The U.S. is supplying weapons to these people who are committing crimes against the Syrian People!

Syrian rebels execute boy: ‘Anyone who curses the prophet is killed immediately’

A mother watched in horror as her 14-year-old son was summarily tried, sentenced and executed all because of a joke he’d exchanged with a customer at his Aleppo, Syria coffee kiosk.

Nadia Umm Fuad, who watched her son being murdered. Photo credit The Telegraph

While in her apartment, Nadia Umm Fuad heard a commotion outside with a neighbor shouting, “they have brought back the kid,” according to The Telegraph.

“I went out on my balcony,” she told The Telegraph’s Richard Spencer. “I said to his father, ‘they are going to shoot your son! Come! Come! Come!’ I was on the stairs when I heard the first shot. I was at the door when I heard the second shot,” she recalled.

“I saw the third shot. I was shouting, ‘That’s haram, forbidden! Stop! Stop! You are killing a child.’ But they just gave me a dirty look and got into their car. As they went, they drove over my son’s arm, as he lay there dying.”

This event — this murder of young Mohammed Katta — took place earlier this month and has created an international outcry exemplifying one truth in the civil war in that country — no one is wearing white hats. There are no good guys, only bad guys to varying degrees.

Who does one trust? A dictatorial regime that murders its citizenry, or murderous jihadists?

The problem arose when a customer demanded a coffee upon the promise to pay for it on another day. Young Mohammed joked good-naturedly: “I wouldn’t give the Prophet Mohammed credit if he came here today.”

The wrong people overheard. The rushed over, grabbed the boy, threw him in a car and drove away. Thirty minutes later they returned.

Young Mohammed was stumbling and clearly beaten and a bag had been placed over his head. And it was then that the twisted logic of the boy’s executioner was proclaimed.

“I heard them say, ‘People of Aleppo and people of Shaar! Anyone who curses God is given three days to repent. Anyone who curses the Prophet is killed immediately’,” Nadia Umm Fuad said.

The Telegraph continues:

The murder of Mohammed, a drummer boy in the revolution’s early protest marches, has shocked even the battle-hardened people of Aleppo. It is easy for some to blame, as they do, the regime for inserting spies behind rebel lines to carry out atrocities to discredit the rebels.

But the killing, to many, only confirms what they already know: that a wild and untamed version of the most militant Islamist credos has entered the conflict. Jabhat al-Nusra, the local affiliate of al-Qaeda, has issued a statement condemning the death and denying responsibility.

As violent as the al-Qaida-backed al-Nusra is, even more violent, fundamentalist factions have splintered off from that group.

Jabhat al-Nusra front. Photo creditwww.thenewstribe.com

Nadia Umm Fuad told Spencer that the city of Aleppo had changed recently. “We didn’t have any problems when the FSA controlled Aleppo,” she said. “There are so many groups now, that we don’t know who is in charge.”

The young boy was never given a chance to offer a defense on his own behalf when he was returned. Prior to being shot, he said nothing.

“I saw my son, and saw him dead, and saw a fountain of blood coming out of him,” his father, Abdulwahab Katta, said. “I too said nothing. I was mute.”

Justice under the Syrian regime is no less brutal. Early in the war they picked up 13-ywear-old Hamza al-Khatib in Deraa, located in Southern Syria. When government troops returned the boy to his parents, he’d been burned, beaten, kneecap smashed, shot three times and his genitals had been removed.

There are no guys in white hats in Syria — just thugs in black hoods.

source: click here

THE FOLLOWING VIDEO...
All crimes against Syrian people are ONLY possible because of the support and complicity of the US, UK, Israeli and complicit regimes !

These regime are SYSTEMATICALLY supporting terrorism ! The Guantanamo prisoneers are less guitly than these supporting Regimes and there is clear evidence of supporting terrorism in foreign countries by these zionist manipulated criminal regimes foremost the USA, UK and Israel !




THE FOLLOWING VIDEO... The first man was flogged for letting his daughter get married before waiting 3 months after her divorce. (Sharia law states that a woman must wait 3 months after her divorce to give her and her husband a chance to get back together)
The second man is the one who married the woman. The woman was also flogged but they did it privately.



MORE ON THIS HERE

Syrian rebels (likely Terrorist Factions) prepare to launch mortar rounds toward regime forces

Syrian rebels prepare to launch mortar rounds toward regime forces on June 10. (WARD AL-KESWANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Summary

In the wake of their seizure of Qusair in western Syria, Syrian loyalist forces are bent on capitalizing on their newvfound momentum by wresting more of the loyalist core from the rebels and advancing on rebel-held territory. In order to continue their advance, however, loyalist forces will have to address logistical difficulties, potentially fight through powerful rebel blocking positions and overcome increasing U.S. weapons aid to the rebels. 

Analysis

The regime has by and large proved that the loyalist core is not seriously threatened at the moment. However, for their resurgence to seriously undermine the rebellion, the loyalists would need a victory in Aleppo. Seizing Aleppo would simultaneously give the loyalists effective control of the vast majority of Syria's population centers, defeat perhaps the largest concentration of rebel forces and inflict a terrible blow to the rebels' morale.

War Update

The regime's offensive in the critical city of Homs, which connects Damascus, Aleppo and the Alawite-dominated coast, has not stopped with the successful operation in Qusair. Instead, loyalist forces continue to target remaining rebel positions in the governorate. Several rebel villages south of Homs have been stormed, and troop movements and bombardment patterns suggest the regime will likely stage additional attacks on rebels in Homs city proper and around Rastan and Talbiseh along the M5 highway, which leads from the Jordanian border, through Damascus and all the way north to Aleppo.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has committed significant manpower to the Syrian regime's recent successes in the west. Despite Hezbollah's high casualty rate in the fighting, the investment in the conflict has paid off so far. As long as Lebanon -- and more specifically Hezbollah's core operating areas -- remains unthreatened, Hezbollah can continue to focus on supporting loyalist forces in Syria. However, Lebanon's security is strained, and tensions and violence are increasing every day. If Sunni forces begin to seriously threaten Hezbollah's interests in Lebanon, the paramilitary group may be forced to recall its forces.

Syrian loyalist forces are also on the offensive in Damascus and in the south. Having mostly isolated the sizable rebel pocket in the Eastern Ghouta region with the seizure of Otaiba, loyalist forces continue their efforts to reduce the rebel pocket, though they have yet to make much headway. Similarly, the regime will continue to attempt to advance in the south toward Daraa in order to reinforce its position there and to cut rebel supply lines from Jordan. However, the rebels in the south have been greatly strengthened since January and they are still making gains, such as their successful operation in Inkhil during the week of June 9.

Meanwhile, the regime has remained active in Aleppo and has in fact launched a number of local attacks against the rebels from positions within the governorate. Airstrikes and aerial resupply operations have been greatly accelerated over the past two months, with helicopter resupply missions to the Shiite villages of Nubl and al-Zahraa being especially prominent.

The regime has convinced the Shia residents of the villages to raise a 1,500-man militia by promising them government jobs, weapons, money and the establishment of the villages as the centers of Aleppo's countryside. Bolstered by supplies, Republican Guard officers and even, reportedly, Iraqi and Hezbollah fighters, the militia has been directed to attempt to relieve the besieged Menagh military airport further to the north while attempting to link up with loyalist forces in Aleppo city proper to the southeast. Regime forces within the city have also launched their own attacks, particularly in the neighborhoods of Tishreen, Ashrafiyeh, Suleiman and Sakhur. Despite local victories, it is doubtful that regime forces in Aleppo can achieve many long-term gains in the province without the help of a significant loyalist push from the south.

Logistical and Other Challenges

For all the regime's announcements of an imminent victory in Aleppo, it is important to remember the very significant obstacles. Many of these are in fact the same that prevented the regime from ousting the rebels from the city in summer 2012.

First, the main concentration of regime forces is a considerable distance from Aleppo and is largely isolated due to rebel efforts to sever its supply lines. The closest significant concentration of regime forces is in Idlib city, but those troops are mostly cut off from the south. Therefore, any serious advance on Aleppo would have to come from the main concentration of loyalist forces in the core. The closest realistic staging point for these forces to advance northward would be from Hama governorate. 

There are, in effect, two ways that the regime can reach Aleppo in force. The first involves a thrust northward along the M5 highway from Hama. The M5 highway would offer the regime the best supply infrastructure leading to the city, greatly alleviating the logistical burden necessary to support a considerable mechanized advance on Aleppo. However, there are a large number of significant rebel positions along this route. The advancing force would have to pass through northern Hama governorate; Maarat al-Nuaman and Saraqeb, Idlib governorate; and Khan Tuman and Khan Asal, Aleppo governorate. All of these positions would have to be seized or reduced before the regime could advance without fearing for its supply route.

To maintain the integrity of the M5 route, the loyalist forces would also need to displace the rebels from the immediate area of the highway and leave enough security forces along the route to maintain its ability to function. This would be no easy feat. In fact, in some areas along the M5 highway -- such as Morek, which the rebels seized June 13 -- the rebels are actually advancing.

The regime's second option to reach Aleppo is to skirt the main M5 highway and instead take secondary roads from Salamiyeh to Khanasser, avoiding or defeating the new rebel offensive in the eastern Hama plain. From there, the force would move north to link with the outer reach of the regime position in Tall Sughayb and the Safira defense factory in Aleppo governorate. Even though this route avoids the bulk of rebel forces along the M5 highway, it is not clear that the secondary roads have the capacity to support a large regime offensive. In any case, the rebels have already recognized the potential for this route and have placed some units in a blocking position, ensuring that an advance would not be unopposed.

Complicating the regime's future battle plans even further is the recent U.S. decision to increase the arming of the rebels. There will likely be a combination of more direct aid from the United States and looser restrictions on the quantity and quality of weapons that other states are already providing. The United States is moving toward a more prominent role in arming the rebels, but at least initially its involvement will be heavily tempered by its desire to avoid putting weapons, particularly man-portable air-defense systems, in the hands of extremist groups.

Regime forces are making progress, but they need a victory in Aleppo before they can legitimately claim to be close to undermining the rebellion. In order for the loyalists to seriously threaten the rebel position in Aleppo, they need to be able to reach the area with a force of considerable size and to keep that force supplied.

Read more: Obstacles to a Syrian Regime Victory in Aleppo | Stratfor

Syrian rebels are pledging their allegiance to al Qaeda and other terrorist factions. U.S.A. to help arm terrorists.

A NEW SOURCE HAS GIVEN ME VIABLE INFORMATION LEADING TO THE CONCLUSION THAT, WHILE THE U.S. GIVES ARMS TO SYRIAN REBELS, WE WILL BE ENABLING THE TERRORISTS.

WHY?

THE REBELS ARE BEING USED BY AL QAEDA AND BY OTHER TERRORIST FACTIONS.

HOW IT THAT POSSIBLE?

THESE TERRORIST GROUPS GO IN AS CHARITY AND HELP FOR THE REBELS, HELPING THEM FIND REFUGE, HELPING THEM TO BE WELL FED, HELPING THEM WITH WEAPONS AND SO FORTH.  THIS IS HOW TERRORISTS GATHER RECRUITS AND HOW THEY GATHER LAND AND PROPERTY.

HERE ARE SOME SOURCES THE MY SOURCE GAVE ME REGARDING THIS ISSUE.

REMEMBER, THE U.S. IS NOW GETTING INVOLVED WITH THE REBELS, THROUGH TURKEY, PROVIDING WEAPONS.  THE U.S. IS NOT CURRENTLY (ACCORDING TO WHAT HAS BEEN RELEASE, WHICH YOU CANNOT ALWAYS TRUST) PUTTING BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Syrian rebels pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda

In this Jan. 11, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows rebels from al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra waving their brigade flag on the top of a Syrian air force helicopter, at Taftanaz air base that was captured by the rebels, in Idlib province, northern Syria.

by Mona Alami, Special for USA TODAY

BEIRUT — A Syrian rebel group's April pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda's replacement for Osama bin Laden suggests that the terrorist group's influence is not waning and that it may take a greater role in the Western-backed fight to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The pledge of allegiance by Syrian Jabhat al Nusra Front chief Abou Mohamad al-Joulani to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri was coupled with an announcement by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, that it would work with al Nusra as well.

Lebanese Sheik Omar Bakri, a Salafist who says states must be governed by Muslim religious law, says al-Qaeda has assisted al Nusra for some time.

"They provided them early on with technical, military and financial support , especially when it came to setting up networks of foreign jihadis who were brought into Syria," Bakri says. "There will certainly be greater coordination between the two groups."

The United States, which supports the overthrow of Assad, designated al Nusra a terrorist entity in December. The Obama administration has said it wants to support only those insurgent groups that are not terrorist organizations.

Al Nusra and groups like it have seen some of the most significant victories against Syrian government forces in the course of the 2-year-old uprising in which Assad's forces have killed about 80,000 people. Rebels not affiliated with al-Qaeda have pressed Washington for months to send weaponry that will allow them to match the heavy weapons of the Syrian army. They've urged the West to mount an air campaign against Assad's mechanized forces.

President Obama refuses to provide any direct military aid. Foreign radical Islamists streaming into the fight from the Middle East and Europe are making headway with the Syrian population by providing services and gaining ground in battles.

Tamer Mouhieddine, spokesman for the Syrian Free Army, a force made up of Syrian soldiers who have defected, said the recent announcements would not change his group's attitude toward al Nusra.

"The rebels in Syria have one common enemy — Bashar Assad — and they will collaborate with any faction allowing them to topple his regime," he said.

He confirmed that al Nusra is generating loyalty in Aleppo, a region battling for months with Assad, by providing financial support as well as setting up charities.

Aaron Zelin at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington says al Nusra's ability to provide security and basic needs such as bread and fuel to Syrian civilians, as well as to reopen shops and restart bus services, has won gratitude from people who would not usually adhere to its strict ideology.

Zelin says some Syrian people have criticized al Nusra for banning alcohol, forcing women to wear a full veil and whipping men who are seen with women in public.

"This illustrates the need for American leadership in the Syrian conflict, particularly with regard to helping non-Qaeda-aligned rebels contain the growth of (al Nusra) and similar groups," he said. "Washington should also try to take advantage of cleavages within the rebellion and civilian population, since al Nusra is outside the mainstream and more concerned with establishing a transnational caliphate than maintaining the Syrian state.". .  

READ MORE AT USA TODAY.COM

Syrian rebels execute teenage boy for ‘heresy’ - report (GRAPHIC PHOTO)

Published time: June 10, 2013 12:05
Edited time: June 11, 2013 08:11

15-year-old Mohammad Qataa during a pro-democracy protest in Aleppo. Image from www.facebook.com/syriaohr

An al-Qaeda-affiliated opposition group has allegedly executed a teenage boy in Syria in front of his family, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports. The boy was shot by the group for supposedly blaspheming.

15-year-old Mohammad Qataa was taken hostage by the extremist group and was then summarily executed in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday night. Pro-opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) released a photo of the boy with bullet wounds in both his face and neck. 

The SOHR said witnesses claim Qataa got into an argument at a coffee stand where he worked in the Sh’ar neighborhood of Aleppo. He was overheard saying: "Even if the Prophet Mohammad comes down (from heaven), I will not become a believer." 

His words caught the attention of members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria who kidnapped Qatta. They then brought him back to the stall late on Sunday night with whiplash marks on his body.

According to the report published by the SOHR, one of the members of the group addressed the crowd and said:“Generous citizens of Aleppo, disbelieving in God is polytheism and cursing the prophet is polytheism. Whoever curses even once will be punished like this.” 

"He then fired two bullets from an automatic rifle in view of the crowd and in front of the boy's mother and father, and got into a car and left," the report said. It added that the SOHR demands the killers be brought to justice. Qatta’s mother allegedly pleaded with the killers, whose accented Arabic suggested they were not from Syria. 

I refuse to post the photo of child executed by islamist rebels in Aleppo (Photo from www.facebook.com/syriaohr)

The group expressed concern that the Sharia court of Aleppo had done nothing to stop the execution of the 15-year-old. 

"The Observatory cannot ignore these crimes, which only serve the enemies of the revolution and the enemies of humanity," said the group's leader Rami Abdulrahman. The Observatory also released a photo of the boy participating in pro-democracy protests in Aleppo. 

There have been a number of reports of opposition brutality in Syria in recent months. A video disseminated over the internet in May, purported to show an opposition member taking a bite out of a soldier’s heart, and drew widespread condemnation from the international community. 

Abu Sakkar, the leader of a group called the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade, an offshoot of the Free Syrian Army, says in the video "I swear to God we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog". Sakkar expressed no remorse for the “eye-for-an-eye” attack and pledged to carry out more such acts.

read more at RT

Syria rebel group's dangerous tie to al Qaeda

By Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst, and Jennifer Rowland, Special to CNN

updated 12:57 PM EDT, Wed April 10, 2013

Peter Bergen says the most effective fighting force against the Syrian regime is now allying itself with al Qaeda

Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad" and a director at the New America Foundation. Jennifer Rowland is a program associate at the New America Foundation.

(CNN) -- On Tuesday, al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq announced that it had merged with the Syrian opposition group Jabhat al-Nusra to form the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."

The announcement came in the form of an audio message from the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, that was distributed to key jihadist websites.

The merger was first reported by SITE, a Washington-based group that tracks jihadist material online. The authors were able to confirm the announcement by monitoring the jihadist site, Ansar al Mujahideen, which frequently posts material from al Qaeda, including Tuesday's news of the merger of the Syrian and Iraqi wings of al Qaeda. Complicating matters, on Wednesday al Nusra claimed it wasn't merging with al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, but instead was pledging its allegiance to al Qaeda's overall leadership.

The news that there is some kind of connection between al Qaeda in Iraq and the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra (in English "the Victory Front") is not entirely surprising. U.S. officials have long suspected that al-Nusra was really, in part, a front for Iraqi jihadists who had crossed the Syrian border to join the fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The State Department added Jabhat al-Nusrato its list of designated foreign terrorist organizations in December.

The fact that al-Nusra has publicly aligned itself with central al Qaeda is worrisome. A long-term safe haven for this group in Syria could be the prelude for the formation of an organization with the wherewithal to attack the West, just as al Qaeda's sojourn in Afghanistan when it was controlled by the Taliban prepared the group for the 9/11 attacks.

Second, al-Nusra is widely regarded as the most effective fighting force in Syria, and its thousands of fighters are the most disciplinedof the forces opposing Assad.

read more at CNN

Syrian Fighting Continues. Syrian forces reportedly shell bread line in Aleppo.

update: 8-18-2012

Syrian forces reportedly shell bread line in Aleppo

--------------------end update-----------------
Syria crisis: Thousands of refugees flee violence

Lebanese officials say thousands of refugees are pouring over the eastern Masnaa crossing

Thousands of Syrian refugees are pouring into neighbouring countries as fighting between government forces and rebels intensifies.

The UN refugee agency says up to 30,000 people are reported to have crossed into Lebanon over the past 48 hours...

...Journalists were allowed into Midan on Friday, and pictures showed dust-covered corpses lying in the streets, with tanks and burnt-out cars littering the area.

Activists said fierce fighting was also taking place in Syria's second city, Aleppo.

In other developments:

• Syria's national security chief Hisham Ikhtiar has died from injuries received in Wednesday's attack on the national security bureau, state TV announced, the fourth high-ranking fatality.
• Russia has agreed to delay a shipment of attack helicopters to Syria, the Interfax news agency reported.
• Russia's envoy to France has sparked a row by saying Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ready to step down.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that between 8,500 and 30,000 Syrian refugees had crossed into Lebanon in the previous 48 hours.

One of the busiest crossing points is said to be at Masnaa, the main road link between the capitals of Beirut and Damascus.

At the scene

Lyse DoucetBBC News, Masnaa border crossing, Lebanon

In the middle of the day, in the scorching heat of a Lebanese summer, a flood of Syrians has slowed to a trickle crossing the border.

Lebanese border guards said 18,000 crossed in the past 48 hours.

Yesterday, as fighting escalated in Damascus, the queue of vehicles waiting to enter stretched into the distance. Today the traffic is still a mix of expensive limousines and large, poorer, families on foot, dragging suitcases.

In an extended family of seven adults and five children, an anxious mother spoke of their fear.

"The children were very scared of loud explosions and shooting. We were prisoners in our home. We didn't know who to trust - the Free Syrian Army or the government," she said.

And then the family cheered at the sight of a pickup arriving to take them to the house of a grandfather in Lebanon.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18929940

Tens of thousands flee Syria as fighting surges

By Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles

GENEVA | Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:25pm EDT

Photograph: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images
Syrian refugee children flash V-signs at a Turkish Red Crescent camp in the Altinozu district of Hatay, near the Syrian border

(Reuters) - Up to 30,000 Syrian refugees may have crossed into Lebanon in the past 48 hours...

That would match the number of Syrians who already fled to Lebanon during the 16 months of fighting...

Thousands of Syrians crammed into vehicles lined up at the main crossing into Lebanon, roughly mid-way between Damascus and Beirut, before the outflow tapered off late on Friday afternoon as Ramadan began, Wilkes said.

A Lebanese security source told Reuters that 31,000 had arrived over the past two days, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), citing Lebanese authorities, put the figure at 18,000 as of Thursday night.

"As soon as the extent of the influx became clear on 19 July (Thursday), the Lebanese Red Cross stationed an emergency medical team with three ambulances at the Masnaa border crossing, providing medical care and water," the ICRC said.

read more at: reuters

UN fears for safety of Iraqi refugees in Syria

This image made from amateur video released by Shaam News Network and accessed by the Associated Press Thursday, July 19, 2012 purports to show Syrian rebels cheering as a comrade defaces a poster of President Bashar Assad at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey. Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance Thursday since a bomb killed some of his top lieutenants, looking calm and composed on state TV even as his forces turned parts of Damascus into combat zones and rebels seized two of the country's border crossings. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

source: washington examiner

Iraqis flee Syria in droves, some by air

BAGHDAD (AP) – Thousands of Iraqi nationals have fled by land and air from Syria over the last two days to escape an escalating civil war, officials said Friday. The U.N.'s refugee agency said Iraqis may increasingly be targets of Syria's violence after a family of seven was gunned down in their apartment.

Iraqi officials said about 1,000 had left in eight flights from Damascus, which in the last week has seen its heaviest fighting in the country's 16-month uprising. Thousands more also poured through a major land crossing to Iraq despite the rebel takeover of one other major Syrian border post.

The U.N. refugee agency reported Friday that unknown gunmen shot dead an Iraqi refugee family of seven in their Damascus apartment. Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the group, including children, was found "murdered" at close range.

She said refugees living in Syria, mainly Iraqis who have been living in the Damascus suburb of Seida Zeinab, have left their homes due to the increasing violence and "targeted threats" against them.

Some 88,000 Iraqis are registered as refugees in Syria, mostly in Damascus, along with about 8,000 refugees from other countries such as Somalia and Afghanistan.

The Iraqi government has so far run eight flights to Damascus, and by Friday morning had evacuated around 1,000 residents, said Capt. Saad al-Khafaji of the state-owned Iraqi Airways.

"We will continue the flights until there are no Iraqis left" in Syria, al-Khafaji said. He said transportation officials have stopped bussing Iraqis across the border from Syria "because of the dangers."

read more at USA TODAY

Breaking: Israelis not safe in Sinai Peninsula. Various implications and applications of Chemical Weapons. The Syrian Files. Egypt vs Israel.

update: 8-2-2012

Israel says terror groups are planning to abduct Israelis from the Sinai peninsula

Counter-Terrorism Bureau issues warning received new intelligence that Gaza-based Palestinian terror groups, organizations linked to Al-Qaida in Sinai planning imminent attacks on Israeli tourists there.

By Barak Ravid | Aug.02, 2012 | 10:12 PM

A view of Sharm el Sheik in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. 

Israeli tourists in Sinai should return to Israel immediately because terrorists are planning to abduct Israelis from the peninsula, the government's Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned on Thursday.

The agency said it issued the warning because it has received new intelligence indicating that Gaza-based Palestinian terror groups and organizations linked to Al-Qaida in Sinai are planning imminent attacks on Israeli tourists there. The terrorists' primary goal is to kidnap Israelis, the agency added.

While it has issued similar warnings several times in the past, many Israelis ignore them, pressing forward with plans to enjoy a relatively cheap beach vacation.
"The Counter-Terrorism Bureau once again urges all Israelis in Sinai to leave the region immediately and return to Israel," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Thursday.

"The Counterterrorism Bureau asks the families of Israelis in Sinai to make contact with them and inform them of this warning. In addition, the bureau strongly recommends that all those planning to go to Sinai refrain from doing so."

The agency has had a travel advisory in place for Sinai for several years now, but the security situation there deteriorated drastically after last year's Egyptian revolution. Over the past year, two serious cross-border terror attacks have been launched at Israel from Sinai, both by terrorist groups affiliated with Al-Qaida.

source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-says-terror-groups-are-planning-to-abduct-israelis-from-the-sinai-peninsula-1.455635

The Specter of Syrian Chemical Weapons

August 2, 2012 | 0901 GMT

By Scott Stewart

The unraveling of the al Assad regime in Syria will produce many geopolitical consequences. One potential consequence has garnered a great deal of media attention in recent days: the possibility of the regime losing control of its chemical weapons stockpile. In an interview aired July 30 on CNN, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said it would be a "disaster to have those chemical weapons fall into the wrong hands -- hands of Hezbollah or other extremists in that area." When he mentioned other extremists, Panetta was referring to local and transnational jihadists, such as members of the group Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been fighting with other opposition forces against the Syrian regime. He was also referring to the many Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which have long had a presence in Syria and until recently have been supported by the al Assad regime.

The fear is that the jihadists will obtain chemical weapons to use in terrorist attacks against the West. Israel is also concerned that Palestinian groups could use them in terrorist attacks inside Israel or that Hezbollah could use such weapons against the Israelis in a conventional military battle. However, while the security of these weapons is a legitimate concern, it is important to recognize that there are a number of technical and practical considerations that will limit the impact of these weapons even if a militant group were able to obtain them.

Militant Use of Chemical Weapons

Militant groups have long had a fascination with chemical weapons. One of the largest non-state chemical and biological weapons programs in history belonged to the Aum Shinrikyo organization in Japan. The group had large production facilities located in an industrial park that it used to produce thousands of gallons of ineffective biological agents. After the failure of its biological program, it shifted its focus to chemical weapons production and conducted a number of attacks using chemical agents such as hydrogen cyanide gas, phosgene and VX and sarin nerve agents....

Difficult to Employ

Using chemical munitions on the battlefield presents a number of challenges. The first of these is sufficiently concentrating the chemical agent to affect the targeted troops. In order to achieve heavy concentrations of the agent, chemical weapon attacks were usually delivered by a massive artillery bombardment using chemical weapons shells. Soviet military chemical weapons doctrine relied heavily on weapons systems such as batteries of BM-21 multiple rocket launchers, which can be used to deliver a massive amount of ordnance to a targeted area. Additionally, it is very difficult to control the gas cloud created by the massive barrage. There were instances in World War I and in the Iran-Iraq War in which troops were affected by chemical weapon clouds that had been created by their own artillery but had blown back upon them.

Delivering a lethal dose is also a problem in employing chemical weapons in terrorist attacks, as seen by the attacks outlined above. For example, in the March 20, 1995, attack on the Tokyo subway system, Aum Shinrikyo members punctured 11 plastic bags filled with sarin on five different subway trains. Despite the typically very heavy crowds on the trains and in the Tokyo subway stations that morning, the attacks resulted in only 12 deaths -- although thousands of other commuters were sickened by the attack, some severely.

The Syrian regime is thought to have mustard gas as well as tabun, sarin and VX nerve agents in its chemical weapons inventory. Mustard gas, a blistering agent, is the least dangerous of these compounds. In World War I, less than 5 percent of the troops who were exposed to mustard gas died. Tabun and sarin tend to be deployed in a volatile liquid form that evaporates to form a gas. Once in gas form, these agents tend to dissipate somewhat quickly. VX, on the other hand, a viscous nerve agent, was developed to persist in an area after it is delivered in order to prevent an enemy force from massing in or passing through that area. While VX is more persistent, it is more difficult to cause a mass casualty attack with it since droplets of the liquid agent must come into contact with the victim, unlike other agents that evaporate to form a large cloud...

...

Another option for jihadists or Palestinian militants could be to attempt to smuggle the chemical agent into Israel for use in an attack. However, in recent years, increased security measures following past suicide bombing attacks in Israel have caused problems for militant groups smuggling weapons into Israel. The same problems would apply to chemical agents -- especially since border security has already been stepped up again due to the increased flow of weapons from Libya to Gaza.

Militants could attempt to solve this logistical challenge by launching a warhead or a barrage of warheads into Israel using rockets, but such militant rocket fire tends to be very inaccurate and, like conventional rocket warheads, these chemical warheads would be unlikely to hit any target of value. Even if a rocket landed in a populated area, it would be unlikely to produce many casualties due to the problem of creating a lethal concentration of the agent -- although it would certainly cause a mass panic.

The use of chemical weapons would also undoubtedly spur Israel to retaliate heavily in order to deter additional attacks. This threat of massive retaliation has kept Syria from using chemical weapons against Israel or allowing its militant proxies to use them.

Hezbollah may be the militant organization in the region that could most effectively utilize Syrian chemical munitions. The group possesses a large inventory of artillery rockets, which could be used to deliver the type of barrage attack required for a successful chemical weapon attack. Rumors have been swirling around the region for many months that Libyan rebels sold some chemical munitions to Hezbollah and Hamas. While we have seen confirmed reports that man-portable air-defense systems and other Libyan weapons are being smuggled into Sinai en route to Gaza, there has been no confirmation that chemical rounds are being smuggled out of Libya.

Read more: http://www.stratfor.com

Thursday 5 July 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing the Syria Files – more than two million emails from Syrian political figures, ministries and associated companies, dating from August 2006 to March 2012. This extraordinary data set derives from 680 Syria-related entities or domain names, including those of the Ministries of Presidential Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information, Transport and Culture. At this time Syria is undergoing a violent internal conflict that has killed between 6,000 and 15,000 people in the last 18 months. The Syria Files shine a light on the inner workings of the Syrian government and economy, but they also reveal how the West and Western companies say one thing and do another.

source: http://wl.wikileaks-press.org/syria-files/

The Oddly Cordial Letter That the Muslim Brotherhood Sent to Israel

AUG 2 2012, 10:40 AM ET 
What we can learn from Egyptian President and Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi's note to Israeli President Shimon Peres -- assuming it's real.

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi (left) and his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres (right). (Reuters)

...The letter states, "I am looking forward to exerting our best efforts to get the Middle east peace process back to its right track in order to achieve security and stability for all peoples of the region, including that Israeli people." This seems like routine and mundane for a correspondence between the heads of state of Egypt and Israel, but we are talking not about Mohamed Hosni Mubarak and Shimon Peres, but the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi and Peres...

... The same Muslim Brotherhood, which has vowed not to normalize relations with the Israelis until Israel fulfills the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, which from the Brotherhood's perspective demands the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

...several seemingly technical problems with the actual letter has left its authenticity open to question:

• Whoever wrote the letter, which was in English, spelled the Israeli leader's last name "Perez" instead of "Peres." ...
• President Morsi's signature does not appear on the letter and there is no presidential seal or stamp on it. ...
•  The Egyptians are denying that Morsi sent the letter.  Presidential spokesman, Yasser Ali,told al Ahram Gateway that "President Morsi has not sent any letter to the Israeli president."

So what is going on here?...Conspiratorial? Without a doubt, but one can actually understand the logic train in this one, unlike most conspiracy theories.

...The whole episode speaks to the ambiguous nature of Egypt-Israel relations at this moment in Egypt's transition. The letter comes after three Israeli messages to Morsi (two from Peres and one from Prime Minister Netanyahu) that went unanswered. If the note from Morsi is authentic, it is a good sign because it seems to defy predictions (including my own) that relations between the Egyptians and Israelis were going to get tough. Still, Yasser Ali's denial is curious.  ...

source: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/the-oddly-cordial-letter-that-the-muslim-brotherhood-sent-to-israel/260637/#

---------------end update------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sadly, but not surprisingly, President Vladimir Putin decided that he should support Assad because it would be to Russia's advantage.  Russia hasn't had to do anything except veto the U.N. Security Council resolutions.  They also babbled about negotiations being a better bet in creating a peaceful solution...as if that was even logical.

So, while the Kremlin was continuing to deliver weapons to Assad, masked as old contracts, including attack helicopters, Russian leaders were warning that the West had a plan to bomb Syria and that Russia would protect them.

During this really ignorant process, Syria "leaked" that it actually had a stock pile of chemical weapons, which was something it had been denying.  Assad showed, through it's response to questions by the U.N. and others, that he and his dictatorial regime are not the most intelligent group on this planet.

Image 1 of 2

Bashar al-Assad celebrating the second birthday of one of their children with wife Asma Assad Photo: CAMERA PRESS

Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad remains in hiding, with only theories of where he is and how he is directing his troops and keeping his regime together.

The main fighting is now in Aleppo and the attack helicopters are being used here in force ...yes, the same attack helicopters provided by the Kremlin.  Evidently, the rebels are taking over one of Assad's main centers of power.  

It's interesting that Assad is doing what Bin Laden did until he was found and killed.  Instead of speaking live, Assad is appearing in recorded clips on television and some of his remarks are appearing in the military's magazine.  

"The fate of our people and our nation, past, present and future, depends on this battle," said Assad, whose low public profile suggests acute concern over his personal safety since the bombing in which his brother-in-law was among the dead.

In confronting "terrorist criminal gangs" - the government's usual term for the rebels - the army had proved it had "the steely resolve and conscience and that you are the trustees of the people's values," the 46-year-old president declared. 

reuters

Aleppo is Syria's biggest city.  At times, the volleys of shells wind up drowning out the Islamic call to prayer.  This does not stop the rebels.  The civil war has continued to intensify with fears that Assad will use the mass stockpile of chemical weapons on his own people, prompting even children in classrooms to try on gas masks.

Children trying on gas masks at a junior high school in Holon. iPhoto by Uriel Sinai

The civil war is now so horrifying that it has spurred a growing humanitarian crisis.  There is dire need for safe distribution of food and water to the people of Syria. Thousands have fled, but the need is still monumental.  

"The humanitarian situation is deteriorating in Aleppo and food needs are growing rapidly," the World Food Programme said.

Right now, the fighting is engulfing Damascus and Aleppo, both of which are prized power holds.

Unfortunately, there is footage that shows that rebels are carrying out summary executions, such as Assad's forces have been accused of taking part in.  Of course, these are videos that are floating around the Internet, so that information may not completely be correct, however, this may be something they have decided was good for their cause, as unfortunate the actions are. I won't go into the details.

It is reported from my sources that neither side has full control of Aleppo or Damascus.  There are many areas that are like ghost towns that have closed shops and empty streets. 

It's been reported that some foreign fighters, militant Islamists, have joined the battle.  These who have joined, have joined against Assad.  Additionally, sources say that the rebels now possess almost two dozen surface-to-air missiles that were delivered to them by Turkey.  These missiles will help them fight back against the air fighters that Assad has been using. 

Rebels have been battling Assad's regime that obviously has more to use against them.  However, the rebels have been capturing some of Assad's power by capturing some tanks and heavy weapons.  This is confirmed by a reputable source.


Meanwhile, Israel is concerned about the advanced weaponry that may be used against them, that may be transferred to Hezbollah.  The weaponry does include chemical weapons.

As Haaretz reported last month, only 53 percent of Israelis have gas masks. The government has not set a final target date for handing out gas masks, but the issue will be resolved in the discussions on funding the program, Tessler said. 

The initial target was to have 4.5 million gas masks distributed by next year, but this goal would probably be met this year, Tessler said. 

With the threat of an attack on Iran's nuclear installations and the uncertainty about Syria's chemical weapons, civil defense planners are also concerned about possible missile attacks against civilian targets in a future war. 

Still, only 30 percent of Israelis have a reinforced room in their homes and a  quarter have no such shelter either at home or nearby. Home Front Command says Israelis lacking a protected space against chemical or biological weapons should head for the most secure space in their homes and seal it on their own. 

"People need to know that they don't have protection, and the solution is the sealed room and the mask," Tessler said. "There are those who view brown adhesive tape cynically, but it saves lives. In many cases, it's the difference between life and death. 

Several months ago, the Israel Defense Forces' planning division projected that the number of missiles falling on Israel would be 10 times higher than the number during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The IDF said several hundred civilians would be killed, and thousands of houses and apartments would be made uninhabitable. 

200,000 missiles 

Eisenberg has said that at any given moment 200,000 missiles are aimed at Israel.

source:  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-unlikely-to-be-hit-by-unconventional-weapons-says-home-front-command-chief-1.455065

In conclusion, the outlook is terrifying because Israel may be in planning for a strike against Iran, Iran may be in planning for a strike against Israel, Syria may be in the middle of a power grab that would include Iran and Russia, Russia cannot be trusted by America, Turkey fits in there somewhere, and so forth.


More to come.