Category Archives: Syria

Arab Revolutions, Media, Syria

Journalists and Syria’s Liberator-Kidnappers………

      

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“Thirteen international news organizations, including the BBC, The Associated Press and The New York Times, have written a letter to the armed opposition in Syria asking for assurances that their reporters will not be abducted. Over the past year, the letter says, the organizations have “witnessed a disturbing rise in the kidnapping of journalists while on assignment within the northern provinces of Aleppo, Idlib and al-Raqqa,” and elsewhere in Syria. The organizations estimate that more than 30 journalists are now being held, the letter said, and that as a result many of them have “decided to limit their coverage of the war.”…….. “We understand that, as in any war zone, reporters face great risk of injury and death,” the letter says, “and we accept those risks, but the risk of kidnapping is unacceptable……………….”

What a polite letter to the Jihadis. They
worry about the risk of kidnapping. The risk of being shot and getting
beheaded is apparently not so bad.
For more than two years Western media ignored the role of the Syrian opposition groups in the deaths and kidnappings of journalists and other civilians. Headlines were given only to journalists who were killed by regime forces; some others were killed by “unknown” parties and blamed on the regime. The major media fell in line with government policy in such a smooth transition that the old Pravda would have envied, that the Syrian daily Tishreen would envy. But that could go on for only so long, especially now that kidnapping rather than ‘liberation’ seems to be the major avocation of some of the armed groups. They re even kidnapping each other now, including each others’ wives.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Syria, WMD

Hersh on WMD of Choice: Syrian Sarin and French Haute Cuisine………..

      

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“Barack Obama did not tell the whole story this autumn when he tried to make the case that Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the chemical weapons attack near Damascus on 21 August. In some instances, he omitted important intelligence, and in others he presented assumptions as facts. Most significant, he failed to acknowledge something known to the US intelligence community: that the Syrian army is not the only party in the country’s civil war with access to sarin, the nerve agent that a UN study concluded – without assessing responsibility – had been used in the rocket attack. In the months before the attack, the American intelligence agencies produced a series of highly classified reports, culminating in a formal Operations Order – a planning document that precedes a ground invasion – citing evidence that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity. When the attack occurred al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad…………..”

The story of Sarin use in at least two cases this year was broken through the semi-official Saudi Alarabiya network (a network that is owned and operated in Dubai by an in-law of the late King Fahd). These stories always came out at critical times for the Syrian opposition groups, usually after big defeats on the battlefield: for example one story broke out just after the regime victory as Qusayr. Saudi Alarabiya as usual broke the story through an interview with “activists” who supplied a video. Western media adopted the story with gusto: CNN practically declared its own war. The governments of the USA, Britain, and France jumped on the story, again. The French, always good at cooking food and occasionally cooking up evidence, quickly confirmed the use of Sarin. The French and British governments immediately implicated the Assad regime. The Obama administration seemed more doubtful and was relatively more honest: it often avoided pointing the finger at any one side, merely saying that “Sarin was used in Syria”.

Cheers
mhg

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Arabian Peninsula, Syria, U.S. Congress, US Foreign Policy

No Honest Brokers in Syria? Maybe Belize or Fiji or Israel………

      

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“Iran’s potential participation in the Geneva 2 discussions would be an additional indignity to those in the Syrian opposition who still seek cooperation with the United States and the West. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers told The Daily Beast that he doesn’t think Iran should be included. “I don’t believe Iran is an honest broker in Syria to any degree. They are operating Hezbollah, supporting them, giving them weapons, giving them intelligence,” he said. “That would not be a great outcome. You cannot continue to alienate our allies in the region, just to get a deal.”……………”

That is true, what Congressman Rogers said: Iran is not an honest broker in Syria because it supports one side of the civil war. Any party that supports one side can’t be an honest broker.
So, can you tell me who can be an honest broker in Syria now? That means: can you tell me of a country that doesn’t support any one of the many sides of the civil war? Maybe Belize? Or perhaps Vanuatu or Fiji?
 
It is tempting to go to a ridiculous extreme and suggest Israel as ‘honest’ broker since they dislike all sides of the Syrian war and all sides hate them, and they probably have something to lose no matter what the outcome. It all depends on their assessment of which side is ‘preferable’ as the lesser evil in the long term. I bet some of the impotent Arab potentates would love this last suggestion even as they scowl at it with feigned indignation.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Jihadis, Sectarian, Syria

Syrian Islamist Rebels: ‘Have 12 Hostage Nuns, Will Trade for Concubines or Prisoners……..

      

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“A Syrian Islamist rebel group wants to trade 12 kidnapped nuns for 1,000 women prisoners held by the government, a pan-Arab newspaper has reported. A spokesman for the “Free Qalamoun” group told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that the nuns were safe. He said they would not be freed until several demands were met. These include the release of 1,000 Syrian women held in regime prisons according to the spokesman. The reports have not yet been independently confirmed. An official at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Damascus said the nuns were safe but would not comment on which group had taken them. Islamist fighters who captured the Christian village of Maaloula north of Damascus moved the nuns from the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Thecla.………….”

My initial thoughts were: If this is true, it will mean that the flow of foreign females for Jihad sex from Tunisia and other venues has dried up. The Salafis now have to resort to grabbing nuns (probably considered old and not very sensuous) and trading them for younger females. There have been reports of chicks from other places, Chechnya and Bosnia (and let’s not forget Ingushetia) going to Syria to entertain the cutthroats and indirectly help liberate Syria. As a result, they can also contribute to the future Islamic State of Syria by populating the place with many new little Wahhabis.
I still don’t understand why the Wahhabi folks on the Persian Gulf who supply money and weapons and some of the volunteers can’t also supply the women. They can always impose some of their Salafi values by insisting that there be no cross-tribal or even cross-national fraternization or conjugation (or that other kind of “ation”).
PS: Initially they responded by saying they had the nuns in ‘protective custody’. Now apparently the kidnappers-liberators have changed their minds: they are now asking to exchange the captive nuns with some of the female prisoners. Otherwise…….. what?

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria, WMD

Syrian Activists on WMD: If at First You do not Succeed………

      

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Syrian Activists and Saudi media on WMD: “If at First You don’t succeed, try again and……….”

“Opposition activists again accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of using poison gas in Syria’s civil war on Thursday, and said victims had been discovered with swollen limbs and foaming at the mouth. The activists told Reuters two shells loaded with gas hit a rebel-held area in the town of Nabak, 68 km northeast of Damascus, on a major highway in the Qalamoun region. They reported seven casualties……….. They reported seven casualties. Separately, the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union also accused Assad’s forces of using poison gas..………….”

After which Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Sultan Al-Yamama, leader of the Syrian opposition and putative future viceroy for Syria, will also declare refutable evidence of Syrian regime use of poisoned gas. The Islamic Heritage Revival Society, Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Saudi Religious Police, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, and the Ringling Brothers (and Barnum & Bailey) will also confirm the use of WMD in Syria. Alarabiya and Asharq Alawsat and Mad Magazine will now headline the gruesome incident. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich), head of the House Intelligence (this did not use to be an oxymoron) is considering a demand for action. The French and British governments will offer to confirm the use of poison gas.
 
Qalamoun is the site of an ongoing battle that will very likely lead to the ejection of the opposition groups from another strategic area. Remember, the claims of the use of WMD got louder and accelerated after regime forces defeated the opposition in Qusayr earlier this year.

Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Arabian Peninsula, Jihadis, Syria

Holy Road to Liberation: Syrian Rebels Enter Maaloula, Capture Nuns………

      

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“The Syrian terrorists abducted 12 nuns from Mar Takla monastery, which lies in the historic town of Maaloula in Damascus, and moved them to the nearby town of Yabroud. The Papal ambassador to Damascus Mario Zinara said that the 12 nuns were obliged by the terrorists to leave the monastery in order to follow them to the nearby town of Yabroud. “I think that the twelve nuns are in Yabroud.” There is a fierce battle in Maaloula, and it is hard to determine the exact information,” he added, “We are not familiar with the reasons that pushed the terrorists to force the nuns to leave the monastery.” SANA confirmed that the militants, who belong to al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, entered the Orthodox monastery of Mar Takla in the center of Maaloula……………”

Maaloula has been a point of contention between regime forces and Jihadist rebels for months now. The various groups and militias of Syria’s rebels are predictable, be they simple plain Salafis or die-hard Wahhabi Takfiris. Their second instinct after capturing a village or hamlet or neighborhood is to round up people of other faiths, those who are not Wahhabis, and take them captive as war hostages. Some might add to that last sentence “if they are lucky”, and that ‘luck’ is related to their ‘first’ instinct. Be they Alawis (Alawites), Shia’s, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, or Vegans. They would also no doubt love to grab some Jews, who are still the Wahhabis’ preferable hostages (more prized than the Shi’as as hostages, but more elusive). I know some who would dispute this last assertion.

So, two years ago the putative liberators of Syria captured a bunch of Lebanese Shi’a pilgrims, anointed them Hezbollah and Quds Force fighters, and held them captive. Some months ago they got more ambitious, they captured and took hostage a couple of priests and an archbishop (presumably all Christians since neither Muslims nor Wahhabis have archbishops nor priests as far as I know, and I should know). Then last summer they captured an Italian priest (Father Paolo Dall’Oglio) who was trying to ‘talk to them’. Reports a month later claimed he was killed by the liberators, they probably Daniel Pearled him (most Western media ignored the story).
Now the Jihadis have  a bunch of nuns from an ancient held captive. Let us see how closer that brings them to the liberation and capture of Damascus promised by the unelected GCC potentates, the Arab League, and a gaggle of traveling U.S. senators.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Saudi Arabia, Syria

A Robber Prince with Chutzpah but Flawed Strategy…….

      

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“Last year, according to Saudi sources who’ve worked closely with Bandar, he told King Abdullah that he could solve the Syria situation in a matter of months. The previous intelligence chief, Abdullah’s half brother Prince Muqrin, had not been able to make much headway. But Bandar, as it turns out, has not been much of an improvement. “His job requires being able to work 18 hours a day and he cannot,” says a Saudi who has collaborated closely with Bandar. He is frustrated and angry and anxious to show off to the world his ability to achieve the seemingly impossible, as he did in the past. But as the same Saudi points out, “being angry is not good in the intelligence business.” And in today’s Middle East, chutzpah just isn’t enough……………”

Prince Bandar Bin Sultan (bin Bush bin Al Yamama) may have a complex. He probably thinks he is the smartest among the absolute Al Saud princes that own the country called Saudi Arabia. That doesn’t mean he is. Yet normally he will never be considered as a potential future king. He doesn’t have the requisite tribal blood connections that most of the other eligible princes have. I suspect this is the reason someone like his cousin Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is more into business than into competing for a future chance at the throne. That might explain why “he is frustrated and angry and anxious to show off to the world his ability to achieve……..“

Or he can always join the Peace Corps or Habitat for Humanity or some other worthy cause.
He can even volunteer for the Salvation Army and help outside Safeway or QFC during the Christmas season.
Cheers
mhg

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Jihadis, Syria, Wahhabi

Post-Mortem: Jihadist gets Beheaded by Mistake, Will he Go to Hell or Heaven?………

      

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“Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in Syria have admitted beheading a fellow rebel by mistake after believing him to be an Iraqi Shiite fighting alongside regime forces, a watchdog said on Friday. A video posted on the Internet on Wednesday showed two members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holding up a bearded man’s head before a crowd in Aleppo in northern Syria. They said he was an Iraqi Shiite who had been fighting among the ranks of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces……………….”

They did not chop his head off because they mistook him for a “Shi’a fighting with Bashar’s forces”. They chopped his head off because they just thought he was a “Shi’a”, period. Identity is enough for these Wahhabi terrorists to behead someone.
I need to ask a Salafi Wahhabi shaikh if this man will go to heaven for being a Salafi or will he go to hell for being killed as a suspected Shi’a. A mere technicality that only a Salafi cleric-lawyer can resolve. As for my special Salafi source, she tells me it is a toss-up now, the Jihadi shaikhs are debating his post-mortem fate.

Cheers
mhg

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Britain, Syria, US Foreign Policy

The Economist Goes to War, Miss Universe between Syria and Geneva……

      

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“To see why, consider the lessons of other civil wars, which we assess in this week’s briefing. Syria is bogged down in endless killing. Early in the uprising, Western support might have ousted Mr Assad and preserved Syria’s sectarian harmony. That was what this newspaper at first recommended, but the West—and Barack Obama in particular—held back. Now, after more than 110,000 people have died during 30 months of violence, it is too late. Not only have many rebels fallen under the spell of Sunni fanaticism, but history suggests that, unless civil wars end in victory after 12 months or so, they tend to drag on for years. Like many civil-war leaders Mr Assad may prefer to prolong the fighting rather than risk compromise. The rebels, too, will battle on in the knowledge that surrender is likely to mean death. Hence the argument for a negotiated settlement that might bring forward an end to the fighting and spare Syrian lives. The effort is worth it—about 40% of civil wars end through negotiation. But the odds on success are already long. It makes no sense to insist on conditions that would make the talks still more likely to fail……………” The Economist

The Economist has moved back to the right over the past years. They are now more often eager for new Western wars in the Middle East. And by the way, their predictions are often wrong, have been for a few decades. The Economist has somewhat dumbed down over the years, but it is still better than most of its English language rivals.
The problem with the Syrian opposition groups is that they believed what they read in Western and Arab potentates media throughout 2011-12. They believed that Bashar al-Assad’s days were numbered. Hell, even some of Bashar’s subordinates and minions believed that and defected to the opposition fighting hard in five-star hotels in Turkey or Jordan or Saudi Arabia or Qatar. Even Bashar’s best childhood friend Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass got a haircut and defected to the free democratic ambiance of Saudi Arabia.
So, it is easy to see why it is hard for the opposition groups to accept that Bashar might be around for some time. I mean if you’ve been promised by ‘the powers that be’ to be crowned Miss Universe, it is hard to accept being the runner-up. If beauty contests are your thing.

Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, GCC, Jihadis, Kuwait, Syria

From the Gulf with Wahhabi Love: Money to Al-Qaeda……

      

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“The money flows in via bank transfer or is delivered in bags or pockets bulging with cash. Working from his sparely furnished sitting room here, Ghanim al-Mteiri gathers the funds and transports them to Syria for the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Mteiri — one of dozens of Kuwaitis who openly raise money to arm the opposition — has helped turn this tiny, oil-rich Persian Gulf state into a virtual Western Union outlet for Syria’s rebels, with the bulk of the funds he collects going to a Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda. One Kuwait-based effort raised money to equip 12,000 rebel fighters for $2,500 each. Another campaign, run by a Saudi sheikh based in Syria and close to Al Qaeda, is called “Wage Jihad With Your Money.”………………..”

I posted on this last June. Here is an excerpt from that posting, The Economics of Jihad in Syria:
 
“Local Kuwait media report that the tribal Islamist opposition has called for a mobilization for war in Syria (they called it for Jihad in Syria). A bunch of former opposition tribal Islamist MP’s held a sort of tribal charity ball but stag, a large gathering of men to start a campaign to raise money to equip and arm 12 thousand ghazis (ghazi is Arabic for invader, raider, meaning here Jihadi) for Syria. They have called for every family (that listens to them) to equip and arm one Mujahid to go to Syria to fight. One of them suggested that 700 Dinars (about US $2400) would prepare and send a Jihadis to battle in Syria. (No idea if this amount covers one or multiple multiple wives). That of course does not cover the current cost of operations: food, bullets, shelter, bribes, booze, etc. All that minus current revenues: whatever can be looted as war booty or obtained as ransom for hostages the FSA and Jihadist militias like to take (they are avid hostage-takers and are still holding two Christian bishops and two other priests hostage, in addition to many Alawis and Shi’as)……..”
 
I must amend that last quote from my older posting. It is not “the opposition” that is supporting and collecting money for Al-Qaeda. It is the Islamist tribal branch of the opposition, what is effectively the Wahhabi branch, which in recent years has dominated the opposition, including a couple of the hairy worthies mentioned in the New York Times piece. There are outspoken “secularists” among the opposition who seek more freedom. But the Wahhabi branch of the opposition has been more outspoken and they rely on their tribal bases to get elected (cross-tribe voting is almost unheard of, it is even rarer than cross-sect voting). Liberals and secularists are divided and politically weaker since they are city folks and have no reliable tribal votes.
But then they are in retreat all across the Arab world, even in the few places where there are no tribes.

Cheers
mhg

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