Babylon

Over politiek holisme

Political holism is based on the recognition that "we" are all members of a single whole. There's no "they," even though "we" are not all alike. Because "we" are all part of the whole, and therefore interdependent, we benefit from cooperating with each other. Political holism is a way of thinking about human cultures and nations as interdependent. Political holists search for solutions other than war to settle international disagreements. Their model of the world is one in which cooperation and negotiation, even with the enemy, even with the weak, promotes political stability more than warfare. In an overpopulated world with planet-wide environmental problems, the development of weapons of mass destruction has rendered war obsolete as an effective means to resolve disputes. (Veterans for peace 1997)

Terugblik: Baghdad Burning
verslag van een vrouw die moest vluchten uit 'bevrijd' Irak
Monday, October 22, 2007

Syria is a beautiful country- at least I think it is. I say “I think” because while I perceive it to be beautiful, I sometimes wonder if I mistake safety, security and normalcy for ‘beauty’. In so many ways, Damascus is like Baghdad before the war- bustling streets, occasional traffic jams, markets seemingly always full of shoppers… And in so many ways it’s different. The buildings are higher, the streets are generally narrower and there’s a mountain, Qasiyoun, that looms in the distance. The mountain distracts me, as it does many Iraqis- especially those from Baghdad. Northern Iraq is full of mountains, but the rest of Iraq is quite flat. At night, Qasiyoun blends into the black sky and the only indication of its presence is a multitude of little, glimmering spots of light- houses and restaurants built right up there on the mountain. Every time I take a picture, I try to work Qasiyoun into it- I try to position the person so that Qasiyoun is in the background. The first weeks here were something of a cultural shock. It has taken me these last three months to work away certain habits I’d acquired in Iraq after the war. It’s funny how you learn to act a certain way and don’t even know you’re doing strange things- like avoiding people’s eyes in the street or crazily murmuring prayers to yourself when stuck in traffic. It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again- with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me.

It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis in Syria today. I believe it. Walking down the streets of Damascus, you can hear the Iraqi accent everywhere. There are areas like Geramana and Qudsiya that are packed full of Iraqi refugees. Syrians are few and far between in these areas. Even the public schools in the areas are full of Iraqi children. A cousin of mine is now attending a school in Qudsiya and his class is composed of 26 Iraqi children, and 5 Syrian children. It’s beyond belief sometimes.

I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
The first evening we arrived, exhausted, dragging suitcases behind us, morale a little bit bruised, the Kurdish family sent over their representative – a 9 year old boy missing two front teeth, holding a lopsided cake, “We’re Abu Mohammed’s house- across from you- mama says if you need anything, just ask- this is our number. Abu Dalia’s family live upstairs, this is their number. We’re all Iraqi too... Welcome to the building.”

Bashar al-Assad's speech
Uruknet, 10-1-2012

The strength of Arabism lies in its diversity

The psychological war

A great part of the psychological war is launched now against Syria. When they failed in the sectarian issue, they also failed in the national issue. They failed in all the issues which have a political aspect. Then they moved to the economic aspect. ....
They are trying to depict Syria as an isolated country, trying to stress this over and over again. But our points of strength lie in our strategic position. If they want to besiege Syria, they will end up besieging a whole region. As for our relations with the West, they talk about an international community. This international community is a group of big colonial countries which view the whole world as an arena full of slaves who serve their interests.

For us, the West is important and we cannot deny this truth. But the West today is not like the West a decade ago. The world is changing and there are emerging powers. There are alternatives. ....
The West is still colonial in one way or another. It is changing from an old colonizer to a modern colonizer and from a modern colonizer during the Sykes-Picot agreement to a contemporary colonizer. It has different forms and shapes but it will never change, which means that we have to turn to the East. We, as a state, started this procedure several years ago, and my visits during the recent years fell under that initiative in one way or another. ..

The Anti-Empire Report
by William Blum, 8-4-2012

The Holy Triumvirate — The United States, NATO, and the European Union — or an approved segment thereof, can usually get what they want. They wanted Saddam Hussein out, and soon he was swinging from a rope. They wanted the Taliban ousted from power, and, using overwhelming force, that was achieved rather quickly. They wanted Moammar Gaddafi’s rule to come to an end, and before very long he suffered a horrible death. ...
Next on their agenda: the removal of Bashar al-Assad of Syria. As with Gaddafi, the ground is being laid with continual news reports of Assad’s alleged barbarity, presented as both uncompromising and unprovoked. After months of this media onslaught who can doubt that what’s happening in Syria is yet another of those cherished Arab Spring “popular uprisings” against a “brutal dictator” who must be overthrown? And that the Assad government is overwhelmingly the cause of the violence.

"According to our concept, socialism, basically, is not based on taking the increase of the ownership of other people, it is not merely a distribution of the existing wealth, but it basically rests on justice, wealth, creation, and development. Therefore its basic duty is to stop any condition that may infringe upon the principle of equality among the sons and daughters of one nation." Saddam Hoessein

Assad actually appears to have a large measure of popularity, not only in Syria, but elsewhere in the Middle East. This includes not just fellow Alawites, but Syria’s two million Christians and no small number of Sunnis. Gaddafi had at least as much support in Libya and elsewhere in Africa. The difference between the two cases, at least so far, is that the Holy Triumvirate bombed and machine-gunned Libya daily for seven months, unceasingly, crushing the pro-government forces, as well as Gaddafi himself, and effecting the Triumvirate’s treasured “regime change”.
Now, rampant chaos, anarchy, looting and shooting, revenge murders, tribal war, militia war, religious war, civil war, the most awful racism against the black population, loss of their cherished welfare state, and possible dismemberment of the country into several mini-states are the new daily life for the Libyan people. ...

Regime change in Syria has been on the neo-conservative wish list since at least 2002 when John Bolton, Undersecretary of State under George W. Bush, came up with a project to simultaneously break up Libya and Syria. He called the two states along with Cuba “The Axis Of Evil”. On a FOX News appearance in 2011 Bolton said that the United States should have overthrown the Syrian government right after they overthrew Saddam Hussein.
Amongst Syria’s crimes have been their close relations with Iran, Hezbollah (in Lebanon), the Palestinian resistance, and Russia, and their failure to conclude a peace treaty with Israel, unlike Jordan and Egypt. (dissidentvoice.org 2012)

2002: AMERICA'S SKEPTICISM ABOUT THE UNITED NATIONS
By John R. Bolton, Senior Vice President of the American Enterprise Institute

No one, however, should be under any illusions that American support for the United Nations as one of several options for implementing American foreign policy translates into unlimited support for the world organization. That is not true now, and it will not be true for a long time to come, if ever. (usinfo.state.gov)

2002: A Day At The American Enterprise Institute
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, November 04, 2002

Didn't have anything good to do earlier this week, so decided to spend the day at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). AEI is the granddaddy of the big corporate front groups. Their job? Re-engineer the political economy to the liking of their corporate paymasters.
Last year, AEI took in $23 million from corporations, corporate foundations, and wealthy individuals.
Need to undermine the antitrust laws? Hire AEI scholar in residence Robert Bork to spew his ideology. Need to slander the United Nations? Hire AEI scholar in residence Jeanne Kirkpatrick to do the dirty work.
AEI, Heritage, and Cato, the big three corporate fronts in our nation's capital, have done immeasurable damage to our democracy, advancing corporatist and extremist right-wing views.

We wanted to know: is it the power of their ideas, or is it their power? After spending a day at AEI, we suspect it's the latter. (ZNET 2002)

"The same scenario..."
By Susana Al Halabi, 11-4-2012

There is one thing certain about U.S. Pentagon strategy: it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. And using an old trick from Operation Desert Storm, establishing a humanitarian, NATO-protected no-fly salient in northern Iraq’s Kurdish area, appears to be the same strategy envisioned for northern Syria. There is much in common between the U.S.-led NATO planning for a northern Syria occupation zone and the no-fly zone established in 1992 for Iraq.
Both NATO operations were and are intended to drive Arab Ba’ath Socialist regimes from power. In Iraq, the target was the Ba’ath Party headed by Saddam Hussein; in Syria, the target is, again, an Arab Ba’ath Party and the regime headed by Bashar Al Assad. ...

Imperialism didn't end.
These days it's known as international law
George Monbiot, guardian.co.uk, 30-4-2012

The conviction of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, ... sent two messages: if you run a small, weak nation, you may be subject to the full force of international law; if you run a powerful nation, you have nothing to fear.
While anyone with an interest in human rights should welcome the verdict, it reminds us that no one has faced legal consequences for launching the illegal war against Iraq. This fits the Nuremberg tribunal's definition of a "crime of aggression", which it called "the supreme international crime". The charges on which, in an impartial system, George Bush, Tony Blair and their associates should have been investigated are far graver than those for which Taylor was found guilty.

The foreign secretary, William Hague, claims that Taylor's conviction "demonstrates that those who have committed the most serious of crimes can and will be held to account for their actions". But the international criminal court, though it was established 10 years ago, and though the crime of aggression has been recognised in international law since 1945, still has no jurisdiction over "the most serious of crimes". This is because the powerful nations, for obvious reasons, are procrastinating. Nor have the United Kingdom, the United States and other western nations incorporated the crime of aggression into their own legislation. International law remains an imperial project, in which only the crimes committed by vassal states are punished.

In this respect it corresponds to other global powers. Despite its trumpeted reforms, the International Monetary Fund remains under the control of the United States and the former colonial powers.... The IMF, as a result, is still the means by which western financial markets project their power into the rest of the world.

A fully referenced version of this article can be found at www.monbiot.com

"Condolences to all the families
who lost loved ones..."
SANA, 4-5-2012

Head of the UN observer mission to Syria, Gen. Robert Mood, on Friday said he will work for preserving stability in Syria according to the mission launched by the UN to achieve stability in the country.
Speaking to journalists at Rotana Resort in the coastal city of Lattakia, Gen. Mood noted that his mission is based on two-fold goals; monitoring the halt of violence and implementing the six-point plan of UN envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, adding that his mission needs everybody's support, participation and abidance by the plan.
The UN observer mission's head continued that everybody can help Syria move from violence to peace and avoid violent assassination operations, calling on the international bodies inside and outside Syria to commit to achieve this goal.

He said the international community as well as the government and people in Syria are concerned with getting the mission done, which is why a group of observers came from several countries to support and achieve this goal and move in the peaceful direction for the sake of the Syrian people's future. ...
He noted that despite the difficult situation the Syrians are going through, he still feels and sees the hospitality and generosity the Syrian people have always been known for, expressing condolences to all the families who lost loved ones.

Diplomats Fault Syrian Govt
for Getting Itself Bombed
by Jason Ditz,10-5-2012

A massive bombing tears through the capital city of a major nation, destroying a massive government building and killing scores of innocent civilians nearby. Hundreds of others are wounded, some gravely.
Virtually anywhere else on the planet, such a bombing would create a wellspring of sympathy for the attacked nation. Today, in Syria, it was anything but, as Western officials issued the obligatory statements condemning the attacks, and spent most of their time condemning the regime.

“As Kofi Annan made clear to the UN Security Council earlier this week, the onus is on the Syrian authorities to implement a full ceasefire,” insisted British Foreign Secretary William Hague, while the US State Department started its own statement by calling the bombing “unjustifiable” and went on to praise the “legitimate Syrian opposition” while saying that the Syrian government had “created the conditions” to get itself bombed.

The State Department went on to hint that they were considering going to the UN Security Council for “further action” against the Assad regime. French officials, who have been pushing for an invasion of Syria, also insisted that the regime “bears all the responsibility” for the bombing. (aniwar.com 2012)

The explosions took place at a densely populated area as they coincided with the employees and students going to their jobs and schools.
Interior Ministry said the death toll of Damascus twin terrorist blasts has risen to 55 martyrs, while 372 people were injured including civilians and army members.
"Two booby-trapped cars loaded with more than 1000 kg of explosives and driven by suicidal terrorists carried out the terrorist blasts," the Ministry said in a statement issued Thursday.
The statement added that fifteen bags of limbs and turn-off bodies for unidentified people were collected, pointing out that 105 cars crashed completely, in addition to 78 damaged automobiles in the blasts.

ChamPress, 10-5-2012

Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the Norwegian head of a team of observers overseeing the cease-fire, toured the site and said the Syrian people do not deserve this "terrible violence."
"It is not going to solve any problems," he said. "It is only going to create more suffering for women and children."
Annan, too, appealed for calm.
"The Syrian people have already suffered too much," he said in a statement. (YetNews 10-5-2012)

Grand Mufti of Syria Underlines
Importance of Media in Enlightening Society
SANA 14-5-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_Grand Mufti of Syria, Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, underlined the important role of media in enlightening society and educating people.
During his meeting on Sunday with the Russian media delegation currently visiting Syria to make documentaries on the events, Hassoun said that Syria is being targeted by a fierce campaign intended to sow sedition and undermine national unity in Syria to serve the interests of colonial countries. ...
He called upon Arab and foreign countries to stop backing the armed terrorist groups and interferences in the Syrian internal affairs.

During a similar meeting with the Russian media delegation, Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Assistant Bishop Luca al-Khouri underlined the role of honest media in relaying the true image of what is happening in Syria, especially in light of the immoral media war which distorts facts and seeks to sow discord among countrymen. ...
He underscored the state of national unity, love, fraternity and respect among the various spectrums of the Syrian people, which has always been a role model in the region.

The Sheikh Hassoun was born in Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic, in 1949. His father, allamah Muhammad Adeeb Hassoun was also a sheikh. He has five children and ten grandchildren. Hassoun studied at the University of Islamic Studies, where he graduated as Doctor in Shafi'i fiqh.Dr. Hassoun took office as Great Mufti of Syria in July 2005 after the death of Ahmed Kuftaro.
He is a frequent speaker in interreligious and intercultural events, and his pluralistic views on interfaith dialogue (between different religions or between different Islamic denominations) has sparked criticism from stricter visions of Islam.

Hassoun is considered to be a firm ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Hassoun's 22-year-old son, Sariya, was assassinated on October 2, 2011 in an ambush in the road between Idlib and Aleppo. (WIKIPEDIA info)

Gulf states funding Syrian rebels'
Roi Kais, 16-5-2012

Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad's government are beginning to get more and better weapons in an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated partly by the United States, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.
Obama administration officials emphasized the United States is not supplying or funding the lethal material, which includes antitank weapons, the report said. Instead, they said, the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure, the Post said.

"We are increasing our non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing," a senior State Department official said.
US contacts with the rebels and the information-sharing with Gulf nations mark a shift in Obama administration policy as hopes dim for a political solution to the Syrian crisis, the Post said.
According the the Post, Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood has also made its own supply channels available to the rebels. (YetNews 2012)

Libya still ruled by the gun
By Peter Oborne and Richard Cookson
The TELEGRAPH, 18 May 2012

The Extremists Become Respectable
by James Petras, 26-5-2012

By any historical measure, whether it involves international law, human rights conventions, United Nations protocols, or standard socio-economic indicators, the policies and practices of the United States and European Union regimes can be characterized as extremist. By that we mean that their policies and practices result in the large-scale, long-term systematic destruction of human lives, habitat and livelihood affecting millions of people through the direct application of force and violence. The extremist regimes abhor moderation, which implies rejection of total war in favor of peaceful negotiations. Moderation pursues conflict resolution through diplomacy and compromise and the rejection of state and paramilitary terror, mass dispossession and displacement of civilian populations and the systematic assault on popular sectors of civil society.

In first decade of the 21st century we have witnessed the West’s embrace of the full spectrum of extremism in both domestic and foreign policy. Extremism is a common practice by self-styled conservatives, liberals and social-democrats. In the past, conservative implied preserving the status quo and, at most, tinkering with change at the margins. Today’s ‘conservatives’ demand the wholesale dismantling of entire social welfare systems and the elimination of traditional legal protection of workers and the environment. Liberals and social democrats, who in the past, occasionally, questioned colonial systems, are now in the forefront of prolonged multi-front colonial wars, which have killed and displaced millions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. ...

As Western-backed Islamist terrorists savage the secular regime in Syria, the Western press, especially the Financial Times, continue to absolve the terrorists use of huge car bombs, which have killed and mutilated hundreds of Syrian citizens. With crude cynicism Western reporters shrug their shoulders and parrot the claims of the London-based anti-regime propagandists, that the Assad regime was destroying its own cities and killing its own citizens and security forces. ...

The respectable press’ embrace of extremism and its use of demonological and vitriolic language to describe critical regimes opposed to imperialism are matched by its euphoric and effusive praise of state and pro-western mercenary brutality. ... Financial Times reporter Michael Peel ‘covered’ the assault on the Libyan government of Gaddaffi without mentioning the NATO-led bombing campaign that destroyed Africa’s most advanced welfare state. Peel presented the rise of armed gangs of fanatical tribal and Islamic terrorists as a victory for democracy over a “brutal dictatorship.” ...

All forms of extremism permeate Western regimes and find justification and rationalization through the respectable media whose job is to indoctrinate civil society and turn citizens into uncritical accomplices to extremism. (dissidentvoice 2012)

UN Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan:
Our goal is to stop the suffering

"It is the Syrian people, the ordinary citizens of this great country, who are paying the highest price in this conflict… our goal is to stop this suffering. It must end and it must end now," Annan said.
He urged the government to take bold steps to signal that it is serious in its intention to resolve this crisis peacefully, and for everyone involved to help create the right context for a credible political process, adding "this message of peace is not only for the government, but for everyone with a gun."

ChamPress, 28-12-2012

Armed terrorist groups escalated their terrorist acts
SANA, 29-5-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday discussed with UN Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan and the accompanying delegation the situation in Syria since the beginning of the implementation of Annan's six-point plan to the moment.
The meeting also discussed means for overcoming obstacles hindering Annan's plan, particularly the escalating terrorism in some Syrian areas.

For his part, Annan commended the positivity in the coordination between the Syrian government and the international observers.

Fars News Agency – 29-5-2012

Middle-East analyst and Tehran University Professor Mohammad Marandi says the West and the Saudis are responsible for continued crimes and killings in Syria.
“Every time there is a terrorist attack in Syria, a suicide bombing or any other atrocity the western media and western governments immediately put the blame on the Syrian government, thus encouraging western and Saudi-backed terrorists to carry out such attacks because they will not be held accountable,” Marandi told FNA on Tuesday.
“Therefore, in addition to the fact that they support terrorist organizations at all levels, they have additional blood on their hands for blindly attributing all violence to President Bashar al-Assad government, thus white-washing the crimes or terrorist organizations,” he added.

Marco Di Lauro: “Somebody is using illegally one of my images
for anti Syrian propaganda on the BBC website front page”

“Today Sunday May 27 at 0700 am London time the attached image which I took in Al Mussayyib in Iraq on March 27, 2003 was front page on BBC website illustrating the massacre that happen in Houla the Syrian town and the caption and the web site was stating that the image was showing the bodies of all the people that have been killed in the massacre and that the image was received by the BBC by an unknown activist. Somebody is using my images as a propaganda against the Syrian government to prove the massacre,” he added.

Interview mit einer Zeugin der Ereignisse in Al-Hula
Marat Mussin, 30-5-2012

Marat Musin von ANNA News publiziert das erste seiner Interviews mit einer Zeugin der Ereignisse in Al-Hula. Dazu gibt es eine namentliche Liste von FSA-Kommandeuren, welche für den Überfall und den Massenmord verantwortlich sind. In der recht einfachen Sprache und vielleicht chaotischen Schilderung bekommt man eine vage Vorstellung davon, was tatsächlich in Al-Hula und Taldou abgelaufen ist und insbesondere, welche Art Menschen hinter den Terroraktionen stehen. Im Folgenden die Übersetzung des Transkripts eines russischsprachigen Videobeitrags.

Marat Musin (MM): Was genau ist am 25. und 26. Mai in Ihrem Heimatdorf Taldou vor sich gegangen, was haben Sie selbst gesehen?

Frau aus Taldou: Ich bin in Taldou geboren und lebe bis heute hier. Am ersten Tag der Ereignisse, am Freitag, haben sie die Kontrollpunkte der Armee am Rande der Stadt angegriffen. Die Armee erwiderte das Feuer und hat den Mann, welcher sie mit dem Granatwerfer unter Beschuss nahm, am Bein verwundet. Die Banditen nahmen ihn in ihr Feldlazarett mit und jetzt ist er wieder gesund und munter. Er heißt Said Fayez Talha Al-Iksh. Bei uns in Taldou lebt seine Familie, die Al-Talhas....

Als am Freitag, dem 25. Mai, nach dem Gebet gegen 14 Uhr der Kontrollpunkt beschossen wurde, hat die Armee das Feuer erwidert. Eine zweite Gruppe der Banditen, angeführt von Nidal Bakkur sowie eine weitere Gruppe sammelten sich derweil zu einem Angriff auf den zweiten Kontrollposten, der sich auf einem Hügel befindet. Die zweite Gruppe bestand aus Leuten vom Al-Hallaka-Clan, der bei uns unter dem Namen Al-Hassan bekannt ist. Sie haben beabsichtigt, den oberen und den zweiten, unteren Kontrollpunkt zu besetzen, der sich innerhalb des Dorfes befand. Den oberen brauchten sie, weil sie von dort aus auch den zweiten kontrollieren konnten. ...

Gegen 15.30 Uhr haben sie den oberen Kontrollposten erobert. Einem der Soldaten von diesem Kontrollpunkt schnitten sie die Kehle durch und warfen ihn aus einem Fenster im 2. Stock. ...
Kurz darauf eroberten sie auch den Kontrollpunkt und die Polizeistation in der Stadt. Gegenüber dieser Polizeistation sind die Häuser der ausgelöschten Familien, wo man auch die ganzen Kinder umgebracht hat. Sie haben alle Kinder aus dem Al-Saed-Clan umgebracht. Alles in allem drei Familien und 20 Kinder. Auch haben sie alle Leute aus der Familie Abdur-Razak getötet, insgesamt 10 Leute. Sie wurden umgebracht, weil sie alle der Regierung gegenüber loyal waren. Aus dem Al-Saed-Clan wurde die Familie des Bruders von Abdullah Al-Mashlab, dem drittwichtigsten Mann im syrischen Parlament, komplett ausgelöscht. Er selbst starb am 24., und am folgenden Tag, dem 25., wurde die gesamte Familie seines Bruders ermordet: der Bruder selbst, seine Frau und drei Kinder.

Um 19 Uhr kam der Chef der Al-Farouq-Brigade der „Freien Syrischen Armee“, Abdul Rasak Tlas. Mit ihm kamen mehr als 250 Kämpfer aus Ar-Rastan. Dabei waren noch zwei weitere Gruppen, eine aus dem Dorf Akraba unter der Führung von Yakha Al-Yousef und eine Gruppe aus dem Ort Farlaha. ... Nachdem sie den Kontrollposten erobert hatten, schafften sie ihre eigenen Toten und auch die der von ihnen umgebrachten Leute und deren Kinder in die Moschee. Das bewerkstelligten sie mit ihren KIA-Pickups.

Gegen 20 Uhr am 25. Mai befanden sich die ganzen Leichen bereits in der Moschee. Am nächsten Tag gegen 11 Uhr kamen die UN-Beobachter zu der Moschee.

Al-Hula: eine Rekonstruktion

Am 25. Mai 2012 gegen 14 Uhr haben bewaffnete Einheiten unter Einsatz starker Kräfte die Kleinstadt Al-Hula in der Provinz Homs angegriffen und erobert. Al-Hula besteht aus drei Bezirken, den Dörfern Taldou, Quarlahiya und Taldahab, in jedem von welchen um die 25-30 Tausend Einwohner leben.
Die Kleinstadt wurde von Nordosten her von Einheiten bewaffneter Kämpfer und Söldner angegriffen, insgesamt um die 700 Leute. Die Kämpfer kamen aus Ar-Rastan (speziell die ca. 250 Mann starke Al-Farouk-Brigade der Freien Syrischen Armee unter dem Kommando des Terroristen Abdul Razak Tlas), aus dem Dorf Akraba (unter dem Kommando des Terroristen Yakha Al-Yusef) sowie aus dem Dorf Farlaha, dazu kamen in Al-Hula ansässige Banditen. Ar-Rastan ist seit geraumer Zeit schon von praktisch allen friedlichen Zivilisten verlassen worden. Dort haben jetzt wahhabitische Kämpfer das Sagen, die vom Libanon aus von einem der Hauptorganisatoren im internationalen Terrorismus, Saad Hariri, welcher die antisyrische politische Bewegung „Tayyar al-Mustaqbal“ („Zukunftsbewegung“) anführt, mit Geldern versorgt werden. Die Straßen von Ar-Rastan bis Al-Hula führen durch beduinisches Gebiet, werden von den Regierungstruppen praktisch nicht kontrolliert, weshalb der Angriff der bewaffneten Kämpfer auf Al-Hula für die syrische Regierung vollkommen unerwartet kam.

Als die Einheiten den unteren Kontrollpunkt im Zentrum der Stadt (örtliche Orientierungshilfe - der Wasserturm) und die anbei gelegene Polizeistation eingenommen haben, begann eine Säuberungsaktion gegen alle in der Nachbarschaft wohnenden Familien, welche als „regimetreu“ galten..." (31-5-2012)

Initial Report of Judicial Investigation Committee
SANA, 1-6-2012

The initial report of the judicial committee investigating al-Houla massacre affirmed that all the victims belonged to peaceful families who wouldn't stand up to the state and had never joined protests or held up arms, who also had opposed the armed terrorist groups.
The initial findings indicated that the victims were killed by fire at close distance and sharp tools, not by shellfire.

The initial report added that the armed terrorist groups who gathered in al-Houla liquidated the victims in the process of an attack on the law-enforcement members who hadn't entered the area where the massacre occurred, adding that most of the bodies are of terrorists who were killed in the clash with the law-enforcement members.

Brigadier General Qassem Jamal Suleiman, head of the investigation committee, said in a press conference at the Foreign Ministry on Thursday that the investigation is in its initial stages and is still underway. He added that the investigation committee depended on testimonies of eyewitnesses who saw the massacre happen that can be directly verified...
Gen. Suleiman said that law-enforcement members were positioned at five points in al-Houla, adding that the armed attack was aimed at turning the place into an area outside the state's control. ...

He added that the law-enforcement members hadn't left their positions but defended themselves against the terrorist groups, which can be verified through the victims' images aired by satellite channels, showing that the massacre happened due to close fire and sharp tools, not shellfire as the images showed no signs of mashing, burns or traces of shelling buildings, which means that what happened was direct liquidation.
Suleiman said that the massacre targeted the relatives of the People's Assembly member Abdul-Moa'ti Mashlab whom they wanted to take revenge of before the events ran contrary to the plan and the massacre extended to slaughter other families.

For his part, Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry, Dr. Jihad Makdissi, said "The report which came after three days is initial and the investigation is still underway as the massacre has political and criminal dimensions. The investigation faces difficulties due to the presence of gunmen in the area."
Makdissi said that there are sides working day and night to ignite sectarian sedition; even after al-Houla massacre, they tried to attack another village but they did not succeed.
Makdissi pointed out that the world media focused on some massacres because they belong to a certain sect in Syria, adding that in Syria all Syrians are equal regardless of their sects.

"Never, ever trust them again."
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey, Pravda 31-5-2012

Libya was the line in the sand, the line that NATO in general and the FUKUS Axis (France, UK and US) in particular crossed with boots on the ground, arming and supporting a terrorist faction in a civil war of their own making, strafing government troops trying to protect civilians, turning a blind eye to the horrific atrocities committed by the terrorists they had armed and financed....
And the result has been that since 1991, the contribution of the West has been appalling: the Balkans War, the Kosovo War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, the Libyan War and now, Syria, where armed terrorists have once again been used to sow chaos, to murder, rape and pillage, so as to create a humanitarian cause for intervention as the facts are turned on their head, as the news is twisted and as the truth is misrepresented, using demonology and a hostile media to create a monster out of a saint and to sanctify the demon they created to serve their own interests.

They lied time and time again, they lied about WMD in Iraq, they copied and pasted nonsense from the Internet and then changed it cynically to dupe a gullible public spoon-fed "wow! and ah!" stories on the news to a backdrop of drumbeats and external threats, creating the "them" which justifies the "us"; they demonised the Serbs in the Balkans from day one, forgetting what happened to the Serbs in Krajina and elsewhere, they overlooked the atrocities of the KLA against civilians and Hashim Thaçi's boasts that the Albanians carried out terrorist attacks. Then in Libya, they lied about Colonel Gaddafi and overlooked his humanitarian projects bringing e-learning and telemedicine to hundreds of millions of people across Africa. ...

And today, inexorably, the schoolyard bully turns on Syria, once again arming terrorists and once again lying and manipulating photographic evidence to demonise the saint and sanctify the demon...
Don't trust them! ... Libya was the line in the sand, they crossed it and destroyed their credibility for the foreseeable future...

Violation of Journalism Ethics
SANA, 3-6-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Ministry of Information on Saturday said that the decision of the Arab League Council on asking Arabsat and Nilesat to suspend the broadcast of the Syrian TV channels constitutes a media terrorism within the plot against Syria.
In a statement, the Ministry added that the decision aims at blocking reality from the local and international opinion, all for the benefit of the fabrication campaign carried out against Syria and its people.
The statement stipulated that this unprecedented decision is a violation of the freedom of journalism and expression and contrary to all rules and professional custom, as it represents a flagrant violation of the media ethics and of the concepts of the freedom of expression.

The Ministry called on Nilesat and Arabsat not to respond to this decision which violates media ethics and the principles of media work.

War Drums for Syria?
By Rep. Ron Paul
Information Clearing House, 5-6-2012

War drums are beating again in Washington. This time Syria is in the crosshairs after a massacre there last week left more than 100 dead. As might be expected from an administration with an announced policy of "regime change" in Syria, the reaction was to blame only the Syrian government for the tragedy, expel Syrian diplomats from Washington, and announce that the US may attack Syria even without UN approval. ...
With the stakes so high, it would make sense to wait for a full investigation -- unless the truth is less important than stirring up emotions in favor of a US attack.

There is ample reason to be skeptical about US government claims amplified in mainstream media reports. How many times recently have lies and exaggerations been used to push for the use of force overseas? It was not long ago that we were told Gaddafi was planning genocide for the people of Libya, and the only way to stop it was a US attack. Those claims turned out to be false, but by then the US and NATO had already bombed Libya, destroying its infrastructure, killing untold numbers of civilians, and leaving a gang of violent thugs in charge.
Likewise, we were told numerous falsehoods to increase popular support for the 2003 war on Iraq... As a result, Iraq today is a chaotic mess... An unnecessary war brought about by lies and manipulation never ends well.

The story about the Syrian massacre keeps changing, which should raise suspicions. First, we were told that the killings were caused by government shelling, but then it was discovered that most were killed at close range with handgun fire and knives. No one has explained why government forces would take the time to go house to house binding the hands of the victims before shooting them, and then retreat to allow the rebels in to record the gruesome details. No one wants to ask or answer the disturbing questions, but it would be wise to ask ourselves who benefits from these stories.

President Bashar al-Assad at the People's Assembly
ChamPress, 4-6-2012

The political process is moving forward, but terrorism is growing and hasn't subsided. The laws which have been passed since the beginning of the crisis haven't made an impact on terrorism and made it subside. At the beginning they said that the problem is that there are no political parties - The political parties law was passed - or said that the problem lied in article 8 of the constitution: the whole constitution was changed. There were other pretexts and justifications, but reality has never changed as far as terrorist acts are concerned. We are neither analysing nor inventing something new. Reality itself is providing the clear answer.

Terrorists are concerned neither with reform nor with dialogue. They are criminals who have set themselves a task; and they are not concerned with condemnation or denunciation. They do not care about the tears of wives who have lost their husbands and mothers who have lost their children. They will never stop until they complete their task regardless of anything. They will never stop unless we stop them.
Not distinguishing between terrorism and the political process is a great error made by some people. It lends legitimacy to terrorism sought by terrorists and their masters from the first day of the events. Making this distinction between terrorism and the political process is essential in order to understand and know how to move towards improving the conditions we live under. ...

First of all, we should know that we are not facing a political problem, because had it been a political problem, there should be one party proposing a political or economic program and then we face this party with our own political or economic program. This is what we have done despite our knowledge, from the beginning, that the problem is not a political one. What we are facing is a project of internal sedition aiming at the destruction of the homeland. The instrument of this sedition is terrorism. ....

I raise a question: why didn't this terrorism that we see today strike so violently before the crisis although Syria is surrounded by countries which have known this kind of terrorism for over ten years? The answer is that chaos is the natural environment for terrorism and those who have promoted a new age of freedom and prosperity, without knowing what they are talking about, have embraced chaos, and chaos embraced terrorism; and consequently, and without knowing it, these people have become involved in, in one way or another, in terrorism.
Today we see, as a result of short-sightedness, that the freedom they have chanted slogans for is about the blood and the dead bodies of our children and that the democracy they talked about is soaked with our blood. We have paid a high price, but I expect that the price we are going to pay after the end of the crisis might be higher, not in terms of security, but in terms of moral values.

Mohammed Gaddafi - Escape to Hell
Libyan Free Press, 3-4-2012

How cruel people can be when they flare up together! What a crushing flood that has no mercy for anyone in its way! It does not heed one’s cry or lend one a hand when one is in dire need of help. On the contrary, it flings one about heedlessly.

The individual’s tyranny is the easiest kind of tyranny. He is only one among many, who can get rid of him when they wish. He could even be liquidated somehow by somebody unimportant. But the tyranny of the masses is the cruellest kind of tyranny.

Who can stand against the crushing current and the blind engulfing power?! How I love the liberated masses on the march! They are unfettered, with no master, singing and merry after their terrible ordeals! On the other hand how I fear and apprehend them! I love the masses as much as I love my father. Similarly, I fear them no less than I fear him.

Escape to Hell and other stories is a collection of essays by Muammar Gaddafi, published in English translation in 1998. It contains an introduction written by journalist Pierre Salinger. The book has been described as "a grab-bag of short essays, allegories, commentary pieces and bits of abstract thought on religion and politics." Gaddafi's style has been called heavily "sarcastic" and satirical in tone.

Revolution in chaos
Ayman El-Amir, Al-Ahram juni 2012

The Egyptian revolution is permeated by the mood of revenge. That probably explains the nationwide outrage that has engulfed the country following the court sentences in the case of former president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and associates. ...
The protest demonstrations that followed in Tahrir Square and 18 other major Egyptian cities encapsulated the people's sentiment that what they wanted was revolutionary justice rather than the standard legal justice the country's judiciary has long been flattered for. Some of the demonstrators were not even happy with the life sentence against Mubarak and wanted him sentenced to death.

Revolutionary justice, as an extraordinary form of punishment, is extrajudicial. It involves state security and revolutionary courts and has often worked against Egyptians...
Revolutionary justice has been tamed since the days of "the Terror" under Robespierre at the peak of the 1789 French Revolution when 15,000 to 20,000 French men and women were executed by the guillotine for expressing moderately opposite views. Yet, extraordinary forms of justice are sometimes called up in times of turmoil. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya was summarily executed by one shot in the head without any due process of law. His execution met with little if any protest because his own countrymen and most people around the world had already condemned him as a villain. Nikolai Ceausescu of Romania and his wife were summarily executed by a firing squad in 1990 after being condemned to death by a political court in a small room adjacent to the execution arena.

It is unfortunate that the Muslim Brotherhood has jumped on the bandwagon of public outrage to settle accounts with its rivals...
The Brotherhood succeeded in quickly mobilising tens thousands of Egyptians in major cities ... and incited some of them to undermine the other presidential candidate scheduled for the rerun, Ahmed Shafik, by presenting him as an accessory to the Mubarak regime. That was violently rejected by Shafik who labelled the Brotherhood as "the forces of chaos and darkness". ...

Egyptians have only one last chance to restore the balance of the political system they envision: the composition of a multifarious Constituent Assembly. Should the Brotherhood succeed in vilifying Shafiq to give an edge to Mursi and to capture the presidency, the drafting of the new constitution is doomed to fall prey to theocratic tendencies.
Instead, it should affirm the principles of the civil nature of the state, citizenship, equality and endorsement of the international covenants of human rights. For this to happen, the Constituent Assembly should steer clear of any religious-leaning members and preferably consist mainly of jurists.

The writer is former corespondent of Al-Ahram in Washington, DC, and former director of the UN Radio and Television in New York.

Insurgents are still supported by the West.
Susana Al Halabi, 7-6-2012

Assad’s opponents provoke another military confrontation. The West does officially support the Annan peace plan, but in reality, the West supports the rebels.
The murders in the Syrian community in the province of Homs, al-Houla (Hula) on 25 May are still not elucidated. However, they are used by the opponents of the Syrian leadership to intensify the political, media and military pressure on Damascus.
Armed insurgents of various stripes have already declared the six-point plan of UN special mediator Kofi Annan as a failure and they have massively tightened their regular attacks on the Syrian troops. In order to defend “our people”, as it was explained by Sami Al-Kurd to the news agency Reuters on Monday. ...

The UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who tried again in vain by talks in Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey to stop the smuggling of weapons and the financing of the insurgency, will speak with the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the topic Syria on Friday in Washington.
The European leaders have emphasized – as the UN secretary-general – to continue fund the importance of the “Annan Plan”, but no one uses his influence against those states, which support the insurgents in Syria with weapons, ammo and money.

Useful massacres
By Jerry Dandridge, 8-6-2012

After the horrible massacre in al-Houlah (Hula), near the Syrian city of Homs, that was committed before about a half weeks, the story seems to repeat, although it was sadly not so hard to predict another massacre in Syria....
These massacres only benefit these sides which demand an international intervention in Syria and these sides, which only have the one aim: the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and even better, the killing of the Syrian President and his whole family.

This week, an allegedly massacre has been reported from the Syrian district of Hama. Again, the external Syrian opposition was very fast to accuse the Syrian government in the capital Damascus and to also accuse the mythic pro-government militias, the Shabiha (Shabi7a) that they have committed these murders in the province of Hama.
Of course, again without any evidence, but Western mass media has never really cared about evidence and fact checking. The Syrian government, meanwhile, has rejected any responsibility for this bloodbath near Hama, and Damascus has again blamed the armed groups for this massacre.
And, like after the horrible massacre in al-Houlah (al-Hula).. nobody in the West is really waiting for the final results of an investigation of the massacre of al-Kubair near Hama.

That the Syrian opposition outside Syria usually making itself ridicules is nothing new. It only seems that Western editorial offices are really not interested to use their brains for logical thinking about these horrible events in Syria and there must be reasons for this. If this “behaviour” is not for propaganda purposes, then some editorial offices really do employ journalists, who do not deserve such a title...
Journalism nowadays is a hard business and also never objective. Investigative journalism is nowadays, although there are one or two journalists in the West who still try this, nothing more than a fairy tale. ...
The mainstream media has sold itself and set itself the task of fueling the war against Syria.

Firouzabadi, who is also the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Iran’s National Defense University, said U.S. strategists should explain this paradox, namely if the United States is fighting Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and occupied Afghanistan, “why are they again establishing Al-Qaeda on coasts near Europe?” ...
“It is necessary that the United Nations, the Security Council, the secretary general of the United Nations, and the (UN) Human Rights Council prevent this new disaster (from occurring) in the world.” ... (Teheran Times, 12-6-2012)

A War against Armed Groups
SANA 13-6-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_ Foreign and Expatriates Ministry voiced astonishment Wednesday over the recent statements made in New York by UN peacekeeping chief, Herve Ladsous, that "Syria is now in a full-scale civil war".
The Ministry .. asserted that any talk about 'civil war' in Syria doesn't respond to the reality.., because the ongoing in Syria is but a war against the armed groups which chose terrorism as their way to achieve their objectives...
The statement added that Syria has expected and still expects from UN officials, and from Ladsous in particular, to deal evenhandedly, accurately and objectively with the ongoing developments in Syria, especially after the dispatching of UN monitors to most of the Syrian governorates.

Syria doesn't witness a 'civil war', but a struggle to uproot the plague of terrorism and encounter the killing, abduction and payment of ransoms, aggressions, and explosions, outlined the statement, reiterating Syria's right and duty to combat the crimes perpetrated by the armed groups and to extend the authority of the State over all of its territories in accordance with the international law and the preliminary understanding signed between Syria and the UN on April 19th 2012.

"The Muslim Brotherhood behaved badly"
Juan Cole, 15-6-2012

The Egyptian constitutional court threw the Egyptian Revolution for a loop. There are howls of outrage about a soft coup, or a counter-revolution. ...
Two issues were before the court. The first concerned the parliamentary elections of November-December 2011. The electoral law had set aside a third of seats for independents, in an effort to avoid dominance of that body by well-organized remnants of the regime of deposed president Hosni Mubarak and by the even better-organized Muslim Brotherhood.
In fact, many “independents” who ran and won had the backing of the parties, especially the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi Nur Party.
The court found that the parties had subverted the intent of the law, and in so doing had invalidated the entire elected parliament. It ordered that parliament be dissolved and new elections held.

There is certainly a case to be made that the Muslim Brotherhood behaved badly. Its leaders knew what they were doing when they ran candidates as “independents.” Once it got a working majority in parliament, the Brotherhood gave every evidence of seeking to make itself the one party in a new one-party state. It tried to stack the Constituent Assembly charged with writing a new constitution with its members. And, after promising not to run a presidential candidate, its leaders abruptly changed their minds and put up a presidential candidate. Moreover, the man they put forward, Khairat al-Shater, is an allegedly corrupt businessman whose corruption cases caused him to be ruled ineligible. The Brotherhood was charged with using its dominance of parliament to dole out patronage to relatives of its MPs and officials.

The other issue before the court was a law excluding members in the last two Mubarak cabinets from running. That law would have excluded Gen. Ahmad Shafiq, one of the two current presidential candidates and the favorite of the military establishment.
The court found that the political exclusion law was worded in an arbitrary and unfair manner, and so found it unconstitutional.
As a result, Ahmad Shafiq can run for the presidency against the Brotherhood candidate, Muhammad Mursi (an engineer trained at the University of Southern California).

Egypt's fifth president
Ahram Online 24-6-2012

Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi has been named Egypt's fifth president after narrowly defeating his rival, Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Shafiq, in the hotly-contested presidential elections' runoffs. His victory, however, is barely expected to bring immediate stability to the turmoil-hit country. ...
According to the final tally, Mursi won 13,280,131 votes against 12,347,380 (a bit over 48 per cent) for Shafiq, according to the SPEC's official vote count, announced after allegations of electoral fraud – filed by both candidates' campaigns – were declared.

Mursi, who resigned as head of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) shortly after the result announcement, launched his presidential campaign after Brotherhood second-in-command Khairat El-Shater was disqualified from the race by Egypt's electoral commission in April. El-Shater was disqualified due to a prior criminal conviction under the Mubarak regime. ...
Mursi's victory does not mean that the military will loosen its current grip on power. Recent decisions by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) give the military junta expanded authorities at the expense of both parliament and the office of the presidency.

Playing the Sunni card
Justin Raimondo 25-6-2012

The disqualification of the original Brotherhood candidate, and the substitution of Morsi, a former assistant professor at Cal State Northridge, sets the stage for a post-Mubarak Egypt organized along Turkish lines. As in Turkey, the military will step in when the Islamists threaten to get out of hand, but will otherwise be allowed to rule as long as they don’t try to pursue an independent foreign policy or offend the delicate sensibilities of Western liberals too often.

While Egypt often seems to teeter on the brink of chaos, so far at least it has been controlled chaos..., the Obama administration is playing the Sunni card for all its worth, using its influence and resources to build “democratic” Islamist movements as a counterweight to both al Qaeda and the alleged Iranian threat.

The US government did the same thing during the cold war era, when the US subsidized democratic socialists in the labor unions and among the intelligentsia in order to challenge the hegemony of the Communists on the left....

Syria faces fierce campaign
for its stances against Zionism

TEHRAN– Iranian Chairman of the Shura Council Ali Larijani stressed on Sunday that Syria had always stood in the frontline of resistance against the Zionist Entity which is why it is being fiercely attacked.
Larijani reiterated the necessity of giving Syria the opportunity to implement democratic reforms and solve its internal problems.

For his part, Brigadier General Massoud Jazzayeri, deputy chief of staff for cultural affairs and defense publicity of the Iranian armed forces, stressed his country's call for non-interference in Syria's internal affairs, pointing out to the defeat of the USA and its allies in hitting Syria and the axis of resistance. (ChamPress 24-6-2012)

Ali Ardashir Larijani (born 3 June 1958) is an Iranian philosopher and politician. In May 2008, Larijani became speaker of the parliament. He was reelected in next years as chairman of the parliament. He was re-elected in 2012 elections as the Qom district's high receiving candidate. He was also elected for another term as chairman of the parliament on 5 June 2012 and was sworn in 11 June 2012.

US Escalates War Threats Against Syria
By Niall Green, 25-6-2012

The United States has sharply escalated its campaign against Syria over the weekend, in response to Syria’s shooting down of a Turkish fighter Friday.
After speaking to Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said on Sunday: “The United States condemns this brazen and unacceptable act in the strongest possible terms. It is yet another reflection of Syrian authorities’ callous disregard for international norms, human life and peace and security.”...
A Syrian foreign military spokesman has said that the incident was “not an attack.” The statement read, “An unidentified object entered our airspace and unfortunately was brought down. It was understood only later that it was a Turkish plane. There was no hostile act against Turkey whatsoever. It was just an act of defense of our sovereignty.”

Clinton’s denunciation of Syria for “callous disregard for international norms,” comes as the Obama administration is working deliberately to stoke a civil war in Syria in order to undermine the regime of Bashar al-Assad...
Washington is playing an increasingly open role in organizing the opposition militants. Speaking on the Charlie Rose program on PBS television, Clinton said that the administration was seeking to forge a more “unified force” from the roughly 100 disparate opposition groups.
“We’re also working very hard to try to prop up and better organize the opposition,” Clinton said Friday. “We’ve spent a lot of time on that. It’s still a work in progress.”...

The US-backed military intervention into Syria is causing a humanitarian crisis in the already impoverished country. Millions of Syrians go without food, medicines and other essentials on a daily basis. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last week that 1.5 million Syrians are in urgent need of aid, up by 500,000 in just three months, as fighting in the country has intensified. (www.countercurrents.org)

President al-Assad: "Communicating
with citizens in Transparency", 27-6-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- President Bashar al-Assad presided over the first session of the new cabinet after the new government members sworn in before him.
The President addressed the new government, calling on the ministers to contact with the citizens in transparency, specifying the priorities and immediately acting to carry them out, providing the basic needs, preventing prices' increase, combating monopoly and reconstructing infrastructure sabotaged by the terrorists.
President al-Assad stressed that the social aspect is the basis for political stability and security, saying " We are here to work… we have to possess an economic mentality with a clear vision".

The President called upon the government to boost relations with the East, from Russia into the countries of the East, the South which means the Latin America and Africa through signing agreements with these states and to help the private sector build a real relation with them.
"Apparently, the problem was with the West only, while the majority of the world want to build relations with us and with others, but throughout decades, we were seeking to boost our economic ties with those who colonized us directly or indirectly.. Syria seeks to build good relations with all world countries but we have to know where are our real interests," President al-Assad concluded. (SANA News Agency)

President of Russia
Visit to Palestine, 26-6-2012

Vladimir Putin had talks in Bethlehem with President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas, following which the two presidents oversaw the signing of a bilateral agreement on the legal status and activity of a museum and park ensemble in Jericho.
The two leaders made press statements after the talks. Later, Mr Putin and Mr Abbas took part in the opening of the Russian Science and Culture Centre in Bethlehem. Mr Putin also visited the Church of the Nativity. (eng.kremlin.ru)

Egypt to sue Iran news agency
Ahram Online, 27-6-2012

Egypt plans to sue an Iranian news agency for having allegedly fabricated an interview with President-elect Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.
MENA quoted the Islamist leader's spokesman, Yassir Ali, as saying that Iran's Fars news agency had "made up" a widely quoted interview in which Morsi said he planned to improve ties with Iran and revise Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
"Legal action will be taken against the Iranian Fars news agency, which fabricated the interview," Ali said.

The Islamic republic broke off diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1980, one year after Cairo signed its peace treaty with the self-proclaimed Jewish state.
Fars said Morsi had given the interview to one of its reporters in Cairo on Sunday, just before Morsi's electoral victory was announced. But in a speech to the Egyptian nation after his victory was confirmed, Morsi pledged to respect all international treaties signed by Cairo.

Seyyed Ali Khamenei & Islamic awakening'
MEHR news, 27-6-2012

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that the global tyrants are seeking to undermine the Islamic system, whose victories have provided incentives for Muslim nations to pursue Islamic causes more vigorously.
“Today, the bullying global powers have focused their efforts to harm the Islamic Republic system and its great movement, which is a source of inspiration for the Muslim world...” “The current awakening in the Muslim world and the ever-increasing zeal of the masses for Islamic causes” are the result of Iran’s increasing influence in the Muslim world.
“Each success of the Islamic system or its scientific progress, people’s great social movements like enthusiastic (participation in) elections, and the Islamic Republic’s resistance against the tyrannies of the global arrogance (forces of imperialism) are incentives for nations to pursue independence based on Islam..,” he said.
“The bullying powers, which falsely call themselves the international community, are trying to deprive the Islamic Republic of Iran of its people’s support.” The main purpose of the sanctions imposed by the hegemonistic powers is to sap the people’s strength and make them disengage from the Islamic system, he said.

Wil Saudi-Arabië echt een democratisch Midden-Oosten?
Afshin Ellian, Elsevier 29-6-2012

De Saudiërs proberen in de landen van de Arabische storm de schade van de regimeveranderingen te beperken, door te zorgen dat deze landen niet al te amicale relaties aangaan met Teheraanse ayatollahs. Saudi-Arabië was al voor de Arabische storm bezig de Moslimbroeders in verschillende landen enigszins te neutraliseren.... Qatar deed vergelijkbare pogingen ...

Om onwetenden met beide benen op de grond te zetten, wil ik hier ten overvloede vertellen dat de Golfstaten - Saudi-Arabië voorop - zeer afhankelijk zijn van de veiligheidsparaplu van Amerika en Israël.
Ja, ook Israël. Zonder het werk van Israëlische inlichtingendiensten zouden de sjeiks allang zijn omgebracht door hun eigen jaloerse familieleden of door moslimfundamentalisten.
Precies deze dubbelrol van de oliesjeiks is de jihadisten in het Midden-Oosten en elders een doorn in het oog. Imam Khomeini noemde de islam van Saudi-Arabië de 'Amerikaanse islam'. ...

Nu is Saudi-Arabië zeer actief in een aantal burgeroorlogen: tot voor kort in Libië, nu in Syrië. Is dat nieuw beleid? Nee, de Saudiërs hebben wat betreft Afghanistan op vergelijkbare wijze gehandeld in de jaren tachtig van de vorige eeuw. Saudi-Arabië was de drijvende kracht achter de financiering en de hulp aan de jihadistische groepen in Afghanistan...
De Amerikaanse regering werd voorgehouden dat niet de islam, maar de sjiitische sekte in Iran de vijand van het Westen is. En de Afghaanse jihad bestond voornamelijk uit soennieten die de theologische opvattingen van de Saudiërs aanhingen.

Nu doet Saudi-Arabië exact hetzelfde. De jihadistische groepen in Syrië worden door Saudiërs bewapend en gefinancierd. ...
De oliesjeiks hopen dat ze door hun betrokkenheid bij deze burgeroorlogen persoonlijke betrekkingen kunnen aangaan met de toekomstige radicale moslims. Ze hopen dat deze radicalen zich niet tegen hen en hun familieleden zullen keren. De oliesjeiks willen hun eigen leven veiligstellen. Ook kunnen ze daarmee de bewering van imam Khomeini weerleggen dat Saudi-Arabië de Amerikaanse islam representeert.

Ruhollah Khomeini:
Pure Muhammadan Islam and American Islam

Pure Muhammadan Islam and American Islam are a clear and unambiguous classification, which manifests in the political thought of Imam Khomeini on Farvardin II, 1367 [March 22, 1981].
He states [..] that throughout the history of Islam, the amalgamation of the two views that are distinct from each other can be differentiated.
The first view emanates from the text of revelation while the second view stems from the interests of the oppressors, the arrogant and the tyrants.
The first one has been at the service of the downtrodden, the faithful and the mystics while the second has been at the service of the affluent, the wealth-accumulators and the swindlers.
The first is the same authentic Islam that originates from the revelation and virtues. The second is a concocted Islam and the Islam of vices, which through link with the arrogant in the international arena, particularly America, took a more ferocious shape and led to the oppression of the people of the world. These two views have been always in conflict with each other, which has continued up to the present.

In this part, we will embark on defining these two terms through his own words:
"The pure Muhammadan Islam is the Islam of the suffering indigent, the Islam of the barefooted, the Islam of the scourge of the despised ones of the bitter and disgraceful history of deprivation, the annihilator of modern capitalism and bloodthirsty communism, and the destroyer of the Islam of comfort and luxury, the Islam of ... , the Islam of compromise and ignominy, the Islam of the indolent of the affluent, and in one word, the American Islam."

In contrast to the pure Muhammadan Islam, he describes the American Islam in this manner:
“American Islam is the Islam of the arrogant and the indolent wealthy, the Islam of the hypocrites, and the Islam of the luxury-mongers and opportunists.”

American Islam is the Islam of the court-mullahs, of massacres and aggressions, and of the foolish sanctimonious ones, the Islam of money and gold, the Islam of deception, compromise and servitude, the Islam of the domination of the capitalists over the oppressed and barefooted. (www.imam-khomeini.com)

Terrorist attacks
by Jason Ditz, 4-7-2012

Al-Qaeda-styled militant faction al-Nusra has issued a statement claiming credit for a number of major terrorist attacks inside Syria over the past few weeks, including the attack on a private television station and the murder of several of its employees.
The statement focused on and defended the attack on al-Ikhbariya TV, saying that the private station was “an arm of the regime” and the deaths of its employees would make others wonder when they will be attacked. They also released photos of 11 employees kidnapped during the attack.
Al-Nusra is a relatively recent terrorist group, issuing its first statement in January and claiming credit for a number of suicide bombings that were previously blamed on al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

A large number of jihadists have flocked to Syria since al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri formally endorsed a religious war against the Assad regime last year. (antiwar.com)

Bill Roggio, 10-5-2012

President al-Assad: Crisis in Syria Is Mostly External
SANA, 5-7-2012

Journalist: There are those who believe that the Syrian regime is making mistakes, killing tens of innocent people and children daily. What are your comments on that, and what is the truth about the relationship between President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian people?

President Assad: It is absolutely clear now that the largest part of the crisis is driven from the outside, and the evidence is the existence of Arab fighters and extremist and Islamist fighters fighting in Syria now. Moreover, there is the sophisticated weapons being smuggled through the borders, and the money being sent from abroad. This has actually changed the convictions of many people inside Syria, both among the opposition and the supporters of the government. The Syrians are defending their country now. The revolution cannot be a revolution of gangs. It should be a revolution of the people; and no one can suppress the revolution of the people. Now, you are in Syria, and you can go and walk about anywhere in order to see whether there is a revolution or not. We are seeking and killing terrorists and defending ourselves. They are perpetrating massacres against civilians, and it is our duty to defend civilians. It is our duty as a state....

Journalist: Do you regret that you suppressed the first peaceful demonstrations last year?

President Assad: There is a certain margin of error, of course, in every action. This is self evident. We are humans, and we might err or do the right thing. But we should distinguish between the mistakes made inside Syria and the foreign factors. The plot against Syria went through three stages. In the first stage, there were demonstrations, and a large part of these demonstrations was paid for. At the beginning of the crisis, a demonstrator used to be paid ten dollars. Now, they are paid fifty or a hundred dollars depending on the region. But they expected that a real revolution could come out of these demonstrations, peaceful demonstrations like those which happened in Egypt and Tunisia. Until last Ramadan, they failed in that stage. After that, they started to plan for creating certain regions in Syria dominated completely by armed gangs, like what happened in Benghazi in Libya. The army fought this attempt which lasted until last March, when they failed in the second stage. Then they shifted focus to individual assassinations, committing massacres against civilians, in addition to attacking state institutions with explosive devices. In other words, it would be naive to say that those demonstrations were peaceful. They were not exactly like that. At any rate, demonstrations still happen from time to time but in smaller numbers, and mostly they are paid for.

Journalist: The UN Human Rights Council, in its most recent report, held the Syrian army responsible for the largest part of the bloody events taking place in Syria. How do you comment on that?

President Assad: All of us know that the international institutions are dominated by the American administration and the west in general; and it would be stupid to consider what these international organizations say a point of reference about reality. They only express the balance of international powers; and the objective in the end is to put more pressure on Syria, and the more they fail in implementing their plans, the more pressure they put on Syria.

Israel Panel Supports the Legalization
of West Bank Outposts, 9-7-2012

A government-appointed committee has recommended that Israel legalize dozens of unsanctioned West Bank settlement outposts, a member of the panel said Monday, in defiance of international opposition to settling on land the Palestinians want for their future state.
The panel of jurists, headed by former Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, also concluded that the West Bank is not occupied territory and therefore Israel has the legal right to settle it, according to Alan Baker, one of the committee members.

The panel's conclusions are non-binding, but they could give the government a pretext to recognize the outposts as legitimate and deflect court challenges designed to tear some down. The findings also clash with the Palestinians' and international community's view that Jewish settlement of the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967, is illegitimate and an obstacle to peace.

Palestinian spokesman Ghassan Khatib immediately denounced the conclusions: "This is in complete contradiction with international law and with specific resolutions of the United Nations ... and in contradiction with the official policy of almost every single country in the world," Khatib said. "We also think that such positions contradict the international efforts to establish peace based on two states, one of them in the territories occupied in 1967."
A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no comment.

The committee also concluded Israel can settle the West Bank, which it never officially annexed. Baker said the area is not sovereign territory and therefore, "the actual act of settling the West Bank is not illegal."
Israel captured the West Bank, now home to some 2.5 million Palestinians, from Jordan. (AP news)

Kofi Annan: "I believe that the Syrian government
should be able to control the weapons.", SANA, 10-7-2012

TEHRAN, (SANA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi stressed that the ominous interference of some foreign countries in the crisis in Syria led to its continuity...
In a joint press conference with the UN Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan in Tehran on Tuesday, Salehi said "All efforts should unite to prevent the extension of the crisis in Syria and limit its repercussions and we should not allow the situation to become worse," he added.
The Iranian Minister pointed out that "Democracy, independence and combating corruption are preserved rights for the Syrian people," asserting that the Syrian government committed to achieve its promises to meet all the legitimate demands of the Syrian people as it achieved tangible steps in this regard.

For his part, Annan said that his talks in Tehran aim at ensuring Iran's support to find peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria...
On disarming the armed terrorist groups in Syria and preventing countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia from sending weapons to them and the role of the UN in implementing that, Annan said "The international organization seeks to defuse the violence in Syria by all sides..."
Annan stressed that the disarmament of the armed terrorist groups is a very important thing in such crisis and after its end.
"I believe that the Syrian government should be able to control the weapons and we should have a strong state to prevent the spreading of the armed groups," he said. He went on to say the use of arms is not consistent with the search for a peaceful solution.

Western leaders and news media hyped
the account of the Syrian opposition,
which turns out to be exaggerated and fabricated
by John Glaser, 14-7-2012

A purported massacre by the Syrian army near Hama on Thursday has turned out to be a battle between government forces and armed rebel militias, in another example of Western leaders hyping Syrian rebel propaganda.
After the battle, online videos and news reports detailed the heavy casualties sustained by the rebel forces making it out to be a massacre of mostly unarmed opposition members by Syrian forces. Spokesmen for the opposition claimed the number of dead to be as high as 250, prompting Western leaders like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to express “outrage.”
New details of the incident, however, reveal the death count to have been much less, around 100. Almost all of those killed were men of military age who were armed and engaged in a battle with government forces.

“Although what actually happened in Tremseh remains murky,” reports the New York Times, “the evidence available suggested that events on Thursday more closely followed the Syrian government account.” That is, a battle between regime forces and rebel militias, rather than a slaughter of unarmed civilians, as was claimed by the opposition and subsequently touted by Western officials.

"We welcome those who want the dialogue"

He said those who were killed in al-Treimseh are from the terrorists whose number reached 37 and two civilians.
"Whoever takes up arms against the state will be in a confrontation with the Syrian Arab Army and we welcome those who want the dialogue," Makdessi added.
The Foriegn Ministry Spokesman said: "We had documented more than 10000 violations of Annan's plan by the armed groups... (ChamPress 15-7-2012)

The Syrian opposition: who's doing the talking?

The media have been too passive when it comes to Syrian opposition sources, without scrutinising their backgrounds and their political connections. Time for a closer look …

"They're selling the idea of military intervention and regime change, and the mainstream news is hungry to buy. Many of the "activists" and spokespeople representing the Syrian opposition are closely (and in many cases financially) interlinked with the US and London – the very people who would be doing the intervening. Which means information and statistics from these sources isn't necessarily pure news – it's a sales pitch, a PR campaign.
But it's never too late to ask questions, to scrutinise sources. Asking questions doesn't make you a cheerleader for Assad – that's a false argument. It just makes you less susceptible to spin. The good news is, there's a sceptic born every minute."

Charlie Skelton, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 July 2012

Terrorist blast in Damascus

DAMASCUS (SANA) – Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense Gen. Dawood Rajiha and Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Asef Shawkat were martyred on Wednesday in a terrorist explosion targeting the National Security headquarters in Damascus.
The terrorist blast happened while a meeting of a number of ministers and authorities senior officials was taking place, causing injuries among the attenendees, some of them critical. (Sana 18-7-2012)

SANA 18-7-2012:
President al-Assad Appoints Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces and Minister of Defense

Abbas meets Morsi

Egypt's new President Mohamed Morsi held his first meeting with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, amid expectations that the Islamist would be more supportive of the Palestinians than his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.
Abbas said following the afternoon meeting that he told Morsi the "doors were shut to the political process with Israel and there were no bilateral communications..."

Morsi is a former senior official of the Muslim Brotherhood, which took part in the early 2011 revolt that toppled Mubarak. The group has close ties with Hamas, an offshoot of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood.
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal was also in Cairo and met intelligence chief Murad Muwafi, who spearheads the reconciliation effort.
Morsi, elected in June, had vowed to support what he called the Palestinians' "right to resistance" against Israel but he has adopted a more subdued tone since winning the election. (Daily Star Lebanon)

Russia: Western pressure over Syrian
conflict is 'all about Iran'
The Telegraph, 19 Juli 2012

Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that threatened Syrian authorities with sanctions if they did not halt violence against an uprising, thwarting Western hopes for tough action as the crisis in Syria escalates.
It was the third time that Russia, a key ally of the Syrian government, and China have used their veto power to block Security Council resolutions designed to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad..

Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the UN, expressed his disgust over Russia and China's vetoes. "... It is impossible to understand why China and Russia felt necessary to veto this text. We gave them every opportunity to engage in negotiations," the ambassador said.
Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, defended his veto and said that Syria has become a proxy for rival governments.

"It's all about Iran. It's all about geopolitical complexion of the Middle East," he said.
"It's all about the changes, some unexpected to our Western colleagues, which came about as a result of military intervention in Iraq and change of the political structure there.
"I'm not making any revelations to you, there is not a serious person I have talked to who would have any doubt about it, that a major geopolitical battle is being fought on the fields of Syria which has nothing to do with the interests of the Syrian people who are not interested in being the objects of this kind of geopolitical competition," said Mr Churkin.

"The largest secret war operation
since the Contra war in Nicaragua"
by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network 20-7-2012

Western and Gulf powers have launched the largest secret war operation since the Contra war in Nicaragua. The Battle of Damascus is not intended to topple President Bashar al-Assad, but to fracture the Syrian Army to better ensure the domination of Israel and the U.S. over the Middle East. While the city is bracing for a new assault by foreign mercenaries, Thierry Meyssan takes stock of the situation.

Coming from abroad, the "Contras" started their invasion of Syria by taking border posts.
Over the past five days Washington and Paris have launched an attack operation dubbed “Damascus Volcano and Syrian Earthquake." It is not a new campaign of aerial bombardment, but a secret military operation, similar to the one used in Central America during the Reagan era.
Within a few days, 40 to 60 000 Contras, mostly Libyans, entered the country, most often via the Jordanian border. The majority of them are attached to the "Syrian" Free Army, a secret operations front for NATO under Turkish command. Some are affiliated with groups of fanatics, including Al-Qaeda, under Qatar’s command or factions of the Saudi Royal Family, the Sudairi. Along the way, they took some border posts, and then moved to the capital where they have sown confusion by attacking random targets: police groups or isolated military....

Washington hoped that the partial decapitation of the military would lead some senior officers to defect with their units, or even to turn against the civilian government. This has not happened. President Bashar al-Assad immediately signed decrees appointing successors to the fallen heroes and the seamless continuity of the state was ensured.
In Paris, Berlin and Washington, sponsors of the operation continued their unworthy game of condemning terrorist action while reaffirming their political and logistical support for the terrorists. Shamelessly, they concluded that the responsibility for these killings lay not with the culprits, but with the victims in that they had refused to resign under pressure and surrender their homeland to western rapacity....

As expected, Arabsat and Nilesat had disconnected the Ad-Dunya television signal in the middle of the afternoon. The Twitter account of Ad-Dounia has been hacked by the CIA in order to disseminate false messages announcing a retreat of the Syrian Army...

Syrian TV Shows Bodies of Terrorists
of Arab Nationalities, SANA 23-7-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Syrian TV showed footage of bodies of terrorists from Egypt and Jordan who were killed by the Syrian armed forces when it was clearing al-Qaboun neighborhood in Damascus from armed terrorist groups.
The terrorists are Abdullah al-Desuqi Musa'ad Bassal and Yasser Abdelrazzaq Kamel Ibrahim from Egypt, Fares Faleh al-Ghazi, Usama Abdelqader Ahmad al-Zahabi, and Ahmmad Abullah al-Zahabi from Jordan.

Earlier, the Syrian TV showed footage of other terrorists who came from Tunisia and Libya, with Turkey and other neighboring countries providing facilitations to allow these murderers to enter Syria and kill its people.

SANA 23-7-2012:
Authorities Inflict Heavy Losses upon Terrorists in Damascus, Aleppo and Hama

Qatar: Arab League leans on Assad to resign
Muslim news, 23-07-2012

Delegates from the Arab League have said they agree Syria's president Bashar Assad should step down and the Free Syrian Army should form a transitional government of national unity.
The meeting of the Arab League continued into the wee hours of Monday morning. At the conclusion, Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani told journalists at the meeting in Doha that the League's position was unified.

"For the US, not all terrorist acts are bad"
SANA, 23-7-2012

TEHRAN, (SANA) – Speaker of Iranian Shura Council, Ali Larijani warned against many countries' attempts seeking military intervention in Syria outside the UN Security Council...
Larijani stressed that Syria is the axis of resistance and the countries which seek sabotaging Syria don’t seek realistic reforms but they try to seize the opportunity to eliminate the axis of resistance.
He indicated to the impressive reaction of these countries towards the explosion which hit the National Security HQ in Damascus as the US, Britain and other western countries did not condemn this terrorist act, instead of that they expressed relief that it is time to change the government in Syria and take serious steps at the UN Security Council.

For the US, not all terrorist acts are bad and since the terrorist operations taking place in Damascus came in line with their will, they are good, said Larijani.
He added that many Gulf countries which lack the minimum standards of democracy are still supplying the armed terrorist groups in Syria with money and arms. "It is a must in any state to achieve security before making political reforms."

He added that the opposition in Syria is not stable and it consists of different parties, indicating that the instigation by some countries prevented the launch of dialogue between the government and the opposition.

Makdissi regretted that the Arab League has
descended to [an] immoral level, SANA 24-7-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry issued a statement commenting on how some negative media outlets dealt with its previous statement delivered by spokesman Dr. Jihad Makdissi, deliberately taking it out of context and portraying it as a declaration of possessing non-traditional weapons by Syria.
The Ministry said that the goal of the statement and the press conference wasn't to declare but rather to respond to a methodical media campaign targeting Syria to prepare world public opinion for the possibility of military intervention under the false premise of weapons of mass destruction (similar to what happened with Iraq) or the possibility of using such weapons against terrorist groups or civilians, or transporting them to a third party.
The statement affirmed that such allegations are completely false...

Earlier, Foreign and Expatriates Ministry spokesman Dr. Jihad Makdissi responded to a question on developments in some neighborhoods in Damascus and outskirts by saying that "it is clear that the Syrian army is defending the Syrians and that we are in state of self-defense. There might be clashes in certain areas but the security situation is much more better." He added that the state will respond to those who carry weapons in the same way, stressing that doors are open those who call for dialogue and adopt political solution.

Commenting on the statement of the Arab Ministerial Committee in Doha, Makdissi said that changing Annan's mission is not at the hands of the Arabs and that it's mere wishes they make and constitutes political hypocrisy, underlining that talking about a transitional authority system constitutes a flagrant interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.
Makdissi regretted that the Arab League has descended to this immoral level in dealing with a founding state and the fact that instead of helping Syria, they are complicating the situation further.

Makdissi stressed that the obstacles hindering Annan's plan aren't caused by Syria, but rather by those who fund, arm and harbor terrorists and those who speak of weapons of mass destruction and prepare the public opinions for things that will not happen.

Putin’s Geopolitical Chess Game
with Washington in Syria and Eurasia
by F. William Engdahl
Voltaire Network, 23-7-2012

For blocking a UN resolution that could have led to military intervention in Syria, Russia has been accused by the Orwellian West of putting its national interests ahead of the lives of millions of Syrians. By scrutinizing Vladimir Putin’s actions since his reelection, William Engdahl shows that Russia is indeed pursuing her national interests which are best served by fostering a just and peaceful world environment and by thwarting the US-Israeli agenda for a Greater Middle East.

The stakes in this geopolitical chess game are nothing less than survival first of Syria as a sovereign nation, whatever its flaws and defects. More, it ultimately involves the survival of Iran, Russia and China as sovereign nations together with the other BRIC states Brazil, India and South Africa. ...

Russia has joined firmly with China since both nations fell into a catastrophic trap over abstaining in the UN Security Council from vetoing the US Resolution. That US resolution opened the door to NATO destruction of not only Mohammar Ghaddafi, but of Libya itself as a functioning country.... They both clearly have since concluded that further advance of Washington’s agenda for what George W. Bush called the Greater Middle East Project is diametrically opposed to the national interest of both China and Russia. ...

Even the ultimate US establishment newspaper, The New York Times, has been forced to admit that the CIA has been pouring arms into the Syrian opposition. They reported, “C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers. ..

While the US State Department makes pious pronouncements of their supporting “democracy” and demanding Al-Assad step down and recognize the dubious and factionalized opposition of the Syrian National Council, an exile group dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, Russia is working skillfully on the diplomatic front to weaken the Western march to war.

There is no demand in the Annan Plan for Bashar al-Assad to step down before any ceasefire, contrary to what Hillary Clinton repeats after insisting the US also backs the Annan Plan. The Annan Plan calls for a diplomatic solution. The US clearly does not want a diplomatic solution. It wants regime change and evidently widening war across the Shi’ite-Sunni divide of the Muslim world.

Who is fighting in Syria?
by Thierry Meyssan,
Voltaire Network 24-7-2012

Armed groups in Syria do not defend democracy,

The leaders of the Syrian National Council (SNC) as well as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) commanders are not democratic at all, in the sense that they would be favourable to "a government of the people, by the people, for the people", according to Abraham Lincoln’s formula taken from the French Constitution.

Thus, the first president of the SNC was the Paris academic, Burhan Ghalioun. He was in no way "a Syrian opponent persecuted by the regime" since he circulated freely in and out of his country. Nor was he a "secular intellectual" as he claims, since he was the political advisor to the Algerian Abbassi Madani, President of the Islamic Salvation Front (ISF), now a refugee in Qatar.
His successor, Abdel Basset Syda entered politics only in the last months, and immediately established himself as a mere executor of US wishes. Upon his election as head of the SNC, he pledged not to defend the will of his people, but to implement the "road map" that Washington drew up for Syria: The Day After.

Nor are the Free Syrian Army fighters champions of democracy. They recognize the spiritual authority of sheikh Adnan Al-Arour, a takfirist preacher, who calls for the overthrow and killing of Assad, not for political reasons but simply because Assad is of the Alawite faith, that is to say a heretic in the preacher’s eyes.
All of the identified officers in the FSA are Sunnis and all of the FSA brigades are named after historical Sunni figures. The "revolutionary tribunals" of the FSA sentence their political opponents to death (and not only supporters of Bashar al-Assad) and they slaughter the unbelievers in public. The FSA program is to end the secular regime installed by the Baath, the SSNP and the Communist Party in favor of a pure religious Sunni regime.

Adnan al-Arour, a Syrian sheikh and salafist, or Sunni Muslim fundamentalist, who regularly appears on a Saudi Arabian TV show called Wissal. Arour was reportedly a former member of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood who fled the crackdown on the group in the early 1980s and has used his platform to promote an Islamist agenda with regards to the Syrian uprising. (Global Post, 19-8-2011)

Adnan al-Arour: "Zu denen, die unsere Heiligkeit angreifen, ich schwöre, die werden wir mit einem Fleischwolf zerhacken und wir werden ihr Fleisch an die Hunde verfüttern." (Parteibuch, 6-12-2011)

The Syrian conflict was premeditated by the West

In the wake of the fall of Baghdad, in 2003, Congress passed two laws instructing the President of the United States to prepare wars against Libya and Syria (the Syria Accountability Act).
In 2004, Washington accused Syria of harbouring the weapons of mass destruction that could not be found in Iraq. This accusation fizzled when it was admitted that the weapons never existed and were but a pretext for invading Iraq.
In 2005, after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, Washington attempted to go to war against Syria, but could not manage it as Syria withdrew its army from Lebanon. The United States then elicited fake testimonials to accuse President al-Assad of ordering the attack and they created a special international court to try him. But they were ultimately forced to withdraw their false accusations when their manipulations were brought to the light of day.
In 2006, the U.S. began to prepare the "Syrian revolution" by creating the Syria Democracy Program. The idea was to create and fund pro-Western opposition groups (such as the Movement for Justice and Development).
In 2007, Israel attacked Syria, bombing a military installation (Operation Orchard). But again, Damascus kept its cool and did not let itself get embroiled in war.
In 2009, the CIA set up tools of propaganda destined for Syria such as the BaradaTV channel, based in London, and Dubai-based OrientTV.
In January 2012, the U.S. Departments of State and Defense formed the Task Force named The Day After: Supporting a democratic transition in Syria, which drafted both a new constitution for Syria and a governance program.
In May of 2012, NATO and the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) set up the Working Group on Economic Recovery and Development of the Friends of the Syrian People, under German and Emirati co-chairmanship. Therein, the Syrian-British economist Ossam el-Kadi worked out a plan to divide Syrian wealth among coalition member states, to apply the "day after" (that is to say, after the overthrow of the regime by NATO and the GCC).

Revolutionaries or counter-revolutionaries?

The armed groups did not spring from peaceful protests in February 2011. These events in fact denounced corruption and demanded more freedoms, whereas the armed groups- as we have seen above- emerge from Islamism....
While the Syrian society embodies the paradigm of religious tolerance, a takfirist current developed within. It provided the basis for the armed groups. These have been richly funded by Wahhabi monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Sharjjah).
This windfall has led to the rallying of new fighters which include relatives of the victims of the massive crackdown against the failed bloody Muslim Brotherhood coup in 1982. Their motive is often less ideological than personal. It springs from vendetta.

Over the 18 months of armed action, these armed groups structured and more or less coordinated themselves. As it stands, the vast majority have come under Turkish command, under the label of Free Syrian Army. In fact, they have become auxiliaries of NATO; their headquarters is even located on the NATO air base at Incirlik. Hard core Islamists have formed their own organizations or have joined al-Qaida. They are under the control of Qatar or of the Sudeiri branch of the Saudi royal family.

Thierry Meyssan: French intellectual, founder and chairman of Voltaire Network and the Axis for Peace Conference. Professor of International Relations at the Centre for Strategic Studies in Damascus.

Due to cyber attacks,SANA usual URLs are down
By MKERone (co founder of CounterPsyOps)
CYBER ATTACKS AGAINST SANA NEWS AGENCY PREVENT US FROM ACCESSING THE WEBSITE THROUGH THE USUAL LINK. HENCE PLEASE TAKE GOOD NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING TO ACCESS SANA AND SHARE THE INFO: USE THE FOLLOWING LINKS FOR ACCESSING SANA WEBSITE:

- in english >> http://208.43.232.81/index_eng.html
- in arabic >> http://208.43.232.81/index_ara.html

Syria, Iran Sign Several MOUs
on Electrical Energy, Health, Water and Sewerage
SANA, 27-7-2012

TEHRAN, (SANA) – The Syrian official delegation to Iran concluded its visit by signing several of memos of understanding (MOU) with the Iranian side in the fields of electrical energy, health, water and sewerage.
The two sides agreed on following up on agricultural, educational and scientific cooperation, in addition to enhancing trade relations and facilitating procedures to allow easier flow of Syrian and Iranian products into the markets of the two countries.

The Iranian officials reiterated their country's support to Syria against all challenges and conspiracies hatched against it.
Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili: Tehran Opposes Any Foreign Intervention in Syria's Domestic Affairs. "Iran supports Syria, as leadership and government, in the face of foreign pressure," Jalili said, calling for developing the bilateral relations in all fields.
Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs and Local Administration Minister Omar Ghalawanji said that the aim of the Syrian delegation's visit to Iran is to get acquainted with the Iranian expertise in all sectors, particularly in economy and services.
"We discussed the technical issues.. and ways to develop bilateral cooperation in all domains, particularly in the fields of electricity, water, health and housing," Ghalawanji added.

Neocons call for 'safe zones,'
Washington contemplates intervention
by Justin Raimondo, July 27, 2012

The way she talks, one would think Hillary Clinton is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian rebels:

"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says it’s only a matter of time before the rebels have enough territory and organization to create such areas. ‘More and more territory is being taken,’ Clinton said this week. ‘It will eventually result in a safe haven inside Syria, which will then provide a base for further actions by the opposition.’"

There is Gen. Hillary, a warrior-goddess, directing her Hellions to take this town, seize that territory, and get on with "further actions" – such an inspiring sight for feminists and warmongers the world over! At last, a woman who can muster as much blood-lust as any man! ...

When a suicide bomber blasted the Syrian Defense Minister into the next world, along with Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law and several other top officials, the US refused to condemn the act – a terrorist attack almost certainly carried out by jihadists close to bin Laden’s boys, if not Al Qaeda itself.
One of the big criticisms of the Iraq war was that, prior to the US invasion, Al Qaeda had no presence in Iraq, and bin Laden had no links to Saddam’s regime — this in spite of the efforts of an entire mini-industry to create one where none existed. Syria is replicating this well-known history, while the very people who invoked it to criticize a Republican administration are following in the Bush’s footsteps.
Yet the Obamaites are going several steps beyond anything the Bushies ever imagined: their attempt to hijack the "Arab Spring" and cultivate "moderate" Islamists, including the various national sections of the Muslim Brotherhood, has turned into an aggressive military campaign...

As the Obama administration launches a campaign to extend the Empire to include most of what we used to call the "Near East" and North Africa, they’ll get no serious opposition from the left. Even the supposedly "far" left, exemplified by Seymour – a member of the British Socialist Workers Party, a Trotskyist organization — have given up their "anti-imperialist" position in favor of the identity politics that have grown up where the old Marxism used to thrive. Muslims, you see, are an Oppressed Minority, at least in the West, and therefore they must be championed internationally, no matter what the cost to reason or a long anti-imperialist tradition.

What this means is that us anti-interventionists will be more isolated than ever, politically, with the "left" in Hillary’s apron pocket and the neocons in firm control of the Republican party machinery....

It’s the Clinton years all over again

650,000 Jewish settlers
"They continue business as usual"
Mazin Qumsiyeh, 27-7-2012

More than 15,000 Jewish settlers were added in one year to bring the total colonial settlers living in the West Bank to 650,000. Does any one still think a two-state solution is possible? In parallel, settler violence increased many folds in the past few years.
Israel is enjoying unprecedented Western government support. The US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is making his pilgrimage here to pay homage to those who will help elect him. This has become a ritual among US presidential candidates hoping to live in the White House in Israeli-occupied Washington. Not to be out-staged, President Obama signed an enhanced "security" arrangement with Apartheid Israel the day before Romney lands here. More tax money is thus diverted to Israel and Israel promoted wars while the US-economy keeps suffering.
Romney will also meet with Salam Fayyad who seems content to keep repeating that we want a state in 1967 borders (and not mentioning the refugees which is THE central issue) but in his interview with the independent seemed resigned that Palestine is now marginalized.
European and other Western governments hold meetings about Syria and abuses of human rights there (while supporting such abuses both in Syria and elsewhere). No one demanded such meetings about Israel and its abuses (or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia or Rohingya or Libya post Qaddafi or others...)

Even when these governments know that there are abuses they continue business as usual. ...
The European Union leadership considers Jewish colonial settlements to be violations of International law and yet give Israel a most favored nation status and regularly trade!
Everyone likes to pretend there are no problems and the status quo can continue. The monarchies of Arabia (or the gang of kleptocracies) seem content in their dictatorships untouched by the Arab spring and seem happy that they are now using it to their advantage... The Kings of Jordan and Morocco give some power to governments that they hope will absorb public discontent. The USA supports all these ruling families.
Everyone pretends that the people’s discontent can be absorbed for a long time or manipulated to serve Western and Israeli interests. Even Hamas and Fatah leadership (though not many of their members) pretend that continuing down the path of the last few years will be OK and are not willing to “rock the boat”. Many are bidding time and hoping for some outside miracle. Maybe Obama will be better in his second term. Maybe the Arab Spring will work in our favor. Maybe this or that will happen. Meanwhile, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and our mother earth is devastated.

Stay human
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine.

Talking Zionism
Uri Avnery, 28-7-2012

TODAY, ZIONISM is firmly in the hands of the extreme Right, a mixture of nationalists, religious fanatics and the settlers, supported by very rich Jews in Israel and outside. They govern the news, both directly (they own all the TV networks and the newspapers) and metaphorically. Every day, the news contains many items figuring “Zionism”.

For Zionism’s sake, Bedouin in Israel-proper are forcibly displaced from the large stretches of land they have occupied for centuries. For Zionism’s sake, a settler’s college deep in the occupied territories is accorded the status of “university” (by the military governor!)... Hundreds of new buildings in the settlements are being built on private Palestinian land in the name of Zionism....

In the name of Zionism, our fanatically right-wing Minister of Education is sending Israeli school children on indoctrination trips to “holy places” in the occupied territory, so as to instill in their consciousness from early on that all the country belongs to them. To strengthen their Zionist convictions they are also sent to Auschwitz.
The Jewish Agency, an offshoot of the World Zionist Organization, is devoting almost all its resources to the settlements.

The policy of our government is based on maintaining the status quo. All of historical Eretz Israel/Palestine under Israeli rule, the West Bank in a state of occupation, its Palestinian inhabitants without national or civil rights.

Currently, some five million Palestinians and six million Jews live between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. ...
Our leaders escape this reality by a simple device: they don’t think about it. They don’t talk about it.
They prefer to “talk Zionism” – a string of empty phrases.

Israel Rewarded … For What?
by JONATHAN COOK, CounterPunch 30-7-2012

Israel has barely put a foot right with the international community since its attack on Gaza more than three years ago provoked global revulsion.
The right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu has serially defied and insulted foreign leaders, including US President Barack Obama; given the settlers virtual free rein; blocked peace talks with the Palestinians; intimidated and marginalised human rights groups, UN agencies and even the Israeli courts; and fuelled a popular wave of Jewish ethnic and religious chauvinism against the country’s Palestinian minority, foreign workers and asylum seekers.
No wonder, then, that in poll after poll Israel ranks as one of the countries with the most negative influence on international affairs.
And yet, the lower Israel sinks in public estimation, the more generous western leaders are in handing out aid and special favours to their wayward ally. The past few days have been particularly shameless.

It was revealed last week that the European Union had approved a massive upgrade in Israel’s special trading status, strengthening economic ties in dozens of different fields. The decision was a reversal of a freeze imposed in the wake of the Gaza attack of winter 2008. ...
It is not alone. The United States is also showering economic benefits and military goodies on Israel, in addition to the billions of dollars in aid it hands over every year.
In the past few days alone, President Obama signed a new law greatly expanding military cooperation with Israel and awarded $70 million – on top of an existing $210 million donation – for it to develop the Iron Dome missile defence system; the Pentagon arm-twisted Lockheed Martin into collaborating with Israeli firms in revamping the new F-35 fighter jet; and Congress approved a four-year extension of US loan guarantees to make it cheaper for Israel to borrow money on the international markets.
Meanwhile, Obama’s rival for the presidency, Mitt Romney, has criticised Obama for being too miserly towards Israel....

In a further irony, the World Bank issued last week its latest report on the state of the Palestinian economy, concluding that its situation was so dire the Palestinian government-in-waiting, the Palestinian Authority, could not be considered ready for independent statehood. The report noted that the Palestinians were heavily reliant on foreign donors and that local private businesses, agriculture and manufacturing were all in decline. ...
In another of the rich ironies of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it now seems even some diplomats are concluding that the Palestinians will be best served by destroying the fledgling government that was supposed to be the harbinger of their independence....

Al-Moallem: Syria Committed to a Middle East
Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction, SANA, 30-7-2012

Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem said that Syria has been facing for more than a month now an intensive campaign by the US, western and some Arab countries about possession of chemical weapons.
"Whether or not we possess unconventional weapons, Syria has repeatedly declared its readiness to establish a region free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction," al-Moallem stressed.
"The truth is that Syria is a country of confrontation as part of its land is under the occupation of Israel which possesses nuclear capabilities acknowledged by the US," al-Moallem added.

He noted that in 1968 Syria joined the 1925 Geneva protocol on the prohibition of biological weapons proliferation and is committed to what it signed.
"As with regard to the convention on prohibition of chemical weapons, we are ready to sign it if signed by Israel. This is fair and legitimate and Syria is a responsible country that respects international legitimacy and the rules of international law in this regard," said Minister al-Moallem, adding that Syria wants welfare to prevail the region.

Krant gebruikt Photoshop
om situatie Syrië te verergeren
Carmen Dorlo, Metro 30-7-2011

De 'Kronen Zeitung' is de grootste krant van Oostenrijk met drie miljoen lezers. Deze krant heeft gisteren gebruik gemaakt van het programma Photoshop...: een gezin in Syrië werd in de krant opeens vergezeld door vernielde gebouwen op de achtergrond.

Het gezin op de foto loopt inderdaad in Syrië, alleen zijn de gebouwen niet terug te zien in de originele foto. De originele foto is gemaakt door de European Pressphoto Agency.

Lieutenant General Gaye called on all sides
to respect human and international law
SANA Arab News Agency, 31-7-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)_ Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, Head of Mission of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) called on all sides -of the crisis in Syria- to practice self-control, cease violence, respect human and international law and to protect civilians.
In a press conference at Dama Rose Hotel here Monday, Gaye underscored the need for a change from confrontation and armed fighting to dialogue at the local level first and soon at the national level as stipulated by the UN envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan's six-point plan.
Gaye highlighted the importance of security, possibility of access and free reach and movement for UNSMIS observers as to implement their tasks.

Gaye, in a statement distributed to journalists, voiced deep concern about the increase of violence level in Aleppo.
Syrian competent authorities are fighting scores of foreign-backed armed terrorist groups in the northern city of Aleppo, where civilians have appealed to the authorities to rid them from the terrorists, many of them are non-Syrian nationals.

US defense chief: "He will leave"
Alert Net, 30-7-2012

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in an interview with CNN during a visit to Tunisia, said maintaining stability in Syria would be important under any scenario that sees Assad leave power. Government forces in Syria should be held together when President Bashar al-Assad is forced from power, the U.S. defense secretary said on Monday...
"I think it's important when Assad leaves, and he will leave, to try to preserve stability in that country," Panetta said. ..
"Particularly when it comes to things like the chemical sites, they do a pretty good job of securing those sites," Panetta said, referring to Syrian forces.
"If they suddenly walked away from that, it would be a disaster to have those chemical weapons fall into the wrong hands, hands of Hezbollah or other extremists in that area."

Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah has publicly tied its fate to Assad. (Reporting by Missy Ryan; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Sabotaging Kofi Annan’s peace plan
Patrick Seale, 24-7-2012

The United States and Israel make no secret of their goal to bring down both the Damascus and Tehran regimes. ...
It is not easy to be the neighbour of an expansionist and aggressive Jewish state, which believes that its security is best assured, not by making peace with its neighbours, but by subverting, destabilising and destroying them with the aid of American power.

America, the dominant external power, has made many grievous policy blunders. Over the past several decades it failed to persuade its stubborn Israeli ally to make peace with the Palestinians, leading to peace with the whole Arab world. It embarked on catastrophic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It failed to reach a ‘grand bargain’ with Iran which would have dispelled the spectre of war in the Gulf and stabilised the volatile region. And it is now quarrelling with Moscow and reviving the Cold War by sabotaging Kofi Annan’s peace plan for Syria.

Hezbollah
By Jeffrey Rudolph

Hezbollah, a Lebanese Shia Islamic organization, has evolved over the last three decades from a guerilla movement to the most influential political and military power in Lebanon.
Given that Hezbollah is a crucial part of the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance”, it is not surprising that the mainstream media in the West uses simplistic stereotypes to demonize it. However, whether the West likes it or not, Hezbollah is clearly fated to continue playing an important role in Lebanon’s future. (Juan Cole's website 31-7-2012)

American project of a Neo Middle East.
Sayyed Nasrallah’s Interview with Al-Manar TV on 24-10-2011
Hizbullah website (Islamic resistance in Lebanon)

Syria was among the states which stood in face of the project and helped in toppling it and flopping the project of a Neo Middle East. That is not to the interest of the Syrian people only but also to the interest of the peoples of the region and the interest of the Arab and Islamic nation. Syria was among the states which took this stance at a very advanced stage. We all recall that following the occupation of Iraq, Colin Powell came with an endless list and threatened President Bashar Assad.

This President did not submit and did not feel afraid saying that the Americans are now in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. There is no Soviet Union. There is US hegemony over the world. So "let me like the other Arab regimes find a way out for my dilemma". He did not act as such and preserved his stance beside the resistance movement in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq which is a very sensitive issue. ..

Perhaps President Assad is the only Arab president who used to talk about Iraq saying "Iraqi Resistance". So he did not accept all of these conditions and he did not submit. During July War in 2006, before the war and after the war, the Syrian regime and the leadership in Syria were always subject to pressure, remained steadfast and are a partner in the victory of the resistance movements. For controversy, some say why there is not Resistance in Golan? There is an answer for that and the Syrians give it.

However, it is enough that Syria stood by the resistance in Lebanon and the resistance in Palestine and the resistance in Iraq. This stance, support and commitment were decisive. That means it was a secondary helping factor. It was a decisive helping factor in the victories which were made in all these fields. So this regime had made all of these things. Are we not to call it a resisting opposing regime? What do we call it then? What did we keep for other regimes? So this regime is resisting and opposing. This is number one.

Second, since the first day of the opposing popular movement, President Assad and the leadership in Syria said we are ready and we believe in reform. We take it for granted that there are great mistakes and his speech in the university was clear. He talked of great numbers and mistakes which need to be addressed and causes which must be confronted.
He is serious about reforms, is capable of making reform and started with making reform. However the confrontation took another track. Internal confrontation commenced as well as foreign pressures.
It became clear that what is demanded in Syria is not reform or achieving democracy. It is rather toppling the resisting opposing regime. Here I am saying this and I am responsible of what I am saying. Let the whole world hear: Now if President Bashar Assad went to the Americans and offered his obedience, the issue would be settled in Syria..

Hasan Nasrallah (born August 31, 1960) became the third Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the previous leader, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992.
Hezbollah is regarded as a legitimate resistance movement and political party throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds, but is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the Netherlands, Israel, and Canada. (Wikipedia)

Growing Health Needs in Syria
Under Economic Sanctions
SANA 31-7-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Minister of Health, Wael al-Halqi, discussed with World Health Organization charge d'affaires, Elizabeth Hoff, joint cooperation to meet the growing health needs in Syria give the damage caused to the health sector by armed terrorist groups and the economic sanctions imposed on it.
The minister expressed hope that the international health organizations commit to the implementation of the plan to respond to the needs of health sector in Syria and meet the citizens' demands in current stage.
He highlighted the Ministry's urgent need for some medical equipment such as ambulances, artificial ventilation apparatus, kidney dialysis equipment, incubators, life-saving drugs and cancer & chronic disease drugs. ...
The Minister said that the armed terrorist groups destroyed and sabotaged 35 hospitals, 143 health centers, 277 ambulances, the latest was the burglary of 16 ambulances in Aleppo to use them in transporting weapons and attacking law-enforcement forces.

Al-Halqi called upon the WHO to rely for infromation on the Ministry and its health directorates in the provinces instead of relying on misleading media reports, expressing the Ministry's readiness to provide the WHO with accurate information and organize visits to any health institutions in any province to inspect the health situation on the ground.

Martyr's anthem
SANA 1-8-2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Representing Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Armed Forces President Bashar al-Assad, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Armed Forces and Defense Lt. Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij visited the Unknown Soldier Monument at mount Kasiyoon on Wednesday on occasion of the 67th anniversary of the foundation of the Syrian Arab Army.
After reviewing the honor guard, Lt. Gen. al-Freij placed a wreath on behalf of President al-Assad on the tomb of the unknown soldier, reciting verses of the Quran along with the Chief of Staff, Deputy Defense Ministers and senior army officers, then they performed a military salute as the army band played the "Martyr" and "farewell" anthems.

"On this occasion, I want to say that they are deluded who ever think that by having money and arms flowed from Gulf, regional and international governments upon hirelings could ever deviate Syria, leadership, people and army, from its approach of resistance, adherence to rights and rejection of all forms of subordination and surrender," said Lt. Gen. al-Freij.

The Minister prayed for the repose of the souls of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in confronting the Zionists and colonialists as well as those who died in fighting the terrorist groups, wishing speedy recovery to all the military and civilian injured.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier refers to a grave in which the remains of an unidentified soldier are interred, dedicated to the common memories of all soldiers killed in any war. Such tombs can be found in many nations and are usually high-profile national monuments. Throughout history, many soldiers have died in wars without their remains being identified. Following the First World War, a movement arose to commemorate these soldiers with a single tomb, containing the body of one such unidentified soldier. (WIKIPEDIA)

Annan Resigns as Syria Envoy
Syria DayPress News, 2-8-2012

International mediator Kofi Annan says he's quitting Syria role. Frustrated by the seemingly intractable Syrian conflict, Kofi Annan announced his resignation on Thursday as the special peace envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League, throwing new doubts on whether a diplomatic solution is possible.
In an announcement tinged with bitterness and regret, Annan said he could no longer do the job, blaming his decision on what he described as Syrian government intransigence, increasing militancy by Syrian rebels and the failure of a divided Security Council to rally forcefully behind his efforts.
“I accepted this task, which some called ‘mission impossible,’ for I believed it was a sacred duty to do whatever was in my power to help the Syrian people find a peaceful solution to this bloody conflict,” Annan told reporters at a hastily organized news conference at the United Nations’ Geneva offices.
But “without serious, purposeful and united international pressure, including from the powers of the region, it is impossible for me, or anyone, to compel the Syrian government in the first place, and also the opposition, to take the steps necessary to begin a political process,” Annan added.

Syria expresses regret over the news of resignation of the UN Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan from his mission and his request not to extend the mission, Foreign and Expatriates Ministry announced on Thursday.

"Syria has always declared and proved its full commitment to implementing the plan of Annan.... but the countries which want to destabilize the situation in Syria and voted for the plan at the UN Security Council are the same countries that obstructed and still seek to foil this mission... That obstruction was represented by supporting and harboring the armed terrorist groups leading to the continuation of violence in the country.." (ChamPress 2-8-2012)

Obstructing Annan's mission
SANA, 3-8-2012

Vitaly Churkin, the Ambassador of Russia to the United Nations asserted that western countries have hidden goals in Syria which aren't based on objective information related to the events in Syria. resignation of Kofi Annan, the UN envoy to Syria, blasted the stances of western states whose deeds contradict their statements, citing western verbal support to Annan and their strategy of obstructing Annan's mission.
Ambassador Churkin outlined that Russia didn't receive clarifications from the western states about the western desire to end UNSMIS operations in Syria.
On his part, Gennady Gatilov, the Russian deputy Foreign Minister, said that Annan is a honest international mediator but there are those who want to put him aside as to set hands free for carrying out a military operation.

Conservatives Call for Obama to Intervene in Syria
By Josh Rogin, 30-7-2012

The letter was organized jointly by the Foreign Policy Initiative and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, both conservative policy organizations in Washington, D.C.

February 17, 2012
Dear Mr. President:

Syria's future is not purely a humanitarian concern. The Assad regime poses a grave threat to national security interests of the United States. The Syrian government, which has been on the State Department's State Sponsors of Terrorism list since 1979, maintains a strategic partnership with the terror-sponsoring government of Iran, as well as with Hamas and Hezbollah. For years, it facilitated the entry of foreign fighters into Iraq who killed American troops. For years, it secretly pursued a nuclear program with North Korea's assistance. And for decades, it has closely cooperated with Iran and other agents of violence and instability to menace America's allies and partners throughout the Middle East.

Equally troubling, foreign powers have already directly intervened in Syria-in support of the Assad regime. Russia is providing arms and supplies to the Syrian government. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah are reportedly operating in Syria, and assisting Syrian military forces and pro-regime militias in efforts to crush the Syrian opposition. In turn, the lack of resolve and action by the responsible members of the international community is only further emboldening the Assad regime.

Given these facts, we urge you to take the following immediate actions to hasten an end to the Assad regime...
Given American interests in the Middle East, as well as the implications for those seeking freedom in other repressive societies, it is imperative that the United States and its allies not remove any option from consideration, including military intervention.

Draft resolution on Syria hysteric and misleading,
violates international legitimacy principles
ChamPress, 3-8-2012

NEW YORK- Syria's Permanent Representative in the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari, on Friday said that the draft resolution on Syria submitted by Saudi Arabia to the UN General Assembly is hysteric and misleading, violating all international legitimacy principles, primarily the principle of respecting national sovereignty and non-interference in countries' internal affairs.

In a speech before the UN General Assembly, al-Jaafari said that adopting the draft resolution sends a wrong message to extremists and terrorists in Syria and elsewhere, since the terrorist acts these people carry out as an alternative to dialogue and peaceful settlements are encouraged and supported by UN member countries, which will only exacerbate the situation, increase violence and strengthen terrorism in Syria and the entire region, which will eventually cause terrorism to reach the very areas that spawned it, including some of the countries that adopted the draft resolution.

Zawahiri: "Jihad in the cause of Allah"

He pointed out to the irony in that the countries adopting the resolution presented it under article 34 on the prevention of armed conflicts, while these very same countries have had a considerable part in the militarization of the situation in Syria and pushing it away from the desired political solution...
He stressed that if these countries voicing concern over the humanitarian situation in Syria were truly honest in their concern, they would have allocated the billions of dollars spend of funding, arming and equipping terrorists with communication devices for humanitarian aid, noting that all promises made by these countries regarding humanitarian aid were mere deceptions as no-one in Syria saw any such aid even months after agreeing to the humanitarian response plan with the UN.

Al-Jaafari added that some of the countries that adopted the draft, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, cannot be considered as examples of democracy and respecting human rights, as these countries are governed by oligarchic, tyrannical regimes that don't hesitate to suppress their people and murder protestors, adding that the state of human rights and basic liberties in them is considered among the worst in the world according to documented reports by human rights organizations and opposition sources abroad....

".. give legitimacy to agendas that shook most member countries'
faith in the rule of law on the international level..."

Al-Jaafari pointed out to the contradiction in some countries – which always claimed to denounce terrorism and Al Qaeda and waged wars on this basis – are directly or indirectly supporting the growing terrorist activities of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Syria to serve "creative chaos" as it is well-known that some countries facilitated, funded and instigated the sending of terrorist to Syria, which explains why those who submitted the draft didn't refer to these terrorists at all as this would indict them.
He went on to say that while many western countries are combating Salafi, Wahabi and Takfiri sleeper terrorists cells in their territories, the same countries are working hard to activate such cells in Syria...

"The plan is to destroy the modern Arab state of Syria"
Dr Makram Khoury-Machool, Palestinian scholar, 3-8-2012

The plan is to destroy the modern Arab state of Syria that emerged after WWI and in the 1940s, and, where possible, to establish new religious states (similar to the Jewish state of Israel).
In this way, Arab power and along with it, the Pan-Arab ideology of Michel Aflaq and Antun Sa’ade (both Arab Christians) and Nasser of Egypt, would disappear.
This process began when, in 1978-9 under Sadat, Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel, and was followed by the destruction of Lebanon in 1982, the second Intifada in 1987, and the economic takeover of Iraq in 2003. It was then followed in Libya with the seizing of oil and gas in 2011. Therefore, in order to keep the US-Rael (US-Israel) hegemony, the West needs to align states along sectarian lines (Sunni-Shiite) rather than on Pan-Arabism. Indeed, this process was boosted after the occupation of Iraq and the toppling of the Ba’ath party.

In practice, what is now happening in the Arab world is a ‘correction’ of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement, when the main colonial powers, Britain and France, carved out the boundaries of the current Arab states and installed their own Arab agents. These ongoing, neo-colonial plans include provision for any two or more Arab parties to fight the Syrian regime and to keep them fighting until such time as each state is dismembered and fractured into 2-3 states, based on sectarian lines. Then colonial elites can continue to scoop up the wealth because, after all, the imperial mentality has hardly changed.

Since Western powers cannot achieve this on their own, they need agents such as Qatar in Libya and Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others in Syria.
These agents, preferably self-serving, undemocratic Arab-Muslim-Sunni monarchies, will use Sunni-Islam to promote fanaticism against other Arabs, Muslims and non-Muslims (e.g., Arab Christians, Shiites and Druze).
Those Arabs with access to the (economic) global elite (for example, the Royal Saudi family and the Qataris with the Americans and other European elites) are, by and large, the ruling elites in the Arab Gulf or their protégés. It is they who are driving a wedge between the various sects and magnifying and exploiting the playing of the Sunni card with non-Arab Muslim Sunni Turkey against Syria.
It would hardly be a surprise either if they were in cahoots with Israel-serving Western powers. Otherwise, it would remain fairly difficult to explain why the most authoritarian regime on earth, Saudi Arabia, is acting against Syria and trying to teach it lessons in democracy, something that Saudi Arabia is not very keen to know much about....

Putting pressure on one party only
will not help solve the crisis
SANA, 4-8-2012

BEIJING/ NEW YORK, (SANA) – China on Saturday said Western countries are to blame for impeding the diplomatic and political efforts aimed at restoring security and peace in Syria.
Deputy Director of North African and West Asian Affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Zijian, was quoted by the AP as saying that some Western countries have obstructed the political process by their efforts seeking to change the regime in Syria.
Wang reiterated his country's stance that the solution in Syria must be a political one, stressing Beijing' complete rejection of any military intervention.

Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, Wang Min, stressed that the future and destiny of Syria should be determined by the Syrian people themselves, and the political settlement to what is taking place in the country should be led by the Syrian people and be accepted by all parties concerned in Syria.
Wang added that the UN General Assembly adopting a resolution against Syria proves that putting pressure on one party only will not help solve the crisis in Syria...
He said that China's goal is to preserve the interests of the Syrian people and Arab countries, and the interests of all countries as well as the basic rules governing international relations, including sovereign equality and non-interference in other countries' internal affairs.

Yemen: 20 killed in al-Qa'ida
suicide attack in Abyan,
xinhuanet.com, 5-08-2012

SANA'A, (Xinhua): At least 20 people were killed late Saturday when an al-Qaida suicide bomber targeted a gathering of pro-government tribesmen in the country's southern province of Abyan, a police official told Xinhua.
He said that "Abdulatif al-Saeed, the leader of the tribal fighters who supported the government troops in the fighting against al-Qaida over the past months, was killed in the bombing attack."

Backed by the United States, the Yemeni government waged a month-long intensive offensive in May against the militants of al-Qaida, known locally as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), forcing them out of strongholds they had controlled for nearly a year.
Combating al-Qaida militants in the restive south is one of the challenges confronting Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has promised to restore security and uproot the country's branch of al-Qaida.

Four al-Qaida militants killed in airstrike in southeast Yemen
5-8-2012

SANAA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- At least four al-Qaida members were killed late Saturday in a U.S. air ride in Yemen's southeastern province of Hadramout, a provincial security official and witnesses said.
Residents in al-Qatan town said they heard two huge explosions after the U.S. drone fired two missiles at the target on a desert road in Wadi Hadramout, north of al-Qatan...
The United States has beefed up anti-terror cooperation with the Yemeni government since Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February...

U.S. to increase security aid to Yemen
20-7-2012

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) The Washington Post said in a report on its website that according to documents from the Pentagon, the U.S. military is preparing to give more than 100 million dollars in counterterrorism and security aid to Yemen this year.
The assistance includes 75 million dollars approved last month, and earlier this month, the Pentagon notified Congress that it would give Yemen an additional 37 million for its U.S.-trained special-operations units. ...
Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch was described by U.S. officials as the leading terrorist threat to the country.

Egypt hunts Sinai terrorists
YNetnews 6-8-2012

Egyptian army units have "completely surrounded" the city of Rafah (on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza) as part of the effort to apprehend suspects in the terror attack that killed 16 Egyptian policemen and injured about seven others Sunday evening, the Al-Ahram news outlet quoted a security official as saying. ...
Following the attack, newly-elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi called an urgent meeting with military and security officials, his spokesman said. The Islamist president said those behind the "cowardly" attack will pay dearly. .. In an interview with Egyptian state TV early Monday after the meeting, Morsi said, "There is no room for appeasing this treason, this aggression and criminality. The troops will totally control Sinai."

It remains unclear which organization orchestrated the attack, but Egyptian daily al-Youm al-Saba'a quoted a senior security official as saying it was carried out by Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza and global jihad terrorists in Egypt.

Egyptian jihadist groups:
A threat to domestic, regional security?
Sarah El-Rashidi, Ahram Online 5-6-2012

Since the fall of the Mubarak regime and the rise of political Islamism following the electoral victories of the Muslim Brotherhood, a new potential menace has resurfaced in the security vacuum – the rise of extremist jihadist groups. These groups embrace an extreme Salafist interpretation of Islam, which accepts violence as a legitimate means of realising their demands. ...
For decades, former president Hosni Mubarak and his National Democratic Party (NDP) asserted its legitimacy via the Islamist threat, forewarning of what has now become the political face of post-revolution Egypt: an Islamist political landslide and the rise of extreme jihadist Islamist groups.

Observers believe there are two principal jihadist movements in Egypt, both based in Sinai but with countrywide influence: Takfir Wal Hijra and Salafist jihadism, whose adherents are known as Salafist jihadists. Both factions adhere to an extreme Salafist interpretation of Islam, following Al-Qaeda’s philosophy and goal of re-establishing an Islamic Caliphate.

Takfir Wal Hijra is one of the initial radical Islamist groups founded by Shukri Mustafa to have emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the group’s radical ideology, even Muslims that do not share its beliefs are infidels.
Salafist jihadism, as termed by renowned scholar Gilles Kepel, was first identified as a threatening phenomenon in the mid-1990s. Experts claim Salafist jihadists are in the thousands and constitute the largest jihadist force in Egypt, openly embracing violence as a means to reach political goals. ...
When questioned about Salafist jihadism’s ideology and goals, the primary issues listed include liberating Palestine and establishing an Islamic emirate in Sinai, which many believe has been partially realised in some areas.

"The jihadists and groups who declare society apostate have infiltrated the tribes, taken up arms and threatened the structure of social custom," declared Ahmed El-Eiba from the Azazna tribe, an activist from Sinai...
El-Eiba explained how the Libyan uprising had served to create a vibrant arms market. Weapons are purchased for personal use, or to accumulate an arsenal, such as in Syria or in larger operations that would alter regional security balances.

Assad forces pound Aleppo
Reuters 6-8-2012

Rebels in districts of Aleppo visited by Reuters journalists seemed battered, overwhelmed and running low on ammunition after days of intense tank shelling and helicopter gunships strafing their positions with heavy machinegun fire.
Emboldened by an audacious bomb attack in Damascus that killed four of Assad's top security officials last month, the rebels had tried to overrun the Damascus and Aleppo, the country's commercial hub. But the lightly armed rebels have been outgunned by the Syrian army's superior weaponry. They were largely driven out of Damascus and are struggling to hold on to territorial gains made in Aleppo, a city of 2.5 million.
Damascus has criticized Gulf Arab states and Turkey for calling for the rebels to be armed, and state TV has described the rebels as a "Turkish-Gulf militia", saying dead Turkish and Afghan fighters had been found in Aleppo.

On Monday, Syrian army tanks shelled alleyways in Aleppo where rebels sought cover a helicopter gunship fired heavy machinegun fire. Snipers ran on rooftops targeting rebels, and one of them shot at a rebel car filled with bombs, setting the vehicle on fire. ...
The army appeared to be using a similar strategy in Aleppo to the one used in other cities where they subjected opposition districts to heavy bombardment for days, weakening the rebels before moving in on the ground, clearing district by district.

Funding the murderer takfiri mind
SANA 7-8-2012

Nasrallah stressed that Israel and the takfiri mentality are the real threats to the security and stability in the region, adding that many countries and governments are involved in funding this murderer takfiri mind with billions of dollars, deepening wounds in the region and pushing things to the worst.