http://www.juancole.com/2012/07/top-ten-implications-of-the-damascus-bombing.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ispIrLdwmKGnbZc_TzlUOPGFyeow?docId=CNG.eeb39b7412701b678cf051d8c5bf6266.391
( As the West celebrates the " victorious bombing escapades " of Wednesday , note the conduct of the rebels - anyone going to speak on these War Crimes they committed in front of Iraqi soldiers ? )
http://www.infowars.com/russia-china-veto-u-n-security-council-resolution-on-syria/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/201271961645358140.html
and....
http://dawn.com/2012/07/19/clashes-reported-near-government-hq-in-damascus/
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to have disappeared from Damascus after his top security staff was killed in a suicide bombing. There has been no statement from the president, nor any sign of him since the attack Wednesday on the central government headquarters.
Clashes erupted Thursday near government headquarters in Damascus as opposition forces attacked loyalist troops, vowing to “liberate” the capital, activists and residents said.
One person was reported killed in the fighting by late morning in a neighborhood next to the Council of Ministers, a huge complex, and a Damascus University campus, sources said.
Assad's brother-in-law, his defense minister and a top general were all killed Wednesday at a meeting of defense and security chiefs.
A security source said the bomber, who struck the security headquarters itself, was a bodyguard for Assad's own inner circle.
The United Nations Security Council, which had planned to meet Wednesday, delayed a vote on a Syria resolution until Thursday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he was alarmed by the intensifying violence in Syria and that he “strongly condemns” the bombing in Damascus that killed top defense and security chiefs.
Ban "is also gravely concerned about reports of the continued use of heavy weapons by the Syrian security forces, including in the Damascus area, against civilians, despite repeated government assurances that such weapons would be withdrawn," the United Nations said in an emailed statement.
Ban, who is on a three-day visit to China, urged members of the Security Council to take collective and effective action in view of the escalating situation in Syria.
http://www.debka.com/article/22192/Anti-Israel-attacks-to-mount-in-sync-with-Syrian-war-looming-strike-on-Iran
Posted on 07/19/2012 by Juan
The bombing of the Security Headquarters of the Baath government of Syria on Wednesday killed the Minister of Defense, the deputy Minister of Defense, and the Assistant to the vice-president and head of crisis management office Gen Hassan Turkomani. It wounded the Minister of the Interior (i.e. head of the secret police) and a member of the national security council. Some reports said that also wounded was Hafez al-Makhlouf, a cousin of the president on his mother’s side of the family and a key security figure. The Makhloufs, especially Ramy, are the business wing of the al-Assad cartel, and their billionaire ways were among the sources of discontent that provoked the uprising.
What does this bombing mean for Syria and the Middle East?
1. It demonstrates that the rebels have sympathizers in high positions within the regime. The bomb had to have been planted by an insider. This situation reminds me of the American dilemma in Vietnam, where we now know that many high-ranking Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) officers were in fact sympathizers with the Communists and basically double agents.
2. It follows upon this conclusion that the al-Assad regime is unlikely to be able to emulate the Algerian military, which crushed the Islamic Salvation Front in a brutal civil war from 1992 through the early zeroes of the present century. Some 150,000 Algerians are said to have died in the dirty war, with atrocities on both sides. But when the smoke cleared, the junta was still in control, and its favored secular civilians were in office. In all that time, the Muslim fundamentalist opposition never laid a glove on any of the high officials or officers. But the Algerian elite closed ranks against the Islamic Salvation Front, having a cultural set of affinities and a common source of patronage in the state-owned oil and gas sector.
If the rebels in Syria can reach into the Security HQ this way, and assassinate the highest security officials of the regime, that ability does not augur well for Bashar al-Assad’s ability to win the long game, as his counterparts did in Algeria.
3. The targets of the bombing were likely intended to send a message to Syria’s minorities. The minister of defense, Daoud Rajha, was a Christian. The Christian minority, which could be as large as 14% of the population, has been on the fence during the revolution, and some actively support the secular nationalist regime because they fear Muslim fundamentalists will come to power. Rajha’s assassination was intended to warn them to join the revolution or at least get out of its way. Likewise, Assef Shawkat, the deputy minister of defense, was an Allawite Shiite and was married to Bushra, the sister of Bashar al-Assad. If it is true that Hafez Makhlouf was wounded, he was another prominent Allawite. The rebels are largely (with significant exceptions) Sunni Muslims, from the majority community that has not typically held its fair proportion of high office.
4. The rein of terror unleashed by the Allawites on the Sunni rebels, using Ghost Brigade death squads, has backfired big time. Many Sunnis formerly allied with the regime have turned on it, including at the highest levels. The defection of the Sunni Tlass family, who had dominated the ministry of defense and regime business interests for decades, is a straw in the wind here.
5. The rocket-propelled grenades smuggled to the opposition by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as part of their proxy war against Iran, are allowing the rebels occasionally to kill tanks and take down helicopter gunships. The more such weapons they have, and the more sophisticated they are, the more they help level the playing field for the rebels.
6. Defections and desertions of Sunni enlisted men and low-level officers could accelerate in the wake of the bombings, as soldiers become convinced that the regime will eventually fall. They won’t want to risk their lives fighting for a ship that is anyway sinking, and won’t want to risk being seen as war criminals in the aftermath.
7. The economic disruptions in the capital could be decisive. With the rebels now fighting in districts like Midan and Tadamun, the Syrian business classes are not going to be making any money for a while. Since for them, the purpose of the Baath Party is to throw them licenses and government contracts, they will turn on it if it is unable to satisfy their needs.
8. The fall of the Baath regime in Syria would leave Hizbullah high and dry. Its rockets and other weapons, and some of its communications and code-breaking abilities, depended on Syrian help. The leader of the Hizbullah Shiites of south Lebanon (a neighbor of Syria), Hassan Nasrullah, gave a speech Wednesday unapologetically supporting the Baath regime and sending condolences to the families of those killed. If the regime does fall, the new government is likely to have a grudge with Hizbullah for a while. The downside of any weakening of Hizbullah is that it could encourage Israeli expansionism in South Lebanon, as in the 1980s and 1990s (Israel’s leaders have long wanted to steal the water in south Lebanon’s rivers).
9. On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood is a significant force among the rebels, and it likely will play an outsized role in a post-Baath Syria. It has ties to the Muslim fundamentalist party, Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip. Hamas could therefore become and more formidable adversary for Israel, if it is supported by both the Egyptian and Syrian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood.
10. Given the proliferation of medium weapons among the rebels, the longer the civil war goes on, the more likely these arms are to flow into Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, enabling small guerrilla groups in those countries to challenge the status quo. If the Baath hangs on for years rather than months, the whole region could see more decades of instability. That is why Jordan just declared martial law and has begun turning back refugees at the Syrian border That is why Israel’s security establishment had an urgent meeting Wednesday, and why Syria’s other neighbors are watching developments there with anxiety and suspicion.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ispIrLdwmKGnbZc_TzlUOPGFyeow?docId=CNG.eeb39b7412701b678cf051d8c5bf6266.391
( As the West celebrates the " victorious bombing escapades " of Wednesday , note the conduct of the rebels - anyone going to speak on these War Crimes they committed in front of Iraqi soldiers ? )
Syria rebels 'control all Iraq border points'
BAGHDAD — Syrian rebels took control of all border crossings between Iraq and Syria on Thursday, Baghdad's deputy interior minister told AFP.
"All the border points between Iraq and Syria are under the control of the Free Syrian Army," Adnan al-Assadi told AFP by telephone.
"The border points and all the outposts are under the control of the Free Syrian Army.
"The Syrian army are focusing on Damascus."
Assadi also said there was fighting under way between the Syrian army and rebels across the border from the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar.
The top official said Iraqi border guards had witnessed the Free Syrian Army take control of a border outpost, detain a Syrian army lieutenant colonel, and then cut off his arms and legs.
"Then they executed 22 Syrian soldiers in front of the eyes of Iraqi soldiers."
The account of the killings could not be independently verified.
Assadi added: "If this situation continues, we are going to close the entire border with Syria."
Earlier, an Iraqi border police lieutenant colonel told AFP that clashes began at noon at the Albu Kamal crossing in Anbar province."
"And then in the evening, we saw the Syrian flag being brought down and the flag of the Free Syrian Army replaced it," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We saw people wearing dishdashas (traditional Arab robes) and holding guns and they were walking inside the border post. We closed the border and we sent more patrols and more checkpoints along all the border with Syria."
Government spokesman Ali Dabbagh meanwhile told Iraqiya state television that four planeloads of Iraqis had been flown from Syria back to Iraq on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, officials in western Anbar province, which borders Syria, said thousands of Iraqi families crossed from Syria back into their home country after Baghdad appealed for them to return to avoid escalating violence in Iraq's western neighbour.
Anbar provincial council chief Saadun Obeid Shaalan said provincial authorities had provided Iraqis crossing the border with "humanitarian aid and 60 buses have entered Iraq, carrying Iraqis emigrating from Syria."
and.....
http://www.infowars.com/russia-china-veto-u-n-security-council-resolution-on-syria/
Russia, China veto U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria
Reuters
July 19, 2012
July 19, 2012
Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on Thursday that threatened Syrian authorities with sanctions if they did not halt violence against an uprising, thwarting Western hopes for tough action as the crisis in Syria escalates.
It was the third time that Russia, a key ally of the Syrian government, and China have used their veto power to block U.N. Security Council resolutions designed to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and halt the violence in a 16-month conflict that has killed thousands of people. >>>READ FULL ARTICLE
Syrian opposition group warns: If the UN won’t act, ‘we have other options’
With world powers playing a bit of brinksmanship over international action on Syria, Syria’s largest opposition coalition is presenting an ultimatum of its own: Either the UN Security Council passes a resolution with real consequences targeting President Bashar al-Assad and his regime’s violence, or the opposition will turn elsewhere for the means to defend itself and the Syrian people.
The implication of the opposition’s message is that the Security Council’s failure to finally act on a crisis that has left it paralyzed for over a year will lead to the full-blown civil war and wider regional conflict that world powers say they dread.
“What we are saying here is that if there is no possibility of counting on what is the legitimate mandate of the United Nations Security Council, then we have other options,” says Bassma Kodmani, head of foreign relations for the Syrian National Council (SNC) executive office. “If the door is closed in the face of the Syrian people, then we need to explore other scenarios.”
and.....
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/201271961645358140.html
| Tanks roll on Damascus as violence reigns | ||||
Heavy fighting grips capital with state source saying "all weapons will be used to finish off terrorists" by Ramadan.
Last Modified: 19 Jul 2012 21:28
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| Government troops have stormed a Damascus district with tanks for the first time, five days on from the outbreak of fierce clashes in the capital, a UK-based rights group has said. "The army stormed the Qaboon district with a large number of tanks," said Rami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), on Thursday. "This is the first time that tanks enter a Damascus district," Rahman said. The army's move stoked fears of an imminent massacre in the western quarter of the capital, scene of clashes over the past five days, the SOHR said. The intensity of ongoing fighting in Damascus was underscored on Wednesday by a devastating bomb attack at the heart of Syria's senior command that killed at least three of President Bashar al-Assad's top brass Earlier on Thursday, a security source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity that the army would show no restraint in its operations. "These extremely violent clashes should continue in the next 48 hours to cleanse Damascus of terrorists by the time Ramadan begins" on Friday, the source said, referring to the Muslim holy month. The developments came a day after three top regime officials were killed in an unprecedented attack in the National Security headquarters in Damascus, which was claimed by the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). "After the attack, [the army] has decided to use all the weapons in its possession to finish the terrorists off," the security source said. Violence killed at least 107 people across Syria on Thursday, the SOHR said, and forced hundreds of Damascus residents to flee their homes for safer neighbourhoods. Fighting rages Earlier on Thursday, opposition fighters attacked the main police headquarters in Damascus on Thursday, a witness said.
Intense fighting between the opposition and government forces also raged in a half-dozen areas of the Syrian capital Damascus.
Columns of black smoke rose over Damascus on Thursday as troops shelled Qaboon and Barzeh, while fighting raged in al-Midan and Zahira and loud explosions were heard in Mashrou-Dumar, said the Syrian Local Co-ordination Committees.
Violence also erupted in Ikhlas neighbourhood near the government headquarters after rebels attacked forces loyal to Assad, who have deployed armoured vehicles, attack helicopters and increased roadblocks across the city. Rebels fired rocket-propelled grenades at a police station in the Jdeidet Artouz area, killing at least five officers, the SOHR said. Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said many people believed the latest developments had brought the Syrian conflict to a turning point. "The Damascus fighting is now in its fifth day, getting close to power base of the Syrian president," our correspondent said. "The prestige of the regime has been shattered. Losing control of Damascus [means] the regime is slowly losing its grip over the country." More than 200 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Wednesday, including 38 in Damascus, where rebels are pressing an all-out offensive, according to the SOHR. Wednesday's bombing killed Defence Minister General Daoud Rajha, Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and General Hassan Turkmani, head of the regime's crisis cell on the uprising, state media said. Among those wounded were Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar and General Hisham Ikhtiyar, head of national security. Conflicting accounts have emerged of who carried out the attack on Wednesday and how it was perpetrated. Within hours the government named Major General Fahad Jassim Feraj as defence minister, the state news agency SANA reported. The attack was claimed by the FSA, although another group, the Brigade of Islam, also said it was responsible.
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and....
http://dawn.com/2012/07/19/clashes-reported-near-government-hq-in-damascus/
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/syria-us-state-department-bets-on-muslim-brotherhood/
Syria’s Assad…’would not hesitate’ to use chemical weapons
SYRIA: US State Department bets on Muslim Brotherhood.
American policy shift spells danger in the Middle East
Syria’s Assad…’would not hesitate’ to use chemical weapons
From the start of the anti-Assad uprising in Syria, the geopolitical ramifications have made the conflict a nightmare for the Major Powers. Assad is a ruthless and bloody dictator, but the Opposition is increasingly dominated by radical Islamists. But now from both Syria and the US comes news that will startle many….and who knows, perhaps at long last get the Western publics to grasp why that country is really 2012′s Spanish Civil War.
American sources have been suggesting strongly over the last month that there has been a major policy shaft at the State Department – in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood. While anti-Obama conspiracists will have a field day with this, the reality is infinitely more complex than any idea of a closet Islamist President slightly off his rocker.
“Let’s just say State has grown up quite a bit since the Arab Spring,” says a trusted Washington source. “There was always the fear that Islamic radicals would benefit from the instability, but there’s a realism that says we must engage with them.”
The majority line at State today is, astonishingly, that the Muslim Brotherhood is going to be the dominant force in Middle Eastern politics for some time to come, and America wants to be on the winning side – not left out in the cold as, yet again, the Great Satan.
Evidence of this appeared yesterday when the pro-Christian Twitter site Persecution.org was retweeted by Daily Telegraph et all blogger Ed West as saying, “Senator Jim Webb to Single-Handedly Kill Legislation Protecting Christians in the Middle East”. Bipartisan Congressional legislation to send protection envoys to the Middle East passed the House of Reps by a huge 402-20 majority, but was rigorously opposed by the State Department. State recently issued a paper somewhat blandly suggesting that the ‘protection envoy’ role would be ‘unnecessary, duplicative and likely counter-productive’.
This is not very well coded Statespeak for “we’re changing sides, now butt out”. In a nutshell, the US is cuddling up to the MusBros…..and having active US pro-Christian bodies impinging on that process would be ‘counter-productive’.
This is, from my viewpoint, a pretty shameful step; it is also just another form of American naivety every bit as bad as the 1930s appeasement of Nazism. But this is oil stuff, and when Texas Tea comes into the mix, all other considerations are vapourised. Further, from inside Syria itself comes feedback about twin fears among the more secular opposition to President Assad.
“We are being targeted for assassination by the Brotherhood,” writes a press contact for one of the most prominent anti-Assad groups beyond the Muslim religious fanatics, “They are already preparing to eliminate and imprison all non-Islamist revolutionaries once Assad is gone. A civil war after Assad’s removal would be even more bloody than what we have now.”
An Arabist observer-cum-Slogger writes:
‘Assad is an Alawite, the much despised and much persecuted minority who are regarded as unbelievers. They were the lowest of low - almost as low as Syrian Christians – until they gained power courtesy of the French. If Assad gives up power, then all 4 million Alawaites and all 4 million Christians will be murdered. So Assad cannot give up power….the Syrian Alawi are beleaguered, but have a great deal of power and weapons. Whatever the UN or the US says, Assad will never step down. If it came to a real show-down, Assad would release all his chemical weapons without blinking an eye. He would not hesitate in flinging all his military cards up in the sky, and then just hoping that some of them fell in his favour. Better that, than being erased from the face of the Earth by militant Muslims.’
Over the last 48 hours, the Western media have all but decided that Assad’s days are few. They may well be right, but few have a realistic steer on just how big a bang he might go out with. An exception is the morning’s Guardian, which writes:
‘Mass defections of soldiers and a rampage by pro-regime militiamen were reported in the capital amid a swirl of rumours, including one that Assad’s wife, Asma, had fled to Russia and another that troops were being issued with gas masks, raising fears of the use of chemical weapons.’
But a calm – some would say smug – White House spokesman, Jay Carney, said “it’s clear that Assad is losing control”. And of course David ‘braindead Foreign office Man’ Cameron David Cameron, meeting British troops in Afghanistan, said it was “time for Assad to go”. He really doesn’t know anything at all about the Middle East, but at least he is powerless. The same cannot be said of the US State Department.”
“America and Europe are so dumb, that they know less than a fox,” says one source, “Even a fox knows that it is very unwise to corner Mother Goose with her chicks, because Mother Goose will fight to the death to protect them. Assad will do the same.”
What the Israelis think (I’d imagine) is not that hard to divine; but ‘isolated’ probably nails it quite well.
We must wait and see. But stay tuned: in the next few days, this could turn geopolitically (and militarily) very nasty indeed.
Clashes reported near government HQ in Damascus
Reuters | 45 mins ago
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This image made from Syrian State TV video purports to show Syrian troops fighting against Syrian rebels in the Al-Midan area of Damascus, July 18, 2012. — Photo by AP
AMMAN: Clashes erupted on Thursday near Syrian government headquarters in Damascus after rebels attacked forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, who have deployed armoured vehicles and increased roadblocks across the city, activists and residents said.
At least one person was reported killed in the fighting in Ikhlas neighbourhood near the Council of Ministers, a huge complex, and a Damascus University campus, they said.
Hundreds of families were fleeing the area, located between the districts of Kafar Souseh and Mezze, they said.
“The refugees have nowhere to go. There is fighting across Damascus,” said a housewife watching the fighting from a tower block on Mezze Autostrade near the prime minister’s office.
Fighting has been focused in the southern and north-eastern suburbs of the city, as well as the central areas of Mezze and Kafar Souseh where several security sites are located. Other parts of central Damascus were quiet on Thursday.
Another resident said army snipers were deployed on rooftops in Mezze and Kafar Souseh after rebels attacked armoured vehicles stationed near the prime minister’s office and a roadblock erected in the last few days behind the Iranian embassy.
“The snipers are shooting at anyone in the streets. Mezze streets are deserted,” he said, speaking by phone.
Fighting was also reported in Midan, a central district where rebels have been operating in alleyways and narrow streets that cannot be entered easily by tanks.
Witnesses also said armoured vehicles entered the Sinaa neighbourhood, which is adjacent to the historic Old City centre of the ancient capital.
Reactions from China, Russia
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it was deeply concerned by the situation in Syria, as battles raged in the centre of Damascus.
China “strongly condemns the bombing which happened in Damascus yesterday. China expresses deep concern about the continued tension in Syria”, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Moreover, a senior aide to President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia has not been discussing the possibility of taking in Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said he was unaware of any plans for the embattled leader to come to Moscow.
Ushakov told reporters that Putin, in talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan or in a telephone conversation with US President Barack Obama on Wednesday, had not discussed where Assad might go if he left Syria.
Syrian opposition sources and a Western diplomat said Assad was in the coastal city of Latakia while residents reported the heaviest fighting in the capital in a 16-month revolt.
and....
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158029
Report: Assad Disappears from Damascus
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to have disappeared from Damascus after his top security staff was killed in a suicide bombing.
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By Chana Ya'ar and Reuters
First Publish: 7/19/2012, 11:55 AM
Assad forces truck burnt in rebel attack on Damascus
Reuters
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to have disappeared from Damascus after his top security staff was killed in a suicide bombing. There has been no statement from the president, nor any sign of him since the attack Wednesday on the central government headquarters.
Clashes erupted Thursday near government headquarters in Damascus as opposition forces attacked loyalist troops, vowing to “liberate” the capital, activists and residents said.
One person was reported killed in the fighting by late morning in a neighborhood next to the Council of Ministers, a huge complex, and a Damascus University campus, sources said.
Assad's brother-in-law, his defense minister and a top general were all killed Wednesday at a meeting of defense and security chiefs.
A security source said the bomber, who struck the security headquarters itself, was a bodyguard for Assad's own inner circle.
The United Nations Security Council, which had planned to meet Wednesday, delayed a vote on a Syria resolution until Thursday.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he was alarmed by the intensifying violence in Syria and that he “strongly condemns” the bombing in Damascus that killed top defense and security chiefs.
Ban "is also gravely concerned about reports of the continued use of heavy weapons by the Syrian security forces, including in the Damascus area, against civilians, despite repeated government assurances that such weapons would be withdrawn," the United Nations said in an emailed statement.
Ban, who is on a three-day visit to China, urged members of the Security Council to take collective and effective action in view of the escalating situation in Syria.
"Time is of the essence," Ban said. "The Syrian people have suffered for too long. The bloodshed must end now."
http://www.debka.com/article/22192/Anti-Israel-attacks-to-mount-in-sync-with-Syrian-war-looming-strike-on-Iran
Anti-Israel attacks to mount in sync with Syrian war, looming strike on Iran
DEBKAfile Special Report July 19, 2012, 9:54 AM (GMT+02:00)
Israeli victims of Bulgarian bus blast
The tactics Iran, Syria and Hizballah have set out for escalating their terrorist attacks on Israel differentiate between “local” and high-value “strategic” targets. They have now decided to up the assaults on the latter to keep pace with the worsening war situation in Syria and the approach of an attack on Iran’s nuclear program. This is reported by DEBKAfile’s intelligence and counter-terror sources.
Iranian terror planners classify the blowing up of the Bulgarian bus Wednesday, July 18 as “local” notwithstanding its “success” in killing at least seven Israelis and wounding more than thirty.
Destroying an Israeli passenger plane in Limassol, Cyprus, or assassinating an Israeli ambassador, in which they have failed so far, would have been “strategic” as would key Israeli security figures, politicians, business executives and Israel’s Mediterranean oil and gas fields.
Iranian terror planners classify the blowing up of the Bulgarian bus Wednesday, July 18 as “local” notwithstanding its “success” in killing at least seven Israelis and wounding more than thirty.
Destroying an Israeli passenger plane in Limassol, Cyprus, or assassinating an Israeli ambassador, in which they have failed so far, would have been “strategic” as would key Israeli security figures, politicians, business executives and Israel’s Mediterranean oil and gas fields.
Just by coincidence, two major episodes occurred on the same day only hours apart – a large hole was struck in Bashar Assad’s inner circle with the deaths in Damascus of half the management of his killing machine against the Syrian opposition and, soon after, the Israeli tour bus was blown up by means still under investigation.
This chance synchronicity heralds a new period of horrific Middle East violence which will reach not only Israel, but the United States and the West as well.
This realization was uppermost in the conversation between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday morning, July 19. Neither doubted that Tehran and Damascus were hatching retribution for the assassination of top Syrian ministers.
This chance synchronicity heralds a new period of horrific Middle East violence which will reach not only Israel, but the United States and the West as well.
This realization was uppermost in the conversation between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday morning, July 19. Neither doubted that Tehran and Damascus were hatching retribution for the assassination of top Syrian ministers.
They had information missing from media reports on the two events, including the news that straight after the deadly attack on Assad’s henchmen, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called an Iranian leadership conference which lasted most of Wednesday and was punctuated with frequent phone calls by Iranian officials to the Syrian President.
The content of those phone calls reaching reached Obama and Netanyahu showed clearly which way the wind was blowing in Damascus and Tehran: Neither intended pulling their punches.The US and Israeli leaders agreed to work together in the investigation of the bus explosion in Bulgaria.
The content of those phone calls reaching reached Obama and Netanyahu showed clearly which way the wind was blowing in Damascus and Tehran: Neither intended pulling their punches.The US and Israeli leaders agreed to work together in the investigation of the bus explosion in Bulgaria.
Our sources stress that this is just diplomaticspeak for holding off on action. Despite Netanyahu’s pledge of a “strong response” to the attack, it was decided that a proactive response to the attack by striking an Iranian or Hizballah target would exacerbate a situation which US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described as “spinning out of control.”
Israelis have learned in the three years of Netanyahu's tenure as prime minister that expressions like “strong,” “forceful,” “determined” “we cannot tolerate” etc. mean just the opposite. Israel’s enemies also understand him to mean that he will sit tight and do nothing.
However, an escalation of attacks on Israeli “strategic targets” predicted by intelligence experts in the coming days may make this do-nothing policy untenable. After all, talking to Obama won’t deflect Iran, Syria and Hizballah from their resolve to vent their urge for revenge on Israel.
Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has often managed to stay a step or two ahead of US and Israeli thinking – especially in his propaganda campaigns - ever since he surprised Israel by launching the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.
A few hours after the attacks in Bulgaria and Damascus, Nasrallah had found his tongue and was crowing:
"We know what your [Israel’s] first strike will be and we promise you a big surprise."
Israelis have learned in the three years of Netanyahu's tenure as prime minister that expressions like “strong,” “forceful,” “determined” “we cannot tolerate” etc. mean just the opposite. Israel’s enemies also understand him to mean that he will sit tight and do nothing.
However, an escalation of attacks on Israeli “strategic targets” predicted by intelligence experts in the coming days may make this do-nothing policy untenable. After all, talking to Obama won’t deflect Iran, Syria and Hizballah from their resolve to vent their urge for revenge on Israel.
Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has often managed to stay a step or two ahead of US and Israeli thinking – especially in his propaganda campaigns - ever since he surprised Israel by launching the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006.
A few hours after the attacks in Bulgaria and Damascus, Nasrallah had found his tongue and was crowing:
"We know what your [Israel’s] first strike will be and we promise you a big surprise."
His words were a warning to Israel and a message to Washington that anyone trying to reach the bunker in which he has been hiding since 2006 was in for a big surprise.
Israel was painfully reminded of the Iranian C-802 shore-to-ship missile fired from the Lebanese coast which surprised and crippled the unready INS Hanit missile ship exactly six years ago.
and......
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9410184/Syria-Fresh-fighting-in-capital-as-hundreds-flee-regime-reprisal-attacks.html
The military said residents have 48 hours to leave areas where clashes are taking place between security forces and rebels, according to security sources.
"These extremely violent clashes should continue in the next 48 hours to cleanse Damascus of terrorists by the time Ramadan begins" on Friday, the source said, referring to the Muslim holy fasting month.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog said "hundreds of people" fled several areas.
David Cameron, the prime minister called on Syrian president Bashar Assad to give up power to avert more chaos and bloodshed. Speaking during a visit to Afghanistan, Mr Cameron said: "I have a very clear message for president Assad. It is time for him to go.
"It is time for transition in the regime. If there isn't transition it's quite clear there's going to be civil war."
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