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+--- Thread: A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria (/thread-6670.html)
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Peter Lemkin - 14-08-2012
Yeah, its getting (sic) ugly on all sides......I don't see an easy way of deescalation. Too many players with their own agendas. Poor Syria and the Syrian People.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Magda Hassan - 14-08-2012
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Yeah, its getting (sic) ugly on all sides......I don't see an easy way of deescalation. Too many players with their own agendas. Poor Syria and the Syrian People.
All the foreigners can leave for a start. And the foreign regimes funding them can stop funding them. That would be a good start and probably the end of it. Then all the Syrians can work at rebuilding their society, and cities. They have already voted in the political reforms that they wanted. Once the foreigners are out and all the destabilisation stops then they will have a chance to implement them and make their own future.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Bill Kelly - 15-08-2012
It's too late to keep the foreigners out Maggie, Russia was first in, though you don't seem to mind them being there, and now the Libyans, as I had predicted two months ago, have joined the fray.
And you can't deny that this is a direct result of the Arab Spring dominoes.
The rebuilding of a new society can't begin until the power is taken from Assad, as he would rather his country be destroyed than give up his family's ownership of the nation.
The Umma Brigade - taking it to another level.
Revolutionary Program: Libyan's Umma Brigade in Syria
Exclusive: Libyan fighters join Syrian revolt
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-syria-crisis-rebels-idUSBRE87D06G20120814
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT | Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:32am EDT
(Reuters) - Veteran fighters of last year's civil war in Libya have come to the front-line in Syria, helping to train and organize rebels under conditions far more dire than those in the battle against Muammar Gaddafi, a Libyan-Irish fighter has told Reuters.
Hussam Najjar hails from Dublin, has a Libyan father and Irish mother and goes by the name of Sam. A trained sniper, he was part of the rebel unit that stormed Gaddafi's compound in Tripolia year ago, led by Mahdi al-Harati, a powerful militia chief from Libya's western mountains.
Harati now leads a unit in Syria, made up mainly of Syrians but also including some foreign fighters, including20 senior members of his own Libyan rebel unit. He asked Najjar to join him from Dublin a few months ago, Najjar said.
The Libyans aiding the Syrian rebels include specialists in communications, logistics, humanitarian issues and heavy weapons, he said. Theyoperate training bases, teaching fitness and battlefield tactics.
Najjar said he was surprised to find how poorly armed and disorganized the Syrian rebels were, describing Syria's Sunni Muslim majority as far more repressed and down trodden under Assad than Libyans were underGaddafi.
"I was shocked. There is nothing you are told that can prepare you for what you see. The state of the Sunni Muslims there - their state of mind, their fate - all of those things have been slowly corroded overtime by the regime."
"I nearly cried for them when I saw the weapons. The guns are absolutely useless. We are being sold left overs from the Iraqi war, leftovers from this and that," he said. "Luckily these are things that we can do for them: we know how to fix weapons, how to maintain them, find problems and fix them."
In the months since he arrived, the rebel arsenal had become "five times more powerful", he said. Fighters had obtained large caliber anti-aircraft guns and sniper rifles.
Disorganization is a serious problem. Unlike the Libyan fighters, who enjoyed the protection of a NATO-imposed no-fly zone and were able to set up full-scale training camps, the rebels in Syria are never out of reach of Assad's air power.
"In Libya, with the no-fly zone, we were able to build up say 1,400 to 1,500 men in one place and have platoons and brigades. Here we have men scattered here, there and everywhere."
LACK OF UNITY
Although many rebel units fight under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, their commands are localized and poorly coordinated, Najjar said.
"One of the biggest factors delaying the revolution isthe lack of unity among the rebels," he said. "Unfortunately, it isonly when their back is up against the wall that they start to realize theyshould (unite)."
Syria's uprising has evolved into an all-out civil war with sectarian overtones, pitting the mainly Sunni rebels against security forces dominated by Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. Assad is backed by Shi'ite-led Iran and opposed by most Arab states, which are ruled by Sunnis.
"This is not just about the fall of Assad. This is about the Sunni Muslims of Syria taking back their country and pushing out the minority that have been oppressing them for generations now," Najjar said.
The presence of foreign fighters is a sensitive issue for Syria's rebels. Assad's government has taken to referring to the rebels as "Gulf-Turkish forces", accusing the Sunni-led Arab Gulf states and Turkey of arming, funding and leading them.
Harati's unit is known as the Umma Brigade, referring to the global community of Muslims. Najjar said thousands more Sunni fighters from the Arab world were gathering in neighboring countries prepared to join the cause.
Harati is reluctant to enlist them because he does not want his cause tarnished by the perception that foreign Islamists are linked to alQaeda, Najjar said, but he said that many of the foreigners were making theirway to Syria ontheir own.
The Umma Brigade's Facebook page shows a picture of Najj araiming his rifle in what looks like an open field. In another he is posing withHarati and rebels. A YouTube video shows Harati leading an attack on acheckpoint in Maarat al-Numan in Syria.
Najjar said militancy would spread across the region as longas the West does not do more to hasten the downfall of Assad.
"The Western governments are bringing this upon themselves. The longer they leave this door open for this torture and this massacre to carry on, the more young men will drop what they have in this lifeand search for the afterlife," Najjar said.
"If the West and other countries do not move fast it will no longer be just guys like me - normal everyday guys that might do anything from have a cigarette to go out on the town - it will be the real extreme guys who will take it to another level."
(Editing by Peter Graff)
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Seamus Coogan - 15-08-2012
Sheesh, I think all manner of arms dealing scum and multinational corporations and MI6 and the CIA should all leave. They are the ones responsible for this bollocks. Naive to think these two collective assholes and their corporate sponsors aren't. Will they leave I bloody doubt it. Not when our oils under their sand.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Lauren Johnson - 15-08-2012
Israeli demands from Obama
Analysis: If US wants to prevent Israeli jets from taking off en route to Iran, it must commit to attack on nuclear sites after elections in case sanctions, talks fail
Israel may rule out a unilateral attack in Iran should the US toughen its stance with regards to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, a senior official in Jerusalem claimed. "The problem is that the Iranians are not identifying determination on the American side. This is why they have been accelerating the pace of their uranium enrichment over the past four months. They are also developing the weapon itself at a fast pace," the official said.
"The Iranian regime is certain that in any case 2012 will pass peacefully. They assume the US will not attack for fear of soaring oil prices and because of the presidential elections. They do not believe we will attack without a green light from Washington. Therefore, it is in the Americans' interest to convince the Iranians that the US may attack, not to convince us not to attack."
So what, according to the official, must the US do to prevent Israeli warplanes from taking off en route to Iran? First of all, Obama must repeat, publicly (at the UN General Assembly for instance), that the US will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and that Israel has a right to defend itself, independently. Jerusalem would view such a statement as a virtual commitment by the US to act, militarily if needed, and would likely cause Israel to reconsider the unilateral military option.
Israeli officials have noted that Obama has not made a clear statement to this effect since the AIPAC conference in March. They claim that his silence is giving the Iranians the impression that the US administration is not determined to stop the nuclear program.
Israel is also demanding that Washington inform Iran that if significant progress in the negotiations with the P5+1 group (the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) is not made within the next two weeks, the talks will be suspended. The reason: As long as the negotiations persist, the Iranians will remain certain that they are immune to an attack or additional drastic economic measures and will continue to buy time in order to enrich uranium to a level of 20%. Israel has also suggested that the US present Iran with an ultimatum: Suspend the efforts to refine uranium to 20% during the negotiations, or we will quit the talks. We won't negotiate while you advance towards nuclear "breakout" capability.
Israel is also urging the US and the European Union to increase the direct economic pressure on Iran. Government officials in Jerusalem have admitted that the sanctions are very effective, but they claim that the Iranian military nuclear program is advancing faster than the sanctions' "hourglass." Therefore, they assert, Washington must impose a complete boycott on countries and institutions that conduct business with Iran's central bank (such as India, Turkey and China) and cancel the exemptions given to countries such as South Korea and Japan, which are permitted to purchase oil from Tehran.
Another demand is a noticeable reinforcement of American forces in the Persian Gulf and emphasizing, mainly in the press, Washington's capabilities to stop Iran's nuclear program. The US has a substantial amount of forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, but many of them are busy with the war in Afghanistan and the piracy off the Horn of Africa. Moreover, some of the American, French and British forces in the Gulf are exposed to sea missiles, mines and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' small assault boats. The concentration of US naval forces in the Indian Ocean, off Iran's shores would demonstrate that Washington is determined to prevent the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and is prepared to strike if necessary.
Dialogue in the press
Israel considers the gradual, cautious exposure of the Pentagon's military options and means to be just as important, as it would clarify to Tehran that the US is serious. But the focus should be on revealing these options to the American press, not to the Israeli media. Articles published by the New York Times or the Washington Post will constitute more than just a hint to Iran that Obama will not hesitate to act militarily after the elections.
Another Israeli demand refers to the so-called "red line" of Iran's nuclear program. The Obama administration claims that it will strike once intelligence agencies identify a "breakthrough" in the development of nuclear weapons, as defined by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Israel argues that Iran must not be allowed to even come close to achieving nuclear "breakout" capability. Jerusalem further claims that it is not at all certain that the US will be able to identify when Iran reaches the nuclear "breakout" point, or whether it will be able to identify it in time. Perhaps by then Iran's nuclear facilities will be fortified to the point where a strike would be futile. Therefore, Israel prefers not to wait for incriminating evidence regarding nuclear "breakout" capability. It wants someone to act before Iran reaches this stage.
The senior Israeli official estimated that should Washington accept the main demands, Israel would reconsider its unilateral measures and coordinate them with the US.
The problem is that the Israeli-American discourse on the Iranian threat is being conducted in the press, instead of through secret diplomatic channels and direct talks between the most senior officials. It is safe to assume that the reason for this is that both sides wish to take advantage of the influential Jewish vote in the US to leverage their positions. This is not how close allies should be dealing with such a critical matter, regardless of the tense relations between Israel's leaders and the Obama administration.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4268683,00.html
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Peter Lemkin - 15-08-2012
Lauren Johnson Wrote:Israeli demands from Obama
Analysis: If US wants to prevent Israeli jets from taking off en route to Iran, it must commit to attack on nuclear sites after elections in case sanctions, talks fail
I think this is known as blackmail.......but one wonders if some in the Administration don't secretly want to go along with it as a pretense. "They forced our hand, otherwise we'd never have thought of it!" The World really is a very sick place and only getting worse quickly [and sadly], it seems.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Lauren Johnson - 15-08-2012
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Lauren Johnson Wrote:Israeli demands from Obama
Analysis: If US wants to prevent Israeli jets from taking off en route to Iran, it must commit to attack on nuclear sites after elections in case sanctions, talks fail
I think this is known as blackmail.......but one wonders if some in the Administration don't secretly want to go along with it as a pretense. "They forced our hand, otherwise we'd never have thought of it!" The World really is a very sick place and only getting worse quickly [and sadly], it seems.
I would have to think this is meant to play into the US campaign for POTUS in some way. But I don't ever remember any USA ally ever threatening it with consequences.
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Bill Kelly - 16-08-2012
Seamus Coogan Wrote:Sheesh, I think all manner of arms dealing scum and multinational corporations and MI6 and the CIA should all leave. They are the ones responsible for this bollocks. Naive to think these two collective assholes and their corporate sponsors aren't. Will they leave I bloody doubt it. Not when our oils under their sand.
Certainly the arms dealers and multi-nationals and MI6 and CIA are scum, but I don't see them in Syria. I see Russians, Russian tanks, Russian jets, Russian guns, and the Free Syrian Army has, according to the Libyan revolutionaries with them, have nothing. If the CIA and MI6 were backing the FSA, where's the weapons?
The best thing that could happen to Syria is for Assad to leave power and let his people decide how to govern themselves, but power is a hard thing to give up, as Hitler, Gadhafi and Assad have shown us.
BK
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Magda Hassan - 16-08-2012
Why don't you complain about the Libyans like you do the Russians Bill?
A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria - Bill Kelly - 16-08-2012
Magda Hassan Wrote:Why don't you complain about the Libyans like you do the Russians Bill?
I'm not complaining about the Russians, I'm just describing their behavior. When I set up the RevolutionaryProgram.blogspot blog I was neutral, intending to just describe the revolutions and give profiles of the participants on both sides, but after awhile it was pretty apparent that the dictators are the bad guys.
If you remember, two months ago I asked where the Libyan revolutionaries were as I thought they should be in Syria assisting the Free Syrian Army, and now am surprised that they are actually there. And their appraisal of the situation sounds pretty honest and not sprouting the propaganda that we usually hear from both sides - Colonial NATO imperialists and terrorists - etc.
I'm rooting for the rebels and hope that all dictators get their due.
BK