Syria warns West against intervention

REBELS HAVE CAPTURED RAPPA MORE OR LESS.

Syria: regime accuses rebels of killing 25 in chemical weapons attack


Chemical weapons were suspected to have been deployed for the first time in
the Syrian civil war, it was claimed, as the warring sides accused each other of
a poison gas attack that killed at least 25 near Aleppo.
















560
315
TelegraphPlayer_9940453























By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs
Correspondent

7:43PM GMT 19 Mar 2013




Russia's foreign ministry said it had information that the rebel Free Syrian army units fighting
in the south-west of the second city had used chemical weapons captured from the
government in an attack on Assad forces.


The US said the incident was under investigation but rebuffed the accusation
the rebels used weapons of mass destruction.


An early morning rocket attack on government-held parts of Khan al-Assal, a
town on the south-western outskirts of Aleppo, left victims gasping for breath
and foaming at the mouth. A large proportion of the victims were government
soldiers.


The most credible report so far of the use of chemicals as a weapon of war in
the two year conflict came hours after the opposition chose a prime minister to
oversee areas freed from government control.


Experts in biological warfare said the incident was likely to have been a
"chemical leak" in which a store of industrial or agricultural chemicals was hit
by a missile. The type and scale of injuries did not indicate that a
sophisticated, highly-engineered device had been used by the regime.



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  Syria's opposition appoints Ghassan Hitto as
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  17 Mar 2013
  

^{A young boy is treated in an Aleppo hospital after what the Syrian
government claims was a chemical weapons attack. Picture: REUTERS/George
Ourfalian}

"It is not likely that this was mustard gas or other nerve agents from what
is being reported. There are a lot of nasty chemicals that could have been
released by accident that create the illusion that chemical weapons have been
deployed," said Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a director of SecureBio, a specialist
chemical warfare firm.

Moscow said the intensifying conflict was raising the likelihood that
chemical weapons would be turned on civilians.

"We are very seriously concerned by the fact that weapons of mass destruction
are falling into the hands of the rebels, which further worsens the situation in
Syria and elevates the confrontation in the country to a new level," the foreign
ministry statement said.

Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, reminded Bashar al-Assad's regime that
use of such materials was a "red line" that would trigger US intervention.



^{A little girl is treated in hospital in Aleppo after what the regime
claimed was a chemical weapons attack. Picture: Reuters}

"We have no evidence to substantiate the charge that the opposition has used
chemical weapons," he said. "We are deeply sceptical of a regime that has lost
all credibility and we would also warn the regime against making these kinds of
charges as any kind of pretext or cover for its use of chemical weapons."

Britain said the use or proliferation of chemical weapons in Syria would
demand a serious response from the international community. Omran al-Zoabi,
Syria's Information Minister, said the country's armed forces would never use
internationally banned weapons, after the government and rebels traded blame for
what both sides said was a chemical attack near Aleppo.



^{Medics transport a Syrian Army soldier
wounded in what they said was a chemical weapon attack near Aleppo (Reuters)}


"Syria's army leadership has stressed this before and we say it again, if we
had chemical weapons we would never use them due to moral, humanitarian and
political reasons," Mr Zoabi said.

"Our armed forces absolutely could not use, not now, nor at any time, nor in
the past, any weapon banned by international law."

The allegation emerged as the Syria National Coalition (SNC) picked Ghassan
Hitto, an exile who ran an IT company and was involved in Islamic activism in
the US, as the prime minister charged with establishing services in the north.


The SNC has been under pressure from its Western and Arab backers to form an
interim government that would attract weapons and humanitarian aid from the
international community.

But there were divisions over the choice of Mr Hitto, who won 35 out of 49
votes recorded.



^{Medics attend to a man at a hospital in
Khan al-Assal in the northern Aleppo province (AFP/Getty Images)}

Some fear his lack of military experience will perpetuate the divisions
between politicians and soldiers that has granted the initiative to Islamic
fundamentalists.

But the commander of the armed wing said his officers would recognise the
political leadership provided by Mr Hitto.

"Any institutions not following this government would be considered to be
acting illegitimately and would be prosecuted," Gen Selim Idriss said.

Meanwhile a US official said Baghdad is "looking the other way" as Iran sends
military equipment through Iraqi airspace to the Assad regime.



^{Syrian citizens carry an injured man
from a damaged building that was hit by a Syrian forces airstrike in the
al-Marjeh neighborhood of Aleppo (AP)}

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Last Updated: 7:31PM 21/03/2013



A suicide bombing at a Syrian mosque has killed a senior cleric and supporter of President Bashar al Assad, state television has said.

Mohammed al Buti - imam of the historic Ummayyad Mosque - was killed when a bomber blew himself up during packed evening prayers at the Iman Mosque in Damascus.
At least 15 people died and dozens more were injured, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It is unclear if the explosion was caused by a car bomb or a mortar shell.
TV footage showed wounded people and bodies with severed limbs on the blood-stained floor of the mosque, which has since been sealed off by the military.
The Sunni preacher's death is a big blow to Syria's embattled minority Alawite leader, who is fighting mainly Sunni rebels seeking his ouster.
The 84-year-old imam has been a vocal supporter the Assad regime since the early days of his father and predecessor, the late President Hafez Assad.
In recent months, Syrian TV has carried his sermons from mosques in Damascus live every week. He also has a regular religious TV program.
In one of his televised speeches, Dr Buti had described the opposition to Mr Assad as "scum". He also used his position to call on Syrians to join the armed forces and help Mr Assad defeat his rivals in the country's two-year-long rebellion.
He was remembered for a sermon he gave early in the conflict, in which he told the president he had had a vision that Syria would "receive God's wrath", but would survive.

• Related Stories:
  
• Syria Accuses Opposition Of Chemical Attack
  
• Syria Anniversary: EU Rethinks Arms Embargo
  

Syria Accuses Opposition Of Chemical Attack


Syria's information minister claims the firing of a
chemical weapon is the "first act" by the opposition interim government.


4:23pm UK,
Tuesday 19 March 2013



Video: Disputes Over Syria Chemical
Attack
Enlarge

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  Syria's state media has accused opposition fighters of firing a
  chemical weapon in the north of the country, killing up to 25 people.
  
  The opposition quickly denied the report and claimed regime forces fired the
  weapon.
  
  Neither of the accusations could immediately be verified but Russia's foreign
  ministry accused the opposition of being responsible and said that it
  represented an "extremely dangerous" development.
  
  But White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US had seen no evidence that
  rebels had used chemicals.
  
  The report by the official SANA news agency marks the first time the
  government has accused forces seeking to topple President Bashar al Assad of
  using chemical weapons.
  
  It said "terrorists" fired a rocket "containing chemical materials" into the
  Khan al Assal area in the northern province of Aleppo on Tuesday. The regime
  regularly uses the term terrorists to refer to rebels fighting Mr Assad's
  forces.
  A Free Syrian Army member jumps off a
  destroyed military tank
  It quoted the government's information minister Omran al Zoabi as saying the
  attack was a "dangerous escalation" in the violent conflict.
  
  He said the firing of the weapon is the "first act" by the opposition interim
  government announced in Istanbul.
  
  Mr Zoabi added that Turkey and Qatar, which have supported rebels fighting to
  overthrow President Assad, bore "legal, moral and political responsibility" for
  the attack, state television reported.
  
  An activist in the area said the opposition had recently seized much of Khan
  al Assal, including a facility that housed a military academy.
  
  The Aleppo Media Centre, affiliated with the opposition, said there were
  cases of "suffocation and poison" among civilians in Khan al Assal after a
  surface-to-surface missile was fired at the area.
  
  It said in a statement the cases were "most likely" caused by regime forces'
  use of "poisonous gases".
  
  SANA said around 25 people, most of them civilians, were killed and up to 100
  more wounded.
  
  An activist in Aleppo province who identified himself as Yassin Abu Raed, not
  his real name, confirmed the attack and said there were at least 40 cases of
  suffocation in the area and several deaths.
  
  But he said no details were available as casualties were being taken to a
  government-controlled area in Aleppo.
  
  President Assad, fighting a two-year uprising against his rule, is widely
  believed to have a chemical arsenal.
  
  Syrian officials have neither confirmed nor denied having a chemical weapons
  capability but have said that if it existed it would be used to defend against
  foreign aggression, not against Syrians.
  
  Western nations have warned Damascus against any use of chemical weapons and
  have also expressed concern about stockpiles falling into the hands of militant
  groups.
  
• Related stories
  

It is estimated that there are over 4 million refugees in various Countries and rising. They have nothing to go back home to because their homes have been destroyed , who is going to pay for the reconstruction when this war is over?

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Syria regime accused of new chemical attack


Syrian opposition campaigners said that forces loyal to the regime of
President Bashar al-Assad had fired what they said were chemical weapons at
rebels surrounding an army base in the town of Adra on the outskirts of Damascus









Syrian rebels have surrounded an
army base in the town of Adra on the outskirts of Damascus Photo: AFP





Reuters in Amman

6:44AM GMT 25 Mar 2013




The attack, from multiple rocket launchers, killed two fighters and wounded
23, the campaigners said.


"Doctors are describing the chemical weapon used as phosphorus that hits the
nervous system and causes imbalance and loss of consciousness," said Mohammad
al-Doumani, an activist in the nearby town of Douma, where the wounded were
transported.


"The two fighters were very close to where the rockets exploded and they died
swiftly. The rest are being treated with Atropine," he said.


There was no independent confirmation of the attack, which follows the death
of 26 people in a rocket attack near the city of Aleppo last week. The
authorities and rebels accused each other of firing a missile carrying chemicals
there.

Syria: A training ground for European jihadists

25 March 2013
Jyllands-Posten, De Morgen, De Standaard


Jyllands-Posten, 25 March 2013
When armed rebellion began in Syria two years ago, there were fears that European Muslims interested in jihad would go there to train to fight a holy war. If the headline in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, "Youthful gang members are going to war in the name of Islam," is to be believed, that time has come.
According to the Danish Secret Services —

… several members of the most violent gangs of immigrants in Copenhagen are currently in Syria where they have gone in order to participate in jihad. This may turn hardened criminals into hardline fundamentalists. "This is a new trend. These people are already potentially dangerous and when they return home, they have access to arms and explosives. It is very worrisome to see these types of ties forming between Islam and criminals," says the head of the Danish Secret Services.

If the Danes are concerned, the Belgians also have their share of woes. In Europe, Belgium has become the "primary supplier" of youth going to Syria for the jihad, reports Belgian daily De Morgen. The paper cites a terrorism expert who says that "in Belgium, there is still a great potential for finding combatants" but "most will return disillusioned" —

… they have heroic visions in their heads and expect to become warriors but most of them will not even have weapons. They will be deployed either to build barricades or to man an observation post or as cannon fodder.

According to another Belgian daily De Standaard, the Sharia4Belgium group, which was officially disbanded at the end of 2012, plays an important role in the recruitment of young jihadists in Belgium for the Syrian rebellion.

• 
  
  

Syria: Car Bomb Explodes In Damascus


Schoolchildren are reported to be among the dead after a
car bomb exploded at the heart of the city's business district.


5:41pm UK,
Monday 08 April 2013

The attack is the latest by rebels on the government-held
capital

• 
  
  
  
  A car bomb has exploded in the business district of the Syrian
  capital killing 15 people and leaving at least 47 injured.
  
  A government official said the explosion occurred at one of the capital's
  biggest roundabouts in Sabaa Bahrat, the city's main business district, which
  houses the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance.
  
  A resident described the explosion as the biggest she had heard in the
  capital and said that large plumes of smoke were rising from the
  area.
  A car bombing at the Baath Party headquarter
  in February
  Footage on state television showed scenes of devastation, with plumes of
  thick black smoke billowing up around buildings in the area, and bodies being
  pulled from wreckage.
  
  According to one broadcaster, the bombing happened near to a school and some
  of the dead were believed to be children.
  
  It is the latest attack on government-held Damascus by Syrian rebels who have
  increased the number of mortar and car bomb attacks on the city in recent
  months.
  Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover from
  snipers in Damascus yesterday
  On March 21 an explosion ripped through a mosque in the city killing at least
  49 people.
  
  In February, a car bombing near the ruling Baath Party
  headquarters killed 53 people and injured 200 others. It was the
  deadliest attack in nine months.
  
  The attack comes as the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said that he had a
  team of chemical weapons inspectors ready to deploy to Syria within 24 hours to
  investigate claims of chemical weapon use by both sides.
  
  Speaking after meeting with the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition
  of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, Mr Ban said: "The use of chemical weapons, by
  any side under any circumstances, would constitute a crime against
  humanity."
  
  Mr Ban said he is waiting for agreement from the Syrian government to allow
  him to send the team, which is currently awaiting orders in Cyprus, and urged
  Bashar Assad's regime to be "flexible" so the investigation could be launched as
  soon as possible.
  
  Both the rebels and the government have claimed chemical weapons
  have been used in attacks and that each has the capability to deploy the devices
  in the ongoing conflict.
  
  The Syrian-based human rights group, Violations
  Documentation Centre, reported that 9,000 government troops have
  been killed in the two years of fighting between President Bashar Assad's forces
  and the Free Syrian Army of rebels trying to overthrow him.
  
  More than 70,000 people have died since the Syrian uprising
  

Syria Airstrikes 'Targeted Civilians'


Hospitals and people waiting in breadlines were unlawfully
targeted by government forces fighting rebels, a watchdog claims.


2:31am UK,
Thursday 11 April 2013

Smoke billows amid fighting between government forces and
rebels in Aleppo

• 
  
• ;
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
  
  
  The Syrian Air Force has been accused of repeatedly carrying out
  indiscriminate airstrikes against civilians.
  
  
  A new report by the campaign group Human Rights Watch says in some cases government
  forces deliberately targeted civilians from the air.
  
  
  HRW said the attacks were a serious violation of international human rights
  law and that those responsible were guilty of war crimes.
  
  
  The report is based on visits to 50 government air strike sites in
  opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo, Idlib and Latakia, plus more than 140
  interviews with witnesses and victims.
  
  
  HRW said at least 152 civilians were killed in the air strikes they
  documented.
  
  
  A network of local Syrian anti-government activists put the number at 4,300
  civilians killed in air strikes across Syria since July 2012, although this
  cannot be independently substantiated.
  A Syrian man walks amid destruction in the
  northern Syrian city of Aleppo
  
  Ole Solvang, from Human Rights Watch, said: "In village after village we
  found a civilian population terrified by their country's own air force."
  
  
  Mr Ole, who is an emergencies researcher and visited the sites, interviewing
  many of the victims and witnesses, added: "These illegal airstrikes killed and
  injured many civilians and sowed a path of destruction, fear and
  displacement."
  
  
  HRW said it has gathered information which indicates government forces
  deliberately targeted four bakeries where civilians were waiting in bread lines
  a total of eight times. It claims other bakeries were hit by artillery
  attacks.
  
  
  The report said there were aerial attacks on at least two hospitals. During
  visits by HRW, staff said the hospitals had been attacked a total of seven
  times.
  
  
  HRW concluded in 44 other cases that airstrikes were unlawful under rules of
  engagement. It said methods used included unguided bombs dropped by high-flying
  helicopters which could not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
  
  
  The report said civilians may have been deliberately targeted but more
  information is needed before that can be stated conclusively.
  
  
  The campaign group said it only visited sites in opposition-controlled areas
  in northern Syria because the government had denied it access to the rest of the
  country.
  
  
  It said whilst further investigation was needed, interviews with witnesses
  and victims of airstrikes in other parts of the country indicated a similar
  pattern of unlawful attacks had taken place.
  

Damascus, Syria
Damascus, Syria,
was flourishing a couple of thousand years
before Rome was founded
in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously
inhabited city in
existence.
What a terrible tragedy that this uprising in Syria has caused over 70,000 civilian deaths and the decimation of the infrastructure of a once beautiful Country.....when will it all end.?

14 April 2013 Last updated at 15:40





Syria conflict: Government air strikes in north 'kill
16'



Continue
reading the main story

Syria
conflict

• Proxy war heats up
  
• From peace to war
  
• Sides entrenched
  
• Arms
  debate
  

At least 16 people have been killed
in north-east Syria by government air strikes, activists say.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR) said the strikes
targeted rebel-held areas in Hasaka province around the mainly Kurdish village
of Haddad.

The dead included three women and two children, the group said.

The UN estimates that some 70,000 people have died in the two-year
conflict.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the anti-government SOHR, told AFP news
agency that a group of rebels used an area near the site of Sunday's air strike
as a gathering place, but that a group of houses some distance away had been
hit.

SOHR monitors human rights violations on both sides of the conflict via a
network of contacts across Syria.

An activist in the area, who gave his name only as Abu Qasem, told AP news
agency by telephone that there were "plumes of black smoke rising over the town,
with continuous army fire from ground and air attacks".

The bombing came a day after the observatory said at least 18 people were
killed in an air-strike in the town of Saraqeb in the north-western province of
Idlib.

Separately, the state Sana news agency said three journalists working for
state TV in Aleppo province were wounded in a car bombing on Sunday.

March was the bloodiest month yet in the protracted conflict, with more than
6,000 people killed, a third of them civilians, according to SOHR.

Syria: Britain funds rebels overseeing aid inside occupied areas


Britain has stepped directly into the Syrian crisis, funding scores of
civilian rebels to oversee hundreds of millions of pounds in aid deliveries
inside occupied areas.








A Syrian man distributes bread
to people in the Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood of the northern city of
Aleppo Photo:
AFP/GETTY






By Ruth Sherlock, Gaziantep,
Turkey

8:00PM BST 14 Apr 2013




The government wants to counter growing fears that
militant jihadists are the only force capable of establishing a civilian
administration in areas no longer under regime control – and by extension in any
future "free Syria".


Among the disasters to have struck rebel-held areas and which its
multi-million pound aid package is trying to counter are outbreaks of typhoid,
cholera and other diseases in Aleppo, as well as widespread looting.


In one glaring statistic showing the breakdown of order, aid workers and
government officials told The Daily Telegraph that up to 60 per cent of earlier
aid sent by the outside world had been stolen by rebel forces, squandered, or
sold for weapons.


Britain is putting its weight behind a special Assistance Co-ordination Unit
set up by the internationally recognised opposition, the Syrian National
Coalition, to oversee food, health and other aid supplies in areas notionally
under its sway.


It has provided funds and training to establish 90 ACU employees to monitor
and coordinate the aid. It has also paid for offices and communications
equipment.



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"Whatever we want, the British are giving it to us," the ACU's humanitarian
coordinator, Anwar Banoud, told The Telegraph.

Turkey has banned international NGOs from using its border to enter Syria,
leaving them reliant on local activists from the badly divided rebels to
distribute the means of life to the estimated 3.4 million people now dependent
on outside support.

"Many of these groups have used the aid to empower themselves and not the
people that need it," said one Turkish official.

The ACU was set up in a response, but aid workers say that on its own it
lacks sufficient expertise.

"We have people on the border counting what is going in," said Wissam Tariff,
its executive director. "We have been working silently to build trust with local
community. Now is the time to announce ourselves."

Mr Banoud said: "We are the channel through which aid passes. All the
international non-governmental organisations need a system to work with. We are
that system."

Diplomats admitted that the international aid, put by one official at 790
million euros (£675 million) from the EU alone, had political ends.

If citizens in rebel-held areas associated aid with the National Coalition,
it would win "hearts and minds", buying legitimacy in its bid to become an
alternative government, despite its notoriously fractious leadership.

The main obstacle to broader western backing for the opposition is the
growing strength of Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group which last week announced
its loyalty to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda.

It has begun establishing basic administration and Sharia courts, often in
conjunction with other Islamist groups.

Many residents say they do not support the jihadists' ideology but fear their
lives would become even worse without them. After a year without government,
towns are becoming overwhelmed by rubbish, and by power and water shortages.


"The regime could yet win in Aleppo – not because of air strikes, but because
of cholera," said one ACU official. The disease is spreading across the city.


Later this month trucks, garbage containers and other equipment are being
delivered to Aleppo to launch an ACU-monitored waste management project.

A plan is also under way to bring heavy equipment to northern Syria and to
train firefighters as well as police.

A spokesman for the Department of International Development said: "UK support
is helping to increase the capacity of the ACU to work effectively with the UN
and other aid agencies in identifying needs inside Syria and coordinating
support from international donors to get aid through."

Western leaders hope such projects and the Islamists' own tactical errors
will see the tide turn against groups like Jabhat al-Nusra.

"When we in Syria launched our jihad against the sectarian regime, we did not
do so for the sake of any allegiance to a man here or another there," read a
statement by the Syrian Islamic Liberation Front, an umbrella group of other
Islamist brigades.

"Pledging allegiance to someone who does not understand our reality does not
serve our people or nation."

Syria crisis: UN issues rare joint appeal for action


More than a million people have
been left homeless by the conflict
Continue
reading the main story

Syria
conflict

• Proxy war heats up
  
• From peace to war
  
• Sides entrenched
  
• Arms
  debate
  

The heads of five major UN agencies
have issued a rare joint appeal to the international community to do much more
to end "cruelty and carnage" in Syria.

In a statement, the chiefs of the WHO, Unicef, Ocha, WFP and UNHCR urged
political leaders to use their influence to solve the crisis.

They said they were appealing for "something more important than funds".

The UN says at least 70,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million left
homeless since the conflict began.

The agencies criticised what they described as "an insufficient sense of
urgency among the governments and parties that could put a stop to the cruelty
and carnage in Syria".

Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

Summon and use your influence, now, to save the Syrian
people and save the region from disaster”

End Quote
They said that as humanitarian organisations, they had
been doing all they could to help those affected by the fighting by providing
shelter, food and other basic necessities, "but it has not nearly been enough".


"The needs are growing while our capacity to do more is diminishing," the
statement said.

The groups said that because of insecurity and funding difficulties, "we are
precariously close, perhaps within weeks, to suspending some humanitarian
support".
'Enough!'
Earlier this month, one of the agencies, children's charity Unicef, said it
would soon be unable to provide "life-saving" aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan
and other countries due to funds running out.

About 385,500 Syrians have fled to Jordan since the violence began in March
2011, and the charity said the number was likely to triple by the end of the
year.

Unicef says it has only received $12m (£7.8m), or 19%, of the $57m needed to
fund its operations in Jordan.

But the joint statement said the latest appeal was "not for more resources,
needed as they are".

"We are appealing for something more important than funds. To all involved in
this brutal conflict and to all governments that can influence them:

"In the name of all those who have so suffered, and the many more whose
futures hang in the balance: Enough! Summon and use your influence, now, to save
the Syrian people and save the region from disaster. "

Perhaps we should be careful about which side we are actually backing.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/3/islamic-cleric-decrees-it-ok-syrian-rebels-rape-wo/#.UWVspqcyLOc.email

Salafi Sheikh Yasir al-Ajlawni, who hails from Jordan but who lived in Damascus for 17 years, sent a message via YouTube: It’s a “legitimate fatwa” for Muslims waging war against Mr. Assad and trying to put in place a Sharia government to “capture and have sex with” Alawites and other non-Sunni, non-Muslim women, Human Events reports. Mr. Assad is part of the Alawites sect.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/3/islamic-cleric-decrees-it-ok-syrian-rebels-rape-wo/#.UWVspqcyLOc.email#ixzz2QeJaHrmy
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[quote="Iris"]Perhaps we should be careful about which side we are actually backing.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/apr/3/islamic-cleric-decrees-it-ok-syrian-rebels-rape-wo/#.UWVspqcyLOc.email

[quote]Salafi Sheikh Yasir al-Ajlawni, who hails from Jordan but who lived in Damascus for 17 years, sent a message via YouTube: It’s a “legitimate fatwa” for Muslims waging war against Mr. Assad and trying to put in place a Sharia government to “capture and have sex with” Alawites and other non-Sunni, non-Muslim women, Human Events reports. Mr. Assad is part of the Alawites sect.

I think Iraq is a prime example , has democracy prevailed ??? Thousand of British and American Servicemen lost their lives, damage to the infrastructure immense , yet is Iraq a democratic Country.?

The same will befall Syria although thankfully the U.S. and Britain havn't sent troops into battle.

Syria: US Offers Rebels $123m Non-Lethal Aid


Body armour, night vision goggles and communication
equipment are to be among $123m worth of non-lethal aid for Syrian rebels.


8:45am UK,
Sunday 21 April 2013



Video: Hague: Syria Arms Embargo To Be
Discussed
Enlarge






The United States is providing Syrian rebels with $123m (£80m) in
new non-lethal aid that may include body armour and other supplies.

The money will double the amount of non-lethal assistance to the Syrian
opposition, as well as increase humanitarian aid.

The aid could include armoured vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced
communications equipment.

Foreign ministers from the main supporters of the rebels trying to topple the
Syrian government have been meeting in Istanbul to increase pressure on Syrian
President Bashar al Assad.

The United Nations estimates the fighting in Syria has killed more than
70,000 people.

"The stakes in Syria couldn't be more clear," said US Secretary of State John
Kerry.

"Chemical weapons, the slaughter of people by ballistic missiles and other
weapons of huge destruction, the potential of a whole country ... being torn
apart into enclaves, the potential of sectarian violence.
John Kerry meets Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul
"This bloodshed needs to stop and that's what brought us here tonight on
Saturday and a very early Sunday morning to talk about the possibilities for
peace and transition."

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers said they welcomed the Syrian
National Coalition's "firm rejection of extremism and its commitment not to use
chemical weapons".

They cited those commitments in agreeing to enhance and expand support for
all coalition institutions.

The foreign ministers said they recognised the "need to change the balance of
power on the ground" and welcomed the additional pledges and commitments to
further increase the support to the Supreme Military Council.

The head of the council provided a military briefing during the meeting.

Syrian opposition leader Moaz al Khatib said: "Our revolution is for the
entire Syrian people."

US President Barack Obama has said he has no plans to send weapons or give
lethal aid to the rebels, despite pressure from Congress, some administration
advisers and appeals from the Syrian opposition leadership.

Since February, the US has shipped food and medical supplies directly to the
Free Syrian Army, but Mr Obama recently expanded the aid to include defensive
military equipment.

Mr Kerry's announcement on Saturday was the first under that new
authorisation.

So far, the US has provided an estimated $117m in non-lethal aid to the
Syrian opposition.

Today, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel heads to Israel in a week-long trip
to the Middle East that will be dominated by the Syrian conflict as well as the
Iran's nuclear programme.

23 April 2013 Last updated at 12:36

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Syria has used chemical weapons, Israeli military
says


Rebels and government have
accused each other of using chemical weapons in Khan al-Assal
Continue
reading the main story

Syria
conflict

• Proxy war heats up
  
• From peace to war
  
• Sides entrenched
  
• Arms
  debate
  

A senior Israeli military official
has said Syrian forces have used chemical weapons against rebels several
times.

Brig Gen Itai Brun said military intelligence believed the nerve agent sarin
had probably been used "in a number of incidents".

Syria's government and rebels have accused each other of using chemical
weapons. A UN team is trying to enter Syria to investigate.

The US has said it would not tolerate the use of chemical weapons in
Syria.

Speaking at a security conference in Jerusalem, Gen Brun said: "To the best
of our professional understanding, the regime has made use of deadly chemical
weapons against the rebels in a number of incidents in the past."

He said photographs of victims foaming at the mouth and with constricted
pupils and other unspecified symptoms "provide evidence that deadly chemical
weapons have been used".

"Which chemical weapons? Apparently sarin. The regime is also using chemical
weapons that neutralise and are not fatal," he said.

Continue reading the main story
Syria's chemical weapons

• The CIA believes Syria has had a chemical weapons programme "for years and
  already has a stockpile of CW agents which can be delivered by aircraft,
  ballistic missile, and artillery rockets"
  
• Syria is believed to possess mustard gas and sarin, a highly toxic nerve
  agent
  
• The CIA also believes that Syria has attempted to develop more toxic and
  more persistent nerve agents, such as VX gas
  
• A report citing Turkish, Arab and Western intelligence agencies put Syria's
  stockpile at approximately 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons, stored in 50 towns
  and cities
  
• Syria has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) or ratified the
  Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)
  

Sources: CSIS, RUSI

There has so far not been any confirmation that chemical
weapons have been used during Syria's two-year-old conflict although there have
been numerous accusations.

Last month, the Syrian government and rebels accused each other of using
chemical weapons in an incident in Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province.

A UN team is waiting for permission from Syria to enter the country to
investigate the claims.

Syria is believed to possess large amounts of chemical weapons and there has
been heightened concern among the international community in recent months about
the safety of the stockpiles.

On Monday, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said on a visit to Israel that
the use of chemical weapons by Syria against its people would be a
"game-changer".

His remarks echoed a warning by President Obama in December that Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad would face "consequences" if he used such weapons.

Syria has repeatedly said it would never use chemical weapons against its own
citizens.

My friend has family in Kiryat Shmonah, right on the border of three countries - Israel, Syria and the Lebanon. Wounded Syrians have been trying to get across the border into Israel because they know that the hospital there will treat them. The hospital is getting swamped and Netanyahu has told the hospital administration not to accept any more wounded Syrians, but the staff are doing it anyway.

The whole of the Middle East is in turmoil Iris and now that Hague and Obama are going to arm the rebels who knows what the next stage will be??I just hope no troops are sent in let Russia and China do something for a change. Syria is wrecked, a beautiful Country destroyed and for what??? Look what happened to Iraq, is it any better off for being liberated. ? Look what's happening in Afghanistan, Burma . Egypt etc.

Syria: Minaret Of Famous Mosque Destroyed


Each side in Syria's civil war blames the other as the
centuries-old minaret of the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo is reduced to rubble.


8:33pm UK,
Wednesday 24 April 2013

How the minaret looked before it was
destroyed

• 
  
• 
  

The minaret of a landmark 12th century mosque has collapsed in
the clashes between Syrian rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al
Assad.

The minaret was in the heart of Aleppo's Old City, a United Nations world
heritage site, and stood in the Umayyad Mosque.

Fighting has ravaged the Old City's stone-vaulted alleyways for months and
much of the historic Sunni mosque has been greatly damaged.
The once-soaring tower dominated Aleppo's
landscape
Each party has blamed the other for destroying the minaret.

Syria's state news agency SANA said rebels from the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al
Nusra group had blown it up, while anti-government activists said a Syrian army
tank fired a shell that destroyed the once-soaring stone tower.

The AP news agency said an amateur video by the anti-government Aleppo Media
Centre activist group shows the mosque's archways, charred from earlier
fighting, and a pile of rubble where the minaret used to be.

The mosque fell into rebel hands earlier this year while the area around it
remains contested, with Syrian troops only about 200 metres away from the
compound.

The destruction in Aleppo, in the north of the country, follows a similar
incident in the southern city of Daraa, where the minaret of the historic Omari
Mosque was destroyed more than a week ago.

Syria's civil war, now in its third year, has cost more than 70,000 lives and
has also damaged or destroyed many archaeological and architectural
treasures.

26 April 2013 Last updated at 15:19

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'Growing evidence' of chemical weapons use in Syria -
UK


Comments (973)



The footage of an alleged chemical weapon attack was posted on
YouTube

Continue
reading the main story

Syria
conflict

• Syria's chemical stockpile
  
• Assessing claims
  
• Held for ransom
  
• Unrecognisable
  

There is "limited but growing"
evidence that Syrian government troops have used chemical weapons, UK Prime
Minister David Cameron says.

"It is extremely serious, this is a war crime," Mr Cameron told the BBC.

On Thursday, the White House said that US intelligence agencies believed
"with varying degrees of confidence" that Syria had used the nerve agent sarin
on a "small scale".

Syrian officials have denounced the allegations as "lies".

Opposition activists and state media meanwhile report fierce fighting between
government troops and rebels in a number of suburbs of the capital,
Damascus.
'Tested positive'
Mr Cameron said he agreed with the White House's warning that chemical
weapons use would be a "red line" for possible intervention.

However, the US has said that this latest intelligence does not represent
proof of chemical weapons use.




David Cameron: "It is extremely serious, this is a war
crime"

The White House's assessment was made in letters to lawmakers on Thursday
signed by Miguel Rodriguez, White House director of the office of legislative
affairs.

"Our intelligence community does assess, with varying degrees of confidence,
that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria,
specifically, the chemical agent sarin," one of the letters said.

No details were given of where or when sarin had been used.

The letter added: "Given the stakes involved, and what we have learned from
our own recent experiences, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient -
only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of
certainty will guide our decision-making."

The phrase "varying degrees of confidence" is normally used to reflect
differences in opinion within the intelligence community.

Speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, US Defence Secretary Chuck
Hagel said the use of sarin "violates every convention of warfare".

Continue reading the main story

Analysis Mark
Mardell North America editor

---

Already US Republicans are saying the red lines have been crossed, that the
Assad regime will feel emboldened if there is not action, that the investigation
must not be outsourced to the United Nations.

It is clear President Obama doesn't want to go to war in Syria. He regards it
as too complex, too difficult, too uncertain.

American military action there would have a huge impact on the perception of
America in the region - confirming every image he wants to change.

Yet the US is, perhaps, moving slowly and cautiously toward taking action.
There is no sense of a time scale and no real certainty about what might be
done.

This is very Obama: the caution, the desire to bring allies along, the
reluctance to rush to judgment.

• Read more from
  Mark
  

The UK Foreign Office echoed the US claims, saying it
had "limited but persuasive information from various sources" of chemical
weapons use in Syria.

It is understood that Britain obtained samples from inside Syria that have
been tested by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down,
Wiltshire.

"Material from inside Syria tested positive for sarin," a Foreign Office
spokesman said.

On Friday, Syrian official Sharif Shehadeh told the Associated Press the US
allegations were "lies", saying that similar US accusations about Iraq's
possession of weapons of mass destruction had proved untrue.

Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad also dismissed the accusations
in an earlier interview with Reuters,

Syria is believed to possess large quantities of chemical weapons and there
has been heightened concern among the international community in recent months
about the safety of the stockpiles.

Although there have been numerous accusations, there has so far not been any
confirmation that chemical weapons have been used during Syria's two-year-old
conflict.

Anthony Loyd, a journalist for the Times newspaper, told the BBC about the
aftermath of one suspected chemical weapons attack earlier this month in the
northern city of Aleppo.




Journalist Anthony Loyd visited the victims in hospital

Video shown to him by doctors treating the affected patients "showed pretty
clearly that they had been gassed", Mr Loyd says.

None of the patients appeared to have been hit by shrapnel but were frothing
at the mouth, had dilated pupils and several other symptoms suggesting the use
of chemical weapons, he added.

BBC world affairs correspondent, Nick Childs, says the use of chemical
weapons has long been perceived as especially horrific because they are seen as
particularly inhumane and indiscriminate, not least in the wake of public
revulsion over their deployment during World War I, which led to efforts to
outlaw them.

US President Barack Obama warned in December that Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad would face "consequences" if he used such weapons.

The letters released on Thursday were sent to powerful US senators John
McCain and Carl Levin.

In response, Senator McCain told reporters a "red line has been crossed" and
recommended arming the opposition, a step the White House has been reluctant to
take.

High-profile Democratic lawmakers also called for action to help secure
Syria's stockpile of chemical arms and increase aid to the opposition, including
the possible imposition of a no-fly zone.

Continue reading the main story
What is Sarin?

• One of a group of nerve gas agents invented by German scientists as part of
  Hitler's preparations for World War II
  
• Huge secret stockpiles built up by superpowers during Cold War
  
• 20 times more deadly than cyanide: A drop the size of a pin-head can kill a
  person
  
• Called "the poor man's atomic bomb" due to large number of people that can
  be killed by a small amount
  
• Kills by crippling the nervous system through blocking the action of an
  enzyme that removes acetylcholine - a chemical that transmits signals down the
  nervous system
  
• Can only be manufactured in a laboratory, but does not require very
  sophisticated equipment
  
• Very dangerous to manufacture. Contains four main ingredients, including
  phosphorus trichloride
  

• Syria's chemical weapons
  stockpile
  

On Friday Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Zev Elkin
hinted that the US should consider military action to "take control" of Syria's
chemical weapons.

"It is clear that if the United States wants to and the international
community wants to, they could act - inter alia, militarily... And then all the
fears... will not be relevant," Mr Elkin told Israeli radio.

Mr Cameron said he was "keen for us to do more" in helping opposition forces
in Syria.

"We want our allies and partners to do more with us to shape that opposition
to make sure we're supporting people with good motives," he said.

Meanwhile, opposition activists reported fierce fighting in the Barzeh
district of northern Damascus on Friday, saying that the army and pro-government
militiamen had pushed into the area backed by tank fire.

The state-run Sana news agency said troops had killed a number of rebels in
fighting in the Jobar and Zamalka districts of the capital.

According to the UN, at least 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian
conflict.

Syria's government and rebels have accused each other of using chemical
weapons. A UN team is trying to enter Syria to investigate.
=============
There was a photo of a rebel with white stuff coming out of his mouth but Obama has been careful not to accuse Syria until he receives a full report. He does not want to commit more Troops to fight in the Middle East and hoping the U.N. will use other Countries to enter Syria if it is established that chemical weapons are being used.

Syria: Al-Qaeda's battle for control of Assad's chemical weapons plant


A battle near a factory believed to be one of the Syrian regime's main
chemical weapons plants shows just how close such weapons could be to falling
into al-Qaeda's hands, writes Colin Freeman.








A location widely reported as a
chemical weapons facility in Al Safirah Photo: Getty
Images






By Colin Freeman

6:00PM BST 27 Apr 2013

141 Comments




Set amid the rolling plains outside Aleppo, the town of al-Safira looks just
like another vicious battleground in Syria's civil war. On one side are
lightly-armed rebels, on the other are government troops, and in between is a
hotly-contested no-man's land of bombed-out homes and burned-out military
vehicles.


The fight for al-Safira is no ordinary turf war, however, and the prize can
be found behind the perimeter walls of the heavily-guarded military base on the
edge of town. Inside what looks like a drab industrial estate is one of Syria's
main facilities for producing chemical weapons - and among its products is
sarin, the lethal nerve gas that the regime is now feared to be deploying in its
bid to cling to power.


Last week, Washington said for the first time that it had evidence of Sarin
being used in "small" amounts during combat operations in Syria, a move that
President Barack Obama has long warned is a "red line" that President Bashar
al-Assad must not cross.


But as the West now ponders its response, the fear is not just that President
Assad might start using his chemical arsenal in much greater quantities. Of
equal concern is the prospect of it falling into even less benign hands - a risk
that the stand-off at al Safira illustrates clearly.






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^{Video purports to show victims of chemical attack in Aleppo}

For among the rebel lines in al-Safira flutters the black flag of the
al-Nusra Brigade, the jihadist group that recently declared its allegiance to
al-Qaeda. Known for their fighting prowess honed in Iraq, they are now taking
the lead in nearly every frontline in the Syrian war, and earlier this month,
pushed to within just over a mile of al-Safira, only to for the Syrian troops to
regain the ground last week.

Should the tide of battle turn in al-Nusra's favour again, though, there is
the possibility of the West's worst-case scenario unfolding - Syria's weapons of
mass destruction falling into al-Qaeda's control. More than 500 times as toxic
as cyanide and deadly in milligram-sized doses, a single canister of sarin could
unleash carnage if released on a Tube network in London or New York.

Such grim possibilities are now uppermost in the minds of Western officials
as they try to work out how to prevent Syria's vast chemical stockpiles being
unleashed, be it by President Assad on his own people, or by his more extreme
opponents on the outside world.

Yet it is not just at al-Safira that the danger lies. As the Syrian uprising
has intensified in the past year, the regime has been secretly moving its
stockpiles to weapons dumps all over the country, much of which it barely
controls anymore. Nobody knows, therefore, when or where a cache might be
captured by the opposition's more militant factions.

"The West may be saying: 'A red line has been crossed, let's do something'.
But the question is what exactly can they do?" said Dina Esfandiary, an expert
on Syria's WMD programme with the International Institute for Strategic Studies,
the London-based defence and security think-tank. "Syria's stockpiles of
chemical weapons are huge, and President Assad has done a very good job of
hiding them all over the country."

The Syrian regime's chemical warchest is indeed vast - the biggest in the
Middle East, and the fourth largest in the world. Started in the 1970s ranks
with help from Syria's Cold War sponsor, Russia, today its programme includes
facilities for making mustard gas, sarin and another nerve agent, VX, which
stays lethal for much longer after dispersal.

In charge of the programme is the innocuous-sounding Scientific Studies and
Research Centre outside Damascus, a body officially tasked with academic
research. In practice, it reports directly to President Assad and operates a
string of chemical production facilities, some allegedly developed with help
from Iran and North Korea.

As Syria has not signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention, it has
never declared details of its stockpiles to the outside world. But outside
intelligence estimates reckon that Damascus has between 100 and 200 warheads
filled with sarin for its Scud missiles, and thousands of chemical artillery
bombs filled with sarin and VX.

^{Bashar al-Assad (AFP)}

Nobody outside the Assad regime now knows for certain where the stockpiles
are now: the contents of the plant at Safira, for example, may have been moved
to other, more secret storage spaces for safekeeping. But that uncertainty adds
to the challenge. With such a vast arsenal scattered nationwide, the West would
face a formidable task were it to attempt to secure it by force.

In December, the Pentagon told the Obama administration that it would require
upward of 75,000 troops - almost half the number it took to topple Saddam
Hussein. Such numbers would amount to an invasion in everything but name, and
would doubtless attract hostility from both of Syria's warring sides.

An alternative would be smaller, ad hoc strikes of the sort that Israel has
already admitted to doing to stop the weapons falling into the hands of its
Lebanon-based enemy Hezbollah, whose Assad-backed fighters are now in Syria
helping defend the regime. But these would not be practical for a large-scale
neutralisation of the country's chemical threat, according to Ms Esfandiary.


"Airstrikes aren't reliable because they can just release all the chemical
agents into the air," she said. "Alternatively, they only do half the job and
then render a secure site open to looters."

Nor, she added, would quick-fire raids by small teams of special forces be an
alternative. "You would have to first secure the sites and then do a careful
analysis of what was there, followed by controlled explosions. It is, frankly, a
labour intensive job, and that is why the Pentagon assessed it as requiring
75,000 men.

"Besides, there may be any number of caches hidden all over the place, and
even if you could look for them properly - which is difficult with a civil war
going on - you would run the risk of some being left behind."

Not all the sites represent a genuine danger. Some store only the basic
component chemicals, which must be mixed first before being weaponised,
processes which require technical know-how. But others have cannisters full of
battle-ready nerve agents, which could be operated in crude fashion simply by
breaking them open.

"They might not be quite as effective in amateur hands, but the fact is that
they are containers full of very nasty stuff, and if they were opened on a Tube
train it would very dangerous," said Ms Esfandiary. "As an instrument of terror,
they also have a fear factor that more conventional weapons don't have."

Despite that, many analysts believe that the "red line" is now simply being
blurred rather than crossed. With only limited evidence of Sarin use so far,
they suspect Damascus is deliberately using such weapons just occasionally to
test - and gradually undermine - Washington's resolve. President Assad, they
reason, knows all too well that a major chemical attack would leave the US no
option but to take action. But successive, smaller ones are a harder call, while
still having the desired effect of spreading terror among Damascus's foes.

Outside of Syria, it also has another desired effect - underlining the
differences between Mr Assad's opponents in the West. Last week, the hawkish US
Republican senator, John McCain, who lost to Mr Obama in the 2008 presidential
race, called on America to send in troops to secure factories such as al Safira.
But Mr Obama shows no enthusiasm for doing so, and this weekend he even appeared
to adjust his language slightly, saying that America would not permit the
"systematic" use of chemical weapons. Critics pointed out that proscribing the
use of chemical weapons on a "systematic" basis is not the same as proscribing
their use altogether.

^{Omran al-Zohbi (AP)}

Yesterday, the Syrian information minister, Omran al-Zohbi, described the US
claims of chemical weapons use as a "barefaced lie", insisting that for both
legal and "moral" reasons, Damascus would never deploy them. But with Syria's
civil war escalating daily, nobody - least of all a Syrian government minister -
can guarantee that al Safira's deadly concoctions will remain safe forever.

if it's such a barefaced lie then clearly it's a good one, as other countries are repeating it too.

http://www.jerusalemonline.com/israel-news/archive/26.04.2013-news-from-israel?utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter

SYRIAN PREMIER SURVIVED ASSASINATION ATTEMPT TODAY WHEN A BOMB EXPLOSED IN DAMASCUS.

A day after a bomb assassination attempt on Syria's prime
minister, a powerful explosion is heard across Damascus.


10:09am UK,
Tuesday 30 April 2013


Breaking News

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

A powerful explosion has rocked the Syrian capital Damascus,
according to state TV and residents.

The nature of Tuesday's explosion in the heart of the city was not
immediately clear.

Resident said they heard the powerful blast and saw thick, black smoke
billowing from behind a group of buildings.

Gunfire was heard in the area immediately after the morning blast.

Syrian TV said the explosion occurred in the central district of Marjeh,
although the target was not immediately clear.

The blast comes a day after Syria's prime minister narrowly escaped an
assassination attempt in the heavily protected area of Damascus.

The bomb attack occurred on the same day that two missiles were fired at a
Russian passenger plane flying over Syria, according to Russian media
reports.

Some 160 people were aboard the charter aircraft and the missiles were
apparently fired by unknown forces, Interfax said.