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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has offered amnesty for
crimes committed in the country before October 23, 2012, the Syrian state TV
reports.
The Syrian president “decreed a general amnesty for crimes committed before
October 23,” and not those committed by “terrorists,” the Syrian TV reported on
Tuesday.
The amnesty does not apply to those criminals who remain on
the run; rather, those who surrender to the government will be pardoned, the
report said.
The decree came as an international proposal had been made by UN-Arab League
Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi for a truce in the Arab
country.
Brahimi called for a temporary truce between the Syrian forces and
foreign-backed insurgents during the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha
(Feast of Sacrifice) starting on October 26.
The Syrian government says it will support the truce proposal only if the Western
countries and their regional allies stop supporting and financing the
insurgents.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. The Syrian government
holds some Western countries and their regional allies, including Saudi Arabia,
Qatar and Turkey, responsible for arming and funding the opposition and foreign
insurgents.
Turkey’s parliament has authorized cross-border military
operations into Syria ‘when necessary’ following a random mortar-shelling
incident on the Turkish-Syrian border, reports Hürriyet Daily News.
The
Turkish army has been retaliating by shelling Syrian military positions since
Wednesday.
The government-initiated debates in the Turkish
parliament took place behind closed doors. The cabinet of Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan claimed the Syrian military had launched an act of
aggression against Turkey.
The motion signed by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says
that the Syrian crisis “affects the stability and security in the region” and
accuses Damascus of conducting assaults into Turkish land.
“This situation risks and threatens our national
security. In this respect, the need for taking precautions and acting quickly
against any threats to Turkey has arisen,” says the document.
In accordance with Article 92 of the Turkish
constitution, the government demanded a one-year authorization to send Turkish
troops to foreign countries, which was granted.
On Wednesday at least three mortar bombs fired from Syria
killed five civilians and wounded at least eight in the Turkish town of
Akcakale. This became a second mortar attack on the Turkish town since last
Friday. Back then Foreign Minister Davutoglu said he would take action if there
were a repeat.
After a heated debate an urgent parliamentary session has
opted to apply the new law.
The motion was supported by 320 deputies, while 129 voted
against it.
Originally the bill targeted militants of the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) fighting for independent Kurd state for the last three
decades. The Kurds have bases in northern Iraq, de-facto not controlled by the
government in Baghdad. The Turkish military has conducted a number of air and
ground assaults on Kurdish positions in Iraq, most of them considered
successful.
The debates around the move have sparked sharp negative
reaction among the Turkish population. While a small group of anti-war
protesters rallied outside the Turkish parliament in Ankara, a real anti-war
storm has been initiated by Turkish and foreign activists on social networks
both inside and outside of Turkey. The hashtag #savasahayir (no to war) quickly
spread beyond Turkish borders into global social networking.
After over a yearof
harboring foreign terroristsand supporting their
operations near and across the Turkish-Syrian border, NATO-member Turkey has
claimed it has retaliated with military force against “targets” inside Syria
for an alleged attack on Turkish territory that it has blamed on the Syrian
government.
Despite
heavily armed listed-terrorist organizations operating in large numbers on both
sides of the Turkish border with Turkey’s explicit approval and logistical
support, the government in Ankara appears to have excluded the possibility that
these terrorist forces, not the Syrian military, were responsible for the
attack which consisted of mortar rounds the armed militants are known to widely use.
Image: Terrorists operating in Syria pose next to a large
mortar. Mortars of all sizes are a favorite of terrorists operating in and
around Syria in NATO’s proxy bid to effect violent regime change. The mortars
fired into Turkish territory could just as likely have come from terrorists
Turkey itself is funding, arming, and harboring on behalf of long-planned NATO
machinations. Unlike the Syrian government, the terrorists, Turkey, and by
consequence, NATO, all have an actual motivation for launching the initial
attack that has caused Turkey to retaliate and predictably call on NATO to
intervene.
It was
unknown whether the mortar shells were fired by Syrian government forces or
rebels fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The
Turkish response seemed to assume that the Syrian government was responsible.
Turkey’s
immediate, unwarranted act of military aggression, along with knee-jerk
condemnations from the US bear all the hallmarks of an orchestrated event – or
at the very least an attempt to opportunistically seize upon an isolated
incident to disingenuously advance the West’s collective geopolitical agenda.
Syria
clearly has no interest in threatening the security of Turkey, nor any reason
to attack Turkish territory which would surely give NATO the excuse it has been
looking for to directly intervene on behalf of its faltering terrorist proxies. Turkey Has Longed for a Pretext to Start War with
Syria
It was
previously reported that Turkey was intended by NATO, and more specifically,
Wall Street and London, to lead efforts in carving out “safe havens” in Syria’s
north, and to do so either under a false “humanitarian” or false “security”
pretext.
This has
been confirmed by Fortune 500-funded, US foreign-policy think-tank, Brookings
Institution which has blueprinted designs for regime change in Libya as well as both Syria and Iran. In their report, “Assessing Options for Regime Change”
it is stated (emphasis added):
“An
alternative is for diplomatic efforts to focus first on how to end the violence
and how to gain humanitarian access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership.
This may lead to the creation of safe-havens and humanitarian corridors, which
would have to be backed by limited military power. This would, of course, fall
short of U.S. goals for Syria and could preserve Asad in power. From that
starting point, however, it is possible that a broad coalition with the
appropriate international mandate could add further coercive action to its
efforts.” -page 4, Assessing Options for Regime Change,
Brookings Institution
Image: The
Brookings Institution, Middle East Memo #21 “Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf),”
makes no secret that the humanitarian “responsibility to protect” is but a
pretext for long-planned regime change.
Brookings
continues by describing how Turkey’s aligning of vast amounts of weapons and
troops along its border in coordination with Israeli efforts in the south of
Syria, could help effect violent regime change in Syria:
In
addition, Israel’s intelligence services have a strong knowledge of Syria, as
well as assets within the Syrian regime that could be used to subvert the
regime’s power base and press for Asad’s removal. Israel could posture forces
on or near the Golan Heights and, in so doing, might divert regime forces from
suppressing the opposition. This posture may conjure fears in the Asad regime
of a multi-front war, particularly if Turkey is willing to do the same on its
border and if the Syrian opposition is being fed a steady diet of arms and
training. Such a mobilization could perhaps persuade Syria’s military
leadership to oust Asad in order to preserve itself. Advocates argue this
additional pressure could tip the balance against Asad inside Syria, if other
forces were aligned properly. -page 6, Assessing Options for Regime Change,
Brookings Institution.
Turkish
leaders have clearly spent much time fabricating various excuses to meet
Washington’s demands in this regard by fabricating or taking advantage of
violence Turkey itself is fostering along its own border with Syria.
The report
would also mention Turkey’s role in helping undermine, subvert, and carve out
the ancient northern city of Aleppo:
Because
creating a unified national opposition is a long-term project that will
probably never fully succeed, the contact group, while not abandoning this
effort, may seek more realistic goals. For example, it might concentrate
maximum effort on breaking Asad’s hold on, say, the elite of Aleppo, which is
the commercial capital and which is also the city where Turkey has the greatest
leverage. If Aleppo were to fall to the opposition, the demoralizing effect on
the regime would be considerable.
The
military options include everything from perpetuating violence to, in Brookings’ own words, “bleed
it, keeping a regional adversary weak, while avoiding the costs of direct
intervention,” to Libyan-style “no-fly zones,” to a full military invasion. It
is clear, upon reading the Brookings memo, that the conspiracy has indeed begun
to unfold since its writing – with various military options being prepared and
various co-conspirators positioning themselves to execute them.
The
Brookings Institution’s “safe havens” and “humanitarian corridors” are meant to
be established by NATO-member Turkey, who has been threatening to partially invade
Syria for months in order to accomplish this. And while Turkey
claims this is based on “humanitarian concerns,” examining Turkey’s abysmal human rights record
in addition to its own ongoing genocidal campaign against the Kurdish people
both within and beyond its borders, it is clear they are simply fulfilling the
agenda established by their Western patrons on Wall Street and in the city of
London.
This latest
exchange between Turkey and Syria is not the first. Turkey has fabricated
stories before involving Syrian troops “firing across” the Turkish-Syrian
border. The New York Times published these bold
accusations before admitting further down that “it was unclear what
kind of weapons caused the injuries on Sunday around six miles inside Turkish
territory,” and that “there were conflicting accounts about the incident.” As
are all the accusations used by NATO, the UN, and individual member states to
justify meddling in Syria’s affairs, these tales involve hear-say from the rebels themselves.
It is clear
that Turkey, NATO, and the UN are continuously attempting to set a pretext for
the establishment of “safe havens” and “humanitarian corridors” intended to
circumvent the UN Security Council which has seen attempts to green-light
military intervention vetoed multiple times by Russia and China.
That the UN
has failed utterly to condemn the combined provocations and meddling in Syria’s
affairs illustrates the absolute failure of supranational, let alone, global
governance.
Reports say several Syrian soldiers have been killed in a
new attack by Turkish forces on a military post near the border town of Tel
Abyad.
The Turkish forces fired artillery shells at targets in the Syrian territory
during the early hours of Thursday.
The exact number of the Syrian soldiers killed in the attack has not been
reported.
Turkey’s attack follows a Syrian mortar strike that killed five people in the
southeastern Turkish town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province on Wednesday.
Syria said it had started an investigation into the cause of the mortar attack
on the Turkish territory.
Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi also sent a message of condolence to
the Turkish people and families of the victims.
The minister stated that Syria respects the sovereignty of
its neighbors and wants its own sovereignty to be respected in return.
In addition, Zoabi called on some foreign countries, especially Turkey, to stop
the flow of weapons and terrorists into Syria.
Meanwhile, the Turkish parliament is scheduled to discuss Thursday a motion for
cross-border military operations inside Syria “when deemed necessary.”
Damascus says certain Western and regional countries, including Saudi Arabia,
Qatar and Turkey, are supporting the insurgents fighting against the Syrian
government.
On Wednesday, NATO ambassadors held an emergency meeting in Brussels over the
Turkish-Syrian border clashes and said in a statement, “The alliance continues
to stand by Turkey and demands the immediate cessation of such aggressive acts
against an ally.”
In July, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with the Turkish
Cumhuriyet daily that Turkey “has supplied all logistic support to the
terrorists who have killed our people.”
Vladimir Zhirinovsky has labeled calls by US senators
demanding Barack Obama directly support the Syrian opposition “absolutely
unacceptable,” saying his party would demand a Russian response.
In an op-ed piece that appeared this week in The
Washington Post, three influential senators called on the Obama administration
to “directly and openly provide robust assistance to the armed opposition,
including weapons, intelligence and training.”
Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham
employed rather loose logic when they argued that by sitting on the sidelines
of the Syrian battle, “we are jeopardizing both our national security interests
and our moral standing in the world.”
The leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR)
and its parliamentary faction, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, described the article as a
call for "violently toppling the current government in Syria, which
included the use of aviation and other US assets."
"If President Obama…follows the advice of Congress
and acknowledges the need for armed support for the Syrian insurgents, the
situation will become irreversible," he said, as quoted by the LDPR press
service.
In the event of US military intervention in Syria,
Zhirinovsky warned that "Syria will follow the fate of Afghanistan, Iraq,
Libya and other countries, whose sovereignty remains a status only on paper
today."
Although his party is opposed to outside military
interference in the affairs of independent states, “if the US senators' calls
for supporting the Syrian opposition 'with fire and sword' are put into
practice, the Liberal Democratic Party will insist on a Russian response.”
“If the Republican senators succeed in persuading the US
president (to provide military support to the Syrian rebels), we (LDPR) will
demand that the Russian leadership openly side with the Syrian government,” the
firebrand Russian politician added.
Meanwhile, Zhirinovsky believes there is no real
opposition in Syria, rather international terrorists are acting there.
"Gangs of armed terrorists are acting in Syria under
the guise of opposition status,” he said. “It is they whom Senator McCain says
should be supported."
Zhirinovsky stressed that "Russia should support the
legitimate Syrian authorities, be it [President] Bashar al-Assad or his
successor, elected according to the will of the Syrian people.”
The government of President Assad has been struggling for
over a year to prevail against armed rebels who seek to bring down the
government.
Moscow has called on the West not to take sides in the
conflict.
US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says Washington will continue to mount pressure on the Syrian government until President Bashar al-Assad leaves office.
"Assad must transfer power and depart Syria," she said after a late night strategy session on Wednesday with Arab and Western powers on how to mount pressure on Damascus.
During the "Friends of Syria" meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul, Clinton emphasized that measures against the Syrian government will continue until Assad is sent into exile, warning that such measures will be both political and economic.
Clinton admitted to Washington’s failure in rallying international support to topple Assad’s government, calling for unity among US allies to align other nations on the issue of Syria.
"We have to reiterate our unity, we have to send a clear message to other nations that are not yet working with us, or even actively supporting the Assad regime, that there is no future in that," she said.
Syria has been getting a lot of heat from Washington after an escalation of violence in the country.
Syrian opposition groups and their Western sympathizers blame the government for the violence, but Damascus says the United States and its allies are funding armed groups to carry out terrorist attacks inside Syria.
Meanwhile, Clinton sent her special representative on Syria to Moscow on Thursday to persuade Russia, which along with China have voiced opposition to any military action against the Syrian government.
"Russia and China are decisively against attempts to regulate the Syrian crisis with outside military intervention, as well as imposing ... a policy of regime change," they said in a joint statement issued on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hold a joint press conference following meetings in the Swedish capital Stockholm on June 3, 2012.
The United States says any political solution in Syria should result in the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a press conference in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Sunday, "Assad's departure does not have to be a precondition, but it should be an outcome” of any such political solution, AFP reported.
Her comments came hours after Assad addressed Syria's parliament, saying that Damascus would keep fighting the armed gangs sabotaging security in the country, while it is still ready for dialog with its opponents.
Clinton has also asked Russia to join international efforts to increase pressure on Assad. She spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by telephone at the weakened.
"My message to the foreign minister was very simple and straightforward," she said, adding, "We all have to intensify our efforts to achieve a political transition and Russia has to be at the table helping that to occur."
Moscow has been opposing calls for foreign intervention in the country, and has so far blocked two United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning Assad's government.
The unrest in Syria began in March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of Assad's government.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters, but Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
The media war with the West was lost the day the Syrian uprising began, but the authorities are ready to start another round by revealing the list of foreign mercenaries captured in Syria, President Assad told a Russian broadcaster.
A number of key questions have arisen since Assad gave his last interview over half a year ago. Assad answered them all in a new interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel.
'West outplayed Syria on media battlefield'
Assad admits that Syria is losing the media war against the West, but says “the reality is what really matters” and not “the illusions” created by the media.
He said that the media outplayed the Syrian government in the very beginning of the conflict by making up stories and spreading rumors. But in the long term the media cannot beat the reality, he added, and eventually the circumstances have changed because what is really happening is very much different from what the media reports.
Assad also said that the Syrian government repeatedly tried to express its point of view to numerous international journalists, but the agencies kept sending to Syria only those people who would stick with the same lies and false picture created in the first days of the conflict.
Not so Free Syrian Army
Assad says that the Syrian National Council, an “opposition” operating from abroad, has from little or no influence on what is happening in Syria and does not have any kind of significance within Syria. Though on the ground the Free Syrian Army is widely considered to be the core of the armed and organized opposition movement, Assad believes the FSA has not much to either with freedom or the organized army.
“First of all they are not free,” the head of state said, explaining that they will never be free while they are supplied with guns and funded from abroad.
He described the Free Syrian Army as a crowd of convicted criminals, comprised among other things of Al-Qaeda type religious fanatics, extremists and terrorists and to some extent of foreign mercenaries, predominantly from other Arab states.
Assad revealed that Syrian forces had captured a number of foreign mercenaries who were fighting for the opposition. He explained the authorities had not advertised the fact until now because they did not have enough evidence to prove the fighters were indeed mercenaries.
"Some [of the mercenaries] are still alive,” he said. “They are being detained and we are preparing to show them to the world. Many of them have been killed.”
Syrian rebels are also known to have gone to Kosovo to study partisan warfare tactics, Assad added. “There is information that a group of people who call themselves opposition went to Kosovo to train in organizing military intervention by NATO into Syria,” he told Rossiya-24.
Western sanctions and UN mission – both one-sided
At the moment there are 212 military observers and 68 civilian staff working for the UN observer mission in Syria monitoring the implementation of Kofi Annan’s peace plan.
Assad says that a decrease in direct military confrontation with the opposition due to the redeployment of the military was the only positive result of the mission’s arrival. At the same time, he says, the number of terror attacks targeting civilians has sharply increased and is now at its highest level since the beginning of the crisis.
The West keeps talking “about violence, but violence from the side of the government, not a word about the terrorists,” the Syrian leader said. “Mr. Annan will come to Syria this month, and I will ask him about this matter.”
Slapping Syria with all sorts of sanctions and embargoes is another one-sided decision by the West, Assad believes.
“Sanctions affect only ordinary people, not the government,” Assad explained.
He said that the world is wide enough not to focus only on the US and Europe.
“We are finding alternatives to overcome these difficulties,” he said. “We have wonderful relations with the greater part of the world, except for the West.”
Not a regime but a form of government
President Assad believes that what Russia and China, who repeatedly expressed their support for Syria and backed the country in the UN Security Council, are in fact supporting is neither the regime (Assad prefers the expression “form of government”) nor Assad as the head of state, but international stability.
Both Russia and China have a good grip on the geopolitical situation in the region and they understand that without their support not only Syria but a lot of its neighbors will plunge into chaos, Assad explained.
“It is not a question of Syria, it is a question of international stability,” Assad said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has announced that parliamentary elections will be held in Syria on May 7.
According to Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Assad set the date for legislative elections on Tuesday.
The parliamentary elections will be held under a new constitution that was approved by a majority of Syrian voters in a February 26 referendum.
President Assad endorsed the new constitution on February 28 as part of the promised reforms in the country.
The new constitution excludes Article 8, which declared the ruling Baath Party as the “leader of the state and society,” and also establishes a multiparty system in Syria and limits the presidential term to two seven-year periods.
The May 7 parliamentary elections would be the third legislative vote in Syria since Assad took office in 2000, and the first such vote under the new multiparty system.
Over 130 members of armed groups have surrendered to Syrian authorities in the northwestern province of Idlib.
The armed men surrendered to Syrian authorities in the provincial capital city, Idlib, on Tuesday.
The Syrian army also defused 33 bombs planted by armed groups in Idlib on Tuesday.
The latest report comes a day after Syrian state media said an armed group blew up a section of a pipeline transporting diesel between the western cities of Homs and Hama.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”
Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey (R) and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attend a meeting of the Senate Armed Services committee on March 7, 2012.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey says President Barack Obama has requested from the Pentagon military options against the Syrian government.
According to a Wednesday report by prominent US daily The New York Times, Dempsey declared in a US Senate committee hearing in Washington that the Department of Defense was preparing military alternatives with regards to the existing situation in Syria for Obama’s review.
The top American military chief made the remarks during a Wednesday hearing of US Senate’s Armed Services Committee.
Dempsey added that potential measures considered by the American military ranged from “aerial surveillance of the Syrian military, the establishment of a no-fly zone, naval monitoring and humanitarian airlifts.”
The top general’s latest remarks on the Syrian issue come a few days after veteran US Senator and the previous Republican presidential nominee John McCain urged Washington to conduct airstrikes against Syria in collaboration with allied Arab regimes as well as other NATO countries.
However, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was also attending the committee hearing, criticized McCain’s suggestions and said the Obama administration recognized that there are “limitations of military force, especially with US boots on the ground.”
Syria has been dealing with what appears to be a foreign-led unrest since mid-March 2011. Syria’s arch-enemy, the Israeli regime, has openly expressed support for opposition forces within Syria that have been fueling the unrest with scattered demonstrations and armed attacks against the country’s security forces as well as ordinary people.
The United States and a number of other Western allies, including the UK and France, and regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have supported measures against the Damascus government.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday that the Syrian people have “proven their capacity to defend the nation and to build a new Syria through their determination to pursue reforms along with the fight against foreign-backed terrorism.”
Assad endorsed a newly drafted constitution on February 28 as part of the promised reforms in the country. The draft was put to vote in a February 26 referendum and won the overwhelming support of Syrian voters.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R), standing beside his wife, speaks to the press after casting his vote on a new constitution in Damascus, February 26, 2012
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the people of Syria are determined to crush terrorist groups and pursue the reforms in the country.
President Assad said the Syrian people, “who have in the past managed to crush foreign plots… have again proven their capacity to defend the nation and to build a new Syria through their determination to pursue reforms along with the fight against foreign-backed terrorism.”
“Any country draws its strength from the backing of its people.”
The Syrian president made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation from the Ukrainian parliament in Damascus on Tuesday.
Assad added that foreign forces are seeking to undermine the Damascus government.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011, with demonstrations being held both against and in favor of the Damascus government.
The United States and a number of other Western countries including the UK and France and countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have supported measures against the Damascus government.
On Monday, veteran US Senator and the previous Republican presidential nominee John McCain called on Washington to conduct piloted airstrikes against Syria.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on March 4 that Ankara supports supplying arms to rebels in Syria fighting against the Assad government.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said on February 27 that the “international community” should provide arms to the Syrian rebels and that “Arab countries should take the lead in providing a safe haven for rebels inside Syria.”
In addition to the US, Qatar and Turkey, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said during a meeting of the so-called “Friends of Syria” group in Tunisia on February 24 that supplying weapons to Syrian rebels is “an excellent idea.”
However, Syrians have repeatedly expressed support for the president over the past few months.
President Assad endorsed a newly drafted constitution on February 28 as part of the promised reforms in the country. The draft was put to vote in a February 26 referendum and won the overwhelming support of Syrian voters.
The new constitution excludes Article 8, which declared the ruling Baath Party as the “leader of the state and society,” and also establishes a multiparty system in Syria and limits the presidential term to two seven-year periods.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Ankara supports supplying arms to rebels in Syria fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Davutoglu claimed that the “international community’s message might be conveyed to the Syrian administration via certain methods including the arming of the Syrian National Council (SNC).”
The Turkish foreign minister made the remarks in a press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi in Istanbul on Saturday.
“If necessary, a transition similar to the Yemen model is worth discussion,” Davutoglu added.
The latest remarks by the Turkish foreign minister come a couple of days after Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani said on February 27 that the “international community” should provide arms to the Syrian rebels and that “Arab countries should take the lead in providing a safe haven for rebels inside Syria.”
Saudi Arabia has also voiced support for the rebels in Syria.
President Assad said on February 20 that “some foreign countries” are fueling the year-long turmoil in Syria by supporting and funding “armed terrorist groups fighting against the government.”
Statements from Western leaders on Syria have grown harsh, if not menacing, as criticisms of the Bashar Assad government are unleashed and regime change becomes a common theme.
The fury and thirst for blood can be heard around the world as Washington and Brussels make their views known on how the conflict in Syria should be resolved. The noose began tightening around Damascus after reports emerged in the previous week that several foreign journalists were killed and injured in a siege of the rebel stronghold Homs. And now, Western officials are taking advantage of the incident as an excuse for openly calling for the removal of Assad and his government. The new labels for the country’s president and his regime are growing creative in their severity.
‘Medieval barbarity’ condemned from the UK
Responsibility for the “medieval barbarity” in Syria lies solely with the country’s leadership, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said at the end of an EU summit in Brussels.
“We will make sure … that there is a day of reckoning for those who are responsible. I have a clear message for those in authority in Syria: make a choice, turn your back on this criminal regime or face justice for the blood that is on your hands,” he said.
Britain is now demanding that Assad face a war crimes tribunal for what Cameron describes as “butchering his own people.”
“It is very important that we set out the war crimes that effectively are being committed, that we write them down, we take the photographic evidence, we bring it together and … make sure that the day of reckoning will come,” he said.
London is withdrawing its entire diplomatic staff from the troubled country, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Thursday.
France wants ‘dictators to pay’
As the two French journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels, who were evacuated from the embattled city of Homs, arrived at an airport near Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asserted that “dictators anywhere in the world should know that they will have to account for their crimes.”
“The crimes that they have committed will not go unpunished,” Sarkozy is quoted as saying by Al Arabiya.
He backed his rhetoric with the announcement that France is to close its embassy in Damascus.
‘Assad’s days numbered,’ Obama warns
The US is obviously not the country to avoid inflammatory comments on the issue. President Barack Obama stated in an interview with the Atlantic Monthly published on Friday that the Syrian president’s “days are numbered,” and said that the US was working to accelerate the transition to what it calls democracy for the country.
“It is our estimation that [Assad’s] days are numbered – it’s a matter not of if, but when,” Obama added.
“Now, can we accelerate that? We’re working with the world community to try to do that,” he said.
Obama did not hesitate to openly compare the situation in Syria to that in Libya some time ago, saying that the country is more sophisticated and more complicated than Libya – while regretting that “countries like Russia are blocking UN action.”
Regime change was the objective in two separate resolutions presented to the UN Security Council, both vetoed by Russia and China, who believe the international community cannot simply push out governments. Moscow and Beijing maintain that the Syrian people must decide what is to take place in their country, and support initiatives that would have both the government and the opposition agree to a ceasefire.
Obama noted that US is trying through the “Friends of the Syrian People” group to promote humanitarian relief to cities under attack from Syrian government forces.
“But they can also accelerate a transition to a peaceful and stable and representative Syrian government,” he added.
Earlier in the week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Congressional committee that Assad could be classified as a war criminal, while France suggested Assad be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Assad bad, rebels good?
Western leaders are classifying the Syrian conflict in more black-and-white terms every day, with Assad consistently on the dark side. But while Brussels and Washington condemn the Assad government, eyewitnesses from Homs tell chilling stories of atrocities committed by opposition fighters, who kidnap and kill anyone they choose.
The Free Syrian Army blocked passage to Red Cross and Red Crescent ambulances, delaying evacuation from humanitarian disaster areas like the one in Baba Amr, a district of Homs. Further, on several instances when aid did reach its destination, there was no guarantee the people, who needed it, would receive it.
Thus, on Tuesday, a Russian helicopter flew into a neutral area to pick up Edith Bouvier, a French journalist wounded in the shelling of Homs on February 22. She was meant to be transported to France or Lebanon, but failed to appear, said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
“She was in the area controlled by the rebels. They could carry her out to the helicopter. But she never came. Or were the rebels holding her?” added Putin.
Nothing changed after two attempts by Red Crescent ambulances.
Bouvier and another injured reporter, William Daniels, finally reached Paris on Friday night. But as far as the official powers are concerned, there was no reason for the wounded journalists to spend so much time in the devastated city.
As the recent death toll in Syria's year-long uprising has leapt over 7,500 people, a growing number of voices are saying the atrocities carried out by the opposition can no longer be ignored.
“There is a growing recognition that some of the fundamentalist Islamic groups, who probably make up about 30 per cent of the armed insurgents, are guilty of as much brutality as the Syrian army,” Aisling Byrne, a project coordinator at the Conflicts Forum, told RT. “It is a guerrilla war. This is not a fight for democracy, but a fight to introduce a hardline Sunni regime.”
The Pentagon has prepared “detailed plans” for a military strike against Syria in case President Barack Obama issues an attack order.
According to an unnamed senior US official, the plans include several different kinds of operations, number of personnel as well as the type of military equipment needed, CNN reported.
“There are lots of ideas floating around,” the official said, adding that “People are teeing up to options.”
The revelation comes as several high-ranking US officials have in recent weeks voiced their support to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power, including providing increased assistance to the armed groups fighting Syria’s government.
“If we can't get Assad to yield to the pressure that we are all bringing to bear, we may have to consider additional measures,” said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, without elaborating what those measures could be.
Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain called on the international community in mid-February, to help provide military equipment to the armed gangs in Syria.
"There are ways to get weapons to people who are fighting against this kind of oppression, we showed that in Libya," McCain told reporters on a visit to al-Qods (Jerusalem).
On Tuesday, a defected military officer who refused to be named told reporters in the western Syrian city of Al-Qusayr that the armed groups were receiving military equipment from both France and the US.
"We now have weapons and anti-aircraft missiles and… we will defeat Bashar [al-Assad]," the general said.
Assad had on February 20 said that a number of foreign countries were fueling unrest in Syria by supporting and funding the armed terrorist groups fighting against the government. He also said that they were blocking the attempts made by Damascus to end the month-long unrest in the country as well as preventing it from treading the patch of reforms.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Syrian army has taken full control of a key terrorist stronghold in the central city of Homs after more than three weeks of clashes, forcing the anti-government forces to pull out of the area.
Officials said the soldiers took control of the Baba Amr district of Homs on Thursday after they defeated the last pockets of armed gangs in the neighborhood and forced them to flee the area.
The main anti-government group, the Free Syrian Army confirmed the news, but claimed to have pulled out of the district in a "tactical" move.
The takeover comes two days after the Syrian armed gangs admitted that they have received weapons from the United States and France.
Earlier a number of Western and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had supported the idea of sending weapons and financial aid to armed groups in Syria, who have been fighting against the government since March last year.
The move came despite efforts made by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad government for implementing reforms with the aim of ending unrest which has been plaguing the country for several months.
The Syrian government has recently endorsed a new draft constitution that was approved by nearly 90 percent of eligible voters in a Sunday referendum.
The new constitution excludes Article 8, which declared the ruling Baath Party as the “leader of the state and society,” and also establishes a multiparty system in Syria and limits the presidential term to two seven-year periods.
Despite Western and Arab pressure on Assad's government to step down, Russia has continued calling for the resolution of Syrian crisis through dialogue.
At a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov reaffirmed that Russian diplomacy has been working and will continue to work to resolve the Syrian crisis.
"Today it is clear that aims to instill democracy through force are doomed to disaster and achieve the opposite. What is important today is that we do not allow for a full scale civil war in Syria," Galitov said.
Israel is reportedly preparing the grounds for military meddling in Syria by creating chaos in the southwestern Syrian province of Quneitra, bordering the occupied territories.
Informed sources say Tel Aviv is making efforts to create an insecure and tense atmosphere in the Syrian border province of Quneitra in order to pave the way for the presence of UN observers there which will then be followed by Israeli forces.
The move comes after the failure of Western-backed attempts to create buffer zones along Syria’s border with Turkey and Lebanon.
According to informed sources, Quneitra’s residents are receiving phone calls and SMS from unknown parties, urging them to hold anti-government protest rallies and cause unrest in the border town. Sources also said unknown groups of people have entered the province in recent days, apparently for committing acts of violence in the region.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's recent call for the establishment of tents along the Syrian-Israeli border for the Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their country, is believed to be part of Tel Aviv's new anti-Syria plot.
Israel openly supports armed groups fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, arguing that it would break the Iran-Syria nexus of resistance against Tel Aviv.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds, including security forces.
While the opposition blames the Assad government, Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Syria condemns Qatari and Saudi Arabian calls for arming terrorist groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad as a hostile bid aimed at fueling unrest in the country.
Syrian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jihad Maqdisi said on Wednesday that by arming anti-government terrorists in Syria the Kingdom and Qatar are only worsening the situation in Syria and therefore more people will be killed.
He also held those countries funding and arming terrorist groups in Syria responsible for the months of deadly violence in the country.
"The Syrian response to such calls was reserved. We would like the brothers in Qatar and Saudi Arabia or whomsoever to contribute to getting the opposition figures to act rationally and come to the dialogue table, and not to arming the opposition and shedding the Syrian blood, for which they are fully responsible as they are consciously shedding it," Maqdisi told a news conference in the capital, Damascus.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have recently said that they support the idea of sending weapons to anti-government groups, who have been fighting against the Syrian government since last year.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby has said that arming Syrian rebels might be a possible alternative if the international community fails to end the violence in the country.
Maqdisi also said that Damascus is committed to helping evacuate the Western journalists trapped in the restive city of Homs, blaming rebel refusal to cooperate with the Red Crescent for the delay in their transfer.
"We entrusted the Red Crescent, in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, to negotiate (the evacuation) but the gunmen refused to hand over the bodies and the journalists," the Foreign Ministry Spokesman said
Almost 90 percent of Syrian voters have said 'yes' to the country’s new constitution, says Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar.
According to the Syrian minister, nearly 60 percent of eligible voters took part in the referendum on Sunday, with 7,490,319 (89.4 percent) supporting it and 753,208 (9 percent) saying "No."
The new constitution will end five decades of Ba'ath party rule by allowing political pluralism, it will also enact a presidential limit of two seven-year terms.
Article 23 of the new constitution guarantees the women’s rights to participate in the social, economic, and political activities, while Article 42 states that citizens have the right to express their thoughts freely and to hold peaceful demonstrations.
Damascus has pledged multi-party parliamentary elections within three months.
The new constitution is part of the reforms plans promised by President Bashar al-Assad.
The referendum came after a year of deadly violence in the country.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds, reportedly including over 2,000 security forces.
Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) meets with Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Tunis, February 24, 2012.
Saudi Arabia has said that arming the Syrian rebels is “an excellent idea,” following remarks by US President Barack Obama vowing to use every tool available against Damascus.
"I think it's an excellent idea... because they have to protect themselves," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said before a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of a conference on Syria in Tunisia.
The pro-opposition so-called Friends of Syria conference organized by a number of Western countries and the Arab League kicked off in Tunisia on Friday to discuss the Syrian unrest.
Faisal’s remarks could yet be seen as another signal of Riyadh's intervention in a foreign country after it sent hundreds of troops to neighboring Bahrain to crush peaceful protests there.
Clinton also threatened Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with a "heavy cost" if he refuses to resign.
Meanwhile, Obama has threatened to mount pressure on the Syrian government.
"We're going to continue to keep the pressure up and look for every tool available” to put pressure on Syrian government, Obama told reporters in Washington.
Pro-Israeli US Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have also called for arming the Syrian opposition with the help of Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad. The West and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the Syrian government of killing the protesters.
South Africa's Closing Argument Against Israel for Genocide at the ICJ
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