We have people trying to convince other people how there are no Al Qaeda flags in Syria and how KSA is this great force for secularism in the ME. If it was not sad, it would be funny.Originally Posted by Laworkerbee
X2
They export radicals out on jihad, the modern outlet for hotheads parallel of the Crusades.
Care to back up those facts? Facts are that intelligence services quite well understand how to play the PR game and are doing their best to cover up who they arm with what. US understood it in Afghanistan and anybody using Soviet equipment inherently risks just such a scenario. Manufacturers and stockpiles of Soviet arms and equipment are at hand for pretty much anybody with even modest means. And that means anybody can with relaively minimal investment arm the Syrian rebels with AKs and pretend they all are captured Syrian equipment. The Afghans only got the Stingers because it would have been ludicrous to go around claiming those were captured from Russians as Russkies were expecting an aerial attack by the muj.
Last edited by Shurik SST; 08-04-2012 at 01:35 AM.
Syrian forces, rebels fight to control Aleppo broadcast center
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/03/world/...est/index.htmlRebel and Syrian forces battled early Saturday for a building that houses state-run TV and radio studios in Aleppo, a day after the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution that slams the Syrian government for its actions and the U.N. Security Council for its failure to counter the crisis.
Annan left, fighting continues
Host of state TV killedAfter ten days, fighting again rages in Damascus. Since last night Syrian army is trying to flush out rebels from Tadamun neighborhood, a new rebel stronghold in Damascus. Rebel assault on state television building in Aleppo. Syrian ambassador to UN receives death threats. Qatar requested changes to Annan plan. Late in last night Syrian army tank and armored vehicles stormed the last rebel stronghold in Damascus. While UN warn that Syrian army prepares large scale attack on Aleppo army itself continues to bombard constantly parts of the largest Syrian city.
According to AFP, at least 13 people were killed this morning. Overnight in Aleppo rebels withdrew from the neighborhood Al-Iza, where, among other buildings is stationed state television, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"The rebels have set up the explosives into the suburbs while army has bombed village. After that, the rebels retreated from there," says director and human rights organizations Rami Abdel Rahman, adding that the fighting in that part of the town broke out when rebel soldiers tried to enter the television building.
Threats to the Syrian ambassador to the UNHost of the Syrian state television, Mohammad Al Said, who was kidnapped in mid-July has been killed, said the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights. "Well known host of state television was killed, and el Nosra Front claimed responsibility for killing" told AFP Director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman. El Nosra in a statement confirmed the kidnapping and murder, stating that the "heroes" of the region of Damascus captured host of state television and executed him after he was interrogated.
The report was published on the website that shows the flag of Al Qaeda, and the text is placed photos of host pushed against the wall. "Let this be a lesson to all who support the regime", said el Nosra.
source:Syrian ambassador to the UN Bashar Jaafari, said that he and his family received death threats and informed the U.S. authorities. "There have been several death threats against me and a couple of Syrian diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United States," Jaafari said the members of the UN General Assembly.
Jaafari said this before The Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution criticizing the failure of the UN Security Council to end the conflict in Syria and the Syrian regime condemns the use of heavy weapons.
http://www.***.rs/
Rebels leader claims 3.000 Iranian soldiers landed in Damascus international airport in the last days. AJ reports rebels downed a fighter jet in Aleppo: http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-...t-says-report/
http://www.boston.com/news/world/mid...e_camp/?page=1Syrian regime pleads with Russia for economic aid
BEIRUT—Syria reached out to its powerful ally Russia on Friday, as senior officials pleaded with Moscow for financial loans and supplies of oil products -- an indication that international sanctions are squeezing President Bashar Assad's regime.
The signs of desperation came as resilient rebels fought regime forces in the Syrian capital only two weeks after the government crushed a revolt there. The renewed battles in Damascus show that Assad's victories could be fleeting as armed opposition groups regroup and resurge.
"The fighting in Damascus today proves that this revolution cannot be extinguished," said activist Abu Qais al-Shami. "The rebels may be forced to retreat because of the regime's use of heavy weaponry but they will always come back."
Syria is thought to be burning quickly through the $17 billion in foreign reserves that the government was believed to have at the start of Assad's crackdown on a popular uprising that erupted in March 2011. The conflict has turned into a civil war, and rights activists estimate more than 19,000 people.
Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, who has led a delegation of several Cabinet ministers to Moscow over the past few days, told reporters Friday that they requested a Russian loan to replenish Syria's hard currency reserves, which have been depleted by a U.S. and European Union embargo on Syrian exports.
He said Damascus also wants to get diesel oil and other oil products from Russia in exchange for crude supplies.
From the big R
"We have information that the Syrian army is planning a strong offensive against Aleppo. We know they are planning to attack the city using tanks and aircraft, shooting at us for three to four days and they plan to take the city," Colonel Abdel-Jabbar al-Oqaidi said in Aleppo.
Faced with the Syrian army's superior firepower, Oqaidi said the rebels were counting on mass defections by government soldiers once the offensive started.
"At the moment the soldiers cannot leave their bases and they are too afraid to defect. Once they are inside our city they will take off their uniforms and join us," he said.
Sky News Newsdesk @SkyNewsBreak
Sky Correspondent: MiG fighter jets attacking Free Syrian Army positions in northern Aleppo
http://www.worldnewstribune.com/2012...-fight-sunnis/Iran’s Hizbullah sends more troops to help Assad storm Aleppo, fight Sunnis
NICOSIA — The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has been sending fighters to Syria to bolster the latest offensive by President Bashar Assad against Sunni rebels.
Lebanese security sources said hundreds of Iranian-trained Hizbullah fighters crossed into Syria to help the Assad regime quell the Sunni revolt. The sources said the fighters come from elite Hizbullah units and were deployed in central Syria.
“Assad desperately needs more people to sustain operations against the rebels, and Iran is helping out, mostly through Hizbullah,” a source said. On July 27, the Lebanese daily An Nahar reported that Hizbullah sent fighters from its Unit 910, deemed a combat force, to Syria. The newspaper said members of Unit 910 were fighting together with the Syrian Army in Homs, Qusair and Rastan.
Hizbullah is believed to have deployed up to 7,000 troops in Syria.
Most of the Shi’ite militia has been based in Zabadani, which contains a large facility of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
[...]
The sources said Hizbullah was also using its fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance missions against the Sunni rebels. Earlier this month, an Iranian-origin Mirsad-1 UAV crashed outside the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek near the Syrian border.
An Nahar said Hizbullah had installed an explosive payload on the UAV to test its combat capabilities. The newspaper said the flight sought
to determine whether Mirsad could be programmed to blow up pre-selected ground targets.
Only fair I guess? If true ( doubts), I'm rather surprised by this news, I would think that Hezbullah would need all its fighters if Lebanon is likely to become the next domino
The war grows, it widens...
from AJE, don't know the original sources
Forty-eight Iranian pilgrims were kidnapped from a bus in the Syrian capital on Saturday, their embassy's consular chief in Damascus told Iran's state television.
"Armed terrorist groups kidnapped 48 Iranian pilgrims on their way to the airport," Majid Kamjou told the IRIB network, which gave the report on its website.
"There are no reports about the fate of the pilgrims. The embassy and Syrian officials are trying to trace the kidnappers," he said.The battle for Aleppo has not yet begun, and shelling by troops is just the start of what is to come, a senior Syrian security official in the region said on Saturday.
"The battle for Aleppo has not yet begun, and what is happening now is just the appetizer," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding: "The main course will come later."
The official said new military reinforcements had arrived, and that there were at least 20,000 troops on the ground.
"The other side are also sending reinforcements," he added, referring to the rebel forces.
- Agence France Presse
Hezbollah has no interest in sparking another war in Lebanon. It couldīve been seen several times lately (Tripoli clashes or especially abduction of shia pilgrims when Nasrallah himself was calming down angry shias in order to not spark sectarian violence).
Syria in for more trouble in Augusthttp://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_04/Sy...ble-in-August/Russia voted against a Saudi-drafted resolution on Syria which the UN General Assembly passed on Friday. This country’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin dismissed the draft as being at variance with the Kofi Annan peace plan and the pertinent agreements earlier reached in Geneva.
The vote came a day after Kofi Annan announced his resignation as the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria. Meanwhile, Kofi Annan explained his decision by the warring sides’ refusal to reach a compromise. All this meaning that in the coming month the anti-Assad coalition will try to decide the matter bypassing the UN Security Council.
In the article "My departing advice on how to save Syria," in which he gives the final recommendations on how to solve the problem, Kofi Annan urges the Russian and American Presidents to display courage and leadership to avert a national catastrophe in Syria.
Mr. Annan believes that all countries which enjoy sway over the Syrian government and the opposition must take concerted efforts to persuade the warring sides to seek a political solution to the crisis.
Russia insists that despite Kofi Annan’s exit, the UN maintain its presence in Syria and urges the world nations to join hands in a concerted effort to end the violence and set in motion a process of political reconciliation there.
Meanwhile, the situation in Syria is getting from bad to worse with the opposition trying hard to capture the country’s second city of Aleppo. If it does, this would deal an irreparable blow to the Syrian economy. The emergence of a zone free from government troops and bordering on Turkey would raise the risk of a repetition of the Libyan scenario and of Aleppo becoming a new Benghazi.
The past few weeks have seen a notable rise in the opposition’s military activity – a clear sign of the massive assistance it’s been getting from abroad. Just a few days back, it transpired that the US State Department has earmarked $25 million for “non-military supplies” to the opposition forces, including advanced communications gear. However, if a ******* reports is something to go by, President Barack Obama earlier ordered direct military support for the opposition militants and dispatched a team of CIA and other officials to a secret base in Turkey, namely to the town of Adana, which serves as a base for anti-Assad rebels active in Syria.
It looks like Washington and Ankara are all set to help the Syrian opposition, with western media saying about a large number of man-portable air defense missiles being sent to the militants in addition to regular firearms.
What the international community seems to be missing altogether, however, is the plight of ordinary Syrians, desperately struggling to stay alive in a country which is teetering precariously on the brink of an all-out humanitarian catastrophe. Given the country’s climate, failure to keep the farming sector going will result in chronic malnutrition and diseases whose impact is hard, if not possible, to predict.
"Irina Zvyagelskaya, an expert with the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, fears that if the fighting in Syria continues the country will be plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe. What is now going on there is a full-blown civil war… The opposition is getting a lot of help from abroad and we don’t know what these people will do if they come to power, how balanced and realistic their policy will be… That’s why I believe that persuading the warring sides to set up a transitional government enjoying the support of the overwhelming majority of Syrians is the only way to go."
So far neither the opposition nor the government has been showing any signs of seeking a compromise. Moreover, it looks like the coalition of western and Arab states will be trying to solve the matter in circumvention of the UN Security Council, for example, by bringing into play the Kurdish issue, so painfully felt in Turkey.
Alexander Filonik, another expert on the Middle East in Moscow, warns that playing the Kurdish card may backfire because the issue of Kurdish separatism is very rife also in Iraq and Iran and this could have unpredictable consequences for them too.
As if unaware of this prospect, Turkey is already massing its troops on the Syrian border in what many experts see as a preparation for a possible invasion of Syria in circumvention of the UN Security Council. Well, the voice of reason often tends to fall on deaf ears, especially when we are talking about geopolitical interests used as a disguise for one’s burning desire to control an oil-rich part of the world.
I wasn't saying that Hezbollah would start a conflict but sending a few thousands of its veterans abroad could motivate other groups to finish some unfinished bussiness
I doubt anyone can rival Hizbollah in Lebanon right now.
The bigger problem is what this might do to their reputation. So far they still had a certain appeal across the branches of Islam in the Arab world because of their resistance to Israel. Also, they supported Arab spring movements prior to Syria, so this puts them in a very precarious situation.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
