Protests in Syria

[High_Gravity]

Hamas: Militant Killed in Damascus

(GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip) — Hamas said Thursday that one of its members was assassinated in his home in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

An official in the Palestinian militant movement said Kamal Ghanaja was a former aide to Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior commander who was himself assassinated in Dubai in 2010.

The official said Hamas had been informed that a group of people entered Ghanaja’s home, killed him and took some files. He said a senior member of the movement has gone to Damascus to follow the official investigations.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Hamas in a statement posted on its website that it was working to identify the assassin and that Ghanaja’s “noble blood shall not be shed in vain.”

Although Hamas, the movement that rules the Gaza Strip, did not explicitly blame anyone for the killing, suspicions immediately arose that Israel was involved. Israel has waged a long and bloody conflict with Hamas and is widely believed to have killed al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel in 2010, though it has never confirmed or denied involvement.

Read more: Hamas: Militant Killed in Damascus | World | TIME.com

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: Damascus Bombing Rocks Capital Outside Palace of Justice

DAMASCUS, Syria — A strong explosion rocked the Syrian capital Thursday near a busy market and the country's highest court, wounding at least three people and sending clouds of black smoke into the sky.

The blast came as tensions threatened to spread across the region. Neighboring Turkey deployed anti-aircraft guns and other weapons alongside its border with Syria, nearly a week after Syrian forces shot a Turkish military plane out of the sky, Turkish state TV said Thursday.

Major world powers will meet Saturday in Geneva for talks on Syria, but few observers expect a major breakthrough. Syria has the protection or Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, and has so far been impervious to international pressure.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow will not endorse a call for Assad to give up power.

"We are not supporting and will not support any external meddling," he said. "External players must not dictate ... to Syrians, but, first of all, must commit to influencing all the sides in Syria to stop the violence."

It was not clear who was behind Thursday's blast in Damascus.

Much of the violence that has gripped Syria since the uprising began has been sanctioned by the government to crush dissent. But rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fray.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene of the blast said some cars were charred and many had their windshields blown out.

"I did not see any wounded people, but cars and nearby shops were damaged," said Fawaz Mishhim, a witness who was in a nearby market when he heard the explosion.

Syria's state-run TV said the explosion was in the parking lot of the Palace of Justice, a compound that houses several courts. The blast happened at 1 p.m. near the capital's famous Hamidiyeh Market, an area crowded with families stocking up on food and other supplies for the weekend, which begins on Friday in Syria.

Witnesses reported hearing one blast, but state-run TV said two explosions struck the area. The report also said a roadside bomb was found but did not explode.

Syria Crisis: Damascus Bombing Rocks Capital Outside Palace of Justice

 

[Unkotare]

This would be a good time for us to have an actual leader.

 

[High_Gravity]

This would be a good time for us to have an actual leader.

I don't want us doing anything over there. Radical Muslims are coming into Syria to suicide bomb and plants IEDS against Assads goons and rapists, I say let them have at it.

 

[mememe]

I don't want us doing anything over there..

Too late for that: US was "doing something" in Syria way before it started the war on Libya! And now US continuing its "democratising" efforts there.

 

[Hollie]

This would be a good time for us to have an actual leader.

I don't want us doing anything over there. Radical Muslims are coming into Syria to suicide bomb and plants IEDS against Assads goons and rapists, I say let them have at it.

I'm with you on that.

Let that loud sucking sound which is the vortex of Arab / Moslem hate, incompetence and ineptitude become a black hole that consumes them.

 

[rhodescholar]

Too late for that: US was "doing something" in Syria way before it started the war on Libya! And now US continuing its "democratising" efforts there.

The day that ass-ad started allowing the iraqi ba'ath party members / al qaeda to use syria as a launching point / safe haven from which to attack US troops in iraq, I could have told you his regime's days were numbered.

The day after he did that, I can guarantee you as a professional myself that there were clandestine servicemen inside syria initiating the embers of a revolution.

Whatever advisor advised ass-ad and thought it would be a good idea to try and tie up the world's mightiest power with some terrorists in iraq is a complete imbecile. I don't know who is less intelligent; the advisor for thinking it would be a good idea and would not lead to massive blowback from the US, or ass-ad for being stupid enough to take that advice.

From that moment, ass-ad became persona non grata as far as the US was concerned, and a primary target of the US political and military establishment.

 

[mememe]

Too late for that: US was "doing something" in Syria way before it started the war on Libya! And now US continuing its "democratising" efforts there.

The day that ass-ad started allowing the iraqi ba'ath party members / al qaeda to use syria .

Would it be the same Baath party the US brought to power in Iraq many moons ago?

And would it be the same Islamists (you can call them Al-Q) whom the US aided during the war against Serbia? Same Al-Q on who's side US fought during war against Libya? Same Al-Q that is now posing as "Syrian freedom fighters" supported by the US?

And what was the "fault" of Libya?
Listen from 1:20
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...lvmODQ&usg=AFQjCNGVtfoYZLTkgoBBqZg8dkABHnq7dQ

 

[rhodescholar]

Would it be the same Baath party the US brought to power in Iraq many moons ago? And would it be the same Islamists (you can call them Al-Q) whom the US aided during the war against Serbia? Same Al-Q on who's side US fought during war against Libya? Same Al-Q that is now posing as "Syrian freedom fighters" supported by the US? And what was the "fault" of Libya?

Like every nation, the US has interests and allies - until they cease to be allies. What the US does or may have done 50 years earlier has no relevance to today.

This is the same garbage we hear about iran from the morons: "oh, since you overthrew mossadegh, the iranians have every right to attack you!" as if the US is allowed to nuke the UK today since they burned down the white house 200 years ago. It's called a third-grade comprehension of political events.

 

[mememe]

Would it be the same Baath party the US brought to power in Iraq many moons ago? And would it be the same Islamists (you can call them Al-Q) whom the US aided during the war against Serbia? Same Al-Q on who's side US fought during war against Libya? Same Al-Q that is now posing as "Syrian freedom fighters" supported by the US? And what was the "fault" of Libya?

Like every nation, the US has interests and allies - until they cease to be allies. What the US does or may have done 50 years earlier has no relevance to today.

This is the same garbage we hear about iran from the morons: "oh, since you overthrew mossadegh, the iranians have every right to attack you!" as if the US is allowed to nuke the UK today since they burned down the white house 200 years ago. It's called a third-grade comprehension of political events.

How can you say "What the US does or may have done 50 years earlier has no relevance to today", if in the previous post you suggested USA marked Syria for supporting Baath party?!

And correct me if I am wrong, but didn't US go on a rampage around the world in the name of the "War on Terror" against the very same Islamic militants the US is actively supporting in Serbia, Russia, Libya and Syria?!

 

[Trajan]

don't worry everyone....Hillary and Koffi Anan are meeting in Geneva this weekend...



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAmPIq29ro]Animal House - All Is Well! - YouTube[/ame]

 

[rhodescholar]

How can you say "What the US does or may have done 50 years earlier has no relevance to today", if in the previous post you suggested USA marked Syria for supporting Baath party?!

Uhhhh, when did the syrians support and aid the iraqis against the US in iraq? A LOT more recent that 50 years ago

And correct me if I am wrong, but didn't US go on a rampage around the world in the name of the "War on Terror" against the very same Islamic militants the US is actively supporting in Serbia, Russia, Libya and Syria?!

I would imagine that the US is not aiding or supplying the islamic terrorists in syria, but the FSA. One would hope that they learned their lesson after afghanistan. It would be Qatar or Saudi Arabia that might be working with the islamists.

And who is the US supporting against Russia?

And why do people like you have an issue with the US stepping into involvement with syria - but raise no issue over iran and russia using it as a client/vassal state?

 

[mememe]

How can you say "What the US does or may have done 50 years earlier has no relevance to today", if in the previous post you suggested USA marked Syria for supporting Baath party?!

Uhhhh, when did the syrians support and aid the iraqis against the US in iraq? A LOT more recent that 50 years ago

And correct me if I am wrong, but didn't US go on a rampage around the world in the name of the "War on Terror" against the very same Islamic militants the US is actively supporting in Serbia, Russia, Libya and Syria?!

I would imagine that the US is not aiding or supplying the islamic terrorists in syria, but the FSA. One would hope that they learned their lesson after afghanistan. It would be Qatar or Saudi Arabia that might be working with the islamists.

And who is the US supporting against Russia?

And why do people like you have an issue with the US stepping into involvement with syria - but raise no issue over iran and russia using it as a client/vassal state?

I am not even asking what the US/UK was doing in Iraq: but you mentioned that the US marked Syria for destruction on the grounds it was supporting Baath party. The same Baath party the US brought into power in Iraq a few years previously.

You can imagine whatever you like, but the fact remains: the US went on a rampage a
round the world under the cover of "war on terror" while politically supporting, financing and arming terrorists and Islamic militants in former Yugoslavia, Serbia, Russian Federation, Libya, Syria.

Yes, SA and Quatar are currently functioning as a money bag, and they pursue their own ambitions now, but they still do it under the US umbrella.

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Observer Chief Says Violence ‘Unprecedented’

(DAMASCUS, Syria) — The violence in Syria has reached unprecedented levels, the head of the country’s U.N. observer mission said Thursday, insisting there must be a cease-fire in order for his teams to resume their work.

About 300 U.N. monitors were sent to Syria to provide an unbiased look at the violence, but they have been confined to their hotels since June 15 because of the bloodshed.

“The escalation of violence, allow me to say, to an unprecedented level, obstructed our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue,” Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in the Syrian capital Damascus.

More than 14,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011, according to activists. As the conflict grinds on, the violence has become widespread and chaotic. Besides the government crackdown on dissent, rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several massive suicide attacks this year suggest al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fray.

Read more: Syria Observer Chief Says Violence ‘Unprecedented’ | World | TIME.com

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: Troops And Helicopters Advance On Khan Sheikhoun

BEIRUT, July 5 (Reuters) - Syrian troops backed up by helicopters advanced on Thursday into the rebellious northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, activist residents said, one of many fronts being contested by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and pro-democracy rebels.

"(Syrian forces) have entered the town from the southern side. They are burning houses and farms," activist Abu al-Ghaith al-Khani said by Skype, adding that 80 percent of the town's residents had fled.

Rebel fighters suffered heavy loses during battles late on Wednesday night in Khan Sheikhoun, a town in rural Idlib province that straddles the strategic western highway linking Damascus and Aleppo.

Activists said government forces had bombarded the town with mortar bombs on Wednesday night in advance of their assault. They gave an initial death toll of nine people but added that more people might be dead as communication with the area was difficult.

Abu Hamam, a resident of Khan Sheikhoun, said 100 armoured vehicles, tanks and missile launchers had approached the outskirts of the town at dawn and resumed their bombardment.

"Rebels have inflicted major damage on Assad's troops. But at the same time rebels have lost ground," Abu Hamam said.

Rami Abdelrahman, a human rights activist who monitors and records violence in Syria, said in a email that 97 people had been killed on Wednesday in fighting across Syria. Over the past few weeks, daily death tolls of over a hundred have become common.

Western and Arab states who want Assad to step down to help end the crisis meet in Paris on Friday as the "Friends of Syria", a group that excludes Assad's main backer, Russia, and fellow U.N. Security Council veto-holder China.

Diplomatic efforts by a divided international community have so far been ineffective in stopping the violence.

Residents said mortar bombs were exploding in central districts of Homs, Syria's third largest city, where whole neighbourhoods have been destroyed. Despite repeated assaults by Assad's forces, rebels have still managed to keep a foothold.

A resident of the battered Khalidiya district in Homs said that the city was surrounded by artillery and troops.

"The regime has imposed a crippling siege in most of the anti-government areas of Homs," Saif al-Arabi said by Skype. "We can't get the wounded out."

Syria Crisis: Troops And Helicopters Advance On Khan Sheikhoun

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: Diplomats Call For Global Sanctions Against Assad

PARIS -- The United States and its international partners called Friday for global sanctions against Bashar Assad's regime, seeking to step up the pressure after the defection of a top general dealt a major blow to the Syrian leader. Washington urged countries around the world to pressure Russia and China into forcing Assad to leave power.

A Western official told The Associated Press that Syrian Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass had abandoned Assad's regime. Tlass was a member of the elite Republican Guards and a son of a former defense minister. The official wasn't authorized to divulge the information and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Tlass' whereabouts were unclear. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other opposition websites claimed he had fled to Turkey, while other reports said he came to Paris, where he has a sister and where diplomats from around the world gathered Friday for a conference to bolster the Syrian opposition and pressure Assad.

The new defection is the highest profile departure from the Assad regime in 16 months of brutal government crackdowns and civil war. The Paris conference buzzed with talk about the departure.

A member of Syria's opposition National Council, Hassem Hashimi, told the AP in Paris that Tlass has defected, describing him as a powerful figure in the Assad regime. "The defection of Tlass will encourage a lot of similar people to defect as well," he said.

Also in Paris, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joined senior officials from about 100 other countries to win wider support for a Syrian transition plan unveiled last week by U.N. mediator Kofi Annan. Joined by America's allies, she called for "real and immediate consequences for non-compliance, including sanctions," against the Assad regime.

But with neither Moscow nor Beijing in attendance, much remained dependent on persuading the two reluctant U.N. veto-wielding powers to force Assad into abiding by a cease-fire and the transition strategy. Clinton urged governments around the world to direct their pressure toward Russia and China, as well.

"What can every nation and group represented here do?" Clinton asked. "I ask you to reach out to Russia and China, and to not only urge but demand that they get off the sidelines and begin to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."

"I don't think Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all – nothing at all – for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime," she added. "The only way that will change is if every nation represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and China will pay a price. Because they are holding up progress, blockading it. That is no longer tolerable."

Syria Crisis: Diplomats Call For Global Sanctions Against Assad

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Crisis: Russia Arms Sales To Syria Halted, Says Official

MOSCOW — Russia on Monday signaled that it would not sign new weapons contracts with Syria until the situation there calms down.

The country will continue with previously agreed exports, but will not be selling new arms to Syria, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy chief of the Russian military and technical cooperation agency, told Russian news agencies on the sidelines of the Farnborough air show southwest off London.

Putting it in conflict with the West, the Russians have blocked the U.N.'s Security Council from taking strong, punitive action against the Assad regime and are seen as the country's key arms supplier. Syrian activists say that about 14,000 people have been killed in an uprising in the country since March 2011.

Russia has been providing Syria's army with spare parts and assistance in repairs of the weapons supplied earlier, Dzirkaln said. He insisted that Russia does not sell helicopters or fighter planes to Syria.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday said he welcomes the decision, but added that Britain "would like to see a halt of all deliveries of weaponry to a regime that has embarked on the killing of so many of its own people."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last month issued a harsh reprimand to Russia, saying that Moscow "dramatically" escalated the crisis in Syria by sending attack helicopters there. The State Department acknowledged later that the helicopters were actually refurbished ones already owned by the Syrian regime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Monday said that Russia is still committed to a peace plan by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan, saying that the Syrian government and opposition groups should be "forced" to start a dialogue.

Annan's six-point peace plan was to begin with a cease-fire in mid-April between government forces and rebels seeking to topple Assad, to be followed by political dialogue. But the truce never took hold, and almost 300 U.N. observers sent to monitor the cease-fire are now confined to their hotels because of the escalating violence.

Syria Crisis: Russia Arms Sales To Syria Halted, Says Official

 

[High_Gravity]

Syria Refugee Camp In Jordan To Accomodate Those Fleeing Violence

MAFRAQ, Jordan — Jordan opened a new refugee camp Tuesday near the border with Syria to accommodate the growing number of people fleeing the deadly violence in the neighboring country, days after the U.N. refugee agency appealed to the kingdom to make more room to meet the surge in the cross-border flow.

Authorities here have been reluctant to set up refugee camps, possibly to avoid angering Syrian President Bashar Assad's autocratic regime by showing images at his doorstep of civilians fleeing his military onslaught against them.

A separate camp, which was to host the UNHCR and the agency's own tents, was set up months ago in the town of Ribaa Sarhan near the Syrian border, but has remained unused while Syrian refugees stayed in heavily-guarded housing compounds in several towns along the border.

Jordan's Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah said Tuesday the new camp in the northern border town of Mafraq had to be set up because Syrian refugees could no longer be absorbed into border communities.

"We had to move quickly to make extra room for the refugees, whose numbers swelled in recent days," he told The Associated Press.

Since the uprising in Syria broke out in March 2011, Jordan has provided shelter for 140,000 Syrian refugees. Lebanon hosts about 30,000 Syrians and Turkey has taken in tens of thousands of others.

Aid workers have said that a sudden surge of 3,600 refugees last week increased pressure on Jordan, though the numbers tapered off over the weekend because of a Syrian military onslaught that hampered the movement of civilians trying to make their way to Jordan.

The Interior Ministry said as many as 1,000 refugees crossed over each day last week, four times the previous daily average of 250 people. The discrepancy in the numbers could not be immediately reconciled.

Andrew Harper, the U.N. refugee agency's representative to Jordan, said that as the Mafraq camp opened, bulldozers were digging the ground in the bleak Jordanian desert at the nearby Zaatari village for a second camp.

It was not immediately clear when that camp would be finished or whether Jordan would eventually use the third camp, at Ribaa Sarhan.

Maaytah said the camp at Zaatari will be an "emergency camp," where health and other services will be provided. He also said the International Organization for Migration will establish its own separate camps to shelter non-Syrians fleeing Syria on their way home or to third countries.

He said the decision to open the camps was taken in a Cabinet meeting late Monday. It followed an appeal last week from UNHCR's Harper, who called on the government to open a camp for Syrian refugees because the existing state-run housing compounds were overcrowded.

Syria Refugee Camp In Jordan To Accomodate Those Fleeing Violence

 

[High_Gravity]

Nawaf Al Fares, Syria Ambassador To Iraq, Reportedly Defects

BEIRUT, July 11 (Reuters) - Syria's ambassador to Iraq defected on Wednesday in protest at the military crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad's forces against a 16-month uprising, Syrian opposition sources said.

Nawaf al-Fares, who has close ties to Syrian security, would be the first senior diplomat to quit the embattled government. There has been no comment from Damascus or Baghdad.


A veteran of Assad's rule who held senior positions under the late president Hafez al-Assad, Fares is from Deir al-Zor, the eastern city on the road to Iraq which has been the scene of a ferocious military onslaught by Assad forces.


"This is just the beginning of a series of defections on the diplomatic level. We are in touch with several ambassadors," said Mohamed Sermini, a member of the main opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council.

The defection of Fares, a Sunni, could be a major blow to Assad, who wants to convince a sceptical world that he is conducting a legitimate defence of his country against foreign-backed armed groups bent on toppling the government.

Fares' decision to jump ship follows the high-profile flight from Syria last week of Brigadier General Manaf Tlas, also a Sunni and once a close friend of Assad, whose minority Alawite sect has relied on Sunni allies to maintain control of Syria's majority Sunni population.

Tlas fled to Paris and has not spoken since of his intentions. Opposition sources said Fares was leaving Iraq but it was not clear where he would go.

Nawaf Al Fares, Syria Ambassador To Iraq, Reportedly Defects

 

[mememe]

SYRIA WILL RECEIVE FROM RUSSIA defence systems and repaired HELICOPTERS as per EXISTING CONTRACTS

July 11, 2012 | 17:05

Today at the Farnborough Air Show a representatives of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation confirmed that Moscow has no intention of introducing embargo on arms deliveries to Damascus.

http://echo.msk.ru/news/908144-echo.html