The Syrian Conflict Thread

[LazyLion]

'SYSTEMATIC' CHEMICAL WEAPONS USE IN SYRIA: WATCHDOG

Chemical weapons such as chlorine have likely been used in a "systematic manner" in Syria, according to a report by a team from the world's watchdog investigating alleged attacks there.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission said evidence "lends credence to the view that toxic chemicals, most likely pulmonary irritating agents such as chlorine, have been used in a systematic manner in a number of attacks," according to a copy of the report obtained by AFP.

President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebels have both accused the other of using chemical agents, including chlorine, in the bloody uprising that began in March 2011 and in spite of Damascus promising to hand over all its chemical arms.

The OPCW team probing the allegations was attacked with a roadside bomb and gunfire on May 27, preventing them accessing the site of an alleged attack in the village of Kafr Zeyta.

"The attack on the team and the resulting denial of access prevents it from presenting definitive conclusions," the report added.

Nevertheless, the allegations "cannot be dismissed as unconnected, random, or of a nature attributable to purely political motives," the report said.

Despite not being able to visit the alleged site of the chlorine attack, OPCW officials spoke to doctors in Kafr Zeyta "and obtained their verbal medical reports relating to the treatment of individuals allegedly affected by exposure to chlorine."

The team also saw video footage of the alleged attack and of alleged munitions used in the attack, some of which remained intact.

The report noted that chlorine is a widely available chemical, that is non-persistent and so conclusively proving its use is "a challenging task".

Syria has set up a committee to investigate further allegations of chemical attacks, the report said, with Damascus claiming to have captured chemicals from rebels, who had also seized a chlorine-producing plant 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Aleppo.

Syria has already shipped out 92 percent of its stockpile of chemical weapons under the terms of a UN-backed and US-Russia brokered deal agreed last year.

However, eight percent of its stockpile remains at one site and cannot be taken to Latakia port because of the security situation.

The chlorine probe came after France and the United States alleged that Assad's forces may have unleashed industrial chemicals rebel-held village in recent months.

Syria did not have to declare its stockpile of chlorine -- a weak toxic agent that can be considered a chemical weapon if used offensively -- as part of the disarmament deal as it is widely used for commercial and domestic purposes.

Danish and Norwegian ships are to take all of Syria's chemicals from Latakia port to a US ship for destruction at sea, along with sites in Finland, the US and Britain, by a now-impossible June 30 deadline.

The deal was reached after a sarin nerve gas attack in a rebel-held Damascus suburb killed around 1,400 people. Damascus agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal after the US threatened airstrikes against Assad in response.

The report from the watchdog's Technical Secretariat noted that a ceasefire had been agreed between the regime and rebels on the day of the May 27 visit.

Despite the attack on the OPCW team that day, in which a car was destroyed but no one was seriously hurt, the report said that "while field visits are not envisaged for the immediate future, these remain an option."


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 18 Jun 2014 12:32

 

[Alan]

But the red line....

 

[LazyLion]

SYRIA'S ASSAD SAYS 'TERROR' WILL STRIKE WEST

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday terrorism will strike back against the West and other countries that "supported" attacks in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Ever since a revolt broke out in March 2011, Assad has blamed all violence in Syria on a foreign-backed "terrorist" plot.

"The West and countries that support extremism and terrorism in Syria and the region... must realise that this growing threat will strike the whole world, especially the countries that support terrorism and that allowed it to grow," Assad told a North Korean delegation visiting Damascus.

Assad has frequently blamed the West, Turkey and Gulf countries who back rebels seeking his overthrow for violence in Syria.

Assad and the North Korean delegation discussed "ways to expand cooperation in the economic sector and in reconstruction" in Syria.

Damascus and Pyongyang have for many years had close military ties.

Both are suspected of trading chemical weapons.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 18 Jun 2014 15:41

 

[Lightscribe]

Keeps using chemical weapons, then declares his intention to use terrorists, against the West and "other" countries...

Syria's Assad accused of boosting al-Qaeda with secret oil deals
Western intelligence suggests Bashar al-Assad collaborating with jihadists to persuade West the uprising is terrorist-led

20 Jan 2014

The Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad has funded and co-operated with al-Qaeda in a complex double game even as the terrorists fight Damascus, according to new allegations by Western intelligence agencies, rebels and al-Qaeda defectors.

Jabhat al-Nusra, and the even more extreme Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS), the two al-Qaeda affiliates operating in Syria, have both been financed by selling oil and gas from wells under their control to and through the regime, intelligence sources have told The Daily Telegraph.

Rebels and defectors say the regime also deliberately released militant prisoners to strengthen jihadist ranks at the expense of moderate rebel forces. The aim was to persuade the West that the uprising was sponsored by Islamist militants including al-Qaeda as a way of stopping Western support for it.

The allegations by Western intelligence sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, are in part a public response to demands by Assad that the focus of peace talks due to begin in Switzerland tomorrow be switched from replacing his government to co-operating against al-Qaeda in the “war on terrorism”.

“Assad’s vow to strike terrorism with an iron fist is nothing more than bare-faced hypocrisy,” an intelligence source said. “At the same time as peddling a triumphant narrative about the fight against terrorism, his regime has made deals to serve its own interests and ensure its survival.”



Intelligence gathered by Western secret services suggested the regime began collaborating actively with these groups again in the spring of 2013. When Jabhat al-Nusra seized control of Syria’s most lucrative oil fields in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, it began funding its operations in Syria by selling crude oil, with sums raised in the millions of dollars.

“The regime is paying al-Nusra to protect oil and gas pipelines under al-Nusra’s control in the north and east of the country, and is also allowing the transport of oil to regime-held areas,” the source said. “We are also now starting to see evidence of oil and gas facilities under ISIS control.”

The source accepted that the regime and the al-Qaeda affiliates were still hostile to each other and the relationship was opportunistic, but added that the deals confirmed that “despite Assad’s finger-pointing” his regime was to blame for the rise of al-Qaeda in Syria.

Western diplomats were furious at recent claims that delegations of officials led by a retired MI6 officer had visited Damascus to re-open contact with the Assad regime. There is no doubt that the West is alarmed at the rise of al-Qaeda within the rebel ranks, which played a major role in decisions by Washington and London to back off from sending arms to the opposition.

But the fury is also an indication that they suspect they have been outmanoeuvred by Assad, who has during his rule alternated between waging war on Islamist militants and working with them.

After September 11, he co-operated with the United States’ rendition programme for militant suspects; after the invasion of Iraq, he helped al-Qaeda to establish itself in Western Iraq as part of an axis of resistance to the West; then when the group turned violently against the Iraqi Shias who were backed by Assad’s key ally, Iran, he began to arrest them again.

As the uprising against his rule began, Assad switched again, releasing al-Qaeda prisoners. It happened as part of an amnesty, said one Syrian activist who was released from Sednaya prison near Damascus at the same time.

“There was no explanation for the release of the jihadis,” the activist, called Mazen, said. “I saw some of them being paraded on Syrian state television, accused of being Jabhat al-Nusra and planting car bombs. This was impossible, as they had been in prison with me at the time the regime said the bombs were planted. He was using them to promote his argument that the revolution was made of extremists.”

Other activists and former Sednaya inmates corroborated his account, and analysts have identified a number of former prisoners now at the head of militant groups, including Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS and a third group, Ahrar al-Sham, which fought alongside Jabhat al-Nusra but has now turned against ISIS.

One former inmate said he had been in prison with “Abu Ali” who is now the head of the ISIS Sharia court in the north-eastern al-Qaeda-run city of Raqqa. Another said he knew leaders in Raqqa and Aleppo who were prisoners in Sednaya until early 2012.

These men then spearheaded the gradual takeover of the revolution from secular activists, defected army officers and more moderate Islamist rebels.

Syrian intelligence has historically had close connections with extremist groups. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph after he defected, Nawaf al-Fares, a Syrian security chief, told how he was part of an operation to smuggle jihadist volunteers into Iraq from Syria after the 2003 invasion.

Aron Lund, editor of a website, Syria in Crisis, used by the Carnegie Endowment to monitor the war, said: “The regime has done a good job in trying to turn the revolution Islamist. The releases from Sednaya prison are a good example of this. The regime claims that it released the prisoners because Assad had shortened their sentences as part of a general amnesty. But it seems to have gone beyond that. There are no random acts of kindness from this regime.”

Rebels both inside and outside ISIS also say they believe the regime targeted its attacks on non-militant groups, leaving ISIS alone. “We were confident that the regime would not bomb us,” an ISIS defector, who called himself Murad, said. “We always slept soundly in our bases.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-boosting-al-Qaeda-with-secret-oil-deals.html

Russia pulling it's ME puppets' strings... http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...is-in-Iraq?p=12886577&viewfull=1#post12886577

 

[LazyLion]

CAR BOMB IN HAMA KILLS 34 PEOPLE, SYRIAN STATE MEDIA REPORTS

At least 34 people were killed Friday when a car bomb exploded in a government-controlled village in the central Syrian province of Hama, state media reported.

The official SANA news agency said that more than 50 people were wounded in the attack in al-Horra village.

A source at Hama police command told SANA that "terrorists blew up a truck loaded with about three tonnes of explosive materials which caused the destruction of a large number of houses and buildings in the village."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 38 people were killed, including civilians and security personnel, and more than 40 others wounded.

The group said the village is dominated by Alawites, a sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

According to Beirut-based activists, The Islamic Front, a rebel group, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had targeted militias loyal to al-Assad.

Late Thursday, a car bomb exploded in the city of Homs, killing 14 people and wounding 15 others in a pro-regime area also dominated by Alawites.


Source : Sapa-dpa /ns
Date : 20 Jun 2014 11:16

 

[Unhappy438]

Israel launches strikes on targets in Syria

The Israel Air Force launched attacks on nine Syrian military positions in the Golan Heights late Sunday night in response to a missile attack earlier in the day that killed a 13-year-old boy on the Israeli side of the border.

The IDF said the targets belonged to President Bashar Assad's Syrian army, and included command posts and firing positions. The military confirmed direct hits on the targets. High-precision ground-to-ground Spike (Tamuz) missiles were also used in the attack.

Residents of northern Israel reported hearing explosions from across the border with Syria.

The strikes were launched shortly after midnight, when IAF jets fired missiles on Syrian army positions on the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights.

Syrian opposition sources claimed that there were 3 attacks on Syrian army positions. They said the headquarters of Syria's 90th Division, which is stationed in Quneitra, was also attacked.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Sunday's cross-border missile attack on Israeli vehicles was a "continuation of a number of attacks in recent months against IDF forces near the border in general and this area specifically. The IDF will act with determination at any time and in any way it sees fit to protest the citizens of the State of Israel."

Earlier in the day, the IDF responded to the killing of Israeli teen Mohammed Karaka by firing artillery rounds into outposts on Syrian territory, but later discussions raised the possibility of attacking other targets on the Syrian Golan.

Investigations conducted Sunday night in GOC Northern Command raised the possibility that the advanced Kornet anti-tank missile was fired from an area contested by the Syrian army and rebel forces.

The IDF believes the attack on the Syrian border had no connection to recent developments in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. The full investigation will also examine why IDF outposts in the area failed to spot the terror cell.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4533314,00.html

 

[LazyLion]

AROUND 2,400 TUNISIANS FIGHTING IN SYRIA: MINISTRY

At least 2,400 Tunisian jihadists are fighting in Syria, most of them rebels affiliated to the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Tunisia's interior minister said Monday.

"According to what we have gathered, there are 2,400 Tunisians who have gone to Syria to fight with Al Nusra Front and the majority of them -- 80 percent -- with (ISIL)," Lotfi Ben Jeddou told reporters, without specifying his source.

In February, the minister said Tunisian authorities had prevented 8,000 people from travelling to Syria, while some 400 Tunisians had already returned from fighting there.

ISIL, one of the main forces battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, controls certain key regions in northern and northeast Syria and has cut a swathe through northern Iraq in recent weeks.

It is also the most extreme jihadist group in Syria, aiming to create an Islamic state the straddles the border with Iraq but renowned for its abuses of civilians.


Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 23 Jun 2014 21:43

 

[LazyLion]

SYRIA OPPOSITION SACKS REBEL COMMAND OVER GRAFT ALLEGATIONS

Syria's opposition government sacked the military command of the rebel Free Syrian Army late Thursday over corruption allegations, as the White House asked lawmakers for $500 million for moderate insurgents.

A statement by the opposition government said its chief Ahmad Tohme "decided to disband the Supreme Military Council and refer its members to the government's financial and administration committee for investigation".

The decision came amid widespread reports of corruption within the ranks of the FSA, which is backed by Western and Arab governments in its battle to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The government in exile said it was also sacking FSA chief of staff Brigadier General Abdelilah al-Bashir.

It called on "revolutionary forces on the ground" to set up within a month a new defence council and to fully restructure the rebel army's command.

The announcement on Facebook came as US President Barack Obama asked Congress to approve $500 million to train and equip "the moderate Syrian opposition".

The request coincides with growing unrest in Syria's neighbour Iraq where Sunni militants led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are battling the government.

ISIL, which aspires to create an Islamic state that straddles Iraq and Syria, has spearheaded the lightning jihadist offensive that has already captured swathes of territory north and west of Baghdad.

On Thursday ISIL reportedly bolstered its presence in the Syrian town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, a day after Al-Qaeda's franchise in Syria, Al-Nusra Front, pledged loyalty to the group there giving it control over both sides of the frontier.

ISIL and other Islamists fighters in Syria are better armed and financed than the FSA, which has been pleading for greater support from the international community.

Since the Syria conflict erupted three years ago, the United States has provided "non-lethal" support to the moderate opposition trying to oust Assad.

Earlier this month National Security Advisor Susan Rice acknowledged that the Pentagon was also delivering "lethal" support.

About $287 million in mainly non-lethal support has been cleared for the rebels since March 2011, and the CIA has participated in a covert military training programme in neighbouring Jordan for the moderate opposition.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ar
Date : 27 Jun 2014 10:50

 

[LazyLion]

FOR THOUSANDS STILL IN ASSAD JAILS, AMNESTY A 'FRAUD'
by Serene ASSIR

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decreed an amnesty last month but for tens of thousands of prisoners, among them high-profile dissidents, the promise of freedom is a fraud.

Yara Bader, 29, has been desperately waiting for word on her husband Mazen Darwish, a journalist and activist detained since February 2012.

Her hopes that Assad's amnesty might lead to Darwish's release are fading, as she continues to wage an uphill struggle against despair.

"I wouldn't want anyone to go through what we have suffered," Bader told AFP.

"The amnesty gave me real hope they would be freed within hours, but they are still in jail a month on, and it is impossible to know what will happen next."

Her husband was arrested with two other prominent political prisoners --blogger Hussein Ghreir and activist Hani Zeitani.

They have been held since a February 2012 raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus.

Bader says she fears new charges may be brought against the three to prolong their detention despite the much publicised amnesty pledge by the president.

"The wait just gets harder every day," she said.

"It's a reality we have to face that, in spite of all our hopes, they may not be freed any time soon after all."

Human rights groups say some 100,000 people have been detained since the uprising against Assad's rule erupted in March 2011, which escalated into an armed rebellion after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown.

Another 50,000 are believed to be held by the regime's myriad of military intelligence branches.

On June 9, after securing a new term in a controversial election held in government-controlled areas only, Assad issued an amnesty that should have freed tens of thousands of prisoners.

Crucially, many of those detained under the anti-terror legislation the regime has used to lock up its opponents, armed or not, should have been set free.

But lawyers say less than 1,500 people have been released, very few of them political activists or other civilians caught up in raids.

Lama Fakih, researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: "The Syrian government's failure to release people, and their continuing to hold them in horrific conditions is something that should be condemned."

She told AFP: "It appears the amnesty was issued in a bid to gain legitimacy. Praise is not due."

Fakih added: "With some exceptions, it appears mainly those who were released had been held for non-political reasons. The important thing to remember is that these people should not have been detained to begin with."

Syrian human rights activist Sema Nassar said Assad's amnesty promise was a "fraud".

"It's absurd that the decree got so much attention, considering how small the numbers have been in comparison to those still held," she said.

"Take the instance of (opposition bastion) Daraya, near Damascus. Some 3,000 people from that town alone are currently in jail, all over accusations connected to the uprising. Only 20 of them, including one woman, have been released in the past month."

Many of those released were rebel commanders or soldiers who were suspected of wanting to defect from the army.

"This is not an amnesty, it's a military operation. The amnesty was an incentive for fighters to hand over their weapons and to stop battling the government," Nassar said.

Of the better known dissidents in jail, only a handful, including veteran regime critic Jalal Nawfal and young activist Hazem Waked, have been freed.

"Meanwhile, the raids and arbitrary arrest campaigns have by no means stopped, nor have torture and other violations," Nassar said.

On Wednesday, activists reported the death under torture in a Damascus jail of Mohammad Zreik, who was in his early 20s.

Zreik was picked up some 18 months ago for his non-violent political and humanitarian activism, according to his friend Fares Ahmed, reached via the Internet.

"Many people loved him. He used to help people escape when the security forces stormed protests," said Ahmed.

Earlier this year, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned the "routine" use of torture in Syrian prisons.

Torture in times of conflict constitutes a "war crime", and its systematic use may amount to a "crime against humanity", Pillay said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 09 Jul 2014 13:45

 

[LazyLion]

DISPLACED SWELL SYRIA COASTAL POPULATION BY 50%: ICRC

The population of Syria's coastal provinces, relatively untouched by the country's war, has shot up by 50 percent, sheltering one million displaced people, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday.

"Over a million people have arrived in Latakia and Tartus since the beginning of the conflict, swelling the local population by 50 percent," the ICRC said in a statement.

ICRC water engineer Patrick Luisier warned of the impact the influx has had, creating difficulties for both for the displaced and locals.

"Local resources are severely stretched and the authorities are struggling to cope with the most recent influx of families fleeing Aleppo and other areas directly affected by the violence," he said.

Most of the displaced who have sought shelter on the eastern Mediterranean coast are living in temporary shelters.

"Many families arrive here with very little, and living conditions in most shelters are difficult," Luisier added.

Syria's coastline is the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's regime and of his minority Alawite sect.

With much of Syria engulfed in fighting and daily bombardment, few areas have remained relatively calm, among them much of Latakia and Tartus provinces.

The ICRC said it is distributing food, blankets, mattresses, cooking sets and hygiene kits in the coastal region.

In June, the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent assisted 160,000 displaced people in Latakia and Tartus.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with peaceful protests demanding Assad's ouster that morphed into an armed uprising after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 11 Jul 2014 15:01

 

[LazyLion]

HUNDREDS OF KURDS ENTER SYRIA FROM TURKEY TO FIGHT JIHADISTS

Hundreds of Kurdish fighters have entered northern Syria in recent days to help battle jihadists besieging the Kurdish city of Ain al-Arab, a monitor said Tuesday.

"At least 800 Kurdish fighters crossed the Turkish-Syrian border to help their comrades in Ain al-Arab (Kobane in Kurdish), which is under total siege by Islamic State jihadists," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 15 Jul 2014 14:06

 

[LazyLion]

JIHADISTS KILL 270 IN ANTI-REGIME RAID ON SYRIA GAS FIELD: NGO

Jihadists have killed 270 Syrian regime fighters, civilian security guards and staff since seizing a gas field in Homs province, most of whom were executed, a monitoring group said Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that a woman accused of adultery was stoned to death by the Islamic State (IS) in the northern city of Raqa, in the second such case in as many days.

The Observatory described Thursday's takeover of the Shaar field as "the biggest" anti-regime operation by the IS since the jihadist group rose to prominence last year among rebel groups in the Syrian conflict.

The watchdog said it had documented "the death of 270 people killed in the fighting or executed" since the takeover of the field in central Syria.

"A large majority of the men killed were executed at gunpoint after being taken prisoner following the takeover of the camp," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Eleven of the dead were civilian employees, while the rest were security guards and National Defence Forces members," he added.

On Saturday, regime forces, a day after launching a counter-attack, had "re-taken large areas of Shaar", according to Abdel Rahman. "Fighting is continuing around the gas field".

The counter-attack had left at least 40 IS militants dead, while 11 soldiers had been killed and 10 others who were injured had been taken to hospital in Homs, said the Observatory, which relies for its information on a network of activists and medics on the ground.

The fate of nearly 100 people who worked at the site remained unknown, according to earlier figures released by the Observatory.

The Syrian government did not officially confirm the deaths, but supporters of President Bashar al-Assad's regime posted photographs of the dead.

One pro-regime Twitter user said: "Thirty martyrs were brought to Homs hospital from the Shaar gas field... Homs is still bleeding."

He also branded the killings as a "massacre", and posted pictures of the dead.

Gruesome footage apparently recorded by the jihadists at the gas field and distributed via YouTube showed dozens of bodies, some of them mutilated, strewn across a desert landscape.

One video shows a jihadist posing with the bodies as he speaks in German interspersed with religious terms in Arabic, seemingly celebrating the killings.

On Friday night on a main square in Raqa, IS jihadists stoned to death a woman they accused of adultery, the Observatory said, citing residents of their stronghold.

"Because residents refused to take part in the stoning, the IS fighters themselves executed the woman," it said, adding that they pulled up a lorry filled with rocks for the killing.

The jihadists also stoned a young woman to death for adultery in Raqa on Thursday. Abdel Rahman identified her as a 26-year-old widow.

According to a local activist, who said that the public stoning took place in a square in the Raqa provincial town of Tabqa, residents are "terrified but do not dare react to such barbaric methods".

The IS, which proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq last month, has also taken over Syria's oil-rich Deir Ezzor province.

Deir Ezzor borders Homs province as well as Iraq, where the jihadist group has spearheaded a major Sunni militant offensive that has seen large swathes of territory fall out of the Baghdad government's control.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 12:39

 

[Seriously]

JIHADISTS KILL 270 IN ANTI-REGIME RAID ON SYRIA GAS FIELD: NGO


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 12:39

Thus Islamic extremists!

 

[marine1]

Looking forward to mass protests from the SA Muslims over these acts

 

[LazyLion]

DAMASCUS SAYS SURE OF 'VICTORY', THANKS TO RUSSIA

The Syrian regime believes its "victory" over the rebellion is assured, thanks to Moscow and its other allies' support, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in a letter to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"Syria's unwavering confidence in its victory is thanks to its people's resistance, and to the support of its friends, especially Russia," said Muallem in his letter, sent to mark the 70th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"The leaders and people of Syria are respectful and full of gratitude for Russia's stance," said Muallem, adding that Moscow "is supporting Syria in the face of a world war launched by obscurantists and terrorists".

President Bashar al-Assad's regime has consistently refused to recognise the existence of any genuine popular revolt seeking his ouster, and has instead blamed all violence in Syria on a foreign-backed "terrorist" plot.

Syria's war, which began as a peaceful movement for change but later grew into an armed rebellion after the army unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent, has killed more than 170,000 people.

"Syria is more determined than ever to crush the terrorists and to defend its sovereignty... and the security of the region," said Muallem.

Like China, Russia has blocked three UN Security Council draft resolutions that would have imposed sanctions on the Syrian regime.


Source : Sapa-AFP /lk
Date : 21 Jul 2014 12:42

 

[Lightscribe]

Syria's war, which began as a peaceful movement for change but later grew into an armed rebellion after the army unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent, has killed more than 170,000 people.

"Syria is more determined than ever to crush the terrorists and to defend its sovereignty... and the security of the region," said Muallem.

Like China, Russia has blocked three UN Security Council draft resolutions that would have imposed sanctions on the Syrian regime.

Yep, for Russia and China, killing 170 000 of your own people, is just chump change.

 

[LazyLion]

6 CHILDREN AMONG 15 DEAD IN ALEPPO BOMBING: SYRIA MONITOR

Six children were among at least 15 civilians killed in overnight bomb attacks by government and rebel forces in the divided city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said Monday.

"At least nine civilians, three of them children, were killed in barrel bombs (dropped by regime aircraft) in Shaar," an eastern district, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based group, which relies on an extensive network of medical, military and activist sources on the ground, warned the death toll could rise because of the large number of people of seriously wounded.

"Six more civilians, including three children and a woman, were killed in mortar shelling by rebels" of the government-held district of Jabiriyeh, the Observatory said.

The northern metropolis of Aleppo, once Syria's commercial capital, has been divided since 2012 into western sectors held by the government and rebel-held areas.

Hundreds of people have died in near-daily regime air raids, many with the use of crude and inaccurate barrel bombs, despite repeated condemnation by the international community.

The latest bloodshed came at the start of the Eid al-Fitr feast which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

In Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad received a warm welcome from the congregation as he joined Eid prayers Monday at a mosque in Muhajarin, although the Observatory said the area was struck in the morning by rebel shellfire.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 28 Jul 2014 13:35

 

[marine1]

And the world is silent if only the jews had killed them

 

[ShaunSA]

Looking forward to mass protests from the SA Muslims over these acts

Anything?

 

[falcon786]

And the world is silent if only the jews had killed them

America blocking the UN from taking action against Israel and China,Russia blocking them from taking action against Assad.....as usual the big boys playing politics while innocent people on the ground suffer.

Both these instances show just how little human life means to big politicians.