Syria has crossed Obama’s ‘red line’ in using chemical weapons, and the U.S. government is headed across the Rubicon of deeper military involvement.
There seems little doubt from the accumulating evidence, collected primarily by French and British investigators, that some chemical weapons have been used in Syria’s increasingly savage civil war. Syrian government forces control these weapons and are probably responsible for using them, but hard evidence is still lacking. A background analysis in Monday’s New York Times examines the continuing cloud of uncertainty about who used these weapons.
Thursday’s White House statement bases its conclusions primarily on “reporting.” It states that only “small-scale” use has occurred and acknowledges the absence of forensic evidence. Especially significant is this statement: the evidence “does not tell us how or where individuals were exposed or who was responsible for the dissemination.” That’s an extraordinary admission of the lack of firm evidence. Hardly the basis for becoming militarily involved.
The White House statement says that the U.S. will expand assistance to the Supreme Military Council, but it does not mention sending weapons. Administration spokespersons have said the administration will begin supplying small arms and ammunition, but no timetable has been given. The delivery of heavier weapons would require the presence of U.S. military personnel and contractors, which the White House remains reluctant to consider.
The White House says it will present its evidence to the international community. That’s the right step to take. The administration should bring whatever evidence it has to the Security Council and gain international support for taking appropriate action against those responsible.
The arguments against arming the rebels remain strong, as I write in my recent op ed in the Christian Science Monitor. Sending more weapons will intensify the war and increase the risk of the U.S. being dragged into another Middle East war. The administration should focus on pursuing a ceasefire and negotiated peace settlement. Rather than delivering weapons the United States should send more urgently needed humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people.
David Cortright 
http://gowans.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/al-qaedas-arms-supplier/
The way the White House and US media tell the story, the Syrian government crossed a redline by using chemical weapons, triggering a US decision to arm the Syrian rebellion, dominated by the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front. The way it almost certainly happened is that rebel setbacks triggered a decision to arm the rebels, and that laughably weak evidence of Syrian forces using chemical weapons was used to justify it.
We have been down this road before at a cost of many thousands of innocents lives including children, remember Iraq? The US President Bush and then Prime Minister Tony Blair said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, including chemicals, indeed in Parliament Blair stated that Iraq is able to attack us in 45 minutes……
An excuse to go to war on Iraq. To their shame the majority of MPs voted for that lie and they have not said sorry to this day.
Another lie was the excuse to go to war on Afghanistan re 9/11. It was Saudi who flew the planes into the twin towers……so why didn’t the US and UK attack Saudi Arabia…….OIL…….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2342438/Revealed-How-Prime-Minister-John-Kerry-ambushed-nervous-Obama-force-arm-Syrian-rebels.html
Revealed: How the Prime Minister and John Kerry ambushed nervous Obama to force him to arm Syrian rebels
Be sure to read the comments following the article
Former French Minister of Foreign Affairs: “…Britain had been preparing gunmen to invade Syria two years before the crisis there flared up in 2011…”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/former-french-minister-of-foreign-affairs-britain-had-been-preparing-gunmen-to-invade-syria-two-years-before-the-crisis-there-flared-up-in-2011/5339218?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=former-french-minister-of-foreign-affairs-britain-had-been-preparing-gunmen-to-invade-syria-two-years-before-the-crisis-there-flared-up-in-2011
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 13:06:30 +0100
The former French Minister of Foreign Affairs has publicly made a statement that the British Government intended to overthrow the Syrian government for political reasons, long before there was civil unrest (fomented by the British) in Syria.
“…Britain had been preparing gunmen to invade Syria two years before the crisis there flared up in 2011…”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-forbidden-truth-the-u-s-is-channelling-chemical-weapons-to-al-qaeda-in-syria-obama-is-a-liar-and-a-terrorist/5339004
The Forbidden Truth: The U.S. is Channeling Chemical Weapons to Al Qaeda in Syria
http://gowans.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/thugs-of-the-near-and-middle-east/
Thugs of the Near and Middle East
He has cracked down harshly on protestors who object to his autocratic style. He calls his opponents terrorists and says there’s a foreign plot to topple his government. He says the opposition is infiltrated with foreigners from all parts of the world.
Assad?
No. This is Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to The New York Times. [1]
The Times fails to mention that Erdogan has killed his own people, both Kurds, whose struggle for autonomy the Turkish state has waged war to annihilate, and demonstrators, who have protested without arms against the Turkish prime minister’s autocratic ways.
http://socialistunity.com/syria-is-now-the-frontline-in-a-global-struggle/
Syria is now the frontline in a struggle between western powers intent on a unipolar world, and a Russian and Chinese-led multipolar alternative in which sovereignty is not a gift of Washington and its allies but the inviolable right of all nation states.
** note the comments following the article…
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-is-becoming-obamas-iraq/5339675
Syria Is Becoming Obama’s Iraq
In perfect Bush-like fashion, President Obama has invented a bogus pretense for military intervention in yet another Middle East country. The president’s claim that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — and thus crossed Obama’s imaginary “red line” — will likely fool very few Americans, who already distrust their president after the massive NSA spying scandal. Obama has officially started down a path that inevitably leads to full-scale war. At this point the Obama administration thinks it has already invested too much military, financial, and diplomatic capital into the Syrian conflict to turn back, and each step forward brings the U.S. closer to a direct military intervention.
click link for full article…
http://costofwar.com/
Watch the numbers spike after Syria is added to the list. A million U$A dollars a minute is chicken feed.
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/22/left-j22.html
German Marx 21 group advocates military intervention in Syria
Like the entire Syrian opposition, the LCCs are directly financed by the US government and function politically as its representative. The LCCs receive money and training from, among others, the so-called Office for Syrian Revolution Support, established by the foreign ministers of the US and Britain, and headquartered in Istanbul.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ic08nLLXPHZCN1lIGmjBJgg_jtRQ?docId=CNG.c3015cb2f9103a3b3bca098ef13e7a5d.c1
CIA secretly providing training for Syrian rebels: report
WASHINGTON — The CIA and US special operations forces have been training Syrian rebels for months, since long before President Barack Obama announced plans to arm the opposition, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-weapons-un-105/
UN: Impossible to determine Syria chemical attack perpetrator even with US evidence
President Barack Obama said on Friday that the US will leave about 700 combat-equipped troops in Jordan after a training exercise there, which would increase the number of US troops stationed there to almost 1,000. The US announced earlier that it will leave Patriot missiles and warplanes in the country.
connect the dots…
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-imperial-agenda-in-syria-grtv-feature-interview-with-michel-chossudovsky/5339999?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-imperial-agenda-in-syria-grtv-feature-interview-with-michel-chossudovsky
The Imperial Agenda in Syria. GRTV Feature Interview with Michel Chossudovsky
The aggressor nations in the war on Syria are now talking about “humanitarian aid” to support the Al Qaeda rebels they themselves sent into the country.
But, as Michel Chossudovsky argues, the imperial powers need to be held accountable for their part in fomenting the conflict in the country, and should be made to pay war reparations.
http://gowans.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/syria-the-view-from-the-other-side/
Syria, The View From The Other Side
For his refusal to become their “puppet,” the United States and its imperialist allies intend to topple Assad through accustomed means: an opportunistic alliance with radical Islamists who hate Assad as much as Washington does, though for reasons of religion rather than economics and imperialism.
http://rt.com/news/libya-syria-weapons-rebels-117/
Colonel Gaddafi’s Legacy? Unregulated Libyan weapons ‘flood’ Syria
According to the paper, Qatari C-17 cargo planes – capable of carrying a payload of more than 70 tons – have landed at least three times in Libya this year, each time to pick up a shipment of weapons that were then taken the Turkish-Syrian border, and passed onto the rebels.
surprised?
http://www.voltairenet.org/article179093.html
Arms deliveries to ’Syrian rebels’ equally liable for crimes committed
The delivery of weapons to Syrian rebels is in breach of UN resolutions. This enables the victims’ families to sue individually before the International Criminal Tribunal those leaders who should decide to do so, and allows Syria to file a suit against their states with the International Court of Justice.
Readers may find this brief video insightful. Syria, Obama and how it was discussed was discussed by an Irish TD.
http://williambowles.info/2013/06/27/video-al-qaeda-is-led-by-cia-ex-member-nabil-naim/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+williambowles%2FKJFu+%28WilliamBowles.info+Investigating+the+new+imperialism%29
Video: Al-Qaeda is Led By CIA – Ex-Member Nabil Naim
click on the link for the article and video
Former Al-Qaeda member Sheikh Naiim has released video testimony in which he asserts that the leader of Jabhat Al-Nusra, the primary fighting force in Syria attempting to topple President Bashar Al-Assad, is a CIA operative
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syria-the-western-faces-behind-the-terror/5340493
Syria: The “Western Faces” Behind The Terror
Syria will not be the last conflict. This has been a brief and incomplete overview of what drives our nation, and where we are headed, the handlers and the willing instruments (in the words of Clare Daly, pimps and prostitutes).
We continue to sink our head in sand and hope for a hero – for ‘something to happen’. There is only one hope for the future, and the only one power that can alter this destructive path: “We, The People”
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/17/analyst-al-qaeda-affiliate-in-syria-now-best-equipped-of-the-group/
Analyst: Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria now best-equipped of the group
Washington has a real knack for shooting itself in the foot…
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/us.politics/aHmEqV-QajY
(posted in 2003) – same game different names
Ten Reasons Why We MUST Invade Syria (an idiot’s guide)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10145779/US-to-send-arms-to-Syria-within-a-month.html
US to send arms to Syria within a month
refer to idiot’s guide above…
A CIA vetting procedure for those groups that are given weapons is the lynchpin of the US approach. Officials said it was vital to bolster moderate groups so that they can blunt the appeal of the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked group that has grown to dominate the battle against the Damascus regime
http://www.alternet.org/world/obama-doctrine-covert-war-spectacularly-backfired-syria?akid=10639.34335.HHvfyP&rd=1&src=newsletter861975&t=4
Syria: Where the Obama Doctrine of Covert War Spectacularly Backfired
The U.S. policy of arming proxies in Syria is a formula for unlimited escalation and mass destruction.
The only moral way forward in Syria now is for Secretary Kerry to marshall whatever authority and influence his office has left to bring America’s proxies in Syria to the table, to sign a cease-fire and plan a peaceful political transition led by legitimate representatives of the Syrian people, not by foreign puppets or proxies. This could include members of the National Coordinating Body for Democratic Change, who launched peaceful protests in Syria in 2011 and who have remained committed to non-violence, non-sectarianism and non-intervention as their revolution has been hijacked and their country destroyed.
http://rt.com/news/syria-beheadings-video-assad-401/
New video of ‘Islamist’ public beheadings of ‘Assad loyalists’ surfaces in Syria (GRAPHIC CONTENT)
A video purportedly showing an extrajudicial public beheading of two Bashar Assad loyalists has been uploaded onto the internet. Its authenticity has been verified by pro and anti-Assad sources, though it remains unclear who is behind the execution.
In the nine-minute clip, a group of several hundred people, including men, women and children stands around a hill, when the sentenced men, bound with ropes and wearing bags on their heads are led out. As the crowd closes in with shouts of Allah Akbar (“Glory to God!”) the two, who are wearing civilian clothes, are laid on the floor, and a bearded ‘executioner’ methodically saws through the throat of first one, then the other with a knife. The heads of the dead men are then placed on top of their bodies as the crowd continues to bay.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/jun/24/stumbling-into-syria/
Stumbling Into Syria
When historians look back on the American path to war in Syria, two comments by President Obama will stand out. The first was his statement—repeated as a sort of sideline cheer for the Arab Spring—that “Assad must go.” This was a diplomatic error that could not be walked back: it compelled the US to make Assad’s removal not just a desired effect but a precondition for any negotiated settlement of the conflict.
** read the comments following the article…
http://gowans.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/the-myth-of-the-secular-pro-democracy-syrian-rebel/
The Myth of the Secular, Pro-Democracy Syrian Rebel
Asked to justify his support for what his interlocutor called “Islamo-fascists,” a leftist sympathetic to the Syrian rebellion replied, “I’m not supporting radical Islamists. I support the Free Syrian Army’s fight for democracy.” With al-Qaeda aligned jihadists beheading some of their enemies and eating the organs of others, that’s the best case supporters of the Syrian rebellion can make these days. Unlike the radical Islamists, who dominate the rebellion and want to build a theocracy atop the hoped-for ruins of Syria’s secular Arab nationalist regime, the uprising’s Western leftist supporters are against dictatorship and for democracy. That’s why, they say, they’re backing the FSA.
But much as they believe they’re on the side on the angels, they’re not. The idea that the FSA is the secular, democratic front of a popular uprising ignores a number of problems, from a misunderstanding of what the FSA is, to blindness to the democratic reforms already carried out in Syria, to an unwarranted fondness for a political arrangement that would open the doors to US domination of Syria.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/kissinger-syria_n_3512659.html?utm_hp_ref=world
The old War Criminal speaks on Syria
Henry Kissinger: If A Sectarian Group Is Put In Charge Of Syria, ‘There Will Be A Bloodbath’ (VIDEO)
*** looking forward to the day they print his obituary…
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/06/russian_troubles_in_syria_and_ours.html
View from a right-wing nutter….
Russian Troubles in Syria, and Ours
hint: The writer and his affiliation is a dead giveaway – editorial junk mail
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/29/311339/ksa-qatar-orchestrated-syria-crisis/
Brzezinski: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, their western allies orchestrated Syria crisis
The former US national security adviser says the ongoing crisis in Syria has been orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and their western allies.
“In late 2011 there are outbreaks in Syria produced by a drought and abetted by two well-known autocracies in the Middle East: Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” Zbigniew Brzezinski said in an interview with The National Interest on June 24.
He added that US President Barack Obama also supported the unrest in Syria and suddenly announced that President Bashar al-Assad “has to go — without, apparently, any real preparation for making that happen.”
Syria Gateway to War with Iran [AMTV Live 6.27.13]
‘US provokes war with Syria’ Iran is next.
Published on Jan 29, 2013
The USA and it’s allies in the middle east plus Turkey have been funding Al-Qeada FSA/Fake Syrian Army terrorists!
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/syria-israel-is-losing-the-battle.html
SYRIA – ISRAEL IS LOSING THE BATTLE
In the last week we have been following British and French’s desperate attempts to push for a military intervention in Syria. It is far from being a secret that both British and French government are dominated by the Jewish Lobby. In Britain it is the ultra Zionist CFI (Conservative Friends of Israel) – apparently 80% of Britain’s conservative MPs are members of the pro Israeli Lobby. In France the situation is even more devastating, the entire political system is hijacked by the forceful CRIF.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/29/311392/us-interest-in-syria-peace-a-false-talk/
US talk of peace for Syria delay tactic for greater war: Scott Rickard
Press TV has conducted an interview with Scott Rickard, former American intelligence linguist from Orlando, about the issue of John Kerry and FSA planning to increase arms supply to al-Qaeda associated militants in Syria while the US at the same time has agreed to peace talks on Syria.
Text and video
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/311225.html
CIA readies Syria rebels for August attack: Report
The US intelligence agency is stockpiling weapons shipped by the U.S. as well as European and Middle Eastern allies in Jordan to prepare the militants for a concerted onslaught against the Syrian government in August, a report says.
The CIA will continue mobilizing arms, including anti-tank missiles, in Jordan for three weeks to lay the ground for the assault, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The agency will spend another two weeks on choosing among the militants and training them, the report adds.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers/syria-spiral-of-war
Syria, spiral of war
portion of one comment following the article…
Well; even Zbigniew Brzezinski has said that arming the “rebels”, Jihadists, terrorists, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, means that America has “lost its mind”
http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/06/libya-syria-lies-perfidies-and-tony-blair/
Libya, Syria, Lies, Perfidies and Tony Blair by Felicity Arbuthnot
Having learned nothing from the catastrophes of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, it seems President Obama, the equally clueless UK Prime Minister Cameron and his culturally challenged Foreign Secretary William Hague are cheerleading another bloodbath in formerly peaceful, secular, outward looking Syria.
Felicity Arbuthnot is a journalist with special knowledge of Iraq. Author, with Nikki van der Gaag, of Baghdad in the Great City series for World Almanac books, she has also been Senior Researcher for two Award winning documentaries on Iraq, John Pilger’s Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq and Denis Halliday Returns for RTE (Ireland.) Read other articles by Felicity.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/06/al_nusrah_front_clai_14.php
Al Nusrah Front claims joint operations, including a suicide assault, with Syrian rebel groups
The CIA has begun moving light weapons and possibly anti-tank missiles from Jordan to Syria, where they are to be given to ‘elaborately’ vetted opposition elements. The CIA is considering using special operations teams from the US, Jordan, and the UAE to train rebels. US officials say the effort will aim to produce trained moderate fighters faster than the growth of the Al Nusrah Front, which has added “thousands” of fighters this past year. Meanwhile, Saudi officials have offered to identify ‘trusted’ rebel fighters to be given shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/06/al_nusrah_front_clai_14.php#ixzz2XiNdqoAA
** two very honest brokers, the CIA and Saudi Arabia – and the moon is made of swiss-cheese…
http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/24/the-us-should-not-contribute-to-a-peacek
The US Should Not Contribute to a Peacekeeping Force in Syria
** note the opening comments from the ‘stink tank’ the Brookings Institution…
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2013/06/editorial-on-syria-thats-enough-aid-to.html
Editorial: “On Syria, that’s enough!” (Aid to the Church in Need)
Many countries have an interest in the disruption of Syria, beginning with the Americans…
http://www.globalresearch.ca/america-is-running-the-worlds-largest-terrorist-operation/5339835
slightly off target…
America Is Running the World’s Largest Terrorist Operation
Experts on the Left and the Right Agree
Chomsky: “Obama Is Running The Biggest Terrorist Operation That Exists”
Leading liberal Noam Chomsky said yesterday:
The Obama administration is dedicated to increasing terrorism. In fact, it’s doing it all over the world. Obama is running the biggest terrorist operation that exists, maybe in history: the drone assassination campaigns, which are just part of it […] All of these operations, they are terror operations
http://scaredmonkeys.com/2013/06/30/vatican-confirms-that-syrian-catholic-priest-francois-murad-beheaded-in-syria-by-rebel-jihadist-forces-video-warning-violent/
Vatican Confirms that Syrian Catholic Priest François Murad Beheaded in Syria by Rebel Jihadist Forces (Video-Warning, Violent) … And Obama Wants to Arm the Rebels Against the Will of the People?
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/06/us-promises-smooth-transfer-of-quagmire-from-afghanistan-to-syria.html
U.S. PROMISES SMOOTH TRANSFER OF QUAGMIRE FROM AFGHANISTAN TO SYRIA
—Supporters of the United States’ twelve-year quagmire in Afghanistan cheered the news today that the U.S. would strive to achieve a seamless transfer of that quagmire to Syria, effective immediately.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sought to reassure those who were concerned that the U.S. withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan signalled a wavering of the nation’s commitment to being mired in open-ended military muddles.
“I can tell you, right here and right now, that the U.S. is every bit as determined to engage in an ill-defined, ill-advised and seemingly interminable mission in Syria as we were in Afghanistan,” Gen. Dempsey said. “All that’s changing is the Zip Code.”
http://notthemsmdotcom.wordpress.com/
note first 2 articles – First as Tragedy then as Farce…
Syria: Qatar’s policy is hand in glove with the United States.
Ahmed Al-Assir, the pawn in Lebanon.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/poll-finds-most-britons-oppose-sending-arms-to-syrian-rebels-8679189.html
Poll finds most Britons oppose sending arms to Syrian rebels
With 80 Tory MPs opposed to sending arms, the plan is not likely to win Commons approval
http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/syria-used-chinese-intel-to-bomb-u-s-arms-shipment/
Alice in Wonderland bunk from Israel. Remember Colin Powell at the UN and his (in)famous 45 minute WMD speech. Here’s the latest Israeli fantasy.
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/middle_east/syria_deterioration_or_compromise
Syria: Deterioration or Compromise?
Paul Rogers is Global Security Consultant to Oxford Research Group (ORG) and Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. His ‘Monthly Global Security Briefings’ are published on our website every month, where visitors can sign-up to receive them via our newsletter each month.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10153629/Syria-3500-tons-of-weapons-already-sent-to-rebels-says-Lord-Ashdown.html
Syria: 3,500 tons of weapons already sent to rebels, says Lord Ashdown
Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, spoke out against arming Syria’s rebels and called for pressure to be put on Qatar and Saudi Arabia to cut off funding for arms.
“I know where those weapons are coming from. They are the weapons left over from the Bosnian war. They are being shipped out in large measure through Croatian ports and airports and I can tell you they are making vast sums for corrupt forces in the Balkans.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23190533
Face-to-face with Abu Sakkar, Syria’s ‘heart-eating cannibal’
It sounded like the most far-fetched propaganda claim – a Syrian rebel commander who cut out the heart of a fallen enemy soldier, and ate it before a cheering crowd of his men.
The story turned out to be true in its most important aspect – a ritual demonstration of cannibalism – though when I met the commander, Abu Sakkar, in Syria last week, he seemed hazy on the details
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/07/06/main-syrian-opposition-group-elects-new-president/2494543/
The champagne corks must be popping in Washington…
http://armstrongeconomics.com/2013/07/05/will-syria-be-the-start-of-world-war-iii-in-2014/
Will Syria be the Start of World War III in 2014?
. The BS put out that the USA wants to help the freedom fighters is just that – BS. They fear then far more and will only seek to retain control of Syria.
BS from the U$A – what a surprise…
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/iran-at-saban/posts/2013/07/01-syria-sectarianism-iran
from the Brookings Institution ‘stink’ tank…
http://beta.syriadeeply.org/2013/07/europes-young-jihadis-fighting-syria/#.Udh-QPnVCSo
‘Europe’s Young Jihadis, Fighting in Syria’
Young, rapidly radicalizing Muslims in Europe are flocking to Syria to take up arms with extremist Islamist groups, and French security officials say there are more European jihadis now fighting in Syria than fought in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
The very same thugs the U$A has hedged it’s bet on, Some right spark in DC must have a corn-cob up his posterior…
http://www.globalresearch.ca/secret-meeting-to-plan-renewed-rebel-offensive-against-syria-senior-intelligence-officials-meet-behind-closed-doors-at-british-embassy-in-ankara/5342026
Secret Meeting to Plan Renewed Rebel Offensive against Syria: Senior Intelligence Officials Meet at British Embassy in Ankara
Turkish, Qatari, Saudi, British, US, French, Jordanian Intelligence Meet Behind Closed Doors
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10165984/Tony-Blair-calls-for-intervention-in-Syria.html
Surprise surprise!
Tony Blair calls for intervention in Syria
Tony Blair has criticised the “inaction” of governments that have failed to intervene in the conflict in Syria as he called for a no-fly zone in the region and said Britain should consider arming the rebels in the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23232189
Syria opposition government head Ghassan Hitto resigns
The Syrian opposition figure tasked with forming an interim government to administer rebel-held areas has resigned, citing an inability to do so.
In a statement, Ghassan Hitto said he would “continue working for the interests of the revolution”.
Although a large number of low-ranking officials have publicly left the party since the start of the uprising in March 2011, its main leadership bodies have remain steadfastly loyal to Mr Assad.
http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_23617978/keep-u-s-and-nato-out-syria-conflict
Letter to the Editor
Keep U.S. and NATO out of Syria conflict
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/07/07/israel-destroyed-syrian-weapons-depot/
Israel Destroyed Syrian Weapons Depot Containing Advanced Russian Arms
Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם
Promoting Israeli democracy, exposing secrets of the national security state
http://www.islamicinvitationturkey.com/2013/07/06/qatar-charity-wiring-5bln-to-syria-rebels/
Qatar Charity Wiring $5bln to Syria Rebels
Qatar has undertaken to pay another USD5 billion to the rebels in Syria, sources revealed on Saturday.
“Following the Friends of Syria meeting in Doha, Qatar has undertaken to pay a sum of USD5 billion to Syrian rebel groups,” a diplomat present at the recent Doha meeting told FNA.
“All this money is now being paid to the rebels in Syria through the Qatar Charity (QC) foundation,” added the source.
“The rebels are due to spend USD3 billion of the financial aid under the direct supervision of the Qatari government,” he explained, and added, “And the remaining USD2 billion will be spent under the supervision of Turkey’s IHH.”
http://rt.com/news/syria-chemical-attack-rebels-848/
Russian inquiry to UN: Rebels, not Army, behind Syria Aleppo sarin attack
Samples taken at the site where the chemical weapons were allegedly used indicate that it was rebels – not the Syrian army – behind the attack, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin has said.
Russia has handed over the analyzed samples to the UN, he added.
“I have just passed the analysis of samples taken at the site of the chemical attack to the UN Secretary General (Ban Ki-moon),” Churkin said on Tuesday.