Category Archives: Syria

Arab Revolutions, Syria, US Foreign Policy

General Dempsey and the War Experts: Swedes to Liberate Syria.…………

      

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“Several international defense experts said that a recent letter from America’s top military leader about the war in Syria revealed a “great power” weary of conflict, cautious on spending and hesitant about overseas engagements. “Very risk averse” is how Magnus Ranstorp, a security expert at the Swedish National Defence College, described the recent letter to Congress from Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which he laid out the U.S. options on Syria. “This letter reflects the dilemma the United States is facing,” Ranstorp said. “After a decade of military action, the American military knows well that it can be no more than part of a real solution.”………..”

It seems easy for others, for example some Swede, to call Dempsey “very risk averse”. I don’t see his country gung-ho on fighting in Syria. Ditto for other European hawks: they are happy to see American boys and girls go to war while they cheer over their glass of claret or aquavit or stein of beer. They like wars once-removed: the British and French governments were the most eager to have the European Union lift its arms embargo for Syrian rebels, yet now they refuse to supply arms because they have discovered that the rebels who really count are Salafi Jihadis.
FYI: low cost is not a normal justification for going to war, otherwise everybody would be invading Monaco and the Comoros. So why not let Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Sweden fight in Syria?

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Jihadis, Syria

Jesuit Priest Paolo Dall’Oglio Murdered by Syrian Rebels?……….

      

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“A Jesuit missionary who was abducted in northeastern Syria in July has been killed, according to one of the country’s most prominent rebel activists. Lama al-Atassi, secretary general for the Syrian National Front, wrote on her Facebook page that Italian priest Paolo Dall’Oglio, 59, has been executed. “It’s with deep sorrow that I inform you that I was told by a reliable source that father Paolo has been executed. May God have mercy of his soul,” she wrote. The Italian foreign ministry said it has no intelligence to confirm the claim………..”

This is just one source, but she is apparently considered a “reliable” pro-rebel source. Apparently there are still “reliable” Syrian sources on Syria, on both sides.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Lebanon, Syria

Syrian Rebels Revive the Regional Kidnap Industry……………

      

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“Two Turkish Airlines pilots have been kidnapped in Beirut, in an ambush that Lebanese officials believe is linked to the capture of nine Lebanese Shia pilgrims in northern Syria 15 months ago. In response, Ankara called on its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid travelling there, and launched an urgent round of contacts with Lebanese leaders who said they had no immediate leads as to who was responsible. The pilot, Murat Akpinar. and co-pilot, Murat Agca, were seized by six gunmen at 3.30am on Friday, less than one mile from Rariq Hariri airport in Beirut’s southern suburbs. They had been travelling to a hotel in the city in an airline-owned van after flying from Istanbul …………….”

“Syrian rebels have pushed deep into the coastal Alawite stronghold for the first time, seizing a string of villages in a campaign which, locals have warned, threatens to open the area up to full-blown sectarian war. “We are still finding people who were killed in their homes, and bodies left in bushes,” said Sheikh Mohammed Reda Hatem, an Alawite religious leader in Latakia. “Until now 150 Alawites from the villages have been kidnapped. There are women and children among them. We have lost all contact with them.”……………..”

Lebanese Shi’as. Iranian Shi’as, Christians, Alawites, 2 bishops, 2 other priests, many others. An Italian Jesuit priest activist Paolo Dall’Oglio was kidnapped this past week by his rebel hosts in Al Riqa region.
It is very likely some of the Lebanese clans who have had their members kidnapped by Syrian rebel groups along the Turkish border are using the kidnapped Turkish pilots as bargaining chips.
Suddenly kidnappers are doing a brisk business in Lebanon and Syria, but probably not enough to offset the crashing tourist industry..
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Saudi Princes Offer to Buy Syria from Russia..……

      

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“Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered to buy arms worth up to $15 billion from Russia, and provided a raft of economic and political concessions to the Kremlin – all in a bid to weaken Moscow’s endorsement of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The diplomatic initiatives were anonymously voiced to Reuters by multiple Gulf state diplomats and senior leaders of the Syrian opposition, in the wake of last week’s meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi National Security Council chief Prince Bandar bin-Sultan. The Saudi politician has orchestrated his country’s foreign policy in recent months. “Bandar offered to intensify energy, military and economic cooperation with Moscow,” a senior Syrian opposition figure told Reuters. “Bandar sought to allay two main Russian fears: that Islamist extremists will replace Assad, and that Syria would become a conduit for Gulf, mainly Qatari, gas at the expense of Russia.” The $15 billion figure was touted by a representative of the anti-Assad opposition….………..”

The Saudi princes want to liberate Syria from its current rulers and hand it to others who are allied with them. So they offer to pay Russia in order to get Syria, effectively offering to buy Syria from Russia. They have again resorted to their best and most effective strategy for buying friends and gaining influence. There is nothing they have to offer anyone besides money, and they use it extensively. They have no ideology or set of values that appeal to anyone outside the ruling family. Nobody anywhere admires them for who they are or for what they do. It is all to do with how much they are willing to pay. That applies to the Arab peoples and to foreign countries, from North America all the way across to the western shores of the Pacific Ocean. Apparently their attempt to buy the Russian government, or to buy Syria from the Russian government, has failed so far.

Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, GCC, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria

Field Marshal Bandar of the Caucasus, Lebanon, and Syria, and Qatar………

      

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“In a country of the blind, the one-eyed jack is king” Not Nietzsche


“Many of these Russian fighters and their Syrian comrades are (theoretically) under the command of a single man: Bandar bin Sultan. For one thing, the top Saudi security man is their main financier, arms source, and their virtual political spokesperson, whether directly or through his deputy, the head of the Syrian National Coalition Ahmad al-Jarba……….. His most recent experience of a military nature took place in Lebanon, after 2006, when Bandar convinced the Saudi king to bankroll a militia for Saad Hariri. Some observers familiar with that experience say that Bandar spent more than $200 million to build this paramilitary force, only for the whole plan to meet a catastrophic defeat in less than 20 hours of fighting, in May 2008. In Syria, Bandar bin Sultan did not deviate from his usual approach. He has set very high expectations, and today, according to some who met him over the past few weeks, he sees no issue more important than Syria. For instance, Bandar rarely mentions Yemen, Iraq, or Lebanon, except from the standpoint of defeating Iran and Hezbollah in the Levant……… Nevertheless, these concerns did not prevent Bandar from wagering on his fighters’ achievements over the next few months. For instance, the Saudi prince wants to see breakthroughs by the rebels in northern Syria, starting in Aleppo, and in the south, where he will try to convince the Jordanian regime to allow fighters and weapons to flow into Daraa and the Golan….……”

No doubt Prince Bandar fancies himself some kind of strategist. He wants to be known as such rather than just another corrupt prince (you know: BAE Systems, Al-Yamama, SFO, Tony Blair, etc). And he is a strategist by Al Saud standards: the one-eyed jack is king in a country of the blind. He can plan and strategize (do strategery, as he learned serving in the Bush White House). On more than one front. He can liberate Syria and Lebanon (maybe the two are related) while keeping Iraq highly unstable and Bahrain under control and the Al-Thani of Qatar in their rightful place playing second or third fiddle. Putting Iran on the defensive until the USA or Israel come to their senses and start a new war in the Middle East. In the meantime keeping the captive peoples of the Arabian Peninsula (aka the Saudi people) under tight control.
 
It should be easy: Hitler did it by declaring war on Russia and America in the same year and making it stick for more than one whole year. Until his natural stupidity caught up with the fake aura of invincibility. But Hitler was never before defeated by the ragtag barely-armed Houthi tribal clan of Yemen, his Stalingrad was further north than Yemen or Syria or Lebanon.
Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Pakistan, Syria, Taliban

Taliban Join FSA in Syria: There is No Bombing Like Drone Bombing……

      

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“The Pakistani Taliban have set up camps and sent hundreds of men to Syria to fight alongside rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, militants said on Sunday, in a strategy aimed at cementing ties with al Qaeda’s central leadership. More than two years since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion, Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni fighters who have flocked to the Middle Eastern nation to join what they see as a holy war against Shi’ite oppressors. Operating alongside militant groups such as the al Nusra Front, described by the United States as a branch of al Qaeda, they mainly come from nearby countries such as Libya and Tunisia riven by similar conflict as a result of the Arab Spring……………….”

It was a natural step, given the variety of Arab, Chechen, Bosnian, and other cutthroats fighting the regime and each other in Syria. With Al-Qaeda and several of its franchises doing what they consider God’s murder in Syria, it was only a matter of time before the Taliban showed up.

Or maybe it is a trick by the Pakistani Taliban to drag Mr. Obama into the Syrian trap. It is no secret that the Taliban love Mr. Obama about as much as they would love any Shi’a ayatollah (which is slightly less than they approve of a bare-faced woman who can read). Given that the drones are attacking gatherings in Pakistan on a regular basis, it is natural for the Taliban to expect the drones to also enter the fray in Syria. On the other hand, that may fall in nicely with some neoconservatives who have been pushing for the US to bomb someone or something or somewhere in Syria. After all, drone bombing is still a from of bombing. It beats no bombing.
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Sectarian, Syria

Syrian Tunnel: What Two Years of War and Foreign Intervention Have Done………

      

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“The last time I came here, much of the rebel fury was reserved for Alawite Muslims, the minority offshoot of Shiite Islam from which the Assad family and many of the regime’s senior functionaries and paramilitaries are drawn. This year, however, the Shiites themselves are the enemy. A television in the corner is blaring footage of the daily sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq, most of it directed against Shiites, and I ask Aleh, a wiry young man sitting beside me, whether he really wants Syria to end up like that. “I want it and I don’t want it. I don’t want it because it will kill very many. But the Shiites must understand that they don’t own Syria or Iraq. A very bad war is coming.” But surely, I say, he’s only talking about the irregular paramilitaries of the shabiha and not an entire religious group? “We don’t like all the Shiites, because all of them are killing us,” he insists. “They say bad things about our Prophet. When I kill a man in the Syrian Army, I am sad. But I enjoy killing Shiites or Alawites.”……………….”

Before Iraq and before this so-called misnamed Arab Spring, our region has not heard or practiced such sectarian venom in more than a thousand years. Killing by identity was limited to brief spurts of civil strife in places like Lebanon. Slitting of throats and beheading by identity is almost like something new from the 21st century.
That is what foreign intervention, all foreign intervention, on both sides, has done to Syria.
That is what foreign money and fighters and ideology and hatred and weapons have done. And the end is not in sight. The Syrian tunnel is dark and it is growing longer as it twists until it becomes a dark regional tunnel.
Cheers
mhg

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Al-Qaeda, Arab Revolutions, Hezbollah, Syria

Hearts and Minds in Aleppo, Ku Klux Klan in Aleppo, Warm and Fuzzy Hezbollah…………

      

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“Rebels say their immediate aim is to cut off supplies from government troops, but it appears the blockade is also part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening support for the government and pressuring civilians in government-held areas to leave. If the western part of Aleppo, now home to two million Syrians, becomes empty of civilians, a ground assault by rebels would be easier to carry out and more morally defensible, rebels argue. Abu al-Haytham, a fighter whose unit is among those enforcing the siege, stressed that the Free Syrian Army’s aim was not to punish residents but to block government supplies and prompt civilians to seek refuge elsewhere, opening the way for a ground attack. “Our siege is not just about tomatoes and cucumbers. We want to storm security buildings, and the presence of civilians is obstructing our movement,” he said in a Skype interview. But for citizens trying to get by, it is more basic: it is about eating. Recently, a woman was trying to cross back into the government-controlled part of the city when she was stopped at a rebel checkpoint. Fighters refused to let her cross with the prize she had come for: bags of fruits, vegetables and medicine…………….”

Liwaa al-Tawheed is an Islamist fundamentalist group, most likely another Salafi gang. That is what its name tells me: al-Tawheed, al-Farooq, al-Umma, al-Sunna, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, Abu Qatada, Abu Yazeed, Abu Lahab and a few other “al‘s” and “Abu‘s” that plague Syria these days. The meaning of the name is as clear to me as the Ku Klux Klan in the American Deep South (and elsewhere nowadays).
These guys, these Salafi cutthroats, make Hezbollah, so demonized in American media courtesy of the Israeli lobby, seem like absolutely sweet and warm and fuzzy. Compared to them, Hezbollah is an effete combination of cotton candy and pussy cat (and quiche-lover).
Then of course everybody on all Syrian sides is nervous: the battle for Aleppo is looming. It will probably come after the contest for Homs is settled, which seems to be soon.
Cheers
mhg

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Lebanon, Syria, Terrorism

Hariri Blames Israeli Allies for Beirut Bombing, FSA Aims at Lebanon as it Loses Syria……….

      

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“Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri blamed Israel Tuesday for the “terrorist explosion” that rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs and accused the country of trying to provoke Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon. “[The blast] requires the highest level of awareness and vigilance in the face of dangers that surround the country and the entire region, especially while facing attempts by the Israeli enemy to push [Lebanon] to strife by organizing terrorist attacks, as happened today,” Hariri said in a statement. “After of terrible criminal scene that Beirut’s southern suburbs witnessed, the Lebanese can only express indignation and condemnation of the crime that targeted one of the most populated neighborhoods,” the statement said. A car bomb explosion ripped through the Beirut’s southern suburb neighborhood of Bir al-Abed, a pro-Hezbollah area, wounded dozens of people……………”

Mr. Hariri, ensconced in a mansion in Paris or Riyadh, is using a bit of deception here, trying to stave of the expected criticism from Hezbollah and its Christian allies. Most likely the bombers were Salafi allies of the Hariri-Saudi March 14 right-wing movement. The Salafi creations of the March 14 bloc. Or their Syrian allies of the Free Syrian Salafi Army across the border who had threatened to attack inside Lebanon. But this only disrupts things in Lebanon, it does not change the dynamics on the ground in Syria. The FSA needs to win on Syrian soil not disrupt Lebanese politics.

This report has come out now: “The group, named the Special Forces 313 Brigade, uses the black, red, green and white colors of the flag of the Syrian opposition, and Islamic terminology………….”
Cheers
mhg

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Arab Revolutions, Egypt, Syria

Is Homs about to Fall? Ahmad Jarba and the Pigs of Egypt…..

      

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“Syrian government forces appeared to be close yesterday to seizing the last rebel-held areas of Homs, Syria’s third city, consolidating a recent string of victories for the Assad regime.Videos uploaded to the internet showed scenes of devastation in the Khaldiyah district in the northern half of the city. Streets were strewn with rubble and buildings badly damaged from shellfire and pockmarked with bullet holes………..”

Homs is divided between the Syria army and the opposition FSA and other Salafi groups. It looks like regime forces are steadily defeating the rebels and pushing them out. That explains the calls by Ahmad Jarba, the current Saudi Arabian tribal pro-consul of the Syrian National Coalition for a Ramadan ceasefire. Even Ban Ki-Moon, who can’t tell Ramadan from Christmas, has called for a Ramadan ceasefire.
No doubt the Syrian people need a permanent ceasefire. They need an end to this civil war and free elections. They need to put their lives back together. It is highly unlikely Mr. Al Assad will agree to a Ramadan truce. Typically, and logically, the losing side in a battle calls for an immediate ceasefire and the winning side refuses if they can. That explains why in 2009, during Mubarak’s War on Pigs, the pigs called for a ceasefire but the Egyptian army refused. The generals, possibly led by Tantawi and Al Sisi, thought they were winning. The pigs of Egypt were in deep doodoo, as pigs are wont to be

Cheers
mhg

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