June 2012
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#Syria rebels: 'There is no peace and there is no...
Martin Chulov in Antakya, Turkey
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 30 June 2012 23.44 BST
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrives at the UN’s crisis meeting on Syria on Saturday. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
Before Saturday’s United Nations summit on Syria, some supporters of the country’s opposition had their own plan – of sorts – to stop the unfolding...
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Syrian opposition visit FSA-controlled areas...
29/06/2012
By Paula Astatih
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat- Less than one month after stepping down as head of the Syrian National Council [SNC], Burhan Ghalyun, chairman of the SNC’s Political Bureau, left his international and diplomatic efforts to travel to Syria - for a few hours - in an attempt, as he stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat, to “embrace the revolution”.
Ghalyun left Turkey to...
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Turkey Awakens, But Still Cautious on #Syria
By Maryam Hasan - The Arab Spring
Arab Spring Issue 48,
29 Jun 12
The downing of a Turkish plane by Syrian seems to have finally jolted both the media and the general public in Turkey into wakefulness.
Having largely downplayed the growing problem on their doorstep for the past year, Turkish television channels and newspapers are now leading on their government’s evolving response to the...
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Clinton and Lavrov set for showdown over #Syria...
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were heading for a face-to-face showdown over Syria on Friday as major powers prepared for a weekend conference to hash out a political transition plan for the country.
On the eve of Saturday’s conference aimed at ending 16 months of brutal violence in Syria, Clinton and Lavrov were to meet in St....
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Russia rejects reports over UN peace plan for...
Sergei Lavrov Photo: REUTERS
By Tom Parfitt, Moscow
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, told reporters in Moscow that Russia recognised a “transitional period” was needed “in order to overcome the Syrian crisis and to finally establish stable rights and norms which satisfy all groups in the Syrian population”.
But he said the fate of Mr Assad...
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#Syria TV station attacked, 7 staffers killed
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen raided the headquarters of a pro-government Syrian TV station early Wednesday, killing seven employees, kidnapping others and demolishing buildings, officials said. The government blamed terrorists and described the killings as a “massacre.”
An Associated Press photographer who visited the Al-Ikhbariya station’s compound...
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UN mission in #Syria to stay suspended
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations mission in Syria will remain suspended because the conflict between government and opposition forces is intensifying, a top UN official told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
And UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has still not secured agreement on a political transition plan that all the major powers can back so that an international meeting on the conflict can...
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Syrian army is 'destroyed physically and...
25 Jun 2012
Earlier this month, Syrian Brigadier General Ahmad Berro, head of a tank unit in Aleppo province, fled to Turkey with his family.
The Brigadier General said that he estimated that the Syrian army had lost control of about 60 per cent of the country. He added the Free Syria Army was growing in strength.
“The Syrian army, the Syrian army is tired after a year and four...
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Syrian rebels say they destroyed helicopter, tanks...
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels aired footage on Tuesday of burnt-out tanks as well as a helicopter engulfed in smoke and flames which they said they had destroyed after it landed in a field in northern Idlib province carrying Syrian special forces.
An amateur video posted on the Internet showed a military helicopter with its blades spinning as if it had just landed. “Special forces are...
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Turkey: NATO should view #Syria as attacking it
By Selcan Hacaoglu
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey said Monday it would push NATO to consider Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet as an attack on the whole military alliance.
The announcement came on the eve of a meeting by NATO’s governing body to discuss the incident. Despite deep frustration among many NATO countries over the conflict in Syria, where the opposition says President...
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#Syria Iran focus of Russian president's visit to...
June 25, 2012 09:15 PM (Last updated: June 25, 2012 09:16 PM)By Aron Heller
JERUSALEM: Israel urged the visiting Russian president on Monday to step up pressure on Iran to curb its suspect nuclear program but there was no sign of any concessions from Vladimir Putin.
With Russia an influential voice in the international debate over Iran, the outcome of the 24-hour visit could have...
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Why is Turkey afraid to intervene in #Syria ?
ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED
Sunday 24 June 2012
Turkey is the largest neighbor of Syria and it has a huge influence, especially in its northern regions. The Turks obtained some legal reasons for intervention in Syria to defend their interests and sovereignty, which was violated several times by the Syrian armed forces. We should not forget that what happens in Syria poses a threat to the...
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Turkish rescue plane also attacked by #Syria
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Al-Assad forces fired on a Turkish-flagged search and rescue plane which rushed into Syrian airspace to locate the downed Turkish jet and its two missing pilots, Western diplomats reveal to Hürriyet Daily News
By Serkan Demirtaşserkan.demirtas@tdn.com.tr
Syrian security forces fired on a Turkish-flagged search and rescue plane which rushed into Syrian airspace to...
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#Syria Turkey to convene emergency Nato meeting
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By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
6:41PM BST 24 Jun 2012
The Turkish government brushed off protestations in Damascus that Friday’s incident was an accident, accusing Syria of deliberately bringing down the F-4 Phantom both in international airspace and without warning.
Bringing a potentially dangerous international dimension to...
