Crisis in Syrië #14 Aleppo in brand

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 20:32 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Vrede en democratie is Syrië hierna!

Jij was natuurlijk ook voor de Irak inval toch? Sadam weg!

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 22:20 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Natuurlijk was ik daar niet voor, dictator-fanboy.

Maar dat heb ik al zo vaak geroepen (Irak was geen volksopstand) en toch blijf je dom schreeuwen.

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 22:54 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Jihadis uit Afghanistan, Somalie, Irak ed zijn wel 'een volksopstand'?

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En in Libie NAVO bombardementen waren ook 'een volksopstand'?

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 22:56 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Daar heb ik al op geantwoord.

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Door die bombardementen hadden Jihadi's geen kans om zich er echt mee te bemoeien.

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 23:01 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Neuh.

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De jihadis zijn oa vanuit Libie gekomen!

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 21:04 schreef remlof het volgende:
Waarom heeft de vlag van de FSA en SLA drie sterren en die van Syrië van Assad twee?

Ik dacht eigenlijk dat die rood-wit-zwarte vlaggen van Egypte, Libië en Syrië nog stamden uit de periode van de Federatie van Arabische Republieken waarbij elk land een ander aantal sterren in haar vlag had.

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 23:03 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Jawel, maar je bent te lui om het te onthouden, troll.

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Waarom zijn ze daar niet gebleven dan?

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 23:34 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Omdat er nu gevochten moet worden in Syrië. Duh.

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 23:16 schreef fusionfake het volgende:

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Om je vraag kort te beantwoorden, ze haten baathisten die aan de macht kwamen en die vlag aannamen.

Lang antwoord:

-knip-

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Op woensdag 25 juli 2012 22:54 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Jihadis uit Afghanistan, Somalie, Irak ed zijn wel 'een volksopstand'?

En in Libie NAVO bombardementen waren ook 'een volksopstand'?

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"Libyas Defeated Islamists"


TRIPOLI – “We certainly did not expect the results, but...our future is certainly better than our present and our past,” said Sami al-Saadi, the former ideologue of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and the founder of the political party al-Umma al-Wasat, which finished third in Central Tripoli during Libya’s recent parliamentary election. The man whom Taliban leader Mullah Omar once called the “Sheikh of the Arabs,” and who authored the LIFG’s anti-democracy manifesto The Choice is Theirs, accepted the apparent victory of Libya’s more liberal forces.

Indeed, the results raised eyebrows, even of those analysts who did not expect an Islamist landslide. In the electoral district that includes Derna, commonly viewed as an Islamist stronghold, the liberal-leaning National Forces Coalition (NFC), a grouping of more than 60 parties and hundreds of local civil-society organizations, won 59,769 votes, while the Justice and Construction Party (JCP) of the Muslim Brothers (MB) received only 8,619. The liberal-leaning Central National Trend (CNT) finished third, with 4,962 votes.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphIn the impoverished western district of Abu Selim, where many Islamists are seen as local heroes due to their sacrifices under Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s regime, the NFC swept the field with 60,052 votes, defeating all six Islamist parties, which received a combined total of less than 15,000 votes. Overall, liberal-leaning parties finished first in 11 of Libya’s 13 electoral districts, with the NFC winning ten and the CNT taking one.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphTo be sure, the results will affect only 80 of the 200 seats in the constituent assembly, whose mandate is to appoint a prime minister, government, and a committee to draft the constitution. The other 120 seats are assigned to individual candidates, who are likely to be local notables, independents with strong tribal affiliations, and, to a lesser extent, a mix of Islamist and liberal politicians.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphMoreover, while the Islamists were soundly defeated, they performed quite well in many districts. Across Libya, they took second place in ten districts (the JCP in nine and the Salafi-leaning Originality Coalition in one). In Misrata, the JCP finished second, after the local Union for Homeland Party, but still managed to win almost three times as many votes as the NFC, which came in fourth.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphNevertheless, the question remains: what happened to the Islamists? They spearheaded the opposition to Qaddafi, were advised by their Tunisian and Egyptian brethren, and larded their rhetoric with religious symbolism in a conservative Muslim country. For many, however, this was not enough.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphA striking difference between Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Tunisia’s Ennahda, on the one hand, and Libya’s Islamists on the other is the level of institutionalization and interaction with the masses. In Qaddafi’s four decades in power, Libya’s Islamists could not build local support networks; develop organizational structures, hierarchies, or institutions; or create a parallel system of clinics and social services, as their counterparts in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Jordan were able to do.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphAs a result, Libya’s Islamists could not unite in a coalition as large as that of Mahmoud Jibril, the former prime minister under the National Transitional Council, who heads the NFC. Instead, their votes were divided between several parties, six of which are significant.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphBut another reason for the strong “liberal” turnout is the “blood” factor. “I am not giving my family’s votes to the MB. Two of my cousins died because of them,” Mohamed Abdul Hakim, a voter from Benghazi, told me. He agrees that Islam should be the source for legislation, and his wife wears a niqab. Nonetheless, he voted liberal: his cousins were killed in a confrontation in the 1990’s, most likely between the Martyrs Movement (a small jihadist group operating in his neighborhood at the time) and Qaddafi’s forces.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphBut many average Libyans, including Hakim, do not distinguish between Islamist organizations and their histories. For them, all Islamists are “Ikhwan” (MB). The “stain” of direct involvement in armed action, coupled with fear of Taliban-like laws or a civil war like Algeria’s in the 1990’s harmed Islamists of all brands.

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphA third reason for the Islamists’ defeat had to do with their campaign rhetoric. “It is offensive to tell me that I have to vote for an Islamic party,” Jamila Marzouki, an Islamic studies graduate, told me. Marzouki voted liberal, despite believing that Islam should be the ultimate reference for Libyan laws. “In Libya, we are Muslims. They can’t take away my identity and claim that it’s only theirs.”

CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraphOthers factors had to do more with the liberal side. Jibril’s international legitimacy, his tribal affiliation (the Warfalla tribe includes about one million of Libya’s 6.4 million people), and leadership style, coupled with a broad coalition, served the country’s liberal forces well. So did a clever electoral campaign, which focused on incentives and hope (while also exaggerating the repercussions of an Islamist takeover).

The result was yet another paradox of the Arab Spring: a country that seemed to meet all of the conditions for an Islamist victory produced the sort of election results that liberals in Egypt and Tunisia could only dream about.

http://www.project-syndic(...)s-defeated-islamists

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Op donderdag 26 juli 2012 18:36 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:
Je weet dat de overgrote meerderheid der zetels nog gekozen moet worden hè?
En ik hoop dat ik het fout heb, maar ik betwijfel het. Maar goed we zullen zien.

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Op donderdag 26 juli 2012 20:19 schreef Monidique het volgende:
"Men" verwacht dat in de loop van de komende twee dagen het tegenoffensief van de regering zal beginnen in Aleppo. In principe moeten ze de FSA kunnen verdrijven, maar dan hebben ze wéér schade opgelopen en moeten ze nóg meer gebied permanent bezetten. Een tank in Aleppo of Damascus is een tank minder in Homs of Daraa. Uiteindelijk bloedt het regime simpelweg dood.

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Op donderdag 26 juli 2012 20:20 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Ligt eraan of het buitenland ze van wapens blijft voorzien.

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Op donderdag 26 juli 2012 20:22 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Aan wie? De opstandelingen blijven materiële steun krijgen uit het buitenland, de overheid volgens mij niet zoveel, die maken gebruik van wat er al was.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 14:19 schreef keepoww het volgende:
Ik snap niet waarom er niet internationaal wordt ingegrepen?

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http://www.guardian.co.uk(...)aleppo-massacre-live

4.40pm: Following the release of two journalists who were kidnapped in northern Syria (see 1.32pm), Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, has interviewed one of them – Dutch freelance photographer Jeroen Oerlemans.

Q You crossed from Turkey into Syria, where did things go wrong?

A We used a guide who we thought knew what he was doing, but halfway down the route he changed direction. There was a communication problem, he didn't speak any English. But he walked us straight into a jihadi training camp.

Q A jihadi training camp? Were the fighters from outside Syria, you think?

A Absolutely. There wasn't a Syrian present. They were all youngsters from other countries, African countries, Chechnya ...

Q And what did they want with you?

A At first, they said they just wanted to find out if we were indeed who we said we were, they said they thought we were CIA agents [inaudible]. But then it quickly became apparent they wanted to trade us for ransom.

Q And you tried to escape?

A Very unsuccesfully ... [laughs] We went towards ... we thought we had figured out a good escape route and thought we had found a quiet moment when almost nobody in the camp was paying attention to us. But they saw us almost right away running, and immediately the bullets were flying, and the big chase had begun. And 10 minutes later we were lying in our blood.

Q And then back to the camp? How did you finally manage to get out of there?

A There was a moment that we thought we would be disappeared, disappear from the radar screen, that they would take us to a place where no one would ever find us again. Like a place outside Syria, maybe Iraq, or to be handed over to another armed group. Just at that moment, a group of armed men came into the camp. We were blindfolded and bound, trying to wash our clothes at the time.

They stormed into our tent and started dressing down everyone. Why the hell we were being kept there, how long we had been kept there, why we were being treated this way.

Q And who was this?

A From what I know now, they were FSA, FSA soldiers. I don't know which faction. They managed to get intimidate the youth in the camp enough that they could take us out of the camp. Five minutes later they took us out of the camp while shooting [in the air I think]. And we were free.

Q The impression is created that the FSA is now in competition with foreign jihadis in this area, in its fight against Assad?

A Yes. Maybe in the short term they have the same aim, namely of overthrowing Assad and freeing Syria from a dictatorial regime. But where the FSA seems to be fighting for democracy, these foreign fighters don't want anything more than imposing Sharia on Syria. Syrians are pretty moderate Muslims in general, but they want to put them under the heavy boot of Sharia.

And that they [Syrians] wouldn't have much say in their own land, really.

Q You've just escaped, what are your plans for the coming days?

A I'm first going to let all of this settle in a bit, then I'm going home to see my family. And then I'll start thinking about the future.

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Assad vs Anonymous

The Syrian regime is waging an uphill battle that is expressed also in an online war against hackers supporting the rebels

The online warfare against the Syrian regime has been taken up a notch. Alongside an increase in the physical warfare, the battles reaching into the heart of the capital, Damascus, the elimination of the most senior members of the regime and the continuing desertions, over the past two weeks, we have seen an increase in the offensive activities against Syria in the online arena as well.

Wikileaks activists have broken into senior Syrian officials' computers and published 2.4 million email correspondences. If the elimination of senior members of the Syrian regime was a step up in the physical struggle against Assad's administration, over the past two days there has been a similar increase in the online arena, expressed by direct offensive activity by 'Anonymous' activists against the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA).

These are hackers who act in an organised fashion online against opposition activists and Arab media networks that cover the events in the country in a skewed way, in their eyes. Their activity is most often characterized by breaking into websites and by leaving messages on them, condemning the rebels and in favour of the Syrian regime. It is quite possible that they are acting under the guidance of the Syrian regime.

On 8 July, a video clip by Anonymous was published, containing a warning to the Syrian regime, following its military action against the citizens of the state and an accusation regarding its support of the SEA. The message said that Anonymous activists had decided to destroy Syria's and the organisation's online activity following the West's failure to defend the country's citizens.

On 16 July the SEA published a video in reply (in the exact same length and other characteristics), addressing Anonymous for provoking the organization and claiming that despite its repeated threats, none of them has been carried out so far. In addition, they claimed that they are not a virtual army, but a real army that cannot be stopped, while citing incidents in which they, allegedly, hacked into various Anonymous websites. Around half of the video clip is dedicated to showing various articles about an attack that was carried out on an Anonymous website.

Anonymous was quick to reply. Following the publication of the video, a DDoS attack began on the website of the SEA. The attack was first announced on media channels, belonging to Anonymous. In response, the SEA declared, in a direct communication to Anonymous, that the attack had been carried out by amateurs, via a direct dialogue through Twitter in a number or messages.

At the same time, the Syrian organisation began its own online attack against one of Anonymous' websites (AnonPlus), while announcing that it had succeeded in obtaining personal information of 700 Anonymous activists in Holland that was uploaded and published on the internet (the original file was erased from the server and uploaded again by the Syrians at its current address). The next step was the publication of yet another video by Anonymous on the 17th, aimed directly against the SEA.

Since 18 July there has been a substantial escalation: there have been break-ins and websites have been shut down by both sides, with an emphasis on high-quality targets. After Al-Jazeera's Twitter account in English was hacked by the sea at the beginning of the month, the organisation has begun a wave of attacks that has been documented in its message on its website and Twitter account.

The massive attack by the SEA included breaking into Al-Jazeera's servers and publishing hundreds of user names and passwords of the Qatari television station's employees as well as publishing another file including over 11,000 email addresses and passwords of NATO supporters (it is possible that these were stolen in advance and published now). The next day, on 19 July, Anonymous activists published messages about an attack on Syrian government websites and took responsibility for the attacks.

The past days, especially since 18 July, have been a significant milestone in the online warfare in the Syrian arena. If until now Anonymous' activities had been aimed against the Syrian regime in general, they now include the Syrian Electronic Army, while communicating with it directly through text and video.

The Syrian organisation on its part has begun to escalate its activities and to break into websites, steal user identification information of thousands of users, who it considers to be enemies of the regime. Over the past two days there has been a quantitative and qualitative increase in activities of online attacks against Syria, as well as attacks by Syria against those who it considers to be its internal and external enemies. The uphill battle that is being waged by the Syrian regime, ever since the explosion that killed a number of its senior officials, is taking its toll in the online world as well, where we can see the Syrian regime firing "online shots in all directions".

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 20:17 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:
Nu ook die liegende nle journalist die onzin vertelt over buitenlandse jihadisten in Syrië.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 20:21 schreef remlof het volgende:

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Waar liegt ie over dan?

Iets dat niet in jouw straatje pas waarschijnlijk

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 20:21 schreef remlof het volgende:

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Waar liegt ie over dan?

Iets dat niet in jouw straatje past waarschijnlijk

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 20:45 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:
Blij dat jullie dat zo zien!

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 20:47 schreef remlof het volgende:

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Het is meer jouw anti-islamitische blik vrees ik

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 20:48 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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De link stond er nog niet, faler!

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:13 schreef remlof het volgende:
Gelezen, ze werden gevangen genomen door een groepje van 20 jihadisten die op de vingers werden getikt door de FSA en toen werden ze vrij gelaten.

Ik zie geen probleem, zie het als het verzet tegen de moffen in WO2 in Nederland. Veel van de verzetstrijders waren communisten, maar dat betekende nog niet dat Nederland communistisch werd na de bevrijding.

Als je een regime omver wil werpen is iedereen die mee wil strijden g trouwenswoon welkom.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:13 schreef remlof het volgende:
Gelezen, ze werden gevangen genomen door een groepje van 20 jihadisten die op de vingers werden getikt door de FSA en toen werden ze vrij gelaten.

Ik zie geen probleem, zie het als het verzet tegen de moffen in WO2 in Nederland. Veel van de verzetstrijders waren communisten, maar dat betekende nog niet dat Nederland communistisch werd na de bevrijding.

Als je een regime omver wil werpen is iedereen die mee wil strijden gewoon welkom.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:18 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:
Is iedereen die mee wil strijden gewoon welkom... Dat zeg je dus echt?

En op de vingers getikt en vrijgelaten??? Waar lees jij dat?

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:25 schreef remlof het volgende:

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Ja dat zeg ik.

En in de digitale versie van de NRC van vandaag, daar staat het hele artikel.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:28 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Top dan ben je ook blij met extreem rechts die meevecht en zo.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:17 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Je ziet geen probleem erin?
Mijn god..... Hoe extreem dom en naïef. Net zoals de Sharia geen probleem is hé? De Nurnburger-wetten verbleken bij de sharia.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:40 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Hebben die Jihadisten in Libië de sharia al ingevoerd?

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:48 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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De meerderheid der zetels moet nog gekozen worden. En ze gaan het wel doen zeggen ze ja. Net zoals in Egypte de Mb dat probeert te doen.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:50 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Hoezo, ze gaan het doen? De Jihaddisten zitten nu in Syrië!

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:50 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Hoezo, ze gaan het doen? De Jihaddisten zitten nu in Syrië!

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 21:54 schreef remlof het volgende:

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De Jihadisten hebben het brein van Hofstadtgruppe ook al bezet

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 22:04 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:

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Ja in Algerije was het ook allemaal onzin, in Egypte ook en ga zo maar door.

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 22:08 schreef remlof het volgende:
Of heb ik ergens gemist dat Algerije en Egypte ons de oorlog hebben verklaard?

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Syrian army supply crisis has regime on brink of collapse, say defectors

General who swapped sides says regime can last 'two months at most' as troop morale sinks and petrol trucks are ambushed

Bashar al-Assad's military machine is on the brink of logistical meltdown and collapse, because it lacks petrol and food, and is having problems resupplying its soldiers, according to a Syrian general who has defected to the opposition.

Much has been made of the Syrian military's supposed superiority over the opposition, but General Mohammad Al-Zobi told the Guardian: "The benzine is nearly finished. They are running out of rockets. There is scarcely any bread or water for the soldiers."

Zobi defected two months ago alongside his air force colleague General Saed Shawamra. They slipped out from Tiftanaz airbase in the middle of the night. From the city of Idlib they crept across the border to Turkey. On Wednesday they crossed back into Syria, their mission now to finish off the revolution against Assad.

The men, from Dera'a province, are among around 100 senior military commanders who have joined Syria's rebels, appalled – they say – by Assad's brutal war against his own population. According to Zobi, the embattled Syrian regime can last "one or two months at most". "After that Assad will leave Syria. He'll go to Russia or maybe Iran," Zobi predicted, sitting in a village in rustic northern Syria, close to the Turkish border.

It is, of course, in the interests of the rebels to paint a picture of a crumbling regime on the brink of collapse, but it chimes with the view of General Robert Mood, the former head of the UN monitoring mission in Syria, who told Reuters on Friday: "In my opinion it is only a matter of time before a regime that is using such heavy military power and disproportional violence against the civilian population is going to fall.

"Every time there are 15 people killed in a village, 500 additional sympathisers are mobilised, roughly 100 of whom are fighters," Mood said.

But Mood suggested it may take more than a few months for Assad's regime to fall. "In the short term it may very well be possible for him to [hold on], because the military capabilities of the Syrian army are much, much stronger than those of the opposition," he said.

"The minute you see larger military formations leaving the ranks of the government to join the opposition, then that is when it starts accelerating … This could last for months or even years," he said.

Over the past few months the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has taken control of large swaths of the countryside, carving out a mini-empire in the north and east. The regime is largely confined to urban areas.

This new geographical reality has given opposition fighters the capacity to degrade the military's creaking supply chain. The FSA has ambushed army petrol tankers. And it has shot up trucks laden with provisions, according to Zobi. Earlier this week fighters also attacked an armoured column sent from Idlib to reinforce government positions inside Aleppo, the city partially seized by the rebels last Friday.

The rebel commander in charge of Idlib province, Mohammad Issa, said his fighters were camped outside regime-held Idlib but had decided not to enter the city. They were anxious to avoid the fate of Bab al-Hawr, the district of Homs pulverised by Assad's forces. "We are besieging the army. The army isn't besieging the FSA. We know all the movements of the regime army," Issa said confidently.

The two generals had been in charge of helicopters at the Tiftanaz base, outside Idlib. Because of rebel attacks on supply routes, the garrison was now forced to fly in food and ammunition by plane from Aleppo, they said. It was a similar picture in other army bases, increasingly vulnerable and cut off, Zobi suggested.

Assad's greatest advantage over his lightly armed opponents comes from the sky. Syria has 150 Soviet-built helicopters, including M8 and M17 troop transporters, capable of transporting 24 soldiers each. Russia had also delivered "five or six new helicopters" over the past month, the generals said.

But the president's most lethal weapon is his notorious M25 helicopter gunship. Syria has 22 of them, stationed in pairs at every airbase across the country, according to Zobi. They are remorseless killing machines able to fire 64 rockets on each mission and 2,000 machine gun rounds of varying calibres. They can stay in the air for four and a half hours.

"You can't shoot them down. It's impossible. They fly at an altitude of 4.5kms, above the range of a Kalashnikov," Zobi said. The gunships have a crew of four: two pilots, a gunner and an engineer.

The general added: "We defected after our superior gave us an unambiguous order to shoot everything on the ground."

"We didn't want to kill our own civilians," Shawamra explained.

The officers' unprecedented insider account appears to be corroborated by events inside Aleppo, where 34 people were killed on Thursday, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Residents reported seeing two M25s: one above Salheddin in the south of the city, the other hovering over Sakhour in the east. The gunships are likely to play a key role in an imminent government offensive to drive the rebels out.

The generals also painted a portrait of a demoralised Assad army. Some 30% of the president's soldiers had deserted, they said, almost all of them Sunni Muslims. Those who remained were Alawites – members of Assad's ruling sect – and members of other Shia groups, convinced that Syria was descending into a Rwandan-style sectarian war.

Spirits were low, Zobi added. "They [the soldiers] are nervous, tired and hungry. Most have been on their bases for three or four months," he said.

"They haven't seen their families. When they call their wives there is a spy listening on the line. Many soldiers are in military prisons.

"And anyone who deserts and who is caught is immediately shot."

Other defectors who had made their way to northern Syria confirmed the generals' bleak view, and said the rank and file in Assad's army wanted out. "The soldiers want to leave the army but they are very afraid. They want a no-fly zone to protect them. They are afraid they will themselves be shelled," Major Salem said. He declined to give his second name, and said his family was in a regime area.

Salem defected on 17 December 2011. He spent five months battling the FSA in Homs, including in the old city. "We had orders to shoot the hospital and kill civilians. Government forces shot everybody. No difference whether it was a child, woman, or old man," he said. "I left because I had to defend my people, my family."

Mortars, artillery, planes, and tanks had all been used to punish Homs, he said, one of the epicentres of Syria's 16-month rebellion. He also claimed that nerve gas had been used in the Al-Rastan district.

"I was still in the army at the time. It was dropped from a plane," he alleged.

"Not everybody likes the regime. But everybody fears the regime," Fares Kardash, 24, another defector, said.

Kardash recalled how he had worked as a driver for Assad's personal pilot, a high-ranking officer in air force intelligence based at Damascus international airport.

Kardash – a Sunni, who was imprisoned in 2010 – said that when the fighting started, Syria's top brass swapped their Mercedes staff cars for Toyota Prado 4x4s. He said he had glimpsed Syria's president on "14 or 15 occasions" getting into his Russian Yak jet at Damascus airport. "He is a donkey. He's killing his own people," Kardash said.

The jet was lavishly equipped with a kitchen, comfortable chairs, and presidential phone, he added. Assad also owned three French Dolphin 117 civilian helicopters, used to ferry him around.

The president's current whereabouts are unknown. He has not been seen since last week's devastating bomb attack in Damascus killed four members of his military-security command. Some observers believe that Assad is unlikely to flee the country, and will fight on until the end.

But General Shawamra demurred. He sketched out Assad's likely escape route: a plane to the impregnable Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria's port city on the Mediterranean, and from there to Moscow or somewhere else. "The Russians have so many guards. Nobody could shoot their way past them," he reasoned.

And then there is the economic aspect fuelling discontent and mutiny inside Syria's military structure. Shawamra said that after 25 arduous years as a career staff officer he had been earning a salary of 31,000 dinars a month when he ran away – a meagre £300. Kardash said he had been getting just £140 a month. "In half a month it's all gone," he joked.

And what of the supposed FSA attack on the national security headquarters in Damascus last week? The blast killed the president's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, as well as his national security chief, Hisham Bakhtiar, who died of wounds several days later. Syrian state TV quickly released news of the explosion – an atypical move that has fuelled numerous conspiracy theories inside Syria, including that the officers were executed after a palace coup against Assad that went wrong.

General Zobi, however, said the FSA had indeed blown the commanders up. The plot loosely resembled the failed attempt by Von Stauffenberg to blow up Adolf Hitler, he suggested. "We used 15 kilos of TNT," he said. "It was smuggled inside in small amounts. Some of it was under the table and the rest was in a room next door."

And was there a suicide bomber? "No," the general said. "We detonated it remotely."

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Op vrijdag 27 juli 2012 22:20 schreef Die_Hofstadtgruppe het volgende:
Ik blijf het apart vinden dat de zgn vrije linkse denkers zo pro extreem conservatief religieus zijn als het de islam betreft... maar moslims met denkwijzen uit 1100 moeten verdedigd worden. Extreem hypocriet gedrag.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:16 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Helikopter neergeschoten boven Aleppo: http://uk.reuters.com/vid(...)27&videoChannel=2603

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:21 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Het zier er uit als een raketten-schietende heli die 90 graden gedraaid is gefilmd.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:24 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Ingrijpen gaat echt niets helpen, dat weten alle landen.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:22 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:
Ik blijf me verbazen dat de Arabische landen zelf niets doen, en men krampachtig naar de NATO kijkt over het wel of niet ingrijpen.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:28 schreef Monidique het volgende:
De vraagstelling is of het een goede overweging is, serieus?

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:31 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Welke van die Arabische landen zijn zelf een dictatuur?

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:38 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:

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Ik zou voorstellen dat je deze vraag even opzoekt.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:39 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

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Oh, jij bent het.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:37 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:

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Beter lezen, er staat voor de langere termijn. Daarnaast heeft een dergelijke interventie wel degelijk effect. De situatie ziet er nu wanhopig uit, de bevolking wordt in koele bloeden omgelegd en de gevechten verlopen oneerlijk. Een regering die over alle mogelijke middelen beschikt en deze ook inzet tegen zijn burgers: waaronder tanks, vliegtuigen en helikopters. Het overgrote deel van de bevolking wilt een einde aan de dictatuur van de familie Assad en zijn volgelingen. Het ziet er naar uit dat de bloedvergieten niet zullen ophouden zolang de mensen die vechten voor democratie zich afzetten tegen deze regime. Er is sprake van misdaden, oorlogsdaden en koelbloedige moorden. We kunnen met ze alle ernaar gaan kijken en niks doen of deze misdaden tegen de menselijkheid laten stoppen.

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Russia blames West and Syria's neighbours for bloodshed

(Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on Saturday that international support for Syrian rebels would lead to "more blood" and the government could not be expected to willingly give in to its opponents.

Lavrov, whose country has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions intended to increase pressure on Syria's government to end 16 months of violence, said Western and Arab nations should exert more influence on rebels to stop fighting.

He said "tragedy" could be imminent in the Syrian city of Aleppo, but indicated rebels would be at least partly to blame.

"Pressure must be put on everyone," Lavrov said at a joint news conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba after talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin's summer base.

"Unfortunately, our Western partners prefer to do something a bit different and essentially, along with some countries neighbouring Syria, encourage, support and direct the armed fight against the regime," he said.

"The price of all this is still more blood."

In the wake of the Security Council vetoes by Russia and China, the United States has said it will seek ways to trackle the crisis outside the U.N.

Gemba said it was "very serious moment" in Syria and it was primarily up to the government to stop the bloodshed.

"The position of the Russian side has great influence, and there is also the voice of the international community. We are counting on a constructive Russian position," he said, speaking through an interpreter.

Lavrov said Russia was calling on the government to "take the first steps" but that the rebels should not take advantage of any such government actions by occupying cities and towns.

"The city of Aleppo is occupied by the armed opposition and the next tragedy is brewing there, as I understand it," he said.

"Well-armed opposition groups are occupying cities, intending to create some sort of buffer zones for a transitional government. How can one expect that the Syrian government will say, 'Yes, go ahead, overthrow me,'" he said.

"This is unrealistic - not because we are holding onto the regime but because it just doesn't work," he said.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:41 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Natuurlijk heeft oorlog verklaren aan Syrie effect, als in: gevolgen. Positieve resultaten zijn alleen niet te verwachten. Ik lees in jouw stukje ook niet hoe dat precies zou moeten gebeuren.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:48 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:

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Zoals ik al zei, je kunt wel ingrijpen maar of dit ook daadwerkelijk een verbetering is voor Syrië en zijn bevolking door een dictatuur te laten vallen, is op de langere termijn discutabel te noemen.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:49 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Et voila, daar het antwoord op je vraag.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:53 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:

Nee, aangezien je dus nooit van speculaties moet uitgaan.

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De situatie zoals het nu is gaat gewoon niet langer.

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En het is aan de bevolking van Syrië om te bepalen welke richting zij (na Assad) willen opgaan.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 12:55 schreef Monidique het volgende:

Je baseert je hele beleid voor een groot gedeelte op speculatie.

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Natuurlijk wel, het kan nog tientallen jaren zo doorgaan.

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Nou ja, de bevolking is het daar nog niet over eens, ze zijn het nog niet eens over de vraag of Assad ueberhaupt weg moet. Maar als het aan de bevolking an Syrie is, dan is het dus niet aan andere landen. Wederom, een antwoord op je vraag.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:04 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:

Welk beleid, ik heb nergens beleid genoemd. Waarschijnlijk heb jij een andere beeldvorming over het woord beleid dan ik.

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Het kan inderdaad jaren doorgaan, maar er zijn juist verdragen, instanties en revoluties in het leven geroepen om dergelijke situaties uit het verleden te bestrijden in onderlinge samenspraak.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:03 schreef rakotto het volgende:
Het gaat goed komen.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:05 schreef Monidique het volgende:

Beleid in het algemeen, met je " beeldvorming", .

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Zoals?

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:11 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:
Serieus gebruik je hersenen eens, aangezien het nu lijkt dat je deze niet hebt. Jij hebt het er over dat ik beleid zou noemen. Ik heb nooit beleid genoemd. Zoals ik al aangaf heb jij waarschijnlijk geen idee van wat het woord beleid inhoudt. Gebruik een woordenboek daarvoor. Je hoeft je simplisme niet af te wimpelen met een smiley.

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Artikel 7 statuut van Rome, verdrag van London, verdrag van Straatsburg, Geneefse verdragen of Conventies van Genevé bijvoorbeeld.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:16 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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[quote]Altijd leuk, MisterJ.Lo zichzelf belachelijk zien maken.

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Nu, citeer eens wat, wat toepasbaar is en wat de gevolgen kunnen of moeten zijn.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:21 schreef MisterJ.Lo het volgende:

En nu moet ik ze ook nog eens gaan citeren? Doe het zelf zou ik zeggen. Je hebt het antwoord op je vraag al gehad kind.

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Op zaterdag 28 juli 2012 13:25 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Jij stelt dat er "verdragen, instanties en revoluties" in het leven zijn geroepen om "dergelijke situaties" aan te pakken, dan zie ik daar wel graag een onderbouwing, wat bewijs, zeg maar, van. Welke verdragen, instanties en revoluties, over welke situaties hebben we het dan, wat zijn dan de te volgen procedures? Gewoon het eerste het beste wat je op Wikipedia vindt hier dumpen, is natuurlijk geen onderbouwing, dat is meer een indicatie dat je meer roept dan weet. Dus graag wat meer uitleg, anders kunnen we concluderen dat je het niet weet.

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Vrije Syrische Leger: ontvoerders Oerlemans bestraffen

De jihadisten die afgelopen week in Syrië de Nederlandse nieuwsfotograaf Jeroen Oerlemans ontvoerden moeten worden vervolgd en bestraft. Dat zegt een bevelhebber van de opstandelingen in een verklaring op YouTube.

De commandant ontkent dat de gijzelnemers iets met de Syrische opstandelingen te maken hebben, meldt de NOS, die de video heeft vertaald.

Kolonel Afeef Suleiman:

. “Deze daad gaat niet samen met het principe van de helden op het veld, die de onderdrukking en tirannie bestrijden in deze grote revolutie. Degenen die dit gedaan hebben zijn gewapende groepen die niks met het Vrije Syrische Leger te maken hebben.”

Volgens de kolonel hebben de troepen de ontvoerders onder druk gezet om Oerlemans en een Britse collega vrij te laten. Suleiman deserteerde afgelopen juni van het Syrische leger en sindsdien is hij volgens de NOS één van de hoogste leiders van het Vrije Syrische Leger. Door de situatie is het land is het niet te controleren hoe groot de rol van Suleiman was bij de bevrijding van de Nederlander.

Over de bevrijding zei Oerlemans gisteren zelf:

. We werden de tent uitgevoerd. Toen bleek dat vier strijders van het Vrije Syrische Leger gewoon het kamp zijn binnengelopen. Die hebben ons in de stijl van een paar gangsters gewoon meegenomen. In de lucht schietend zijn we daar weggereden. Net zoals je nooit verwacht dat je bij jihadisten terecht komt, verwacht je ook niet dat je op deze manier bevrijd wordt. Drie uur later stonden we in Turkije.

Oerlemans werd vorige week donderdag samen met een Britse collega ontvoerd in Syrië. Hij raakte gewond toen hij werd neergeschoten bij een vluchtpoging. Eergisteren werden hij en zijn collega bevrijd.

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Rebels successfully fended off a government attack on the Salaheddin district of Aleppo on Saturday, but their initial victory incurred a heavy bombardment that risked leveling the entire neighbourhood, according to an American journalist who traveled with the rebels.

Christian Science Monitor correspondent Scott Peterson spoke with Al Jazeera on Sunday night after leaving Syria for Turkey. His account of the fighting in Syria's largest city illustrates the rebels' tenacious ability to hold their own against a better-armed government but also the risks that entails, as the leadership in Damascus grows increasingly desperate to quash the uprising.

"It was a very up and down fight at the very early stages," Peterson said. "I think [the victory] took the rebel forces by surprise a little bit. They claimed they knocked out eight tanks."

Peterson said he saw video footage of one armoured troop carrier that had been destroyed and saw a number of government troops killed.

"It was surprising to feel the degree of optimism that some of the rebels there felt," he said. "Of course what they were concerned about wsa that the quality and the volume of the shelling ... was going to yield kind of a destroyed neighbourhood."

Peterson said the rebels' weapon supplies had markedly increased in the past few days, with many more rocket-propelled grenades and even DShK or "Dushka" anti-aircraft guns appearing on the scene.

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Syrische gezant in Londen wil regime niet langer vertegenwoordigen

De gezant van Syrië in Groot-Brittannië is opgestapt. Khaled al-Ayoubi 'is niet langer bereid een regime te vertegenwoordigen dat zulke gewelddadige en onderdrukkende daden tegen zijn eigen volk heeft gepleegd', liet het Britse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken vandaag weten.

Ayoubi was de hoogste vertegenwoordiger die Syrië nog had in Londen. Damascus had de ambassadeur in maart teruggeroepen.

Eerder kozen de vertegenwoordigers van Syrië in EU-voorzitter Cyprus, de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten en Irak de kant van de oppositie.
Volgens het Britse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken is het opstappen van Khaled al-Ayoubi een nieuwe klap voor het regime van president Bashar al-Assad. 'Het illustreert de afschuw en wanhoop die het regime losmaakt onder Syriërs uit alle lagen van de bevolking, binnen Syrië en daarbuiten', aldus het ministerie.

De vluchtende vrienden van Assad
Khaled al-Ayoubi is niet de enige prominente Syriër die de kant van de opstandelingen heeft gekozen sinds de opstand tegen Assad vorig jaar maart begon:

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Op maandag 30 juli 2012 18:27 schreef zuiderbuur het volgende:
Een interessant stuk van Dirk Rochtus over de positie van de Koerden. Het komt erop neer dat hij vindt dat Ankara faalt en Assad wel zal varen bij de ontwikkelingen met betrekking tot de Koerden:
http://www.demorgen.be/dm(...)van-Irak-volgt.dhtml

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Op maandag 30 juli 2012 18:38 schreef Doler12 het volgende:

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Ik denk dat de eventuele overwinnaar na de strijd wel even gaat afreken met het zogenaamde 'West-Koerdistan'

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VN-topman aangevallen door Syrische leger

Het konvooi van Luitenant-generaal Babacar Gaye, hoofd van de waarnemingsmissie van de Verenigde Naties in Syrie, werd dit weekend door overheidstroepen aangevallen. Slechts door bescherming van de pantservoertuigen waarin de waarnemers zich verplaatsten, raakte er niemand gewond.

Dat zei secretaris-generaal van de VN, Ban Ki-moon, vandaag in New York. 'Gisteren werd het konvooi van generaal Gaye aangevallen door Syrische legertanks. Gelukkig raakte er niemand gewond bij de aanval', aldus Ban.

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Syria: foreign jihadists could join battle for Aleppo

Jihadists, many with al-Qaida sympathies, are said to be planning to join a decisive battle against regime troops

Scores of foreign jihadists have crossed into Syria from Turkey in the past two weeks, some of them telling Syrians that they are planning to travel to Aleppo to join a decisive battle against regime troops.

Syrian residents and a Turkish smuggler interviewed by the Guardian say many of the men have come from the Caucasus, while others had arrived from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Gulf Arab states.

According to locals who have dealt with them, the new arrivals embrace a global jihadist worldview that sets them apart from most leaders in the armed Syrian opposition and is stirring deep discontent among the rebel leadership.

Rebel leaders inside Syria say about 15-20 foreign fighters have been crossing each day since mid-July, trying to join up with an estimated 200-300 foreigners in Syria.

"There have been Tunisians, men from Uzbekistan too and from Pakistan," said the smuggler. "They say the Syrians are brothers and that they are going to help them."

Some of the new arrivals have told local people they will also try to connect with a small number of homegrown Syrian groups in the country who at least partly share their ideology and who fought against US forces in Iraq.

The Syrians' journeys to Iraq during the height of the Sunni insurgency from 2004-07 had proved instructive in the violence in Iraq's Anbar province, which borders eastern Syria. And their border crossings had been facilitated by the Syrian regime's security apparatus, which had also acted as a conduit for arriving foreign fighters.

A former adviser to senior ministers within the Iraqi administration said: "There were two aspects to the Syrian efforts in Iraq. First there was their obvious support for the old Iraqi Baathists and then there was the evidence of people coming across and being caught. The intelligence showed strongly that they could not have done so without the help of the Syrian regime."

One Syrian veteran of the Iraq war said: "The brothers who came to join us (in Iraq), particularly from the Maghreb, all flew into Damascus airport and were directed to the border by the intelligence services.

"They crossed the borders the same way that we did. The intelligence officers were responsible for the crossings."

Almost 18 months into the Syrian uprising, the spectre of the Syrian veterans of the Iraq war has loomed large in a series of clashes in the north of the country, particularly in the past two weeks as both sides have been braced for the showdown in Aleppo.

Rebel leaders fear the recent arrivals also adds an unwanted dimension to the Syrian uprising, which was inspired by the popular revolts that ousted entrenched old orders elsewhere in the Arab world but has since evolved into violent insurrection.

Ever since the first signs of revolt in the southern Syrian city of Deraa, regime officials have cast the instability as a plot by such jihadist groups, backed by western and gulf states.

Now, as the once impregnable fortress of state power in Syria starts to erode, the prophecy is partly being fulfilled – to the annoyance of many rebel leaders who say that they will fight the new arrivals if they try to impose themselves.

"The regime said [the uprising] was always about Islamists," said Abu Manaf, a rebel major from Idlib. "It wasn't then and it isn't now. This was a street uprising, just as it was elsewhere."

Free Syria Army officials in southern Turkey say there are at least four groups not aligned to them who are fighting regime forces, a Libyan guerilla brigade among them, although the actual number is likely to be higher.

The groups have been especially active in detonating roadside bombs against regime targets – skills they had learned in Iraq. Prominent are groups such as Jibhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, who have acknowledged that they adhere to aspects of the al-Qa'ida worldview.

"They are with us, but for the wrong reasons," said one officer of the Free Syria Army. "They see this war as something bigger than Syria. They are 'takfiris'."

The term 'takfiri' has become associated with an offshoot of the salafist movement, which condones violence to achieve ideological goals. Many of its practitioners embrace the teachings of al-Qa'ida which sees taking the fight to non-Muslims – and especially non-Islamic regimes – as a divine struggle – or jihad.

Global jihadists have begun to focus on Syria for several reasons, firstly because the country is ruled by a clan dominated by the Alawite sect – which is seen as a heretic offshoot of Shia Islam.

In addition, Syria's Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is drawn from fundamentalist Sunni Islamic teachings, has unfinished business with the regime, more than 30 years after former president Hafez al-Assad ordered a brutal crackdown on an uprising in Hama, which killed an estimated 20,000 people.

The jihadist push into Syria, though limited for now, comes as the al-Qa'ida affiliated Islamic State of Iraq has heralded a summer offensive, which last week killed more than 100 people in a day of attacks. The general in charge of the intelligence division in Iraq's Interior Ministry, Hussein Ali Kamal, said jihadists in Iraq were clearly drawing strength from the instability in Syria.

"They used to come to Iraq from Syria and now they are going the other way," he said. "The Syrians created these routes and now they are being used against them. The Syrian regime has a long history with al-Qa'ida. We have taken evidence of their complicity to them directly.

"The situation is very dangerous regionally and we must defeat it. They have in part created the situation that they are now suffering from."

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Op maandag 30 juli 2012 16:52 schreef J0kkebr0k het volgende:
Hier weer een goed voorbeeld van westerse propaganda dat wordt ontdekt. Vies spelletje is er aan de gang.

[ afbeelding ]
_{Links de foto in de Kronen Zeitung, rechts het oorspronkelijke beeld van EPA.}

Krant in opspraak om Syrië-photoshop

WENEN - De grootse krant van Oostenrijk is ernstig in opspraak geraakt omdat het een foto uit Syrië opzichtig heeft gemanipuleerd. Bij een artikel over de slag om de Syrische stad Aleppo, drukte de Kronen Zeitung afgelopen zaterdag een dramatische foto af van een echtpaar dat met een baby in hun armen op de vlucht slaat voor het geweld. Op de achtergrond is een straat vol ruïnes te zien. Voor het beeld blijken echter twee foto’s te zijn samengevoegd.

Het beeld van het vluchtende gezin is oorspronkelijk op 26 juli gemaakt door fotopersbureau EPA. Op de achtergrond geen platgebombardeerd huizen, maar een ‘gewone’ straat in Aleppo. Voor het dramatische effect heeft de fotoredactie van de Kronen Zeitung het vluchtende gezin uitgesneden en in een foto geplakt van ruïnes in de 193 kilometer verderop gelegen stad Homs.

De schaamteloze manipulatie werd al snel opgemerkt door enkele wakkere internetters en in rap tempo verspreid via onder meer social media. Inmiddels heeft ook een aantal lezers van de krant ook aan de bel getrokken bij de Oostenrijkse Raad voor de Journalistiek. Die is een onderzoek begonnen naar het geknoei met de foto’s.

Bron: http://www.telegraaf.nl/b(...)_om_photoshop__.html

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Op maandag 30 juli 2012 21:22 schreef boyv het volgende:
Die jihadstrijders waren ook in Libië en daar hebben ze nu niks te zeggen. Er zullen vast ook wel wat radiacale elementen in het Vrije Syrische Leger zitten, maar de meerderheid zit daar volgens mij niet te wachten op een nieuw dictatuur.

Als maar voorkomen wordt dat die gaswapens die Assad heeft worden opgeblazen ipv uitgedeeld worden aan het publiek.