rebels

In case you did not know: Iran is sending money and fighters to Al Qaida to kill Shias in Syria

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Is this supposed to be a joke?

„Today the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the designation of a key Iran-based al-Qa’ida facilitator who supports al-Qa’ida’s vital facilitation network in Iran, that operates there with the knowledge of Iranian authorities.  The network also uses Iran as a transit point for moving funding and foreign fighters through Turkey to support al-Qa’ida-affiliated elements in Syria, including the al-Nusrah Front.“
http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2287.aspx

Give me a break: Is the department really claiming that Iran is now sending funds and fighters to al-Qaida in Syria, including the Nusrah Front?
The claim is not only shameless, it is totally sick.
The Nusrah has publicly and more than once taken „credit“ for having targetted and killed Iranians and Shias in Syria. They have proudly burned Husseiniyas and shelled Shia mosques. They have beheaded prisoners of war after having accused them of being „Iranian dogs“ or „Shia infidels“.

No person with a single functioning brain cell does believe this garbage, unless one finds it plausible to claim that Iran is simultaneously supporting and fighting each of Syrias warring factions . Why? Because according to the US and many pro-rebel (mainly arab) sources Iran is behind Assad, Hizbullah and Iraqi Shia militias as well as their most deadly adversaries Nusra Front and ISIS.

Is Homs under siege?

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Reading the media about Syria one more than once reads about the city of Homs, „the cradle of the revolution“ being under siege by the Syrian army.
Taking a closer look it turns out that not the entire city, but only a relatively small portion of it, the „old city“ is under regime siege:
BBC map of besieged areas in Homs

No question, such a siege is a horror for the ordinary population and certainly it is an unjust act of collective punishment, but one should also keep in mind that the siege is not the result of an evil government simply hating its citizens. Rather the siege is a direct consequence of armed rebels abusing the local population by effectively taking them hostage and turning their houses to firing grounds, hideouts, tunnels, weapons depots and bomb making fabrics.

Why all these anti-regime disclosures in the middle of the Geneva talks?

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„Syrian government ‚demolished thousands of homes'“
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25947345

While noone should justify or play down the extensive damage inflicted on entire blocks and neighborhoods, one should wonder why the disclosure of these „war crimes“ (HRW) happens just as the Syrian government and opposition are negotiating in Geneva.
The satellite images are dated from mid 2012 to mid 2013. Did HRW and co. really need 6-18 months to „analyze“ these images or is the timing of the publication no coincidence?

Interestingly at exactly the same time there was first the publication of the Qatari financed torture photos and then (today) the expression of „concern“ by the US regarding the slow progress of Syrias chemical weapons disarmament.

Is all this meant to prepare the ground for either the declaration of new „red lines“ or an accelerated and intensified arming of the (definitely all but) „moderate“ rebels?

US continues hypocrisy and double standard regarding Syria

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„The US says only 4% of Syria’s declared chemical weapons has been surrendered and expresses concern at the lack of progress.“
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25968616

But at the same time the US has announced to resume the supply of weapons to Syrian rebels.
The same rebels have either laid storage facilities under siege or they control roads leading to or from such weapons´ sites.
Both are considered „succcesses“ that the usually pro-rebel western press hails as „blows against the Assad regime“.

Egypt: Islamists shoot down army helicopter with MANPAD

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Islamic militants have shot down an Egyptian army helicopter with a heat seeking shoulder-fired missile:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25915607
The BBC article seems to express „grief“ about this. Probably because the Egyptian regime (and army) is considered pro-western.

Interestingly western press reports of the Syrian rebels´ successes in shooting down Syrian army Migs and helicopters and killing hundreds of personell have been accompanied enthusiasm and joy.
Note: If you are a radical sectarian Islamist fighting a pro-Iranian or pro-Russian state you are good, you are probably a „freedom fighter“ and the US congress will somehow find a way to declare you „moderate“.
If you are however fighting a pro-western state you are a terrorist and one has to be worried if you have acquired and applied deadly weapons.

 

 

Congress Secretly Approves Arms for Syria Rebels

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After all the embarassing and shocking revelations about the Syrian rebels, after the broad majority of the rebels either openly declare themselves as part of Al Qaeda or strongly sympathize and ideologically identify with Al Qaeda, the US has begun resupplying the rebels with arms.
How can an honest government officially endorse peace talks but at the same time arm a warring faction that is opposed to peace talks and will certainly feel emboldened and encouraged to fight on after getting further arms?
To justify this appalling decision the US has once again resumed reinvigorating the myth of the „moderate rebels“, no matter how ridiculous and incredible such claims have become in the mean time:

„One close observer of the  opposition, who recently returned from travelling in the rebel-held areas of northern Syria, says that “you could go an awful long way talking to these jihadi groups before you met any fighters who did not thoroughly approve of 9/11 as a well-deserved blow against the US”.“
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/01/27/return-to-damascus/

http://news.antiwar.com/2014/01/27/officials-congress-secretly-approves-arms-for-syria-rebels/

Syria conflict: Both sides ‚committing war crimes‘

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The report of the United Nations Human Rights Council cited in the below BBC article is interesting in that on the one hand it blames the syrian government for 8 massacres and the rebels for (only) one, BUT among the massacres mentioned by name the „famous“ massacres in Houla, Darayya and Aqrab are missing.

This is in so far strange as these massacres were immediately and unequivocally blamed on the government while many doubts arose and some well-known western reports (including Robert Fisk and Alex Thompson) even blamed the rebels.

„Anti-government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, execution without due process, torture, hostage-taking and attacking protected objects. They have besieged and indiscriminately shelled civilian neighbourhoods,“ the report adds.

So, while the report is very critical of the government it – explicitly, but also implicitly – also blames the alleged „good guys“ (the rebels) for some of the worst massacres.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24045680

Syria: The „National Council“ and the FSA getting more and more ridiculous

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FSA leader General Salim Idriss (who reportedly is such a complex laden narcist that he signs letters as „General Dr. Engineer Salim Idriss) only months ago was assuring western leaders such as Britains foreign secretary (and rebel supporter) Hague that the much requested sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons would only go to the (non-existing) „moderate“ rebels. He could allegedly guarantee this „100%“

Few months later it seems that even the few remaining „moderates“ of the FSA are turning their back on the Syrian National Council (SNC) and joining the islamist Al-Qaeda affiliated rebels, thereby expressing the desire to be ruled under Sharia law.

http://news.antiwar.com/2013/09/25/syrian-rebels-spurn-coalition-call-for-new-islamist-leadership/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24239779

„Eleven Islamist rebel groups in Syria have announced they do not recognise the authority of the main opposition alliance, the National Coalition.“

„The signatories include members of the Free Syrian Army as well as more radical Islamists – among them the powerful al-Nusra Front, which has links to al-Qaeda.“

Syrias rebels and the perfect orchestration of the gas attacks

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It cannot be denied that some sort of poisonous gas was used near Damascus with devastating effect. This is a fact. What is no fact is that it is clear who perpetrated the attack. The permanent statements of western politicians pointing at the syrian government are not evidence based and impartial but an intentional method to manipulate public opinion. There seems to be another fact to arrive at: That the rebels/“activists“ lied:

The sophisticated level of post-attack orchestrations by the opposition:
– immediate social media uploads reporting chemical attacks on 4 different suburbs/outskirts of Damascus
– spreading the apparently exaggerated claim of 1300 dead
– the lining up of heart breaking children corpses in almost total absence of rebel dead

and by contrast the relatively late first reaction of an obviously surprised government side suggest that one party in this conflict had a plan and a detailed chain of events to follow, while the other was caught in „shock an awe“ failing to publicize their version of the story through high ranking officials and at the right time (earlier than the rebels). The syrian government had no real story to tell.
By now, it seems that there were at most 350 dead, which is still a lot, especially given the high number of children deaths, but almost a 1000 casualties less than the very first horror reports. Then it seems, that only one place was really subject to a gas attack. These corrected versions that are either untold or played down by mainstream media in the days following the attack are no minor details: The claim of a four-fold almost simultaneous chemical attack and the high casualty figures were meant to assume that such a well-coordinated attack can only be carried out by an army with regular command and communication structure.

If the article below regarding the „Doctors without borders“ (Medicins sans frontieres) is true, then the statements by this organization cannot be considered 100% reliable and have to be taken with a grain of salt:
landdestroyer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/doctors-behind-syrian-chemical-weapons.html

 

 

Syria – Western democracies ignore their people´s will

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Polls taken in France, UK and US show that the broad majority of these Nato countries populations are vehemently opposed to military intervening in Syria. A similarly high level of opposition is also expressed towards the idea of further arming the increasingly radicalized and sectarian syrian rebels.

The sight of often non-syrian Salafi jihadists beheading christian Pastors as well as syrian Alawites but also the video clip showing a leader of an allegedly moderate syrian rebel faction cannibalizing the body of a dead syrian soldier will hardly have changed public opinion in favor of the rebels.

So, why are the Camerons, Hagues, Hollandes,…and probably also Obamas so keen on attacking Syria?
Why don´t they care for their people´s will? Is not a democracy about representing and fulfilling the people´s will?