http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/20/299315/us-to-give-130m-to-syria-opp/
A senior US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday that the US Secretary of State John Kerry will elaborate on the details of the US aid to Syria opposition during the meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria group in the Turkish city of Istanbul."
A senior US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday that the US Secretary of State John Kerry will elaborate on the details of the US aid to Syria opposition during the meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria group in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
The meeting will take place later in the day and the leading members of the so-called Friends of Syria group including the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar will attend the gathering.
The official also added that the military supplies include body armor, armored vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced communication equipment.
Earlier this month, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a briefing that Washington has provided over USD 115 million in nonlethal assistance to Syria opposition so far.
However, media reports have indicated that the US trains the foreign-sponsored militants in the crisis-hit country, in addition to coordinating arms shipments to them.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants fighting in the country are foreign nationals.
and...
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/04/18/france-britain-claim-secret-proof-of-syrian-chemical-weapons-use/
The two nations immediatelyembraced the reports of such use as proof that they need to get involved in the civil war militarily. Though the “proof” is still not public, it reportedly includes soil samples “acquired” from rebels they are funding.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Apr-17/213992-syrias-six-simultaneous-conflicts.ashx#axzz2QodrZVUz
Syria’s six simultaneous conflictsApril 17, 2013 01:23 AMBy Rami G. Khouri
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/04/17/testimony-reveals-hagel-kerry-rift-on-syria/
Secretary of State John Kerry took the line that everything is going swimmingly with the rebels, that the US aid is bring them closer together than ever and that America’s focus should be on forcing President Bashar Assad to step down in favor of them.
The rebel Syrian National Council, itself dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood in no small measure, has announced that it intends to establish a more specific, more moderate version of Sharia backed by Syrian Islamic scholars, with an eye toward standardizing religious law in rebel-held Syria.
US to give $130m in military aid to Syria opposition: US official
File photo shows a foreign-backed militant firing towards Syrian government forces in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Sat Apr 20, 2013 3:3PM GMT
2
The United States is set to give the militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad up to USD 130 million in military supplies, officials say.
A senior US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Saturday that the US Secretary of State John Kerry will elaborate on the details of the US aid to Syria opposition during the meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria group in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
The meeting will take place later in the day and the leading members of the so-called Friends of Syria group including the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar will attend the gathering.
The official also added that the military supplies include body armor, armored vehicles, night vision goggles and advanced communication equipment.
On Thursday, Kerry said the US would continue to aid the militants trying to overthrow the Syrian government, adding “We are working very, very closely with the Syrian opposition.”
Earlier this month, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a briefing that Washington has provided over USD 115 million in nonlethal assistance to Syria opposition so far.
However, media reports have indicated that the US trains the foreign-sponsored militants in the crisis-hit country, in addition to coordinating arms shipments to them.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants fighting in the country are foreign nationals.
and...
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/04/18/france-britain-claim-secret-proof-of-syrian-chemical-weapons-use/
France, Britain Claim Secret ‘Proof’ of Syrian Chemical Weapons Use
Reportedly Acquired 'Soil Samples' From Rebels
by Jason Ditz, April 18, 2013
France and Britain have informed the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that they have as-yet-unreleased “proof” that the Syrian government was behind the alleged use of chemical weapons last month in Khan al-Assal.
The two nations immediatelyembraced the reports of such use as proof that they need to get involved in the civil war militarily. Though the “proof” is still not public, it reportedly includes soil samples “acquired” from rebels they are funding.
Experts largely believe that a chemical weapons attack did happen, but that it was launchedby Islamist rebels, which would explain why the attack targeted military targets.
Both sides have accused the other of launching the attacks, but why the Syrian military would attack its own soldiers in such an attack is a big question. French and British officials are arguing that it was a misfire.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Apr-17/213992-syrias-six-simultaneous-conflicts.ashx#axzz2QodrZVUz
Syria’s six simultaneous conflictsApril 17, 2013 01:23 AMBy Rami G. Khouri
| The Daily Star |
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The conflict in Syria has assumed more dangerous dimensions with the latest developments along the Syrian-Lebanese border, where forces with and against both the Syrian government and Hezbollah have engaged in cross-border shelling. This builds on a recent spate of tit-for-tat kidnappings in northeastern Lebanon’s own frontier region that captures all the modern Arab world’s vagaries of nationalism, statehood, identity, sectarianism and citizenship.
The easiest way to describe the events in that region has been to speak of Sunni-Shiite fighting, or antagonisms between pro- and anti-Syrian government elements. The involvement of Hezbollah adds a significant new element to the mix, and also helps to clarify what the fighting in and near Syria is all about. It is much more than “spillover” of the Syrian war into Lebanon. I have previously described the war in Syria as the greatest proxy battle of our age, and that is now clearer than ever as we see how Syria comprises a rich and expansive web of other conflicts playing out on a local, regional and global scale.
The war in Syria is so enduring and vexing precisely because it is such a multilayered conflict, comprising at least six separate battles taking place at the same time:
First, it is a domestic citizen revolt against the Assad family regime that has ruled Syria for 43 years. This aspect of the conflict reflects a widespread spirit of citizen activism for freedom, rights and dignity that continues to define much of the Arab world today. After the nonviolent demonstrations that erupted across the country in spring 2011 elicited a violent military response from the regime, this political conflict quickly became a militarized war.
Second, the armed battle for control of Syria reignited the second layer of conflict, which has defined the region since the 1950s – the Arab cold war between assorted regional forces that keep shifting over time, but can most easily be described as conservative versus radical, or capitalist versus socialist, or royalist versus republican, or Islamo-monarchist versus Arab nationalist, or pro-Western versus anti-Western, though none of these simplistic black-and-white dichotomies is fully accurate. At its simplest, this Arab cold war for decades has been led on the one side by Saudi Arabia and its conservative allies, and on the other by governments such as those in Syria, Egypt or Iraq at various moments.
The third layer of conflict in Syria is the old Iranian-Arab rivalry, recently also often defined as a Shiite-Sunni rivalry. This is symbolized by the Iranian government’s alliance with Syria since 1979, and recently including the close structural ties between Iran and Hezbollah (or, more accurately, the ties between Hezbollah and the institution of the Wali al-Faqih, or the supreme leader, in Iran).
Iran’s strategic links with both Syria and Hezbollah have been among the few foreign policy achievements of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, so the Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah leaderships will battle hard to maintain those mutual benefits that all of them derive from their relationships.
The fourth conflict taking place in Syria is the renewed but more limited version of the Cold War between the United States and Russia (with other players such as China and assorted European states hanging around to pick up energy contracts and other gains). At its most simple, this renewed Son of the Cold War sees Russia taking a determined stand in Syria to prevent the United States from unilaterally deciding which Arab leaders go and which ones stay, while also burnishing its renewed credentials as a global power. Almost a quarter of a century after the end of the original Cold War, Russia is trying to recalibrate global power relations, formally closing the “post-Cold War” era in which the U.S. was the world’s sole superpower in a unipolar world.
The fifth conflict in Syria – like the domestic citizen revolt against autocracy that reflects a regional trend – is the centurylong tension between the power of the centralized modern Arab developmental and security state and the forces of disintegration and fragmentation along ethnic, religious, sectarian, national and tribal lines. These subnational, ancient and primordial identities defined Arab societies long before the imposition of the modern Arab state, and are always there to reaffirm themselves when that state fails to function efficiently and meet citizen needs.
And the sixth and most recent strain of conflict in Syria is between the forces of Al-Qaeda-inspired Salafist fanatic militants, such as the Nusra Front, and mainstream opposition groups fighting to overthrow the Assad family regime, such as the Muslim Brotherhood or broader, more secular groups, such as the Syrian National Opposition Coalition. Hysteria has typically gripped some analysts in the region and in the West as they fret over the prospect of the Nusra Front and others like them taking control of all or parts of post-Assad Syria – an impossible prospect, in my view.
So what we are witnessing in and around Syria is a great deal more complicated than spillover into neighboring countries or a continuation of the Sunni-Shiite rivalry.
The easiest way to describe the events in that region has been to speak of Sunni-Shiite fighting, or antagonisms between pro- and anti-Syrian government elements. The involvement of Hezbollah adds a significant new element to the mix, and also helps to clarify what the fighting in and near Syria is all about. It is much more than “spillover” of the Syrian war into Lebanon. I have previously described the war in Syria as the greatest proxy battle of our age, and that is now clearer than ever as we see how Syria comprises a rich and expansive web of other conflicts playing out on a local, regional and global scale.
The war in Syria is so enduring and vexing precisely because it is such a multilayered conflict, comprising at least six separate battles taking place at the same time:
First, it is a domestic citizen revolt against the Assad family regime that has ruled Syria for 43 years. This aspect of the conflict reflects a widespread spirit of citizen activism for freedom, rights and dignity that continues to define much of the Arab world today. After the nonviolent demonstrations that erupted across the country in spring 2011 elicited a violent military response from the regime, this political conflict quickly became a militarized war.
Second, the armed battle for control of Syria reignited the second layer of conflict, which has defined the region since the 1950s – the Arab cold war between assorted regional forces that keep shifting over time, but can most easily be described as conservative versus radical, or capitalist versus socialist, or royalist versus republican, or Islamo-monarchist versus Arab nationalist, or pro-Western versus anti-Western, though none of these simplistic black-and-white dichotomies is fully accurate. At its simplest, this Arab cold war for decades has been led on the one side by Saudi Arabia and its conservative allies, and on the other by governments such as those in Syria, Egypt or Iraq at various moments.
The third layer of conflict in Syria is the old Iranian-Arab rivalry, recently also often defined as a Shiite-Sunni rivalry. This is symbolized by the Iranian government’s alliance with Syria since 1979, and recently including the close structural ties between Iran and Hezbollah (or, more accurately, the ties between Hezbollah and the institution of the Wali al-Faqih, or the supreme leader, in Iran).
Iran’s strategic links with both Syria and Hezbollah have been among the few foreign policy achievements of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, so the Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah leaderships will battle hard to maintain those mutual benefits that all of them derive from their relationships.
The fourth conflict taking place in Syria is the renewed but more limited version of the Cold War between the United States and Russia (with other players such as China and assorted European states hanging around to pick up energy contracts and other gains). At its most simple, this renewed Son of the Cold War sees Russia taking a determined stand in Syria to prevent the United States from unilaterally deciding which Arab leaders go and which ones stay, while also burnishing its renewed credentials as a global power. Almost a quarter of a century after the end of the original Cold War, Russia is trying to recalibrate global power relations, formally closing the “post-Cold War” era in which the U.S. was the world’s sole superpower in a unipolar world.
The fifth conflict in Syria – like the domestic citizen revolt against autocracy that reflects a regional trend – is the centurylong tension between the power of the centralized modern Arab developmental and security state and the forces of disintegration and fragmentation along ethnic, religious, sectarian, national and tribal lines. These subnational, ancient and primordial identities defined Arab societies long before the imposition of the modern Arab state, and are always there to reaffirm themselves when that state fails to function efficiently and meet citizen needs.
And the sixth and most recent strain of conflict in Syria is between the forces of Al-Qaeda-inspired Salafist fanatic militants, such as the Nusra Front, and mainstream opposition groups fighting to overthrow the Assad family regime, such as the Muslim Brotherhood or broader, more secular groups, such as the Syrian National Opposition Coalition. Hysteria has typically gripped some analysts in the region and in the West as they fret over the prospect of the Nusra Front and others like them taking control of all or parts of post-Assad Syria – an impossible prospect, in my view.
So what we are witnessing in and around Syria is a great deal more complicated than spillover into neighboring countries or a continuation of the Sunni-Shiite rivalry.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/04/17/testimony-reveals-hagel-kerry-rift-on-syria/
Testimony Reveals Hagel-Kerry Rift on Syria
Kerry Hypes Rebel Ties, Hagel Warns Rebels Are More Conflicted Than Ever
by Jason Ditz, April 17, 2013
Dueling testimonies to Congress reveal an increasingly deep rift between the US State Department and the Pentagon’s civilian leadership, with each taking virtually opposite positions on where the US stands with respect to the Syrian Civil War and the rebel movement.
Secretary of State John Kerry took the line that everything is going swimmingly with the rebels, that the US aid is bring them closer together than ever and that America’s focus should be on forcing President Bashar Assad to step down in favor of them.
That’s been his position for awhile, but Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told a dramatically different story of the rebel movement’s increasing internal conflicts and a growing sense of confusion among Pentagon officials over where the rebels actually are, and which factions are the prime movers in them.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey seemed to be moving closer to Hagel’s side on the matter, saying that his previous claims that the US was able to identify which rebel factions to arm and which not to arm no longer was true, saying there was a big shift in the past six months and the situation had gotten a lot more complex.
Hagel also sought to emphasize his opposition to intervention in Syria, warning that joining the “lengthy and uncertain” war could have unforeseen consequences and push the US into a full-scale regional conflict. He added in testimony that Congress “better be damned sure” before they approved US military involvement, saying even the “minor” actions like a no-fly zone or a humanitarian corridor could force the US into a protracted commitment far beyond what they were expecting.
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/04/17/syrian-rebel-council-to-impose-moderate-sharia-across-territory/
Syrian Rebel Council to Impose Moderate Sharia Across Territory
Aims to Counter More Harsh Brands Imposed by Other Factions
by Jason Ditz, April 17, 2013
When Syria’s rebels take over a town, it means the imposition of Sharia law on the public. But what exactly Sharia law is differs wildly across the Sunni spectrum, and different Islamist rebel factions are imposing their own conflicting brands across the region.
The rebel Syrian National Council, itself dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood in no small measure, has announced that it intends to establish a more specific, more moderate version of Sharia backed by Syrian Islamic scholars, with an eye toward standardizing religious law in rebel-held Syria.
Details are scant, but while the hope seems to be that everyone will just default to the SNC’s version, al-Qaeda backed factions like Jabhat al-Nusra are likely to insist on their own particularly harsh religious interpretations, and will keep the law varied across rebel territory.
Nusra’s Taliban-style strict religious conservatism seems to be a tough sell in a lot of towns in the traditionally secular-driven nation, and is leading rebel fighters to violently enforce the laws, particularly as they relate to non-Sunnis and non-Muslims.
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