Syria is the vortex for many curious affairs presently....Newly elected head of Syrian Opposition demands no strings aid , prior head of Syrian Opposition threatens to turn his rebels into terrorists without aid from the West ..... meanwhile the actual affected Syrians on the groun / dodging sniper rounds and mortars , run for their lives and abandon Syria.....

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/10/271363/qatar-israel-discuss-killing-assad/

A Lebanese newspaper has disclosed that Qatar and Israel have held a secret meeting to review plans to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Arabic-language Ad-Diyar newspaper said the meeting which was held in the occupied lands included Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani, Qatari intelligence chief Ahmed Nasser bin Jassim al-Thani, head of Israeli spy agency the Mossad Tamir Pardo and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The report added that Mossad chief also offered several proposals for assassination of the Syrian president.

The Qatari premier also said that his country is ready to supply Israel with free natural gas and very low-priced gasoline for two years after the assassination is carried out.

Netanyahu also asked the Qatari officials whether the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) is ready to recognize Israel after the collapse of Bashar al-Assad.

Syria accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey as well as some Western countries of fanning the flames of violence that have erupted in the country since mid-March 2011.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar also publicity announced that they are supporting and arming the insurgents in Syria. 

and....





http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-11-10/why-did-cia-director-petraeus-suddenly-resign-%E2%80%A6-and-why-was-us-ambassador-lib

( Isn't it interesting to observe how so many current events coincide with Syria ? ) 

The Deeper Questions Behind the Ambassador’s Murder … and the CIA Boss’ Sudden Resignation

While the GOP is attacking (and Dems defending) the Obama administration in connection with the murder of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, there is a deeper story.

Sure, it is stunning that the State Department never requested backup or that people such as Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer allege that President Obamapersonally watched in real time the attacks as they occurred via video feeds from drones flying over the Benghazi consulate.

But these claims only can be assessed – and the whole confusing mess only makes sense – if the deeper underlying story is first exposed.

Many Syrian Terrorists Come from Libya

The U.S. supported opposition which overthrew Libya’s Gadaffi was largely comprised of Al Qaeda terrorists.

According to a 2007 report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center’s center, the Libyan city of Benghazi was one of Al Qaeda’s main headquarters – and bases for sending Al Qaeda fighters into Iraq – prior to the overthrow of Gaddafi:

Al Qaeda is now largely in control of Libya.  Indeed, Al Qaeda flags were flown over the Benghazi courthouse once Gaddafi was toppled.

(Incidentally, Gaddafi was on the verge of invading Benghazi in 2011, 4 years after the West Point report cited Benghazi as a hotbed of Al Qaeda terrorists. Gaddafi claimed – rightly it turns out – that Benghazi was an Al Qaeda stronghold and a main source of the Libyan rebellion.  But NATO planes stopped him, and protected Benghazi.)

CNN, the Telegraph,  the Washington Times, and many other mainstream sources confirm that Al Qaeda terrorists from Libya have since flooded into Syria to fight the Assad regime.

Mainstream sources also confirm that the Syrian opposition is largely comprised of Al Qaeda terrorists.  See this, this, this, this,this, this, this, this, this and this.

The U.S. has been arming the Syrian opposition since 2006. The post-Gaddafi Libyan government is also itself atop funder and arms supplier of the Syrian opposition.

The Real Story At Benghazi

This brings us to the murder of ambassador Stevens and the sudden resignation of CIA boss David Petraeus.

The Wall Street Journal, Telegraph and other sources confirm that the US consulate in Benghazi was mainly being used for a secret CIA operation.

They say that the State Department presence in Benghazi “provided diplomatic cover” for the previously hidden CIA mission.

Reuters notes that the CIA mission involved finding and repurchasing heavy weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals.

Business Insider reports that Stevens may have been linked with Syrian terrorists:

There’s growing evidence that U.S. agents—particularly murdered ambassador Chris Stevens—were at least aware of heavy weapons moving from Libya to jihadist Syrian rebels.

In March 2011 Stevens becamethe official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan opposition, working directly with Abdelhakim Belhadj of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group—a group that has now disbanded, with some fightersreportedly participating in the attack that took Stevens’ life.

In November 2011 TheTelegraph reported that Belhadj, acting as head of the Tripoli Military Council, “met with Free Syrian Army [FSA] leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey” in an effort by the new Libyan government to provide money and weapons to the growing insurgency in Syria.

Last month The Times of London reported that a Libyan ship “carrying the largest consignment of weapons for Syria … has docked in Turkey.” The shipment reportedly weighed 400 tons and includedSA-7 surface-to-air anti-craft missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.

***

Reuters reports that Syrian rebels have been using those heavy weapons to shoot downSyrian helicopters and fighter jets.

The ship’s captain was ”a Libyan from Benghazi and the head of an organization called the Libyan National Council for Relief and Support,” which was presumably established by the new government.

That means that Ambassador Stevens had only one person—Belhadj—between himself and the Benghazi man who brought heavy weapons to Syria.

Furthermore, we know thatjihadists are the best fighters in the Syrian opposition, but where did they come from?

Last week The Telegraph reported that a FSA commander called them “Libyans” when he explained that the FSA doesn’t “want these extremist people here.”

And if the new Libyan government was sending seasoned Islamic fighters and 400 tons of heavy weapons to Syria through a port in southern Turkey—a deal brokered by Stevens’ primary Libyan contact during the Libyan revolution—then the governments of Turkey and the U.S. surely knew about it.

Furthermore there was a CIA post in Benghazi, located 1.2 miles from the U.S. consulate, used as “a base for, among other things, collecting information on the proliferation of weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals, including surface-to-air missiles” … and that its security features “were more advanced than those at rented villa where Stevens died.”

And we know that the CIA has been funneling weapons to the rebels in southern Turkey. The question is whether the CIA has been involved in handing out the heavy weapons from Libya.

In other words, ambassador Stevens may have been a key player in deploying Libyan terrorists and arms to fight the Syrian government.

Other sources also claim that the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was mainly being used as a CIA operation to ship fighters and arms to Syria.

Many have speculated that – if normal security measures weren’t taken to protect the Benghazi consulate or to rescue ambassador Stevens – it was  because the CIA was trying to keep an extremely low profile to protect its cover of being a normal State Department operation.

Why Did CIA Chief David Petraeus Suddenly Resign?

CIA boss David Petraeus suddenly resigned, admitting to an affair.  This could be the real explanation, given that affairs of high-level intelligence chiefs could compromise national security.

But the timing of Petraeus’ resignation becomes more interesting once one learns that that he was scheduled to testify under oath next week before power House and Senate committees regarding the Benghazi consulate.

Many speculate that it wasn’t an affair – but the desire to avoid testifying on Benghazi – which was the real reason for Petraeus’ sudden resignation.

The Big Picture

Whatever the scope of the CIA’s operation in Benghazi – and whatever the real reason for the resignation of the CIA chief – the key is our historical and ongoing foreign policy.

For decades, the U.S. has backed terrorists for geopolitical ends.

The U.S. government has been consistently planning regime change in Syria and Libya for 20 years, and dreamed of regime change – using false flag terror – for 50 years.

Obama has simply re-packaged Bush and the Neocons’ “war on terror” as a series of humanitarian wars.

And the U.S. and its allies will do anything to topple Iran … and is systematically attempting to pull the legs out from Iran’s allies as a way to isolate and weaken that country.

Americans should ask ourselves if that’s what we want …

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/10/syrian-opposition-assad-end-failure Moves to form Syrian opposition look set to end in failure Syrian National Council supported by Assad opponents continue to stall over a response to the formation of an umbrella group Share11 inShare1 Email Martin Chulov The Observer, Saturday 10 November 2012 12.31 EST Syrian opposition fighters stand on a mat depicting Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez in Ras al-Ain. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images Moves to form a credible alternative to Syria's Assad regime look set to end in failure, with the main opposition bloc refusing to endorse a broad-based government in waiting or contribute to how it might take shape. The Syrian National Council, supported by opponents of Assad earlier in the uprising and more recently derided, continued to stall over a response to the formation of an umbrella group that aims to forge stronger alliances with groups inside Syria. At risk of being sidelined by its former key backers, the SNC had used a week-long summit in the Qatari capital, Doha, to fight a rearguard action, which shored up its position in any new group and conveyed an image that it was reinventing itself. The SNC nominated a new leader, an exiled member of Syria's Christian minority, George Sabra, who called for the international community to resume funding the organisation and not link support to an opposition revamp. "Unfortunately we get nothing from them, except some statements, some encouragement", while Assad's allies "give the regime everything," Sabra told the Associated Press. Sabra was named as the group's new head after the type of power struggle that has characterised the SNC's performance as a once relatively peaceful uprising became an entrenched civil war. With the crisis in Syria worsening over the past 15 months, the SNC has declined in relevance and standing. It is viewed with contempt by Syria's armed factions and by large numbers of the growing refugee community. A consensus within both groups is that the SNC has squandered numerous chances to convince those Syrians not wedded to the Assad regime that they have a viable alternative. The Doha meeting was supposed to mark a new chapter for Syria's political opposition. Organisers, particularly Qatar and the US, had hoped for the formation of a body that could build bridges to groups inside Syria and channel aid money to them. The US and senior Arab League officials had signalled they would recognise any new body that could bring together disparate factions. It had suggested that aid money would again start to flow. Apparently reluctant to yield the power it has held over such channels, the SNC announced a new leadership lineup. Reaction to it was underwhelming. The 41-member executive committee contains no women and, apart from Sabra as leader, has not diversified to include any minorities. Syria's minority groups, Alawites, Christians, Kurds and Druze among them, have been reluctant to support the opposition uprising, with many among them accepting Assad's argument that only his regime can act as guarantor of their safety. The armed opposition is largely led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, which accounts for around 70% of the country's population. Rebel groups inside Syria are engaged in a bitter contest to win patrons abroad. Ammunition is running low among established Islamist fighting units on Aleppo's frontlines. Jihadist organisations, however, such as Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Mujaharin – both al-Qaida linked – are not facing the same shortages. As a result, both groups are taking increasingly prominent roles in attacks against government forces. A failure to pull together a viable and inclusive opposition would seriously undermine rebel groups' efforts to secure weapons and money. Groups on Aleppo's frontlines told the Observer they had enough ammunition to hold their positions, but not enough to advance. "And there's a price to pay for that," one rebel commander, Abu Furat, said. "They will want their share of (the spoils). Aleppo remains in stalemate, with the frontline that splits the city from north to south not having meaningfully shifted since the late summer. Meanwhile, in Damascus, a large explosion on Saturday morning is believed to have killed up to 20 of the regime's troops. Syrian opposition head wants no-strings aid

Newly-elected head of the Syrian National Council said rebels need hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons. Last Modified: 10 Nov 2012 11:45 inShare2 Email Print Share Feedback

The newly-elected head of the Syrian National Council (SNC) said on Saturday that the international community should support the opposition without any strings attached and provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. George Sabra, the secular Christian opposition figure who was elected on Friday night, said he was disappointed with the group's foreign backers. "Unfortunately, we get nothing from them, except some statements, some encouragement," he said. Speaking on the sidelines of a weeklong SNC conference in Doha, Qatar, Sabra told the Associated Press news agency that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's allies "give the regime everything". Sabra, 65, was heading an SNC delegation on Saturday in talks with rival opposition groups on forging a new, broader opposition leadership group — an idea promoted by Western and Arab backers of those trying to oust Assad. Sabra was one of two candidates that the SNC's executive council chose in a ballot monitored in front of reporters and council members. In his first statement as SNC chief, Sabra on Friday vowed to "work with other components of the Syrian opposition to accelerate the fall of Assad's criminal regime". The SNC has been vying to keep its leading role in the conflict and has come under US pressure to unify with other groups opposed to Assad. Farouq Tayfour, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected Sabra's vice president. Earlier on Friday, the umbrella group elected 11 members to sit on its executive committee, having already elected a 41-member secretariat. Sabra, born in Qatana in the Damascus Suburbs governorate, is a leftist opposition figure and a leading member of the Syrian Democratic People’s Party. He was arrested several times by Assad's government. "We hope that these free and transparent elections will be a model for free elections in Syria," Sabra told the AFP news agency, stressing that the new executive represents all sectors of society, including for the first time the tribes. SNC representatives voiced reservations about the initiative, based on a proposal tabled by prominent dissident Riad Seif with apparent US support. Seif's initiative The plan put forward at a meeting on Thursday, called by host Qatar and the Arab League, appeared to be a modified version of Seif's initiative, proposing an umbrella body of some 60 members, representing the SNC, civilian groups active on the ground, armed groups, Muslim scholars and others. This body would in turn form a transitional government of some 10 members, and a military council. The SNC, formed six months after the anti-regime uprising began in March 2011, has proposed "holding a national congress of 300 members in liberated territories" in order to add "revolutionary legitimacy" to any executive, according to SNC member Najati Tayara. In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria Such a congress would form a transitional government that would run territories seized by the rebels, channel humanitarian aid and direct military operations, he said. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week called the SNC unrepresentative of opposition forces on the ground and said it "can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition." The SNC, which fears marginalisation in a new structure, in return accused Washington of undermining the revolt and "sowing the seeds of division." Burhan Ghalioun, a former SNC chief, said any accord "could boost the uprising" as it would enable the opposition to unite the different military groups battling regime forces. Ahmed Ben Helli, deputy head of the Arab League, said delegates had been urged to overcome the divisions that have dogged their efforts to unseat Assad. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani, Qatar's prime minister, had urged the Syrian opposition, while opening the Doha meeting, to "unify their ranks and positions and to prioritise the interests of their nation and people over their own personal interests". and...... http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/201211962354550350.html UN says thousands have fled Syria in past day UN projects the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance in Syria could reach four million by 2013. Last Modified: 09 Nov 2012 20:02 inShare5 Email Print Share Feedback The United Nations has said that if the conflict in Syria continues at its current pace the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance within the country would rise by 1.5 million by early next year. In an interview ahead of Friday's fifth Syrian Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, John Ging, operations director for the UN humanitarian office, has said the number of the Syrians that would need some form of humanitarian aid could increase from 2.5 million to four million by early 2013. "People need to be aware of just how desperate the situation is inside Syria for the people there, how unbearable it is, and how they are suffering and falling into ever deeper despair and humanitarian need ... It's just getting a lot worse very rapidly for the ordinary people", Ging said. Ging also said UN projections saw the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries reaching 700,000, up from the current estimated 400,000 in early 2013. Of the 2.5 million Syrians currently in need of humanitarian aid in Syria, Ging said the United Nations and other organisations were only able to reach 1.5 million. Funding was cited as one reason for the shortfall. Programmes for Syrian refugees in camps in neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, are also seriously underfunded, said Ging. Donors have so far provided only 50 per cent of the amount needed, he said. The UN humanitarian projections come as Syrian opposition figures are meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha, to forge a broad-based leadership group sought by the international community. Opposition meeting Riad Seif, a prominent dissident who had proposed a Western-backed initiative to unite the opposition and form a transitional government, said on Thursday that he was "optimistic" an agreement could be reached. The opposition is moving towards creating "a political leadership that would satisfy the Syrians and be recognised by the international community," Seif said. He later added that the main opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council (SNC), had deferred a decision until after a final round of internal elections. The bloc on Friday has elected an 11-member executive committee, who will in turn elect a leader. The SNC is hesitant since it would reportedly be given only 22 of 60 seats in the new group, to make room for activists from inside Syria.  Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh, reporting from Doha, said it was obvious from Thursday's drawn-out negotiations that the Syrian opposition remain divided, with "huge differences between the members of the Syrian National Council and other opposition figures". "The international community and the core group of the 'Friends of Syria' that includes the US, France, Britain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey, are pushing for a new initiative to be adopted by the delegates," he said. "That initiative calls for a coherent representative structure that would also represent those fighting inside Syria. Western diplomats are telling Al Jazeera that this is not going to happen any time soon." 'Government-in-exile' Footage purports to show rebels killing an unarmed man   Washington wants the opposition to reshape into a "government-in-exile". Opposition leaders say such a body could be sited outside Syria or in zones now under rebel control. Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, prime minister of Qatar, urged Assad's opponents to "unify their ranks and positions and to prioritise the interests of their nation and people over their own personal interests". The search for a united front came as a video emerged purporting to show rebel fighters shooting dead an unarmed man. The United Nations and human rights groups say both pro-government and anti-Assad fighters are guilty of war crimes - and the latest video would appear to give more evidence for that. "It shows the ugliness of the war," said Middle East analyst Joseph Kechichian. "Obviously this is a civil war going on and there are breaches of international conduct and human conduct ... This is not the first time and not the last. Unfortunately, we are going to see these more often." Reacting to the footage, SNC's Radwan Ziadeh said: "It's a very shocking video and alarming." "We condemn all the human rights violations committed by the rebels or FSA [Free Syrian Army]. [But] we are not sure that who did this execution are members of the FSA." Assad vows to stay      SNC's Radwan Ziadeh speaks to Al Jazeera about war crimes allegations raised against rebels Meanwhile, a defiant Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president, rejected calls he seek a safe exit from the country, pledging he would "live in Syria and die in Syria". "I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country," Assad said in English in an interview with Russia's RT television. "I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria," he said, according to transcripts posted on RT's website. On Tuesday, David Cameron, British prime minister, floated the idea of granting Assad safe passage from the country, saying it "could be arranged," although he wanted the Syrian leader to face international justice. Assad also warned against foreign intervention in the country's escalating conflict, saying such a move would have global consequences and shake regional stability. "We are the last stronghold of secularism and stability in the region ... it will have a domino effect that will affect the world from the Atlantic to the Pacific," the transcript said. In a separate video extract of the interview, Assad added: "The price of this invasion, if it happens, is going to be big, more than the whole world can afford." and..... http://news.antiwar.com/2012/11/09/syrian-rebel-leader-absent-outside-support-we-will-all-turn-into-terrorists/ Syrian Rebel Leader: Absent Outside Support, ‘We Will All Turn into Terrorists’ FSA leader pledges commitment to human rights, while warning of commitment to terrorism by John Glaser, November 09, 2012 Print This | Share This Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, the leader of the Free Syrian Army, warned that if outside powers don’t quickly back the rebel fighters trying to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the rebels might all turn into terrorists instead. “If there’s no quick decision to support us, we will all turn into terrorists,” he said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph. “If you apply the pressure that’s been applied to Syria, it will explode in all directions. Terrorism will grow quickly.” The US has been facilitating the delivery of weapons to the rebels from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, but has been reluctant to directly give the rebels any lethal aid. Part of the reason is that the so-called leadership of the FSA is hardly recognized by most of the fighters on the ground. Notably, al-Sheikh’s warning is not very far from reality. US intelligence has recognized for some time now that the great bulk of the rebel fighters are jihadists, many having come from foreign countries, and some even fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda. While issuing this warning, al-Sheikh is also trying to convince the West to more enthusiastically back the rebels. He claims he has established a command structure and published a manifesto giving lip-service for human rights. But those efforts to appeal to the US for greater, and more lethal, arms support is ridiculous. Writing a manifesto about the FSA’s supposed commitment to human rights, while at the same time warning that they may just “turn into terrorists” doesn’t exactly fit. Beyond this, the rebels are known to have committed war crimes, including executing captured Assad-supporters.