IISS: Syria's Opposition - Is Armed Placard-Waving Protesters are actually Machine Gu

[Octoldit]

-The "Free Syria Army" is literally an army of militant extremists, many drawn not from Syria's military ranks, but from the Muslim Brotherhood, carrying heavy weapons back and forth over the Turkish and Lebanese borders, funded, supported, and armed by the United States, Israel, and Turkey. The latest evidence confirming this comes in the form of a report out of the International Institute for Strategic Studies where Senior Fellow for Regional Security at IISS-Middle East Emile Hokayem openly admits Syria's opposition is armed and prepared to drag Syria's violence into even bloodier depths.

This report comes in sharp contrast to the propaganda fed via the corporate-media and the West's foreign ministers on a daily basis, where the violence is portrayed as one-sided, with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad "gunning down" throngs of peaceful, placard waving protesters. Just as in Libya where these so-called "peaceful protesters" turned out to be hordes of genocidal racist Al Qaeda mercenaries, led by big-oil representatives, fighting their cause upon a verified pack of lies, so too is Syria's "pro-democracy" movement which is slowly being revealed as yet another militant brand of extremists long cultivated by Anglo-American intelligence agencies, whose leadership is harbored in London and Washington and their foot soldiers supplied a steady stream of covert military support and overt rhetorical support throughout the compromised corporate media.

LINK: Land Destroyer: IISS: Syria's Opposition Is Armed

 

[waltky]

UN makes it official - Syria in civil war...

Syria now in a civil war with 4,000 dead: United Nations
December 1, 2011 - Civil war has been the worst-case scenario in Syria since the revolt against Assad began eight months ago. Damascus has a web of allegiances that extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy, raising fears of a regional conflagration.

Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to fight President Bashar Assad's regime, the U.N.'s top human rights official said Thursday. Civil war has been the worst-case scenario in Syria since the revolt against Assad began eight months ago. Damascus has a web of allegiances that extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement and Iran's Shiite theocracy, raising fears of a regional conflagration. The assessment that the bloodshed in Syria has crossed into civil war came from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay. The conflict has shown little sign of letting up. Activists reported up to 22 people killed Thursday, adding to what has become a daily grind of violence.

"We are placing the (death toll) figure at 4,000 but really the reliable information coming to us is that it's much more than that," Pillay said in Geneva. "As soon as there were more and more defectors threatening to take up arms, I said this in August before the Security Council, that there's going to be a civil war," she added. "And at the moment, that's how I am characterizing this." U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner declined to call it a civil war. "The overwhelming use of force has been taken by Assad and his regime," Toner told reporters. "So there's no kind of equanimity here." Toner said Assad's government has taken Syria down a dangerous path, and that "the regime's bloody repression of the protests has not surprisingly led to this kind of reaction that we've seen with the Free Syrian Army."

The Free Syrian Army, a group of defectors from the military, has emerged as the most visible armed challenge to Assad. The group holds no territory, appears largely disorganized and is up against a fiercely loyal and cohesive military. International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But there is real concern that the conflict in Syria could spread chaos across the Middle East. Syria borders five countries with whom it shares religious and ethnic minorities and, in Israel's case, a fragile truce. Recent economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, the Arab League and Turkey were aimed at persuading Assad to end his crackdown. On Thursday, the EU announced a new round of sanctions against Syrian individuals and businesses linked to the unrest.

The new sanctions target 12 people and 11 companies, and add to a long list of those previously sanctioned by the EU. The full list of names of those targeted will not be known until they are published Friday in the EU's official journal. The 27-member bloc also imposed some sanctions on Syria's ally Iran in the wake of an attack this week by a mob on the British Embassy in Tehran, the Iranian capital. British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Iran of supporting Assad's crackdown, saying "there is a link between what is happening in Iran and what is happening in Syria." The sanctions are punishing Syria's ailing economy — a dangerous development for Damascus because the prosperous merchant classes are key to propping up the regime.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Assad brings out the tanks...

23 killed as Syrian tanks fire at protesters
December 27, 2011 - At least 23 people were killed as Syrian tank forces battled opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Homs on Monday, residents said, ahead of a planned visit by Arab League monitors to verify whether he is ending a violent crackdown on unrest.

A day before observers were to have their first look at the city at the heart of a nine-month-old revolt, there was no sign of Assad carrying out a plan agreed with the League to halt an offensive against protests and start talks with the opposition.

Amateur video posted to the internet by activists showed three tanks in the streets next to apartment blocks in the Baba Amr district. One fired its machinegun and another appeared to be launch mortar rounds.

Gruesome video showed mangled bodies lying in pools of blood on a narrow street. “What’s happening is a slaughter,” said Fadi, a Homs resident.

Source

 

[AnonymousIV]

Now look at Hezbollah. Hezbollah depends greatly on Syria in order to function, and to function as a militia. Syria is Hezbollahs’ strategic depth. The reason that Hezbollah can fight so effectively in 2006 – Israel can bomb Lebanon all it wants, but there are weapons depots in Syria from where Hezbollah can rearm. Hezbollah can drive over the border to regroup. It’s a clear and unmolested supply line – it’s a staging area.

 

[waltky]

Syria to get more AL monitors...

Arab League to send more monitors as violence continues in Syria
Monday 2nd January, 2012 - As activists Monday alleged that more anti-government protesters had been killed by security forces in Syria since the Arab League observers have arrived, the League team head announced more members would arrive in Damascus on Thursday.

On Sunday, the Arab League advisory body had called for the immediate withdrawal of monitors from Syria saying the government forces were continuing in their crackdown on protesters. In a statement, the advisory board had said the abuse and killing of civilians were continuing and requested a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog Monday said that troops had killed more people and urged the League to do more to stop the killings.

The Arab League Syria operations head Adnan al-Khodeir has said that more observers will be sent Thursday to Syria to join the 66 already there. "Around 20 more observers will proceed from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Tunisia," Khodeir said. The monitors are on a month-long mission that began December 26 when many anti-regime protesters were killed in a brutal crackdown in Syria.

On Sunday, protesters greeted the New Year with fireworks and fresh protests calling for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. They also accused the League of not doing enough to end the crackdown. The Arab League observers are in Syria to oversee a peace initiative that calls for the withdrawal of the military from residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians, the release of detainees and talks with the opposition. United Nations estimates has put the death toll at more than 5,000 since the uprising began in March 2011.

Source

See also:

Syria unrest: Arab League calls for end to shooting
2 January 2012 - Protesters are frustrated with the Arab League's efforts

The Arab League secretary general has called for an end to shootings in Syria, warning snipers remain a threat. Nabil al-Arabi said "all signs of military presence" had left the cities, with tanks and artillery removed. Some 60 Arab League monitors are checking compliance with a peace plan, but correspondents say protesters are frustrated they cannot stop killings. The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed in a crackdown on anti-government protests since March.

There has been no let-up in violence, and activists say 390 people have been killed since the observers arrived last week. Activist group the Local Co-ordination Committees said 15 people were killed on Monday, 10 of them in the flashpoint city of Homs. Meanwhile in northern Idlib province, mutinous troops killed, wounded or captured a number of government soldiers in attacks on three checkpoints, London-based opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

There has also been criticism of the head of the monitoring team, Sudanese Gen Mustafa al-Dabi - who is regarded by some as biased towards the Syrian government. And on Sunday, the Arab Parliament, an advisory body to the league, said the observers should be withdrawn because of the continuing violence.

Rooftop snipers

 

[waltky]

Refusing to be Assad's stooge...

Arab monitor quits Syria mission in disgust
Wednesday 11 Jan 2012 - Arab League observer in Syria quits, saying that he found himself serving the regime

An Arab League observer has left Syria, saying he had witnessed "scenes of horror" that he was powerless to prevent and that the Arab monitoring team sent to the country was not acting independently. "I withdrew because I found myself serving the (Syrian) regime," Anwar Malek told Al Jazeera television, still wearing the orange vest used by the Arab monitors. "How was I serving the regime? I was giving the regime a greater chance to continue its killing and I could not prevent that," the Algerian said in an interview at Al Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar.

The Arab League monitoring mission, now about 165 strong, began work on Dec. 26. Its task is to verify if Syria is complying with an agreement to halt a crackdown on 10 months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed. Asked why he had quit, Malek said: "The most important thing is to have human feelings of humanity. I spent more than 15 days in Homs... I saw scenes of horror, burnt bodies... I cannot leave behind my humanity in this sort of situation."

Malek criticised the leader of the Arab League mission, Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi, whose suitability for the role had been questioned by human rights groups concerned about his past role in the conflict in Darfur. "The head of the mission wanted to steer a middle course in order not to anger the (Syrian) authorities or any other side," said Malek, who had already drawn attention for critical comments he posted on Facebook while still in Syria.

A U.N. official told the Security Council on Tuesday that Syria had accelerated its killing of protesters after the Arab monitors arrived, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said. "The under-secretary-general noted that in the days since the Arab League monitoring mission has been on the ground, an estimated 400 additional people have been killed, an average of 40 a day, a rate much higher than was the case before their deployment," ambassador Susan Rice told reporters in New York.

Rice was speaking after Lynn Pascoe, U.N. under-secretary-general for political affairs, briefed the 15-nation Security Council behind closed doors on Syria and other major crises. Rice said the figure did not include 26 people the authorities said were killed by a suicide bomber in Damascus last week. Syria says it is facing a wave of "terrorism" by Islamists armed and manipulated from abroad who have killed 2,000 members of the security forces. Assad said in a speech on Tuesday that his country was the target of a foreign conspiracy.

Source

 

[waltky]

The Grand Poobah speaks...

U.N. chief: Syrian president must stop violence
15 Jan.`12 – The U.N. Secretary General demanded Sunday that Syria's president stop killing his own people, and said the "old order" of one-man rule and family dynasties is over in the Middle East.

In a keynote address at a conference on democracy in the Arab world, Ban Ki-moon said the revolutions of the Arab Spring show that people will no longer accept tyranny. "Today, I say again to President (Bashar) Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people," Ban said during the conference in Beirut. Thousands of people have been killed in the Syrian government's crackdown on a 10-month-old uprising, which has turned increasingly violent in recent months. The Syrian regime blames the revolt on terrorists and armed gangs — not protesters seeking an end to nearly four decades of Assad family rule.

Arab League observers began work in Syria on Dec. 27 to verify whether the government is abiding by its agreement to end the military crackdown on dissent, but the bloodshed has only increased. The U.N. says about 400 people have been killed in the last three weeks alone, on top of an earlier estimate of more than 5,000 killed since March. Opposition and army defectors meanwhile have increasingly been taking up arms to fight back against government forces. Ban acknowledged challenges facing Arab states in the wake of the uprisings sweeping the Arab world, in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. "Democracy is not easy," he said. "It takes time and effort to build. It does not come into being with one or two elections. Yet there is no going back."

He encouraged Arab countries to usher in real reforms and dialogue, and to respect the role of women and the young. "The old way, the old order, is crumbling," Ban said. "One-man rule and the perpetuation of family dynasties, monopolies of wealth and power, the silencing of the media, the deprivation of fundamental freedoms that are the birthright of every man, woman and child on this planet — to all of this, the people say: Enough!" The U.N. chief also urged an end to "Israeli occupation of Arab and Palestinian territories. … Settlements, new and old, are illegal. They work against the emergence of a viable Palestinian state."

On Saturday, the leader of Qatar was quoted as saying that Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop a deadly crackdown on anti-government protests. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani's comments to CBS' 60 Minutes, which will be aired Sunday, are the first statements by an Arab leader calling for the deployment of troops inside Syria. Asked whether he is in favor of Arab nations intervening in Syria, Sheik Hamad said that "for such a situation to stop the killing some troops should go to stop the killing." Excerpts of the interview were sent to the Associated Press by CBS a day before it was to be aired.

Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of the 10-month crackdown by Assad's regime. The wealthy and influential Gulf state withdrew its ambassador to Syria in the summer to protest the killings. Since the Arab Spring began more than a year ago, Qatar has taken an aggressive role, raising its influence in the region. It contributed war planes to the NATO air campaign in Libya, tried to negotiate an exit for Yemen's protest-battered President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and has taken the lead in Arab countries pressuring Assad.

Source

 

[waltky]

Time to send in AL ground forces...

More than 50 killed in 2 days of turmoil in Syria
Jan. 27, 2012 — In two days of bloody turmoil in Syria, more than 50 people were killed as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad shelled residential buildings, fired on crowds and left bleeding corpses in the streets in a dramatic escalation of violence, activists said Friday.

Much of the violence was focused in Homs, where heavy gunfire hammered the city Friday in a second day of chaos. A day earlier, the city saw a flare-up of sectarian kidnappings and killings between its Sunni and Alawite communities, and pro-regime forces blasted residential buildings with mortars and gunfire, according to activists who said an entire family was killed. Video posted online by activists showed the bodies of five small children, five women of varying ages and a man, all bloodied and piled on beds in what appeared to be an apartment after a building was hit in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of the city. A narrator said an entire family had been "slaughtered." The video could not be independently verified.

Activists said at least 30 people were killed in Homs on Thursday and another 21 people were killed across the country Friday. In an attempt to stop the bloodshed in Syria, the U.N. Security Council was to hold a closed-door meeting Friday to discuss the crisis, a step toward a possible resolution against the Damascus regime, diplomats said. At least 384 children have died, as of Jan. 7, in the crackdown on Syria's uprising since it began nearly 11 months ago, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said Friday, according to a count based on reports from human rights groups. Most of the children killed were boys and most of the deaths took place in Homs, UNICEF said. The United Nations estmates that more than 5,400 people have died in the turmoil.

The Syrian uprising, which began in March with mostly peaceful protests, has become increasingly violent in recent months as army defectors clash with government forces and some protesters take up arms to protect themselves. The violence has enflamed the potentially explosive sectarian divide in the country, where the Alawite minority dominates the regime despite a Sunni Muslim majority. The head of Arab League observers in Syria said in a statement that violence in the country has spiked over the past few days. Sudanese Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi said the cities of Homs, Hama and Idlib have all witnessed a "very high escalation" in violence since Tuesday.

Early Friday morning, Assad's forces launched a "fierce military campaign" in the Hamadiyeh district of Hama, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists. They said the sound of heavy machine-gun fire and loud explosions reverberated across the area. Some activists reported seeing uncollected bodies in the streets of Hama. Elsewhere, a car bomb exploded Friday at a checkpoint outside the northern city of Idlib, the Observatory said, citing witnesses on the ground. The number of casualties was not immediately clear.

MORE

See also:

Syria crisis: Arab League's Dabi warns of 'escalation'
27 January 2012 - Army deserters have joined the uprising against President Assad

The Arab League's monitoring chief has warned of an escalation of violence in Syria in recent days, as the government intensifies its crackdown on protests. Gen Mustafa al-Dabi said the violence would make it more difficult for the two sides to engage in talks. Activists say 135 people have died in two days. A BBC reporter in Damascus says the regime appears to be losing control of rebellious areas of the capital. The UN Security Council is due to discuss a draft resolution on Syria. The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Damascus says opposition fighters have set up checkpoints and appear to move around freely in the suburbs of Douma and Saqba. President Bashar al-Assad's forces still operate in these areas, but they do not appear to be able to maintain control, our correspondent says.

'Terrifying massacre'

Thousands of people attended the funeral of an anti-government protester killed on Thursday in Saqba. Mourners chanted: "Better to die than be humiliated." Much of the violence in the past two days has focused on the central city of Homs. Activists say Homs was bombarded on Thursday and more than 30 people were killed. Rami Abdul-Rahman of the the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the attack as "a terrifying massacre". More deaths were reported in Homs on Friday, and the nearby city of Hama also came under assault with heavy gunfire and loud explosions.

Earlier it was reported that 30 people had been killed in Hama, but rights groups now give a much lower figure. The Local Coordination Committees, a Syria-based network of activists, reported deaths in cities across the country. On Friday evening, the group said 135 people had been killed in the past two days. Gen Dabi, whose monitoring mission has been extended until late February, said violence had soared "in a significant way" in recent days. Earlier in the week the general had claimed that the Arab League mission had helped bring down violence in Syria.

'Flagrant interference'

 

[Katzndogz]

This is what civil war looks like. Did anyone really think that the govenment would just wave goodbye?