Israel’s Def Min inspects Golan position. Al Qaeda nears Syrian chemical depot
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 2, 2013, 6:12 PM (GMT+02:00)
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon looks into Syria from Golan
In fierce battles with Syrian troops, Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra front is spearheading the rebels’ advance on the Syrian army’s biggest chemical weapons depot at the Al-Safira military and air defense base near Aleppo in the north. By Tuesday, April 2, the assault force had come within 1.5 kilometers of its target.
This prompted an urgent visit by Israel’s top security officials to the Golan border for a close assessment of the situation.
This prompted an urgent visit by Israel’s top security officials to the Golan border for a close assessment of the situation.
The group surveying the situation from the IDF position at Tel Hazaka was led by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and OC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Yair Golan.
On his first visit to the Golan border, the defense minister said that Israel had in the past and would in the future prevent the proliferation of weapons that could “threaten us.”
Yaalon was the first leading Israeli figure to state clearly that Israel would act to prevent the proliferation of Syria’s chemical weapons – whether to the al Qaeda or Hizballah terrorist organizations.
His words came after the rebels Monday seized from the Syrian army the town of al-Safira from which they continued to push forward toward the sprawling air, air-defense and artillery base itself.
As Syrian defenses weakened, the troops fighting there and in the Damascus region were issued with anti-contamination suits and gas masks.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources add that the possible fall of the strategic al-Safira base into rebel hands, especially the Islamist militias, was one of the highest items on the agenda of US President Barack Obama’s talks with Israeli and Jordanian leaders in Jerusalem and Amman in the third week of March.
He supervised plans for coordinated US-Israeli-Jordanian-Turkish action in Syria in the event of a direct threat of chemical warfare.
His words came after the rebels Monday seized from the Syrian army the town of al-Safira from which they continued to push forward toward the sprawling air, air-defense and artillery base itself.
As Syrian defenses weakened, the troops fighting there and in the Damascus region were issued with anti-contamination suits and gas masks.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources add that the possible fall of the strategic al-Safira base into rebel hands, especially the Islamist militias, was one of the highest items on the agenda of US President Barack Obama’s talks with Israeli and Jordanian leaders in Jerusalem and Amman in the third week of March.
He supervised plans for coordinated US-Israeli-Jordanian-Turkish action in Syria in the event of a direct threat of chemical warfare.
The minister and the generals spent time on the Golan border with Syria on final checks to make sure that the IDF units were well prepared for possible action to prevent al Qaeda procuring chemical weapons of mass destruction.
and....
http://www.infowars.com/warning-final-psy-op-vs-syria-begins/
WARNING: “Final” Psy-Op Vs. Syria Begins
Tony CartalucciInfowars.com
March 30, 2013
March 30, 2013
Out of time, out of legitimacy, and out of options, the West is attempting once again to prop up its faltering terrorist proxies with another psychological operation aimed at breaking the will of the Syrian people, despite the West’s multiplying tactical and political shortcomings. It began with a suspicious CBS News/AP report titled, “AP: “Master plan” underway to help Syria rebels take Damascus with U.S.-approved airlifts of heavy weapons,” which claims to divulge a “covert” plan by the West to flood Syria’s northern and southern borders with increased weapons and fighters for a “final” push to take the capital. The article would claim:
Mideast powers opposed to President Bashar Assad have dramatically stepped up weapons supplies to Syrian rebels in coordination with the U.S. in preparation for a push on the capital of Damascus, officials and Western military experts said Wednesday.A carefully prepared covert operation is arming rebels, involving Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, with the United States and other Western governments consulting, and all parties hold veto power over where the shipments are directed, according to a senior Arab official whose government is participating. His account was corroborated by a diplomat and two military experts.
One must question why the Western media would boldly declare to the world what is supposed to be a “covert” operation, if such an operation had any tactical chance of succeeding – unless of course, the announcement was designed to either cover for wide-scale Western special operations inside Syria, or to help achieve a psychological victory (or both) – to induce panic and terror across the Syrian population in tandem with recent, and increasingly barbaric terrorist attacks on Syria’s civilians.
One such attack included the recent mortar bombardment of Damascus University which left at least 15 dead. The New York Times seemed to take special pleasure in describing in great detail the disruptive effect the attack had on people attempting to live normal lives during the ongoing conflict in their article, “Syria’s War Invades a Campus That Acted as a Sanctuary.”
Now, echos of NATO’s spectacularly failed July 2012 “Operation Damascus Volcano” – where the Western media coordinated a propaganda blitzkrieg designed to portray Syria as on the verge of collapsing with Aleppo and Damascus’ fall “imminent,” are appearing once again in the headlines. Just a day after CBS/AP’s announcement of the so-called “covert Master Plan,” the Western media is reporting “rebel gains” including the alleged cutting off of Daara in Syria’s south – meant to foreshadow the once again “inevitable fall” of Damascus. AFP cited the discredited “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” in their article, “Syria rebels seize town on key highway to south: NGO,” that:
“Rebels seized control of Dael after destroying the three army checkpoints at the entrances to the town,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “The town is located on a main road linking Daraa to Damascus.”The Britain-based watchdog said that a child was among 10 civilians killed in the fighting for the town over the past 24 hours.At least 15 rebels and a media activist working with them were also killed, as were 12 loyalist troops, it added.“Large swathes of Daraa (province) are now under rebel control. Their advance in the south is escalating,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
In actuality, the so-called “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” is a single opposition propagandists, Rami Abdel Rahman, based in a comfortable countryside home in the UK, disingenuously masquerading as a human rights organization. When not feeding the biased-hungry Western media, Rami Abdel Rahman can be found scurrying in and out of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to meet with Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague.
….
Reuters had even admitted in their December 2011 article, “Coventry – an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist,” that ”Rami Abdulrahman,” is openly part of the Syrian opposition who seeks the end of the Syrian government. Abdulrahman admits that he had left Syria over 10 years ago, has lived in Britain ever since, and will not return until “al-Assad goes.”
This facade is fully sanctioned by the Western media which despite acknowledging him as a biased, compromised source, consistently misrepresents him to their audience as a credible “human rights organization,” while almost exclusively deferring to him to lend credibility to their otherwise baseless narratives.
When entire articles hinge on Rami Abdel Rahman’s verified propaganda, perception management, not journalism, is dictating headlines and overarching narratives.
The Syrian people have resisted the collective efforts of the US, UK, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and their regional partners for 2 years, and have defeated at least two previous psychological operations aimed at toppling the government and destroying the country. The tides have shifted across public opinion, and evidence that the West has intentionally sought to arm and direct sectarian extremists against the Syrian nation since at least 2007, are reaching a crescendo.
While the West now openly admits it is working directly with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and NATO-member Turkey to supply thousands of tons of weapons to militants in Syria, it cannot explain how else Al Qaeda’s Al Nusra front has become the best armed and most well equipped front in the conflict – unless these thousands of tons of weaponry were sent directly to them, as was intended to begin with, according to Seymour Hersh’s 2007 article, “The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” which reported:
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.
A window is closing, and the West is resorting to dangerous desperation. Syria and its allies, as well as concerned interests around the world, must be more vigilant and resilient than ever. The tell-tale signs of a psychological operation are there – but for a psychological operation to succeed, a nation’s people must not be prepared or aware that it is coming. By raising awareness of this most recent, insidious attempt at snatching a psychological victory from the jaws of a tactical defeat, we can help quicken the day when the West’s war machine finally stumbles and falls, giving the people of Syria their lives back.
http://www.antinwoalliance.com/breaking-bashar-al-assad-dead-says-fsa-gives-him-12-hours-to-show-up-to-deny/
The Free Syrian Army announced Saturday, March 30, 2013 through a press of one of its leaders called Abu Ali Khabia the death of President Bashar al-Assad.
According to the statement read by Abu Ali Khabiya, Bashar al-Assad was killed in collaboration with the Iranian officers belonging to his bodyguard.
It should be recalled that last weekend a rumor about the death of Bashar al-Assad quickly around the world, backed by the Arab press, Israeli and French.
To show their good faith, the head of Abu Ali Khabia and his troops are challenging Bashar Bashar, if living, to show up in the next 12 hours.
In making the announcement, Abu Ali Khabia called the regular army to lay down their arms and surrender to the Free Syrian Army before it is too late.
The reappearance of the number one Syrian Thursday, March 29 in a council of ministers swept a backhander this false rumor identified as a “hoax”.
The announcement today by the Free Syrian Army of Bashar al-Assad’s death, although more consistency as the announcement of the weekend passed, obviously taken with great caution. The past weekend, ASL was the first to deny the death of President Bashar al-Assad.
In recent days, the Syrian rebels have intensified attacks on the district of Al Oumawiyyine where is the Presidential Palace and the various residences of the Head of State. An Iranian plane carrying weapons was shot just above the tarmac in Damascus. Several high-ranking Iranian were killed in the attack.
Unlike last weekend, fell today information that Bashar al-Assad died is taken by all the inhabitants of Damascus. Unusual troop movements suggest a non-ordinary event just happened.
Source: Mediapart
On Sunday spreading the news Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was assassinated refuted by the Syrian government, but can not see anyone for days of Syrian President, or al-Assad really dead ?
Rumors of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad death are doing the rounds of internet in the past one week. It is being alleged that Assad was shot dead by his Iranian bodyguard.It is also being speculated that Bashar al-Assad may have fled Syrian.The news of Assad’s death has been dismissed by the Syrian government.Images of President Bashar al-Asasd’s body riddled with bullet were seen all across the internet. However, the authenticity of the images could not be determined.According to, Israeli Intelligence agency, President Bashar al-Assad has not been spotted in the last 24-hours.An undated handout image were Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad could be seen meeting members of a ministerial committee responsible for establishing a framework aimed at ending the two-year conflict with anti-government forces. The image was distributed by Syria’s national news agency SANA on March 27, 2013.
http://www.debka.com/article/22865/West-embargoes-arms-to-Syrian-rebels-over-their-resale-to-al-Qaeda
West embargoes arms to Syrian rebels over their resale to al Qaeda
DEBKAfile Special Report March 30, 2013, 2:45 PM (GMT+02:00)
Israeli military field hospital springs up on Golan
The Western arms pipeline to the Syrian rebels fighting Bashar Assad is starting to run dry since the discovery that some of the weapons are being resold and used by al Qaeda in its conquest of southern Syrian and takeover of positions on the Jordanian and Israel borders. French President Francois Hollande for this reason reversed his government’s policy. “We will not do it [send the Syrian rebel arms] as long as we cannot be certain that there is complete control of the situation by the opposition,” he said Friday, March 29.
That day too, Ankara announced that Turkish authorities had impounded 5,000 shotguns, rifles, starting pistols, gunstocks and 10,000 cartridges in the village of Akcakale before they were sent across into Syria.
DEBKAfile’s military sources: These steps are effectively putting in place a Western embargo on arms supplies to the Syrian rebels and not only the Assad regime. Saudi Arabia and Qatar remain their only sources of weapons.
This follows information reaching Washington, Paris, Ankara and Jerusalem in recent weeks that parts of the weapons consignments destined for the Syrian rebels, especially the Free Syrian Army, are being resold to Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamist militia which this week proclaimed itself al Qaeda of Syria amid a major offensive for the occupation of southern Syria.
The aggressive Al Qaeda push has in fact swept beyond the important plans finalized last week for a US-led campaign to combat the Syrian chemical weapons threat.
Two weeks ago, high-resolution maps were spread out in Jerusalem, Ankara and Amman, marking out zones inside Syria for their armies’ operations under the joint command centers the US set up last year in the three countries for combating chemical warfare.
Two weeks ago, high-resolution maps were spread out in Jerusalem, Ankara and Amman, marking out zones inside Syria for their armies’ operations under the joint command centers the US set up last year in the three countries for combating chemical warfare.
Those plans and centers switched over last week to operational mode.
Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu made an unconvincing attempt to separate the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation from the Syrian issue. However, the fact remains that it was Barack Obama, during his trip to the region on March 20-22, who brought Turkey together with Israel and Jordan for the first joint operation in history on the soil of an Arab nation under US command.
Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu made an unconvincing attempt to separate the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation from the Syrian issue. However, the fact remains that it was Barack Obama, during his trip to the region on March 20-22, who brought Turkey together with Israel and Jordan for the first joint operation in history on the soil of an Arab nation under US command.
This week, the region finds itself caught up by a menace more immediate even than a chemical war:
Scarcely noticed by the world and Israeli media (busy celebrating the Passover festival), Jabhat al Nusra is about to overrun southern Syria.
Using Western- and Arab-supplied arms smuggled in for the Syrian rebels from Turkey and Lebanon, the jihadists are taking up positions on the Israeli and Jordanian borders while also assuming control over the Yarmouk River and its tributaries.
Water in the Middle East has caused the outbreak of more than one armed conflict. And indeed 50 years ago, Israel and Israel fought a war, including aerial dogfights, to dominate that same Yarmouk River. The dispute was finally resolved when the United States stepped in and brokered an agreement for the distribution of its waters among Syria, Israel and Jordan.
Alarm over Nusra Front territorial gains has accordingly taken precedence over the chemical threat in the deliberations of the joint US-Israeli, US-Jordanian and US-Turkish command centers.
Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing has even been able to obtain from Iraqi jihadists its own stock of primitive chemicals - but weapons nonetheless.
The West hesitated too long before cutting off the supply of arms to the Syria rebels; it is already too late to prevent al Qaeda occupying international border regions and seizing control of an important regional water source. Dislodging them would call for a military offensive proper - which seems to be the rationale for the large military field hospital Israeli set up this week on its Golan border with Syria.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/03/29/38-killed-as-syrian-rebels-seize-key-town-near-jordan/
38 Killed as Syrian Rebels Seize Key Town Near Jordan
Town Gives Rebels More Control Along Jordan Frontier
by Jason Ditz, March 29, 2013
Syrian rebels have reported that they have captured the key town of Dael, just 10 miles from the Jordanian border, following a 24 hour battle that left 38 people dead. 16 of the slain were reportedly rebel fighters.
The capture of Dael included fighters from several groups, but rebel spokesmen insist that Jabhat al-Nusra was not involved in the fight. The move is part of a rebel effort to get more territory along the Jordanian border.
Syria’s rebels have been focusing on border areas for quite some time, taking a lot of territory along Turkey’s border as well as the borders to Iraq and Lebanon. The latest pushes give them a foothold along Israel’s border, and now Jordan’s as well.
Syrian MPs say that the rebels are pushing heaviest in the Daraa Province lately, where Dael is located. This could be because of the US training operations for Syrian rebels inside neighboring Jordan, and a hope to establish a route for fighters to enter the war directly.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/03/29/iraq-promises-to-search-more-planes-for-weapons/
Iraq Promises to Search More Planes for Weapons
Previous Random Searches Didn't Turn Up Anything
by Jason Ditz, March 29, 2013
In hopes of placating the Obama Administration, Iraq has announced that it willincrease the number of aircraft it forces to land in Iraqi territory for random weapons searches.
The announcement follows weekend demands from Secretary of State John Kerry that Iraq ban all overflights coming out of neighboring Iran, amid allegations that some of them might be carrying arms to Syria.
The allegations are long-standing from the US, and prompted Iraq to institute random searches before, though they never found anything on any of the civilian aircraft they searched.
That total lack of evidence hasn’t changed the Obama Administration’s position, with officials continuing to reiterate the claim that Iran is sending arms illegally and that Iraq, by not stopping them, is partly responsible. Iraq has tried to keep a neutral position in the Syrian Civil War, but this has become increasingly difficult with Syrian rebels closely linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and launching attacks inside Iraq as well.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/03/30/IRAN-VESSEL-AFP.html
Ship carrying Iran weapons for Assad regime en route to Syria: opposition source
Al Arabiya, Dubai -
A ship raising a Tanzanian flag and carrying Iranian arms cargo is expected to cross the Suez Canal within six hours, an opposition source told Al Arabiya Saturday.
‘The ship is said to be carrying 8,500 tons of weapons and ground missiles from Iran to be given to the Syrian regime,’ the source said, adding: ‘It is scheduled to make a 'fuel stop' at a Syrian port where it will unload its cargo.’
The source also said that the vessel is owned by Syrians, although he did not specify to whom he was referring. He, however, said that the boat was registered in Lebanon and had links to the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
There have been various media reports that the Islamic republic has been militarily helping the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which -- according to the U.N. -- has killed more than 70,000 people in the two years since the uprising began.
A Western official told Reuters earlier this month that Iranian weapons continue to pour into Syria from Iraq as well as other routes, including Turkey and Lebanon, which violates the U.N. arms embargo on Iran. Iraqi and Turkish officials denied the allegations.
The source also told Reuters that Iran’s acceleration of support for Assad suggests the Syrian war is entering a new phase in which Iran may be trying to end the battlefield stalemate by redoubling its commitment to Assad and offering Syria’s increasingly isolated government a crucial lifeline.
It also highlights the growing sectarian nature of the conflict, diplomats say, with Iranian arms flowing to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. That group is increasingly active on the ground in Syria in support of Assad’s forces.
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