West Asia News and Discussions

[Kapil]

IFS type commenting:
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013 ... elp-syria/

[Austin]

Finally Al Qaeda Smells the Plot

Al Qaeda chief urges Islamists to unite against US

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged Islamist militants to rise above their sectarian feuds and unite against what he called Washington’s plan to set up a pro-American client state in Syria.

In a recording posted online today Zawahiri blamed the US for its plan to safeguard Israel’s security by replacing Assad’s regime by a puppet state.

“America, its agents and allies want you to shed your blood and the blood of your children and women to bring down the criminal Baathist regime, and then set up a government loyal to them and to safeguard Israel’s security,” he announced today.

In his statement, Al Qaeda’s Number 1 member said that jihad, or the Islamic Holy War, was the only way to win back Palestine that was “stolen” from Muslims 65 years ago, when the Israeli state was founded.

[RajeshA]

Interesting...
Now Bulgaria says it's not sure whether Hezbollah was behind the bombing

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/world ... .html?_r=0

It is on the basis of this incident that UK wants to push EU to put Hezbollah on the terrorist list. I guess Bulgaria was told by Russia not to go down that road.

Russia seems to have checkmated UK on this.

[Lalmohan]

russia's been playing hardball with uk for some time now, am half expecting putin to make dawood kamran drop and give him five or face a de-bagging at the next G7+ meeting

[ramana]

Now that Mushy is back and Badmash in charge of TSP, AlQ#2 is squeaking. Looks like he lost fear of bird of pray!

[Johann]

a gut feeling often comes up that after Syria is 'won', the anglo-sunni's coalition will turn their beady deviant eyes to Lebanon & UAE. The UAE emir is slightly inclusive, this in their anglo-sunni world-view, surely they may not be able to digest. They would like to purge UAE of any such traits and make it 'pure'. They had a go at Oman too for short while. The gameplan here is becoming quite clear. To purge the world of tolerant, inclusive, secular regimes to be replaced duly by intolerant, sadistic, lowlives who have the cloak of religion, thus making them untouchable to criticism.

Please don't get carried away with the need for some sort of emotionally satisfying ideological narrative.

The Emirates and Oman in particular are the UK's closest allies in the Gulf, and have always been. They also have an extremely close relationship with the Americans. They are far more trusted than Saudi or Qatar on counter-terrorism issues for obvious reasons. Oman and the UAE are also founding members of the GCC.

Lebanon is a different story - Israel, US and the GCC all have a big problem with Hezbollah.

[Johann]

Looks like Hezbollah is becoming a full-fledged army with urban warfare training.
I think the other reason it got into Syria is to gain a real battle experience with real casualties so that it can evaluate its
battle readiness.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-E ... l+Stories)

Kati, Hezbollah would have a hard time surviving without the Assad regime's support. They are completely dependent on it for logistical support, and highly reliant on it for diplomatic and intelligence support. So obviously the outcome matters to them.

On top of that the Syrian government has been willing to offer lots of money and some serious weapons upgrades to Hezbollah in exchange for its help. Assad's military badly needs every trained and committed body it can muster in the face of the size of the rebellion and its own heavy losses from casualties and desertions, especially given that its having a hard time maintaining recruitment and motivation of its Sunni conscripts.

Hezbollah will gain some tactical experience, but I don't know if it will offset the losses - Hezbollah is small, and every trained man they lose hurts them, while the fighting in Syria it leaves them distracted and vulnerable to Israeli attack at home. Those who gain experience fighting Al Qaeda jihadis and Syrian rebels are not going to be anywhere as useful in fighting something as sophisticated and powerful as the Israeli military. The only thing that would work would be a massive expansion of Hezbollah, and that will require Iran and Syria to divert yet more scarce resources. Which they might, given how high the stakes are for them.

[ramana]

I have not hidden my objectives in Syria.

I want the Assad regime to survive the GCC Wahabandi onslaught and turn the Sunni tide there just as Ali was defeated there and turned the tide of dynastic Islam.

The defeated dregs will swallow their puppeteers just as theTsarist soldiers removed the Tsar after the Wilhemine Germany defeated them.

Lets us see what happens.

[Austin]

200 militants are fighting for al-Qaeda in Syria - FSB

This was stated by the Director of the Russian Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov. According to Bortnikov, a few dozen to a few hundred fighters from Russia and other countries are engaged in the fighting in Syria.

"Russia is concerned about the engagement of about 200 militants in that fight on the side of the Caucasus Emirate under the flag of Al Qaeda and other affiliated structures," he added said on Thursday after an international conference of chiefs of security services and law enforcement bodies - partners of the Federal Security Service held in Kazan.

Militants from other countries are heading to North Africa, he added.

“Our partners estimate that between several dozen and several hundred militants from other countries are participating in the armed conflict in Syria on the side of international terrorist organizations”, - the FSB chief said.

According to Alexander Bortnikov, the participants in the conference focused on measures to prevent militants who received extensive training in terror warfare tactics from returning to the countries they came from.

Those attending the conference came to the conclusion that terrorist groups in North Africa, first of all, in Syria, pose a serious threat to all countries, including Russia, the post-Soviet republics, European countries and the entire American continent, Bortnikov said.

"We agreed that it was a very serious threat to all states, not only to Russia and CIS countries, but also to countries in Europe and on the American continent," Bortnikov said.

"Militants are intensifying their operations and going there [to Syria]," he said.

Bortnikov said his opinion was shared by partners, who said that from several dozens to several hundreds of militants were fighting on the side of international terrorist organizations in the Syrian conflict.

"The danger is that these terrorists will eventually return to their home countries," the FSB director stressed. "What shall we do and how can we thwart the plans and intentions of those who have been trained and learned how to fight? How can we keep them off our territories? This problem was heatedly debated at the meeting," he said.

[Kati]

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-hezbolla ... 58713.html

Analysis: Hezbollah's Syria victory risks wider Sunni-Shi'ite conflict

HEZBOLLAH OPERATION

What is most unsettling about the capture of Qusair, military officials in the region say, is that it was essentially a Hezbollah operation - from the planning, to the deployment of artillery and other armaments, to the actual fighting.

"Hezbollah captured the town and let the Syrian army in. The Syrian army provided logistical support through relentless bombing and shelling, but Hezbollah was the strike force," said one well-placed Syrian source.

The involvement now of Hezbollah, Iran's proxy, in the war is seen as evidence of a belief in Tehran that a defeat for Assad -- which looked distinctly possible last year -- would pose an unacceptable threat to Iran.

Qusair is unlikely, however, to prove a decisive turning point in a stalemated war. Forces loyal to Assad must still retake large areas of northern and eastern Syria, while the rebels, divided and poorly armed as they are, remain tenacious.

"It is a very strategic win, but a localized victory which took several weeks and with huge foreign assistance which has a lot of negative connotations. There will definitely be a reaction against Hezbollah," said Middle East analyst Rami Khouri.

What Qusair also underlines is how a conflict that began as an Arab Spring uprising against dictatorship is turning into a proxy war pitting Iran against the West and its Arab allies - a contagious contest that has spread east and west of Syria.

At the same time, Assad has become reliant on Hezbollah, Iran and a national network of mainly Alawite militia known as the National Defense Forces which have taken over much of the army's role and given the Assad camp a more sectarian color.

Even though Alawites hold most top positions in the Syrian hierarchy, Assad no longer trusts the mainly Sunni army.

The growing involvement of Sunni Arab jihadis on the rebel side, including the Nusra Front linked to al-Qaeda, places the front line of the Middle East's centuries-old Sunni-Shi'ite rift in Syria, and also possibly in Lebanon.

The schism between Sunnis and Shi'ites arose soon after the death of the Prophet Mohammad in 632, when Ali, his son-in-law and cousin, was passed over as the rightful successor, to the chagrin of his partisans, who became known as Shi'ites.

Two years into the fighting, the situation in Syria has come to resemble the 1975-90 civil war in Lebanon and the sectarian conflict in Iraq that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein.

In Iraq, the Syrian war has reignited Shi'ite and Sunni tensions which have simmered since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

A flickering Sunni insurgency against the Shi'ite-dominated government, encouraged by popular protest across the Arab world, has burst back into flame. Sectarian violence is now at its highest in Iraq since the dark years of 2006-2007.

Free Syrian Army flags seen at protests in Iraq highlight links between Sunni tribes in western Iraq and eastern Syria.

[Prem]

http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/06/most- ... cently-kil

Most Foreign Sunni Fighters Recently Killed in Syria Fought For Jihadist Group

According to a recent report from counterrorism consulting firm Flashpoint Partners the majority of foreign Sunni rebels killed in Syria between July 2012 and May of this year were fighting for Jabhat al-Nusra, an Al Qaeda-linked group that the U.S. government has classified as a terrorist organization.The authors of the Flashpoint Partners report looked through web forums and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter in order to confirm the deaths of 280 foreign fighters in Syria who have been “martyred” within the 11 months being examined.Below is a breakdown of the foreign Sunni fighters killed in Syria examined in the report by country of origin:
The report also includes profiles of some of the foreign Sunni fighters killed in Syria, which offer a glimpse into some of their motivations. Jamal al-Yafi, from Lebanon, had experience fighting with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and was active on Al Qaeda forums, having written more than 30,000 postings. Abdulaziz al-Jughayman, an assistant professor from Saudi Arabia, had experience fighting in Afghanistan and Bosnia and was killed in Idlib while fighting for Jabhat al-Nusra.Flashpoint’s report ends with analysis that should worry Western governments and those advocating for intervention in Syria:Another statistic derived from our data sample may be somewhat predictable, but nonetheless worrisome: the lion’s share of foreign fighters who are dying in Syria are fighting with the most hardline organization involved in the uprising: Jabhat al-Nusra. The leader of Jabhat al-Nusra, Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, has recently publicly sworn allegiance to Al-Qaida leader Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri and the group has been blacklisted as a branch of Al-Qaida in Iraq by the United States government. Even if not all of those coming from outside Syria to assist the rebel cause arrive with an immediate malicious jihadi intent, if these recruits are then subject to sectarian indoctrination by the likes of Jabhat al-Nusra and the rigors of urban combat with a foe like the Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies, it is fair to say that all bets are off. This is particularly concerning when one considers that a handful of Western nationals—including at least one American, Eric Harroun—have already allegedly fought alongside Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. In our own data set, at least seven Europeans (not including Kosovo) were counted as casualties of the Syrian resistance from France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Ireland—plus an additional two from Australia and one from the United States. Even given these relatively small numbers, it would seem that the concern of Western governments that errant extremists from their countries will receive paramilitary training in Syria appears to be indeed borne out by the evidence.
Read the full report below:

[Philip]

Dawood Khamran indeed!
Now the Austrian "peacekeepers" are leaving,what gives? Do they know the future? More evidenc of the presence of foreign fighters masquerading as "rebel Syrians".

Some of these fighters are from local villages but others are foreign jihadists, many of them Iraqis," said David Nisan, a risk consultant who monitors the region for the Israeli firm Max Security Solutions. "We've seen a lot of YouTube videos from a group calling themselves the Quneitra Liberation Front waving the black flag of al-Qaida."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ju ... y-quneitra

Austria to withdraw Golan Heights peacekeepers over Syrian fighting
Austrians account for about 380 of the 1,000-strong UN force monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel

The affiliation of the rebel fighters could not be confirmed. While media reports claimed they were Free Syrian Army men, intelligence experts stressed that radical jihadist groups had established themselves in villages surrounding Quneitra in the northern Golan. Among them are the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front and the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, responsible for the recent kidnap of Filipino peacekeepers in the area.

"Some of these fighters are from local villages but others are foreign jihadists, many of them Iraqis," said David Nisan, a risk consultant who monitors the region for the Israeli firm Max Security Solutions. "We've seen a lot of YouTube videos from a group calling themselves the Quneitra Liberation Front waving the black flag of al-Qaida."

This group announced its presence in the area with a car bombing campaign targeting Syrian intelligence units in the Golan, which it claimed killed up to 40 people. Further raising tension along Israel's northern border are reports that the Assad regime has allowed Iranian forces to establish a listening post and encouraged a growing Hezbollah presence in the northern Golan.

"This is the most tense the situation has been since 1973. Even a very tiny provocation could result in regional deterioration," Nisan said.

"If Israel does respond to any incursion on this border or targets any further arms shipments, Assad may have to make good on his promise to retaliate [to Israeli aggression]. The Golan would be a very convenient place for him to react.

A member of forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad erects a Syrian flag atop of a gate in Qusair. Syrian forces and their Hezbollah militant allies seized control on of the key border town, dealing a strategic defeat to rebel fighters battling for two years to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

[Paul]

http://news.yahoo.com/putin-russias-nav ... 28607.html

Putin on Russia's naval plans in the Mediterranean
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago


General view of the Russian Armed …
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia announced on Thursday that it will keep a fleet of about dozen navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, a move President Vladimir Putin said is needed to protect his country's national security.
Putin said the plan should not be seen as saber rattling, but it comes as Moscow is serving as a key ally and arms supplier to Syrian President Bashar Assad during that nation's civil war. The only naval base that Russia has in the Mediterranean and anywhere outside the former Soviet Union is located in Syria.
Russian ships have been making regular visits to the Mediterranean, but the statements by Putin and other officials mark an attempt to revive a Soviet-era practice, when Moscow had a permanent navy presence in the waterway.
The chief of the military General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said Thursday that Russia currently has 16 navy ships in the Mediterranean. The Defense Ministry said it would regularly rotate them to keep a presence of about a dozen.
Speaking at a meeting with the top military brass, Putin said the sea is a "strategically important region, where we have interests connected with ensuring Russia's national security."
The statement is part of Putins' efforts to boost his nation's military and showcase its power worldwide.
Military officials have said in the past that Russian navy ships in the Mediterranean could be used to evacuate equipment and personnel from the Syrian port of Tartus. Previous deployments have invariably included amphibious landing vessels, which could serve the purpose.
Analysts and retired naval officers point out that Russia lost much of its navy capability during the post-Soviet economic decline, when the military had to mothball relatively modern ships for lack of funds to maintain them. The military has commissioned new navy ships as part of a costly military buildup, but their construction has dragged on slowly.
Experts say the current plan will stretch the Russian fleet capability and note that the base in Tartus, a rundown facility made up of a floating pier and a few aging barracks and warehouses, can't provide a sufficient backup for the permanent navy presence in the region.
It's also too small for big ships, which must stay at sea.

[Kati]

Hezbollah in the fight in Syria to win, backed by Iran

Mona Alami, Special for USA TODAY 8:23 p.m. EDT June 6, 2013

Hezbollah's fighters from Lebanon have streamed into Syria to help regime

BEIRUT — At the very end of a small street in the Shiite suburbs of Beirut, Abou Ali, a Hezbollah fighter, talks of why he is fighting fellow Muslims in Syria.

The Syrians who have rebelled against President Bashar Assad are "Takfiris," he said, Sunni Muslims backed by Persian Gulf state emirs who view Shiite Muslims like himself as apostates, or "impure."

"The presence of the latter group in Syria is not surprising. Gulf states have always back stabbed the 'Resistance,' " or Hezbollah, said Ali, who fought for weeks to oust rebels from their stronghold of Qusair.

Thousands of Hezbollah's fighters from Lebanon have streamed into Syria to help Assad take a stronghold for the rebels in Qusair this week and the seizure may turn the two-year conflict in his favor.

While the West debates whether to intervene on the side of the rebels, and pushes for peace talks this month in Geneva, Hezbollah and its patron Iran have gone all in to keep Syria in the hands of an anti-American dictator.

Iran is a Shiite Muslim theocracy and the Assad regime is headed by Alawites, who are a Shiite offshoot. But it is not the centuries-old divide in the Muslim world that prompted Iran to unleash the Shiites of Hezbollah, a force also known as the Party of God that Iran has trained and armed for years, according to the U.S. State Department.

"The Assad regime has always supported the Party of God — Iran's proxy in Lebanon — during the various Lebanese wars against Israel," says Nadim Shehadeh from Chatham House, a London think tank. "In addition, Syria has long been a conduit for Iranian weapons transfers to Hezbollah.

"The party is a regiment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and is acting in that capacity in Syria," Shehadeh said of Iran's military.

Hezbollah is a U.S.-designated terrorist group based in southern Lebanon that is accused of orchestrating numerous attacks against Israelis and Americans, including the suicide bombing of a barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 299 U.S. and French marines. It has fought two wars against Israel and has thousands of missiles aimed at the country.

Iran is also virulently anti-Israel and is enriching uranium to the point where Israel believes it will soon be capable of making an atomic bomb.

President Obama's policy has been to provide humanitarian aid but not lethal aid to the rebels, and impose economic sanctions on Iran to pressure it to end its nuclear program. Critics say Obama misunderstands the Syrian conflict as an internal conflict, rather than the bid for regional supremacy by Iran and anti-American terrorists that it is.

"Anyone who believes that a conflagration throughout the Middle East will have no implications for the United States is ignoring history," said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.

Pletka, in testimony before Congress on Wednesday, said a victory for Iran in Syria would imperil U.S allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel and make the risk of a major war involving U.S. troops more likely.

At least 80,000 people have died in Syria since a peaceful protest movement that began in March 2011 turned into an armed rebellion after a massive regime crackdown. Ali, a Hezbollah fighter in his late 30s, said he is willing to die in Syria too.

"My children and my family will be taken care of if I am martyred," Ali said. "Everyone who is sent to fight in Syria has received a 'Taklif Sharii,'" or a religious command that means he will go to heaven if killed.

Ali said Assad would not have taken Qusair without Hezbollah. The town is on a major route that the rebels used to resupply their fighters, and now the rebels must find another supply line. Qusair also connects the capital of Damascus to the Mediterranean coast, the heartland of the Alawite people.

"The Syrian army only played a secondary role in Qusair, deploying after each area was completely cleaned and secured by Hezbollah fighters," he said.

Regime forces relied on heavy air-strikes from Syrian war planes to clear the way for their advance on Qusair. The Free Syrian Army, a collection of rebel fighters, tried to hang onto the town by creating a network of tunnels and booby trapping entire blocks.

"Some of the rebels IEDs, as well as the tunnels they built had the markings of Hamas," said Beirut-based journalist Nicholas Blanford, author of Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollah's Thirty-year Struggle Against Israel.

Hamas had long been an ally of Hezbollah, but it split with the group over its attacks on fellow Sunni Muslims aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, as is Hamas, Blanford said. It was Hezbollah who helped build the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza, so they know how the structures are deployed.

"Tunnels usually have a basic structure, it is easy for specialists to understand how they work and they are helping us destroying them by booby trapping access and exit points," Ali said.

He said Hezbollah fighters foiled the booby traps by blowing up walls to enter homes rather than going through windows or doors, which are the spots that are generally where explosive devices are planted. Hezbollah reservists are well-trained, Ali said.

"These forces are now using the training in street fighting they received in Iran, which was done in mock cities specifically built for this purpose," Ali said.

In the next few months, Ali and other Hezbollah fighters might be shaping the outcome of the Syrian conflict by setting the balance of the pendulum one way or the other in places such as Aleppo, Damascus or border areas.

Qusair is just the start, he said. Ali said Hezbollah forces are being deployed in cities and rural areas where the rebels are strong to crush them. They will face not just Syrians, but well-trained fighters tied to al-Qaeda who have flooded into the fight from other countries.

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Sunnis this week to devote their lives, money and expertise to overthrowing Assad.
{That is not what Zawahiri said. rather he urged the sunni militants to focus their
attention to fight israel. he was categorial in stating that sunni-shia fight eventually helps israel and America. See how the pliant western media/reporters are giving a spin}
Blanford said thousands of Hezbollah fighters are deployed around Syria to tip the balance for Assad.

"Aleppo will be Hezbollah's next big battle," Blanford said

[RoyG]

SAA took Golan crossings.

[Prem]

Message from the ruins of Qusair
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... story.html

For the rebels, it’s a devastating loss of territory, morale and their supply corridor to Lebanon. No one This is a huge victory not just for Tehran but also for Moscow, which sustains Assad in power and prizes its warm-water port at Tartus, Russia’s only military base outside of the former Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin has stationed a dozen or more Russian warships offshore, further protecting his strategic outpost and his Syrian client.The losers? NATO-member Turkey, the major supporter of the rebels; Jordan, America’s closest Arab ally, now drowning in half a million Syrian refugees; and America’s Gulf allies, principal weapons suppliers to the rebels.And the United States, whose bystander president, having declared that Assad must go, that he has lost all legitimacy and that his fall is just a matter of time, is looking not just feckless but clueless.knows if this reversal of fortune will be the last, but everyone knows that Assad now has the upper hand.Assad, in contrast, has a real friend. Putin knows Obama. Having watched Obama’s retreat in Eastern Europe, his passivity at Russian obstructionism on Iran, his bended-knee “reset” policy, Putin knows he has nothing to fear from the U.S. president.
Result? The contemptuous Putin floods Syria with weapons. Iran, equally disdainful, sends Revolutionary Guards to advise and shore up Assad’s forces. Hezbollah invades Syria and seizes Qusair.
Obama’s response is to send the secretary of state, hat in hand, to Moscow. And John Kerry returns actually thinking he’s achieved some great diplomatic breakthrough — a “peace” conference that Russia will dominate and use to re-legitimize Assad and marginalize the rebels.Just to make sure Kerry understood his place, Putin kept him waiting outside his office for three hours. The Russians know how to send messages. And the one from Qusair is this. You’re fighting for your life. You have your choice of allies: Obama bearing “international legitimacy” and a risible White House statement that “Hezbollah and Iran should immediately withdraw their fighters from Syria” or Putin bearing Russian naval protection, Iranian arms shipments and thousands of Hezbollah fighters. Which do you choose?

[Surya]

come on - you might as well have mentioned it was Krauthammer and saved us a click

He is as deranged as McCain is. He still thinks Iraq was a great victory -

[Philip]

O'Bomber is under siege at home,with the controversies about his "disappearance" at a crucial time when the Benghazi attack was on,the widespread use of drone attacks abroad and their use at home too and now the sensational news that the NSA has been monitoring everyone's personal communications through an ultra-secret project called "PRISM". Even before this last body-blow was delivered,many were calling him a "lame-duck" president who would accomplish little during his second term.One wouldn't be surprised if we even see calls for his impeachment over the secret snooping,making Richard Nixon's crimes look like a Boy Scout's pranks!

As the WP report said,(tx JJ) Putin has perfectly sized up his opponent in the strategic ring and gone on the offensive.The hard truth is that thanks to their decades of warmongering,the west is bankrupt,their economies,especially that of Europe's in sh*t street,and even wannabee Tiny B.Liars like "Dawood Khamran",being given the upturned finger to arming the Syrian "rebels" by members of his own cabinet and party! European nations cannot afford to bankroll another neo-colonialist war.The collapse oif economies like that of Greece may well trigger off a domino effect and the collapse of the Euro,which might have to be called in future the "zero"!

The west is now reeling from this setback which has the potential to serve it a strategic defeat in its firang policies in the Middle East. Russia has been allowed to enter into the game ,on the ground (S-300s) and on the sea and both it and China's image has been given a huge boost in the region by standing upto O'Bomber.The fact is that Russia has "planted its flag" in Syria,and there is bugger all that O'Bomber can do about it.Had the asinine Yanquis just allowed water or blood to find its own level in Syria,the situ would've resolved itself by now.But then the west was delirious about the manner in which they tricked Russia at the UN,where it did not veto the west's desire to "protect civilians" and used the resolution to exterminate Ghadaffi in Libya. There was no way that Russia and China would allow it to happen again in Syria.O'Bomber is now fighting another war on several fronts back home where his political opponents are homing in for the kill.

With the pouring in of even more sophisticated arms into the region,the threat to Israel is even greater now than before,when it had a relatively quiet peace with the Syrian regime,with only the Hiz in Lebanon being a "noisy neighbour".

[habal]

qusair is no tactical withdrawal for fsa jihadis, it is a rout.
SAA tactically allowed al-tawhid brigade from aleppo by leaving a gap in the ring and then finished off a good chunk of al-farouk in qusair and the al-tawhid who landed up.

The "Friends of Syria" are appalled. Their much vaunted "rebel held" stronghold of Qusayr is gone. This BBC headline sums it all up: "Syria conflict: US condemns siege of Qusayr."

For White House spokesman Jay Carney, "pro-government forces," to win, needed help from their "partners in tyranny" -- Hezbollah and Iran. Right: so the "rebels" weaponized by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the CIA, not to mention jihadis of the Jabhat al-Nusra kind, are partners in what, "freedom and democracy"?

Spin out, facts in. This is a monster strategic defeat for the NATO-Gulf Cooperation Council-Israel axis.[1] The supply lines from Lebanon to Homs of the Not Exactly Free Syrian Army (FSA) gangs and the odd jihadi are gone. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) will next move to Homs and the whole Homs governorate. The final stop will be two or three Aleppo suburbs still controlled by the FSA.

There's absolutely no way Qusayr can be spun in the West as yet another "tactical withdrawal" by the FSA. The rebels insist they "withdrew." Nonsense. It was a rout.

This, in a nutshell, is how it happened. Qusayr had been under control of the Homs-based al-Farouk brigade, part of the FSA, for no less than 18 months. Six months ago, the SAA had already cleared the Syrian north-south highway, not far from the city -- essential for all Damascus-Aleppo business.

Qusayr was strategically crucial as a key weaponizing depot for the FSA; Sunnis in Lebanon were relentlessly shipping them weapons through the Bekaa valley. So the first thing the SAA did was to encircle Qusayr. Then Hezbollah stepped in -- as most of Qusayr's population of 30,000 had already left for either Lebanon or Jordan.

The final, wily SAA tactic was to allow the Aleppo-based al-Tawhid brigade to sneak into Qusayr to help the al-Farouk. So when these twin top FSA brigades were properly encircled, the SAA pounced. Virtually no civilians were in town, apart from a few farmers nearby. There was no "genocide."

And then Paris went chemical

When will the NATO-GCC axis ever learn? Hezbollah's Sheikh Nasrallah staked his reputation by going on air and promising a victory. Once again, he delivered. Contrary to Western spin, Hezbollah did not do it by itself; it was a combination of SAA, Hezbollah and Iranian specialists applying superior tactics and displaying crack urban warfare knowledge.

It's also easy to forget that a prime wet dream among US Think Tanklanders these past few months was the possibility of pitting Hezbollah against al-Qaeda-linked jihadis inside Syria. They got their wish.

Hezbollah fighters though don't need to overextend themselves and venture inside Syria further than Qusayr -- which is roughly 10 km from the Lebanese border. Their "mission" is in practice to secure the Syrian side of the Lebanese border.

And talk about precious timing; the "fall" of Qusayr totally blew away a monster chemical weapons propaganda orchestrated by Paris. French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius is breathlessly spinning that "Bashar's army" used sarin gas against the "rebels." French media is gung-ho for a military intervention.[2]

There is a slight problem though. Buried in sensationalist reports in Le Monde or Liberation is the fact that the French scientific analyses -- based on two samples, one of them collected by Le Monde reporters -- do not specify who used sarin, the government or the "rebels." Even UN experts, in their official report, have admitted as much.

So once again -- don't mess with Hezbollah. One can imagine the ear-splitting wrath levels in Washington, London, Paris, Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Doha. Their "response" -- or revenge -- may include setting Lebanon on fire. The usual imperial courtiers, Brookings Institution-style, are already mourning a Middle East prey to an "aggressive Russian-Iranian axis."[3] What about the aggressive NATO-GCC-Israel axis bent on totally destroying Syria to install an Islamist, pro-Western puppet state?

The Susan and Samantha show

And now, to compound the drama, we have Susan Rice as the new US National Security Adviser and Samantha Power as the new US ambassador at the UN Security Council. It's always helpful to remember that along with Hillary Clinton, these were the Three Graces of "humanitarian intervention" that forcefully pushed for the bombing and destruction of Libya.

Whatever replay strategy Susan and Samantha may come up with, Russia and China will veto. Moreover, even the Washington establishment admits all options are noxious.[4] To top it off, Turkey has been plunged into the Taksim/Occupy Gezi/Down with the Dictator maelstrom -- and the last thing an embattled Erdogan will be thinking about is to further empower a bunch of "rebel" losers.

As for the Geneva II talks -- co-sponsored by Washington and Moscow -- their next preparation meeting will only happen in three weeks or so. This means that even if Geneva is on -- and that's a major "if," considering the "rebels" in disarray are bound to boycott -- it will be in early July or even later. Plenty of time for the SAA to keep advancing. But also plenty of time for the NATO-GCC axis to keep denying the "Syrian people" the fateful decision over who should lead them out of this ghastly proxy war.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Hezbol ... 6-274.html

[habal]

a TFTA rebel commander ghazi Ma'an Ahmed Al-Ruz shot by Syrian or Hezb fighters in Qusayr
some professional soldiers would say he deserved to be shot for criminal wastage of ammo, if nothing else.


again in another clip a rebel 'commander' goes again to same spot begging to be shot, I guess.


another getting taken down by a hezb or SAA sniper

[Sanku]

Ok, I am not a expert on urban battle or anything, but can some one tell me, what in the Allah's name did this AoA shouting brigade hope to achieve by burst firing a MMG/HMG while standing up straight, in a open square, at some indeterminate target ?

He can barely point the gun in any given general direction, let alone hope to aim. This was no supperssing fire, as no one was moving anywhere either, and if spray and pray was the goal, can be well achieved by a AK like others are doing?

Pop out from behind a wall stand in open for two minutes, fire randomly pop back? Which manual does this exist in?

What is the entire goal of this exercise? "look at me, I am a he man?"

[Surya]

O'Bomber is under siege at home,with the controversies about his "disappearance" at a crucial time when the Benghazi attack was on,the widespread use of drone attacks abroad and their use at home too and now the sensational news that the NSA has been monitoring everyone's personal communications through an ultra-secret project called "PRISM". Even before this last body-blow was delivered,many were calling him a "lame-duck" president who would accomplish little during his second term.One wouldn't be surprised if we even see calls for his impeachment over the secret snooping,making Richard Nixon's crimes look like a Boy Scout's pranks!

It amazes me how clueless you are.

Impeachment for the snooping????

You do realize that the snooping had bi partisan authorization and hence neither side cares. It was signed off by the Senate intel guys, and rubber stamped by a Federal judge. so all the power structures kissed their approval.

Only the people who believed such things do not happen in the US are shocked.

[Austin]

The video is quite gruesome , seems like these rebels are taking a big risk by exposing them self in an environment where snipers are active , either they are naive or have no experience in combat.

In Iraq war the militant used to take drugs and fight the american soldier that made them take high risk and also made them fight longer after taking hits.

[BajKhedawal]

Ok, I am not a expert on urban battle or anything, but can some one tell me, what in the Allah's name did this AoA shouting brigade hope to achieve by burst firing a MMG/HMG while standing up straight, in a open square, at some indeterminate target ?........
.......What is the entire goal of this exercise? "look at me, I am a he man?"

And whats with the tight fitting jeans!!! It must do a number on their testicles with all that activity.

In all the above clips each of the halaled pig had a bullet proof jacket on.

[Austin]

The BP Jacket could take on 5.45 round while the sniper could be likely 7.62 round , seems like the guys fall flat after taking a hit.

We had our own case in Mumbai where BP designed to protect from AK class weapon couldnt do and head of ATS lost his life , so even substandard BP cant be ruled out.

[Baikul]

The video is quite gruesome , seems like these rebels are taking a big risk by exposing them self in an environment where snipers are active , either they are naive or have no experience in combat.

In Iraq war the militant used to take drugs and fight the american soldier that made them take high risk and also made them fight longer after taking hits.

Small details about the Iraqi militants spoke about their experience- for example I saw may of them wearing loose strips of cloth around their elbows, knees and ankles. I used to wonder what these were until someone told me - ready tourniquets that could be tightened to prevent blood leaking out in case of an injury.

I don't have a link or source but remember reading that Iraqi militants pumped up on drugs used to be a not uncommon phenomenon. I read an a account that stated how one man had to be shot multiple times before he could be put down.

The fighters depicted in these videos seem to be more enthusiastic rabble.

[Surya]

half the american troops are also "drugged up". all sort of pills being popped to keep alert , increase endurance

[Austin]

half the american troops are also "drugged up". all sort of pills being popped to keep alert , increase endurance

Yeah but those are prescribed drugs approved by FDA

[Singha]

that long barrel soviet designed LMG is it called a "pilka gun"?
everyone from lebanese militias to paki mujahideen seem to favour using it as a personal rifle rather than a real rifle, fired from the hip in spray and pray mode.

these guys operate in some kind of neighbourhood militia mode and rarely if ever show any semblance of regular infantry tactics. they are like gangs of kids throwing rocks at a rival gang only using bullets instead of rocks.

[eklavya]

FT:

Cameron promises MPs free vote on any move to arm Syria rebels

June 6, 2013 6:59 pm
By George Parker and James Blitz

David Cameron has bowed to pressure to give MPs a free vote on any British move to supply arms to moderate Syrian rebels, amid signs of growing opposition to the idea across all three main parties.

Mr Cameron agreed to the free vote after 81 Tory MPs demanded a say on any decision to arm the rebel groups. Labour and Liberal Democrats have expressed doubts about the wisdom of sending more weapons into the conflict zone.

The prime minister believes it was right for Britain and France to lead calls for a lifting of the EU arms embargo on Syria, as a means of intensifying pressure on Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

But he privately accepts it would be politically risky to ask the Commons to go one step further and to approve shipment of weapons to the rebels.

Several Tory cabinet ministers, including veteran Ken Clarke, are said to be doubtful of the merits of the idea and fear weapons might fall into the wrong hands. Ed Miliband, Labour leader, and Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, have also urged caution.

Mr Cameron is not prepared to risk airing these political divisions, which would give succour to the Assad regime. However he believes it was right to put the option of arming the rebels on the table, since public and political opinion could harden if the conflict escalates and human rights abuses worsen.

Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg want to maintain pressure on the Syrian government to come to the negotiating table and believe Britain has to work with international allies – notably the US – to achieve that goal.

“Clearly, this is not a decision in any event that the United Kingdom should ever take on our own,” Mr Clegg said on Thursday on his LBC phone-in show.

“I think everybody accepts there is never any military solution to something like this. You have to at the end of the day aim for some kind of political reconciliation.

“We’re not going to send arms just out of the blue, you can only ever do that as part of a wider political strategy which enjoys strong international consensus.”

Mr Cameron made a statement to the Commons on Monday partly touching on the UK’s Syria policy. Although he said no decision had yet been taken on arming the rebels, he received almost no support from any part of the Commons for such a move.

Some analysts believe Mr Cameron and William Hague, the foreign secretary, will have to spell out in far more detail over the next few weeks what the strategic goal of such a move would be and how the UK would avoid inflaming the conflict or galvanising the jihadists.

“Cameron’s argument thus far is that we have to learn the lessons from Bosnia in the 1990s and avoid a humanitarian crisis getting worse,” said one Lib Dem MP. “But a more detailed argument is needed than that when the moment of decision comes.”

[Surya]

Surya wrote:
half the american troops are also "drugged up". all sort of pills being popped to keep alert , increase endurance


Yeah but those are prescribed drugs approved by FDA

i doubt it and those that are , probably not their intended use

[Singha]

there have been articles on homebased troops gaining weight due to overly generous rations of high calorie food in mess hall. then they overdose on laxatives and stuff to lose weight to pass the periodic PT milestones.

[Neshant]

UK and France are eager to get the rest of Europe in hostilities with Russia.

Perhaps they fear if they don't make Russia hostile to western Europe, the relevancy of NATO will be lost.

If I had to guess, this is what the Syria fiasco is all about. That and a bunch of other reasons but primarily that.

[kmkraoind]

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/investigation/turkish-protesters-defy-erdogans-call

YOGA AT TAKSIM: People practise yoga in Gezi Park at Taksim Square in Istanbul on Friday. REUTERS

Bah, even Islamic turkey accepts Hindooos yoga, but our sickular brigade cry hoarse when we introduce surya-namaskar or Saraswathi Vandan.

[Philip]

There was a good piece in a British satirical mag about the tremendous support the 'arms for rebels" issue was getting from an esteemed senior ex-def. min,Malcolm "rocket" Rifkind.His track record has been a singular one,of supporting any move to arm rebels in the cause of "freedom and democracy",the avowed goal of all Atlanticists.However,his keen interest in arming the "$yrian" rebels,is not so altruistic as the magazine has revealed that he is allegedly receiving a quarterly sum of 12,500 Pounds just for attending a dozen meetings and sending the occasional e-mail on behalf of a company that deals in er....arms!

Tiny B.Liar has also been raking in the millions so fast and of such vast qtys. that his annual income is galloping in the millions.He has now struck "gold" in a lucrative deal made of all places with Mongolia!

[Baikul]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/0 ... IE20130609

Islamists said to execute 15-year-old Syrian boy for heresy

Members of an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo executed a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents on Sunday as punishment for what the group regarded as a heretical comment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.....

The Observatory, which based its report on witness accounts of the killing, said Qataa, who was a street vendor selling coffee in the working-class Shaar neighbourhood, had been arguing with someone when he was overheard saying: "Even if the Prophet Mohammad comes down (from heaven), I will not become a believer."

The gunmen, who belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a militant group that started off known as the Nusra Front, took Qatta on Saturday and brought him back alive in the early hours of Sunday to his wooden stand, with whiplash marks visible on his body.

"People gathered around him and a member of the fighting brigade said: 'Generous citizens of Aleppo, disbelieving in God is polytheism and cursing the prophet is a polytheism. Whoever curses even once will be punished like this."

"He then fired two bullets from an automatic rifle in view of the crowd and in front of the boy's mother and father, and got into a car and left," the report said.

Enlightened Islam in full flow.

[vinod]

Surya wrote:
half the american troops are also "drugged up". all sort of pills being popped to keep alert , increase endurance


Yeah but those are prescribed drugs approved by FDA

i doubt it and those that are , probably not their intended use

Remember Gulf war syndrome!

[Mahendra]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/0 ... IE20130609

Islamists said to execute 15-year-old Syrian boy for heresy

Members of an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo executed a 15-year-old boy in front of his parents on Sunday as punishment for what the group regarded as a heretical comment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.....

The Observatory, which based its report on witness accounts of the killing, said Qataa, who was a street vendor selling coffee in the working-class Shaar neighbourhood, had been arguing with someone when he was overheard saying: "Even if the Prophet Mohammad comes down (from heaven), I will not become a believer."

The gunmen, who belong to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a militant group that started off known as the Nusra Front, took Qatta on Saturday and brought him back alive in the early hours of Sunday to his wooden stand, with whiplash marks visible on his body.

"People gathered around him and a member of the fighting brigade said: 'Generous citizens of Aleppo, disbelieving in God is polytheism and cursing the prophet is a polytheism. Whoever curses even once will be punished like this."

"He then fired two bullets from an automatic rifle in view of the crowd and in front of the boy's mother and father, and got into a car and left," the report said.

Enlightened Islam in full flow.

Effin barbarians, we are much better off not engaging with these GCC canines, superpower-dom can wait onlee

[Kati]

See how the bulk of the western media is crying foul on how hezbollah's entry in Syria is
going to widen the sectarian divide, as if when the western backed Sunni wahabi mercenaries from
Lybia to Iraq killed Christians and Alawaites it didn't cause any sectarian devide.......

[Singha]

I wonder whats with hysterical allah hu akbar shouting when their man got shot?