#Syria, Six Patriot batteries, 600 foreign troops to be deployed in Turkey

08/12/12

Around six hundred troops are expected to accompany six Patriot missile systems to be deployed in Turkey to reinforce the NATO member country’s air defenses and calm its fears of coming under missile attack, possibly with chemical weapons, from Syria.

The surface-to-air batteries which can intercept ballistic missiles are expected to be transported to Turkey by sea within four or five weeks. They will be sited in Turkish military bases that have not been ascertained yet.

A team of NATO experts who recently visited Turkey to survey possible sites for the deployment have already submitted their report to Ankara and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

Although there are speculations that some of Patriot batteries are expected to be sited in the Erhaç and Kürecik air bases in Malatya in addition to Diyarbakır and that the remaining will be deployed in other military bases near border, it is still not clear where the Patriots will be exactly sited.

The team reportedly surveyed sites in Elazığ, Malatya, Diyarbakır, Batman, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Adana, İskenderun, Mersin and Kahramanmaraş.

Turkey to receive six Patriot batteries

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands, the only three NATO nations with the most modern type of Patriots, have all agreed to send missiles to protect their ally.

Germany and the Netherlands have each said they will send two Patriot batteries with multiple missile launchers. Parliaments of the both countries are expected to convene this week and approve Patriot deployment in Turkey.

Although it is still not certain, the US is also expected to send two Patriot systems to Turkey, increasing the number of batteries to be deployed in Turkey to six.

Each battery to be sent to Turkey reportedly has four to six missile launchers and each launcher has the capacity to launch 16 missiles. So, a total of six missile batteries will be able to launch at least 500 missiles in response to possible anti-ballistic missile attacks.

Considering that some 100 soldiers are needed to operate each battery, the number of US, Dutch and German soldiers to be deployed in Turkey is expected to be around 600.

Transportation expenses of the Patriot systems are expected to be met by supplier countries while Turkey will meet accommodation and other expenses of foreign troops that will operate the systems. The soldiers will abide by NATO’s relevant agreements during their mission in Turkey.

03/12/12

U.S. warns #Syria not to use

chemical weapons

(CNN) — The United States warned Syria again on Monday not to use chemical weapons amid intelligence reports indicating President Bashar al-Assad’s regime could be preparing to take that step as it escalates its fight against rebel forces.

“I’m not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday. “But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”

U.S. officials are concerned that with fighting closing in on Damascus, forcing the temporary closure of the airport there, the regime may be feeling desperate and toying with the idea that chemical weapons could finally crush the persistent rebellion

“We believe that with the regime’s grip on power loosening with its failure to put down the opposition through conventional means, we have an increased concern about the possibility of the regime taking the desperate act of using its chemical weapons,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry denied that the country had any plans to use chemical weapons, state TV reported. But U.S. intelligence officials say “worrying signs” suggest otherwise.

“This isn’t just about movement, but about potential intent to make certain chemical weapons ready for use,” an intelligence official told CNN on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Read more: Opposition accuses Syria of ‘mental war’ after Internet blackout

The official declined to describe the intelligence and acknowledged that the United States isn’t entirely sure what the Syrian government is up to, or who ordered the moves.

President Barack Obama has warned that any use of chemical weapons by Syria in its civil war would be crossing a “red line” that would prompt a swift U.S. response.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said Monday that it is immediately pulling all nonessential employees out of Syria. It was unclear how many people were involved or what role they have been playing in Syria. The United Nations removed cease-fire monitors from the country in August.

On Monday, at least 90 people died across Syria, including 10 killed when Syrian warplanes bombed a town within sight of the Turkish border.

Thick black smoke rose from the border town of Ras al-Ain, where witnesses said the warplanes dropped two bombs. One appeared to strike a three-story building where opposition forces were staying, neighborhood mayor Mehmet Saitavci said.

The strike sent panicked civilians running to the fence that separates the two countries, witnesses told CNN.

Saitavci said the wounded were making their way to the border, where they were being picked up by ambulances.

“There are people with arms and legs missing coming across,” he said.

In Damascus, apparent fighting around the airport forced Egypt’s national airline to cancel flights to Syria, including recalling one flight that had taken off, after Syrian authorities contacted the airline to say the security situation was bad “at the airport and its vicinity,” airline spokesman Dina el-Fouly said.

The airport had been closed for three days because of fierce fighting, and Egypt Air had planned to resume flights Monday. They are now canceled indefinitely, el-Fouly said.

Elsewhere, government forces bombed, shelled and rained rocket fire on cities across the country in the latest efforts by al-Assad’s forces to drive back rebel advances, opposition activists said.

The airstrikes signal a sharp escalation in the fighting by forces loyal to al-Assad and rebels seeking his ouster, raising concerns among Syria’s neighbors that the 21-month-old civil war could spill across the borders.

Neighboring countries have reported deadly border skirmishes with either Syrian forces or rebels.

In June, Syrian anti-aircraft defenses shot down a Turkish military reconnaissance jet, killing two pilots, after it briefly crossed into Syrian airspace in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Months later, errant Syrian artillery shells hit the border town of Akcakale, killing five Turkish civilians.

As a result, Turkey has asked NATO for Patriot missiles to bolster its air defenses, a request NATO is expected to approve by Tuesday.

The United States, Germany and the Netherlands, which all have Patriot capabilities, have signaled they may be willing to contribute missiles should NATO approve the deployment to Turkey.

However, Russia reiterated its opposition.

“We don’t consider that this will lead to the improvement of security in the current situation.” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dimitri Pesvok, said Monday.

31 Oct 2012 Erdogan asks for German help with #Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees stand next to their tents at Boynuyogun refugee camp in Hatay province, on the Turkish-Syrian border, October 30, 2012. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

BERLIN: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Wednesday for German help in grappling with a flood of Syrian refugees, calling the bloody strife across the border a “catastrophe”.

Erdogan told reporters after talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel that Turkey could not manage the influx on its own.

“We absolutely need the support and assistance of Germany,” he said. “At a time when we’re searching for global peace, this is of course a catastrophe and we have to stop it.”

Merkel acknowledged the situation in Syria had become “a real burden” for Turkey and offered “humanitarian aid” to help cope with the tens of thousands fleeing the bloodshed.

“We feel responsible for the security of Turkey,” Merkel said of Germany’s NATO partner. She praised what she called Turkey’s “restraint” in response to Turkish citizens killed by Syrian fire.

Erdogan’s government, a one-time ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, fell out with Damascus after its deadly crackdown on popular dissent that erupted in March last year.

Turkey has since sheltered some 108,000 refugees fleeing the conflict, as well as the exiled Syrian opposition’s military and political leadership.

Meanwhile Turkey has systematically retaliated against cross-border shelling since Syrian fire killed five Turks on October 3.

Berlin “ready in principle” to host #Syrian refugees, says FM

16/10/12

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Tuesday that Germany is “ready in principle” to host Syrians who have fled the civil war there, but added that it must be done under an international framework.

“Germany is ready in principle to welcome Syrian refugees,” he told regional newspaper Rheinische Post.

But he called for a coordinated plan to be put in place with the United Nations, the European Union and refugee aid groups.

Turkey, which is coping with an influx of over 100,000 refugees from Syria, has been urging Europe to do more to help.

Earlier Monday, the European Union said it would continue assisting Ankara but made no offer to take refugees in.

In the interview with Rheinische Post, Westerwelle noted that the “majority of the refugees want to remain in the region [around Syria], so as to be able to return immediately to their country once circumstances allow them to”.

Germany was therefore putting the focus at the moment on humanitarian aid on site, he said.

The United Nations estimates that more than 2.5 million people have been affected by the fighting. There are more than 348,000 Syrian refugees registered in neighbouring countries, but many more are unregistered.

-AFP

Turkey Moves Tanks to Hilltops Overlooking #Syria

13/10/12

Turkey’s government threatened to respond to any further attacks by Syrian forces, after shelling across the frontier last week killed five Turkish citizens.

“Turkey will retaliate if Syria violates its border again,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a news conference today in Istanbul. “We will do what’s necessary. We hope Syria won’t repeat its previous violation of the border.”

Turkey yesterday deployed tanks and missile-defense systems on hilltops overlooking Syria, the state-run Anatolia news agency said, hours after Turkish jet fighters were scrambled to confront a Syrian helicopter that came close to the border. Turkey has threatened to target Syrian forces if they pose a security risk, following the downing of a Turkish fighter jet by Syria in June.

Turkey’s ties with Syria, once an ally, dramatically deteriorated over Turkish backing for Syrian rebels fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey fired artillery in response to Syrian shelling that killed the five people in the Turkish border town of Akcakale on Oct. 3.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Turkey is a member, on Oct. 9 called the attack on Akcakale “a flagrant breach of international law,” and assured the Turkish government of the alliance’s military support if it’s attacked.

Davutoglu spoke after holding talks with Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations and Arab League special envoy to Syria, and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Istanbul. He didn’t comment on the discussions.

Rebels Advance

Rebel forces in Syria today captured the village of Azmarin in the province of Idlib, near the Turkish border, Anatolia reported. Syrian forces were also attacking the rebel-held village of Derkush in Idlib with tanks and ground forces, the state-run Turkish news agency said.

Turkey shelters 99,500 refugees in camps along the border, and another 14,000 Syrians are waiting to cross into the country, according to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry.

Syrian security forces killed 42 civilians today, the U.K.- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in an e-mailed statement. At least 33 soldiers also died in fighting across the country, it said. Rebels lost three fighters when they attacked a military convoy in Idlib province, the Observatory said on its Facebook page.

Syrian forces “eliminated a large number of terrorists” in fighting in the northwestern commercial hub of Aleppo, the government-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported. The army also fought rebels who “cut off roads” in Idlib, killing and injuring some of them, the news service said.

Syrian rebels in Aleppo shot down a government MIG jet, the rebels’ Free Syrian Army said on its Facebook page. Footage was posted by rebels showing the wreckage of the aircraft on flames and armed men surrounding it and shouting God is great.

The Observatory for Human Rights in Syria confirmed the rebels’ claim and said the jet had bombed the town of Khan al- Asal in the suburbs of Aleppo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sibel Akbay in Istanbul at sakbay@bloomberg.net

German foreign minister heads to Ankara to tamp down Turkey-#Syria tensions

12/10/12

The details of the Turkish grounding of a Syrian passenger plane earlier this week remain murky, but that hasn’t stopped Turkey and Syria from trading accusations.

By Arthur Bright | Christian Science Monitor – 54 mins ago

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will make an impromptu visit to fellow NATO member Turkey in an effort to tamp down rising tensions between Ankara and Damascus following Turkey’s grounding of a Syrian passenger plane alleged to be loaded with ammunition for the Assad regime.

Mr. Westerwelle, who is currently in China, will meet his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, in Istanbul tomorrow to discuss the “escalating” situation between the neighbors, reports Agence France-Presse.

“The Syria situation has escalated. That fills us with the greatest concern,” he said. “It is important that no one pours oil on the fire. We are counting on moderation and de-escalation.” Westerwelle said his visit was intended as a “sign of solidarity” with a NATO ally and condemned recent shelling of Turkey, calling it “unacceptable.” “It is important that no one succumb to provocation and that we continue working on a new democratic start in Syria,” he said.

Westerwelle also said that he wants “to hear for myself what was behind the forced landing of the aircraft and the confiscation of goods from the plane in Turkey.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that the airliner, forced down two days ago by Turkish jets as it flew from Moscow to Damascus, was loaded with “equipment and ammunitions” for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – a charge that Syria and Russia deny, reports the Associated Press.

“Equipment and ammunitions that were being sent from a Russian agency … to the Syrian Defense Ministry,” were confiscated from the jetliner, Erdogan told reporters in Ankara. “Their examination is continuing and the necessary (action) will follow.” …

“As you know, defense industry equipment or weapons, ammunitions … cannot be carried on passenger planes,” Erdogan said. “It is against international rules for such things to pass through our air space.”

But Syria’s foreign ministry accused Mr. Erdogan of “lies,” the BBC reports. “The plane’s cargo was documented in detail on the bill of lading and the plane did not carry any illegal material or any weapons,” the ministry said. It also challenged him to prove his claims by “show[ing] the equipment and ammunition at least to his people.”

Russia’s state arms dealer says it had no connection to the flight. “We have no information available about the contents or ownership of any cargo,” Rosoboronexport spokesperson Vyacheslav Davidenko told RIA Novosti. “All cargo transport operations by us involving military equipment are always made in accordance with international agreements and Russian law.”

As Turkey, Syria, and Russia jockey over the grounding of the airliner, Turkey continues to build up its forces along the Syrian border. The Australian Associated Press reports that Turkey is transferring 60 more tanks to positions in the south, bringing its total in the region up to 250. It also is stationing an additional 15 jet fighters in the area.

Yesterday was the Assad regime’s worst day of military losses in terms of personnel yesterday. Ninety-two soldiers were killed, according to tallies from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and reported by AFP. In addition, 61 rebels and 81 civilians died yesterday.

The organization adds that another 14 were killed in a rebel attack in Daraa today.

‘No #Syria intervention’

21/09/12

NATO does not believe that military intervention in Syria would bring any improvement in the security situation there, a senior alliance official said Friday.

Germany’s Manfred Lange, Chief of Staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), said the military was telling leaders that there was no good case for military action and the political process had to be pursued.

“The military advice is (that) there are not sufficient visible signs at the moment that a military intervention could lead to an improvement of the security situation,” Lange said.

“The political process has to be pushed forward, sanctions need to take effect. At the moment, this situation cannot be solved by the military in a responsible way,” he told a briefing.

He added that with little prospect of action at the United Nations “it is clear that the Alliance doesn’t have any military plans on Syria.”

NATO concluded a seven-month air campaign in Libya last year which helped rebels oust veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi and there has been speculation such an operation could be repeated in Syria if UN approval was obtained.

Permanent UN Security Council members Russia and China oppose any such intervention even as the death toll mounts steadily in Syria where rebels are trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

#Syria, Hungry for peace

16/09/12

A group of women protesting outside the Arab League headquarters in Cairo against international inaction on Syria. (Image via Facebook)

On August 26, after hundreds of Syrians were found dead in Daraya, a town outside Damascus, Alia Mansour, a member of the Syrian National Council’s General Secretariat, announced that she was going on a hunger strike to protest the world’s silence over the massacres in her home country. Only a few days later, other activists from around the world joined Mansour. Today, as she ends her hunger strike, 53 other activists continue the protest. NOW Lebanon speaks to Mansour about her initiative and to fellow hunger striker Lina Tibi about their mission.

“It was dawn and everyone was asleep,” said Mansour. “I was receiving the news, and the number of those found dead in Daraya was increasing dramatically; it was first 250, then it increased to 300, then later 44o… Now it is somewhere over 1,200, 700 of which are documented by name. The fact that we Syrians have become just numbers was ripping me apart. I then announced that I was going on a hunger strike,” she told NOW.

When Mansour first decided to strike, she contacted other members of the SNC to propose they join her as opposed to only writing a statement of condemnation over the Daraya massacre. “I wanted it to be an outcry,” she said. “An outcry from the council to the Syrian people to say ‘We’re with you,’ and to the international community to say, ‘Enough with the silence.’”

Although there was no official position from the SNC in support of Mansour’s move, four other SNC members joined her hours later and issued their own statement calling upon activists from all around the world to join them.

“Our colleague Firas Kassas in Germany announced he was on hunger strike and was able to demonstrate for 10 days in front of the German Foreign Affairs Ministry. We wanted to organize something of the sort here in Lebanon, but we were not able to due to the security situation,” said Mansour.

The next day activists from nearby countries joined the strike. Today over 53 people from Lebanon, France, Jordan and Egypt—both Syrians and not—have joined the campaign. Although they differ on the specifics of their demands, all agree on denouncing the massacres in Syria and the paralysis of the international community. The SNC members and some other activists went further and stressed the need for direct intervention and for imposing a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors.

A group of six women in Egypt organized a sit-in in Cairo in front of the Arab League headquarters near Tahrir Square. Syrian writer and poet Lina Tibi took up the hunger strike on September 4 and has been demonstrating in front of the league for nine days now. In a letter submitted to the new UN peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, Tibi stressed on the situation of women and children in Syria and called for direct intervention for their protection.

“We also stressed in our letter the need for Egyptian authorities to stop ships from passing through the Suez to Syria, because we believe that these ships are coming from Iran and China and contain weapons that are used against our own people.”

The women’s group in Egypt received a large amount of attention from the Egyptian media, MPs, intellectuals and activists.

But the wider hunger striking campaign received little media attention overall because the increasing number of massacres and war crimes has left little space for any news of activism, Mansour said. “We in the council hope that the hunger strike campaign will have an impact. However, we are giving the internal situation more priority to support the people inside,” she said.

“We are receiving letters from people inside Syria in appreciation of our support. We are also receiving letters from abroad stating that although not much can be done in terms of influencing the international community’s decisions, much is being done to influence civil society organizations abroad to spread the word of the massacres taking place so that NGOs will support us.”

Soon after the strike began, the coordination committee within the SNC issued a statement requesting the SNC members to end their strike. According to Mansour, the committee was afraid that members would retreat from their daily duties on the council.

“I received calls from other members asking that I end my strike… but I decided to continue working as I was fasting. I have been carrying out my relief work and flying in out of the country as my strike continues. But it was a colleague comment that urged the need to end my strike. He told me I was no longer efficient.”

While Mansour ended her strike after almost three weeks of only subsisting on yogurt and water and occasionally a glass of juice, the women in Egypt stressed that they will not break their fast until they achieve their demands.

“It’s suicidal, I know, but we believe that our people inside Syria are on hunger strike by force, and so we will only end our strike when the Syrian people end theirs.”

“We will persist with our strike and we have called upon the world to support the women and children of Syria on September 22 with us for a day of hunger striking.”

Ashton says more sanctions on #Syria, Iran an option

10/10/12

The European Union is considering imposing more sanctions on Syria in a bid to end its civil war and against Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said.

Catherine Ashton said a review is under way for both Syria and Iran “not only to consider whether more sanctions should be taken, but to make sure the enforcement of sanctions is done properly and any abilities to evade them are dealt with.”

On Friday, the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain said they support new sanctions against Iran over the lack of progress in talks about the country’s nuclear programme, which the West fears could be used to build weapons. Iran insists it only seeks to make nuclear fuel for energy and medical reactors.

“Certainly we keep sanctions under review all the time, so the discussions are ongoing… Certainly the issue of sanctions was raised by a number of different partners,” Ashton told reporters at the end of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Nicosia.

China and Russia have repeatedly used their veto powers in the UN Security Council to block US-and Arab-backed action that could have led to sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. But the EU has its own sanctions regarding Syria, including one requiring the bloc’s 27 nations to board ships and airplanes carrying suspicious cargo to the country.

Speaking to reporters at the end of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus, Ashton said she will do everything she can to ensure Iran complies with its obligations regarding its nuclear programme, adding that Tehran needs to demonstrate that its uranium enrichment programme is for peaceful purposes only. She said she’s in touch with Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator to see how to nudge negotiations forward.

The EU has teamed up with the US to impose sanctions on Iran, including international embargoes on its oil, its main source of revenue.

On Syria, Ashton repeated al-Assad “should go” and that a top priority for the EU is to offer its full backing to the new UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, who is set to begin mediation aimed at ending the civil war. Activists say more than 23,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against al-Assad began in March 2011.

Ashton urged Syrian opposition groups to form a united front against the al-Assad regime. “It’s really important that the people in Syria feel that they, whoever they are, are part of that future,” she said.

Ashton said humanitarian concerns about Syrian refugees remains an “absolute priority” and that the EU is working with Syria’s neighbours to provide assistance. She said some 200,000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

On Friday, the EU announced it will provide an additional €60 million in humanitarian aid for Syria.

Malta attends Gymnich meeting

Meanwhile, in a statement issued after Malta’s participation at the Gymnich meeting in Pafos, Cyprus, the Department of Information said the events in Syria dominated the agenda of the EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Pafos. The discussion focused on key issues, including how to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the flow of refugees to neighbouring countries, support to the opposition and how to assist the Syrian people with their transition to inclusive democracy in a post-al-Assad Syria.

The EU Foreign Ministers and the High Representative stressed the strong support of the EU to the UN and League of Arab States Joint Special Representative for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi and to his efforts for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis.

The two horizontal issues of water and education were discussed with the participation and contribution of the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou and Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner responsible for Development. Malta was represented by Foreign Minister Tonio Borg.

Free Syrian Army fighters carry the body of a fellow fighter after he was shot by a sniper at Seif a Dawla district in Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo on Tuesday.

Syria opposition leader urges

‘Marshall plan’ for country

post-Assad; Germany calls for

opposition unity

BERLIN—A Syrian opposition leader called Tuesday for a massive aid program to help rebuild his country after President Bashar Assad’s regime falls, warning that a lack of economic development could open the door to extremism.

A top German official representing donor nations, meanwhile, said Syria’s opposition factions must overcome their current divisions.

Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the Syrian National Council, told a meeting of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats that Syria would need a program similar to the Marshall Plan, the post-World War II European reconstruction effort, if the Assad regime collapses.

He said Assad’s regime has devastated public finances and institutions to such an extent that Syria won’t be able to rely immediately — or solely — on oil revenues and taxes in any rebuilding effort.

“In the aftermath of the destruction … we are convinced Syria needs a Marshall-style plan to ensure it stands again on solid financial and economic ground,” Sieda said in Berlin. “Without real comprehensive development, we will open up the opportunity for the growth of all kinds of extremism.”

The gathering on economic rebuilding, which Germany chairs jointly with the United Arab Emirates, aimed to address how to prevent basic services and infrastructure from collapsing and how to revive the economy in a post-Assad Syria.

Without identifying any countries by name, Sieda also warned that any nation now helping the Assad regime could not expect to get its money back under a new government.

“The Syrian people are not bound by any contract signed by the regime after the beginning of this revolution, or any sale of treasury bonds or purchase of weapons or contracts with any country,” he said.

Russia, in particular, has been criticized for blocking U.N. sanctions against Syria and continuing to supply it with military material throughout the conflict. Assad regime officials have also asked Russia for loans to replenish Syria’s hard currency reserves, which have been depleted by international embargoes on Syrian exports.

Unlike neighbouring Iraq, where reconstruction after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion was hampered by an ongoing insurgency, Syria lacks vast oil reserves that could kick-start the economy and help finance the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.

The meeting’s host, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, said economic recovery and a successful political transition must go hand in hand, and called on the international community to be ready to provide economic support.

“There can be no doubt, the days of the regime are numbered: it has lost all legitimacy to represent the Syrian people, it is crumbling from inside,” Westerwelle said. “On the international level it is increasingly isolated; the overwhelming majority of countries reject the massive violation of human rights; there is no future for Bashar Assad in a new Syria.”

But he stressed the importance of overcoming another problem: the divisions within Syria’s opposition.

“The people in Syria must see that there is a credible alternative to the regime of Bashar Assad,” he said, urging the opposition “to create as fast as possible the conditions for … a transition government.”

Asked if he would go as far as French President Francois Hollande’s call for the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government now, Westerwelle indicated more work was still necessary before that could happen.

“I will have a discussion tomorrow with my French colleague … but it’s obvious that at the moment it’s necessary to unify the opposition,” he said.

Bassma Kodmani, who resigned last week from the Syrian National Council saying there was too much infighting among opposition groups, said in addition to economic reconstruction, the international community needs to start thinking of how to fill the security vacuum that would be left.

“Starting today, we need to plan the re-creation of the security system in Syria — we might need peacekeeping forces that are mandated by the Security Council,” said Kodmani, who attended as a representative of the Syrian Business Forum.

She said even though Russia and China have continued to veto U.N. Security Council proposals for action against Syria, she hoped they might be persuaded to accept post-Assad measures.

Violence in Syria has been escalating in recent weeks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has raised its total death toll to between 23,000 and 26,000 people since the uprising began in March 2011.

Activists say some 5,000 people were killed in August, the highest toll in the 17-month-old uprising and more than three times the monthly average. The U.N. children’s agency says 1,600 people were killed last week alone.

On Tuesday, the U.N. refugee agency said 100,000 refugees fled Syria in August, the highest monthly total since the uprising began.

The rise in people seeking asylum in neighbouring countries brings the total of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration to over 234,360, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in Geneva.

The President of the Syrian National Council Abdulbaset Sieda, Minister of State of the United Arab Emirates Reem al-Hashimi and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, front from left, arrive at a gathering of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats hosted at the Germany foreign ministry in Berlin, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP / Markus Schreiber)

Germany urges Syria opposition

to ready transition

BERLIN — Germany’s foreign minister is pressing disparate Syrian opposition groups to unite in preparation for the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime.

Guido Westerwelle is also urging the international community to be ready to provide economic support.

Berlin hosted a gathering of Syrian opposition representatives and diplomats Tuesday to address how to prevent basic services and infrastructure collapsing, and how to revive the economy, once Assad falls.

Westerwelle said a common platform is urgently needed, and that the people of Syria must see “there is a credible alternative to the regime.”

He called on the opposition “to create as fast as possible the conditions for … a transition government.”

However, he stopped short of French President Francois Hollande’s call last week for the Syrian opposition to form a provisional government now.

#Syrian rebels hit back at Assad’s air power

02/09/12

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT | Sun Sep 2, 2012 7:57am EDT

(Reuters) - Rebels seized an air defense facility and attacked a military airport in eastern Syria on Saturday, a monitoring group said, hitting back at an air force which President Bashar al-Assad is increasingly relying on to crush his opponents.

The attacks in eastern oil-producing Deir al-Zor province follow rebel strikes against military airports in the Aleppo and Idlib areas, close to the border with Turkey.

Assad, battling a 17-month-old uprising in which 20,000 people have been killed, has lost control of rural areas in northern, eastern and southern regions and has resorted to helicopter gunships and fighter jets to subdue his foes.

The aerial bombardment has driven fresh waves of refugees into neighboring countries, reviving Turkish calls for “safe zones” to be set up on Syrian territory - appeals ignored by a divided U.N. Security Council and by Western powers reluctant to commit the military forces needed to secure such zones.

Rebels in Deir al-Zor overran an air defense building, taking at least 16 captives and seizing an unknown number of anti-aircraft rockets, said Rami Abdulrahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Activist video posted on the internet showed the officers and soldiers captured by rebel fighters as well as an arsenal of rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition seized in the raid.

Abdulrahman said rebels also attacked the Hamdan military airbase at Albu Kamal, close to Syria’s eastern border with Iraq, but did not succeed in breaking into it.

The attacks come three days after rebels said they had damaged several helicopters at the Taftanaz air base in Idlib province. The insurgents also said they have shot down a fighter jet and a helicopter last week.

AIR STRIKES

Assad’s forces have carried out numerous air strikes on civilians in rebel-held areas. Helicopters have strafed towns with heavy machineguns, and jets have unleashed rockets and bombs against opposition strongholds.

Bombardments of northern towns such as Azaz and Anadan, of which Assad lost control weeks ago, have led to thousands of residents fleeing to safety in Turkey.

Ankara made its call for safe havens inside Syria after the U.N. refugee agency said the flow of Syrians into Turkey and Jordan - which already host more than 150,000 registered refugees - was rising sharply.

But a ministerial meeting of the Security Council produced nothing beyond a French plan to channel more aid to rebel areas, an initiative which will do nothing to stem the flow of civilians fleeing the fighting.

Turkish government sources said Ankara would again push for agreement on safe zones inside Syria at the General Assembly later this month and would try to put pressure on Russia and Iran, which strongly oppose any such action.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, a former ally of Assad, showed his frustration at the lack of international action.

“We cannot take such a measure unless the United Nations Security Council decides in favor of it … First a decision for the no-fly zone must be taken, then we would be able to take a step towards a buffer zone,” Erdogan said in an interview broadcast on Turkish television late on Friday.

“Bashar al-Assad has come to the end of his political life. At the moment, Assad is acting in Syria not as a politician, but as an element, an actor, of war,” he said.

The foreign minister of Germany which holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for September, said his country would “not stop working on Moscow and Beijing”, two capitals which have blocked concerted action on Syria.

“We will not give up, not in this month either, not give up in pushing for a united stance at the Security Council,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told a news conference in Kuwait. “If we were to give up then we would be giving up on the people and that we will not do.”

Jordan said on Saturday it was “stretched to the limit” by the influx of refugees from southern Syria. The resource-poor kingdom of 7 million has accepted 70,000 registered refugees but says it is hosting 140,000 in local communities.

Planning Minister Jafaar Hassan said the influx was “reaching limits that the government cannot continue to shoulder”, estimating the cost of sheltering the refugees at $230 million this year, rising to $285 million in 2013.

RECORD DEATH TOLL

A United Nations official said 1,600 people were killed in Syria in the last week, the highest weekly figure in nearly a year and a half of conflict, and aid agencies say living conditions are worsening dramatically.

An estimated 1.2 million people are uprooted within Syria, including 150,000 in and around Damascus, the U.N. said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had pressed the Syrian government to allow in international aid workers, and received a positive reply during talks in Tehran this week.

Ban told Reuters he had “long and in-depth discussions with the Syrian officials” on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement meeting. “While I criticized all the parties that have been depending on military means to resolve this issue, the primary responsibility rests with the Syrian government,” he said.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be wrong to press Damascus alone to end the violence.

“It is absolutely unrealistic to say that the unilateral capitulation of one of the parties in conflict is the only way out, in a situation when there’s ongoing urban fighting,” he told students of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Relations.

(Additional reporting by Nick Tattersall in Istanbul, Andrew Torchia and Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Diana Abdallah and Jon Hemming)

Western spies helping #Syria rebels

Sunday Times says British intelligence helping rebels launch successful attacks

AFP
Published: 14:02 August 19, 2012

Syrian rebels man a checkpoint in the north of northern Syria’s Idlib region.

Aleppo: British and German spies are involved in covert operations to help Syrian rebels in their increasingly bloody fight to topple the regime of President Bashar Al Assad, press reports said on Sunday.

The reports said German and British spies were passing on information about Syrian troop movements to the rebels.

“We can be proud of the significant contribution we are making to the fall of the [Al] Assad regime,” an official from Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service told Bild am Sonntag.

The paper said German spies were stationed off the Syrian coast and also active at a Nato base in Turkey, whose government is staunchly opposed to the Al Assad regime and is sheltering Free Syrian Army rebels.

Britain’s Sunday Times newsaper also said British intelligence was helping rebels launch successful attacks on government forces with information gathered from their listening posts in nearby Cyprus.

It said the most valuable intelligence has been about the movements of troops towards the flashpoint commercial hub of Aleppo, which is now partly controlled by rebels and is the scene of some of the fiercest fighting.

The regime’s far superior military might has failed to suppress the poorly armed rebels whose determination to bring Al Assad down has only grown with the passing of time.

Overall the death toll has surged to at least 23,000 people since March last year, the Observatory says, while the UN puts the toll at 17,000.

With the bloodletting showing no signs of abating, the opposition lashed out at new envoy Brahimi, branding as “unacceptable” his reported comments that it was too soon for him to call for Al Assad to go.

Brahimi’s comments only served to give Al Assad’s government a “licence to kill tens of thousands more Syrians”, the Syrian National Council said in a statement.

The West is demanding Al Assad step down as part of any political deal to end the 17-month conflict but is opposed by Syria’s traditional allies in Moscow and Beijing which see it as foreign-imposed regime change.

Brahimi, who replaced Kofi Annan, nevertheless won support from the West as well as China and Russia, although the White House said it would be seeking clarifications on the terms of his mandate.

With Western speculation of further defections, Syrian state television insisted that Vice-President Farouq Al Shar’a had not left the country after opposition and media reports that he had defected.

“Mr [Al] Shar’a has never thought about leaving the country or going anywhere,” the television said on Saturday, quoting a statement from his office.

Al Shar’a, 73, is the most powerful Sunni Muslim figure in the minority Alawite-led regime and has served in top posts for almost 30 years.

A former deputy oil minister who defected in March said Al Shar’a was actually under house arrest and that other top officials were also being kept under surveillance.

“He has been trying to leave Syria,” Abd Hussam Al Deen told Al Arabiya television. “But there are a series of circumstances that prevent him from leaving, especially the fact that he has been under house arrest for some time.”

Among those to have abandoned the embattled regime are former prime minister Riyad Hijab and high profile general Manaf Tlass — a childhood friend of Al Assad.

Meanwhile, UN observers were preparing to wrap up their mission on Sunday after chief observer General Babacar Gaye accused both sides of failing to protect civilians.

“Both parties have obligations under international humanitarian law to make sure that civilians are protected,” Gaye told reporters in Damascus ahead of the mission’s end at midnight on Sunday. “These obligations have not been respected.”

The UN originally sent in 300 unarmed military observers in April but its patrols were suspended in June because of the mounting violence.

As Muslims the world over marked Eid, Syrians faced another daily cycle of bloodshed.

Troops bombarded the besieged city of Rastan in the central province of Homs, as well as Idlib in the northwest and the eastern province of Deir Al zor, the Observatory said.

“This is how we celebrate Eid!” chanted a crowd of protesters — among them children — who took to the streets of Kafr Zeita, in the central province of Hama, according to amateur video posted on YouTube by activists.

The intensified fighting has sent at least 170,000 Syrians fleeing while another 2.5 million inside Syria need aid, according to the UN.

#Syria German spy ship aiding #Syrian rebels

19/08/12

A German newspaper has reported that a spy ship from the German intelligence agency is helping Syrian rebels in their fight to oust the Damascus regime. Meanwhile, the UN observer mission to Syria is coming to an end.

According to a report on Sunday in the paper Bild am Sonntag, the ship is equipped to detect troop movements as far as 600 kilometers (372.8 miles) inland.

The paper says the information thus obtained is being passed by the German foreign intelligence agency BND to United States and British intelligence services. These in their turn are handing it on to Syrian rebels, the report says.

The “Bild am Sonntag” also says that BND agents stationed at the Turkish NATO base in Adana are listening in to telephone and radio conversations within Syria. In addition, the paper says, agents are maintaining informal contact with sources directly linked with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Proud of contribution’

The report quotes a US intelligence agent as saying: “No Western intelligence service has as good sources in Syria as the BND does.”

A member of the BND told the newspaper that the intelligence service was “proud of the important contribution [it] is making to the overthrow of the Assad regime.” The official was not named in the report.

A British newspaper has also revealed that British intelligence, too, is providing Syrian rebels with information on government troop movements to help them plan attacks.

The Sunday Times weekly cited an opposition official as saying that British authorities “know about and approve 100 percent” the fact that intelligence from their Cyprus military bases is being passed on to rebel troops of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

UN observers to leave

Meanwhile, the United Nations observer mission to Syria is winding up on Sunday after the Security Council on Thursday ordered its withdrawal amid the continuing violence in the country

(The UN mission had no perceptible ceasefire to monitor)

The originally 300-strong unarmed mission was sent to Syria in April to monitor a ceasefire that never took hold. It was later reduced in size and its patrols were suspended owing to the mounting violence.

A UN spokeswoman said the mission would leave a “liason office” open in Damascus after its departure. It remains unclear what size and role the office will have.

Difficult task

As the UN observers prepare to leave, the newly appointed UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, is set to tackle his task of helping bring peace to the war-ravaged country.

The 78-year-old former Algerian foreign minister was appointed “Joint Special Representative for Syria” on Friday in a move welcomed both by Western powers and Syrian allies Russia and China.

Brahimi replaces Kofi Annan, who stepped down as international mediator complaining that rifts in the UN Security Council had undermined his six-point peace plan. Western powers in the Council want Assad to be deposed, while Russia and China continue to support the Syrian president.

(Brahimi has long experience of conflict zones)

The UN says at least 17,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising aimed at toppling Assad erupted in March 2011. The government has reacted with a brutal military crackdown.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 99 further deaths on Saturday. Among other things, fighting is continuing in the capital, Damascus, despite claims last month by government forces that they had completely retaken the city.

End is near for #Syria’s Assad, says German spy chief

11/08/12

(Reuters) - Germany’s spy chief said #Syria President Bashar al-Assad’s government appeared to be in its final phase because its army had been depleted by casualties, deserters and defectors to the opposition.

Gerhard Schindler, head of Germany’s BND intelligence agency, said Assad’s once 320,000-strong army had lost about 50,000 troops since the uprising against his rule began 17 months ago.

Smaller, flexible rebel units were sapping the strength of the army with guerrilla tactics, he told Die Welt newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

“There are a lot of indications that the end game for the regime has begun,” said the president of the Bundesnachrichtendienst agency.

“That (army losses) includes those who have been wounded, deserted and about 2,000 to 3,000 who have defected to the armed military opposition,” he said. “The erosion of the military is continuing.”

While Assad’s grip on the country has been loosened as the uprising has gathered momentum, his forces have overwhelming firepower advantage against lightly armed rebels.

However, Schindler said small rebel units were offsetting that by using their speed and maneuverability to strike quickly in ambushes.

“Because of their small size, they’re not a good target for Assad’s army,” he said. “The regular army is being confronted by a variety of flexible fighters. The recipe of their success is their guerrilla tactics. They’re breaking the army’s back.”

Assad is fighting to crush a rebellion that aims to end his family’s four decades in charge of Syria.