Problems with holding a conference on settling the Syrian issue, as expected, arose immediately after Lavrov and Kerry reached an agreement on this matter in Moscow. Just two days later in Rome at a meeting with Jordanian and Israeli ministers, the U.S. Secretary of State disavowed his own words, declaring that Bashar al-Asad and his followers cannot be a part of a transitional government. On Kerry’s instructions, American ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who had left Damascus some time earlier, secretly came from Turkey to Aleppo for several hours, where at a meeting with opposition leaders he told them not to worry and assured them of full support until the final victory. Thus the prospects of a peaceful resolution «withered in the bud». (1) For the Americans, an agreement that is «satisfactory to everyone» is when everyone is satisfied with what America wants.

Official Damascus, ignored by the West, not only remains the main political force in Syria, but is also gaining ground against its adversary. The Syrian army has rearmed, gained needed battle experience, augmented its forces with professional volunteers from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, and begun to systematically make up its losses. Although Damascus, understandably, denies that foreigners are participating in military operations on their side, many sources say that they are, and that they are being led by the commander of the Quds Force of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian general Qassem Suleimani… According to the Arabic media, this mission was entrusted to him by the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei. Furthermore, the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, also met a month ago with the spiritual leader of Iran and received instructions from him to direct all his efforts to the fight against the «rebels» in Syria. It has been noted that Nasrallah has at least 7000 men under his command on the territory of Syria. (2)

Government troops occupied strategic positions near the Jordanian border in mid-May, blocking military aid to its adversaries, and on May 19 they won an important victory by liberating the city of Al-Qusayr on the northern border with Lebanon. This opens a direct route between the coast, which is loyal to Asad and populated by Alawites, to the capital, as well as an unobstructed supply route between Damascus and its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. It will be much more difficult for Israel to interrupt that channel. At the same time, the opposition’s northern Lebanese supply routes are being cut off; this is one of the most devastating losses the rebels have sustained in two years of war. A large opposition force near Homs has been cut off. There is basically only one direction from which it can realistically receive supplies: from Turkey. However, expectations that Turkey can prevent the failure of the entire Syrian venture are not justified. Turkish Prime Minister R. Erdoğan, who not long ago was trying to convince America to establish a no-fly zone and conduct a military intervention in Syria, during a recent visit to Washington unexpectedly started speaking of the necessity of a peace conference. (3) Apparently he had also gotten «news from the front».

It is also becoming more and more difficult for Western leaders to conceal the face of the opposition. Scenes of mass executions and even acts of cannibalism on the part of the regime’s adversaries are simply shocking. Damascus is winning the propaganda war, essentially without even fighting it. Such is the nature of the adversary it faces; it continually gives itself away. Surveys show that absolutely everywhere in the world, the overwhelming majority of public opinion is against foreign military intervention in Syria on the side of such «freedom fighters».

At the same time, by being on the same side as Israel, oppositionists from the radical Jabhat al-Nusra front have started to lose the aureole of staunch Islamic fighters. This was especially noticeable during al-Nusra’s attack on Yarmouk, a large camp of Palestinian refugees in a suburb of Damascus, during which they destroyed the grave of Sheikh F. Shakaki at the Cemetery of Martyrs. And this is despite the fact that the Palestinians, the overwhelming majority of whom are staunch Sunnites, still maintain neutrality in the civil war. Making enemies of the numerous Palestinians, who are always ready to fight, is shortsighted, to say the least. However, the masks are coming off, and it is becoming clear that Islam, like democracy, has nothing to do with anything here; this is a matter of a profitable political put-up job.

The influential Washington Post admits: «There is little doubt that the pendulum is now swinging in favor of Assad, potentially putting him in a strong position to set terms if the negotiations with the opposition… take place». Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center expert Charles Lister believes that «If things continue as they are, the government will certainly be the party that has the major advantage» in any negotiations. (4)

Similar opinions are being expressed in Israel. For example, the London Times published an interview with a high-ranking Israeli intelligence officer who told the newspaper that an intact but weakened Asad is much preferable to his opponents: «Better the devil we know than the demons we can only imagine if… extremists from across the Arab world gain a foothold there.» Another Israeli source quoted by the Times said that events in Syria had been evaluated incorrectly from the start. «The working hypothesis was that Asad’s regime was falling fast. We underestimated Asad’s strength and his influence on his people, and overestimated the military capabilities of the rebels», he said.

Analysts from the Israeli center DEBKAfile believe that both the U.S. and Israel made strategic errors in earlier stages due to faulty assessments of the strengths of the warring sides. They thought that Asad’s days were numbered and it would only take a small effort to topple him. However, as a result, the Tehran – Damascus – Hezbollah alliance has only become stronger, partly thanks to technical support from Russia, and it is now regaining one position after another. Furthermore, after Israeli air attacks, not only has Asad’s potential not become weaker, but the possibility of military activities shifting to the occupied Golan Heights has arisen. (5)

Israel is also rethinking its previous view that the fall of Asad’s regime and the ascension of the «rebels» to power will have no serious negative consequences for Israelis. Considering the more and more active penetration of terrorist forces from Global Jihad and Al Qaeda into the ranks of the rebels, Israeli specialists are beginning to express serious misgivings about the possibility of future peaceful coexistence with «post-Asad Syria». In addition, Israel feels it must be ready for a turn of events in which «Asad maintains, if not power, then at least strong influence in Syria». (6)

Analysts also explain the growing pessimism in the West and in Israel with regard to prospects of a possible military victory of the Syrian opposition by the consistent and decisive position of Russia, which «doesn’t want a repetition of the Libyan scenario». (7) By delivering modern mid-range antiship missiles to Damascus, as well as through the presence of «over a dozen naval ships» patrolling the coast of Syria, Moscow has essentially «cut off the route for supplying the rebels by sea» and made foreign military intervention very difficult. It is no accident that U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey has called the delivery of Russian missiles to Syria an «ill-timed» and «unfortunate» decision, as it will «embolden» Asad. For the American general, perhaps it is an «unfortunate decision», but for the Syrian people and the stability of the region, it is quite fortunate.

The new circumstances objectively strengthen the positions of both Moscow and official Damascus at the negotiations on the future of Syria. (8) However, Washington is unlikely to abandon its plans so quickly. The Syrian people, along with its friends and allies, will still have to fight for the right to freely choose its own fate.

(1) debka.com/article/22961/US-envoy-Fords-secret-crossing-into-Syria-Turkey-Cchemical-dossier-for-Obama
(2) elections-ices.org/russian/news/type:politics/textid:16814/
(3) debka.com/article/22980/Syrian-Hizballah%E2%80%99s-capture-of-Qusayr-opens-direct-weapons-route-to-Lebanon
(4) washingtonpost.com
(5) debka.com/article/22978/Muddled-Israeli-US-policies-on-Assad-set-stage-for-Golan-offensive-against-Israel-
(6) 9tv.co.il/news/2013/05/17/150997.html
(7) www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/world/middleeast/russia-provides-syria-with-advanced-missiles.html?hp&_r=1&
(8) online.wsj.com

Source of article: strategic-culture.org
Author: Dmitry Minin

The post The Syrian Pendulum appeared first on SyriaNews.

This means that the United States might increase its support for religious fanatics, terrorists, mercenaries and strangers in Syria if the Syrian government in Damascus is not willing to debate a so-called political solution for the Syrian conflict. Although many reports from the recent months have confirmed that the Syrian government is ready and willing to discuss such a solution for the crisis in the country.

As usual, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is using the known propaganda lines in order to maintain the propaganda and to keep the American people brainwashed. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said in this recent statement in the Jordanian capital Amman that about several thousand Hezbollah fighters would be finally active in the conflict in Syria and that they are receiving the support of Iran, while they are fighting at the side of the Syrian army against the “opposition forces”, which are in reality nothing else than armed jihadists, terrorists, uneducated thugs and religious fanatics from many countries of the Arab world and even from Europe, Australia and the United States.

In terms of the alleged victory of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the region of Al-Qusayr, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that these gains by the Assad forces are just “very temporary”, but this probably depends on the fact whether the United States will increase their support for the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists and Islamists within Syria in order to boost the intended regime-change in this secular and sovereign country in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, as stated, about four people have been killed in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli in recent clashes and it is no surprise that the tensions are increasing in Tripoli. Two victims of the recent clases in the Lebanese city of Tripoli were from the so-called Bab el-Tebbaneh district. One victim was from the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood and the living place of the fourth victim was not specified in the reports about the recent clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

Photos by Andrei Filatov / ANNA News

Tripoli has been a dangerous place for a long time and already before the beginning of the conflict in the neighboring country Syria. One of the main problems for Lebanon is the Future Movement, which can also be seen as a terrorist supporting union under the led of the Israel-friendly Saad Hariri. Hariri maintains his groups of armed thugs and religious fanatics since a long time and is also responsible for a lot of problems in Lebanon.

It has already been stated that some of these “Hariri fighters” are currently even fighting in Syria and some were already killed in the battles of Al-Qusayr by units of the Syrian army with the help of Hezbollah fighters. As mentioned in this article, there are some good reasons why Hezbollah is fighting the Hariri thugs on Syrian soil now and why the Hariri thugs are trying to meddle in and around Al-Qusayr.

Not to mention the supply route which seems almost lost for the armed foreign-backed terrorists and jihadists. In the end, it seems that the Syrian army finally is able to gain some ground and to eliminate the armed groups in and around Al-Qusayr, which is an important step forward to bring back security to Syria, although the cleaning process, as it is known from other areas near the capital Damascus, will last a long time.

The post Clashes in Lebanon while Kerry blackmails Bashar al-Assad appeared first on SyriaNews.

First impressions first: the people, the civil society, women, men, the youth, elderly, children, workers, the Arab street, as it is called. It was disconcerting coming into the country for the first time knowing what I thought I knew and seeing a calm, positive demeanor in people, which could well be misconstrued as apathy, yet exhibiting expectant, concerned, awaiting eyes and facial expressions. After some time I noticed a striking absence of anger or negative excitement in the air; people going about their daily business as if nothing was happening, as if life were normal. No cries for revenge against their many external aggressors, no fists in the air, no demonstrations against a dictator, no pleading or denouncing slips of paper passed to me surreptitiously by nervous, fearful hands. Eye contacts revealed seriousness, curiosity, kindness, hope, hospitality, happiness in seeing strangers. No public laughs or smiles though. Heavy hearts do not allow for such frivolities. Syrian people are suffering, they are sad, stuck, against the wall, being victimized for which they bear no responsibility. They just don’t know why they are being threatened, attacked, killed, tortured, and humiliated so viciously from so many fronts. The concept of proxy war is alien to them even though they are at its core. Fear of violence can be more psychologically and emotionally damaging than the real thing. Understandably, they are afraid of talking in public and being later identified and targeted by jihadists.

But then again, that is always the case, isn’t? Who cares about unimportant people when so many more pressing factors are in play? Like the obscene profits made by the oil multinationals, the 7 sisters cartel, and the preservation of wasteful lifestyles of peoples from richer, more powerful nations that need –and will take by any means necessary– the oil that Syrians at this juncture unfortunately have underneath their feet?

Disconcerting as well was to find a country bursting with activity and life, children in playgrounds or walking to school in their uniforms, open air markets filled with people, heavy traffic, buses running, life happening in and around Damascus. Disconcerting because I had psyched myself to find a country in ruins, people fleeing for their lives from bombs, tanks on the streets, a police state massacring its own citizens, large scale suffering, buildings demolished, people resisting the government by force, and so on. Yet, I saw none of the above; quite the opposite. But you will forgive my ignorance, for I am a Westerner and that is what we hear, watch and read in our corporate media, which without a pinch of shame, honesty or humanity tell us half truths, innuendoes, straight lies, and party-line talking-points uttered by talking heads about what is happening on this part of the world. And I stand guilty of believing them like a fool. Nonetheless, the country has been as if divided by checkpoints in every strategic entrance and exit. To give an idea, our Damascus hotel was surrounded by six different checkpoints strategically located around it. Armed personnel and soldiers on the streets is a common sight that adds to a sense of security.

Mairead and Mother Agnès-Maryam Soeur (our leaders) met privately with Syrian armed fighters and we were introduced to some persons victimized by their atrocities. Audiences included: Syrian Prime Minister Mr. Wael Al Halki, Deputy PM and Minister of Economic Affairs Mr. Qadri Jameel (opposition), Minister of Health Dr. Saed Anayef, Minister of Social Affairs Ms. Kinda Al-Shammat (a pleasant and intelligent young lady), Minister of Justice Dr. Najem Hamad Al-Ahmad, Minister of Information Mr. Omran Ahed Al-Zouabi, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Walid Muallem, the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Mr. Ali Abd Karim Ali, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, and General Michael Aoun, an influential Lebanese party leader (who is rumored to discriminate against Palestinian refugees).

We visited the People’s Council of Syria (parliament), hospitals, refugee camps, were briefed by senior field coordinator Maeve Murphy at the UNHCR intake center in Zahleh-Lebanon, and met with a representative of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and with ambulance drivers and health workers. We were also welcomed by some ten leaders from various religions, sects and faiths, were greeted in churches and mosques, and I talked with common folks every time an opportunity presented in shops and in the streets. I talked with an active member of the political opposition to the present regime. He was in prison for 24 years, released 11 years ago, and wants changes—but without outside interference as he told to me textually. The 71 year-old kind and intelligent gentleman who declined to give his name also told me he did not marry and have children because he was in prison, and he was ashamed of that.

ACTORS AND PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT

A deeper contextual assessment and analysis within a peace studies/conflict resolution paradigm would require more time and research into the complexities of the conflicts (in the plural) vis-à-vis the newest perceptions, facts and evidences acquired herein; the majority of actors are not evident whereas the main, deadliest ones are shielded by ‘deniability.’ However, they are all known—and very active. Of one thing you may rest assured: Bashar al-Assad is not the sole culprit, THE bad guy in this saga. He is a well liked leader all over, which is evident in different cities, in talks with differing kinds of persons, and by their attitudes and actions. Body languages, eye contacts, non-verbal messages work wonders in bringing hidden messages to the surface. Billboards with his picture are spread throughout the land and they are clean, well preserved. One does not see graffiti over them, obscenities or anything like that. Syrians in general show pride in having a handsome leader, an eye doctor who is not a sanguinary dictator like Saddam Hussein was. I would assume that in the present context even those who oppose him are on his side to defend Syria’s integrity as a functioning society.

Quoting Johan Galtung [i]: “An image of the goals of some outside parties:

• Israel: wants Syria divided in smaller parts, detached from Iran, status quo for Golan Heights, and a new map for the Middle East;
• USA: wants what Israel wants and control over oil, gas, pipelines;
• UK: wants what USA wants;
• France: co-responsible with the UK for post-Ottoman colonization in the area, wants confirmed friendship France-Syria;
• Russia: wants a naval base in the Mediterranean, and an “ally”;
• China: wants what Russia wants;
• EU: wants both what Israel-USA want and what France wants;
• Iran: wants Shia power;
• Iraq: majority Shia, wants what Iran wants;
• Lebanon: wants to know what it wants;
• Saudi-Arabia: wants Sunni power;
• Egypt: wants to emerge as the conflict-manager;
• Qatar: wants the same as Saudi Arabia and Egypt;
• Gulf States: want what USA-UK want;
• The Arab League: wants no repetition of Libya, tries human rights;
• Turkey: wants to assert itself relative to the (Israel-USA) successors to the (France-UK-Italy) successors to the Ottoman Empire, and a buffer zone in Syria.
• UN: wants to emerge as the conflict manager.

Every single statement here can be challenged and challenged again.  But let us for the sake of the mental experiment assume that this image, with 16 outside and five inside parties, is more right than wrong.”

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Mr. Kadri Jameel, is a Communist Kurd elected on the opposition party platform. He came to talk to the delegation at the 5-star hotel where we stayed in Damascus. He affirmed that his electoral victory represented a foot on the door for further changes, which envisioned a multiparty political system. I talked with four members of his security detail. One of them, 26, showed me his wound: a bullet entered through his backside and exited through his neck, which had been broken as he was attacked by foreign fighters coming from Turkey at a Palestinian refugee camp in Latakia on Aug, 2011 when he was still in the army. Although army officers, they guard the leader of the opposition. I was told by them that these armed gangs of trouble makers target especially the minorities (Druze, Christians, Shia) in hopes that they turn against the government.

“As the government moves to a multi-party system, a non-territorial federation with two chambers, one for provinces and the other for nations, with vetoes in matters of vital concern might be useful.” [ii]

In addition, as much as I tried, no one leader could or would answer my two basic questions: What is the source of this conflict? What are the solutions? Perhaps it was so because all our audiences, meetings, visits, and so forth were made in groups: our delegation, composed of 16 invitees from seven countries, our hosts, the press (which at times stole the whole show all for themselves), plus the heavily armed security around us everywhere around the clock, sometimes annoyingly so. Thus no conversations or even follow-up questions were ever entertained. But I got a generalized reply based and around a single theme: “The violence must stop!” Moreover, few of the leaders spoke English. Thus a lot of our ‘conversations’ was lost or truncated in the interpreting process. What stands out is that almost all of the various leaders and people in general seem to agree that the major, perhaps only problem facing the country is the (contained) violence and threat thereof. Not could be farther from the truth, though. So I will stay more at the surface in this overview of our visit.

Galtung’s bird’s eye view of the situation (in Syria, TMS 29 Apr 2013): “Over this looms a dark cloud: Syria is in the zone between Israel-USA-NATO and Shanghai Cooperation Organization-SCO [Russia-China], both expanding.

“Then, an image of the goals of some inside parties:

• Alawis (15%): want to remain in power, “for the best of all” (Assad’s power base);
• Shias in general: want the same;
• Sunnis: want majority rule, their rule, democracy;
• Jews, Christians, minorities: want security, fearing Sunni rule;
• Kurds: want high level autonomy, some community with other Kurds.”

However, Susan Dirgham, a delegate from Australia, offers a qualification:

“Much of the propaganda in Australia that leads to young Sunni Lebanese Australians to go to Syria for jihad relies on claims that in Syria you have an Alawi minority suppressing a Sunni majority. My understanding is that most of the ministers are in fact Sunni and the business elite with the economic power in Syria is also mostly Sunni. According tohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Ministers_(Syria):

“The Information Minister, Dr Al-Zouabi, is Sunni (not Alawi, as claimed).

“The Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, is Sunni (not Greek Orthodox, as claimed).

“The Deputy PM and Minister for Economic Affairs Qadri Jamil is Kurdish, as stated, and Communist (not Alawi as claimed).

“It is interesting that the religion of the Minister for Social Affairs Ms. Kinda Al-Shammat is not listed though one would assume she is Sunni because of her white hijab and the way she wears it.”

REFUGEES

The Syrian state and its population are being indirectly attacked by US/EU/NATO/UN; and directly by Israel,  HERE and also HERE, by the autocratic dictatorships of the GCC-Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, UAE (mostly Sunni Muslims) in partnership with Turkey (secular), and by Al Qaeda plus a diversity of mercenary jihadists (by definition terrorist groups), each with its own agenda, recruited from 29 countries and paid by GCC/CIA. Syrians are also assailed by UN sanctions and an embargo, and by a foreign press bent on demonizing, lying, destabilizing the country (not merely the regime). The mercenaries fight among themselves to grab the moneys channeled from the CIA and other American institutions via GCC and/or Turkey. Weapons enter Syria hidden in Turkish ambulances posing as such. US cash provides weapons and logistics, fund mercenaries, pay for jihadists. Bands of jihadists armed to the teeth invade Syria through Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon (Tripoli). Turkey opened its Syrian borders to them and, through terror, they displace the populations forcing them to take refuge back in Turkey in an effort to destabilize Syria. Turkey, in fact, invites Syrian refugees into the country. It is documented that Syrian refugees in Turkey are mistreated, have their organs removed (stolen), children sold for forced marriage or else. There are an estimated 50,000 foreign jihadist fighters terrorizing Syria’s countryside: snipers, bombers, agitators. They torture and kill men who refuse to join them. In their religious fundamentalism they believe that any Muslim they kill will automatically and immediately achieve paradise; they are actually doing them a favor (!). There is a score of young Europeans on their ranks as well (Germans, Dutch, British, Australians).

We visited and talked with a chief of family, refugee in Lebanon and saw twenty people living in a space roughly 6×6 without ventilation, a room inside a warehouse, for which they pay the equivalent of 400 dollar/month. One filthy kitchen, one bathroom. And that is that. They are on their own to find work and everything else. Some resort to stealing and committing petty crimes to survive.  This is typical, not an exception. And he explained that in his native Homs jihadists take over their houses, rape their women, and kill young males who refuse to join their ranks. Chechens, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Lebanese, Jordanians, Turkish, Europeans compose these gangs armed, fed and maintained by the above mentioned foreign governments. He said they attach suicide vests around peoples’ bodies and threaten to explode them if they don’t do what they are told. Underneath a rather dignified posture, he was scared, terrorized. Yet we kept hearing the same mantra over and over: “I want to go back home, I don’t belong here.” It was truly heartbreaking, and I felt helpless in the face of it. Bearing witness we were.

In one of the refugee camps we visited in Lebanon (more aptly called a concentration camp) we talked with a couple from Homs–he being a pharmacist and engineer–who had their house and business blown up due to terrorist activities. Now they live by charity in the Bekaa Valley-Lebanon, under a tent and with nothing but the clothes over their bodies. They are not allowed to work, own property, have a dignified life. There is no sanitation and there are check points with armed soldiers at the gates. Multiply this by about 1.5 million and you will have an approximate dimension of the human tragedy. We visited the Sabra Palestinian refugee camp as well, of the infamous Sabra-Shatila massacre by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in September 1982, on the outskirts of Beirut. In addition we toured the UN High Commission for Refugees intake center in Zahleh, Lebanon, next to Bekaa valley and were briefed by Maeve Murphy, UNHCR senior field coordinator. She said that there is a staff of 50 workers to deal with an influx of 1,500 refugees a day.

damascus

This is how it works, according to Prime Minister Wael Al Halki himself, with whom we spent 2.5 hours and with him doing most of the talk to explain in detail and with statistics and evidences what is really happening for the last two years. Jihadists take a village by assault, kill public officials, take over private houses in which to hide, burn plantations, spread terror and devastation. Their aim is simple: to render the country as ungovernable as they possibly can, disrupt normal life, destroy institutions, livestock, people. They occupy hospitals forcing medical personnel to look only after foreign fighters, not allowing wounded locals or government soldiers to be treated. This has created a wave of refugees from a total population of 21.9 million. Internal displacement is calculated at 1.5 million people. And 600,000 external refugees according to the Minister of Social Affairs, Ms Kinda Al-Shammat (estimate). But the UNHCR provides an official estimate of 1.5 million refugees spread over the different neighboring countries as follows:

- Jordan: 471.677;

- Lebanon: 469.217;

- Turkey: 347.157;

- Iraq: 146.951;

- Egypt: 66.922.

GOVERNMENT RETALIATION

Syrian authorities on the other hand reacted to the rampant and aggressive terrorism through a policy they call ‘iron hand.’ Tanks, artillery and infantry descend in force on the places that foreign fighters keep under siege and blow up the buildings where they hide, keep armaments and snipers. However, before striking the buildings fliers are thrown from helicopters advising residents to leave the area, what is not always possible because the terrorists use them as human shields, keeping them under captivity inside their own residences. Collateral damage is high, it is a policy many consider unacceptable. But given the odds he said it is the best alternative. And this method, as brutal as it is, is bearing fruits as the terrorists are being decimated or otherwise driven farther and farther from populated areas. The minister of justice said textually: “Those who invade us to kill and destroy our country will not leave Syria alive.” But the jihadists still occupy and keep under siege many localities. If compared to the US retaliation to the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center, killing millions, invading other countries, and lingering still 12 years later through drone attacks and selective assassinations, such ‘iron hand’ policies are mild (without condoning the violence, that is). Those are, therefore, the demolished buildings shown ad nauseam and out of context, over and over on CNN, BBC, FOX and the rest of them.

According to Paul Larudee, a delegate from the USA:

“Most of the men and some of the women do not want to be photographed, but the children don’t mind.  Several people from Qusayr, a town on the Lebanese border said that when the demonstrations first began two years ago, they were nonviolent and the local officials would even clear the roads for them.  However, as they became more violent, the central government failed to act and the town was eventually overrun by armed local elements and foreign fighters from Chechnya, Azerbaijan and other places.  It was only after the population fled that Syrian troops finally came to quell the rebellion, which has apparently not yet been fully accomplished. I have no way to assess the accuracy of these stories, nor to generalize them, but at least my modest Arabic skills allow me to strike up conversations with whomever I want, and there are no government minders in Lebanon.  Nevertheless, we all want to meet with groups that have a very different story to tell, and Mother Agnès-Maryam has included such opportunities in our schedule, even Jabhat al-Nusrah, the al-Qaeda affiliate, with whom none of us expected to be able to speak.”

There is also the case of a boy shot by snipers in a street and whose body was whisked away by photographers who then made a video of his death; of his dying actually, fleeing afterwards and leaving the corpse behind. Medical personnel said afterwards that he could have been saved if taken to a hospital instead of to the killing fields’ improvised TV studio. The result of such filth is sold to TV networks for your and my robotized consumption. Yet as the PM asserted, the workers are being paid on time, schools, universities, public offices continue operating, and the government is able to maintain a somewhat normal life under such extenuating circumstances. As we toured the city or participated in meetings, we would hear loud booms at a distance, sometimes seeing clouds of black smoke rising from the bombed sites, or else, sounds of gun fights. We taped some of these with our cell phones. ‘Necessary evil,’ I was told, as I asked a gentleman in a restaurant, what he thought about such retaliatory bombings. People in fact don’t pay much attention to them. The UN says nearly 70,000 people have been killed since the foreign fighters entered the country and started the armed conflict in March 2011.

Another important point made by delegate Susan Dirgham:

“I don’t remember anyone we met supporting an arms embargo against the state.  We were reminded by the Melkite Patriarch that the selling of arms to the state is legal.  If it were stopped, the enemies of Syria would surely win.  I think what united everyone I met in Damascus was support for the state + dialogue.  This view was shared by people from different backgrounds and by those who supported the president and the current government and those who didn’t, such as the members of the “Third Current” I spoke with.  They may not have supported some of the tactics of the army or security etc, but they supported the right for Syria to defend itself from outside aggression and to remain in a position where it can defend its people and territory.  It seems as though we are being balanced and peace-loving when we support an arms embargo on both sides, but actually to support an embargo against Syria without also supporting the same for all countries in the region, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc. would not be helpful. Syria would collapse and be destroyed by its enemies if its army didn’t have the military hardware to defend the people and country, firstly against the 50,000 foreign jihadists/mercenaries, etc. and then against the states that work to destroy and dismember it.”

On one occasion an IED-Improvised Explosive Device exploded about 10 minutes after our delegation had left the Patriarchate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (our hosts throughout), where we had attended an ecumenical prayer for peace. I was shown photos immediately after, sent by cell phone, of blood on the floor from people killed and injured from the attack. Such is life in Damascus to which, after a short 10-day visit, we were getting somewhat used to. Understanding drives away outrage and harsh judgmental assumptions and conclusions. Mairead Maguire, who talked in private with four Syrian armed combatants, said they told her they took up arms against the government because they were unemployed; one of them with five children. Al Qaida offered them money. They took the offer and started killing fellow Syrians. Moreover, three shots were fired against the car of the leader/organizer of the peace mission, Mother Agnès-Mariam Soeur, a Melkite nun, on Sat. May 11, 2013 as she traveled to her native Homs, the hotspot city where her monastery was destroyed by terrorist activities.

Delegate Paul Larudee reports:

“There was the celebrated case of a nine-year-old Christian boy named Sari Saoud, killed by rebels in Homs.  His body was taken by the rebels, but his mother, Georgina al-Jammal caught up with them, and her embrace of her dead son was captured on video by the rebels, who then falsified the account to make it appear that the boy had been killed by government forces.

I talked with Georgina, who supports the government, but blames it for leaving the area without protection. She told me that she recognized some of the rebels from the neighborhood, but that others were strangers.”

CONCLUSION

A positive note: we were gifted with a VIP visit to the famous Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Damascus, fourth-holiest place after Mecca, where is located the tomb and shrine of St John the Baptist right at the center of the huge 4,000 year-old construction that had previously been a temple of Jupiter in Roman times and the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist. This mosque is at the end of the famous Road to Damascus, of St Paul’s conversion, which we walked by foot seeing the exact spot of the event. Upon exiting the mosque complex one could see another building erected by Saladin (1174–1193), also buried in Umayyad. This was just one of many fascinating experiences afforded us by our hosts being demonized and targeted for invasion and occupation by the West. They are understandably worried that invading marines wouldn’t have what it takes to appreciate such a wealth of history, art, religious traditions, faiths, civilization, and would most probably raze it to the ground as they have done elsewhere in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan. Right they are. We were hosted by the head of Umayyad, the Grand Mufti of the Syrian Arab republic, Dr. Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun and by the Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham, who organized and hosted our whole trip along with Mussalaha.

We arrived in Lebanon during the holy week of the Eastern Orthodox Churches and spent their Easter Sunday (5 May) as guests of one of the many Christianities of the Middle East, where it all began. An added treat.

The Mussalaha International Peace Delegation to Syria issued a Concluding Declaration. Being from varying backgrounds, delegates did not agree on everything and one of them did not sign it. Therefore: no groupthink and no possibility of collective brainwashing of our group by Syrian authorities. And Mairead Maguire’s messages to the media, as the Nobel Peace laureate head of the delegation, remained impeccable and on point. She started all interviews with affirmations to the effect that,

“It is for the Syrian people to decide about their own problems, their own destiny, their own politics, their own leadership and form of government. No one has de right to interfere in their internal affairs and all foreign forces must withdraw and stay away. The flow of arms and armed fighters must be stopped, sanctions must be lifted, and if the arms embargo should remain in place, it ought to all parties involved, not just to the Syrian government that has a right to defend itself from foreign aggression. Are the foreign bands of invaders that are killing and terrorizing the population. All parties must follow the rules of international law.”

I find it disgraceful that our Western governments, led by US-EU-Israel and their client states, be full and willing partners in such atrocities perpetrated in name of ‘human rights,” “democracy,” “rule of law,” “freedom,” “liberty,” and other such meaningless, trivialized euphemisms. The present political and economic structures, embedded in the machinery of predatory militarism and capitalism, present us with only one choice, the lesser evil; but that is an artificial construct. Gandhi, Mandela, Luther King, Lula and many others are proof that changes and transformation are envisioned, given form and arise from below, from the ranks of the oppressed and minorities, from a non co-opted periphery, and not from within the belly of an empire of banks and bases seeking unlimited profits and hegemonic powers—for their own sake. Policies must again be made to endeavor the wellbeing of human beings, of life, not the perpetuation of structures and cultures that by necessity have to go. At other times in history piracy, slavery and absolute monarchy, for instance, also represented the status quo, the law; but they are no more. Nonviolent resistance and actions throughout the cultural-structural apparatus are the means to turn this tide, which is taking our planet and all its life to the abyss. We must choose life and peace by peaceful means, resist we must; and we will!

The formula is given by Galtung: Equity, Harmony, Trauma Reconciliation, Conflict Resolution:

                            + Positive Peace              Equity X Harmony

      Peace  =   ________________  =  _________________

                            – Negative Peace              Trauma X Conflict

“For Syria, what comes to mind is a Swiss solution.  One Syria, federal, with local autonomy, even down to the village level, with Sunnis, Shias and Kurds having relations to their own across the borders.  International peacekeeping, also for the protection of minorities.  And non-aligned, which rules out foreign bases and flows of arms, but does not rule out compulsory arbitration for the Golan Heights (and June 1967 in general), with Israeli UN membership at stake. The search could be for solutions, not for the solution.  Let 1,000 dialogues blossom, in each quarter, each village, enriching the gross national idea product, GNIP.  UN-supported facilitators, with knowledge of mediation, rather than with guns and binoculars.” [iii]

Like Paul meeting the angel Ananias on his way to Damascus experienced a change of heart and became St Paul, so have I met many angels on my own Road to Damascus and, although not gone into sainthood, I have reinterpreted and upgraded my own vision of reality—which I now share with you.

Source: globalresearch.ca

Written by: Antonio Carlos Silva Rosa

The post On the Road to Damascus: An Eyewitness Report appeared first on SyriaNews.

Meanwhile, such reports of the presents of fighters of the Lebanese Tayyar Al-Mustaqbal (Future Movement) in al-Qusayr are interesting:

“Province of Homs. The cleanup operation against those armed gangs and groups, who are entrenched in the neighborhoods, continues. Currently, the main forces of the surviving terrorists still remain in the northern districts, where also the airport Ad-Dabaa, occupied by them, is located; it seems they apparently intend to use it for their escape from the encirclement.

Once again, a group of armed men was tracked down and liquidated at the border to Lebanon, while the gunmen tried to break through the blockade around the city and to help the encircled terrorists.” (ANNA-News)

Both Salafi and Israeli sources, and with the later, the “world community”, hardly get any air while they are getting loudly worked up (het up / excited) that Hezbollah takes part around Al-Qusayr. They modestly ignore the reasons for this, respectively they rant about an “alliance with the dictator”.

The Lebanese Hariri units are the reason. Hariri controls the comfortable and wide swath from the Lebanese Tripoli up to the Syrian border, which was set up by the sponsors of the aggression against Syria.

Foreign terrorists (especially North-African), tons of weapons, and ammunition reach Syria through this corridor. The Al-Mustaqbal will know how to feed themselves from the arsenals, which are passing by. Of course, the safe passage costs something.

Daraya

Ultimately, Hezbollah is nothing else doing in this scenario than what Israel is doing against Hezbollah – they are trying to prevent the rearmament of the Hariri units. And to arm themselves, but not against Israel, but against a much more uncomfortable enemy in the inland.

That there are Lebanese terrorists groups in Syria for a long time, this does not fit into the world picture which is jointly drawn by Israel and the Salafists (Salafis). So, without further ado, this gets suppressed without hesitation, and therefore, the half-truth looks similiar to a dangerous lie.

Source: apxwn

The post Syria: Al-Qusayr and the Hezbollah appeared first on SyriaNews.

In the details we managed to get: the enemy object was detected and orders were given to one of the nearby boats to destroy it which they did with a torpedo (not told which type), then it was monitored sinking until landing on the seabed off the coast. A heavy movement of Syrian Army helicopters was observed over the site where the submarine was destroyed.

It’s not the first time Syrian Navy engage with enemy and hostile objects. At the very beginning of the Syrian crisis, the Syrian Navy spotted a German navy ship on a reconnaissance mission and harassed it away, a German minister then complained of the Syrian Navy acts claiming the ship was not spying, just listening and collecting information!

Syrian Arab Army

A high number of Israeli spying balloons are seen over the Syrian coast and the Zionists started booby trapping the balloons so they’ll explode when reaching the ground if they’re shot down by the Syrian Army.

Worth noting that Israel with US blessing carried out a raid against a chicken hen and a weapons depot near Damascus on 5th of May 2013, 3 days after this submarine was destroyed. The raid was in coordination with ground terrorists from Nusra Front attacking 19 different SAA checkpoints around the Syrian capital very early in the morning.

The post Syrianews Exclusive: Syrian Navy Destroys Israeli Submarine appeared first on SyriaNews.

While one who knows Syria very well just thinks “really??”, it is almost very funny how these biased media still tries to maintain the propaganda and false reporting – the same applies for the German government. While they have to admit, that the BND failed in the appraisal of the situation in Syria for a year, at least. This is very strange, isn’t it?

Such a high intelligence service has simply failed for a year, and now, it is a complete turnaround of the situation in Syria? Propaganda, baby, propaganda. The truth will prevail, it is just about the time, when the truth becomes public. The following is the translation of the short article by the German journalist about the real situation in Syria and “the fail” of the German foreign intelligence service.

Spiegel Online – BND predicts the advance of the Syrian Army

The German foreign intelligence service (short: BND / Bundesnachrichtendienst) has radically revised its assessment of the situation in Syria. The German foreign intelligence service (BND) has still predicted a quick end of the Assad regime in 2012. The new analysis: the state’s military is stronger than ever, while the rebel movement is frayed.

Berlin – The foreign intelligence service BND has fundamentally revised its operational picture of the civil war in Syria. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the chief of the secret service has informed selected security policymakers in a secret meeting that the military of the ruler Bashar al-Assad is currently able to act so solid (stable) than it could not be seen for a long time. Even successful offensives against the rebel units by the Assad troops are possible at any time, so the head of the BND, Gerhard Schindler.

The new assessment of the situation of the BND is a remarkable turnaround:

Still in late summer 2012, Schindler had predicted the end of Assad in the first months of the year 2013 in briefings for members of the government and members of the parliament but also in interviews

At that time, the BND has argued with the precarious supply situation of the Assad mililtary, and they also registered a very high number of deserters up to the high officer ranks. Consequently, the BND prophesied the “end phase of the regime.”

Today, the situation is different in the view of the German Federal Intelligence Service. The BND chief explained on the basis of graphs and maps, that the troops of Assad currently have regained their fully functional supply routes for weapons. Even the occasional tough situation with the supply of fuel for the tanks and the air force of the regime is again in full action. So, the Assad army is able to fend spontaneous rebel attacks and to even regain lost ground. While Assad has less chances of defeating the insurgents, but he can be able to keep them at bay, so the BND.

BND sees situation of the rebels as bleak

The statements of the intelligence chiefs are consistent with the few reports from Syria:

- Therefore, the Syrian regime has managed in recent weeks to again secure the heartland of its power – the region of Damascus to Homs till the coast.

- Currently, the regime also cuts off the insurgents from the supply routes to the West.

The BND sees the situation of the rebels as pretty bleak, while among the insurgents, there are also several groups of Islamist militants with links to the terrorist network al-Qaeda. Schindler reported that the rebels would wear out in power struggles for dominance in some areas. In addition, the regime troops have meanwhile almost cut off all functioning supply routes for the weapons and the transport of injured rebel fighters.

Therefore, the BND sees the predictions for the Assad regime quite positive at once. Will the conflict continue as in recent weeks, so BND chief Schindler, then the troops, backed by the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, could be able to recapture the entire south of the country by the end of 2013. The last refuge of the insurgents would only be the north. There, Kurdish rebels have their lands firmly in hand.

Syrian Arab Army

The statements by Schindler about the structure of the rebels leave little hope for serious negotiations between the opposition and Assad’s government. Thus, there is no functioning chain of command between the appointed leaders of the opposition abroad and the militias in Syria. The fighters (in Syria) simply do not recognize the political leadership, according to the German foreign intelligence service (BND).

The United Nations are currently trying hard to get the two sides at a table in a non-scheduled peace conference in Geneva. The German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle will again travel for the planning to the Middle East on Wednesday.

At a meeting of the “Friends of Syria”, Westerwelle wants to speak, among others, with the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the Jordanian capital Amman. At the weekend, Westerwelle had again dampened the hopes for a quick success. So far, it is not even really clear whether the Assad-regime is ready for negotiations.

Source of the translated text: spiegel.de

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But what would this mean? Nothing else than a more religious state, probably a so-called theocratical state build on the Sharia law, following the dark-aged minds of random fanatic al-Qaeda thugs and other radical people (e.g. following the Wahhabi and Salafi dreams) who also see the United States as an enemy – if not now, then later again. This is a fact and the US administration clearly knows about this. The US administration also knew this when they have established al-Qaeda years ago.

The so-called Foreign Relations Committee in the United States voted 15-3 to give weapons and ammunition to the terrorist in Syria, while the radical forces and Islamists still called “Syrian rebels” by the US administration and the biased American media in order to keep the propaganda alive, because “rebels” just sounds better than jihadists, doesn’t it?

Even some media reports about the voting have published reports, saying that some of the so-called “Syrian rebels”, which the American Foreign Relations Committee wants to arm now, are led by operatives and fighters of Al-Qaeda.

Arab ‘Spring’ Found

The upcoming steps and decisions by the US leadership and President Barack Obama is currently unclear because Barack Obama and the American House of Representatives have so far been hesitant to take any public military action(s) in Syria, which does not mean that they do not support the jihadists and radical forces behind the curtains.

In addition, that so-called lawmakers want to arm religious fanatics, mercenaries, jihadists and other violent strangers in order to push a regime-change in Syria, while the arming of terrorist forces to fight against the people and army of a sovereign state violates international law, is either very funny or just damn sad.

Probably shows the hypocrisy of these American lawmakers and the members of the US administration, too.

The post US Senate Committee wants to arm Jihadists in Syria appeared first on SyriaNews.

The stocks of ammunition left behind Al-Qaeda freedom fighters fleeing from SAA advances especially in Al-Qussayr city are in large quantities and only needs matching weapons not used by the Syrian Arab Army or Armed Forces, we wonder if the US Tax Payers would be also generous with the SAA as they were with Al-Qaeda and send enough ‘non-lethal’ weapons to use with these ammo, watch video below.

For almost 2 years the Syrian government was calling for a dialogue among all Syrian components interested in resolving the crisis while taking huge leaps in reforms during the crisis exceeding the expectations of whoever seeks a real revolution to reform their country peacefully. A whole new constitution worked out by a committee of prominent Syrian experts invited and wrote one of the world’s most advanced constitutions based on it a new local administration elections were carried out and a new parliamentary elections bringing a new parliament with 209 members for the first time out of the 250 total members, did you read that in mainstream media? Then you can add a new media law to free establishing media outlets and freedom of press not available in Turkey which is known to have more political journalists behind bars than those free, in addition to paving the way all over the country by opening dialogue sessions and taking the points discussed into consideration for any future national conference. A number of new political parties were established during the past 2 years, but obviously Nusra Front aka Al Qaeda Levant aka FSA aren’t really interested in any of these reforms, it doesn’t work side by side with cannibalism, obviously. Now after the tide turned against the terrorists all over the country by sweep and surprise advances by the SAA, NDF and Syrian Resistance, the failure of provoking a war by the chemical craze already consumed in the infamous Iraqi WMD lie, and even provocations by Turkey and Israel to drag Syria into a direct confrontation that would get NATO involved directly with a Libya-style ‘democracy’.

US Labeling Terrorists

Syrian president described Al-Qaeda  ’revolution’ sponsored by NATO in Syria: ‘They call it a revolution, but in fact it has nothing to do with revolutions. A revolution needs thinkers. A revolution is built on thought. Where are their thinkers? A revolution needs leaders. Who is its leader? Revolutions are built on science and thought not on ignorance, on pushing the country ahead not taking it centuries back, on spreading light not cutting power lines. A revolution is usually done by the people not by importing foreigners to rebel against the people.’

Keeping you with news not covered by western mainstream media we call NATO propagandists from Al-Qussayr in Homs countryside and from Der Ezzor city recorded 20th May 2013 with English subtitles.

The post SAA Needs Advanced NATO Weapons appeared first on SyriaNews.

The biased United Nations-Arab League mediator Lakhdar Brahimi used the usual propaganda in his statements on Tuesday. For example, Brahimi said that the “Syrian people are building great hopes on the conference”, which is just not really true. The majority of the Syrian people within Syria, not the traitors around the globe or the religious fanatic Syrians, who are in reality, because driven by their hateful sectarian stances, no real Syrians, hope that all the foreign-backed terrorists are crushed, removed and sent to their male virgins in hell.

Of course, Syria needs peace and no more terrorism, which was and is often directed against the Syrian people, but there is the important question whether such a peace, following such a “conference” of the known powers, masterminds and dubious persons, would really bring peace to this country in the Middle East.

Maybe it would just set a hold on the current battles and bloodshed, but probably not for so long and it is also very certain that the tensions will remain – at least, as long as radical fanatics, jihadists and uneducated thugs remain within the borders of Syria. Peace is a nice word for all the people around the globe and it always works to use this word for propaganda purposes, but the definition of peace would not be implemented in Syria by such a “peace conference”, in which parts of the responsible governments behind the foreign-backed terrorists and Islamists are also taking part.

According to Lakhdar Brahimi, the Syrian government and the so-called external opposition, a typical staging of the United States in order to use for propaganda purposes, the brainwashing of the people and as another tool to perform a regime change in a sovereign country, are going to take part in this conference and both sides, so Brahimi, are already preparing their participation at this conference.

Moscow is still convinced that such a peace conference on Syria is only successful if Iran takes part and thus Russia has certainly made an agreement with the U.S. administration. This means, that Iran might take part, as well as Saudi Arabia and other countries from the Middle East and probably from the Gulf. France has some doubts about the participation of Iran at this peace conference on Syria, but that is nothing which is really surprising at all.

The French Zionist government is just prattling the usual propaganda phrases against Iran and because Israel has much influence in France, it is very logical that the French administration is raising objections and boring phrases against the participation of Iran. Such stupid nonsense like Iran would seek and boost the instability in the region. And one might have thought, this would be the role of Israel, the United States and other so-called world powers since centuries – including France and Britain, of course.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Syria, Wael Nader Al-Halqi, his deputy Qadri Jamil as well as further three members of the Syrian government are in the inner circle of the persons who could finally, for the Syrian delegation, negotiate and debate with the so-called “Syrian opposition” – while the question remains: which side of the opposition?

The jihadists, salafis, wahhabis, zionists or paid thugs and mercenaries? And which opposition union? The former “Syrian National Council” (SNC)? Or the other circles of traitors and destroyers of Syria? Or finally – would it not be better if Syria has direct negotiations with the masterminds behind the terrorism and proxy-war in its country?

Thus, with the United States, France, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Erdogan regime from Turkey? So many questions and there are some who really believe that such a conference would bring peace to Syria. Brainwashing still works, Goebbels was correct.

Movie Popcorn

We should probably grab some popcorn and enjoy the usual “spectacle” about nothing but performing the known propaganda with the keywords peace, negotiations and democracy.

The post Syrian government and external stagings prepare for peace conference appeared first on SyriaNews.

The two civilians received this savage punishment because the first man’s daughter married the second man too soon after her divorce. Muslim women are supposed to wait three months after the divorce before entering another marriage.

The sentence was carried on publicly by AlNusra Front’s Sharia Committee in Saraqib – Idleb.

The punishment is light considering that at first they were both sentenced to death for this tiny infraction. But the Committee showed mercy and changed the sentence.

Flogged for smoking by the Sharia Committee in Raqqa

This is another example of what Syrians are suffering at the hands of the “rebels” who consider themselves the messengers of God. This man’s awful crime was smoking, which the rebels have outlawed in Raqqa. And while Syrian civilians are being punished for smoking, FSA are getting away with rape, theft, torture, murder and cannibalism.

More of the “revolution” supporters are opening their eyes to the truth of the “rebels”. Here the famous Kafranbel showed their stance on the extremism of the committee.

“Executions in Raqqa & flogging in Saraqib, who gave you the right to rule this nation”

The mask is completely off, none can deny the true face of the Syrian “freedom fighters”. This is the freedom being promised to the Syrian people, rejoice world, Syria is being Islamicized.

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