Tremseh & hama deaths mostly rebels

[shock]

TREMSEH KILLINGS TARGETED REBELS
================================
WhilE you ponder the fact

that the Hama killings were mostly "rebels"

who were embedded in non-combatant areas,

now consider the following BBC allegations

of the Tremseh killings.

=================================================================

Syria: Tremseh killings targeted rebels, UN says
BBC News - *8 minutes ago*

The attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, the UN mission has said. A UN spokeswoman issued a statement after experts visited the scene of Thursday's attack, 25km north-west of the city of Hama."

 

[Charles_Main]

TREMSEH KILLINGS TARGETED REBELS
================================
WhilE you ponder the fact

that the Hama killings were mostly "rebels"

who were embedded in non-combatant areas,

now consider the following BBC allegations

of the Tremseh killings.

=================================================================

Syria: Tremseh killings targeted rebels, UN says
BBC News - *8 minutes ago*

The attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh mainly targeted the homes of rebels and activists, the UN mission has said. A UN spokeswoman issued a statement after experts visited the scene of Thursday's attack, 25km north-west of the city of Hama."

So you are saying it's ok Because he is only killing his political Opposition and the Rebels?

lol

 

[waltky]

Syrian rebels gettin' more weapons...

Officials: Arms shipments rise to Syrian rebels
Mar 27,`13 -- Mideast powers opposed to President Bashar Assad have dramatically stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in coordination with the U.S. in preparation for a push on the capital of Damascus, officials and Western military experts said Wednesday.

A carefully prepared covert operation is arming rebels, involving Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, with the United States and other Western governments consulting, and all parties hold veto power over where the shipments are directed, according to a senior Arab official whose government is participating. His account was corroborated by a diplomat and two military experts. The Arab official said the number of arms airlifts into Jordan and Turkey has doubled in the past four weeks. He did not provide exact figures on the flights or the size of the cargo. Jordan opened up as a new route for the weapons late last year, amid U.S. worries that arms from Turkey were going to Islamic militants, all four told The Associated Press in separate interviews. Jordan denies helping funnel weapons to the rebels.

The two military experts, who closely follow the traffic, said the weapons include more powerful, Croatian-made anti-tank guns and rockets than the rebels have had before. The Arab official said there was a "master plan" for the rebels to seize Damascus. He and the diplomat spoke to the AP on condition that their identities and their nationalities not be disclosed because the operation was covert. "The idea is that the rebels now have the necessary means to advance from different fronts - north from Turkey and south from Jordan - to close in on Damascus to unseat Assad," the Arab official said. He declined to provide details, but said the plan is being prepared in stages and will take "days or weeks" for results.

Rebels have captured suburbs around Damascus but have been largely unable to break into the heavily guarded capital. Instead, they have hit central neighborhoods of the city with increasingly heavy mortar volleys from their positions to the northeast and south. But rebels in the south are fighting to secure supply lines from the border with Jordan to the capital, and the new influx of weapons from Jordan has fueled the drive, a rebel commander in a southwestern suburb of the capital said. The consensus among the multiple rebel groups was that Damascus is the next objective, he added.

"There is an attempt to secure towns and villages along the international line linking Amman and Damascus. Significant progress is being made. The new weapons come in that context," said the commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of Syrian government reprisal. He said his own fighters on the capital's outskirts had not received any arms from the influx but that he had heard about the new weapons from comrades in the south.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Like Benghazi, the grunts on the ground get slaughtered while Washington sits idly by...

Syrian rebels press US and allies to send weapons
June 12, 2013 — With President Barack Obama weighing the issue, increasingly desperate Syrian rebels are pressing the U.S. and its allies to send weapons to even their odds now that Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah guerrillas are fighting alongside the regime.

The U.S. and its allies so far have refused to send lethal aid to the rebels in part because of fears that the arms could fall into the hands of Sunni extremist groups that have joined the fight against President Bashar Assad. Moderate opposition leaders have stepped up efforts to turn that argument around, saying Western inaction will deal a blow to their leadership and let al-Qaida-linked militants take the forefront in the rebellion or hand victory to Iran and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group. They're hoping the newly visible role of Hezbollah and the fall of the strategic town of Qusair to regime forces will spur the U.S. and other countries to send weapons.

Ahmed Ramadan, a member of the main Western-backed opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, said the failure to supply weapons and ammunition to moderate forces within the rebels' Free Syrian army will let radical forces take the lead. "Who is the U.S. denying weapons to? Everyone," he said. "This punishes the moderate forces, not the radical ones, because the radical forces continue to find armament through their own means," he said. The Obama administration has been alarmed by the Assad regime's rapid military advances, but U.S. officials said those closest to the president are still split on whether to begin providing Syria's armed opposition with weapons or to consider more drastic steps such as using U.S. airpower to ground Assad's gunships and jets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on private talks being held Wednesday on the issue.

Members of the free Syrian Army preparing their weapons, in the neighborhood of al-Amerieh in Aleppo, Syria. Rebels are pressing for a decision from the West on arming their forces to even their odds now that Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas are fighting alongside the regime. They are stepping up outreach to the West, warning that inaction will let al-Qaida-linked militants take the forefront in the rebellion or hand victory to Iran and Hezbollah.

Burhan Ghalioun, a prominent Paris-based Syrian opposition leader, said he and his comrades have been trying to convince U.S. officials that it's time to put an end to the tragedy in Syria by empowering moderate rebels. He warned an Assad victory also would mean more sway in Syria for Hezbollah and its Iranian backers. "The U.S. now faces a real test that has to do with its credibility," he said in a telephone interview. "Are they going to let Syria become an Iranian protectorate? This is what it boils down to," he said. "Their hesitation and reluctance is prolonging the war and giving false illusions that Bashar Assad can win the war," he added.

Opposition leaders stepped up their outreach after the fall of Qusair, a key western town near the border with Lebanon. Hezbollah fighters openly joined the fight in Qusair, helping propel Assad's forces to victory. The group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed to fight to help secure a victory for the Syrian regime. Gen. Salim Idris, the main rebel military commander in the Free Syrian Army, has repeatedly pleaded for Western anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, saying the rebels' weapons were no match for the Syrian regime's modern tanks and warplanes. Any military assistance to the rebels would likely be funneled through Idris' council, according to U.S. officials.

MORE

See also:

Officials: Obama aides split on arming Syrian rebels
June 12, 2013 WASHINGTON -- Despite growing alarm over the Syrian government's military advances, Obama administration officials are split over whether to arm the country's rebel forces or make other military moves that would deepen U.S. involvement in the conflict.

President Barack Obama's top national security advisers met at the White House on Wednesday to air their differences. The administration's caution persists despite its nearly two-year-old demand that President Bashar Assad step down, its vows to help the besieged Syrian rebels on the ground and its threats to respond to any chemical weapons use. U.S. officials had hoped this week to reach a decision on arming the rebels to halt the violence and motivate the government and the opposition to hold peace talks. But they are still uncertain whether that's the best way to reshape a war that now includes Hezbollah and Iranian fighters backing Assad's armed forces, and al-Qaida-linked extremists backing the rebellion. "Nobody wins in Syria the way things are going," Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Wednesday after meeting with British Foreign Secretary William Hague. "The people lose and Syria as a country loses. And what we have been pushing for, all of us involved in this effort, is a political solution that ends the violence, saves Syria, stops the killing and destruction of the entire nation."

Despite increased support in Congress and the administration for lethal aid, officials said those closest to the president are divided on whether to begin providing Syria's armed opposition with weapons or to consider more drastic steps such as using U.S. airpower to ground Assad's gunships and jets. The officials spoke ahead of Wednesday's meeting at the White House on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the private talks. Kerry, too, said he wouldn't predict the outcome of the discussions. Obama's moves throughout the 27-month civil war, from political support for the opposition to nonlethal aid for its more moderate fighters, have occurred in close concert with America's partners in Europe. All agree at this point that the efforts haven't done enough. After meeting Kerry at the State Department, Hague also stressed the need for a political solution to end the fighting that has now killed some 80,000 people, without outlining how his government might contribute.

Kerry, who postponed a trip this week to Israel and three other Mideast countries to participate in the White House talks, is believed to be among the most forward-leaning members of Obama's national security leadership. Since becoming America's top diplomat in February, he has spoken regularly about the need to change Assad's calculation that he can win the war militarily, if only to get him into serious discussions with the opposition about establishing a transitional government. Assad's stunning military success last week at Qusair, near the Lebanese border, and preparations for offensives against Homs and Aleppo have made the matter more urgent. Obama was flying from Massachusetts to Florida on Wednesday and did not participate in Wednesday's meeting. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and several other top aides of the president were expected to attend.

Officials said some at the White House, the Pentagon and in the intelligence community remained hesitant about providing weapons, ammunition or other lethal support to a rebellion increasingly defined by extremists who, along with Assad, have turned a political insurrection into a sectarian war. Instead, they've focused on nonlethal support, such as Wednesday's decision by the Treasury Department to ease restrictions on Syrian telecommunications, agricultural and petroleum transactions that benefit the opposition. "We have refocused our efforts on figuring out what to do to help the opposition on the ground," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, citing the battle at Qusair as well as the influx of Lebanese Hezbollah and other foreign fighters as reasons for why the U.S. was rethinking its approach.

MORE

 

[whitehall]

Try the rubber room.