Iran and Syria war watch updates...... progress to live shooting war from subltle proxy campaigns underway , just the question of timing remains unclear.....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/23/us-iran-nuclear-israel-preemptive-idUSBRE88M09C20120923

(Reuters) - Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike on Israel if it was sure the Jewish state was preparing to attack it, a senior commander of its elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made the comments to Iran's state-run Arabic language Al-Alam television.

"Iran will not start any war but it could launch a pre-emptive attack if it was sure that the enemies are putting the final touches to attack it," Al-Alam said, paraphrasing the military commander.

Hajizadeh said any attack on Iranian soil could trigger "World War Three".

"We can not imagine the Zionist regime starting a war without America's support. Therefore, in case of a war, we will get into a war with both of them and we will certainly get into a conflict with American bases," he said.

"In that case, unpredictable and unmanageable things would happen and it could turn into a World War Three."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made increasing hints that Israel could strike Iran's nuclear sites and has criticized U.S. President Barack Obama's position that sanctions and diplomacy should be given more time to stop Iran getting the atomic bomb.

Tehran denied it is seeking weapons capability and says its atomic work is peaceful, aimed at generating electricity.

"The Zionist entity is militarily incapable of confronting Iran ... the circumstances of the region do not enable it to wage war tomorrow or even in the near future," Hajizadeh said.

"Our response will exceed their expectations," he said. "Their assessment of our missile capabilities is wrong. Our response will not only be missiles."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-22/iran-accuses-german-siemens-sabotaging-its-nuclear-plant-turkey-sends-heavy-weapons-

Iran Accuses German Siemens Of Sabotaging Its Nuclear Plant As Turkey Sends Heavy Weapons To Syria Border

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/22/2012 22:54 -0400

• Gross Domestic Product
 
• Iran
 
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• Reuters
 
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• Uranium

It seems you can't turn your back on the Middle East for more than a few minutes without something going bump in the desert. Sure enough, a few shorts hours after we reported that the leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guards is certain war with Israel is coming, here comes Iran again with the stunning admission that none other than German industrial conglomerate, and occasional maker of nuclear power plants, Siemens was reponsible for "implanting tiny explosives inside equipment the Islamic Republic purchased for its disputed nuclear program. Prominent lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said Iranian security experts discovered the explosives and removed them before detonation, adding that authorities believe the booby-trapped equipment was sold to derail uranium enrichment efforts. "The equipment was supposed to explode after being put to work, in order to dismantle all our systems," he said. "But the wisdom of our experts thwarted the enemy conspiracy." Expert wisdom aside, what is stunning is not the ongoing attempts by everyone and the kitchen sink to terminally corrupt the Iranian nuclear power plant: after Stuxnet one would expect nothing less than every form of conventional and "new normal" espionage thrown into the pot to cripple the only peaceful argument Iran would have for demanding nuclear power, which by implication would mean that all ongoing nuclear pursuits are geared solely toward aggressive, military goals, of the type that demand immediate military retaliation by thedemocratic superpowers. No, what is stunning is the implicit admission that Germany's, and Europe's, largest electrical engineering company, has been not only quietly transacting with none other than world peace (as portrayed by the MSM) enemy #1, Iran, but instrumental in its nuclear program.

Obviously it took a Stuxnet second before Siemens denied everything and then some. Via Reuters:

Siemens denied the charge and said its nuclear division has had no business with Iran since the 1979 revolution that led to its current clerical state.

"Siemens rejects the allegations and stresses that we have no business ties to the Iranian nuclear program," spokesman for the Munich-based company Alexander Machowetz said.

Oh well, Iran must have bought all those Siemens nuclear centrifuges, concrete dome and steam plant in near perfect condition on eBay from anonymous sellers (who accept PayPal and even credit cards as long as the purchase does not have an Indonesian shipping address).

Iran, however, isn't afraid of throwing Siemens into even deeper water, alleging not only breach of international embargos, but also masterful sabotaging of ones own product:

Boroujerdi, who heads the parliamentary security committee, alleged that the explosives were implanted at a Siemens factory and demanded the company take responsibility.

There is of course another possibility: that the shipping address of the mysterious and anonymous ebay seller was somewhere in Langley, VA : 

Some Iranian officials have also suggested in the past that specific European companies may have sold faulty equipment to Iran with the knowledge of American intelligence agencies and their own governments, since the sales would have harmed, rather than helped, the country's nuclear program.

According to Iran, the alleged campaign has included the abduction of scientists, the sale of faulty equipment and the planting of a destructive computer worm known as Stuxnet, which briefly brought Iran's uranium enrichment activity to a halt in 2010.

Certifying that there is undoubtedly a Jason Bourne episode in the works over this entire incident is the following:

Abbasi also told the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna that "terrorists and saboteurs" might have infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency, after the watchdog's inspectors arrived at the Fordo underground enrichment facility shortly after power lines were blown up through sabotage on Aug. 17.

Iran has repeatedly accused the IAEA of sending spies in the guise of inspectors to collect information about its nuclear activities, pointing to alleged leaks of information by inspectors to U.S. and other officials.

Five nuclear scientists and researchers have been killed in Iran since 2010. Tehran blames the deaths on Israel's Mossad spy agency as well as the CIA and Britain's MI-6. Washington and London have denied any roles. Israel has not commented.

Boroujerdi said the alleged leaks of nuclear information to its adversaries by the IAEA may finally push Tehran to end all cooperation with the agency.

"Iran has the right to cut its cooperation with the IAEA should such violations continue," he said.

If anyone follows the game theory in this one, and has any idea who has not defected, or where the Nash equilibrium is at this point, please speak up. The rest of us just want the popcorn.

And in far simpler plotlines, Reuters reports that Syria (which for those who have a 15 minutes attention span, was accused three months ago by everyone, and certainly Hillary Clinton, of offensively taking down a Turkish plane before it turned out to be a self-defensive move, at which point the entire false flag story promptly disappeared as it could no longer be pre-spun) is once again being provoked by NATO-member Turkey, which is now deploying heavy armored vehicles and weapons to the border with Syria. The spin this time around:

The deployment is reportedly in an area where earlier this week Turkish civilians were wounded when stray bullets and shelling crossed the border from the Syrian province of al-Raqqa.

CNN Turk television said artillery fire had landed close to the Turkish border overnight, causing panic among local residents.

The Turkish army moved three Howitzers and one anti-aircraft weapon to the border, the channel said.

Turkey, a member of NATO, has conducted a number of troop deployments in recent months along its 911-km (566-mile) border with Syria, where rebels are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

And on, and on, until the interminable foreplay finally ends, whenever one of the abovementioned democracies decides the quiet period is over, and the time for real GDP building (if only in a hard core Keynesian-cum-Krugman sense) once the ability to generate even one additional dollar in debt is no longer available, is upon us.

and.....






http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-22/head-irans-revolutionary-guards-war-israel-will-occur

Head Of Iran's Revolutionary Guards: "A War With Israel Will Occur"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/22/2012 09:44 -0400

• China
 
• India
 
• Iran
 
• Israel
 
• Mohammad
 
• Reuters

Even as the popular ADHD affliction is preoccupied with who paid what taxes, and whether this poll shows that guy on top or this one, until tomorrow when they flip providing even more meaningless chitchat opportunities, everyone appears to have once again lost sight of the big picture, which is that two US ships continue full steam ahead toward Iran, namely the CVN-74 Stennis aircraft carrier which has crossed the Pacific ocean and is now a week away from its target, and the LHA 5 Peleliu big deck amphibious warfare ship, where they will join two other aircraft carriers and the LHD 7 Iwo Jima as summarized by the graphic below. Why is US naval presence in the Gulf soaring to a concentration not seen since the last Gulf war? The head of the Iran revolutionary guard may have an idea. From Reuters: Israel will eventually go beyond threats and will attack Iran, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Saturday.

As speculation mounts that Israel could launch air strikes on Iran before U.S. elections in November, Mohammad Ali Jafari told a news conference that the Jewish state would be destroyed if it took such a step. "Their threats only prove that their enmity with Islam and the revolution is serious, and eventually this enmity will lead to physical conflict," Jafari said when asked about Israeli threats to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.

"We are making all efforts to increase our defensive capabilities so that if there is an attack ... we could defend ourselves and other countries that need our help with high defensive capabilities."

And just to be clear:

"A war will occur, but it's not clear where or when it will be," Jafari was quoted as saying on Saturday. "Israel seeks war with us, but it's not clear when the war will occur."

"Right now they see war as the only method of confrontation," he said.

And when a war does break out, the only question is what China, Russia and India will do. Iran's stance is clear:  "If they (Israel) start something, they will be destroyed and it will be the end of the story for them," Jafari said, according to ISNA.

One thing is guarranteed: in one-two weeks US naval presence in the 5th Fleet will be unprecedented, consisting of at least 3 US aircraft carriers, and 2 amphibious warfare groups, excluding any other naval support the rest of the developed world will throw in.

In other words, if for some reason the US needs a big diversion in the days just before the election, it is sure to get it.

and......







http://www.debka.com/article/22376/Washington%E2%80%99s-Iran-war-game-vs-real-Iranian-Israeli-war-preparations

Washington’s Iran war game vs. real Iranian, Israeli war preparations

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis September 22, 2012, 11:01 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  US military action   Syria   Hizballah   Israeli drill   Ehud Barak   Al Qods 

Ehud Barak and Rahm Emanuel in Chicago

Ill-assorted figures this week cited 2013 as the year in which the United States was expected to go to war on Iran. Among them was Iran’s atomic commission director Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, and players in the US-Iranian war game staged at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, whose heads are close to US President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This apparent US-Iranian concord was unusual but not fortuitous, say DEBKAfile analysts.
On the part of Washington, it had a distinct purpose, which was to demonstrate to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that an Israeli attack before the US presidential election would be superfluous.
The message was played out in the Saban institute’s war game: The player representing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Americans are tired of the fight and they are led by a weak man with no stomach for the struggle.
The script then proves him wrong: On July 6, 2013, Iranian agents coming in from Venezuela blow up a hotel on the Caribbean island of Aruba killing 137 people, many of them American holidaymakers including nuclear physicists. It was clearly a revenge attack for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.
The next chapter of this scenario had President Obama, portrayed as reelected in November, ordering Iranian Revolutionary Guards headquarters in eastern Iran to be bombed, 40 Iranian security installations shut down by cyber warfare and Tehran warned that US intelligence had the names of Iranian agents in 38 countries and their lives were at risk.
Iran purportedly responds by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, through which the world receives a third of its oil. The players representing the US government then slap down a 24-hour ultimatum for Iran to halt its nuclear program or else face the destruction of all its facilities, along with the entire Iranian military deployment in the Persian Gulf.Tehran fails to comply and the US and Iran are at war.

This scenario implicitly made the point that since the US election was only weeks off and America would most likely go to war with Iran next year anyway, Israel had no need to jump the gun before November, 2012.
This was most likely the answer Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak received too when he met with Chicago Mayor and Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for lunch at City Hall Thursday, Sept. 20.

The only known result of their conversation was a gift by the mayor to the minister of a six-pack of Chicago’s famous Goose Island 312 beer. Whether Barak shared it with Netanyahu and whether the beer was to their taste was not revealed.
Apart from this message, the Saban Institute war game notably hinged on two basic premises while skipping a third.

The first was that American and Iranian leaders both acted on wrong strategic and intelligence assessments of the other’s intentions and therefore miscalculated each other’s responses. Had they realized this, the war might have been avoided.

A second working assumption was that Iran had scattered half of its stocked enriched uranium in dozens of places across the country to reduce their vulnerability to attack, while keeping the other half in one place. This was taken to signal qualified Iranian willingness for a diplomatic resolution of its controversy with the United States.
Where the Saban war game erred was in leaving the Syrian factor out of the equation.
DEBKAfile’s military sources point out that Syrian President Bashar Assad is using the same strategy as Iran for his chemical and biological arsenal. Half has been distributed and placed in the care of an estimated 20 Syrian army units; the other half reposes at fixed storage sites – a device indicating to Washington and Moscow that he is open to negotiating an end to the war before deciding to loose his weapons of mass destruction against Syrian rebels.

The Washington think tank’s war game fails to take into account that Iranian and Syrian steps are so closely synchronized that Syrian already looms large as the most likely venue for the approaching core event of a conflict pitting the US and Israel against Iran. Syria and Iran have become almost interchangeable against their shared foes.
Elite units of Iran’s al Qods, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) external arm, are being airlifted into Syria and Lebanon, as the IRGC chief Gen. Ali Jafari, disclosed Sunday, Sept. 16. I

Iranian troops are now deployed on Israel’s northern and eastern borders.
Israel responded Wednesday, Sept. 19, with a snap military exercise, the largest the IDF has staged in many years, on its borders with Syria and Lebanon.Not all the Israeli units taking part in the drill returned to home basewhen the drill was over. Substantial military strength, estimated at two divisions, is therefore building up and facing the Iranian troops across the border in Syria and Lebanon.

Indeed, that same Wednesday saw more than one telling event in the same incendiary context:  Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi paid an unscheduled visit to Damascus for talks with Assad on his way home from a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian, Turkish and Iraqi foreign ministers. They gathered on the initiative of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for another go at resolving the Syrian disaster. Saudi Arabia which is deeply committed to backing the rebels was pointedly absent.
Iran played ball with Egypt for the purpose of lining up its diplomatic ducks for the war to come by putting together a potential Muslim bloc to stand against the US-Israel-Arab grouping. Tehran is looking ahead to the inevitable propsect of peace negotiations taking off amid the fury of war - or as soon as it ends.
Shortly after the Israeli drill, US intelligence officials accused Iran of “secretly transporting large quantities of weapons and military personnel, almost daily, under the cover of civilian aircraft – via Iraqi airspace – to aid embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”

The accent on “almost daily” confirmed that a major buildup of Iranian military strength is in progress in Syria. Typically, Iran is disguising its actions by using civilian aircraft.

And now we can overtly fund / train and support the MEK - another terrorist organization known to kill americans....

US to Delist & Arm American-Killing Terror Cult

Continuity of Agenda: Neo-Cons and Obama administration sponsor global terror against Iran

Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com
Saturday, September 22, 2012

As the US government confirms that terrorists involved in the Benghazi, Libya US consulate attack were indeed the very militants funded, armed, and provided air support in last year’s bid to overthrow the government of Libya, yet another disturbing announcement has been made. Terror organization Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) will be delisted by the US State Department in order to clear legal obstacles in the way of overtly arming and funding the terrorists in pursuit of a proxy war with Iran, the LA Times reported in their article, “U.S. to remove Iranian group Mujahedin Khalq from terrorist list.”

Image: MEK is just one of many terrorist organizations, that despite being listed by the US State Department as such, still receives weapons, training, cash, and political support from the US government. This is a pattern seen repeated in Libya and most recently in Syria – each case spun and excused with a myriad of lies wrapped in false, constantly shifting narratives.

….

The LA Times states specifically:

Some current and former U.S. officials have called for arming the MEK to conduct attacks against Iran, which experts say could tip the United States and Iran closer to war.

The lobbying effort to delist MEK has been led by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani,Howard Dean, first “Secretary of Homeland Security” Tom Ridge, John Lewis, Ed Rendell, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, retired General Wesley Clark,  Lee Hamilton who farcically oversaw the 9/11 Commission, former US Marine Corps Commandant and former Obama National Security Adviser General James Jones, and Alan Dershowitz. There are also members of the British Parliament including David Amess of the Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, speaking on MEK’s behalf.

The US Has Already Been Arming MEK For Years

The delisting of MEK is merely a technicality to make more overt arming and funding for the group possible. In reality, and despite being long recognized as a dangerous, extremist organization with both innocent Iranian and American blood on their hands, the US has been arming, training, and funding MEK for years, beginning under the Bush administration and continuing unabated under Obama.

Covert support for the US-listed terrorist group Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) has been ongoing since at least 2008 under the Bush administration, when Seymour Hersh’s 2008 New Yorker article “Preparing the Battlefield,” reported  that not only had MEK been considered for their role as a possible proxy, but that the US had already begun arming and financing them to wage war inside Iran:

“The M.E.K. has been on the State Department’s terrorist list for more than a decade, yet in recent years the group has received arms and intelligence, directly or indirectly, from the United States. Some of the newly authorized covert funds, the Pentagon consultant told me, may well end up in M.E.K. coffers. “The new task force will work with the M.E.K. The Administration is desperate for results.” He added, “The M.E.K. has no C.P.A. auditing the books, and its leaders are thought to have been lining their pockets for years. If people only knew what the M.E.K. is getting, and how much is going to its bank accounts—and yet it is almost useless for the purposes the Administration intends.”

Seymore Hersh in an NPR interview, also claims that select MEK members have already received training in the US.

More recently, the British Daily Mail published a stunning admission by “US officials” that Israel is currently funding, training, arming, and working directly with MEK. The Daily Mail article states, “U.S. officials confirmed today that Israel has been funding and training Iranian dissidents to assassinate nuclear scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program.” The article continues by claiming, “Washington insiders confirmed there is a close relationship between Mossad and MEK.”

In 2009, an extensive conspiracy was formulated within US policy think-tank Brookings Institution’s 2009 “Which Path to Persia?” report, proposing to fully arm, train, and back MEK as it waged a campaign of armed terror against the Iranian people.

In their report, they openly conspire to use what is an admitted terrorist organization as a “US proxy” (emphasis added):

“Perhaps the most prominent (and certainly the most controversial) opposition group that has attracted attention as a potential U.S. proxy is the NCRI (National Council of Resistance of Iran), the political movement established by the MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq). Critics believe the group to be undemocratic and unpopular, and indeed anti-American.

In contrast, the group’s champions contend that the movement’s long-standing opposition to the Iranian regime and record of successful attacks on and intelligence-gathering operations against the regime make it worthy of U.S. support. They also argue that the group is no longer anti-American and question the merit of earlier accusations. Raymond Tanter, one of the group’s supporters in the United States, contends that the MEK and the NCRI are allies for regime change in Tehran and also act as a useful proxy for gathering intelligence. The MEK’s greatest intelligence coup was the provision of intelligence in 2002 that led to the discovery of a secret site in Iran for enriching uranium.

Despite its defenders’ claims, the MEK remains on the U.S. government list of foreign terrorist organizations. In the 1970s, the group killed three U.S. officers and three civilian contractors in Iran. During the 1979-1980 hostage crisis, the group praised the decision to take America hostages and Elaine Sciolino reported that while group leaders publicly condemned the 9/11 attacks, within the group celebrations were widespread.

Undeniably, the group has conducted terrorist attacks—often excused by the MEK’s advocates because they are directed against the Iranian government. For example, in 1981, the group bombed the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party, which was then the clerical leadership’s main political organization, killing an estimated 70 senior officials. More recently, the group has claimed credit for over a dozen mortar attacks, assassinations, and other assaults on Iranian civilian and military targets between 1998 and 2001. At the very least, to work more closely with the group (at least in an overt manner), Washington would need to remove it from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.”

- page 117-118 of ”Which Path to Persia?“ Brookings Institution, 2009

The latest lobbying effort to delist MEK, led by some of the most adamant proponents for the West’s “War on Terror” is simply the latest move in a long-ago decided conspiracy to build up an armed terrorist group with which to fight a proxy war against Iran. That the conspiracy has been dutifully carried out over the course of two presidencies indicates a continuity in agenda, divorced from the alleged agendas and ideologies of each respective presidency.

MEK is a Listed Terror Organization for a Reason

The delisting, funding, arming, and training of MEK is an indefensible crime against humanity, standing in direct violation of both United States law, as well as international accords agreed upon to stem the state sponsorship of terrorism.

MEK has carried out decades of brutal terrorist attacks, assassinations, and espionage against the Iranian government and its people, as well as targeting Americans including the attempted kidnapping of US Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, the attempted assassination of USAF BrigadierGeneral Harold Price, the successful assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Lee Hawkins, the double assassinations of Colonel Paul Shaffer and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Turner, and the successful ambush and killing of American Rockwell International employees William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard.

Admissions to the deaths of the Rockwell International employees can be found within a report written by former US State Department and Department of Defense official Lincoln Bloomfield Jr. on behalf of the lobbying firm Akin Gump in an attempt to dismiss concerns over MEK’s violent past and how it connects to its current campaign of armed terror – a testament to the depths of depravity from which Washington and London lobbyists operate.

To this day MEK terrorists have been carrying out attacks inside of Iran killing political opponents, attacking civilian targets, as well as carrying out the US-Israeli program of targeting and assassinating Iranian scientists. MEK terrorists are also suspected of handling patsies in recent false flag operations carried out in India, Georgia, and Thailand, which have been ham-handedly blamed on the Iranian government.

MEK is described by Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Ray Takeyh as a “cult-like organization” with “totalitarian tendencies.” While Takeyh fails to expand on what he meant by “cult-like” and “totalitarian,” an interview with US State Department-run Radio Free Europe-Radio Libertyreported that a MEK Camp Ashraf escapee claimed the terrorist organization bans marriage, using radios, the Internet, and holds many members against their will with the threat of death if ever they are caught attempting to escape.

Conclusion

Clearly, all involved, from the Bush administration to Obama’s, are complicit in an overarching agenda to willfully arm terrorists to deploy against Iran. MEK’s history and even its current state is one of couching militant terrorism within the tenuous trappings of political activism – and provides a transparent comparison with which to use against Libyan and Syrian terrorists also armed, trained, funded, and supported by the West in pursuit of long since planned regime change.

Whether it is the US funding and arming Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) terrorists in Libya and in Syria, or delisting the already heavily US-armed and funded MEK in Iraq to carry out attacks across the border against Iran, the West itself is the premier purveyor of state sponsored global terror.

It is support that originates not within the alleged political ideologies of “Neo-Cons” or the current “liberal-Democrat” president, but from corporate-financier interests, articulated within their think-tanks, and merely rubber-stamped and sold to the public by troupes of proxy politicians using false paradigms to manipulate public perception. It is a singular, continuous agenda that will carry forth no matter who is elected into office in 2012, 2016 or beyond. Until the balance of power can be shifted from the corporate-financier interests on Wall Street and in the City of London, back into the hands of the people and their communities, such agendas will continue on.

and news of the day regarding Syria.....

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/09/201292291126206166.html

Rebel group 'moves command centre to Syria'

FSA commander says shift from Turkish territory in preparation for offensive as clashes are reported near Jordan border. Last Modified: 22 Sep 2012 11:57 inShare Email Print Share Feedback

Syria's main rebel group says it is moving its command centre from the Turkish border into Syria itself in preparation of an offensive against President Bashar al-Assad's troops in Damascus. Riyad al-Asaad, commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), announced the move on Saturday in a video message from Syria, the first since the group founded its command centre in Turkey at the beginning of the 19-month conflict. "To the Syrian people, its freedom fighters and all the armed factions, we are glad to let you know that the leadership of the FSA has moved into Syria following arrangements made with other brigades that included securing liberated areas with the hope of launching the offensive on Damascus," Asaad said. He said the FSA has felt pressure by the international community to take a leading role in post-war Syria. Asaad said the FSA rejected those offers, reiterating that the people of Syria should decide the future of the country. "Since we left our country we suffered all sorts of regional and international interference and political pressure, we were isolated. Their goal was to have the FSA replace Assad once he is gone, but we categorically made it clear that we would never betray our people reiterating that only the Syrians should decide their future institutions.” Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Akcakale on the Turkey-Syria border, said the rebels have been cautiously edging forward, taking territory 5km inside Syria. "The move of the command centre is not necessarily a massive breakthrough because the FSA is still very much dependent on Turkey for its supply lines," he said. 'Border clashes' In Saturday's other developments, Syrian government troops and rebels clashed near a border crossing with Jordan, opposition activists said. The fighting, accompanied by heavy shelling from government troops, raged on Saturday near the busy Al-Nasib border crossing located on a highway linking the Syrian and Jordanian capitals, according to the activists. Egyptian Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted a high-ranking Jordanian official as denying the reports about clashes between Jordanian and Syrian armies. The official confirmed that Jordanian soldiers shot in the air to distract the Syrian soldiers from chasing refugees during their attempts to cross the border. Meanwhile, a witness told Reuters news agency that rebel fighters shot down a fighter jet as it flew over the northern town of Atarib in Idlib province. The witness, an independent journalist who asked to remain anonymous, said rebel fighters were attacking a military base near the town when the jet flew over and rebels shot it down with anti-aircraft guns. Vastly outgunned, rebels say they need surface-to-air missiles to take down fighter jets and helicopters used by the Syrian military to bombard opposition strongholds. Anti-aircraft guns Fighters use outdated anti-aircraft machine guns that are welded to pickup vehicles but they are inaccurate and useless if the military aircraft fly above a certain altitude. On August 27 fighters shot down a helicopter on the outskirts of Damascus and three days later rebels said they had brought down a jet in Idlib, near the Turkish border. Elsewhere in Syria, activists said government jets bombarded areas in Yabroud, near the capital Damascus, and pro-rebel districts in the embattled northern city of Aleppo. In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria Independent verification of reports out of Syria is constrained by media restrictions imposed by the government in Damascus. At least 150 people, mainly near Damascus and Aleppo, were killed across Syria on Friday, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Also on Friday, Iraq has barred a North Korean aircraft from using its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons for Syria, regional media reported. Earlier this week, US officials accused Iraq of allowing Iran to fly arms to Syria using the Iraqi airspace, a charge denied by the Baghdad government. North Korea and Iran are allies of Assad. Activists say more than 27,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the uprising in Syria, which began with peaceful street protests that provoked a military crackdown and mushroomed into civil war. Despite calling for Assad to step down, the West is wary of arming disparate rebel groups. and....

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

The Turkish army has deployed artillery and anti-aircraft missiles near a Syria border post being disputed between Damascus regime forces and rebels in fierce clashes, media reported Saturday.

A score of howitzer batteries and missiles were moved to the area as a precautionary measure amid continued fighting on Syrian soil for the control of the Tall al-Abyad border post, NTV news channel said.

The deployment comes after shelling by Syrian government forces wounded two Turkish citizens on Thursday in the southeastern border city of Sanliurfa, as they tried to win back the post from the rebels.

The two were injured by four fragments of a shell that exploded just on the Syrian side of the border. Another unexploded shell was found and the area sealed off while it was detonated.

The rebels seized control of the post, which lies on the main highway between Sanliurfa and the city of Raqa in northeastern Syria, on Wednesday from troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Three other civilians were also wounded on Tuesday by stray bullets fired from the Syrian side, prompting local officials to warn citizens to stay away from the border line. Schools in the area were also closed until Monday.

Tall al-Abyad is about 100 kilometres (65 miles) north of Raqa and the border post was relatively little used until recently.

Since late July, Syrian rebels have seized control of at least three key border crossings with Turkey and others on Syria's eastern border with Iraq.

[Source: AFP]

Syrian rebels attacked a Lebanese army post near the the two countries' common border late Friday, without causing any casualties, the Lebanese military said.

"Overnight a large number of insurgents attacked a Lebanese army post in the Arsal region. This was the second time in less than a week that the Free Syrian Army has entered Lebanese territory," an official communique said on Saturday.

"Army reinforcements were dispatched to the area and began to pursue the gunmen, who fled after the attack towards the mountains and several border towns and villages" inside Lebanon.

"The army leadership will not allow any party to use Lebanese territory to implicate Lebanon into events in neighbouring countries, and reaffirms its determination to protect Lebanese territory," it added.

[Source: AFP]

Rebel fighters trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad shot down a fighter jet as it flew over the northern Syrian town of Atarib in Idlib province, a witness said.

The witness, an independent journalist who asked to remain anonymous, said rebel fighters were attacking a military base near the town when the jet flew over and rebels shot it down with anti-aircraft guns.

[Source: Reuters]

Syrian government troops and rebels on Saturday clashed near a border crossing with Jordan, said opposition activists as violence was reported in other areas of the conflict-torn country.

The fighting, accompanied by heavy shelling from government troops, raged near the busy Al-Nasib border crossing located on a highway linking the Syrian and Jordanian capitals, according to the activists.

Elsewhere in Syria, activists said government jets bombarded areas in Yabroud, near the capital Damascus, and pro-rebel districts in the embattled northern city of Aleppo.

Independent verification of reports out of Syria is constrained by media restrictions imposed by the government in Damascus.

At least 150 people, mainly near Damascus and Aleppo, were killed across Syria on Friday, reported the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, Iraq has barred a North Korean plane from using its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons for Syria, regional media reported.

Earlier this week, US officials accused Iraq of allowing Iran to fly arms to Syria using the Iraqi airspace, a charge denied by Baghdad.

North Korea and Iran are allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad whose army is fighting to quell the 19-month armed uprising against his rule.

[Source: DPA]

Free Syria Army commander Riyad al-Asaad said that the joint command of the FSA has moved into Syria "with the hope of launching the offensive on Damascus".

The FSA commander said that since the FSA leadership had left Syria the group suffered all sorts of political pressure and interference by the international community and regional powers, whom he accused of wanting the FSA to run Syria once President Bashar al-Asaad is gone.

Riyad al-Asaad said the FSA rejected those offers, reiterating that the people of Syria are the ones who should decide the future of the country.

To the Syrian people, its freedom fighters and all the armed factions, we are glad to let you know that the leadership of the FSA has moved into Syria following arrangements made with other brigades that included securing liberated areas with the hope of launching the offensive on Damascus.

Since we left our country we suffered all sorts of regional and international interference and political pressure, we were isolated. Their goal was to have the FSA replace Assad once he is gone, but we categorically made it clear that we would never betray our people, reiterating that only the Syrians should decide their future institutions.

and....

Security forces seized three members of Syria's government-sanctioned opposition shortly after they returned from an official trip to China, a spokesman for the group said on Friday.

Five other members of the National Coordination Body (NCB) were reportedly detained by Syrian security agents on Monday.

Facing a 18-month-old uprising against his rule, President Bashar al-Assad has tolerated some opposition figures who call for a peaceful transition from a one-party state to democratic governance.

NCB spokesman Khalaf Dahowd said NCB foreign affairs head Abdel Aziz al-Khair and executive committee member Eyas Ayyash arrived in Damascus on Thursday night and were followed by Syrian security agents to their car where they joined NCB member Maher Tahan.

"The car never made it to Damascus," Dahowd said. "They were kidnapped and we haven't heard from them since." 

[Reuters]