Is Syria Next?

[eyer]

There's a bunch of "noise" raising up directed at any potential American "involvement" with Syria; Communist China and Russia have jointly proclaimed that any action taken must be diplomatic, with military action of any kind out of the question...you may remember both countries declined to back the UN move against Libya and, in fact, are calling for its cessation.

Iran, this past Tuesday, issued a slew of statements on the issue:

"Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said Tuesday: "The Americans are not allowed to launch a military intervention in any country of the region including Syria."

"He accused "Israel and the USA of standing behind the riots in Syria, Iran's closest ally in the Arab world… with particular aims…of provoking terrorist groups in Syria and in the region to carry out terrorist and sabotage operations."

"Another spokesman warned: "Western attempts to set the model of Libya in Damascus are doomed to failure."

"Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi accused the United States of preparing and executing "the slaughter of Muslims" worldwide.

"Iran's ground forces commander Brig. Gen. Kioumars Heidari added this threat: Any new military move by the US in the region will impose heavy costs on the country far greater than the costs it paid in Iraq and Afghanistan."

It also seems America is positioning itself "morally" to take action against Syria: its pushing hard a meaningless European UN resolution condemning Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, looking into whether bringing war crimes charges against al-Assad's government and seems to be "positioning" al-Assad in just short of the same "must go" position Gadhafi was placed in:

"In a related move, Clinton attempted to ratchet up the pressure on Assad in an op-ed she wrote for Asharq Al-Awsat, an international newspaper based in London.

"Citing the violent government crackdown in Syria, Clinton wrote: "It is increasingly clear that President Assad has made his choice. But while continued brutality may allow him to delay the change that is underway in Syria, it will not reverse it."

"Clinton accused Assad of "embracing the repressive tactics of his ally Iran" and wrote that "Syria isheaded toward a new political order" that should be shaped by the Syrian people."

Take into consideration the report that US Special Forces have been on the ground in Libya since February and that other US Special Forces units based at Fort Hood, Texas, have been told to prepare for deployment to Libya no later than July; the Special Forces would then be followed in September or October by heavy armored units of the First Cavalry Division, currently located in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with other components of the US III Corps.

Toss into the mix that Lebanon has just installed a Syrian/Iran-backed government where Friday demonstrators were killed, and that Turkey is moving troops and seems to be coordinating with the US, and the ever-developing issue of Iran's nuke capability...

...well, here are some pieces to ponder if your interested:

US naval movements around Syria. Hizballah moves rockets
http://www.debka.com/article/21026/

Turkey to send troops into Syria. Syrian helicopters machine-gun protesters
http://www.debka.com/article/21015/

US naval, troop movements toward N Africa, ME as Syrian destabilization escalates: report
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-...st-as-Syrian-destabilization-escalates-report

Lebanon has a radical new government. It gives Assad his second front
http://www.debka.com/article/21037/

US and Russia discuss UN resolution on Syria
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/06/20116186012957438.html

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Lob some bombs in...


__________________
... this thing’s [Libya] going to be over before you know it anyway...,
Harry Reid

 

[Beco]

Lob some bombs in...


__________________
... this thing’s [Libya] going to be over before you know it anyway...,
Harry Reid

They're already doing that, on their own people.....

 

[GiaCat]

"Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi accused the United States of preparing and executing "the slaughter of Muslims" worldwide.


He is mad because that's his job

 

[Beco]

"Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi accused the United States of preparing and executing "the slaughter of Muslims" worldwide.


He is mad because that's his job

Animals...

 

[eyer]

Probe chief: Assad ordered Hariri killed

Judge who headed probe on Lebanese premier's death says Syria feared he would overturn regime

"The German judge who was in charge of an investigation on the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri says the Syrian regime ordered his assassination.

"In an interview with a German radio station, Detlev Mehlis said Syrian President Bashar Assad "ordered Hariri killed" because he feared the premier was cooperating with France and the US in order to overturn the Syrian regime and disarm Hezbollah.

"Mehlis revealed during the interview, which was carried by many local news agencies, that the main reason for the order was UN Resolution 1559, which took aim at Syria.

"He said witness testimonies gathered by his commission indicate that "the structure of the Syrian regime does not allow such a crime to be carried out without explicit orders from Assad".

"Mehlis stressed the importance of testimony given by Abdelhalim Kheddam, a former Syrian vice president who fled the country."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4083587,00.html

 

[dagdag]

Angelina Jolie visited the refugees from Syria in Turkey. They are already in thousands... I guess we'll see what happens in the coming days.

 

[ivantheterrible]

what? a harshly worded letter from the UN?

 

[dagdag]

what? a harshly worded letter from the UN?

exactly, show business for L.Vitton bags... A.J. signed $10M deal w/L.V.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I just saw an expert interviewed on CNN. He says the regime will survive because it does have a mass base of support, maybe 40%, and solid control of the military and security forces. But it will emerge from this crisis weakened, and more dependent on Iran, having lost Turkey as a friend.

 

[eyer]

NATO positioning to strike Syria within days?

The US naval and military presence in and around the Mediterranean is overwhelming:

"The USS George H.W. Bush nuclear-powered supercarrier and its assigned carrier strike group and carrier air wing - with 9,000 sailors, 70 aircraft and four guided missile destroyers and cruisers - is in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the Syrian coast. One of the destroyers, USS Truxtun, just left the Israeli port city of Haifa after a two-day stopover.

"The USS Monterey guided missile cruiser is docked off the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi currently and will re-enter the Mediterranean soon. Deployed as the first warship assigned to the U.S.-NATO potential first-strike pan-European interceptor missile system, it can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as Standard Missile-3 interceptor missiles.

"The guided missile destroyer USS Barry left Gaeta, Italy where nine other US. warships have been stationed, on June 17 after a five-day port visit. USS Barry is part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, headed by the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, used at the beginning of the U.S.-NATO Libyan campaign in March and currently in the Mediterranean.

"The Pentagon and its allies - every nation in the Mediterranean is now a NATO member or partner except for Libya, Syria, Cyprus (under renewed and intensified pressure to join the bloc’s Partnership for Peace program) and Lebanon (whose coastline has been blockaded by NATO states’ military vessels since 2006) - have the military hardware in place for a replication of the 95-day war against Libya directed at Syria: Scores of warplanes on carriers and on bases in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey and guided missile ships ready to launch Tomahawk missiles."

Most recent proclamations by SoS Clinton are clearly "or else" in warning to Syria.

Turkey has played a primary role in the NATO Libya offensive:

"Since the war against Libya was launched by U.S. Africa Command under the codename Operation Odyssey Dawn to the present NATO-run Operation Unified Protector in place since March 31, air operations have been run from NATO’s Air Command Headquarters for Southern Europe in Izmir, Turkey.

"In March Turkey supplied five ships and a submarine for the blockade of Libya’s coast and on March 28 Hurriyet Daily News announced that Turkey was "assuming control of the Benghazi airport, and sending naval forces to patrol the corridor between the rebel-held city and Crete," quoting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

"Turkey said ’yes’ to three tasks within NATO: the takeover of Benghazi airport for the delivery of humanitarian aid, the task about control of the air corridor and the involvement of Turkish naval forces in the corridor between Benghazi and Crete."

And:

"On June 19 Ersat Hurmuzlu, senior adviser to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, told the United Arab Emirates-based Al Arabiya television channel that Syria has less than a week to respond to what Reuters described as "calls for change." Hurmuzlu’s exact words were:

"The demands in this field will be for a positive response to these issues within a short period that does not exceed a week.

"The opposite of this, it would not be possible to offer any cover for the leadership in Syria because there is the danger... that we had always been afraid of, and that is foreign intervention."

Counting June 19 as day one of the above-mentioned week, tomorrow - Saturday, June 25 - is day 7, one week exactly...

http://www.voltairenet.org/Turkish-Actions-Designed-To

 

[Beco]

Why strike Syria? What is the reason?

 

[eyer]

UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon issues indictments to Hezbollah officials in Lebanon for the February 14, 2005 murder of two-time Lebanon Prime Minister Rafic Hariri

Hariri's son Saad Hariri, now living in Paris, "issued a statement shortly after the indictment was handed to Mirza warning the new Hezbollah-led cabinet that it must abide by Lebanon's commitments toward the international tribunal."

"On January 12, Hezbollah and its allies toppled the Western-backed government of Saad Hariri over his refusal to stop the tribunal in probing his father's murder."

Today, Hezbollah is in control of the Lebanese cabinet...

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diploma...bollah-indictments-a-historic-moment-1.370465

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Israel Warns Assad He Is on Death List If He Attacks: Report

"A Kuwaiti newspaper reports that Israel has warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that if he will be targeted if he tries to start a war with Israel to take the glare off his brutal suppression of the uprising in his country.

"The al-Jarida newspaper reported that the warning was sent through mediators in Turkey following intelligence reports of exceptional movements of Syrian troops and re-location of long-range missiles.

"Israel has not commented on the report.

"Israel last month said there was clear evidence that the Syrian regime paid residents to storm the Israeli border at the Golan Heights and engage the army, which killed approximately a dozen Syrian Arabs in clashes.

"It's almost a cliché - this is what he [Assad] always does. He's under pressure at home, so he deflects attention," said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and quoted by the British business news site IBTimes.

"He said that Assad tried the same tactic in the Second Lebanon War in 2006 “by rallying the people around resistance to Israel, and this time it's with the Palestinian cause. This is not going to work."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145281

 

[Beco]

Israel Warns Assad He Is on Death List If He Attacks: Report

"A Kuwaiti newspaper reports that Israel has warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that if he will be targeted if he tries to start a war with Israel to take the glare off his brutal suppression of the uprising in his country.

"The al-Jarida newspaper reported that the warning was sent through mediators in Turkey following intelligence reports of exceptional movements of Syrian troops and re-location of long-range missiles.

"Israel has not commented on the report.

"Israel last month said there was clear evidence that the Syrian regime paid residents to storm the Israeli border at the Golan Heights and engage the army, which killed approximately a dozen Syrian Arabs in clashes."It's almost a cliché - this is what he [Assad] always does. He's under pressure at home, so he deflects attention," said Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and quoted by the British business news site IBTimes.

"He said that Assad tried the same tactic in the Second Lebanon War in 2006 “by rallying the people around resistance to Israel, and this time it's with the Palestinian cause. This is not going to work."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145281

sacrifice thy people.....sad

 

[Beco]

MIDDLE EAST

Reuters / Landov
1. 24 Killed in Syria Protests
The death toll from Friday's protests in Syria has risen to 24 in what the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called "the biggest demonstration since the Syrian Revolution broke out" in March. Some reports say as many as 3 million people convened across the country. Meanwhile, Syria's obstinate President Bashar al-Assad continues to exercise his power, and has since signed a decree ousting the governor of Hama from his position, while tens of thousands of people protested yesterday. In March, Assad sacked the governor of Daraa after three days of protests in the city. Key opposition leaders are planning a "national salvation" conference in Damascus on July 16 to draw up a blueprint for government transition.

 

[eyer]

SoS Clinton: "Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs."

"WASHINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Tuesday condemned the attacks on the U.S. embassy and its ambassador's residence in Syria's capital of Damascus as "not acceptable," while reiterating that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has "lost legitimacy."

"Letting thugs storm the embassy is not acceptable," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at his daily news briefing. He added that the U.S. government has told Syria that it has responsibility "to provide security for and maintain security for foreign embassies, in this case, the U.S. embassy."

"Echoing a strong statement made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Carney said that Syrian President al-Assad is "not indispensable" as he has "lost legitimacy."

"Speaking at the joint press conference held Monday with visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Clinton said that al-Assad "has lost his legitimacy. Our goal is to see that the will of the Syrian people for a democratic transformation occurs."

More @

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-07/13/c_13981022.htm

 

[eyer]

- start report -

...Lebanese forces have confiscated two separate shipments of weapons which were destined to Syria for opposition forces; sources say the shipments are per the USSA and the House of Saud.

...Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain have summoned their ambassadors from Syria; sources say the House of Saud withdrew its ambassador under Washington's influence.

...Yesterday, Saudi King Abdullah condemned the ongoing violence in Syria and described the situation as unacceptable.

...Syria has accused the United States and Saudi Arabia of interfering in its internal affairs. Damascus blames foreign-backed armed gangs for the ongoing violence.

...sources say Saudi's King Abdullah is pursuing the USSA interest in the Middle East.

Meanwhile...

...exCIAer Robert Baer forecasts Israel to wage war against Iran in September.

- end report -

 

[Beco]

-
...exCIAer Robert Baer forecasts Israel to wage war against Iran in September.

- end report -

This is what everyone wants, except the people of Israel, aint gonna happen

 

[eyer]

This is what everyone wants, except the people of Israel, aint gonna happen

I really doubt, relatively speaking, very many - let alone, "everyone" - want war with Iran or Syria...

...so "they" and "the people of Israel" - according to you - are pretty much on the same page.

Too bad they aren't the ones who write the book, huh?

"the people of Israel" aren't any different than the people of America in that regard...

...Americans may say they don't want to be at "war" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Mexico, but because such subjective "talk" is actually meaningless without objective "walk" to power it, America is at "war" in each one of those nations.

Unless "the people of Israel" suddenly rise up to become somebodies they've never been before, their "talk" will be just as meaningless.

 

[eyer]

Hi...

...Karnac here again, at your service:

Brace for another U.S.-Mideast war

"JERUSALEM – Turkey secretly passed a message to Damascus last week that if it does not implement major democratic reforms, NATO may attack Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, according to Egyptian security officials speaking to WND.

"The Egyptian security officials said the message was coordinated with NATO members, specifically with the U.S. and European Union.

"Assad has been widely accused of ordering massacres on militants and protesters engaged in an insurgency targeting his regime.

"The Egyptian officials said Turkish leaders, speaking for NATO, told Assad that he has until March to implement democratization that would allow free elections as well as major constitutional reforms."

More @

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=333897

Say goodnight, Ed...uh...

...I mean, Assad.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Obama calls on Assad to step down, imposes sanctions.

 

[eyer]

Obama calls on Assad to step down, imposes sanctions.

The post just above yours suggests he's got til March to get out of Dodge...

...with this formal declaration, though, there is no doubt USSA covert action has been stepped-up quite a bit more now.

Just like it started in Libya...

 

[Beco]

I really doubt, relatively speaking, very many - let alone, "everyone" - want war with Iran or Syria...

...so "they" and "the people of Israel" - according to you - are pretty much on the same page.

Too bad they aren't the ones who write the book, huh?

"the people of Israel" aren't any different than the people of America in that regard...

...Americans may say they don't want to be at "war" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Mexico, but because such subjective "talk" is actually meaningless without objective "walk" to power it, America is at "war" in each one of those nations.

Unless "the people of Israel" suddenly rise up to become somebodies they've never been before, their "talk" will be just as meaningless.

I'm fairly sure that the world wouldnt mind if Israel took control of the situation and bombed Iran's nuke plant. Oh they might pretend to be outraged, impose sanctions, etc, but mostly, I believe leaders of the world would be happy Israel made that happen. But I really don't think Israel will bomb Iran anytime soon.

But I have to say, with all the troubles in the Middle East, Syria's protesters getting shot down, Libya running over it's people......a bunch of dirt bags attack Israel marching Sinai .....what a bunch of scumbags and they wonder why they bulldoze houses, have security check points and build a wall ......go to hell

 

[unregistered]

 

[Beco]

Obama is off on another democracy hallucination occurring spontaneously in Syria.

fuck Syria....let them mow down more of their own people....waaaaaaaaaaaaa give us our Golan back, waaaaaaaaaaa