http://www.infowars.com/us-backed-syrian-opposition-demands-support-for-al-qaeda/
http://www.debka.com/article/22608/Assad-fires-Scuds-to-stop-Al-Qaeda-arm-seizing-chemical-arms-at-Al-Safira
and......
Usually this means air strikes, but with a lot of territory to cover and a lot of rebel targets to hit, the Syrian military has reportedly fired at least six Scud missiles against different targets.
US-Backed Syrian Opposition Demands Support for Al Qaeda
Tony CartalucciInfowars.com
Dec 13, 2012
Dec 13, 2012
As part of the US’ charade in declaring support and recognition of the so-called “Syrian” opposition, it added one of the more extreme groups that make up the militant front operating inside Syria to a list of sanctioned terrorist organizations. The idea was to have a scapegoat to pin atrocities on while the West armed, funded, and provided military support for the rest of the extremist groups ravaging Syria.
The ploy quickly fell apart however, when the US’ own handpicked opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatibspoke out in protest. Reuters quoted al-Khatib as saying:
“The decision to consider a party that is fighting the regime as a terrorist party needs to be reviewed. We might disagree with some parties and their ideas and their political and ideological vision. But we affirm that all the guns of the rebels are aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical criminal regime.”
Al-Khatib himself openly declares his intentions of establishing an “Islamic state” upon the ashes of the currently secular Syria, and has ties with the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. He was also a representative of Western big oil interests, in particular Royal Dutch Shell. Al-Khatib had worked at the al-Furat Petroleum Company for six years, according to the BBC, which is partnered with Shell Oil. Al-Khatib is also said to have lobbied for Shell in Syria between 2003-2004, and has likewise taught classes in both Europe and the United States, this according to his biography featured on his own website.
The implications of the US-backed “opposition coalition” in Syria clearly collaborating with and acting in support of the terrorist Jabhat al-Nusra front, identifies it as providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, as per USC § 2339B which reads:
“Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life. To violate this paragraph, a person must have knowledge that the organization is a designated terrorist organization (as defined in subsection (g)(6)), that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorist activity (as defined in section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), or that the organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989).”
Clearly, at the very least, the US cannot “recognize” such a group as the “representatives” of the Syrian people, nor can it support them in any manner, financial, militarily, or politically. To do so would implicate the US government itself as in violation of its own anti-terror laws.
The so-called “Syrian” opposition has been an increasing embarrassment to the Western interests that have maliciously arrayed them against the Syrian people, as far back as 2007. And while NATO is willfully utilizing Al Qaeda’s own regional networks to flood terrorists into Syria, to have the leaders of their own contrived opposition front openly demand that Al Qaeda be given support and recognition gives the world’s public insight into the depths of illegitimacy from which the West is operating in pursuit of regime change in Syria.
http://www.debka.com/article/22608/Assad-fires-Scuds-to-stop-Al-Qaeda-arm-seizing-chemical-arms-at-Al-Safira
Assad fires Scuds to stop Al Qaeda arm seizing chemical arms at Al Safira
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 13, 2012, 10:50 AM (GMT+02:00)
Syrian Scud missile
By the blacklisting Tuesday, Dec. 11, of the Jabhat al-Nusra group fighting in Syrian rebel ranks as “a foreign terrorist organization” and affiliate of al Qaeda in Iraq, Washington faces four quandaries:
1. The 10,000 fighters of this al Qaeda affiliate are the best-trained and most professional component of the Syrian rebel front;.
1. The 10,000 fighters of this al Qaeda affiliate are the best-trained and most professional component of the Syrian rebel front;.
2. Jabhat al-Nusra fields 3,000 fighters out of the mostly Free Syrian Army’s 14,000 rebels fighting in and around Aleppo. They also constitute the assault force’s spearhead.
3. The Islamists are at the sharp front edge of the rebel force battling for control of the Syrian army’s biggest chemical weapons store at Al Safira, near Aleppo. Thursday morning, Dec. 12, they were just a kilometer from the base’s northwestern perimeter fence and advancing fast. By week’s end, Jabhat al-Nusra jihadis may have smashed into the base and seized control of the chemical stocks and Scud D planes standing there armed with chemical warheads.
The imminence of this peril forced Bashar Assad’s hand into sending Scud jets against rebel-held areas in an effort to stop their advance on the base.
4. This al Qaeda affiliate is also better armed and equipped than any other Syrian rebel force, thanks to the generous financial and logistical aid laid on by Persian Gulf sources, especially in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
The difficulty here is that those three Gulf Arab stats are also American allies in the war against Assad and the most important contributors to the US-sponsored Friends of Syria, a forum which met in Marrakesh Wednesday and formally recognized the umbrella Syrian opposition coalition of exiled groups as the legitimate government of Syria.
Reporters inside Syria reported that when the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters heard this news, they declared 700 of their number had died… laughing.
But as the vicious civil war of nearly two years and more than 40,000 dead approached another dangerous peak, no one was laughing in Damascus or Washington.
DEBKAfile’s military sources point to the next crisis looming ahead: If Assad fails to stop the al Qaeda fighters from reaching Al-Safira and its poison gas stores - and an al Qaeda affiliate succeeds for the first time in arming itself with chemical weapons - the United States will have to mount an air assault – not on Assad’s army but on the Syrian rebel forces fighting him, because if they do manage to seize control of the base, rebel fighters may decide to send the chemicals-tipped missiles against Assad regime centers in Damascus.
The imminence of this peril forced Bashar Assad’s hand into sending Scud jets against rebel-held areas in an effort to stop their advance on the base.
4. This al Qaeda affiliate is also better armed and equipped than any other Syrian rebel force, thanks to the generous financial and logistical aid laid on by Persian Gulf sources, especially in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
The difficulty here is that those three Gulf Arab stats are also American allies in the war against Assad and the most important contributors to the US-sponsored Friends of Syria, a forum which met in Marrakesh Wednesday and formally recognized the umbrella Syrian opposition coalition of exiled groups as the legitimate government of Syria.
Reporters inside Syria reported that when the Jabhat al-Nusra fighters heard this news, they declared 700 of their number had died… laughing.
But as the vicious civil war of nearly two years and more than 40,000 dead approached another dangerous peak, no one was laughing in Damascus or Washington.
DEBKAfile’s military sources point to the next crisis looming ahead: If Assad fails to stop the al Qaeda fighters from reaching Al-Safira and its poison gas stores - and an al Qaeda affiliate succeeds for the first time in arming itself with chemical weapons - the United States will have to mount an air assault – not on Assad’s army but on the Syrian rebel forces fighting him, because if they do manage to seize control of the base, rebel fighters may decide to send the chemicals-tipped missiles against Assad regime centers in Damascus.
The fall of al Safira would then transform the Syrian civil conflict into a chemical missile war.
and......
As Syria War Escalates, Regime Turns to Scuds and Barrel Bombs
Ballistic Missiles Being Used to Supplement Airstrikes
by Jason Ditz, December 12, 2012
With the Syrian government seemingly eager to spread the rebels thinner and thinner by ceding remote areas that were only sparsely defended, they have remained determined to keep hitting those areas after they change hands.
Usually this means air strikes, but with a lot of territory to cover and a lot of rebel targets to hit, the Syrian military has reportedly fired at least six Scud missiles against different targets.
The US is warning that this is a significant new escalation, and also cites the use of barrel bombs, barrels filled with explosives and metal and dropped from attack helicopters as improvised bombs.
But while there is certainly escalation ongoing in the fighting, the shift to ballistic missiles may simply reflect how much bigger the battlefield is getting as the rebels move into the far east, and the regime may simply be pushing their air forces to the limit.
and....... http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=295725 EU reaches out to Iran for negotiations
12/12/2012 23:46
WASHINGTON – A European Union representative spoke Wednesday with an Iranian counterpart to set up another round of talks between Tehran and world powers.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that a deputy to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had spoken to an Iranian negotiator to set up a possible time and place to meet along with the rest of the so-called P5+1, which includes the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
“We continue to make clear to the Iranian side that in that structure the door remains open to talks if they are serious,” Nuland said, including in a bilateral framework.
She indicated that she was not familiar with Israeli reports saying Washington had told Tehran it would hold separate one-on-one discussions with a four- to five-month timeframe without consulting with Israel.
But she stressed that Israel was “our ally and partner, and we consult with them regularly and are completely transparent.”
Nuland also said the United States was talking openly with Israel about the latter’s actions toward the Palestinian Authority and the withholding of tax revenues in the wake of the Palestinians’ bid for partial recognition at the UN.
“We are making clear to the government of Israel that we think funding of the Palestinian Authority is necessary ,” she said. “It should work with the PA to address the issues that they have and that all sides need to take steps to reduce tensions, to build trust, to create the kind of climate that’s going to get us back to direct talks.”
Nuland also strongly denied rumors that the US had a backchannel to Hamas, a notion that has been circulating amid third-party ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel in the wake of last month’s violence in Gaza.
“There have been some bizarre claims out there that Hamas has a backchannel to the US government,” Nuland said. “These assertions are completely untrue. There is no such backchannel.”
She added that the American position on Hamas had not changed and that the fiery comments made recently during Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal’s visit to Gaza reinforced the fact that Hamas “is not a partner for peace.”
Unless Hamas “unambiguously” accepts the Quartet principles that it recognize Israel, respect previous agreements and renounce violence, she declared, “it cannot be a partner in any negotiations.”
and....
http://news.antiwar.com/2012/12/12/egypt-opposition-backs-off-referendum-boycott/
Egypt Opposition Backs Off Referendum BoycottMilitary Cancels Demand for Talks
by Jason Ditz, December 12, 2012
Clearing a path for the Egyptian constitutional referendum to go forward on Saturday, the Egyptian opposition blocs have reversed their call for a boycott, instead urging their supporters to try to vote the constitution down.
 The military, which had previously ordered the opposition to agree to negotiations with President Morsi, has also backed down from that demand, which apparently is no longer necessary if the constitutional vote will happen.
The vote was originally scheduled for Saturday only, but is now being expanded to two days, staggered in different cities, because of the number of boycotting judges. Officials said that the judges that agreed to oversee the vote were only enough to do about half of the country each day.
The ruling Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) expects the constitution to pass with a relatively wide margin. The opposition is expressing confidence it will fail, while condemning the drafted document as too religious in character and not granting sufficient rights to Egypt’s Christian minority.
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