What To Do About Syria

[greyman]

What to do? Other than offer humanitarian aid, nothing.

The record of western involvement in the Arab world has hardly been stellar. Every time the west allows its own interests to dictate policy, it makes the situation worse. From the post WW1 carve up of the region by Britain and France, the creation of Israel as an outpost of western imperialism, the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Iran (Persian rather than Arab) by the USA/UK, the invasion of Iraq on clearly contrived grounds, the list goes on but the result has nearly always been the same....further conflict.

[Stavros]

On the one hand we can be grateful that Syria is not a computer game to be played by cretins with no interest in the country anyway; on the other hand the situation is getting far worse as there is now a flurry of activity outside Syria which may yet see external military intervention justified in order to prevent Syria from using its stocks of Chemical weapons, against whomseover that might be. If troops on the ground are not used, the theory is that air strikes against the storage sites might be, either way it is yet another example of the escalation of a conflict which could have been reigned in some time ago.

I don't know what practical benefit will emerge from the talks currently under way with the Russians, but the opposition continues to fail to erode the 'unity' of the armed forces; but many junior ranks in the armed forces are under threat of execution from the high command if they don't obey orders; weapons sponsored by Qatar and Saudi Arabia continue to enter the country; Turkey continues to complain about violations of its sovereignty and the refugee problem; Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to support the Asad regime on its borders with occasional incursions against the rebels; thus the worst case scenario, in which external interventions -all for their own agendas- prolong the conflict remain in place.

But if there is some agreement with the Russians that enables Asad to leave, and for a transitional government to emerge then at least it would appear something positive is happening -but in the longer term the Russian concern is not really with Asad anyway, so unless they can guarantee a secure place for their Navy they may not be willing to venture onto a road whose destination is unknown. The Russians have been sore for years at becoming a junior player to the US since 1991, and while their record in the Middle East has been poor since 1948 (they were the first state to recognise Israel) Putin is not the kind of leader to let Syria go without making sure it at least remains a headache for whoever steps in if the Russians are forced out. This is but one example of how external intervention prolongs conflict.

[Dino Velvet]

http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaida-says-...191147475.html

Al-Qaida says it killed 51 Syrian soldiers in Iraq

By ADAM SCHRECK and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA | Associated Press – 5 hrs ago

BAGHDAD (AP) — Al-Qaida's Iraq branch claimed responsibility Monday for the deaths of 51 Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqis killed in a well-planned assault in western Iraq last week, intensifying concerns that the terror group is coordinating with Islamist rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Iraqi authorities say fighters and weapons are moving increasingly more freely across the long and porous desert border between the two countries as Syrian rebels try to consolidate control on their side of the frontier.
The issue also plays into the conflict between Iraq's Shiite-led government and Sunni insurgents, particularly al-Qaida.
Iraq officially has not taken sides in the Syria civil war, though Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned in an interview with The Associated Press this month that a victory for rebels would create a new extremist haven and spark sectarian wars in his own country and in Lebanon.
Al-Qaida in Iraq and Syria's Jabhat al-Nusra ultimately aim to create a border sanctuary they can both exploit that could house command centers and training camps, according to two Iraqi military intelligence officials.
They estimate there are about 750 Jabhat al-Nusra militants — including foreign fighters from other Arab countries — among approximately 2,000 anti-Assad fighters who control long stretches of borderlands on the Syrian side. The officials said the Syrian militants are increasingly crossing into Iraq to meet their al-Qaida counterparts.
The Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose security operations to reporters.
When asked about coordination between the two groups, Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq's prime minister, suggested there is no difference between al-Qaida in Iraq and Syria's Jabhat al-Nusra.
"We are very concerned with what is going on the Syrian side of the border. Whatever the names, al-Qaida is one organization and in Iraq this organization has been working to ignite sectarian strife by attacking both the Sunnis and the Shiites," he said.
Iraqi officials say rebels now control the Syrian side of two desert border crossings with Iraq — at al-Qaim and Rabiya. Al-Moussawi called that a great source of concern.
The Syrian troops killed on Iraqi soil March 4 had sought refuge in northern Iraq during recent clashes that ended with the rebels taking over the Rabiya border crossing along Iraq's northern province of Ninevah. The troops were being escorted back to Syria through another border crossing further south when they were ambushed.
It was the first time Syrian soldiers were known to be in Iraq since Syria's civil war began.
Joseph Holliday, a researcher at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, described the attack as the clearest example yet of spillover from the Syrian conflict into Iraq.
"The ambush is indicative of broader cross-border cooperation between Sunni militant groups seeking to disrupt Assad regime security forces on both sides of the border," he said in a recent report.
Iraqi officials say they allowed the Syrians in on humanitarian grounds.
In a statement posted on militant websites, the Islamic State of Iraq — al-Qaida's wing in Iraq — said its fighters were monitoring the movements of the soldiers as Iraqi authorities worked to transfer them secretly back across the border.
"We prepared for this raid after the blessed operations carried out by our brothers in Syria," the statement read, linking its cause directly to the rebels fighting to overthrow Assad's regime.
The attack started with militants detonating explosive charges on military escort vehicles assigned to protect trucks carrying the Syrian soldiers, the group said. After that, "the fighters launched an attack from two directions using light- and medium-range weapons as well as rocket-propelled grenades," said al-Qaida in Iraq.
"Within less than half an hour, the whole convoy ... was annihilated," the group said.
The account of the attack matches descriptions that Iraqi officials provided to the AP in the immediate aftermath of the assault.
Iraqi officials have launched a manhunt for the attackers, but no arrests have been made.
The Syrian conflict's sectarian divisions run deep, with predominantly Sunni rebels fighting a regime dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Rebel groups have increasingly embraced radical Islamic ideologies, and some of their greatest battlefield successes have been carried out by Jabhat al-Nusra.
Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri last year urged Iraqi insurgents to support the fight to topple Syria's Assad, whose Alawite sect is a branch of Shiite Islam. Al-Qaida in Iraq considers Shiites to be heretics.
Assad's regime is backed by Shiite powerhouse Iran, which has been building ties with the Shiite-led government in Baghdad in recent years.
American officials have expressed concern about regional spillover.
The spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Frank Finver, condemned last week's attack and said officials were aware of al-Qaida's claim of responsibility. He said it is "a reminder of the formidable challenges Iraq continues to face regarding its security."
"The U.S. and Iraq have long acknowledged that defeating (al-Qaida in Iraq) requires a sustained effort. We remain firmly committed to supporting the (Iraqi government's) efforts to bring greater stability to its people," Finver said.
Iraq's government, meanwhile, is being challenged by weekly protests that began in December from Sunni Muslims angry over perceived discrimination.
The demonstrations have been largely peaceful, and most Iraqi Sunnis do not voice support for al-Qaida. Many in their ranks also have concerns about Syria's violence spilling across the border.
Mahmoud al-Sumaidaie, the deputy head of Iraq's Sunni Endowment, which oversees the sect's holy sites, described last week's raid as worrying.
"There is a long border and there are tribal connections and shared beliefs between Iraq and Syria," he said in an interview Monday. "While we feel pain for what is going on in Syria, we hope that this does not spread to Iraq. ... We hope there will be no Iraqi interference in Syria's affairs, and no Syrian interference in Iraq's affairs."
___
Associated Press writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad and Ben Hubbard in Beirut contributed.

[Dino Velvet]

http://news.yahoo.com/assad-says-syr...134704502.html

Assad says Syria will wipe out mosque attackers

By Dominic Evans | Reuters – 1 hr 26 mins ago

By Dominic Evans
BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Friday to purge Syria of "extremist forces" he accused of assassinating a leading Sunni Muslim cleric who backed his two-year battle against rebels and protesters.
Assad made the pledge in a message of condolence over the death of Mohammed al-Buti, who was killed along with dozens of worshippers by an explosion in a Damascus mosque on Thursday.
State media put the death toll from the blast at 49, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which monitors violence across the country said 52 people died and the final figure was likely to be more than 60.
The mass killing inside a place of worship shocked many Syrians, long accustomed to the daily bloodshed of a conflict which has killed 70,000 people, displaced millions of others and devastated whole districts of Syria's ancient cities.
Authorities announced a day of mourning on Saturday, when a funeral is expected to be held for Buti, who often delivered his sermons in the historic Umayyad Mosque.
"Your blood ... and that of all Syrian martyrs will not be shed in vain," Assad said. "We will adhere to your thinking to eliminate their darkness and extremism until we purge our country of them."
The mosque bombing took place in the same Mazraa district of central Damascus where a car bomb killed more than 60 people one month ago, another sign that Syria's civil war had penetrated to the heart of Assad's capital.
Assad's artillery positions on the northern edge of Damascus pounded the rebel-held southwestern towns of Derayya and Moadamiya on Friday and a Damascus resident said the smell of gunpowder hung over the center of the city.
The 47-year-old president has deployed air strikes, artillery barrages and Scud-type missiles to hit rebel fighters who control swathes of eastern and northern Syria and have challenged his hold over most of the country's main cities.
His government and the rebels accused each other of using a chemical weapon in clashes near the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday in which 26 people were killed.
The United Nations has promised to investigate the incident, though a U.S. official has said it increasingly appeared a chemical weapon was not used.
U.N. CONDEMNS ATTACK
The United Nations Security Council "condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in a mosque in Damascus", but added that any steps to combat terrorism must comply with international law on human rights and refugees.
Opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib, himself a former preacher at the Umayyad Mosque, said the killing of a Muslim scholar in a religious sanctuary was "a crime in every sense of the word".
"We could not agree with him politically, and believed he was wrong to stand with the rulers, but his killing opens up the gates to an evil that only God knows," he said in a statement.
Buti was a Sunni Muslim like most Syrians and the great majority of Syrian rebels, who were angered by his support for a president from the country's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
In one of his televised speeches, Buti described those fighting to topple Assad as 'scum'. The frail, 84-year-old preacher also used his position to call on Syrians to join the armed forces and help Assad defeat his rivals in the rebellion.
State television rebroadcast what it called Buti's last sermon at the Umayyad Mosque a week ago, in which he said Syria was under attack from the United States, Europe and al Qaeda, which he described as a Western creation.
But Alkhatib said there had been signs Buti was questioning his support for Assad and suggested he may have been killed by authorities "who feared that if he took a courageous decision it could overturn the whole balance (of power)".
Opposition activists have frequently blamed Syrian authorities in the immediate aftermath of major bombings in Damascus, many of which have subsequently been claimed by the Nusra Front - a rebel group which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Andrew Heavens)



Reuters/Reuters - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad heads a cabinet meeting in Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA on February 12, 2013. REUTERS/SANA/Handout


High-level cleric Mohammed al-Buti was killed in a blast at a mosque in central Damascus on Thursday according to Syria's state television. (SANA/Reuters, handout)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...-preacher.html

[buttslinger]

If you consider the ultimate weapon in 1913, just imagine what the ultimate weapon will be in 2113.

[Dino Velvet]

This picture is about as confusing and chaotic as the events taking place. Guess they couldn't fit a pope hat on him while making him look more like Chupacabra? Do Jihadis wear the white hats now?

[Prospero]

A report on the Channel 4 news here in London yesterday showed how children of ten and eleven are now working in desperate conditions in hospitals to help the wounded and dying because there are now so few medial staff left. It is truly deeply depressing.

[Dino Velvet]

A report on the Channel 4 news here in London yesterday showed how children of ten and eleven are now working in desperate conditions in hospitals to help the wounded and dying because there are now so few medial staff left. It is truly deeply depressing.

I saw a man on TV who lost 6 children in one day. If I were the father I might strap a bomb to my chest and hold someone accountable too. Does it matter which side he was in support of???

[Prospero]

And so the madness deepens there. i have friends from other parts of the Arab world who were elated when the "Arab Spring" began to spread to the streets of Damascus. None envisaged the carnage that would ensue.

[Dino Velvet]

And so the madness deepens there. i have friends from other parts of the Arab world who were elated when the "Arab Spring" began to spread to the streets of Damascus. None envisaged the carnage that would ensue.

I've learned a lot from you and Stavros being over there. Big thanks for not making me have the same dirt in the tread of my boots. I'd rather read here sitting in my tighty-whiteys than over there running and dodging gunfire. I'm no ingrate and thanks again.

I might not know shit but that Arab Spring always had a hint of a stinky rose to me. If I was right I guess I just guessed good, I guess.