The Syrian Crisis

[IBSA]

Introducing Ridiculously Photogenic Syrian Rebel
AUGUST 15, 2012

Daily Dot | Introducing Ridiculously Photogenic Syrian Rebel

When Reddit user bk533 posted a photo of a Free Syrian Army fighter carrying an rocket-propelled grenade and looking like a general badass to the social news site Tuesday, he or she didn't intend for the soldier to become yet another new meme.

The redditor just wanted "this good looking bastard to get some attention in case he gets killed by an authoritative dictator using chemical weapons in a last ditch effort to hang onto what little semblance of power he has left."

Despite bk533's best intentions, the Associated Press photo and the title of the post, "Ridiculously Photogenic Syrian Rebel," are on their way to meme stardom, thanks to more than 800 comments.

"All the ladies want him.

All the guys want to be him.

All the Syrian Army want to kill him.

Ridiculously Photogenic Rebel

in cinemas 2013." —ceph3us

The name of the meme is a play off of a photo taken of 25-year-old Zeddie "Watkins" Little jogging during a marathon in March. The random photo of Little flashing a bright smile found its way to Reddit, where it exploded with image macros, unabashed bromancing, and eventually landed Little on Good Morning America.

"The good looking jogger guy will be around for probably 80 more years," bk533 added. "This [Syrian] guy might not make it till Friday."

The Syrian uprising has gripped the Middle East for over a year. In total, about 15,000 people have been killed in protests against President Bashar al-Assad and his regime.

The following is a Storify with some of the best illustrations of the Syrian to emerge thus far.

 

[pmaitra]

 

[pmaitra]

Syria: UN monitors leave Damascus as fighting continues

United Nations military observers left Damascus on Monday after a four-month mission in which they became helpless spectators of Syria's spiralling conflict, instead of monitoring a ceasefire between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ors-leave-Damascus-as-fighting-continues.html

 

[pmaitra]

UN Syria envoy rejects criticism on Assad resignation

The new UN special envoy to Syria has rejected criticism from opposition groups for refusing to say whether President Bashar al-Assad must resign.

Lakhdar Brahimi told the BBC that he was "not in a position to say yet" but was "committed to finding a solution".

Source: BBC News - UN Syria envoy rejects criticism on Assad resignation

 

[ani82v]

Car bomb kills eight near Turkey's border with Syria | Firstpost

HAKKARI, Turkey (Reuters) – A car bomb a senior Turkish politician blamed on Kurdish separatists exploded near a police station in a city near Turkey's southeastern border with Syria on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens more.

TV footage from Gaziantep showed a bus and the surrounding area ablaze and smoke billowing into the sky as firemen tried to fight the fire. Ambulances ferried casualties to hospital while anxious residents looked on.

"Unfortunately we lost eight citizens and nearly 60 people are getting treated at several hospitals according to our initial information," Erdal Ata, Gaziantep's governor, told reporters.

The explosion, which officials said was caused by a remote-controlled car bomb, is likely to further strain already tense relations between Turkey and its war-torn neighbour Syria.
....
ATTACK FOLLOWS TURKEY AID EFFORTS
...
Turkey initially cultivated good relations with Assad's administration but relations have deteriorated sharply since the Syrian uprising began. Erdogan is now one of Assad's harshest critics and has raised the possibility of military intervention in Syria if the PKK becomes a threat there.

Turkey suspects a major Syrian Kurdish movement, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), of having links with the PKK. Turkish analysts believe Assad let the PYD take control of security of some towns in northern Syria to prevent locals from joining the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Fighting between the Turkish army and PKK militants has intensified in recent weeks in Turkey's southeastern Semdinli district bordering Iran and Iraq.

Suspected PKK members ambushed a Turkish military bus in western Turkey earlier this month, an attack outside the group's regular field of operation in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

Earlier on Monday, two Turkish soldiers were killed by a landmine on a road in southeast Turkey, an attack also believed to have been carried out by PKK militants, security sources said.

(Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

 

[Armand2REP]

^^ Looks closer to Iraqi Kurdistan. Don't see what that has to do with Syria.

 

[ani82v]

^^ Looks closer to Iraqi Kurdistan. Don't see what that has to do with Syria.

Syria possibly using Kurdish Rebels as leverage against Turkey, which is supporting FSA.

The explosion, which officials said was caused by a remote-controlled car bomb, is likely to further strain already tense relations between Turkey and its war-torn neighbour Syria.

 

[Armand2REP]

Syria possibly using Kurdish Rebels as leverage against Turkey, which is supporting FSA.

FSA doesn't support or oppose Kurdish Rebels. Syrian Kurds are playing the watch and wait game. They already have control of their own areas as Assad withdrew troops. There is no evidence Syrian Kurds had anything to do with the bombing and is not part of their strategy. If Kurds are responsible, it is Turkish or Iraqi Kurds.

 

[asianobserve]

Syrian opposition fighters acquire Stinger missiles: sources

 

[Yusuf]

BEIRUT: Russia warned the West on Tuesday against unilateral action on Syria, a day after US President Barack Obama threatened "enormous consequences" if his Syrian counterpart used chemical or biological arms or even moved them in a menacing way.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking after meeting China's top diplomat, said Moscow and Beijing were committed to "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law...and not to allow their violation".

Russia and China have opposed military intervention in Syria throughout a 17-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. They have vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions backed by Western and Arab states that would have put more pressure on Damascus to end violence that has cost 18,000 lives.

The United States and its allies have shown little appetite for military action in Syria, in contrast to last year's NATO campaign that helped topple Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

But Obama used some of his strongest language yet on Monday to warn Assad not to cross a "red line" of even shifting unconventional weapons in a threatening manner.

Seeking re-election in November, Obama noted that he had refrained "at this point" from ordering US military engagement in Syria. But when he was asked at a White House news conference whether he might deploy forces, for example to secure Syrian chemical and biological weapons, he said his view could change.

"We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is (if) we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilised," Obama said. "That would change my calculus."

Syria last month acknowledged for the first time that it had chemical or biological weapons and said it could use them if foreign countries intervened. The threat drew strong warnings from Washington and its allies, although it is not clear how the Syrian armed forces might use such weapons in urban warfare.

"We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people," Obama said, adding he was not certain the stockpile was secure.

"SAFE ZONE"

Obama has been reluctant to embroil the United States in another war in the Middle East and refuses to arm Syrian rebels, partly for fear that some of those fighting the Iranian-backed president are Islamist radicals equally hostile to the West.

Rebels have seized swathes of territory in northern Syria near Turkey, which now hosts 70,000 Syrian refugees.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying the United Nations may need to create a "safe zone" in Syria to accommodate those fleeing the fighting, saying his country would not be able to take in more than 100,000 refugees.

But creating a safe haven would require imposing a no-fly zone, an idea which U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week was not a "front-burner" issue for Washington.

When Obama was asked whether he envisioned the possibility of using U.S. forces at least to safeguard Syria's chemical arsenal, he said: "We're monitoring that situation very carefully. We have put together a range of contingency plans."

The U.S.-based Global Security website says there are four suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria producing the nerve agents VX, sarin and tabun. It does not cite its sources.

Israel, still formally at war with Syria, has also debated whether to attack the unconventional arms sites which it views as its gravest peril from the conflict next door.

FAILED MISSION

Fighting raged on in Syria, killing around 200 people on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, and a Japanese woman journalist died of wounds sustained in Aleppo.

U.N. military observers left Damascus after a four-month mission during which they became helpless spectators of the conflict, and activists said government forces launched air strikes near the capital that killed two dozen people.

The U.N. representatives blamed both sides for the collapse of a truce brokered by outgoing special envoy Kofi Annan: "Our mission failed because the two sides did not abide by their commitments," said one monitor, who declined to be named, before seven United Nations cars left a Damascus hotel carrying some of the last members of a mission once 300 strong.

Rebel fighters have complained that foreign powers have supplied neither the quantity or quality of weaponry they need to defeat Assad, such as anti-aircraft missiles.

While outgunned by Assad's forces, rebels still managed to seize control of districts in Damascus and Aleppo last month, as well as several border crossings and parts of the north, before the army counter-attacked in Syria's two main cities.

With diplomatic efforts to end the war stymied by divisions between world powers and regional rivalries, Syria faces the prospect of a prolonged conflict that increasingly sets a mainly Sunni Muslim opposition against Assad's Alawite minority.

That sectarian faultline also flared in neighbouring Lebanon, where one person was killed overnight in the northern port city of Tripoli, a mainly Sunni Muslim city with a staunchly pro-Assad Alawite minority.

Gunmen in the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawite rivals in Jebel Mohsen exchanged sporadic gun and grenade fire through the night, despite the presence of Lebanese army troops.

The army said 10 soldiers were wounded, and residents and medics said 40 other people were also hurt.

Russia warns US as Barack Obama threatens military action against Syria - The Times of India

 

[Armand2REP]

Syrian Government Running out of Money

 

[pmaitra]

Syrian opposition fighters acquire Stinger missiles: sources

Are you sure these are rebels?

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Are you sure these are rebels?

The photo may be from a different source than the article cited.

 

[pmaitra]

^^

Looks like it.

 

[The Messiah]

Why are self-appointed thekedars of democracy and freedom not condemning the rebels or to put it more presicely the terrorists for killing UN personell ?

"He will not survive," my Syrian friend said, and I think he was right.

The man on the state television was bearded down to his chest, a self-confessed Salafist – nom de guerre "Abu Dolha", real name Ahmed Ali Gharibo. A Syrian – "alas," said my friend – from the Ghouta district of Damascus. He admitted, right there in front of the cameras, that he "regretted" killing 200 people with his own hands.

What did it take to get a man like this to admit such things on television? Sitting up in this breezy villa, 16 miles from Damascus – Bashar's brother Maher lives just round the corner – I could well believe what my friend said: Ahmed Gharibo will not survive.

Like all civil conflicts, rumours turn into facts, facts into rumours. Damascus is almost deserted, near-empty boulevards with more military checkpoints than traffic lights, some "mukhabarat" security, some army, the occasional "shabiha", friendly to me – they would be, wouldn't they, as I drive towards the elite mansions outside town – but a bit down-at-heel.

"How in the West, being advocates of democracy and liberty and freedom, can you support these people?" my friend asks. "Do your readers know that Her Majesty sends weapons and money to these people?"

I am about to point out that HMG claims that it doesn't give weapons at all – the word "claim" is all-important in Syria these days, like the conspiracy theory of history.

"The first step to dismantle Iran is to dismantle Syria – we are isolated and 123 countries are against us; that was the figure of those who gathered for the so-called 'Friends of Syria' conference in Paris."

I begin to think of the Serbs and their total conviction that the world was against them, that their innocence was without question. Ah, but like the old Yugoslavia, you only have to walk the streets of Damascus to realise that the storm has not yet fully broken. Behind the walls of the old French mandate barracks down from Umayyad Square, the burned wreckage of this week's fuel-truck bomb stands below a wizened tree. Was it aimed at the run-down "caserne" that the Syrian army still uses or a little trick for the UN officers in the Dama Rose Hotel across the road? The last 100 military observers are packing for the road journey to Beirut airport on Wednesday. The transit point of Beirut rather than Damascus airport tells its own story. "We are defunct in five days," I heard one of the UN officers say in the lobby. Funny word, "defunct", French for dead.

But maybe the truck bomber wanted the UN dead too? Shortly after the explosion, several aimed shots were fired at the UN's third-floor hotel offices. Is it true that a Syrian camera crew were already on the eighth floor, ready to tape the bomb? That ambulances came within three minutes?

The UN were beginning to realise that their men were increasingly endangered in the provinces. In Aleppo, they started off with a 30-mile radius of the city and within months, their government escorts would not venture beyond the last government checkpoint on the city limits. The rebels were less friendly to the UN, and several of the international observers saw foreign fighters among the "Free Syrian Army".

Last week – the UN has not exactly advertised the fact – a security man working for the UN, a former government security agent, was kidnapped and tortured and then murdered near his home north of Damascus. They found 20 bullet wounds in his body. The UN's men are not talking – rarely have they been so uncommunicative – but they have counted the corpses in Artous, 25 miles west of Damascus, 70 bodies in all, Sunnis, in a mass grave, just two weeks ago. Killed, it seems, by the "shabiha".

The FSA have been well and truly cleared out of the centre of Damascus – the suburbs at night are a different matter – and few Damascenes seem to believe that the armed rebels are winning in Aleppo.

"The Christians are protesting," another Syrian friend tells me. "The Greek Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo has just made an appeal to the Western powers not to send weapons to the fundamentalists. The Syrian Catholic church in Aleppo has now been bombed."

How does one reply to all this? Does the Syrian government really want the UN to leave? "No!" cries my friend. "We want UN pressure here to force these 'people' into dialogue."

The Salafist told his audience today that his enemies were "Alawites [of course, for Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite] and Shiites and Christians". So is that it? War by television? An acknowledgement that the man won't live long beyond this broadcast. And the UN are indeed leaving. There is an idea of a miniscule office remaining in Damascus with a military and a political observer. But otherwise, the great gloomy eyes of the UN donkey will close sleepily on Wednesday; it's the failure of another mission – and not a single international soldier will be left behind to watch the storm burst.

Damascus: A deserted city, a deserting UN, and a storm about to break - Middle East - World - The Independent

 

[W.G.Ewald]

^^
What does condemnation ever accomplish? Force is the only way to make anything happen.

 

[pmaitra]

^^
What does condemnation ever accomplish? Force is the only way to make anything happen.

"Power flows from the barrel of the gun?"

 

[Daredevil]

Are you sure these are rebels?

Its fake. See this image from Aug 2010

Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates

 

[pmaitra]

^^

I thought so. Now we know they have used a file photo.

 

[The Messiah]

Its fake. See this image from Aug 2010

Taliban don't have stinger missiles: Gates