The Syrian Conflict Thread

Double post to keep a wall of text to a minimum.

Ok excuse the added question to my already longish post above post but basically there is enough evidence to convict al nusra in a court room

Alnusra has russian experts who claim they know how the chemical weapons were used and turkey catching al nusra red handed with sarin gas, defense? I guess russia is biased or lying but turkey you can't discredit a country who hates assad, now the US puts forward their case.

Well we analyzed the sand samples and they contain sarin gas and we believe without a doubt this is proof assad used chemical weapons, we have ignored turkey who caught the rebels with the chemical weapons but we know for sure the sand samples are linked to assad and not the rebels because we say so, defense? We said it so just bloody believe we would never lie about chemical weapons.

So why is there no red line for these al nusra extremists who without a doubt have used chemical weapons, more of worry is where did they get sarin gas from? Apart from my anti views which i will put aside for now, don't care that the US are lying claiming their evidence proves without it without doubt, they said it so we must believe. That aside al nusra are extremists and kill for fun, similar to the taliban actually except far better trained and well armed by saudi i guess or qatar plus some sneaky weapons the west has sent. They are now the main rebel group.

So how can the west ensure the weapons they give the rebels won't land up in al nusra's possession, al nusra will slaughter the free syrian okes like they have been doing and take the weapons within the fir 24 hours. Any rebels group who stands against them they will slaughter that is why people are leaving the rebels group and joining al nusra, either that or death. Now should the west pause for a moment and just really think about this issue. My anti west opinion has been put aside.
 
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Haldex said:
Really? no forecasts? How do you make such an ignorant statement and still believe it.
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I encourage you to acquire a dictionary and look up the meaning of the word forecast, and then compare it to the meaning of the word prophecy. After you've discovered that they do not mean the same thing, please post an apology here. I'll be looking forward to it.
 
Uk are set to meet in parliament over arming the rebels, seems the russian evidence is so convincing the UK is actually taking notice of it.
 
http://rt.com/news/qaeda-militants-kill-fsa-commander-979/

As Syria’s civil war shows no signs of abating, a source within the Free Syrian Army says that Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed one of the FSA’s senior figures.

Supreme Military Council member Kamal Hamami, also known as Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Syrian port city of Latakia when he was killed, FSA spokesman Qassem Saadeddine told Reuters.

"The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu Bassel and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military Council," Saadeddine said. "He met them to discuss battle plans."

Though Syria’s opposition forces have incorporated groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, news of the killing of a senior FSA member could signal a serious conflict emerging between radical Islamists and more moderate members of the opposition.

The Islamic State of Iraq is considered an umbrella organization for a long list of insurgency groups, including members linked to Al-Qaeda, the former Mujahideen Shura Council, and various other groups that wish to establish a caliphate - or a unified Islamic theocracy - within the majority Sunni regions of Iraq.

The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, entered northern Syria to take control over Al-Qaeda operations in the country. Al-Baghdadi is seen by the Syrian opposition front as hijacking the opposition’s cause and being more interested in imposing radical Islam than overthrowing the current government, Reuters reported.
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Peaceful resolution? How does anyone see peace with al queda killing off the opposition? Arming rebels who cannot even protect their commander, yea gonna end well.
 
US Slams Syria Bid for UN Human Rights Council

The United States has slammed Syria and Iran for seeking seats on the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, saying their own rights violations are under U.N. investigation.

Iran said later Thursday it had dropped out of the race after contemplating a campaign earlier this year.

Syria is a candidate to join the 47-nation council, along with other often-criticized nations such as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Vietnam and Russia.

Asked about Syria and Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters that "attempts by either country to join the Human Rights Council are highly inappropriate given existing Human Rights Council mandates to investigate human rights violations in these countries, their egregious records on human rights and their ongoing collaboration to suppress the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people."


Source : Sapa-AP /gm
Date : 12 Jul 2013 01:27
 
Al Qaeda Claims to have killed Syrian Rebel Commander

An al-Qaeda-linked group has killed a senior commander in the rebel Syrian Free Army (FSA), said an FSA official Friday, an act set to widen rifts between rival moderate and radical groups fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Kamal Hamami of the FSA Supreme Military Council was killed by the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, added FSA spokesman Louay al-Mokdad.

"Hamami's killing is a very serious development," al-Mokdad told dpa. "The Supreme Military Council is holding an emergency meeting over the murder."

"He was killed by the head of the group Abu Ayman al-Baghdadi who asked one of Hamami's bodyguards to go back and inform members of the council that he has killed Hamami and that they will face the same fate," al-Mokdad added.

Hamami was on "a reconnaissance mission" in the Syrian port city of Latakia where he was killed, according to al-Mokdad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Hamami had been killed on Thursday when the Islamist group attempted to dismantle a checkpoint belonging to his battalion.

Syria's major rebel units, including FSA, regrouped in December 2012 under a unified rebel command called the Supreme Military Council.

Hamami's killing could trigger a serious conflict inside the Syrian opposition between radical Islamist insurgents and moderate rebels.

Western powers have recently voiced concerns over the increased presence of al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria, prompting calls for ensuring that weapons delivered to rebels will not end up in extremists' hands.


Source : Sapa-dpa /pk
Date : 12 Jul 2013 11:24
 
Israeli Military Focuses on Northern Border

An Israeli soldier collapses onto the floor of a house in Lebanon, shot by Hezbollah fighters. As his squad mates clear out the second floor, a medic rushes over, pulling on latex gloves and digging into his first aid kit. Gunfire echoes down the stairs as he starts to work on the wound.

The Israeli military experienced this kind of brutal house-to-house warfare during its inconclusive 2006 war with Hezbollah. As it trains in a mock village in its base in this northern Israeli town, it is recreating similar battle scenarios as it prepares for the next confrontation with the Lebanese militant group. Officials say such a conflict could erupt at any time.

While the world has focused its attention on the turmoil in Egypt following the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, Israel is keeping a close eye on its northern flank, where officials say the Syrian civil war, and Hezbollah's increasing involvement there, have created a combustible mix that could draw in Israel with little notice.

"They are more and more deeply embedded in their infighting and we have to be prepared, we have to watch the border and have the forces that will enable us to respond quickly and decisively," said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman.

Israel has been warily watching the Syrian conflict since it erupted in March 2011, fearing that sophisticated weapons could be transferred to Hezbollah during the chaos. Though they have not taken sides, Israeli leaders have said they would take military action to prevent "game-changing" arms from reaching the militant group.

Israeli warplanes have carried out at least three airstrikes in recent months on what were believed to be advanced missiles on their way to Hezbollah. A pair of mysterious explosions over the past week, one at an arms depot in Syria and a second in a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon, has raised suspicions that Israel was involved.

Israel has not confirmed involvement in any of the airstrikes or explosions, but even the perception of an Israeli connection raises the risk of a reprisal.

On several occasions this year, mortar shells and tank rounds from Syria have landed inside Israeli-controlled territory, causing damage and spreading panic but causing no injuries. Israel says most of the attacks have been errant fire, but it has sometimes accused Syria of aiming at Israeli targets, and has briefly fired back across the border.

In the wake of an Israeli airstrike in May, Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened to retaliate, while Israel's air force chief has warned that a "surprise war" could break out at any time.

Conflict with Syria would almost certainly mean renewed hostilities with Hezbollah, Syrian President Bashar Assad's close ally, which battled Israel in a month-long war in 2006 that ended in stalemate. During the fighting, Hezbollah fired some 4,000 rockets and missiles into Israel. Defense officials believe Hezbollah has restocked its arsenal with tens of thousands of missiles, some capable of striking deep inside the Jewish state.

The base in Elyakim, in northern Israel, plays a key role in preparing for any future confrontation. The military built the complex after the 2006 war to institutionalize the lessons of guerrilla warfare. The village complex features networks of tunnels and trainers frequently take hostages as part of battlefield scenarios like the one involving the wounded soldier and the frantic fight for control of the house.

Lt. Archie Leonard, a spokesman for the school, said the experience of the last war gives the soldiers an important step up compared to 2006. He said intelligence keeps the trainers up to date on Hezbollah tactics.

"The next time that we'll go in, if we go in, we'll be much more forceful and more effective," he said. "I think the Hezbollah is getting better, but we're ahead of them and we'll always be a step of ahead of their abilities."

Such training is only one step in a series of measures Israel has taken to boost security along its borders with Lebanon and Syria. The military has beefed up its physical defenses in the Golan Heights over the past two years, and officials say it has improved its intelligence operation to give early warning of potential attacks.

Reflecting the high priority of the northern front, the military announced plans this week to create a new army division to oversee the Golan Heights, along the Syrian front, and "address emerging threats" like the one from Hezbollah.

It approved the step even as defense officials slash their budget. The military is turning its forces away from heavy arms like tanks toward non-traditional forms of warfare like the guerrilla battle it faced in Lebanon. Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Thursday that "army-to-army battles of the type we last saw 40 years ago in the Yom Kippur War are becoming less and less relevant," referring to the 1973 conflict in which Israeli forces confronted mass formations of Egyptian and Syrian tanks.

For now, Israeli officials believe neither Syria nor Hezbollah is interested in war. Assad is preoccupied with rebels trying to oust him, and the Israeli military estimates that around 3,000 Hezbollah fighters have entered Syria to aid him. Officials believe the group has lost some 200 fighters.

Such losses have may have weakened Hezbollah in the short term. But officials say Hezbollah's experience in the civil war may prove a valuable training ground. Officials point to the heavy Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian government's attack on the city of Qusair several weeks ago, and said that Israel has seen Hezbollah fighters operating tanks.

On Friday, Hezbollah's deputy chief Sheik Naim Kassem said the group's involvement in Syria's civil war did not affect its capabilities to fight Israel. He said Hezbollah "is ready to confront any stupid act by Israel."

"Hezbollah is ready even if the war breaks out this moment," Kassem told the group's Nour radio station. "They are training and we are training. They are arming and we are arming."

In May, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the group would help Syria retake the Golan Heights or accept upgraded arms from its military. "The resistance is prepared to accept any sophisticated weaponry even if it was to break the balance (of force)," he said.

Yoram Schweitzer, a terrorism expert at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, said that even a weakened Hezbollah still can hurt Israel.

"In spite of its dire straits situation in Syria, mainly, the way it was equipped with very sophisticated armament and training by states is still posing a threat to Israel," Schweitzer said. No matter how many fighters Hezbollah loses, he argued, it maintains the ability "to send many rockets to Israel to devastate the country."

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Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.


Source : Sapa-AP /pd
Date : 12 Jul 2013 14:33
 
WTF was an israeli agent doing in lebanon firstly, secondly hezbollah have been forced into the war for two reasons.

1. Al nusra extremists enter the war nov/dec and i don't know how long al queda have been operating
2. You can research this, hezbollah has only helped assad take towns that would allow extremists to cross over into lebanon with ease.

Hezbollah at the moment are actually protecting lebanon from extremists, you know how iraq shiites are being bombed and slaughtered by the extremists, that is what hezbollah are trying to avoid. The media does not seem to be worried about al nusra and al queda taking towns near the lebanon border. They act like hezbollah are fighting with assad when they are ensuring extremists do not carry out terror attacks.

Qusair is 15kms from the lebanese border. Of course hezbollah would not want extremists controlling it. So they did help assad.

Hezbollah have bigger problems right now, israel is of no concern to them and won't be as long extremists keep them in the war protecting their borders.
 
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Syrian Refugees in Egypt Swept up in Turmoil

Egyptian officials turn back a planeload of Syrians at Cairo airport. A popular presenter on Egyptian television warns Syrians to steer clear of protests or face the consequences. An Egyptian state school refuses admission to Syrian children.

Once welcomed with open arms in Egypt, many of the tens of thousands of Syrians who took refuge here from the civil war at home have now found themselves targets of hate speech and intimidation. Their dramatic change in fortune is one of the unexpected consequences of the Egyptian military's ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, whose Islamist-dominated government offered them favorable conditions.

The shift could have a profound impact on the lives of Syrians in Egypt as they currently find themselves in a sort of legal limbo, waiting to see where the political winds will drop them. In what many see as a hint of what lies ahead, Egypt's new military-backed interim government already has imposed new travel restrictions.

That has spooked many Syrians who fear their current visas won't be renewed and they could be forced to leave Egypt. Many have invested their savings in businesses or simply cannot return to their war-ravaged cities.

"Our biggest fear now is that we get deported," said Azzam Ayed, a 32-year-old Syrian who refused to give his hometown out of fears for his security.

The backlash stems from support of the mainly Sunni Syrian opposition by Morsi during his year in office, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which offered cheap housing and food aid to Syrians who fled the violence in their homeland.

With the country divided, Morsi's critics accused Syrians of participating in the protests calling for him to be reinstated.

International human rights groups have urged Egypt to rescind the measures.

"Egypt may be going through tumultuous times, but it must not return anyone, including Syrians, to somewhere threatening their life or freedom," Nadim Houry, the New York-based group's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement last week. "While Egypt is going through a very difficult period, it simply should not strand Syrians this way, especially those who have fled such a devastating conflict at home.

The U.N. says some 70,000 Syrians are registered in Egypt, although officials estimate the actual number may be twice that since many have opted not to register. That would make Egypt home to the fourth-largest community of Syrian refugees after Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.

Those who came to Egypt received a warm welcome. Morsi's government supported the rebels' cause, and kept in place a decades-old open-door policy that allowed Syrians to come and go without prior visas. They were eligible to receive medical care at state hospitals, while their children could enroll in government schools.

Over the past few months, Syrians redefined some parts of Cairo, opening their own restaurants and cafes in areas where many of them settled.

But the warm welcome quickly evaporated after the military toppled Morsi on July 3 after four days of mass protests calling for the Islamist leader's removal.

Television networks critical of Morsi aired allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood was paying Syrian refugees to take part in pro-Morsi protests. The arrest of at least six Syrians taking part in violent street clashes only fanned the flames.

"Syrians are facing a defamation campaign," said Syrian activist Salma Gazayerli. "Yes, some of the Syrians support Morsi, but how many? The majority of Syrians know that they are guests in Egypt and they behave accordingly."

Gazayerli, co-founder of the nonprofit Union of Syrian Women, said the Brotherhood has "manipulated the needs of some Syrians," offering them cheap housing from Islamic relief groups in return for participating in protests supporting Morsi. Those who refused, she claimed, were cut off from the aid.

Senior Brotherhood official Saad Emara rejected the allegations. "There were millions in the streets. Can we give them all money?" he said after mass rallies on Friday by Morsi supporters.

Morsi made supporting the Syrian opposition in its fight against President Bashar Assad a cornerstone of his foreign policy, and Cairo is the official headquarters of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group.

On June 15, Morsi attended a rally organized by some of his hard-line allies in a show of solidarity with the Syrian rebellion. Some of the speakers at the rally called for jihad, or holy war, in Syria, and a senior official in Morsi's office earlier said authorities would not prevent Egyptians from traveling to Syria to join the rebel cause.

Syrians say they noted a shift in the public mood against them following the speech, but that the honeymoon in Egypt ultimately came to an abrupt end when Morsi was swept aside.

Last week, popular TV presenter Youssef el-Husseini warned Syrians taking part in pro-Morsi protests they would be beaten with shoes if caught.

"If you are a man, you return to your country and solve your problem there," he said on his night talk show on private ONTV. "If you interfere in Egypt, you will beaten by 30 shoes."

His comments triggered uproar on social networking sites, prompting the network to apologize. But the damage was done.

"All of a sudden, Egyptians started hating us because of the media. Before June 30, they would welcome us on the streets and greet us as guests. Now Syrians are harassed on the streets with a tone of 'why don't you go back home?'" Gazayerli, the activist, said.

Alaa Soqair, a 45-year-old Syrian, said his four children have been refused admission to a state school. He declined to say where in Syria he was from because of fears for his security.

"They didn't even as much as look at the documents," he said. "They just said Syrians will not be admitted to state schools anymore."

Five days after Morsi was pushed from office, Egyptian authorities implemented new entry rules for Syrians, requiring them to obtain a visa prior to arrival. Those already in the country with no valid visa or resident permit are at risk of arrest.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry said the measures were temporary and urged Syrians to stay away from protests by the Muslim Brotherhood against the new political order. The move, which exempted those with valid Egyptian visas, caught Syrians by surprise and, in once incident, an entire planeload of 200 passengers arriving from Syria was denied entry and sent back.

"We recognize the legitimate right of the country to put its own measures in place," said Syrian activist Sima Diab, who is based in Egypt. "But what was shocking is that it all happened so quickly, in a blink of an eye."


Source : Sapa-AP /pk
Date : 15 Jul 2013 09:14
 
Pakistan Militants Moving to Syria to Fight

Suleman spent years targeting minority Shiite Muslims in his home country of Pakistan as a member of one of the country's most feared militant groups. Now he is on his way to a new sectarian battleground, Syria, where he plans to join Sunni rebels battling President Bashar Assad's regime.

It is a fight he believes will boost his reward in heaven.

The short and stocky Pakistani, who identified himself using only his first name for fear of being targeted by authorities, is one of an increasing number of militants who have left Pakistan for Syria in recent months. The fighters have contributed to a growing presence of Islamic extremists and complicated U.S. efforts to help the rebels.

Many fighters like Suleman believe they must help Syria's Sunni majority defeat Assad's Alawite regime - an offshoot of the Shiite sect. Radical Sunnis view Shiites as heretics.

The presence of Islamic extremists in Syria looms large over U.S. efforts to help the rebels, especially when it comes to providing weapons that could end up in the hands of America's enemies. The extremists have also sparked infighting with more secular rebels concerned about the increasing power of the Islamists.

Most of the foreign fighters in Syria are from Arab countries, including al-Qaida militants from Iraq on the rebel side and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon on the regime's side. The flow of militants from Pakistan adds a new element to that mix.

Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman Omar Hamid Khan said provincial authorities throughout Pakistan deny that militants have left the country for Syria.

But three Pakistani intelligence officials based in the tribal region that borders Afghanistan, as well as militants themselves, say the fighters leaving Pakistan for Syria include members of al-Qaida, the Pakistani Taliban and Suleman's group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The fighters fall mainly into two categories. One includes foreign combatants from places like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and likely the Middle East who came to Pakistan's tribal region to fight U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan and are now heading to Syria because they view it as the most pressing battle, said the Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

This group includes members of al-Qaida who trained the Pakistani Taliban in areas such as bomb-making and are now moving on to the battlefield in Syria, said Pakistani Taliban fighters, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by the government.

Neither the intelligence officials nor the Pakistani militants were able to provide the total number of fighters who have left the country for Syria, or the route they were taking to get to the Middle East.

An activist based in northern Syria, Mohammad Kanaan, said there are Pakistanis fighting in his area but not in large numbers.

"Most of the muhajireen are Arab fighters from Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia," he said Sunday, using the Arab term for foreign fighters. "But we have seen Pakistanis and Afghans recently as well."

The second group leaving Pakistan includes mostly domestic members of the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who are heading to Syria because they are being so closely monitored by Pakistani authorities that it makes it difficult for them to carry out operations at home, said a Pakistani Taliban fighter who identified himself only as Hamza for fear of being targeted by authorities.

These militants are under surveillance because they have been detained previously in connection with attacks, or are on Pakistan's radar because of their importance in their organizations, Hamza said.

The group includes Suleman, who was detained during a 2009 attack on an intelligence building in the eastern city of Lahore that killed at least 35 people. He was eventually released, he told the AP in an interview before leaving for Syria more than a week ago.

"Our aim and purpose is to fight against Shiites and eliminate them," said Suleman, who is in his mid-30s and has a closely trimmed black beard. "It is more rewarding if you first fight against the evil here and then you travel for this noble purpose too. The more you travel, the higher the reward from God."

Suleman is one of about 70 militants who have been sent to Syria in the last two months by a network jointly run by the Pakistani Taliban and Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Hamza said. The militants came from various parts of Pakistan, including the provinces of Baluchistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the southern city of Karachi, Hamza said.

Another group of 40, including Hamza, is expected to leave in the coming weeks, he said. These militants are not going to fight with Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, the most powerful Islamic militant group in Syria, Hamza said. But he did not know which group they would join.

The head of the network sending these militants is a former Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader named Usman Ghani, Hamza said. Another key member is a Pakistani Taliban fighter named Alimullah Umry, who is sending fighters to Ghani from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hamza said.

The militants are traveling to Syria by various routes, and some are taking their families. The most closely watched are secretly taking speed boats from Baluchistan's coast to the Omani capital of Muscat and then traveling onward to Syria, Hamza said.

Others are flying from Pakistan to various countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, and then making their way to Syria. The financing is coming from sources in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Hamza said.

Suleman flew to Sudan with his wife and two children using fake passports, he said. He will leave his family in Sudan and then travel to Syria. There are families of other Pakistanis who have gone to Syria already living in Sudan and being taken care of, Suleman said.

A member of one of Pakistan's biggest Islamic political parties, Jamaat-e-Islami, said a small number of its followers have also gone to fight in Syria, but not through any organized network. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being persecuted by the government.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 14 Jul 2013 21:55
 
Shelling, Air Raids kill 29

Shelling and air raids by Syrian government forces against a string of villages in the northwestern province of Idlib killed at least 29 people, a watchdog said on Monday.

The military carried out five separate strikes, including a rocket attack on the village of Maghara that killed 13 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The attacks all came shortly before Sunday's iftar, the evening meal at which Muslims break their daytime Ramadan fast, according to the Britain-based group, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and doctors on the ground across Syria.

The attack in Maghara was the deadliest, but the Observatory also reported six killed in the village of Al-Bara, four in Basamis, three in Kfar Nabl in an air strike and three in Iblin.

The dead included at least eight women and six children, the Observatory said.

Video footage posted online by activists showed harrowing scenes of death and destruction, including fires started by what they said was the rocket strike on Maghara.

The screams of survivors were heard as the camera panned over the rubble.

"God is great. Where are our Muslim brothers? Where are our Arab brothers?" the activist says as he films residents trying to dig out people trapped beneath the wreckage of their homes.

"This is the iftar of the Muslims in Jabal Zawiya," he said, referring to the hill district where the village lies.

"A massacre in the village of Maghara."

A second video showed smoke billowing over the village and residents lifting a dust-covered older man, his stomach torn open, onto a flat-bed truck.

Another man lay dead on the ground, his body and clothes covered in grey dust flecked with blood, his mouth open, his arm curled upwards and his hand lying on his chest.

Residents scooped water into bowls and buckets to try to put out the fires.

The Observatory also reported that at least 13 people were killed in Damascus province on Sunday night, when a car bomb exploded outside a police station in the town of Deir Attiya.

At least 10 policemen and three civilians were killed in the attack, the group said.

Meanwhile, government forces pressed an assault on the Damascus district of Qaboon, where they are trying to dislodge a rebel rear-base.

The Observatory said at least 18 people were killed in the northeastern district on Sunday -- three civilians and 15 rebels.

Hundreds of families had been trapped in the area as troops attacked rebel positions.

Nationwide, at least 129 people were killed on Sunday -- 70 civilians, 31 rebels and 28 government troops, the Observatory said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 15 Jul 2013 11:44
 
"Our aim and purpose is to fight against Shiites and eliminate them," said Suleman, who is in his mid-30s and has a closely trimmed black beard. "It is more rewarding if you first fight against the evil here and then you travel for this noble purpose too. The more you travel, the higher the reward from God."
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Frequent flyer miles from god. How sweet.

The militants are traveling to Syria by various routes, and some are taking their families. The most closely watched are secretly taking speed boats from Baluchistan's coast to the Omani capital of Muscat and then traveling onward to Syria, Hamza said.

Others are flying from Pakistan to various countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, and then making their way to Syria. The financing is coming from sources in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Hamza said.
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Can't see how they topple the shia people they hate so much without an intervention which isn't coming now that al nusra are killing other rebels groups.
 
Nine Syrians Executed at Checkpoint: NGO

At least nine Syrians, including a child, were executed by regime forces at a checkpoint in Damascus province, a watchdog said on Tuesday.

"Nine citizens, including a child, were shot dead by regime forces near the town of Qara, in the Qalamun area of Damascus province, yesterday (Monday) evening," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The nine were "executed" at a military checkpoint in the area, the group said, citing local activists.

Video footage shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed bodies lain out on the white floor of a room, some of them partially covered with a piece of white plastic sheeting.

Several appeared to have been shot in the head, and others in the chest.

In Homs province in the centre, members of a pro-regime militia killed seven members of a reconciliation committee in the village of Hajar Abyad, the Observatory said.

It distributed a video showing black body bags tagged with pieces of paper bearing each man's name.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising erupted against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, according to the Observatory's figures.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 16 Jul 2013 08:54
 
Syria Mortar Fire Hits Israeli Occupied Golan

Mortar fire from inside war-torn Syria hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday, an army spokeswoman said.

"Several mortar rounds fired from Syria exploded in northern Golan without causing any damage or casualties," the spokeswoman told AFP.

It was apparently stray fire from fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels and was not deliberately fired towards Israeli-occupied territory, she added.

The Golan has been tense since the beginning of the conflict in Syria more than two years ago, but so far there have been only minor flare-ups as Syrian small arms fire or mortar rounds hit the Israeli side, prompting an occasional Israeli response.

Israel, which remains technically at war with Syria, seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the strategic plateau during the 1967 Six-Day War, which it later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 16 Jul 2013 08:53
 
UN envoy in Syria talks as child toll mounts

The UN's special envoy on children in war was in Syria for talks as concern mounted over the rising child death toll in the bloody two-year conflict.

Six children were among 29 people killed in a devastating army bombardment of five villages in the northwest as residents prepared to break the daytime fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, a watchdog reported on Monday.

As US- and Russian-backed efforts to convene a Syria peace conference falter, regime forces have launched counter-attacks against the rebels in different parts of the country.

Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary general's special representative on children and armed conflict, will spend three days in Syria, where she will meet government officials, UN representatives and non-governmental organisations, the United Nations said.

She will also visit neighbouring Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, which are hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011, more than 5,000 of them children under the age of 16.

Of the 29 killed in Sunday's air and artillery bombardments of villages in the northwestern province of Idlib, at least eight were women and six were children, the Observatory said.

The Britain-based group relies on a network of activists, lawyers and doctors on the ground across Syria for its information.

Video footage posted online by activists showed harrowing scenes of death and destruction in the village of Maghara, where the Observatory says 13 people were killed.

Survivors were screaming as the camera panned over the rubble.

"God is great. Where are our Muslim brothers? Where are our Arab brothers?" the activist says as he films residents trying to dig out people trapped beneath the wreckage of their homes.

"This is the iftar of the Muslims in Jabal Zawiya," he said, referring to the hill district where the village lies.

A second video showed smoke billowing over the village and residents lifting a dust-covered older man, his stomach torn open, onto a flat-bed truck.

Another man lay dead on the ground, his body and clothes covered in grey dust flecked with blood, his mouth open, his arm curled upwards and his hand lying on his chest.

The attacks came as the army pressed an offensive in the Damascus district of Qaboon, where the regime is trying to uproot several rebel rear bases.

The Observatory said at least 18 people were killed in the fighting.

On Sunday, the group warned that hundreds of families were trapped in the district because regime snipers were posted on the outskirts. There was no immediate update on their plight.

In a statement, the Syrian opposition National Coalition accused regime troops of using residents of the districts as human shields.

"Humanitarian corridors must be established immediately to evacuate women, children, and the wounded in Qaboon," the group said.

On Monday, the pro-government Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported fierce fighting between the army and rebels over the weekend.

"The army has stressed that operations in Qaboon pave the way for ridding the neighbourhood of militants, who have lost most of their sites because of the army's actions."

President Bashar al-Assad's regime has made eradicating rebel rear bases in the Damascus region a priority as it seeks to prevent the insurgents from attacking the capital.

Nationwide, at least 129 people were killed in Sunday's violence, the Observatory said.

At the UN meanwhile, the United States led Western calls for tougher UN action on Iranian arms supplies to Syria and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

The seizure of Iranian arms off the Yemen coast in January "was more than just a sanctions violation, it was an aggressive act to undermine Yemen's transition," acting US ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told a Security Council meeting.

The vessel was intercepted by the Yemeni coastguard in the Arabian Sea on January 23.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 16 Jul 2013 04:09
http://www.arabnews.com/news/458169
 
Syria crisis worst since Rwanda, UN says

At least 6,000 people flee every day, 5,000 die a month and conflict is merging with violence in Iraq, officials warn.

Ivan Simonovic, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, told the meeting that at least 92,901 people were killed in Syria - among them more than 6,500 children - between March 2011 and the end of April 2013.
"The extremely high rate of killings nowadays - approximately 5,000 a month - demonstrates the drastic deterioration of the conflict," Simonovic told the council meeting.

The UN envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, later gave warning that escalating violence in Iraq could no longer be separated from the war in Syria because "the battlefields are merging".
"These countries are interrelated," Kobler stressed. "Iraq is the fault-line between the Shia and the Sunni world and everything which happens in Syria, of course, has repercussions on the political landscape in Iraq."
Kobler said the last four months have been among the bloodiest in Iraq in the last five years with nearly 3,000 people killed and over 7,000 injured.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201371623717610907.html
 
Garyvdh said:
At least nine Syrians, including a child, were executed by regime forces at a checkpoint in Damascus province, a watchdog said on Tuesday.

"Nine citizens, including a child, were shot dead by regime forces near the town of Qara, in the Qalamun area of Damascus province, yesterday (Monday) evening," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The nine were "executed" at a military checkpoint in the area, the group said, citing local activists.

Video footage shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed bodies lain out on the white floor of a room, some of them partially covered with a piece of white plastic sheeting.

Several appeared to have been shot in the head, and others in the chest.

In Homs province in the centre, members of a pro-regime militia killed seven members of a reconciliation committee in the village of Hajar Abyad, the Observatory said.

It distributed a video showing black body bags tagged with pieces of paper bearing each man's name.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising erupted against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, according to the Observatory's figures.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 16 Jul 2013 08:54
Click to expand...

Yea i remember those fake video's in the beginning of this war, already it left me wondering who is lying and who is telling the truth.

frankly it sounds more like al nusra who would execute people in that manner. Video footage of bodies means bugger all. Remember that syrian buried in the hole while government forces stood around him? Turned out to be faked, then there was a video with a wounded child and another video of footage that was proven to be faked. Hard to tell the BS from the truth sadly.

Of course iraq are involved, they supply weapons to assad from iran while al queda operate inside iraq.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/07/al-qaeda-syria-armed-opposition-fsa.html

Frankly the russians are delusional if they think al queda and al nusra will sit down and talk peace and considering they are the strongest force the west should be careful intervening or supplying better weapons. At this point in the war they should backing up assad and driving al queda and al nusra out before they kill all the rebels groups who actually want peace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk5kn4uG77o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDtOUrsuNEE funny this one is

Then the classic one, i recall tuning ghoti it was fake just by watching it. It was debunked because of the syrian army boots. Takkies? really?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-horrific-video-emerge-brutal-civil-war.html
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/121109/fake-syria-videos-images

One last one for you grant. Infowars i know :eek: but the amount of fake video's, lies, who is being legit and who is being dishonest is extremely difficult to say. What we do know is al nusra are slaughtering rebel groups, used chemical weapons, caught with chemical weapons and backed by some powerful players, hopefully the west stays out of it. As for assad well i don't know, more than likely just as bad but i tend to think al queda are worse.

http://www.infowars.com/shocking-videos-reveal-truth-behind-syrian-freedom-fighters/
 
Last edited:
Syrian No-Fly Zone could lead to War: British Army Boss

Britain's outgoing army chief David Richards has warned that attempts to impose a no-fly zone over Syria would lead to war, in an interview published in Thursday's Daily Telegraph.

Britain is at the forefront of international efforts to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and has promised to supply rebels with equipment to protect them against chemical weapons attacks.

But in his interview with the Telegraph, the 61-year-old general warned of the consequences of a no-fly zone.

"If you wanted to have the material impact on the Syrian regime's calculations that some people seek, a no fly zone per-se is insufficient," he said.

"You have to be able, as we did successfully in Libya, to hit ground targets. You have to take out their air defences.

"If you want to have the material effect that people seek you have to be able to hit ground targets and so you would be going to war if that is what you want to do," he added.

A lack of international consensus and the splintered nature of rebel forces made it difficult to forge a military solution, he said.

Richards retires on Thursday after a military career spanning more than 40 years.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has promised lawmakers that the government would seek parliament's consent before deciding to arm the rebels.

There has been concern that the weapons could fall into the hands of radical Islamist opposition groups.

Prime Minister David Cameron said last month, however, that the government reserved the right to intervene in Syria if it felt Britain's national interests were under threat.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 18 Jul 2013 03:22
 
Protect the rebels from a chemical attack, they are ones proven to be using the chemicals.

You have got to be kidding me, how on earth does the russian evidence and turkish evidence get ignored but sand samples with absolutely no proof other than assad did it is acceptable.
 
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