A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[Magda Hassan]

Hamas, the Architecture of Treason on Syria, Iran and Palestine.

Posted on February 6, 2012 [/url]
[url=http://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/hamas-the-architecture-of-treason-on-syria-iran-and-palestine/al-amadi/]On Sunday 5 February 2012 the final representative of Hamas, Imad al-Amadi left Syria and returned to Gaza, from where he was exiled by Israel in 1991. The decision was according to Hamas based on "the Syrian governments crackdowns on protesters". (1) What Hamas did not tell the cheering crowd that greeted al-Amadi welcome home to Gaza, when he entered Gaza via Egypt, was that the Syrian government is cracking down on an armed insurgency of Muslim Brothers, which it has helped establish with Hamas old and new allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel and NATO, effectively betraying Syria ,Iran and Hezbollah that have secured it´s very existence over the last decades.
Old allies, because, as Lebanese political analyst Fidaa Itani expresses it, Hamas has it´s roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, and was established by well connected Muslim Brothers Families. (2) From this perspective it is not entirely surprising that Hamas is aligning itself with the Muslim Brothers from Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who together with NATO´s Al Qaeda make up the bulge of the military onslaught against the government and people of Syria. One could of course use euphemisms for NATO´s mercenary armies, such as Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Tripoli Military Counsel, Free Syrian Army. Cutting to the bone they are aspects of the same NATO/Zionist attack that has devastated Libya and is turned loose against Syria and Iran. Not surprisingly, the Hamas Polit-Bureau must have been under intense pressure from Muslim Brothers to join the "Arab Spring", and doing so it has found it´s new allies in NATO and Israel.
The fact that the "Arab Spring" including the role which Hamas was supposed to be playing in it has long been planned and managed from the top is demonstrated by information nsnbc received on 25 January 2012, from a well connected Palestinian Intelligence Source in Turkey. The murder of nine Turkish citizens on board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Mavi Marmara was facilitated with the aid of a pro Arab Spring fraction of Hamas. The victims were Turkish members of the brotherhood and related organizations. Brothers who received a Judas Kiss by their fellow brothers because they stood in the way for the brotherhoods participation in an armed insurgency against Syria. (3) Not surprisingly, one of the top NATO mercenary intelligence operatives and his second in command have been on board the Mavi Marmera, facilitating the execution by IDF Special Forces, and the operation falls neatly into NATO Intelligence´s chain of terrorism and murder under false flag. (4)
Naturally, not all members of Hamas at all levels agree with the U-Turn of it´s Polit-Bureau. The development begs the question whether some of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 arrests of Hamas leaders by Israel could indicate that Israel is assisting Hamas in solving the worst internal problems, as it helped settle the internal conflict of the Turkish Muslim Brothers by assassinating nine members opposed to the war on Syria. Fatah has co-operated with both Israel and the USA in the detention of members of PFLP´s leadership for years, so it would not exactly be a Palestinian novelty if Hamas used Israel to solve internal problems.
Hamas has chosen, and with it´s choice it has put it´s money on the horse of treason. Treason on a Hezbollah, which has for years been a guarantor of Hamas political and military survival. A Hezbollah which is under increased pressure since the Lebanese branch of the Muslim brotherhood, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya seems to be joining the Qatari, Saudi, NATO-Zionist "Arab Spring Bandwagon". (5) The Hamas treason against Hezbollah and the realignment of the Lebanese Muslim Brothers could in the light of the regional situation be the precursor of a new Lebanese civil war. A civil war which would be very much in the interest of NATO and Israel, facilitated by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and their allies in Lebanon.
The second case of treason by Hamas is that against Syria, and implicitly it is a third case of treason, namely against the People of Palestine. Syria has for decades been the sole Arab Nation that consequently has supported the Palestinian cause. Iran may have played a role in Syria´s decision to support Hamas. The decision was most likely based on preventing the very scenario that is being acted out now. The alignment of Hamas with a Qatar and Saudi Arabia who act as regional agency of the old and modo-colonial powers and thus as agency of Israel. For Syria, it would have be a much less complicated and a more advantageous decision to boost it´s support of as-Saika, the PFLP, DFLP, and to maintain a stronger Arab Supported Palestinian Military in the form of the PFLP-GC.
It is with full intention that the article does not take Sunni-Shia differences into account. What is much more pertinent than artificially created sectarian divides is the question if the political leadership of Hamas believes that the promises of a "Palestinian Spring" which it according to nsnbc´s Palestinian Intelligence Source has been promised after the eventual ousting of the Syrian government will be of any value for Palestine and Palestinians.
It ought to be obvious for members of Hamas Polit-Bureau, and it should be obvious for all Palestinians who may be confronted with the prospect of a NATO/Zionist manufactured Palestinian Spring, that the eventual fall of the Syrian government will be the precursor of the fall of Jordan, and the precursor of what the current US Administration vaguely describes as a Palestinian Solution within the context of a comprehensive solution for the Middle East. Not that Jordan has done anything for the People of Palestine for decades. The true danger lies in the possibility of letting greater civil liberties for Palestinian refugees and citizens of the not yet occupied enclaves in the West Bank become a bargaining chip in a land for peace deal between a future Hamas co-opted Palestine and it´s neighbors.
A Muslim Brotherhood controlled Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the right of refugees in Lebanon and Jordan to work and integrate into society, the guarantied safety of all Palestinians in the West Bank who stay within their heavily guarded enclaves like Qalqila, the right of Palestinians from West bank enclaves to travel to Jordan and Syria, and the continuation of the genocide on the people of Palestine now administrated by Hamas rather than Fatah.
The only positive aspect of Hamas last representative leaving Syria might be that the architecture of treason has become a little bit more obvious for Syria, Iran, and maybe the people of Palestine.
Dr. Christof Lehmann
06.02.2012

A True Arab Leader about the Muslim Brotherhood.

1)Hamas Leadership Leaves Syria. Saed Bannoura, IMEMC. http://imemc.org/article/62958
2) Hamas and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya: The New MB Look. Fidaa Itani, alakhbar english.http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/ham...ew-mb-look
3) Was the Gaza Flotilla Massacre a Turkish-Israeli False Flag and Precursor to the War on Syria ? Martin Iqbal, empirestrikesblack.http://empirestrikesblack.com/2012/02/wa...-on-syria/
4) GLADIO, Bin Laden to Erdogan Belhadj and Hamas. Mossad´s and NATO´sDirty Underwear 2012. Christof Lehmann, nsnbc. http://nsnbc.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/gl...wear-2012/
5) Hamas and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya: The New MB Look. Fidaa Itani. alakhbar english.http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/ham...ew-mb-look

[Bill Kelly]

The current civil war in Syrian is an extension of the Arab Spring revolts that began in Tunisia in Dec. 2010 and led to the ouster of dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The fourth domino is Assad in Syria, who is holding on to the belief that his family owns the nation. It began with unarmed demonstrationsacross the country provoked by the torture and murder of a 13-year-old boy bysecret policemen in Deraa in March last year for writing anti-government graffiti on walls.

Assad is a Alawite. The Alawites were a persecuted minority in the Western Mountains until the French afterthe First world war used them and recruited them for their army to put down themajority Sunni Revolt against the French. The Alawites a minority took powerover the years of relations with the French and took over the military withAssads' Father running the country.

After 30 Years In Syria,Outspoken Priest Is Expelled

by DEBORAH AMOS
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/18/155288114/after-30-years-in-syria-outspoken-priest-is-expelled

June 18, 2012

Syriahas expelled an Italian Jesuit priest for his outspoken criticism of thegovernment's crackdown on a popular uprising. The Rev. Paolo Dall'Oglio haslived in Syriafor 30 years, helping to restore a 1,000-year-old monastery that became acenter for Muslim and Christian understanding.

Dall'Oglio's departure from Damascuson Saturday was sudden. More than a year ago, the government ordered him out,but a campaign on Facebook "No to the Exile of Father Paolo" delayed his expulsion.

When the anti-government demonstrations began last year,Dall'Oglio supported the young Syrians who risked their lives to protestpeacefully.

"I am very moved by the face of many youth that havebeen suffering enormously to achieve their desire of freedom and dignity,"Dall'Oglio said last week from the garden of his home in Damascusas he bade farewell to friends and supporters before his expulsion.

"There are so many young persons that are put in jailand tortured, just because they have expressed, nonviolently, theiropinions."

His opinions have finally landed him on the wrong side ofthe government.
Sectarian Friction

For three decades, he headed a Christian community in anancient monastery he helped restore in the hills outside Damascus.He invited Muslims and Christians to pray together and they did in morepeaceful times. But Dall'Oglio says the uprising has strained Syria'sdiverse religious fabric.


The government says it protects religious minorities theChristians, the Alawites and others against what it says is an uprising ofMuslim fundamentalists. Dall'Oglio rejects this picture as simplistic, butacknowledges the tensions.

When asked whether he thinks Christians in Syriaare under threat from the uprising, Dall'Oglio is adamant that it is not therevolution that threatens them, but the conflict between the opposition and theregime, and the Alawite community.

"So there is, in some parts of Syria,in a real civil war we know that," he said.
Dall'Oglio also knows Syria'sminority Christians have real fears, but he says it is a generational issue.Older Christians have no experience with democracy not in the family or inthe community. Many younger Christians have joined the revolt because, he says,they believe democracy is better protection than the regime's violence andoppression against the Muslim majority.

"Many Christian youth believe in a better world. Weshould pay attention to them. Something new has happened," Dall'Ogliosaid. "I've been with Alawites for democracy, Sunnis for democracy,Christians for democracy these people are real."

Dangers, And Violence, Grow

They are real, he says, and in danger. When a young activist,photographer Basil Shehadi, a Christian, was killed by a sniper in theembattled city of Homs, the church in Damascus refused to hold his funeral asign of the divisions in the community.

Dall'Oglio arranged to hold the service at his monastery, wherehe says young activists Christians, Sunnis and Alawites mourned the lossand prayed together.
Does he have faith in this uprising now that it has entereda more violent phase?

"I am a monk, and I have taken a position withnonviolence," he says. But, he adds, "the church I belong to believesin the right of people of self-defense. I will stay faithful to nonviolence,but I won't be astonished that violence brings violence in reaction."

Dall'Oglio's departure comes as the Syrian government haslaunched a relentless offensive against the armed wing of the revolution.Civilians, no matter their religion, are dying every day. The priest'ssupporters say the government is trying to silence a voice for religioustolerance, just as the country slides into civil war.

"It would be better for me to be dead with the martyrsof this country than to go away in exile," Dall'Oglio says. "I haveoffered my life for the future of this country, and I wish to stay in fullsolidarity with them; so I will come back."

But not, he fears, anytime soon.

OP-ED

Because Syriais like Iraq,not Libya,prospects for democracy are grim
The kind of low-cost, remote-control, U.S./NATO midwiferythat ousted Gadhafi and gave birth to a new Libyais not likely to be repeated in Syria,writes Thomas L. Friedman. Syriais harder. Syriais Iraq.


By ThomasL. Friedman
Syndicated columnist

Lord knows I am rooting for the opposition forces in Syriato quickly prevail on their own and turn out to be as democratically inclinedas we hope. But the chances of this best-of-all-possible outcomes is low.That's because Syriais a lot like Iraq.Indeed, Syriais Iraq's twin a multisectarian, minority-ruled dictatorship that was held together by aniron fist under Baathist ideology. And, for me, the lesson of Iraqis quite simple: You can't go from Saddam to Switzerlandwithout getting stuck in Hobbes a war of all against all unless you have awell-armed external midwife, whom everyone on the ground both fears and truststo manage the transition. In Iraq,that was America.The kind of low-cost, remote-control, U.S./NATO midwifery that ousted Gadhafiand gave birth to a new Libyais not likely to be repeated in Syria.Syria isharder. Syriais Iraq.

And Iraqwas such a bitter experience for Americathat we prefer never to speak of it again. But Iraqis relevant here. The only reason Iraq has any chance for a decent outcometoday is because America was on the ground with tens of thousands of troops toact as that well-armed midwife, reasonably trusted and certainly feared by allsides, to manage Iraq's transition to more consensual politics. My gut tells methat Syria willrequire the same to have the same chance.

But because I absolutely would not advocate U.S.intervention on the ground in Syria or anywhere in the Arab world again andthe U.S. public would not support it I find myself hoping my analysis iswrong and that Syrians will surprise us by finding their own way, with justarms and diplomatic assistance, to a better political future. I know columnistsare supposed to pound the table and declaim what is necessary. But when youbelieve that what is necessary, an outside midwife for Syria,is impossible, you need to say so. I think those who have been advocating amore activist U.S. intervention in Syria and excoriating President BarackObama for not leading that are not being realistic about what it would taketo create a decent outcome.

Why? In the Middle East, thealternative to bad is not always good. It can be worse. I am awed at thebravery of those Syrian rebels who started this uprising, peacefully, withoutany arms, against a regime that plays by what I call Hama Rules, which are norules at all. The Assad regime deliberately killed demonstrators to turn thisconflict into a sectarian struggle between the ruling minority Alawite sect,led by the Assad clan, and the country's majority of Sunni Muslims. That's whythe opposite of the Assad dictatorship could be the breakup of Syria as theAlawites retreat to their coastal redoubt and a permanent civil war.

There are two things that could divert us from that outcome.One is the Iraqalternative, where Americawent in and decapitated the Saddam regime, occupied the country and forciblychanged it from a minority Sunni-led dictatorship to a majority Shiite-leddemocracy. Because of both U.S. incompetence and the nature of Iraq, this U.S.intervention triggered a civil war in which all the parties in Iraq Sunnis,Shiites and Kurds tested the new balance of power, inflicting enormouscasualties on each other and leading, tragically, to ethnic cleansing that rearrangedthe country into more homogeneous blocks of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

But the U.S.presence in Iraqcontained that civil war and ethnic cleansing from spreading to neighboringstates. And once that civil war burned itself out and all sides wereexhausted and more separated the U.S. successfully brokered a newconstitution and power-sharing deal in Iraq, with the Shiites enjoying majorityrule, the Sunnis out of power but not powerless, and the Kurds securingsemi-autonomy. The cost of this transition in lives and money was huge, andeven today Iraqis not a healthy democracy. But it has a chance, and it's now up to Iraqis.

Since it is highly unlikely that an armed, feared andtrusted midwife will dare enter the fray in Syria,the rebels on the ground there will have to do it themselves. Given Syria'sfractured society, that will not be easy unless there is a surprise. Asurprise would be the disparate Syrian opposition groups congealing into aunited political front maybe with the help of U.S., Turkish and Saudiintelligence officers on the ground and this new front reaching out tomoderate Alawites and Christians who supported the Assads out of fear andagreeing to build a new order together that protects majority and minorityrights. It would be wonderful to see the tyrannical Assad-Russia-Iran-Hezbollahaxis replaced by a democratizing Syria,not a chaotic Syria.

But color me dubious. The 20 percent of Syrians who arepro-Assad Alawites or Christians will be terrified of the new Sunni Muslimmajority, with its Muslim Brotherhood component, and this Sunni Muslim majorityhas suffered such brutality from this regime that reconciliation will bedifficult, especially with each passing day of bloodshed. Without an externalmidwife or a Syrian Mandela, the fires of conflict could burn for a long time.I hope I am surprised.

[Lauren Johnson]

Politics: No kidding: The Most Incoherent Tom Friedman Column Ever

By Matt Taibbi
July 25, 2012 | 9:13am EDT
I realize this is not a statement anyone can make lightly, but: this morning's column by Thomas Friedman, "Syria is Iraq," is the single most incoherent thing he has ever written. It's… well, breathtaking is the only word.
Others, like Glenn Greenwald, have already pointed out the most obvious contradictions. But for those who missed it, here are two passages that were written, not as a joke, by the same human being in the same opinion column.

Start with passage #1:

And, for me, the lesson of Iraq is quite simple: You can't go from Saddam to Switzerland without getting stuck in Hobbes a war of all against all unless you have a well-armed external midwife, whom everyone on the ground both fears and trusts to manage the transition. In Iraq, that was America.

Got that? Here's the second passage:

Because of both U.S. incompetence and the nature of Iraq, this U.S. intervention triggered a civil war in which all the parties in Iraq Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds tested the new balance of power, inflicting enormous casualties on each other and leading, tragically, to ethnic cleansing that rearranged the country into more homogeneous blocks of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

This pair of passages can be summed up in a Friedman-syllogism:

Syria will not become Switzerland unless it has the kind of help America gave to Iraq.

When America helped Iraq, it triggered a terrifying civil war that left the country reeling in blood-soaked, genocidal chaos and hopelessly partitioned along ethnic and religious lines very much like Switzerland, where a diverse collection of ethnic groups speaking different languages live peacefully under democratic rule.

Therefore, when your wife needs help giving birth, she should hire a midwife who stands outside the door and carries an automatic weapon.

This column today is so crazy I have to think Friedman is kidding. The line about how everyone on the ground in Iraq trusts America is especially awesome. Of course! True, you can't even open a Humvee door there to dump a pebble out of your shoe without getting your face shot off, but still, they trust us!

And yet the best thing of all was the rhetorical flourish at the end a rare triple-figurative dismount, which he sticks with Nadia Comneci-esque confidence:

Without an external midwife or a Syrian Mandela, the fires of conflict could burn for a long time.

[END Taibbi, START Greenwald]

The Value of Tom Friedman: His status among America's elites is the single most potent fact for understanding America's imperial decline

In The New York Times today, Tom Friedman argues that the only thing that could save Syria is if that country is lucky enough to have the U.S. do to it what the U.S. did to Iraq, and in the process, says this:

And, for me, the lesson of Iraq is quite simple: You can't go from Saddam to Switzerland without getting stuck in Hobbes a war of all against all unless you have a well-armed external midwife, whom everyone on the ground both fears and trusts to manage the transition. In Iraq, that was America.

Just on the level of basic cogency, this makes absolutely no sense. Friedman says that a country will be "stuck in Hobbes a war of all against all unless" it has America there. But Iraq did have America there, and as Friedman himself points out just a few paragraphs later it got "stuck in Hobbes," precisely because America was there ("Because of both U.S. incompetence and the nature of Iraq, this U.S. intervention triggered a civil war in which all the parties in Iraq Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds tested the new balance of power, inflicting enormous casualties on each other and leading, tragically, to ethnic cleansing that rearranged the country into more homogeneous blocks of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds"). He literally negates his own principal claim a country that overthrows its dictator can only avoid Hobbes if it has a U.S.-like force occupying and controlling it in the very same column in which he advances it.

But incoherence is the least notable aspect of this column. Did you know that "everyone on the ground" in Iraq "trusted" America to manage the transition from Saddam to Switzerland? This would probably came as a great surprise to the actual Iraqis on the ground, as reflected by U.S. government and independent polls in 2006, as reported by The Washington Post:

A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to immediately withdraw from the country, saying their swift departure would make Iraq more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers.

In Baghdad, for example, nearly three-quarters of residents polled said they would feel safer if U.S. and other foreign forces left Iraq, with 65 percent of those asked favoring an immediate pullout, according to State Department polling results obtained by The Washington Post.

Another new poll, scheduled to be released on Wednesday by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, found that 71 percent of Iraqis questioned want the Iraqi government to ask foreign forces to depart within a year. By large margins, though, Iraqis believed that the U.S. government would refuse the request, with 77 percent of those polled saying the United States intends [to] keep permanent military bases in the country. . . .

"Majorities in all regions except Kurdish areas state that the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) should withdraw immediately, adding that the MNF-I's departure would make them feel safer and decrease violence," concludes the 20-page State Department report, titled "Iraq Civil War Fears Remain High in Sunni and Mixed Areas." The report was based on 1,870 face-to-face interviews conducted from late June to early July.

But Thomas Friedman wants you to know that Iraqis were so very fortunate to have an occupying military force America that "everyone on the ground" in Iraq "trusted" to "manage the transition." And Syrians should hope and pray they are so lucky.

This is to say nothing of the warped imagery Friedman often uses of the invading U.S. as a "midwife" as though Muslim countries are our little babies who need and pray for our parental imperial guidance out of their primitive wombs. The reality is that almost everything Tom Friedman says on Iraq is designed to make people forget his actual, candidly expressed views about why he thought the war was just probably the most viscerally repellent comments anyone with a large mainstream platform has spouted in the last decade.
I say this with all sincerity. If I had to pick just a single fact that most powerfully reflects the nature of America's political and media class in order to explain the cause of the nation's imperial decline, it would be that, in those classes, Tom Friedman is the country's most influential and most decorated "foreign policy expert."

* * * * *

In 2000, the recently deceased Alexander Cockburn wrote an astoundingly good essay on Friedman which documents pre-9/11 conduct from Friedman that has largely been forgotten but which presaged almost every odious sentence and act he unleashed on the world over the last decade.

UPDATE: Friedman recently visited Australia and New Zealand to promote his latest book and, needless to say, generously gifted the citizens of those nations with his wisdom and insights about their countries. One New Zealand journalist reacted, not very gratefully, here. Friedman was interviewed for almost an hour by one of that country's best known radio talk show hosts, Kim Hill, and her relentlessly adversarial, critical, deeply informed and at times subtly contemptuous questioning which can be heard on the player below or downloaded here stands in stark contrast to how he is routinely treated by the worshipful American media:

UPDATE II: Here's "The sociopathy of Thomas L. Friedman: A compendium"; it's far from comprehensive, though it is quite illustrative.

UPDATE III: Friedman expert Matt Taibbi this remains the all-time Supreme Gold Standard for eviscerating not only Tom Friedman, but anyone pronounces today's column "the single most incoherent thing he has ever written."

Meanwhile, ProPublicas Justin Elliott documents how obsessed Friedman is with demanding a Muslim Mandela (today: "Without an external midwife or a Syrian Mandela, the fires of conflict could burn for a long time") but never, of course, an Israeli Mandela or, more accurately, an Israeli de Klerk.

Glenn Greenwald on Twitter: @ggreenwald

[Bill Kelly]

Freidman, Greenwald, Madson, I've read them all, and it is not them I am interested in, - as Eleanor said, "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss evens, small minds discuss people."

I am interested in the dynamics of the Arab revolutions that have knocked out three dictator and threaten another in Syria, one who has no justification for his power, his right to own an entire country, the right to pass on those rights to his son, as his father did, and the idea that the continuing Arab Spring revolts will continue the domino effect through four dictators and - who's next? Bahrain? Saudi Arabia, Iran? Even China is scared.

The revolution is currently in Syria, where Assad is on the ropes, but other than Russia, other nations are being kept on the sidelines, although the opposition is now being armed and supported by Quatar, Saudi Arabia and al Qaeda, all of whom seek a stake in the post-Assad Sryia, but since the revolution is not an Islamic Jahid or Communist, but a democratic revolution seeking a free and open society, they will have to co-op the original stimulus for the revolt to take it over.

But those seemingly successful democratic revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya are now, however slowly establishing their style of political life, the emergence of any one radical group as the new tyranny seems less likely, though certainly the major threat.

The ideas I am interested in discussing are the roles of youth and women in the revolutions, as they have sparked it and have played major roles in every country, and the idea that the USA has broken with its previous long standing policy of supporting friendly dictators and now supports the democratic revolutions in most countries - Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria, but apparently not in Bahrain, Yeman and Saudi Arabia.

It is also interesting and worth studying the role of Al Quada in the revolution, and the emergence of the new, liberal Islamists who seek an open, secular, democratic society, and not an orthodox, conservative religions one based Muslim law.

The situation in Syria will also have a major impact on neighboring countries - Turkey, Iran, Jordan and Israel especially, and the future of Hamas and Hezbolla in Palestine hinges in the balance, as both bailed out of Syria and abandoned Assad in February, when things started getting hot. They claim to be freedom fighting terrorists, but they're like liberals who leave the room when the fight begins.

I don't look at the Arab Spring revolts as East-vs-West or imperialist-nationalist or even religious, but as young vs. old, and the young people aren't armed with guns and tanks and artillery, but cell phones and twitters.

BK

Revolutionary Program: Syria - Assad Next to Fall

[Magda Hassan]

Angry Arab is prepared to admit he was wrong...

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Was I wrong?

A supporter of the Syrian regime reminded me yesterday. In the first few weeks of the Syrian uprising, I and fellow Arab leftists produced a toughly-worded statement against the Syrian regime and in support of the then Syrian popular uprising. In the statement, we mocked all claims by the Syrian regime about the presence of armed groups in Syria and we dismissed those reports as fictitious propaganda by the regime. Looking back it is only legitimate to wonder: were we wrong?

Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at 10:44 AM T

http://angryarab.blogspot.com.au/2012/07...wrong.html

[Danny Jarman]

German intelligence: al-Qaeda all over Syria

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.

Wring 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.

John Rosenthal is a journalist who specializes on European politics and transatlantic security issues. His website is Transatlantic Intelligencer

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/NG24Ak02.html

[Magda Hassan]

Syria violence spills into streets of Lebanon's Tripoli

Hussein Malla / AP

A Sunni gunman fires during clashes, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on May 14. Street battles pitting Lebanese Sunnis who generally support the Syrian uprising, against Alawite supporters of Assad's regime killed at least one person Monday, raising the death toll to four since Sunday. The clashes began Sunday after authorities detained an anti-Syrian Lebanese national.

Hussein Malla / AP

A Lebanese Sunni family run between white tarps hung to provide cover from snipers as they flee their house during clashes, in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon, on May 14.

Reuters reports -- Two men were killed and at least 20 people were wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday.
Fierce clashes overnight shook the northern port city and sporadic fighting continued on Monday. Machineguns and rocket propelled grenades were used.
Tension between the Alawite and Sunni communities in Tripoli has been fuelled by the unrest in neighboring Syria, where Assad is seeking to crush a 14-month-old uprising which began with largely peaceful protests against his rule but has become increasingly militarized.

Five dead, dozens wounded in Lebanon clashes: medics

Stringer / REUTERS

Residents carry their belongings as they flee their homes through smoke from burnt barricades at the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, May 13, 2012. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim



updated 5/14/2012 1:47:55 PM ET TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Five people were killed and more than 70 wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday.
Fierce clashes shook the northern port city overnight and sporadic fighting continued on Monday, as fighters holed up in bullet-scarred buildings fired machineguns and rocket propelled grenades.
Tension between the Alawite and Sunni communities in Tripoli has been fuelled by the unrest in neighboring Syria where Assad seeks to crush a 14-month-old revolt that began with largely peaceful protests but has become increasingly militarized.
Assad is from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam whereas the revolt has been led by the majority Sunni Muslims.
A small Alawite minority is concentrated in Tripoli, a conservative Sunni city where many residents have been enraged by the Syrian government's crackdown.
Clashes began late on Saturday and three people were killed at the weekend in the city's Alawite enclave and surrounding Sunni Muslim neighborhoods.
The fighting in Tripoli, 70 km (43 miles) from Beirut, highlights how sectarian tensions in Syria can spill into Lebanon. Buildings in the area are still riddled with bullet holes from similar clashes earlier in the year.

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Islamist groups and officials were meeting in Tripoli on Monday to try to solve the crisis.
"So far there is no agreement to deploy the army. They are afraid of creating another conflict between the army and the fighters," said one cleric at the meeting, who asked not to be named. "I'm worried the problems here in Tripoli will only spread until they agree on doing something."
Among the deaths at the weekend was a soldier hit by sniper fire. Sporadic fighting also took place between armed Sunnis and the Lebanese army near a main Sunni district, and security sources said military has been reticent to become dragged into the conflict.
Tension in Tripoli had been rising over the detention of Islamists and clashes started after police broke up a sit-in against the arrest of Shadi al-Moulawi.

Lebanon's porous border has been used by supporters of the Syrian uprising to smuggle arms and supplies to the opposition.A court on Monday charged Moulawi for involvement with an unnamed terrorist organization. He will be sent for a military trial, a court source said.
Islamists say Moulawi was working with refugees who had fled to Lebanon. A statement by al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, an Islamist group in Tripoli, criticized his arrest as lacking due process. Police said he was arrested after thorough surveillance.
(Reporting by Nazih Siddiq and Erika Solomon; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Stringer / Reuters

A Sunni Muslim gunman carries a machinegun during clashes at the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on May 14. Two men were killed and at least 20 were wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslim fighters in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday. Fierce clashes overnight shook the northern port city and sporadic fighting continued on Monday morning, with fighters firing machineguns and rocket propelled grenades.

Reuters

A Sunni Muslim gunman fires his rifle as others help an injured colleague during clashes at the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on May 14. Two men were killed and at least 20 people were wounded in clashes between Alawite supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Muslims in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, medical sources said on Monday. Fierce clashes overnight shook the northern port city and sporadic fighting continued on Monday. Machineguns and rocket propelled grenades were used.

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[Peter Lemkin]

The growing reports of radical Muslim Jihadists in Syria is not good...nor would be an external invasion to go along with the internal one [with non-indigenous elements]. It is really a mess now and my heart goes out to the average person who is in fear, lost loved ones - or soon will. Anyone calling for an 'Iraqi solution' has to be insane....need I go through the horrible history of what the USA and NATO did in Iraq?! [We had to kill the Nation and its People to save it - Feludja sums it up best - but was one of hundreds if not thousands of the same - over decades!]. In Iraq we set up a client state and displaced/killed much of its population - and destroyed most of its infrastructure except the oil fields. I fear the same will happen in Syria - though the Assad family is horrible too. It would take a Solomon to find a solution, at this point. Bill, I only ask you to add our own country to those much [if not most] in need of a 'Spring'. I think the Syrian uprising started organically, but has been hijacked - with those of good will likely still trying to fight on along with outsiders and hijackers. The government side certainly deserves no applause for the past or the present. What a mess - it likely will end very badly with most either dead or refugees for decades and Syria a client state - greatly weakened and sights set on Iran next.

[Magda Hassan]

I just saw this tweet too which may be related :

Lt. Muqawami @LtHussamov
BREAKING: Now both #Turkey and #Jordan are massing troops on #Syria|n borders.

Assad Grants Autonomy to Kurdish Region, Prompting Threats From Turkey

The PKK will find safe-haven in northern Syria now, which could prompt an attack from Turkey, a NATO member

by John Glaser, July 26, 2012

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Syrian President Bashar Assad, amid growing unrest, has granted control of parts of northern Syria over to militant Kurds, long branded as terrorists by Turkey, in a provocation that could lead the conflict to break out internationally.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier said that Turkey would not accept an autonomous Kurdish area in Syria, fearing separatist Kurds in Turkey would use it as a safe-haven to launch cross-border attacks.
Late on Thursday Turkey mobilized and deployed tanks and missile batteries on the Syrian border near the Kurdish region, with Erdogan commenting if the Kurds control these areas, "then intervening would be our most natural right."
Kurdish control of these border areas are an apparent consequence of the chaos of Syria's internal conflict, in which the US and its allies are sending aid, intelligence, and weapons to the Syrian rebels, despite numerous crimes and ties to terrorist groups.
Turkish military intervention against the Assad regime came close to being a reality back a few months ago when Syria downed a Turkish fighter jet that went into Syrian airspace. Turkey has shown little hesitation to attack its neighbors if they feel their Kurdish threat demands it, as cross-border attacks into Iraq's Kurdish region in recent months has shown.

If Turkey, a NATO member, involves itself in the Syrian conflict in a direct and belligerent way, it could have far reaching consequences, with possible implications of a US intervention.

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/26/assad...om-turkey/

[Magda Hassan]

Turkey sets up secret base to bring aid to Syria rebels, sources say

A Doha-based source said that Turkey is controlling the base militarily, in coordination with Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

By Reuters | Jul.27, 2012 | 3:10 PM


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Turkey has set up a secret base with allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar to direct vital military and communications aid to Syria's rebels from a city near the border, Gulf sources have told Reuters.
News of the clandestine Middle East-run "nerve centre" working to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad underlines the extent to which Western powers - who played a key role in unseating Muammar Gadhafi in Libya - have avoided militaryinvolvement so far in Syria.
"It's the Turks who are militarily controlling it. Turkey is the mainco-ordinator/facilitator. Think of a triangle, with Turkey at the top and Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the bottom," said a Doha-based source.
"The Americans are very hands-off on this. U.S. intel(ligence) are working through middlemen. Middlemen arecontrolling access to weapons and routes."
The centre in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 100 km from the Syrian border, was set up after Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Saud visitedTurkey and requested it, a source in the Gulf said. The Turks liked the idea of having the base in Adana so that they could supervise its operations, he added.
A Saudi foreign ministry official was not immediately available to comment on the operation.
Adana is home to Incirlik, a large Turkish/U.S. air forcebase which Washington has used in the past for reconnaissance and military logistics operations. It was not clear from the sources whether the anti-Syrian "nerve centre" was located inside Incirlik base or in the city of Adana.
Qatar, the tiny gas-rich Gulf state which played a leading part in supplying weapons to Libyan rebels, has a key role indirecting operations at the Adana base, the sources said. Qatari military intelligence and state security officials are involved.
"Three governments are supplying weapons: Turkey, Qatar andSaudi Arabia," said a Doha-based source. Ankara has officially denied supplying weapons.
"All weaponry is Russian. The obvious reason is that these guys (the Syrian rebels) are trained to use Russian weapons, also because the Americans don't want their hands on it. All weapons are from the black market. The other way they getweapons is to steal them from the Syrian army. They raid weapons stores."
The source added: "The Turks have been desperate to improve their weak surveillance, and have been begging Washington fordrones and surveillance." The pleas appear to have failed. "So they have hired some private guys come do the job."
President Barack Obama has so far preferred to use diplomatic means to try to oust Assad, although Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton signaled this week that Washington plans to step up help to the rebels.
Reuters has established that Obama's aides have drafted a resolution which would authorize greater covert assistance tothe rebels but still stop short of arming them.
The White House's wariness is shared by other Western powers. It reflects concerns about what might follow Assad inSyria and about the substantial presence of anti-Western Islamists and jihadi fighters among the rebels.
The presence of the secret Middle East-run "nerve centre" may explain how the Syrian rebels, a rag-tag assortment of ill-armed and poorly organized groups, have pulled off major strikes such as the devastating bomb attack on July 18 which killed at least four key Assad aides including the defense minister.
A Turkish diplomat in the region insisted however that hiscountry played no part in the Damascus bombing.
"That's out of the question," he said. "The Syrian minister of information blamed Turkey and other countries for thekilling. Turkey doesn't do such things. We are not a terrorist country. Turkey condemns such attacks."
However, two former senior U.S. security officials said thatTurkey has been playing an increasing role in sheltering andtraining Syrian rebels who have crossed into its territory.
One of the former officials, who is also an adviser to agovernment in the region, told Reuters that 20 former Syrian generals are now based in Turkey, from where they are helping shape the rebel forces. Israel believes up to 20,000 Syrian troops may now have defected to the opposition.
Former officials said there is reason to believe the Turksstepped up their support for anti-Assad forces after Syria shotdown a Turkish plane which had made several passes over borderareas.
Sources in Qatar said the Gulf state is providing training and supplies to the Syrian rebels.
"The Qataris mobilized their special forces team two weeks ago. Their remit is to train and help logistically, not to fight," said a Doha-based source with ties to the FSA.
Qatar's military intelligence directorate, Foreign Ministry and State Security Bureau are involved, said the source.



http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/...y-1.454107