Syria

[BRVoice]

Israeli forebodings over widening Russian-Hizballah-Iraqi intervention in Syria

DEBKAfile Special Report May 29, 2013, 1:23 PM (IDT)

Forebodings were voiced Wednesday, May 29, by senior Israeli military officers in the face of the widening military intervention in the Syria civil war by Russia, Iran, Hizballah and latterly Iraq too. They have made Syria’s civil war the platform for a Russian contest against the West and a ladder up which Iran and its proxy Hizballah are climbing to top Middle East regional power spot.

Russia, Iran and Hizballah are winning the contest by default against an unresisting US-led West and a hesitant Israel.

A senior IDF officer acknowledged on Wednesday, May 29, that Israel’s government and military leaders are at a loss on how to proceed. They have yet to recover from the calamitous miscalculation that Bashar Assad’s days were numbered to which they clung stubbornly for almost eighteen months.

Even today, some spokesmen refer to a “disintegrating Syria,” thereby losing sight of the major strategic and military changes overtaking the country that are entirely to Israel’s detriment as well as eroding its options against a nuclear Iran.

At a time that the US and Israel should be using their heaviest military guns to slow Iran’s race for a nuclear bomb, Tehran with Moscow's backing has brought its military assets up close to Israel’s borders in Syria and Lebanon and openly threatens to use them.

Unlike Syria and Iran, Israel can’t count on military intervention against an aggressor by supportive big powers. According to debkafile's Washington sources, no part of the Obama administration, including its military and intelligence arms, favors military action in Syria.

Even the direct evidence of chemical warfare already afoot in Syria is unavailing.

In Addis Ababa, US Secretary of State John Kerry repeated the administration’s mantra Wednesday by denying “concrete evidence” of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

The Secretary and the rest of NATO were deaf to the vivid testimony brought to Le Monde Wednesday by two reporters, who risked their necks by spending two months concealed in the Jobar district of Damascus. They discovered Russia or Iran had developed a chemical weapon that does not explode. The release of its poisonous gases sounds like popping the top off a can of soda and has "no odor, no smoke, not even a whistle to indicate the release of a toxic gas."

So what does happen?

The Le Monde reporters provided a graphic first-hand description.

"The men cough violently. Their eyes burn, their pupils shrink, their vision blurs. Soon they experience difficulty breathing, sometimes in the extreme; they begin to vomit or lose consciousness. The fighters worst affected need to be evacuated before they suffocate."

Wednesday morning, the Israeli Home Front rehearsed an attack on a Jerusalem suburb by a chemical-tipped missile.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who watched, said the exercise is designed to protect Israeli civilians “from the threats pilling up around us.” Israel’s home front is the best protected in the world but also the most threatened, he said: “We must make sure that defense is in place before an attack.

Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon voiced his certainty that the Syrian President would not use chemical weapons against Israel or treat Israelis the way he treats his own people. There is no indication that anyone in the region intends to challenge us any time soon with unconventional weapons, said the defense minister.

debkafile’s military sources find Ya’alon’s comment delusory. They don’t see why Assad would treat Israelis differently from his own people – especially since the IDF has presented him with no real deterrent. After all, none of Israel's three air strikes in January and May stopped the flow of Hizballah fighters into Syria. And meanwhile, Syrian and Hizballah leaders are declaring loud and clear that a war front against Israel is already operating from the Syrian Golan and Lebanon.

The question is who in Israel is listening. And what is being done to make sure that Assad will be prevented from using chemical weapons against Israeli military and civilian targets at a time of his convenience.

The spate of events in the last 48 hours is troubling - to say the least.

Monday, US Senator John McCain was reported to have paid a secret visit to Syria. What did this "visit" consist of? debkafile reports: The senator entered Syria from Turkey through the Kilis corridor which is the main supply route for the rebels in Aleppo, one of the few still under their control. McCain penetrated some 300 meters into Syria, had his picture taken, and left.

A US publication reported Wednesday that President Barack Obama had ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans to establish no-fly zones over Syria against Syrian warplanes. The Pentagon thereupon issued a denial: “There are no new American operational plans,” said the spokesman.

Moscow’s response was ready in place even before the report was published.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the S-300 anti-air missiles that Russia was supplying the Assad regime were a "stabilizing factor" that could dissuade "some hotheads" from entering the conflict.

In the grades Moscow handed out for foreign interventionists: The US and Israel and their leaders were "hotheads" while Moscow, the calm, rational stabilizer.

In that capacity, debkafile's military and intelligence sources reveal that a huge Russian cargo plane landed in Latakia airport Wednesday with 60 tons of "humanitarian aid for Syria."

The nature of this cargo was not disclosed, but the last thing it must have been was “humanitarian” given the massive military aid Moscow is extending Assad’s army.

Moscow also knocked on the head the timorous decision by European Union foreign ministers Tuesday to lift the arms embargo for Syrian rebels, which they carefully combined with a decision not to send them weapons.

In sum, the US is not doing anything to help the rebels, Europe is not sending arms, the rebels’ Persian Gulf patrons have bowed to pressure from Washington and slashed their weapons aid, while Israel declares it wants no part of the Syrian civil war – even after it assumed the calamitous proportions of a world power contest with Israel’s arch foes gaining the upper hand.

So who is feeding the flames of the Syrian conflict with a generous supply of military hardware? Who but Russia, the self-styled "stabilizing factor”

The Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Commander Gen. Salem Idris made a desperate show of bravado Wednesday, by threatening to strike Hizballah strongholds in Lebanon if Hassan Nasrallah does not pull his brigades out of Syria within 24 hours.

Hizballah knows perfectly well that Gen. Salem is starved of weapons, just he knows that the US, Europe or Israel will not interfere with the stream of fighting strength he is pumping into Syria.

At worst, a few rockets will hit Hizballah centers in Beirut and the Beqaa Valley. Early Tuesday morning, the rebels tried to ambush Hizballah forces near the eastern town of Arsal. Their operation went badly wrong and mistakenly killed three Lebanese soldiers manning an army checkpoint.

The senior Israeli officer interviewed by debkafile put all these forebodings into words when he said: "A military and strategic catastrophe for the West and Israel is in full flight in Syria, and no one in Washington or Jerusalem is lifting a finger. Israel’s government and military heads never imagined that the Syrian war would take this turn. But we had better wake up at this eleventh hour - before it is too late.”

[BRVoice]

U.S.-backed Syrian rebels reportedly massacre Christian village

• Government
• May 27, 2013
• By: Ryan Keller

An FSA soldier in Aleppo

Credits:

Wikimedia Commons


Members of the Free Syrian Army reportedly attacked the Christian-dominated al-Duvair village in Reef on the outskirts of Homs on Monday, where they massacred its citizens, including women and children, before the Syrian Army interfered.

This reported attack comes shortly after intense fighting in the city of al-Qusseir over the weekend, in which Bashar Al-Assad's forces inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels.

Assad's forces launched an offensive in April in an effort to cut off supply lines to the rebels by taking the city and its surrounding areas from the rebel groups that had been entrenched there since last year. Two weeks ago, the Syrian forces reached the center of the city
While the sources describing Monday's massacre are supportive of Assad, it's possible that it occurred since the rebel groups fighting the Assad regime are composed mainly of members of al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda affiliated groups and have committed war crimes and atrocities in the past.

Jabhat al-Nusra, the branch of al-Qaeda that fought and killed American and allied troops in Iraq, have positioned themselves in Syria and control the rebel movement.

The U.S. and other Western governments that are backing the FSA have acknowledged the presence of jihadists but insist that they're only a small part of the rebel movement. However, al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups have been at the front of the rebel movement since day one of the Syrian war that began two years ago. According to German intelligence, 95 percent of the rebels aren't even Syrian.

“Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of,” the New York Times reported last month.

In April, Abou Mohamad al-Joulani, the head of al-Nusra, pledged allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahri, the head of al-Qaeda.

Members of the FSA have admitted that their plan is to institute sharia law, and the rebels now have a brigade named the Osama bin Laden Brigade.

Despite the evidence of al-Qaeda connections, the U.S. government continues to support the FSA.

Last week, Sens. Robert Menendez, D.-N.J., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., drafted a bill that, if passed, would directly arm the Syrian rebels with lethal weaponry. The U.S. government has so far only provided non-lethal supplies and humanitarian aid.

On Monday, Sen. John McCain made a surprise visit to Syria where he met with Gen. Salem Idris, the leader of the Supreme Military Council of the FSA. McCain has also called for arming the rebels as well as direct U.S. military intervention in the war.

[American Patriot]

When all this started.... and the Assad government started killing kids I said "Stop him".

Now... I'm not too sure any more. Maybe we ought to just let all those fools kill each other and then stomp on whomever is left?

[American Patriot]

29 May 2013 Last updated at 09:09 ET

Mideast press concerned at lifting of EU Syria arms embargo


Continue reading the main story Syria conflict

• Massacre 'proof'
• Qusair's importance
• Chemical attacks
• 'Chemical attack' town

Commentators in the Middle East see little advantage in the European Union decision to lift its arms embargo on the Syrian opposition.


Some Arab writers regard the decision as a sign that the West's real aim is to oust President Bashar al-Assad, not seek a political solution.


Other writers worry that the conflict is escalating into sectarian violence, and that Syria has become a "playground in a multi-polar struggle".
"Drums of war" Abdallah Iskandar in Saudi-owned Al-Hayat

The situation in Syria is heading towards more confrontation and sectarian division… "External" efforts are still under way to find a diplomatic and international solution to the Syrian crisis, but this is accompanied by protecting self-interest.
Editorial in nationalist Al-Quds Al-Arabi

Hopes of holding a second Geneva conference to reach a political solution on the deteriorating crisis in Syria have evaporated. The drums of war have started beating once again, and louder than usual in these past few months.
Mazin Hammad in Qatar's Al-Watan

The important EU decision to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition paves the way for a huge escalation in the war in Syria... Hopes are pinned on the success of the second Geneva conference in easing the deadlock, otherwise the whole region will drown in a wider and more destructive conflict.
Rafik Khoury in Lebanon's centrist Al-Anwar

There is a huge difference between negotiating a peaceful solution, as the regime in Syria and its allies demand, and negotiating the transfer of power as the opposition and its allies insist on... The problem lies not only in the difficulty each side faces in reaching its goal, but also in the fact that the war, for the major players, has not yet fulfilled its mission.
Urayb al-Rantawi in Jordan's Al-Dustur

The ferocious battle fought by Paris and London to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition, while the whole world awaits Geneva II and the political solution... casts doubt on the credibility of French and British talk about Geneva II, the political solution and ending the bloodshed.
Editorial in Saudi Al-Watan

The EU, or in other words the Western camp, seems to be threatening Russia, China and Iran with the possibility of sending arms to Syria... Syria has become a mere playground in a multi-polar struggle.
"Failure for the West" Editorial in Syria's official Al-Baath

The EU decision to lift the arms embargo jeopardises Europe's security and exposes it to the risk of reprisal terrorist attacks, just like those that have begun in some of its capitals... France, Britain and their US master cannot accept Syria's military victory, because this lets Syria set the rules of the political solution at the Geneva II conference.
Qasem Ghafuri in Iranian hardline Qods

Lifting the arms embargo on the Syrian groups is a great shame and a failure for the West. The Western countries have always claimed that they want to save the Syrian people. With their human rights claims they have tried to line up public opinion with them. Arming terrorist groups is another documentary proof for their false claims.
General Hanan Gefen in Israeli centrist Maariv

It seems that the war in Syria is drifting towards an event that encompasses the whole Levant, and is changing the order of the last 100 years. The political framework of nation states the Western powers imposed in the Sykes-Picot agreements is facing the test of survival.
"Russians smell weakness" Alex Fishman in Israeli mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot

The central element that influences the survival of President Assad is Russia... The rash, blunt and uncompromising Russian policy in the Syrian affair mirrors the futility and weakness of European and American policy in this matter... The Russians smell weakness.
Amos Harel in Israeli liberal Haaretz

Despite the series of dramatic declarations this week, it seems that the latest developments in the crisis in Syria herald a continuation of the civil war, more than its imminent end... Russia responded immediately to the EU announcement ending the embargo on supplying weapons to the rebels in Syria, after almost two years of agonising, by stressing its commitment to the arms deal with the Assad regime, which includes modern S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems.
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

[American Patriot]

Envoy Says Russia Will Send Defense Missiles to Syria




Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, addresses the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) conference at United Nations headquarters, May 2010 file photo..



VOA News
May 27, 2013

A top Russian diplomat says Moscow will provide Syria advanced air missiles to deter any foreign intervention in the country.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters Tuesday Moscow will send sophisticated S-300 anti-aircraft missiles as part of a contract signed several years ago.

Russia criticized the European Union's decision Monday to amend its arms embargo on Syria and allow weapons to be sent to the main opposition Syrian National Coalition, while keeping sanctions against the Syrian government.

Russia said the EU move will hurt efforts to hold a peace conference aimed at ending the country's violence.

Speaking after the EU announced its decision, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there are no immediate plans to actually send weapons to the fighters trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

"This is a strong signal to the Assad regime, that it needs to engage on the political process and, as I have always said and as I have said to our parliament last week, we would only take the step of sending arms in company with other nations in carefully controlled circumstances and in compliance with international law," he said. "But this decision [Monday] gives us the flexibility in the future to respond to a worsening situation or to a refusal of the Assad regime to negotiate."

• Men check a damaged vehicle as a Free Syrian Army fighter, carrying his weapon, walks by in the besieged area of Homs, Syria, May 27, 2013.
  

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Britain and France have been the main advocates of arming the Syrian rebels, while Austria and Sweden have led a small group resisting the move for fear it could worsen Syria's civil war.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council said it will revisit its position on actual arms shipments before August 1. Any decision will come after consultations with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and after considering the state of a proposed Syrian peace conference.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt expressed optimism about a political solution, and cautioned that now is not the time to send arms to Syria.

"I think it is very important that we have a very solid support for the political process," he said. "Because we now have the first possibility for a very long time, as a matter of fact since the last summer, for a political process and I think it is extremely important not to do anything to rock the boat. To start delivering weapons now would rock the boat. No one is intending to do that."

Syrian Opposition Undecided About Peace Conference

The EU recognizes the Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and strongly encouraged the group Monday to take part in the peace talks.

The coalition has not made a formal decision about taking part as it struggles to overcome internal divisions. The Syrian government has agreed "in principle" to participate.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, May 27, 2013, in Paris


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Monday in Paris to discuss the proposed conference, and remained hopeful despite the challenges they face in pulling together the multi-national effort.

"It's not an easy task," Lavrov said. "It's a very tall order, but I hope that when the United States and the Russian Federation take this kind of initiative, the chances for success are there. We will do everything in our power to use those chances, and to make them realized."

Russia reiterated Monday its support for including Iran in the peace conference. Both Russia and Iran are Syrian allies. The United States has long criticized Iranian support for Mr. Assad, accusing Tehran of exacerbating the Syrian conflict rather than being part of the solution.

McCain Visits Syria

In another development Monday, influential U.S. Senator John McCain made an unannounced trip into Syria to meet with opposition fighters.

Syrian National Coalition spokesman Anas Abdah welcomed McCain's visit, explaining the importance of the senator's long-standing calls for greater U.S. assistance for the rebels.

"We think this is extremely significant because the senator has always supported the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people and the Syrian revolution since its beginning," he said. "He has also fought very hard within his country, in the U.S., for his government to take an active role in supporting the Syrian revolution and also in arming the Free Syrian Army."

Rebel commanders who met with McCain urged the United States to provide them with weapons and ammunition, enforce a no-fly zone against Mr. Assad's air force, and launch strikes against pro-Assad Lebanese Hezbollah militants in Syria and Lebanon.

The U.S.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, which supports the Syrian opposition, said it organized McCain's trip, and published several photos showing the senator inside Syria.

The group's executive director, Mouaz Moustafa, said in an interview with CNN that McCain and rebel commanders also discussed ways to "marginalize" extremists who have emerged in Syria, and that the Free Syrian Army assured McCain that any weapons it receives will not fall into the wrong hands.

Free Syrian Army commander General Idris told the U.S. news site The Daily Beast, which first reported the visit, that McCain met with rebels on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border. He said the rebels had come from all over Syria to see the prominent U.S. lawmaker.

McCain is one of the leading voices in the U.S. Congress calling for increasing U.S. aid to the rebels. His brief visit to Syria makes him one of the most senior U.S. officials to enter the country since the anti-Assad rebellion evolved into a civil war after peaceful protests in March 2011.

The Obama administration has provided non-lethal equipment and humanitarian supplies to the rebels. But it has been reluctant to intervene further, fearing U.S.-supplied weapons could end up in the hands of anti-American Islamist rebels.

[BRVoice]

Russian Warplanes Go on 24-Hour Duty in Snap Alert Drill



MiG-31 Foxhound


MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti) – MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors are going on round-the-clock duty in northern Russia as part of a snap combat readiness check of the nation's aerospace defense capabilities, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

The fighters, “in conjunction with A-50 airborne warning and control system aircraft, are performing continuous missions to protect the airspace, including from cruise missile strikes,” the ministry said in a statement. The aircraft are to be refueled while still in the air.

The three-day exercise, in which the fighters will fend off aerospace attacks, is part of a series of random checks of the Russian armed forces that began in February. It involves Air Force units from the Western Military District, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said during a teleconference, adding that the upcoming maneuver had been ordered by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

A total of 8,700 personnel, 185 warplanes and 240 armored vehicles are participating in the checks, overseen by Col. Gen. Vladimir Zarudnitsky. The checks include missile launches at the Ashuluk test range in Astrakhan, Zarudnitsky said.

In late February, a raft of random tests of military preparedness revealed a number of systemic shortcomings, in particular in the Central and Southern Military Districts, the Airborne Assault Forces and military air-transportation units.


© RIA Novosti.
Russian MiG-31 Fighter Jet

Alert-duty officers in some units were slow to respond to orders via automated combat command and control systems, especially in the airborne forces and at the 201st Military Base in Tajikistan. Other problems included poor accuracy in firing, especially by tanks and infantry fighting vehicle crews.

The checks, which the Defense Ministry said are being carried out for the first time in the past 20 years, will now be conducted on a regular basis.

[American Patriot]

This build up is getting... "Cold Warish" to me.

[American Patriot]

The UN Human Rights Council is in an emergency session about Syria right now. They are calling for a 100% cease fire.

I don't see anything out of the Security Council though.

[Ryan Ruck]

When all this started.... and the Assad government started killing kids I said "Stop him".

Now... I'm not too sure any more. Maybe we ought to just let all those fools kill each other and then stomp on whomever is left?

That's exactly what I've thought our plan should be from the beginning. Only exception is maybe some small arms support (and nothing more) to make sure the rebels can kill a few more of Assad's forces but not necessarily win.

[vector7]

Let's Be Clear: Establishing a 'No-Fly Zone' Is an Act of War

The term is a euphemism that obscures the gravity of what its advocates are suggesting -- a U.S. air attack on Syria.

Conor Friedersdorf May 29 2013, 6:00 AM ET



Kudos to Josh Rogin for breaking the news that "the White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for a no-fly zone inside Syria." But wouldn't it be a more powerful story without the euphemism?

Relying on the term "no-fly-zone" is typical in journalism. But that is a mistake. It obscures the gravity of the news.

Here's how an alternative version of the story might look: "The White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans for bombing multiple targets inside Syria, constantly surveilling Syrian airspace alongside U.S. allies, and shooting down Syrian war planes and helicopters that try to fly around, perhaps for months."

The term "no-fly-zone" isn't analytically useless. It's just that folks using it as shorthand should make sure everyone reading understands that, as Daniel Larison put it right up in a headline, "Imposing a No-Fly-Zone in Syria Requires Starting a New War." That becomes clearer some paragraphs later in Rogin's article, when he discussed Senator John McCain's advocacy for a "no-fly-zone." "McCain said a realistic plan for a no-fly zone would include hundreds of planes, and would be most effective if it included destroying Syrian airplanes on runways, bombing those runways, and moving U.S. Patriot missile batteries in Turkey close to the border so they could protect airspace inside northern Syria," he wrote.

The article also quotes Robert Zarate, policy director at the hawkish Foreign Policy Initiative. His euphemisms of choice: "No doubt, the United States and its like-minded allies and partners are fully capable, without the use of ground troops, of obviating the Assad regime's degraded, fixed, and mobile air defenses and suppressing the regime's use of airpower."

Does anyone think he'd describe Syrian planes bombing a U.S. aircraft carrier as "obviating" our naval assets? The question before us is whether America should wage war in Syria by bombing its weapons, maintaining a presence in its airspace, and shooting at its pilots if they take off. On hearing the phrase "no-fly-zone," how many Americans would realize all that is involved?

I trust "start a war against Syria" would poll poorly.

That's why advocates of that course hide the consequences of what they propose behind a euphemism. If only there were a deliberative body that the Constitution charged with declaring war, so that it would be impossible to start any wars of choice without the voice of the people being heard.

[BRVoice]

White House says no-fly zone for Syria remains on table

By REUTERS

05/29/2013 20:41







Selecione o idioma​▼



WASHINGTON - The White House said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama has not ruled out the idea of a no-fly zone over Syria in response to the ongoing conflict there.

"Every option available to the president remains on the table when it comes to our policy towards Syria. That of course includes the possibility of a no-fly zone," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing.

[BRVoice]

Syria promises 'immediate retaliation' if Israel strikes again

By The Associated Press | May.29, 2013 | 10:29 PM

Israeli infantry soldiers take part in unit exercises in the Israeli annexed Golan Heights near the border with Syria on May 27, 2013. Photo by AFP







Syria's foreign minister warned on Wednesday that Syria "will retaliate immediately" if Israel strikes Syrian soil again. Earlier this month, Israeli warplanes allegedly struck near the Syrian capital, Damascus, targeting purported Iranian missiles intended for Bashar Assad's ally Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia.

In an interview with the Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen, Walid Moallem also insisted Assad will remain Syria's president at least until elections in 2014 and might run for another term, terms that will make it difficult for Syria's opposition to agree to UN-sponsored talks on ending Syria's civil war.

He also said that any deal reached in such talks would have to be put to a referendum, raising a new condition that could complicate efforts by the U.S. and Russia to bring the two sides together in Geneva, possibly next month.
Moallem's comments highlighted the wide gaps between the regime and the opposition on the terms of the Geneva talks, the international community's only plan at the moment for trying to end the civil war. The opposition has demanded that Assad's departure from power top the agenda of any peace talks.
The Syrian foreign minister said Assad will remain in his post at least until scheduled elections in 2014. "From now until the next elections, President Bashar Assad is president of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said. "Will Assad run in 2014 or not? This depends on the circumstances in 2014 and on the popular will. If the people want him to run, he will run. If the people don't want that, I don't think he will. Let us not jump the gun."

The United States and its allies have repeatedly called on Assad to step down. Al-Moallem said that "Americans have no business in deciding who will run Syria," adding that this "would be a precedent in international relations that we must not allow."

The foreign minister also said that "anything agreed on in Geneva will be held to a referendum in Syria." "If it wins the support of the Syrian people, we will go ahead with it," he said.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that Syria is "disintegrating" and is urged international support for a U.S.-Russian initiative to bring the government and opposition to the negotiating table.
Ban said the conflict has "deep political roots" and won't be solved militarily even if the parties and some supporters believe a military solution is possible.
"Syria is disintegrating before our eyes," he warned in a message to a meeting on Syria in Tehran Wednesday. "The chaos is creating fertile ground for radicalism and increasingly threatens regional stability."
Ban made clear his opposition to supplying weapons to either side and to groups like Hezbollah sending fighters.
"I urge all parties to use their influence to help stop the arms flows and persuade outside groups to withdraw fighters from Syria," he said.

[BRVoice]

US demands Hezbollah pull out fighters from Syria


News Agencies

Published:

05.29.13, 22:17 / Israel News

The US State Department urged Lebanon's Hezbollah militia on Wednesday to withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said it was "unacceptable" and "dangerous" that Hezbollah had sent fighters into Syria. "We demand that Hezbollah withdraw its fighters from Syria immediately," she said at a regular daily news briefing.

The US demand came a few days after Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah's speech in which he reiterated his group's commitment to the beleaguered Syrian regime.

"We will continue to the end of the road; we accept this responsibility and will accept all sacrifices and expected consequences of this position," he said.

The US is concerned that Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian civil war will drag Lebanon into the conflict and foment inter-sectarian violence in the country, concerns which were reinforced by recent violent outbreaks in Beirut.

The Americans hinted that increased involvement in Syria will lead the US to boost its aid to the Syrian opposition.

On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that Hezbollah sent between 3,000 and 4,000 fighters to Syria to fight alongside President Bashar Assad's forces.

Earlier, the main United Nations human rights body condemned Syria and its use of foreign fighters in combats in Qusair, a town on the west of the country.

At the same time, the White House stated that President Barack Obama does not rule out the idea of a no-fly zone above Syria.

"Every option available to the president remains on the table when it comes to our policy towards Syria, That of course includes the possibility of a no-fly zone," White House spokesman Jay Carney told a news briefing.

Meanwhile, discussions on a possible multi-lateral peace conference in Geneva are still ongoing. Though the Syrian foreign minister announced the regime's willingness to attend, the opposition conditioned its participation on an internationally backed agreement to end Assad's rule.

In an official statement the rebels said: "The coalition congratulates the international efforts to finds a political solution, all under the principles of the revolution."

Concurrently, the US objected to Iran's participation in the conference since it claimed Tehran is not interested to bring about peace to the war-torn country.

Nevertheless, the US official stance is that Iran's participation will be determined by all countries involved.



Reuters, AFP, AP contributed to this report

[BRVoice]

Lebanese TV: Syria Has Received Russian Missiles

BEIRUT May 30, 2013 (AP)






Syrian President Bashar Assad is quoted by a Lebanese TV as saying the first shipment of Russian air defense missiles has arrived in his country.

The Al-Manar TV, owned by the militant Hezbollah group, is to air an exclusive interview with Assad later Thursday.

The station released Assad's comment on the Russian missiles through its breaking news service to clients on Thursday morning. An official at the station confirmed to the Associated Press that the remark is from the interview.

According to the service, Assad says the long-range S-300 air defense missiles have arrived in Syria.

Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said Tuesday that a Russian plan to supply Syria with the weapons is a threat and signaled that Israel is prepared to use force to stop the delivery.

[American Patriot]

Ok....


Let's just get this shit over with.

Get this war going and let's kick some ass. Why can't they JUST BE FUCKING HONEST with the American Public??????????????

[American Patriot]

CBS/AP/ May 30, 2013, 4:44 AM
Assad: First Russian missile shipment now in Syria


Updated at 8:36 a.m. ET

BEIRUT Syria has received the first shipment of Russian missiles that are part of a more sophisticated air defense system, President Bashar Assad told Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned TV channel, according to remarks released by the station Thursday.

Assad's comment on the arrival of the long-range S-300 air defense missiles in Syria could further ratchet up tensions in the region and undermine efforts to hold U.N.-sponsored talks with Syria's warring sides.

Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said earlier this week that Russia's plan to supply Syria with the weapons was a threat and that Israel was prepared to use force to stop the delivery.

Al-Manar TV, owned by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, released Assad's comments on the Russian missiles in print, through its breaking news service Thursday morning.

"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," Al-Manar quoted Assad as saying. The Syrian leader added: "All our agreements with Russia will be implemented and parts of them have already been implemented."

An official at the station confirmed to The Associated Press that the remarks were from the exclusive interview Al-Manar was to air in full later Thursday.

The shipment of the missiles, if confirmed, comes just days after the European Union lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving way for individual countries of the 27-member bloc to send weapons to rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime.

CBS News has reached out to Russian officials to confirm the shipment, but they are saying nothing.

CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan reports that Thursday's development comes as U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford, one of the men trying to get both sides to the table at an upcoming peace conference, will be stepping down from his post this summer.

Proposed Syrian peace conference faces setbacks

The developments raise fears of an arms race — not just between Assad's forces and the opposition fighters battling to topple his regime, but also in the wider Middle East.

Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapon shipments bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group that along with Iran and Russia is a staunch Assad ally. It is not clear whether Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace in these attacks.

With the Russian missiles in Syria's possession, the Israeli air force's ability to strike inside the Arab country could be limited since the S-300s would expand Syria's capabilities, allowing it to counter airstrikes launched from foreign airspace as well.

The S-300s have a range of up to 125 miles and the capability to track and strike multiple targets simultaneously. Syria already possesses Russian-made air defenses, and Israel is believed to have used long-distance bombs fired from Israeli or Lebanese airspace.

When Israeli warplanes struck near the capital of Damascus, targeting purported Iranian missiles intended for Hezbollah earlier this month, Syria did not respond.

But on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen TV that Damascus "will retaliate immediately" if Israel strikes Syrian soil again.

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It was the regime's most serious warning to Israel since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011 but it was not clear if there was a link between al-Moallem's remark and the Russian shipment.

Israel has long lobbied Moscow over the planned sale of S-300 air-defense missiles to Syria. However, on Tuesday, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said his government remained committed to the deal.

Monday's decision by the EU to lift the arms embargo opened the possibility for individual countries to send weapons to Assad's outgunned opponents, though there was no indication any single European country would send lethal weapons to the rebels anytime soon.

Britain and France, the main military powers in the EU, had pushed for the lifting of the embargo, arguing that Europe's threat of arming the rebels would force Assad to negotiate in good faith.

Russia harshly criticized Europe's decision, saying it undercuts international efforts to bring the opposing sides in Syrian conflict together for a peace conference.

There was no immediate reaction from Israel on the Russian shipment but Silvan Shalom, a Cabinet minister from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, told Israel Radio that the Jewish state will "take actions" to make sure advanced weapons don't reach rogue groups.

Prospects for convening a peace conference on Syria were further thrown in doubt after al-Moallem said Wednesday that Assad intends to remain Syria's president at least until elections in 2014 and might run for another term.

The Syrian foreign minister also said any deal reached in eventual talks with the opposition would have to be put to a referendum, introducing a new condition that could complicate efforts by the U.S. and Russia to bring the two sides together in Geneva, possibly next month.

While Syria has said that it will "in principle" attend the conference, the main Western-backed opposition group said Thursday that it will not participate in the peace talks while the regime is carrying out massacres.

Leading opposition members have said they would only attend the conference if Assad's departure from power tops the agenda, a demand on which sponsors Russia and the U.S. appear to disagree.

In Syria, Assad's forces backed by Hezbollah fighters fought pockets of resistance in the strategic town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the government controls most of Qusair following a fierce, 12-day battle with opposition forces.

Thursday's sporadic clashes came as government troops were mopping up in northern and western parts of Qusair, said the Observatory, which relies on information from a network of activists on the ground.

The Syrian army on Wednesday took control of nearby Dabaa air base, dealing a major blow to the rebels in Qusair, an overwhelmingly Sunni town in western part of the country that has been controlled by the opposition since early last year.

The government launched an offensive on Qusair on May 19 and Hezbollah militants joined the battle, drawing the Lebanese Shiite group deep into the civil war next door.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the 26-months-old Syrian conflict that has had increasingly sectarian overtones. Members of Syria's Sunni Muslim majority dominate the rebel ranks and Assad's regime is mostly made up of Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam.

Both sides in the conflict value Qusair, which lies along a land corridor linking two Assad's strongholds, the capital of Damascus and an area along the Mediterranean coast that is the Alawite heartland. For the rebels, holding the town means protecting their supply line to Lebanon, just six miles away.

Also Thursday, the opposition coalition said more than 1,000 wounded in the government offensive in Qusair need to be evacuated for medical treatment.

The opposition said the town hospitals lack doctors and medical supplies to treat those injured and trapped there.

[American Patriot]

A Syrian army tank keeps its position during a battle against opposition fighters in the city of Qusayr. Source: STR/AFP via Getty Images

Bloomberg News

Assad Says Russian Missiles Delivered While Analysts Skeptical

By Dana El Baltaji and Ilya Arkhipov


May 30, 2013



Syrian President Bashar al-Assad signaled that an agreement with Russia to supply S-300 anti-aircraft missiles has been partially fulfilled, a claim that drew skepticism from military analysts.


In response to a question about the S-300 missiles, Assad said “all what we have agreed on with Russia will be fulfilled and part of it has already been met,” Hezbollah’s Al Manar station said on its scrolling television ticker. More S-300 missiles will arrive soon, Lebanon’s pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar newspaper said, citing remarks by Assad to Al Manar. The interview will be aired in full today. Hezbollah’s fighters are helping Assad battle an uprising seeking to end his rule.


Syrian officials provided no tangible proof the missiles had actually arrived. Russia expects to deliver six S-300 systems by the second quarter in 2014, Kommersent newspaper reported today, citing an unidentified official with knowledge of the matter. Israel, which is suspected of carrying out three air attacks in Syria this year, tried to persuade Russia to cancel the missile sale.


“Most likely this is bluff,” Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow and a member of public advisory board of Russia’s Defense Ministry, said by phone. “To complete its Syrian contract Russia will need at least seven-to-nine months for first S-300 to be delivered.”
‘More Hostile’

Russia didn’t supply Syria with S-300 missiles in the past, Pukhov said. “It’s almost impossible to deliver it with air cargo or military transport aviation,” he said. “In case of shipment by sea it would take at least several weeks.”


Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said Assad’s “statement may be a ruse to boost his credentials of still being a leader of Syria.”


If Syria did receive the shipment, though, it “will clearly make relations between Israel and Syria more hostile,” and may lead to battle on the Golan Heights, Karasik said by phone, referring to the plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967.


“We must prepare defensively and offensively for the era of renewed war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today. Tens of thousands of missiles are aimed at Israeli population centers, he said.


Israeli National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror told European Union ambassadors last week that his country would prevent the missiles from becoming operational on Syrian soil if delivered, Ha’aretz newspaper reported. It cited two unidentified diplomats who attended the briefing and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Battling Rebels

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev had no comment on Assad’s remarks.


Israel has repeatedly warned Syria this year that it would act to prevent any shipments of advanced arms to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, which has joined the Syrian government in battling rebels trying to overthrow Assad. Israeli officials haven’t said whether Israeli aircraft were responsible for three air strikes in Syria meant to stop such shipments, most recently this month.


Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier this week the delivery of the long-range missiles “is a stabilizing factor.” Russia is supplying Assad with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles while the European Union, under pressure from Britain and France, has authorized arms shipments to rebels.


At least 80,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in 2011, Vuk Jeremic, president of the United Nations’ General Assembly, said this month.


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on May 22 said “upwards of 100,000 people” may have been killed in the fighting, which has spilled over Syria’s borders in recent months, threatening to become a regional conflagration fueled by ethnic and religious conflicts.

[BRVoice]

[vector7]

Ok....


Let's just get this shit over with.

Get this war going and let's kick some ass. Why can't they JUST BE FUCKING HONEST with the American Public??????????????

Yep, too many scandals, time to mix up the news cycles and "Wag the Dog".

[American Patriot]

One wonders if the scandals are the cause of why we're going to war, or whether they planned it all along and the scandals were to sneak the "No Fly Zone" over on us.....

I just don't see why in the United States of America we have some much BS going on inside the government, and the worst part is they are GETTING AWAY WITH IT.