Syria

[American Patriot]

NATO says plans in place to defend Turkey from Syrian attacks

Published October 09, 2012
Associated Press

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10...#ixzz28pFB8Eff

BRUSSELS – NATO is ready to defend Turkey, the alliance's top official said Tuesday, in a direct warning to Syria after a week of cross-border artillery and mortar exchanges dramatically escalated tensions between the two countries.

Ankara has sent additional fighter jets to reinforce an air base close to the frontier with Syria where shells killed five Turkish civilians last week, sparking fears of a wider regional crisis. Syria has defended its shelling of neighboring Turkey as an accidental outcome of its 18-month-old civil war.
The comments by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen were the strongest show of support to Turkey since the firing began Wednesday -- though the solidarity is largely symbolic.
NATO member Turkey has sought backing in case it is attacked, but despite publicly supporting Syria's rebels Ankara isn't seeking direct intervention. And the alliance is thought to be reluctant to get involved militarily at a time when its main priority is the war in Afghanistan.
"Obviously Turkey can rely on NATO solidarity," Fogh Rasmussen said ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. "We have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary."
When pressed on what kind of trouble on the border would trigger those plans, NATO's chief said he could not discuss contingency plans. "We hope it won't be necessary to activate such plans, we do hope to see a political solution to the conflict in Syria," he said.
NATO officials said the plans have been around for decades and were not drawn up in response to the Syria crisis. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
In an address to lawmakers from the ruling party, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that Ankara will continue retaliating for attacks from Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
"Every kind of threat to the Turkish territory and the Turkish people will find us standing against it," Erdogan said. "Soldiers loyal to Assad fired shells at us, we immediately reacted and responded with double force. We shall never stop responding."
At least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets were deployed at Turkey's Diyarbakir air base in the southeast late Monday, Turkey's Dogan news agency said, quoting unidentified military sources. The military's chief of staff inspected troops along the border with Syria on Tuesday.
But despite the flare-up in recent days, there appears little appetite in Turkey for a war with Syria, said Volker Perthes, the director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Only a sudden change in the situation on the ground could draw Turkey into what has so far remained a domestic conflict, said Perthes.
"If the humanitarian situation becomes even worse, where you have more massacres, where at some point even the Russians wouldn't block a U.N. Security Council resolution ... then who could do the job of protecting civilians? It would be Turkey in the first place," he said.
Joshua Alvarez, managing editor of the Istanbul-based Kalem Journal, said it was very unlikely that Turkey would call on NATO and force a decision on a commitment unless hostilities with Syria sharply increase.
"Turkey will continue to seek as many reassurances as it can, but Turkey will not put its foot down and demand a commitment from NATO," said Alvarez. "Turkey is aware of NATO's extreme reluctance about repeating a `Libya-styled' campaign in Syria, a much more complex and difficult scenario. Turkey wants no part of such a campaign, either. "
NATO established a no-fly zone to protect civilians during last year's Libyan revolt against longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Western diplomats said enforcing the zone required taking out Libya's air defenses and attacking tanks and military vehicles that posed threats to civilians.
Ankara's reluctance to go it alone in Syria was voiced Tuesday by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan.
"Whichever step we take, it will be taken in consultation with our friends and our allies and in agreement with them," he said. "This is not a Syrian-Turkish bilateral issue, it is a humanitarian issue and we think that at the same time it's an issue that should be viewed as a regional security issue. The Arab League is involved, the Islamic Conference Organization is involved and NATO is a part of it."
Syrian opposition activists estimate more than 32,000 people have been killed since March 2011 when the uprising against Assad's regime began. Initially, regime opponents launched a wave of peaceful protests that were met by repeated attacks by security forces, and the conflict has gradually turned into bloody civil war that has motivated tens of thousands of civilians to flee Syria. The fighting has devastated entire neighborhoods in Syria's main cities, including Aleppo in the north. Syria's government has always blamed the uprising on what it calls foreign terrorists.
A Sunni extremist group called Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for an attack on Syrian air force intelligence compound in the Damascus suburb of Harasta Monday evening. A statement on a militant website by the group's media arm, Al-Manara al-Bayda, said the bombing aimed "to avenge the killing of Muslims and those who suffered injustice."
The Syrian state-run news agency did not report the explosion and there were conflicting reports on how badly the compound was damaged. There were no official reports on casualties, but the pro-government Al-Ikhbariya channel said on Monday the blast was heard across Damascus.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, reported that Syrian Nation Council leader Abdulbaset Sieda visited rebel-controlled areas in Syria on Tuesday.
It said he entered Syria from the Bab al-Hawa border crossing and "made observations in rural areas" of Idlib province before traveling to Aleppo's Etarib area where he met with commanders of the Free Syrian Army. If confirmed, the trip would be al-Hawa's first into Syria since he became the council's leader in June.
On his return to Aleppo, Anadolu quoted Sieda as saying: "We are here to see what the opposition in Syria and the opposition outside of Syria can do together to serve the Syrian people."
Sieda made the trip ahead of an Oct. 15-17 meeting of Syrian opposition groups in Qatar.
Meanwhile, two Syrian rebels told The Associated Press that seven military and intelligence officers belonging to Syria's ruling Alawite minority have defected to Jordan. The rebels said they helped the seven cross into Jordan on Monday, and that the highest-ranking figure among them was an army colonel.
Defections by Alawites, who make up the backbone of Assad's regime, are relatively uncommon. Almost all the defections have been from Syria's Sunni majority, who dominate the rebellion.
Three other Alawite intelligence officials came to Jordan three weeks ago, said the two rebels, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the Assad regime. Jordanian officials declined comment.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10...#ixzz28pEucOz6

[American Patriot]

8 October 2012 Last updated at 16:06 ET

'Saudi weapons' seen at Syria rebel base

The BBC was not allowed to see the contents of this crate, found in a rebel base in Aleppo
Continue reading the main story Syria conflict

• No-man's land
• Turkey-Syria tensions
• Assad heartland
• Bombed from above

BBC News has uncovered evidence that appears to suggest that weapons intended for the Saudi military have been diverted to Syrian rebels.
Three crates from an arms manufacturer - addressed to Saudi Arabia - have been seen in a base being used by rebel fighters in the city of Aleppo.
How the small crates reached Aleppo is unknown, and the BBC was not allowed to film their contents.
Saudi Arabia has refused to comment on the matter.
Turkey is calling for "international action" on Syria after a sixth consecutive day of cross-border shelling.
Turkey returned fire across the border on Monday after a Syrian shell fell on its territory.
Turkey would continue to do everything necessary to protect its borders, President Abdullah Gul said on Monday, adding that the "worst-case scenarios" were now taking place in Syria.
No-one was hurt in the latest incident, near the town of Altinozu, in Hatay province, the Turkish semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Cannot play media. You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version


Fighting in Aleppo is intense, says the BBC's Ian Pannell

Last week, a Syrian shell killed five Turkish civilians in the border town of Akcakale.
Meanwhile, fighting has intensified around the central Syrian city of Homs.
Syrian troops launched an assault on Homs, advancing into a rebel-held district after four days of bombardment.
"The army is in the midst of trying to cleanse the last rebel districts of the city of Homs," a Syrian army commander told the Associated Press news agency.
Unknown route Continue reading the main story Syria weapons boxes

• Label lists factory as LCW, in eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk
• LCW stands for Luhansk Cartridge Works, a major ammunition manufacturer, founded in 1895
• In Soviet times, the factory mainly supplied cartridges for army use but has diversified into sports and hunting markets
• One of its key exports is the 7.62mm cartridge used in the AK-47 semi-automatic rifle and its modifications - used by both the Syrian army and rebels

The crates of ammunition found in an Aleppo mosque were made by the Ukrainian firm Dastan, which specialises in naval weapons and missile complexes.
What was in the crates is unknown, says the BBC's Ian Pannell, who has been in Aleppo, as is how they ended up there.
But their presence clearly suggests that someone in the Gulf is actively helping the rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, our correspondent says.
When contacted by the BBC, Saudi officials refused to comment.
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner says Saudi Arabia generally prefers to conduct its foreign affairs through low-key, behind-the-scenes discretion.
The apparent discovery of Saudi ammunition in a Syrian mosque could attract unwelcome attention, he adds.
Privately, opposition sources have confirmed to the BBC that they are receiving assistance from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The New York Times reports that Saudi and Qatari officials are sending small arms to the rebels, but are holding off sending heavier equipment, such as shoulder-fired missiles.
This is in part because they have been discouraged by the United States, which fears the heavier weapons could end up in the hands of terrorists, the newspaper says.
Meanwhile, in a speech on foreign policy on Monday, US presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said that if elected, he would back Western-friendly elements among the Syrian rebels.
Extracts of his speech released by his campaign include the following pledge on Syria: "I will work with our partners to identify and organize those members of the opposition who share our values and ensure they obtain the arms they need to defeat Assad's tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets."
The UN has warned of rising tensions and has urged those supplying weapons to both sides to stop doing so.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said tensions were increasing in the region, adding that he was "deeply concerned" by the continued flow of arms to both sides, despite international embargoes.
"I urge again those countries providing arms to stop doing so. Militarisation only aggravates the situation," he told the World Forum for Democracy, in the French city of Strasbourg.
Syria is not on the agenda at this week's meeting of Nato foreign ministers, but in an interview with the BBC, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Turkey - a Nato member - could count on solidarity.
Nato had no intention of interfering militarily in Syria, he said, but plans were in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary.

[vector7]

U.S. Military Is Sent to Jordan to Help With Crisis in Syria

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and ELISABETH BUMILLER
Published: October 9, 2012

WASHINGTON — The United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan to help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees, prepare for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict.

The task force, which has been led by a senior American officer, is based at a Jordanian military training center built into an old rock quarry north of Amman. It is now largely focused on helping Jordanians handle the estimated 180,000 Syrian refugees who have crossed the border and are severely straining the country’s resources.

American officials familiar with the operation said the mission also includes drawing up plans to try to insulate Jordan, an important American ally in the region, from the upheaval in Syria and to avoid the kind of clashes now occurring along the border of Syria and Turkey.

The officials said the idea of establishing a buffer zone between Syria and Jordan — which would be enforced by Jordanian forces on the Syrian side of the border and supported politically and perhaps logistically by the United States — had been discussed. But at this point the buffer is only a contingency.

The Obama administration has declined to intervene in the Syrian conflict beyond providing communications equipment and other nonlethal assistance to the rebels opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad. But the outpost near Amman could play a broader role should American policy change. It is less than 35 miles from the Syrian border and is the closest American military presence to the conflict.

Officials from the Pentagon and Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment on the task force or its mission. A spokesman for the Jordanian Embassy in Washington would also not comment on Tuesday.

As the crisis in Syria has deepened, there has been mounting concern in Washington that the violence could spread through the region. Over the past week, Syria and Turkey have exchanged artillery and mortar fire across Syria’s northern border, which has been a crossing point for rebel fighters. In western Syria, intense fighting recently broke out in villages near the border crossing that leads to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. To the east, the Syrian government has lost control of some border crossings, including the one near Al Qaim in Iraq.

Jordan has also been touched by the fighting. Recent skirmishes have broken out between the Syrian military and Jordanians guarding the country’s northern border, where many families have ties to Syria. In August, a 4-year-old girl in a Jordanian border town was injured when a Syrian shell struck her house, and there are concerns in Jordan that a sharp upsurge in the fighting in Syria might lead to an even greater influx of refugees.

Jordan, which was one of the first Arab countries to call for Mr. Assad’s resignation, has become increasingly concerned that Islamic militants coming to join the fight in Syria could cross the porous border between the two countries.

The American mission in Jordan quietly began this summer. In May, the United States organized a major training exercise, which was dubbed Eager Lion. About 12,000 troops from 19 countries, including Special Forces troops, participated in the exercise.

After it ended, the small American contingent stayed on and the task force was established at a Jordanian training center north of Amman. It includes communications specialists, logistics experts, planners, trainers and headquarters staff members, American officials said. An official from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugee Affairs and Migration is also assigned to the task force.

“We have been working closely with our Jordanian partners on a variety of issues related to Syria for some time now,” said George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, who added that a specific concern was the security of Syria’s stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. “As we’ve said before, we have been planning for various contingencies, both unilaterally and with our regional partners.”

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met in Amman in August with King Abdullah II of Jordan and at that time pledged continuing American help with the flow of Syrian refugees. Mr. Panetta was followed in September by Gen. James N. Mattis, the head of Central Command, who met with senior Jordanian officials in Amman.

Members of the American task force are spending the bulk of their time working with the Jordanian military on logistics — figuring out how to deploy tons of food, water and latrines to the border, for example, and training the Jordanian military to handle the refugees. A month ago, as many as 3,000 a day were coming over the border. But as the Syrian army has consolidated its position in southern Syria, the number of refugees has declined to several hundred a day.

According to the United Nations, Jordan is currently hosting around 100,000 Syrians who have either registered or are awaiting registration. American officials say the total number may be almost twice that.

The American military is also sending medical kits to the border and has provided gravel to help keep down the dust at the Zaatari refugee camp, which the task force helped set up and is now home to 35,000 Syrians. It has also provided four large prefabricated buildings to be used at Zaatari as schools. One official estimated the cost so far at less than $1 million.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Ranya Kadri from Amman, Jordan.


U.S. secret mission sent to Jordan for controlling Syrian chemical weapons: report

Wednesday, 10 October 2012
By Al Arabiya

The United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan to help the armed forces there to prepare for the possibility that Syria could lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict, a report published by the New York Times on Wednesday said.

The secret mission, led by a senior American officer, will also help in handling the estimated 180,000 Syrian refugees who have crossed the border and are severely straining the country’s resources, the report said.
The task force is based at a Jordanian military training center built into an old rock quarry north of Amman.

According to the report, U.S. officials familiar with the operation said the mission includes drawing up plans to try to insulate Jordan, a strong U.S., from the upheaval in Syria and to avoid the kind of clashes now occurring along the border of Syria and Turkey.

“We have been working closely with our Jordanian partners on a variety of issues related to Syria for some time now,” George Little, the Pentagon press secretary, was quoted as saying by the New York Times. He added that a specific concern was the security of Syria’s stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. “As we’ve said before, we have been planning for various contingencies, both unilaterally and with our regional partners.”

The Obama administration has declined to intervene in the Syrian conflict beyond providing communications equipment and other non-lethal assistance to the rebels. However, the outpost near Amman could play a broader role should U.S. policy change.

The New York Times mentioned that there were no comments on the U.S. military operation from neither the Pentagon nor the Jordanian Embassy in Washington.

Analysts have always said that the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad might deliberately force the Syrian conflict to spill over beyond the Syrian borders in order to keep the world’s attention away from the violence committed against civilians inside Syrian.

Over the past week, Syria and Turkey have exchanged artillery and mortar fire across Syria’s northern border. In western Syria, intense fighting recently broke out in villages near the border crossing that leads to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. To the east, the Syrian government has lost control of some border crossings, including the one near al-Qaim in Iraq.

Recent scuffles have also broken out between the Syrian military and Jordanians guarding the country’s northern border, where many families have ties to Syria.

Jordan, which was one of the first Arab countries to call for Assad’s resignation, has become increasingly concerned that Islamic armed groups, coming to join the fight in Syria, could cross the porous border between the two countries.

Al Arabiya has recently revealed that Assad gave instructions for his agents to try to ignite unrest in Jordan. According to “classified intelligence documents” leaked to Al Arabiya, Assad gave orders to provide peaceful protesters, who call for reform in Jordan, with weapons.

According to the New York Times report, the U.S. mission in Jordan quietly began this summer. In May, the U.S. organized a major training exercise, which was dubbed Eager Lion. About 12,000 troops from 19 countries, including Special Forces troops, participated in the exercise.

After it ended, the small American contingent stayed on and the task force was established at a Jordanian training center north of Amman. It includes communications specialists, logistics experts, planners, trainers and headquarters staff members, the report mentioned citing American officials.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met in Amman in August with King Abdullah II of Jordan. Panetta was then followed in September by Gen. James N. Mattis, the head of Central Command, who met with senior Jordanian officials in Amman.

Members of the American task force are spending the bulk of their time working with the Jordanian military on logistics — figuring out how to deploy tons of food, water and latrines to the border, for example, and training the Jordanian military to handle the refugees, the report said.

Jordan is currently hosting around 100,000 Syrians who have either registered or are awaiting registration, the United Nations said.

[American Patriot]

Heads up!

Turkish prime minister says intercepted plane was carrying ammunition to Syria

Published October 11, 2012
Associated Press




ANKARA, Turkey – A plane intercepted by Turkish fighter jets on its way from Moscow to Damascus was carrying equipment and ammunition destined for the Syrian Defense Ministry, Turkey's prime minister said Thursday.


Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments follow a fierce denial by Syria that anything illegal had been aboard the Airbus A320 that was forced by Turkey to land in Ankara late Wednesday. Syria, whose relations with neighboring Turkey have plummeted over the Syrian war, branded it an act of piracy.


Earlier in the day, Turkish officials had rejected claims by Syria's ally, Russia, that Turkey had endangered the lives of Russian citizens on board the aircraft.


"These were equipment and ammunitions that were being sent from a Russian agency ... to the Syrian Defense Ministry," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.


"Their examination is continuing and the necessary (action) will follow," he added.


Yeni Safak, a newspaper close to the Turkish government, reported Thursday there were 10 containers aboard the plane, whose contents included radio receivers, antennas and equipment "thought to be missile parts."


Turkish state-run television TRT also reported the plane was carrying military communications equipment. Neither TRT nor the newspaper cited sources for their claims.


A Western diplomat in Ankara told The Associated Press that Turkish authorities had found "military equipment" on board the plane, but did not elaborate. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about sensitive issues.


The plane was allowed to continue to Damascus after several hours, without the cargo.


"As you know, defense industry equipment or weapons, ammunitions and such equipment cannot be carried on passenger planes," Erdogan said. "It is against international rules for such things to pass through our air space."


Erdogan refused to say how — or from whom — Turkey had learned that the twice-weekly scheduled flight would be used to transport military gear to Syria.
"As you will appreciate, those who gave the tip, which establishments, these things cannot be disclosed," he said.


The United States said it backed Turkey's decision to intercept the plane.


"Any transfer of any military equipment to the Syrian regime at this time is very concerning, and we look forward to hearing more from the Turkish side when they get to the bottom of what they found," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.


She declined to comment on Turkish reports that the intelligence on the plane's cargo had come from the United States.


Turkey has called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and Damascus accusing Turkey of supporting the rebels. The two neighbors have traded artillery fire over Syria's northern border throughout the past week.


Hours before the Turkish statement, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Ivanovsky had held talks with Turkish officials at the Foreign Ministry.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich had said earlier Thursday that Moscow was concerned that lives and safety of the 35 passengers, including 17 Russian citizens, had been endangered.


He said Turkey without explanation denied Russian consular officials and a doctor access to the passengers, who had not been allowed into the airport for eight hours or provided with food.


"The Russian side continues to insist on an explanation for the Turkish authorities' actions toward Russian citizens and on the adoption of measures to avoid such incidents in the future," Lukashevich said in a statement.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the pilot of the Syrian Air plane from Moscow had been warned of Turkey's intention to ground it as he approached from the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. It said he was given the chance to turn back, but that he decided to continue his course.


Rejecting claims that passengers were ill-treated, the Turkish statement said they were allowed to leave the plane if they wanted and that there was a medical crew and ambulances on standby. It also said that the pilot did not provide a passenger list and therefore Turkish officials did not know there were Russians on board until after it landed.


Separately, the Foreign Ministry said it had submitted a formal protest note to Syria for the violation of civil aviation rules and declared Syrian air space unsafe for Turkish planes.


Syrian Transportation Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Said said Turkey's decision to force the plane to land amounted to piracy.


The general manager of the Syrian Civil Aviation Agency also blasted Turkey's forced landing of the plane, calling it "contrary to regulations and aviation norms."


Ghaidaa Abdul-Latif told reporters in Damascus that the plane's pilots were not asked to land but were instead surprised by Turkish F-16 fighter jets, which forced them to land.


A Syrian Airlines engineer who was aboard, Haithan Kasser, said armed Turkish officials boarded the plane and handcuffed the crew before inspecting packages that he said contained electrical equipment.


Abdul-Latif said the officials seized some packages after presenting official documents.


Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said on Thursday that the cargo "was not suitable for a civil plane."


The Moscow airport that cleared the Syrian plane for takeoff denied there was any forbidden cargo on board.


"No objects whose transportation would have been forbidden under aviation regulations were on board," said Vnukovo Airport spokeswoman Yelena Krylova, ITAR-Tass reported


Krylova said all documentation related to the cargo was in order. She would not say who had sent the cargo.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman also denied that the plane carried any arms or prohibited goods and called on Turkey to return the plane's full contents.
Also on Thursday, family and supporters of two journalists believed to be detained in Syria appealed in Istanbul for their release. Arzu Kadoumi said her husband Bashar Fahmi, a reporter for Al-Hurra network, and his Turkish cameraman, Cuneyt Unal, had been missing for 53 days.


Inside Syria, battles continued in the southern Idlib province that abuts the Turkish border as rebels sought to consolidate control of a strategic town on the country's main north-south highway. Rebels said they captured Maaret al-Numan on Wednesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes continued Thursday after rebels attacked a military convoy and nearby army checkpoints. The fighting killed more than a dozen people, the Observatory said.


The Observatory also said eight people were killed and another eight wounded when unknown gunmen fired on their bus near the coastal city of Tartous. Syria's state news agency SANA said the men were Syrian workers returning from Lebanon.


Syrian opposition activists estimate more than 32,000 people have been killed since March 2011 when the uprising against Assad's regime began.
In the southern province of Daraa, gunmen shot dead the brother of a member of Syria's parliament while raiding his home, the Observatory and SANA said. The parliament member, Khalid al-Abboud, regularly defends the Syrian regime on TV.
The Observatory said gunmen also killed the son of another legislator, Mohammed Kheir al-Mashi, at his home in Idlib province.
Activist claims could not be independently verified because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.
State-run Syrian TV said there was an explosion in the capital Thursday night the Ministry of Education and the Military Court. A Syrian official said the blast wounded two people and caused material damage. The official asked that his name not be used because he is not allowed to speak publicly.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/10...#ixzz291NtWo1S

[American Patriot]

Oil prices rise after Turkey intercepts Syrian plane; natural gas gains 3 percent

By Associated Press, Published: October 10 | Updated: Thursday, October 11, 10:24 AM

Oil prices rose Thursday as tension between Turkey and Syria raised concerns that crude oil supplies from the Middle East could be disrupted.

In midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, benchmark crude was up 53 cents to $91.77 per barrel. It nearly reached $93 in the morning.


On Thursday, Turkey claimed that it forced a Syrian passenger plane to land because it was carrying banned cargo from Russia. Syria said there was nothing illegal on the plane, and called the incident piracy.

The two countries have traded artillery fire over Syria’s northern border throughout the past week.

Oil prices briefly moved above $100 per barrel in mid-September, then retreated below $90 before their recent increase.

Also Thursday, a report from the Energy Information Administration said crude inventories increased 1.7 million barrels during the past week. That was slightly more than the rise of 1.5 million barrels expected by analysts who were surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The government said gasoline inventories fell a half-million barrels and are near the low end of the average range. Analysts surveyed by Platts had expected gasoline stocks to be unchanged.

AAA said gasoline prices at the pump were unchanged from Wednesday at $3.813 for a gallon of regular.

Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, rose $1.01 to $114.19 on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

In other energy trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange:

— Heating oil rose 3 cents to $3.24 per gallon

— Wholesale gasoline was down a penny at $2.95 per gallon.

— Natural gas added 11 cents to $3.59 per 1,000 cubic feet after the Energy Information Administration said natural gas supplies grew by 72 billion cubic square feet during the week that ended Oct. 5. Analysts had expected 76 billion to 80 billion cubic feet, according to Platts.

[American Patriot]

Planes, strains and geopolitical spills: Syrian conflict goes global

Published: 11 October, 2012, 23:24






US soldiers board the last C17 aircraft carrying US troops out of Iraq at Camp Adder on the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah (AFP Photo / Martin Bureau)

The families of 17 Russian passengers on a Damascus-bound plane from Moscow got a midnight shock upon learning that Turkish jets had intercepted the flight. For those asking why, the answer begins in Syria, and ripples throughout the world.


Damascus called it an act of piracy. Ankara said it was exercising its rights. Moscow accused the Turkish government of endangering the lives of Russian nationals. That Turkish military jets would intercept a passenger plane en route from Moscow to Damascus shows just how much the 18-month conflict to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad has rippled throughout the region and the world.


Turkey’s increased belligerence, which began with a disproportionate retaliatory shelling campaign against Syria last week and culminated in the interception of the Syrian passenger plane under the pretext that it was carrying Russian military equipment, has sparked a diplomatic row for which Ankara initially had few answers.


On Thursday Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the plane was carrying munitions for the Syrian Defense Ministry.


Russia's arms export agency said that it had no cargo on the flight, while military analysts argue it is unlikely Moscow would use a civilian airliner to send military cargo to Syria. What emboldened Turkey to force the jet to land is another matter.


“Turkey isn’t doing it without an 'okay' from Washington. And it is frightening actually how aggressively they’re playing at this point, especially a couple of weeks before the [American] election,” Anti-war activist and journalist Don Debar told RT.
Just hours before Turkey intercepted the Syrian passenger plane, Nick Bowie, an independent journalist working in the region, told RT that six days of Turkey’s retaliatory shelling against Syria had laid the groundwork for a broader military intervention.
“We have to look at what the Turkish government has done recently. Recently lawmakers in Ankara have passed this carte blanche legislation that allows the Turkish government to conduct operations within Syrian territory, and I think this is an extremely dangerous turn of events,” he said.
*
Encircling Syria

That an incident so rife with international implications would occur on the same day US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta confirmed that a 150-strong US task force had been dispatched to the Jordan-Syrian border to insure regional security is also ringing alarm bells.


Panetta, speaking before a NATO defense ministers' get-together on Wednesday, noted that the American military personnel would primarily help Jordan deal with the wave of refugees streaming in from Syria, as well as help monitor Syria’s chemical-biological weapons sites to “determine how best to respond to any concerns in that area.”
The task force is based just north of the Jordanian capital Amman, some 55km from the Syrian border.


US and Jordanian officials were also said to have been engaged in talks to set up a humanitarian buffer zone within Syrian territory to be patrolled by American-backed forces from Jordan, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Although that plan has currently been shelved, Bowie said the establishment of such a zone has long been discussed as a means of enacting regime change in Syria.


“Throughout the duration of the conflict in Syria, we’ve heard a lot of talk about the creation of humanitarian corridors or buffer zones around the Turkish border, and now we’re hearing reports about the same being established on the Jordanian border. So ostensibly that is what the American personnel are there in Jordan to do,” Bowie said.


Bowie added that the establishment of a buffer zone is neither Jordanian nor Turkish policy, though their use and implementation were proposed earlier this year by US hawks.


“The US think-tank – the Brookings Institute – in March 2012 published a report entitled ‘Assessing Regime Change Options in Syria,’ where they specifically cite the creation of a buffer zone or a humanitarian corridor as a means to base certain rebel groups in the region [and] to project force towards the Syrian government in an attempt to topple it. So that appears to be what is playing out at the moment,” he continued.


Lew Rockwell, founder of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, told RT the deployment of US forces to the Jordanian-Syrian border as a means to bolster the former’s security was disingenuous at best.


“Jordan has long been a satellite of the US. It’s not actually an ally, it’s a province of the US. So why is the US putting in these troops? First of all, to imply that Syria is somehow threatening Jordan, which of course is not true. Syria has got their hands full with the US-inspired rebels who were trained, by the way, in Turkey at a US Air Force base several years before this started,” he said.


Both analysts argue that a broader regional conflagration may be imminent. That this broader conflict would implicate Russia is unlikely a coincidence, as Moscow’s decision to block three separate UN resolutions on Syria has obviously put them at odds with thwarted Western interests.
*
Making Russia the villain

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin asserted that the Western-backed resolutions were biased, would have provided the US and its allies every pretext to initiate regime change in Syria, and further, fanned the flames of extremists and terrorist groups.


With much of the greater Middle East affected by war or civil unrest, the attempt to plunge yet another nation-state into a post-revolutionary security vacuum has done little to deter hawks itching for intervention.


Wednesday’s interception “is precisely the type of incident that can stoke the tensions that the United States and their allies have been wanting in order to have some kind of an intervention in Syria,” analyst Eric Draitser told RT. “To demonize Russia is to lend credence to the side that is in favor of intervention,” he said.


The West has gone to great lengths to “portray Russia as a villain” siding up with the “butcher" Assad, he continued.


For the United States it is “impossible to sell” a war against Syria to the American public – unless the forces that stand in opposition to these plans, such as Russia, are totally demonized.


Following the third Russia-China veto in the UN Security Council in July, Ambassador Churkin said “it's all about Iran." Saying that "unexpected changes brought about by the [2003 US] invasion of Iraq” had the unintended consequence of bolstering Iran, Syria had become a pawn in a geopolitical recalibration.


"There is no serious person I've talked to that doubts that a major geopolitical battle is being fought in Syria – and the people of Syria have no interest in that," Churkin continued.
*
You break it, you fix it

That Russia and China would both veto resolutions on Syria is no surprise, as the road to Damascus not only leads to Tehran, but Beijing as well.


“Whether it’s the overthrow of Saddam Hussein or the intended overthrow … of Iran, the horrors that are going on in Syria now, this is all part of a plan to control the entire region; bring it under US hegemony and deny oil to China. That’s one of the reasons for the attack on Libya, because that oil was going to China and they don’t want oil going to China without the US being in control of it. This is just part of the empire,” Rockwell said.


The consequence of the Western drive to effect regime change in Damascus, pushing the US and its allies to end up in bed with al-Qaeda is, unfortunately, well-tread ground.

“The West and NATO countries have been blocked from overtly conducting regime change as a result of the veto by Russia and China in the UN Security Council. So they’ve put all their eggs in this basket of al-Qaeda, these other terrorist groups which they hope will target and topple the Syrian government,” Rockwell continued.


The protracted military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq did little to remind Washington of the Weinberger Doctrine, though it did remind them that airstrikes and proxy fighters were politically easier for a war-weary populace to digest.


Keeping US boots off the ground in Libya did not shield America from the inevitable blowback, however, as the recent death of American Ambassador John Christopher Stevens in Benghazi – the heart of the Libyan uprising – attests.


Bowie concluded that, “if Washington continues to pursue this kind of policy – which can only be described as pathological – they ought to give a heads up to the next US ambassador to Syria, and tell him not to visit.”

[American Patriot]

Turkish prime minister says intercepted plane was carrying ammunition to Syria

Turkey: Syrian plane was carrying ammunition

By SUZAN FRASER and FRANK JORDANS | Associated Press | 23 minutes ago in


A plane intercepted by Turkish fighter jets on its way from Moscow to Damascus was carrying equipment and ammunition destined for the Syrian Defense Ministry, Turkey's prime minister said Thursday.

Article continues below

People gather atop the aircraft steps at a Syrian passenger plane that was forced by Turkish jets to land at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. Turkish jets on Wednesday forced... (Associated Press)

People speak atop the aircraft steps of a Syrian passenger plane that was forced by Turkish jets to land at Esenboga airport in Ankara, Turkey, early Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012. Turkish jets on Wednesday... (Associated Press)




(1 of 2)
« Prev | Next » Slideshow











Recep Tayyip Erdogan's comments follow a fierce denial by Syria that anything illegal had been aboard the Airbus A320 that was forced by Turkey to land in Ankara late Wednesday. Syria, whose relations with neighboring Turkey have plummeted over the Syrian war, branded it an act of piracy.
Earlier in the day, Turkish officials had rejected claims by Syria's ally, Russia, that Turkey had endangered the lives of Russian citizens on board the aircraft.
"These were equipment and ammunitions that were being sent from a Russian agency ... to the Syrian Defense Ministry," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.
"Their examination is continuing and the necessary (action) will follow," he added.
Yeni Safak, a newspaper close to the Turkish government, reported Thursday there were 10 containers aboard the plane, whose contents included radio receivers, antennas and equipment "thought to be missile parts."
Turkish state-run television TRT also reported the plane was carrying military communications equipment. Neither TRT nor the newspaper cited sources for their claims.
A Western diplomat in Ankara told The Associated Press that Turkish authorities had found "military equipment" on board the plane, but did not elaborate. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about sensitive issues.
The plane was allowed to continue to Damascus after several hours, without the cargo.
"As you know, defense industry equipment or weapons, ammunitions and such equipment cannot be carried on passenger planes," Erdogan said. "It is against international rules for such things to pass through our air space."
Erdogan refused to say how _ or from whom _ Turkey had learned that the twice-weekly scheduled flight would be used to transport military gear to Syria.
"As you will appreciate, those who gave the tip, which establishments, these things cannot be disclosed," he said.
The United States said it backed Turkey's decision to intercept the plane.
"Any transfer of any military equipment to the Syrian regime at this time is very concerning, and we look forward to hearing more from the Turkish side when they get to the bottom of what they found," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
She declined to comment on Turkish reports that the intelligence on the plane's cargo had come from the United States.
Turkey has called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down and Damascus accusing Turkey of supporting the rebels. The two neighbors have traded artillery fire over Syria's northern border throughout the past week.
Hours before the Turkish statement, Russian Ambassador Vladimir Ivanovsky had held talks with Turkish officials at the Foreign Ministry.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich had said earlier Thursday that Moscow was concerned that lives and safety of the 35 passengers, including 17 Russian citizens, had been endangered.
He said Turkey without explanation denied Russian consular officials and a doctor access to the passengers, who had not been allowed into the airport for eight hours or provided with food.
"The Russian side continues to insist on an explanation for the Turkish authorities' actions toward Russian citizens and on the adoption of measures to avoid such incidents in the future," Lukashevich said in a statement.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the pilot of the Syrian Air plane from Moscow had been warned of Turkey's intention to ground it as he approached from the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. It said he was given the chance to turn back, but that he decided to continue his course.
Rejecting claims that passengers were ill-treated, the Turkish statement said they were allowed to leave the plane if they wanted and that there was a medical crew and ambulances on standby. It also said that the pilot did not provide a passenger list and therefore Turkish officials did not know there were Russians on board until after it landed.
Separately, the Foreign Ministry said it had submitted a formal protest note to Syria for the violation of civil aviation rules and declared Syrian air space unsafe for Turkish planes.
Syrian Transportation Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Said said Turkey's decision to force the plane to land amounted to piracy.
The general manager of the Syrian Civil Aviation Agency also blasted Turkey's forced landing of the plane, calling it "contrary to regulations and aviation norms."
Ghaidaa Abdul-Latif told reporters in Damascus that the plane's pilots were not asked to land but were instead surprised by Turkish F-16 fighter jets, which forced them to land.
A Syrian Airlines engineer who was aboard, Haithan Kasser, said armed Turkish officials boarded the plane and handcuffed the crew before inspecting packages that he said contained electrical equipment.
Abdul-Latif said the officials seized some packages after presenting official documents.
Turkey's Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said on Thursday that the cargo "was not suitable for a civil plane."
The Moscow airport that cleared the Syrian plane for takeoff denied there was any forbidden cargo on board.
"No objects whose transportation would have been forbidden under aviation regulations were on board," said Vnukovo Airport spokeswoman Yelena Krylova, ITAR-Tass reported
Krylova said all documentation related to the cargo was in order. She would not say who had sent the cargo.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman also denied that the plane carried any arms or prohibited goods and called on Turkey to return the plane's full contents.
Also on Thursday, family and supporters of two journalists believed to be detained in Syria appealed in Istanbul for their release. Arzu Kadoumi said her husband Bashar Fahmi, a reporter for Al-Hurra network, and his Turkish cameraman, Cuneyt Unal, had been missing for 53 days.
Inside Syria, battles continued in the southern Idlib province that abuts the Turkish border as rebels sought to consolidate control of a strategic town on the country's main north-south highway. Rebels said they captured Maaret al-Numan on Wednesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes continued Thursday after rebels attacked a military convoy and nearby army checkpoints. The fighting killed more than a dozen people, the Observatory said.
The Observatory also said eight people were killed and another eight wounded when unknown gunmen fired on their bus near the coastal city of Tartous. Syria's state news agency SANA said the men were Syrian workers returning from Lebanon.
Syrian opposition activists estimate more than 32,000 people have been killed since March 2011 when the uprising against Assad's regime began.
In the southern province of Daraa, gunmen shot dead the brother of a member of Syria's parliament while raiding his home, the Observatory and SANA said. The parliament member, Khalid al-Abboud, regularly defends the Syrian regime on TV.
The Observatory said gunmen also killed the son of another legislator, Mohammed Kheir al-Mashi, at his home in Idlib province.
Activist claims could not be independently verified because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.
State-run Syrian TV said there was an explosion in the capital Thursday night the Ministry of Education and the Military Court. A Syrian official said the blast wounded two people and caused material damage. The official asked that his name not be used because he is not allowed to speak publicly.

[American Patriot]

Turkey Defends Intercept of Syrian-bound Plane


Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev seen during a press conference in Ankara, October 11, 2012.











VOA News

October 12, 2012

Turkey is defending its decision to intercept a Syrian-bound plane that it says was carrying military equipment and ammunition destined for Syria's government.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Syrian-bound passenger jet, travelling from Moscow to Damascus earlier this week, was carrying illicit cargo provided by a Russian supplier. Erdogan did not elaborate on where Turkey received the intelligence or who in Russia had provided the materials.

Syrian officials have denied the plane was carrying any military cargo. Russia, a top ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, demanded an explanation from Turkey, saying its actions threatened the lives and safety of the passengers on board.

The Syrian Air flight was intercepted by fighter jets late Wednesday in the Turkish capital, Ankara. The plane was allowed to complete its trip to Syria early Thursday without the cargo.

The incident has increased tensions between Turkey and Syria who in recent weeks have exchanged artillery fire across their shared border.

Meanwhile inside Syria, activists say six rebels were killed in an attack on a military checkpoint in Dera'a province that left 14 soldiers dead. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights adds that air bombardments and heavy clashes are taking place in Idlib, Deir Izzour and Aleppo provinces.

Syria's President Assad has been fighting a 19-month uprising against his rule that has killed tens of thousands of people.

The observatory says 260 Syrians were killed in fighting Thursday including 86 civilians, 60 rebel fighters, 13 defected soldiers, and 92 regime forces.

[American Patriot]

Syria Crisis: Turkey Scrambles Fighter Planes To Border

Reuters | Posted: 10/12/2012 7:26 am EDT Updated: 10/12/2012 8:07 am EDT




HACIPASA, Turkey, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Turkey scrambled two fighter planes to the border with Syria on Friday after a Syrian military helicopter bombed the Syrian border town of Azmarin, a Reuters witness said.

There has been intense fighting between rebels and Syrian government forces this week in Azmarin and neighbouring towns, an area strongly opposed to President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Shells fired onto the town from surrounding hills sent thick plumes of smoke and dust rising into the air during fighting on Thursday and a voice amplified through loudspeakers, audible from the village of Hacipasa in Turkey's Hatay province, called on rebel fighters to surrender, warning of an air assault.

Fighting along Turkey's 900-km (560-mile) border with Syria has repeatedly spilled over into Turkish territory in the past week, with the Turkish army responding in kind to gunfire and mortar shells fired from Syria.

Turkish Chief of Staff General Necdet Ozel said on Wednesday his troops would respond "with greater force" if the shells continued to land on Turkish soil, and parliament last week authorised the deployment of troops beyond Turkey, heightening fears that Syria's civil war would drag in regional powers.

[American Patriot]

AP Interview: Foreign minister denies Qatar providing weapons to Syria rebels, wants UN action

By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, October 12, 3:31 AM

TOKYO — The United Nations should move quickly to assist rebel forces in Syria with arms and funding, and should support a no-fly zone to protect civilians caught in the middle of the country’s escalating civil war, Qatar’s foreign minister said in an interview Friday.


Khalid Bin Mohammad al-Attiyah said Qatar is providing rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces with food, medicine and clothes. But he denied reports his country is funneling arms to the rebels, and said getting them the heavy arms they need to fight Assad’s well-equipped military would require unity from the international community that has not yet materialized.

“If we leave Syria further, we will aggravate the situation more and more,” he said. “Fanatics will emerge. ... We should not leave it until a stage where, God forbid, somebody calls for jihad, and then we cannot stop people coming from all directions.”


Qatar and Saudi Arabia have led Arab calls for an international effort to arm and assist the rebels. Both are key regional players and are believed to have channels through which they could funnel weapons to the rebels. But al-Attiyah said Qatar is not doing so, directly or indirectly.


“This we cannot do unless we have the blessing of the United Nations or our allies — the U.S.A. or European allies,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Tokyo on Friday.


Unified support from the international community has been elusive because fears that more arms thrown into the mix could push Assad to launch even more desperate attacks against his people, or that the weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists. Further, U.N. Security Council members Russia and China oppose intervention, while the United States has been cautious to take risks ahead of next month’s presidential election.


Al-Attiyah said that while the rebel forces remain fractious — his country is set to host a meeting of the Syrian National Council opposition leaders next week — there is enough intelligence to determine which groups should be bolstered.


“I think if the international community, led by the United States, decided that they will supply means of self-defense to the Syrian people, I think with their advanced intelligence, they know who is who by now,” he said.


To further protect Syrian civilians, al-Attiyah said, Qatar supports the creation of a buffer or no-fly zone, another idea that has stalled because of fears that the foreign countries called on to enforce it could be drawn into a broader war that would add to regional instability.


In the meantime, he said, arms are already flowing into Syria to prop up Assad.


On Thursday, Turkey said a Syrian passenger jet it forced to land en route from Moscow to Damascus was carrying Russian ammunition and military equipment destined for the Syrian Defense Ministry.


Russia and Syria deny anything illegal was aboard the Airbus A320 intercepted over Turkish airspace late Wednesday.


“The whole world sees who is supplying Syria with weapons,” al-Attiyah said.

[American Patriot]

Jordan: US forces plan shield against Syria

JAMAL HALABY | October 11, 2012 04:09 PM EST | AP

RUSSEIFEH, Jordan — From the edge of a steep mountain overlooking a desert compound built into an old rock quarry, machine gunfire echoes just outside hangars where U.S. special operations forces are training Jordanian commandos.

The Americans, who arrived in the kingdom a few weeks ago at the request of the Jordanians, are helping them develop techniques to protect civilians in case of a chemical attack from neighboring Syria, according to Jordanian officials.

On the Syrian border farther north, British military officers recently assessed the dangers of rockets constantly falling on the kingdom and ways to shield the Jordanian population and Syrian refugees as President Bashar Assad widens his military offensive against rebel enclaves in the vicinity, according to Jordan-based Western diplomats.

Jordan's King Abdullah II has repeatedly discussed plans for reinforcing security along the Syrian border and expressed concern over Syria's chemical stockpiles in meetings with visiting Western allies, according to the two diplomats, who monitor Syria from their base.

They said it is believed that Abdullah has also been shopping around for an anti-missile defense system to shield his densely populated capital, Amman – home to nearly half of Jordan's population.

There is also talk of contingency plans for a quick pre-emptive strike if Assad loses control over his stock of chemical weapons in the civil war. The fear is that those weapons might otherwise fall into the hands of al-Qaida or Lebanon's Islamic militant group Hezbollah.

"There are dangers involved, and we have to ensure the safety of our country and the well-being of our citizens," a senior government official said in the first public Jordanian confirmation of the presence of foreign military personnel here. "We are benefiting from the experience of our allies as we prepare for the worst scenarios."

The presence of some 150 Americans at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center northeast of the capital is a clear message to Assad that Jordan's longtime Western allies stand ready to defend the country if it is dragged into the 19-month Syria conflict.

Assad's regime, which is believed to have one of the world's largest chemical weapons programs, has said it might use them against external threats but not against Syrians.

But the Jordanians worry that Assad may use his chemical weapons against his neighbors, or his countrymen, if he felt that his days in power were numbered.

In May, the U.S. held joint exercises with Jordan, nicknamed the "Eager Lion," which focused on the ways to deal with a chemical weapons attack.

On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at a NATO conference of defense ministers in Brussels that the U.S. has been working with Jordan to monitor chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria and was helping Jordan deal with refugees pouring over the border.

Although the senior government official insisted that the Americans were "advisers, not troops," two senior U.S. defense officials said most were Army special operations forces. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly about the mission.

The troops are operating out of a military center near Amman and have moved back and forth to the Syrian border. Their work involves gathering intelligence and planning joint Jordanian-U.S. military maneuvers, one U.S. official said.

The revelation of U.S. military personnel so close to the Syrian conflict suggests an escalation in the American involvement, even as the Obama administration pushes back on any suggestion of a direct intervention in Syria.

The Jordanian official insisted that the kingdom was "capable of shielding itself from Syrian attack," but London-based Mideast analyst Rosemary Hollis disagreed.

"For Jordan, the more unstable Syria becomes, the deeper the crisis proceeds, the more likely Jordan will suffer from all kinds of spillover, but they are incapable of doing anything to intervene to try to turn the conflict in one direction rather than another unless they have the ballast, cover and involvement of serious international forces, which is the Americans," Hollis said.

She also saw the American military presence as a step toward possible future military operations to secure Syria's chemical stockpiles.

Torbjorn Soltvedt, a senior analyst with the Britain-based Maplecroft risk analysis group, said he saw the current situation as a "monitoring and training stage."

"Given the degree to which Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles have been dispersed across the country, an operation to secure them would be extensive and require significant numbers of troops," he said. "The Pentagon has estimated that an operation to secure Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles could require as much as 75,000 troops given the presence of several chemical agent manufacturing plants and many more storage sites throughout the country."

Panetta said that while the U.S. believes the weapons are still secure, intelligence suggests the regime might have moved some to protect them.

Steven Bucci, an expert in chemical weapons at the Heritage Foundation, has told Congress there might be as many as 50 chemical weapons sites in Syria. He said in an interview Wednesday that Syria's stockpile is potentially "like a gift from God" for militants since they don't have the know-how to assemble such weapons, while some of Syria's chemical agents are believed to have already been fitted into missile warheads.

At the desert facility, stretching 25 kilometers (16 miles) on the edge of this predominantly Palestinian suburb, Jordanian soldiers guard the walled compound, where Iraqi and Libyan special forces once received training. They refused to allow reporters in.

Jordanian officials were eager to downplay the U.S. role, concerned about the possibility of raising tensions with Syria and giving the kingdom's largely conservative population the impression that they were allowing foreigners to use Jordan as a potential launching pad for a pre-emptive attack against another Arab country.

The senior government official and two others who discussed the American military role all spoke on condition of anonymity, citing possible diplomatic sensitivities with Syria. Assad is thought to have sleeper cells scattered across the kingdom and plotting attacks on Syrian opposition and Jordanian figures.

Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah, the only official who spoke on the record, said the U.S. presence was part of "routine training exercises."

"Jordan and U.S. forces exchange visits regularly, and the presence of tens of their forces here is part of efforts to expand cooperation, exchange capabilities and protect regional stability," he said in an interview. He declined to elaborate or comment on any link to the Syrian crisis.

Amman has long had bumpy relations with Damascus because of its alliance with the United States – Jordan's largest donor of economic and military aid – and its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

Jordan would like to see the Syrian regime toppled because of growing concern that Assad's key ally, Iran, is trying to spark Shiite uprisings in Arab countries ruled by members of the rival Sunni sect. Assad's ruling Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Abdullah was the first Arab leader to warn in 2004 of the sweep of Iran's "Shiite crescent," stretching from Lebanon through Syria and Iraq.

Jordanian officials have advocated a buffer zone inside the Syrian border to protect civilians fleeing bombardment. There is mounting speculation that Jordan would dispatch highly skilled special forces to secure such a zone when Assad's regime falls to prevent chaos on its border.

In the past six weeks, more than 20 Syrian rockets have fallen on Jordanian villages near the border. At least two people were wounded, including a 4-year-old Jordanian girl.

The two Western diplomats said the Britons, about a half-dozen officers specialized in intelligence gathering and special operations techniques, visited Jordan a few times over the past three months. The diplomats insisted on anonymity, saying that public comment may hamper their information gathering on Syria.

The Jordanian army already has an extensive presence on the border and has been assisting waves of Syrian refugees, who are straining the country's meager resources, mainly health care, water and utilities.

Jordan hosts some 200,000 Syrian refugees, more than any other neighboring country. Some come under constant firing from their army as they cross into the kingdom. Jordanian border guards have been wounded and a 6-year-old Syrian boy was killed in July.

Jordanian men also are moving the other way across the border, joining what intelligence officials have estimated to be about 2,000 foreigners fighting alongside Syrian rebels trying to topple Assad.

[American Patriot]

An al Qaeda-linked group reportedly fought alongside rebels who seized a Syrian missile base on Friday.

Syria activists say jihadis seize missile base

(Photo: Manu Brabo, AP)

Story Highlights

• The Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group reportedly participated in the attack
• Fear of extremists has kept U.S. from giving weapons to rebels
• Video showed dozens of fighters inside the base

10:59AM EDT October 12. 2012 -

BEIRUT (AP) — A shadowy jihadi group believed to be linked to al-Qaeda fought alongside rebels who seized a government missile defense base in Syria on Friday, activists said, heightening fears that extremists are taking advantage of the chaos to acquire advanced weapons.


Videos posted online Friday said to have been shot inside the base said the extremist group, Jabhat al-Nusra, participated in the overnight battle for the air defense base near the village of al-Taaneh, east of Aleppo in northern Syria. The videos show dozens of fighters inside the base near a radar tower, along with rows of large missiles, some on the backs of trucks.


A report by a correspondent with the Arabic satellite network Al-Jazeera who visited the base Friday said Jabhat al-Nusra had seized the base. The report showed a number of missiles and charred buildings, as fighters covered their faces with black cloths.


Two Aleppo-based activists and Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said Jabhat al-Nusra fought in the battle.


Little is known about Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Support Front, which began claiming attacks in Syria earlier this year in postings on jihadi forums often used by al-Qaida. While neither group has officially acknowledged the other, analysts say al-Nusra's tactics, jihadist rhetoric and use of al-Qaida forums point to an affiliation.


Western powers — and many Syrians — worry that Islamist extremists are playing an increasing role in Syria's civil war, which started in March 2011 as a mostly peaceful uprising against President Bashar Assad.


Activist say more than 32,000 people have been killed in the conflict.


Despite their opposition to the Assad regime, the U.S. and others have cited the presence of extremists among the rebels as a reason not to supply them with weapons. Rebel leaders argue that the lack of military aid leaves a vacuum that extremists can exploit.


The base captured Friday is part of the large air defense infrastructure Syria has built across the country over the years, mostly for use in a possible war with archenemy Israel.


Last week, the rebels reported seizing another air defense base outside the capital, Damascus, as well as a base in the southern province of Daraa. Online videos shows them torching vehicles and seizing boxes of ammunition in the Daraa base.


The storming of such bases by rebels from inside Syria embarrasses the Assad regime, though it is unclear if the rebels have the know-how to deploy these bases' weapons.
Nor is it clear if the rebels are holding the bases after storming them.


Friday's Al-Jazeera report said rebels were already preparing to withdraw, fearing airstrikes by regime jets — a threat rebels can do little about.


Rebel forces have been vulnerable to airstrikes by the Syrian military, though they have shot down a few attack helicopters and claim to have downed at least one warplane.


One Aleppo activist said the rebels had taken all the munitions they could from the newly captured base, and he hoped they could find a way to use the missiles against Assad's air force.


"We have asked all countries to help us with anti-aircraft weapons and no one has, so hopefully these will help," said the activist, Mohammed Saeed.

[American Patriot]

US troops stationed on Syrian border : Reports denied by Turkey
12 October, 2012 | 17:38

US Troops, are they stationed for Syria invasion in Turkey ?

Turkish Foreign Ministry officials have categorically denied media reports claiming that US special forces in number stationed close to the Syrian border in Turkey, a day following a Washington confirmation on USA support to Turkey with humanitarian and weapons issues.

Ankara / NationalTurk – Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Turkish sources denied the claim of British daily The Times that U.S. and French special forces had been at İncirlik airbase in southern Turkey province of Adana for weeks.
But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed on Oct. 10 that Washington had contacted Turkey on humanitarian, as well as chemical and biological weapons issues: ”They’re obviously concerned about the chemical and biological sites in regional countries as well, so we’ve worked with them to do what we can to monitor that situation, since we are the gendarmerie of the world.”
USA : Operative in Jordan and Turkey for humanity (my ass)

Panetta also added that U.S. military planners were in Jordan to help Amman grapple with Syrian refugees, bolster its military capabilities and prepare for any trouble with Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.
“We have been working with Jordan for a period of time now … on a number of the issues that have developed as a result of what’s happened in Syria,” Reuters quoted Panetta as saying in Brussels.
The defense chief said those issues included monitoring chemical weapons sites “to determine how best to respond to any concerns in that area.” About 150 U.S. troops, largely Army special operations forces, are working out of a military center near Amman, two senior defense officials said on condition of anonymity.
US Troops near Syria Turkey Border : According to US defense secretary Paneta : They are just planners

The US troops have moved back and forth to the Syrian border as part of their work, which includes joint planning and intelligence gathering, one official said. A second U.S. official said the small team of planners was not engaged in covert operations and had been housed at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center, north of the capital, Amman, since the early summer. Earlier in the day, Jordan’s military had denied the U.S. military was helping the kingdom. While the U.S. has not intervened militarily in Syria, President Barack Obama has warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that any attempt to deploy or use chemical or biological weapons would cross a “red line” that could provoke U.S. action.
Late last month, Leon Panetta said Syria had moved some of its chemical weapons stocks to better secure them but added that the country’s main chemical weapons sites remained intact and secure under Assad government control.

[American Patriot]

Turkey deploys 250 tanks near Syrian border

Middle East Desk On Line: 12 October 2012 16:53 In Print: Saturday 13 October 2012

Font Size

Turkey has deployed 250 tanks along its southern border with Syria amid rising tensions with the Damascus government over the past few days. The tanks along with military vehicles of the Turkish Armed Forces, artillery units and a large number of military personnel, were dispatched to the southeastern provinces of Sanliurfa, Gaziantep and Mardin at the Turkish-Syrian border, Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper reported. Turkey has beefed up its military defenses on its border with Syria over the past weeks, stationing tanks, anti-aircraft missiles, and additional troops in the area. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on October 9 that Turkey’s armed forces would not hesitate to strike back in response to any strike on Turkish soil. He also vowed to take any measure necessary to respond to Syrian threats to Turkish national security and said, “The requirement of being a state means we must take any measure and be prepared for any possibility.” Also on October 5, Erdogan said Ankara was not far from war with Syria due to the cross-border attacks. “We are not interested in war, but we’re not far from it either.” “Those who attempt to test Turkey’s deterrence, its decisiveness, its capacity; I say here they are making a fatal mistake,” he warned. On October 4, the Turkish parliament authorized cross-border military action against Syria “when deemed right.” Tensions have been running high between Syria and Turkey, with Damascus accusing Turkey -- along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- of backing a deadly insurgency that has claimed the lives of many Syrians, including security and army personnel. In an interview with the Turkish daily Cumhuriyet in July, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Ankara “has supplied all logistic support to the terrorists who have killed our people.”

[vector7]

Good News: Syrian Jihadist Group Linked To Al-Qaeda Seizes Government Missile Base – Update: Jihadi Video Taken After Raid…



From bad to worse.

BEIRUT (AP) — A shadowy jihadi group believed to be linked to al-Qaida fought alongside rebels who seized a government missile defense base in Syria on Friday, activists said, heightening fears that extremists are taking advantage of the chaos to acquire advanced weapons.

Videos posted online Friday said to have been shot inside the base said the extremist group, Jabhat al-Nusra, participated in the overnight battle for the air defense base near the village of al-Taaneh, east of Aleppo in northern Syria. The videos show dozens of fighters inside the base near a radar tower, along with rows of large missiles, some on the backs of trucks.

A report by a correspondent with the Arabic satellite network Al-Jazeera who visited the base Friday said Jabhat al-Nusra had seized the base. The report showed a number of missiles and charred buildings, as fighters covered their faces with black cloths.

Two Aleppo-based activists and Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said Jabhat al-Nusra fought in the battle.

Little is known about Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Support Front, which began claiming attacks in Syria earlier this year in postings on jihadi forums often used by al-Qaida. While neither group has officially acknowledged the other, analysts say al-Nusra’s tactics, jihadist rhetoric and use of al-Qaida forums point to an affiliation.

The base captured Friday is part of the large air defense infrastructure Syria has built across the country over the years, mostly for use in a possible war with archenemy Israel.

Last week, the rebels reported seizing another air defense base outside the capital, Damascus, as well as a base in the southern province of Daraa. Online videos shows them torching vehicles and seizing boxes of ammunition in the Daraa base.

Update: Here’s video taken by the jihadists themselves. They now posses some serious firepower.

[American Patriot]

Turkey scrambles fighter jets as fighting threatens to engulf Syrian border

Turkish and Syrian forces confronted each other in the air over the frontier between the two countries as fighting threatened to engulf the border area and spread into a wider regional conflict.

Smoke rises above Azmarin village from clashes between the Syrian army and rebels along the Turkish border Photo: |Onur Coban/REX FEATURES








By Justin Vela, Hacipasa, Turkey, Tom Parfitt in Moscow and Richard Spencer

7:31PM BST 12 Oct 2012




Two Turkish F-16 fighter jets were scrambled after a Syrian army helicopter approached the border town of Azmarin and fired down onto rebel lines.



The helicopter left shortly after the Turkish planes arrived, but according to one official, two Syrian jets were seen in the distance immediately afterwards.



Nato leaders are warning Turkey against escalating its diplomatic offensive against Syria, which has already seen it send artillery fire into Bashar al-Assad's territory in retaliation for mortar fire from the Syrian side.



The crisis entered a new phase on Wednesday when Turkey forced down a Syrian passenger plane over Ankara, claiming it was carrying Russian arms for the Assad regime.

Moscow admitted on Friday that the plane was carrying radar equipment to Syria, but insisted that did not justify Turkey's behaviour.



Turkey has backed the uprising against President Assad from the start, but has become increasingly concerned at the prospect of the war shifting over its own borders. Much of the most intense fighting is now in two provinces close to its border, Idlib and Aleppo.


Azmarin is so close to that border it can be viewed easily from the Turkish side. Yesterday, residents of the Turkish village of Hacipasa stood on the roofs of their houses and watched as thick plumes of smoke rose from the town.


Intense machine gunfire could be heard, while through their camera lenses photographers could pick out rebel fighters on streets corners and dashing for cover. A sniper was visible in one building.


Rebels claim to be in control of Azmarin, but to be facing a counter-attack from regime forces, including from the air. The helicopter seen from the Turkish side is thought to have fired onto the town 10-15 times before the Turkish jets arrived.


It was not the first time Turkish jets had been deployed. They were sent to the same stretch of border in the summer as fighting approached it, after another Turkish jet that had briefly crossed into Syrian air space was shot down over the Mediterranean.


One Turkish official told The Daily Telegraph: "Under the rules of engagement chosen by us, if we feel there is something coming to the border, sometimes our guys scramble." The official said the fighting along Turkey's 550-mile border with Syria "presented a dangerous situation".


The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, is among world leaders heading to Ankara to discuss the crisis. He will meet his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, on Saturday, while the United Nations and Arab League envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, will also visit.


There was no let-up in the ongoing confrontation between Turkey and Russia over Ankara's grounding of the Syrian passenger plane on a scheduled flight from Moscow, even though the Russians now admit it contained radar parts which were of potential "dual military-civilian use". Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, rejected the characterisation of them as "weapons".


"We have no secrets," he said. "There were, of course, no weapons on the plane and could not have been any. There was a cargo on the plane that a legal Russian supplier was sending in a legal way to a legal customer."


Russia refused to allow United Nations security council resolutions that would have imposed a binding arms embargo on Syria, and is not covered by the European Union embargo. Turkey said it acted under the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which says that civilian flights carrying "munitions of war or implements of war" have to have permission from countries on its route.


Russia's Kommersant newspaper said the plane was carrying 12 crates of Russian radar equipment for an air defence system.


Unnamed sources told the paper the items required no special documentation because they did not pose a danger to passengers. "These are not weapons," said one. "If a person takes a switched-off radio set on a plane, does that pose a threat to the craft or the people on board?"


The head of Russia's arms export company admitted in June that it continued to provide Syria with Buk-M2 anti-aircraft missiles and Pantsyr-S1 radar-guided surface-to-air missiles.


The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has yet to expand on his own claim that the shipment also contained ammunition.

[Ryan Ruck]

[American Patriot]

Think something will kick off by the weekend?

I don't know. The experts have various predicted the fall of Assad several times from days to months and back to days.

Several others have predicted "Regional war" several times in the last couple of weeks.... so far, everyone has been wrong.

[Ryan Ruck]

Not sure if anything will happen this weekend but this situation is about as stable as Joe Biden.

[vector7]

Time to wag the dog and or loose some freedoms?