West Asia News and Discussions

[Singha]

when will our mountbatten sir dare to televise such a show and risk offending people in DC and Pindi?
the footage of the Bears climbing up through the clouds to release the KH55s is haunting, as is the big missiles from the SAM tubes...turns and moves very fast.

there is a huge diff between demonstrated capability in tests and a rugged fielded warfighting doctrine and force. we need to do such tests ourselves and find the things/procedures that break under stress...hope the SFC is working hard on it.

[Philip]

Arafat clearly poisoned! AS posted earlier,Yasser Arafat's death was not natural.
The findings apart from speculations as to who murdered him-and no prizes for the prime suspects,also throws a complete new angle on the death of former low-level Soviet defector Litvinenko,whose death has been blamed by western agencies on the Putin regime,but is strongly linked to the activities of Russian oligarchs in luxurious exile in Britain who've been helping western and Israeli intlel agencies.The Russians deny any involvement and say that it has been a western plot all along,a false flag op,to denigrate Putin.The Palestinians will no doubt blame Israel for the murder. Could it have been a rogue plot,or another Diana conspiracy? We live in interesting times.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/n ... scientists
Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium, tests show

Swiss scientists find levels of polonium 18 times higher than normal in first forensic tests on former Palestinian leader's body

Email
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem

The Guardian, Wednesday 6 November 2013 18.34 GMT
Yasser Arafat died in a French military hospital in 2004, four weeks after falling ill in the West Bank. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP


The first forensic tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafat's corpse have shown unexpectedly high levels of radioactive polonium-210, suggesting the Palestinian leader could have been poisoned with the rare and lethal substance.

The Swiss scientists who tested Arafat's remains after the exhumation of his body in November 2012 discovered levels of polonium at least 18 times higher than usual in Arafat's ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his bodily fluids.


The Swiss forensic report was handed to representatives of Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat, as well as representatives of the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday. A copy of the report was obtained exclusively by the al-Jazeera TV network, which shared it with the Guardian before publication.

The Swiss report said that even taking into account the eight years since Arafat's death and the quality of specimens taken from bone fragments and tissue scraped from his body and shroud, the results "moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210".

Suha Arafat said the evidence in the report suggested that her then healthy 75-year-old husband, who died in 2004 four weeks after he first fell ill following a meal, was almost certainly murdered by poisoning. She told al-Jazeera: "This is the crime of the century."

Speaking to the Guardian after receiving the report, she said she would press for answers on who was responsible. "It's shocking … I remember how Yasser was shrinking at the hospital, how in his eyes there were a lot of questions. Death is a fate in life, it is everybody's fate, but when it's poison it's terrible. We are mourning him again now."

With Zahwa, 18, her daughter by Arafat, she said she suspected a "conspiracy to get rid of him", adding: "My daughter and I have to know who did it. We will not stop in our quest to find out. I hope the Palestinian Authority goes further on it, searching every single aspect of it. It is of course a political crime." She said: "This is separate from the peace process or talks. Any judicial investigation is separate from the peace process."

David Barclay, a British forensic scientist who had studied the report, told al-Jazeera: "The report contains strong evidence, in my view conclusive evidence, that there's at least 18 times the level of polonium in Arafat's exhumed body than there should be."

He said the report represented "a smoking gun". Barclay said: "It's what killed him. Now we need to find out who was holding the gun at that time," adding: "I would point to him being given a fatal dose. I don't think there's any doubt at all."

The Israeli government, however, dismissed the report. "The Swiss findings are not conclusive," said Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman.

"Even if they did find traces of polonium that could indicate poisoning, there's no evidence of how that poisoning occurred. Before the Palestinian Authority jumps to conclusions, there are many questions still to be answered.

"Israel is not involved in any way. There's no way the Palestinians can stick this on us. It's unreasonable and unsupported by facts. We will see yet another round of accusations, but there's no proof."

Dov Weissglass, a former aide to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister at the time of Arafat's death, also denied Israeli involvement. "To the best of my knowledge, we had no hand in this," he said, adding that neither the prime minister nor the Israeli security services had played any part in the Palestinian leader's demise.
"By the end of 2004, we had no interest in harming him. By then, Arafat was marginalised, his control over Palestinian life was minimal. So there was no logic, no reason."

Danny Rubinstein, a journalist and author of a book about Arafat, had a different memory of events. In the weeks and months before Arafat's death, he said, people in Sharon's inner circle talked constantly about how to get rid of him. "For me, it was very clear from the beginning. Every day this was the topic – should we expel him, or kill him, or bomb the Muqata [Arafat's HQ]. It was obvious to me that they would find a way."
Palmor said that among the scientists who tested Arafat's remains only the French team were independent. The Swiss were commissioned by Suha Arafat, and the Russians by the Palestinian Authority, he said. "These results should be taken with a few grains of salt. This story is still as mysterious as it was on day one."

Tawfik Tirawi, head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, did not respond to a request from comment. But a senior Palestinian leader, Hanan Ashrawi, said: "This report confirms the suspicions that we've had all along. We know Arafat was killed, now we know how. And we know who had the means, the opportunity and the motive. Justice must now take its course."

Arafat died in a French military hospital on 11 November 2004,. He had been transferred there from his headquarters in the West Bank after his health deteriorated over weeks, beginning with severe nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea around four hours after eating dinner on 12 October. French doctors have said he died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC. But the records were inconclusive about what brought about the DIC. No autopsy was carried out.

Allegations that Arafat may have been poisoned emerged immediately after his death and the claim was raised again by al-Jazeera TV last summer, following a nine-month investigation culminating in the film What Killed Arafat?

Al-Jazeera said it was given access to a duffel bag of Arafat's personal effects by his widow, which it passed to a Swiss institute. Swiss toxicological tests on those samples including hair from a hat, saliva from a toothbrush, urine droplets on underpants and blood on a hospital hat found that the belongings had elevated traces of polonium-210, the lethal substance used to kill the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

The Swiss institute said Arafat's bones would have to be tested to get a clearer answer, warning that polonium decayed fast and an autopsy needed to be done quickly. In August last year, French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry into Arafat's death. In November, Arafat's corpse was exhumed from its mausoleum in Ramallah in the presence of three international teams of scientists: the Swiss team, a French team that was part of the Paris judicial investigation and a Russian team.

The Swiss team's report states that they carried out toxicological tests on Arafat's "almost skeletonised body along with residues from his shroud". The samples, including fragments of bones taken from his left ribs and pelvis as well as remnants of tissue from the abdominal cavity and grave soil, showed "unexpectedly high" activity of polonium-210.

Suha Arafat's lawyer, Saad Djebbar, told the Guardian the Swiss report was "evidence that there was a crime committed". He said he had handed the Swiss report to French investigators, whose inquiry is ongoing. French scientists conducted their own tests as part of the legal investigation but have not published findings as the inquiry continues.

Arafat's daughter, Zahwa, a student of international relations in Malta, told the Guardian: "I want to find out who did it and their motive for doing it." She said she trusted the French investigation to shed light on that.

Email


Angelique Chrisafis in Paris and Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem

The Guardian, Wednesday 6 November 2013 18.34 GMT


Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat died in a French military hospital in 2004, four weeks after falling ill in the West Bank. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP


The first forensic tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafat's corpse have shown unexpectedly high levels of radioactive polonium-210, suggesting the Palestinian leader could have been poisoned with the rare and lethal substance.

The Swiss scientists who tested Arafat's remains after the exhumation of his body in November 2012 discovered levels of polonium at least 18 times higher than usual in Arafat's ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his bodily fluids.


The Swiss forensic report was handed to representatives of Arafat's widow, Suha Arafat, as well as representatives of the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday. A copy of the report was obtained exclusively by the al-Jazeera TV network, which shared it with the Guardian before publication.

The Swiss report said that even taking into account the eight years since Arafat's death and the quality of specimens taken from bone fragments and tissue scraped from his body and shroud, the results "moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210".

Suha Arafat said the evidence in the report suggested that her then healthy 75-year-old husband, who died in 2004 four weeks after he first fell ill following a meal, was almost certainly murdered by poisoning. She told al-Jazeera: "This is the crime of the century."

Speaking to the Guardian after receiving the report, she said she would press for answers on who was responsible. "It's shocking … I remember how Yasser was shrinking at the hospital, how in his eyes there were a lot of questions. Death is a fate in life, it is everybody's fate, but when it's poison it's terrible. We are mourning him again now."

With Zahwa, 18, her daughter by Arafat, she said she suspected a "conspiracy to get rid of him", adding: "My daughter and I have to know who did it. We will not stop in our quest to find out. I hope the Palestinian Authority goes further on it, searching every single aspect of it. It is of course a political crime." She said: "This is separate from the peace process or talks. Any judicial investigation is separate from the peace process."

David Barclay, a British forensic scientist who had studied the report, told al-Jazeera: "The report contains strong evidence, in my view conclusive evidence, that there's at least 18 times the level of polonium in Arafat's exhumed body than there should be."

He said the report represented "a smoking gun". Barclay said: "It's what killed him. Now we need to find out who was holding the gun at that time," adding: "I would point to him being given a fatal dose. I don't think there's any doubt at all."

The Israeli government, however, dismissed the report. "The Swiss findings are not conclusive," said Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman.

"Even if they did find traces of polonium that could indicate poisoning, there's no evidence of how that poisoning occurred. Before the Palestinian Authority jumps to conclusions, there are many questions still to be answered.

"Israel is not involved in any way. There's no way the Palestinians can stick this on us. It's unreasonable and unsupported by facts. We will see yet another round of accusations, but there's no proof."

Dov Weissglass, a former aide to Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister at the time of Arafat's death, also denied Israeli involvement. "To the best of my knowledge, we had no hand in this," he said, adding that neither the prime minister nor the Israeli security services had played any part in the Palestinian leader's demise.

"By the end of 2004, we had no interest in harming him. By then, Arafat was marginalised, his control over Palestinian life was minimal. So there was no logic, no reason."

Danny Rubinstein, a journalist and author of a book about Arafat, had a different memory of events. In the weeks and months before Arafat's death, he said, people in Sharon's inner circle talked constantly about how to get rid of him. "For me, it was very clear from the beginning. Every day this was the topic – should we expel him, or kill him, or bomb the Muqata [Arafat's HQ]. It was obvious to me that they would find a way."

Palmor said that among the scientists who tested Arafat's remains only the French team were independent. The Swiss were commissioned by Suha Arafat, and the Russians by the Palestinian Authority, he said. "These results should be taken with a few grains of salt. This story is still as mysterious as it was on day one."

Tawfik Tirawi, head of the Palestinian committee investigating Arafat's death, did not respond to a request from comment. But a senior Palestinian leader, Hanan Ashrawi, said: "This report confirms the suspicions that we've had all along. We know Arafat was killed, now we know how. And we know who had the means, the opportunity and the motive. Justice must now take its course."

Arafat died in a French military hospital on 11 November 2004,. He had been transferred there from his headquarters in the West Bank after his health deteriorated over weeks, beginning with severe nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhoea around four hours after eating dinner on 12 October. French doctors have said he died of a massive stroke and had suffered from a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC. But the records were inconclusive about what brought about the DIC. No autopsy was carried out.

Allegations that Arafat may have been poisoned emerged immediately after his death and the claim was raised again by al-Jazeera TV last summer, following a nine-month investigation culminating in the film What Killed Arafat?

Al-Jazeera said it was given access to a duffel bag of Arafat's personal effects by his widow, which it passed to a Swiss institute. Swiss toxicological tests on those samples including hair from a hat, saliva from a toothbrush, urine droplets on underpants and blood on a hospital hat found that the belongings had elevated traces of polonium-210, the lethal substance used to kill the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

The Swiss institute said Arafat's bones would have to be tested to get a clearer answer, warning that polonium decayed fast and an autopsy needed to be done quickly. In August last year, French prosecutors opened a murder inquiry into Arafat's death. In November, Arafat's corpse was exhumed from its mausoleum in Ramallah in the presence of three international teams of scientists: the Swiss team, a French team that was part of the Paris judicial investigation and a Russian team.

The Swiss team's report states that they carried out toxicological tests on Arafat's "almost skeletonised body along with residues from his shroud". The samples, including fragments of bones taken from his left ribs and pelvis as well as remnants of tissue from the abdominal cavity and grave soil, showed "unexpectedly high" activity of polonium-210.

Suha Arafat's lawyer, Saad Djebbar, told the Guardian the Swiss report was "evidence that there was a crime committed". He said he had handed the Swiss report to French investigators, whose inquiry is ongoing. French scientists conducted their own tests as part of the legal investigation but have not published findings as the inquiry continues.

Arafat's daughter, Zahwa, a student of international relations in Malta, told the Guardian: "I want to find out who did it and their motive for doing it." She said she trusted the French investigation to shed light on that.

[ramana]

Philip, If Arafat was poisoned after eating dinner in West bank its his inner circle that had the opportunity to administer the Polonium. Now where did they get that rare isotope? Only from places that have research reactors.

[Philip]

Absolutely.Strangely,ultra-hardliner Sharon and Arafat had some sort of an equation.Arafat was also in decline and actually the Israelis had no strong motive to eliminate hi,because,as we've seen,the beneficiary has been Hamas.However,Israeli society is also split down the middle and it is possible that some rogue elements took it upon them selves to do a hit.The Palestinian organisation is/was heavily infiltrated by the Israelis.The only nations in the region with N-rectors are Israel,Iran and Pak.Iraqi and Syrian ambitioins have been eliminated by Israel.The use of Polonium in the Litvinenko murder too indicates a strong possibility of a link between the two events.One cannot however rule out the possibility of it being an Arab hit too.Arafat was no pal of some Arab monarchies who could've outsourced the job.

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Finally coming out in MSM.
Saudi nuclear weapons 'on order' from Pakistan

Question to guru's -How much is this a fallout of US-Saudi spat?

[ramana]

So how about bandar type antics with maal from the pakis?

[akashganga]

Finally coming out in MSM.
Saudi nuclear weapons 'on order' from Pakistan

Question to guru's -How much is this a fallout of US-Saudi spat?

It took these western idiots few decades to realize that saudis are behind pakistani nukes. Pakistan is by arabs for arabs of arabs. That is why there can be no real democracy in pakistan.

[brihaspati]

Litvinenko's bumping off was darkly hinted of as a Russian job. However any number of western nations can easily source the material, including UK and USA. Arafat was not really a problem for the Russians, and he had been a nice player in the merry ring of Palestinian, Syrian, East German proxy cold war on the side of the then still "red" Bear. He had not yet become that much of an embarrassment and risk for the Russians needing immediate liquidation.

However, Arafat would have been in the way of the next map-redrawing games, so a large number of countries in the Saudi camp would have reasons to knock him off too.

[habal]

In a scandal bound to rock the bedposts of the Palestinian negotiating team, chief Israeli negotiator and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni admitted this week that she has had sex with Saeb Erekat -- her Palestinian counterpart -- and PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo.

http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/tz ... rab-531667

[Nandu]

habal, until I see a legit source, I will consider it a sleazy attempt to delegitimize a female politician.

[JwalaMukhi]

^ Looks like Onion news...

[brihaspati]

Well....
http://stateofmind13.com/2012/11/11/tzi ... -or-false/

Tzipi Livni’s Sex Scandal: True or False?

After news regarding Tzipi Livni’s sexual escapades became the talk of the town, a reader let me know that the story which was originally reported in an Egyptian newspaper is flawed and incorrent. The link, which that reader shared with me, points back to an Israeli website. However, I find the arguments presented to be reasonable even though I’d still take it with a grain of salt only because one has to evade all those treason charges, as you know.

On the other hand, Charles Ayoub’s tabloid newspaper Al Diyar is starting to “leak” the names of those with whom Tzipi Livni slept. The first name that was leaked is Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee. The second person Livni allegedly slept with is Saeb Erekat who was the Palestinian chief of the PLO Steering and Monitoring Committee. However, Al Diyar is known to pull stories out of nowhere with a level of credibility below the temperatures of Antarctica.

What’s Charles Ayoub’s source of the names? I don’t think we’ll ever know because the list may as well a work of fiction of the same mind who brought us this magnum opus.

Either way, the Tzipi Livni sex scandal or lack thereof is still making the rounds. But whether you believe she slept with countless men because a Jewish rabbi authorized it or whether you believe a woman like her would never do such a thing is entirely up to you.

Personally, I’m more interested in the level of sexual repression in the Arab men that may have possibly (or not) slept with her.

Looked up the link. Even more interesting:

Livni did not, in fact, say any of those things in any interview seen by The Times of Israel. Rather, she did make comments to the Israeli media, that were republished by the Times in 2009, in which she said she had not been asked “to go to bed with someone for my country.”

As quoted by the (London) Times on February 15, 2009, Livni described the loneliness of serving as a young Mossad agent in London following her graduation from law school. (Livni served in the Mossad in Europe between 1980 and 1984.) Asked if she would have been willing to serve as a “honey trap” — a euphemism for a seductress — to entrap Israeli nuclear spy Mordechai Vanunu in the 1980s, Livni was quoted by The Times as answering, “If you ask me if I was ever asked to go to bed with someone for my country, the answer is ‘no.’ But if I’d been asked to do it, I don’t know what I’d have said. In the ‘office’ [Mossad’s term for itself] there is a job tailored for everyone.”

[habal]

habal, until I see a legit source, I will consider it a sleazy attempt to delegitimize a female politician.

..

too many sources are claiming it. Many are in arabic, If by 'legit source' you mean a 'western mainstream media' source, they will have articles denying it.

here is kuwaiti source
http://alwatan.kuwait.tt/ArticleDetails.aspx?Id=232851

here is Israeli source denying it
http://www.timesofisrael.com/leading-eg ... ical-gain/

here is something more neutral
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-ne ... ideo-proof

so take your pick

[brihaspati]

They are all quoting back to the Egyptian source. That source's purported article does not exist. What is available seems to not fit the bill.

[habal]

Ok.

a final push type massed rebel force was assembled @ Jordan by US at behest of bandar. It failed massively giving the SAA a series of victories up north in Aleppo. Then there were news reports of ISIL being disbanded.

Syrian Army crushes U.S.-backed rebel assault from Jordan

excerpts:
President Bashar Assad has defeated a U.S. effort to use
Jordan as a launching pad for the overthrow of his regime.

Western diplomatic sources said Assad’s military and security forces
crushed a U.S. campaign to send hundreds of trained and equipped Sunni
rebels from Jordan to regain a key city in southern city. (Damascus)

The sources said a force sponsored by the Western-backed Free Syrian Army failed to reach even 10 kilometers within Syria before the rebels were detected and attacked by the Syrian Army.

“This was a well-trained and equipped force meant to eventually reach Damascus and overthrow the regime,” a source said. “Instead, the rebels crossed the Jordanian border and within hours were on the run.”

The sources said the FSA force, with fighters from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, consisted of two battalion-size units, or nearly 600 fighters.

The sources said the fighters, trained by the CIA as well as Jordan’s Special Operations Force Command, were equipped with anti-tank, anti-aircraft missiles as well as night-vision systems.

Most of the equipment was said to have come from the former Yugoslavia.
Since late 2012, Jordan has served as the main venue for the U.S.-sponsored
project to train and equip Syrian rebels.

Within hours, Syrian Army units arrived and pursued FSA fighters west
toward the Golan Heights and the frontier with Israel. The sources said
discipline broke down within the FSA units and some of the fighters tried to
attack a United Nations peace-keeping force in the Golan in an attempt to
acquire human shields.

“The CIA plan was simple: To establish an FSA presence in southern Syria
that would serve as a magnet for other opposition forces to march on to
Damascus,” the second source said.

By Aug. 20, the sources said, the FSA force, which contained Western
mercenaries disguised as rebels, was routed, with elements besieged by
Syrian Army units. They said the FSA defeat ended U.S. hopes of using Jordan
for a rapid rebel advance that could decide the Syrian war in 2013

--------------

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/al ... tion-syria

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has ordered the disbanding of the main jihadi faction in Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, in an audio message aired on al-Jazeera Friday.

The tape appears to confirm a letter put out by al-Jazeera in June, claimed to have been written by Zawahiri and addressed to the leaders of al-Qaeda factions in both countries.

The head of al-Qaeda also stressed that the Al-Nusra Front was the branch of the global jihadi group in Syria.

"The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is to be abolished, while the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) remains functioning," he said.

Zawahiri said the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, "has made a mistake by establishing the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant without asking for our permission, or even informing us."

[habal]

Israel wants no peaceful solution of Iran nuclear issue - expert

http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_11_08/Isr ... pert-9918/

"...Responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that Iran poses a threat to Israel, Mr Emadi said, "I think Israel is the one that is posing a threat not only to Iran, but also to the whole world. Israel has the Middle East only nuclear weapons arsenal. Israel has not joined the MPT. Israel is technically at war with almost all regional countries. Israel has threatened to attack Iran several times and international community remains silent. And Israel is working to increase sanctions on Iran. Inside the US Congress you have some Israeli agents, Rob Menendez and Mark Kirk, for instance, that work for Israel to pose more sanctions on Iran. Israel doesn’t want the west and Iran to come together, Israel doesn’t want the Iranian nuclear issue to be resolved in a peaceful manner, Israel wants war, Israel wants destruction and Israel is pushing for it."

[Prem]

Syria-Saudi Arabia: Two western news services reported this week that Saudi Arabia is preparing to finance the training and arming of a new Syrian non-jihadi rebel force. The force is to be built around the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) which was created in September 2013 by a merger of 43 fighting groups.According to the news services, Saudi Arabia reportedly has hired Pakistan to help train the re-purposed force. It supposedly would start as two brigades and would be supplied through Jordan. It would not be jihadist, but also would not be a secular force.Comment: If this information is accurate, it implies that the Saudis judge the fighting will go one for two more years because that is about how long it would take to develop an effective fighting force. By that time, the Syrian government is likely to have stabilized the security situation or, less likely, to have fallen to the jihadists

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/ ... s-n1743934

[ashish raval]

Man these guys are turning ME into hell Camel eating idiots.

[Philip]

And now France sabotages a nuclear deal with Iran.Western officials present have said so! Israel's antipathy to any deal with Iran ,no matter what the contours of the deal are, is a recipe for a most dangerous war breaking out that will devastate the region and engulf the world.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/n ... ium-france

Geneva talks end without deal on Iran's nuclear programme
Diplomats said to be furious after France objected to a stopgap deal being presented as a fait accompli

Three gruelling days of high-level and high-stakes diplomacy came to an end in Geneva with no agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, after France blocked a stopgap deal aimed at defusing tensions and buying more time for negotiations.

A six-nation group of major powers and Iran agreed only to meet again on 20 November, but on a lower level – senior diplomats rather than foreign ministers. The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said: "A lot of concrete progress has been achieved, but differences remain." Asked about the part France had played, Ashton said that all parties to the talks had played an important role.

The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also sought to play down the disagreements that had surfaced with France, and the divisions between the six-nation group, known as the P5+1. "It was natural when we started dealing the details there could be differences of views," Zarif said. "But we are working together and hopeful we will be able to reach agreement when we meet again. What we were looking for was political will and determination, in order to end this phase and move to an end game. I think we are all on the same wavelength."

Privately, however, other diplomats at the talks were furious with the role of the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, whom they accused of breaking ranks by revealing details of the negotiations as soon as he arrived in Geneva on Saturday morning, and then breaking protocol again by declaring the results to the press before Ashton and Zarif had arrived at the final press conference.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that its "rights to enrichment" of uranium were "red lines" that would not be crossed and that the Islamic Republic had acted rationally and tactfully during the negotiations, according to Iranian media reports quoted by Reuters.

"We have said to the negotating sides that we will not answer to any threat, sanction, humiliation or discrimination. The Islamic Republic has not and will not bow its head to threats from any authority," he said during a speech at the National Assembly, Iran's student news agency said.

French opposition was focused on a draft text agreement that laid out a short-term deal to slow down or stop elements of the Iranian nuclear programme in return for limited sanctions relief. The French complained that the text, which they said was mostly drafted by Iran and the US, had been presented as a fait accompli and they did not want to be stampeded into agreement.

Fabius told France Inter radio yesterday morning that Paris would not accept a "fools' game". "As I speak to you, I cannot say there is any certainty that we can conclude," he said.

Iranian officials insisted that the draft had been written in close collaboration with western officials, and said France was single-handedly holding up progress by dividing the "P5+1" negotiating group, comprising the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.

Zarif would not comment on the French role directly but said: "Although the questions of the P5+1 should be addressed, a great deal of time is being spent on negotiations within the P5+1 group. This is normal because they are six nations with different views and their own national interests and they need to agree." He said that when the P5+1 was ready to agree, "we are ready to find a solution".

Fabius said one of the key issues was Iran's heavy water reactor at Arak, which is due to reach completion next year after many delays. The west and Israel have called for construction work to stop as part of an interim deal aimed at buying time for negotiations on a more comprehensive long-term deal.

Iran says the reactor's purpose is to produce nuclear isotopes that are useful for medical and agricultural purposes. But when operating it would produce plutonium as a by-product in its spent fuel, and that plutonium would represent a serious proliferation risk, giving an alternative route to making a bomb that would not depend on uranium enrichment. Israel has threatened to bomb the reactor before it starts operations, pointing out that once it is fuelled, bombing becomes impossible as it would scatter radioactive fallout around a large region.

On the sidelines of the talks, which shifted from Geneva's Palais des Nations to the five-star Intercontinental Hotel after the foreign ministers arrived yesterday, some western officials accused France of sabotaging the hopes of a deal to curry favour with Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

There was little doubt that the talks had reached a climactic moment of a sort not witnessed in a decade of on-off negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Six foreign ministers and one deputy minister converged on Switzerland in a bid to break the deadlock. Russia's senior diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, arrived yesterday morning to join Fabius, Zarif, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, and the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle. China sent its vice foreign minister, Li Baodong.

"These negotiations have made good progress and continue to make good progress," Hague said. "But there are still important issues to resolve."

Where is India in all this? Not even on the sidelines.The world's largest democracy,a stable nuclear power is not even conspicuous by its silence,no great surprise being led by a mouthless marionette.

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Expatriate workers clash with Saudi police when faced with deportation.- With a growing population, government largesse running out and a growing population, this maybe the future of the Middle East.

BBC
al Jazeera
The National

[Philip]

Quite right Mukesh.This gives a new angle to the tremendous desire of the Saudis to conquer Syria,which has been found to have massive oil reserves and which if brought onto the market will lower prices and cause huge problems for the profligate Saudis,whose royalty spend like there is no tomorrow. The Saudis were banking upon a war windfall of billions ,with oil prices hitting the roof.It didn't happen.Any deal with Iran to defuse tensions will further lower prices.The unrest at home with the growing population of the Saudis and Gulf Arabs in general,and a massive expat worker population,fewer jobs and doles to go round,is a tinderbox waiting to explode that threatens their royal existence.

The age-old Kissinger con is being trotted out again.The Shah needed moolah to pay for his US arms and he and Kissinger conspired to create regional tension and manipulation of OPEC to raise the price.The role of scumbag Kissinger and boss Nixon in '71 is fully exposed in the Blood Telegram book.

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Phillip, agree with you on that. What is worrying is the prospective price of oil and the other thing is the loss of employment for Indian's from the Gulf. White collar (likely to get hit first in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain) and blue collar (Saudi and Oman). That's going to hurt back home. Badly. Not only in repatriations but also Real Estate.

P.S. From your reply, just wondering if you are based somewhere in the Region

[habal]

US providing tactical support to Al-Qaeda rebels through drones.

Le Figaro -CIA leading arms deliveries to Syrian opposition
Sources told Malbrunot that the weapons convoys are escorted by drone aircrafts, which are guided from a CIA-led command center in Jordan.

Saudi spy chief joining Israel for attack against Iran

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/10 ... -iran-war/

"Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan is joining Israel to set the stage for a military strike against Iran over the country’s nuclear program, an analyst says."

[Austin]

Paki boy doing Saudis Dirty Work in Syria , It could have implications for us in Kashmir once Saudi baksheesh makes those Paki itchy

Saudi Arabia's Shadow War

The Kingdom is turning to Pakistan to train Syria’s rebels. It’s a partnership that once went very wrong in Afghanistan. Will history repeat itself?
BY DAVID KENNER

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia, having largely abandoned hope that the United States will spearhead international efforts to topple the Assad regime, is embarking on a major new effort to train Syrian rebel forces. And according to three sources with knowledge of the program, Riyadh has enlisted the help of Pakistani instructors to do it.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, along with the CIA, also supported the Afghan rebels against the Soviet-backed government during the 1980s. That collaboration contains a cautionary note for the current day: The fractured Afghan rebels were unable to govern after the old regime fell, paving the way for chaos and the rise of the Taliban. Some of the insurgents, meanwhile, transformed into al Qaeda and eventually turned their weapons against their former patrons.

While the risk of blowback has been discussed in Riyadh, Saudis with knowledge of the training program describe it as an antidote to extremism, not a potential cause of it. They have described the kingdom's effort as having two goals -- toppling the Assad regime, and weakening al Qaeda-linked groups in the country. Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence chief and envoy to Washington, said in a recent interview that the mainstream opposition must be strengthened so that it could protect itself "these extremists who are coming from all over the place" to impose their own ideologies on Syria.

The ramped up Saudi effort has been spurred by the kingdom's disillusionment with the United States. A Saudi insider with knowledge of the program described how Riyadh had determined to move ahead with its plans after coming to the conclusion that President Barack Obama was simply not prepared to move aggressively to oust Assad. "We didn't know if the Americans would give [support] or not, but nothing ever came through," the source said. "Now we know the president just didn't want it."

Pakistan's role is so far relatively small, though another source with knowledge of Saudi thinking said that a plan was currently being debated to give Pakistan responsibility for training two rebel brigades, or around 5,000 to 10,000 fighters. Carnegie Middle East Center fellow Yezid Sayigh first noted the use of Pakistani instructors, writing that the Saudis were planning to build a Syrian rebel army of roughly 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers.


"The only way Assad will think about giving up power is if he's faced with the threat of a credible, armed force," said the Saudi insider.

A State Department official declined to comment on the Saudi training program.

Saudi Arabia's decision to move forward with training the Syrian rebels independent of the United States is the latest sign of a split between the two longtime allies. In Syria, Saudi officials were aggrieved by Washington's decision to cancel a strike on the Assad regime in reprisal for its chemical weapons attack on the Damascus suburbs this summer. A top Saudi official told the Washington Post that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan was unaware of the cancelation of the strike. "We found about it from CNN," he said.

As a result, Saudi Arabia has given up on hopes that the United States would spearhead efforts to topple Assad and decided to press forward with its own plans to bolster rebel forces. That effort relies on a network of Saudi allies in addition to Pakistan, such as Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

As Sayigh laid out in his Carnegie paper, Saudi Arabia is attempting to build "a new national army" for the rebels -- a force with an "avowedly Sunni ideology" that could seize influence from mainstream Syrian opposition groups. In addition to its training program in Jordan, Saudi Arabia also helped organize the unification of roughly 50 rebel brigades into "the Army of Islam" under the leadership of Zahran Alloush, a Salafist commander whose father is a cleric based in the kingdom.

Given the increased Islamization of rebel forces on the ground, analysts say, it only makes sense that Saudi Arabia would throw its support behind Salafist groups. These militias "happen to be the most strategically powerful organizations on the ground," said Charles Lister, an analyst with IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre. "If Saudi Arabia does indeed follow such a strategy... it could well stand to become a major power player in the conflict."

In calling on Pakistan to assist in toppling Assad, Saudi Arabia can draw on its deep alliance with Islamabad. The two countries have long shared defense ties: Saudi Arabia has given more aid to Pakistani than to any non-Arab country, according to former CIA officer Bruce Riedel, and also allegedly helped fund Islamabad's nuclear program. In return, Pakistan based troops in Saudi Arabia multiple times over three decades to protect the royals' grip on power.

The current Pakistani government, in particular, is closely tied to Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power in 1999 by a military coup - the Saudis allegedly brokered a deal that kept him from prison. Sharif would spend the next seven years in exile, mainly in Saudi Arabia. "For the Saudis, Sharif is a key partner in a key allied state," said Arif Rafiq, an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute.

But despite close collaboration in the past, Saudi Arabia may find its old allies chafing at the sheer scope of its ambitions in Syria. One Pakistani source with close ties to military circles confirmed that Saudi Arabia had requested assistance on Syria over the summer -- but argued that Pakistani capabilities and interests were not conducive to a sweeping effort to train the rebels.

Pakistan is already grappling with its own sectarian bloodshed and must mind its relationship with Iran, while its foreign policy is focused on negotiations with the Taliban over the future of Afghanistan and its longtime rivalry with India. "They have their hands full," the source said. "And even if they want to, I don't think they'll be able to give much concrete help."

Jordan is also reportedly leery about fielding a large Syrian rebel army on its soil. The ambitious Saudi plan would require a level of support from Amman "that is opposed within the security and military establishment and is unlikely to be implemented," according to Sayigh.

As the Saudis expand their effort to topple Assad, analysts say the central challenge is not to inflict tactical losses on the Syrian army, but to organize a coherent force that can coordinate its actions across the country. In other words, if Riyadh hopes to succeed where others have failed, it needs to get the politics right -- convincing the fragmented rebel groups, and their squabbling foreign patrons, to work together in pursuit of a shared goal.

It's easier said than done. "The biggest problem facing the Saudis now is the same one facing the U.S., France, and anyone else interested in helping the rebels: the fragmentation of the rebels into groups fighting each other for local and regional dominance rather than cooperating to overthrow Assad," said David Ottaway, a scholar at the Wilson Center who wrote a biography of Prince Bandar. "Could the Saudis force [the rebel groups] to cooperate? I have my doubts."

[Philip]

The "pigsty Pak" to the rescue of the Saudis yet again.How the cowardly camel driver Saudis love to go to war using another nations troops! Surely they can solve their unemployment crisis by putting their "manhood" to the test in the real world.in uniform? But they're so used to using wh*res and rent-boys to do their dirty work that they've lost the ability to fight,except to gun down unarmed Bahreinis.

In the IOR region ,travelling salesman sometimes,but fortunately not a desert slave!

[ramana]

Austin and Philip, This will have its own blowback inside TSP for of the duo its the weak link. Ziaullo Haq while stationing troops in KSA made sure they have no active role to keep the sectarian conflict from coming home to rip TSP asunder.
Collaborating in Afghanistan against FSU is different.

[Prem]

Iran Says It Agrees to ‘Road Map’ With U.N. on Nuclear Inspections
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/world ... .html?_r=0

[quote]PARIS — The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday that Iran had agreed to resolve all outstanding issues with the agency, and would permit “managed access” by international inspectors to two key nuclear facilities that have not been regularly viewed.

.But the promise of wider scrutiny did not extend to one of the most contentious locations: the Parchin military site southwest of Tehran. Inspectors from the agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, have been trying for months to see selected areas of the Parchin site, where they suspect that Iran at one time tested triggering devices for nuclear weapons. “This is an important step forward to start with, but much more needs to be done,” Yukiya Amano, the director general of the agency, told reporters in Tehran, apparently reflecting a degree of caution.
The agreement came on the heels of talks between Iran and six world powers over Iran’s nuclear program. Those talks ended Saturday without reaching an agreement that would have eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for verifiable assurances that Iran would not pursue the construction of a nuclear weapon. Western diplomats said Iranian negotiators balked at a proposed agreement, and did not give enough concrete assurances of peaceful intentions.
Coming so soon after those talks, the agreement with the agency on Monday appeared to represent an effort by Iran to show that it remained committed to reaching an accommodation with the West and wanted to demonstrate that it was willing to take steps it had not taken in the past. The agreement, the first step in at least five years toward resolving outstanding issues on Iran’s program, was signed by Mr. Amano and Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Among its specific provisions is “managed access” to the Gachin mine in Bandar Abbas and the heavy-water production plant being built at Arak. In the past, the agency has questioned whether the Gachin mine, which produces yellowcake uranium for conversion to nuclear fuel, is linked to Iran’s military. The heavy-water plant at Arak could produce plutonium, which can be used in a weapon, and a key concern is that once the plant is operational, it would be all but impossible to destroy it without running the risk of spreading deadly plutonium. Western officials noted that the agreement gave the atomic agency access to the heavy production plant but not the nuclear reactor, which is under construction there. The agreement would also include provisions for more complete information about the scope and longer-term plans for additional uranium enrichment facilities, as well as answers to “all present and past issues,” the agency said. The “past issues” include the question of whether Iran has previously pursued a weaponization program.
The country’s longstanding reluctance to answer questions from the nuclear watchdog and allow more comprehensive inspections has worried the West and deepened suspicions about Iran’s sincerity. The agency is the only outside entity that is allowed to enter Iranian facilities, take samples and report back to the world on what Iran is doing. Its access has been limited, and no inspections have been permitted at some facilities. The lack of in-depth information and inspections of the heavy-water plant have been a particular worry to the West. French officials went further and indicated that they wanted construction halted altogether at the facility, and that Iran’s failure to agree to that was one reason the French were reluctant to endorse a broader deal with Iran this weekend. For his part, Mr. Salehi said on Monday that his government had reached agreement on a “road map” with the nuclear agency, according to the state-run broadcaster Press TV.
“This joint statement outlines a road map that clarifies bilateral cooperation on the outstanding issues,” Mr. Salehi was quoted as saying. The agreement on Monday comprised a four-paragraph statement and six bullet points in an annex of issues to be tackled within the next three months. “It is foreseen that Iran’s cooperation will include providing the I.A.E.A. with timely information about its nuclear facilities and in regard to the implementation of transparency measures,” the statement says, adding that “the I.A.E.A. agreed to continue to take into account Iran’s security concerns, including through the use of managed access and the protection of confidential information.” Apart from “managed access” to the two sites, the six-point annex committed Iran to providing information on all new research reactors and on the identification of 16 sites designated for the construction of nuclear power plants. It also enjoined Iran to clarify its stance on additional enrichment facilities and on laser enrichment technology. “Managed access” is a term used by the United Nations agency to denote the ground rules for inspections that permit host countries to protect information they consider to be proprietary or secret, such as military technology, while still allowing inspectors to garner data they require, officials said. /quote]

[akashganga]

Paki boy doing Saudis Dirty Work in Syria , It could have implications for us in Kashmir once Saudi baksheesh makes those Paki itchy

Saudi Arabia's Shadow War

The Kingdom is turning to Pakistan to train Syria’s rebels. It’s a partnership that once went very wrong in Afghanistan. Will history repeat itself?
BY DAVID KENNER

BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia, having largely abandoned hope that the United States will spearhead international efforts to topple the Assad regime, is embarking on a major new effort to train Syrian rebel forces. And according to three sources with knowledge of the program, Riyadh has enlisted the help of Pakistani instructors to do it.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, along with the CIA, also supported the Afghan rebels against the Soviet-backed government during the 1980s. That collaboration contains a cautionary note for the current day: The fractured Afghan rebels were unable to govern after the old regime fell, paving the way for chaos and the rise of the Taliban. Some of the insurgents, meanwhile, transformed into al Qaeda and eventually turned their weapons against their former patrons.


...
...

WOW. Pakis are getting major outsourcing contract from Saudis. Let us congratulate them.

[habal]

Sex trafficking in minorities caught up in rebel held areas rampant in Syria. Also sex-jihadist type female imports from Tunisia and Libya are being used to control the captives.

NOVEMBER 11, 2013 - SYRIAN MINORITY WOMEN USED AS SEX SLAVES IN AL-SUFAYRA



SYRIAN PERSPECTIVE EXCLUSIVE: SYRIAN MINORITY WOMEN FOUND IN TUNNELS IN AL-SUBAYNA WERE KIDNAPPED AND USED AS SEX SLAVES BY JIHADIST/WAHHABIST APES; NAMES HAVE BEEN WITHHELD BY REQUEST OF THE WOMEN.


Syrian Perspective has learned that with the liberation of Greater Al-Subayna and Lesser Al-Subayna came some shocking news that was deliberately kept secret by the Syrian security forces. During the cleansing of the area, SAA infantry discovered a tunnel complete with electricity and a field clinic. What they also found on that November 7th were hostages inside who had been kept in a state of terror for at least 5 months. The hostages were all women who were reported kidnapped by their families both in the eastern part of the country and the south. All the women were either Christian or Shi'i. Monzer reports that there were 16 of them, all between the ages of 14 years and 27. When they were saved by the army, Monzer says the women were in a frenzied state begging the military intelligence officers not to report to their families how they were used. Moreover, the Syrian government has agreed to keep their names secret.

Monzer says most of the girls were unmarried at the time of their abductions but that 2 were married with husbands in the military. They were forced to have sex with the denizens of this tunnel repeatedly, being subject to constant brutality if they did not comply. They were denied access to birth control on the grounds that such medication was "unholy" and "haraam". Monzer says that 4 of the girls, including one who is 14 years old, have been subsequently determined to be pregnant. Abortion in Syria is illegal. However, an exception can be made for rape especially in cases involving minors. The length of time the fetus has been in utero will make a difference also.

What is even more amazing is that 3 Jihadist females from both Tunisia and Libya were assigned to control the women and to beat them if they became recalcitrant. They were constantly told it was an honor to serve in Allah's army and that Jihad was the right path if they were to be saved from Hellfire. According to Monzer, the Jihadist females were evacuated by the terrorists but were killed as they tried to escape into Al-Hajar Al-Aswad. No more details available.

The girls have been reconnected to their families where the SAA is in control. We will keep you informed as to any new data on this.

I was informed by Monzer that the government preferred not to have this story revealed. I decided I would disclose it because these kinds of acts, as barbarous as they are, must be revealed to all civilized nations, especially those who pretend to be more civilized than others. This is the work of England, France and the United States. Without their filthy involvement, these girls would never have become Jihadist prostitutes. What a shame! I hope all English, French and American people will bring this matter up with their war criminal governments.

http://www.syrianperspective.com/2013/1 ... yrian.html

[Singha]

>Saudi Arabia is preparing to finance the training and arming of a new Syrian non-jihadi rebel force. The force is to be built around the Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam)

[habal]

>> Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam)

more like army of 'one-eyed Saudi apes' .. the SAA with it's command performance has proven beyond all shade of doubt, that is the only true Arab army. A force that is capable of uniting both Shias and Sunnis under a single umbrella for an overarching cause and with fairly tolerant values. 80% of SAA and it's militia is Sunni.

The western side of Damascus where an assault on massed rebels was foreseen is now a deadlock and full-fledged assault on Aleppo is underway where the Turks have closed the borders, the Greeks are preventing re-enforcements of ammo from reaching rebels and Jordan is also closed.

[Kati]

Assad's forces are making steady progress (and that's why the western/US media has lost interest).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle ... z2kZTLRE2R

The fighters with green bands appear to be Hezb fighters.

[brihaspati]

Sex trafficking in minorities caught up in rebel held areas rampant in Syria. Also sex-jihadist type female imports from Tunisia and Libya are being used to control the captives.

NOVEMBER 11, 2013 - SYRIAN MINORITY WOMEN USED AS SEX SLAVES IN AL-SUFAYRA

SYRIAN PERSPECTIVE EXCLUSIVE: SYRIAN MINORITY WOMEN FOUND IN TUNNELS IN AL-SUBAYNA WERE KIDNAPPED AND USED AS SEX SLAVES BY JIHADIST/WAHHABIST APES; NAMES HAVE BEEN WITHHELD BY REQUEST OF THE WOMEN.

http://www.syrianperspective.com/2013/1 ... yrian.html

Exactly what happened in both the 1947 "wars" and in 1971 - under the Paki "fighters". I think there are reports about the internal conflicts about exactly the same methods within the ME even in the past. Use of captive women for sexual gratification, regardless of their marital status - is formally allowed by the Quran. Also age is not a factor - since onset of signs of puberty [which could appear even for ages we would normally consider as childhood in modern societies recognized to be human] is enough to justify intercourse with any female in "right hand possession" == captivity by any Muslim man. Hidaya explicitly clarifies this.

But most armies even of the advanced European civilizations maintained army brothel services in the 20th century. In some cases there have been accusations of enforced or sex-slavery on girls extracted from occupied or "liberated" territories. And yes not onlee Germans. [Russians too but at least for large parts of 20th century they were not considered proper Europeans by Europeans].

[ramana]

I think soon Iran will demand audit of KSA's arsenal as quid pro quo!!!

[Prem]

What's the ETA for Arab Persian Dangal some where near Babylon?
2022-2027 when when West is Energy Independent.

[habal]

wow !

9. And most importantly, Saudi Arabia's Bandar Bin Sarataan has turned over the command of his minions to Pakistani officer/mercenries liaised with the Saudi military. The Pakistani officers do not know the area and are loath to give orders to harry SAA. The officers we are referring are stationed in Al-Mafraq, Jordan and are being helped by American mercenaries and CIA contractors. Gar nicht helfen.

from this:

FIRST POST - NOVEMBER 13, 2013 - ALEPPO IN A VISE NOW AS SYRIAN ARMY COMPLETES PINCER MOVEMENT ENCIRCLING SAUDI ARABIA'S TERRORISTS; NEWS AND PROPAGANDA
MASSIVE PINCER MOVEMENT FROM NORTH AND SOUTH IS ENVELOPING NORTHERN ALEPPO. HUGE FORMATIONS OF ARMOR CONSTRICT AROUND 'ANADAAN AND HANAANU

The areas of Khanaasser, Tal 'Arn, Battalion 80 and Al-Sufayra have been completely liberated leaving a huge force of over 60,000 soldiers, militiamen and NDF ready to join forces with the pre-positioned 50,000 in the north of Aleppo. The Salafist rat organizations have issued a general "call to arms" for Liwaa' Al-Tawheed (Monotheism Brigades), Jabhat Al-Nusra and Harakat Ahraar Al-Shaam (The Movement of Free Men of Syria). It is supposed that all the rodents belonging to these above-mentioned terrorist groups expect to ascend to Heaven when killed. While one part of the proposition appears to be valid (i.e. they will be killed), the eschatology appears to be much less certain. I have it from the best sources that, from a telemetric point of view, these vermin will most likely wind up in Satan's bailiwick.

The movement of the Syrian army, with its fully mechanized forces, has amazed observers. The swiftness with which it has liberated crucial axes to the south of Aleppo is even more astounding when one considers their wholly unimpeded shift to the northern suburbs of this mercantile capital. Efforts by terrorist mercenary rodents to block our army's movement are non-existent which may mean several things:

1. There is no command structure any longer to organize a hit-and-run campaign to slow down the SAA's march to the north;
2. There is no morale left among the rat criminals, such that many might be thinking in terms of avoiding an ascent to Heaven for the time being, preferring the more assured comforts of temporal existence;
3. There is no booty left to pillage and the certainty of death at the hands of the SAA would neutralize any previously hoarded loot or prizes taken from the innocent civilians of Aleppo;
4. The civilians in Aleppo know what is coming and are not prepared to assist the terrorist rats in imposing their stifling vision of Islam on them;
5. Turkish army officers do not appear inclined to assist Islamist terrorist extremists, a position that counters squarely Bandar and Saudia's plan to continue their war crimes in Syria;
6. The U.S. is out of the game of helping Al-Qaeda or its franchises and affiliates. Only Britain remains as a source of assistance in Incirlik and on Cyprus. However, British aid in the past has only strengthened the SAA;
7. The SAA has completely compromised the communications systems used by the terrorists. They cannot make a move without the SAA or MI knowing about it. Even the German Bundnachrichtendienst is helping the Syrian intelligence agencies in fighting Islamist criminals. The SAA has mastered the art of dispatching insurgents.
8. Salafist crazies like ISIS have begun pulling their forces out of the Aleppo area and relocating to either Idlib or Latakia.

تدمير مستودع ذخيرة ومنصات إطلاق صواريخ ومدافع هاون في حلب

9. And most importantly, Saudi Arabia's Bandar Bin Sarataan has turned over the command of his minions to Pakistani officer/mercenries liaised with the Saudi military. The Pakistani officers do not know the area and are loath to give orders to harry SAA. The officers we are referring are stationed in Al-Mafraq, Jordan and are being helped by American mercenaries and CIA contractors. Gar nicht helfen.

Baab Antaakiya (Antioch's Gate): In central Aleppo, in the Old City, security forces and Ba'ath militia surrounded and cornered a pack of rodents belonging to the Liwaa' Al-Tawheed as they were trying to move to a northern location, ostensibly 'Anadaan, but were detected and waylaid by our people. 17 carcasses were counted and 4 were wounded and taken prisoner to warble eloquently about their plans.

http://www.syrianperspective.com/2013/1 ... po-in.html

[Austin]

Hezbollah will keep fighting in Syria war - Nasrallah

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to keep his forces in Syria where they are fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's regime, in a rare public speech delivered in Beirut on Thursday.

"We have said on several occasions that the presence of our soldiers on Syrian soil is to defend... Syria, which supports the resistance" against Israel, said the Lebanese Shiite leader.

"Our presence there is justified," he told hundreds of thousands marking a Shiite commemoration in south Beirut, in his second public appearance in as many days.

"As long as the reasons (to fight in Syria) remain, our presence there will remain," Nasrallah said in a speech to tens of thousands of Lebanese Shiites marking the religious ceremony of Ashoura in southern Beirut.

"Our fighters are present on Syrian soil...to confront all the dangers it faces from the international, regional and takfiri attack on this country and region," Nasrallah said, referring to the foreign Islamist rebels fighting in Syria.

Syria's two and a half year-old civil war has polarised the Middle East between Sunni Muslim powers such as Turkey and the Gulf Arab states who support the Sunni rebels, and Shiite Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah who back Assad, from the Alawite faith which is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Hezbollah fighters led the fight to recapture the Syrian border town of Qusair earlier this year and activists say they have also been fighting alongside Assad's forces south of the capital Damascus and in the northern city of Aleppo.

[Prem]

EVERYONE BUT THE ARAB SUNNI:
The Case for Kurdistan http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/20 ... sunni.html

There is a rare historic opportunity now to for America to be ahead of the curve on a major regional event involving an important ally: Kurdish independence.Reliable friends are hard to find, and in the Middle East, they are also hard to buy. A decade after the second Gulf war, the Iraqi leadership is closer to the Mullahs in Iran than they are to Uncle Sam, despite considerable American expense and effort there. In Syria as well, Iran was the invisible hand that brought Assad back from the brink of disaster, all the while lobbying Russia to maintain its support for the regime and bringing about the diplomatic coup that was Obama's about-face on Syrian intervention. The Egyptian army, one of the largest single recipients of US aid for the last three decades, has repeatedly flouted United States pressure since Mubarak's ouster for its own short term interests. In a region full of resource rich autocracies, there is no shortage of players who will outspend and out-influence America when their existence, and not just their interests, are at stake. The Saudis will make it rain petrodollars all day, and America simply cannot compete with notions of prestige and threat of force.History shows that allies with shared values, but also shared rivalries, are the safest of bets for the West in the Middle East. Israel is the clearest example; modern Turkey, relative to its Arab neighbors, has also made an ideal patron for the United States due not only to its secular tradition, but also due to its own lack of natural allies in the region. This is also why Iran, and not Saudi Arabia, was the more important country in America's "twin pillar" policy of the 1970s.

[Baikul]

http://us.cnn.com/2013/11/14/world/meas ... ?hpt=hp_t2

(CNN) -- Radical anti-government fighters in Syria mistakenly beheaded a wounded fellow rebel soldier after assuming he was a supporter of President Bashar al-Assad, according to an online statement from the radical fighters' group...........

On Thursday, an online statement from a spokesman for the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), whose fighters apparently carried out the beheading of Fares, called for forgiveness for the killers and asked for "restraint and piety" from anti-government supporters.

Not much to add.

[JE Menon]

Oops...