Crisis in Syri� #10 Bloedbad!

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Op zondag 4 maart 2012 19:30 schreef ChristianLebaneseFront het volgende:
Voor de Arabisch sprekende onder ons:

Syria News 31-1-2012 - Fight on Al Jazeera live TV..Dont F--k with the Assad Supporters.

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• People fleeing the Syrian army's crackdown in Homs have been giving horrific first hand accounts of the violence. More than 1,000 Syrians fled to neighbouring Lebanon.

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3.16pm: The BBC's Paul Wood has return to Syria despite the dangers facing journalists reporting from the country.

In his latest dispatch, from near Homs, he details horrific accounts of those fleeing Baba Amr.

. One man told me that any man detained at a checkpoint is killed.

"They took our husbands, they took them at the checkpoint, they will slaughter them like sheep," one woman said.

Everyone shares the same fears that their husbands are not coming back. For now, they are on their own, with nothing.

It is absolutely freezing. The children here are spending a night in a house with no heat and no electricity and, more than that, they are wondering what on earth has happened to their fathers.

This family says that they witnessed a massacre. On Friday, they say, troops took 36 men and boys from one district and killed them all.

"My son's throat was cut," a woman told me. "He was 12."

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Amerikaanse senator John McCain roept op tot luchtaanvallen op Syri�

De Amerikaanse senator en voormalige presidentskandidaat John McCain roept vandaag op tot luchtaanvallen op Syri�. Doelwit moeten volgens hem luchtmachtbases van de Syrische president Bashar al-Assad worden. Op die manier wil McCain de bevolking van Syri� beschermen tegen het geweld van Assad.

De Verenigde Staten moeten deze internationale luchtoperatie gaan leiden, vindt de voormalige Vietnamveteraan. McCain is de eerste Amerikaanse politicus die zich uitspreekt voor militair ingrijpen in Syri�. McCain zei eerder vandaag in de Amerikaanse Senaat:

. Het uiteindelijke doel van de luchtaanvallen moet zijn veilige zones voor burgers in Syri� te cre�ren en te verdedigen, in het bijzonder in het noorden, waar de oppositie zich dan kan organiseren en zijn politieke en militaire activiteiten tegen Assad kan plannen

Eerder al riep McCain op de Syrische oppositie te bewapenen. Volgens McCain zijn de misdaden die het Syrische regime begaat vergelijkbaar met die van kolonel Kadhafi in Libi�. Daar leidden luchtaanvallen van de NAVO uiteindelijk tot de val van het bewind.
McCain wil dat Saoedi-Arabi� en Turkije rol spelen bij luchtaanvallen

De regering-Obama blijft voorlopig nog zoeken naar een politiek oplossing. Zij kan ook niet anders, omdat Rusland en China tegen internationaal ingrijpen in Syri� zijn.

Beide landen blokkeerden een maand geleden zelfs een resolutie in de VN-veiligheidsraad die de Syrische president Assad veroordeelde.

McCain is zich bewust van de tegenwerking door Rusland en China, maar stelde vandaag dat de Verenigde Staten Arabische sleutelpartners als Saoedi-Arabi� zou moeten winnen voor het plan. De NAVO en in het bijzonder Turkije zouden in de plannen van McCain een nadrukkelijk rol moeten spelen.

Ondertussen sloot Canada vandaag, net als eerder onder meer de VS, Groot-Brittanni� en Frankrijk zijn ambassade in de Syrische hoofdstad Damascus. De Nederlandse ambassade in Damascus is nog wel open. In een verklaring van de Canadese regering staat:

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Op maandag 5 maart 2012 21:48 schreef Eyjafjallajoekull het volgende:
Ja en bovendien zou het veel beter zijn als het vanuit de Arabische Liga komt. Als de VS zo'n missie gaat leiden gaat dat zeker veel kritiek opleveren.

Lekker bericht op nu.nl trouwens...

http://www.nu.nl/buitenla(...)iekenhuis-syrie.html

Oh, en mocht je de video willen posten, doe dat dan wel ff onder een lading spoilers aub, maar lijkt me beter als zulke video's helemaal niet gepost worden hier.

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Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory. - Sun Tzu

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• Although the Syrian government has retaken Homs, it is losing the second city of Aleppo and the broader North, according to Syrian watcher Joshua Landis. He also reports that opposition militias are being formed with growing frequency.

A contact from Aleppo told him:

. The fact that neighbourhoods, such as Azaz, Hreitan and Anadan have fallen out of government control is significant because cars can no longer travel, even in daylight, to Turkey from Aleppo. The entire boarder area is becoming unsafe. This is much worse than Baba Amr or Khaldiye falling out of government control from the point of view of security because Turkey is the base for the Free Syrian Army, arms exports into Syria, and most opposition groups ...

Even the middle and upper classes that live in the city centrs are beginning to panic and look for a way out of the country. Plane flights to Lebanon from Aleppo are booked for the next month. The exodus has begun.

This is the first real breakdown of Aleppo control.

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TR325's business partner has an old classmate friend who was the lead
surgeon on Erdogan's most recent operation. He said that Erdogan has colon
cancer, but they haven't seen the second biopsy results yet to see if it's
metastasized. In the last operation, they cut out 20 cm of Erdogan's colon
(I just looked up that the average colon is about 1.5m long.) That's a
really significant operation. Erdogan is not going to be able to travel
for a while, and he's going to have to carry around with him a colonoscopy
bag for at least 2-3 months. The prognosis is not looking good, though.
The surgeon said they were estimating 2 years for him.

This is very likely going to cause major splits within the AKP. Gul
doesn't have much support. Davutoglu is paranoid that everyone else is
trying to undermine him (there's a definite competition between him and
TR325.) When I asked who Erdgogan trusts, two names were mentioned - Ali
Babacan (Deputy PM) and Taner Yildiz (energy minister.) Both sources were
asking how the US is likely to react to this situation. Would they try to
back the military like the old days? CHP is still very much divided. Both
seemed to think the military won't be able to take advantage of the
situation.

On Syria - the conversation centered on how far Turkey is actually going
to go. TR325 explained that the Turkish plan is centered on civil war in
Syria. Officially, it's Turkey providing the main training,a rms and
support to FSA. Unofficially, US and TUrkey are doing this together in
deploying SOF for this mission. Notice all the talk in the press now
about civil war breaking out in Syria. This is the narrative Turkey and US
want to build. I pointed out that creating the conditions for civil war -
actual neighborhood to neighborhood fighting - is still pretty difficult
considering that the Alawite forces are still holding together, but he
seemed to think that this can escalate within 2 months time. He also said
without saying that they're working on making that happen. He acknowledges
it'll be messy and it will take a lot of blood and time for a Sunni power
to emerge in syria, but that this is the Turkish obligation.

The Turkish plan to preempt the instability that would result from civil
war conditions is to implement the buffer zone 5-40km into Syrian
territory and set up refugee camps. I asked what levers Iran and Syria
have to get Turkey to back off in relation to PKK. He said
(half-jokingly) that Karilan is Turkey's man (ie. turkey can actually
negotiate with him.) But he said PKK third-in-command (still need to get
this guy's name) answers to Syria and Iran. Turkey knows this very well
and he says Syria and Iran are already making moves to threaten attacks
via this faction.

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http://wikileaks.org/gifi(...)her-s-concerns-.html
From: "Kamran Bokhari"
To: "Alpha List"
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2011 8:33:27 PM
Subject: [alpha] INSIGHT - SYRIA - Bashar's Mother's Concerns

Source is a Reuters correspondent of Syrian-Jordanian heritage who
recently got kicked out of Syria.

Bashar's mother - the matriarch of the family (along the lines of her
mother-in-law) - is disappointed in Bashar and Maher for the mess that
they have created. She has been saying things like had your father been
alive things would have never come to such a point. She is very concerned
that her boys will meet the same fate as al-Qaddhafi and his sons and is
pressing Bashar and Maher to seriously look into an exit strategy before
the rapidly closing window of opportunity completely shuts itself.

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Op dinsdag 6 maart 2012 12:03 schreef Billy-jazz het volgende:

[..]

Bekleed die moeder dan een positie in het regime?

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Maar wat ze over de vader van Bashar Assad zegt is toch onzin aangezien hij net zo bruut te werk ging.

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Belangrijke vluchtweg uit Homs gebombardeerd

Het Syrische leger heeft vanochtend een brug gebombardeerd in de provincie Homs die door duizenden burgers is gebruikt als vluchtweg naar buurland Libanon. Dat meldt het Syrische Observatorium voor de Mensenrechten.

Het gaat om een brug over de Orontes-rivier, gelegen in de buurt van de stad Qousseir, vlakbij de grens tussen Syri� en Libanon. Volgens een woordvoerder van het Observatorium hebben de afgelopen dagen ruim 1500 vluchtelingen het land ontvlucht via deze brug. Voornamelijk voor gewonden is het de belangrijkste vluchtweg, benadrukt de woordvoerder.

In totaal zouden ruim duizend Syri�rs hebben de grens met het noorden van Libanon overgestoken op de vlucht voor het geweld in hun thuisland. Dat meldde een woordvoerder van de VN-Vluchtelingenorganisatie (UNHCR) gisteren. Door de hevige beschietingen van de laatste dagen zijn voornamelijk vrouwen en kinderen op de vlucht geslagen, waarvan een groot deel gebruik maakte van de betreffende brug.

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Stratfor Leaks

2011-12-07 00:49:18

A few points I wanted to highlight from meetings today --

I spent most of the afternoon at the Pentagon with the USAF strategic
studies group - guys who spend their time trying to understand and explain
to the USAF chief the big picture in areas where they're operating in. It
was just myself and four other guys at the Lieutenant Colonel level,
including one French and one British representative who are liaising with
the US currently out of DC.

They wanted to grill me on the strategic picture on Syria, so after that I
got to grill them on the military picture. There is still a very low level
of understanding of what is actually at stake in Syria, what's the
strategic interest there, the Turkish role, the Iranian role, etc. After a
couple hours of talking, they said without saying that SOF teams
(presumably from US, UK, France, Jordan, Turkey) are already on the ground
focused on recce missions and training opposition forces. One Air Force
intel guy (US) said very carefully that there isn't much of a Free Syrian
Army to train right now anyway, but all the operations being done now are
being done out of 'prudence.' The way it was put to me was, 'look at this
way - the level of information known on Syrian OrBat this month is the
best it's been since 2001.' They have been told to prepare contingencies
and be ready to act within 2-3 months, but they still stress that this is
all being done as contingency planning, not as a move toward escalation.

I kept pressing on the question of what these SOF teams would be working
toward, and whether this would lead to an eventual air camapign to give a
Syrian rebel group cover. They pretty quickly distanced themselves from
that idea, saying that the idea 'hypothetically' is to commit guerrilla
attacks, assassination campaigns, try to break the back of the Alawite
forces, elicit collapse from within. There wouldn't be a need for air
cover, and they wouldn't expect these Syrian rebels to be marching in
columns anyway.

They emphasized how the air campaign in Syria makes Libya look like a
piece of cake. Syrian air defenses are a lot more robust and are much
denser, esp around Damascus and on the borders with Israel, Turkey. THey
are most worried about mobile air defenses, particularly the SA-17s that
they've been getting recently. It's still a doable mission, it's just not
an easy one.

The main base they would use is Cyprus, hands down. Brits and FRench would
fly out of there. They kept stressing how much is stored at Cyprus and how
much recce comes out of there. The group was split on whether Turkey would
be involved, but said Turkey would be pretty critical to the mission to
base stuff out of there. EVen if Turkey had a poltiical problem with
Cyprus, they said there is no way the Brits and the FRench wouldn't use
Cyprus as their main air force base. Air Force Intel guy seems pretty
convinced that the Turks won't participate (he seemed pretty pissed at
them.)

There still seems to be a lot of confusion over what a military
intervention involving an air campaign would be designed to achieve. It
isn't clear cut for them geographically like in Libya, and you can't just
create an NFZ over Homs, Hama region. This would entail a countrywide SEAD
campaign lasting the duration of the war. They dont believe air
intervention would happen unless there was enough media attention on a
massacre, like the Ghadafi move against Benghazi. They think the US would
have a high tolerance for killings as long as it doesn't reach that very
public stage. Theyre also questiioning the skills of the Syrian forces
that are operating the country's air defenses currently and how
signfiicant the Iranian presence is there. Air Force Intel guy is most
obsessed with the challenge of taking out Syria's ballistic missile
capabilities and chem weapons. With Israel rgiht there and the regime
facing an existential crisis, he sees that as a major complication to any
military intervention.

The post 2011 SOFA with Iraq is still being negotiated. These guys were
hoping that during Biden's visit that he would announce a deal with
Maliki, but no such luck. They are gambling ont he idea that the Iraqis
remember the iran-iraq war and that maliki is not going to want to face
the threat of Iranian jets entering Iraqi air space. THey say that most
US fighter jets are already out of Iraq and transferred to Kuwait. They
explained that's the beauty of the air force, the base in Kuwait is just a
hop, skip and jump away from their bases in Europe, ie. very easy to
rapidly build up when they need to. They don't seem concerned about the
US ability to restructure its forces to send a message to Iran. They gave
the example of the USS Enterprise that was supposed to be out of
commission already and got extended another couple years to send to the
gulf. WHen the US withdraws, we'll have at least 2 carriers in the gulf
out of centcom and one carrier in the Med out of EuCom. I asked if the
build-up in Kuwait and the carrier deployments are going to be enough to
send a message to Iran that the US isn't going anywhere. They responded
that Iran will get the message if they read the Centcom Web Site. STarting
Jan. 1 expect them to be publishing all over the place where the US is
building up.

Another concern they have about an operation in Syria is whether Iran
could impede operations out of Balad air force base in Iraq.

The French representative was of hte opinion that Syria won't be a
libya-type situation in that France would be gung-ho about going in. Not
in an election year. The UK rep also emphasized UK reluctance but said
that the renegotiation of the EU treaty undermines the UK role and that UK
would be looking for ways to reassert itself on the continent ( i dont
really think a syria campaign is the way to do that.) UK guy mentioned as
an aside that the air force base commander at Cyprus got switched out from
a maintenance guy to a guy that flew Raptors, ie someone that understands
what it means to start dropping bombs. He joked that it was probably a
coincidence.

Prior to that, I had a meeting with an incoming Kuwaiti diplomat (will be
coded as KU301.) His father was high up in the regime, always by the
CP's/PM's side. The diplo himself still seems to be getting his feet wet
in DC (the new team just arrived less than 2 weeks ago,) but he made
pretty clear that Kuwait was opening the door to allowing US to build up
forces as needed. THey already have a significant presence there, and a
lot of them will be on 90-day rotations. He also said that the SOFA that
the US signs with Baghdad at the last minute will be worded in such a way
that even allowing one trainer in the country can be construed to mean
what the US wants in terms of keeping forces in Iraq. Overall, I didnt get
the impression from him that Kuwait is freaked out about the US leaving.
Everyhting is just getting rearranged. The Kuwaitis used to be much
better at managing their relations with Iran, but ever since that spy ring
story came out a year ago, it's been bad. He doesn't think Iran has
significant covert capabililiteis in the GCC states, though they are
trying. Iranian activity is mostly propaganda focused. He said that while
KSA and Bahrain they can deal with it as needed and black out the media,
Kuwait is a lot more open and thus provides Iran with more oppotunity to
shape perceptions (he used to work in inforamtion unit in Kuwait.) He says
there is a sig number of kuwaitis that listen to Iranian media like Al
Alam especially.

On the Kuwaiti political scene - the government is having a harder time
dealing with a more emboldened opposition, but the opposition is still
extremely divided, esp among the Islamists. The MPs now all have to go
back to their tribes to rally support for the elections to take place in
Feb. Oftentimes an MP in Kuwait city will find out that he has lost
support back home with the tribe, and so a lot of moeny is handed out.The
govt is hoping that witha clean slate they can quiet the opposition down.
A good way of managing the opposition he said is to refer cases to the
courts, where they can linger forever. good way for the govt to buy time.
He doesnt believe the Arab League will take significant action against
Syria - no one is interested in military intervention. they just say it to
threaten it.

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Op dinsdag 6 maart 2012 15:16 schreef waht het volgende:
Special Forces.

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Air Force Intel guy is most
obsessed with the challenge of taking out Syria's ballistic missile
capabilities and chem weapons. With Israel rgiht there and the regime
facing an existential crisis, he sees that as a major complication to any
military intervention.

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Syria's Baba Amr is deserted, Red Cross says

Associated Press= BEIRUT (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian chief toured the shattered Syrian district of Baba Amr on Wednesday but found most residents had fled following a bloody military siege, while activists accused the government of trying to cover up evidence of atrocities there.

The visit by Valerie Amos, the New York-based undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, was the first by an independent outside observer since the Syrian military began its month-long assault of the rebellious neighborhood. A key stronghold of the uprising to oust authoritarian President Bashar Assad, it was wrested from rebel control on March 1.

Amos made no statement, but a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said she entered the ravaged neighborhood with a team from the Syrian Red Crescent that had been waiting nearly a week to be allowed in to deliver aid.

"The Syrian Arab Red Crescent stayed about 45 minutes inside the neighborhood," Red Cross spokesman Hicham Hassan said in Geneva. "Volunteers say that most inhabitants have fled Baba Amr."

The Syrian regime has kept the neighborhood sealed off over the past six days, saying it was too dangerous for humanitarian workers to enter. But activists accused the government of engaging in a "mopping-up" operation to hide their atrocities.

"They haven't let anyone in for a week, and now they are going to let them in?" Homs activists Tarek Badrakhan told The Associated Press. "Today it's simple: They finished their crimes and hid all the proof. Now they think they can show that everything is normal."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lashed out at the delays.

"The regime's refusal to allow humanitarian workers to help feed the hungry, tend to the injured, bury the dead, marks a new low," she said. "Tons of food and medicine are standing by while more civilians die and the regime launches new assaults."

Amos said the aim of her two-day visit to Syria was "to urge all sides to allow unhindered access for humanitarian relief workers so they can evacuate the wounded and deliver essential supplies."

She met with Syria's foreign minister on Wednesday and was to meet other government officials in Damascus on Thursday, but it was unclear whether she would be allowed to return to Baba Amr or whether any aid deliveries were imminent.

The U.N. says more than 7,500 people have been killed since Syria's uprising began. Activists put the death toll at more than 8,000.

In Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta delivered a sober assessment of Syria's sophisticated air defenses and its extensive stockpile of chemical weapons — a strategic reality check to demands for U.S. military action to end Assad's deadly crackdown on his people.

Republican Sen. John McCain has called on the Obama administration to launch U.S. airstrikes to end Assad's crackdown, but Panetta pushed back Wednesday against the demand.

"What doesn't make sense is to take unilateral action right now," Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I've got to make very sure we know what the mission is. ... Achieving that mission at what price?"

Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described a well-armed Syria that bears little resemblance to what the U.S. military and its allies faced in Libya. Syria's air defenses are five times more sophisticated than Libya's, and its chemical and biological weapons stockpile is 100 times larger, they said.

Suppressing the air defenses would require a sustained air campaign over an extended period of time with a significant number of aircraft, and the U.S. would have to lead the effort, Dempsey said.

Because the air defenses are located in populous neighborhoods, airstrikes could mean scores of unintended deaths, Panetta said.

Dempsey warned of the "need to be alert to extremists," and other hostile actors, including Iran, which he said "has been exploiting the situation and expanding its support to the regime."

"And we need to be especially alert to the fate of Syria's chemical and biological weapons. They need to stay exactly where they are," Dempsey said.

After seizing Baba Amr from the rebels, regime forces now appear to be turning their attention to other rebellious areas. A wave of new arrests was reported in Homs by the Local Coordinating Committees, an activist group, as well as assaults on the northern province of Idlib near Turkey.

The shift suggests the Syrian military is unable to launch large operations simultaneously, even though the security services remain largely strong and loyal.

According to witnesses, Syrian troops shelled the northern villages in Idlib on Wednesday. There also were reports of snipers in Homs province.

Russia and China, powerful Syrian allies that have blocked a Security Council resolution against Syria, have made clear they are still standing by the regime in Damascus.

Still, in a sign of China's growing alarm, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said Beijing was pulling its workers out of Syria because of the violence.

"I can tell you most Chinese workers have been withdrawn from that country to China," he told a news conference. "There are only about 100 people left there taking care of projects, assets and property. We will wait until the local situation stabilizes."

In Moscow, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said the government wasn't considering granting political asylum to Assad, shooting down rumors that such an offer is on the table as a way to end the Syrian regime's deadly crackdown.

Putin, who is currently prime minister but regained the presidency in an election Sunday, said "We aren't even discussing the issue" of granting asylum to Assad.

----

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Minister Syri� loopt over – hoogste functionaris die Assad rug toekeert

Nog niet eerder keerde een hooggeplaatste regeringsfunctionaris als onderminister Abdo Hussameldin zich af van president Bashar al-Assad. Werkzaam op het ministerie van Olie, neemt hij via een video op YouTube afstand van ‘de misdaden van dit regime’.

Hussameldin zegt zich in het filmpje, waarvan de bron nog niet is vastgesteld, terug te trekken uit de Baath-partij en zich aan te sluiten bij de revolutie van het waardige volk. Hij stelt 33 jaar werkzaam te zijn geweest voor de Syrische regering.

. “Ik geef er de voorkeur aan om te doen wat juist is, ook al weet ik dat dit regime nu mijn huis zal afbranden en mijn familie zal vervolgen. Ik zeg tegen dit regime: je hebt het volk waarvan je beweert dat het het jouwe is een jaar lang ondergedompeld in lijden en verdriet. Hen is een normaal leven en menselijkheid ontnomen, en Syri� is naar de rand van de afgrond gedreven.”

‘Economie op punt van instorten’

De regeringstroepen van Assad hebben volgens de VN al zeker 7.500 mensen gedood sinds de opstand een jaar geleden begon. Het rode Kruis probeert al dagen toegang te krijgen tot het epicentrum van de opstand, de stad Homs. Gisteren kregen hulpverleners drie kwartier toegang.

Hussameldin werd volgens Reuters ooit door Assad zelf aangesteld en hield zijn functie als onderminister over aan een regeringsbesluit in 2009. Volgens Hussameldin staat de economie van Syri� ‘op het punt van instorten’. Hij zou met hulp van Syrische oppositieleden zijn overgelopen.

انشقاق معاون وزير النفط 8 اذار

twitter:

AnonOpsSweden twitterde op donderdag 08-03-2012 om 13:51:30 @OoPsRevolution btw @TripToSyria #OpTripToSyria has landed in Jordan is safe, and looking for safe routes reageer retweet

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Op vrijdag 9 maart 2012 01:26 schreef Billy-jazz het volgende:

[..]

Ze zijn buren...

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Opnieuw vier Syrische regeringsfunctionarissen overgelopen

Na de onderminister Abdo Hussameldin hebben gisteravond vier brigadegeneraals van het Syrische regeringsleger zich afgekeerd van president Bashar al-Assad.

Drie van de generaals zijn inmiddels naar een kamp voor deserteurs vlak over de grens in Turkije gevlucht, zo meldt persbureau AFP vanochtend. Volgens het Vrije Syrische Leger (FSA) zijn nu in totaal zeven regeringsfunctionaris overgelopen naar de tegenstanders van de huidige president met behulp van oppositieleden.

De regeringstroepen van Assad hebben volgens de VN al zeker 7.500 mensen gedood sinds de opstand een jaar geleden begon. Het rode Kruis probeert al dagen toegang te krijgen tot het epicentrum van de opstand, de stad Homs. Woensdag kregen hulpverleners drie kwartier toegang.

Hussameldin, de hooggeplaatste regeringsfunctionaris die zich tot dusver afkeerde van Assad, werd volgens Reuters ooit door de president zelf aangesteld en hield zijn functie als onderminister over aan een regeringsbesluit in 2009. Volgens Hussameldin staat de economie van Syri� ‘op het punt van instorten’.

twitter:

RazanSpeaks twitterde op vrijdag 09-03-2012 om 23:25:56 There was a huge explosion in #Aleppo 5 minutes ago. Unknown from where, but it shook the building @samikhaled_sy is in. #Syria reageer retweet

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Syria's Alawite activists stuck in the middle

Despite fears of sectarianism if the regime falls, some in the Alawite minority are speaking out against Assad.

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Journalist Nir Rosen recently spent two months in Syria. As well as meeting members of various communities across the country - supporters of the country's rulers and of the opposition alike - he spent time with armed resistance groups in Homs, Idlib, Deraa, and Damascus suburbs. He also travelled extensively around the country last year, documenting his experiences for Al Jazeera - including articles about the Alawite community.

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Fierce fighting in Idlib, Syria - in pictures

As Kofi Annan arrives in Damascus to hold talks with Bashar Al-Assad, photographer Rodrigo Abd captures the intensifying violence in Idlib

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Swedish Anonymous activists embark on bold trip to Syria

Activists within the Anonymous culture in Sweden headed to Syria this week amidst the chaos and inhumanity to bring much needed medical supplies and equipment to help the victims of the fragmented country.

#OpTripToSyria started trending on Twitter on Feb. 9 and has been gathering worldwide support very quickly. Supporters of the operation have had the chance to donate to the cause through a link on the triptosyria.wordpress.com web site the anons have established.

For nearly a year, constant protests have been flooding Syria's streets as citizens continue to relentlessly pressure current President Bashar al-Assad to step down. The protests have been hit with violence at the hands of al-Assad's military force. According to the UN, the conflict has claimed more than 7,500 lives.

Motivation for Anonymous's humanitarian mission to Syria had come from various factors, but most notably due to the attacks on the city of Homs.

“I think I had enough when I saw all the tweets from the Swedish activists @SyrienNyheter or more specifically of the babies who died when Assad's militia shut off the power to several incubators,” said an anon who currently goes by the handle TTS.

TTS also related a common creed of the Anonymous culture: that people shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.

Anonymous donations have come from all over the world and more than 50 people have contributed. “Donations have come from Swedes, Europeans, Asians, Russians, Americans – you name it,” said TTS.

As of March 4, the anons had raised $2,257 US that they will use to purchase the medical supplies they will be bringing. The supplies will include medical kits, water purification tablets, washcloths and antibiotics and painkillers.

Many followers of the twitter account @TriptoSyria have expressed concern about the safety of the individuals who are embarking on the trip.

“There are a lot of concerns that things might go wrong; we could be killed, captured, arrested or robbed, but we can only aim for success," said TTS. "Hopefully, our actions will inspire other people to do the same thing. Risking everything for what we believe is the right thing to do. And we know that our operation will have some kind of impact whatever happens.”

The team of activists is also well trained. Some of them have gone through military training, and have experience in first aid, trauma handling and CPR. However, they have emphasized that the mission is strictly non-violent.

This mission is still a bold endeavour as the United States and other Western embassies have suspended their actions in Syria, due to the elevated security risk.

On the international scale, Russia and China, two countries that initially vetoed the military intervention, seem to be waning in their support of Assad's regime. Both countries have decried the violence in Syria and have dispatched diplomats to the region this week. Victims of conflict in Syria can only hope that this will help bring direct action from the international community to end the loss of innocents.

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Moskou blijft Syri� wapens leveren wegens ‘goede militaire samenwerking’

De Russische regering ziet geen reden om haar militaire samenwerking met Damascus te be�indigen. Moskou blijft wapens aan het regime van president Bashar Assad leveren, ondanks de oproep van het Westen deze leveranties te staken.

Rusland houdt zich gewoon aan de contracten die met Syri� zijn gesloten, zo meldt persbureau AP. Moskou is vastbesloten om deze contracten na te komen, zei de Russische onderminister van defensie Anatoli Antonov vandaag.

Moskou heeft “een goede, sterke militair-technische samenwerking” met Damascus en Antonov benadrukt dit zo te willen houden: “We zien geen aanleiding om deze te heroverwegen.”

Rusland stuurde in januari nog een schip met wapens en munitie naar Syri�, tegen het EU-embargo in.

Rusland steunt resolutie nog altijd niet

Antonovs mededeling volgt op een botsing in de VN-Veiligheidsraad tussen Rusland, dat samen met China tot dusverre twee resoluties over Syri� heeft gevetood, en de Verenigde Staten. De Amerikaanse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken, Hillary Clinton, liet weten dat het tijd werd voor Rusland en China om zich aan te sluiten bij de oproepen tot stopzetting van het regeringsgeweld. Haar Russische ambtgenoot Sergej Lavrov zei dat het regime “een zware verantwoordelijkheid draagt” maar hield vast aan het Russische standpunt dat oppositiestrijders en extremisten onder hen ook geweld plegen.

Nieuwe bijeenkomst contactgroep

Een nieuwe ontwerpresolutie kan vooralsnog niet rekenen op steun van Moskou. Om dichterbij een gezamenlijke internationale oplossing te komen om de macht in Syri� op vredige wijze over te dragen en het geweld te be�indigen, komt de nieuwe contactgroep ‘Vrienden van Syri� op twee april voor de tweede maal bijeen. Deze bijeenkomst vindt plaats in Istanbul, zo maakte de Turkse premier Tayyip Erdogan vandaag bekend.

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Aanslag moskee Brussel was wraakactie voor geweld in Syri�

De aanslag op een moskee in de Brusselse wijk Anderlecht maandagavond was bedoeld om de sjiitische gemeenschap in Belgi� angst aan te jaren. Dat heeft de verdachte van de aanslag volgens het Brusselse parket verklaard tijdens zijn politieverhoor.

De man, vermoedelijk een Marokkaan, stelt de sjiieten verantwoordelijk voor de noodtoestand in Syri�. Maandagavond drong hij de sjiitische Rida-moskee binnen, vlakbij het station Brussel-Zuid, en bedreigde de aanwezigen met een mes. Ook zwaaide hij met een bidon gevuld met benzine, die hij vervolgens aanstak. Het vuur greep snel om zich heen. De imam, van de moskee, de 46-jarige Abdallah Dadou, kwam daarbij om het leven.

Meer informatie volgt.

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Op dinsdag 13 maart 2012 20:37 schreef Chooselife het volgende:

[..]

Je reinste propaganda. Benoemen dat de wapens uit Rusland komen is ook volstrekt irrelevant.

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Op dinsdag 13 maart 2012 20:48 schreef Chooselife het volgende:

[..]

Dat is ook irrelevant. Dit nieuwsbericht is er mede op ingericht om het aanzien van Rusland te beschadigen. Kennelijk is dat weer nodig, nu de economisch- en geopolitieke macht van Rusland groeiende is. Het oude vijandbeeld wordt langzamerhand opgepoetst.

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Russisch schip vol ammunitie op weg naar Turkije

Een Russisch schip dat eerder in Cyprus onderwerp van discussie was mag weer verder varen nadat de eigenaar heeft toegezegd om naar Turkije te varen in plaats van Syri�.

Het Russische schip dat een ongeplande tussenstop had gemaakt in Cyprus mag weer door varen nadat de eigenaren aangegeven hebben om de ammunitie niet naar Syri� te vervoeren. Eerder mocht het schip niet verder varen omdat er een embargo op dergelijke cargo naar Syri� heerst.

Waarom het schip naar Turkije gaat is onbekend.

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Russisch schip met wapens in Syri�

Een Russisch schip met naar het zich laat aanzien wapens en munitie is in Syri� aangekomen. Het schip, de Chariot, was 9 december uit Sint Petersburg vertrokken. Scheepvaartbronnen in de Russische haven hebben vrijdag bevestigd dat het 11 januari arriveerde. Het had volgens de scheepvaartmaatschappij ,,een gevaarlijke lading '' aan boord.

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2012 bombardment of Homs

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The Bombardment of Homs by artillery shelling is a military operation being carried out by the Syrian armed forces and taking place within the scope of the Siege of Homs, in response to the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising. The event began on 3 February 2012 after the Free Syrian Army attacked Syrian Army checkpoints, killing 10 soldiers.[11][16]

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Syria's Assad is hitting Homs with the heaviest mortars in the world (video)

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From Peter Bouckaert, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, comes an indication why the death toll has been steadily climbing in Homs. He says a video from Homs that shows the fragments of a mortar the struck a building there is proof that Assad has deployed the Russian-made "Tulip" weapons system against the town, which fires the largest mortar round in any military's arsenal. The tank-like vehicle that serves as the firing platform can lob 240mm mortar rounds up to 20 kilometers away, and they carry over 70 pounds of explosives. The largest mortar used by the US, in contrast, is 160mm.

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Op dinsdag 13 maart 2012 20:55 schreef Chooselife het volgende:

[..]

Dat ben ik niet met je eens. Als je de gebeurtenissen in Syri� in breder perspectief bekijkt en daarbij ook oog hebt voor de rol van de gewapende milities, dan blijkt de rol van Rusland een stuk genuanceerder. De meerderheid van de Syri�rs (naar schatting 55%) staat nog steeds achter Assad en kent dus ook steun van Rusland. Zonder de vasthoudendheid van de Russen zouden ze ten dode opgeschreven zijn.

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Aan jou het verzoek eens heel kritisch te kijken die nou precies die "vrijheidsstrijders" zijn en wat ze precies willen bereiken.

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Video lynchpartij door Syrische strijders opgedoken

Gemaskerde rebellen hebben in de Noord-Syrische provincie Idlib een lid van een Assad-getrouwe militie opgehangen. Dat is te zien op videobeelden die in bezit zijn gekomen van een journalist van Associated Press en vandaag werden getoond.

De gehangene was een zogenoemde 'shabiha', een lid van een van de bendes die loyaal zijn aan president Bashar Assad. Hij zou op burgers hebben geschoten en voor het regime hebben gespioneerd.

De precieze gebeurtenissen die voorafgingen aan de lynchpartij, die half februari plaatsvond, konden niet worden geverifieerd. Maar een stem in de video zegt dat de man is gedood door strijders van het Vrije Syrische Leger. Deze strijdmacht zou de man hebben opgepakt omdat hij een begrafenisstoet zou hebben aangevallen.

'Hij gooide handgranaten naar de rouwenden', zegt de stem. 'Het Vrije Syrische Leger kwam tussenbeide en arresteerde deze criminele shabiha van Assads bendes. Hij had handgranaten bij zich en Russische munitie en schoot op de betogers en de rouwenden.'

Deserteurs en demonstranten
Het Vrije Syrische Leger is de grootste strijdmacht van de Syrische oppositie en bestaat uit legerdeserteurs en demonstranten die de wapens hebben opgenomen. Maar structuur en eenheid is er nauwelijks.

Saudi-Arabi� en Qatar hebben voorgesteld de Syrische strijders te bewapenen, maar de Verenigde Staten en andere landen zijn hier huiverig voor. Zij vrezen dat het conflict op die manier alleen maar bloediger wordt.

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Journalist recounts fleeing Syrian city under fire

Associated Press= ANTAKYA, Turkey (AP) — Explosions illuminated the night as we ran, hoping to escape Syria after nearly three weeks of covering a conflict that the government seems determined to keep the world from seeing. Tank shells slammed into the city streets behind us, snipers' bullets whizzed by our heads and the rebels escorting us were nearly out of ammunition.

It seemed like a good time to get out of Syria.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Award-winning journalists Rodrigo Abd and Ahmed Bahaddou sneaked into Syria and spent nearly three weeks reporting from opposition-held territory. Abd, an Associated Press photographer, is based in Guatemala. Bahaddou is a video journalist on assignment for the AP, based in Turkey.

---

With regime forces closing in on the rebel-held northern city of Idlib, Associated Press cameraman Ahmed Bahaddou and I set out Sunday for neighboring Turkey on a journey that would take us through a pitch-black passage and miles of muddy olive groves in the freezing cold.

We ran into delays and dangers with every step — from fighting between rebel and government forces to a missed connection with our guide.

We coordinated our escape with the Free Syrian Army, the rebel force fighting to hold onto Idlib, but the situation was deteriorating quickly. The snipers, shelling and explosions were growing ever closer.

"We are all going to be killed!" a terrified Syrian activist told me, collapsing into tears. An FSA fighter said the government troops were sure to take the city back, because the rebels were running out of ammunition.

A rebel commander said he understood if his fighters wanted to run away and save themselves.

"Whoever wants to leave and not fight, lay your Kalashnikovs here," he said.

Nobody did.

Last week, troops had encircled Idlib, and tank shells starting pounding the city from dawn until evening. Rebels dashed through the streets, taking cover behind the corners of buildings as they clashed with the troops. Wounded fighters were piled into trucks bound for places where they could be treated. I saw a man carrying a young boy, the child's jacket soaked in blood. I later learned the boy was dead.

On Tuesday, just one day after we made it out, government forces recaptured Idlib, although activists reported some pockets of resistance remained. Still, it was a blow to the rebels.

The regime says it is fighting foreign terrorists and armed gangs, denying that the yearlong uprising is a popular revolt. But what we saw in Idlib was nothing like what the government is describing. The townspeople support the uprising; every family seemed to have a fighter in the streets, or knew somebody who was fighting.

The FSA rebels were Syrians, from Idlib. We did not see any foreigners doing battle.

The biggest challenge for the rebels was not their fervor to fight; they all seemed willing to die to oust the regime of President Bashar Assad. They were armed with little more than rocket-propelled grenades, Kalashnikov machine guns and grenades.

The opposition's rallying cry in recent days has been an appeal for weapons. An influx of anti-tank missiles and other heavy arms could be a turning point in the conflict.

But as government forces moved in last week, all we could think of was Baba Amr — the neighborhood in the Syrian city of Homs that endured nearly four weeks of government shelling. Hundreds of people were killed in the siege, and the humanitarian situation was catastrophic. Among the dead were two journalists, Marie Colvin, a veteran American-born war correspondent for Britain's Sunday Times, and Remi Ochlik, 28, a French photojournalist. Both were cut down when a shell struck nearby.

Idlib was believed to be the next target now that the government had recaptured Baba Amr. As the rebels gathered on street corners, families packed a few possessions and rushed to leave the city. Women and children hid in basements to escape the shelling.

"Of course I am afraid!" a Syrian woman cried in one of the shelters, where a dozen women and children hid Saturday. "Even the men are afraid."

By Saturday, many people fled Idlib to reach surrounding villages. Electricity was switched off most of the day, lasting only about three hours, in what was likely an attempt by the government to clear out the population.

Everybody was preparing for a siege, making our escape all the more complicated. We decided to spend the night among the wounded in Idlib, delaying our departure, because we were too scared to move. As we drove through the dark streets, the driver turned off the headlights so nobody would detect us — even though that meant we could not see anything either.

The thundering "BOOM! BOOM!" from tank shells was relentless.

When we woke up the next morning, the toll of the violence we had somehow escaped was apparent: Wounded people, including children and women, were crowded around in bloodstained clothes. Many had clearly been hit by snipers in the legs and arms. Many had gaping wounds from shrapnel and died in their beds.

There was no space in the morgue for more corpses, so families arranged to bury the dead immediately. Funerals were out of the question because of the danger of being outside.

When evening fell, we decided to leave the city. The idea was to run over an open area overlooked by snipers and tanks, but our guides suggested we go underneath it, through a passage. We had to walk to it, led by an FSA fighter who kept us waiting for a half-hour while battles raged in the streets. We moved carefully through a city devoid of any normal sounds of life — no cars honking, no one on the streets — just silence broken by gunfire and explosions.

The corridor was cramped and so dark that we could not see our hands in front of our faces. Crouching to fit inside it, we moved for about 40 meters (130 feet) until we reached the other end, which was mercifully outside the regime's cordon. It was only after we emerged that we realized our escort was carrying homemade grenades on his vest, unstable explosives that easily could have blown us to bits while we were inside.

The next leg of our journey took us to a massive field of deep mud. There was no way to cross on foot or even in a car. But our contact on the Turkish side of the border had arranged the perfect mode of transport to ferry us into the country: a bright, red tractor.

We clambered aboard and rolled through the mud for a half-hour before crossing an unmarked, largely porous border. Nobody stopped us or even noticed.

Reporting from Syria had been risky, but it was the only way to cover the story properly, without being at the mercy of government minders who try to control what you see and whom you meet.

In the past year, Syria has severely restricted the number of visas it issues to journalists, and those who do get in must take trips accompanied by government escorts.

On Saturday, the Syrian Information Ministry issued a warning that journalists such as Ahmed and me who entered the country illegally "are accompanying terrorists, promoting their crimes and fabricating baseless news."

The statement alluded to the deaths of Colvin and Ochlik, saying media companies are "legally and morally responsible for anything that may result from what could happen to these journalists due to their accompaniment of terrorists."

But for Ahmed and me, the trip was an opportunity to present an honest picture of a conflict that remains largely hidden from the world.

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'Syrische gevangenen op grote schaal vernederd, verkracht en gemarteld'

Syri�rs die bij de protesten zijn opgepakt, worden stelselmatig gemarteld. Het regime vernedert en intimideert de slachtoffers om hen tot zwijgen te brengen. Dat schrijft mensenrechtenorganisatie Amnesty International vandaag.

Slachtoffers hebben tegen Amnesty verklaard dat de beulen een vast patroon volgen. Arrestanten worden eerst tot op het ondergoed uitgekleed en moeten tot 24 uur lang in de buitenlucht staan. Daar worden ze geslagen met stokken, geweerkolven, zwepen, kabels en vuisten. De folteraars noemen dat haflet al-istiqbal, Arabisch voor ontvangstcomit�.

Tijdens verhoren lopen de gevangenen het meeste gevaar. Een van de slachtoffers zei dat de ondervragers met tangen stukken spier van zijn benen hebben gescheurd. Sommige mensen worden aan deuren of plafonds opgehangen, zodat ze geslagen kunnen worden.

Ook verkrachtingen komen voor. Een Syri�r zegt dat hij moest toekijken, toen een andere gevangene werd verkracht. Dat zou in juli vorig jaar zijn gebeurd in een gebouw van de gevreesde militaire inlichtingendienst in de buurt van de hoofdstad Damascus.

'Ze trokken de broek van Khalid naar beneden. Hij had een wond op zijn linkerbovenbeen. De verhoorder verkrachtte hem tegen de muur. Khalid huilde en sloeg zijn hoofd tegen de muur', verklaarde de man tegen Amnesty.

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'Leger Syri� heeft Idlib onder controle'

Het Syrische regeringsleger heeft de noordelijke stad Idlib in handen gekregen.

Rebellen zijn op de vlucht geslagen en militairen doorzoeken de huizen. Dat heeft een activist uit de stad vandaag gezegd. Berichten uit Syri� kunnen nauwelijks worden gecontroleerd.

Idlib ligt bij de grens met Turkije. De stad was een van de haarden van protest in Syri�. Het regime heeft Idlib 4 dagen lang belegerd. Eerder veroverden regeringstroepen al de stad Homs, waar ook fel werd gedemonstreerd.

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'Assad verwerpt voorstellen Annan'

De Syrische dictator Bashar al-Assad verwerpt de voorstellen die de internationale gezant Kofi Annan heeft gedaan om het geweld in het land te be�indigen. Dat hebben drie bronnen rond de Amerikaanse regering dinsdag tegen nieuwszender CNN gezegd.

Voormalig secretaris-generaal van de VN Kofi Annan onderhandelde afgelopen weekeinde namens de VN en de Arabische Liga met Assad. De president van Syri� zou echter hebben geantwoord dat hij Annan niet erkent als vertegenwoordiger van de Liga en niets zal doen voordat de Syrische oppositie de wapens neerlegt.

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Exclusive: secret Assad emails lift lid on life of leader's inner circle

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• Messages show Bashar al-Assad took advice from Iran
• Leader made light of promised reforms
• Wife spent thousands on jewellery and furniture

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The messages, which have been obtained by the Guardian, are said to have been intercepted by members of the opposition Supreme Council of the Revolution group between June and early February.

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Op donderdag 15 maart 2012 01:27 schreef Billy-jazz het volgende:
Syria's turmoil has been laid bare on our TV screens for more than a year, but some networks are being accused of affecting rather than reflecting the conflict. Maria Finoshina reports now, on how there's more to the coverage on the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera TV channel, than meets the eye.

'Media - West proxy to fuel Syria conflict'

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Op donderdag 15 maart 2012 01:59 schreef Billy-jazz het volgende:

[..]

Dat maakt al-Jazeera niet minder subjectief.