War in Syria

George Galloway MP: Do Syria and Turkey Have a Common Enemy? (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/Program/330016.html

"The rise of al-Qaeda-linked militants in northern Syria has left Turkey with a new security threat and raised serious speculations about Ankara's policy towards the crisis in the Arab country..."

'Liars, All of Them:' Syria Rebels Slam US, Gulf States Following International Peace Efforts (and vid)

http://rt.com/news/syria-rebels-us-gulf-430/

"The Free Syrian Army (FSA) soldiers admit they won't be able to claim Damascus without foreign support, but they aren't counting on it anymore as the US and Gulf states are 'liars'. RT's Maria Finoshina reports from rebel-held areas in Syria.."

'Friends of Syria', Foreign-Backed Opposition Meet in London (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/22/330722/friends-of-syria-meet-in-...

"The so-called Friends of Syria group is meeting in London in an attempt to persuade the foreign-backed Syrian opposition to participate in a peace conference scheduled to be held in Geneva next month..."

'British-Saudi Alliance Must Be Exposed' (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/29/331899/britishsaudi-alliance-mus...

KSA Against Political Solution to Syria (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/28/331791/ksa-against-syria-politic...

"Hezbullah Sec-Gen Seyyed Hasan Nasrallah has accused Saudi Arabia of sabotaging a political solution to the crisis in Syria..."

Syria Rebel Threats Against Geneva 2 Talks 'Outrageous' - Lavrov

http://rt.com/news/lavrov-syria-geneva-rebels-845/

"Threats by powerful Syrian rebel groups against participants of Geneva 2 peace talks are 'outrageous', Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

The statement comes after 19 anti-Assad rebel groups refused to take part in the conference."

Rebels Conduct New Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria Near Turkish Border - Report

http://rt.com/news/rebels-chemical-weapons-syria-927/

"The toxic shell exploded near a Kurdish defense forces checkpoint close to the border with Turkey. The attack was repulsed by Kurdish defense forces who are conducting military operations against the rebels in the region.

UN Confirms Polio Outbreak in Syria: Aid Agencies Call For 'Vaccination Ceasefire'

http://rt.com/news/polio-syria-outbreak-un-935/

"A polio outbreak in Syria has been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The news has prompted calls for a 'vaccination ceasefire' as the disease threatens to spread across the country and into neighboring states..."

Syria: From Fermenting Uprising to Delivering Polio  -  by Felicity Arbuthnot

http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/11/syria-from-fermenting-uprising-to-deli...

"In Syria now, apart from funding weapons to a reported thousand different factions of foreign terrorists from perhaps eighty plus countries, NATO, the US, UK and their Middle East cohorts have seemingly delivered polio..."

UN Warns of Humanitarian Situation in Syria (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/04/333002/un-warns-of-syria-humanit...

"The UN has warned against the humanitarian situation in Syria, saying over nine million people are in need of urgent aid due to the crisis..."

Assad Advisor: With Political Will, Syrian Crisis Over in Two Weeks (and vid)

http://youtu.be/1Le7ywiIGVE

Syria Has Changed  - by Thierry Meyssan

http://www.voltairenet.org/article180803.html

"The media coverage of the war in Syria examines only military, diplomatic and humanitarian actions. It ignores profound transformatiion. However, one does not survive a sea of violence without changing profoundly.

From Damascus, where he has lived for two years, Thierry Meyssan describes this evolution."

George Galloway MP: Syrian Militants Losing the War (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/Program/332412.html

"The Syrian army continues its clean-up operation in several provinces, inflicting heavy losses on the militants fighting the government of President Bashar al Assad."

All Parties Should Join Geneva 2 Talks: China

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/13/334438/all-parties-should-join-g...

"China has called on all parties involved in the Syrian crisis to take part in the Geneva 2 conference without any preconditions."

Syrian Kurds Announce Formation of Transitional Authority Upon Gains Over Jihadists

http://rt.com/news/syria-kurds-transitional-authority-621/

"Encouraged by territorial gains over jihadists in recent weeks, Kurds in Syria's northeast have announced the formation of a transitional autonomous authority.."

Thousands of Syrians Flee To Lebanon (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/16/334989/1000s-of-syria-refugees-f...

"Thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict in the Arab country have entered Lebanon over the past two days..."

Breaking: Two Dozen Killed In Iranian Embassy

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-19/two-dozen-killed-iranian-embass...

"The latest sign that Syria's civil war is spilling over the border into Lebanon. Burning cars, bodies and pools of blood littered the front of the embassy building, in the Hezbollah dominated south of the city.

...the CIA-funded Al-Qaeda groups originally in Syria, are now operating in neighboring countries where they are blowing up Israel's enemies at Netanyahu's bidding."

At Least 23 Martyrs in Two Explosions Near Iranian Embassy in Beirut (and vid)

http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=121504&frid=23&seccat...

Hezbollah MP Blames Israel, KSA For Beirut Blasts

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/19/335487/israel-ksa-blamed-for-bei...

"A Hezbollah lawmaker says Israel and Saudi Arabia could be behind terrorist attacks outside Iran's embassy. Nawar al Sahili said on Tuesday that those who oppose a 'political solution to Syria' are behind the terrorist attacks..."

"At least 23 people were killed and 146 were injured in two explosions that hit south of Beirut near the Iranian embassy. Among the martyrs was the Iranian embassy cultural adviser, Sheikh Ibrahim Al Ansari..."

Hezbollah Will Keep Fighting in Syria War - Nasrallah

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_14/Hezbollah-will-keep-fighting-in...

"Our fighters are present on Syrian soil...to confront all the dangers it faces from the international, regional and takfiri attack on this country and region..."

There is one actor who can behind the terror attack on the Iraninian Embassy - Saudia Arabia.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/beirut-bombing-attacks-target-iranian-embassy-23-killed-146-injured-an-act-of-war-by-saudi-arabia-against-iran/5358713

The Kingdom is also responsible for the sectarian chaos in Iraq.

CNN Cuts 'Most Crucial Parts' From Interview With Russia's UN Envoy on Syria

http://rt.com/news/churkin-interview-cnn-amanpour-446/

"...Speaking to ITAR-Tass, Russia's UN representative expressed regret that the complete interview did not make the CNN cut and censored 'the most crucial' issues to the resolution to the Syria crisis..."

Amanpour is married to former US State Department spokesman James Rubin

George Galloway Talks To Syrian Nun, Mother Agnes (and vid)

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article37019.htm

Syria Militants Merely Dogs of War: Stone (and vid)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/05/338423/syria-militants-merely-do...

"Press TV talks with Ken Stone, with the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War from Ontario, regarding reports about Syrian insurgents plan to use a group of nuns kidnapped from their convent in the town of Ma'Loula as human shields"

Bibi and Bandar Badger Obama: Better Six Billion Than Six Trillion!  -  by Franklin Lamb

http://www.countercurrents.org/lamb081213.htm

"The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - along with certain Arab League countries, plus Turkey and Israel have this past week, reportedly committed themselves to raising nearly $6 Billion to 'beef up' the just-hatched Islamic Front (IF) in Syria.

These 'best friends of America' want the Obama administration to sign onto a scheme to oust the Syrian government by funding, arming, training, facilitating and generally choreographing the movement of fighters of this new front, a front formed out of an alliance of putatively 'moderate' rebel factions..."

Growing Extremism in Next Phase of Syria War   -  by Tony Cartalucci

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/12/13/339782/next-phase-in-syrias-war/

"...It was as early as 2007 when it was revealed that the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia were planning on building up extremists within and around Syria for the purpose of eventually overthrowing the government.

While the initial conflict was disingenuously portrayed as the spontaneous, militarization of unarmed protesters fighting against a 'brutal regime', in reality al-Nusra was already inside the country and operating on a national scale.

In fact the myth of 'moderates' was perpetuated solely to justify intervening directly on their behalf. With direct intervention taken off the table, it appears a new phase in the war has begun..."

Al Qaeda Linked Rebels Kidnap 120 Syrian Kurds - Watchdog (and vid)

http://rt.com/news/syria-kurs-qaeda-kidnap-218/

"Al Qaeda linked Islamists have kidnapped at least 120 Kurdish civilians from a village in Aleppo province near the border with Turkey, said the Observatory for Human Rights citing its sources.

The incident is the latest in the armed conflict between Syrian Kurds and Islamic factions..."

It's amazing how many early morning CBC Radio 1 news items (5:00 and 6:00 am) get dropped from the news cycle by the time most people are up (7:00 and 8:00 am). I heard brief blip about UN inspectors failing to find any proof that the Syrian army had used sarin gas in that attack last summer that was ongoing news for weeks. Never heard or saw more of this.

So I took a look and this is the only thing that came up:

Quote:

A United Nations analysis of samples taken from one of the two sites of the alleged Sarin attack outside Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 21 found zero chemical weapons agents, and one UN laboratory backed off its earlier claim to have found a residue that can result from degraded Sarin on the remnants of the missile, according to revisions in a new UN report.

This failure to find Sarin anywhere in Moadamiyah, a suburb south of Damascus, undercuts analyses by Human Rights Watch and the New York Times that relied on a vectoring of the two attack sites – the other in Zamalka/Ein Tarma to the east where Sarin was detected – to conclude that an elite unit of the Syrian military must have been responsible for the attacks that brought the United States close to war in Syria...

...

In a December article for the London Review of Books, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh confirmed that President Barack Obama misled the American people over the Aug. 21 Syrian chemical attack by cherry-picking evidence about the Syrian government’s presumed guilt and excluding suspicions about the rebels’ capability to produce their own Sarin gas.

Hersh also reported that he discovered a deep schism within the U.S. intelligence community over how the case was sold to pin the blame on President Assad. Hersh wrote that he encountered “intense concern, and on occasion anger” when he interviewed American intelligence and military experts “over what was repeatedly seen as the deliberate manipulation of intelligence.”

According to Hersh, “One high-level intelligence officer, in an email to a colleague, called the administration’s assurances of Assad’s responsibility a ‘ruse’. The attack ‘was not the result of the current regime’, he wrote.”..."

[url=http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/13/fresh-doubts-about-syrias-sarin-gui... Fresh Doubts about Syria's Sarin Guilt[/url]

'Whole Families Murdered': Syrian Rebels Execute Over 80 Civilians Outside Damascus

http://rt.com/news/syria-adra-civilian-execution-289/

"Over 80 civilians in a town northwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus have been executed by Islamist rebels, sources within the Syrian military told RT. Many others were kidnapped to be used as human shields.."

and lest we forget:

Taylor: Canada Too Quick To Bellow Support For Syrian Rebels

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1133380-taylor-canada-too-quick-to-...

"John Baird, Canada's foreign affairs minister, was an early and bellicose fan of the Syrian rebels. He met with their exiled political leaders in Turkey early in the conflict and decided they were a fun bunch of freedom lovers, worthy of Canada's moral support..."

Canada Sent Millions To Syrian Rebels

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/31/canada-sent-millions-to-syrian-rebels/

Russia Condemns Adra Massacre Calls on World Community To React (and vid)

http://rt.com/news/russia-condemns-adra-massacre-406/

"Survivors say jihadist rebel groups executed dozens of civilians including children, beheading them or burning them alive. 'What is happening in Adra unthinkable,' one of the Adra escapees told RT. Children are being slaughtered and thrown out of windows. But no one is doing anything.

The crisis in Syria continues in an environment where there is no international law, including those relating to paramilitary operations.

'US Doesn't Mind of Assad Stays' (and vid)

http://rt.com/news/assad-stay-us-opposition-407/

"The West is reportedly  sending 'clear signals' to the Syrian opposition that President Assad should stay in place to prevent Al Qaeda linked radical Islamists from gaining the upper hand in the conflict and turning Syria into a global center for Jihad.

With a new stage of peace negotiations set to begin on Jan 22 in Geneva, the US administration is making a pivotal change in their attitude toward Bashar Assad..."

CrossTalk: Syria Collapse (and vid)

http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/syria-assad-export-jihadism-417/

"What options are left for the West when dealing with Syria and Assad? What are the implications for Syria if Saudi-backed  forces prevail in the region?"

Syrian Rebels Get Arms and Advice Through Secret Command Centre in Amman

http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/syrian-rebels-get-arms-and-a...

"A secret operations command centre in Jordan staffed by Western and Arab military officials, has given vital support to rebels fighting on Syria's southern front, providing them with weapons and tactical advice on attacking regime targets.

'The operations room' - is a well-run operation staffed by high-ranking military officials from 14 countries, including the US, European nations and Arab Gulf states, the latter providing the bulk of materiel and financial support to rebel factions."

Syria Tops the Agenda as Baird Meets Jordan's King Sunday (March)

http://globalnews.ca/news/441433/syria-tops-the-agenda-baird-meets-jorda...

"Government sources say in addition to Syria, Baird will talk about increased political and economic cooperation between the two countries and likely the Middle East peace process. Canada signed a Free Trade Agreement with Jordan last fall..."

Canadian Special Operations Regiment Comes in Third in SOF Competition

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/04/05/canadian-special-operations-re...

"...The Canadian Special Operations Regiment placed third in hostage rescue, aircraft assault, building entry and handling casualties. Shooting exercises were also included in the competition HELD AT THE KING ABDULLAH II SPECIAL OPERATIONS TRAINING CENTRE IN AMMAN from March 24-28.

The Canadian Forces would not comment on the regiment's participation in the competition. But CSOR's involvement was mentioned in articles in the Jordan Times and Jane's military magazine.."

Perhaps it's not a 'secret' any longer?

Saudi Arabia Intent on Seizing Syria: J Petras (and vid)

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/01/08/344392/saudi-arabia-intent-on-s...

"Press TV has conducted an interview with James Petras, a Middle East expert from New York, about the issue of Syria and what impact the upcoming Geneva Conference will have on the crisis situation there..."

CrossTalk: Dangerous Alliances (and vid)

http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/saudi-arabia-israel-alliances-302/

"How do alliances with Saudi Arabia and Israel affect US policy on the Middle East? Wherein lies the danger of entangling alliances?"

'Israel Favors Destruction of Syria' (and vid)

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/01/09/344578/israel-favors-destructio...

"..I think that the Syrian conflict has spilled over not only to Lebanon, but to Jordan and to the Sinai peninsula...and I am afraid if the Syrian conflict is not brought quickly to an end, it will spill over to all the states, to most of the Middle Eastern countries and also to the Arab States surrounding Israel..."

Moderate Syrian Opposition Are 'Phantom' Have No Influence on the Ground (and vid)

http://rt.com/op-edge/moderate-syrian-oppostion-phantoms-346/

"...The term Syrian opposition is as wrong as could be. These groups are neither Syrian nor opposition. So they don't have, in their interests, the benefit of the people or of the country.

Foreign militia groups fighting inside the country are financed by the West, by Turkey, by the Gulf monarchies. These are not Syrian groups and these are not opposition.

They are not political groups working inside the country, more like militant gangs, sort of like the mafia, kidnapping people, killing civilians, occupying industrial complexes and selling the industrial goods to other countries or stealing them as happened in the industrial area of Aleppo.."