Syria

[BRVoice]

robert burns ‏@robertburnsAP 12m http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP/sta...75922957783040
#SECDEF Hagel says US still weighing intelligence
before deciding whether to use force in Syria.
Offers no new hints in news conference.


robert burns ‏@robertburnsAP 58s http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP/sta...79555493462017
Asked whether it's a matter of when, not if, US will hit Syria,
Hagel says, "When we have more information,
that answer will become clear."


Kevin Baron ‏@DefenseBaron 29m http://twitter.com/DefenseBaron/stat...73292411957248
"There are risks and consequences for any option" - Hagel,
on potential Syrian retaliation, regional spillover, if US/allies strike.

[Ryan Ruck]

Time to give Obama another Nobel Peace Prize!

[Ryan Ruck]

Syria: Cameron And Obama Agree To Military Strike Over Chemical Weapons

August 25, 2013

David Cameron and Barack Obama last night agreed to take military action against Syria, the Sunday People has reported.

The US president sealed the deal in a 40-minute phone call to the Prime Minister at his holiday retreat in Cornwall.

The two leaders agreed that Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad was responsible for using chemical weapons against children.

Mr Obama and Mr Cameron will discuss the military options in the next few days.

They include missile strikes, *disabling the Syrian air force or *enforcing a no-fly zone across the country. A No.10 source said: “The significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response.

“The PM and the President are now looking at all the options.”

But they ruled out sending in British and American ground troops.

The source said both leaders *believe President Assad is deliberately trying to cover up the atrocity in the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus on Wednesday that left up to 1,000 dead.

Assad forces were yesterday *shelling the area of the nerve-gas attack to destroy evidence.

The source added: “It seems *increasingly unlikely the United Nations investigators will be allowed to go there.” That was despite requests from UN disarmament chief Angela Kane who was in Damascus yesterday to press for access.

A US battlegroup of three *warships in the eastern Mediterranean has been strengthened by a fourth ready to strike Syria with cruise missiles.

And the US has stationed F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missiles in Jordan in preparation for attacks.

President Obama met his national security team yesterday to discuss plans.

“That requires positioning our forces to carry out whatever options the president might choose,” said US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel. Even Iran yesterday conceded Syrians had been killed in chemical attacks but did not say who it thought was responsible.

Meanwhile the Assad regime tried to pin the blame for Wednesday’s attack on opposition groups.

Syrian state TV claimed that *soldiers patrolling in the Damascus suburb of Jobar had found chemical weapon agents in rebel tunnels.

Russia said the nerve-gas outrage may be the work of rebels trying to provoke international action.

But Foreign Secretary William Hague dismissed the claims.

France joined the UK yesterday in blaming Assad for the attack.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said: “All the information indicates there was a chemical massacre near Damascus and Bashar al-Assad is responsible”.

TV footage showing civilians – many of them children – dead or suffering the horrific symptoms of gas poisoning shocked the world.

Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres said hospitals it supports treated 3,600 patients with “neurotoxic symptoms” and 355 died.

Hospital staff described patients arriving with nerve gas-style symptoms including convulsions, extreme salivation, contracted pupils and sight and respiratory problems.

British defence chiefs will meet foreign counterparts in Jordan *tomorrow to discuss options.

[BRVoice]

Syria lets U.N. inspect gas attack site, Washington says too late

By Oliver Holmes
BEIRUT | Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:37pm EDT

(Reuters) - Syria agreed on Sunday to let the United Nations inspect the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack, but a U.S. official said such an offer was "too late to be credible" and Washington was all but certain the government had gassed its own people.

The U.S. remarks appeared to signal that a military response was more likely. A senior senator said he believed President Barack Obama would ask for authorization to use force when Congress returns from recess next month.

The comments follow forceful remarks from other Western powers, including Britain and France, which also believe President Bashar al-Assad's government was behind a massive poison gas attack that killed many hundreds of people last week.

Foreign powers have been searching for a response since the killings in a Damascus suburb, which if confirmed would be the world's worst chemical weapons attack in 25 years.

The United Nations said Damascus had agreed to a ceasefire while a U.N. team of experts inspect the site from Monday. Syria confirmed it had agreed to allow the inspections.

The scale of Wednesday's attack has led to calls for a strong response from the United States, a year after President Barack Obama declared the use of chemical weapons to be a "red line" that would draw serious consequences.

A senior U.S. official said Washington was still weighing how to respond but there was very little doubt that the Syrian government had used a chemical weapon against civilians.

"Based on the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, witness accounts and other facts gathered by open sources, the U.S. intelligence community, and international partners, there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident," the U.S. official said.

"At this juncture, any belated decision by the regime to grant access to the U.N. team would be considered too late to be credible, including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime's persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days."

Syria's information minister said any U.S. military action would "create a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East".

He said Damascus had evidence chemical weapons were used by rebels fighting to topple Assad, not by his government. That argument is given credence by Assad's ally Moscow, but dismissed by Western countries which say they believe the rebels have no access to poison gas or the big weapons needed to deliver it.

Western leaders have been phoning each other in recent days and issuing declarations promising some kind of response.

"We cannot in the 21st century allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said. "We believe it's very important that there is a strong response and that dictators ... know that the use of chemical weapons is to cross a line and that the world will respond when that line is crossed."

French President Francois Hollande's office said: "France is determined that this act does not go unpunished."

Senator Bob Corker, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had spoken to the Obama administration about its plans and believed the president would seek authorization for intervention after Congress convenes on September 9.

"I think we will respond in a surgical way and I hope the president as soon as we get back to Washington will ask for authorization from Congress to do something in a very surgical and proportional way," he told Fox News Sunday.


TANKS ADVANCE ON SITE

The team of U.N. chemical weapons inspectors arrived in Syria three days before Wednesday's incident to investigate previous reports of chemical weapons use.

Since Wednesday, the 20-strong team has been waiting in a Damascus luxury hotel a few miles from the site of what appears to have been the world's worst chemical weapons attack since Saddam Hussein's forces gassed thousands of Iraqi Kurds in 1988.

Their movements must be agreed with the Syrian government, and their inability to reach the site of attacks just a short drive away was symbolic of the failure of global diplomacy to have any real impact during two and a half years of war.

State television showed footage of tanks moving on Sunday into what it said was the eastern Damascus suburb of Jobar, one of the districts where the mass poisoning occurred.

Opposition activists in Damascus said the army was using surface-to-surface missiles and artillery in the area.

"The fact is that much of the evidence could have been destroyed by that artillery bombardment," said Britain's Hague.

Obama met his top military and national security advisers on Saturday to debate options. U.S. naval forces have been repositioned in the Mediterranean to give Obama the option of an armed strike.

Assad's two main allies spoke out in his defense. Iran, echoing Obama's own language, said Washington should not cross a "red line" by attacking Syria. Russia welcomed the decision to allow the U.N. investigation and said it would be a "tragic mistake" to jump to conclusions over who was to blame.

It is not clear how much impact the U.N. investigation would have on decision-making by Western countries.

In past incidents, the United States, Britain and France obtained what they said was their own proof Assad used small amounts of chemical arms. But if the U.N. team obtains independent evidence, it could be easier to build a diplomatic case for intervention.


BODIES

Throughout a war that has killed more than 100,000 people, the United States and its allies have yet to take direct action, despite long ago saying Assad must be removed from power.

In June, after concluding that Assad's forces had used a small amount of nerve gas, Obama authorized sending U.S. weapons to Syrian rebels.

Those shipments were delayed due to fears radical Sunni Islamist groups in the opposition could gain further ground in Syria and become a threat to the West.

But Obama's administration is reluctant to be drawn deep into another war in the Muslim world after pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq and preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Senator Jack Reed from Obama's Democratic Party said any response had to have international military support and Washington could not get into a "general military operation".

About 60 percent of Americans surveyed in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Saturday opposed U.S. intervention. Nine percent thought Obama should act.

The Syrian opposition says between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed by gas in munitions fired by pro-government forces. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals near Damascus had reported 355 deaths in the space of three hours out of about 3,600 admissions with neurotoxic symptoms.

The head of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front rebel group has pledged to target communities from Assad's Alawite sect with rockets in revenge.

"For every chemical rocket that had fallen on our people in Damascus, one of their villages will, by the will of God, pay for it," Abu Mohammad al-Golani said in a recording on YouTube.



(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Mahmoud Habboush in Dubai Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai; Writing by Philippa Fletcher and Peter Graff; Editing by Jon Boyle)

[BRVoice]

Navy ready to launch first strike on Syria

Britain is planning to join forces with America and launch military action against Syria within days in response to the gas attack believed to have been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against his own people.

By Tim Ross and Ben Farmer
10:00PM BST 25 Aug 2013


Royal Navy vessels are being readied to take part in a possible series of cruise missile strikes, alongside the United States, as military commanders finalise a list of potential targets.

Government sources said talks between the Prime Minister and international leaders, including Barack Obama, would continue, but that any military action that was agreed could begin within the next week.

As the preparations gathered pace, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that the world could not stand by and allow the Assad regime to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people “with impunity”.

Britain, the US and their allies must show Mr Assad that to perpetrate such an atrocity “is to cross a line and that the world will respond when that line is crossed”, he said.

British forces now look likely to be drawn into an intervention in the Syrian crisis after months of deliberation and international disagreement over how to respond to the bloody two-year civil war.

The possibility of such intervention will provoke demands for Parliament to be recalled this week.

The escalation comes as a direct response to what the Government is convinced was a gas attack perpetrated by Syrian forces on a civilian district of Damascus last Wednesday.

The Assad regime has been under mounting pressure to allow United Nations inspectors on to the site to establish who was to blame for the atrocity. One international agency said it had counted at least 355 people dead and 3,600 injured following the attack, while reports suggested the true death toll could be as high as 1,300.

Syrian state media accused rebel forces of using chemical agents, saying some government soldiers had suffocated as a result during fighting.

After days of delay, the Syrian government finally offered yesterday to allow a team of UN inspectors access to the area. However, Mr Hague suggested that this offer of access four days after the attack had come too late.

“We cannot in the 21st century allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity, that people can be killed in this way and that there are no consequences for it,” he said.

The Foreign Secretary said all the evidence “points in one direction”, to the use of illegal chemical agents by Assad regime forces.

A Government source added that even if UN inspectors visited the site of the attack, “we would need convincing by the UN team that this was not the regime’s attack because we believe everything points to the fact that it was”.

Officials said the Assad regime has continued bombarding the area in the days since the attack, making it likely that any evidence which could establish who was responsible will have been destroyed.

Mr Cameron interrupted his holiday in Cornwall for talks with Mr Obama, François Hollande, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. After discussions via a secure telephone line over the weekend, all the leaders agreed on the need for a “serious response”. Government sources confirmed that military action was among the options “on the table” but said no decisions had been taken.

The Prime Minister, however, is believed to have abandoned hope of securing any further meaningful response from the UN amid opposition from Russia.

Labour said Parliament must be recalled if Mr Cameron was considering a military response, but Downing Street sources said this may not be necessary as the Prime Minister retained the right to act urgently if required.

Mr Cameron will face criticism for any British military involvement from many MPs, who believe the Armed Forces are already overstretched and must not be committed to another distant conflict.

Any retaliatory attack would be likely to be launched from the sea as the Syrian air force is judged to be strong enough to shoot down enemy jets.

A Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine is said to be in the region while a number of warships recently left Britain for exercises in the Mediterranean.

Commanders may also need to make use of the RAF base at Akrotiri, Cyprus for air support.

If military action is approved, the first wave of missiles could start within a week.

Military sources suggested the early hours of the 2011 campaign against Col Muammar Gaddafi could form a template for any operation. The Libya campaign began with a blitz of Tomahawk cruise missiles from US warships and from a British Trafalgar Class submarine.

The Royal Navy declined to comment on the current positions of its submarines, but they regularly pass through the area on their way to the Suez Canal.

America’s Sixth Fleet currently has four guided missile destroyers in the area, each of which could join the attack.

The Royal Navy also has its rapid response task force in the Mediterranean. The group includes two frigates and the helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious.

Navy sources said there were no plans to change the exercises, but the group provided “strategic contingency” if needed.

[AGEUSAF]

Pretty obvious this is a done deal I think, for better or for worse.

So Assad and friends catch a case here soon. What happens after the fact? Israel has gotten away with a couple of strikes and no one did a damn thing. After the smoke clears and the wmd is liquidated before it makes it way to Tel Aviv does Russia and Iran do anything other than lose a friend.

[BRVoice]

Ten top national commanders meet in Amman on Syria intervention
DEBKAfile August 26, 2013, 3:01 PM (GMT+02:00)


The ten military chiefs began a two-day conference in Amman Monday to discuss joint action in the emergency posed by the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian wary. The meeting is co-hosted by US chief of staff Gen. Martin Dempsey and Jordan’s top soldier Meshaal Mohamed al-Zaban. Present too are the top commanders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada,

[BRVoice]

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: Moscow has no plans for war with anyone

26/08/2013 ITAR-TASS


“We are not going to war with anyone,” Lavrov said at a press conference on Monday, August 26, replying to a question about Russia’s possible reaction to possible military strikes on Syria.


G8 summit agreements

The West’s statements on Syria run counter the agreements reached at the G8 summit in Lough Erne, Lavrov reminded.

“The hysteria is growing. Fighting means are being intensified. Threats are becoming oftener to use force against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad,” Lavrov said.

“Washington said it had proof that the Syrian authorities were guilty of the events in East Ghouta. Washington says the red line had crossed,” the Russian minister said.

“This runs counter the agreements reached by the G8 leaders in Lough Erne. They said any use of chemical weapons should be investigated,” he added.

Russia urges the Western countries “to act in a responsible way and not to repeat the mistakes of the past”, in particular the scenarios in Iraq and Libya, Lavrov said.

“We’ve discussed such scenarios: force has never ensured security or improved people’s life. At present, the situation is instable in the region,” he said.

All efforts taken by the international community should be aimed at expelling terrorists from the country and preventing confrontation in the region. “We should give common and clear signals to the government and the opposition to settle the conflict by direct dialogue,” Lavrov said.


Chemical attack allegations

The international community should wait for results of the U.N. investigation into alleged chemical attacks in Syria, Russia's top foreign official said.

“We must wait for the results of the U.N. inspectors’ investigation in Syria, if they do not run into obstacles, of course,” the minister added.
Reports on the chemical attack in East Ghouta are aimed at wrecking the Geneva-2 conference on Syria, Lavrov believes.

He said: “Information on the chemical attack in East Ghouta was spread when the Russian and American experts prepared the Geneva-2 conference.”

“No doubts the hysteria will wreck the convocation of the forum. Maybe, this is one of the goals that its authors pursue,” the minister said.


UN experts

Russia expresses bewilderment about the fact that the West does not take care of evidence when it had blocked the arrival of U.N. inspectors in Syria, Lavrov said.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Lavrov said: “Those who want to realize the military scenario cannot consent with yesterday’s agreements under which the Syrian government allowed U.N. experts to visit the areas where chemical weapons had been used.”

“One says this agreement was late. Any evidence can be destroyed in five days. The question is why our Western partners do not take care of preserving evidence when they had blocked the arrival of U.N. experts to investigate the chemical attack in Khal al Assal,” the minister said.


Geneva Conference

It is unreal to hold the Geneva-2 conference on Syria in September, the Foreign Minister stated.

“We should decide on the substance of problems to prepare the conference. I believe that then we’ll be able to agree on the date,” Lavrov said.

The position of the Syrian regime’s opponents is too negative to deal with the convocation of the Geneva-2 conference, the minister said, adding that Iran’s participation was one of the key problems.

“Iran plays the most important role related to what has happened in Syria. Certain states hope to take part in the conference. But their position is that Iran has no right,” he said.

“At present, the key task is to determine the date of the Geneva-2 conference. It is necessary to come to final agreement on the participants in the conference,” Lavrov said.

He also added that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had confirmed commitment to holding the Geneva-2 conference on Syria.



First published in ITAR-TASS.

[BRVoice]

Charlie Kaye‏@CharlieKayeCBS40m
BREAKING. Sec State Kerry to make a statement on Syria at 2P ET.

Retweeted by Nathan J Hunt


The 47th‏@THE_47th48m
BRK | EXCLUSIVE: The RAF in the UK has requested its AWACS aircraft are ready for immediate deployment, first time ever in the conflict.


The 47th‏@THE_47th3h
Syrian Deputy Minister of Info Khalaf Al Muftah says Israel will be first victim if anyone "dare" attack Assad.

[MinutemanCO]

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: Moscow has no plans for war with anyone

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

[vector7]

Russia warns U.S. not to repeat in Syria past mistakes in region


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• Nerve agent rockets seen behind Syria strike: expertsFri, Aug 23 2013
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Analysis & Opinion

• A moment of truth in Damascus and Washington
• Egypt on the brink as protests turn violent again

MOSCOW | Sun Aug 25, 2013 12:37pm EDT

(Reuters) - Russia warned the United States on Sunday against repeating past mistakes, saying that any unilateral military action in Syria would undermine efforts for peace and have a devastating impact on the security situation in the Middle East.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said its statement was a response to U.S. actions to give it the option of an armed strike against Syria.

It drew a parallel between reports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces had used chemical weapons and Washington's 2003 intervention in Iraq following accusations by then-President George Bush's administration that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"We once again decisively urge (the United States) not to repeat the mistakes of the past and not to allow actions that go against international law," the ministry said.

"Any unilateral military action bypassing the United Nations will ... lead to further escalation (in Syria) and will affect the already explosive situation in the Middle East in the most devastating way."

Moscow said any military action would severely hamper joint U.S.-Russian efforts for an international peace conference to end a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.

"The threat to use force against the Syrian regime sends the (Syrian) opposition conflicting signals," the ministry said. "All sponsors of the opposition, which have influence over it, must seek the fastest possible agreement from Bashar al-Assad's opponents to hold talks."

U.S. President Barack Obama met his security advisers on Saturday to debate options following reports of the alleged chemical attack. U.S. naval forces have been repositioned in the Mediterranean to give Washington the option of an armed strike.

Syria's opposition accused Assad's forces of gassing many hundreds of people - by one report as many as 1,300 - on Wednesday. Syria said earlier on Sunday it had agreed to let the experts visit the site.

Russia, which has suggested that Syrian rebels may have carried out the attack, also said on Sunday that assigning blame too soon over the alleged poison gas strike would be a "tragic mistake", before a U.N. investigation on Monday.


Senator Says U.S. Military Intervention In Syria Is “Imminent” After Speaking With White House Officials…



Operation Airstrikes For Al-Qaeda to commence in 3… 2… 1.
Via WaPo:

On two separate morning news shows Monday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had spoken with White House officials and that the Obama administration is building support among NATO allies to take military action in Syria, whose government has been accused of using chemical weapons on civilians.

“I don’t think there’s any question in the administration’s mind that chemical warfare has been used and that when we’re involved, it’s surgical, proportional to what has occurred,” Corker said on CBS’ “This Morning.”

“I think response is imminent,” he added on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

ZIP | August 26, 2013 11:58 am

US, UK planning to launch military action to aid al-Qaeda in Syria within days

The fools will unleash catastrophe of a proportion that neither they nor anyone else can imagine.

"Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of" -- New York Times, April 28, 2013
Syrian rebels pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda -- USA Today, April 11, 2013

"Navy ready to launch first strike on Syria," by Tim Ross and Ben Farmer in the Telegraph, August 25:

Britain is planning to join forces with America and launch military action against Syria within days in response to the gas attack believed to have been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against his own people. Royal Navy vessels are being readied to take part in a possible series of cruise missile strikes, alongside the United States, as military commanders finalise a list of potential targets.

Government sources said talks between the Prime Minister and international leaders, including Barack Obama, would continue, but that any military action that was agreed could begin within the next week.

As the preparations gathered pace, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that the world could not stand by and allow the Assad regime to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people “with impunity”.

Britain, the US and their allies must show Mr Assad that to perpetrate such an atrocity “is to cross a line and that the world will respond when that line is crossed”, he said.

British forces now look likely to be drawn into an intervention in the Syrian crisis after months of deliberation and international disagreement over how to respond to the bloody two-year civil war....

Posted by Robert on August 25, 2013 8:54 PM | 31 Comments

[vector7]

Navy ready to launch first strike on Syria

Britain is planning to join forces with America and launch military action against Syria within days in response to the gas attack believed to have been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against his own people.


The Royal Navy's helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious is currently deployed in the Mediterranean Photo: REUTERS

By Tim Ross and Ben Farmer

10:00PM BST 25 Aug 2013

Royal Navy vessels are being readied to take part in a possible series of cruise missile strikes, alongside the United States, as military commanders finalise a list of potential targets.

Government sources said talks between the Prime Minister and international leaders, including Barack Obama, would continue, but that any military action that was agreed could begin within the next week.

As the preparations gathered pace, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, warned that the world could not stand by and allow the Assad regime to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people “with impunity”.

Britain, the US and their allies must show Mr Assad that to perpetrate such an atrocity “is to cross a line and that the world will respond when that line is crossed”, he said.

British forces now look likely to be drawn into an intervention in the Syrian crisis after months of deliberation and international disagreement over how to respond to the bloody two-year civil war.


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  25 Aug 2013
• Obama orders Syria poison gas attack inquiry
  22 Aug 2013

The possibility of such intervention will provoke demands for Parliament to be recalled this week.

The escalation comes as a direct response to what the Government is convinced was a gas attack perpetrated by Syrian forces on a civilian district of Damascus last Wednesday.

The Assad regime has been under mounting pressure to allow United Nations inspectors on to the site to establish who was to blame for the atrocity.

One international agency said it had counted at least 355 people dead and 3,600 injured following the attack, while reports suggested the true death toll could be as high as 1,300.

Syrian state media accused rebel forces of using chemical agents, saying some government soldiers had suffocated as a result during fighting.

After days of delay, the Syrian government finally offered yesterday to allow a team of UN inspectors access to the area. However, Mr Hague suggested that this offer of access four days after the attack had come too late.

“We cannot in the 21st century allow the idea that chemical weapons can be used with impunity, that people can be killed in this way and that there are no consequences for it,” he said.

The Foreign Secretary said all the evidence “points in one direction”, to the use of illegal chemical agents by Assad regime forces.

A Government source added that even if UN inspectors visited the site of the attack, “we would need convincing by the UN team that this was not the regime’s attack because we believe everything points to the fact that it was”.

Officials said the Assad regime has continued bombarding the area in the days since the attack, making it likely that any evidence which could establish who was responsible will have been destroyed.

Mr Cameron interrupted his holiday in Cornwall for talks with Mr Obama, François Hollande, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. After discussions via a secure telephone line over the weekend, all the leaders agreed on the need for a “serious response”. Government sources confirmed that military action was among the options “on the table” but said no decisions had been taken.

The Prime Minister, however, is believed to have abandoned hope of securing any further meaningful response from the UN amid opposition from Russia.

Labour said Parliament must be recalled if Mr Cameron was considering a military response, but Downing Street sources said this may not be necessary as the Prime Minister retained the right to act urgently if required.

Mr Cameron will face criticism for any British military involvement from many MPs, who believe the Armed Forces are already overstretched and must not be committed to another distant conflict.

Any retaliatory attack would be likely to be launched from the sea as the Syrian air force is judged to be strong enough to shoot down enemy jets.

A Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine is said to be in the region while a number of warships recently left Britain for exercises in the Mediterranean.
Commanders may also need to make use of the RAF base at Akrotiri, Cyprus for air support.

If military action is approved, the first wave of missiles could start within a week.

Military sources suggested the early hours of the 2011 campaign against Col Muammar Gaddafi could form a template for any operation. The Libya campaign began with a blitz of Tomahawk cruise missiles from US warships and from a British Trafalgar Class submarine.

The Royal Navy declined to comment on the current positions of its submarines, but they regularly pass through the area on their way to the Suez Canal.
America’s Sixth Fleet currently has four guided missile destroyers in the area, each of which could join the attack.

The Royal Navy also has its rapid response task force in the Mediterranean. The group includes two frigates and the helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious.
Navy sources said there were no plans to change the exercises, but the group provided “strategic contingency” if needed.

[BRVoice]

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

Exactly MinutemanCO. You hit the nail on the head.

[BRVoice]

Aleppo Chemical attack BREAKING

There are reports coming out of Aleppo that another attack using chemicals has just taken place. I assume that it took place with in the last hour. The claims that this attack took place on the southern countryside of Aleppo. If true, this will push our time frame up from the next 96 hours to 12-18 hours. When the UN inspectors leave we will attack

[BRVoice]

@FajorSy 2m
#BREAKING Reports of chemical attack on the town of Oram al Kabira,and reef Muhandiseen,within southern reef of Aleppo,hospitals overwhelmed

[BRVoice]

Aleppo twitter

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23aleppo&src=typd


daniele ‏@putino 54m

Warning: only speculations. Video coming from #Aleppo where according to some sources another CW attack happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9v-_r6lHcg …

@FajorSy 5m

Reports of #chemical attack on the town of Oram al Kabira,and reef Muhandiseen,within southern reef of #Aleppo ,hospitals overwhelmed

Alexblx ‏@Alexblx 11m

#JAN sources reporting that about 200 #shabiha were killed in the #Khanaser takeover in #Aleppo @AbuSiqr #Syria

Shabiha = Assad's assassins


hopyy ‏@hopyy0912 27m

"@srfnews Videos of alleged #CW attack from an #Aleppo suburb are coming in. No pictures of fatalities so far. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDD6cKyc0PQ …"

Aws ‏@awsyrian1 2m

#Syria #Homs #Aleppo Syria crisis: warplanes spotted in Cyprus as tensions rise in Damascus http://owl.li/2zp2DF

[BRVoice]

Gregor Peter @L0gg0l 55s
WESTERN MILITARY AIRCRAFT ARRIVE AT AKROTIRI AIRBASE IN CYPRUS, CIVILIAN PILOTS SAY Gregor Peter @L0gg0l 2m
Double Down on Russia: If an order to attack targets in Syria is given, Cyprus is likely to be a hub of the air campaign. -- Guardian

[BRVoice]

A "Clear, Staggering And Compelling Attack" - Full Kerry Transcript


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/26/2013 15:14 -0400

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY DELIVERS REMARKS ON SYRIA

Well, for the last several days, President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation in Syria. And today, I want to provide an update on our efforts as we consider our response to the use of chemical weapons.

What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable and -- despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured -- it is undeniable.

The meaning of this attack goes beyond the conflict in Syria itself, and that conflict has already brought so much terrible suffering. This is about the large-scale, indiscriminate use of weapons that the civilized world long ago decided must never be used at all, a conviction shared even by countries that agree on little else.

There is a clear reason that the world has banned entirely the use of chemical weapons. There is a reason the international community has set a clear standard and why many countries have taken major steps to eradicate these weapons. There is a reason why President Obama has made it such a priority to stop the proliferation of these weapons and lock them down where they do exist. There is a reason why President Obama has made clear to the Assad regime that this international norm cannot be violated without consequences.

And there is a reason why, no matter what you believe about Syria, all peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common humanity must stand up to assure that there is accountability for the use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again.

Last night, after speaking with foreign ministers from around the world about the gravity of this situation, I went back and I watched the videos, the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and I watched them one more gut-wrenching time. It is really hard to express in words the human suffering that they lay out before us.

As a father, I can't get the image out of my head of a man who held up his dead child, wailing, while chaos swirled around him, the images of entire families dead in their beds without a drop of blood or even a visible wound, bodies contorting in spasms, human suffering that we can never ignore or forget.

Anyone who could claim that an attack of this staggering scale could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass. What is before us today is real, and it is compelling.

So I also want to underscore that while investigators are gathering additional evidence on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts, informed by conscience, and guided by common sense. The reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, the firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground, like Doctors Without Borders and the Syria Human Rights Commission, these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real, that chemical weapons were used in Syria.

Moreover, we know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets. We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place. And with our own eyes, we have all of us become witnesses.

We have additional information about this attack, and that information is being compiled and reviewed together with our partners, and we will provide that information in the days ahead. Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime, but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up.

At every turn, the Syrian regime has failed to cooperate with the U.N. investigation, using it only to stall and to stymie the important effort to bring to light what happened in Damascus in the dead of night. And as Ban Ki-moon said last week, the U.N. investigation will not determine who used these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used, a judgment that is already clear to the world.

I spoke on Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Muallem, and I made it very clear to him that if the regime, as he argued, had nothing to hide, then their response should be immediate, immediate transparency, immediate access, not shelling. Their response needed to be unrestricted and immediate access. Failure to permit that, I told him, would tell its own story.

Instead, for five days, the Syrian regime refused to allow the U.N. investigators access to the site of the attack that would allegedly exonerate them. Instead, it attacked the area further, shelling it and systemically destroying evidence. That is not the behavior of a government that has nothing to hide. That is not the action of a regime eager to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons.
In fact, the regime's belated decision to allow access is too late, and it's too late to be credible. Today's reports of an attack on the U.N. investigators -- together with the continued shelling of these very neighborhoods -- only further weakens the regime's credibility.

At President Obama's direction, I've spent many hours over the last few days on the phone with foreign ministers and other leaders. The administration is actively consulting with members of Congress, and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead. President Obama has also been in close touch with leaders of our key allies, and the president will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons.

But make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world's most heinous weapons against the world's most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.

Thank you.

[Malsua]

I doubt there will be air operations over Syria. At best Obama will lob some cruise missiles.

[BRVoice]

Western Warplanes Begin Arriving In Cyprus


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/26/2013 15:59 -0400


Remember what the 2012 leaked Stratfor memo said about the focal point of western airborne power? Here it is again: "Syrian air defenses are a lot more robust and are much denser, esp around Damascus and on the borders with Israel, Turkey. THey are most worried about mobile air defenses, particularly the SA-17s that they've been getting recently. It's still a doable mission, it's just not an easy one. The main base they would use is Cyprus, hands down. Brits and FRench would fly out of there. They kept stressing how much is stored at Cyprus and how much recce comes out of there. The group was split on whether Turkey would be involved, but said Turkey would be pretty critical to the mission to base stuff out of there. EVen if Turkey had a poltiical problem with Cyprus, they said there is no way the Brits and the FRench wouldn't use Cyprus as their main air force base." (sic) Well, it has begun. Guardian reports that "Warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving at Britain's Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast, in a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria."





From the Guardian:

Two commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca on Monday told the Guardian that they had seen C-130 transport planes from their cockpit windows as well as small formations of fighter jets on their radar screens, which they believe had flown from Europe.

Residents near the British airfield, a sovereign base since 1960, also say activity there has been much higher than normal over the past 48 hours.

If an order to attack targets in Syria is given, Cyprus is likely to be a hub of the air campaign. The arrival of warplanes suggests that advanced readiness – at the very least – has been ordered by Whitehall as David Cameron, Barack Obama and European leaders step up their rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad, whose armed forces they accuse of carrying out the chemical weapons attack last Wednesday that killed many hundreds in eastern Damascus.

More on Akrotiri airbase from wikipedia:

Akrotiri has played a crucial role during Britain's recent operations in the Middle East. During both major campaigns against Iraq, in 1991 and 2003, and also during the no-fly zone operations between, it operated as a staging post for British forces en-route to the region.

A constant problem of airfields located outside the territory of the country whose forces are based there is that of overflight rights. The UK has a treaty with Cyprus that guarantees British access to Akrotiri in any circumstances. Under the treaty, the stations employ many locals and contribute to the local economy.

A sizeable over-the-horizon radar antenna was erected within the base raising concern for the effect on local wildlife and on the health of people living in nearby Limassol. Several demonstrations and protests took place, with most memorable incident the act of MP (MEP since 2004) Marios Matsakis to chain himself on the antenna. Amateur radio operators report that the radar is causing interference in bands allocated for amateur radio use by the ITU. From the international amateur radio union region 1 monitoring system news letter (April 2002): The lowest frequency was 18000 kHz, the highest frequency so far during the current solar cycle is 30500 kHz. The bandwidth is normally 50 to 60 kHz, the signal strength S9 + 70 dB thus causing very harmful interference to the Amateur Radio Service.

Akrotiri was also the location of the main transmitter of the well known numbers station, the Lincolnshire Poacher, although transmissions ceased in 2008. Akrotiri is also the location of the Limassol BBC Relay that broadcast the BBC World Service radio signal to the Middle East.

Due to the station's relative proximity to the Middle East, it is often used by British allies when needed, such as for casualty reception for Americans after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing[5] and as a staging post before heading into theatres of combat in the Middle East/Persian Gulf theaters.

The U-2s of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing were used in Operation Cedar Sweep to fly surveillance over Lebanon, relaying information about Hezbollah militants to Lebanese authorities, and in Operation Highland Warrior to fly surveillance over Turkey and northern Iraq to relay information to Turkish authorities. These flights were the topic of acrimonious diplomatic cables between British officials and the American embassy, later leaked by Wikileaks, with David Miliband saying that "policymakers needed to get control of the military". The British were concerned that the flights over Lebanon were authorised by the Lebanese Ministry of Defence rather than the entire cabinet, and that the intelligence so gained could lead to the UK being complicit in the unlawful torture of detainees. After warnings that these issues "could jeopardize future use of British territory", John Rood, a senior Bush administration official, and Mariot Leslie, the Foreign Office's director general for defence and intelligence, became involved. Leslie said that the U.S. was not actually expected to check on detained terrorists, but that future spy missions would require full written applications.

In July 2006 RAF Akrotiri played a major role as a transit point for personnel evacuations out of Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict (see International reactions to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict and Joint Task Force Lebanon).

In March 2011, the station was used as a staging base for support aircraft involved in Operation Ellamy. Tanker support and logistical units were based here to support aerial operations over Libya.

Akrotiri is also the winter training grounds of the RAF display team, the Red Arrows.

The station hosts the main hospital for British Forces Cyprus, The Princess Mary's Hospital (TPMH), located on Cape Zevgari.

Now: about those Russian warships - are they still parked in Cyprus?

Recall: Russian Pacific Fleet Warships Enter Mediterranean For First Time In Decades, To Park In Cyprus

in a historic event, the Russian Pacific fleet, for the first time in decades, crossed the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean, direction Cyprus' port of Limasol (hi Cyprus - Russia will be arriving shortly) in what is now the loudest implied warning to the US and Israel amassing military units across Syria's border that Russia will not stand idly by as Syria is used by the Israeli "Defense" Forces for target practice. “The task force has successfully passed through the Suez Channel and entered the Mediterranean. It is the first time in decades that Pacific Fleet warships enter this region,” Capt. First Rank Roman Martov said. This is what is also known as dropping hints, loud and clear.
The group, including the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, the amphibious warfare ships Peresvet and Admiral Nevelskoi, the tanker Pechenga and the salvage/rescue tug Fotiy Krylov left the port of Vladivostok on March 19 to join Russia’s Mediterranean task force.



Admiral Panteleyev destroyer



Admiral Nevelskoi


The task force currently includes the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, the frigate Yaroslav Mudry, the salvage/rescue tugs Altai and SB-921 and the tanker Lena from the Northern and Baltic Fleets, as well as the Ropucha-II Class landing ship Azov from the Black Sea Fleet. The task force may be enlarged to include nuclear submarines, Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov said last Sunday.

Shore leave for a whole lot of submarines just a few hundred kilometers from Syria? Surely. From Rian.

“The task force has successfully passed through the Suez Channel and entered the Mediterranean. It is the first time in decades that Pacific Fleet warships enter this region,” Capt. First Rank Roman Martov said.

The Defense Ministry said in April Russia has begun setting up a naval task force in the Mediterranean, sending several warships from the Pacific Fleet to the region. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in March a permanent naval task force in the Mediterranean was needed to defend Russia’s interests in the region.

A senior Defense Ministry official said the Mediterranean task force's command and control agencies will be based either in Novorossiysk, Russia, or in Sevastopol, Ukraine.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, head of the parliamentary defense committee, previously told RIA Novosti that the Mediterranean task force should be comprised of 10 warships and support vessels as part of several tactical groups tasked with attack, antisubmarine warfare and minesweeping.

The Soviet Union maintained its 5th Mediterranean Squadron from 1967 until 1992. It was formed to counter the US Navy's 6th Fleet during the Cold War, and consisted of 30-50 warships and auxiliary vessels.

It appears that the squadron is being reincarnated and quite rapidly at that.

It also appears that the two key naval forces in the Mediterranean are finally starting to position themselves for what may soon be a face off.

* * *
This was the May rehearsal. Now, it's the real thing.