Iran offers to host Syria talks

[pvsi.]

Iran has offered to host talks between Syria's government and opposition in Tehran, its foreign minister said Sunday.

The United States and other nations oppose Iranian participation in the diplomacy.
"Iran is definitely part of the problem in Syria," Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has said. "It is supporting, aiding and abetting the Assad regime materially and in many other ways, and it has shown no readiness to contribute constructively."

 

[Jackson]

Game Plan: Get those dignitaries over their to hold them hostage!

 

[Charles_Main]

Iran offers to host Syria talks

ROFLMAO might as well hold them in Damascus and call it "neutral" Ground.

 

[pvsi.]

Iran offers to host Syria talks

ROFLMAO might as well hold them in Damascus and call it "neutral" Ground.

Or they could hold them in one of the indebted nations who "can't stop spending the money you have not earned yet" they are more legitimate, right? such as America who has openly armed the opposition, what a way to solve conflict LMAOROFUO@#IU)@*

 

[waltky]

Russian patience with Assad startin' to show it's wear?...

Syria chemical arms threat unacceptable, Russia says
7/25/2012 - Russian FM Lavrov slams US comments, accuses State Department of justifying terrorism in Syria; Assad launches counter-assaults on Damascus and Aleppo.

Russia has told the Syrian government clearly that it is unacceptable to threaten to use chemical weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in its strongest condemnation of a recent warning by a Syrian official. In a meeting with Syria's ambassador to Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov "laid out in an extremely clear form Russia's position on the inadmissibility of any threats of the use of chemical weapons", the ministry said. Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi acknowledged on Monday that country had chemical weapons, saying it would not use them to crush rebels but could use them against forces from outside Syria.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of justifying terrorism against the Syrian government and berated Western nations he said had not condemned attacks that killed top members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's inner circle. Referring to what he said were comments by US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland indicating such attacks were not surprising given the Syrian government's conduct, Lavrov said, "This is a direct justification of terrorism." Meanwhile, the Syrian army turned its forces on Aleppo on Wednesday, ordering an armored column to advance on the country's second biggest city and pounding rebel fighters there with artillery and attack helicopters, opposition activists said.

As hostilities intensified near the Turkish border, Turkey said it was closing its crossing posts, although the United Nations said refugees fleeing Syria would be allowed through. Two top Syrian diplomats, in the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus, have deserted their posts, becoming the latest officials to abandon the Damascus government, rebels said. The 16-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad has been transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the capital, Damascus, where fighting exploded last week. Assad's forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. They appear to have beaten rebels back from neighborhoods in the capital and are turning towards Aleppo, a commercial hub in the north.

Syrian forces fired artillery and rockets on Wednesday at the northern Damascus suburb of al-Tel in an attempt to seize it from rebels, causing panic and forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents and opposition activists said. The 216th mechanized battalion headquartered near Tel started bombarding the town of about 100,000 people before dawn and initial reports indicated residential apartment blocks were being hit, they said. "Military helicopters are flying now over the town. People were awakened by the sound of explosions and are running away," Rafe Alam, one of the activists, said by phone from a hill overlooking Tel. "Electricity and telephones have been cut off."

More Syria chemical arms threat unacceptable, R... JPost - Middle East

See also:

In Syria crisis, stakes high for Hezbollah
25 July`12 - - Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah has publicly tied its future to Bashar al-Assad, but as the tide turns against the Syrian president it is silent on whether it will join the fight to support him.

The stakes are high for the group which fears that toppling Assad will pave the way for increased Western pressure - if not war - on its strongest ally and founder, Shi'ite Iran. By losing Assad the group would also be deprived of its strategic partner and main supply line for its arsenal. "Hezbollah is at a point of enormous strategic uncertainty. (Syria's uprising) is not an existential threat, they are too well armed. But now they face a threat from two sides," a Western diplomat in Lebanon said, referring to Hezbollah's foe Israel and a potentially hostile post-Assad Syria. Hezbollah has shown no sign of abandoning Assad and Lebanese officials close to the group say it won't stand idle if the battle worsens. Some said it will fight Israel. Others said it will deploy some of its fighters to secure the border with Lebanon, from which rebels are attacking Syrian frontier posts.

They also said Hezbollah is bracing for the fighting in Syria to be long and hard. "They cannot distance themselves. What is happening now is fateful for them," said Lebanese analyst Jihad al-Zein. "Their alliance with Syria is strategic and was formed with the Assad family." "They do not have a choice - they are with the regime until the last minute. This is a strategic alliance between Iran and Syria and they are part of it," he added. Hezbollah believes that its enemies, including the West and Israel, are working to reshape the Middle East by replacing Assad with a ruler hostile to it. In a region riven by a Sunni-Shi'ite divide, Assad belongs to the Alawite sect that is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. A new Sunni Muslim leadership is unlikely to favor the Shi'ite Hezbollah.

OPTIONS OPEN

While Hezbollah supported the revolts in the Arab world that toppled the leaders of Egypt, Tunis and Libya, it responded to the initially largely peaceful protests in Syria by saying it backed Assad's promises of reform. "Hezbollah will definitely take part in the war if Syria faces foreign intervention. It sees the whole campaign on Assad as a campaign to target resistance," a second Lebanese official said, using the label for armed groups opposed to Israel. For now, they say Hezbollah has been watching the unrest in Syria. It banned officials and members from publicly talking about the revolt, leaving its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as the only voice of the group, reiterating his support for Assad.

A year ago, officials close to Hezbollah denied Syrian opposition accusations that it was sending fighters to help Assad's forces. The same officials now say this might change if there is foreign intervention or Assad is weakened. "So far, Assad does not need more fighters. His army is more than capable of dealing with this. He does not need Hezbollah's fighters. They are only a few thousands and he has hundreds of thousands," a Lebanese security official said.

But another official said "this is a war and in wars all options are on the table.. What is important is that the Damascus supply line remains open to Hezbollah. It is willing to do whatever it takes to keep it like that." Hezbollah's view can be encapsulated in the comments of a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander who said on Tuesday that any foreign power intervening in Syria would suffer "decisive blows", specifically referring to "hated Arabs" - a veiled reference to regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Damascus has accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of channeling weapons and money to rebels fighting Assad's forces. Activists say more than 17,000 people have been killed in the 16-month uprising against his rule.

RELATIONSHIP IS DEEP