Obama refuses to specify US aid to Syrian rebels

June 19, 2013 by AFP

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday refused to specify the exact nature of new US military aid to Syrian rebels, after his officials let it be known they could expect shipments of small arms.

“I cannot and will not comment on specifics on our programs related to the Syrian opposition,” Obama said, at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Obama has refused to publicly specify exactly how Washington will increase aid to the Syrian opposition, after his government said it would offer military support for the first time after determining President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons.

Previously Obama had warned against pouring more weapons into the conflict and had kept US aid limited to humanitarian and non-lethal supplies.

The US president also said in Berlin that reports in the United States that escalating American support to the rebels meant the White House was now on a slippery slope to a new Middle East entanglement were mistaken.

He said reports were “overcranked” when suggesting the US was heading into a new Middle Eastern war.

“What we want to do is end a war,” he said, calling again for a political transition in Syria that does not include Assad.

Merkel said Berlin agreed that “Assad has lost his legitimacy” but reiterated the stance that “Germany has very clear legal rules that we do not send weapons into civil wars”, saying this was universal and “has nothing to do with the question of Syria specifically.”

But she added: “This doesn’t mean that we can’t play a constructive role, in the political process, humanitarian aid and the question about the right way” to help the moderate opposition and the people of Syria.

Source: now.mmedia.me

Russia’s game of hide-and-seek

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Meetings between Syrian opposition representatives and Russian officials in Moscow have so far been unsuccessful. (AFP Photo)

June 6, 2013 by Ana Maria-Luca

International talks on a possible settlement to the Syrian conflict are scheduled to take place by month’s end, with an apparent agreement between Russia and the United States to bring all parties to the negotiations table. However, a negotiated settlement is unlikely when Syrian opposition members refuse to sit down with the Assad regime’s representatives. Meanwhile, France and Great Britain’s decision to stir the waters in the European Union by waiving the arms embargo on Syria, as well as the regime’s recent victory in Qusayr - an important rebel position - makes a negotiated settlement even less likely.

Again, Russia is at the core of developments. On the one hand, the country is vocally pushing for a negotiated settlement, granting entry-visas for Syrians, and blaming the Syrian opposition for failing to unite under the same ideology. On the other hand, Russia has pledged to send advanced weapons to Damascus. But both Syrian opposition members and analysts familiar with Russian foreign and domestic policy say that things are never what they seem in Moscow, as the Kremlin always plays a cynical hide-and-seek game with the White House.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the Syrian opposition to support Moscow and Washington in their efforts to work toward convening a peace conference in order to end the bloodshed in Syria. “It is important for all participants to express articulate support for the Russian-US initiative [so we can] implement the Geneva communiqué,” Lavrov said.


But in direct talks with Syrian opposition representatives, neither Lavrov nor other Russian officials seemed interested in what they had to say. According to Basil Haffar, a member of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and the head of the Muslim Brotherhood office in Istanbul, members of the SNC and the local coordination committees tried to open dialogue with the government in Moscow several times since the uprising began in Syria. “From my point of view, those were not negotiations, but a mere debate over the future of Syria with no actual result,” he said with disappointment.

The Syrian loyalist forces have won an important battle for Qusayr, a small town located on the Beirut-Damascus highway in the vicinity of the Lebanese border. The town was of no great significance in times of peace, yet it has been of great importance for rebel positions, according to a recent study published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Victory for the Assad loyalist forces allied with Hezbollah in Qusayr was an important strategic, political, and psychological blow to the rebels. It also gave the government the advantage at the negotiations table, should they proceed as scheduled.

The European Council for Foreign Relations’ fellow, Dimitar Bechev, who recently visited Moscow, told NOW that the Russian public does not follow the developments in Syria as closely as outsiders might think. “Right now, Moscow is busy with domestic developments. The regime is tightening its grip,” he explained. A government commission just approved a new set of legislative amendments laying out further guidelines for the widespread inspections of Russian NGO activities, a move strongly criticized by the domestic opposition. Moscow has also passed a new law obliging internationally-funded economic research centers to register as “foreign agents.” In addition, 12 opposition members have recently been charged with inciting and taking part in mass unrest on 6 May 2012, the day before President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration. Raids on opposition members’ homes are also signs that Putin’s iron grip has remained firm.

Bechev said that exaggerating a foreign threat has always been essential to Putin’s ability to maintain power. The perfect example is the most recent US “spy attack.” US diplomat, Ryan Fogle, was recently expelled from Russia for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer.

NATO’s activities in Eastern Europe and Turkey are also framed as threats to the Russian government. Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev recently said that “Russia has to react if NATO moves its missile shields closer to [our] borders.” NATO’s plans to deploy a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic elicited strong protest from Moscow. In 2008, then President Dmitry Medvedev announced that his country would deploy the newest Iskander ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad, Russia’s western most exclave. It doesn’t come as a surprise that NATO’s bases in Turkey have been interpreted by Moscow as a threat to Russia’s strategic interests in Syria.

“The Syrian conflict is also used to consolidate support for Putin. It’s a cynical game [that Russia is playing]. They’re buying time to embarrass America,” Bechev pointed out. “They want to show that they are in control - that they are on the winning side. And their argument is gaining ground because they say that the Syrian regime is a victim of radical Islamic revolt.” Bechev added, “They have been calling for a negotiated settlement, but if this doesn’t work, they are going to blame it on the opposition.”

Source: now.mmedia.me

Diplomats meet to prepare Syria peace conference

June 5, 2013 by AFP

US, Russian and UN diplomats gathered in Geneva Wednesday to plan a new international conference aimed at ending the conflict in Syria, as the regime scored a major victory by taking the strategic town of Qusayr.

Joining UN peace envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi at the table were Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.

The meeting, aimed at paving the way for a new peace conference, comes as France and Britain pointed to proof that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime had used the deadly nerve agent sarin.

A UN probe had also found “reasonable grounds” to believe both sides had used chemical weapons.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed last month to push for the conference, which is meant to follow up on an initial Geneva meeting last June that produced a never-implemented power transition plan for Syria.

Washington and Moscow have pledged to work in tandem to bring the Syrian regime and the opposition together for the first time and try to negotiate a political transition to end the war that has left some 94,000 dead.

The initial plan for the talks to be held early this month — to build on the accord signed in Geneva last June 30 — has now slipped into July, amid wrangling over the exact guest list and agenda.

The regime has agreed in principle to participate, but Syria’s main opposition has refused to attend as long as fighters from Iran and the Islamist-militia Hezbollah are fighting in Syria alongside Assad’s forces.

It has also so far reportedly rejected names put forward by the Syrian regime as possible interlocutors, while continuing to demand Assad’s departure.

Last year’s talks involved top diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain — and representatives of Turkey, the Arab League and the European Union.

This time, Russia is pushing hard for Iran, another key Assad ally, to have some kind of role, despite concerns from the West about including the Islamic republic, which it accuses of shoring up the Syrian regime.

On Wednesday, Syria’s rebels conceded that they had lost the battle for Qusayr, after the army claimed it had seized total control of it and the surrounding region.

Control of Qusayr was vital for the rebels as it was their principal transit point for weapons and fighters from neighboring Lebanon.

It is also strategic for the regime because it is located on the road linking Damascus with the coast, its rear base.

Source: now.mmedia.me

U.S. comes to Syrian peace effort ‘late,’ Kerry says

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to the media about Syria at the State Department in Washington May 31, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas

WASHINGTON Jun 3, 2013 

Reuters - The United States came “late” to an effort to end the Syrian civil war and is trying to prevent the total collapse of the country, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday.

“This is a very difficult process, which we come to late,” Kerry said at a news conference, speaking of a U.S.-Russian effort to bring the warring parties to a peace conference in Geneva that might lead to a transitional government.

“We are trying to prevent the sectarian violence from dragging Syria down into a complete and total implosion where it has broken up into enclaves and the institutions of the state have been destroyed, with God knows how many additional refugees and how many innocent people killed,” he added.

At least 80,000 people have lost their lives in the two-year uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite minority is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam and whose family has ruled Syria for more than four decades.

Humanitarian groups say as many as 1,500 wounded people may be trapped in the besieged town Qusair by fighting between rebels and Assad’s forces, who are backed by fighters from Lebanon’s militant Shi’ite group, Hezbollah.

The peace conference that Kerry hopes to convene aims to implement an agreement hammered out 11 months ago, also in Geneva, that called for an end to the violence and the formation of a transitional government by “mutual consent.”

Kerry said he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had spoken on Friday and remained committed to trying to arrange the peace conference, known as Geneva II, but said whether it happens was up to the parties on the ground.

“Now when that ripens, when that becomes a reality, is going to be decided by events on the ground and the participants themselves,” Kerry added at the news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

“The Unites States can push and cajole … but in the end, the people on the ground, are going to have to decide that that’s something they are prepared to engage in,” he added.

Source: reuters.com

McCain says Syrian rebels need ammunition and heavy weapons

A leading Republican senator says Syrian rebels battling the forces of President Bashar Assad need ammunition and heavy weapons to counter the regime’s tanks and aircraft.

Sen John McCain spoke on Friday, the day after he returned from an unannounced trip to Syria. McCain says the rebels need some kind of capability to reverse a battlefield situation that currently favors Assad’sforces.

Gen. Salim Idris is chief of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army. He was with McCain on Monday as the lawmaker traveled inside Syria. McCain was the first U.S. senator to travel to Syria since the civil war began more than two years ago.

In a telephone interview, McCain said he met with 19 battalion commanders.

He says lethal aid could be provided to them.

AP - 06/01/2013

UN adds #Syria rebel group Al-Nusra Front to sanctions list

The UN Security Council on Friday added Syrian militant group Al Nusra Front to its global sanctions list because of its links to Al-Qaeda.

The group, a feared force battling President Bashar al-Assad, is now subject to an international asset freeze and arms embargo, according to an announcement made by the Security Council’s Al-Qaeda sanctions committee.

France and Britain jointly sought Al-Nusra’s designation after blocking a demand by the Syrian government.

Al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani last month pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, confirming suspicions of ties between the rebel group and the militant group founded by the late Osama bin Laden.

The US government designated Al-Nusra a terrorist organization last year and added al-Jawlani to its terrorist blacklist this month.

Western nations are acting against Al-Nusra in a bid to shore up moderate opponents of Assad. The 26-month old Syrian conflict has left more than 94,000 dead, according to Syrian activists.

Experts have said Al-Nusra gets aid from Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate and the Security Council announcement specifically mentions links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq

05/31/2013 - AFP

#Syria opposition in key talks on peace initiative

Syria’s main opposition group met for key talks in Istanbul on Thursday to debate whether to join a new US-Russian peace initiative to end the two-year civil war, while the regime vowed to crush the insurgency.

Holding its seventh general assembly meeting since its creation last November, the National Coalition is expected to choose a new president, discuss incorporating new members and decide the fate of an interim rebel government, opponents said.

The three-day meeting comes as rebels face a massive onslaught by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah in the insurgent bastion of Al-Qusayr, central Syria.

Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, more than 90,000 people have been killed.

The opponents’ meeting begins a day after backers of the anti-Assad uprising during a meeting in Amman pledged more assistance to the opposition should the regime fail to commit to a peaceful political transition.

During Wednesday’s meeting in Amman, the Friends of Syria group also tried to agree the contours of a peace conference to end the war.

The opposition has long held that it can only enter into talks with members of the regime if negotiations are guaranteed to lead to the fall of Assad’s regime.

While Assad has repeatedly said the Syrian war can only end with a political solution, state news agency SANA hinted Thursday the regime may defy the US-Russian push for peace.

“Having proclaimed themselves spokesmen for the Syrian people, participants [in the Amman meeting] have blocked the road towards the holding of an international conference” for peace, said SANA, in reference to the meeting dubbed Geneva 2 proposed by the United States and Russia.

“The enemies of Syria have clearly announced they will confiscate the Syrians’ right to carve out their country’s political future and to end the crisis through a political solution”, SANA added.

Also on Thursday, Assad reportedly told a Tunisian delegation he was determined to crush the rebellion “and those who support it regionally and globally”, SANA said.

The opposition’s ambassador in France Monzer Makhous said SANA’s dismissal of the Friends of Syria meet was “a sign” that the regime may reject the Geneva 2 proposal.

“It is not an official refusal, but it is a sign. SANA would never provide any information that does not reflect the government’s position,” Makhous told AFP.

“I feel it is unlikely that this conference [Geneva 2] would be able to reach a real solution to the Syrian crisis — not because the opposition would not want that, but because the regime does not want that,” he added.

Makhous said the Geneva 2 proposal would see the entry of a transitional government bringing together regime and opposition representatives, and that it would take over full powers in Syria for a time.

“Bashar (al-Assad) would be out of the equation, and the transitional government would be in charge of the security and military files.

“Anyone capable of analysis can see that the Syrian regime would not accept this equation, though it is the least the opposition is willing to accept,” Makhous said.

Meanwhile other Coalition members expressed reservations over Geneva 2.

“We don’t have a list of attendees, we don’t know what countries are going to attend, what’s the agenda, what’s being proposed, what are the final goals,” Coalition spokesman Khaled al-Saleh told reporters.

Another Coalition member told AFP on condition of anonymity the Geneva 2 proposal “is the same piece of hashish the international community gives us every time. They lure us into thinking the end is nigh, and then it just continues”.

With a vast onslaught on Al-Qusayr leaving scores dead in the past week, Assad appears as far as ever from giving up.

In an interview with an Argentinian newspaper this month, Assad implied he would stay until the next scheduled election in 2014.

“The regime and its backers are trying to change the situation on the ground militarily, in order to gain the upper hand in negotiations… This is costing the Syrians blood,” Coalition member Samir Nashar told AFP.

In Istanbul, dissidents are also seeking to name a new Coalition president to replace Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, who resigned in March, as well as three new vice presidents and a new secretary general.

The opposition is seeking to establish a rebel government under interim prime minister Ghassan Hitto, while discussing the group’s expansion to include 31 new members, Saleh said.

Should Hitto’s proposal fail to win the Coalition’s confidence, “he may be given a second or a third chance”, the spokesman added.

AFP - 05/23/2013

UN assembly slams Syrian government’s “escalation” of war - #Syria

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday condemned the Syrian government’s “escalation” of the country’s war and backed the role of the opposition coalition in transition talks.

But Russia, Syria’s key diplomatic ally, fiercely opposed the resolution, branding it a potential obstacle to peace negotiations expected to be held in Geneva next month.

And only 107 countries in the 193-member assembly backed the text, down from 133 when the last Syria vote was held in August.

The United States, Britain and France joined Arab countries in supporting the resolution which expressed “outrage at the rapidly increasing death toll,” now estimated at more than 80,000 by Syrian activists.

Russia, China, Syria, Iran and North Korea were among 12 countries to oppose the resolution. Fifty-nine countries, including Brazil, South Africa, India and Indonesia abstained.

The assembly “strongly condemns the continued escalation in the use by the Syrian authorities of heavy weapons”, including “ballistic missiles” against civilians, said the resolution, which was drawn up by Qatar and other Arab states.

On political efforts to end the war, the assembly demanded all sides work to “implement rapidly” a communique agreed by the major powers in Geneva in June last year laying out the steps toward a transitional government.

The resolution welcomed the opposition Syrian National Coalition “as effective representative interlocutors needed for a transition.” This phrase infuriated Russia which said it would encourage the opposition to step up “armed actions” against the Syrian government.

The Arab League has recognized the coalition as Syria’s legitimate government. There was no recognition in the UN text but Arab states are said to be planning moves to get the coalition into Syria’s UN seat later this year.

Russia and the United States agreed to press for a new international conference on the war which is expected to be held in Geneva next month. Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin wrote to all 193 UN members ahead of the vote to slam the resolution as “one-sided and biased”.

Russia and China have vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions, proposed by western nations, aiming to step up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad over the conflict.

And Western nations strongly backed the new assembly resolution.

“The consequences of this crisis are growing more dire not only within Syria, but across the region,” said deputy US ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, who added that backing the resolution was in line with efforts to set up a peace conference.

France’s UN ambassador Gerard Araud said the resolution would help the opposition to unite for any peace conference.

“This is a substantive draft that reflects the horrific situation on the ground and pushes for a political solution,” said Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig.

Qatar’s UN ambassador Meshal Hamad Al-Thani called the resolution “fair and balanced” but the text was slammed by Syria’s UN ambassador Bashar Jaafari as an attempt “to escalate the crisis and fuel violence in Syria.”

The UN assembly passed a resolution condemning Syria in August last year with 133 countries in favour, 12 votes against and 31 abstentions.

Diplomats said the lower number voting in favor this time reflected the international divisions over Syria and doubts about how it can be ended.

The resolution called for “urgent” international financing to help countries struggling with more than 1.4 million Syrian refugees. Jordan in particular has said the refugees are now a threat to its stability.

AFP - 05/15/2013

Erdogan: Assad crossed red line long time ago - #Syria

Syrian regime troops have fired missiles with chemical weapons at opponents, crossing President Barack Obama’s red line a “long time ago,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been quoted as saying.

“It is clear that the regime has used chemical weapons and missiles. They used about 200 missiles, according to our intelligence,” Erdogan said in a transcript of the interview with the American television news outlet NBC News in Istanbul, issued on Thursday.

The Turkish leader did not make clear whether Turkey believed that all 200 missiles carried chemical weapons and said that his government had not determined whether sarin gas was used.

“There are different sizes missiles. And then there are deaths caused by these missiles. And there are burns, you know, serious burns and chemical reactions,” Erdogan told the network when asked what evidence Turkey had.

“And there are patients who are brought to our hospitals who were wounded by these chemical weapons.”

Erdogan told NBC Turkey that you could see who was affected by chemical missiles by their burns, vowing to share intelligence with the United Nations Security Council.

Assad’s forces and opposing rebels have accused each other of using chemical weapons.

Erdogan told NBC he rejected the idea that Assad’s opponents has used such weapons because they lacked access to them.

Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency said earlier on Thursday that the country has sent a team of eight experts to the border with Syria to test wounded victims of the country’s civil war for traces of chemical and biological weapons.

- Reuters - 05/09/2013

“All options on table” over #Syria, US official says

A senior US administration official said Thursday that “all options are on the table” if it can be confirmed that Syria has used chemical weapons against opposition forces.

The White House said earlier in the day that Syria had likely used chemical weapons against rebel fighters on a “small scale,” but emphasized that US intelligence agencies are still not 100 percent sure of the assessment.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington wants to be absolutely sure that Syria has used chemical weapons before concluding that Damascus has crossed a “red line,” triggering possible military action.

“What we will be doing is consulting closely with our friends and allies and the international community more broadly as well as the Syrian opposition to determine what the best course of action is,” he told reporters.

“I don’t want to go to hypotheticals at this juncture,” the official added.

“But suffice to say, all options are on the table, in terms of our response, and it could run a broad spectrum of activity across our various types of efforts in Syria.”

The official recalled that the United States is already engaged in “diplomatic initiatives [and] assistance to the opposition” in Syria, where the US says a grinding civil war has left more than 70,000 dead since March 2011.

“But again, at the president’s direction, there are additional options and contingencies that we prepare for, that we would have to consider as we make our determination about chemical weapon use.”

Speaking earlier Thursday, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said US intelligence services have assessed “with varying degrees of confidence” that Syria has used chemical weapons “on a small scale.”

The assessment, based in part on what Hayden called “physiological samples,” points to the possible use of sarin, a man-made nerve agent used in two attacks in Japan in the 1990s.

Hayden warned, however, the chain of custody of the weapons was “not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions.”

“Given the stakes involved, and what we have learned from our own recent experience, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient,” she said.

Mounting evidence of chemical weapons attacks on fighters battling Assad’s regime could increase the pressure on Obama — who has sought to avoid any US military role in the conflict — to intervene.

On Capitol Hill, members of Congress urged Obama to take action to “secure” Syria’s chemical weapons.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that a red line has been crossed,” Senator John McCain told reporters, adding that there is a danger of chemical weapons falling into the hands of extremists.

“We have to have operational capability to secure these chemical weapon stocks. We do not want them to fall into the wrong hands, and the wrong hands are a number of participants in the struggle that’s taking place in Syria.”

04/25/2013 - AFP

Syria opposition asks US for Patriot missile protection

Syrian opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said Tuesday he has asked the United States to extend NATO’s Patriot missile system to protect rebel-held areas in the north of the war-torn country.

 

“I have asked [US Secretary of State] Mr. John Kerry during our meeting to provide Patriot [missile protection] that encompasses northern Syria, and he has promised to look into the matter,” said Khatib at an Arab summit in Doha, Qatar.

 

“We are still awaiting a decision from NATO on this matter.”

 

NATO’s sole involvement in Syria’s brutal civil war to date has been to position Patriot missile batteries along the Turkish border in order to prevent any air or missile launches from the Syrian side.

 

“The United States has a bigger role” which it could play beyond offering humanitarian aid worth “$350 million,” said Khatib.

 

Hours after Moaz al-Khatib, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, called on the United States to use Patriot missiles to protect rebel-held areas in Syria, the NATO military alliance said it isn’t getting involved: “NATO has no intention to intervene militarily in Syria,” an unnamed official told the Reuters news agency.

 

03/26/2013

Source: aje.com

US defense chiefs backed arming Syria rebels - #Syria

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that the Pentagon had backed proposals to arm the Syrian opposition battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

The idea — ultimately rejected — was first floated by then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who met privately with David Petraeus, CIA chief at the time, in the summer of 2012 as fighting raged in Syria.

They proposed vetting rebel groups and training fighters in a plan which they presented to the White House, according to the New York Times, quoting administration officials.

But the administration of President Barack Obama was worried about the risks of pouring more arms into the volatile conflict and rejected the idea, sticking instead to providing humanitarian assistance and non-lethal aid.

Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, admitted under questioning in the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that they had both supported the idea.

“I would ask again, both of you, what I asked you last March when 7,500 citizens of Syria had been killed. It’s now up to 60,000. How many more have to die before you recommend military action?” Senator John McCain asked them.

“And did you support the recommendation by then secretary of state Clinton and then head of CIA General Petraeus that we provide weapons to the resistance in Syria? Did you support that?”

“We did,” replied Panetta. “We did,” added Dempsey.

McCain, who has long advocated arming the rebels, said in a statement later he “was very pleased to hear” both men say they supported the proposal.

“What this means is that the president overruled the senior leaders of his own national security team, who were in unanimous agreement that America needs to take greater action to change the military balance of power in Syria,” he said.

McCain called on Obama to heed the advice of his former and current national security leaders and “immediately take the necessary steps, along with our friends and allies, that could hasten the end of the conflict in Syria.”

“The time to act is long overdue, but it is not too late.”

02/08/2013 

Source: afp.com

01/09/2013 - #Syria -  Syrian Al Nusra fighters speak to Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera has had rare access to rebel fighters from the Nusra Front.
They have been launching an attack on Al Nyrab military airport near Aleppo.
The U.S. has blacklisted the group, calling it an al Qaeda-linked terrorist organisation.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra has the story.

Source: aljazeera.com

Senior Syrian official in US and co-operating with intelligence agencies - #Syria

Former Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi fled to the US earlier this month after first crossing into Lebanon. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

The Syrian government’s former spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, is co-operating with US intelligence officials who helped him flee to Washington almost one month ago, the Guardian understands.

Makdissi became one of the most prominent regime defectors in late November when he left Beirut after first crossing from Syria. The Guardian reported at the time that he had fled for the US, possibly in return for asylum. This has now been confirmed.

The latest development comes after almost a month of debriefings, which have helped intelligence officials build a picture of decision-making in the inner sanctum of the embattled regime.

Syrian officials have denied that Makdissi has defected, saying he had instead taken three months of administrative leave. However, at the time of his departure, Hezbollah’s television network in Beirut – not known to be out of step with the regime line – announced that the spokesman’s views had strayed from official positions and that he had been fired.

The state department did not respond immediately to requests for comment, and the CIA was unwilling to discuss the story.

Makdissi is the most senior member of the regime to defect since Syria’s prime minister, Riyad Hijab, fled with his family to Jordan in August. While not a member of the inner sanctum, Makdissi was central to shaping the regime’s message and privy to many of its most sensitive communications.

Makdissi, a former senior diplomat at the Syrian embassy in London, worked closely with foreign minister, Walid al-Mouallem and information minister, Adnan Mahmoud, whom he dealt with regularly as security steadily decayed over the past 18 months.

Despite the worsening situation, the Syrian security establishment has remained largely intact and committed to defeating the armed insurrection that aims to topple it. Key decision makers in Syria are largely drawn from the Alawite sect, to which Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Intelligence officials in states that are hostile to the regime are not known to have close links to the inner sanctum. Until recently, debriefings of Hijab and former general, Manaf Tlass, both Sunni Muslims, have been instrumental in shaping western views of how decisions are taken in Syria and the influence of foreign stakeholders.

Details of Makdissi’s journey to the US are not yet known, although Britain has previously denied that he arrived in the UK after fleeing Beirut. Lebanese officials had previously suggested he was either staying with his family in a Christian area near Beirut or had been captured and returned to Syria.

12/24/2012

Source: Guardian