Middle-East’s Sectarian Balance Shifts as Syrian Uprising Enters Fourth Year — by Jawad Anwar Qureshi

Jawad Anwar Qureshi is a PhD candidate in Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation explores debates in Damascus on questions of tradition, Salafism, Islamism, and jihad.  http://chicago.academia.edu/JawadQureshi  Twitter: @jqureshi_

 

Jawad Anwar QureshiThis month, Syria’s uprising enters its fourth year. So far, close to 150,000 people are confirmed dead, over nine million Syrians have been displaced, and carnage has been unleashed in virtually all of Syria’s urban centers.

One of the unintended results from what started out as peaceful protests has been the re-alignment of powers in the Middle East along sectarian lines. Syria has pulled away from Sunni neighbors that were previously invested in Syria—in particular, Turkey and Saudi Arabia—and has drawn itself closer to Iran, the region’s sole Shiite state.

The Arab Spring reached Syria in March, 2011, when the government arrested and tortured teenage boys in the southern city of Deraa for spray painting the Arab Spring slogan—“The people want to topple the regime”—on their school wall. In response, protests erupted throughout the country. Despite using Friday congregational prayer to launch their protests in the beginning months, the Syrian protests, like those in other Arab Spring countries, did not initially have an overtly ideological, sectarian, or even religious tone; protestors demanded freedom (hurriya) and dignity (karama).

However, the government’s violent reaction was, from the beginning, colored by sectarian divisions. President Bashar al-Assad’s brother, Maher, commander of the Republican Guard’s 4th Armored Division, was recruited to lead the crackdown. This division had, thirty years earlier, under the leadership of Bashar and Maher’s uncle, Rifaat, ruthlessly crushed an Islamist-led revolt in Hama, killing tens of thousands. In addition to the Republican Guards, Alawite gangs loyal to Assad known as theShabbiha were dispatched throughout the country to terrorize protestors and intimidate citizens.

The protests gave way to armed resistance when defectors from the army formed the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in July, 2011. A number of Sunni militias loosely affiliated with the FSA emerged throughout Syria shortly thereafter and several Arab countries funneled support to these militias, in particular Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

January, 2012, marks the creation of the al-Qaeda affiliated militia, Jabhat al-Nusra (The Victory Front), whose stated goal was the overthrow of the Assad regime and the establishment of a pan-Islamic state under the leadership of a Sunni caliph. In the wake of the Arab Spring, al-Qaeda’s Sunni leadership has focused on Syria and Iraq as new theaters for jihad, fighting Shiites in both countries. Thus, in April, 2013, the Islamic State of Iraq (i.e. al-Qaeda in Iraq) announced that it was expanding the scope of its operations to include Syria and re-branded itself The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The rhetoric of the opposition—for al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists and non-jihadis alike—is laden with sectarian language.

The Assad regime likewise adopted the language of jihad. In March, 2013, the last two Sunni clerics supporting the regime, the Mufti Ahmad Hassoun and Syria’s most prominent scholar Said Ramadan al-Bouti, issued fatwas, announcing from their pulpits and on Syrian national television that jihad in defense of the state was a religious obligation binding upon all Muslims.

As a result of its response to the Uprising, the Assad regime has been isolated by its neighbors and the international community. To subdue the country, President al-Assad has increasingly turned to Shiite Iran for financial support, weapons, and fighters. For example, in April, 2013, the Iranian backed Hezbollah provided fighters to aid the Syrian army’s siege of the city of Qusayr.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has pledged to continue fighting until he has defeated Syria’s Sunni jihadi-militias. At the same time, a number of Shiite militias have emerged with recruits from Iran and Iraq responding to calls for volunteers to protect Syrian mausoleums of Shiite saints.

For now, Assad appears to have weathered the storm. Various international peace conferences have accomplished nothing. Assad has even successfully navigated American pressure to disarm his chemical weapons. The armed opposition remains unable to inflict decisive defeats against the regime and the al-Qaeda affiliates have turned their guns on each other.

Assad might still be standing but Syria’s position in the Middle East has been radically altered. While Syria has long been an ally of Iran it has always balanced that relationship with that of its Sunni neighbors. The latter ties are now severed and Iran’s influence in Syria is unopposed.

To be sure, there is more to the Syrian Uprising—its origin, development, and future—than sectarianism. However, sectarianism remains an endemic problem through which many of the actors involved view, assess, and react to events.

Sources and Additional Reading:

Anonymous citizen in Damascus. “In Secular Syria, Top Muslim Cleric Picks Sides In Civil War.” NPR, March 12, 2013, International.

Chulov, Martin. “Controlled by Iran, the deadly militia recruiting Iraq’s men to die in Syria.” The Guardian, March 12, 2014, World News Iraq.

Haykel, Bernard. “Al-Qa’ida and Shiism.” Fault Lines in Global Jihad. Edited by Assaf and Brian Fishman. New York: Routledge, 2011.

Pierret, Thomas. The Syrian Baath Party and Sunni Islam: Conflicts and Connivance. Brandeis University, 2014. http://www.brandeis.edu/crown/publications/meb/MEB77.pdf.

Qureshi, Jawad Anwar. “Discourses of Damascene Sunni ‘Ulama During the 2011 Revolution.” State and Islam in Baathist Syria, 59-91. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2012.

Zelin, Aaron and Phillip Smyth’s “The Vocabulary of Sectarianism.” Foreign Policy, January 29, 2014, The Middle East Channel.

This article was first posted on Sightings, an online publication of the Martin Marty Center of the University of Chicago’s Divinity School

Comments (253)


Observer said:

Well done and well researched and with good references at least.

My previous long post was prefaced by an apology because I could not find the link but there is clearly one that has not read it but immediately called for a yellow card.

Now it is interesting to note that when in the West, or on a Western blog, there seems to be an acceptance that The Rule of Law is operative; that is that some rules and regulations are operative for the common thread to continue. Alas we can say the same about this respect for any rules by the regime back home.

Once again it really shows a subhuman mentality of total lack of consideration for the other that is the essence of the dehumanizing thought process of the regime and its supporters. Likewise we have a group think that is manifest by the constant refrain about the 1400 year old persecution of Ali and his brood and for which we have to continue to pay and repay.

Now how about accepting that the Khalifah should be from the family of the prophet and should be from the descendant of Ali and should be from the Shia community and should be versed in the arts and sciences of religious jurisprudence and eloquence and rhetoric and philosophy and economics.

WOULD YOU PLEASE ANNOUNCE YOUR CANDIDATE TO THE KHILAFA SO THAT WE CAN VOTE YEA OR NAY? And if you have no one then shut up and you are not elected then shut up and you are not contested fairly by other similar candidates then shut up and go flagellate yourself and beat your heads in lamentation at the unfairness of the world.

Happy mother’s day TARA and thank you Syrian Hamster for proposing a dispatch into spathe

Cheers.

March 20th, 2014, 8:08 pm

 

Tara said:

And from me too,
“ولك اصحوا بقا، يقطع عمركون
مااغباكم”

زياد الصوفي يفصل اين سقطت الصورايخ باللاذقية واين تهرب عائلة الاسد
– POSTED ON 2014/03/20
POSTED IN: مقالات وتحليلات

زياد الصوفي : فيس بوك
الصواريخ اللي نزلت اليوم في المناطق ذات الأغلبية العلوية باللادقية، ما بتبعد الا بضعة أمتار عن بيت فواز الاسد و اخوه منذر، و عن فلل اولاد عمهون هلال و هارون و هائل، و عن بناية أبن عمهون التاني كمال و أولادو سامر و ايهم و علي ، و سنتمترات عن قصور اخواتهون فلك و عبير ، و عن بيوت صهوراتهون بو علي شاليش و أيمن جابر..
سقطت الصواريخ بعيدة أشبار قليلة عن بيوت ال الاسد الفاضية بالمناسبة من س…كانها..

كلامي بهالبوست موجّه للعلويين من سكان هالمنطقة..
فواز و منذر في بيروت..
هارون و هائل في دبي..
سامر و ايهم و ابوهون كمال في موسكو..
علي ابن كمال في دبي..
فلك في القاهرة..
عبير في لندن ..
بو علي شاليش في قبرص..
أيمن جابر في دولة الضاحية الجنوبية..
هلال عم يجهّز جيش الدفاع الوطني للانقضاض على بيوتكون لسرقتها باللحظة اللي رح تهربوا منها كما فعل في حمص..

مين بقي في المربع الأمني من آل الاسد الا أشباح ال الاسد و انتو ايها الأغبياء ،انتو و الأشباح و بس..

كل رهان هالعيلة عليكون ، ان انتصر النظام رح يرجعوا من أماكن لجوءهون على ظهور الدبابات اللي ماتو ولادكون فيها و هنن على يقين انو الآلاف منكون رح يكونوا في انتظارهون على مدخل البلد مهللين لعودتهون من خطوط جبهة شواطئ دبي و من حواجز ملاهي لندن و من متاريس كازينوهات بيروت.. و ان انتصرت الثورة رح يضلّو منتشرين في عواصم العالم عم يتفرجوا على مصيركون الأسود عبر القنوات المغرضة والمشتركة في سفك الدم السوري..القنوات اللي بالي بالكون الله يجيرنا..

ايمات رح نسمع علسانكون..
ولادنا ما أرخص من ولادكون..
ولك اصحوا بقا، يقطع عمركون
مااغباكم

March 20th, 2014, 8:09 pm

 

Tara said:

Observer,

Thank you. I enjoyed very much reading the article you posted about the earth inflation and what happened after the Big Bang. معلش ماتعتب على الان. ميوله ادبي مو علمي

المهم انه مالو سئيل متل تفاحة

March 20th, 2014, 8:35 pm

 

Mick said:

Well researched?

The Republican Guard and 4th Division are two different units. Maher is not the commander of either.

If you don’t even know these basic facts, how much else of this is pulled out of thin air.

يُقسَّم الجيش العربي السوري إلى ثلاث قيادات جيوش، أهمها وأكثرها تسليحا هما الجيشان الأول والثاني المتواجدين في العاصمة دمشق ومحيطها وعلى طول الحدود مع لبنان والأردن وجبهة الجولان. وتوزع القوات البرية على سبع فرق مدرعة، ثلاث فرق ميكانيكية، فرقة مظليين، عشرة أفواج قوات خاصة، فرقة حرس جمهوري، أربعة ألوية مشاة مستقلة، فوج مدرعات واحد، لواءين مضادين للدروع مستقليْن، لواءي مدفعية مستقليْن، لواء حرس حدود، وبضعة ألوية للدفاع الجوي والبحري. يتوزع الاحتياط الذي يُستدعى عند حالات الطوارئ على فرقة مدرعات واحدة، أربعة ألوية مدرعات، فوجي مدرعات، واحد وثلاثين فوج مشاة، وثلاثة أفواج مدفعية. وأكثر الفرق العسكرية تجهيزاً وأحدثها تسليحاً والمتمركزة عادة في دمشق وريفها هما الفرقتان الثالثة (مدرعات) والرابعة (ميكانيكية)، فرقة الحرس الجمهوري، الفرقة 14 للمظليين، وعشرة أفواج قوات خاصة. ويبلغ عدد أفراد سلاح البحرية خمسة آلاف، وسلاح الجو 40000 عنصر، والدفاع الجوي 60000 عنصر .

Notice the 3rd div (armor), 4th Div (Mechanized), and Republican Guard are separate units. There actually is a history behind this back in the early Hafez days….Something people who want to shoot there mouth off might want to read up on.

But I suppose just saying evil Maher is behind the 4th div/republican guard ‘entitiy’ putting down the peace loving Ghandi-following demonstrators that then had no choice but to turn to ISIS is much easier.

March 20th, 2014, 9:13 pm

 

Aboud Dandachi said:

“The Assad regime likewise adopted the language of jihad. In March, 2013, the last two Sunni clerics supporting the regime, the Mufti Ahmad Hassoun and Syria’s most prominent scholar Said Ramadan al-Bouti, issued fatwas, announcing from their pulpits and on Syrian national television that jihad in defense of the state was a religious obligation binding upon all Muslims.”

Anyone still believe in the “secular Assad regime” lie? This is a regime that released some of the worst AQ terrorists in the world from prison, and allowed the organization the breathing space it needed to mount a comeback in the Levant. Assad is the oxygen that feeds the extremist fire.

March 20th, 2014, 9:33 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Ziad alsoufi is a nobody who posted numerous false stories and nobody cares about what he says except those deniers who find comfort in believing his garbage quality fables.
Nobody from Assad family was hurt or killed since 2011 except Asef Shawkat who was probably the victim of ” friendly fire” if you know what I mean. It is the civilians from all sects and poor Syrians who are dying and suffering in this evil war.
This is however a far more important story published in the Telegraph:
“Mr Maarouf acknowledges that he has had $4 million in funding over the last three years from Saudi Arabia, as well as more money from the United States, distributed through the official rebel military council. However, he also claimed that far from the new supplies of weapons he had been promised, the flow had dried up”

Marouf is a known terrorist who was engaged in documented war crimes, the latest was in Adra. The fact that the CIA gave him money could trigger an investigation by the senate. Call your republican congressmen and senators and demand a hearing on the ground that the US law was potentially violated.

March 20th, 2014, 11:17 pm

 

mjabali said:

This article is strange…

1- The writer claims that Syria pulled from an imaginary alliance with the Sunni Turkey and Saudi Arabia to be the ally of Iran. It was the other way around, the Sunnis pulled away from al-Assad and decided to support Sunnis trying to depose him. al-Assad was always close to Iran. His father was close to Iran too.

2- The article neglects the role of the international jihadis for the increase in the numbers of the Shia fighters in Syria.

2- Translating Jabhat al-Nusra to English as “Victory Front” is wrong. al-Nusra came from the verb N-sara نصر or Nasara ناصر and both mean to support. Victory comes from the verb Intasara إنتصر.. I hope the writer takes more Arabic classes.

3- Who appointed Maher al-Assad as the head of the crackdown? Is this true? how come the writer presented this as if a given?

March 21st, 2014, 12:00 am

 

mjabali said:

Tara quoted a known sectarian guy who obviously is a liar too because where is Security Quarter he is talking about? المربع الأمني

The same guy calls to shell the Alawite areas on his Facebook page over and over.

أين يقع هذا المربع الأمني؟

في خيالكم

The rocket hit al-Zira’a about a 100 yards from my sisters’ house. It is a residential area. Not like what these liars are claiming.

Professor Landis tweeted the names of those hurt and of course all of them are civilians. He also tweeted a picture from the place where the rocket landed.

The rocket hit a residential area and this Security Quarter, and Assad family enclave these liars are talking about is nowhere but within their imagination.

Also: funny how these sectarian people are trying to talk to the Alawites.

March 21st, 2014, 12:10 am

 

ALAN said:

عزير
Judge for yourself, a few years ago, the USA deployed an American military base for the combat use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Saudi Arabia. UAVs from the holy land of Islam bring death not only to the Islamic “fighters against infidels”, but also to hundreds of civilians in Muslim countries. Is this not an example of cynicism?
Both the United States and Saudi monarchy try to carefully hide from public view the presence of the CIA secret military base in Saudi Arabia, from whose territory U.S. UAVs are launched. And this is understandable, as such information is especially damaging to the credibility of Saudi Arabia in the Muslim world.

It is also worth noting that the head of the White House will conduct talks with the Saudi monarchy on the combat use of UAVs in operations, which kill up to 98% civilians, in parallel with the proclamation of a “new appeal of the U.S. to the Muslims”.

Is this not an example of cynical behavior of the White House?

March 21st, 2014, 2:10 am

 

ALAN said:

it became known that the key role in the creation of this CIA military base in the KSA was played by the current advisor to President Obama in the fight against terrorism – G. Brennan, who had long headed the CIA office in Saudi Arabia and was in charge of the Yemeni dossier and the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who were settled in Yemen at that time (including the elimination of militants using UAVs).
The presence of the American secret military UAV base in Saudi Arabia is also confirmed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which attempted, in its note to “justify” the legitimacy of President Obama’s demands to eliminate any U.S. citizen for contact with Al-Qaeda, using all available opportunities, including foreign allies and their territories.
Under the recent influence of the political processes in the Arab world, the Saudi monarch Abdullah agreed to make certain reforms and was forced to take into account the position of conservative religious elites, opposing non-Muslim foreign armed forces in Saudi Arabia. However, he stubbornly avoids publicly discussing the subject of the U.S. military base in KSA.
Moreover, the strengthening and development of this military base, in which a significant number of CIA officers work, will undoubtedly become one of the most important points of discussion in the forthcoming visit to the KSA in late March, which will be made by Obama and senior U.S. intelligence officials, who have a direct interest in the future use of UAVs from Saudi territory.

Saudi PHD IN BLA BLA BLA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 21st, 2014, 8:34 am

 

David Walker said:

“Iran, the region’s sole Shiite state.”

Iraq begs to differ.

March 21st, 2014, 9:08 am

 

omen said:

from a previous interview, this is what recently martyred journalist ali mustafa had to say about sectarianism:

Reporting From the Inside

The problem is that Hezbollah’s entry into the war has only further inflamed Sunni/Shia tensions in Syria. In fact, the war now risks spilling over into neighbouring Lebanon, where the sectarian fault lines are very similar. Because of groups like Hezbollah, the war is now being driven by sectarian identity politics rather than the fight against dictatorship. The only beneficiary of this scenario is, of course, Assad.

What are some of the points of the major media coverage on the war in Syria that you feel are inaccurate and should be looked at critically?

I think the first rule of the Western mainstream media has been to frame what is happening in Syria in overly simplified sectarian terms, portraying it as a war between Syrian president Bashar al Assad’s Alawite sect on one hand, and radical Sunni rebels on the other.

Although sectarianism is definitely one of the key factors at play in Syria and should not be overlooked, it’s also a problematic way of trying to understand the reality on the ground for two basic reasons. First, the origins of the conflict – the real, deep-rooted grievances against the Assad regime that led Syrians to revolt in the first place – are completely ignored in this narrative. Second, it mistakes the effect for the cause, reducing the complexity of the conflict to its simplest, lowest common denominator. As a result, the war in Syria is framed as something primordial, ahistorical, and perpetual – it is without end because it has always existed.

Of course, this is not true. In reality, the sectarian dimension of the war in Syria emerged much later. During times of civil strife, religious fault lines typically come to the fore. People will often times retreat into religious, ethnic, and cultural identities when a country’s social fabric suddenly unravels. In the case of Syria, several horrific massacres by Alawite militias loyal to President Assad against predominantly Sunni villages in places like Houla have caused lingering tensions to rise to the surface, helping create a sort of “us” versus “them” mindset. Revenge killings by either side have only added to the cycle of violence.

International players like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey (which are predominantly Sunni) and Iran (which is Shia) have exacerbated the problem by reinforcing internal divisions, further entrenching the conflict along sectarian lines for their own gain.

Foreign fighters from Iraq, Jordan, Libya, and elsewhere in the region have also done Syria no favors in this regard; they don’t see what is happening in Syria as a fight against dictatorship but rather as a battleground for competing visions of Islam, whether Sunni or Shia.

As a result, most of the sectarianism you find right now in Syria is being driven by forces outside of the country. Most Syrians I talked to during my trip, with a few exceptions, completely reject sectarianism against Alawites, Christians, or Kurds. In fact, many individuals from these minority groups are currently fighting alongside the Syrian rebels against the Assad regime.

March 21st, 2014, 9:23 am

 

Tara said:

Mjabali,

Stop seeing sectarianism in the world around you. His writing that I quote is not sectarian and calling to bring the battle to Lattakia and the coast is not sectarian either. The fight should be brought to the coast not because we are against Alwism being a religion. We are against the Alawis’ political stand supporting Assad killing Syria to stay in power.

Alawis should wake up and stop being stupid. Their kids are not less than the family kids.

March 21st, 2014, 9:25 am

 

omen said:

an interview with yassin al-haj saleh on sectarianism:

The Conscience of Syria

For many in the West, the situation in Syria looks very confusing. On August 31, 2013, for example, President Obama said the “underlying conflict in Syria” was due to “ancient sectarian differences.” It is often heard – both in official foreign policy circles and among leftists and antiwar activists – that there are “no good guys” in the Syrian conflict, that all sides are equally bad, and therefore there is no one to support. What do you think of this stance? How would you respond to those who say there is no one to support in Syria?

Actually I find it confusing that many people in the West find our situation in Syria confusing. Is it a matter of information and knowledge? I tend to think that it is a matter of politics. Confusion could be a function of a certain position toward our struggle: inaction, which in my opinion is the worst kind of action, not from our perspective as Syrians but also from a regional and international perspective, not to mention humanity and human solidarity with the oppressed.

Sectarian differences? What a subtle analysis! When an armed structure uses the supposedly national army, media organs, and resources to kill its own people when they oppose its tyrannical rule—this can hardly be considered a sectarian conflict. We’re not talking about just any structure—we’re talking about the repressive state apparatus of the Assad regime. It thus becomes absurd to explain the Syrian struggle in sectarian terms. To the best of my best knowledge, states are not sects, are they?

I am by no means turning a blind eye toward sectarian tensions and conflicts in Syrian society. Many writers, myself included, have written about sectarianism in Syria. My main conclusion is that sects are politically manufactured entities, and sectarianism is a political tool for controlling people, a strategy for political domination. It certainly is not a matter of social “differences” but rather a method for guarding social privileges and transforming a struggle against tyranny and manipulation into sectarian strife, a fitna. The word fitna has religious echoes about it, and it is remarkable that the ‘secular’ Bashar Assad used it sixteen times in his first speech after the beginning of the revolution on March 30, 2011.

Even now, after more than a thousand days of the Syrian struggle, it is still a tremendous political and ethical mistake to say that all we have are bad guys. The regime is essentially criminal and has no solution whatsoever to Syria’s many problems. I think those who says Syria’s sides are equally bad are the same people who believe in that despicable slogan of realpolitik: a devil you know is better than a devil you don’t know. Meaning the devil you know isn’t really a devil after all. It’s only the devil you don’t know who is the bad guy. This is bad politics, devoid of knowledge, devoid of human values.

[…]

Sending this thuggish junta to the dungeon of history will be the first step towards the country’s recuperation. Only then can there be a dynamic of moderation and inclusion, leading to the isolation the most extremist groups. No moderation is possible in Syria without justice for the Syrian people. The relation between the concepts ‘moderation’ and ‘justice’ is clear in Arabic: The word I’tidal (moderation) is derived from Adl (justice); accordingly, injustices foster extremism.

What internationalist parties all over the world need to know is that there is nothing progressive or anti-imperialist or secular about the regime. It is a fascist regime, a deeply sectarian and deeply corrupt junta that is prepared to commit every crime to stay in power.

March 21st, 2014, 9:49 am

 

omen said:

you see, if you defend yourself from assad trying to kill you – this isn’t the regime’s fault for waging genocide. no, this is you being sectarian. how dare you resist? there must be something wrong with you. why cant you just cooperate and die willingly?

it boggles the mind how the frame is continually set to blame the victim.

i would also argue world tolerance for high number of syrian casualties and its appetite to allow it to continue unabated – one which they would never allow europeans to suffer without recourse – makes the world sectarian, bigoted and guilty of double standards.

clearly, throwing around mischaracterizations in calling this a “civil war” or boiling down the conflict to “ancient sectarian differences” are propagandistic terms that not only provides cover for assad’s brutality but also serves to paint the war as an intractable issue, one that cannot be solved – thus intervention would be hopeless.

a misleading impression world powers would like to perpetuate in order to excuse their corrupt inaction.

this little discovery explains the reptilians running around claiming to be world leaders’ pathological indifference:

The Compassion Gap

There may be neurological biases at work. A professor at Princeton found that our brains sometimes process images of people who are poor or homeless as if they were not humans but things.

Likewise, psychology experiments suggest that affluence may erode compassion.

March 21st, 2014, 10:47 am

 

Tara said:

Mjabali

Below is the perfect example of what the Shwam perceive as the بالفلح اللي اجت من ورا البقر واللي حترجع بالنهاية لمكانها الطبيعي. Rolex watch and Italian shoes can’t change his status. وبقية أهل سوريا ما بيشتروه بفرنك

He was appropriately turned out for the only authentically five-star venue in the city. Handmade Italian shoes, an expensive suit and shirt, no tie, a gold chain around his neck. There was a Rolex watch on his wrist and lying alongside the ashtray on the tabletop were the de rigueur prayer beads, smartphone and sunglasses.

An unremarkable looking figure, similar to any other member of the narrow elite grown rich in Syria’s vigorous, family-run kleptocracy. But this man was set apart by a particular hardness on his face, framed by dark, neatly trimmed stubble along the jawline, and an intense hostility in his eyes.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/blood-ties-the-shadowy-member-of-the-assad-clan-who-ignited-the-syrian-conflict#ixzz2wcoSl7e6
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook

This article was posted by SC team on the right hand side.

March 21st, 2014, 3:04 pm

 
 

ALAN said:

Saudi PhD in bla bla bla!

Saudis Bankrolling Israel’s Mossad: More confirmation?

Now comes further confirmation of that strange alliance, from Richard Silverstein’s excellent blog Tikun Olam. Silverstein gets many of his scoops from Israeli reporters, often confiding information they’re not allowed to report in Israel. Silverstein also closely monitors the Israeli media.

He has been following the close cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia in targeting Syria and Iran. In his latest log he reports,

Shalom Yerushalmi, writing in Maariv, dropped an even more amazing bombshell.

“Saudi Arabia isn’t just coordinating its own intelligence efforts with Israel. It’s actually financing a good deal of Israel’s very expensive campaign against Iran. As you know, this has involved massive sabotage against IRG missile bases, the assassination of five nuclear scientists, the creation of a series of computer cyber weapons like Stuxnet and Flame. It may also conceivably involve an entire class of electronic and conventional weapons that could be used in a full-scale attack on Iran. Who knows, this might even include the sorts of bunker buster bombs only the U.S. currently has access to, which could penetrate the Fordo facility. It might include scores more super-tankers which could provide the fuel necessary for Israeli planes to make it to Iran and return. All of this is expensive. Very expensive.”

http://my.firedoglake.com/barrylando/2014/03/08/saudis-bankrolling-israels-mossad-more-confirmation/

March 21st, 2014, 3:32 pm

 

ALAN said:

بعير

March 21st, 2014, 4:25 pm

 

jo6pac said:

Before the FSA was created these people whoever they are turned the peaceful demo into a firing squad killing members of govt. and citizens. Paid by who?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/unknown-snipers-and-western-backed-regime-change/27904

I wouldn’t call npr research.

March 21st, 2014, 5:00 pm

 

Alan said:

why such a generous gift?
When senior Pakistani editor Najam Sethi can’t figure out why Saudi Arabia deposited a princely amount of $1.5 billion in the State Bank of Pakistan recently, we are at a dead end. Sethi said in a TV interview, “money is money and if something is taken, something has to be given in return and that is being kept secret. Saudi Arabia had made a request [to Pakistan].”

There have been reports about a Saudi-Pakistani understanding about Syria — Pakistani advisers to train a Syrian rebel army and for supplying weapons for equipping the rebel fighters.
But the advisor to Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in foreign and security policies Sartaj Aziz has flatly denied that. But then, Aziz merely says it is “gifted money.” So, Sethi’s tantalizing question remains: why such a generous gift?
A clue is available with the arrival of the King of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa in Islamabad on Wednesday on a 3-day visit.
This is the first visit by a Bahrain ruler to Pakistan in four decades and it is taking place after the recent visits by the Saudi foreign minister and Crown Prince to Islamabad.
One of the agreements signed during Al-Khalifa’s visit relates to the interior ministries. Nawaz Sharif said he expects Bahraini (read Saudi) investments in “mega projects” in Pakistan.
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2014/03/20/syrian-endgame-triggers-realignments/

March 21st, 2014, 6:00 pm

 
 

omen said:

20. jo6pac said: Before the FSA was created these people whoever they are turned the peaceful demo into a firing squad killing members of govt. and citizens. Paid by who?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/unknown-snipers-and-western-backed-regime-change/27904

I wouldn’t call npr research.

AFP stumbled upon evidence of NATO backed death squads.
such nefarious treachery must be prosecuted.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Biw6dB4CAAAW0m3.jpg

March 21st, 2014, 6:31 pm

 

Ghufran said:

What the terrorists of nusra and aljabha alislamiyyah are doing in Latakia is not just evil it is stupid, after shelling residential areas at random and injuring 10 people they repeated the act on a village named Kirsana killing 4 civilians, one was a child, then they managed to hit Tishreen university, the mechanical engineering blg, but nobody was injured there.
In Kasab, a popular mountain resort near turkey, they attacked both civilian and military targets and murdered 5 civilians, all of that to show they are angry for their losses in Aleppo and Damascus. The fear is not whether they can take Latakia, they can not, but the real danger , in addition to killing innocent civilians, is triggering a violent response from angry young men who are well armed and getting increasingly uneasy about hosting thousands of refugees from areas under rebel control or contested areas where the men in the families are fighting the army, shelling Latakia and kidnapping villagers, over 90, while they sent their women and children to be fed and housed by the government.
The real challenge for Assad army and security chiefs is to keep civil peace in Latakia while showing the public that they will now end the terrorist movements near turkey once and for all, if the government fails to act they will have to deal with the wrath of their own supporters who believe that the regime is more concerned about qalamon and Aleppo than their areas which paid the biggest price for fighting the rebels and foreign jihadists.
Turkey yesterday helped the terrorists and provided them with cover and logistical support but Assad is still waiting for the right time to respond !!

March 21st, 2014, 7:56 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

The guy you quoted is a known sectarian. He is from my city and I read what they say about him and what he writes. He is sectarian plain and simple.

I read his daily rants on Facebook because many of my friends are friends with him. He called to bomb the Alawite villages in the height of the battle for Yabrud. He did not call to bring the battle to the cost, but to bomb the Alawite villages.

Few days after that he made fun of Alawite girls in a very “racist” manner. So do not defend him if you do not know him.

As for what he wrote, and you quoted; sectarianism pops out when he invented the fable of the Security Square المربع الامني to justify the bombing of a residential area where the Alawites are a majority. Today, he made fun of those Alawites who died in Kirsana (amongst them a child) . By the way, Kirsana is an Alawite village that had been bombed by the Sunnis for at least a year and a half.

When this guy invents a lie to justify the shelling of a residential area…yes he is sectarian.

March 21st, 2014, 8:57 pm

 

ghufran said:

Do not go to bed before you read this:
Nusra chief in Latakia is where he belongs, swimming with other terrorists facing the god he never believed in.
What terrorists gained in Kasab is quickly going away:
استعادة السيطرة على مخفر ‫#‏الصخرة‬ ومعبر #كسب الحدودي في ‫#‏ريف_اللاذقية‬، فيما ورد أن ﺍﻟﺠﻴﺶ ﺍﻟﺴﻮﺭﻱ ﻳﺤﺎﺻﺮ ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﺎﺕ ﻣﻦ ﺃﺣﺮﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻗﺮﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻤﺮﺍ ﺑﺮﻳﻒ ﺍﻟﻼﺫﻗﻴﺔ ﻗﺮﺏ ﺑﻠﺪﺓ ﻛﺴﺐ
(Al-Samra is where episodes of Daya Day’aa was filmed)
What Islamist thugs called ” Nawafel Battle” will be another brief adventure that will only strengthen the resolve of people in Latakia. Not a single sectarian incident reported against Sunni refugees in that city.

March 21st, 2014, 11:48 pm

 

Mohamad G said:

jabhat an-nusra is best translated as the “Solidarity Front”
not the Victory Front.

“انصر أخاك ظالماً أو مظلوماً”

March 22nd, 2014, 5:16 am

 

Badr said:

In anticipation of the next post:

Does the “Southern Front” Exist?
By Aron Lund

March 22nd, 2014, 7:05 am

 

ALAN said:

Mr. Putin!
Susan Rice asks you to assist PETRODOLLAR to fail!

March 22nd, 2014, 7:51 am

 

Amir in Tel Aviv said:

I’m amused by people who claim that this is not sectarian.
.

March 22nd, 2014, 10:11 am

 

Uzair8 said:

What do people think of these alleged words from Mr Putin? I saw them on a forum. The words may well resonate with some/many (?) around the world:

“Our Western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle, “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.

This happened in Yugoslavia; we remember 1999 very well. It was hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes, that at the end of the 20th Century, one of Europe’s capitals, Belgrade, was under missile attack for several weeks, and then came the real intervention. Was there a UN Security Council resolution on this matter, allowing for these actions? Nothing of the sort. And then, they hit Afghanistan, Iraq, and frankly violated the UN Security Council resolution on Libya, when instead of imposing the so-called no-fly zone over it they started bombing it too.

There was a whole series of controlled “colour” revolutions. Clearly, the people in those nations, where these events took place, were sick of tyranny and poverty, of their lack of prospects; but these feelings were taken advantage of cynically. Standards were imposed on these nations that did not in any way correspond to their way of life, traditions, or these peoples’ cultures. As a result, instead of democracy and freedom, there was chaos, outbreaks in violence and a series of upheavals. The Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.”

March 22nd, 2014, 12:28 pm

 

ghufran said:

For those who are still unsure about the nature of KSA’s Wahhabis and royal family:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ilA_XwQl8&feature=player_detailpage
(this clown said that aiding hizbullah against Israel in 2006 was a sin)
My favorite part was when the caller described the face of this Wahhabi mummy as Kareem and Bashoush (dignified and hospitable)

March 22nd, 2014, 12:56 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

So the regime forces are tired and weakened?

Posted today on Iran Military Forum by top military situation updater:

“Situation in Derraa is getting worse. After fall of the prison yesterday the silos also fell. Jordanians are making big contribution for Wahhabi. There are thousand of armed wahhabis from all over the world. Trained in Jordan by CIA and armed with most advanced weapons. Reinforcements should be sent to Daraa. Now its the time for Iran to send some IRGC personal to bolster already tired and weakened SAA. ”

http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/military-conflicts/updates-on-military-action-in-syria/msg239023/#msg239023

March 22nd, 2014, 1:28 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#30 Uzair8

It may resonate with many around the world, but that does not make it accurate. People generally side with the underdog against the powerful. Putin is playing the “underdog” card against the US.

Clinton was dragged to intervene in Kosovo (and before that Bosnia) kicking and screaming because the US public would not allow the genocide in Europe to continue against the Muslims. Mr. Putin supported ethic cleansing in these regions by supporting Milosovic and his gangs. Bush was happy spending his presidency fishing and hunting in his ranch in Texas before September 11th happened. Just go back and take a look at his time as a president before September 11th.

Most people around the world prefer to deal with American business partners to Russian. That sums up the way people feel about Americans vs. Russians.

March 22nd, 2014, 1:39 pm

 

Badr said:

Q:

MJABALI: “Who appointed Maher al-Assad as the head of the crackdown? Is this true? how come the writer presented this as if a given?”

A:

Joshua Landis: “Maher is the kneecapper. He is in charge of keeping the regime in power”, and: “He is in charge of doing the heavy lifting of punishing people and preserving the regime through military means.”

Don’t like what the professor said, argue with him.

March 22nd, 2014, 2:39 pm

 
 

Atassi said:

Badr,
This is the truth man, Maher is the regime is a backbone of the regime military this is a known fact… come-on now !! what do you want Dr. landis to say?

March 22nd, 2014, 2:48 pm

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

Ooooooh I so sorry for Putin, he and his inferiority complex have been driven to be caught in the trap of Ucrania.

Now embargo, fall of exports, more economic problems for a Russia that was already on the merge of chaos.

It is clear US and Puton had agreed about the Crimea assault and brivery. But the consequences for Russia will be much worse than they expect. Now european conutries will check alternatives to the russian mafia gas.

Also the role of Russia in the arab countries will be hit once again.

My condolences to ALAN and the rest of the clan of Assad´s Syria worshippers.

March 22nd, 2014, 2:57 pm

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

Rebels making gains in Daraa, North of Alepo and Kassab (Lattakia) while Hezb-Zbele making gains in Qalamoun range of mountains.

March 22nd, 2014, 3:01 pm

 

Badr said:

ATASSI,

Sorry that you misconstrued my comment. On this particular question, your beef should be with MJABALI, not with me!

March 22nd, 2014, 3:04 pm

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

After some decades fighting against the Zionist Enemy, martyring for the Palestianian Nation and giving all for Allah, I WONDER

HOW MANY THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS WILL HAVE THE LEADERS OF HEZBALLAH IN CAYMAN ISLANDS, OR ANY OTHER BANK PARADISE…

These are the brave men, Nasrallah, Berri, Pfuuuuuu

Not to mention ASSAD MAFIA Who by now OWNS probably 75 % of Syria properties and assets.

March 22nd, 2014, 3:05 pm

 

amspirnational said:

Obama and the US government always announce positions claiming to speak for “the International Community,” not the American people.

Russia and China modestly usually are satisfied to say, “this is Russia’s position”….”this is China’s position.”

Obama says “the International Community” condemns and ostracizes
Russia for (retaking what was theirs for the past 200 years) Crimea.

Except the two most populous countries by far, China and India have not “condemned” or “ostracized” Russia.

The American government seems to be living in an alternate reality, more so than Putin.

Meanwhile isn’t Qatar trying to mend fences with Iran?

March 22nd, 2014, 3:32 pm

 

ALAN said:

38. SANDRO LOEWE said:/Hezb-Zbele/ – Fuel of hatred at the thought of Bernard Levy
– Are you Lebanese suffer from hatred towards Syria?

March 22nd, 2014, 3:41 pm

 

ALAN said:

Washington has scored the first point: the mounting tension in Europe enables the U.S. to increase its influence over its European allies.

March 22nd, 2014, 3:53 pm

 

ghufran said:

An Update on Kasab battle:

– Al-samra village is back under army’s control
– Nusra, Turkmen gangs and JI terrorists are still trying to capture 2 strategic positions near Kasab (position 45 and Eagle summit), there is no truth to the claims that the two positions were lost.
– Nab’3 Al-Mur is under rebels control (for now)

The picture will most probably change in 24-48 hours in army’s favor. What is different this time is the blatant support from Turkey and the intensity of fire power used by rebels including new weapons sent by the criminals in KSA.
Even if rebels retreat, and I think they will, and lose many fighters and commanders, and they did, they can still attack and terrorize until the army gets the necessary support to finish this odd situation in the borders with Turkey especially that most civilians in areas under rebel’s control have left and we are only left with foreign jihadists and home grown terrorists.

March 22nd, 2014, 4:12 pm

 

ALAN said:

Vice President Joe Biden’s flash visit to Poland and Estonia: He laughs at the European. Quack! the Aegis units = 0

March 22nd, 2014, 4:13 pm

 

ALAN said:

30. UZAIR

Putin puts fear of God in New World Order

Why is the whole Western foreign policy establishment so afraid of Putin?

Because Putin is standing up against Western aggression – not only in Ukraine, but also in Syria and Iran. Ongoing Western attempts to destabilize these and other countries are just the most recent examples of a decades-old pattern of aggression. The long-term goal: Total destruction of traditional nations and values, and the creation of a New World Order global dictatorship.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/03/22/putin-nwo/
===================
http://youtu.be/9-f-3fWh5mA?t=1s
===================

March 22nd, 2014, 6:01 pm

 

ALAN said:

Obama “stand down” .. end of the story.

March 22nd, 2014, 6:19 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

Hopeful

It’s the last paragraph in particular I was referring to. The bit in bold a highlight and the redulting ‘consequences’ mentioned by Mr Putin.

Also it seems Putin is being frank, admitting to the people being ‘sick of tyranny and poverty’, not bothering (or able to) to deny anymore and relying on blaming a conspiracy (in this Putin’s happy to contradict the Assad narrative):

“There was a whole series of controlled “colour” revolutions. Clearly, the people in those nations, where these events took place, were sick of tyranny and poverty, of their lack of prospects; but these feelings were taken advantage of cynically. Standards were imposed on these nations that did not in any way correspond to their way of life, traditions, or these peoples’ cultures. As a result, instead of democracy and freedom, there was chaos, outbreaks in violence and a series of upheavals. The Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.”

March 22nd, 2014, 6:53 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

#48

Typo:

*resulting

*********

Alan

Mr Putin’s got his own World Order. It’s no better than the NWO.

March 22nd, 2014, 7:23 pm

 

omen said:

Volker Perthes:

Confessional polarisation has increased, but the conflict in Syria is not a confessional war.

March 22nd, 2014, 11:52 pm

 

omen said:

46. ALAN said: Putin puts fear of God in New World Order

Why is the whole Western foreign policy establishment so afraid of Putin?

if the west is afraid of putin, why do western powers continue to sell russia military equipment & why do western banks lend russia money?

an honest question.

March 22nd, 2014, 11:55 pm

 

omen said:

29. Amir in Tel Aviv said: I’m amused by people who claim that this is not sectarian.

you’re amused & empty of content.

March 22nd, 2014, 11:59 pm

 

ghufran said:

Egypt was added to Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon in the list of Arab countries that opposed the GCC’s proposal to allow the NC to represent Syria at the Arab League. This effectively killed the proposal. Yabroud loss led to the influx of terrorists inside Lebanon and to the attack in Northern Latakia.
In Lebanon, the national army is under attack by the same type of people who are killing Egyptian soldiers despite the fact that the army in Lebanon is not dominated by Shia and it is overwhelmingly Sunni in Egypt’s case. The point is that Islamist terrorism is a disease that is not just directed against Shia, anywhere you see Wahhabi Muslims you will find Islamist terrorism, it is a fascist movement with KSA religious establishment being the brain and poor Sunni Muslims being the tools. This evil ideology must be confronted and defeated, and the only people who can do the job are the Muslims themselves especially Sunni Muslims who have the most to lose if the terrorists take hold of Muslim communities and countries.

March 23rd, 2014, 12:07 am

 

omen said:

53. ghufran

egypt & algeria are under russian influence, the saudi official replacing bandar is restoring ties to the regime & you omit or ignore iranian sponsorship of both sunni & shia terrorism.

March 23rd, 2014, 12:23 am

 
 
 

mjabali said:

Turkey is helping Nusra and co. attack Kassab in Northern Lattakia. Reports (not confirmed) speak of direct Turkish participation in the fight.

Is this a reaction of the Turks to the threats by ISIS to destroy the tomb of the Turk’s grandfather (Sulayman Shah) that is located within the Syrian lands?

Turkey is an accomplice in killing Syrians again.

March 23rd, 2014, 9:07 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Peasants

Others have mentioned how the peasants have held power and are fighting tooth and nail to hold onto it.

In any society the rulers should be those who are fit to rule. Once a Shaykh spoke, using the example of the body, about how the head should rule and not the foot. Meaning that now we have people ruling our countries who shouldn’t be, who aren’t fit to rule.

Saudi Arabia

We have the same problem in Saudi. The desert nomads have become monarchs and have ruled since the British helped them to power.

The vast majority of muslims around the world follow traditional Islam which has reached us from heart to heart, hand to hand (oath, Ijazah etc).

The Saudi Islam is a different strand of which we see some of the fruits before us (Al Qaeda, ISIS etc).

I’m not a fan of Harun Yahya but he wrote something about this issue many years ago of which I’ll select some parts:

The Bedouin Character in the Qur’an

In the period of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), there existed two basic social structures in Arabia. City-dwellers and Bedouins (desert Arabs). A sophisticated culture prevailed in Arab towns.
[…]
Desert Arabs, on the other hand, were the nomad tribes living in the desert who had a very crude culture. Utterly unaware of arts and literature, most of them developed an unrefined character.
[…]
However, as Islam spread to the rest of the peninsula, all the tribes in Arabia embraced it. Among these tribes were also desert Arabs, who were somehow problematic: their cultural background prevented some of them from grasping the profundity and noble spirit of Islam. Of this God states the following in a verse:

The desert Arabs are the worst in disbelief and hypocrisy, and more fitted to be ignorant of the limits which God has sent down to His Messenger. But God is Knowing, Wise. (Qur’an, 7:97)

Some among the desert Arabs who were “worst in disbelief and hypocrisy” and prone to disobey God’s commands, became a part of the Islamic community in the Prophet’s (pbuh) time. But in subsequent periods, due to erroneous interpretations and attitudes, some of them have given rise to bodies incompatible with the moral values of Islam.

The sect called “Kharijis” that emerged among the Bedouins was an example. The most distinctive trait of this perverse sect (which was called “Kharijis”, the “rebels”, because they greatly deviated from Sunni practices), was their wild and fanatical nature. The “Kharijis”, who had little understanding of the essence of Islam or of the virtues and the values of the Qur’an, waged war against all other Muslims basing this war on a few Qur’anic verses about which they made distorted interpretations. Furthermore, they carried out “acts of terrorism”. Hazrat Ali (ra), who was one of the closest companions of the Prophet (pbuh) and was described as the “gate of the city of knowledge”, was assassinated by a Kharijite.
[…]
In other words, just as the Crusaders distorted and misinterpreted Christianity as a teaching of brutality, some perverted groups emerging in the Islamic world misinterpreted Islam and resorted to brutality. What is common to these sects and the Crusaders was their ignorant, unrefined and uncultivated nature, lacking a true understanding of their religion. The violence they resorted to resulted from this lack of understanding, rather than from the religion they claimed to espouse.

http://www.harunyahya.com/en/Books/735/islam-denounces-terrorism/chapter/1654

March 23rd, 2014, 9:11 am

 

ALAN said:

Access to the Turkish battle of Kasab is an open declaration of war on Syria!
All these aggressive forces still waiting for Putin‘s operational response!
http://rt.com/news/syrian-jet-down-turkey-681/

March 23rd, 2014, 9:12 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Turkey will feel every right to ‘defend the tomb’. Iran will understand (ie ‘defending Sayeda Zaynab (ra) shrine’).

March 23rd, 2014, 9:17 am

 

ALAN said:

NATO did it
Syria is in play– West wants war against Russia in many fronts!

Turkey is complicit as well, giving safe haven to the al-qaeda militants over the Syrian border in Turkey. The militants have been getting pushed back and routed of late by the Syrian army so taking down a Syrian fighter jet is supposed to buoy and bolster their morale. The loss of one jet will not change the facts on the ground, which of late, haven’t been going their way.

March 23rd, 2014, 9:23 am

 

Observer said:

More interesting reading on how Putin is faring with sanctions.

The Moscow stock exchange fell 23% and the Ruble to all time low against the dollar.

One sanctioned official sold his holdings the day before sanctions to another person.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303802104579452751446729822

March 23rd, 2014, 9:32 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Long Live TURKEY and His Excellency PM Erdogan and the AKP!!

Woohoooo!

The 47th ‏@THE_47th ·1 hr
Al Manar is reporting that Turkish forces downed Assad’s jet. Then it is official (Al Manar is Hizbollah’s TV)

Aboud Dandachi ‏@AboudDandachi ·1 hr
@THE_47th THANK YOU TURKEY! God bless the mighty and professional Turkish armed forces who are a real army

https://twitter.com/AboudDandachi/status/447707720162877441

March 23rd, 2014, 9:36 am

 

Tara said:

تركيا تسقط طائرة حربية سورية قبالة ساحل اللاذقية

One criminal pilot and one regime’s plane down. Long live Erdogan, He probably saved a thousand lives.

March 23rd, 2014, 9:43 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Alan

Mr Putin’s busy intervening in Ukraine to protest Turkish intervention in Syria. I mean Russian armoured vehicles stormed a Ukrainian base just yesterday.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:10 am

 

apple_mini said:

It is clear SAA is fighting multiple fronts against the west, its puppets and medieval savages combined.

The fallout of aggression from Turkish aggression is yet to know. SAA needs to be subtle and sophisticated.

Erdogan seems to use this to send some rush to his radical supporters. In reality, he has become the nemesis to progressive society and intellectual in Turkey. Whether he can be defeated is unknown. Turkey has not progressed enough to vehemently reject Erdogan and his gangsters.

Traitors of Syria will not be forgiven, regardless where they are residing.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:13 am

 

Tara said:

Yes, we will find you one person at a time.

And I am a big believer of capital punishment..after a fair trial.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:24 am

 

ghufran said:

Erdugang needs a victory of any sort to boost his image and improve his stance politically especially before critical elections. We may never know if the pilot, who ejected to safety, did indeed violate Turkey’s air space but his jet fell and crashed inside Syria. There are reports of shelling of targets inside Turkey and other reports of direct involvement of the Turkish army in the fight around Kasab. This is a delicate situation with potential serious consequences if further escalation takes place.
Erdugang is itching for a fight for domestic reasons and Assad will be weakened if he does not respond or if he does not push the rebels back, I think he will choose the second approach, his eyes are on the target and he sees Erdugang and Israel as distractions and potential traps, I doubt he will directly respond.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:33 am

 

omen said:

63. Uzair8 said: Long Live TURKEY and His Excellency PM Erdogan and the AKP!!

Woohoooo!

The 47th ‏@THE_47th ·1 hr
Al Manar is reporting that Turkish forces downed Assad’s jet. Then it is official (Al Manar is Hizbollah’s TV)

had a horrible thought that’s likely to get me thrashed but i need to say it anyways.

of course this is wonderful news, that goes without saying. this will undoubtedly save lives as mentioned…but erdogan reelection is in 7 days – march 30. coincidence?

this is the conclusion i would reach if this were american politics.

erdogan is said to be favored to win but did he want something spectacular to hedge his bets? certainly, this story will put the furor raised over blocking twitter on the back burner.

disturbing when you consider the ramifications. erdogan willing to employ minimum military might to save syrian lives only when it serves personal political benefit.

will he do more once he’s secured his seat? is the bigger question.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:43 am

 

Uzair8 said:

It seems the Ottomans have seen enough and finally decided to help/intervene…from their tombs…

LOL

March 23rd, 2014, 10:44 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Omen

Beggars can’t be choosers.

Of course I’m gonna exaggerate (spin) any ‘good news’ boosting the Rev’n side and hope to undermine the Regime side as much as possible, for whom it’s ‘bad news’.

Anything that stretches the resources and distracts from their ongoing campaigns is welcome. They can’t ignore the move on Lattakia.

The Rev’n side must try to dictate the battles, the ‘where’ and ‘how’ instead of allowing the regime to focus on and implement plans (battles) of its own choosing.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:55 am

 

omen said:

there were reports of regime jets bombing inside lebanon before this. is assad allowed to get away with that too?

anybody else doing so would be denounced & called ghufran’s favorite word: a THUG. but since it’s only bashar, yet another violation of international norm gets written off as business as usual.

March 23rd, 2014, 11:06 am

 

Syrialover said:

Powerful tweets:

– Syria today is like a shrinking blanket for Assad. If he covers his head his feet will go cold.

– Three years ago Assad’s army was killing protesters in cold blood. Now he can’t even appear in public without Hezbullah protecting him.

From Maysaloon – https://twitter.com/Maysaloon

March 23rd, 2014, 12:56 pm

 

mjabali said:

Uzair…

You too entered the peasants discourse…do you know what you are talking about?

I read what you posted…It seems you are on a different planet from us Syrians discussing Syria here….

go play somewhere else…also please take with you the paid propagandist that are also trying to distract us from the real story where Syria is getting attacked with the help of Turkey….

March 23rd, 2014, 1:07 pm

 

Tara said:

Congrats to the Syrian people the liberation of Shwehen mountain to the west of Aleppo. One victory at a time.

March 23rd, 2014, 1:14 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

The Turkmen of Syria had organized themselves in ethnically based parties…they met few times in Turkey…and the Turkemen of Northern Lattakia asked to join Turkey, not too long ago (REad about this in All4Syria)..the question is are you, since you are ethnically a Turk what do you think of all of that?

March 23rd, 2014, 1:18 pm

 

Syrialover said:

A sample of Assad’s vicious forces he can’t even control:

National defense forces: abuse in the name of patriotism http://raseef22.com/News-Detail/910/National-Defense-Forces-Abuse-In-the-Name-of-Patriotism

Confessions of an Assad ‘Shabiha’ loyalist: how I raped and killed for £300 a month http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9400570/Confessions-of-an-Assad-Shabiha-loyalist-how-I-raped-and-killed-for-300-a-month.html

8,000 foreign Shiite fighters in Syria for Assad
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/8000-foreign-Shiite-fighters-in-Syria-fighting-for-Assad-new-study-says-345769

March 23rd, 2014, 1:21 pm

 

ghufran said:

Rebel chief for western and mid Syria is hinting that rebels may not be able to sustain the fight in Kasab:

محافظة اللاذقية – المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان:: أصدر قائد الجبهة الغربية والوسطى بياناً في شريط مصور وصل إلى المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان نسخة منه قال فيه: “إن قائد الجبهة الغربية والوسطى، يبين لأهله في سوريا بشكل عام وفي الساحل وحماه بشكل خاص، بأن كافة الدول الشقيقة والصديقة خذلتنا ولم تقدم إلا الشيء اليسير اليسير مما وعدت به، ولذلك نحن ندفع الدماء مقابل السلاح”، وأضاف قائد الجبهة بالقول: ” وما يحزنني أكثر بأن بعض المسؤولين عن الثورة السورية هم متوافقون معهم، ويعملون على شق الصف السياسي والعسكري، ومازالت المعارك لليوم الثالث على التوالي في الساحل، ولم يصل شيء سوى الاتصالات التي تعودنا على سماعها” وختم البيان بالقول: ” لذا أحمل كافة المسؤولين عن الثورة السورية المسؤولية، في حال توقف المعارك في الساحل، نتيجة عدم تقديم الدعم العسكري واللوجستي للساحل وبقية المحافظات”.
For now, the fight is still raging on with conflicting reports on how close to Kasab rebels got, it seems that at one point they got inside the city and entered an Armenian church but some were forced out and others are now surrounded. Rebels also lost Al-Sakhra strategic point after controlling it for less than 48 hours. Two factors will be essential here:
1. A deeper Turkish involvement: unlikely unless the army goes on the offense and tries to secure the whole area near Turkey.
2. A major change in army’s strategy in favor of ending rebels presence in Northern Latakia: over due and has strong public support but requires a lot of resources, support from Iran and Russia to shield Syria from a likely Turkish response.

I see no reason how this new adventure will be different from the previous ones, what I do not see is a strong response to the terrorist movements in northern Latakia, there is very little presence for FSA and most civilians have already left.

March 23rd, 2014, 1:38 pm

 

Tara said:

Mjabali.

I am not ethnically anything. The genetic pools are all mixed proven by scientific experiment and no one can claim any pure ethnicity. I am Syria Arab American who identifies with the well being of the Syrians, the Arabs, and the America people. My genetic lineage concerns me NOT. My mother is not an Arab and yet she considers herself more Arab than anyone. It is who you identify with, those who you share history, culture, and aspiration with.

I am for people’s right of self-determination. And I am for the underdog and the downtrodden. Those are my people no matter what their ethnicity is.

I read what was posted in all 4 Syria and I have no problem if that what they want in a democratic free Syria.

March 23rd, 2014, 1:39 pm

 

Syrialover said:

Here’s a typical Shabiha sponsored by Assad and unleashed on Syrians – brain and body fuelled by steroids, no longer human https://twitter.com/THE_47th/status/447722932899692544/photo/

March 23rd, 2014, 1:42 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

Mr Mjabali

My point was reasonable and justified. I don’t need permission from anyone to post it. The point was one I made online about a decade ago to salafi types and now was an opportunity to share it again. At the time one or two took issue with it but another corrected them and confirmed that the Quran indeed talks about the desert arabs and their ignorance. The people of Najd (Najdis) have power in that land (Saudi) and we were warned in prophecy that the horns of the devil will rise from that region (Najd) which indeed they did a century or so ago.

I thought you’d have welcomed the post and the points about Saudi.

Anyway, my main purpose was to bring to people’s attention the doctrine coming out of Saudi and it’s root causes.

March 23rd, 2014, 1:44 pm

 

Syrialover said:

TARA #79 Very true. MJABALI and others who hold on to their and others “differences” might get a surprise if they took a DNA ancestry test (now widely available for a few hundred dollars).

And thank you for posting that excellent background article in #16 on Assad’s shadowy and sinister cousin Atef Najib, the man who ignited the revolution.

He’s another hideous Assad regime freak creation. He should feature in the future museum of dictatorship along with that Shabiha I linked a picture of in #80.

March 23rd, 2014, 2:00 pm

 

ALAN said:

عزيـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــر
please tell me, greet you when the sects of Islam are in bloody conflicts?

March 23rd, 2014, 2:33 pm

 

Syrialover said:

Want relief from all the shallow over-processed armchair junk on Syria?

You now have some authentic insider observations and insights from people who have been living what’s happening in Syria and KNOW they are talking about:

1. The article by Aboud Dandachi on his family’s involvement and loss in the revolution, posted by HOPEFUL in #35

2. The exposure of the error in calling the Syrian conflict “sectarian” by Ali Mustafa (journalist killed reporting on the conflict) and Yassin al-haj Saleh (respected longterm dissident whose wife has been captured and disappeared). Posted by OMEN in #12 and #14.

Thanks guys. Please keep it coming.

Now, if only the self-appointed experts, advisers and ego-driven opportunists clogging the airwaves with their third-hand, biased “knowledge” of Syria would shut up and read that stuff!

March 23rd, 2014, 2:35 pm

 

Syria – Au Revoir, Barbarian (But Not Today, Not Yet) | BackChannels said:

[…] Middle-East’s Sectarian Balance Shifts as Syrian Uprising Enters Fourth Year — by Jawad Anwar Qu… – 3/20/2014. […]

March 23rd, 2014, 2:38 pm

 

ghufran said:

This is a video posted in aksalser shortly after rebels took control of Kasab border crossing, regime sources said that the army took it back but has not provided any evidence of that:

SOHR confirmed that rebels lost point 45 and Al-samra village:
محافظة اللاذقية – المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان:: استعادت القوات النظامية والمسلحين الموالين لها، سيطرتها بشكل كامل على المرصد 45 وعلى قرية السمرا بعد اشتباكات مع الكتائب الإسلامية المقاتلة وجبهة النصرة،

There are news that Hilal al-asad died today, no details, I doubt that he was killed in battle if the news is true, either way, Hilal is irrelevant but the shelling of residential areas in Latakia is far more significant:
انباء عن استشهاد عدد من المدنيين و اصابة اخرين بجروح خطرة تم نقلهم مباشرة الى مستشفيات المدينة جراء سقوط صاروخين على مدينة اللاذقية الاول في شارع 8 اذار و الثاني في ساحة الشيخاضر وهما من أكثر الاماكن حيويةً
و تواجداً للمدنيين في مدينة اللاذقية
Terrorists shelled Latakia’s center with 2 rockets killing and wounding civilians, similar attacks on civilians were reported in Damascus today.

March 23rd, 2014, 2:42 pm

 

ALAN said:

…………. The United States showed its frustration with the war it began, but cannot win, by just breaking diplomatic relations with Syria, a low IQ act that is totally counter-productive and often indicates war is imminent.
More disturbingly, Israel launched another attack on Syria last week after one of its patrols likely hit an old landmine. Israel and its US supporters are determined to crush the Assad regimes as the first step in overthrowing Iran.
Given the failure of the anti-Assad rent-a-jihadis, Israel may soon intervene to destroy Assad’s air force and armored formations. Israel is getting ready to massively attack Hezbullah in Lebanon in yet another attempt to eradicate the Shia resistance movement.
The US almost openly entered Syria’s war last fall until Russia’s deft diplomacy pulled the rug out from beneath Washington’s feet. But powerful factions in the US are still urging air and naval attacks on Syria.
Ukraine and Crimea temporarily distracted the US. The cautious Obama administration seeks to avoid conflict, but America’s pro-Israel neocons and Republican hawks are pushing hard for war – and mid-term elections come this fall.
http://ericmargolis.com/2014/03/war-in-syria-set-to-intensify/
but the winds do not crave ships.
U.S. will pay dearly!

March 23rd, 2014, 2:45 pm

 
 

ALAN said:

Obama Plans to Annex One-Third Of Iraq Using U.S. CIA al-Qaeda: To Launch Further Attacks Against Syria From Iraq Syrian Border.
http://politicalvelcraft.org/2014/03/21/obama-plans-to-annex-one-third-of-iraq-using-u-s-cia-al-qaeda-to-launch-further-attacks-against-syria-from-iraq-syrian-border/

March 23rd, 2014, 2:48 pm

 

ALAN said:

==============
http://youtu.be/JileiLiXzr4
Obama! Are you hurry?
==============

March 23rd, 2014, 3:11 pm

 

ALAN said:

From Syria to Crimea – Turkey Pursues One Damning Foreign Adventure After Another
http://journal-neo.org/2014/03/23/turmoil-in-turkey-and-washington-s-short-leash/

March 23rd, 2014, 3:26 pm

 

Tara said:

Hilal al Assad, the master shabeeh was delivered to God in Kassab fight. Who is next?

March 23rd, 2014, 3:57 pm

 

habib said:

Lol, Yabrud just fell, and the Salaafist project is in shambles, yet THIS is the news we get here? The same old propaganda vomit from three years ago?

The Salafists must be desperate. Expect more desperate propaganda.

March 23rd, 2014, 4:17 pm

 

Tara said:

Mjabali :

You denied the existence of المربع الأمني. It doesn’ exist. Or does it?

Here is a mention of it:

مقتل هلال الأسد قائد “الدفاع الوطني” في اللاذقية
الأحد 22 جمادي الأول 1435هـ – 23 مارس 2014م

العربية.نت
أكدت وسائل إعلام موالية للنظام السوري، ومنها التلفزيون السوري، مقتل هلال الأسد، قائد جيش الدفاع الوطني التابع للنظام السوري في ريف اللاذقية.
وتشير المعلومات الأولية إلى أن هلال الأسد وهو ابن عم الرئيس السوري قتل في معارك بريف اللاذقية مع الجيش الحر في منطقة كسب الحدودية مع تركيا.
وتحدثت مصادر إعلامية أخرى عن مقتل هلال الأسد خلال عملية لمقاتلي المعارضة استهدفوا من خلالها المربع الأمني في اللاذقية والمشروع السابع، حيث يقيم مقربون من عائلة الأسد وقيادات الشبيحة .

It is difficult to believe that Hilal Al Assad was fighting. Cowards don’t fight. Probably, he was killed when Lattakia was shelled and they kept it a secret until now to “dignify” his death.

March 23rd, 2014, 4:19 pm

 

Tara said:

Habib,

This is more “disparate” propaganda just for you. Enjoy:

النظام يفقد السيطرة ويتهاوى أمام ضربات الثوار على امتداد البلاد
– POSTED ON 2014/03/23
POSTED IN: أخبار محلية

http://all4syria.info/Archive/138521

سراج-

رد الجيش الحر على محاولات النظام وميليشيا حالش ومرتزقة العراق احتلال يبرود وإحكام السيطرة على القلمون، بإطلاق معارك، من جنوب سوريا الى الشمال، إلى الساحل، وحماة وادلب في الوسط، لتكون هذه المعارك بمثابة ضربات استباقية، ونقل المعركة إلى مناطق النظام وخزانه التشبيحي.
في شرقي مدينة درعا، يواصل الثوار إحكام سيطرتهم على محيط حاجز صوامع الغلال، وحاجز (قصاد) بعد سيطرتهم قبل يومين على سجن درعا المركزي.
ويعتبر هذا المربع من أكبر معاقل قوات النظام وآخرها في هذه المنطقة التي تقع إلى الشرق من مدينة درعا.

ويؤكد الجيش الحر أن الطريق بات مفتوحاً الآن لتحرير المزيد من المناطق الاستراتيجية، وخاصة مبنى الجوية المحاصر والقريب من بلدة النعيمة.

في حلب، أعلن الجيش الحر السيطرة على جبل شويحنة بريفها الشمالي، تزامناً مع تحرير مناطق استراتيجية في الليرمون، والشيخ نجار.

أهمية موقع جبل شويحنة الاستراتيجي تكمن في أنه إحدى النقاط التي كان يستهدف منها جيش النظام القرى والبلدات المحيطة به في ريف حلب الشمالي، وكونه خط دفاع رئيس عن مدفعية جمعية الزهراء، التي تقصف قرى وبلدات الريف الحلبي، وتعد منطقة مرتفعة واستراتيجية تطل على مواقع حساسة لقوات النظام في حي جمعية الزهراء.
ترافق تحرير شويحنة مع تقدم الثوار في حي الليرمون، حيث سيطر الثوار على صالات جديدة في المنطقة التي تعد هي الأخرى هامة، لإطلالتها على دوار الليرمون والمخابرات الجوية أبرز معاقل قوات النظام في حلب، إلى ذلك، سيطر الثوار على منطقتي برج الحمام وبرج “السيريتل”.

March 23rd, 2014, 4:21 pm

 

ALAN said:

Russian President Vladimir Putin is standing up against West’s aggression aimed at completely destroying traditional nations and values and creating a New World Order global dictatorship

At least one country on the planet [Russia] has the balls to clearly say “F**k the US”

March 23rd, 2014, 4:29 pm

 

ghufran said:

People who are winning a war do not have to shell markets and residential areas with Grad missiles but that is exactly what terrorists in northern Latakia have done, they chose a peak hour when people were shopping, eating out or simply walking around and hit Hanano street and another area killing 7 civilians and wounding 20 (in a preliminary report). For the idiots among you who do not know Latakia and the area that was hit, but still have the nerve to reach “conclusions” , most merchants there are Sunni Syrians from families that lived in Latakia for centuries.
Every time I see a post about the freedom fighters who want to free Syrians by killing them I am reminded that it is time to use the bathroom and honor those fighters !!

March 23rd, 2014, 4:41 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

المربع الامني is a fabrication. Hilal al-Assad died near Kassab…today and few minutes ago rockets hit a Sunni area in Lattakia…many dead…what do you have to say for those who fired it?

Also before I forget…didn’t the sectarian liar you quoted said that Hilal al-Assad is outside Syria?

رسيلك على شي كذبة

March 23rd, 2014, 4:52 pm

 

Tara said:

Mjabali,

What do I tell them?

I tell the victims what you always told the victims of bombarding the breadlines. Dialogue is the way out. Go and negotiate with the rebel!

How do you like that?
—-

And BTW, I now hear that Batta executed Hilal and blamed it in the rebels to tell his sect that Assad’s own family is paying the price too, not only their children.

March 23rd, 2014, 5:05 pm

 

Syrian said:

mjabali on March 23, 2014 at 4:52 pm

“Also before I forget…didn’t the sectarian liar you quoted said that Hilal al-Assad is outside Syria?

رسيلك على شي كذبة”

Tara on March 20, 2014 at 8:09 pm

هلال عم يجهّز جيش الدفاع الوطني للانقضاض على بيوتكون لسرقتها باللحظة اللي رح تهربوا منها كما فعل في حمص..”

March 23rd, 2014, 6:25 pm

 

Observer said:

I suggest that Mjabali send a sample of his tissue to National Geographic.

A swab of the cheek sent to them will be used via Single Nucleotide Polymorphism analysis that can screen 500 000 genetic variations at a time can determine the origin of the people if he is so interested. It costs $ 100

My wife thought she was Irish when it was revealed that she was from Scandinavia as her genetic testing proved the origin. It meant that Vikings were her ancestors. That is why she runs the household by the way.

Now my dear Tara the problem is that some continue to identify themselves according to a legendary imaginary figure called Ali and his brood who were fighting some 1400 years ago against another group of pretenders to the Khilafa. They have constructed a narrative with which their very identity and thought processes have remained locked in a time wrap and in a single narrative and historical reference. When facts do not fit the reality of course, we get a lesson in history. So here we have an example of someone incapable of progress and evolution who thinks that because some of our ancestors were Kurds or Turks or Cherkess or whatever we no longer have any new perspective or any new identity or any new nationalism. We have been pigeon holed forever. But then again it is the condition for someone who thinks that Ali is God and that Muhammad is the spirit and Salman the door and the moon is his incarnation to remain locked in one world view and one set of categorizing mind set.

After all this Ali was nothing more than a sore loser who was outwitted by the other side and who was only interested in power. Hence he and his entire followers have apostates the Khawarij for example and therefore were the first Takfiris on earth. They also have used the concept of victimhood and martyrdom to carry out some of the first suicide bombings in Lebanon and did so effectively but now the southern part of Beirut is where the chicken have come home to roost.

As for the death of Hilal one gone and more on the way internally or externally it does not matter. Remember that Michael Corleone killed his own brother for crossing the line and killed his brother in law as well. Sounds familiar?

My questions remain
1. Will he attend the funeral?
2. Will he be buried next to his uncle?
3. Will there be mass revenge in Latakia?
4. Will there be mass bombing in Aleppo?
5. Will he use some chemical weapons?

Today there has been clashes in the streets of Beirut; my friend Joe tells me that return to the old days of street fighting are gone and I keep telling him he is delusional. So cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war.

I am delighted that so far this year the Moscow stock exchange is down 21% and that Putin is making conciliatory gestures. It is time to buy the P/E ratio of the Moscow stock exchange is below 7 which means that if it rebounds it usually will do so at a pace of 20% a year for five years. Any investors from the Makhlouf family willing to risk it in Moscow??

Now is the time to squeeze him further. Let us see if Obama got a spine transplant or he is the “community organizer” accidental president.

I love it and I love the posts by regime supporter. He is true Syrian Regime Operative: he is willing to fight Israel with the last Lebanese and the US with the last Russian but hey he went to good school.

As for Ghufran gee wiz we are still hearing broad condemnation of everybody. I guess the world view is stuck in 1982.

Cheers.

March 23rd, 2014, 6:34 pm

 

Tara said:

Mjabali,

Hehe, See what Syrian posted. Please offer me an apology!

Thanks Syrian.
—-
And on a happy note, علي الكيالي , the perpetrator of Houla crime was also delivered to God today as per JL. Apple mini visited Houla’s crime scene shortly thereafter and told us it was “hardly a massacre”. Apple- Mini , are you related to علي الكيالي؟ . He gave you an access to Houla the same day. Are you morning ? Did his death remind you with the cockroaches you told us about? Was he crushed like one? You knew it was coming Didn’t you not? Are you thinking to jump ship?

March 23rd, 2014, 7:27 pm

 

norman said:

the writer said that the uprising was not sectarian, I still remember from the first few days the slogans, NO IRAN NO HEZBOLLAH WE WANT PEOPLE WHO FEAR ALLAH, that is a cry to get rid or the Alawat and other minorities in Syria and beside sectarian, it is racist, The government responded as one secular government lead by the Baath party and the Army of all sects . President Assad would not have lasted few weeks as they expected if it was not for the Secular Syrians, Sunni, Alawat, Druze, Kurds and Christians . the intention of the Arab country was always a sectarian war in Syria to destroy Syria.

March 23rd, 2014, 7:28 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

I hope this isn’t true. Posted on Yalla Souriya a short time ago:

#Syria #Lattakia –

Reports and forecasts of the aftershocks of the killing of Lattakia NDF commander and Assad cousin Hilal al-Assad.

@RamiAlLolah
Didn’t I tell you a massacre will happen? Hilal’s NDF militia are now surrounding Soliaba and Tabyat neighborhoods in #Latakia city. #Syria

@al_7aleem
When Assef Shawkat was killed Assad massacred Houla. NDF troops are currently surrounding Sunni districts of Latakia to avenge Hilal alAssad

The premonitions of @AboudDandachi coming to life. Assad security forces currently clashing with uncontrollable Alawite militias in Latakia.

http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/syria-lattakia-reports-and-forecasts-of-the-aftershocks/

March 23rd, 2014, 7:32 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

Hope this is true. Posted on Yalla Souriya a short time ago:

4 of Assad families killed in Latakia today

Hilal Al Assad
Moeen Al Assad
Diya Al Assad
Haydar Al Assad

-هلال الاسد 2-مدين الاسد 3-ضياء الاسد 4-حيدر الاسد

http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/4-of-assad-families-killed-in-latakia-today/

March 23rd, 2014, 7:34 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

What’s happening in Lattakia?

Rami ‏@RamiAlLolah ·1 hr
HUUGE! #BreakingNews #Russia|n warships reportedly leaving #Tartus naval facility towards unknown destination.. #Syria

Rami ‏@RamiAlLolah ·2 hrs
Huge explosion rocks #Latakia city again now.. #Syria

Rami ‏@RamiAlLolah ·2 hrs
Pro #Assad pages claim the sounds of screams and noise all over #Latakia city is because of #BercelonaVsRealmadrid football match.. #Syria

Found the above on Leila Homsi’s twitter line

https://twitter.com/noneinhere

I went there looking for her tweet:

Leila Homsi ☪ ♥ † ‏@noneinhere ·2 hrs
Hilal #Assad who just died was the guy who kidnapped and raped a 18-yo girl and forced her dad to listen on the phone then returned her body

March 23rd, 2014, 7:51 pm

 

SYRIAN HAMSTER said:

Seems that suleiman al assad, one of hilal al assad litter is very angry. it was seen firing its ak47 randomly at residential buildings in Lattakia. When asked, a close confident explained:

“no way suleiman will accept the two goats sent by his cousin, its daddy was worth two cows and a bull, at minimum”

March 23rd, 2014, 8:13 pm

 

omen said:

interesting skirt. it looks like half a rorschach test but there is nothing ambiguous about this message.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjUP-6HCcAAMtVE.jpg

March 23rd, 2014, 8:54 pm

 

sami said:

Yes this regime is so secular that it does not use shia militiamen that are promised zawaj al-mout3a, except the opposite is true…

https://twitter.com/AlFarisGhazi/status/447884415322968065

I have never celebrated the death of anyone, but I would be lying that the filth responsible for the Bayda and Banyas massacres was not welcomed news.

To hell for Ali Kayali and a special hell for the Hilal Asshat. Hopefully more Assad’s will join these two very soon.

March 23rd, 2014, 9:08 pm

 

sami said:

I met someone that was imprisoned in Assads dungeon for seven months.

What struck me was her story about her determination and plan to steal the box of kleenex in her torturer/investigator office after her daily torture routine.

You might ask why would she risk her life for a box of kleenex as I did, her reply they did not provide us with anything and she and the other women in her cell needed it for their monthly period.

March 23rd, 2014, 9:22 pm

 

SYRIAN HAMSTER said:

Serious analysis…I mean the type of analysis you will not see in posts on this blog:

Assad’s Killing Industry and the Role of Intellectuals, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Translated by Nadine Saliba

Excerpts

What is new in terms of the number of torture victims is not that it is much worse than the worst estimates, but that the figure itself and the pictures of the victims denote an organized, systematic killing industry,………………

….

It is not a new development that this killing industry is complemented by a thriving industry of lies. Even before the revolution, we knew that the regime relies on two strategic agency-based complexes. The first complex consists of fear agencies (their Orwellian name is «security agencies») and its function is to prevent calling things by their name. The second complex consists of lie-fabricating agencies (their Orwellian name is the media) and its function is to call things by other than their name. Together, they separate Syrians from their actual living conditions and prevent them from naming and controlling them.

March 23rd, 2014, 9:48 pm

 

omen said:

74. mjabali said: go play somewhere else…also please take with you the paid propagandist that are also trying to distract us from the real story where Syria is getting attacked with the help of Turkey….

apologists get cranky when they sense the end is near.

no one more responsible for destroying syria than assad.

both the regime & iran are sending out mercs to commit atrocities in order to slander the opposition & give sunnis a bad name. why deny the obvious?

March 23rd, 2014, 10:11 pm

 

omen said:

46. ALAN said: Putin puts fear of God in New World Order
Why is the whole Western foreign policy establishment so afraid of Putin?

56. ALAN said:
pls read it

alan, you claim europe & us are afraid of russia – but i asked if this is so, why are major western powers arming putin?

you reply by pointing to links that fail to address this specific question.

cant you answer in your own words? it’s ok to admit you dont know.

March 23rd, 2014, 10:45 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

Still waiting to see where is this Security Square you, المدعو Syrian and the sectarian liar you quoted are talking about to justify the shelling of civilian areas.

You justified the shelling of Alawite civilian areas, right?

By the way: today Sunni fighters fired few rockets at Lattakia. These rockets hit Sunni and Christian areas. They killed civilians.

Still you can not provide a shred of evidence to the claims you posted here on this blog. Why don’t they check out what you post here?

You lied today when you claimed that Hilal al-Assad died in Lattakia…You should do better….

As for your friend Observacion, who lacks the courage to address me directly, tell him to go and play far away. Look at the sectarian trash he writes about Ali over and over. Read his text today and laugh please..when he makes sense come and wake me up……خخخخخخخخخخخ
عندما تجادل الاحمق او الافكار الحمقاء فإنك تعطيها وزنا….

March 23rd, 2014, 11:25 pm

 

Mjabali said:

It is great the Omen confessed to be a paid propagandist. It was obvious. I wish Omen could do a better job reading a little bit more about Syria.

Omen is trying, again, to drag me to a conversation to divert from the real topic, which is: Why to bomb civilian areas in Lattakia? Or who are those responsible into disturbing the peace in the Coastal areas? Or what is the role of Turkey in what is going on now in Northern Lattakia? Or what is the history of the area where they are fighting?

Paid propagandists go play somewhere else…

March 23rd, 2014, 11:30 pm

 

omen said:

114. please, mjabali, you’re more of a paid stooge than i am. who is going to pay me? nobody supports the opposition. not obama, not europe, not the saudis. what little support they do get is strung along to create a balance of power only enough to ensure the war is prolonged and both sides continue to get killed.

ask yourself who benefits when both sides are killed?

all the paid propagandists are working to keep assad in power. just look at western broadcast media. none of them willing to cover regime atrocities, especially the daily grotesque after effects of barrel bombings which goes unremarked upon. even when they cover refugee crisis, media goes out of its way to avoid faluting assad.

Omen is trying, again, to drag me to a conversation

um, you referenced me first. not the other way around.

March 23rd, 2014, 11:54 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Remember that civilians in cities other than Latakia are dying also. Terrorists hit Damascus and killed a girl and wounded 2 dozens:
استشهدت طالبة وأصيب 25 آخرون بينهم 22 طالبا وطالبة اليوم جراء اعتداء إرهابي بقذائف الهاون سقطت في محيط وزارة التعليم العالي بدمشق.
وقال مصدر طبي في مشفى المواساة إنه وصل المشفى جثمان طالبة و25 مصابا بينهم 22 طالبا وطالبة وثلاثة موظفين أصيبوا بشظايا قذائف هاون سقطت بالقرب من وزارة التعليم العالي.
وكان مصدر في قيادة الشرطة أفاد بأن ثلاث قذائف هاون سقطت في محيط وزارة التعليم العالي بعد ظهر اليوم.
وأشار أنس عبد الرحيم غزال طالب في المعهد الطبي زميل الطالبة الشهيدة وداد البرزاوي الذي نجا من الاعتداء الإرهابي إلى أنهم كانوا في الطريق مع عشرات الطلاب عندما سقطت القذائف وقال وهو مازال تحت تأثير الصدمة “لن يخيفونا مهما فعلوا” في حين قالت سلام أبوغاوي سنة ثانية في كلية الهندسة المدنية وأصيبت بشظايا في قدميها إن “الإرهابيين يريدون تدمير مستقبلنا”.
Similar attacks were reported in Homs and Aleppo in recent days.
The government is blamed when it bombs rebel areas and kills civilians, it also gets blamed for failing to protect civilians in areas under its control. One myth is the assumption that the minute Assad resigns or is removed those attacks will stop and Islamist thugs will start to drink wine, show respect for minorities and allow their women to appear in public without a head cover, the truth is that assad’s departure as desirable as it is will not be enough to end the war, there will be no peace in Syria if thugs are allowed to carry arms and call the shots, nobody on the rebels side gives a hoot about what jarba or any other opposition figure says, those thugs only listen to their local leaders and the criminals who feed them, try to please or negotiate with 1200 rebel groups and call me when you are done !!

March 24th, 2014, 12:07 am

 

omen said:

As for your friend Observacion, who lacks the courage to address me directly,

oh, but you were so brave to call me out by name. heh

114. Mjabali – this is evidence of how bankrupt your argument is – that your sole defense is dismiss critics as paid shills. how many years you gonna play that tired hand? is your argument so hallow, & unable to withstand scrutiny that you fault the pokers instead of the holes in your own argument?

March 24th, 2014, 12:08 am

 

ALAN said:

112. OMEN
If you are looking for the lights, you have a lot here who love the chatter!

March 24th, 2014, 12:46 am

 

apple_mini said:

This site has turned into a mad house. Those terrorists-wanna-be and terrorists-fail-to-be are putting up a freak show that we can only observe from demented patients.

Cheap thrills filled up the air while those junkies foaming over blatant lies. The whole menagerie is hyperventilating. We’d like to ask what they have been smoking.

I thought the delusional opposition would have stopped playing crying wolf game after so many failed “victories” in Qussair, Qualammon and who knows how many times in Damascus. This time, their militants are close to Tartus and Russians are fleeing. Oh my!

Yes, they always came back with more hallucination. They are probably the most dogged and inane “dissidents” and “activists” you would see on this planet. They are pretty impervious after some many illusory and laughable dross. Yes, they are indeed one of a kind, you gotta give them that.

Back to reality, any place can be used to launch mortar attack into Lattakia is not allowed to exist. So what is next? SAA and NDF will clear Lattakia from screaming terrorists, of course. You will see the regime consolidate the whole region from Lattakia down to Daraa. Aleppo is still too hot to wrestle back. Give ISIS more winking at before taking serious move in Aleppo. ISIS needs to be harassed in Raqqa in order to kick them back to Aleppo.

Reconciliation with the opposition seems to be mission impossible at this moment. We probably should eye more gains by SAA and give them more cheerleading.

March 24th, 2014, 12:52 am

 

Alan said:

Freedom for Texas.
Obama regime did not listen to the opinion of the freedom fighters or any other citizen of Texas, and , instead, opted for a series of dictatorial action against them (in fact , all Americans ) approving his right , Obama kill any citizen of Texas ( or anyone else ) , without charge or trial .
Obama regime has created a network of mass espionage to destroy the security and confidentiality of all Texans ( and , again, the rest of the world ) . This clearly proves that the freedom loving people of Texas have no other choice but to start an armed civil war against the totalitarian U.S. federal government.

March 24th, 2014, 1:13 am

 

Amir in Tel Aviv said:

Just for the record, and OFF topic. If you thought I support the Ukrainian revolt against the Russian influence, then you are wrong.
During WW2, the west Ukrainians were the worst, most savage Jews-haters. They gladly cooperated with the Nazis against the USSR. The first mass exterminations of Jews happened in the Ukraine, and by the west-Ukrainians.
Babi Yar is in Ukraine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

I have zero sympathy for them. I wish those Fascists, the west Ukrainians, eternal misery, suffering and agony.
.

March 24th, 2014, 1:29 am

 

ALAN said:

Jews constitute more than 65% of the Ukrainian politicians! They are heavily in Yanukovich’s government and the opposition! Landscape reflects the actual practice of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion! they turned the country into a failed state par excellence
http://translate.google.ru/translate?hl=ru&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fru-an.info%2Fnews_content_print.php%3Fid%3D2719

March 24th, 2014, 1:40 am

 

Hopeful said:

Here is the most likely scenario awaiting Kasab:

1. Many civilians will leave their homes and move to neighboring villages. Some will stay.
2. The rebels will move into some of the empty homes to settle in them.
3. The regime forces will try to push them out, but they will fail.
4. The rebels will start moving some of their family members (who are currently refugees inside and outside Syria) for moral support
5. The families will live with the rebels
6. The regime will start a campaign to “shell” the buildings where the rebels live, destroying the entire neighborhoods
7. More civilians who live nearby the rebel houses will move out, more rebels and families will replace them
8. The regime gets even madder and start dropping bombs and barrels from airplanes
9. The city is destroyed and most the civilians will move out
10. Finally, the regime will amass enough forces, get organized, move the guerrilla fighters to Kasab, and manage to reclaim the city.
11. The rebels will move out, get re-organized and ready to fight another day another place
12. The casualties will include rebels, regime forces, lots of civilians, and and entire city left in ruins.

Now I do not know about you, but I believe the regime’s strategy is insane, stupid, short-sighted and will continue to lead Syria into destruction, death and misery. The regime simply cannot win. Its hope that somehow the rebels will stop and the money will drain is a fantasy. There are thousands of groups involving thousands of rebel leaders, hundreds of thousands if not millions of fighters, thousands of willing financiers and arm dealers who will continue to fuel this cycle for years to come. There is no “central command” which can make this stop/end – not the SNC, not the FSA, not Qatar, not Turkey and not even the US. There is no stopping until the atmosphere and environment change, and this means the change of the regime, and the removal of Assad and his family. The sooner the Syrian government and regime supporters recognize that, the sooner Syria’s pain will come to an end (or at least a reversal of fortune).

I am still waiting for and hoping for a Valekyrie moment, where brave Syrian army commanders will recognize that the end of the country’s suffering is linked to the end of Assad. Even though Valekyrie failed in killing Hitler, I suspect that it hastened the fall of the nazi regime in ways that no one will ever know.

March 24th, 2014, 2:06 am

 

ALAN said:

123-
Please complete an assumed scenario for the period after the departure of Assad!Be honest!

March 24th, 2014, 2:18 am

 

Hopeful said:

#124 Alan

It is simple:

1. If you continue to insist on “Assad or burn the country”, then the country will be burned as evident from what happened over the past three years and continue to happen

2. If you (you being sane regime supporters) would like to explore how to put an end to this, you will find hundreds of willing partners on the opposition side (and Arab, neighboring and western countries) to help you put together a plan to bring order to the country. No one is saying it will be easy, but the alternative is bad for you and bad for Syria.

The reason there is no “scenario” after Assad is that no one on the regime side is willing to sit down and work on one (fear, intimidation, ideology, etc.). The “after Assad” scenario should not be planned WITHOUT regime supporters and sympathizers – we know what happened in Iraq when this occurred.

March 24th, 2014, 2:43 am

 

ALAN said:

It is simple? is it honest reply? simplifies the death for us? that is, you have instead all very simple? this again shows your bankruptcy!

March 24th, 2014, 3:05 am

 

omen said:

another way to interpret amir’s bemusement is because it indicates he himself views the conflict thru a sectarian lens. if it were his co-religionists being assailed in syria, he’d be all for intervention.

29. Amir in Tel Aviv said: I’m amused by people who claim that this is not sectarian.

March 24th, 2014, 4:08 am

 

omen said:

123. Hopeful – this was an interesting line that runs counter to other predictions of a 10 year war.

More than a hundred people are killed each day, and US intelligence officials expect the conflict to continue at this pace for at least another year before a settlement is reached.

March 24th, 2014, 4:21 am

 

omen said:

18. ALAN said: 112. OMEN If you are looking for the lights, you have a lot here who love the chatter!

but You are the one arguing the west is afraid of russia. i question this premise.

wont you at least concede it ODD the west is arming putin?

who in their right mind arms an enemy they’re supposed to be afraid of?

March 24th, 2014, 4:29 am

 

Hopeful said:

#126 Alan

First, can you please refrain from aggressive discussion and name calling?

Second, YES the equation is simple, and NO nothing is simple about death and destruction so please do not insert words in my mouth or twist my words in your attempt to discredit the messenger.

When the regime/government/army gave the “Assad or we burn the country” proposition, it is clear that many people chose the “burn the country” option. Unless you reach out with a different proposition, we are all on a path of “burning Syria”

March 24th, 2014, 4:35 am

 

omen said:

You might ask why would she risk her life for a box of kleenex as I did, her reply they did not provide us with anything and she and the other women in her cell needed it for their monthly period.

i was reading a vdc report. detainees were not allowed a shower. ever.

imagine going thru years without a shower.

119. apple_mini

enjoy the luxury of running water, apple.

March 24th, 2014, 4:42 am

 

apple_mini said:

A dramatic move in Egypt today: over 500 MB were sentenced to death penalty today by an Egyptian court.

That sounds like an all out war.

I am sure there are some Syrians among them. Obviously, they had never thought about wind of change could not always be propitious.

March 24th, 2014, 4:54 am

 

Tara said:

Amir,

Your ability of human emotions is shaped by who’s people granddaddies are and what the granddaddies did to the Jews 60 years ago. I think this is a real problem and I hope this is not prevalent in your country. It is like that your emotional development was arrested at a certain stage and never recovered.

Now do not run to your mommy and call me anti-Semite. I am not.

March 24th, 2014, 6:35 am

 

Tara said:

Mjabali,

Disappointing post. I thought you could do better. Syrian pinned you down that the link did not say Hilal al Assad was away as you claimed the link did.

You would have sounded much more credible if you offered the apology requested. Instead you wrote nonsense to distract.

Credible people apologized when they realize they make a mistake but hey, it’s Syria al Assas: who care about credibility?

March 24th, 2014, 6:43 am

 

Syrialover said:

HOPEFUL, thanks for the realistic and rational observations in #123.

March 24th, 2014, 7:17 am

 

sami said:

Maybe the sectarian fool writing about the wind of change be true to themselves and realize their own words Syria can be saved.

Sectarian snakes like it are what is bogging Syria down. Preaching about foreign jihadists while welcoming thugs from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and LA hoodlums and denying the massacres and destruction caused by its masters.

March 24th, 2014, 7:27 am

 

sami said:

Comparing a few mortars by rebels to the barrel bombs, SCUD s, and heavy artillary that the regime uses is to dilute the truth.

While both are reprehensible and wrong one cannot in good faith comapre them to each other. Both kill and maim but only one of them is done in such a manner that destroy not only whole neighborhoods but entire cities.

March 24th, 2014, 7:33 am

 

Syrialover said:

APPLE_MINI in #132 appears to think it’s exciting (“dramatic”) that the Sisi government in Egypt has just sentenced to death 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi for the crime of murdering one policemen and attacking property and people.

But I suspect Little Apple actually thinks it’s a laughably weak and small scale response by the Egyptian government compared with the industrial-scale slaughter of domestic opponents by the Assad regime.

Poor old Sisi still has a long way to go to and he’ll have to start burning Egypt big time to win Little Apple’s full applause and admiration.

March 24th, 2014, 7:35 am

 

Syrialover said:

The steroid look, an important mark of Assad’s supporters.

For example the son of the dead monster Hilal Assad and his gang:

https://twitter.com/Prince_Leo_1978/status/448001300488155137/photo/1

March 24th, 2014, 8:09 am

 

Syrialover said:

Thug steroid look, an important mark of Assad’s supporters.

For example the son of the dead monster Hilal Assad and his gang:

https://twitter.com/Prince_Leo_1978/status/448001300488155137/photo/1

March 24th, 2014, 8:11 am

 

Observer said:

See my dear Tara how it made my point?

First he said that I do not have the courage to address him. Personal attack that is irrelevant to the points or arguments I make.
Second, he sees the world exactly as I portrayed his world view: locked in a 1400 year old mythical story that in reality is a sorry state of power grabbing by contenders to the throne of Khilafa. I clearly show that Ali came out as a politician the loser. I clearly show that Mouaweah came out the winner and I clearly state that they are both power grabbing fools and dictators as they have lashed out at their opponents and apostates them and justify their killing. This 1400 year narrative has led to the yearly spectacle of the followers beating their heads and slashing their backs and lamenting the death of the brood.

I posted before, go ahead and propose a Khalifa candidate from the very house of the prophet and let us see if he wins the elections of the Muslim world and if so we will accept him. We have to continually suffer the 1400 year old injustice. But to resolve the issue of the injustice netted out on the house of Ali today would require a debate and an acceptance of the legitimacy of Ali which by the way the entire Muslim community recognizes as he is one of the four greatest Khilafa. So no point in beating a dead horse right? But to keep the population under the control of the politicians we now have a narrative that the house of Ali through his children is the source of legitimacy of the leader of Muslims. And of course if we were to bring this justice on earth today, the hold of the politicians on the population would end. If by some miracle we were to find and elect a suitable grand son or daughter of Ali to become Khalifa today, the whole narrative would collapse. Therefore, the need for the Mahdi who will come at the end of time to deliver justice. Therefore, we have an ideology that calls for justice, justifies the fighting agains the unjust, categorizes people as rightful and wrongful, and then goes on to torment us until this Mahdi comes to earth.

When I point out that Ali and his followers are politicians like all politicians and that despite his personality being of a sublime nature he failed in his political career I am accused of sectarianism.

As for the beliefs of all those fundamentalists and that includes the Shia and Sunni and Alawi and Druze and Christian and even secularist fundamentalist I remain amazed at the ability of such abracadabra concoction of bizarre views to remain alive and constitute a basis for excluding the other. I guess that is what happens with indoctrination.

In my work I have seen and examined and worked with every race, religion, ethnicity, and nationality you can imagine. They all suffer the same and hope the same and fear the same and when conditions are permissive conduct themselves with honor and decency and when conditions are oppressive conduct themselves deceptively. Many a time I had to help families deal with end of life issues and to this day every time it happens I have a gut wrenching experience. I guess those like hardly a massacre have lost their humanity especially when calls for the so called SAA to fight on are called upon and for dehumanizing the other to the point of becoming callous. But then again, the ideology of 1400 years of the “others” stealing the Khilafa and of betraying the faith has rendered these followers dehumanizers par excellence.

So I have decided that for someone to continue to remind us of hundreds of years of oppression as a lame excuse of even one year of vengeful retribution of his/her community is pointless. I guess some are locked in their 1400 battle good against evil and no matter what since we are on the wrong side of the debate we are no longer human and therefore killing and bombing and stealing and torturing and raping and ethnic cleansing is all justified. That is in my opinion the reason why the destruction of 2 million homes and the dispersion of 9 million people never comes up for debate for these are not legitimate entities in the eyes of the community of the Rightful Khalifa and of the Supreme Faqih.

I can tell you that the rest of the world looks at Syrians and clearly has nothing but contempt for a people that are so backward and brutal and the spectacle of the Arab League yearly fiasco and the Field Marshall without a battle Sisi bring nothing by utter disgust from the rest of the world.

March 24th, 2014, 9:14 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Abdel Bari Atwan:

Heating the northern front of the Syrian and the opening battle Coast Is it the beginning of a military resolution to the Syrian crisis:

http://t.co/Fh5Us1NXS4

March 24th, 2014, 9:23 am

 

Uzair8 said:

I wrote in recent weeks how the US/West may reverse the disengagement from the Middle East after Russia throwing it’s weight around in Ukraine. Russia in turn responds by threatening more assertiveness in Middle East:

Al-Monitor:

Vitaly Naumkin warns, however, that the United States can expect a more assertive Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Middle East, if the crisis over Ukraine and Crimea does not de-escalate.

“In Moscow, it is not considered a coincidence that it is now, when Russia has decided to bring Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into the Russian Federation, that President Barack Obama has announced the closing of Syria’s diplomatic missions in the United States,” writes Naumkin. “This is interpreted as a signal that the American administration is pursuing a tougher policy with respect to Damascus, and that Washington is very likely to move away from cooperation with Moscow in resolving the Syrian crisis.”

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/twitter-erdogan-ukraine-russia-syria-collaboration-tension.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+%5BEnglish%5D&utm_campaign=5834f22914-Week_in_Review_March_24_20143_22_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-5834f22914-93114785#

March 24th, 2014, 9:43 am

 

Uzair8 said:

A couple of comments today on Iran Military Forum on the same page by the same user:

The rats have finally taken the town..

I’m just wondering..How are the SAA trained to fight? We notice a pattern here..The troops in the Southern part of the country that have seen more action are more able to repel attacks than the ones in the North…Why did they leave such strategic town undefended???

Latakia is now in real danger!!!

&

it also seems without Hezbollah they {SAA} can’t win any battle… The battle for Aleppo’s prison is still raging….Months have passed and they’re still at it..Is it tactics or men or weapons they’re lacking?

http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/military-conflicts/updates-on-military-action-in-syria/msg239290/#msg239290

March 24th, 2014, 9:55 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Just heard the headlines and a piece on the G7 meeting. What happened to the G8? Has Russia officially been demoted to status of a BRIC country?

Oh, it was already a BRIC country.

March 24th, 2014, 10:06 am

 

Hopeful said:

#143 Uzair8

It is a matter of incentives and motivation. Regular SAA soldiers, at best, have no incentives to fight and sacrifice their lives, and at worst do not believe in the cause they are fighting. They know they are fighting to keep Assad in power and they could care less (if not secretly wishing for his fall). The only reason they even show up in these battles is that they will arrested and killed if they do not!

Assad’s Shabihas are different. They fight harder because they are either protecting their privileges and ranks, or they are scared of what will happen to them if they lose.

Hezbollah fighters, on the other hand, are fighting an ideology war against what they perceive to be a Jihadi Wahhabi threat. They have never lived in Syria so they have no idea how corrupt and brutal the regime truly is, and how much it is hated by the majority of the population. The basically believe the regime’s narrative and not the opposition’s narrative.

March 24th, 2014, 10:24 am

 

ALAN said:

130. HOPEFUL
look at the full half of the glass!
The principle of divide and rule based on the maximum manifestation of contradictions
however , please tell me to whom you consider officially phrase: “Assad or we burn the country”? give the source material please!

March 24th, 2014, 10:42 am

 

Uzair8 said:

Hopeful

I agree.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not having a go at Syria, Syrians or the Syrian army in this case. I’m more interested in pointing out the regimist camp openly admitting to bad news and the public blame game and finger pointing within the regime camp (alliance).

I don’t know if you remember but I wrote about this and predicted it several times on SC before, citing a passage from John Follain’s real life mafia acount (the Corleonese clan), The Last Godfather’s.

March 24th, 2014, 10:47 am

 

ALAN said:

WARNING: VIDEO VERY BLOODY, PUBLISHED AND DISTRIBUTED NOT FOR SHOCKING BUT TO SHOW THE CRIMINAL AND BARBARIAN NATURE OF THE SO-CALLED “OPPOSITION” THAT ZION/OBAMA/CAMERON/NATO/EU ARE SUPPORTING & ARMING
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2014/03/syrian-soldiers-executed-western-backed-militants-shocking-video/

March 24th, 2014, 10:55 am

 

ALAN said:

😉

In a major blow to the rebels, the security officials said Qatar has made a dramatic about face and is now ready to help Assad with finances to reconstruct Syria. Qatar previously worked with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to arm and aid the Syrian rebels.

March 24th, 2014, 12:09 pm

 

Akbar Palace said:

Your ability of human emotions is shaped by who’s people granddaddies are and what the granddaddies did to the Jews 60 years ago. I think this is a real problem and I hope this is not prevalent in your country. It is like that your emotional development was arrested at a certain stage and never recovered.

Now do not run to your mommy and call me anti-Semite. I am not.

Tara,

cc: Amir in occupied Tel Aviv

I don’t think you’re an anti-semite. I think you are a proud muslim and Syrian. Your comments have shown me that you are objective and humanitarian.

We are all “shaped” by our experiences and by our affiliation to certain groups and ethnicities. Israelis and Jews have been shaped by our recent history whether we and others like it or not, so what you said above is actually fairly accurate.

OTOH, I don’t know what it would be like or how I would feel if I knew my people constituted some 300 million people and not just 14 million.

Anyway, I look forward to a Syria being controlled by her people and not a mafia family.

March 24th, 2014, 12:18 pm

 

ALAN said:

Twenty other countries would be follow for chess masters, often by equally fraudulent means : Albania, East Germany , Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia , Estonia , Georgia , Hungary , Kosovo , Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova , Montenegro , Poland , Serbia , Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Ukraine.

Russia is an imperial power but not imperialist. If Moscow tends to snub small countries it protects, it does not intend to extend its hegemony by force. Its military strategy is the “denial of access” to its territory. Its armies are the first in the world in terms of anti-aircraft and anti-ship defense. They can destroy fleets of bombers and aircraft carriers. But they are not equipped to set out to conquer the world, or deployed in quantities of external bases.

March 24th, 2014, 12:26 pm

 

ALAN said:

Worlds largest debtor goes to summit in 5 helicopters while his creditor rides a bicyle .
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjgUtocCEAAh_D5.jpg

March 24th, 2014, 12:31 pm

 

Tara said:

Akbar,

Thank you. I am not anti-Semite. I attended more Jewish shivas, weddings, bar and bat mitzvah, and Jewish weddings that I attended Arab ones so yes my life views is shaped by my current life experiences not by the hate I was taught in school. I was not generalizing in my comment to Amir. I wanted him to know how I felt about what he said in regard to Crimea. as I think it is time for All of us to stop judging people based on what their ancestors did or did not.

March 24th, 2014, 12:42 pm

 

Amir in Tel Aviv said:

Tara #133,

I have to agree with you. My views are shaped by history, and historic events, among other aspects. I believe that peoples don’t change much. Jews-haters will not suddenly become Jews-lovers. Granddaddies, sons and grandsons… They are all the same in my eyes.
.

March 24th, 2014, 12:46 pm

 

Tara said:

Amir,

Then it is time to set yourself free. You have the matrix ( if you will) to not have history prejudice you and I clearly see it in you.

March 24th, 2014, 12:59 pm

 

Syrialover said:

#146. ALAN

Stop pretending not to know about the SAA’s proud inspirational slogan “Assad or we burn the country”. Do a quick search and you’ll see pictures of the slogan on a military bus, buildings taken over by the army etc and lots of eyewitness accounts.

But hey everybody, maybe ALAN’s really that badly informed about what’s happening inside Syria?

Either way, he’ll probably want to give the regime thug who came up with the slogan some kind of success award.

March 24th, 2014, 3:15 pm

 

Hopeful said:

#148 Alan

The video is shocking and the act is criminal. Hopefully one day these guys will face justice along with the regime’s thugs. To me, they are all in the same boat. Execution of prisoners is a war crime.

The reason the US has been holding off military assistance from the rebels is the existence of rouge groups like these. Ambassador Ford wrote and testified to congress about this recently.

March 24th, 2014, 3:22 pm

 

Syrialover said:

ALAN are you a victim or villain when it comes to crazy disinformation?

You wrote in #149 (with no source, of course): “In a major blow to the rebels, the security officials said Qatar has made a dramatic about face and is now ready to help Assad with finances to reconstruct Syria. Qatar previously worked with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to arm and aid the Syrian rebels.”

Yet just hours ago we had the Reuters story quoting the Qatari Foreign Minister in Brussels:”Qatar says no differences with Saudi Arabia over Syria” (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/23/us-syria-crisis-qatar-saudi-idUSBREA2M06C20140323)

How do you explain that? And how would your disinformation source explain Qatar, a stubborn supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, handing over a cent to Assad?

March 24th, 2014, 3:44 pm

 

ghufran said:

The army in Kasab is on the offense now but it will take a bigger force (said to be coming) and a political decision to end the odd situation in northern Latakia, army chiefs must act decisively to assure people who are losing their sons daily in this war and are fed up watching resources spent on other fronts while their own areas are under daily threats and attacks by terrorists (many are not even Syrian) who have no problem firing rockets on populated streets and peaceful villages in and around Latakia.
Despite being against using violence in an internal conflict I still see a difference between armed men getting hurt in a battle and civilians being injured accidentally (bad)or intentionally (worse). When rebels copy regime methods and act as if the lives of Syrian civilians is not important they deserve condemnation and not an explanation, rebels also lost what some called the higher moral ground. Terrorism by rebels and the maltreatment of Syrians under their rule is what made a “project revolution” a terror movement, and people naturally will prefer a bad regime that has one chief over a new system with many chiefs who are as bad (or worse) as the old chiefs. Claiming that the rebels are less brutal is more of a self assuring statement than a reflection of the facts on the ground, rebels used every weapon in their possession to inflict the maximum damage on their enemies and the people who follow their evil policies, the lack of means not the lack of intentions is what made the rebels less destructive, the proof is everywhere !!

March 24th, 2014, 6:31 pm

 

Tara said:

One more Assad was delivered to his creator today…. May he rest in Hell.

مقتل علي ابن عم بشار الأسد قرب الحدود التركية

دبي – قناة الحدث
http://www.alarabiya.net/mob/ar/articles/77158

March 24th, 2014, 6:58 pm

 

Tara said:

Assad regime as SC posted lacks the total support of Syria’s Christian.

I am in close contact with an awesome Syrian Christian, a professor in an Ivy League university who is mentoring me step by step on political activism to bring Batta down. Assad wanted us to believe otherwise but the fact on the ground tells as that within the Syrian Christian community, there are very very good people who risk their lives to free all of us.

March 24th, 2014, 7:09 pm

 

omen said:

116. Ghufran said: The government is blamed when it bombs rebel areas and kills civilians

there is no excuse for this. this is indefensible.

.

340 areas in Aleppo were hit with barrel bombs by Assad’s regime between November & March 2013.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjhmfUpIcAA9-Ho.jpg

March 24th, 2014, 7:45 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

Another typical R Fisk article.

I’m not happy about mini-ceasefires if they can be avoided. It only gives Assad forces a breather and cancels out the maximum effectiveness of his shortage of men. I mean they should be stretched. Death by a thousand cuts.

Mr Fisk repeats the speculation over Qatar’s position.

Assad is already counting on soldiers still at school to fill the gaps left by 30,000 casualties

There are intriguing hints that the conflict is changing. There are mini-ceasefires now

Sunday 23 March 2014

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/assad-is-already-counting-on-soldiers-still-at-school-to-fill-the-gaps-left-by-30000-casualties-9211142.html

March 24th, 2014, 8:01 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

The Egyptian regime is acting outrageously. We have the latest mass death sentence against MB supporters.

Don’t be surprised if Egypt faces UN/Western sanctions in the future.

I already knew Islamic prophecy predicted sanctions against Iraq and then Syria, however, recently I’ve learnt that sanctions against Egypt were also prophecised 1400 years ago. This hasn’t happened yet but the way the Egyptian regime is going, and it’s defiance of any country that disagrees (US, Qatar etc), it’s a real possibility.

In short, the signs indicate we’re about 20-30 yrs away from Imam Mahdi appearing at the Kaaba in Mecca.

Allah Knows best.

March 24th, 2014, 8:10 pm

 

omen said:

71. Uzair8 said: Beggars can’t be choosers.

Of course I’m gonna exaggerate (spin) any ‘good news’ boosting the Rev’n side

of course, but i couldn’t help lament at the time regime jets weren’t shot down earlier.

i dont think you spin. you read pretty objective to me.

March 24th, 2014, 8:20 pm

 

omen said:

shiyam reminds us of a forgotten justification that would have sanctioned intervention.

2) If you’re concerned about legality, there was a time when NATO could have legally intervened when the Syrian regime shot down a Turkish plane.

what an odd worldview for anti-intervention critics to fetishize the letter of the law restricting a western response while turning a blind eye to regime crimes.

March 24th, 2014, 8:22 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Erdugang wants to invade and occupy another part of Syria but he wants a green light from NATO which is not likely to come. Without a heavier Turkish involvement the situation in northern Latakia will be reversed in a matter of days. This new adventure will not be like the ones before. Local news from Latakia will surprise some of you, the people who are most angry and concerned are Latakia’s Sunni population who see this as a bigger threat to them than any other group, it is obvious now that Islamist rebels are hurting the same people they pretend to be concerned about. The brutal attacks on Latakia solidified support for the government, even refugees from Aleppo are now enlisting to fight especially after realizing that rebels have no agenda for the country and if left unchallenged they will destroy the last safe zone refugees in Syria can go to. Locals disappointed those who predicted a backlash against refugees. One of the victims of the terrorist rocket attack on Latakia was a 25 year old young man from Aleppo who thought he is safe eating a sandwich at a local falafel stand in Hanano street.
ثوار اخر زمن
زباله مستورده

March 24th, 2014, 10:15 pm

 

mjabali said:

Observacion:

You are repeating yourself a lot. long text and zero ideas, just إجترار لأفكارك البالية…

Count how many times you mentioned Ali and 1400 years to see how ludicrous your ideas…. I read it to see if there is anything to argue about….There is nothing…just هراء

وكما قال الامام علي: عندما تناقش فكرة حمقاء فأنك تصنع لها وزن….

March 24th, 2014, 10:42 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara said:

…”who is mentoring me step by step on political activism…”

Did Tara tell the ivy league professor how she talks about the Alawites and the Shia and the Iranians?

Did you she him about her usage of the word “Peasant?”

Did you she ask him about what does it mean to “come from behind the cows”

PS: Really where is that Security Square in Lattakia?

أين هو المربع الأمني
؟

March 24th, 2014, 10:51 pm

 

omen said:

disagreement with your argument isn’t a rejection of you as a person, mjabali.

March 25th, 2014, 1:51 am

 

ALAN said:

156. SYRIA HATER
Did your government or opposition make their own politics , according to some of the phrases written on the walls?
Then you know that all information what i publish have the source! You cause me tired because of your сhildishness!

March 25th, 2014, 2:10 am

 

omen said:

i guess if you’re privileged enough to own a pool, that automatically protects you from regime shelling!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjfhcDZCEAEa2Jq.jpg

March 25th, 2014, 2:37 am

 

omen said:

171. ALAN:

still waiting for an explanation why the cowardly west is arming powerful russia?

March 25th, 2014, 3:28 am

 

ALAN said:

173. OMEN
what are you talking about exactly! give material please!

March 25th, 2014, 5:08 am

 

apple_mini said:

Looks like the eccentric and dissolute Hollande will soon be toasted.

We are witnessing the growing and strengthening era of far-right political atmosphere in Europe, in particular in France.

Let’s not bog down on the causes. Just sketch some changes on the behave of Syria.

Does anyone predict those far-right nationalists would tolerate Islamists and even Islam in general?

After Hollande is out, who is next?

March 25th, 2014, 6:23 am

 

ALAN said:

Syria Hater ! that’s the second time “SOURCE”
http://mobile.wnd.com/2014/03/putin-all-smiles-over-expected-syrian-victory/

BY AARON KLEIN
TEL AVIV – Arab countries in the Middle East widely expect Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to win the rebel-led insurgency that has been targeting his regime for the last three years, which would Russia’s presence in the region.

The anticipated victory will further solidify the position of the large Russian Navy fleet docked at Syria’s Tartus port. That position is more strategic now that Russia has seized the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol, where Moscow stationed its Black Sea Fleet.

Control of both the Tartus and Sevastopol ports provides Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, with open access to the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and beyond for both military and energy needs.

Russia and Iran have been the biggest state backers of Assad, while the U.S. and moderate Arab countries worked to aid the rebels fighting to topple the Syrian president.

Ahead of the Arab summit in Kuwait this week, Sunni Arab countries are operating under the working assumption that Assad’s regime is no longer in danger and that the Syrian president will be able to quell the rebellion, Egyptian security officials told WND.

In a major blow to the rebels, the security officials said Qatar has made a dramatic about-face and is now ready to help Assad with finances to reconstruct Syria. Qatar previously worked with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to arm and aid the Syrian rebels.

According to reports, Assad already rid Damascus of rebels and has retaken scores of rebel strongholds. His victories were aided by instances of infighting within the rebel ranks, including the open rebellion of several rebel factions allied with al-Qaida.

The Egyptian security officials said Assad still faces pockets of resistance, particularly in the city of Daraa near the Jordanian border and in the north toward the Syrian border with Turkey. These locations contain important supply roads for arms transports to the rebels.

Another rebel stronghold is located near the Syrian border with Israel, the scene of clashes in recent days.

March 25th, 2014, 6:27 am

 

Badr said:

“HOPEFUL”,

Even if “brave Syrian army commanders . . . recognize that the end of the country’s suffering is linked to the end of Assad”, it will be of little value, if “The “after Assad” scenario” is not planned WITH “regime supporters and sympathizers”.

March 25th, 2014, 6:31 am

 

Tara said:

Mjabali

Of course. He shares my views.

It is entertaining how it pains you to use the (p) word. It is rather incontestable fact. This is where Batta and his supporters came from. The ray ban and the Italian shoes can’t change that.

March 25th, 2014, 6:32 am

 

ALAN said:

175. APPLE_MINI
This is precisely what I mentioned!
Wing extremist right-wing Obama is an option
And by which will put the European continent under the claws of the United States!
France in the last ten years have been the worst of the worst, what among the Americans!

March 25th, 2014, 6:35 am

 

ALAN said:

177. BADR
You are a group of amateur, imagine, think and see fit!
the sun of United States goes down and the world has changed. you continue your floral dreams!

March 25th, 2014, 6:49 am

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

Great Zar Putin is in troublew this time.

His mistakes and wrong moves are leading Russia to an economic recession that could lead to political disaster.

Let´s sit and see.

Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaa

This is the kind of Zar that was going to change the world !!!

March 25th, 2014, 7:15 am

 

Uzair8 said:

175. apple_mini said:

‘Looks like the eccentric and dissolute Hollande will soon be toasted.
[…]
After Hollande is out, who is next?’

Masseur Sarkozy.

Some months ago I heard a report abort him preparing a comeback. I was gonna post on here, for the benefit of ANN, but decided not too.

He may be back just in time for a Cameron-Sarkozy-Obama intervention (eg Libya).

March 25th, 2014, 7:26 am

 

omen said:

mjabali & ghufran covering the fighting in lattkia, why didn’t you mention this?

Al-Faris Ghazi: mini civil war on Latakia streets, hilal’s sons militia attacking SAA officers.

regime infighting!

hahahahahaha

March 25th, 2014, 8:26 am

 

omen said:

speaking of ann, what’s happened to zoo?

March 25th, 2014, 8:31 am

 

Observer said:

My dear Tara once again the attack is personal; playing with my pen name is but one first step to belittle the other; a first step on the path of slowly dehumanizing the other; so that in the end killing or maiming or confiscating becomes the natural conclusion to the world view of the 1400 year old oppressed followers of Ali.

Second, my argument repeated has not been in any way refuted and quoting Ali does not make the response any less stupid and irrelevant.

Third, I think I hit a nerve when I asked the Shia to name their Khalifa and let us see if he/she wins an election today in the Muslim world. I also think I hit a nerve when I show that the bizarro ideology of Alawi sect is no less bizarro than that of the retarded Salafists and that the apostatizing of others has been practiced a long time ago by the Shia against the Khawarij. I also point out that their methods of “resistance” have come back to haunt them and that dehumanization goes both ways.

So when the mufti of KSA says the earth is flat he is no less bizarro and retarded than the Shia waiting for their Mahdi so that they never work or expect any justice now on this earth and remain under the sway of an infallible Fagih sitting in Qom.

How about the bizarro rituals of beating your head and flagellating your back for a death that happened 1400 years ago.

Now let us go back to history and remember that
1967 non other than the Defense Minister Assad declared Kuneitra has fallen when it did not resulting in massive panic disorderly retreat from the Golan without firing a shot.
1970 non other than the Defense Minister has left the Syrian troops in Jordan without air cover so that they can get massacred by the Jordanian Air Force
1982 the killing of more than 20 000 people in Hama
And the list goes on from bombing the Christian areas of Beirut from Burj Murr to the bombing of Tripoli with no less than 25000 shells in one week to the killing of Palestinians in the refugee camps to the siding with Iran during the Iran Iraq war and numerous other historical facts

Now we are told that we have to be Syrians first while the sect remains Alawi first.

Not a day goes by when we are reminded of the dire needs of the various sects.

Do they not realize that the country is finished, the fabric is destroyed, the generational hatred is rooted, the loathing is eternal, the disgust is visceral, the revenge eternal?

As one put it: what does he want to rule over stones and dirt just to remain in power?

These are less than peasants for at least peasants respect their land.

Last but not least the news from Cham Press today are that water shortage in Damascus is continuing as the water table of Fijjeh is down to a trickle

So not even water is being delivered by this inept criminal regime; but hey we wear Ray Ban and Italian shoes.

March 25th, 2014, 9:22 am

 

ALAN said:

181. SANDRO LOEW
We do not propose to sit and watch!
to your suggestions we have neither the time nor wishes!
you can sit and how much you want to wait long!

March 25th, 2014, 9:39 am

 
 

Alan said:

Syria hater: get it with “SOURCE” 😉
Oman-Iran: preconditions for the creation of a new union
http://journal-neo.org/2014/03/24/rus-oman-iran-predposy-lki-sozdaniya-novogo-soyuza/

March 25th, 2014, 11:04 am

 

ALAN said:

TURKISH AIR FORCE PROVIDES COVER FIRE FOR TERRORISTS AT HILL 45!
The Turkish Air Force shamefully provided cover fire for terrorists attacking Hill 45. The cover fire allowed terrorists to infiltrate uphill against deadly artillery fire by the SAA and NDF. As a result, 5 Turkish fighter jets were locked by Syrian MIG jets. The planes retreated across the border before being engaged by the Syrian Air Force. This is deliberately an act of war by Turkey.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjlElEuCcAAlJsu.jpg:large

March 25th, 2014, 11:16 am

 

ALAN said:

./../.
/[NATO expansion] was simply a light-hearted action by a Senate that has no real interest in foreign affairs.”/
/And what was America’s response? It was to expand the NATO cold-war alliance against Russia and bring it closer to Russia’s borders.Yes, tell your children, and your children’s children, that you lived in the age of Bill Clinton and William Cohen, the age of Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger, the age of Trent Lott and Joe Lieberman, and you too were present at the creation of the post-cold-war order, when these foreign policy Titans put their heads together and produced . . . a mouse.
We are in the age of midgets. The only good news is that we got here in one piece because there was another age — one of great statesmen who had both imagination and courage.
As he said goodbye to me on the phone, Mr. Kennan added just one more thing: ”This has been my life, and it pains me to see it so screwed up in the end.”/
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
May 2, 1998
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/02/opinion/foreign-affairs-now-a-word-from-x.html

March 25th, 2014, 11:23 am

 

Alan said:

Rasmussen! you must give an explanation about your relationship to the events, written your relationship to terror-organizations!
URGENT: NATO’s Turkey Providing Air Support for Al Qaeda in Northern Syria
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=eeb_1395755069#FM9SHycEQz2z5f2m.99

March 25th, 2014, 2:06 pm

 

Tara said:

All:

Enjoy.

Syria Comment
Al-Hurra channel makes prank call to son of Hilal al Assad trying to provoke him into making sectarian statements. https://t.co/93BMLaa0JO

Posted by SC on the right hand side.

March 25th, 2014, 2:11 pm

 

Alan said:

CONFESSIONS OF A TYRANT

Turkey’s Prime Minister confirmed on Sunday that he was the one who gave theorders to shut down Twitter in the country, reports The Associated Press (AP).

Speaking at a campaign event in Istanbul ahead of March 30 municipal elections, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had given the order because Twitter was not obeying Turkey’s laws.

Previously, the Turkish government said that the telecommunications authority had blocked Twitter on court orders. However, the move came shortly after Erdogan threatened to “rip out the roots” of the website.
http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/confessions-of-a-tyrant/

March 25th, 2014, 2:11 pm

 

Syrialover said:

ALAN, Thanks for exposing your sources – Russian propaganda “news” sites (#176 and #171).

If this is all you are reading, you will have no hope of getting real information on Syria. Which is why the slogan “Assad or we burn the country” was news to you (or you pretended it was).

People can check and they’ll see the source I quoted in #158 carries the real story:

Reuters item quoting the Qatari Foreign Minister in Brussels: ”Qatar says no differences with Saudi Arabia over Syria” (http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/23/us-syria-crisis-qatar-saudi-idUSBREA2M06C20140323)

March 25th, 2014, 3:31 pm

 

Syrialover said:

OMEN (#184)

To answer your question, ZOO was banned from SyriaComment a couple of months ago for posting under multiple aliases.

ALAN is valiantly trying to fill the 24-hour pro-Assad gap he left here, but the flavor has turned from Iranian inspired to Russian.

March 25th, 2014, 3:36 pm

 

Syrialover said:

TARA, (#192) is this the son of Hilal Assad who was hoaxed?

The same son that has been reported leading steroid-fuelled militia gangs in revenge attacks.

https://twitter.com/Prince_Leo_1978/status/448001300488155137/photo/1

March 25th, 2014, 3:44 pm

 

Syrialover said:

Now they are saying Hilal Assad didn’t die in action – he was assassinated near his home. Could have been an internal feud.

http://www.rozana-sy.fm/ar/node/3983

March 25th, 2014, 3:52 pm

 

Tara said:

SL, yes. He is the one sitting in the middle. It is said that he is more criminal than his killed dad. He terrorized part of Lattakia with few animals the night his father was slaughtered, and with impunity killed and injured some. I expect that he will follow his dad soon unless he hides like a chicken in Dubai.

March 25th, 2014, 3:56 pm

 

omen said:

at 183. – i asked why no one mentioned regime infighting. looking back, i noticed uzair had the scoop.

103. Uzair8 said: @al_7aleem: The premonitions of @AboudDandachi coming to life. Assad security forces currently clashing with uncontrollable Alawite militias in Latakia.

it’s not every day we can crow about REGIME INFIGHTING!

hahahahaha

they say things dont get reported unless it breaks a pattern. this
definitely breaks a pattern – but i doubt it will get coverage. no matter. we can still gloat. wonder how many assadi killed one another.

March 25th, 2014, 4:37 pm

 

omen said:

195. Syrialover said: To answer your question, ZOO was banned from SyriaComment a couple of months ago for posting under multiple aliases.

oh, the irony.

thank you. poor zoo, he must have been spitting nails.

a forever ban is little draconian though. why not a temporary time out?

March 25th, 2014, 4:48 pm

 

Syrialover said:

OMEN,

Could Hilal Assad be the victim of that infighting? (Now that people are saying he was assassinated outside his home). Steroids make people psychotic. Maybe he tried to discipline his son and that was what he got!

March 25th, 2014, 4:58 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

The offensive on Latakia is exactly the time the regime needs it’s chemical weapons. It was said early in the Rev’n that the regime may resort to chemicals if it falls back to the coast and is threatened. I suppose they no longer have that option.

Then again they still have some chemicals as all haven’t been given up yet. Perhaps in desperation they (or an angry/rogue officer) may be tempted to use them leading to foreign intervention.

Anyway I read this earlier today on Yalla Souriya:

#Syria #Latakia –

@RamiAlLolah 13m

HUGE! #BreakingNews Reports of poisoned gas attack on rebels in #Latakia countryside/mountains. 4 Suffocation cases reported so far..

——————————————————–

Of course, confirmation required for such a claim.

http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/syria-latakia-ramiallolah-13m-huge-breakingnews-reports-of/

March 25th, 2014, 5:14 pm

 

ALAN said:

194. SYRIALOVER
Committed in good expression when addressing others!
You accuse me for the second time authored stories!
And every time be charged with is not in place!
Take note that I am not a confidante of the Syrian regime!
I am free voice
I came to this site to let know that there are Syrians
Of those who do not trust your country‘s policy even on the subject of toilets!
Stop the hysteria!

March 25th, 2014, 5:14 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

The SC feedburner on the right (above), as mentioned by Tara, is quite good. I only really paid attention to it a few days ago.

Alan will like the latest entry:

‘Bandar is Back! Saudi intelligence chief returns to Syria duties after shoulder surgery. http://t.co/tMAvToTwko

March 25th, 2014, 5:18 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

LOL – It really is doom and gloom on Iran Military Forum. Some latest comments:

– ‘it’s over, part of mediterranean coast is under sons of a bitch’s control. [Video] I have no idea what is Iran going to do, BUT please, strike wahhabis directly and openly, or please, send hezbollah back to home, no one likes die for NOTHING. ‘

– ‘I don’t know what importance does Qalamoun have if Rats create another Qalamoun after several days’

Another user:

– ‘How can a bunch of rag-tag mercenaries beat a professional army? I mean seriously??? The rats reaching the coast of Latakia is a HUGE propaganda coup for them..Much bigger than Qalamoun…You have to wonder who makes decisions for SAA…’

http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/military-conflicts/updates-on-military-action-in-syria/msg239492/#msg239492

March 25th, 2014, 5:33 pm

 

ALAN said:

عزير
why do not you answer my questions! Are you selectively read?

March 25th, 2014, 5:45 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

Mr Alan

If you don’t mind, I’d like to sit out from your discussion with Hopeful, Omen and SyriaLover.

So Mr Bandar has been out with a shoulder injury. During that time the regime was allegedly have some rare success. Coincidence?

Prince Bandar is back just as rebels are enjoying success. Can’t be coincidence.

Mr Bandar should give up golf* until Assad falls. He’s far too valuable.

* Assuming the injury was due to golf swing.

March 25th, 2014, 5:51 pm

 

ALAN said:

feel free ! no relationship!

Did he provide his repentance to his Lord?

March 25th, 2014, 6:06 pm

 

ALAN said:

Do you think that Bender can change anything in Syria?
Bandar has succeeded in one thing. He is funded the newest dirty war of the modern world has ever known

March 25th, 2014, 6:19 pm

 

omen said:

201. Syrialover said: Could Hilal Assad be the victim of that infighting?

i have no idea. if we could see the dead body, this might offer some clues. of course there aren’t any. i notice the regime works hard to deny us the satisfaction.

found this article though:

Some accuse the regime of orchestrating the death of Assad’s cousin, Hilal al-Assad (L), to diffuse the Alawite sect’s growing resentment.

March 25th, 2014, 7:12 pm

 

omen said:

206. ALAN said: عزي why do not you answer my questions! Are you selectively read?

ألن, i could ask the same of you.

March 25th, 2014, 7:16 pm

 

ALAN said:

211. OMEN
be attentive!see the comment number 174

March 25th, 2014, 7:44 pm

 

Tara said:

We welcome prince Bandar back to the Syrian file and wish him a speedy recovery. We also wish Erdogan an overwhelming win in his coming election. The Syrian people feel forever indebted to both for their continued support. We also wish the mullahs in mullastan, and their tail in Lebanon, HA, quick trip to join those who killed people for Zainab. We do not promise that Zainab or any if her clan would be in the same place.

March 25th, 2014, 8:03 pm

 

ALAN said:

http://arabisouri.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/er.jpg
The Turkish interference in the Syrian crisis is a main reason for the longevity of the crisis and the massive price the Syrians are paying fighting herds of tens of thousands of suicide bombers mostly smuggled into the country from NATO member state Turkey. The terrorists imported from all sides of the planet, more than 83 countries counted so far, into Turkey, trained, armed, financed and then smuggled into Syria through the 822 kilometers long borders to commit the most heinous crimes against humanity and destroy the Syrian state.
The latest provocation follows the dwindling popularity of the AKP ruling party in Turkey headed by the rabid Fanatic ‘Crime Minister’ Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his attacks against freedoms topped by the latest ban on micro-blogging platform Twitter to cover his corruption ahead of key local elections.
http://disquietreservations.blogspot.com/2014/03/syrian-pilot-interview-my-aircraft-was.html

March 25th, 2014, 8:04 pm

 

omen said:

212. ALAN said: be attentive!see the comment number 174

i saw it earlier. this is not an answer:

173. OMEN
what are you talking about exactly! give material please!

you know what i’m talking about.

March 25th, 2014, 8:34 pm

 

ALAN said:

Exactly: The subject of arming? with whom? when? Source?

March 25th, 2014, 8:44 pm

 

ALAN said:

Russia’s and China’s number one objective is end the bullying by the American Empire of Bases.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-02-200314.html

March 25th, 2014, 8:45 pm

 

omen said:

it’s not even safe to announce the names of the dead.

The Syrian “government” has captured a mother of one of the rebels whose name was (announced) after he got killed in the coast battles.

March 25th, 2014, 9:41 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara said yesterday that she had an Ivy League “Christian” professor mentoring her “activism.”

Today she said: ” We do not promise that Zainab or any if her clan would be in the same place.”

The question here: did this professor advise Tara to promise destroying the Shia’s holiest site?

Note: This type of thinking falls in line with the thinking of al-Nusra and The Islamic State of Ia-Iraq-wa-al-Sham

March 25th, 2014, 10:21 pm

 

omen said:

i dont know much about bandar other than he’s close to george bush & helped garner support to launch the iraq war. a move that’s mostly served to strengthen iran. because of that, i tend not to trust him.

but what i’ve heard about nayef is worse. is it true he restored lines of communication with assad?

March 25th, 2014, 10:45 pm

 

ghufran said:

Terrorists in northern Latakia are taking videos of areas they reached before staging a “tactical withdrawal”, they still have positions inside Kasab (some pro regime sites dispute that but I do not believe Kasab has been liberated yet). Nusra terrorists used a suicide car bomb to take the strategic 45 position before they were forced out and suffered heavy losses.
A lot of people got killed in the last 4 days and a large number of Nusra and Turkmani terrorist groups chiefs lost their lives in that battle.
The Syrian army also lost many soldiers and one high ranking officer, the commander who led the fight to retake point 45.
I still believe that this new incursion by Nusra et al will end soon despite Turkish half-hearted support, however what Syrians want is an end to this unacceptable situation in Latakia once and for all.
Keep in mind that securing northern Latakia will be almost as critical as securing Qalamon and that fact explains how ferocious the fight is, there is a lot at stake for both sides but rebels need a deeper Turkish involvement, if the Turkish army refuses then the fate of the battle will be sealed unless Syrian army chiefs are asked to stop and accept the borders before March, 21, people in latakia are not ready to go along with any decision that does not send Erdugang terrorists stationed in Latakia province to where they belong.

March 25th, 2014, 10:49 pm

 

Mjabali said:

Observacion 1400:

I really do not know what want you me to refute in your chaotic “writing!”

ماهذا الهراء اللذي تخربشه…اتسمى هذه الخربشات كتابه…العب غيرها

What is it you are trying to argue with me about?

Is it about why Shia beat flog themselves? I am not Shia mr. Observacion 1400…go ask them…I personally do not care if they do beat themselves or not…it is their own business…didn’t you learn anything in America? Stop thinking like Ibn Taymiyah…

About personal attacks….I could write volumes about your character, but, I don’t..all you do is speak about my character.

أما عن قول الامام على فسأكرره لك: قال الامام علي انه عندما تناقش فكرة حمقاء فإنك تعمل لها وزن…

واللبيب من الاشارة يفهم

March 25th, 2014, 10:51 pm

 

Ghufran said:

Salman crown prince of KSA left Arab league summit early after failing to give Syria’s seat to his boy Jarba
انطمز أمير المعز لان الجدي حلقولو جماعة مصر و العراق و تيتي تيتي متل ما رحتي متل ماجيتي
Louai safi is not in sync with Jarba who asked for weapons while safi asked Arabs to form teams to push for a political solution.
few questions for rebel supporters, not that I am waiting for an answer, how does it feel when most rebel fighters are members of internationally banned terrorist groups ?
What else can you give Syrians beside reminding them that the regime is bad ?
What happened to the revolution that was supposed to bring freedom and democracy but instead brought Nusra, Turkmen terrorists, alqaida and head cutting ceremonies ?
Keep cheering for the death of Syrisns and the shelling of damascus and latakia on the hands of foreign jihadists then get puzzled at why most Syrians became fence sitters and refugees !!
ثوار اخر زمن

March 26th, 2014, 12:47 am

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

New information about the killing of Ghazi Kanaan by Bashar Al Assad and his men.

Ghazi Kanaan could have led the country to a better future in the region in coordination with Abdel Khalim Khaddam.

When I was living in Syria I lived live the killing of Hariri and Kanaan as well as the stupid war of Hezb-Zbale in summer 2006. It was for me a signal that the regime was going nowhere. Finally it has been as I predicted.

http://youkal.net/2012-12-02-14-05-23/24-26/43840-عميد-منشق-يروي-كيف-قتل-غازي-كنعان

March 26th, 2014, 3:14 am

 

SANDRO LOEWE said:

Conspiracy Theory # 20034

USA and Russia will agree Crimea and its army bases there to remain in the hands of Rusia while Putin gives up Syria and his Lattakia base.

Russia was afraid to lose Ucrania and Crimea bases. By anexing Crimea this fear has vanished. Now they have a certainty to opérate in the Mediterranean from the Black Sea from their own land.

Syria is not needed anymore…

March 26th, 2014, 3:19 am

 

omen said:

wpost liz sly pointed to this:

Saudi Arabia has paid Pakistan $1.5bn to ensure the country will not sell arms to Syria, an adviser to Pakistani Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif has revealed.

March 26th, 2014, 7:07 am

 

Tara said:

Mjabali

Not promising that Zainab and any of her clan would be in the same place meant that Zainab and the rest of prophet Muhammad family has nothing to do with those killers who will be burned in hell. I was talking about the final destination heaven vs hell. not about the tomb.

Township-sponsored comprehension class? There are inexpensive. You could take one. Don’t go to college/sponsored ones. Those are a bit advanced. May be after the township ones..

March 26th, 2014, 7:13 am

 
 

omen said:

A man hugging tricycle that his son killed in an air strike used to ride.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BjcfiFsIAAAyBQ3.jpg

March 26th, 2014, 7:48 am

 

Observer said:

So Mjabali you are not Shia. What are you?

Once again as Tara has shown the thickness of a singular mentality and the dichotomous categorization of people coming for an eternal victimhood narrative of how the Sunnis oppressed the little minorities and how the inhabitants of Syria are in the majority foreigners some do not understand that human is human first and foremost.

But hey, those that are have chosen the Athad and Makhlouf families to represent them and continue to support and defend their narrative despite the utter abject failure of this regime have only themselves to blame.

Now now do not tell me you are against the regime. Deep down inside you are afraid of living on a small strip of land in the coast and amongst all those “others” that the regime loves to exploit and humiliate and corrupt and use for its sectarian propaganda

As for my argument

Here it is in simple terms
1. Ali was a political failure
2. The death of his brood is not a blood libel on the Sunnis
3. The Velayet Fagih is medieval and dictatorial
4. The exclusion of the other and the use of dehumanizing language started with the Shia of Ali long before anyone else did
5. The fight is purely sectarian and nothing else
6. The people do not want to live together
7. The minorities are very happy to oppress the majority in the name of secularism
8. The ideology of Shia and Alawi is in my mind as stupid and retarded and barbaric as that of the Salafis

Class is dismissed

March 26th, 2014, 7:56 am

 

omen said:

Joyce Karam In Saudi, no secret that US prefers to deal with Prince Nayef than Prince Bandar. Rumors on his return will hurt Obama’s visit, coordination.

March 26th, 2014, 8:43 am

 

ALAN said:

The West’s insistence on seeing through its Syrian campaign to the bitter end instead of conceding defeat and changing tack, ensures that this will be one of its last foreign adventures. While it may send troops and proxy forces else where to meddle on behalf of its special interests, the West will do so without the benefit of an influential media, perceived legitimacy, or justification – moral or otherwise.

The facts on the ground combined with the West’s deferral to propaganda ploys rather than demonstrable success in Syria indicates that this latest push in Latakia in the north and Daraa in the south will

March 26th, 2014, 9:04 am

 

omen said:

223. Ghufran said: What else can you give Syrians beside reminding them that the regime is bad ?

“bad” doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface in summing up the monstrosity of this regime.

that’s like saying hitler was naughty.

March 26th, 2014, 9:22 am

 

apple_mini said:

Ny times reports US intelligence takes on more potential threats from those Jihadists operating in Syria.

Syria has been destroyed by the west. Since they released and fed those monsters, I hope the day will come and the blowback will be realized.

March 26th, 2014, 12:21 pm

 

ALAN said:

The opening speeches of the annual summit of the Arab League in Kuwait,revealed deep divisions that preclude any possibility of debate.

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the League, Lakhdar Brahimi, presented a report on the failure of the Geneva 2 Conference, specifying that no new session is foreseen.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas met privately with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs to brief them on the current status of negotiations with Israel and the United States.

disgusting Arabic Degeneration
آآآآآآآآآآآآآآه يا مظفر النواب
http://youtu.be/VaC0a3eyFl8?t=1s

March 26th, 2014, 12:44 pm

 

Tara said:

I am happy that the criminal in charge of 45 was killed but why was he beheaded and his picture of the cut head was paraded on social media? What is wrong with you people? Who told those freaks that it is ok to miutilate dead bodies? The coalition and the respected scholars must denounce these acts of brutality and plea to those who are fighting inside Syria that acts like these are criminal, animalistic, disgusting, and حرام. This is not our culture and we do not want to liberate the coast or any شبر in Syria beheading people like this. I wish I have a public vice that I can use to condemn those acts. They very very much hurt the revolution.

March 26th, 2014, 2:02 pm

 

Tara said:

Observer@228

Wisam in her phone calls to Assad family members reflects the sentiment of the Syrian people against those people. I could not enjoy vulgarity more.

And to the supporters, enjoy our hatred. You deserve it well.

March 26th, 2014, 2:11 pm

 

ALAN said:

Israels latest tourism event : Watching people kill and beheaded each other! http://youtu.be/Re09vBB3eWc ثورةتزرع بذورالكرامة والحريةو ترسخ للأجيال القادمة مباديء العدالة و المساواة و حب الوطن ….آآآآخ يا مظفر ! الابل!

March 26th, 2014, 3:38 pm

 

mjabali said:

Tara:

Again you get caught with the words you scribe here, and then try to deny them or give another interpretation. Your wishes to harm the Alawites and the Shia are well documented on this blog.

As for comprehension classes: I hope your Ivy League professor friend give you some on how to talk in the 21st C.

March 26th, 2014, 3:59 pm

 

Syrialover said:

Eyewitness account of torture centre operated by Hezbollah at Beirut’s International airport (Arabic: http://www.lebanondebate.com/m3/detail.aspx?id=166025

March 26th, 2014, 4:09 pm

 

mjabali said:

Observacion 1400:

You are still asking me if I am a Shia or not after I told many times that I am not. But since you insist I will explain to you:

1- The family I came from do not follow the Shia clerics..They follow no Qum and no Najaf..and no Jabal 3Amel…If you want me to simplify it more to you I will…

2- What happened to Ali and his family is not my business. If al-Mahdi comes or not is not that important to me. I hope this answers lots of your points.

3- The intro that you wrote has no sense…

4- You calling the Alawite and Shia creed stupid is a stupid act. I would not call any sect “Stupid.” Also you equaling the Alawites with Salafism is kind of ridiculous for the mere fact that there is no Alawite books talking about anything, so where you based your judgment at equaling the Alawite creed with salafism?

5- Alawism came from Sufism and philosophy so learn a little about them before you say your unthought off words…

Obserevacion 1400: yes the fight is sectarian, but up till today, contrary to what you say, I still find Syrians from all sects willing to be together. I am one of them.

March 26th, 2014, 4:14 pm

 

Syrialover said:

ALAN #232 – if you are going to cut and paste comments here you should state where they are from – that’s the rule on SyriaComment.

Also so we can see which propaganda source you are reading.

“Your” comment above sounds Russian to me.

March 26th, 2014, 4:16 pm

 

Tara said:

Mjabali,

You give yourself too much importance when you think I or someone else retract or don’t stand their position because they are intimidated by you. Please, no one cares what you think of he or she.

March 26th, 2014, 4:37 pm

 

ALAN said:

dear Site supervisor Matthew Barber!
dear JL!
СС The Board distinguished the University of Oklahoma
CC Ehsani!

Please ask you to intervene to stop Syrialover from repeating harassing me!

March 26th, 2014, 4:39 pm

 

Syrialover said:

For anyone wanting to do some reading and thinking on the subject, this essay points out that the Iranian “government” does NOT represent Shia interests and ideology.

They are just another authoritarian, unrepresentative regime pushing their weight around and interfering in the region to bolster their domestic status.

“The Myth Of The Shi’a Crescent”
http://www.majalla.com/eng/2013/11/article55246536

It outlines out the significant divides with Shiism, and how many high-ranking clerics have rejected Khomeini and his ideas and believe (i) direct involvement in politics it detrimental to faith and religious institutions and (ii) democracy is a perfectly legimitmate form of government.

Excerpt:

“First, the Shi’a are seen as constituting a unified body that crosses national borders that puts obedience to religious authority higher than loyalty to nation and political rulers. Secondly, the Shi’a are considered inherently tied to Iran, a state that would command both their religious and political loyalty.

“These views are not only distorting the reality: They lead to dangerous domestic and foreign policies that undermine social integration and political stability, and feed the rhetoric of the radical Salafists who are doing so much to create sectarian discord.”

COMMENT: This means all those “closet shabiha” westernized Shia intellectuals who support Assad are not doing it for loyal sectarian reasons, but because they actually choose to admire and support Assad.

March 26th, 2014, 4:41 pm

 

Syrialover said:

ALAN #244,

If you want to be an aggressive propagandist supporting the actions of the Assad regime and its allies, you should be able to wear a challenge to your sources and claims.

You are playing a political role here – not presenting your personal identity and life details. So why ask for “personal” immunity?

March 26th, 2014, 4:50 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

221. Ghufran said:

‘The Syrian army also lost many soldiers and one high ranking officer, the commander who led the fight to retake point 45.’

Regarding the Latakia front, yesterday someone on Iran Military Forum said that the Assad forces suffered about a 1000 casualties:

Seems the rats that were used to attack Latakia were from the hardcore Chechen, Turkmen and even Turkish spec forces…I heard SAA’s taken about a 1000 casualties from the Latakia front alone. WTF!!!

[…]

http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/military-conflicts/updates-on-military-action-in-syria/msg239450/#msg239450

March 26th, 2014, 6:20 pm

 

Uzair8 said:

New post up…

March 26th, 2014, 6:47 pm

 

omen said:

247. ALAN said:

dear Site supervisor Matthew Barber!
dear JL!
СС The Board distinguished the University of Oklahoma
CC Ehsani!

Please ask you to intervene to stop Syrialover from repeating harassing me!

awww…

but you called him names earlier.

try to be tough like putin.

March 27th, 2014, 1:11 am

 

omen said:

208. Uzair8 said:

LOL – It really is doom and gloom on Iran Military Forum. Some latest comments:

– ‘it’s over, part of mediterranean coast is under sons of a bitch’s control. [Video] I have no idea what is Iran going to do, BUT please, strike wahhabis directly and openly, or please, send hezbollah back to home, no one likes die for NOTHING. ‘

schadenfreude is good therapy.

– ‘How can a bunch of rag-tag mercenaries beat a professional army? I mean seriously??? The rats reaching the coast of Latakia is a HUGE propaganda coup for them..Much bigger than Qalamoun…You have to wonder who makes decisions for SAA…

will the regime punish their own for their failure? what a bonus.

March 27th, 2014, 1:22 am

 

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