed groups contain fighters of different nationalities funded and supported by foreign countries.

Meanwhile, the paper said that army troops have consolidated their control over the Aleppo districts of Salahuddien, Sukary and Sakhour, adding that great losses have befallen the armed insurgents and their leaders.

The paper quoted local citizens as saying that the security apparatus are professionally dealing with the armed elements in Salahuddien, the main stronghold of the armed men.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the leader of a rebel battalion in Aleppon was killed in the al-Marjeh neighbourhood by a sniper, adding that several police officers were killed in the Bab al-Neyrab police station after rebel fighters clashed with them.

The Observatory said there are reports that the Masakin Hanano police station has been overrun, adding that clashes are still taking place in the al-Maysar neighbourhood.

It said violent clashes are taking place in the Bab al-Neyrab neighbourhood between rebel fighters and armed members of the Al- Berri clan, who are loyal to the regime.

A Syrian source has recently told the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV that the Syrian army is fighting the entire world in Aleppo, in reference to foreign fighters currently fighting in Aleppo. Reports of al-Qaida exploiting the situation in Syria and joining the fight against the regime forces have surfaced lately.

Source: Clashes continue in Syria's Aleppo - Xinhua | English.news.cn

 

[Razor]

'Assad better get the hell out' – Panetta

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.

Syria's government forces should remain intact after embattled President Assad is ousted, said Panetta. Though the Obama administration is resolved against military intervention in the country, Panetta nevertheless drew a comparison with the occupation of Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion.

"It's very important that we don't make the same mistakes we made in Iraq," he said, referring to the Bush administration's decision to disband the country's military in the wake of the invasion. "I think it's important when Assad leaves, and he will leave, to try to preserve stability in that country."

The Defense Secretary said that the most effective way to preserve Syrian stability is to "maintain as much of the military and police as you can, along with security forces, and hope that they will transition to a democratic form of government."

A temporary military regime is a strategy similar to the one employed by Egypt following the ouster of President Mubarak in January last year, where the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) formed an interim government. But prolonged military rule sparked massive protests amid claims that SCAF was stalling democratic elections in a bid to cling to power.

Government forces will be essential to securing key Syrian military sites, including alleged chemical weapons stashes: "It would be a disaster to have those chemical weapons fall into the wrong hands," Panetta said.

More @ Source: RT

 

[The Messiah]

these people are being supported by human rights brigrade ie the west

 

[pmaitra]

Syria government's Aleppo assault stalls

The Syrian government's assault on Aleppo appeared to have stalled on Tuesday night as rebels claimed new victories against the increasingly demoralised troops of Bashar al-Assad.

Source: Syria government's Aleppo assault stalls - Telegraph