Assad's Top 4 Men Killed by Hidden Bomb

[freedombecki]

The elimination of Bashar Assad’s top security tier, leaders of his brutal campaign of suppression against the Syrian uprising sent shock waves reverberating across the Middle East where armies have gone on high alert. It now transpires that their deaths were not caused by a suicide bomber but a 40-kilogram bomb hidden in Syria ministers’ conference room at the heavily fortified National Security building, which killed at least four of the eight top officials present: Assad’s brother-in-law Security Chief Assif Shawqat, Defense minister Gen. Dawoud Raijiha, Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ibrahim Shaar and ice-Presidential aide and former defense minister Gen. Hasan Turkmani. The last two died of their wounds.

Debka Files

Many world leaders think Syria is rapidly deteriorating and are worried about the implications. Assad has made some threats that he would "Set the Middle East on Fire" before he would leave.

What say you?

 

[rhodescholar]

Many world leaders think Syria is rapidly deteriorating and are worried about the implications. Assad has made some threats that he would "Set the Middle East on Fire" before he would leave.What say you?

At this point, ass-ad has a better chance of setting his own pants on fire.

My greater focus right now is watching the US naval fleet and Israeli air forces' movements, I believe that, after the Bulgarian lunacy by iran, it has finally been decided that iran's regime is going to be destroyed.

Since trying to remove an entire, vastly spread nuclear weapons program is impossible, removing the cancerous dictatorship makes much more sense.

 

[waltky]

Assad's cronies reads like Syrian mafia who's who...

Al-Assad's inner circle, mostly family, like 'mafia'
August 9th, 2012 - Syrian Prime Minister Ryad Hijab defected this week, joining the list of several other high-level members of the Syrian regime who have abandoned President Bashar al-Assad as he struggles to maintain his grip on power.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Hijab's actions are another sign that al-Assad will fall. "I'm not going to put a timeline on it," she said. "I can't possibly predict it, but I know it's going to happen as does most observers around the world." But the prime minister is the head of the government, and the government does not rule the country. The real power in Syria is held by the true "insiders," al-Assad's blood relatives.

*Maher Al-Assad – Al-Assad's youngest brother and rumored to be Syria's second-most powerful man. He is head of the elite, rabidly loyal Republican Guard and the 4th Armored Division.

*Namir Al-Assad – The president's cousin who is one of the top leaders of the Shabiha, the mercenary force used to suppress the opposition.

*Rami Makhlouf – The money behind the regime, al-Assad's first cousin is believed to be the richest person in Syria. He allegedly funds the regime's violent battle against protesters and rebels who are seeking to oust the president.

*Ali Mamlouk – As the head of national security, Mamlouk had U.S. sanctions leveled against him for human rights abuses and violence against civilians. Almost all members of al-Assad's inner circle are Alawites, a minority Muslim group. Alawites make up less than 15% of the population. Three-quarters of Syrians are Sunni Muslims.

Most of those who have defected are Sunni, including the prime minister. In July, one of Syria's most senior diplomats, Nawaf al-Fares, defected, publicly embraced his country's uprising and called for a foreign military intervention. Al-Fares was Syria's ambassador to Iraq. Manaf Tlas, a Sunni general in Syria's elite Republican Guards, also defected last month. Tlas is the son of a former defense minister and a cousin of a first lieutenant in al-Assad's army.

Syria expert Hussein Ibish said al-Assad's inner circle has only one message for its fellow Syrians. " 'It's us or the abyss,' " Ibish said. " 'Stick with us or you will be massacred in your beds.' " The regime operates like an organized crime syndicate, he said. "So it isn't possible to reform because what you would have to do to reform," Ibish said, "is start dismantling a mafia operation, a set of rackets, a set of interrelated criminal enterprises."

Al-Assad's inner circle, mostly family, like 'mafia' – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

 

[Roudy]

Assad's cronies reads like Syrian mafia who's who...

Al-Assad's inner circle, mostly family, like 'mafia'
August 9th, 2012 - Syrian Prime Minister Ryad Hijab defected this week, joining the list of several other high-level members of the Syrian regime who have abandoned President Bashar al-Assad as he struggles to maintain his grip on power.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Hijab's actions are another sign that al-Assad will fall. "I'm not going to put a timeline on it," she said. "I can't possibly predict it, but I know it's going to happen as does most observers around the world." But the prime minister is the head of the government, and the government does not rule the country. The real power in Syria is held by the true "insiders," al-Assad's blood relatives.

*Maher Al-Assad – Al-Assad's youngest brother and rumored to be Syria's second-most powerful man. He is head of the elite, rabidly loyal Republican Guard and the 4th Armored Division.

*Namir Al-Assad – The president's cousin who is one of the top leaders of the Shabiha, the mercenary force used to suppress the opposition.

*Rami Makhlouf – The money behind the regime, al-Assad's first cousin is believed to be the richest person in Syria. He allegedly funds the regime's violent battle against protesters and rebels who are seeking to oust the president.

*Ali Mamlouk – As the head of national security, Mamlouk had U.S. sanctions leveled against him for human rights abuses and violence against civilians. Almost all members of al-Assad's inner circle are Alawites, a minority Muslim group. Alawites make up less than 15% of the population. Three-quarters of Syrians are Sunni Muslims.

Most of those who have defected are Sunni, including the prime minister. In July, one of Syria's most senior diplomats, Nawaf al-Fares, defected, publicly embraced his country's uprising and called for a foreign military intervention. Al-Fares was Syria's ambassador to Iraq. Manaf Tlas, a Sunni general in Syria's elite Republican Guards, also defected last month. Tlas is the son of a former defense minister and a cousin of a first lieutenant in al-Assad's army.

Syria expert Hussein Ibish said al-Assad's inner circle has only one message for its fellow Syrians. " 'It's us or the abyss,' " Ibish said. " 'Stick with us or you will be massacred in your beds.' " The regime operates like an organized crime syndicate, he said. "So it isn't possible to reform because what you would have to do to reform," Ibish said, "is start dismantling a mafia operation, a set of rackets, a set of interrelated criminal enterprises."

Al-Assad's inner circle, mostly family, like 'mafia' – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

All Middle Eastern countries are run like that. Name one that isn't.

 

[mememe]

Assad's cronies reads like Syrian mafia

Al-Assad's inner circle, mostly family, like 'mafia'

To compare Eastern clan culture with mafia?!!!

This could've been written only by an idiot and for equally idiotic propaganda consumers completely unfamiliar with the cultures of the East.

 

[mememe]

kiil assad himself hope he will fall very soon

Why?

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd says somebody needs to slap Assad upside the head...

U.N. envoy to Assad: Change is urgently needed
9/1/2012 — The new U.N. envoy to Syria says President Bashar Assad's regime should realize that the need for change is both "urgent" and "necessary."

In an interview with al-Arabiya television on Saturday, Lakhdar Brahimi also told the Syrian government that it must respond to the "legitimate" demands of the Syrian people. Brahimi's comments come on his first day as the new U.N. envoy in Syria, replacing Kofi Annan who quit after his six-point plan including an April 12 cease-fire failed to stop the bloodshed. A former Algerian foreign minister, Brahimi spoke in New York. The Syrian conflict has its roots in mostly peaceful street protests that started in March last year. It has since morphed into a civil war, with at least 20,000 people killed so far, according to rights activists.

The violence continued Saturday as Syrian warplanes and ground forces pounded the country's largest city Aleppo with bombs and mortar rounds as soldiers clashed with rebels in its narrow streets, activists said. The latest violence shows that government troops are still struggling to clear the city of lightly-armed rebel forces nearly five weeks after they stormed their way into it. Activists also said rebels captured an air defense facility in the east of the country near the border with Iraq, where opposition forces have claimed advances over the past days.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes in Aleppo were concentrated in several tense neighborhoods — Hanano, Bustan al-Qasr, Sukkari and Maysar. It reported injuries and damage to buildings. Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said the government was making heavy use of warplanes in attacking rebel areas. A video obtained by the Associated Press Television News showed rebel fighters, some in civilian clothes, in the street trading fire with government troops.

Activists say that this is the second day of a rebel push in Aleppo dubbed "Northern Volcano" targeting security facilities in the city and the surrounding province, including an artillery training school, a compound of the feared air force intelligence, and a large army checkpoint. For more than a year after the uprising against the Assad regime began in March 2011, Aleppo and Damascus stayed relatively quiet. But in July, rebels launched a brazen attack on the two cities, capturing several neighborhoods.

MORE

 

[mememe]

Many world leaders think Syria is rapidly deteriorating and are worried about the implications.

What say you?

1. Assad did not make such a remark. It was made on his behalf by Western media.

2. Those positioning themselves as "WORLD" leaders and claim to be "worried about the implications" are the very same leaders who destroyed Yugoslavia, USSR, Serbia, Iraq, Libya, are destroying Syria, and threw the world into pre-WW3 situation.
I don't know a single word to describe them, that will not get me banned from the forum...