May 17 2013

Al Qaeda’s plan for Libya Highlighted in Congressional Report

By THOMAS JOSCELYN

An unclassified report published in August highlights al Qaeda’s strategy for building a fully operational network in Libya. The report (“Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile”) was prepared by the federal research division of the Library of Congress (LOC) under an agreement with the Defense Department’s Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office.

Al Qaeda’s senior leadership (AQSL) in Pakistan has overseen the effort. AQSL “issued strategic guidance to followers in Libya and elsewhere to take advantage of the Libyan rebellion,” the report reads. AQSL ordered its followers to “gather weapons,” “establish training camps,” “build a network in secret,” “establish an Islamic state,” and “institute sharia” law in Libya.

Each part of this strategy is being implemented, and al Qaeda’s plan has advanced to the final stages. The three conceptual phases of an al Qaeda affiliate’s development are outlined in a chart prepared by the US military and shown here.

The chart shows that, according to the US military, al Qaeda’s operatives in Libya have already completed many of the tasks set forth by AQSL.

“AQSL in Pakistan dispatched trusted senior operatives as emissaries and leaders who could supervise building a network,” the report notes. They have been successful in establishing “a core network in Libya,” but they still act clandestinely and refrain from using the al Qaeda name.

The report finds that al Qaeda “will likely continue to mask its presence under the umbrella of the Libyan Salafist movement, with which it shares a radical ideology and a general intent to implement sharia in Libya and elsewhere.”

Senior terrorists and others involved in effort

Al Qaeda’s emir, Ayman al Zawahiri, has overseen the effort to establish a robust presence in Libya. Other senior al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan have also been involved. Abu Yahya al Liba and Atiyah Abd al Rahman, two top al Qaeda operatives who have been killed in drone strikes, helped guide the project prior to their demise. Some al Qaeda operatives have been tasked with taking over, or forming, katibas – or fighting battalions. Others oversee al Qaeda’s project and coordinate with senior leaders operating elsewhere.

The following al Qaeda operatives in Libya, as well as other suspected al Qaeda-affiliated individuals, are identified by name in the report:

Abu Anas al Libi is described as the “builder of al Qaeda’s network in Libya.” Other names listed for him include ‘Abd al Hamid al Ruqhay, Anas a Suba, and Nazih ‘Abd al Hamid al Rughi. Abu Anas was raised in Tripoli and moved to Afghanistan in the late 1980s, then followed al Qaeda to Sudan in the 1990s. He is “believed to have met Osama bin Laden.” In the late 1990s, Abu Anas “was granted asylum in Britain…but fled that country in 1999 to avoid arrest when he was convicted by an American court in relation to the 1998 terrorist attacks against US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam.” He is an “al Qaeda-trained intelligence specialist” and “well trained in operational security.”

Abu Anas is “most likely involved in al Qaeda strategic planning and coordination between AQSL and Libyan Islamist militias who adhere to al Qaeda’s ideology.” Abu Anas and his fellow al Qaeda operatives “have been conducting consultations with AQSL in Afghanistan and Pakistan about announcing the presence of a branch of the organization that will be led by returnees from Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan, and by leading figures from the former LIFG.” (The LIFG refers to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group formed in Libya in the 1990s.)

The report says that “intense communications” from AQSL in Pakistan are passed through Abu Anas in Libya.

Abd al Baset Azzouz was sent to Libya by Zawahiri and has been close to al Qaeda’s leader “since 1980 and first visited Afghanistan in the 1990s to join the mujahedin fight against the Soviet occupation.” Azzouz “has been operating at least one training center” and “sent some of his estimated 300 men to Brega to make contact with other militant Islamist groups farther west.”

Sufyan ben Qumu is a former Guantanamo detainee who has been tasked with training militia fighters. According to other published accounts, Qumu leads a brigade named Ansar al Sharia, but that is also the name of al Qaeda’s umbrella organization in Libya. Qumu was transferred from Guantanamo to Libya in 2007 and set free in 2010 as part of a general amnesty deal the Qaddafi government granted Islamists and jihadists.

Qumu has denied any links to al Qaeda in interviews with the press. However, the authors of “Al Qaeda in Libya” say the Ansar al Sharia battalion led by Qumu “has increasingly embodied al Qaeda’s presence in Libya, as indicated by its active social-media propaganda, extremist discourse, and hatred of the West, especially the United States.” Qumu has led a campaign of targeted assassinations, including against those opposed to al Qaeda.

Qumu is reportedly suspected of involvement in the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.

Hafiz al-’Aghuri (aka Hayaka Alla) is “a close ally of Wisam Ben Hamid,” and co-leader of Katiba Dir’ Libya. Sitting in front of an al Qaeda flag, al-’Aghuri recorded a video in which he rebutted the Libyan government’s claim that his battalion is insignificant, saying that “Dir’ Libya has secured the southeast border with Chad and Egypt without asking anything from the government.”

Wisam Ben Hamid ”is a young rebel leader who allegedly fought in Iraq.” Two brigades, Katiba al-A’hrar Libya and Katiba Dir’ Libya, are reportedly under his control and both of them are “involved in postrevolutionary militia fighting in the Qaddafi stronghold Sirt and in Kufra in southeast Libya.” Ben Hamid “has been cited as one of the possible leaders of al Qaeda in Libya even though it is unlikely, given his prominence in the media, which contradicts AQSL’s usual penchant for secrecy.”

Abu Jandal al Libi is described as an al Qaeda “adherent” and “Libyan rebel.” Not much is known about Abu Jandal, but he sought guidance from al Qaeda’s legal forum. An al Qaeda theorist known as Abou Mouslim al Djazairi responded to Abu Jandal’s query, issuing a fatwa that he and his allies should secretly “form an organization bringing together sincere and loyal people” and should split from the Transitional National Council, which has “embroiled itself as well as all Libya in the swamp of servitude to the Crusaders.”

Ahmad Abu al Rashid (real name Nauri Husayn) fought in Yemen but has returned to Libya, via Somalia and Sudan. He is described as one of a group of “jihadist Salafists upholding al Qaeda ideology in Libya.” Jihadists “such as Abu al Rashid indeed control militias composed of hundreds of people,” the report reads. Abu al Rashid is among the “returnees from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as elements of the former LIFG” who are “preparing to announce their presence after the conclusion of consultations with AQSL.”

Ansar al Sharia and the militias

The leaders listed above likely constitute a small fraction of al Qaeda’s overall presence in Libya. Citing media reports, the authors of “Al Qaeda in Libya” note that “a few hundred al Qaeda members must currently be operating in Libya.” The report continues by observing that “most of them are likely connected with three katibas – Ansar al-Sharia in Darnah, al-A’hrar Libya in Sirt, and Dir’ Libya in Kufra.”

These three katibas are just the most conspicuous, however, because of “their radical rhetoric and allegiance to the black flag, which symbolizes the commitment to al Qaeda-type militant jihad.”

In addition, the name Ansar al Sharia is used by multiple groups inside Libya. It is not just the name of individual battalions, but also may be al Qaeda’s new overall brand in Libya. Ansar al Sharia is being used by al Qaeda in Yemen, Tunisia and elsewhere to rebrand itself as an organization that represents true Islamic law. For example, the emir of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasir al Wuhayshi, is also the emir of Ansar al Sharia Yemen.

The various Ansar al Sharia branches have their own social media sites, including in some cases Facebook pages. Their digital presences, while containing some differences, are also eerily similar. Much of the content and branding is the same, and they all praise senior al Qaeda leaders.

The three battalions identified in the report as most likely affiliated with al Qaeda are just the “tip of the iceberg.” In June 2012, Ansar al Sharia “staged a large-scale rally and military show of force involving dozens of military vehicles, with Islamists wearing the Afghan mujahidin’s traditional outfit.” The rally included “a parade in which some 30 battalions” from various Libyan towns participated “in the first meeting in support of sharia in Benghazi.”

In all, 15 militias attended the Ansar al Sharia rally. It is not clear how many are firmly within al Qaeda’s orbit, allied with the group, or otherwise positioned. Even if some of these militias are not staunchly allied with al Qaeda currently, they may cooperate or be co-opted by the group in the future.

“Al Qaeda in Libya” contains graphic evidence that al Qaeda-affiliated battalions have already acquired heavy armaments, including mobile rocket launchers and self-propelled antiaircraft guns. As al Qaeda’s clandestine network continues to acquire arms, the group will have more firepower with which it can target any dissenters, as well as the shaky Libyan government. (***** these were given by the West and NATO so why are they complaining now???? It was America, England, France and Qatar who was supplying the rebels even the Al Qaeda brats which belong to CIA, MI6 and Mossad everything underlined in red is with America’s blessing so why fight terror when they produce terror? Qaddafi was an ANGEL infront of these TERRORISTS, TYRANTS WHO THINK THAT THEY BRING DEMOCRACY BUT THEY DON’T.)

(****America is doing)Al Qaeda is doing its best to destabilize the new post-Qaddafi government, seeing an opening to inculcate its radical ideology and organization during a time of uncertain transition. Al Qaeda is also exploiting tribal and ethnic conflicts, using them to “build alliances and support, especially in the south, where Arab tribes are fighting the Tubu (Tebu) African minority that straddles the Libya-Chad border.” One of the al Qaeda-connected battalions, Dir’ Libya, is fighting alongside the Arab tribes against the Tubu.

Connections to other al Qaeda franchises

Al Qaeda’s growing presence in Libya is not self-contained, but instead part of an international network. Al Qaeda operatives in Libya work with their counterparts in al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a known al Qaeda affiliate, and other parties throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

Al Qaeda’s “clandestine network in Libya will probably continue to provide critical support to AQIM,” the report reads, “especially with regard to arms procurement and safe passage of militants, which are essential to sustain AQIM’s war in northern Mali.”

The report’s authors warn that Libya “may already have become the favorite destination for would-be jihadists in Syria.” Recruits from north Africa and Europe “are increasingly crossing Libya’s borders on their way to Syria, probably with the blessing of the current Libyan government.” Libya has long been tied to the jihadist network in Syria, as many of the al Qaeda fighters who transited through Syria to fight the US-led coalition in Iraq came from eastern Libya.

Although al Qaeda did not bring the Arab Spring, the terrorist group is seeking to capitalize on it. Al Qaeda “has tried to exploit the ‘Arab Awakening’ in North Africa for its own purposes during the past year,” the report reads.

A clandestine network in Libya is just part of AQSL’s plan.

source: longwarjournal.org

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May 7 2013

Former Bush Administration Official Blames Israel for Use of Chemical Arms in Syria

source:Fars News Agency

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TEHRAN – Retired US Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who once served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff, believes that the chemical weapons used in Syria may have been an Israeli “false flag” operation aimed at implicating Bashar Assad’s regime.

Wilkerson made his astounding assertion in an interview on Current TV, the network once owned by former Vice President Al Gore and recently purchased by Al-Jazeera, Haaretz reported.

Wilkerson said that the evidence that it was Assad’s regime that had used the chemical weapons was “flaky” and that it could very well have been the rebels or Israel who were the perpetrators. Asked why Israel would do such a thing, Wilkerson said, “I think we’ve got a basically geostrategically, geopolitical inept regime in Tel Aviv right now.”

“I think we saw really startling evidence of that,” Wilkerson continued, “in the fact that President Obama had to tell Bibi Netanyahu ‘Pick up the phone, you idiot, call Ankara and get yourself out of this strategic isolation you’re in right now.’”

A “false flag” operation is a covert attack on foreign or domestic soil carried out by governments or organizations under a false identity, aimed at placing blame on the enemy. It originates with a ruse once used in naval warfare in which ships would hoist the enemy’s flags in order to infiltrate his ranks.

Wilkerson,63, a former Army helicopter pilot who flew combat missions in Vietnam, served as Colin Powell’s chief of staff in 2002-2005. He was responsible for reviewing the intelligence information used by Powell in his by now infamous February 2003 United Nations Security Council appearance on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

After his retirement, Wilkerson described this presentation as “a hoax” and became an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration’s handling of the Iraq war. He now serves as a professor at Virginia’s William and Mary College and is a guest commentator on several US television networks.

Speaking on the Current’s Young Turks program, Wilkerson said that because of the instability in the Middle East, Israel’s current geo-strategic situation is “as dangerous as it’s been since 1948.” He added that President Obama “has got to be very circumspect about what he does in exacerbating that situation”.

“Netanyahu is clueless as to this,” Wilkerson said. “I hope President Obama gave him a lecture in geostrategic realities.”

May 7 2013

Iran ready to ‘train’ Syrian army – commander

Syrian soldiers celebrate in the al-Midan area in Damascus (AFP Photo)

Syrian soldiers celebrate in the al-Midan area in Damascus (AFP Photo)

Iran has denounced a reported Israeli attack on Syria and offered to assist ‘train’ the Syrian army if Damascus asks for help, commander of country’s ground forces stated. Iran has been urging for neighboring nations to stand against the assault.

“As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will provide them with the training, but won’t have any active involvement in the operations,” IRNA news agency quoted the commander of the Islamic republic’s army ground forces, General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan as saying.

“The Syrian army has accumulated experience during years of conflict [with Israel], is able to defend itself and doesn’t need foreign assistance,” he added.

Israel reportedly carried out its second airstrike in three days on Syria early on Sunday, a Western intelligence source confirmed to Reuters, targeting Iranian-supplied missiles to Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. The attack hit the Jamraya military research center, Syria’s state TV reported; while a senior Israeli official told AFP that the Israeli airstrike was carried out near Damascus Airport.

Iran has spoken out against the alleged airstrike, arguing that it was meant to create instability and insecurity in the region and urging the countries in the region to remain united against Israel, the Fars news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.

Events in Syria show the intent to weaken the existing government and give more room to the terrorists, RT Arabic quoted the opening statement of the Iranian parliament’s session. According to the statement, the reasons behind the Israeli attack are the success of Syrian national army is battling against the armed groups.

Iran also urged other countries in the region to stand united against Israel’s’ actions and demand a stop to unwarranted attacks, RT Arabic reports.

So far Israel has remained silent on the issue. Earlier Israel stated that they would not tolerate Hezbollah being supplied with arms, as Tel Aviv considers Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terror organization.

source: rt.com

May 7 2013

UN Investigator ‘Stupefied by Syrian Opposition Sarin Use’

Video

A leading United Nations investigator says she is ‘stupefied’ by the testimony from victims of the Syrian conflict that rebels have used nerve agent sarin.

Carla del Ponte said over the weekend that there are “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof” that it’s the rebels, not President Bashar Assad‘s forces, who have used chemical weapons.

President Obama has said the Assad regime would be crossing “a red line” if it used such weapons against its own people. But that though there is evidence that such weapons have been deployed, it still isn’t known for sure “how they were used, when they were used [or] who used them.”

Posted May 06, 2013

US: ‘No information’ Syria rebels used chemical arms: The United States said Monday it was “highly skeptical” of an assertion that Syrian rebels had used chemical weapons, after a UN human rights investigator suggested the opposition had deployed sarin gas. (*** of course they are highly skeptical it ruins their plans, for an invasion when proven that the rebels have used the gasses against the people it’s a case proven of the criminality of the West with the terrorists… I would like to see how they will get out of this one).

source:informationclearinghouse.info

May 4 2013

Zionists and Gulf Monarchs Ponder Pushing Al Qaeda to Take on Hezbollah

Zionists and Gulf Monarchs Ponder

Pushing Al Qaeda to Take on Hezbollah

by FRANKLIN LAMB

Beirut

“This is one damn fine idea, what took us so long to see a simple solution that was right in front of our eyes for Christ’s sake”, Senator John McCain of “Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” and “no-fly zones for Syria” notoriety, reportedly demanded to know from Dennis Ross during a recent Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) brain storming session in Washington DC.

Ross, a founder of WINEP with Israeli government start up cash (presumably reimbursed unknowingly, one way or another by American taxpayers) and currently WINEPs “Counselor”, as in “consigliere” reportedly responded to the idea of facilitating Al Qeada to wage jihad against Hezbollah with the comment: “Shiites aren’t the only ones seeking death to demonstrate their ‘resistance’ to whatever. Plenty of other Muslims also want to die as we saw last week in Boston. Let ‘em all go at it and Israel can sweep out their s— when it’s over.”

One Congressional staffer attending the WINEP event emailed to Beirut: “Dennis spoke in jest—well I assumed he did- but who knows anymore? Things are getting ever crazier inside some of these pro-Israel ‘think tanks’ around here.”

Featured on the front page of its 25/4/13 edition, the Zionist compliant New York Times writes that the Assad regime is apparently recovering but, “it must be understood that for all of the justified worries about the (al Qaeda affiliated) rebels “Assad remains an ally of Iran and Hezbollah.”

The Times adopts the views of Islamophobe, Daniel Pipes, who recommends that the US try to keep the two sides in Syria fighting as long as possible until they destroy each other. Pipes, now serving as an advisor to John McClain, wrote in the Washington Times of 11/4/13 “ Evil forces pose less danger to us when they make war on each other. This keeps them focused locally, and it prevents either one from emerging victorious and thereby posing a greater danger. Western powers should guide enemies to a stalemate by helping whichever side is losing, so as to prolong their debilitating conflict.”

Both Jeffrey Feltman, U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs and Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N, have at a minimum impliedly joined in the intriguing idea of sic’ing Jabhat al Nusra on the Party of God. This scheme, if launched, would be Feltman’s 14th attempt to topple Hezbollah and defeat the Lebanese National Resistance to the occupation of Palestine since he first arrived in Beirut from Tel Aviv in 2005 to become US Ambassador to Lebanon. This observer, among others in this region sense that given the aura still enveloping the American Embassy here, that Jeffrey never really left his Lebanese ambassadorial post and continues to occupy this position from his new UN office.

This week Feltman warned that the spillover of Syria’s war continues to be felt in Lebanon as Susan Rice, echoed him and condemned Hezbollah for “undermining the country’s “dissociation policy.” The latter being a bit obscure in meaning but connoting something like sitting around doing nothing while this country is being shelled by jihadists from among the 23 countries currently fighting in Syria. Feltman informed the media on 22/4/13 that “The Secretary-General is concerned by reports that Lebanese are fighting in Syria both on the side of the regime and on the side of the opposition, hopes that the new government will find ways to promote better compliance by all sides in Lebanon with the “disassociation policy.”

Given current divisions in Lebanon that will not happen anymore than Lebanon’s June 9th Parliamentary elections will be held on time.

For her part, Susan lectured the UN Security Council that “Hezbollah actively enables Assad to wage war on the Syrian people by providing money, weapons, and expertise to the regime in close coordination with Iran.” This position was expressed also through a statement by US. State Department spokesman, Patrick Ventrell, who said that Washington “has always been clear concerning Hezbollah’s shameful role and the support it is providing for the Syrian regime and the violence it is inducing in Syria.” Ventrell added: “We were clear from the start concerning the destructive role played by Iran as well as the Iranian role.”

Several Israeli agents in Congress are today promoting a Jabhat el Nusra-Hezbollah war even as the Obama administration terror-lists the jihadist group. Meanwhile, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), McCain’s neocon Islamaphobe acolyte, goes a bit further and explains to Fox News, once Assad falls and Hezbollah is out of the picture “We can deal with these (jihadist) fellas.”

Recent history in Libya instructs otherwise. As Turkish commentator Cihan Celik recently noted: “A divorce with al-Nusra will not be easy in Syria.”

The past two years in Libya, that shadow of a country, reveals countless examples, three witnessed firsthand by this observer, during the long hot summer of 2011. What we saw was Gulf sponsors and funders offering young men, often unemployed, $ 100 per month, free cigarettes, and a Kalashnikov to do jihad. Plenty down and out lads still accept these offers in Libya, as they do in Syria. One reason why the militias proliferated so quickly in Libya and never melted away was the phenomenon of a wannabe jihadists deciding to be a leader and recruiting perhaps a brother or two, maybe a few cousins or tribe members, and presto, they have created a militia with power they never dreamed of. Their new life can offer many perceived benefits from running roughshod over the civilian populations and setting up myriad mini but potent criminal enterprises specializing in kidnappings, robberies, drugs, trafficking in women, and assassinations for cash. How many of these young men have turned in their weapons in Libya and returned to their former lives? Or will do so when instructed by the likes of McCain or Graham?

On 24/4/13 Jabhat Al-Nusra Front intensified its threats to officials here including the Lebanese president by releasing a challenge from its media office: “…we inform you – and you may think of that as a warning or an ultimatum – that you must take immediate measures to restrain Hezbollah, otherwise, the fire will reach Beirut. If you do not abide by this within 24 hours, we will consider that you are taking part in the massacres committed by the Hezbollah members and we will unfortunately have to burn everything in Beirut.” In addition they are calling for Jihad and the establishment of the “Resistance Factions for Jihad against the Regime in Syria” and also in Saida and Tripoli, Lebanon.

Israeli officials appear to be in agreement with the Ross/Pipes proposal to arrange for Al Qeada to launch a war against Hezbollah. The Director for External Affairs at “The Mosche Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, repeatedly claimed that the Shia are the real threat to Israel, not the Sunni and with the least threat coming from the Gulf monarchs. He offered the view recently that “Israel is now a partner of the Sunni Arab states.” Indeed, Israel hopes that Hezbollah will forget Israel when tasked with trying repel Al Nusra and other al Qaeda affiliate attacks.

According to various Israel officials who have issued statements on the subject, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan and several other members of the Arab League constitute an “alliance of anxiety for Israel” because they claim that “Sunni Arabs are not as competent as the Shia and Iran and as a result they express doubts that Israel can rely on the Sunni states in the same way that the Sunni states can reply on Israel.”

In a documentary about the Iraq war, an American soldier explains: “Actually, we don’t really have much of a problem with the Sunnis. It’s the Shias who we are afraid of. The problem has something to do with their leader who was killed centuries ago and these fellas are willing to lay their life down for the guy. Anyhow, that is that they told us in Special Ops class.”

Al Nusra fighters currently occupying parts the south west areas of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in south Damascus, recently expressed eagerness to fight Hezbollah which they claim would give them credibility with Sunni Muslims and, oddly, in this observers view, “ credibility with western countries”, who supposedly are al Qaeda’s sworn enemies. It’s sometimes hard to know who precisely is whose enemy these days in Syria as the rebels continue using areas east and southwest of Damascus as rear bases and as gateways into the capital.

Despite boasts to the contrary from Jihadist types in Syria and Lebanon, it is not clear to this observer if Jihadist and al Qaeda-affiliated groups living among Hezbollah communities in Lebanon like Fatah al Islam, Jund al Sham or Osbat al Ansar which have been here for years would actually join the Zionist promoted anti-Hezbollah jihad.

But it is evident that some Lebanese Islamists and jihadists directly connected to al Qaeda do have the ability to target Hezbollah. Elements from each of these groups are startling to associate and identify with al Nusra inspired partly by the latter’s successful military operations of Jabhat al Nusra in Syria. Again, we saw the same thing in Libya. Enthusiastic, ambitious young men who want to improve their lot in life try to go with a winner. According to sources in the Ain al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, jihadist leaders such as Haytham and Mohammed al Saadi, Tawfic Taha, Oussama al Shehabi and Majed al Majed are recruiting followers and fighters in Lebanon and offer a ticket out the the squalid army surrounded, Syrian refugee inflated camp.

Homs-based media activist Mohammad Radwan Raad claims that “the embattled residents of the rebel-controlled Homs province town of Al-Qusayr welcome Saida, Lebanon based Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir’s call for Jihad in Syria.” Claims Raad, “Al-Qusayr residents welcome Assir’s call and hope the Lebanese people help kick out Hezbollah members in the area…We need anyone who can get rid of them.” This week Assir urged his followers to join Syrian rebels fighting troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. Al-Qusayr has been under rebel control for more than a year and on the scene reports indicate that it is about to be returned to central government control.

In response, two Salafist Sunni Lebanese sheikhs urged their followers to go to Syria to fight a jihad (religious war) in defense of Qusayr’s Sunni residents. “There is a religious duty on every Muslim who is able to do so… to enter into Syria in order to defend its people, its mosques and religious shrines, especially in Qusayr and Homs,” Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir told his followers. For now, experts say, such calls on the part of Lebanon’s Salafists are largely bluster because the movement is far from able to wield either the arsenal or the fighting forces of Hezbollah.

Local analysts like Qassem Kassir argue that Jabhat al Nusra and friends are not organized enough to fight against Hezbollah in a conventional war, but they could cause great damage by organizing bomb attacks against the Party of God’s bases and militants. The latter would be enough initially for Ross and WINEP and their Zionist handlers. Creating chaos in Lebanon being one of their goals but more importantly weakening the National Lebanese Resistance led by Hezbollah and also challenging Syria and Iran.

In a recent speech, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah offered his party’s view about a promoted Sunni-Shia clash with Al-Nusra, AlQaida and all the groups which flocked to Syria, saying that what was wanted of them by those who sent them was to kill and get killed in Syria, in a massacre which will only serve the enemies of the Arabs and Muslims.

The coming months will reveal to us if the several pro-Zionist Arab regimes and Islamophobes including those at WINEP and other Israel first “think-tanks” are delusional in believing a “simple solution” in John McCain’s words, to those resisting the Zionist occupation of Palestine would be to assist Jabhat el Nusra type jihadists to make war against Hezbollah. And whether they could defeat Hezbollah or even whether Jabhat al Nusra and friends are capable of igniting yet another catastrophe in this region.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and Syria and can be reached c/o fplamb@gmail.com

source: Counterpunch

Apr 30 2013

Syrian rebels traffic in human organs through Turkey

AFP Bulent Kilic

Turkey serves not only as a bridge to the smuggling of weapons into the ranks of the Syrian rebels, but also for human organ trafficking in the opposite direction.

Citizens of the United States, France and Turkey, along with rebel Free Syrian Army are involved in human organ trafficking from Syria, according to the Lebanese channel Al Mayadin. Previously Fars agency had warned that this business thrives on area of the city of Aleppo , in the north of the country, much of which is under the control of the opposition. It is reported that the organs are removed not only of bodies, but also of people injured. Later the bodies are sent to Turkey . trading there also live people kidnapped and bodies, that terrorists were smuggled out of the country. According to some reports, a body worth $ 150, and by a live person rebels receive ten times more money. A few Syrian rebels allegedly took them for treatment, but later their bodies without organs appeared in remote locations.

source:actualidad.rt.com

Apr 29 2013

“war through deception” Israel orchestrating world war

DEBKA openly admits plans to move Israeli troops into Syria and Iraq, to “con” Turkey, Jordan and the Arab and Gulf States into a war intended to, not just destroy Iran and Pakistan but China and Russia as well, pitting them against NATO in the fatal Armageddon they and their followers believe will ensure Satan’s dominion over man.

Do people really think like that?

Yes, they actually do, the Zionists, the Neocons, and the Dominionists, a vast worldwide network of financial criminals, corrupt politicians and power-mad tyrants. In America, those now seeking to stage a military coup in the United States, submit to full Israeli control and lead the world into a new “dark age.”

Conspiracy theory? Of course, very much so, but not just a theory but plans long whispered now made clear, plans impossible to misconstrue.

Plans in motion

The plans are clear, an invasion of Syria, splitting the Kurdish region of Iraq off, into an Israeli controlled military bastion for an invasion of Iran. What isn’t being said, however, is that, in order to push the United States back to war after a decade of military and economic disasters, assassinations, false flag terror and a campaign of counterfeit WMD intelligence is planned.

The proposed moves, as outlined below and confirmed through DEBKA, would require the United States to return to “Bush era unilateralism,” moves unlikely if President Obama, Secretaries Kerry and Hagel and JCOS Chief, General Martin Dempsey were still alive, despite wild conspiratorial claims quoted below.

Softening up the Goyim

The American president is a likely assassination target. A new 9/11 style terror attack is a necessity, the groundwork already laid at Sandyhook and the Boston Marathon.

The preparations are already underway, with political and military division in the US being contrived, “sequestration,” threats of gun seizure and a planned economic crash, another “pump and dump.”

The terrorism is underway as seen in Boston, hoax articles outlining an imaginary 20,000 man US force to move into Syria as a “buffer” have been placed in American newspapers.

World conquest and planetary annihilation

In the Middle East, Israel is coordinating with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States along with Turkey, the Mossad supported Communist PKK terrorists in Turkey, key leaders in the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq, Al Qaeda led rebels and Druze militias inside Syria.

Syria and Iraq will be dismembered. Jordan has already fallen to Israel and their Al Qaeda allies, now Israel’s base of operations against not just Syria but Iraq as well.

From there, the move will be Iran, then Afghanistan and the Caspian Basin.

If China and Russia fail to recognize the threat in time and “go nuclear” to block this move against Asia, the planned attack on Pakistan, scheduled for a 2015-2017 time frame will bring about a world war.

Beginning with deception and cover

Azerbaijan has long been steeped in Israeli/Turkish plots. They have been promised Iran’s Caspian oil reserves.

They actually put it in writing

Key to this is getting the United States to follow the plans DEBKA clearly outlines for them.

Issue 585, dated April 26, 2013 has laid out their startling plans beginning with a broad move into Syria. Israel has no plans to use its own troops, of course. Since their defeat in Lebanon in 2006, the IDF has been shown as capable of mass punishment and reprisals against unarmed civilians inside Israel and the occupied zones.

DEBKA’s “fairytale” is carefully coordinated with terror cells and death squads in the US, all working under the broad cover of America’s Israeli controlled press:

“On Friday, April 26, a few hours after this issue reaches DEBKA-Net-Weekly subscribers, Jordan’s King Abdullah II will be sitting down at the White House with President Barack Obama. When they finish talking, they will shake hands on the exact date in the coming days for the consignment of 20,000 American troops to the Hashemite Kingdom.

Obama has ordered the biggest overt surge of US troops in six years in any Middle East country.

This air base will be home to the incoming American troops. US engineering corps units have been working 24/7 to expand the base, adapt it to its new functions and construct accommodation for the GIs.

Most of the contingents will be airlifted to their new base from US and Europe through Israeli air space, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s exclusive military sources.

Israeli Air Force jets will escort the transports over the eastern Mediterranean until they touch down in Jordan and keep an air umbrella in place over the American force for the duration of its stay.

The heavy equipment – tanks, missiles, self-propelled artillery, armored vehicles and Patriot missile intercept batteries – will be transported by sea to two destinations: Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba and the Israeli port of Haifa.

These arrangements were tied up by Defense Secretary Hagel in his talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.

In those conversations, our sources disclose, Israeli leaders offered every assistance, including air and intelligence resources, needed for preserving the Hashemite throne in Jordan, including support for the incoming US force. Netanyahu gave his pledge to King Abdullah on the four occasions that they met in Amman.”

The plans, quoted directly from the highest Israeli and Jordanian sources, could never be realized without an America crippled by powerful terrorist organizations like AIPAC, long above any law.

Current American doctrine prohibits any military action without, not only a UN Security Council resolution but a new National Intelligence Estimate. Previous “NIE’s” had found no evidence of nuclear programs in Iran. Similarly, current Israeli claims of WMD use by Syria were rejected by Washington this week.

Israel’s plans are clear. What is also clear is that many Americans will die to get Israel the war they want, the war that Zionism needs to survive.

What is also clear is that, in order to get that war, more Americans will die and that many have died already.

source:theyellowbrickroadfreeblog.wordpress.com

Apr 25 2013

Report of the Libyan Jamahiriya (20 to 25/04/2013): Converted into Sponsor of International Terrorism Under the Macabre U.S. Interest

Converted into Sponsor of International Terrorism Under the Macabre U.S. Interest

* Libya is “central warehouse” group of Al Qaeda: The terrorist attack against French colonialist invader embassy in Libya is just “a prelude to another series of attacks,” says political analyst Conchetta Dellavernia.

A car bomb exploded Tuesday morning in front of the gala embassy building in the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Two security guards were injured, one seriously. According Dellavernia, radical groups have warned that France thus should be left “to stick their noses where they do not belong”. “Libya now is a swamp in which extremist groups are trying to take full control,” said the analyst.

He insisted, moreover, that the attempt of NATO to “implant” in Libya a democracy that could control failed. “Think you will have control over the situation, but it will have.’s Government is a puppet, it means nothing,” he said and stressed that in reality what they did was change the Western powers to Gaddafi “by leaders Al Qaeda “.

“What they have done in Libya has been mislead and lie and deceive the population of the whole planet, because there is no democracy could lead to the gentlemen that they have been, as it will happen in Syria,” says Dellavernia . “Libya now is the central store of Al Qaeda groups,” according to the analyst insists. Emphasizes that thanks to weapons that entered circulation in a practically free after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, today terrorists are funded and arming. As one example puts Mali where the weapons from Libya destabilized the situation completely.

* “The Algerian secret services” puppet have supplied the Libyan government in the name of one of the accused of the attack on the French Embassy in Tripoli.

* Arrives information they murder Omar Faisal, a battalion of mercenaries fired shots at their vehicle when it is not identified in front of the camp and died on the way to hospital.

* Body of a girl tortured and raped by mercenaries by the facto government of NATO in Libya was found about 20 km from the port of Zarzis with signs of torture and burns and the effects of a bullet in the head.

* The British and German embassy in Tripoli temporarily suspended operations after the attack on the French Embassy: In addition, Western diplomatic sources in Tripoli, the British Embassy has suspended the activities of the embassy temporarily, did not begin its work after granting more embassy staff left open, which can last for several days before resuming their work. The Ambassador adding that there are fears of a car bomb attacks, which has become a state of fear and anxiety in most diplomatic missions operating in Libya, including British and German Embassy.

* 3 women killed, 2 seriously injured from different countries, France, Italy, Libya and Germany, making up a command spy who sought to infiltrate the Resistance were killed in a car accident.

* An official of the civil registry, Kerkom Yusuf, was abducted by gunmen after leaving a radio station where he was interviewed, for now his whereabouts are unknown.

* Air traffic at the airport in Tripoli interrupted due to lack of visibility and bad weather.

* The traitor who serves as Libya’s defense minister publicly acknowledged the existence of foreign elements in and out of the Libyan nation, these are mercenaries brought to the training camps that the British and Americans have in Libyan territory and is not controlled bythe Current government. Prepared sending mercenaries tofight in Syria and others to reassure international companies steal Libyan wealth.

* We report that an airplane the pilot had a seizure while trying to land in the airport of Tripoli from Benghazi some of the passengers were injured and others severely injured.

* West of Tripoli Three dead and wounded in clashes between militias and Alzeramqh Sabratha where the murder of a young family Moneim Shtiwi and normal injuries that led to cutting the fingers of their hands.

* Zintan Militia attacked the building of the Interior Ministry called on Tripoli and attacked the guards and some of them taken to hospital due to injuries in their ranks. This operation came in the context of the allegations of the Interior and its implication in the killing of Anas Mliqth while being transferred from prison.

* 2 billion to Egypt is not a decision of the puppet government of Libya, but was imposed by the colonial invader NATO / USA

* A terrible news today a young man who was burned because he wanted a visa to travel and get treatment in Germany, after being expelled from Greece, the Office of Tourism and Trade denied the pass then resorted to Maqrif for help, but there was no response from the puppet government and is now his in intensive care.

* Libyans trample the dirty rag representing puppet government vandals

* Qatar citizenship delivering the cowardly and treacherous former Foreign Minister Musa Kusa

* Mohammed Gheriani recovery section enters hospital after being beaten by Mohamed Maqrif Brigades chief General National Congress during its coverage of the children of the South reconciliation conference held in Tripoli.

- Sabha. Attorney General confirmed that more than 60 people managed to escape the prison of Sabha. This is the fourth time the prison inmates manage to escape Sabha

- Benghazi: Hundreds of people linked to the education sector massively demonstrated in Benghazi to demand the expulsion of the Minister of Education, they called retrograde Islamist and accused him of promoting Shia sect in the new curriculum, contrary to the history of Libya.

* The international terrorist “philosopher” Bernard-Henri Levy in his article in the magazine Le Point makes harsh statement against the puppet President of the Libyan Transitional Council Mustafa Abdul Jalil, by the adoption of Islamic Sharia Law in Libya legislation . In a nest of contradictions questions that NATO endorses the law

- Bani Walid: there has been a fire in a shopping complex Alkaaimi, of unknown origin are victims not

- Sorman: Office of the fight against crime in the city of Surman exposed to armed attack

Libyan oil against human rights

- The danger Taliban in Libya and the international media disinformation

- Shootings and clashes on the streets of Libya

- Egyptian Protesters burn monarchist flag of the rebels Libyans Salafists

- And in solidarity with the Libyan and Syrian in Tunisia

A large gathering of displaced Libyans in Tunisia and Arab brothers do PAUSE solidarity with Libya and Syria and against calls Arab Spring revolutions, which not only bring destruction and devastation to these countries

* Tunisia border clashes have occurred between criminal and civil Libyan Tunisian. And witnesses said Libyan militias entered Tunisian territory to steal nearly 10 km, with the pretext of pursuing traffickers

- Tawergha: A new crime against young people of Tawergha in Tripoli Medical Center: 20 young people from Tawergha bodies killed in Misurata, under torture, this Tripoli Medical Center, rejected the reception of the people because the medical report of the autopsy, by lies and deceit, where the Lord of the report that some of the bodies were the causes of death injury pressure and sugar, While death was under torture, and the news the escape of one of the doctors, because of the pressure on him for the previous version of the report, please, everyone, move before the bodies are buried. And in order not to hide the evidence.

- Gharyan: Power plant was bombed by beasts mercenary in the city of Gharyan, on Saturday, was attacked by unknown Bakazv RPG took off the station. The sources said that the plant was attacked Bakazv RPG took off temporarily.

Libyan mercenaries cruelly tortured by NATO and the U.S.

- Misurata : unconfirmed news about the death of two truckers city of Misurata and the third wounded and was in serious condition at the hospital reported that the incident occurred in the area of the tribe Warfalla. The news that young people are working on big cars serving mercenaries from Misurata

- Turkey – Libya: Disobeying his criminal government, agents of the Turkish Customs Police discovered and seized thousands of illegal weapons in Libyan vessel was in Istanbul, according to the source, police found a thousand assault rifles, hundreds of guns and large quantities of ammunition on the ship “The Intizar”, anchored in the port of Tuzla, east of Istanbul, from April 4.

The ship, which had declared unloaded, came from Malta and would continue to Libya after a “technical stop” at the industrial port of Istanbul.

But the police were able to verify that the weapons had been delivered to the ship just in Turkey, all weapons were stamped Turkish, so it has been determined that the army material smuggled via Syria to Libya

The finding reminds pistols container from Turkey, designed to Yemen and discovered in Dubai in 2011, even then it seemed to be more of parts for gifts or cargo rendering it useful in an armed conflict.

The heroic and martyr city of Sirte, golpada by NATO bombs and US

source: by Mirko Senda

http://libia-sos.blogspot.ch/

Apr 23 2013

If you Want to go to Heaven, You had Better get Busy Overthrowing Syria

By Paul Craig Roberts

The United States government has been at war for eleven years. The US military destroyed Iraq, leaving the country and millions of lives in ruins and releasing sectarian bloodletting that had been kept in check by the secular Saddam Hussein government. On any given day in “liberated” Iraq, the death toll is as high as during the height of the US attempted occupation.

In Afghanistan eleven years of US attempted occupation has had no more success than a decade of Soviet occupation. The Afghans are still not worn down despite more than two decades of war with the two superpowers. Like the Soviets, the Americans have managed to kill many women, children, and village elders, but precious few warriors. In place of the Soviet puppet government there is Washington’s puppet government. That is the only change, and Washington’s puppet is no more secure than the Soviet one was.

In Libya, Washington used its corrupt NATO puppets and CIA-recruited bandits to overthrow another stable government, that of Muammar Gaddafi, leaving Libya mired in sectarian violence. A stable prosperous country has simply been destroyed by western governments that profess human rights values and condemn China and Russia for not having any.

Washington has also been killing civilians with drones and air strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, two countries with which Washington is not at war but has purchased the governments, paying the Pakistani and Yemeni governments for the right to murder their citizens and destabilizing both countries in the process.

And now in Syria Washington is at work destroying another stable secular government headed by a British trained eye doctor.

Washington’s eleven years of illegal aggression against Muslim countries--war crimes according to the Nuremberg trials of Nazis–have resulted in civilian deaths far in excess of military casualties and in a domestic American police state that has destroyed the rule of law and the constitutional protections of US citizens. Washington and its presstitutes have emphasized that these costs are necessary to save Americans from al-Qaeda terrorists, none of whom have ever been apprehended in the United States.

Having listened to the propaganda line pumped out by Washington and its Ministry of Propaganda for eleven years, imagine my astonishment when I saw two juxtaposed headlines: “Al-Nusra pledges allegiance to al-Qaeda” (BBC) and “Move to Widen Help for Syrian Rebels Gains Speed in West” (NY Times). Al-Nusra is the main military component of the “Syrian rebels,” and it has allied itself with our mortal enemy–Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.

Wait a minute! Our government told us for eleven years that we blew trillions of dollars on wars to protect Americans from al-Qaeda, endangering Social Security, Medicare, the social safety net, the dollar’s exchange value, the credit rating of the US Treasury, and our civil liberties in order to save America from al-Qaeda terrorists. So why is Washington now supporting al-Qaeda’s overthrow of the secular, non-Islamist government in Syria which has never ever done anything whatsoever to Americans!?

The New York Times presstitutes, Michael R. Gordon and Mark Landler, elevated the terrorist al-Qaeda organization to the status of “the Syrian opposition.” At a lunch meeting hosted by Washington’s puppet, British Foreign Secretary William Hague, and US Secretary of State John Kerry, “the Syrian opposition,” aka al-Qaeda, requested antiaircraft and antitank weapons. A senior Washington official said: “Our assistance has been on an upward trajectory, and the president (Obama) has directed his national security team to identify additional measures so that we can increase assistance.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a $123 million “defense aid package” to “the Syrian opposition” that now includes al-Qaeda. Washington had already sent $117 million in “food and medical supplies” to “the Syrian opposition,” and ordered its Middle Eastern puppets to send arms. Note the Orwellian language: support for an outside terrorist force seeking to destroy a government and a people is called a “defense aid package.”

On April 11 the establishment French newspaper, Le Monde, reported that the al-Nosra organization affiliated with al-Qaeda is the dominant force in “the Syrian opposition,” not democratic revolutionaries. Despite this fact, Washington’s puppets, France and Britain, are pushing the European Union to send arms to the al-Qaeda affiliated “Syrian opposition.” And Senator John McCain wants US airstrikes on Syrian government forces with whom the US is not at war, in order to provide air cover for al-Qaeda’s takeover of Syria.

Meanwhile, the Islamist Shiites, whom the Americans left in control of Iraq, have announced that they have joined the battle against the American-supported al-Qaeda forces seeking to radicalize Syria.

So far at last count, the UN reports that the military attack on Syria organized by Washington’s proxies has killed 70,000 people. But americans are preoccupied with the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed 3.

Once again “the indispensable people” are bringing death and destruction to an entire country in order to bring to the dead “freedom and democracy.” No Syrian asked for this “liberation” from his life.

Be a Proud American. We are doing our duty to our rightful hegemony over the world and to Israel, which has purchased our government. It is our right to be the hegemonic power on the planet earth, and that includes the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore it is Washington’s right to overthrow Syria in order to get rid of the Russian naval base there. The Romans would never have put up with a foreign power having a naval base in the Mediterranean, and we can do no less, unless we are some kind of pansy state afraid of our own shadow. The Mediterranean was mare nostrum–our sea–for the Romans. Now it is our sea, and by god we are going to claim it by overthrowing Syria.

Israel, of course, was given the rights to “Greater Israel” by God himself–who am I to question the Christian Zionist preachers who are growing fat on Israeli money–and part of “Greater Israel” is the river in southern Lebanon that supplies precious water.

Hizbollah, provisioned by Syria and Iran has prevented Israel from confiscating southern Lebanon in order to acquire the water rights that God gave them. Therefore, to fulfill our obligations as Israel’s puppet, we are required to destroy both Syria and Iran so that Hizbollah is isolated and out of the way and “Greater Israel” can be created.

The Christian Zionist churches in the US repeat this message every Sunday. If you don’t believe it, you are some kind of anti-american anti-semite and should be exterminated. Or you could be a despicable Muslim terrorist to be waterboarded into confession. Homeland Security will make short work of you just like they did to those Russian Muslim terrorists in Boston who tried to blow up the Marathon race.

I mean, really, how can we indispensable people bring freedom and democracy to the world if the Russians have a naval base in our sea? How can we project strength if we project such weakness by permitting a foreign power’s presence in our exclusive sphere of influence many thousands of miles away from our borders. Don’t forget, America’s borders are the world’s borders. It says so in our song–”From sea to shining sea.” Don’t forget it.

Of course, we don’t want to go head-to-head with another well armed nuclear military power, but the way around that is to demonize the Syrian government and Russia for supporting an eye doctor who is “a brutal dictator” who is resisting an Islamist al-Qaeda takeover of Syria financed by Washington. Our masters in Washington can use the UN and all our well-paid puppet states to pressure the Russians to shut up and get out of our way. I mean, really, does Putin want all those Russian NGOs that we finance to bring their operatives out onto the streets in Moscow and bring down his government? I mean, really, who does Putin think he is standing up to our god-given hegemony over the world, much less Israel’s god-given hegemony over the Middle East? I mean, Putin is in for it, and so are those goddamn Chinese. I mean, really, who do they think they are? Americans? Don’t those Chinks know about our control of the Pacific? I mean, really, are they out to lunch?

And, I mean, really, how can all us get to heaven if we don’t do God’s will and deliver the Middle East to Israel as Israel says the scriptures require. I mean, really, do you want to oppose God and burn in hell? Instead of all those virgins Muslims promise you, you will be devoured by fire. You better get on the right side before you die.

I mean, really, who wants this fate. We had better get rid of Syria sooner than ordered.
If we don’t do what Israel tells us God requires, we are finished. That’s for sure.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal.

source: Information Clearing House

Apr 20 2013

Robert Fisk: Beware wishful thinking. Assad isn’t going soon

by ROBERT FISK

The West has an odd habit of assuming dictators we don’t like will simply disappear

Syrians who settled down to listen to Bashar Assad’s independence day speech two nights ago were sorely disappointed. He didn’t exactly offer blood, sweat and tears. Just more war, and the assurance that he would win. Up to 7,000 prisoners would be released to celebrate Syria’s freedom from French rule 67 years ago – which goes to show how many prisoners are still held in the country’s jails – but Assad wanted to assure his people that this really was a war. As if they didn’t know. It was not sectarian. Foreign news media were portraying a lie: that “a president was holding on to his seat against a population who want him gone, but that is not the case”. France still regarded Syria as its colony. Western nations wanted the Arabs to submit to them. “We saw their humanitarian intervention in Iraq, in Libya, and now we see it in Syria.”

But Assad had a point. London, Paris and Washington love exiles. Into Iraq, we tried to inject the ghastly and wealthy exile Ahmed Chalabi. And we all know how reliable he turned out to be. We pretended that Libya’s freedom fighters were Homeric warriors; and now they control their little Islamist fiefdoms in Benghazi and Tripoli (having done away with the US ambassador), courtesy of Nato air strikes against Gaddafi. If Algeria was not such a loyal ally of Syria, Assad might have pointed out that the French handed their colony over to the Algerian exiles who had largely avoided the war of independence – and who produced the autocratic and vicious state which slaughtered its own people in the Islamist struggle of the 1990s and which remains a corrupt and corrupted regime to this day.

And then we have the Syrian “opposition”, insofar as it exists, with its endless fraternal arguments and juvenile infighting – what on earth does dear leader Khatib think he is doing? Has he resigned or not resigned? – and its alliance with the very same al-Qaida groupuscules that are supposed to be the centre of jihadism in Mali. Remember Mali? This was the centre of world terror back in January. Now the centre of world terror is supposed to be in northern Syria – fighting on “our” side against the hated Assad. And we brave Westerners are worried, supposedly, that Bashar’s chemical weapons will fall “into the wrong hands” – being presumably in the “right hands” (Assad’s) now! It makes you wonder who writes the Assad speeches. Can’t they do better than the curmudgeonly interview that Assad gave on Wednesday night?

Remember Mali? This was the centre of world terror back in January

But we still don’t understand the autocracies of the Middle East, both those we love – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other well-known freedom-loving, pro-American democracies – and those we loathe – Syria, Iran, possibly a future Iraq (if it does not obey our orders) and potentially Egypt (unless the army takes over and returns the country to a Mubarak lookalike). Never will I forget the fantasist Daniel Pipes’ suggestion that what Iraq needed in the aftermath of Saddam was “a democratically minded strongman”. Isn’t that what Assad would claim to be?

And all the while, we are content to see Arab nations ganging up on the Syrian regime, pushing more and more weapons into the war – which is indeed, contrary to what Assad says, more and more sectarian – even though the Islamist al-Nusra movement is now by far the strongest among the rebels. Yet we are outraged that Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah might be involved – in Hezbollah’s case, there is no “might” about it – in the same war. Up to 40 Hezbollah fighters are now said to have died in the Syrian conflict, most in Shia Lebanese villages on the Syrian side of the border. In Qusayr last week, at least five Hezbollah fighters were killed. One of them, Assad Ali Assad – and here we have a name, in case anyone cares to deny the story – was buried in southern Lebanon at the weekend.

But Hezbollah’s involvement is important because Iran and its allies are also part of the reason for this conflict. And it remains a fact, even though Assad did not – could not – mention this in his independence day speech, that Iran is the target of the Syrian war, the overthrow of Assad part of our plan to destroy his Iranian ally – just as it was part of Israel’s plan to de-construct Iran by fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. Israel lost its war. Will Assad’s enemies lose, too?

We have, in London, Paris and Washington, an odd habit. We believe that those dictators we don’t like will actually go – “step down”, “step aside”, lose the war, whatever phrase we like to use – because we want them to go. Wasn’t Saddam destroyed? Wasn’t Gaddafi liquidated? Didn’t Milosevic go to the Hague? All true. But Stalin survived. Kim Jong-un isn’t doing too badly, either – though that’s probably because he actually has nuclear weapons, as opposed to Iran which might or might not be trying to acquire them and thus remains on the Israeli-American target list. And here’s some bad news for Assad’s foes.

The Syrian army is tired of corruption. It is tired of party nepotism. It is becoming very angry with those it blames for the war

He mentioned the Syrian government army on Wednesday night. What he did not do was refer to their recent expansion of territory. His soldiers have now retaken most of rebel Deraya and are advancing into Harasta in the suburbs of Damascus. The 100-mile highway to Tartus, and thus to Latakia – long closed by the armed opposition – has just been reopened by Assad’s divisions. For the first time in months, Syrians can now drive from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast. The rebels so beloved of Nato nations are losing their hold of Damascus. Yes, they may get it back. The road to Latakia may close again. This war – beware – may last another two, three or more years. Nobody will win.

But the power that will have to be reckoned with – barring some mass mutiny – will be the Syrian army of Bashar Assad. It is tired of corruption. It is tired of party nepotism. It is becoming very angry with those it blames for the war: not just al-Qaida, al-Nusra, defectors and Nato, but with the intelligence services whose brutality in Daraa struck the match to the Syrian uprising. And just at the moment it is fighting back against Assad’s enemies. Western “statesmen”, diplomats, “analysts” and those absurd think-tankers so beloved of the networks may yet have to buy a new crystal ball.

source: independent.co.uk