Nusra Front plans islamic state in Syria .... Kurds call for Syrian Opposition intervention to bet back jihadist attacks ( sounds like Mali all over again ) ... And Rebels have some limited air power ?

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2013/01/201319152348896173.html

Nusra Front sees Islamic state in Syria

Anti-Assad rebels blacklisted by US for alleged ties to al-Qaeda discuss their vision. Last Modified: 09 Jan 2013 17:42 inShare2 Email Print Share Feedback

Al Jazeera has obtained rare access to rebel fighters of the Nusra Front, which has been carrying out attacks on Al-Nyrab military airport near Aleppo as part of its fight to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The US has blacklisted the group, calling it an al-Qaeda-linked organisation. The fighters say they want to establish an Islamic state in Syria. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/kurds-syria-have-called-syrian-opposition-intervene-over-ongoing-jihadist-assault-them

Kurds in Syria have called on the Syrian opposition to intervene over an ongoing jihadist assault on them in the north.

January 19, 2013 - 17:07

The Ras al-Ain branch of the Kurdish National Council in Syria called on the Syrian opposition on Saturday to intervene over an ongoing jihadist assault on the northern city located on the Turkish border.

"Since Wednesday morning, some armed groups have launched an offensive against innocent and unarmed civilians in Ras al-Ain using various types of heavy weapons and sowing fear and panic among children and women," a statement said.

"We condemn these cowardly attacks and call on the National Coalition, the Syrian National Council and the Free (Syrian) Army to pressure these militants to stop this criminal war, which is detrimental to the principles and objectives of the Syrian revolution," it said.

The council said hardline rebels were indiscriminately shelling Ras al-Ain with tanks and called on Turkish authorities to "stop interfering and supporting armed groups to implement their own agenda".

"We ask our fellow Syrians inside and outside the country to stand beside their brethren in Ras al-Ain," it concluded.

Source: AFP

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2013/01/19/261345.html

Defected Syrian pilot launches air strikes on regime army positions

Saturday, 19 January 2013

A Syrian air force Russian-made MiG-21 plane that a pilot landed with in the King Hussein military base in Mafraq in northern Jordan on June 21, 2012. (AFP)

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By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES

A defected Syrian pilot has carried out airstrikes on positions of the Syrian regime forces in an area outside Damascus, the opposition military command in the capital announced Saturday, according to Al Arabiya TV. Amr Hamza, of the revolution command council in Damascus suburb, told Al Arabiya eyewitnesses initially thought the plane was bombing regime army positions by mistake, but after several air raids followed by Syrian regime air defense fires, “the hypothesis of mistake was dismissed.”

The Assad’s regime has regularly used the air power to target opposition fighters across the country and airstrikes often caused heavy civilian casualties.

It was the first time in the nearly two-year conflict that a regime pilot turned fire against the regime forces.

U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay on Friday renewed a demand that the divided Security Council order an International Criminal Court war crimes investigation in Syria.

Syria is not an ICC member, and the Security Council is the only body which can refer the conflict to the court.

Russia and China have already used their veto power as permanent members of the Security Council to block three resolutions which would have threatened sanctions against Assad.

Syria’s foreign ministry has decried a petition by 58 countries calling for a war crimes case against Damascus, in a letter to the president of the United Nations Security Council.

The Syrian government regrets the persistence of these countries in following the wrong approach and refusing to recognize the duty of the Syrian state to protect its people from terrorism imposed from abroad," it said.

The ministry accused some signatories to the petition of funding, training and harboring "terrorists," a blanket term used to describe opposition forces trying to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

It said the initiative was proof of the "deceit and double standards" of the signatories in dealing with the Syrian conflict, in which the United Nations says that more than 60,000 people have been killed since March 2011.