Saudi FM in Washington: "We strive to have ‘elections’ in Syria!"

FLC

 

… and that from a man who knows elections only in comic books!

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 3:10 PM

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Doctors Without Borders: Chronically ill Syrians "benefited from a well functioning & advanced Syrian healthcare system"

Via FLC

“… The aid system has not kept pace with the influx of refugees.  Particularly vulnerable are the refugees living with chronic medical conditions, including cancer, whose treatments were interrupted when they fled Syria. Before the war, they benefited from a well functioning and advanced healthcare system at home….”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 12:18 PM

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Why Assad “Wasn’t, Won’t be” Defeated? (1/7)

Sadeq Khanafer, Hussein Mallah Few days, weeks, or even months…very soon the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be defeated. This is what the great leaders of the western and Arab powers predicted. However, the Syrian crisis has aged three years, yet the regime hasn’t fallen. Moreover, it was reported that some settlement is being simmered slowly, on the basis of dialogue between Damascus and the opposition, without the previous bets that were based on toppling President Assad. To show the points of power and resistance with respect to Syria and its president facing the unprecedented universal attack for more than two years, we present in a seven-parts report entitled “Why Assad wasn’t, won’t be Defeated?” with numbers, facts, the most important means of confrontation used by the regime. In addition, we will show its powerful qualifications that made it able, till the moment, and “will help it” in the future to stay and survive. Syria… for those who don’t know it.. In part one, we focus on defining Syria, its emergence, geographic and demographic formation, resources, political regime… reaching the recent events… The State of Syria Syria, its official name is the Syrian Arab Republic. Its capital is Damascus, its total area is 185.180 squared kilometers, its population is approximately 24 million people. Borders and Geography Syria is located to the west of Asia on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean in a region considered to be the intersection point between Asia, Europe, and Africa. It has common borders with Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, Turkey to the north, Lebanon to the west, and its Golan Heights go along with the southwestern side of the occupied Palestine. In addition, Syria’s shore off the Mediterranean goes along the western side of the country. Demography and Population Its population hits 23,695,000 people, it occupies the 7th Arab level and the 54th international level with respect to its population. Most of the Syrian people are educated, the government offers free education for all levels. The age average when birth is 76 years, which sets Syria in the 8th Arab position with respect to the life index. Syrian people or those of Syrian origins abroad hit around 18 millions. Most of the population are Muslims divided on different sects, in addition to a high Christian population in Syria and abroad. The country is considered of great religious importance. It is a center for several Christian and Muslim sects. Most of the people in Syria are Arabs, they form 90% of the overall population, in addition to 8% of the Kurds, 2% of other ethnics including Armenians, Turkmen, and Charkas. History and Civilization Syria had witnessed several civilizations in the human history. The most ancient human monuments in Syria go back to a million years. Ancient civilizations settled in Syria, among them are the Sumerian, Assyrian, and Phoenician, Seleucian, Roman, Byzantine, Omayyad, Abbasid, Crusade, Ottomans and others. Regime and Politics The Syrian regime is a republican presidential regime, and the President is Bashar Assad. Syria is a founding member in the United Nations; it was elected twice in the UN Security Council. It is also a founding member in the League of Arab Nations, the Islamic Cooperation Organization, the UN Economic and Social Committee for Western Asia, the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Agency for Atomic Energy, the International Organization for Civil Aviation, Food and Agriculture Organization, Group 24, Group 77, the Non-Aligned Movement, organizations related to the Arab League such as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, and the Great Free Arab Trade Zone, among others. Unity is Necessary Article 42 of the Syrian Constitution provides that saving national unity is the duty of every citizen. In fact, Syria didn’t witness, in its modern history, any clashes or conflicts based on religious or sectarian reasons unlike many other countries such as Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon. In addition, article 35 guarantees the freedom of performing all religious rituals and establishing houses of worship, the same article guarantees the right to freedom of religion for all citizens. Islam and Christianity Along the Islamic history, Syria was the platform where many important states and events had took place, especially the Omayyad and the Zengid dynasties. In the Middle Ages literature, Damascus was called “Sham Sherif”, for its importance and position. Moreover, the country includes many shrines and tombs of the pious men and the companions who were famous in history, some of them were from the household of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Syria also is of great importance on the level of the Christian history, it is the center of many churches and patriarchates of which the most important is the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate, and the Melkite Catholic Patriarchate, among others. It also contains many eastern churches all over its lands. Syria had produced many saints, in addition to that many clergymen are Syrian. Furthermore, there are many Christian holy places in Syria, such as Saidnaya, Maloula, Sadad, Deir Sem’an, Sarjila, and tens of historic Christian villages that were centers for saints in the First Christian Age. Not to mention, Saint Maroun, the intercessor of the Maronite sect, is buried in Syria. Economy and Resources On the level of resources and investment in Syria, agriculture is considered a very important element in the national income, in addition to other sectors such as industry, trade and services, and tourism, whose development contributes to the richness in monuments and fortresses as well as the country’s moderate climate. There are also many underground resources such as oil, natural gas, and phosphate, noting that some of these resources could achieve self satisfaction. Foreign Relationships Syria is considered among the countries that influence general policy in the Middle East. It is within what is known as the “axis of resistance”, and supports resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon frankly and officially. As a result of this stance, its relationship with the United States is not good. However, the Syrian relationship with Iran is very good, which is greatly reflected on the economic relations between the two countries. Relations are also good with Russia and China. Syria’s foreign policy sought recently building relationships with eastern European countries and Latin America to develop bilateral relations and improve economic exchange. It was mainly represented in the mutual visits and cooperation protocols signature on different levels. The Army and Armed Forces The Syrian army is the official regular apparatus to defend the country. According to the Constitution, the President is the High Leader of the army and the armed forces. Minister of Defense is his deputy and assigns the Commander-in-Chief. The Syrian army is the 16th worldwide regarding its size. It is the 2nd on the level of Arab armies after the Egyptian army. The Syrian army participated in many wars against the Zionist entity such as 1948, 1967, 1973, and 1974 wars. It participated in thwarting the Israeli invasion to Lebanon in 1982. The army’s armory is imported from the Soviet Union, then Russia, in addition to China and Iran. It includes Scud-S and Scud-D missiles capable of reaching Israel, in addition to American S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, Mig-31 fighters that could replace the American F-16 fighting falcons. The army also owns many tanks and different individual weapons. Administrative Divisions Syria is considered a central-government country. The center of the government is Damascus, the capital. As for administrative divisions, the republic is divided into 14 governorates; each governorate is divided into several regions. “The Ministry of Local Administration” is in charge of organizing the relationship between the governorates and the government on the one hand, and the government and governorates on the other. Syrian Governorates (click on the name to see more) • Al-Hasakah Governorate • Deir Ez-Zour Governorate • Ar-Reqqah Governorate • Aleppo Governorate • Idlib Governorate • Latakia Governorate • Tartus Governorate • Hama Governorate • Homs Governorate • Damascus Governorate • Rif Dimashq Governorate • As-Suwayda Governorate • Daraa Governorate • Quneitra Governorate Syria…the Crisis This display was necessary to show the truth of what is going on in Syria in the meantime, as well as the crisis that is threatening the geographic and population unity. The conflict in Syria doesn’t only demand reform and democracy as reported by western and Arab media outlets, even though those demands are the right of every people, but in the Syrian case, the intention aimed at targeting the country by suggesting triggering subjects such as freedom, dignity, and reform, until reaching the demand to topple the regime. Reckoning When the crisis began in March two years ago, after the Daraa events, some considered it an opportunity to reckoning Damascus, while others consider the new Syria a starting point to restore some sorts of glory that had gone. Americans and Zionists aimed at weakening Syria within a local conflict that leads to ousting it from the regional equation, and involving it in a destructive war that makes busy all leadership, people and army after being for decades inside the anti-American projects in the region by supporting resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq during the American occupation. In the following parts we will present the very details of how Syria, the state, government, people, and army resisted and will continue resisting in the ongoing confrontation. • Part 2: The State of Syria… Universal War and Resistance despite Pain • Part 3: When the Army Resisted… and Challenged • Part 4: Policy and Diplomacy… Sticking to the Constants • Part 5: The Inside and Outside Opposition • Part 6: Syria… The World Became Two Poles • Part 7: The Solution in Syria? To read the original article in Arabic, click here Translated by: Zeinab Abdallah

Source: Al-Manar Website 15-04-2013 – 20:27 Last updated 15-04-2013 – 20:27

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based “one-man band” funded by EU

“Pro-Democracy Terrorism”: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a Propaganda Front funded by the EU

The NYT admits fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based “one-man band” funded by EU and one other “European country.”

In reality, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has long ago been exposed as an absurd propaganda front operated by Rami Abdul Rahman out of his house in England’s countryside. According to a December 2011 Reuters article titled, “Coventry – an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist,” Abdul Rahman admits he is a member of the so-called “Syrian opposition” and seeks the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad:

After three short spells in prison in Syria for pro-democracy activism, Abdulrahman came to Britain in 2000 fearing a longer, fourth jail term.
“I came to Britain the day Hafez al-Assad died, and I’ll return when Bashar al-Assad goes,” Abdulrahman said, referring to Bashar’s father and predecessor Hafez, also an autocrat.

One could not fathom a more unreliable, compromised, biased source of information, yet for the past two years, his “Observatory” has served as the sole source of information for the endless torrent of propaganda emanating from the Western media. Perhaps worst of all, is that the United Nations uses this compromised, absurdly overt source of propaganda as the basis for its various reports – at least, that is what the New York Times now claims in their recent article, “A Very Busy Man Behind the Syrian Civil War’s Casualty Count.”

The NYT piece admits:

Military analysts in Washington follow its body counts of Syrian and rebel soldiers to gauge the course of the war. The United Nations and human rights organizations scour its descriptions of civilian killings for evidence in possible war crimes trials. Major news organizations, including this one, cite its casualty figures.
Yet, despite its central role in the savage civil war, the grandly named Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is virtually a one-man band. Its founder, Rami Abdul Rahman, 42, who fled Syria 13 years ago, operates out of a semidetached red-brick house on an ordinary residential street in this drab industrial city [Coventry, England].

The New York Times also for the first time reveals that Abdul Rahman’s operation is indeed funded by the European Union and a “European country” he refuses to identify:

Money from two dress shops covers his minimal needs for reporting on the conflict, along with small subsidies from the European Union and one European country that he declines to identify.

Photo: “Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Reuters)

Abdelrahman leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after meeting Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in central London November 21, 2011.

Abdelrahman is not the “head” of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, he is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, run out of his UK-based house as a one-man operation.

 

And while Abdul Rahman refuses to identify that “European country,” it is beyond doubt that it is the United Kingdom itself – as Abdul Rahman has direct access to the Foreign Secretary William Hague, who he has been documented meeting in person on multiple occasions at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. The NYT in fact reveals that it was the British government that first relocated Abdul Rahman to Coventry, England after he fled Syria over a decade ago because of his anti-government activities:

When two associates were arrested in 2000, he fled the country, paying a human trafficker to smuggle him into England. The government resettled him in Coventry, where he decided he liked the slow pace.

Abdul Rahman is not a “human rights activist.” He is a paid propagandist. He is no different than the troupe of unsavory, willful liars and traitors provided refuge in Washington and London during the Iraq war and the West’s more recent debauchery in Libya, for the sole purpose of supplying Western governments with a constant din of propaganda and intentionally falsified intelligence reports designed specifically to justify the West’s hegemonic designs.

Abdul Rahman’s contemporaries include the notorious Iraqi defector Rafid al-Janabi, codename “Curveball,” who now gloats publicly that he invented accusations of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the West’s casus belli for a 10 year war that ultimately cost over a million lives, including thousands of Western troops, and has left Iraq still to this day in shambles. There’s also the lesser known Dr. Sliman Bouchuiguir of Libya, who formed the foundation of the pro-West human rights racket in Benghazi and now openly brags in retrospect that tales of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s atrocities against the Libyan people were likewise invented to give NATO its sought-after impetus to intervene militarily.

Unlike in Iraq and Libya, the West has failed categorically to sell military intervention in Syria, and even its covert war has begun to unravel as the public becomes increasingly aware that the so-called “pro-democracy rebels” the West has been arming for years are in fact sectarian extremists fighting under the banner of Al Qaeda. The charade that is the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” is also unraveling. It is unlikely that the New York Times’ limited hangout will convince readers that Rami Abdul Rahman is anything other than another “Curveball” helping the corporate-financier elite of Wall Street and London sell another unnecessary war to the public.

 

 

الإرهابي المنادي بالديمقراطية: القصة الكاملة لرامي عبد الرحمن

‏الثلاثاء‏، 16‏ نيسان‏، 2013

أوقات الشام

 

رامي عبد الرحمن ليس “رئيس” “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان”؛ إنه هو “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان”.
فقد اعترفت صحيفة “نيويورك تايمز” أن مجموعة حقوق الإنسان السورية المزيفة ليست سوى “فرقة من رجل واحد” موجودة في بريطانيا و ممولة من الإتحاد الأوروبي و “بلد أوروبي” آخر.

وفي حقيقة الأمر, تمت تعرية “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان”, منذ زمن طويل, بصفته جبهة دعائية عبثية يديرها رامي عبد الرحمن من منزله الواقع في الريف الإنكليزي. فتبعاً لمقالة نشرتها “رويترز” في شهر كانون الأول من سنة 2011 بعنوان “كوڤنتري – موطن غير مناسب لناشط سوري بارز”, يعترف عبد الرحمن بأنه عضو فيما يسمى “المعارضة السورية” ويسعى إلى إسقاط الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد:

“بعد ثلاث فترات قصيرة في السجن في سوريا بسبب أنشطته المطالبة بالديمقراطية, جاء عبد الرحمن إلى بريطانيا في سنة 2000 خوفاً من حكم رابع بالسجن أطول زمنياً.

‘جئت إلى بريطانيا في اليوم الذي توفي فيه حافظ الأسد, وسوف أعود عندما يرحل بشار الأسد,’ قال عبد الرحمن, مشيراً إلى والد بشار الأسد وسلفه حافظ الأسد, الذي كان حاكم

 

اً أوتوقراطياً أيضاً.”

ليس بمقدور المرء أن يتصورَ مصدراً للمعلومات أكثرَ تحيزاً وأقلَ مصداقية, ومع ذلك فقد شكلَ “مرصدُه”, خلال السنتين الماضيتين, مصدرَ المعلومات الوحيد للدعاية الجارفة التي يبثها الإعلام الغربي بلا توقف. والأسوأ من ذلك, ربما, هو أن الأمم المتحدة تستخدم هذا المصدر الدعائي السري والعبثي بمثابة أساس لتقاريرها المختلفة – على الأقل, هذا ما تزعمه “نيويورك تايمز” الآن في مقالتها الجديدة بعنوان “رجل مشغول جداً وراء إحصائيات ضحايا الحرب الأهلية السورية”.

تعترف الصحيفة في مقالتها:

“يتابع المحللون العسكريون في واشنطن أعدادَ القتلى من السوريين والمتمردين المسلحين التي يقدمها المرصد لتوجيه دفة الحرب. كما أن الأمم المتحدة ومنظمات حقوق الإنسان تتبنى توصيفاته لعمليات قتل المدنيين لاستخدامها كأدلة في محاكمات جرائم الحرب المحتملة. كما أن المؤسسات الإخبارية الرئيسية, مثل هذه الصحيفة, تقوم بنشر أعداد الضحايا التي يقدمها هذا المرصد.

ولكن, وعلى الرغم من دوره المركزي في هذه الحرب الأهلية الوحشية, فإن ‘المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان’, الذي يحمل اسماً مفخماً, ليس سوى فرقة مكونة من رجل واحد. ويعمل مؤسسه, رامي عبد الرحمن البالغ من العمر 42 عاماً والذي هرب من سوريا منذ 13 سنة, من منزل شبه منفصل يغطيه القرميد الأحمر ويقع في شارع سكني عادي في هذه المدينة الصناعية البائسة [كوڤنتري/إنكلترا].”

كما أن “نيويورك تايمز” تكشف للمرة الأولى أن نشاط عبد الرحمن مموَل من قبَل الاتحاد الأوروبي و “بلد أوروبي” يرفض

 تسميته:
“إن المال الذي يجنيه من محلين لبيع الثياب يكفي احتياجاته الرئيسية اللازمة لتغطية النزاع, بالإضافة إلى مساعدات قليلة من الاتحاد الأوروبي وبلد أوروبي يرفض تسميته.”

ومع أن عبد الرحمن يرفض تسمية ذلك “البلد الأوروبي”, إلا أنه بلا أدنى شك المملكة المتحدة نفسها – بما أن عبد الرحمن يستطيع الوصول إلى وزير الخارجية وليام هيغ في أي وقت يشاء, والذي تم توثيق لقاءاته معه شخصياً في مناسبات عديدة في “مكتب الخارجية والكومونويلث” في لندن. وتكشف “نيويورك تايمز”, في الحقيقة, أن الحكومة البريطانية هي التي قامت بنقل عبد الرحمن إلى كوڤنتري في إنكلترة بعد هروبه من سوريا منذ أكثر من 10 سنوات بسبب نشاطاته المناوئة للحكومة السورية:

“عندما تم اعتقال اثنين من زملائه في سنة 2000, هرب من البلد, حيث دفع لأحد المهربين المالَ لإدخاله إلى إنكلترة. ثم قامت الحكومة بنقله إلى كوڤنتري, حيث عبرَ عن ارتياحه في هذا المكان الهادىء.”
إن عبد الرحمن ليس “ناشطاً في مجال حقوق الإنسان”. إنه دعائي مأجور. ولا يختلف عن مجموعة الكذبة والخوَنة الذين قدمت لهم واشنطن ولندن الملجأ والحماية خلال الحرب على العراق والفسوق الذي مارسه الغرب مؤخراً في ليبيا, بهدف تزويد الحكومات الغربية بسيل متدفق من الدعاية والمعلومات المزيفة المصممة لتبرير مخططات الغرب في الهيمنة.

ويشمل رفاق عبد الرحمن المعاصرون المنشق العراقي المعروف رافد الجنابي الملقب باسم “كيرڤبول” الذي يتبجح الآن علناً أنه اخترع الاتهامات المتعلقة بأسلحة الدمار الشامل العراقية, والتي شكلت ذريعة الغرب في شن حرب دامت 10 سنوات وكلفت أكثر من مليون قتيل, بما في ذلك آلاف من القوات الأجنبية, وتركت العراق في فوضى قاتلة حتى يومنا هذا. وهناك أيضاً الدكتور سليمان بوشويقر الليبي الأقل شهرة, الذي شكلَ أساسَ المزاعم الغربية المتعلقة بحقوق الإنسان في بنغازي, والذي يتبجح علانية الآن باختراع وتلفيق القصص حول الجرائم الوحشية للزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي ضد الشعب الليبي بهدف إعطاء الناتو الذريعة التي كان يبحث عنها للتدخل العسكري.

لكن على العكس من العراق وليبيا, فشل الغرب بشكل كامل في تمرير التدخل العسكري في سوريا, كما أن حربَه السرية بدأت تتكشف مع تزايد الوعي الشعبي بأن “الثوار المطالبين بالديمقراطية” الذين يسلحهم الغرب منذ سنوات ليسوا سوى متطرفين طائفيين يقاتلون تحت راية القاعدة. كما أن المهزلة المسماة “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان” بدأت تتكشف أيضاً. ومن غير المرجح أن تتمكن “نيويورك تايمز” من إقناع القراء بأن عبد الرحمن أكثر من “كيرڤبول” آخر يساعد النخب الرأسمالية في “وول ستريت” ولندن في بيع الرأي العام حرباً أخرى غير ضرورية.

غلوبال ريسيرش – ترجمة الجمل

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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How Damascene Jews Hope to Return… to Normalcy

 
Franklin Lamb

Al-manar

Bab Touma Jewish Quarter, Damascus— Growing up in the small town of Milwaukie, Oregon and until after graduating from high school, I never knew or knowingly met a Jew. Not until my first post-high school job as a swimming instructor and life guard at the Portland Jewish Community Center, having recently earned an American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor Certification — something I would recommend to any teenager today. My plan was to teach swimming and lifeguard over the summer at the JCC until the fall, when I planned to head to Boston University.

It was a terrific job. I got to swim laps during work when no one was in the pool, was given free lunches, and learned a lot from the old couple from Poland who handed out towels and looked after the pool dressing rooms.
We became good friends. When we were first introduced, I noticed that this inseparable couple walked stooped over, seemed to be in failing health and had what looked like numbers tattooed in blue ink on their right arms.
I had no idea what the numbers were for and didn’t want to appear nosy so it wasn’t until a couple of weeks later, during lunch one day, that my new friends explained what had happened to them and how they came to be in Oregon. They explained how they had miraculously survived death at a place they called Auschwitz, a word I don’t recall having ever heard.

From not having any Jewish friends in high school, in Boston I soon had mostly Jewish friends and several times was invited for a weekend to Brooklyn, Long Island, Teaneck, New Jersey and other places in the metropolitan New York area. For a hayseed kid from a small town in the Pacific Northwest it was great to have socially-connected and sophisticated Jewish girlfriends, all platonic until I fell deeply in love with Hanna K, an observant ultra-orthodox student from a Newton, Massachusetts family. Hanna, who always covered her head stood out on campus from the typical Jewish girls from places like the Bronx or Westchester County, NY. Despite our mutual affection, Hanna explained she could never invite me to meet her family who lived just 20 minutes from BU because I was not
Jewish and her father was very conservative. Both her parents fled Germany sometime in the 1930’s. I more or less understood, and she taught me a lot about Judaism, and I actually studied Hebrew for a while, at Hanna’s insistence.

Finally I marshaled the courage to visit her father’s real estate investment office which was just opposite the Boston Common and the historic Arlington Steet church within walking distance of Boston University Law School. Much like a nervous a new lawyer appearing before a harsh judge for the first time, I practiced my lines as I walked along. I still remember the speech I hoped to deliver, but close to his office I passed the statute of the William Lloyd
Garrison the 19th century editor of the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society as well as a prominent voice for the Women’s Suffrage movement. I paused to read
the words inscribed on the stone at the base of his statue, words still clear to me: “I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD!” They emboldened and gave me renewed courage to face Hanna’s father.

My petition to Hanna’s very stern father, Abraham, was that I deeply loved his daughter, and that I would try to be for her the best possible husband. I then made what I hoped would be a case-winning appeal: “And sir, I would like you to know that by association, by education, by liberal politics, by philosophy and by choice, I consider myself Jewish and am studying Hebrew and Jewish religious teachings.” It was true and I was sincere.

As Hanna subsequently told me, her father was not at all liberal in his politics, was an atheist and he was not in the least impressed with my presentation. Before rather abruptly showing me the door, he did sort of mumble that he would consider the matter and inform me of his decision. I never heard back from the gentleman. Hanna and I remained inseparable during my last couple of weeks in Boston. But, as happens far too often in life, one loses contact with the dearest of dear friends. I left for a summer job in Washington, DC and then England, and I have no idea where life has led her. To happiness I hope.

During the following years I experienced the intense Zionization among those in the Jewish community I was involved with while working on the Hill in Washington. Being known to be pro-Palestinian, I noticed the increased politicization and polarization among my Jewish friends. Since then, thanks somewhat to the Internet, this fracturing of the Jewish community has only increased, with even some progressive liberal friends getting caught up in the anti-Arab, anti-Islam, neocon-Zionist hate-mongering-nonsense now so endemic in the US.

Against this backdrop, and after years of living in this region with few Jews, recent visits to the Jewish community in Damascus has been a joy and a breadth of fresh air because the ugliness of fascist Zionism and its corrosive effects on Judaism as a philosophy is absent among Jews here. It’s like the old days. I have now met more than half of the 30-40 (depending on whose estimate) Jews remaining in the Bab Toumy Jewish Quarter of Damascus. In 2003, for example, the Jewish population was estimated to be fewer than 100. In 2005, the US State Department estimated the Jewish population at 80 in its annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2008. In May 2012,
it was reported by the State Department that only 22 Jews still lived in Syria, all of them elderly and living in Damascus in a building adjoining the city’s only functioning synagogue. This is not true. The remaining Jews live scattered around the Jewish Quarter and generally in family homes they have occupied for many years.

My new, excellent friend Saul, is the last remaining Jewish tailor in Syria. We spend time discussing just about everything but what I particularly like about Saul, and Albert Camero, the head of what’s left of the Jewish community in this battered country, is our discussions of “what went wrong” from the days when Jews and non-Sunnis like Twelver Shiites, Alawites, various Christian denominations, Druze and other heterodox communities lived together in Syria, nearly as family.

( Photo: Syria’s only known remaining Jewish tailor, Saul L.)

Other new Jewish friends in Syria include R. and G. two sisters in their late 70’s who were born in Syria and live in their grandfathers lovely home amidst the now empty mansions and less imposing Jewish homes in the Jewish Quarter. Their residence is next to the former home of Nissim Indibo, the last Rabbi in Damascus who died in 1976. “The sisters” as they are known to this tiny community, invited me to tea in their home adorned with Hebrew tiles on the walls and other Jewish religious artifacts. One day I listened to R. and G. for five hours as they recited their families’’ history in Syria and even their current political views. More time with them would have been better, so interesting and charming are they.

(Photo:  fplamb 3/13. One of the three remaining Synagogues in Damascus’ Jewish Quarter. No longer in use.)

A few years ago the American embassy offered Saul and R. and G. visas to America, where over 75,000 Syria Jews live in just New York. Saul showed me his. But like other Jews here, when the subject came up about moving to occupied Palestine or America, they explained they have no interest in leaving their country where, like the Palestinians living in Syria, they are treated the same as any other Syrian, including free education, universal government-paid health care, the full right to work and to own a home. They are Syrian.

(Photo:  fplamb 3/13.  A fairly typical unoccupied Jewish home, one of dozens boarded up in the, in Jewish Quarter of Damascus. Unlike Zionist occupied Palestine, Syria has rejected any absentee occupant law and Jewish homes remain the sole property of the families who own them, irrespective of where they currently live. Consistent with local zoning laws in this historic district, these often magnificent dwellings can be renovated and sold by the former occupants with government permission.)

What the Jewish community in Damascus believes must happen to resolve the current crisis is precisely what other Syrians in this capital city want. The process leading to peace, noted below, is gleaned from interviews with a cross-section of citizens in the Jewish Quarter and also from conversations with a spectrum of Damascene society ranging from academics, retired and current officials, members of the opposition in Parliament, small business and shop owners, and just random people enjoying the spring weather in the parks and surprisingly packed popular restaurants.

I was invited to such a restaurant this week. Into the late evening the place in central Damascus was filled with narguilé smoking, card playing, scrumptious desert eating, laughing and joking young and old people. I was tempted to mount one of the tables and shout to the revelers: “Excuse me please but haven’t you folks heard there is a civil war going on around here!” The zest for life is strong here— even enveloped as it is, by so much death and unimaginable suffering.

Asking Saul and others in the Jewish Quarter what their views of what the solution is to stop the slaughter, they insist that the government is now basically and finally getting on the right track, yet they yearn for the days of Hafez al Assad and are adamant that, and then tend to believe it will happen, that systemic modernization and liberalization be immediately implemented, ranging from the economy, routing out graft, and expanding civil liberties. They lament the misjudgments that were made during the spring of 2011 following the crimes committed by the regime against the youngsters in Deraa who were brutalized and killed. That an opportunity to nip the uprising in the bud was lost is a fairly common opinion heard in the Jewish community.

The path to internal civil peace for Syria, and likely the region, in the view of Damascene Jews, as well as others in Syria seeking a return to normalcy, emphasize the following points.

• There must be an immediate and real, across the country, cease-fire supported and insisted upon by all the local and international power brokers;

• All manner of humanitarian aid and methods of delivering it across Syria and also to the approximate one million Syrian refugees forced out of Syria by the violence must be immediately organized and supported by all sides without political and military calculations of which side might benefit. The Syrian people will benefit and that outsiders should return to whence they came is a common expression;

• All parties much commit to saving the endangered cultural heritage and historic sites and support the still existing government institutions, infrastructure and civil services;

• The holding of the 2014 scheduled multi-party presidential elections on time, with international monitoring by groups such as the UN and the Carter Center. Internationally arranged security during the voting must be arranged to avoid the experience of Iraq with respect to voting intimidation and even targeting. In the run-up to the voting and during the campaign period, security must be guaranteed by all sides. Following the elections an immediate national referendum must be held for the citizens to render their verdict on the current constitution

In Syria’s Jewish community there appears to be no interest in the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine. ”Zionism is completely alien to Judaism. It concerns expansionist political goals not religion. ” one gentleman explained.
“What we see being done to our Palestinian brothers under occupation by fanatics in the name of religion has much more in common with some of the extreme Jihadists around here than with most Jews” another explained.

Alfred M. Lilienthal — Palestinian Children

One old lady brought out an article translated into Arabic she acquired years ago entitled, “Israel’s Flag is Not Mine“. It was written by my late friend who I had the honor to work for on his Middle East Perspectives magazine years ago. Alfred M. Lilienthal was the author of “The Zionist Connection” among several other important works and, I was told, has always been popular in Syria despite the Zionist lobby labeling him “A self-hating Jew” whatever that is supposed to mean. One gentleman, who has lived in the same house on Straight Street for 47 years, explained to me that the label meant the same as the “anti-Semite” smear as applied to non-Jewish critics of Zionism.

“Most Jews in Syria have always agreed with most this man’s views. Zionism and the Zionist regime in Palestine is the enemy of Jews, not our saviors.” she explained.

Saul then injected, “Zionism has caused most of the problems in the area. Our religion is much respected in Syra. We have all lived together without problems for millennia. There were no pogroms or ghettos here. Religion comes from God. Zionism comes from fascism and racism.”

I left the meeting for a tour of one of the three remaining Synagogues in Damascus, the Franji synagogue off Al-Amin Street across from the Talisman Hotel in Bab Touma, and at which Jewish artifacts this week are being collected for preservation in case war comes to the Quarter. Accompanied by Saul and the remarkably fit sisters, R and G, I was reminded of a few words the sometimes profane and often brusque scholar Lilienthal frequently used to sum up his political views on the Middle East:

“Everything for the Jews. Nothing for the Zionists.”

I believe my new friends would agree.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

USA & AlQaeda are Comrades in arms

US, Al Qaeda Join Forces in Syria

Robert Dreyfuss on April 12, 2013 – 12:19 PM ET http://www.thenation.com/blog/173808/us-al-qaeda-join-forces-syria#

      

 

 

A Syrian rebel waves the independence flag outside Damascus. (Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah.)

The civil war in Syria is on the verge of another escalation. President Obama, who last year rejected a joint proposal from Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, General Martin Dempsey and David Petraeus to get involved militarily, is under new pressure to intervene. Great Britain and France are toying with ending the arms embargo on military aid to the Syrian rebels, which so far has come mostly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with US encouragement.

According to CNN:

Under pressure from Democrats and Republicans, the Joint Staff of the Pentagon and the US Central Command have updated potential military options for intervention in Syria that could see American forces—if ordered—doing everything from bombing Syrian airfields to flying large amounts of humanitarian aid to the region, a senior US military official said.

And the beleaguered, scandal-hit Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the relative lightweight who took over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after John Kerry moved to the State Department, wants Obama to aid the rebels, too:

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), has joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling on the Obama administration to arm the rebels in Syria.

The Syrian rebels are looking for heavy weapons, including antitank and antiaircraft weapons

But the problem continues to be that some of those weapons would fall into the hands of the overtly Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in Syria and other extreme-Islamist groups. Just this week came the stunning but not entirely surprising announcement that the Islamic State of Iraq, which is controlled by Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), is one and the same organization as the Nusra Front. In other words, the selfsame group that the United States is helping Iraq’s government fight in Anbar province and throughout Iraq is also the recipient of U.S. aid in Syria!

As the Wall Street Journal reports:

Al Qaeda’s branch in Iraq said it has merged with a Syrian rebel extremist faction, in a push by the terrorist organization to exert more influence on the Syrian rebellion and its outcome.

The declaration reflects cross-border coordination between al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria’s Jabhat al Nusra, or the al Nusra Front, a force with growing battlefield clout that has been a target of U.S. efforts to isolate rebel extremists in Syria. The two groups are already closely linked; when the U.S. designated the Syrian group as a terrorist organization in December, it described al Nusra as an alias for the Iraqi group.

And Ayman al-Zawahiri, who leads Al Qaeda now, following the killing of Osama bin Laden, approves the merger, according to the Journal:

The announcement from Iraq followed a statement on Sunday by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calling on Syrian rebels to direct their fight at establishing a “jihadist Islamic state” there as they seek to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

And, many Iraqi militants from Shiite-led radical groups with ties to Iran are fighting in Syria:

By recognizing their role in Syria’s war, Iraqi Shi’ite fighters may gain recruitment momentum to help Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, in a war that is splitting the region along sectarian lines.

Message to Obama: Stay out.

Meanwhile, Israel is pressuring Obama to intervene in Iran. Read Robert Dreyfuss’s take on the situation after the latest negotiations.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Ignoring western propaganda , who exactly is Bashar Al Assad ?

Syria: Democracy vs. Foreign Invasion. Who is Bashar Al Assad?

A Syrian’s Perspective: Bashar al-Assad’s Democratic Movement

by Arabi Souri

 

Bashar al-Assad has recently been demonized by the mainstream and so-called alternative media who claim that he is a brutal dictator(?). Actually Bashar is a reformer who has done much to further the causes of democracy and freedom.

It is the opposition and their foreign supporters who represent the most repressive elements of the former ruling party in Syria. To fully understand this its is helpful to look at the historical context of the current crisis. The so-called “spontaneous popular uprising” started in Daraa on March 15th, 2011. The court house, police stations, governor’s house, and other public buildings were looted and torched by the “peaceful protestors” in the first week of the crisis. The people in Homs then began to protest in solidarity with Daraa, but this was uncharacteristic of peaceful Homs and many Syrians knew that it was a fake revolution.

About 110 unarmed police officers were murdered in Daraa and Homs, sparking anger against the “revolutionaries.” There was an incident in the city Baniyas where an Alawite truck driver was attacked by an armed mob, skinned, and paraded through the city. This disgusted almost all Syrians and since then not a single major city actually rebelled against the government. The foreign backed “revolutionaries” would attack a neighborhood, police station, or army base, from across the borders of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq. Then they would claim that the city was in rebellion.

But the Syrians, seeing the same lies in all the western and Arab news stations, and the exiled rotten officials adopting the ‘revolution’, mostly took an anti-revolution stance. That is why whenever the rebels would infest a town or city you would immediately hear of a massacre to punish the residents for not supporting them. Of course the mainstream media would claim that it was Assad forces punishing the town that dared to oppose him!

Assad took advantage of the revolution to introduce his packages of reforms, putting aside those in the old guards who opposed them. Many of the old guard then joined the opposition abroad.

The opposition demanded the removal of article 8 from the Syrian constitution making the Baath Party head of the government. Instead of just deleting it Bashar Assad had the constitution re-written buy a specialized committee of Syrian experts from all parties in Syria and with input from all Syrians.

A referendum was held and the new constitution was approved with almost 90% of a voter turnout of 60%. Assad then enacted a Media Law that would allow more freedom of expression and the establishment of new independent media outlets. Assad eased requirements on the formation of political parties, excluding sectarian based parties. We now have at least nine new political parties.

Municipal elections were held in December 2011. Many of those who won seats were assassinated or threatened throughout the country by the same revolutionaries who claimed to want democracy. Parliamentary elections were held in May 2012 with no eligibility restraints on the candidates. Many new members of parliament have also been assassinated by the FSA including the wife and three daughters of parliament elect trustee Abdulla Mishleb in the infamous Houla massacre.

 

 

Historical Context: Syria in the 1980s

 

Recent events can be better understood in the context of Syrian history. Bashar al-Assad is the son of late president Hafez al-Assad. Hafez was described by western mainstream media as a tyrant and oppressor but he was not nearly as bad as any other leader in his time like Thatcher, Reagan, or any of the region’s rulers including Turkey’s military rule.

The current anti-Assad opposition often refer to the 1982 Hama ‘massacre’. They claim that Hafez besieged the city and then bombed it killing up to 40,000 civilians. I lived in Damascus at that time and you must understand the conditions in the country at the time to know what really happened.

1) The Muslim Brotherhood was engaged in a war of terror at that time, nothing less than what the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is doing now. The Muslim Brotherhood’s forces were called the ‘Fighting Vanguard’ (Arabic “Al Taleea Al Muqatleh”). Many of the present leaders of the FSA are the same men who led the Fighting Vanguard in the 80s; and they were as savage as their sons now. One of the Fighting Vanguard’s bombings included the Azbakiyeh Bombing in Damascus which took the lives of over 175 civilians and injured hundreds more, and there were many other terror attacks.

2) The entire Hama episode was led by Hafez al-Assad’s younger brother (Bashar al-Assad’s uncle) Rifaat Assad. Rifaat was heading the Saraya Difaa (later to become the Republican Guard). At that time the Syrian minister of defense was Mustapha Tlass, and the Syrian minister of foreign affairs was Abdul Halim Khaddam. All three of them: Riffaat al-Assad, Mustapha, and Abdul Khaddam are leading and financing the political opposition against Bashar from abroad right now.

In the current conflict Mustapha’s son Manaf Tlass was sent to negotiate a settlement with his cousins who were rebelling in Rastan. But instead of negotiating he gave them weapons from the Republican Guards caches and leaked secrets causing the deaths of many Republican Guard soldiers at the hands of the FSA.

Thirty years after the fighting in Hama a report by US intelligence was declassified revealing that the death toll didn’t even reach 2,000. That number included 400 Muslim Brotherhood Fighting Vanguard militants; many Syrian Army soldiers and officers; Baath Party and other state officials; and a number of civilians who were caught in the fire.

3) At the same time the Syrian Army was fighting the Israeli, US and French Armies in Lebanon.

4) Syria was under harder sanctions than it is now. Syria has been under increasingly severe western sanctions since 1956, 15 years before Hafez Assad took power.

 

Bashar al-Assad’s Damascus Spring: Syria in the 2000s

Late Hafez Assad followed a more complex policy regarding foes and foreign agents in his government than Bashar does. Hafez would keep his foes in their posts but under his watchful eyes. When Bashar was selected by the Syrian Parliament to succeed his father in 2000 he removed all of the treasonous foes and foreign agents that Hafez had maintained in office.

Bashar’s first reform was to ease some political restrictions, allowing politicians to move more freely. In June 2000 the Damascus Spring was started. It lasted until Autumn 2001 by which time most of the treasonous opposition’s foreign funding, and relations with the US Department of State and corporate think tanks had been exposed. The corrupt officials and their families were expelled from Syria and settled in foreign countries. They used their massive accumulations of wealth to mount political opposition to Bashar from abroad.

 

In 2003 the US was occupying Iraq. US Secretary of State Collin Powell visited Bashar and handed him a list of demands including: 1. Cutting all ties with the five main Palestinian factions in Syria, 2. Severing Syria’s relations with Iran in exchange for a promise of better relations with some Arab states.
3. Signing a peace treaty with Israel similar to one Syria had already refused.
4. Removing books from schools with any enmity towards Israel. 5. Allowing western banks and companies unhindered access to Syrian markets and resources along with other neo-liberal reforms.

Bashar refused these demands in the face of the nearly 200,000 coalition troops across the Syrian border in Iraq. Instead Bashar sought to hinder the occupation of Iraq and demanded that the occupying forces withdraw. Because of the proximity of Damascus to the western boarder with Lebanon Syria has the strategic need to secure this border. None the less in 2000 Bashar started withdrawing Syrian troops from Lebanon where they had battled Israeli forces. The troops were reduced from 35,000 in the year 2000 to 14,000 in early 2004.

In 2005 Lebanese Prime Minster Rafic Hariri was assassinated with the help of members of the Lebanese Future Movement party and likely the help of the US and France. This was a political blow to Assad within Lebanon, and he was also blamed for the assassination using media manipulation and prepared activists. Tens of thousands of Lebanese took to the streets to condemn the killing of Hariri including members of Syria’s closest allies Hizbullah and Amal. The media claimed that the crowds were against the Syrian Army presence in Lebanon. US and France tried to pressure Assad into reinforcing the Syrian Army in Lebanon to stabilize the country but Bashar withdrew all Syrian troops from Lebanon. This background gives the context accompanying president Assad’s reform attempts in Syria, where he had to face foreign powers from abroad and their agents from within. The current crisis is not a civil war or rebellion, but a foreign aggression against a sovereign nation.

 

 

1- “No word of truth from Erdogan”: Al- Assad

2- “Syria is a Battle for Palestine”

3- Arab League working for Whoms?

4- The Whys Enemies of Palestine are the enemies of Syria at the same time

 

Related posts:

1. Video- Syrian Army continue cleaning operation of Terrorists backed by US, Israel and other puppets
2. Video- Yes! This is the democracy they brought to Syria
3. Video- Friends(?) of Syria’s free army targeting schools and students
4. Video- Syrian Media the True Voice of Syria is targeted by freedom fighters(?)
5. 20 Videos- US and its Puppets unconditionally support terrorists in Syria
6. Video- Syrians show their love to the Syrian Army combatting against Enemies of Islam
7. Video- Syrians talking on Mehrab Marty al- Bouti assassinated by so- called Sunni Mujaheeds
8. Video- Al- Qaide around World come together in Syria under the command of NATO
9. Puppet Arab League tells members they can provide weapons to Syria militants

 

 

About the author:

 

The author was born and lived in Damascus, Syria. He moved to Germany ten years ago and runs a company that organizes tourist groups to Syria. Before the conflict he went to Syria often to stay for days and months. He has been an outspoken defender of the Syrian government and has been targeted by the Free Syrian Army who destroyed his property and threatened his life, and so writes under the name Arabi Souri. This article was edited by Seth Rutledge

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Russia sends humanitarian aid for Syria refugees, the USA sends guns for terrorists

The Russian Emergencies Ministry has announced that it will send humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The spokeswoman of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, Irina Rossius, said this today to the news agency of Itar-Tass.

According to the information by the spokeswoman of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, Irina Rossius, an Il-76 plane will soon leave the airfield in Ramenskoye, which is located near the Russian capital Moscow.

It is planned that the Il-76 plane will leave the airfield in Ramenskoye tomorrow with a 26.7 tonne humanitarian consignment for the Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Of course, the Russian plane will arrive in the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, and the loading of the humanitarian aid for the Syrian refugees in Lebanon will start today already.

Thus, Russia tries to help the many Syrian refugees in Lebanon and it is a good turn by Russia to send humanitarian aid to these people who sure need it, because their situation in the refugee camps is not the best and there were already horrible information about the situation of the Syrian refugees in the camps in Turkey and Jordan.

There were already stories about human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping and young Syrian girls who were forced into marriages for money – and some not only once.

Not to mention the organ trade and a rotten Egyptian matchmaking agency who has offered Syrian girls and women for less money to customers, probably old Egyptian men, in a flyer. This Egyptian matchmaking agency has also offered virgins if the customer wants these kind of girls.

• Wahabi Sex-Jihad: Islam is innocent of Muslims dirty laundry
• Egypt’s brotherhood abusing the the concept of polygamy in Islam and secret marriage
• Sexual violence against women in Syria ‘behind refugee crisis’ Syrian women trafficking particularly minors ‘sold’ into force marriages and raped by Saudis in Zaatary camp in Jordan

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

O traitor Meshaal: Martyr Shaikh Ahmed Yassin said hours before his death,

A must see

الشيخ احمد ياسين يتحدث عن دور سوريا في احتضان فصائل المقاومة على راسها حركة حماس ويشيد بصمودها امام الضغوط الامريكية..ويتحدث عن دور الاستعمار في تحويل الصراع الى صراع سني شيعي. فأين حماس الأن من الشهيد الشيخ أحمد ياسين

 

رحمة الله عليك يا شيخ المجاهدين

 

 

O Hamas guys …Hamas needs a revolution .. Vedio added

معلومات و تفاصيل سرية عن عملية اغتيال أحمد ياسين

 

• قلب الأسد وحماس .. ودموع ويليام والاس
• A Gun for Rent: After Libya, Hamas “Jihad” in Syria continues
• Is it a date with a new Sadat?
• The Third Birth (updated)
• Celebrations in Abbastan and Hamastan (Edited)
• THE PALESTINIAN SPRING: A New OSLO UNDER COOKING IN CAIRO
• Rats desert a sinking ship, fools ride
• “Is it a pre-condition to recognize Israel in order to govern?”
• Brothers of America
• “O people and political forces”

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

World Must Unite Against US-Saudi-Israeli Proxy War in Syria

Source

• US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have conspired to destroy Syria by way of arming sectarian extremists since 2007.
• The West now admits it, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have provided thousands of tons of weapons to militants in Syria – while also conceding that Al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra is the best armed, most well equipped militant front in the conflict.
• US, Saudi, Israeli-backed terrorists are now committing a myriad of horrific atrocities against all of Syria’s population, including Sunni Muslims – meaning neither “democracy” nor even “sectarianism” drives the conflict, but rather the destruction of Syria in its entirety. 
• US State Department acknowledges Syria faces threat from Al Qaeda, demands blockade of arms/aid from reaching government to fight terrorists the US State Department admits are present in every major Syrian city.

March 30, 2013 (LD) – Since 2007, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have been documented as conspiring to overthrow the Syrian government by way of sectarian extremists, including groups “sympathetic to Al Qaeda,” and in particular, the militant, sectarian Muslim Brotherhood. While the West has attempted to portray the full-scale conflict beginning in Syria in 2011 as first, a “pro-democracy uprising,” to now a “sectarian conflict,” recent atrocities carried out by US-Saudi-Israeli proxies have shifted the assault to include Sunni Muslims unable or unwilling to participate in the destruction of the Syrian state.

Such attacks included a mortar bombardment of Damascus University, killing 15 and injuring dozens more, as well as the brutal slaying of two prominent Sunni Muslim clerics – the latest of which was beheaded, his body paraded through the streets of Aleppo, and his head hung from the mosque he preached in. While the West attempts to mitigate these events by labeling the victims as “pro-government,” the reality is that the forces fighting inside Syria are funded, armed, directed, and politically supported from abroad – and therefore do not represent any of the Syrian people’s interests, including those Syrians who do not support the government.  

It is abundantly clear that the West’s goal is neither to institute “democracy,” nor even take sides in a “sectarian conflict,” but rather carry out the complete and permanent destruction of Syria as a nation-state, sparing no one, not even Sunnis.

Such a proxy war exists contra to any conceivable interpretation of “international law.” The world is left with a moral imperative to not only denounce this insidious conflict brought upon the Syrian people, compounded and perpetuated entirely by external interests, but demands that concrete action is taken to ensure that this act of aggression is brought to an end.

The US, UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have admitted to colluding together, flooding Syria with thousands of tons of weapons via Jordan to Syria’s south, and NATO-member Turkey to Syria’s north. And in an otherwise inexplicable conundrum, while the likes of US Secretary of State John Kerry insist this torrent of weapons is being directed to “moderates,” neither the US nor its allies are able to explain why Al Qaeda terror front Jabhat al-Nusra has emerged as the most heavily armed, best equipped militant organization in the conflict.

AP reported specifically in their article, “Officials: Arms shipments rise to Syrian rebels,” that:

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on the sidelines of a Syrian opposition meeting in Italy last month that the weapons are ending up in the hands of secular groups. “I will tell you this: There is a very clear ability now in the Syrian opposition to make certain that what goes to the moderate, legitimate opposition is in fact getting to them, and the indication is that they are increasing their pressure as a result of that,” he said, without elaborating.

But even AP admits that: 

Syrian opposition activists estimate there are 15-20 different brigades fighting in and around Damascus now, each with up to 150 fighters. Many of them have Islamic tendencies and bear black-and-white Islamic flags or al-Qaeda-style flags on their Facebook pages. There is also a presence of Jabhat al-Nusra, one of the strongest Islamic terrorist groups fighting alongside the rebels.

The US State Department’s own statement regarding the designation of al-Nusra as a listed Al Qaeda terror organization states:

Since November 2011, al-Nusrah Front has claimed nearly 600 attacks – ranging from more than 40 suicide attacks to small arms and improvised explosive device operations – in major city centers including Damascus, Aleppo, Hamah, Dara, Homs, Idlib, and Dayr al-Zawr.

According to the US State Department, al-Nusra is carrying out hundreds of attacks with a wide array of weaponry, across the entire nation of Syria, indicating a massive front and implying an equally massive network of logistical support, including foreign sponsorship. What’s more, is that the US State Department acknowledges al-Nusra’s presence even in cities close to Syria’s borders where the CIA is admittedly overseeing the distribution of weapons and cash. The New York Times, in their June 2012 article, “C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition,” reported that:

A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers.  

And in New York Times’ more recent March 2013 article, “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.,” it is admitted that weapons are being funneled into Syria across both its borders with Turkey and Jordan: 

With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.

 The article would also state: 

Although rebel commanders and the data indicate that Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been shipping military materials via Turkey to the opposition since early and late 2012, respectively, a major hurdle was removed late last fall after the Turkish government agreed to allow the pace of air shipments to accelerate, officials said. 

Simultaneously, arms and equipment were being purchased by Saudi Arabia in Croatia and flown to Jordan on Jordanian cargo planes for rebels working in southern Syria and for retransfer to Turkey for rebels groups operating from there, several officials said.

The US State Department acknowledges that the well armed, prominent terror front al-Nusra is operating in the very areas the CIA is feeding weapons and cash into.

Image: (Left) West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center’s 2007 report, “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq” indicated which areas in Syria Al Qaeda fighters filtering into Iraq came from. The overwhelming majority of them came from Dayr Al-Zawr in Syria’s southeast, Idlib in the north near the Turkish-Syrian border, and Dar’a in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border. (Right) A map indicating the epicenters of violence in Syria indicate that the exact same hotbeds for Al Qaeda in 2007, now serve as the epicenters of so-called “pro-democracy fighters” and also happen to be areas the US CIA is admittedly distributing weapons and other aid in. 

….

Such a reality directly contradicts the US State Department’s official position, and no explanation is given as to how “moderates” can be provided with such extensive support, and still be eclipsed militarily and logistically by terror-front al-Nusra. That is, unless of course, the US, British, Saudi, and Qatari weapons aren’t simply just handing the weapons directly to terrorists, precisely as planned as early as 2007. 

The Destruction of Syria Began in 2007, Not 2011

While the West has attempted to reclaim Syria as part of its sphere of influence for decades, concrete plans for the latest proxy war were laid at least as early as 2007. It was admitted in 2007 that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel conspired together to fund, arm, and direct sectarian extremists including militants “sympathetic” to Al Qaeda, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, against the governments of Iran and Syria. In Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s 2007 New Yorker article,  “The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” the conspiracy was described as follows:

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

Hersh also cited US, Saudi, and Lebanese officials who indicated that, “in the past year, the Saudis, the Israelis, and the Bush Administration have developed a series of informal understandings about their new strategic direction,” and that, “the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The report would also state: 

Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said.

Mention of the Muslim Brotherhood already receiving aid even in 2007 was also made:

The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a branch of a radical Sunni movement founded in Egypt in 1928, engaged in more than a decade of violent opposition to the regime of Hafez Assad, Bashir’s father. In 1982, the Brotherhood took control of the city of Hama; Assad bombarded the city for a week, killing between six thousand and twenty thousand people. Membership in the Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria. The Brotherhood is also an avowed enemy of the U.S. and of Israel. Nevertheless, Jumblatt said, “We told Cheney that the basic link between Iran and Lebanon is Syria—and to weaken Iran you need to open the door to effective Syrian opposition.”

There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents.

The Wall Street Journal in 2007 would also implicate the Muslim Brotherhood and more specifically, the so-called “National Salvation Front,” in its article, “To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers.”

It is clear that the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel planned to use sectarian extremists against the nation of Syria starting at least as early as 2007, and it is clear that now these sectarian extremists are carrying out the destruction of Syria with a massive torrent of weapons and cash provided by the US and its regional allies, just as was described by Hersh’s report.

A Moral Imperative to Save Syria 

Syria is under attack by an insidious, premeditated foreign assault, intentionally using terrorist proxies in direct and complete violation of any conceivable interpretation of both national and international law. The world has a moral imperative to support the Syrian people and their government as they fight this assault – both politically and logistically. While US Secretary John Kerry is unable to account for how his nation’s support for moderates has left Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra front the premier militant faction in Syria, he has demanded that Iraq help stem the flow of alleged aid Iran is providing the Syrian government as it fights these terrorists.

Does US Secretary of State John Kerry deny that Syria is fighting a significant (and continuously growing) Al Qaeda presence within their borders, which according to the US State Department’s own statement, is operating in every major city in the country? What conceivable explanation or excuse could be made to justify the blockading of aid sent to Syria to fight Al Qaeda terrorists? In fact, why isn’t the US aiding the Syrian government itself in its fight against Al Qaeda – a terrorist organization the US has used as an excuse to wage unending global war since 2001 when Al Qaeda allegedly killed some 3,000 American civilians?

Does Secretary Kerry believe that further arming “moderates” is a legitimate strategy to counter Al Qaeda’s growing presence in Syria when these “moderates” openly defend Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra? The US’ own hand-picked “Syrian opposition leader,”  Mouaz al Khatib, demanded the US reconsider its designation of al Nusra as a terrorist organization. Retuers reported in their article, “Syrian opposition urges U.S. review of al-Nusra blacklisting,” that:

The leader of Syria’s opposition coalition urged the United States on Wednesday to review its decision to designate the militant Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist group, saying religion was a legitimate motive for Syrian rebels.

“The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed,” Mouaz Alkhatib told a “Friends of Syria” meeting in Morocco, where Western and Arab states granted full recognition to the coalition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

The US is directly responsible for the emergence and perpetuation of Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Syria. The statements of Secretary John Kerry are made merely to maintain an increasingly tenuous “plausible deniability.” The precedent being set by the US and its allies is one of using full-scale proxy invasions, that if successful in Syria, will be directed into Iran, up through the Caucasus Mountains in Russia, and even onto China’s doorstep via extremists the West is cultivating amongst the Uighurs. It is also clear that the West is directly responsible for the extremists within their own borders, and that these extremists are being used as a political tool against the people of the West, just as they are being used as a mercenary force abroad.  

A united front between nations against this wanton state sponsorship of terrorism is needed – with nations pledging political and logistical support to the Syrian people to defeat this open conspiracy. Individually, we can identify, boycott, and permanently replace the corporate-financier interests who conceived of and are driving this agenda. Failure to stop such wide scale criminality against the Syrian people now, will only invite greater criminality against us all in the near future.
 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  
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