Syria Disintegrating: Part 2

[citizen k]

The FSA rebels react to the sound of a jet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX48NwudHOU

[Tamas]

The FSA rebels react to the sound of a jet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX48NwudHOU

I don't get it.

[mongers]

The FSA rebels react to the sound of a jet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX48NwudHOU

I don't get it.

Because there is no editorial control, people put crap up on youtube, 95% of it is just that; other people then posts links to said crap, without engaging brain as to what is says or means or it's actual significance.

[DontSayBanana]

Well, let's see.  There's a jet overhead.  Instead of taking cover, the dude glances over at the area the sound's coming from, and then goes right back to talking to the camera.  What a wonderful sense of self-preservation these FSA guys have.

[jimmy olsen]

I don't think anyone's surprised by this, but it doesn't portend anything good.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/iran-middleeast

Iran confirms it has forces in Syria and will take military action if pushed

Army commander gives clear sign of Tehran's continuing support for al-Assad's regime but denies troops signify military presence


    Ian Black, Middle East editor
    guardian.co.uk, Sunday 16 September 2012 17.55 BST   



Iran has confirmed for the first time that forces from its revolutionary guards corps are in Syria helping Bashar al-Assad's government crush rebels, and warned that it would get involved militarily if its Arab ally came under attack.

In a clear public signal of Tehran's continuing support for Assad, the commander of the Islamic republic's elite military formation said that "a number" of members of the IRGC's Qods force were in Syria, though General Mohammad Ali Jafari gave no further details and claimed this did not constitute "a military presence".

It was a surprisingly candid response to persistent claims by western countries, the Syrian opposition and Israel that Iran is actively helping the regime fight its enemies in the 18th month of a bloody war. Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran Algerian diplomat who replaced Kofi Annan as UN envoy to Syria earlier this month, met Assad in Damascus on Saturday but warned afterwards that any progress would be slow and halting given the yawning gap between government and opposition. "The crisis is dangerous and getting worse, and it is a threat to the Syrian people, the region and the world," said Brahimi.

Reports from Syria on Sunday described government forces fighting rebels amid shelling and sniper fire in Damascus and Aleppo, as well as in Homs and Deir ez-Zor. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, reported 103 dead. Opposition activists reported 115 people killed on Saturday. According to the UN some 20,000 people have been killed. Opposition sources say the figure is closer to 30,000.

Jafari's admission underlines the way in which the Syrian uprising has become enmeshed in regional and international rivalries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are arming Syrian rebel groups, while the US, Britain and France have called for Assad to go but are offering only limited and non-lethal backing to the armed opposition. Russia and China have repeatedly blocked action against Syria at the UN.

The Qods force includes elements of special forces, intelligence-gathering and aid, and answers to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It has been accused of planning attacks inside Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Jafari said the IRGC was providing "intellectual and advisory help" to Syria.

British officials say the IRGC has provided riot control equipment and technical advice on how to crush dissent, for example on how to flood areas with security forces. Iran is also providing support to improve the Syrian regime's intelligence-gathering capabilities and help to monitor protesters' use of the internet and mobile phone network, including text messaging.

Iran is said to have been dismayed at the heavy-handed way its long-standing Arab ally responded when the unrest began in March 2011, contrasting it with its relatively more sophisticated response to protests that followed its own disputed presidential election in 2009.

"If Syria came under military attack, Iran would also give military support but it ... totally depends on the circumstances," AFP reported Jafari as saying at rare press conference in Tehran. The general also said the Strait of Hormuz, the channel at the mouth of the Gulf through which a third of the world's traded oil passes, would be a legitimate target for Iran should it be attacked. "If war occurs in the region and the Islamic republic is involved, it is natural that the Strait of Hormuz as well as the energy [market] will face difficulties. "The US has many vulnerabilities around Iran, and its bases are within the range of the guards' missiles. We have other capabilities as well, particularly when it comes to the support of Muslims for the Islamic republic," he said.

In Damascus, Brahimi also met Syrian opposition figures who are still tolerated by the regime. "We told Mr Brahimi ... of our support for his efforts to resolve the crisis by ending the violence and killings, providing medical care and releasing political prisoners," said Hassan Abdel Azim, spokesman for the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change.

But the head of the Free Syrian Army's military council in Aleppo, Colonel Abdel Jabar al-Oqaidi, predicted that the envoy's mission would fail, like Annan's, because he had nothing to offer people who were fighting for their freedom, al-Arabiya TV reported.

Syria's state news agency Sana quoted Assad as telling Brahimi that the success of his mission hinged on "pressuring countries which finance and train the terrorists, and which traffic weapons to Syria, to stop these actions."

In Istanbul, Tariq al-Hashimi, the fugitive Iraqi vice-president, said in interview that the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was failing to stop ammunitions and armaments reaching Syrian government forces. "My country is unfortunately becoming an Iranian corridor to support the autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad," he said. "There is no doubt about that."

[Darth Wagtaros]

Well, let's see.  There's a jet overhead.  Instead of taking cover, the dude glances over at the area the sound's coming from, and then goes right back to talking to the camera.  What a wonderful sense of self-preservation these FSA guys have.

It's called machismo.  try it sometime.

[jimmy olsen]

Wow, not a good sign to say the least.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/syria-tested-chemical-weapons-in-desert-in-august-eyewitnesses-say-a-856206.html

Syria Tested Chemical Weapons Systems, Witnesses Say

The Syrian amy is believed to have tested firing systems for chemical weapons in the desert at the end of August, according to witness reports. The tests apparently took place near the country's largest chemical weapons facility at Safira.
Info

The Syrian army is believed to have tested missile systems for poison gas shells at the end of August, statements from various witnesses indicate.

The tests took place near a chemical weapons research center at Safira east of Aleppo, witnesses told SPIEGEL. A total of five or six empty shells devised for delivering chemical agents were fired by tanks and aircraft, at a site called Diraiham in the desert near the village of Khanasir.

Iranian officers believed to be members of the Revolutionary Guards were flown in by helicopter for the testing, according to the statements.

The Safira research center is regarded as Syria's largest testing site for chemical weapons. It is officially referred to as a "scientific research center."

Hoping for US Troops

Scientists from Iran and North Korea are said to work in the expansive, fenced-off complex. According to Western intelligence agencies, they produce chemical agents such as sarin, tabun and mustard gas and test them on animals.

In recent months, the guards have been replaced and reinforced by more than 100 elite troops from the 4th Tank Division. In addition, power generators and large supplies of diesel have recently been brought to the plant to safeguard the supply of electricity in the event of an attack by rebels, reports say.

But the rebels don't plan to take the site. "We hope American troops will secure the plant," said one former army officer who deserted and joined the Free Syrian Army. "We don't want the regime to be able to use the weapons, but neither do we want them to fall into the hands of radicals after the downfall (of the regime)."

Syria is believed to have one of the world's largest arsenals of chemical weapons.

[Razgovory]

I don't see this as a bad sign.  They use gas, they trigger intervention.

[KRonn]

Scary where those chem/bio weapons may wind up once the Syrian govt falls.

[CountDeMoney]

I find it interesting that the critics barking about Obama not getting more involved with Syria, when it'll turn out the same way Libya and Egypt did--which they're barking about as well.  You can't win in the Muddled East.

[garbon]

I find it interesting that the critics barking about Obama not getting more involved with Syria, when it'll turn out the same way Libya and Egypt did--which they're barking about as well.  You can't win in the Muddled East.

So why is it surprising that people would attack Obama from every angle they can?

[CountDeMoney]

I find it interesting that the critics barking about Obama not getting more involved with Syria, when it'll turn out the same way Libya and Egypt did--which they're barking about as well.  You can't win in the Muddled East.

So why is it surprising that people would attack Obama from every angle they can?

Because it's blithely ignoring the real issues of what's going on over there, perhaps?

But Romney's campaign said the Benghazi attack never would've occurred during a Romney Administration, so I'm taking them at face value at that.

[KRonn]

Seems more and more we're seeing that intel warned of attacks on Sept 11 anniversary. This attack in Libya was a terrorist attack, which is what Pres Obama first called it and correctly, IMO. But now the admin had UN Ambassador Rice out there saying it was a spontaneous attack. Even as intel and the Libyan President were saying it was an obvious pre-planned attack to coincide with Sept 11.

[Kleves]

5 Turkish civilians were killed in a border town in Turkey today by Syrian mortar fire. Turkish artillery responded. NATO has convened a meeting.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Turkish prime minister announced on Wednesday night that Turkey had fired artillery at targets in Syria, in retaliation for Syrian mortar fire that fell in a Turkish border town and killed five Turkish civilians. It was the first instance of significant fighting across the Turkish-Syrian border since the Syrian uprising began last year, and raised the prospect of greater involvement by the NATO alliance, to which Turkey belongs.

"This atrocious attack was immediately responded to adequately by our armed forces in the border region, in accordance with rules of engagement," said a written statement from the office of the prime minister, carried by the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency. "Targets were shelled in locations identified by radar." 

"Turkey, in accordance with the rules of engagement and international law, will never leave such provocations by the Syrian regime against our national security unrequited," the statement added.

NATO said it would convene an urgent meeting on the issue Wednesday. Before firing into Syria, Turkey contacted the United Nations and NATO to protest the killings and express its "deepest concern." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was "outraged" by the mortar attack in Turkey.

The five Turkish civilians — a woman, her three children and a relative — were killed in the town of Akcakale, and their deaths were the first caused by the stray shells that have frequently flown across the border, a Turkish official said. Angry residents of the town marched to the mayor's office demanding security measures, Turkish NTV reported.

It was unknown whether the mortar fire came from Syrian government forces or rebels fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The Turkish response seemed to assume that the Syrian government was responsible.

Atilla Sandikli, the director of the Ankara-based Center for Strategic Studies, said on NTV that Syria was trying to pull Turkey into the conflict, and that the government should react with "utmost care."

The incident ratcheted up tensions that have grown with Turkey's support of the Syrian insurgency and the Syrian government's downing of a Turkish plane over the Mediterranean in June. "This last incident is pretty much the final straw," the Anatolian News Agency quoted Bulent Arinc, the deputy prime minister, as saying.

In Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday, several huge explosions struck a government-held district, shearing off the fronts of two tall buildings, killing dozens of people and filling the streets with rubble in a square near a public park, according to video, photographs and reports from the Syrian government and its opponents.

At least two explosions, which both sides said appeared to be car bombs, struck Saadallah al-Jabiri Square near an officers' club and two government-owned hotels that residents said had housed pro-government militiamen who had essentially taken over the square. Another explosion struck near the chamber of commerce in nearby Bab Jenine, both sides reported.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the suicide bombings, which came after several days of increased violence in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, that has caused anguish for government supporters and opponents alike. Since Friday, a spike in fighting has brought a new level of destruction and chaos to Aleppo's downtown and its treasured medieval old city. The scale of Wednesday's bombings seemed to deepen the city's sense of alarm and disgust, bringing expressions of horror and bewilderment from people on either side of the conflict.

"Oh, my God, the destruction is huge," an accountant who works nearby, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Rami, said on his cellphone as he tried without success to approach the square, which he said was barricaded by security forces. Back in his office, listening to gunfire still echoing through the area, he wrote on Facebook: "My soul has died and my body is waiting for its turn."

One Syrian activist, who uses the pseudonym Anonymous Syria, wrote on Twitter: "Whoever is behind those explosions is a terrorist if civilians were killed. Whether it is the regime, Al-Nusra brigade" — a Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group — "or the Free Syrian Army."

In the square, men simply shouted obscenities and cursed "the terrorists' fathers." Their voices could be heard in the background as another man videotaped the bomb scene for a pro-government YouTube channel, panning over the corpses of two men in crisp camouflage uniforms who he said were would-be suicide bombers killed by security forces.

Even the Tawhid Brigade, the branch of the insurgent Free Syrian Army that on Friday declared a "decisive battle" for the city, disavowed the attack. Jebhat al-Nusra, the armed movement that has claimed responsibility for similar attacks, issued no statement. The government blamed its opponents and said civilians were among the dead. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and relies on a network of observers inside Syria, said most of the dead were from the security forces and the explosions went off after clashes between gunmen and guards at the officers' club.

Citing medical sources, the Observatory said 40 people were killed and 90 wounded. The Syrian government said at least 34 people died.

A spokesman for the Tawhid Brigade, which claims to coordinate insurgent battalions in in Aleppo, said the bombings were mysterious and suggested that they were "orchestrated by the regime," an idea often floated by antigovernment fighters after similar bombings without specific evidence.

But an antigovernment activist from Aleppo who is currently in Beirut praised the attack, calling it a "strong strike," perfectly timed to avoid hitting many civilians and probably carried out by an army defector working with the Free Syrian Army. The activist, who goes by the name Abo Abdo, said it was not in security forces' interest to kill the pro-government militiamen, or shabiha, who had dominated the area. "They need shabiha," he said.

Abo Abdo said two hotels on the square, the Siahi (Tourist) and the Qalaa (Castle), had been taken over by the shabiha about two months ago, when major fighting began in Aleppo, turning the square into an area where protesters dared not go.

One female activist wrote on Facebook: "When I used to pass by this place wearing stylish clothes, curious eyes used to chase me. The area was full of shabiha, informers and intelligence." But she added that the ogling was preferable to wholesale destruction, writing, "Oh God, I miss those days."

Sham Daoud, a Syrian antigovernment activist living in Paris, wrote in a message on Facebook: "I don't understand anything anymore. There is no excuse for such an operation, whoever did it, and this is not called a struggle against the regime or a war. This is, in very simple terms, called terrorism."

An antigovernment group at Aleppo University posted a statement online suggesting that the target had been Mr. Assad, who, according to reports in a pro-Syrian Lebanese newspaper, had visited Aleppo and ordered tens of thousands more troops to move there from the city of Hama. But official Syrian media did not mention a visit.

In recent days, a large part of the city's ancient market was burned and fighting spread to areas that had been stable, with fires gutting part of the old city's covered market, rebels attacking the central municipal building and clashes erupting in once-quiet Christian and Kurdish neighborhoods.

The square hit on Wednesday borders a graceful public garden, a downtown district full of hotels and offices, and the Christian neighborhood of Aziziyeh, where many people had sought refuge over the weekend.Activists also reported that the Al Hal, or Cardamom, spice market near the site of the bombings was being shelled. Dozens were wounded and people were trapped there by the fighting, activists said.

The pro-government video on YouTube showed that facades had been sheared off four buildings, two about eight stories high, and two smaller ones between them. On the other side of an intersection, a building appeared to have collapsed. The man narrating the video said that a coffee shop and a cellphone store had been destroyed along with a hotel, and that several senior officials had come to the scene.

The video then cut to the bodies of two men wearing army uniforms.

"Those are the terrorists carrying explosive belts as we can see attached to the hand of this terrorist," the cameraman says as the video zooms in to show a corpse's mouth covered with blood.

In the background, someone shouts: "Film the blow-up device in his hand, film it!" What appeared to be a small metal cylinder was strapped to the man's wrist with an elastic band.

Car bombs and suicide bombers have targeted numerous security agencies in Damascus, but they have been less frequent in Aleppo. During the Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011, Aleppo had been seen as a bastion of stability and government support until February, when two suicide car bombers attacked security buildings.

[jimmy olsen]

Hopefully this will make the Turks get off their ass and restore the Ottoman Empire.