Obama authorizes bombing of any groups that attack US-trained rebels in Syria

President Barack Obama has authorized the bombing of any forces that attack US-trained rebels. This could include attacks by troops loyal to President Assad of Syria.

 

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This marks a considerable increase in US involvement in the Syrian civil war, since up to now, Obama has not authorized bombing of Assad's forces. The Wall Street Journal first reported the new policy.

While the officially reported aim of US air strikes in Syria has been to combat the Islamic State, from the very first it has gone beyond that with attacks on the Al-Qaeda-linked Al Nusra Front. These attacks angered virtually all the other rebel groups since the Front has often been a key player in battles against Assad forces. It has also fought against the Islamic State. The result has been that the Front now attacks rebel groups it believes are trained or armed by the US.

The Nusra Front claims responsibility for capturing members from Division 30 in Aleppo province early last week and also an attack on the unit's base on Friday that is said to have killed 5 rebels and wounded another 18. US bombs and the clashes also reportedly killed 18 members of the Front. So far Syrian air defence units have not threatened allied bombers as they attack the Islamic State and Al Nusra. If those planes attack Syrian troops for whatever reason Assad might try to shoot them down. However, this might risk the US deciding to take out his entire air defence system so perhaps he might hold off until he sees how frequently his forces come under US attack. A senior military official said on Sunday: “For offensive operations, it’s ISIS only. But if attacked, we’ll defend them against anyone who’s attacking them. We’re not looking to engage the regime, but we’ve made a commitment to help defend these people.”If the rebels attack Assad forces, as they very well might, naturally the Assad regime will fight back. However, the rebels trained by the US are supposed to have as their first priority fighting the Islamic State. If those rebels do so then the Assad forces may leave them alone and not provoke any bombings of their forces by the US. So far the US has avoided direct confrontation with Assad forces. Russia said that any US attacks against Assad forces would further destabilize the situation.

A time-line of the US training program is given in this article. Although the program planned to train up to 5,400 fighters a year, so far there appear to be fewer than 60 fighters trained and in Syria. They barely arrived when attacked by Al Nusra Front. Among those captured by the the Front were the group's commander. Many rebel groups especially Islamists are becoming increasingly hostile to the US-trained rebels since most other rebels have as their first priority defeat of Assad.

Kurds in northern Syria fight off jihadist attacks across Turkish border

In the city of Ras al-Ain in the Kurdish area of northern Syria, fighting rages between several radical groups who crossed the border from Turkey and joined battle against Kurdish militia defending the city.

In order to conserve his military power, Assad withdrew his troops from Kurdish areas of Syria allowing the Kurds to be more or less autonomous. The Kurds themselves are divided on whether to support or fight against the Assad regime and are staying more or less neutral while defending control of the area they occupy.

Attacks on Ras al-Ain have caused many residents to flee the city. The jihadists were from the Al-Nusra Front and Ghuraba al-Sham. A resident said that:

"the fighting became more intense in the evening after Kurdish fighters received reinforcements to try to stop the fiercest rebel assault ever since insurgents first arrived in the city"

Al-Nusra Front is listed by the US as a terrorist organization a designation that is opposed by Syrian rebels since the group are active and effective fighters against Assad.

A Kurdish activist, living in Ras al-Kain said that the jihadists crossed the nearby Turkish border with three tanks and entered the city. He claimed the Kurdish militia seized one tank.The activist noted:

“The advancing rebels did not use the tanks to fight the regime. Instead, they used them to shell Ras al-Ain."

One wonders how jihadists are able to get tanks in Turkey without the Turkish government being aware of what is happening.

Kurdish analysts suspect that Turkey may be using the jihadists to wage their own battle against Kurds. Many worry about the consequences of a continuing battle between Kurds and jihadists. Prominent Kurdish journalist and activist Massoud Akko said:

“Should the fight morph into a struggle between Kurds and Arabs... Syria and the revolt [against Assad] are both in real danger.”

Friends of Syria meeting planned in Qatar to choose new Syrian rebel representatives

The U.S. and allies plan a conference on Syria in Qatar next week. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, claims that the Syrian National Council can no longer be considered the leaders of the opposition. The leaders are the fighters inside the country.

The U.S. is withdrawing support for the Syrian National Council and wants to groom a new leadership that will represent those within Syria fighting on the front lines. At the same time, the U.S. worries about extremists whom Clinton accuses of trying to hijack the revolution. There is a conference to be convened in Qatar next week, where no doubt deals will be made to form a new group of leaders to replace Assad once his regime is overthrown.

After the U.S. election, one can expect more western intervention in Syria. The most immediate move may be be to provide the opposition with higher powered weapons so that they can neutralize Assad's vast air superiority. There is little doubt that arms are already being smuggled into the country with the blessing of the U.S. Indeed the U.S. is supposed to be making sure that the weapons do not fall into the hands of the wrong parties, radical Islamists.

In response to a question about U.S. policy in Syria, Clinton was dismissive of attempts by the UN Special Envoy Lakdar Brahimi to broker a ceasefire and negotiations. She sad that the U.S. could not and would not wait for the UN to broker a peaceful solution. In other words the bloody conflict is destined to continue, with the support of the west. The U.S. and allies will use the rebels as proxies to overthrow the Assad regime and install a regime with leaders hand-picked by countries outside Syria.

Clinton noted that the U.S. had "facilitated the smuggling-out of a few representatives of the Syrian internal opposition" who will consequently appear at the meeting of Friends of Syria in Doha, Qatar. At the same time, Clinton treated the Syrian National Council with almost open contempt.

Only last December she had claimed the group as the “leading and legitimate representative of Syrians seeking a peaceful democratic transition." However, now Clinton maintained that the Syrian opposition could not be made up of representatives who had not been inside Syria for decades, some up to 30 or 40 years. The representatives must be “those who are on the front lines, fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom.” Apparently, it is not Syrians, but those outside, who are to say who their representatives are to be.

However, jihadists may receive support and funding from outside as well and will not just disappear because the west chooses a new set of leaders. The Syrian National Council was not happy about this turn of events either.h-obama-picking-their-leaders/ t=_blank]Zuhair Salem, an exiled spokesperson for the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, said:“These dictates are not acceptable to the Syrian people anymore,." Zuhair's group is a significant portion of the Syrian National Council.

The U.S. also called the exiles "extremists" threatening the rebellion. This is somewhat odd in that most of the fighters are sectarian Sunnis armed and funded probably by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, with the blessing of the U.S. The number of terrorist incidents shows that radical jihadists are an important part of the rebel forces. The fighters within Syria, rather than the exiles, are more likely to be extremists.

Former U.S. ambassador to Syria Robert Ford is helping to identify and select new representatives who will be in line with U.S. interests. Clinton told a news conference in Zagreb, Croatia:

“We have recommended names and organizations that we believe should be included in any leadership structure. We’ve made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard.”

The U.S. may wish to have various minority groups within Syria represented in the leadership including the Alawite sect that dominates the Assad regime, Shia Muslims, Kurds, and even Christians. However, the fighters on the ground may not accept any such leadership arrangement.

The SNC has rejected the U.S. plan and has even called its own conference in Doha. There have been reports that at least Turkey and Qatar may still support the SNC. In a similar leadership conference last June in Cairo participants ended up fighting with each other literally. Clinton said: “We also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution." No doubt many in Qatar and elsewhere will not consider Muslim Brotherhoods members as extremists. Compared to Sunni Salafist groups they are moderates and no doubt they are moderates compared to many of the front line fighters against Assad. The SNC has been recognized as the sole legitimate government of Syria by Libya.

Assad may have helped French spies ambush Gadaffi

According to an article in a British newspaper the Syrian government offered French spies operating in Sirte, Gadaffi's satellite telephone number. This aided them in trapping Gadaffi by alerting Libyan militia as to where they could ambush his convoy.

Rami El Obeidi, a former senior intelligence officer in Tripoli, said:

"In exchange for this information, Assad had obtained a promise of a grace period from the French and less political pressure on the regime – which is what happened,"

International attention was shifting from the situation in Libya to that in Syria and Assad hoped that by helping the French, pressure would be removed from his regime. Assad should have known better. It worked for a short while only. For years Assad had acted as a destination for terror suspects who were rendered to notorious Syrian prisons for interrogation and torture. He always obediently provided guarantees that the suspects would not be tortured so U.S. authorities would not be complicit in sending anyone to be tortured. He was not rewarded for that either. In time the French along with the rest of western countries would turn against Assad as he crushed dissent within Syria. Now Islamic terrorists are allied with the west in attempting to overthrow Assad. If Assad is eventually overthrown do not expect gratitude from the jihadists.

Nicolas Sarkozy the former president of France was one of the first and most avid supporters of western intervention in Libya. France also played a leading role in the UN-approved NATO mission to bomb Libya, supposedly to protect civilians.

Mahmoud Jibril, who was prime minister under the Libyan transitional government, confirmed that a foreign "agent" was involved in the operation that ultimately killed Gadaffi. However, Jibril did not identify the nationality of the agent. An Italian newspaper quoted western diplomats in Tripoli who claimed that if a foreign agent were involved it was almost certainly a French agent.

This revelation could be embarrassing for NATO. NATO has always claimed that it did not target individuals. However on several occasions NATO bombed sites where Gadaffi might have been staying.

The official story of Gadaffi's death is that an RAF surveillance plane spotted a large convoy of vehicles leaving Sirte on October 20th last year. NATO warplanes bombed the convoy supposedly unaware that Gadaffi was traveling in it. Militia members found Gadaffi in a drainpipe and he was killed by one of his captors. As is often the case the official story is not likely true. The French spy had told the militia where Gadaffi's convoy could be ambushed. According to Mr El Obeidi:

"French intelligence played a direct tole in the death of Gaddafi, including his killing.They gave directions that he was to be apprehended, but they didn't care if he was bloodied or beaten up as long as he was delivered alive."

Of course it turns out he was not delivered alive.

French intelligence officers were able to pinpoint Gadaffi's location when he made a call to a loyalist and a Palestinian militant leader in Syria. Obeidi said although both Turkish and British intelligence officers were informed of the ambush it was an exclusively French operation.

Gadaffi was double-crossed by the French as well. He had been on good terms with Sarkozy even donating considerable amounts to Sarkozy's election campaign. He had threatened to reveal details of these donations when Sarkozy no longer supported him. Western diplomats said according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera

:“Sarkozy had every reason to want to get rid of the colonel as quickly as possible."

That mission has been long accomplished. What remains is for France to negotiate new and better contracts for Libyan oil.

Houla Massacre new report contradicts official version in the west

The official version as I understand it is that the massacre was the work of Assad forces and/or a militia loyal to Assad from nearby villages. However recent reports blame the massacre on rebels who have used it as a means of isolating Assad even more internationally and to seek more aid for their cause. As well it shows the UN peace plan is not working at all.

   The report is found in numerous places but is listed in this article as coming from the German Newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) a leading German Daily. This report claims that the massacre was carried out by anti-Assad militants. Although Houla is 90 per cent Sunni most of the victims were Shia or Alawi. Assad is from the Alawi minority.
     The army set up road blocks to keep Sunni rebels from attacking local Alawi majority villages. The rebels attacked the checkpoints and there was a battle in which both sides sustained losses. It was during this period that the massacre is said to have happened. I quote from this article::""Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities....Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the Internet. """  The German report is confirmed by statements from the Monastery of St. James in Qara. armed rebels murdered entire Alawi families in the Houla region.

  Mother Agnes-Mariam de la Croix of the St. James monastery had warned back in April that rebel atrocities were actually being repackaged in western and Arab media as regime atrocities. Mother de la Croix provides a specific example. For further details see the full article.  While none of this can change the fact that Assad has actually committed heinous acts it does suggest that most western media ignore counter evidence in cases such as Houla or just write it off as Assad propaganda.

Saudi Arabia reported to be sending military equipment to Syrian rebels

AFP reports that a top Arab diplomat told them: "Saudi military equipment is on its way to Jordan to arm the Free Syrian Army," Of course the diplomat insisted on remaining anonymous and so the report may be incorrect. Russia has been arming the Assad regime.

Jordan has denied that there is any such move and insists it wants a diplomatic solution. Jordan's economy is suffering from the conflict. For its part Syria claims that Saudi Arabia is sending terrorists to wreak havoc in the country.

Certainly recent suicide bombing that have killed dozens often at key government installations shows that terrorists are at work in Syria wherever they came from. The rebels have claimed that these attacks could be staged by the government to paint the opposition as terrorists. This is extremely unlikely given the nature of the targets.

Assad is definitely slaughtering many people who simply want democracy and have no connection to terrorism. On the other hand it is also clear that there is a majority Sunni, minority Shia conflict involved in Syria that is developing into a civil war. There is even an army of sorts formed mostly from soldiers who have defected from the Syrian forces. As a majority Sunni country the Saudi monarchy would be happy to see the Asssad Shia minority Alawite group replaced by the Sunni majority. This certainly would curb Iranian influence in the regime. The move has little to do with promoting democracy per se. Saudi Arabia is hardly a beacon of democratic reform!

On the side of the rebels are Al Qaeda--and also Hamas for that matter. Al Qaeda or other militants are no doubt behind the suicide bombings not the Syrian government. For much more see this AFP article. in Yahoo news.

U.S. and Al Qaeda partners in Syria?

Back in the bad old days when the Evil Empire tried to protect its compliant regime in Afghanistan the west and CIA linked up with jihadists to defeat the Afghan Soviet backed regime. History may be repeating itself if this article is correct.

According to Camille Otrakji who edits the online journal Syria Comment the U.S. and AL Qaeda are using each other. Both support the overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria.

Al Qaeda is working alongside the armed opposition and no doubt is responsible for some of the terrorist attacks the regime has suffered. Otrakuji says;"".., the Islamists and Al-Qaeda think, 'We can have an alliance with the Americans or with any secular opposition forces, but later we will be in power,' and the Americans think they can use Al-Qaeda temporarily, if they have to, to get rid of the Syrian regime, and they will somehow manage to get rid of them. So, unfortunately they are apparently working together."

If this scenario is correct one can expect more conflict after Assad is overthrown as secular pro-democracy groups struggle for power with Al Qaeda no doubt allied with other radical Sunni Islamists. Otrakji thinks that some in Washington just want to punish Assad whereas others in Washington are optimistic that in a post Assad regime democratic and secular forces will prevail. In Libya as well Al Qaeda supported the rebels against Gadaffi.

Don Debar a U.S. peace activist said:"First of all, the US is bedfellows with Al-Qaeda in Libya already. Secondly, if you look at the history of al-Qaeda, actually they are a successive group to the allies the US had in Afghanistan when it was fighting the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and early 1980s.""So it's not whether it will happen or not - it's really been happening," One can expect that once Assad is gone Islamic jihadists can turn the focus of their jihad back on the west and the U.S. For more see this article.

Russia claims western countries arming Syrian rebels

    The Russian foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov claims that western states are sending arms secretly to Syrian rebel groups. As everyone knows Russia is arming the Assad regime as well as defending it at the UN.
    Ryabkov did not name the countries involved but the Turkish government has openly supported the Free Syrian Army consisting mostly of defectors from Assad's forces. The leader of the group Col Riad al-Assad. Turkey is granting media access to the leadership.
    Russia complained that arming the rebels was contributing to the crisis. The crackdown by Assad is doing the same thing. The situation is spiraling out of control into civil war. Russia also condemned NATO and the Arab league for trying to use the UN to promote regime change in Syria. In the U.S. Steve Chabot who is head of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East has called for arming the rebels. For more see this article.