Syria warns West against intervention

The attacks by Syrian forces on Israel and Turkey are attempts to bring an armed response from either country which Assad will use to try and unite Syria against 'armed aggression'.

[quote="malena stool"]The attacks by Syrian forces on Israel and Turkey are attempts to bring an armed response from either country which Assad will use to try and unite Syria against 'armed aggression'
[/quote

It's a dangerous game though malena, especially with Israel and a sign that the rebels are gaining a lot of ground. It looks as though the rebels are not united and some country is definitely supplying them with a lot of guns.

Actually, reading the report again it was Assads' tanks involved, not the rebels.



It was not immediately clear why the tanks had crossed the frontier, but Israeli media said the tanks had been in combat in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam where rebels have been trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad."

[quote="Panda"]

malena stool wrote:The attacks by Syrian forces on Israel and Turkey are attempts to bring an armed response from either country which Assad will use to try and unite Syria against 'armed aggression'
[/quote

It's a dangerous game though malena, especially with Israel and a sign that the rebels are gaining a lot of ground. It looks as though the rebels are not united and some country is definitely supplying them with a lot of guns.

Actually, reading the report again it was Assads' tanks involved, not the rebels.



It was not immediately clear why the tanks had crossed the frontier, but Israeli media said the tanks had been in combat in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam where rebels have been trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad."

I wouldn't think the Israelis will fall for being dragged into a middle eastern civil war Panda. They kept out of the Gulf war despite having lots of 'Scud' strikes from Iraq, the Turks were more likely to retaliate to the Syrian artillery attacks on border villages, but cool heads seem to be holding them back.
We are led to believe that the Russians and Chinese are the main suppliers of weapons to the Syrian army.

[quote="malena stool"]

Panda wrote:

malena stool wrote:The attacks by Syrian forces on Israel and Turkey are attempts to bring an armed response from either country which Assad will use to try and unite Syria against 'armed aggression'
[/quote

It's a dangerous game though malena, especially with Israel and a sign that the rebels are gaining a lot of ground. It looks as though the rebels are not united and some country is definitely supplying them with a lot of guns.

Actually, reading the report again it was Assads' tanks involved, not the rebels.



It was not immediately clear why the tanks had crossed the frontier, but Israeli media said the tanks had been in combat in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam where rebels have been trying to overthrow President Bashar al Assad."

I wouldn't think the Israelis will fall for being dragged into a middle eastern civil war Panda. They kept out of the Gulf war despite having lots of 'Scud' strikes from Iraq, the Turks were more likely to retaliate to the Syrian artillery attacks on border villages, but cool heads seem to be holding them back.
We are led to believe that the Russians and Chinese are the main suppliers of weapons to the Syrian army.

Turkey would be very reluctant to go to War with Syria, but if there was another attempt to destroy an aircraft Turkey wouldn't hesitate. Turkey has thousands of Syrian Refugees and cannot cope with any more. Israel would not hesitate to retaliate if there was any incursion into their Country. China and Russia have consistently vetoed any action against any country mainly because they have vested interests. I feel so sorry for the innocents who have been killed or had to take refuge in another Country. The way things are going , there will be nothing left of Syria when this War ends.

Watch Sky News Live 05 November 2012





Suicide Bomb Kills 50 Soldiers In Syria


2:01pm UK, Monday 05 November 2012

The car bombing took place at a military post in Hama, central Syria

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A car bomb attack at a military post in Hama has killed at least 50 soldiers and pro-regime fighters, a rights watchdog has said.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blast occurred near the checkpoint in the village of Ziyara, in central Syria.

It claimed that the attack was carried out by Jabhat al Nusra, an al Qaeda-inspired Islamic militant group.

It said: "The post, located at the Centre for Rural Development, is the largest gathering place for troops and pro-regime militiamen in the region."

The death toll has not been independently verified.

State-run news agency SANA said the explosion occurred outside a development agency

7 November 2012 Last updated at 01:53
Syria crisis: Damascus hit by deadly blasts
At least 10 people were killed in the Waroud area of Damascus, reports said
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Can US reshape opposition?
  
• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  

A spate of bomb attacks has rocked the Syrian capital Damascus leaving several people dead and many others wounded, activists have said.

At least 10 people reportedly died when several blasts struck an area populated mostly by members of President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite sect.

Hours later, a car bomb exploded near a mosque in the largely Sunni Muslim district of al-Qadam, activists said.

Early reports said there were many casualties but details were unclear.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, said at least 10 civilians died and more than 40 were wounded when three devices were detonated in the largely-Alawite north-western Waroud suburb of the capital.

The official Sana news agency said several people had died.

Later on Tuesday, a bomb in a parked taxi went off near a mosque in al-Qadam destroying nearby buildings and burying people in the rubble, activists said.

"Lots of people were hit inside their apartments. Rescue efforts are hampered because electricity was cut off right after the explosion," activist Abu Hamza al-Shami told Reuters news agency.
Warplanes
Meanwhile, clashes, shelling, explosions and air raids were reported in different parts of Syria on Tuesday.

SOHR said seven people had been killed by government air raids in the Houla region of Homs province, and that eight people had died after troops shelled the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province.

Seven civilians also died when warplanes bombed the south-eastern Damascus suburb of Kafarbatna, it added.

The SOHR is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be verified.

Sana reported that Mohammed Osama Lahm, brother of the speaker of the People's Assembly, had been shot dead in the Midan district of Damascus.

Later this week, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) is to consider a US-backed proposal to set up a new 50-member leadership group that speaks for all major opposition factions and includes military commanders and local councils.

The SNC has been accused of being too fragmented, too heavily based upon exiles and unwilling or unable to attract support from minority groups inside Syria.

It would have a minority stake in the new leadership group, but some opposition figures are still sceptical that the effort will succeed.



More on This Story




Syria conflict



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Heavy fighting sends thousands of people fleeing, as the United Nations warns that millions inside Syria will need aid.


2:26am UK, Saturday 10 November 2012

Syrians leave behind fierce fighting as they cross border into Turkey

• As many as 11,000 people have fled Syria in 24 hours - one of the biggest refugee exoduses the country has seen in its 20-month conflict.
  

The refugees were escaping fierce fighting between rebels and government forces for control of the northeastern Syrian town of Ras al Ain on the border with Turkey.

The exodus signals the escalating ferocity of the conflict, which has killed more than 36,000 people since March 2011.

The United Nations has warned that an estimated four million people inside Syria will need humanitarian assistance by early next year as winter sets in - up from 2.5 million now.

Of the 11,000 Syrians who fled in the 24-hour period that began on Thursday, 9,000 crossed into Turkey, while Jordan and Lebanon each absorbed another 1,000 refugees, according to UN officials.

Video from Turkey's news agency Anadolu showed Syrians jumping over and climbing through a razor-wire fence on the border to cross into the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar.

The influx has caused alarm in Turkey, which has long expressed worry over its ability to cope with such large numbers and has called for a buffer zone to be set up inside Syria where refugees could be housed.
Turkish soldiers guard the border with Syria near the town of Ceylanpinar
The flood of Syrians into Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon was "the highest that we have had in quite some time," said Panos Moumtzis, the UN refugee agency's coordinator for the region.

Despite the bloodshed, President Bashar al Assad said in a rare TV appearance that there was no civil war in Syria.

"It is about terrorism and the support coming from abroad to terrorists to destabilise Syria. This is our war," Mr Assad said in an interview by broadcaster Russia Today, which was aired on Friday.

Mr Assad has insisted he would not step down, saying he would "live and die in Syria".

But Syrians still in the country faced an increasingly desperate situation, senior UN official John Ging, in Geneva, said.

"Every day our humanitarian colleagues on the ground are engaging with people who are ever more desperate, ever more fearful for their lives and for the lives of their families because of this conflict," he said.

Also on Friday, Syria's main opposition bloc in exile, the Syrian National Council, elected veteran activist George Sabra, a Christian, as its new head.

The group has come under heavy criticism from international allies for being ineffective in the fight against Mr Assad and for being riven by personal disputes.

Syria: 'Casualties After Two Large Blasts'


Activists say Deraa explosions killed and wounded "dozens" of regime troops as a state-run news agency reports many casualties.


2:58pm UK, Saturday 10 November 2012



Video: Syria: 'Casualties In Two Blasts'
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  Two large explosions have struck the Syrian city of Deraa, causing multiple casualties, according to the state-run news agency.
  
  The blasts were reportedly followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.
  
  Activists said dozens of members of the Syrian security forces were killed when two cars loaded with explosives drove into a military camp.
  
  In what could have been a double suicide attack, the first car was driven into the camp and exploded, followed by the second vehicle, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
  Deraa was the birthplace of the Syrian uprising against Mr Assad
  The blast from the second vehicle caused the casualties, it added.
  
  Deraa, in the south of the country, was the birthplace of the Syrian uprising against Mr Assad, which erupted in March 2011.
  
  The conflict began largely with peaceful protests against his rule but turned bloody after rebels took up arms in response to the regime's crackdown.
  
  Activists say more than 36,000 people have died in Syria during the 19-month-long uprising.
  
  
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  1:54 PM on 10/11/2012
  
  This comment is hidden because you have chosen to ignore Retired in France. Show DetailsHide Details
  
  
  
  @Tom White. So true.In this instance it seems to be the revulsion against the users of cluster bombs as opposed to the blind faith/support for the cause of the car bombers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  11:09 AM on 10/11/2012
  
  
  
  Why is it that car bombs are ok but cluster bombs are'nt? Both kill without warning.
  
  
  
  
  
  10:19 AM on 10/11/2012
  
  
  
  I read yesterday that Cameron is considering doing a Blair and leading the Uk into an illegal war in Syria without a UN resolution. The man really is not on this planet.
  Advice to Cameron - it's not your business, keep your nose out and we don't have any money to finance an offensive in Syria (unless of course you're thinking about seizing their oil resources).
  

Syria Clashes Kill 90; Regime Tells Japan to Cancel Meeting


By Dahlia Kholaif and Carter Dougherty - Nov 10, 2012 11:51 PM GMT

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  At least 90 people were killed inSyria yesterday while President Bashar al-Assad’s regime told Japan to cancel its plan to meet with other nations about further sanctions against his country.
  
  Syrian troops loyal to Assad killed 90 people yesterday including 43 in or around Damascus, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an e-mailed statement. Other raids took place in the cities of Homs and Hama, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an e-mail.
  
  More than 29 soldiers died in explosions and clashes with rebels seeking to topple Assad, the Observatory said in an e-mail. The official Syrian Arab News Agency said three car bombings by “terrorists” in the city of Daraa killed seven people.
  
  Syria demanded that Japan scrap the meeting in Tokyo late this month at which international delegates will consider proposals to strengthen sanctions, according to SANA, which reported the government in Damascus has cited worsening living conditions for Syrians in its appeal. No date has been set for the meeting of officials from about 60 nations in the Friends of Syria group, Agence France-Presse said.
  
  Assad vowed not to flee Syria and said the cost of any Western military operation in Syria would be “more than the whole world can afford,” in an interview with Russian state broadcaster RT in Damascus that was aired Nov. 9. More than 35,000 people have died since the uprising began in March 2011, the Observatory for Human Rights group said.
  
  Thousands Flee
  
  
  Fighting between troops and rebels for control of the town of Ras al-Ayn sparked a surge in the number of Syrians fleeing into neighboring countries, the Associated Press reported Nov. 9, citing United Nations officials. About 9,000 refugees crossed into Turkey, with Jordan and Lebanon each taking another 1,000 Syrians in the previous 24 hours, the officials said, according to AP.
  
  Kurdish rebels in the Syrian province of Hassaka have captured two towns after government troops left, the Observatory group said in an e-mail.
  
  The rebels’ Free Syrian army captured the border town of Asfar al-Najjar in Hassaka province after heavy fighting against the government forces, Al Jazeera television reported, citing activists.
  
  The main opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council, elected dissident George Sabra, a Christian who had been imprisoned by the regime, as its leader at a meeting Nov. 9 in Doha, AP reported. Rival opposition groups are in talks in the Qatari capital to create a more unified organization that can defeat Assad, AP said.
  
  Sabra yesterday resisted efforts to unite all Assad’s opponents under one umbrella, saying “nobody should be subsumed under anybody” in his inaugural news conference, the New YorkTimes reported.
  
  Assad and most of his top officials come from the Alawite sect, affiliated with Shiite Islam. The majority of Syria’s population and many leaders of the uprising are Sunni Muslims.
  
  Jordan has increased its support for the Syrian opposition, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified rebels and an Arab official. Jordanian military trucks have been used to deliver light weapons, paid for by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to the border for shipment into Syria by anti-Assad fighters, the Journal cited the people as saying. Jordan denied involvement in arms shipments into Syria, the newspaper said.
  

ISRAEL RETALITIES(SP?) FOR SYRIAN MORTAR THAT HIT ONE OF ITS BORDER POSTS IN GOLAN HEIGHTS.

Badboy wrote:ISRAEL RETALITIES(SP?) FOR SYRIAN MORTAR THAT HIT ONE OF ITS BORDER POSTS IN GOLAN HEIGHTS.

What are they doing Badboy, returning Fire? It's getting really bad in the Middle East now.

From what I can gather, the Syrians have been fighting amongst themselves, but it's spread over the border into the Israeli part of the Golan. So the Israelis fired some warnings back, in effect warning the Syrians to keep their civil war on their own side of the fence. Israel have also put a complaint in to the UN, not that it will do any good :(

Iris wrote:From what I can gather, the Syrians have been fighting amongst themselves, but it's spread over the border into the Israeli part of the Golan. So the Israelis fired some warnings back, in effect warning the Syrians to keep their civil war on their own side of the fence. Israel have also put a complaint in to the UN, not that it will do any good :(

Thanks Iris, I'm usually on the ball with news about Syria because the situation there is so bad, thousands of refugees spread around Jordan, The Yemen, Turkey and all the while Syria is being destroyed. Have you noticed most of these Wars in the Middle east are not about democracy, they are Tribal, Shiites and Sunni.

11 November 2012 Last updated at 15:30
Israel fires warning shots 'after Syria mortar strike'
The Israeli military said the mortar round had hit an Israeli post in the Golan Heights
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Can US reshape opposition?
  
• Ceasefire in name only?
  
• Aleppo's frontline trauma hospital
  
• Islamists versus secularists
  

Israeli forces say they have fired warning shots into Syria after a mortar round fired from Syria hit an Israeli post in the Golan Heights.

It is the first time that Israel has fired on Syrian forces since the Middle East war of 1973.

The latest incident comes days after Israeli troops were put on high alert after a vehicle was hit by Syrian fire in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The two countries are formally at war and a UN force patrols the buffer zone.

The Israel Defence Forces have filed a complaint through the UN forces operating in the area, stating that fire emanating from Syria into Israel will not be tolerated and "shall be responded to with severity".
'Warning shots'
In a statement posted on its website on Saturday, the IDF said the "mortar shell hit an IDF post in the Golan Heights adjacent to the Israel-Syria border, as part of the internal conflict inside Syria".

Continue reading the main story
Golan Heights

• 1967 Israel captures Golan from Syria at end of Six-Day War
  
• 1981: Annexed by Israel but decision not recognised internationally
  
• 1974 onwards - UN buffer force (UNDOF) maintains ceasefire - 1,032 soldiers from Austria, Croatia, India, Japan and Philippines
  
• Area: 444 sq miles (1,150sq km)
  
• Population: 20,000 Syrian Druze, 20,000 Israeli Jews
  
• Druze mainly in four villages - Majdal Shams, Buq'ata, Mas'ad, Ein Qiniye
  
• Biggest of more than 30 Israeli settlements, Katzrin
  

• Golan Heights profile
  
• Syria crisis felt in Golan
  

No damage or injuries were reported, but in response, "IDF soldiers fired warning shots towards Syrian areas".

Last week the Israeli army said three Syrian tanks had entered the demilitarised buffer zone in the area to tackle rebel fighters.

Israel complained to the UN peacekeeping force and military chief of staff Benny Gantz visited the Golan, warning troops to be on high alert and to prevent the conflict in Syria from crossing the border.
Lebanon clashes
In a separate development, at least one man was killed and three others wounded during sectarian clashes in southern Lebanon.

Tensions in Lebanon have been stoked by the Syrian crisis as well as the killing of a leading intelligence figure and critic of President Bashar al-Assad.

Fighting broke out in the port city of Sidon between members of the Shia militant group, Hezbollah and followers of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmad Assir.

The cleric had reportedly criticised Hezbollah's support for President Assad and had called on supporters to tear down all posters of the movement's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in Sidon.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition groups meeting in Qatar have agreed to form a new coalition to oppose President Assad's government, reports said.

The fractious opposition has been under pressure from the US and other backers in the region to clinch a deal and has been meeting in Qatar for the past week.
'Careful response'
Activists in Syria have reported recent Syrian troop movements close to the Golan Heights ceasefire line, a development very similar to what happened close to the Turkish border, BBC Beirut correspondent Jim Muir says.

When five of its citizens were killed by Syrian shellfire, Turkey fired back in a limited manner. It is quite clear the Israelis will respond carefully and not let matters get out of hand, our correspondent adds.

The Golan Heights, a rocky plateau in south-western Syria, has a political and strategic significance which belies its size.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the closing stages of the 1967 Six-Day War and thwarted a Syrian attempt to retake the area in 1973.

Both countries signed an armistice in 1974 and a UN observer force has been in place on the ceasefire line since 1974.

Israel's unilateral annexing of the Golan Heights in 1981 was not recognised internationally.

ISRAEL,I BELIEVE,HAS DONE MORE SHOOTING INTO SYRIA.

Badboy wrote:ISRAEL,I BELIEVE,HAS DONE MORE SHOOTING INTO SYRIA.

I havn't read anything about Syria , except this.


William Hague says Syria opposition coalition a 'milestone'


William Hague has welcomed the latest effort by Syria's opposition to form a united front against Bashar al-Assad, but said more needed to be done before Britain formally recognised it.








Foreign Secretary William Hague Photo: AFP/GETTY





3:02PM GMT 13 Nov 2012




Exiled opposition leaders formed a coalition on Sunday and the grouping is now seeking international recognition as a government-in-waiting.


Western powers demanding that Syrian leader Assad step down to end a 19-month rebellion have been frustrated by squabbling among his opponents.


"It is a very important milestone," the Foreign Secretary told reporters at a meeting of Arab and European ministers at the Arab League in Cairo on Tuesday.


"We want the Syrian opposition to be inclusive ... and to have support inside Syria and if they have this, yes, we will then recognise them as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people."


He said that did not imply that Britain would be ready to send weapons to the opposition because the European Union had placed an arms embargo on Syria.

15 November 2012 Last updated at 02:49








Syria conflict: David Cameron to hold security talks


Aid agencies estimate that hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Credible alternative?
  
• Can US reshape opposition?
  
• A new normality in Damascus
  
• Ceasefire in name only?
  

Prime Minister David Cameron is to chair the National Security Council later to discuss the conflict in Syria.

Senior UK ministers will consider military, humanitarian and diplomatic options for dealing with the violence and the growing refugee crisis.

The prime minister visited a refugee camp on the Jordanian border last week.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the situation was reaching what one Downing Street adviser called the "something must be done stage".

The prime minister, his deputy Nick Clegg, Chancellor George Osborne and the foreign and defence secretaries are all expected to attend the meeting.

Among the options that could be discussed are a no-fly zone, supplying anti-aircraft weapons to Syria's opposition and encouraging other countries in the region to give arms, the BBC understands.

This week France became the first Western power to recognise Syria's opposition coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

Syrian opposition groups struck a deal in the Qatari capital Doha to form a broad coalition to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
'Horrendous' suffering
The US and the UK have both signalled support for the coalition but stopped short of recognising it as a government-in-exile.

Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

The prime minister hopes to find a fresh approach which he can persuade US President Barack Obama to pursue with him”

End Quote
Nick Robinson Political editor

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• Read more from Nick
  

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent also this week estimated that 2.5 million people had been displaced within Syria, doubling the previous figure used by aid agencies.

Israel's military has said its tanks scored "direct hits" on Syrian artillery units after mortar shells fell near an army post.

It came after Israel fired warning shots after it said a Syrian shell hit another of its army posts on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

When he visited the refugee camp, Mr Cameron said the UK was to begin talks with armed Syrian rebels in a bid to unite the opposition to President Assad.

The prime minister said the suffering of the refugees was "horrendous".

Opposition and human rights activists estimate that more than 36,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Assad's rule began in March 2011.

Mr Cameron gave the go ahead for UK military action when it came to supporting rebels in the Libyan revolution in 2011.

British aircraft carried out 3,000 missions - 2,000 of them strike sorties, about one-fifth of the Nato total.

200,000 Syrian child refugees at risk


More than 200,000 Syrian child refugees are to suffer a bitter winter of freezing temperatures and rain without proper shelter or clothing, a charity has warned.








Syrian children who fled with their families from the violence in their village, sit on the ground at a camp in the Syrian village of Atmeh, near the Turkish border with Syria Photo: AP Photo/Khalil Hamra





By Ruth Sherlock, Aarsal, Lebanon

6:00AM GMT 19 Nov 2012




As the nights draw in and the temperatures drop, Save The Children has made an urgent appeal for funding to provide tens of thousands of families that have fled the war in Syria with adequate supplies to survive.


"Unless we can help families get ready for the harsh weather ahead, we could see the weakest and most vulnerable succumb to the cold and associated diseases," said Mike Penrose, Save the Children's Humanitarian Director.


More than 400,000 registered refugees have fled their homes to live in crowded camps in countries bordering Syria. A further 2.5 million people are internally displaced. More than half are children.


Many are living in emergency accommodation that will not withstand the torrential rain and blizzards that affect the region. Inside Syria, close to the border with Turkey, thousands are living under blue tarpaulins in a muddy olive grove with no water or sanitation as they wait to escape the country.


Once across the border they are mainly housed in flimsy tents. In Lebanon refugees are sleeping on the cold concrete floors of abandoned schools and farm buildings.



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  Prospect of Syria no-fly zone echoes action in Libya
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Um Ibrahim, 76, has been left to care for her grandchildren, now all taking refuge in a cold breezeblock shelter with a tin roof in Lebanon: "My daughter was in the courtyard washing clothes. She had just told the children to go inside when the bomb hit. After that I fled to Lebanon with her four children. I picked potatoes for $4 per day to support them.

"I have also lost 7 nephews in the war; two were rebel fighters, two were shot in popular protests, and three were killed by shelling. I have nobody left but God!"

Costs of heating fuel are far beyond many of the families' means and with the rain, tents and mattresses are getting soaked. Many do not have the clothes they need to keep warm.

"In the Al Qaem camp in Iraq, children have told us that they haven't washed for more than two weeks because the water is ice cold," said Mr Penrose.

Without money to pay for such work, winter could leave thousands of refugees facing serious health problems that could prove deadly the charity warned.

Separately, the Syrian regime criticised France for hosting an opposition ambassador, with Ali Haidar, the national reconciliation minister, accusing them of "acting like a hostile nation". France on Saturday invited the newly formed opposition bloc to send an envoy to Paris.

21 November 2012 Last updated at 17:39

Nato to consider Turkey's Patriot missile request


Patriot anti-missile batteries were deployed at Diyarbakir airbase in Turkey during the invasion of Iraq in 2003
Nato says it will consider "without delay" Turkey's request to deploy Patriot anti-missile systems to protect its border with the unrest-torn Syria.

The comments were made by the military bloc's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Germany's foreign minister has already said the request by Turkey, a Nato member, should be approved.

On several occasions last month, Turkey's army returned fire across the border into Syria after Syrian mortar shells landed inside its territory.

The exchange of fire followed the deaths of five Turkish civilians in Syrian shelling.

'Exposed to attacks'

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Jonathan Marcus BBC Defence Correspondent

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A decision by Nato to deploy Patriot missile batteries to Turkey would be a powerful signal of alliance solidarity and a clear warning to the Syrian government to make sure the fighting does not spill over onto Turkish soil.

The request for Patriot - a sophisticated anti-aircraft system with a capability to shoot down some ballistic missiles as well - is in a sense a curious one.

Stray artillery and mortar fire from Syria has landed in Turkey on several occasions. Syrian aircraft have frequently bombed targets near the border, sometimes prompting the Turks to scramble aircraft to protect their airspace.

Patriot missiles have the range to reach well into Syrian airspace but the Nato secretary general has made it clear that what is being considered is a "defensive deployment" only. In other words, this is not to be seen as the first stage in the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria.

On Wednesday, Mr Rasmussen said he had received a letter from Turkey - a Nato member - to deploy Patriot missiles.

He said such a move would "augment Turkey's air defence capabilities" and "contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along Nato's south-eastern border".

Patriot batteries use radar to locate incoming missiles. Surface-to-air missiles are then launched from giant containers and are guided onto their targets.

The system has been extensively used by the US and allied troops since it was first deployed in 1986. It has previously been deployed in Turkey during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he had instructed the country's ambassador to Nato to approve Ankara's request for a further deployment of the system.

"It would be a serious mistake if we were to refuse defensive support to a Nato member country in a moment when this member country feels that it is exposed to attacks from outside," Mr Westerwelle said.

Until last year, Turkey and Syria were close allies, but Ankara is now backing the Syrian opposition and calls for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.

While Turkey may not be at war with Syria, correspondents say it is now increasingly involved in its neighbour's conflict.

Turkey has a 900km (560 miles) border with Syria.

22 November 2012 Last updated at 10:57

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Syria rebels 'capture key army base' in the east


Opposition fighters and government forces continue to fight for control of key strategic towns like Maarat al-Numan
Continue reading the main story

Syria conflict

• Credible alternative?
  
• Can US reshape opposition?
  
• A new normality in Damascus
  
• Ceasefire in name only?
  

Syrian rebel fighters say they have taken a military base in the town of Mayadeen, leaving a swathe of eastern Syria under opposition control.

Opposition sources say they control a key oil-producing area between the city of Deir Ezzor and the Iraq border.

The rebels have made advances in the north and east but have yet to take a major city from government forces.

Activists say 40,000 people have been killed since protests against Bashar al-Assad's rule began in March 2011.

The director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP news agency on Thursday that at least 28, 026 civilians, 1,379 defectors, 10,150 soldiers and 574 unidentified people have been killed in Syria in the past 20 months.

The UN estimates that at least 20,000 have died.

The Observatory is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be independently verified.
Rebel gains
On Wednesday, Syrian warplanes bombed the suburbs of Damascus and rebel-held areas of the north.

Reports said people had been fleeing areas under attack in the south and east of the capital.


In the north, opposition groups and eyewitnesses in the embattled city of Aleppo said a key hospital there had been flattened by Syrian government airstrikes.

At least 15 people are reported to have died in the attack on the Dar al-Shifa hospital, which was run by volunteers.

On Thursday morning, opposition groups said the Mayadeen military base had fallen under its control at 08:30 local time (06:30 GMT) after a 22-day siege.

Rebel fighters said that 44 of their number had died in the battle.

Syrian army casualty figures are as yet unknown, and the government has not commented on the loss of the base.

If the reports are confirmed, the rebels will now be in control of a large area of the Euphrates valley, from the Iraqi border to the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor.

The base is approximately 42km (26 miles) south-east of the city and was an important stronghold for the Syrian government, the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says.

The attack on Mayadeen follows the capture of a military airport near the Iraqi border last week.

Analysts say a series of gains by rebels in the east and north shows their growing military strength, but the Syrian army still possesses vastly superior aerial firepower and has struck back with force.

Rebel fighters have found themselves unable to make any real progress in major cities like Aleppo and Damascus under bombardment from government warplanes.

Syria: warplanes bomb olive press factory, killing 20


Syrian warplanes have bombed an olive press factory, killing and wounding dozens of people, including farmers who were waiting to convert their olives to oil, activists said.








Mahmoud, an inhabitant of Syria's Atme village near the Turkish border in Idlib province, carries parts of explosive devices that landed on his backyard. Witnesses said that a Syrian military aircraft circled the area three times and fired several rockets





3:26PM GMT 27 Nov 2012




Two activist groups - the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees - said the targeted factory is west of the city of Idlib.


At least 20 people were reportedly killed and many others wounded, according to the LCC.


President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been launching intense air raids on rebels in recent months, mostly in Idlib, the nearby province of Aleppo, Deir el-Zour to the east and suburbs of the capital Damascus.


The most recent air raids have killed hundreds of people, including eight children on Sunday in the village of Deir al-Asafir near the capital, Damascus.


"It is a sign of despair," said Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. He added that the regime forces are overstretched, and the air force is being used in areas that the army cannot easily reach.



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"This is mass punishment. The regime is striking at civilian areas to make the people pay a price for not standing against advancing opposition forces," Khashan said. "The regime is desperate and wants to make the price of its opponents' victory costly."

Olive oil is a main staple in Syria. Tens of thousands of tons are produced annually.

Fadi al-Yassin, an activist based in Idlib, told The Associated Press by telephone that dozens of people had gathered to have their olives pressed when the warplanes struck, causing a large number of casualties.

It was not immediately clear why the olive press was targeted. "It was a massacre carried out by the regime," said al-Yassin.

"Now is the season to press oil," said al-Yassin, noting that many olive press factories are not functioning in the area because of the fighting in the region. A large number of people were at the one near the city of Idlib.

"Functioning olive press factories are packed with people these days," he said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said that evidence has emerged that an airstrike using cluster bombs on the village of Deir al-Asafir near Damascus killed at least 11 children and wounded others on Sunday. Cluster bombs have been banned by most nations.

"This attack shows how cluster munitions kill without discriminating between civilians and military personnel," said Mary Wareham, arms division advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Due to the devastating harm caused to civilians, cluster bombs should not be used by anyone, anywhere, at any time."

The Observatory also reported heavy fighting on the southern edge of the strategic rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan, captured from government troops last month.

The town is on the highway that links the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest, a commercial center that has been the scene of clashes between rebels and troops since July.

The Observatory and al-Yassin said air raids on Maaret al-Numan killed at least five rebels.

The LCC said a shelling fell on the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp Tuesday, killing a boy and wounding another.

Also, Syria's state-run TV said a car rigged with explosives went off in the Damascus suburb of Artouz, killing at least two people and wounding four.

Syria's conflict started in March 2011 as an uprising against Assad's regime, but quickly morphed into a civil war that has since killed more than 40,000 people, according to activists.

Mr Assad's regime blames the revolt on a foreign conspiracy. It accuses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with the United States, other Western countries and Turkey of funding, training and arming the rebels, whom it calls terrorists.

On Tuesday, the pro-government daily Al-Watan published a list with names of 142 Arab and foreign "terrorists," whom it said were killed in Syria over the past months.

The paper said Syria submitted the list to the U.N. Security Council last month.

The list had names from 18 countries. It listed 47 from Saudi Arabia, 24 Libyans, 10 Tunisians, nine Egyptians, six Qataris and five Lebanese.

International journalists who visit rebel-held areas say foreign fighters are taking part in the battles against Assad's forces. Western officials say there is little doubt that Islamist extremists from outside Syria, some associated with the al-Qaida terror network, have made inroads in Syria as instability has spread.

Syria: Deadly Car Bomb Blasts Rock Damascus


Two cars exploded in the east of Damascus killing at least 20 people, according to local media and activists.


8:35am UK, Wednesday 28 November 2012

The state news agency said the bombs caused serious damage

• 
  

At least 20 people have been killed after two suspected car bombs exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to activists and local media.

Addounia television said the blasts occurred early in the morning in the eastern district of Jaramana.

It broadcast footage of firefighters hosing down two vehicles. Debris from damaged buildings had crushed other cars in the area.

The explosions happened as the opposition coalition was due to meet in Cairo to discuss forming a transitional government.

"The objective is to name the prime minister for a transitional government, or at least have a list of candidates ahead of the Friends of Syria meeting," Suhair al-Atassi, one of the coalition's two vice presidents, said.

Countries friendly to the rebels are also meeting in the Egyptian capital over the coming days.
The Jaramana district is mostly home to Christians and Druze
Meanwhile, a UN committee condemned "gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" by both the Syrian regime and government-controlled militias.

The resolution urges Syrian authorities to immediately release all detainees and calls for a prompt independent international investigation into abuses and violations of international law with a view to bringing to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes.

It makes no mention of opposition forces but does express "grave concern at the escalation of violence" in the country.

The resolution is almost certain to be adopted by the 193-member General Assembly next month, however will not be legally binding.

More than 40,000 people are estimated to have died since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al Assad's regime began 20 months ago.

Fierce clashes by Damascus airport as Syria loses internet


Syrian rebels launched a fierce offensive close to Damascus airport, as the country suffered a widespread information blackout, with internet and mobile services going down.








Free Syrian Army rebels Photo: AP





By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut

7:22PM GMT 29 Nov 2012




In an operation optimistically titled "Dawn on the Horizon", rebels fought in pitched battles with regime troops around three miles from the airport, capturing roads and briefly blocking the main airport highway activists said.


"They [rebels] have been inching closer to the airport for the last few days," said Louay Sakka, vice chair of the Syrian Support Group, who said he was in direct contact with some of the fighting brigades.


The fighting forced airlines, including EgyptAir and Emirates to cancel flights to Damascus, citing the "deteriorating situation" around the airport.


Two Austrian soldiers from a UN peacekeeping force were wounded when their convoy came under fire near the airport, the defence ministry said in Vienna.


Fighting centred in the towns of Babila and Hujaira southeast of the capital and in Harran al-Awamid, just east of the airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that army reinforcements had been sent to the area.



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Separate troops were sent back into largely rebel held districts of Eastern Ghouta and Douma, in a "cleansing operation" to subdue the insurgents.

A Syrian security source from the elite 4th Armoured Division said the army was aiming to completely cut off the suburbs – where rebels are in control – from the city centre.

Opposition member Mr Sakka said this was the start of a major showdown for control of the capital, but which was likely still to take several weeks.

"The Free Syrian Army are now killing about 50 to 70 shabiha [government paramilitaries] per day. So the regime called a national draft to ask people to join the army but they are only getting a small response".

As the fighting continued residents reported internet connections in the capital were down and mobile and land telephone lines working only sporadically in what appeared to be the worst disruption to communications in Syria since an uprising began 20 months ago.



Omran al-Zu'bi, the Syrian information minister, claimed armed terrorist groups had blown up a communication and internet cable which led to shutting down the internet and communication system in some Syrian areas. Activists accused the government of pulling the plug on the internet.

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Inside Jabhat al Nursa - the most extreme wing of Syria's struggle


One of the men behind a series of jihadist attacks inside Syria tells Ruth Sherlock about their battle to overthrow President Assad.








Jabhat al-Nusra's car bomb attacks are reaching areas as Qazaz, where two exploded earlier this year Photo: AP





By Ruth Sherlock, Beirut

7:30AM GMT 02 Dec 2012




The blocks of explosive that lay neatly stacked on the back seat, connected by thin wires, weighed down the silver saloon car.


Gripping the steering wheel tightly, the man known to his comrades as Abu Hafez al-Shami looked steadily at the video camera, uttering a final message as he prepared himself to die: "I ask God to make me do well in this operation, and please, my brothers, pray for us."


A few minutes later, a small grey mushroom cloud erupted over the military base in central Damascus that al-Sibahi attacked – blowing four Syrian soldiers to oblivion along with himself, and injuring many more.


This was one of the growing number of suicide bomb attacks that are changing the face of the Syrian rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. They have shifted the balance of power away from the regime by bringing destruction to some of its most sensitive and well-guarded strongholds, often in the capital, but in doing so have also killed or maimed many civilian bystanders.


But there were few moral subtleties here for the man showing me the video of al-Shami's last speech on his laptop computer. "We use suicide attacks a lot," he said. "If you were faced with attacking a big checkpoint that has tanks, and concrete barricades and tens of men, what would you do? We have many operations like these."



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Sitting on a threadbare carpet in small room with concrete walls in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, the jihadist who called himself Yasser al-Sibahi spoke to me only after being introduced by a childhood friend with whom he grew up in the city of Homs, and whom he trusted.

His accounts of the operations conducted by his wing of the Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra provide an exclusive and terrifying glimpse inside the most extreme wing of the Syrian rebellion – one which many members of the more secular Free Syrian Army loathe, and which may prove to be the West's worst nightmare.

They also give an insight into the further conflict to which Syria may descend, if or when the Assad regime finally falls.

The group, which has parallels with al-Qaeda, is the largest and most hardline of a score of jihadist organisations whose brutal methods – including beheadings – have shifted the dynamics of what had previously been a mostly moderate Sunni opposition.

The first attack for which Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility came on Jan 6 this year – 10 months after the first anti-Assad protests began – when a suicide bomber blew up buses in the central Damascus district of Al-Midan that were carrying riot police to an anti-government protest. More than 26 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Since then the use of suicide bombings or remotely detonated car bombs has dramatically increased, with Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups launching dozens of attacks against government positions each month. Almost two years into the conflict, such attacks have become a near daily reality in the capital Damascus.

The key to Jabhat al-Nusra's extreme violence is its recruitment of radical fighters from abroad to join Syrians who follow its secretive official leader, known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani – whose fiery speeches on jihadist websites are electronically distorted to make his voice unrecognisable.

Mr Sibahi's brother is the leader or "Emir" of Jabhat al-Nusra in the northern countryside of Homs province, while he has become a key figure in smuggling foreign volunteers and weapons across the border from Lebanon.

"I have sent in brothers from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, France and even from Britain," he said, with evident pride.

He pulled up an old photograph of himself and his brother in younger and more relaxed days, both in their late twenties with neatly shaven beards and their arms slung round one another's shoulders.

Then he showed a recent video in which his brother could be seen dressed in black, reading out a dictum in a voice modified to echo dramatically: "Jabhat Al Nusra is the sword of the Islamic land."

The recruits from overseas join his brother's group and train for operations against the regime, he said – linking up with other groups within Jabhat al-Nusra to conduct combined operations. "We are based in Homs, but our attacks are reaching Damascus," he said.

The group had spent several weeks preparing for the operation in which Shami "martyred" himself, he said. The attack had targeted the building that houses the Syrian military's general staff, located in central Damascus, on Sept 26.

"We struck early in the morning. Abu Hafez al Shami drove the car through the front entrance, blasting a hole in the building. Three others from our side went inside the building and kept shooting and shooting," said Mr Sibahi.

The group has also attacked the government's elite Air Force intelligence headquarters in Damascus, the state television building and security compounds in several of the capital's central districts. Three car bombs targeting the army's officers' club in Aleppo that caused widespread destruction and killed more than 48 people were later claimed by the group.

Foreign fighters, many of them veterans hardened by conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, were the first suicide bombers for Jabhat al-Nusra. But both Mr Sibahi and a "Adnan", a Syrian Salafist speaking by Skype from inside the besieged Old City of Homs, said many Syrians were now putting themselves forward to die in this way. "I would do this. It is an honour to be martyred for Allah," said Adnan.

According to Mr Sibahi, his brother formed his particular group of Jabhat al-Nusra fighters with al-Shami and others after being released from prison in Homs as part of an official amnesty early in the rebellion. They had originally been imprisoned for killing a drunk security officer who had urinated on the Koran, he claimed.

Like al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra harbours an ambition to create an Islamic state under Shariah law, not just in Syria but across the "Ummah" – all Arab nations, and ideally, the world.

Aspiring members must show their commitment to the beliefs, said Mr Sibahi. "Any pure Muslim can join Jabhat al-Nusra, but they have to be committed to Allah and fighting only for Allah," he said.

So demanding is the group of its members that it will not even tolerate them smoking. "If they are smokers and they die in Syria, how do we know that they died for God – and not because they were trying to go to reach a place to buy another packet?" he said.

Now it is steadily growing in size and influence. Videos posted to Islamist websites on the internet and identified with Jabhat al-Nusra's black flag logo show members jubilantly riding on tanks from a captured army base in Deir al-Zour, the northern part of the country over which rebels have almost complete control.

Rebels inside Syria say that videos like these, and the funding established through the global jihadist networks, are attracting more Syrian fighters to the group.

The growing strength of such extremist groups poses difficult challenges for the West as it inches closer to intervening in the Syrian conflict.

Syrian members of the group claim they are only fighting what they call the "near enemy", the Assad regime, and would not follow in al-Qaeda's footsteps by attacking western countries.

However, a video that helped publicise the group inside Syria is laced with anti-western sentiment, warning against foreign intervention in the country. "Is it reasonable to ask help from the criminals?" asks a voice-over commentary. "Have we forgotten that the West and the USA are the regime's partners in his crimes?"

And "Adnan" issued a thinly veiled warning of the backlash that might follow if the West intervened. "We don't want people to die here or in England," he said. "But since the Second World War, Americans and British have tried to come here to control us and force us to democracy. I don't think the British people want to feel the side effects on them of this war."

Some of the Islamist groups with which Jabhat al-Nusra works have adopted radical methods, including beheadings of their enemies, said Mr Sibahi, who said that he had witnessed this brutal form of execution on two occasions in Damascus.

"The first was of a spy for the regime, a Sunni," he said. "We found in his pockets a list of our names that he was giving to the government's intelligence officials. They used a machete to behead him.

"The second was another spy, he was an Alawite shabiha [government paramilitary], also in Damascus."

Unlike al-Qaeda, the group maintains that it does not conduct attacks against other sects and insists that the Syrian regime is wrong in its repeated warnings that Jabhat al-Nusra would "massacre" the ruling Alawite minority, or harm the Christians whose position in Syria has been protected by the regime.

In March Jabhat al-Nusra conducted a double car bombing on an Air Force intelligence building, killing 44 people in a part of the Damascus where many Christians live. Soon afterwards it published a statement on a jihadist website insisting that the intelligence base, and not the Christian residents, had been the sole target of the attack.

Mr Sibahi said he himself approved of this approach. "We have lived with our Christian brothers for centuries. There are millions of Alawites and Christians in Syria. We cannot just throw them into the sea," he said.

But, he added, the foreign jihadists disagreed. "Some of the foreign fighters hate the west and all non-Muslims," he said. "They want to attack churches. Personally, I don't like this. But this is how they were taught in Iraq and Chechnya."

Yesterday the United Nations' secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the conflict in Syria had reached "appalling heights of brutality", and international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned that the country was in danger of becoming a "failed state" if a political settlement was not reached soon.

But here was little sign of compromise on the ground, as Syrian government troops in Damascus mounted an offensive to cut-off rebel held suburbs from the city centre.

Tanks shelled southwestern and northeastern outskirts of the capital and troops fought to retain control of the crucial airport highway, an area that the rebels had sought to seize control of earlier in the week. The escalation also sparked a communications blackout with the internet and phone lines failing for more than two days

The growing strength and engagement of Jabhat al-Nusra, coupled with its desire to create a state run on Sharia law, is alarming the more secular fighters of the Free Syrian Army, who accuse it and others of hijacking a revolution that began as an uprising to demand a democratic system.

"We are not fighting Bashar al-Assad to go from living in an autocratic to a religious prison. We want to be able to live in Syria as freely; not under a dictator or the constraints of a strict interpretation of Islam," said the leader of one rebel group in the northern Syrian province of Idlib.

It also makes it harder to persuade the West to arm the rebels, in case weapons could fall into the hands of jihadists and are later be used against Western countries, or against Israel.

In certain parts of Syria, especially in the partly "liberated" northern areas of the country, the tension is palpable. Jihadist and secular rebel groups watch each other's military bases warily, unclasping the safety catches on their guns as they pass.

A leading rebel fighter made clear the way events may unfold. "The next war after Bashar al-Assad falls will be between us and the Islamists," he warned